This is most certainly true.

As Good as His Word (Genesis 15)

2011-11-30T13:46:00.001-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy SpiritDear Fellow-Redeemed in Christ:In the good old days, you were known by others on the basis of your word. Whether you kept your word or you didn’t keep your word. Whether you lived up to your promises or you fell short on what you said you would do or wouldn’t do. That’s just the way it was in the old days, when someone’s word meant something. When someone’s word stood for something. But look at us today. We need a legally-binding, will hold up in court agreement for everything these days. Because people today promise everything and end up going back on what they had promised. That’s why there are countless shows on television where two people are hauling each other into court because things didn’t go well when it came to fulfilling some promise. That’s why the world tells us that we need a release form signed before we let anyone skateboard in our front yard or swim in our back yard. That’s why parents want to toughen up their kids and prepare them for a world that doesn’t think twice about going back on promises spoken. “Trust people only as far as you can throw them,” they say. “No money leaves your right hand unless a written agreement is put in your left hand. And when in doubt, have it lawyer-ized and notarized.”Because it’s no longer the case that a man’s word is his bond. Now we have to put down a deposit or pay bail or leave collateral or give ernest money to show that we will actually do as we have promised. These days, we are required to put something down — before we can pick anything up. That’s just the way this corrupted-by-sin world works.So we shouldn’t be that shocked when a father, in an attempt to educate his own son in the ways of the world, places his four year old on the kitchen table and then steps back four feet. And then, with hands outstretched, calls to the son to trust him and jump off the table into his father’s waiting arms. But when the son finally jumps, the father jumps back to let the child fall to the floor, saying, “Let that be a lesson to you, son. In this world, don’t trust anyone’s promises.”And all of us have had similar experiences. Someone calls on us to trust them and the story they are telling us, but ends up burning us or scamming us or taking advantage of us and our silly trust in promises made. And the good old days weren’t that good either. Because the condition of fallen humanity has always been fallen. We have always been better at making excuses than promises. We’ve always been better at doubting someone else’s word than we were at taking someone at their word. And so it was for our father Abraham.After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” (Genesis 15:1-3 ESV)Poor, desperate, wavering Abraham and his poor, desperate, wavering faith. He knew a little about others making deals and not keeping them. Abraham had plenty of years of experience with people and their words. Doubt and deal-making had even spotted his own life. Not being honest about his wife to Pharaoh and to Abimelech. Not being honest with God when it came to his greatest fear: coming to the end of his life without a son beside him.Abraham, in his desperate circumstances, wanted to make one of his deals with his Lord. One that would look mutually beneficial. An offer the Lord couldn’t refuse. One that would secure him a son. But Abraham needed to learn that the promises that come out of the mouths of sinful people like you and me are of a very different sort than the Word that comes from the lips of the Lord. For, you see, our Lord’s Word comes and does exactly what it purposes to do. Our Lord’s Word comes and does just what he desires his Word to do — without need of collateral or bail or bond or deposit or ernest money. Abraham hears heaven’s announcement, “I am as good as my Word, Abraham. When my Word goes forth, it comes and accomplishes whatever I send it to do. And, Abraham, I am sending out a Word for you — a gracious and merciful Word — as an eternal blessing to you and to the nations. I am sending to you a son.”“In my gracious Word and promise you will find your life and your hope and your reward. Believe against unbelief, Abraham. Trust in the midst of your worry and fear and temptation to believe I don’t have your best interest in mind. Put aside you deal-making and posturing and put your confidence in my unexpected Word and promise.”And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:4-6 ESV)That day, the Lord performed a double miracle. The same double miracle he performed for the likes of doubting Adam and rebellious Eve. The same double miracle he performed for old Noah and his family. The same double miracle he performs for you, in the midst of the hardness of your heart and the constant temptation to follow the world and its mistaken belief that deals must be two-way contracts with up-front evidence that both parties will live up to their end of the bargain.The Lord graciously performing a double miracle. That’s the way it is, in these days before Christmas, with the sending of a Son — for us and for our future. Even when we try to do everything we can to guarantee that our hope will become a reality. Even when we plan and strategize and worry and try to bargain with the Lord, doubting that anything good will come of the days ahead unless we get things off the ground.“How shall I know that you will send me a son?” Abraham asked. And the Lord answers in the most unexpected of ways: with a flaming pot cutting a covenant, an oath, a promise — a one-way covenant that has the Lord making an oath and Abraham silent on the sidelines. For you see, people in Abraham’s time would made a deal by swearing to their part of the bargain as both parties walked between the sacrifice that had been cut in half, saying, “May it be to me as it is this sacrifice if I don’t live up to my part of this agreement.”But with the Lord and his gracious promises, it is always a one-way deal. His one-way Word. His one-way promise. His one-way covenant. The merciful miracle of his one-way grace and forgiveness — and the faith he gives to believe in his too unbelievable to believe Word.“And [Abraham] believed the Lord.” (Genesis 15:6a ESV)And if the Lord can bring forth a son from old, as good-as-dead Abraham through his Word and Spirit, the Lord can bring forth a son for you, to rescue and redeem and deliver you. From your doubt. From your fears and your nothing-good-can-come-out-of-this situation doubts. Even from your sin of not living up to what you have promised the Lord.For God sends his beloved Son for you and Abraham and your neighbor down the street. He sends his precious Word, clothed in human flesh and blood, to bear your sin and be the savior of the world. God’s Word calls us to believe what the deal-making world will never believe: that with the coming of his Son, our reward from the Lord is greater than we can count, greater than any of our silly promises to try to live up to the gift of the manger and the cross and the empty tomb.God’s part of the bargain? The sending of his Son to be your sacrifice and substitute and eternal righteousness. And your part of the bargain? To simply say, by God’s grace, “Amen. Amen. Come Lord Jesus — and save.”

FAITH IN CHRIST IN THE MIDST OF SENSELESS TRAGEDY

2011-09-12T07:44:00.000-07:00

September 11th, 2011

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Nothing is more horrific than to watch a multitude of people free-fall into the abyss. Nothing is more paralyzing than to see in slow-motion the innocent slaughtered by demonic forces masquerading as the final arbitrators of God’s holy will. Nothing is more devastating than to witness the destruction of innocent human life in an evil attempt to wipe out an entire people.
For each of us, ten years doesn’t seem like ten years when it comes to the wounds and hurt and despair of having your whole world suddenly collapse in all around you. Whether it is a ten or fifty or one hundred or one thousand year anniversary of an event of terror — we are still connected to the carnage and chaos of men bent on snuffing out the lives of others in the name of God himself.
We try to forget. We try to put it out of our mind. We try to pick up life as it was before the tragedy, but somewhere deep in our heart we know that it will never be the same again. It just will never be the same. Talk to those who fought in war. Talk to those who fought against devastating diseases. Talk to those who have survived through disaster and tragedy and loss and the horrors of forces bent on indiscriminately ending human life. It can never be the same.
So it is with this day. We remember the burden we now bear — the incomprehensible burden of trying to heal from those tragedies in our life that few words can express. Tragedies and disasters that effect the entire world — effect our entire world, seemingly forever. Events that lay bare not only own own vulnerability but the real, in-your-face temptation to begin to believe that there is, at the end of the day, at the end of our life, nothing left for us but the darkness of the pit and a remote hope that something about us will be remembered — at least for a while.
Today we remember. Today families and friends and fellow citizens remember the events that paralyzed not only New York and Washington, D.C. and southwestern Pennsylvania, but all within earshot of a radio or in viewing distance of a television screen.
We have been brought to begin this day under our Lord’s Word as his Church. Gathered to remember the words of the Psalms, to confess our Christian faith and sing our Christian faith and pray our Christian faith, to mourn once again for the condition of a wold gripped in chaos, a humanity gripped in apprehension and uncertainty and anxiety, a people unable to forget — unwilling to forget the events that bring into clearer focus what dwells in the sinful heart of that fallen humanity we have become.
It is proper that the first thing out of our lips this morning is a remembrance — of who we have become: a fallen and sinful people who’s hearts and minds and spirits fail every time we put our trust in anything outside of God and the grace and mercy and deliverance and strength and courage found in Christ alone.
“If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.” we say in the words of Psalm 97.
If Christ had not been our redeemer, we would have no lasting, no redeeming, no truly sustaining words to say on days like 9/11, on days when a child or parent is taken from us, on days when our loved one is suddenly no longer gathered with us around the table.
Before the world we cry out for defense of our neighbor and care for the casualties of a world gone senseless. We are called as a community and nation to protect ourselves and family and loved ones from the ravages of all that would snuff out God’s precious gift of human life. But as we pray for those who’s job it is to serve and protect and defend, we also pray for our enemies — pray for even those we may never forgive, that their hearts may somehow be turned to repentance and faith in Christ by his eternal Word.
Ten years ago, people just like you and me confessed in unbelief and horror: “This doesn’t make any sense.” And ten years later, too much of what happened on 9/11 still is beyond our comprehension.
This morning millions of people will re-live that moment when twin towers fell, when passenger jets were seized for demonic ends, when what should have never happened — unbelievably — happened.
And where do we flee to make sense of a world that no longer makes any sense? Where do we look when our eyes are seared with images too horrific for words? Where does our Lord direct us when the atrocities of a world out-of-control threaten to plunge us into the thick and cold darkness of despair and death?
Faith would have us believe the seemingly unbelievable: that God’s saving work hidden in Christ is greater than the forces that bring disease and death and human suffering to so many — to the entire human race.
Who, our old nature wonders, will have the last word when life is taken from us? And our God-created and sustained nature quietly answers, “Our Almighty and merciful Lord and his Word of promise.”
What will define and make sense on days like today? On days when there seems to be no sense to be found. On days we are too weak to fight anymore. On days we have given up any hope of rescuing ourselves or any of those around us.
The God revealed through the prophets and apostles would point us to the one event that continues to define all others. The day that heaven and earth covered their eyes with darkness. The day that the Innocent One was slaughtered by demonic forces masquerading as the dispensers of God’s will. This was the devil’s ultimate attempt to crush redemption for a fallen humanity — for you and me and those we love — and those we believe we can never love.
It is at the cross that Christ does the unimaginable. He takes your sin and your neighbor’s death and your enemy’s fate — upon himself. And that, my friend, should bring true terror to you heart and tears to your eyes. The spotless Lamb of God, for the sake of an entire undeserving, bent-on-it’s-own-destruction world, makes satisfaction for not only those we would give our very lives for — but for those we may never bring ourselves to forgive.
Christ is the once-for-all revelation that is the final Word on the forces of disease, destruction and death bent on silencing human life. And faith in Christ believes, even as it grieves and mourns, that with our Lord’s to-death sacrifice in our place, everything has changed.
Death swallowed up by Christ’s death. Suffering re-defined by the Lord’s own Suffering Servant. Disease undone by the One who has sealed us with his Baptism and Spirit and the promise of a redeemed creation.
The holy One of God, the only-begotten Son from heaven abandoned by his loving Father as he receives the wrath poured out on sinners and law-breakers as his mother cries out at the foot of the cross, “This cannot be happening.” As the disciple John cries out, “This makes no sense.”
Some things in life we cannot forget, as much as we try, as much as we attempt to move on and leave it behind. We just can’t forget, especially when it comes to sin and the effects of sin that make us poor, miserable people in a poor and miserable world.
But Christ has come to deliver us and the world in the most unimaginable way, by being the lightening rod for God’s all-consuming wrath for all human sin and hatred and evil.
The world, when suddenly confronted with the effects of its own sin, cries out with meaningless words, “O my God.” But faith created by the Word made flesh and blood and bone cries out, “Lord, have mercy. Lord, save us according to your mercy and grace and forgiveness. Christ, have mercy on me and all who would believe in you and your sacrifice. Kyrie eleison.”
In these last days, we cannot but remember the gracious gifts given to us and to the world — all because of Christ — even in the midst of days like 9/11. Especially in the midst of days like 9/11.
Christ has taken into himself all that would separate us from the mercy and love of God, that we might grieve, but grieve with hope. That we might share each others burdens, but with faith that we will never be abandoned or forsaken by our Lord.
For it is Christ and Christ alone who was handed over, delivered up, poured out at the ground zero of Calvary, to announce to the world, “Your salvation is fulfilled. Your redemption is complete. Your rescue is established — in me — for eternity.”
This is our hope in the face of tragedy. Our redemption in the face of pain and suffering. Our victory when nothing makes sense, save Christ and his un-ending love for us. Love that has the last word on sin, death and the devil.
May we always be found under the shadow of God’s grace and his life-giving Word that raised Christ Jesus from the grave, and with him, all who would believe.
And the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, will guard you hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen

Sowing Life-Giving Seed with Abandon (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)

2011-07-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Salvation takes work. Redemption demands blood and sweat and tears. Forgiveness and mercy and grace requires dedication and commitment and more than a little bit of hard labor.
That is one of the themes presented as Jesus puts his parable before you this morning. And it isn’t the parable of the good soil, or the parable of the weeds or scorching heat or attack of the birds.
But that hasn’t stopped generation after generation of well-meaning individuals on both sides of pulpit and pew to follow their own, worldly, fallen, sinful nature in interpreting this beautiful parable in completely the wrong way.
This morning, Christ would have us listen to his Word with the ears of God-given faith. Jesus would have us read his words with eyes that look to him and his Cross to properly interpret what this parable is all about, and what it is not.
God, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit give us sanctified ears and redeemed eyes as this parable of our Lord is placed before us. Amen
Well there seems to be plenty of material for the Christian pastor to preach on this morning, using Jesus’ famous parable from the 13th chapter of Matthew as a good diving board to plunge into the waters of how salvation and redemption and forgiveness work.
And so, in other congregations there will be emotional appeals from the pulpit (if the congregation still has a pulpit) to those in attendance: “You must become the good soil if you are to glorify God and produce fruit for his Kingdom.” The pastor will say, “Do you want peace, and the certainty in your life that God will bless you? Do you want to know in your heart that you are one of God’s elect and a child of heaven? Then make your heart good soil. Make yourself worthy of the seed that God wants to sow in you. If you are to be saved,” the pastor will say, “then you must defeat the wiles of the devil, conquer worry and the cares of this world, and constantly be attentive to God’s Word and always have his Word in your ears and in your mind, heart and mouth.”
Have you every heard a sermon take the parable of the sower and spin it that way? In a way that puts the focus on what you are doing to make yourself the good soil in the parable? In a way that makes your salvation all about you and your work and your blood, sweat and tears? In a way that makes this parable all about your dedication and commitment — about your hard labor?
Well, let’s see what happens if we walk down that road. Where will the parable take us if we want it to be about making our weed-infested, drying-up and beginning to wither, under constant attack from the devil, the world and our old sinful nature dirt into super-soil.
Actually, attempting to walk down that road of making self into super-dirt describes much of my teenage years. Giving all the right answers in Confirmation class. Attending youth group and Sunday services and volunteering Saturdays to trim the bushes around the church and scrape off old paint around the windows of the fellowship hall. Behaving myself. Being a good kid and a good student and a good Christian — all so that I would be sure I had made myself into soil that God could use and forgive and redeem and make worthy of heaven.
Maybe that’s the same road you tried to walk down this last week. Making all the big promises to God that you will straighten your life out and fly right so that he can reward you and plant some blessings in your life.
Well, how’s that road working out for you? How’s your struggle to make yourself into super-soil going? It went just fine with me. I was proud that I wasn’t like those other people who hadn’t rooted out all the weeds in their lives. All those other people who hadn’t accomplished all the Christian things that I had accomplished. All those people who didn’t have the smarts to make themselves into super-dirt — soil that God couldn’t but notice and smile over and bless.
And so everything was going fine — for a while. Until God’s Word had its way with me. Until the Law did its irresistible work of showing my pride for what it really was — sin that I could not rid myself of. Sin that stole the work only Jesus could do. Sin that made me my own savior and redeemer and deliverer.
So, Jesus is giving each of us a warning this morning in this parable of his. This is Jesus’ parable of the sower. Not the parable of the made-itself-worthy soil.
Who does the saving work in this little earthly story with a heavenly meaning? It’s all about the sower and his crazy approach to sowing the good seed of his Word.
Because, as Pastor Chad Bird has said, our merciful, gift-giving Father in heaven sows seed with a blindfold on. Talk about nutty. Talk about insane. Talk about wasteful and irrational behavior. The sower sows indiscriminately. The sower sows his good seed among people the world (and our old, worldly nature) think is a complete waste of time and energy and resources.
The Parable of the Sower warns us as a congregation that we are not to withhold the Word of God — we are not to withhold Christ’s mercy — to those our old nature believes are unworthy of it. Those who won’t become a member and contribute to the offering plate. Those who come from a culture we just don’t like. Those who are too young or too old to attend a voter’s meeting. Those we have determined aren’t the best candidates to be Christians. Christ announces this morning that his word rains upon the unjust, the unworthy, the “will probably never believe.” And his Word does its work whenever and wherever the Holy Spirit wills. Even upon two-year olds in the preschool and twenty-year olds living right next door to this campus. Even upon ninety year olds in senior apartments a stone’s thrown from this sanctuary — regardless of the color of their skin or what language they speak in the kitchen.
God in Christ through the Holy Spirit sows his seed, and he does it with jaw-dropping abandon.
And what is crazy news to the world is good news to you. Because the Almighty sows the good seed of his Word — his Word made flesh to do your hard labor, to work salvation for you, to give his blood, sweat and tears for you, to give his holy life for you. And he sows that seed — even in the “doesn’t have a chance in hell to sprout and grow and bear good fruit” soil of your heart.
“Outside of Christ, there is no good soil within me.” That is the witness of the Bible, the witness of the Creed, the confession made at the Baptismal font and the Table of our Lord.
But the Father of all mercy and comfort has sent his life-giving seed — has sent his Son — and planted him firmly in your eyes and ears and mind and heart. His word has done the miracle greater than the Almighty creating heaven and earth from nothing.
He has taken your sinful, worry-infested, dried up, withered and dead as a doornail heart. And he has created good soil that produces the greatest of good fruit: trust and faith and hope and joy that sings back to God and to neighbor, saying: “God has sent his Son into a dark and dying world. Into my dead and cold heart. And troubles and temptations not withstanding, nothing shall uproot his good work in me — and in all who look to Christ’s sacrifice for their redemption.”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

"For your own good, I am leaving you." Feast of Pentecost

2011-06-11T09:19:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Christians Redeemed by Christ’s Word and Spirit:

“This is for your own good.” When was the last time someone told you those words? When your mother gave you castor oil? When your father got out the yardstick? When your teacher had you write, “I will not talk in class” one hundred times on the blackboard?
“This is for your own good.” Usually in this life those words are used before those in authority bring down the hammer. “This is going to hurt me more than it is going to hurt you.” they say. But in the end, they weren’t the ones who couldn’t sit down for a week.
“This is for your own good.” The lead-off phrase used by dating teenagers and young adults who want to make a big change in the life of a family member or employee or next-door neighbor.
“This is for your own good.”
We take that announcement with a grain of salt because we know this is the Law talking. This is the language of discipline. This is the language of boot camp and the world’s version of “tough love.” “This is for your own good” is code for “I’m going to discipline you, and you need to take it and endure it and learn from it so that you’ll do a little growing up and not let it happen again.”
That’s why we winch a little when someone comes up to us and says, “This is for your own good.” Those words in our ears do not make our heart sing out for joy. They begin the process within us of getting ready for the blow that we think will surely follow.
Dread and sorrow and fear of what is just around the corner. So it was when the disciples heard Jesus’ words to them just before his arrest and suffering and death.
The Holy Gospel According to Saint John, the 16th chapter:

[Jesus said,] “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, … . … because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. ...”
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:1-14 ESV)

If the world coming and laying down the Law wasn’t enough, now our Lord Christ comes to us and says, “I am bringing this upon you for your own good.”
“But now I am going to him who sent me, [Jesus says,]… . … because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, … .” (John 16:5a, 6, 7a ESV)
Now we know that when the fallen world and our old, sinful nature says “It is for your advantage that I go away.” the real meaning is far from pure, selfless concern for the other. Just like when we hear people begin a sentence with the words, “It really isn’t any of my business …” or “I’m not telling you what to do …”
In these last days, when we hear a self-absorbed world say, “For your good — because I care about you, … .” we have a pretty good idea of what’s coming next, and it’s not going to be pretty.
So what’s Jesus doing here in John, chapter 16? Is he toughening-up his followers for heaven’s heavy hand of discipline? Is Jesus saying, “It’s time for you to grow up and begin relying on your own strength and ingenuity. And so, for your own good, I’m out of here. I’m kicking you out of the nest. You need to take wing and fly. I’m not going to be your mother robin anymore. It’s high time you stood on your own two feet.” ?
How many parents have had that conversation with their teenage son or daughter? Is that what our Lord is doing here? Booting believers out of the nest to wean them off of Christ’s immediate and constant care? Isn’t that what the Rite of Confirmation is all about?
Ten days ago the Christian Church commemorated Ascension Day. A great and glorious day for Christ as he returns to heaven in all his resurrected splendor — but what about those left behind? What about those of us who are still stuck with our daily battle against devil, world and sinful flesh?
Part of us is not at all happy that Christ has ascended above all heavens and seemingly left us here alone to try and fend for ourselves. We find ourselves right along side the disciples on the road to Emmaus pleading with our Lord, “Stay with us, for it is evening and the day is far spent. Do not leave us.”
Today, the Feast of Pentecost — fifty days after our Lord’s resurrection and ten days after our Lord’s ascension — is a great opportunity to hear straight from the mouth of our Lord that when our Redeemer tells us, “This is for you good,” we can truly believe that — for once — it really is for our good.
For all of Scripture stands as heaven’s clear, Spirit-inspired witness that all that Christ did, he did for our good. From the manger to the cross, it was for our good, for our salvation, for the world’s redemption. Every bit of it, from each miracle to each step that brought our Lord Christ closer to the Cross. For your good, for your benefit, for your salvation. And none of that changed the day Christ ascended above the clouds to take his rightful seat at his heavenly Father’s right hand.
“This is for your own good.” means something is coming that we didn’t invite, we didn’t ask for, we didn’t anticipate, but between Christ and those who put their faith in Christ, the things we didn’t ask for or anticipate are always great and glorious and merciful in a way that the world knows nothing about.
“But now I am going to him who sent me, [Jesus says,]… . … because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:5a, 6, 7 ESV)
“I am leaving you — and this is for your own good.” Jesus says to his own, says to you and me. “Because I truly care for you, I am leaving you. Because I love you with a self-sacrificing love, I am going to my Father in heaven. Because you mean the world to me,” Jesus tells us, “I am leaving this world, that I and my Father might send to you the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Helper.”
Yes, Christ has ascended high above the heavens, but he has left us that he might — through the Holy Spirit — distribute his merciful presence and the gifts of redemption won upon the cross abundantly to all who will receive him in faith.
None of us here this morning, upon hearing the Word of God, would have received saving faith — except Christ had ascended and, with the Father, sent the Helper.
The Helper, not in the sense of some spiritual sidekick provided to give us a leg-up on our salvation. The Holy Spirit the Helper, the Enabler, our Champion, without whom not a soul would be saved.
That’s what we believe, teach and confess every time we speak that Third Article of the Creed — and the Small Catechism’s Explanation of it:
What does this mean?
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.
In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith
In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers.
On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.
This is most certainly true. (Lutheran Service Book 323)

That’s the greatness of what Christ and his Father in heaven have sent the entire Christian Church on earth by his ascension into heaven. That’s the greatness of what Christ has sent you by his ascension into heaven. It is the Spirit sent who has called us, enlightened us, sanctified us and keeps us in Christ as he daily forgives us our sin — until that day when we and all believers will, by the grace of God, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit, follow our Lord into heaven.
Christ says to you, “By my ascension into heaven, the Holy Spirit has been sent to freely give all the redeeming benefits won for you upon my Cross.”
And our new, Spirit-created nature replies, “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.” Amen

"If you cherish me, you will cherish my Word." (John 14:15)

2011-05-31T09:19:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Fellow-Redeemed in Christ our Crucified and Risen Lord:

Just imagine a bridegroom swapping out vows to his bride for an announcement to her and all in attendance at the wedding ceremony: “You will love me and you will obey me.”
And just imagine a bride exchanging her wedding vows for a proclamation to her bridegroom: “You will love me and you will do what I tell you to do.”
That would make for an interesting marriage ceremony and an even more interesting marriage.
Because any marriage, any relationship instituted by the Almighty himself quickly disintegrates into a game of self-fulfillment when the measuring stick is just obedience to the rules sinful, fallen people happen to set up for each other. What I have to do in order to get what I want out of a marriage or a family or a church family. What others must do to avoid my anger and the threat to walk away.
That’s why we have not only divorce lawyers but, now, marriage attorneys. That’s why more and more Christians are signing pre-marriage contracts, so that there is legal recourse when we are not loved or obeyed to the standards we have set for those God has placed in our lives. “Sweetheart, I love you. Here’s the contract I’ve drawn up. Sign here.”
Because, as this dark and dying world teaches us — as our old, sinful nature reminds us, our beloved is our beloved only insofar as they hold up their end of the bargain — only as long as they love and obey and do what we have told them to do.
This is the approach of so many we have crowned “marriage expert” and “family therapist” and “relationship guru.” What is family? What is marriage? It’s whatever we define it to be. It’s me and my self-chosen partner (or partners).
That way of thinking has led to redefining marriage and the family in our courts and in our classrooms and in our congregations. “Well, as long as they love each other.” has become the mantra of the day. And each of us demands the right to define love and family and marriage any way we want.
So what do we do when our Lord Christ stands before us and says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”? Will we play Humpty Dumpty and re-define and re-interpret his words to make them mean whatever we want them to mean? Or will we acknowledge that Christ himself interprets what he says to us and to the world? Does the world make sense of the Word of God or does the Word of God make sense of the world and each of us here this morning?

God forgive us for our constant attempts to suit Jesus’ words to our own pre-conceived understandings. God forbid that we make ourselves the final word on our Lord’s Word as it comes to us through his prophets and apostles. God send his Spirit to us anew to hear the Word made flesh with sanctified ears and a cleansed heart. Amen

So, what is Jesus telling not only the disciples but every one of us who receive him by God-given faith when he says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”? (John 14:15 ESV) Is Jesus simply laying down the law in the same way people in our age agree that we’ll be family, we’ll be a church family, we’ll be friends just as long as I hold up my part of the agreement and (more importantly) you do the same? Is our Lord making a legally-binding-in-court contract with the Twelve and with each of us? “Do these things, and then you will be the object of my blessing?”
Well, if we read it, if we hear the words of Christ in that way, how are we performing according to Jesus’ do this and then I’ll do that for you agreement? Are we measuring up?
Our old nature things we’re doing a pretty respectable job. We go along with much of what Jesus tells us, at least when it comes to our behavior in public. Like the Muslim who gauges the possibility of earning heaven on how well he or she “submits,” our old nature works overtime in minimizing the commands of the Law so that we have some chance of squeaking through the pearly gates.
Yes, we break the commands of the law not only by what we do but even more by what we say, by what we think, but we try to console ourselves that at least our performance is better than that other person — that other person who has no chance, no possibility of climbing their way into heaven.
But how are we really measuring up to the Law still faintly written in our hearts but revealed clearly through Moses on Mt. Sinai? Remember those Ten Commandments? Remember what they really mean? Remember, for example, Martin Luther’s meanings from the Small Catechism? All that stuff about fear, love and trust in God above all things and service to neighbor — to wife and husband and parent and child and employer and employee and next-door neighbor and community and church family simply for their sake, for their welfare and well-being without counting any personal cost to ourselves?
How are we really doing when God holds up the mirror of his holy will and law? How would we be doing if it really was, as our old nature thinks: “Christ will love us only if we first obey his commandments.”? How are we really performing if Jesus is saying, “I will love you, but only if you would first love what I have commanded you.”
Deep down inside we know we have failed miserably. We know that from that small voice of our conscience, those remnants of the Law written into our own heart and mind. But we know we have failed miserably in the face of the clearest and most powerful revelation of the extent and enormity of our failure to love Christ and his command: the extent and enormity of sin Christ himself bore for us upon the Tree. That wasn’t Christ’s sin; that was our sin. That was our sin that Christ made his own. That’s what our sin, our disobedience, or rebellion, our failure looks like as heaven’s wrath is poured out against human transgression.
Calvary is the clearest indicator of the enormity of our sin. Each of us has to acknowledge that. And if you can say “that was my sin Christ bore unto the poor and miserable death of the Cross,” then the Word of God is working repentance and contrition in you — then you are ready to hear unexpected, unbelievable Good News this morning.
For Christ’s cross is not only the revelation of the severity of our sin — of your sin and my sin — but it is the clearest revelation of God’s gracious, unmerited forgiveness for sin. Not for some of it, not for a part of it, but for every bit of it, even for the sin you cannot forgive yourself of.
In Christ, it’s forgiven. It’s buried in the depths of the sea. It has been dragged to Christ’s tomb never to rise again.
And if that wasn’t enough, Christ gives you the gift of faith. Not some kind of whistle-in-the-dark faith, but a sure and certain confidence in Christ and his promises — especially those promises that our old, sinful nature never sees and will never put its trust in.
And what’s the hidden promise for all who repent and turn to Christ and his redemption in their place?
Never getting sick? Never experiencing heartache or loss? Never having to ask for Christ’s forgiveness ever again?
No. Something greater and much more glorious. For in those words, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” there is a great and eternal promise.
Christ is saying, to you, “As I have sent my Spirit into your heart, your new nature will love me, will treasure me, will keep me, will cherish me, will forever hold me close.
Just as you will will love and treasure, keep and cherish my Word — now and always.”

We pray in the words of Martin Luther:

Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy Word;
Curb those who fain by craft and sword
Would wrest the kingdom from Thy Son
And set at naught all He hath done.

Lord Jesus Christ, Thy pow’r make known,
For Thou art Lord of lords alone;
Defend Thy Christendom that we
May evermore sing praise to Thee.

O Comforter of priceless worth,
Send peace and unity on earth.
Support us in our final strife
And lead us out of death to life.

The Great Good Shepherd (Ezekiel 34:1-16)

2011-05-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Brothers and Sisters Redeemed by our Good Shepherd:

There is the Good Shepherd of the Scriptures, and then there are the good shepherds that the world and our old, worldly nature have cooked up. Do you know the difference?
There is the Good Shepherd that God provides for his own harassed, lost and helpless sheep, and then there are those who masquerade, who pretend to be a shepherd of the Lord’s sheep. Do you know the difference?
As I have mentioned before, even demonic leaders of religious cults claim to be the voice of the good shepherd — and, sadly, some poor soul follows their siren call and ends up being pushed off a steep cliff or being pulled into a black hole of despair and death.
There is the Good Shepherd that is set before our eyes and ears by the inspired prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New, and then there are the false shepherds, the imitation shepherds, the un-faithful-to-the-Lord’s-calling shepherds. Do you know the difference? Are you sure you could spot an impostor shepherd — even if one would appear in a church that calls itself Lutheran? Even if that false shepherd could quote passages from the Bible and even the Small Catechism?
Because everything is riding on which voice you listen to and follow. Everything, your very life and being and soul depends on which shepherd you will pay attention to. Will you pick up after the shepherd that calls to you to fulfill your destiny by pursuing self-fulfillment and the comfortable, got-it-made-in-the shade, take care of your own desires first and then everything else will follow life?
Or will you listen to another shepherd who calls with the message that if you would only conquer sin and temptation, if you only live the holy life cut off from the evils of this physical world, then you will earn for yourself (and for your loved ones) the highest level of heaven?
Everyone has to believe something. And everyone has to have a shepherd, even if they don’t walk on all fours and produce a nice coat of wool.
We all were created to have a shepherd, to be directed and guided and watched over. We were wired to follow a shepherd. And that instinct, that desire, that condition of needing a shepherd was not snuffed out when our first parents forsook the guiding word of the Lord in order to follow another voice, a voice who gave the empty promise that we didn’t have to be sheep under a shepherd. We could take matters into our own hands and mouths and become our own shepherds — and enjoy the pleasures of calling the shots and telling even the Lord what should be done and what should be left undone.

We yearn for heaven, but in this life it seems nowhere to be found. We cry out for blessed relationships with our family and friends and loved ones, but it seems impossible to secure. We long for an end to pain and disease and disappointment and loneliness and chaos, but it seems to have the last word in so many situations. We hunger for the death of death and sin and the consequences of our neighbor’s sin and our own, inexcusable transgressions.
And so the Lord called some to be under-shepherds, his under-pastors, his caretakers, his servants to care for the sheep. But too many called to take care of the sheep, to tend the sheep, to nourish the sheep, to defend and protect the sheep had, what they believed, more important things to do: secure their own comfort and power and prestige and position in the world.
And the poor sheep suffered under the neglect of the false shepherds. Especially those sheep that the Lord took special attention of — the young, the helpless, the sick, the abused, the forgotten. Those who cried out in despair: “Save us, good Lord. Spare us, good Lord!”
So the Almighty Lord sent out his Word of judgment through his inspired, faithful, say-it-like-it-really-is prophets.
The Word of the Lord from the prophet Ezekiel, the 34th chapter:

The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.
“Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.
“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.” (Ezekiel 34:1-16 ESV)
The Lord himself will be the shepherd of his sheep. The Lord himself will do what a truly good shepherd does — all for the sake of the sheep. And did you hear what makes the Good Shepherd good? Charismatic personality? Works well in front of a television camera? Is the media darling of Hollywood and Washington, D.C.? Knows how to manipulate the law to get what he wants?
What makes the Good Shepherd truly good? Good looks? Good ratings? Good grief, no!
What did you hear? The Good Shepherd feeds the sheep with the Word — with himself. He does not neglect the flock in order to fatten himself and his wallet. The Good Shepherd does not slaughter the sheep for his own pleasure.
The Good Shepherd strengthens the weak lambs, he heals the sick ewes, he binds up the injured sheep, he seeks and brings back those who have strayed and are lost. He does not shepherd the flock with a harsh hand that only scatters God’s sheep and makes them prey for the forces that would devour them forever.
The Good Shepherd give all as he seeks out the scattered sheep and gathers them back to his fold and feeds them upon the choicest of pastures. Under his merciful care they will lie down in safety. Under his gracious shepherding they will be provided the best of grazing lands and be defended from all who would come and scatter and maul them.
I myself, the Lord says. I myself will be their shepherd forever.
This is what makes the great Good Shepherd the great Good Shepherd. This is what makes our hearts sing, “The Lord himself is my Shepherd, I shall lack nothing.”
For Christ himself reveals what the 23rd Psalm and Shepherd-King David and Shepherd Amos foretold.
Why is Christ the great Good Shepherd?
[Jesus said,] “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:11-15 ESV)
Hear the voice of the one true Shepherd sent from heaven , the very Son of God who picked up his life after laying it down for you, his straying sheep.
Hear the voice of the great Good Shepherd as he leads you to the waters of the Baptismal font there to cleanse you wounds and bind up you heart.
Hear the voice of the great Good Shepherd as he leads you to the rich pastures of his eternal, life-giving Word through the prophets and apostles.
Hear the voice of the great Good Shepherd as he calls you to his holy Table there to feed you and forgive you and strengthen you with his very body and blood, in, with and under bread and wine.
Forsaking all other voices, hear in faith the voice of the great Good Shepherd and feed upon his Word.
Luther says:
God’s Word is all-powerful. Faith and the Spirit are always active and restless. They always need something to do. They need to fight and defend. This is why the Word of God does not have small enemies but the most powerful enemies of all, such as our sinful flesh, the fallen world, Death and the Devil. This is why Christ is called “Lord of Sabaoth” — the Lord of the heavenly armies who is always fighting for us, his sheep.
He also gives us his Body and Blood, which is not just a symbol of grace but is food that gives strength to those in the church militant. This food of his Word is, in fact, the wages and provisions he provides his church under attack. And he will continue to feed us until he wins for us the final victory.
Under the gracious rod and staff of the Good Shepherd, feast upon his redeeming Word, this day and forever more.
A blessed Good Shepherd Sunday to each of you.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

How Saints are Made. (John 14:6) Feast of Saint Philip and Saint James

2011-05-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Fellow Redeemed in Christ:

Maybe you’ve heard. On this, the first day of May, the feast day of Saint Philip and Saint James, someone is becoming a saint.
Today, someone is becoming a saint after a full-blown investigation and review. After a thorough examination and inspection of their life and words and writings. After all the qualifications for becoming a saint are documented and authenticated and certified by an official seal of approval.
Because, no one wants to be proclaimed a saint only to be later dropped from the official saint list - like poor Saint Christopher - I mean poor former Saint Christopher.
And so the pilgrimages have already begun to view the body of this newly-declared saint. His remains have been dug up and now on display, hundreds of thousands of people believing that if they just view this saint with their own eyes, or touch the hem of his burial cloth, they will receive some special merit before the Lord Almighty.
But where would God himself want our eyes and ears focused on this day? On Saint Philip or Saint James? On Saint Karol or Saint Joseph? Where does God himself want us to look to receive his blessing, his commendation, his approval?
The Holy Gospel According to Saint John, the 14th chapter:
[Jesus said,] “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?" (John 14:1-9 ESV)
"Do this for me, God, and then I will be satisfied." When was the last time you prayed that prayer? "Just see me through this one time, and then I'll never complain to you again." "All I want is this one thing, and then I'll be in church every Sunday and give you 15% of everything I have and be nice to all those people I really can’t stand.”
“Show us the Father,” Philip requests. “Show us what Moses got to see. Show us what Isaiah got to see. Let us see God’s saving glory and then we will be content.”
Philip and James and John and Peter and Matthew and you and I all wanted one kind of glory, but heaven gave quite another. For, as Luther reminds us, if we start looking for God in his heavenly glory we will never find him. We must look for our Father in heaven — hidden in the revelation of the only One who has seen and has perfect fellowship with the Father: the only-begotten Son found in the Bethlehem manger, in the simple shop of a Nazareth carpenter, in the insignificant-looking Jesus who rides into Jerusalem upon all the glory of a donkey and dies a sinner’s death upon a cross.
Here we believe that God’s final Word in this world is to be found hidden in the Scriptures. Hidden in Baptism. Hidden in the Lord’s Supper to all but the eyes of faith.
And what Philip learned, in repentance and faith, is what we must also learn: our salvation has come in the person and work of Christ Jesus. He is the fulfillment of all things. In him all is finished. All is complete. All has been accomplished for us and for the world and sealed with God’s stamp of approval in the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
But our old nature still keeps looking for other miracles and other manifestations and other ways it thinks God should be revealing himself to us. Mayan calendars and bleeding statues. Mysterious arrangements of ancient stone pillars and cryptic formations of lights from outer space.
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." (John 14:8-9 ESV)
Today everyone wants a piece of the miraculous. Everyone hungers for some sudden epiphany from heaven. A divine experience. A close encounter of the heavenly kind.
But if any one should know that’s not the way it works in this life, it should be us here this morning. We know what happens when sinful people are placed in the presence of a holy and righteous God, the Almighty Lord of heaven and earth. Why do you think there was a curtain a handbreadth’s thickness covering the Lord’s presence around the Holy of Holies?
We as fallen, sinful people don’t survive if put face-to-face before the Almighty in his glory. How do we know that? Take a look at Moses on Mount Sinai. Take a look at Isaiah, chapter 6.
Take a look at the cross. See and note well what happens when God’s justice is unleashed on the one who becomes sin for us and for the entire world.
It is not for the Father’s good, but for our good that God has come hidden and clothed and wrapped in human flesh, bearing the form of a servant, to give us the faith to believe that when we hear Christ, we hear the Father. When we are baptized into Christ, we are made children of the heavenly Father. When we commune with our Lord at his holy Table, we commune with all the saints in paradise and with the One who dwells in unapproachable glory and light.
But sadly there are those who seek a different place to look for God’s favor. In horoscopes, in fortune tellers, in following the fallen and deceptive desires of the human heart. And, yes, even in the empty comfort that our desires will be found if a saint in heaven prays and intercedes on our behalf.
That’s what God had to save Luther the schoolboy from as he called out in a lightening storm: “Saint Anne, save me and I will become a monk!”
That’s what God must save many from today. “Pray for me, Saint Francis, and rescue me and then I will be truly blessed!”
But before we get all self-righteous about what is happening in Vatican City today, let’s remember what’s happening today in many congregations who call themselves Christian. Last week everyone celebrated the resurrection of our Lord. This sanctuary and others like it were in “standing-room-only” mode.
And just a week later, much of Sunday morning has returned to the world’s old tune of “what I need to do to be holy.” “What I need to do to be blessed by God.” “Five steps to a worry-free life.” “Ten Stages to be Truly Blessed by God.” There may even be a few congregations where the topic of the sermon is: “How even you can be a great saint — if you are sincere enough, if you pray enough, if you only try hard enough to make God smile.”
Feast Days in the Christian Church are not the occasion to dig out a body or put a hand or tooth or piece of cloth on display that we might receive a special blessing by viewing it.
God through his holy Word couldn’t have made it any more clear. Worshipping remnants of those who are eternally with the Lord don’t get us any closer to heaven. And worshipping our own self-made merits and good works is just as bad.
They actually get in the way. They become a great distraction. They can quickly become a danger to our true faith in God’s peculiar way of graciously saving us - through his Son and his Son alone.
That’s what we hear at just about every funeral service here as the words of our Lord from John 14 are read:
Jesus said … , “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 ESV)
That’s what we need to hear this morning on the feast day of Saint Philip and Saint James. That’s what we need to hear this morning as Rome adds another name to it’s official list of saints.
We do not become a servant of God or worthy of veneration or blessed or saint or Christian by living a holy-enough life to be recognized by some special church “saint recognition” committee. Saints are not identified by evidence that their body didn’t smell bad or decay after death. Saints are not determined by whether or not they saved another after they died by praying and interceding for them and causing a miracle to take place.
Saints are made by grace alone, by faith alone, by Christ alone as God’s Word comes and creates holy saints and heirs of heaven — as water is splashed on us at the Baptismal font. As bread and wine from the altar is placed into our hands and mouths. As the voice of God himself is heard through weak and fallen and sinful prophets and apostles as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
This morning, it isn’t a church committee, but God himself, through his grace, through his Word, through his Son, through his Holy Baptism and Scriptures and Table, that announces to you this day: acknowledging you sin and looking to Christ and his Cross alone as your righteousness, “I declare you my beloved, precious, forgiven, glorious saint. Through my Son, and him alone, I am well-pleased with you.”
May God in his mercy keep our eyes where true redemption is to be found: on our crucified and risen Lord, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all power, honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.

The Glory of Christ and his Word and Cross (Transfiguration of Our Lord) Matthew 17:1-9

2011-03-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Brothers and Sisters Redeemed in the Blood of the Lamb:

“And after six days.” These four words serve as a clear reminder that this glorious event most commonly referred to as “The Transfiguration of Our Lord” needs to always be understood in light of what happened those six days before Jesus took Peter, James and John up a high mountain.
This morning we are reminded that Christians are called to interpret and understand and believe not simply a verse of Scripture here and a verse of Scripture there, as we see fit. We are called to receive the Scriptures as the Holy Scriptures, as the whole body of the Old and New Testament books reveals God’s gracious plan of salvation through the body of his one and only Son.
It is the Holy Spirit working through his servant Matthew that deigns to begin this account of this mountaintop event with the four little words, “And after six days.” And we do well to note them and look where they point if we are to see clearly the place of Our Lord’s Transfiguration in our redemption and the redemption of the world.
So, let us take a look at what Saint Matthew records in chapter 16 about the days that lead up to the glory revealed to Jesus’ disciples that night.
Two things. First, Jesus warns his own about the infectious disease of unbelief and outright rebellion against God and his anointed — exhibited in the Pharisees and Sadducees.
“We demand that you show us a sign from heaven to authenticate what you are saying and doing. We demand proof that you are the promised Messiah.” they say.
And what is Jesus’ response? “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” (Matthew 16:4 ESV)
Our Lord simply repeats what he had said to the demands of those who would not believe, back in chapter 12:
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered [Jesus], saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:38-40 ESV)
All who demand of Jesus some kind of glorious miracle, some fantastic floorshow before they will consider putting their trust in his Word will only see the sign that appears most un-glorious, the farthest from fantastic: the Son of Man killed, to then be buried in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. — So much for making Jesus one’s own personal entertainment system.
To those who refuse to believe in Jesus as the Son of God, come in human flesh, they will witness the sign of Jonah — but to their judgment, to their condemnation.
Second, Jesus gives more than a few days so that the disciples can hear, mark, learn and take to heart his words about his final journey to Jerusalem. The religious leaders had refused to believe in Jesus as the Messiah because they saw in him none of the glory and majesty and power they had expected of the promised Messiah.
And to the Twelve — to those who would follow him by faith in his Word — Jesus begins to speak clearly about what kind of Messiah he has come to be. How his Sonship will be fulfilled. How their salvation, and the salvation of the entire world will be won. And it won’t look pretty. It won’t look glorious. It will look downright terrifying. Downright un-believeable.
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock [this faith] I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. (Matthew 16:13-20 ESV)
Good old Peter got the title right. Yes, this Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ of God. And Jesus blesses this confession given through the mouthpiece of the twelve disciples. But now comes the more difficult question only faith can rightly answer: “What kind of Christ is Jesus? What kind of Messiah has he come to be — for Peter and James and John and the Twelve — for you and me?”
Without the revelation of how Jesus would fulfill his unique mission of Messiah, Peter couldn’t even begin to put his faith in the actual Christ heaven had sent.
And so for those six days, Jesus began to show them what lied ahead — for him, and for them as his disciples. How the gift of the forgiveness of sins was actually going to be won. What price was to be paid for the exodus of God’s people from the deadly chains of sin and the seemingly all-powerful Pharaoh of eternal despair and death. Jesus was beginning to reveal to his followers — and each of us through them — what being the Christ was all about.
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:21-24 ESV)
Peter couldn’t stand to hear that Jesus had been called to journey to Jerusalem to — of all things — lay down his very life at the hands of his enemies. The Christ was — seemingly — to be defeated by the unimagineable shame of suffering at the hands of unbelieving religious leaders? How could this be the destiny of the all-glorious Messiah? “I won’t let this happen to you!” Peter says as he tries to save his Lord from such a seemingly inappropriate fate.
But Jesus, oh so gentle Jesus, after six days, takes Peter and James and John up to a high mountain. He does not chase them away. He does not abandon them to their own silly ideas of what the true Messiah should accomplish. He does not find smarter theologians or more pious followers. He takes a deep breath and then takes them to witness what had been hidden in, with and under the thick cloak of his human nature: his heavenly glory. He begins to reveal that his death will be exactly what is needed — for Peter and the world — and you and me.
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” (Matthew 17:1-9 ESV)
In spite of all the eye-popping visuals, the Almighty gives all disciples of Jesus the clearest of instructions: “Listen to my beloved Son. Let true faith lead by what you hear from the mouth of my Christ. Whether you see his glory or don’t see any of his glory, open your ears and listen. For you and for your salvation, listen to him, and him alone.”
This is why Martin Luther called the Church a mouth and ear house. This is why God in Christ through the Holy Spirit creates faith in our heart — through our ears. This is why our sense of hearing is the first to appear in the womb and the last to leave us at our death. “Listen,” God calls to you. “Listen to the words of my beloved, salvation-winning Son. As a sheep knows the true shepherd by the sound of his voice, listen to the word of my life-giving Good Shepherd. My Son, who pleases me — by giving his life as a sacrifice for your many sins.”
And what of that command not to say a word about Jesus as the Christ who will hand himself over to the all but glorious cross?
Christ’s death will not only make atonement for the sins of the entire world, for the sins you believe are too great for anyone to take off your shoulders, for the sins even you are not aware of, for the sins of living life by your eyes on the world and not by your ears under the Word of God made human flesh and blood. It is Christ’s death and the seal of his sacrifice’s acceptance before God in his resurrection that gives sense to what kind of Christ God has sent. Gives sense to what kind of salvation is now offered to all sinful children of Adam and Eve. Gives sense to heaven’s revelation that the grace and mercy and forgiveness and loving-kindness of God found in Christ’s death for sinners — always want to have the final word — for Peter and for James and John and for you and for the person in your life you mistakenly believe God would never save.
The cross of Christ. It made satisfaction for Peter’s upside-down understanding of what kind of Christ stood before him.
The cross of Christ. It gave understanding to Peter of how God’s plan of salvation would actually be fulfilled.
The cross of Christ. It gave Peter the gifts of forgiveness and faith — and the ability to sing the glories of the Lamb who once was slain — to anyone who would listen.
And Christ and his Cross are doing the same with your redeemed ears and mind and heart and mouth — as you hear his Word — through the prophets and apostles, through the water of the font, through the bread and wine from our Lord’s altar.
May Christ and his Word and his Cross be our only glory, now and for eternity.
A blessed Transfiguration of Our Lord.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Immanuel - A Beautiful Name (Matthew 1:223-23)

2010-12-21T07:49:00.000-08:00

Dear Fellow-Redeemed in Christ:

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

Immanuel. What a beautiful-sounding name.
Immanuel. We stick this title on the cover of Christmas cards and include it in our Christmas songs. It forms the title of the quintessential Advent hymn. We do not sing "O Come, O Come, Great Encourager from God" or "O Come, O Come, Great Moral Example from God," but "O Come, O Come, Immanuel." This has been the song of the Christian Church in these days before Christmas for countless generations.
We Lutherans even use this title when giving a name to a new congregation — even though no one can decide whether this name begins with an "e" or an "i." For example, there are at least three congregations in our area named Immanuel Lutheran Church; in Orange, LaHabra and Long Beach. And each of the three congregations spell the word differently.
But regardless of how you spell it. There it is.
Immanuel. What a beautiful-sounding name. Over the last 25 years it has consistently ranked in the top 200 baby names in the United States.
Immanuel. A beautiful-sounding name, but, as we have been trained to ask since our first days of studying the Catechism, "What does this mean?" What does this name actually signify? And, most importantly, what does it mean that the center of these days of Advent: this coming Son of Mary, this Son of David, this Son of God — is given by heaven the name "Immanuel"?
What do you confess when you say, "I believe that Jesus of Nazareth is Immanuel."? How would you respond if someone were to ask you, "What does this name actually mean? Why is this baby in a Bethlehem manger (who's birth we are patiently — or maybe not so patiently — waiting for) given the name "Immanuel"? What kind of answer would we give? Hopefully something more substantive than: "Good question. Let me google that and get back to you."
In these days before Christmas, Christ would bring us to his Word and feed us with the promises that all the faithful before that Christmas night lived clinging to, died hoping in, and now sing about in eternity.
May God in his grace prepare each of us for his coming through the Word of Christ, through the Spirit of Christ, that we would have an everlasting joy and an unshakable hope. Amen

Immanuel. What do we know about Jesus being given the name "Immanuel"? Well, the simplest, clearest place to go is the words given to us by the Holy Spirit through the inspired pen of the evangelist Saint Matthew. Carried along by the same Holy Spirit that inspired Isaiah and overshadowed Mary, Saint Matthew leaves no room for misunderstanding when he tells us in the 22nd and 23rd verses of the first chapter of his Gospel account:

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:22-23 ESV)

Oh. Now we get it. Immanuel means "God-with-us." In the coming infant Jesus, God is with us.

But, we ask, how is it that the birth of a virgin's son, the birth of God in human flesh and blood, the birth of Immanuel, is, for each of us and for the world, Good News? Really Good News. Good News that lasts not a week or a month, but an entire lifetime and into eternity.
That, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is the million dollar question in this season of waiting and hoping and repenting and rejoicing and reflecting on what it actually means for the world and for each of us that our Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man, made human flesh and bone, took upon himself our very nature, yet without sin.
What is the connection between eternal peace and "God-with-us"?
Imagine being given the task of consoling the unconsolable, giving comfort to someone who can find no spiritual comfort, giving genuine, eternal Good News to someone racked with a true awareness of their weakness and failures and sin. "There is no hope for me," they cry out. "I cannot make satisfaction for my many sins. I have given up trying to make myself holy. It is impossible for me to stand before the almighty Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord who hates sin and sends wrath and judgment upon the unrighteous. It all makes me want to ask God to stay away from me."
In that kind of situation, how is "God-with-us" any comfort at all?
Just ask Isaiah about "God-with-us." In the 6th chapter of the book of Isaiah the prophet, the great Isaiah is as good-as-dead when brought into the holy presence of the Lord. Unbridled, out-in-the-open "God-with-us" spells judgment and eternal death for Isaiah, as it spells judgment and eternal death for all fallen and sinful children of our first parents.
God-with-us in his glory and holiness? That may be great for the designers of the world's holiday cards and winter television specials. But it is a death sentence for anyone who acknowledges sin as real sin. Because if the almighty Lord just showed up next to any of us in all his power and glory and might and majesty, we would be forced to confess, as Isaiah confessed, "Woe is me. I am as good as dead. For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. And — I have seen the Lord. I have been brought face-to-face with almighty God.
This same frightening situation fell upon Peter right after the miraculous catch of fish — right after he realized that Jesus was indeed the almighty Lord of heaven and earth. Bowing his trembling face to the ground he cried out, "Depart from me Lord. For I am a sinful man."
No wonder why there are too many people — even a week before Christmas — who want God to stay away — to stay out of their lives and the decisions they have made. Their own lifestyle of convenience. Their playing fast and loose with God's revealed will and commands.
So "Immanuel" can bring terror and fear and eternal death just as easily as it can bring comfort and hope. "Immanuel" — God-with-us — can be God-with-us in wrath and judgment. We see this in the poor, miserable conditions surrounding Jesus' birth and especially our Lord's innocent suffering and death upon the Cross. God-with-us, to punish all sin and rebellion and disbelief. The disbelief of unbelieving Ahaz. The disbelief of a world that does not believe, will not believe that the Christ child has come from heaven to be born in the world's own poor and miserable manger, to take upon himself the world's own weakness and sin, to take upon himself the judgment Eve and Adam, Isaiah and Mary, Joseph and Peter and each of us rightly deserved.
Immanuel. God-with-us. Something we should dread if it is not in a way that hides the Lord's glory and covers his wrath.

But what else do we know about Jesus being given the name "Immanuel"? What is also revealed in that name "Immanuel" that makes it a comfort and joy for transgressors of God's holy will and law?

Well, we heard it clearly enough from the Old Testament and Gospel readings just a few minutes ago. From the mouth of God's holy prophet it is announced to believers and unbelievers alike:
… the LORD spoke to Ahaz, “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:10-14 ESV)
To doubting, unbelieving King Ahaz the Lord gives a sign as deep as Sheol and high as heaven. A sign that is so indescribably great angels bow the knee in silent awe. An announcement so unbelievable only God-given faith can receive it. A prophecy that trumpets the fulfillment of all salvation history in a way we could have never imagined: "The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
And, if you will believe it, this Word of the Lord spoken out of the mouth of Isaiah the prophet is fulfilled as another heaven-sent messenger comes to confused, anxious, fearful Joseph and says:

“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20b-21 ESV)

The reason for the name to be given is made clear for Joseph and Mary and for you and me and your yet-to-believe neighbor down the street. "For this son, this son of David, this son of Mary has been sent — not to judge or condemn or terrorize but — to save his people from their sins."
Jesus; Divine Savior. Jesus; Divine Savior from sin. Jesus; Divine Savior of all — of every tribe and language and nation and people. Jesus; the second person of the Godhead come to rescue us from our inability to save ourselves, come to to redeem the Advent and Christmas season, come to to atone for our own transgressions against God and against our neighbor-in-need.
For, by faith, we believe what the world and our own worldly nature will never believe: Mary's son is David's Son is God's only-begotten Son. Come to save from sin. God in human flesh and blood. Here. For you and for your salvation. Here. As once-for-all sacrifice. As our all-righteous substitute.
Only by faith can we really sing: "O come, O come, Immanuel. God-with-us. God-for-us and for our salvation.
Immanuel. What a beautiful name. Amen

Is that Opportunity Knocking? (Matthew 21:1-11)

2010-12-01T12:27:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Dear beloved in Christ:
"Opportunity knocks." That's the tag line on an annual car commercial on television. "It's opportunity knocking!"
The message? You only have a limited amount of time to take advantage of something really special. If you wait, it will be too late. Too late for the joy of knowing you seized the day and grabbed that one special thing before it walked on down the hall to knock on someone else's door.
And so we take that saying about opportunity knocking to heart and begin all our preparations for Christmas Day. Just try to list everything you are doing or have done or need to do so that December 25th will come in the way you want. Just think of all the things on your "to do" list.
If we're honest, it is a list that part of us believes will lead to a perfect Christmas.
But, when we sit down and think about it, it's a burdensome list and an unending list. The shopping for just the right things. The preparations around the house. The decorations. The special plates and silverware and scented candles and the train set. And the other decorations and the lights. And the invitations and the Christmas cards and letters and photographs. And the cleaning. And what ever happened to that little Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer sculpture that plays the Chipmunk's Christmas songs whenever it detects someone has come into the room? That needs to be found and put in its proper place as well.
"Opportunity is knocking," we tell ourselves as we begin the frenzied Christmas dance that will not end until we realize that it is Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and the door finally shuts and opportunity leaves for good — until it begins again next year.
Well, maybe this year you have everything under control. You've made you lists and checked them — not once or twice — but six times. You've had your Christmas letters ready to go since June. You know just the right gift for everyone — family and friends, and even the mailman and hairdresser — and you got them all at 30% off.
There's where the true joy of Christmas is to be found — isn't it? In seizing the day and accomplishing everything that we've decided needs to be done in order to make Christmas Day Christmas Day. The true joy of Christmas: knowing in your heart that you've made it the best Christmas ever.
But then there's that knock on the door. And it isn't Mr. Opportunity. It isn't anyone on your invitation list. It isn't anyone you expected or planned for.
It's some ordinary-looking Jewish guy with a donkey who you just know will come in and ruin everything.
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Matthew, the 21st chapter:
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
“Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold! [Rejoice!], your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” (Matthew 21:1-10 ESV)
The religious leaders in Jesus' day believed that the Passover holiday in Jerusalem was unfolding very nicely without Jesus showing up and spoiling everything. They had things quite under control. The ATM machines were all set up around the temple, the money-changers were ready to do their work. Thousands of holiday merry-makers were traveling to Jerusalem to do their holiday things and spend their holiday money. Despite the presence of the Roman soldiers, these religious leaders truly believed they had everything in hand. They had seized the day and all their preparations would now bear abundant fruit.
And then this guy from Nazareth with a donkey shows up. And they know now everything they had put their trust in is in danger of being eclipsed by the coming of this man who claims to be the Word of heaven itself. With the unexpected coming of this lowly servant king, all their planning and preparations could now very well go down the drain.
All that they had invested. All that they had done. All that they had accomplished. All they had sacrificed to make this the most special day of the entire year — and now this Jesus shows up believing he is the center and fulfillment of the day. Believing he is the source of true joy and peace for all who would celebrate that "day of arrival" just around the corner.
And so the religious leaders seized the day by grabbing a hold of Jesus. This was the opportunity they had really been looking for. With the dissatisfaction of Judas, they had found their one opportunity to silence this uninvited troublemaker and do away with him once and for all.
Jesus just shows up, seemingly unannounced. And he shows up in the most unspectacular way, among lambs and goats and cattle and donkeys and the rude furnishings of a cold and lowly manger.
So much for the world's excitement about the coming king. No media attention. No 30% off salvation, today only sale.
Jesus' gift in these days before Christmas? A season of simple promise — for every one of us. A word of promise that the world will never put its trust in. The promise announced by the prophets of old until Christ comes on that last day. A promise that says that trusting in Christ's Word, this life is a life of waiting, but waiting in expectant joy for our Lord to redeem the day.
The Savior will come and save us — from our weakness and sin and misplaced worry about attempting to make Christmas a big success.
The Savior will come and save us — from even our own inability to create true, lasting joy on our own.
In this peculiar season of Advent, rejoice! For the Savior comes to give the gifts of salvation: the gift of sins forgiven, the gift of contentment and peace — and even a little joy — as we wait — patiently, trustingly — for our coming king.
Joy for you and me and for all who are waiting to hear of a Christ and a Cross that gives true peace — that peace that surpasses all human understanding.
And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matthew 21:1-11 ESV)
In expectant joy, may we join the voice of all the faithful as we wait for the coming of our king, waiting to shout, "Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest."
God in his mercy and grace grant each of us a blessed — a joyful — advent of our king.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

"Living in the Last Days." (Luke 21:5-28)

2010-11-16T08:06:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Redeemed in Christ:
Someone was reading the National Enquirer next to me in the grocery store check-out line. The cover story was about the birth of a cat with one eye and two tails. "We are living in the last days." she said to herself out loud.
But we don't need the National Enquirer or Trinity Broadcasting Network or Hal Lindsay or Pat Robertson to reveal to us some secret knowledge that we are now in the last days.
Because, believe it or not, it is the devil, the world and our own sinful flesh that is all wrapped up in predictions and date-setting when it comes to the last day. The great and terrible day of the Lord of the heavenly armies. The final day. The final end of this poor and miserable, falling apart world, plagued with sin and death and the effects of sin and death: earthquakes and storms. Violence and wars. The killing of the innocent. The persecution of the one, holy, Christian and apostolic Church. Famine — especially famine of the Word of God.
What will mark the last days? The prophet Amos has already told us and anyone else who will listen:
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.” (Amos 8:11-12 ESV)
A famine of the Word of the Lord. Do we see this today, even among church bodies that grew out of the re-discovery of the Gospel of grace through Martin Luther 500 years ago? Do we see a famine of God's saving Word today —when more and more pastors and priests have no understanding of the distinction between the Law and the Gospel, no skill in telling the difference between command and promise, between Moses and Christ, between the sacrifice of salvation and the sacrifice of thanksgiving?
"We are living in the last days."

Jesus himself said as much as he says to all who would follow him in faith: "Beware. Be aware of what will come."
“See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.” (Luke 21:8b-9 ESV)

What marks the last days? A famine of God's redeeming Word. A continuous parade of false Messiahs who lead many astray. And increasing numbers of Christians who trade in their hunger and thirst for the Word of Christ in Scripture, the Word of Christ at the font and altar for something completely different: an insatiable appetite for the daily details by those who promise they have been given by God's spirit the ability to prophecy the specifics on when the last day will come.
Jesus' warning is the same for the Twelve as it is for us today. "Stay awake and do not go after those who announce they have an inside track on the all the juicy details of when the last day will come."

The last day will surely come. We pray that it will come soon. But woe to the one who neglects the saving object of true faith while running around in fear and excitement mesmerized by the dead-end desire to figure out if the last day will be next Tuesday or a month from last Wednesday.
Think of the time wasted. Think of all the energy diverted into a never-ending death spiral of numbers and nations, secret meanings and signs, disasters and conspiracy theories that attempt to convince you and everyone else that the last day is just around the corner — and only those who are smart enough and spiritual enough will be able to discern the secret writing on the wall. Think of the damage done to true faith.

Folks, let me tell you a secret. The Christian Church has been in the last days since Herod sent his soldiers to kill the baby Jesus. Since John the Baptist was thrown into prison and executed. Since Stephen was stoned and Saint Jude flayed alive. Since Jan Hus was burned at the stake.
Because ever since the advent of our Lord upon the earth, the body of Christ, the Church has been marked by rejection and betrayal, marked by imprisonment and false witnesses and kangaroo courts, marked with innocent suffering and death. All in anticipation of that great and terrible day of the Lord about which no one knows the hour or the day — except God the Father alone.

Do you find yourself all wrapped up in the latest predictions of how the headlines in the morning paper and the top story on the six o'clock news are secret signs that the last day is just around the corner?
Do not be deceived. Christ calls us to take our eyes and our worries off the latest rumors and prophecies and get them back where they should have been in the first place: on the Christ of Scripture, on the Christ of the Baptismal Font, on the Christ of the Holy Supper.
That's where our eyes and ears and attention should be in these last days. That's where our eyes and ears and attention must be in these last days.
Remember what Martin Luther is supposed to have said when asked what he would do if he knew tomorrow was the last day? Sell all his possessions? Climb up the tallest mountain and wait for the Lord there? Luther said, "I would simply plant an apple tree."
What would we do if we knew tomorrow was the last day? Simply do whatever God has called us to do every day, at school, in the garden, at work, in our homes, at our church.
Give the loudest and clearest witness to each other and to the world around us — by gathering around our Lord each and every day in this time of extended grace before the end finally comes.
And if tomorrow is our last day, then let us live today under God's Word and forgiveness and grace and strength. Receiving courage for the hours that lie ahead by remembering the eternal promise made by Christ at our Baptism. By coming to the altar rail with repentant and contrite hearts. By listening to Christ as he comes in the readings of Scripture, in the sermon, in Sunday School and Confirmation class. And by caring for one another as we have been called to do.

This morning God in Christ through the Holy Spirit has given us a new day, that we might freely confess our sins, receive forgiveness and the assurance that Christ is Lord of the Last Day just as he is Lord of his Church and the redemption of each of us. Everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth is destined to bow the knee before him.
And nothing — not even the Last Day — will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Not even our unhealthy fascination and secret fears about how this dark and dying world will end.
And for the Christian faithful — for you and me — the promise that Christ is our gracious Lord is enough for today, and every day that God graciously gives us.
We live in the last days. But we live under God's mercy and the gracious Word of Christ.
Let us rejoice and be glad in that revelation. As we daily honor those in authority over us. As daily we live as responsible citizens of this land. As we freely serve our neighbor-in-need. As we sing the praises of Christ and his Cross to anyone who will listen.
In these last days, let us commend ourselves to our Lord's loving care as we daily put our trust in his suffering and death and resurrection.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

The Unappreciative Redeemed (Luke 17:11-19)

2010-10-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Last week we heard that it is the grace of Christ alone that can create and sustain a spirit of servanthood in our Christian life. A servanthood that freely responds to God's gift of salvation by serving God and neighbor without thought of reward or personal merit. As we heard our Lord say last Sunday morning, true, Christ-like service responds with the words, "We have only done what was our duty."
But today's readings from Holy Scripture somehow remind me of the golden rule each of us were taught as little kids: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Use your common sense about what behavior you would desire from others when dealing with your neighbor. Everyone likes to be recognized and appreciated and listened to. Everyone likes to be treated with fairness and honesty. Everyone likes relationships that benefit themselves as well as others.
And so we go through life trying to be nice to others — at least in public — at least some of the time. We hold the door open at the store for old men with canes. We are polite with the person in front of us at the post office. We wait our turn at the DMV. We even try to be friendly with people we don't know much about as we wait to get out of the sanctuary after Sunday morning service. Because we've all been told: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Christians remind themselves of the Golden Rule. They put these words on stickers and toys and Christian story books for children.
Others who follow Confucius remind themselves of the Silver Rule (it's kind of the Golden Rule in reverse): "Don't do to others what you would not want them to do to you."
That means, if you don't want to be kicked in the shins - don't kick anyone in the shins. If you don't want to be beaten up on the playground, don't beat anyone up on the playground. If you don't want to be cut off on the freeway don't cut off people on the freeway. If you want your pencil back without teeth marks on it, don't start chewing on a pencil you borrowed from a friend.
These are great and indispensable rules to live by. They help keep everything from getting out of hand. They keep the speed of our cars in check. They help keep arguments from becoming fist-fights. They keep our outward behavior in check - in our homes and at our school and in the workplace and in our apartment building. They keep order when we find ourselves stuck between floors in a crowded elevator or in the middle of a 50% off sale at Target or around the family dinner table after having a personally long or difficult day at work or school.
But there's another kind of rule we often find ourselves living by. It sometimes seems to be quite reasonable. One of those "common sense" kinds of dictums that even Ben Franklin would follow: "Show kindness and grace to those who will acknowledge it. Show love and mercy and forgiveness to those who appreciate it. Be kind and loving to those who will return the favor."
But this proverb comes from the wisdom of a fallen world and the world's religions and our own worldly nature. "Give it out only when there's some guarantee that you'll get at least some of it back. Why give of yourself when it's not appreciated and returned?"
You probably know someone who uses this approach as their secret guideline in making decisions about who they will allow into their life and who they won't allow into their life. What they will do for one person, and what they just won't do for another.
The world tells us: "Invest where you can get the greatest return." And there's a part of each of us that takes this kind of wisdom to heart — when we're dealing with the stock market — when we're shopping for a personal savings account — when we're evaluating our friendships and family.
Too often this is our approach when it comes to showing concern and mercy and grace and forgiveness and care to others. "Where am I going to get the biggest bang for my buck?" we secretly ask ourselves. "Who's going to appreciate me the most? Who's going to give me the nicest thank you card? Who's going to tell everyone else what a great and glorious person I am? Where am I going to get the loudest applause?" Because a part of each of us wants to live a life of guaranteed returns on our investment — guaranteed returns on our investment in the lives of others.
For example, take the self-help section of your neighborhood Barnes and Noble. Dollars to donuts you'll see more than one paperback that will walk you through the logic and rewards and strategies of avoiding or eliminating all of those hard-to-get-along-with people in your life that drain you of energy or make your life so frustrating. You'll find books with titles like: "Twelve Steps to End Letting Others Take Advantage of You." "Your Right to Enjoy Your Life Your Way." and "How to Make Everyone in Your Life Appreciate You."
Yes, each of us have become a little defensive in our old age. We've reached out with love and concern for others and have been quickly disappointed or hurt.
And that's where God in Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit begins to show us that there are no guarantees in this world of sin. There are no secret formulas when it comes to others appreciating the good we think we have said and done.
Because we too have been less than appreciative. We also have found ourselves unable or unwilling to give back — sometimes even a little in response to the good God has given us through others.
The Holy Scriptures shines the spotlight on the chilling reality that when it comes to a lack of proper appreciation — when it comes to a lack of responding to kindness with kindness and grace with grace and forgiveness with forgiveness and sacrifice with sacrifice, all fallen children of our first parents are caught red-handed.
We decide to un-invite Uncle Fred to our Thanksgiving Day dinner because he never stops complaining about his health conditions. We only go out to lunch with those who never criticize us or always laugh at our jokes. We neglect opportunities to cultivate a relationship with our neighbor down the street who once complained about our dog barking or the time we left the garbage cans out on Friday.
And then we hear the words of our Lord. Not only the words about the golden rule, but the words from the lectern this morning:

On the way to Jerusalem [Jesus] was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:11-19 ESV)

Christ does the unexpected, unreasonable, illogical thing as he journeys to Jerusalem: he heals diseased people who had lost the ability to properly appreciate the Messiah or his healing work as a foretaste of the great healing he was to accomplish when he finally reached Jerusalem.
Christ comes and speaks a word of healing and restoration — independent of any thought about which among the ten would give back a goodly amount of praise and thanksgiving.
Why couldn't Jesus just have stuck with the playbook the fallen world and our old, fallen nature follows? Why couldn't Jesus just come and announce: I have come to give you a bit of forgiveness, a sprinkle of grace, and piece of salvation — to see what you will do with it. How much you will make of it. And then, if you appreciate me enough, I might give you a little more.
What does Christ give to unappreciative people? A trial size dose of salvation?
Thanks be to God that, as we hear in the Epistle this morning, even when we are unfaithful, Christ is faithful — to his heavenly Father, to his mission to redeem the world, and to his eternal promises.
Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem to give all. To give all he was and all he had not simply for those who might pay it all back.
Jesus laid down his very life for all. For all ten lepers. For you and me and every other unappreciative person who couldn't even begin to save themselves from the disease of not thanking God enough, not serving their neighbor enough, not trusting in our will-do-whatever-it-takes-to-redeem-us Lord.
Christ died for the sins of the whole world. Christ died for the sin of an unthankful heart, that he would resurrect proper appreciation in the hearts and minds of all who would believe.
Do you find a song in your heart for all the gifts given to you by Christ Jesus through his cross and tomb? Do you find yourself praising God for the cleansing waters of Holy Baptism? Do you find yourself hungering for his Supper from his altar?
Then give thanks for even that gift. Because it is Christ who gets credit for your ability to honor and bless and praise him.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

"Pray and let Christ worry." Luke 12:22-28

2010-08-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Children of the Heavenly Father:

Psalm 27: "The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?"

There's something inevitable in our lives in addition to death and taxes: fear. One minute we confess that worry and fear plague us, and the next minute we have convinced ourselves that those things that keep us up at night are best handled by joining Bobby McFerrin as he sings, "Don't worry. Be happy."
A life of fear, an anxious heart, and endless days of worry about everything and nothing. This is our lot since our first parents took that first big bite into knowledge of good and evil and the unending heartache that came along as a special added bonus.
Life in a world of thistles and thorns where food is provided by the sweat of our brow and the knowledge that clothes and shoes and house and car and all the other stuff of this world unexpectedly breaks or slowly but inevitably wears out. Including our health and the ability to be independent masters of our own fate. Our position at the company is suddenly eliminated. Someone in our family no longer will talk to us. The bank sends a registered letter to announce that they are foreclosing on the house. The kids need braces and we haven't even started to think about a savings plan for college or our own retirement. And what we could do with our bodies ten years ago takes four ibuprofen to do today.
And we worry and pop another antacid or try to loose ourselves in a worry-free life of listening to music in the car or watching a movie in the den or preoccupying ourselves with our sports teams or creating a life free from fear somewhere on the internet.
We are children of fallen and sinful parents who perpetually bounced between denial of fear and fear that overtook them and overwhelmed them and threatened to suffocate them. With their son murdered and their other son on the lamb, with paradise lost and death and decay set in motion as the fruit of doubt and disobedience, for Adam and Eve everything, it seemed, was out of their control.
The history of mankind, the history of fallen men and women, our entire history — is one of fear and anxiety and our feeble little attempts to contain and subdue and control it and — if none of that worked — pretend that it simply didn't exist.
Sin's fruit? The consequences of doubt in God's grace and goodness as our heavenly Father who always has our best interests in mind. The dread of coming face-to-face with everything that is out of our hands. Things that are the consequence of our own foolishness and rebellion. Things that are the consequence of simply living in a fallen world ultimately helpless in its attempts to reverse the forces of death and decay and re-create the security of that Paradise lost.
And so, even for us as Christians, fear desires to rule our minds and hearts and lives. The constant drumbeat of anxiety more often than not gets the best of us as it drowns out the quiet whisper of God's promise — the pledge made to Eve and Adam and all their children.
It's really an eye-opening exercise to mark the entire history of salvation by noting the hundreds of places in the Holy Scriptures where we come upon the word "fear." Worry and anxiety is all over the place when we hear about the lives of the faithful who have gone before us. People like Abraham and Daniel and Jacob and David and Joseph. The people of Judah. The people of Israel. Zechariah and Mary and Peter. Fallen and sinful people — just like you and me — plagued by fear and haunted by anxiety over the things of this life.
It is to these preoccupied, burdened, sleep-deprived people that Jesus speaks as he journeys to Jerusalem and the Cross.
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Luke, the twelfth chapter:
And [Jesus] said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!" (Luke 12:22-28 ESV)

A simple and direct command by the Lord come in human flesh: "Do not be anxious about your life."
Yes, we are to be responsible in using the good talents and energies and opportunities our Lord gives us to provide for the needs of this life and our neighbor-in-need. Jesus is not commanding his own to live a life free of responsibility to ourselves, our family, our church family, and our community.
We cannot misuse Jesus' command here to announce to the world: "O.K. No more worries!" and then sell everything we have, quit our job, walk away from our school, abandon our family and let the church or the government take care of all our needs while we sit back and do nothing.
It is in the context of our labor — the hard work of providing for our needs and the needs of our neighbor that we hear Jesus say to us, "Don't be anxious about your life."
Jesus would have us acknowledge our sin and weakness and worry as we — at the same time — remember his Word — his Word that freely gives anxious people peace — his Word that freely gives fearful people strength and courage. His Word that has the last word over all the stuff of our lives we cannot control.
It is to the voice of our Lord we flee when we are at our wits end. The voice of our Lord through the apostle Paul who proclaims to worry-sick souls: "He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for us all, will he not with him also give us everything else [we need]?" (Romans 8:32)
Our Lord Christ knows that we are anxious, nail-biting people. And only he comes to help us see our fears as they really are, that he might embrace them and take them into himself and make them his own.
Where do we go? Where do we run to find help with our stressed-out minds and anxious hearts?
We follow Abraham who answered the worries of his only-begotten son Isaac as they journeyed up the mountain:
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham,“My father!” And he said,“Here am I, my son.” He said,“Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide …, my son.” (Genesis 22:6-8a ESV)

By the gift of God's grace, we place the brokenness and decay and uncertainties of life into the hands of our Creator and Redeemer and Sustainer and trustingly say, as Martin Luther use to say, "Pray and let God worry."
Looking to our crucified and risen Lord, we pray:

O most loving Father, you want us to give thanks for all things, to fear nothing except losing you, and to lay all our cares upon you, knowing that you care for us. Strengthen us in our faith in you and your Word of promise. Grant that the fears and anxieties of this mortal life may not separate us from your love that is in Christ Jesus, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

Preoccupied with the Word. (Luke 10:38-42)

2010-07-20T06:39:00.001-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Dear Redeemed in Christ:
Imagine you are in line in a store with someone who replies to the question, "What do you do for a living?" with the answer, "I'm an investor."
Do you give this person a hug or a punch in the stomach? What thoughts and images run through your mind?
Is this an investor in pork futures or the stock market?
Is this an investor in gold bullion or junk bonds?
Some of us have been badly burned by investors. We are still trying to recover from the investments they proclaimed. We have become weary of anyone telling us to place all our eggs in their basket of opportunity for guaranteed returns.
But even if we turn and run when we are solicited to invent in a company or a product or a commodity or a financial derivative, we are all investors — even if we still hide 20 dollar bills in our mattress.
We are creatures who were created — wired — to invest in something — in someone.
The almighty maker of heaven and earth made us — to trust, to serve, to follow, to invest not only in the NASDAQ, but in the Almighty himself and the work of his hands (this world given to us to manage as responsible, thankful stewards).
And so we see ourselves and all those around us as investors who put their stock in some things that are "good, right and salutary" and some things that are deceptive, dangerous, and even deadly.
Look around. Some in our lives have invested themselves in saving the planet. Others have invested themselves in supporting the crown of creation by advancing medicines for smallpox and AIDS and malaria around the world.
But what about you? What do you find yourself investing in? Take a look at your calendar. Take a look at your checkbook. Take a look at how you spend your time and energy. Take stock of what would be the most devastating thing to loose.
What do you find yourself invested in?
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Luke, the 10th chapter:
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42 ESV)
Martha had given in to investing in the things we are also tempted to give in to: the promise that if we are busy enough with our family, if we are busy enough with our kids, if we are busy enough with our friends or work — then we will earn for ourselves God's unending praise and a bigger crown in heaven than our neighbor down the street.
"But Martha was distracted with much serving."
Maybe it's happened to you recently as you extended an invitation to a family member, an across-the-street neighbor, a co-worker, a friend to join you for a Bible study here at Redeemer. "Oh, I would love to come." is the response. "But I'm so busy. I have to …" and then the un-ending list of this world's demands.
That's where Martha had ended up. The "have to's" of her life. The "have to's" of being the perfect host for Jesus and his salvation.
Maybe this morning you find yourself caught up in the un-ending "have to's" of life. The list that never gets shorter. The demands that never stop telling you it's all about your serving and your doing and your investing in your friends and work, in your family and your church family — and in your Savior and Lord.
Yes, we are called to serve our families. Yes, we are called to serve our community and friends. Yes, we are called to serve Christ and our neighbor-in-need. But as Martha learned the hard way, investing — serving others — must take its proper place.
Because God in Christ calls us first to be preoccupied at the feet of Jesus. To hear and receive in a quiet and strong confidence his Word.
And that's something our old, fallen, all-about-me nature can't do, and will never do, and will always fight against.
What's the difference between the true, gracious, saving Gospel of Jesus Christ and the empty, imitation gospels of the world and all the world's religions?
That life-changing difference is to be seen in Mary's God-given understanding that when it comes to salvation's investment, the true Gospel, the real Messiah — redemption revealed by God in his Holy Word — it's all about — will always be about — God's own, from the heart, investment in you.
God invested all that he had in you, despite your fallen, rebellious, have-to-have-it-my-way nature. Despite your lack of understanding when it comes to how salvation actually works. Despite your daily transgressions against him and your neighbor.
Christ — his perfect life and sacrificial death in you place — is God's great and gracious investment in you, and the person sitting next to you and the person down the street from your home that is sleeping in this morning.
God gave up. God gave over. God handed over his precious, only-begotten Son into the hands of evil men — for you and your salvation. No pre-salvation negotiations or deal-making. God invests in you - simply because that is the kind of gracious, merciful, "always more willing to forgive than we are to ask for forgiveness" God he is.
With the eyes of faith, Mary sees that. She is content with that. She is quietly confident in believing that in Jesus and his redeeming Word, she is, right there and now, God's dear child and an heir of heaven — even when it comes to her response to his healing Word. That's why she keeps her eyes on her Lord and her ears open to his Word.
This morning Christ and his holy Word calls us to turn the table on the devil, the world and our old, sinful flesh and see Christ as God's saving investment, and his Cross, his sacrifice for us, his Word as our only comfort, our only certainty, our only solid rock and defense.
As weak and sinful people, we confess finding ourselves too often believing it's all about our service and our work and our investing that makes heaven smile upon us.
But Christ calls us to daily remember our Baptism and continue to sit at his feet.
Because without his abiding presence, without his life-changing Word, our homes are mere houses, our congregation is just a social club, and the Bible is just another handbook for moral living.
Without Christ and his Word, water at the font is only water. Bread and wine from the altar is just bread and wine. And Sunday morning is nothing but a parade of our great works.
Only when we respond in faith to the Word of Christ as he comes in the Scriptures, as he comes in Baptism, as he comes in his holy Supper, can we get a glimpse into heaven's take on being truly free to invest in, to serve our neighbor selflessly, for the sake of our neighbor.
Do you want to give something to Christ? Do you want to invest in his salvation? Then come and give him — your many sins. Because Christ and his Word is the only redemption that can never be taken from us.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Parade or Procession? Luke 7:11-17

2010-06-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Dearly beloved in Christ:

Processions. We've witnessed a lot of them in the last several weeks. Processions around the United States during Memorial Day observances. Processions here at Redeemer for the last two Sundays - to mark Pentecost and Holy Trinity Sunday. And this Tuesday there will be a procession to the polling places to commemorate election day here in California.
But processions are, by their very definition, different than mere parades. Processions are more somber, more intentional, more revealing about life in this world and the things we really believe in, especially when things aren't going the way we might want.
"Everyone loves a parade." We who live in and around Huntington Beach should understand that — in a community that prides itself on having the biggest parade in the United States. "Everyone loves a parade." Just take a look at the excitement during Mardi Gras.
But not everyone loves a procession. Because a procession forces us to face the reality of what we have become as fallen, weak, helpless, poor and miserable children of our first parents — our first parent who lost it all in their power grab for glory and prestige and the limelight of being the ones in charge and calling the shots.
Precisely because of humanity's fall into sin — our fall into sin — we now not only have parades, we have processions. Processions that give witness to a fallen and dying world. Processions that proclaim who we have become under the tyrants of sin, death and the devil. Processions that confess our inability to fix the mess we have gotten ourselves into.
For the last several weeks there has been a procession of those who's livelihood depended on the beaches and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. A procession of trading in fishing nets for oil containment boom and chemical dispersant sprays. A constant witness to the feeble abilities of industry and government and society to provide a quick fix to the threatening forces in the world — the overwhelming forces in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
You see, processions in a world twisted and infected with sin are as old as our first parents. Take a look at the generations of God's people before the advent of Christ. Processions that wandered in the wilderness. Processions of chained captives being lead into Babylon. And processions of sacrifices to the Tabernacle and Temple to give witness to the need for a once-for-all redemption from the spiritual Pharaoh and his eternal grip on each of us.
Processions define us. Who we have become. And before Christ, what defined us was an endless procession of failure to love God, the maker of heaven and earth. Before Christ, what defined us was an endless procession of despair. A hopeless procession that trumpeted the seemingly unstoppable chorus of, "Dust you are, and to dust you shall return."
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Luke, the Seventh Chapter:

Soon afterward [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. (Luke 7:11-17 ESV)

We can't imagine a darker, more hopeless situation. The untimely death of the only-begotten son — of a woman who had already lost her husband, and with it her ability to adequately provide for her needs and the needs of her son. She has now lost her precious son. Her only means of support. Her last comfort and joy. She is left alone and grieving.
We can't imagine a more pitiful and heart-breaking situation. And neither could the townspeople of the little village of Nain. Their hearts went out to this woman lost in the poverty of her miserable situation. They process with her in silence — out of the town, out of the place of the living to the place of the lost, to the place of those taken by sin and the consequences of sin.
Yet, in the midst of hopelessness, in the midst of complete despair, in the midst of the seemingly unchangeable effects of death and disease, the most unlikely of men comes to put his hand on the situation and call all to follow him as he begins a procession only he can lead.
The procession our Lord Christ leads was what the patriarchs of old had put their trust in, what they, in faith, had always looked forward to. This is why Joseph had left instructions concerning his remains, that they would be prepared for the day Christ would lead his people out of Egypt to the Promised Land.
The coming of the procession of our Lord Christ is what Abraham and Isaac and Jacob held on to — in life and in death. This is the revelation announced by Elijah to the widow in Zarephath.
The advent of the Messiah's procession. This was the song of angels before prophets and shepherds outside Bethlehem.
Jesus begins a new procession. He said as much at the beginning of his public ministry before the people of Nazareth when read from the pulpit:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind;
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19 ESV)

Jesus stops a funeral procession in its tracks, and with his touch, with his "gives-everything-it-promises" Word, begins a new procession that leads dead and dying people back, into the land of liberty, the land of the Gospel, the land of God's eternal grace and favor.
This is the witness of the Christian Church until Christ comes again in all power and glory: everything has changed as our Lord Jesus turns around our procession — the march of fallen, sinful, dying people — and makes it his procession.
Jesus' calls out to all who will listen with the ears of faith: follow me. Follow my lead. Follow my way: from Bethlehem to the Jordan, from Nazareth to Nain, to the place of your redemption: to Jerusalem. To the Upper Room to the Mount of Olives. To Calvary.
That day Jesus confronted sin and the deadly consequences of sin. In touching the dead, Jesus proclaimed what we and all believers give witness to: Jesus was sent to lay aside the glories of heaven as he took upon himself our weakness and despair and grief over what we have done and what we have failed to do.
What is our witness as a Christian congregation? Get God to notice you by doing great things for him? Make a difference in the world and then God will bless your efforts? Surrender all and then God will give you everything you want?
Our witness continues to be simply a finger point to God's gift of grace, God's gift of faith, God's saving gift of his Word: his Word made manifest through prophets and apostles, and finally in the person of his very Son.
Who walked our road, who took upon himself our march to the grave, that we would be lead on a procession of life eternal.
Do you believe this morning that you are beyond God's grace and forgiveness? That because of your sin there might be forgiveness and restoration for other but not for you? Do you find yourself dead when it comes to turning your life around and living a holy and acceptable life under the Word of God?
Then look to Christ's procession.
A procession to the his Cross. A procession to the his Font. A procession to his Table. A procession to his unexpected way of salvation. In God-given trust, let Christ lead.
May Christ in his mercy continue his saving work in the places and times he has promised. And may Christ in his grace continue to give us as Christians — and as a Christian congregation — the ability to witness to the reality of the world's dead-end parades, and in the way of the Cross — Jesus' procession of Life. Amen

A Sermon for Good Friday (Isaiah 53:3-9)

2010-04-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

We confess in the Creed the following: "He suffered, died and was buried." And in the Old Testament, Isaiah the prophet confesses these words: "By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgressions of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth." (Isaiah 53:8-9 ESV)
Some people just can't get themselves through the automatic glass doors of a hospital. They have no problem sending a card or a handful of flowers, but when given the opportunity to spend a few hours at the bedside of a seriously ill friend or relative, they'd rather have a root canal or their pinky chopped off. They just can't bring themselves to make a visit to the bed of those seriously ill. "I just wouldn't know what to say or do." they confess.
Good Friday is a lot like that. There's something in each of us that turns away and walks when we receive the invitation to come near our Savior and Redeemer as he hangs from a tree. A part of us asks, "Can't I just send a card or flowers?"
This evening there are plenty of people outside these walls who considered coming to services tonight. They told themselves, "I know it's Good Friday, and I should attend services to hear God's Word and give thanks for the gift of salvation won upon the cross of Calvary. But who wants to go visit someone on deathwatch? What would I say or do as I again hear about Jesus' agony — his shameful suffering and disgraceful death?
This day the sanctuary, the Scripture readings, the hymns, the pieces of cloth on the altar, everything — right down to the color of the candles — says, "Behold this one sinless, righteous man dying in the most shameful of ways for the sin of the world." And, in response, a part of us can't help but wait and watch, yet another part of us would much rather close our eyes and turn away.
Not only are two-thirds of the world's people today either completely ignorant or completely uninterested in "Good Friday," this day in the church year is observed by fewer and fewer Christians. "I only attend uplifting services." one person remarked, while another once told me in private, "I would come to services Friday but I just don't feel comfortable in asking my boss for time off to celebrate Jesus' death."
Well, obviously Christians and the Christian Church don't "celebrate" Jesus' suffering and death. We "commemorate" Jesus pouring out his life-blood upon the altar of the cross, we "observe" Good Friday, even if we haven't done as much as we could have to receive this day as a holy day — as Holy Friday. Even if we find ourselves unprepared to receive the gifts of this unique day of the Church Year. Even if we find ourselves like the three disciples in the garden:

And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And [Jesus] said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?" (Mark 14:32-37 ESV)

Nevertheless, the hour comes. The sacrifice has been chosen. The offering is willing. He has been washed and anointed for his one-of-a-kind mission. All is ready. He now stands at the entrance to heaven's sanctuary as he lays down his life for rebel sheep who love to stray — for rebel sheep who love to sleep — who love to stay away.
For Good Friday is good and holy and blessed, not because of our great attendance and our soul-stirring prayers or hymns during services. Good Friday is good, Holy Friday is holy, this blessed day is blessed on account of our Lord and his faithfulness to redeem a sinful world from its sin by the laying down of his very life. He brings his righteous, perfect life to God's heavenly altar — and we bring our sin, all we have done against God's will and law, all we have failed to do for the glory of God and our neighbor-in-need.
On this day our Lord Jesus completes the work he began at the manger, at the Jordan, in the garden — the work of securing for us the cup of salvation, the cup of forgiveness, the cup of redemption by taking to his lips the cup that had our names upon it — the cup of God's wrath and punishment.
Often we don't know what to do — what to say — when placed before the dying. And often we don't really know how to behave when it comes to Good Friday. Do we follow the world and simply deny it or ignore it or re-interpret it?
God in Christ through the Holy Spirit would sanctify this day as we are brought near the cross of Christ to watch and pray.
To watch and pray as our Lord does it all for us, on our behalf, in our place, just as Isaiah foretold:

He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:3-6)

Today is Good Friday, the darkest day of the church year — and yet, the most illuminating day of the church year — as we see the greatest revelation of God's wrath for sin — and, at the same time, as we see the greatest revelation of God's grace for an undeserving world.
In the hymn, "Were you there?" we are asked if we were there at Jesus' suffering and death upon the cross. And although we are separated from that pivotal event of salvation history by two thousand years ago and another continent, we can, in faith, believe that we were there — our sins were there as Jesus took his last breath to proclaim, "It is finished; it is complete; the debt of an entire rebel world is paid in full — for good."

A blessed Good Friday to each of you.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Faith that Sings Back - Christmas Day (Psalm 98)

2009-12-25T08:25:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Redeemed by Christ, the Word made Flesh:

Sing to the lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel. [And] all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music. With trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn. Shout for joy before the Lord, the King. (Psalm 98)

One of the most crushing events anyone can ever experience is being asked by the director, after enthusiastically joining a choir, to only mouth the words while everyone else sings. Imagine being told: "We love having you in our choir — but please don't actually sing any of the words."
It is very unfortunate and it is completely disappointing because it is completely unnatural. Singing with nothing coming out of your mouth. It just shouldn't be because human beings were created to hear and take to heart — and then speak and sing.
That's why the Christian Church has always faithfully passed on the faith to the next generation through the Word of God spoken and preached and shared — and chanted and sung. It wasn't that many years ago when Grandpa would hand on his Bible to his son, and Grandma would hand on her hymnal to her daughter (in addition to both inheriting a well-worn copy of the Small Catechism).
But all of that seems to have changed these days — especially at Christmas. We have allowed those running the show to tell the faithful: "We love having you in the sanctuary — but please don't try to sing your faith — we have a praise band and a professional vocalist for that."
Five hundred years ago there was a reformation that not only put the Bible back into the hands of God's people, but the hymns of the Christian Church as well. By God's grace, Luther realized that faith wants to sing — true Christian faith needs to sing. No wonder one of the annual articles put out on the Reformation information table is titled: "If you sang a hymn in church this Sunday, thank Luther."
To a Church who thought song was the exclusive property of the monks and their choirs, the Reformation had something very definite to say. For faith — true Christian faith — cannot but sing back to God his Word and his Christ and his Font and his Table and his Birth, Death, his Resurrection and Ascension into heaven.
In this sanctuary this morning the Word of God spoken and sung is not the exclusive property of Italian-speaking opera singers or Latin-speaking monks and nuns. The song of Christmas comes from Prophets and Angels and Apostles — to God's people — to change hearts and strengthen faith as it returns back to heaven. Salvation through our ears and through our hearts and minds and then through our mouths back to God and to our neighbor.
That was the way it went in the days of great King David and in the days when shepherds who hadn't taken a music lesson in their life sang to all who would listen on the way back from the manger. (I wouldn't be surprised if, upon their return, the shepherds sang of Emmanuel in the manger even to their sheep.) And this is the way it will be in these last days before our Lord comes back in all power and glory leading heaven's armies upon his war horse to bring a final end to sin and death — to gather all believers in him, that we might sing his praises before his heavenly throne for all eternity.
On this, Christmas Day, true faith wants to listen to the Word of God and then sing — sing to God and sing to anyone else who will listen — about the deep despair of living in sin, cut off from God and from his grace by our rebellious thoughts, words, and deeds — about the poverty of our silly attempts to reconcile ourselves to the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth — about God's own answer to our estrangement and pitiful inability to redeem ourselves or anyone else in the sending of his most precious gift: his only-begotten Son.
On this day, Christmas Day, faith looks to do nothing else but listen to the Word of God — in, with, and through the prophets and apostles, in, with, and through the water of baptism, in, with, and through the bread and wine of the altar — and then, in a trust and joy and confidence that the world knows nothing about — sing back to heaven and earth.
In the manger, God is bringing all things to their fulfillment. He is putting into motion redemption that will bring the Son of God and Mary's Son from the donkeys of Christmas Day to the donkey of Palm Sunday, from the wood and nails of a manger to the wood and nails of a cross, from the cold and dark of a stable cave to the cold and dark of a tomb, that sin would be atoned for, that you might be bought back through the sacrifice of this holy, spotless Lamb of God.
This is the song of the angels. This is the singing faith of the shepherds. This is your song and my song. And we will sing it only as long as we keep our ears close to the Word of God — the Word of God made man.
Speak the Good News. Share the Good News. Sing with the angles and all of creation the Good News of Christmas morn: "Glory to God in the highest, and his saving peace on all upon whom his favor rests."
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Christmas Eve - The Antiphons of Advent - The Desire of Nations

2009-12-24T07:27:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Fellow-Redeemed in Christ:

From the Prophet Isaiah, the 66th chapter:

The Lord declares: “ ... the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, and I will set a sign among them." (Isaiah 66:18-19 ESV)

We hear it especially during the Christmas season: words of regret and longing and desire that the entire family would be together — around the tree and around the table. Sometimes it is said in whispers and other times it is shouted from the rooftops: "If only the entire family could be together — at the table and under the tree."
For some of us it will be a difficult Christmas because it will be an unfulfilled Christmas. Someone won't be there to cook the roast or string the popcorn or help put another log on the fire or tell a story or join in song.
In spite of all the shopping, in spite of all the wrappings and fancy sparkling things of Christmas, tonight too many of us here will have a Christmas with a loved one absent.
One example comes from my friend from Cambodia. A refugee of a war-torn nation, his family fled the killing fields. Some relatives were killed, others taken prisoner, still others later rescued from a small boat off the coast. But in that rescue, he was separated from his brothers and sisters and parents. Each individual family member who survived the atrocities of civil war was scattered by the relief agencies to different parts of the world: he was sent to Detroit, Michigan. A brother was sent to Tokyo, Japan. Another, Paris, France. His parents to Southern California. A family persecuted and scattered. A household fragmented and broken.
To come together and rejoice around one table, around one tree: this is the desire of so many people — not only on this day of the year, but on every day of the year.
Do you have a secret desire as you come to the Christmas Table, as you come to the Christmas Tree this year? What do you long for — who do you long for — in the still of this night?
What desire is left unfulfilled after all the glitter and tinsel of the world's spin on Christmas? The desire to be with an absent loved one? The hope-against-hope longing to be reconciled with another who can't be — won't be — with you to enjoy the food and gifts of Christ under his tree?
The great Advent hymn, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" and the ancient antiphons that inspired it, reflect the biblical revelation that is just as true this year as it was thousands of years ago: the world, the nations of the world, peoples and families around the globe come to Christmas with desires that they just cannot fulfill, despite all the legislation from Washington and all the declarations from Stockholm or Copenhagen. Despite all the resolutions by the United Nations, the nations are still — whether they dare to admit it or not — longing for that same peace and fellowship and community and family that we as the human race lost so long ago.
What do you long for — what do you desire — when you find yourself singing the words:

O, come, Desire of nations, bind / In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease, / And be Thyself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel / Shall come to thee, O Israel!

Some things just can't be bought with a gift card or made right with just a New Years' resolution. Despite all our merry-making, all our attempts to drown-out that dark corner of our heart by just playing the holiday music a little louder or adding more lights to the porch or pouring in a little more peppermint schnapps into the punchbowl — try as we may — the deepest of longings of a fallen humanity are still with us — even on Christmas Eve.
Actually, if we are honest with ourselves — it is especially the light of Christmas Eve that brings to light our darkness, our longings, our unfulfilled desires and fears — as individuals, as families, as neighbors and friends, as citizens of a nation and the world.
You see, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is actually a public confession, a prayer set to music, sung to the Lord of heaven and earth. For when we sing the words of this beautiful Christian hymn, we give witness to the teaching of the Old and New Testament — the revelation that we are a broken, fragmented people who cannot make things around the Christmas Table and things around the Christmas tree like they should be, like they once were, like we wish them to be.
And so we despair of ourselves this Christmas night. We despair of our trying through our busyness and buying and bartering to make it all right, to redeem the darkness and hidden longing that comes with Christmas.
"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is a great hymn for the Christmas season because it takes our eyes and preoccupations off self and puts them where all true desires are fulfilled: on the One who comes from heaven above, the One who is the true Desire of all families and peoples and nations, the One given the name Emmanuel — God-with-us-to-save.
The hymns of the Christian Church — the liturgy and readings of the Christian Church — announce again this night that there is a world of difference between simply making ourselves merry for a few days around Christmas and receiving, by God's undeserved grace, a blessed Christmas, a lasting Christmas, despite our losses, despite our weaknesses, despite our fallenness and sin and inability to create the Christmas Table and Christmas Tree we know we long for.
For the God-ordained scandal of Christmas Eve is something that flies in the face of everything we would have ever expected: the announcement from a cattle shed that gives that peace and that joy and that family and community that won't break a week later, won't run out of batteries a month from now, won't be traded in for another color or size or re-gifted and placed on the dollar table at a garage sale.
Hear the Word from heaven tonight: Emmanuel has come. The desire of the Nations and the Price of true Peace has come in this lowly, common-enough looking child in the straw of a Bethlehem manger. The savior of wandering shepherds and cynics. The redeemer of those oppressed by their sins and shortcomings. Emmanuel, God-with-us, come to deliver us, even from our fears of bearing the burden of another unfulfilled Christmas — another year of missing family and friends around tree and table.
For the Son of God and Mary's Son has come to do what all our will-power was always unable to do, what all the mistletoe and merry-making could never accomplish, what holiday wishes just couldn't make a lasting reality.
It is this Christ child who has been sent to set the table and decorate the tree. It is the baby Jesus who alone can bring the nations together around tree and table — his Table and his Tree.
For Christ is the true Manna from heaven. It is this one child who is, as Martin Luther use to say, the cook and the waiter and the meal at the true table of reconciliation. He prepares the table — his table, and feeds us with his very body and blood — forgiving sin, strengthening faith and establishing a communion — a holy and eternal communion with God and with each other.
Yes, Christ sets the table and gathers the peoples around it. He fashions the tree and draws the nations around it. For, as by a tree humanity fell into sin, so through a tree redemption for us has been won.
Jesus himself revealed the same when he foretold, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:32 ESV)
The true desire of all people, all nations, all families broken and scattered by sin has come hidden, wrapped in swaddling linens and laid in a manger.
What is needed to have a jolly Christmas is anyone's guess. But — as baptized Christians — what is necessary for a blessed Christmas? The table of Christ. The tree of Christ. God's gracious invitation. And the Word made flesh for you.

The "O Antiphons of Advent" - O Key; O Dayspring (Isaiah 9:1-7; Malachi 3:1-7, 16-4:5; Acts 26:1-18)

2009-12-16T11:45:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Dear Redeemed by Christ:

O Key of David: Come — and rescue.
O Dayspring, O Morning Star: Come — and enlighten.

The coming of deliverance; the advent of Light. These are the themes sung in the fifth and sixth stanzas of the great Advent hymn, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." After offering our petition for the advent of Emmanuel, Heaven's Wisdom, Lord of Might and Branch of Jesse's Tree, we call out: "O come, Thou Key of David and do your saving work of opening and closing." "O come, Thou Dayspring from on high and do your redeeming work of driving away the darkness of death."
And on what basis can we pray these kinds of prayers set to music? Where do these words come from? How do we in the 21st century find ourselves joining the 4th century author in praying this way, with these words that seem at first glance so strange — so cryptic? And what is our assurance that we can rejoice knowing that our Lord hears our prayer set to music — and responds to it in grace and mercy and goodness?
First and foremost is the clear understanding that any prayer worth praying — spoken or sung — is worth praying only on the basis of it's faithful reflection of the Word first spoken to us and to all who will listen to the inspired Scriptures in faith. The reason "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is one of the greatest Advent hymns is not simply that it is a singable tune that you find yourself whistling on the way home from church. That's part of it, but there are plenty of songs that have a catchy tune that don't get us any closer to heaven's door. (The theme song from Green Acres comes to mind.)
Christian hymns — or hymns that call themselves Christian — are only truly Christian if they clearly, faithfully, beautifully reflect the Word of God — the Word of Holy Scripture and Christ's redemptive center through his substitutionary sacrifice in our place. It's not just a matter of counting how many times the hymn uses the name Jesus. Can a hymn pass the "salvation by grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone" test? Then it is a Christian hymn faithful to the Word of God, and an even better hymn if set to an appropriately beautiful tune.
These two verses we pause to ponder this afternoon continue for generation after generation in the Christian Church because they are drawn from Scripture and present in song the same plea all believers offer up before the Lord of heaven and earth.
We as Christians are called upon to critique and evaluate and judge the hymns we sing, the Christian books we read, the prayers we pray on the basis of this one measuring stick: does this faithfully reflect the Scriptures and the salvation revealed in Christ? Is this borne of the revealed Word of God through the prophets and the apostles, or is it simply a product of our own fallen human imagination — the way we think salvation should work, the way I think Christ should operate in my life? God help us always to discern the wheat from the chaff when it comes to what we pray and what we study and what we sing.
And so, directed by the revealed Word of God, we join the voice of the prophets and apostles as we look to our Lord Christ and pray in these days before Christmas: "O come, Thou Key of David and do your saving work of opening and closing." "O come, Thou Dayspring from on high and do your redeeming work of driving away the darkness of death."
It is the babe born in Bethlehem that is our Sun of Righteousness, who comes in grace and mercy and forgiveness with (as the prophet Malachi foretells) healing in his wings — redemption that forever closes the door on our estrangement from God and opens the door only the Christ can open: the gates of an eternal heaven with our Lord and with our loved ones: those who have gone before us clothed in Christ's righteousness — and those who will follow us — the faithful in our households, and the faithful in the household of faith baptized into Jesus' birth and death, his cross and resurrection, his ascension into heaven.
For you see, from the earliest times of the Christian Church — from the time of the apostles — being enlightened by the redeeming rays of Christ and his righteousness was the language of Holy Baptism. Being enlightened had nothing to do with sitting under a tree and contemplating selfish desire or suddenly understanding the wisdom of the world while eating magic mushrooms.
Under the Word of Christ and his messengers, being enlightened is all about Christ coming — Christ's advent — in, with and through the water of the font to bring to light our desperate need to be forgiven, and God's saving work of providing the free gift of redemption through the once-for-all sacrifice of his Son.
And so we sing: "O come, Thou Key of David and do your saving work of opening and closing." "O come, Thou Dayspring from on high and do your redeeming work of driving away the darkness of death."
This is the purpose for which the prophets and apostles were sent out into the world: to serve Christ by witnessing to him and his coming to save through his Word and water and bread and wine.
For the commission of our Lord to the apostle Paul is the commission to the Christian Church in our day: "I am sending you," Jesus says, "to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." (Acts 26:18 ESV)
Who is properly prepared to receive the Christ child on Christmas Day? Those who can stand before Christ and his Church and confess: I am in bondage and cannot free myself. I am spiritually helpless and a prisoner of a dungeon of my own making. I am chained to my fallen-ness and sin. My rescue lies in the One God himself has appointed to open and to shut. The One who holds the Key and Scepter of Redemption. Who opens and no one can shut. Who shuts and no one can open. Who has won salvation and gifts it to all who will receive it in true faith.
"O come, Thou Key of David and do your saving work of opening and closing." "O come, Thou Dayspring from on high and do your redeeming work of driving away the darkness of death."
We join the prophets and apostles and pray to our Lord: "Come and rescue us; come and enlighten us with your Word." For, as the psalmist has written:

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. (Psalm 130:1-8 ESV)

God continue to bless our Adventide in Christ the Key, in Christ the Morning Star. Amen

Son of David Greater than David? The 'O Antiphons' of Advent

2009-12-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Fellow-Redeemed in Christ:

The Holy Gospel According to Saint Matthew, the 22nd Chapter:

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. (Matthew 22:41-46 ESV)

Lord. Son of David. How do the two go together? Can the two go together? And what difference does it make for us in these days before Christmas?
Our Advent Canticle, O, Come, O, Come, Emmanuel puts the two titles together as it assigns both to Jesus — as it assigns both to Jesus, even at his birth. Lord and Son of David. Son of David and Lord.
Now just pause and consider anew how unbelievably silly that all sounds at first. This child? This man? This son of a lowly maiden and a blue-collar carpenter? Born in a forsaken place on the outskirts of a forsaken town? This child? This child king who's court consists of donkeys and horses and cows and the sheep of flee-bitten shepherds? Is this the best the house of David can do?
No wonder this question of Jesus to the unbelieving religious leaders shut down the entire conversation and left those who would not believe that Jesus could be greater than great King David fuming.
The Jesus of the Gospels and the Jesus of Christmas Day is accepted by the world and our old, worldly nature, just as long as he remains simply a babe in the straw of a manger or just another prophet or just another nice guy with nice intentions.
But watch out. When Jesus claims to be greater than the great Moses or greater than the Ten Commandments he revealed or greater than King David or greater than King David's City, sparks begin to fly. "Who are you, son of Joseph the carpenter of Nazareth, claiming to be greater than Moses and David? How dare you compare yourself to the great Patriarchs of our faith! How irreverent. How insulting. It's blasphemy!"
When Jesus reveals himself as greater than the great King David, greater than the Law of God and the Law-giver of God, there is nothing more to discuss. That was true in Jesus' day and it is true today.
Everyone (well, almost everyone) doesn't mind a Christmas card with some sheep and shepherds and Mary and Joseph and a little baby in a manger. It looks kind of cute and nostalgic and just a little pitiful.
But we confess something impossible for the world to acknowledge, something part of us has a real problem with: Jesus born Lord of Moses and Lord of David. This little baby Jesus - born King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Son of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, greater than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Son of David, greater than David.
No one could be asked to believe that could they? The greatest of the great, born in poverty, born after his parents hear that there was no room in the inn for the Son of David who was greater than David himself?
The hymns of Advent are not for our own entertainment or personal amusement. They are to call forth Christian faith in Jesus as Lord and Son of David and sustain it in a world that will give lip service to Christmas Day but just can't believe that the babe of the manger is the Creator of Heaven and Earth and the one Redeemer of all of humanity.
The world would sing:
"O, Come, O Come, Thou Sage of Wisdom, Thou Spiritual Mentor, Thou Great Humanitarian and Friend of the Poor and Downtrodden."
But the world will never put it's faith in Jesus as Emmanuel, God-with-Us-in-Human-Flesh. Our fallen nature will never put all the chips on Jesus as the one Redeemer, the one God-ordained medicine for sin-sick souls, the one heaven-chosen sacrificial substitute for Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob and Jesse — and even Jesse's son, great King David himself.
Each of us is called to confess Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Who, through his death and resurrection fulfilled the Law given through the great prophet Moses on Sinai's height. Who through his death and resurrection graciously gave us victory over sin, death and the devil.
For, you see, Jesus is not only the branch that springs forth from the tree of Jesse, David's father. Jesus is the root of the tree that is all children of the promise given to our first parents as they wept at the revelation of what they had lost in their disobedience and doubt and rebellion — as they wept at the revelation of what would be won back despite their disobedience and doubt and rebellion — by the Son of God and Eve's Son: the Messiah-to-come.
The Son of David greater than David? Most could not believe it — would not believe it.
But a remnant put all their hopes on this Jesus, this son of Jesse's tree who claimed to be the Word of God — the Law of God — in flesh and blood.
People like the two blind men in Matthew, chapter 9. People like the Canaanite woman in Matthew, chapter 15. People like the two blind men in Matthew, chapter 20:

And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him. (Matthew 20:30-34 ESV)

Only those who abandoned the logic and wisdom of the world, only those who received the unbelievable Word of God in faith looked to Jesus as David's greater Son. Only those who will say, "Amen" to heaven's shocking way of salvation can truly sing on Christmas Eve, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me." "Son of David, Kyrie, eleison!"
Advent is a season of preparation — not for those who have finished sending out all their cards and completed all their Christmas shopping — but for those who are, as the Small Catechism teaches us, spiritually blind, dead and enemies of God.
For it is this babe of Bethlehem, the ancestral home of David, that comes — comes in the waters of holy Baptism to have compassion on you, to wash you clean and open your eyes, that you might follow him in faith.

A shoot will sprout from Jesse's stem, / A branch from David's line,
A Price of Peace in Bethlehem: / The fruit of God's design.
("What Hope! An Eden Prophesied" LSB 342:2)

Come, my Lord and Savior. Come, thou Branch and Root of Jesse's Tree. Come, and save with your might hidden in your mercy, your glory covered by your grace, your power serving your pity on your helpless, wandering people. Come — and save.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

O Come, Emmanuel; O Come, Thou Wisdom from on High (An Advent Sermon)

2009-12-02T09:02:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Redeemed by the Wisdom of God Come in Human Flesh:

Scripture reminds us of the demands made upon God by our rebel world and its inhabitants. "Prove yourself to us and then we will believe in you. Come and show your glory to us and then we will give you our worship and praise. Come and explain yourself to us, show us your wisdom and power and glory, and then we will acknowledge you as God."
That has been the demand set before the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth since the beginning - since the fall into sin by our first wayward parents, Adam and Eve. They demanded an explanation. They desired the wisdom that was with God the Father from before the beginning. But what did they receive on account of their rebellion and doubt and unbelief? A twisted wisdom, a corrupt understanding, a self-centered and sin-stained view of their God, themselves, and the kind of redemption God would set into motion to save the two of them and their children.
For you see God needs to come and save us his way — in a way unknown to the wisdom of the world. In a way unknown to the wisdom of our fallen nature that thinks everything is resolved through the use of human cunning and power and might. It's just like my best friend use to say when he was working on the assembly line in a Chrysler plant: "If it doesn't fit - get a bigger hammer."
That was the way of murderous Cain and inheritance-stealing Jacob. That was the way of those who began to build the Tower of Babel. That was the way of Judas the betrayer. That has been the way of the world and the world's religions. And that is what is being pedaled by today's evangelists of the world's wisdom: turn you life around and take heaven by storm through your great promises and intentions and positive thoughts and good energy. Create your own positive future. Create your own blessed life. Create your own great relationship with God and everyone in your life by creating a new life for yourself.
And our old nature instinctively follows, thinking, "That makes perfect sense. I will create my own redemption through my dedication and decision and determination to make things right between me and my God."
But what do we read in Scripture with the eyes of God-given faith in his Word and Wisdom? Heaven had a very different plan — a plan that was completely outside the box of the world's wisdom, completely foolish and crazy and senseless. A plan that would make mouths drop in speechless awe and amazement. God securing salvation for helpless sinners who put their hope in God's form of wisdom.
God himself would establish salvation for his rebel people. God himself would set up redemption and secure heaven for those who continued to foolishly think they could straighten the whole mess out themselves if just given another chance. And God would do it in a way hidden from the wisdom and logic of the world. God would shatter all human reason by sending forth his very Word to make satisfaction for all sin.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Saint Paul writes to the Church in Corinth:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1Corinthians 1:18-25 ESV)

This week the season of preparation begins, four weeks that calls to us and the world to listen to the Word and Wisdom of God himself. To close our mouths and in silence wait for heaven's own unexpected sign, heaven's own unexpected wisdom in making sense out of what has become a meaningless world of toil and sweat and heartache and despair and death.
In this too-often neglected season of Advent, heaven's wisdom calls out to all who will listen in faith, to all who mourn over their sin, to all who will acknowledge that we are in spiritual exile by what we have inherited from our first parents — and from the sin we have done and the good we have failed to do. Especially the sin of putting our trust in salvation done the world's way - independent of God's Word through the prophets and apostles, independent of God's Word through water, independent of God's Word through bread and wine.
Wisdom calls out, but in a way we would have never guessed, never have imagined in a thousand years. For, when it comes to our salvation, heaven's wisdom cries out — from a lowly manger in a lowly cattle stall in a lowly village, the son of the lowliest of maidens, the son of a lowly carpenter. All to establish God's redemption. All to win his ransomed people. All to shame the wisdom of the world. All to shame what makes perfect sense to us and to those who continue to believe if they just figure everything out, then they will win reconciliation before God and their estranged neighbor on their own terms.
God sent his wisdom to shame the world's wisdom, that we would despair of our own deluded ideas about how we think redemption should work, and embrace the wisdom of God — the wisdom of God that comes not as a coded inscription on an Egyptian pyramid, not as a mysterious date on a Mayan calendar, not as a magic formula re-discovered at Stonehenge, not as the world's practical advise on how to truly find God by truly finding yourself.
What does God declare to that part of each of us that thinks we can figure it all out and discover for ourselves the wisdom that will save our souls and give meaning to the rest of our lives?

... let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:7-11 ESV)

It is the high-soaring Gospel of Saint John that announces to all who will listen with the ears of faith that the Word of God has come in human flesh to redeem human flesh by the once-for-all sacrifice of the Cross.
And it is the antiphons of Advent that proclaim that it is this wisdom from the mouth of God that gives divine order and knowledge of salvation to those who will confess with repentant hearts, "Unless I am taught by the Wisdom of God made flesh and blood, I will perish. Unless I am known by my Redeemer, and connected to his substitutionary death and resurrection, I am an eternal exile of the kingdom of heaven. Unless God sends his dear, only-begotten Son to save, I will die in my sin and foolishness."
The season of Advent would have us prepared for Christmas by the very Word of God, the very Wisdom of God, the very Son of God and Mary's Son, even Christ Jesus our Lord.
The wisdom of God made man — to shatter the foolishness of a world that can only conform Christ's birth to it's own fallen version of power and wisdom and glory and might.

The great Advent hymn, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," and the Advent antiphons that shaped it, call on the faithful to measure our Christmas preparations by the litmus test of God's unexpected wisdom. The wisdom that unites the wood and nails of the manger with the wood and nails of the cross; the wisdom that unites beasts of burden in a Bethlehem cave with those burdened with the load of their sin and shame; the wisdom that will only receive Christmas Day through the lens of Good Friday and Jesus' work on Calvary.
The lowly Son of the virgin Mary sent as the wisdom of God and the sign of God only heaven's gift of faith will see and receive.

O Come, O come, Emmanuel.
O Come, O Come, Thou Wisdom from on High.

Come and do your saving work of revealing and ransoming the clueless, we who would always get it wrong if left to our own fallen intuition and heart and pride. Come and conform Christmas to the image of your incarnate Son — and to the image of his Cross.
In repentant joy, may God through his Word and promise, ever prepare us for his unexpected coming to save.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Mercy and Thankful Hearts - even for Samaritans. (Luke 17:11-19)

2009-11-25T10:06:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Fellow-Redeemed in Christ our merciful Master:

The Holy Gospel According to Saint Luke, the 17th chapter:
On the way to Jerusalem [Jesus] was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. (Luke 17:11-14 ESV)
I have finally come up with a plan to write a book and make so much money from sales that I can retire when I'm fifty-two. I know it will be a best-seller because it is exactly what the world — and our old, worldly nature — thinks it needs to have a truly thankful and joyous and happy and fulfilled and blessed life. I already know what the front cover will look like: a photograph of me in a nice suit with a few big gold rings and a Rolex and a big smile (and a little more hair on the top of my head). And the title of the book in big letters: "Thirty Days to a Thankful Life."
Inside the book will be thirty chapters detailing thirty steps that, if done in just the right way, will promise the truly blessed life. The truly happy and successful life. The truly thankful life that everyone wants but no one, seemingly, can achieve — until now. Until my proven 30 step program to the truly thankful life.
The great thing about selling my book on "thirty days to the thankful life" is that the world — and our old, worldly nature — is already selling this formula in its advertisements and movies and novels and poems and television specials.
The 30 days between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Eve is the perfect time to get regularly hit over the head with the judgment that we have been — again — for another year — found as poor, miserable failures when it comes to being the always thankful people we should be.
This is the reason Hollywood stars come out once a year to dish out turkey to homeless people. This is the reason we are entertained by special presentations of the Grinch and Dickens' A Christmas Carol. This is the reason for the insanity of these thirty days between November 26th and December 24th: the world — and our old, worldly nature — have fallen for the temptation to stake everything on the belief that we can make satisfaction for our shame and guilt and become truly thankful people by promising more, entertaining more, doing more, and buying more.
And unfortunately, much of what calls itself Christian today promotes the same dead-end belief: changing the fallen human heart by fallen human will power.

It's interesting that when first-time visitors come to worship services here at Redeemer and are asked, "Did you feel comfortable with the service this morning?" the answer is more often than not: "Everything was nice — except for that beginning part. You know, that part where we have to say that we are poor, miserable sinners. Do you guys actually say that every Sunday?"
The crazy thing about disdain for the confession of sins is the fact that those same people join the world these thirty days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and secretly confess a very similar thing — that:
"I have failed to be truly thankful by what I have done and by what I have left undone. I have done unthankful things. I have (at least on occasion) found myself stingy or greedy or selfish — maybe even grumbling about things I shouldn't really be grumbling about."
"I have failed to be truly thankful by what I have failed to do. I have not cheerfully given as much as I should to my parents, my spouse, my children, my grandchildren and the rest of my family. I haven't been happy in sharing my things with others — especially those in need. I haven't shown thankful behavior to those God has placed in my life. I haven't always said, "Thank you" when others give me things. I failed to write a note or make a call or stop and show appreciation for the simple blessings God continues to give through my neighbor: my family, my co-workers, my congregation, the leaders in my community."
But although we as believers in Christ and the world make similar confessions, Scripture reveals that our condition is much more desperate than what the world would ever imagine. Our un-thankfulness can't be corrected with a simple swipe of the credit card or our pledge to do better next time around.
Plenty of people after eating too much turkey and gravy will look back on Thanksgiving Day and convince themselves that things went better than expected. Uncle Henry didn't walk away from the table after arguing about the difference between the teachings of the Lutheran Church and the Church of Scientology. The kids didn't scream about which Black Friday sale to camp out in front of. Everyone was polite. Some even said "thank you" for hosting the dinner or bringing the dessert. Bobby even helped with the dishes.
But is that the core and center of what makes people truly thankful people living out truly thankful lives?
Contrary to what some parents confess when I ask them why they chose Redeemer Lutheran as the place to enroll their preschooler, Jesus has not come to merely make our behavior look more "Christian." (Actually, if you want the best "Christian"-looking behavior, you might be better off to go to your Hindu or Mormon neighbor.)
All ten lepers in today's Gospel reading were thankful and obedient. They did just what Jesus had told them to do. They went to show themselves to the priest and, when pronounced "clean," they made the required sacrifices at the temple according to the law of Moses.
All ten decided to do the proper and polite thing and plead for help and mercy and healing without approaching Jesus and risk getting him infected with the disease they were suffering under. There were probably more than a few in the group who had resolved on their way to the priests that they would later send a thank you note and even a check to that Jesus of Nazareth for pointing them in the right direction - for giving them the formula for a truly thankful life - for being so helpful.
But the real Christian life is not about confessing Jesus as helpful. It is something much more difficult, much more unexpected, much more radical.
On the way to Jerusalem [Jesus] was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” (Luke 17:11-19 ESV)
The Word of God has come in human flesh to affirm and fulfill the work of Moses — the work of Moses that does not ask that we promise to act more thankfully, that we enroll in a thirty day, thirty step program to change our hearts and transform ourselves into truly thankful people, despite what the TV evangelists say.
Christ came — Christ comes to you and me this day — to first affirm that our leprosy is truly leprous. It forever bars us from communion with a holy, perfect God and his holy people. When we say "amen" to the holy and perfect will of God for us and for the world, we find ourselves under the realization that our un-thankfulness has placed us outside the camp. Our sin has relegated us to wander in the wilderness of sickness and disease and failed promises and a will-power that just can't sustain our good intentions. We stand afar from the God of heaven and cry out in total despair, "Despite our un-thankful hearts, have mercy on us Lord. Come quickly to save us, for we can in no way even begin to save ourselves."
Martin Luther and the Scriptures reminds us that God brings the rain for the just and the unjust alike. God provides his life-giving, life-sustaining gifts not just to pious pilgrims and believing Missouri Synod Lutherans. He gives undeserving gifts to those who have true saving faith and those who do not. For we know that in his heart-of-hearts, our Lord loves to abundantly show grace and favor and mercy — even toward his wayward creation, even toward unfaithful children, even toward the un-thankful. For he gave his greatest gift: his precious, only-begotten Son for a world bent on either successfully turning him into merely a nice Savior — or rejecting him altogether.
The Samaritan leper — unlike the other nine — was comfortable with believing that he should have never been healed. He was outside any demand before God or his spokesmen to be cured, either in this life or in eternity. The Samaritan leper received salvation at the hand of Christ as complete, unexpected, undeserved, unmerited grace. And, we see, that gift of faith in the grace of God alone produced the fruits of faith: a truly thankful heart that would not rest until due thanks and praise was placed at the feet of the Christ, the Messiah, the One anointed by heaven to, as we heard at the beginning of this passage, journey to Jerusalem, there to do what only the Christ could accomplish: fulfill what the sacrificing of doves and goats and bulls could only point to. The winning of salvation on behalf of an entire rebel world.
The scandal of Christianity is the scandal of Christ and his Cross: that only in faith in Jesus as our substitutionary sacrifice for our leprous sin is there to be found true thanksgiving — thankfulness that lasts through December 25th and January 1st and into eternity.
You won't read that in this morning's paper. You won't hear that during this afternoon's half-time show. You won't see that on one of the giant comic strip character balloons during a Thanksgiving day parade. But it's heaven's truth just the same.
Human behavior that looks thankful is simply that: outward show from fallen, weak and helpless people that the world may applaud for a day, even though it counts for nothing when it comes to our salvation before the almighty Creator of heaven and earth.
As fallen children of Adam and Eve, we need healing under the Word of God himself. As fallen children of Adam and Eve, we need to be re-created from the inside out and given thankful hearts that see everything through the mercy of Christ and his Cross.
In true faith and the thankfulness it produces, we can give thanks to God that he has come to us in Holy Baptism and will continue to see us through — through heart-ache, through loss, through the most hopeless of difficulties. Even if we think we are like that one Samaritan, completely unworthy of being healed from what bars us from God's heavenly presence.
It doesn't take a 30 or 40 day program to make someone struggling with their sinfulness into someone truly thankful. It takes one Savior and his merciful, forgiving, healing Word — his Word that changes even as-well-as-dead leprous hearts into beating, believing hearts that willingly, joyfully — thankfully —join Christ on his journey to the Cross. And as he said to the Samaritan leper he says to you today: "In my death and resurrection you have been healed. In God-given faith and thanksgiving — take up your cross and follow me."
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

A Reformation Sunday Sermon - Let Christ be Your Savior (John 8)

2009-10-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Brothers and Sisters of Christ the Crucified:

... Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” (John 8:31-33 ESV)

The world and the world's churches have convinced themselves that the nicer they appear and the more good they can do in front of television cameras and newspaper reporters, the more the world will adore Christ, fall in love with him, and stop all its bad behavior.
And so congregations and organizations that call themselves Christian are out in the world loving everyone to death in order to make the world love the Gospel of Christ.
And shouldn't that be the way we effectively, successfully make everyone in our families, neighbors and communities Christian — by being holy and righteous and good and sinless people who are constantly doing holy and righteous and good and sinless things? If only we would end all disagreements in our church. If only we would stop all those personal idiosyncrasies that bother those around us and give a flower and a smile to everyone we meet during the day. If only we would be the perfect parent or the perfect child or the perfect next-door neighbor or the perfect employee or citizen.
If only we would overcome our fallenness and truly love God with our entire mind and heart and soul. If only we would overcome our sinfulness and love and care for our neighbor simply for the sake of our neighbor —
Then the world would stop being so mean and realize that Christ-like love is all we need. If we would only be like Christ — then the world would put away all anger and jealousy and greed and slander and hatred — and decide to be nice and play by the rules.
But that's the strategy of the world and the world's churches. And although it sounds so good, it is, in view of God's own clear revelation through the prophets and apostles, a strategy that leads nowhere but sinful pride and boasting — or total despair.
This morning, as we celebrate the 492nd anniversary of God's grace given in Luther's re-discovery of the saving Gospel, we do well to remind ourselves that the Reformation of the Christian Church of Rome that began on October 31st, 1517 had nothing to do with any man-made revitalization program for the church and the world.
Luther didn't cook up some magic formula that injected enthusiasm and excitement into Rome's plans to build the kingdom of heaven on earth through the funneling of more money into the church's coffers. Luther is not celebrated this morning because he defended the inalienable rights of the individual or because he single-handedly exposed the evils of corporate greed within the organized Christian church.
God's Word this morning tells us again exactly what we need to hear - especially when we get all puffed up with the wrong-headed notion that stubborn ol' Luther, master theological teacher, Bible-translator, hymn-writer, preacher, pastor and missionary lived such a good and Christ-like life that the gates of heaven were opened for anyone committed to follow in his saintly steps.
All that the Reformation truly stands for continues to be something that the world just can't swallow. Something that the world and the world's religions continue to spin and re-interpret to fit it's own self-deluded conclusion that humanity — if it just tries hard enough — can become holy and good and righteous — even before God himself.
Luther, after his hell-on-earth experiences as a monk, was given by God the grace to understand that even with the best of intentions, even with the greatest desire to please God and serve neighbor, our first parents have drained us of any ability to actually carry out what is truly God-pleasing.
Our care of neighbor is stained with our own preoccupation of building up our own image in the eyes of others.
Our love of God is all wrapped up in what kind of reward we think we'll be knocking down for being such good children of heaven.
We keep track of who we've saved and who we've helped and how many times we've said to someone on an airplane, "God loves you and so do I."
We are, by our very nature, list-makers of all the good we think we've contributed to the "righteousness" column that will be read on the last day by the One who knows if we've been naughty or nice.
No wonder why our old nature and the world's religions around us just can't accept the Jesus that comes to us in the Old and New Testament. The Jesus who announces in the eighth chapter of the Holy Gospel According to Saint John that all children of a real Adam and Eve are real fallen and sinful children of parents who gambled everything away — for themselves and for each of us — as they traded in faith and trust in their gracious and all-giving God for a chance at being the center of the universe.
And so any Reformation service worth it's salt begins with the acclamation that it isn't our good intentions that last forever. It isn't our nice behavior or sincerity or tears or promises or decisions or our cleaned-up lifestyle that saves ourselves or anyone else. The Church of the Reformation is, by God's unmerited grace, the church that begins Reformation Sunday with the clear confession — to the Lord Almighty and to the world — that on the basis of the unchanging Word of God, we are by our very fallen nature "sinful and unclean" and "deserving only of God's present and eternal wrath and punishment."
That's the opening note of the Reformation symphony because it is the opening note of the history of God's redemption in Christ.
We are under the oppression and shackles and curse of sin. We are worse off than the children of Israel under the thumb of Egypt's wicked Pharaoh. We are, by our very nature, able to choose, but able to choose only what appears to be good, right and salutary before the Maker of heaven and earth.
We are, in the words of Saint Paul, poor, miserable failures when it comes to carrying out the good that we wish to do, even if we've convinced ourselves and the world of our spotless intentions.
You see, the Law of God comes through Moses and the Ten Commandments to hold up the clear mirror of heaven's will, that we would get a good look at what we have lost — what we have become before our holy and perfect and righteous God. And the sight is not a pretty one. "For all have sinned and fallen woefully short of the glory of God" — that glory intended for each of us and for the whole of creation.

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:34-36 ESV)
Several years ago, the great Lutheran theologian and ethicist Dr. George Forell spoke here in this sanctuary and held up the truths of Scripture reflected in the great hymns of the Reformation. And in pointing out the relevance of the Reformation for today, he pointed to the words written by Paul Speratus in the hymn we sang here last Sunday: "Salvation unto Us Has Come."

It was a false, misleading dream
That God his Law had given
That sinners could themselves redeem /
And by their works gain heaven.
The Law is but a mirror bright /
To bring the inbred sin to light
That lurks within our nature. (verse 3)

Try getting the United Nations or Washington D.C. or Sacramento (or the YMCA or many churches that call themselves Christian) to sing that next time they get together to do good and make the world a little more like heaven.
This morning it is God in his grace that gathers us together to shut-out the go-nowhere, empty programs of the world and our own fallen nature — that we would hear his Word — his Word which shows us our sin —so that we would then receive with joy and thanksgiving the only God-ordained medicine for hardened hearts — the only God-ordained cure for minds convinced that, if given just another chance, we could clean up our lives, turn everything around and thereby earn God's favor.
It is God's Word alone that clearly shows us the depth of our spiritual plight, that we would then be brought to the foot of the Cross of Christ to there see the Son of God take upon himself our sin — and atone for it and make satisfaction for it and bury it forever in his grave.
Jesus wasn't born in a humble manger just to teach us to be humble. Our Lord wasn't crucified on a cruel cross just to show us that we can redeem ourselves by always looking at the bright side of life. Christ did not come to show you how you can save yourself. He came to affirm the ministry of Moses and the Law that drives us to despair of any self-made attempt to build some staircase into heaven out of our own good works.
Outside of God's grace in Christ, we are, as the Small Catechism reminds us, spiritually blind, rebel enemies of God, even when our behavior looks so good to the world. For, as Romans 14 reveals, "whatever does not proceed from [true] faith is sin."
But if the Church of the Reformation proclaims that everything outside of God-given faith in the Christ of Scripture is sin and slavery and death, it is because only with this confession are we ready to hear the Gospel — the great Good News that alone brings true peace and salvation and the hope of heaven.
Christ did not come to show us how we can perform before God and make him applaud on account of our more civilized behavior.
Christ came to die for the shame and guilt of an entire disobedient, out-of-control world. Christ came to graciously, mercifully save undeserving sinners who were, whether they would admit it or not, dying under the weight of their own unrighteousness.
That is the one, true treasure of the Church. That is the holy Gospel of grace given to the Christian Church on earth to share with all who have given up on saving themselves by their attempts to be nicer and more love-able before God and neighbor.
The Jewish leaders in this morning's Gospel reading who began to believe were taken back when Jesus told them that their favored status as children of Abraham didn't negate the fact that on their own they could do nothing to earn heaven's reward. Even the religious elite needed another — a strong man to come and bind sin, death and the devil and set the weak and helpless free.
And what these people in John chapter 8 needed to believe is the same thing we are called to put our faith in. The clear teaching of Scripture that there is only one righteous offspring of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There is only one righteous Son who enjoys an permanent place before God in his eternal dwelling place. There is only one righteous redeemer who offered up his very life-blood as an all-encompassing sacrifice for the transgressions of the entire human race.
Only through Christ are we declared acquitted, restored, righteous in God's sight. Only through Christ. Only through Baptism into his saving Name are we given a new nature that not only has the ability but the unwavering desire to trust in God's Word and please him with the fruits of faith.
Saint Paul said it best when he wrote these inspired words to young Timothy:
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners... .
(1Timothy 1:15 ESV)
I am not up here this morning to wow you with everything I know about Luther and the Reformation. I am not up here this morning to give you the secret formula to get all sin out of your life so you can become just like Christ in order to win some "Holy and Righteous Christian of the Year" award. That's the junk Tetzel was selling by exchanging coins for parchment and the Pope's seal and the promise of sins paid for.
I am here, on this Reformation Sunday, to point you to that one thing — that one thing that remains forever. And it isn't the smarts of the pastor or your promise never to sin again.
I have been called to simply point sinners to the eternal Word made man — to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world — at his Cross, at his Baptismal font, at his altar.
In God-given faith, confess your unrighteousness, and your trust in Christ — our only redeemer, our only savior, our only hope and righteousness, here and in eternity. Again, Paul Speratus:

Let me not doubt, but truly see
Your Word cannot be broken;
Your call rings out, "Come unto me!"
No falsehood have You spoken.
Baptized into your precious Name,
My faith cannot be put to shame,
And I shall never perish. (verse 7)

Let yourself be the helpless sinner. And then — let Christ be your Savior.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

The Wheels of Salvation Set in Motion (Mark 9:30-37)

2009-09-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Fellow Redeemed in Christ:

They [Jesus and the disciples] went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. (Mark 9:30-32 ESV)
It's already begun. The movement is now afoot. The plans are being made. The plot has already been hatched.
And Jesus knows it. And Jesus is preparing for it. And Jesus is preparing his disciples for it. And, this morning, Jesus is preparing you and me for it.
The plans are in reaction to the impending battle that will answer once-and-for-all: "Who is the greatest among us? Who's got the real power and authority? Who's got the chutzpah to step up to the plate and deliver? Who's got the passion to win what angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven have been pleading for since Adam and Eve's fall into sin?
When it comes to salvation, there is seemingly little room for the shy and squeamish. From now on, things will move irreversibly toward the great and mighty day of the Lord. "The time has now come." Jesus announces to those he has called to follow him.
Because when it comes to life in this world, God doesn't leave his own children hanging — he doesn't leave us hanging. When it comes to our redemption, our Lord puts it all on the table.
And as we heard last Sunday, the focus of Jesus' ministry now moves from performing signs and miracles as a witness to the crowds to the preparation of Jesus' own for what now lies just around the corner.
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. (Mark 8:31 ESV)
No more obtuse hints, no more innuendo. No more under the table clues and back room whispers. For the disciples, for the tribes of Israel reduced to twelve, it was out in the open now. From the mouth of Jesus himself the disciples now hear plainly what had only been sketched out by the prophets of old: "I am the Christ. And I have been anointed to be the Servant of the Lord of Hosts, sent to secure salvation for you and for the entire world — by suffering, by being rejected, by being killed — and after three days resurrected."
The Twelve had hoped that things would change for the better after Jesus' first prediction of what was in store for him — and for them — in Jerusalem. And with the glimpse of glory granted to Peter and James and John (the representatives of the Twelve who accompanied Jesus up the mount of transfiguration), they quickly forgot the far-from-glorious end Jesus had earlier predicted. With the powerful healing of the boy suffering under an unclean spirit, the disciples tucked away any thought that Jesus would end up in the hands of evil men who would strip him — strip him of his very life.
But now, Jesus had paused from performing signs and miracles in the public square to do an even greater work behind closed doors: to begin the process of readying his true followers for the cosmic firestorm that would ensue with Jesus' betrayal and arrest.
With this morning's Gospel from the 9th chapter of Saint Mark, we see that the wheels are now set in motion. The Jewish religious leaders have been convinced that this whole Jesus of Nazareth movement was not progressing toward their salvation but — if left unchecked — their undoing. Judas has been convinced that the perks he secretly enjoyed as treasurer of the band's coffers were now in real jeopardy if Jesus was preparing to end it all when he arrived in Jerusalem. Judas thought: "How in the world can this self-proclaimed messiah — this glorious son of man — allow himself to be delivered over into the hands of those who would cancel his rise to fame — like some helpless piece of bulk mail?"
I always remember what Judas sang in "Jesus Christ Superstar" as he warned Jesus about the road he was now announcing to the disciples:
Listen Jesus to the warning I give. /
Please remember that I want us to live.
But it's sad to see our chances weakening with ev'ry hour.
All your followers are blind. / Too much heaven on their minds.
It was beautiful, but now it's sour. / Yes, it's all gone sour ... .
Judas' dreams of greatness were drying up, even as the Twelve made their way to the lakeside home of Mary, the mother of Jesus. He could see nothing but disaster and a big, fat dead end — not only for Jesus, but especially for himself and his great personal aspirations.
Something had to be done. Plans needed to be made. Alliances needed to be established and nurtured. Someone needed to stand up and take the bull by its horns and stop this mad rush off the cliff. Someone needed to rise to the occasion among Jesus' followers.
And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. (Mark 9:33-34 ESV)
The private whispers of the disciples along the way had proven much more divisive than decisive. They were jostling among themselves for a seat of power and glory and honor at their master's right and left — especially now as it seemed that someone would have to take charge in Jesus' absence.
Who among the Twelve could guarantee they had the right stuff to continue what Jesus had started? Who was the heir apparent? Peter? James and John? Thomas? Andrew? Judas?
Who could make what Jesus had begun into something truly great and glorious and eternal?

Jesus, dear, long-suffering, patient Jesus brought his disciples inside and closed the door and sat down to teach them again something that seemed more and more impossible for their fallen, self-absorbed, "what's in it for me," hearts and minds to grasp. Jesus was about to teach them that "It's not about getting to the top of the ladder before anyone else."
And [Jesus] sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them,“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” (Mark 9:35-37 ESV)
It should increasingly disturb us that the mission of more and more of the organized Christian church swirls around a deadly obsession to gain the applause of the crowds and make a great name for those individuals who — in the eyes of the world — fought the hardest for heaven and claimed the most real estate for the kingdom of God.
Jesus calls the twelve to repentance and a complete turn-around in their understanding of the securing of salvation when he puts the simple, unquestioning faith of a child before their eyes and says, "This is what the kingdom of God is all about. This is the will of God. This is the mission of his one-and-only Son. To be a servant who's only aspiration is to obey the good and gracious will of him who sent him."
Our secret aspiration was to be thought of well by more and more people. Jesus' secret aspiration? To do the will of his Father in heaven and give his life-blood — even for fame-craving disciples. Our secret wish was to gain the accolades of those around us and have nice things said of us after we were gone. Jesus' secret wish: to do the will of his Father in heaven — to serve his Father's gracious will — even when it meant being the Suffering Servant. Even when it meant receiving the wrath of sinners too busy arguing about who's name would be announced at the next awards show to see their redemption just over the hill.
"What were you discussing along the way?" Jesus asks, as he calls each of us to let go of the desire to make a name for ourselves — that he might place his saving name upon us.

Christ would have nothing to do with the silly and endless debates about who was greatest — who deserved the service and applause of everyone around them. He came to serve, to give his life as a ransom for the many, to put on a waiter's towel and stoop down and wash away our sins with his very life-blood.
When it comes to hitting home runs in the kingdom of salvation, only Christ wears the title of designated hitter. Only he has stepped up to the plate, and forsaking all glory, won for us — and for an entire lawless, self-seeking world — the name gifted to us at the baptismal font: believing, faithful, God-pleasing child of heaven.
Put your faith in Christ and his Word spoken over you at the font, spoken over you through the prophets and apostles, spoken over his table, over bread and wine through which he forgives and strengthens.

It took something truly great to change the disciples' endless debates about who among them was the greatest and most glorious. And it takes something truly miraculous to change our old nature's fascination to look into the mirror and ask, "Who's the fairest one of all?" It takes a plunge into Christ's death and resurrection. It takes a daily drowning of that nature we drag around with us, that a new nature would arise — a Christ-like nature that serves our neighbor, even the neighbor we find it so difficult to care for.
It was the Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer who once said, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die."
May Christ continue his great and mighty work of drowning our sin, and brining forth a new nature that serves those God places into our lives - for their sake.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

What Fuels Faith After the Excitement Wears Off? (Mark 9:14-29)

2009-09-18T16:27:00.000-07:00

In the Name of Jesus

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ our Savior:
Jesus finds himself at the height of his popularity in and around the sea of Galilee. He has come and, without reservation or wavering, picked up his unique call from his Father in heaven to reveal the signs of redemption through his itinerant healing and preaching. His unexpected presence in the lives of those burdened and crushed by the weight of sin and its consequences is as unexpected as his sudden word of healing and touch of mercy upon those who had despaired that they would ever see the light of day again. The blind are given their sight. The lame are healed. The hungry are miraculously fed. And as the people get the real sense that the long-awaited kingdom of God is now breaking in, amazement and excitement give way to more and more questions. Who is this man? What kind of prophet could he be? Could he even be the only-begotten Son of God — the divine Messiah?
The questions and possible explanations whirled around the crowds, those who had been healed, and even among the twelve disciples. And seemingly adding to the confusion we hear of Jesus' clear command to those he redeems: "Don't tell anyone about this."
Jesus knew what no one else knew, including the unclean spirits themselves. Word was getting out on its own that all indicators, all miracles, all signs pointed to Jesus as the promised Messiah who would usher in the Messianic age of salvation and the restoration of all things lost in the garden of Eden.
However, the discussions among the crowds and disciples and the Jewish religious leaders got ugly when it came to what kind of Messiah this carpenter's son from Nazareth could be. No one could deny that he was performing miracles — but as just another prophet? Or as someone completely different than Elijah or even Moses?
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Saint Mark puts before us the pattern within which our Gospel this morning is found. Take a look at the larger section that surrounds today's Gospel reading. The end of chapter eight consists of Jesus healing the blind man at Bethsaida, followed by Peter's God-inspired confession, followed by Jesus' first plain announcement about who he truly is and what he's come to do.
And [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. (Mark 8:31-32a ESV)
Jesus announces to the Twelve that being Messiah is all about the glorious redemption of the world through the sacrificial death of the only-begotten in the place of the spiritually blind and lame — those who were dead in sin.
That's the unexpected, jaw-dropping reality that the inner core of the Twelve were kicking around in their heads as Jesus lead them up the mountain, there to be transfigured before them — there to be strengthened for the grueling journey ahead. Jesus' glory would be his departure — his exodus. Jesus' triumph would be the cross. That's the God-pleasing revelation from heaven — and from Moses and from Elijah.
It is this context that frames Jesus healing of the boy with the unclean spirit. And it will give Jesus the second opportunity to tell the disciples again what kind of Messiah he has been sent to be.
The Holy Gospel According to saint Mark, the ninth chapter:
And when they [Jesus and Peter and James and John] came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. (Mark 9:14-15 ESV)
When Jesus is thought of as just another philosopher or spiritual guru or human miracle-worker or mere moral example to follow, things very quickly become muddled — to the point of confusion and uncertainty and doubt. We see it here in the Gospel according to Mark, and we see it in much of what calls itself Christian today: everyone seeking after a Jesus of prosperity, a Jesus that will justify the lifestyle or behavior or self-centered desires that have already been chosen.
The crowd in Mark chapter 9 knows of the amazing, miracle-working Jesus, but in their doubt and uncertainty they do not yet believe in Jesus as the Christ — the Messiah — of the cross.
And he [Jesus] asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid." (Mark 9:16-18a ESV)
In desperation, the father has brought his son and gotten in line for his chance at getting some of the glories others in desperate straights have received. But is Jesus willing, or able to redeem this situation? A son — an only son — ravaged since childhood with an unclean spirit that throws him into the water as easily as he throws him into the fire. Will this "teacher" — can this "teacher" — rescue this boy from such a tight grip by the forces of oppression, darkness and evil? Can this Jesus save from these seemingly permanent effects of sin? The distraught father continues:
"So I asked your disciples to cast it out, [but] they were not able.” And [Jesus] answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” (Mark 9:18b-19 ESV)
Even the empty-handed Twelve join in the desperation of the father. As the situation grows more hopeless, those gathered around our Lord wonder: "Has this Jesus met his match in this unclean spirit — this spirit that has tormented this boy to the precipice of death?"
And they brought the boy to [Jesus]. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him." (Mark 9:20-22a ESV)
The effects of sin are as oppressive today as they were the day after Jesus and Peter, James and John came down off the mount of transfiguration. We see it not only in physical weakness, disease and suffering, not only in the demonic acts on the evening news and in the local newspaper. We even get a glimpse of sin's oppressive consequences in our own lives — in the effects of sin that cause us to doubt in the goodness of our heavenly Father and cause us to fall into the temptation to believe that my situation — my sin — is all too much for even the Word of Christ to overcome.
"But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” [the father says.] And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:22b-24 ESV)
A cry of mercy and faith and hope that clings to the invitation of the Lord to put trust in him. Here Jesus is doing his proper work — his life-giving work — of bestowing on poor, nothing-to-offer sinners the gift of faith that grabs hold of the savior's work in our place. Jesus calls forth faith in this most desperate of men, and God-given faith responds "Amen. In spite of my doubt, let it be so for me, Jesus."
And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. (Mark 9:25-27 ESV)
Jesus rebukes, that he might then forgive. Jesus condemns, that he might then show abundant mercy. Jesus exposes sin as sin, that he might then take our sin, and the deadly consequences of sin and rid us of it — forever.
And when [Jesus] had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” (Mark 9:28-29 ESV)
It seems more and more apparent that the beginning of the Christian life seems to go along just fine fueled with the excitement and adrenaline of the glories of one's new life in Christ. We see it often in the newly-baptized, the young Christian, the just-born congregation. Everything is, for a time, so alive and fresh and new.
Remember the glories of those days when you first believed — as an individual Christian, as a Christian family, as a Christian congregation.
Here at Redeemer the newly-formed congregation met in a simple, modest real estate office. Members were excited — to the point of energetically mowing the lawn and sweeping the floors and setting up the metal folding chairs week after week after week. Members would volunteer without being asked to bring flowers cut from their backyards to be placed before the little make-shift altar.
But the joys of those first glorious days usually don't last forever. We see that here — in our own lives, and in the lives of those presented to us in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The disciples in this morning's Gospel are beginning to realize that they've run out of gas. Their excitement is waning as doubt gets the best of them. In their increased confusion about Jesus and his Word and his work, the Twelve stumble, as we stumble, when we put our trust in anything other than the true object of saving faith: Jesus Christ, son of God and Mary's son, given up — lifted up — for you and for the world. The Christ who calls his prophetic and apostolic Church to recklessly sow the seed of his Word wherever the Lord opens a door.
The ninth chapter of Saint Mark is the turing point — for Jesus, for the crowds, for the Twelve. It is the turning point for you, for me and this congregation as we wonder what will sustain us when the newness of being redeemed finally wears off, when the honeymoon seems to be all but over.
This morning God announces that our resolve can only be based on the resolve of the Father in the Son through the Holy Spirit to save us from the oppressive forces of this sinful and fallen world.
Where will we find hope when we discover that we cannot free ourselves from the demands of God's holy will? From the demands of the Law, the commandments touched upon in this morning's epistle? Where will we find hope when we realize we have trampled the eighth commandment and made an irreparable mess as a result of our sins of the tongue?
We look to the Christ of the Scriptures — the Christ revealed to us through the prophets and apostles. We look to our savior who journeyed to Jerusalem, to the Cross, to God's heavenly altar — sustained not by the excitement of the disciples or the thrill of performing miracles for the crowds.
We dare not put our trust and enthusiasm in a new discipleship program, a new spiritual method, a new worship experience, a new charismatic pastor or teacher or religious guide, even when they give us goosebumps.
We put our trust in Christ, in his journey into the darkness of our sin, his journey into the darkness of an entire rebel race, his prayer for us, his sacrifice for us — that you and all who believe might be delivered from sin and it's deadly consequences — forever.
May God in his mercy deliver us from the confusion of the world, the faith-destroying effects of sin, and the desire to motivate the Church with anything other than the Gospel of the glory and grace of God.
May it be so, for his glory, for our salvation and the salvation of many. In the Name of Christ.

The Word Sacrificed and Silenced? (Mark 6:14-29)

2009-07-13T19:41:00.001-07:00

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Fellow Redeemed by Christ the Crucified:

"I have made my choice. I have weighed the odds and considered the consequences — and I have made my decision." In each of our lives we announce our verdict on choices and decision and circumstances each and every day. Who to be loyal to, and who to walk away from. What to do with our skills and talents and time and resources.
A day doesn't go by that we don't choose something over something else — someone over someone else. "I have made my decision — about my job, about my studies, about my family, about my neighbor across the street — about me."
We live in an age that demands it's freedom to choose. We decide what we do and what we refuse to do. We decide when and where we will go, and who we will hang out with. We decide under what circumstances we will expend our blood and sweat and tears. We decide if we will make a difference or if we will just muddle through.
And so it happens on a regular basis that preachers are asked, "When did you decide to become a pastor? When did you make the decision to become a minister of Christ and his Word? When you were a little boy? When you were in college? When you realized that you had the touch — or the spirit — or the calling?"
This morning's Old Testament reading from the prophet Amos sets all of that straight. Like the prophets before him and after him, Amos becomes a prophet — not when he turned his life around — not when he decided to make a difference for his people and his God. Amos, like the greatest of the prophets — like all the prophets — became a prophet not when he signed a contract with the local parish or knelt down and prayed the prophet's prayer.
Amos became a prophet the same way that Christians become Christians: when the Word of the Lord came to him and called him to faith and his particular station in life. "I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees" Amos announces to those who think he can just turn it on and turn it off. For he knew by faith that the decision — the credit — the burden and cross — that went along with being a prophet didn't rest with him. He was just a herdsman of sheep. He was simply a caretaker of fruit trees.
No outstanding score on a prophet aptitude test. No Sunday School teacher recommending him to divinity school. No Uncle Fred who saw in him the beginnings of a great man of God. He was just like the guy next to him. Amos was nothing special, nothing glorious, nothing that made the world stand up and take notice.
But being a prophet or being a deaconess or being an elder — or being a Christian — isn't about turning it on or turing it off. As you have heard from Scripture, as you have heard from the Small Catechism, as you have heard from the liturgy and the hymnal and the baptismal font and the altar and pulpit, it never was about our seemingly great human abilities to clean up our spiritual life and turn our heart over to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
"When did you choose to be a prophet, Amos? When did you decide to be the forerunner of Christ, John? When did you determine to preach against sin and the consequences of sin and God's most unlikely remedy for it all? Who gave you the authority to announce God's wrath and judgment against sin and God's gift of forgiveness for all who look to his only-begotten Son and his sacrifice in our place?"
In Amos' day those in power wanted the prophet of God to either deliver a sermon that would go along with what their fallen minds and hearts had already decided to believe in — or go somewhere else so they wouldn't have to listen to what he had been given by the Almighty Lord to proclaim.
And so many in Amos' day sacrificed the Word of the Lord for their own fallen, self-glorifying desires. The Word of the Lord was silenced in favor of sinful pride and prestige and personal gain.
"If the Word of the Lord is going to unmask our sin and condemn our rebellion, then take the Word of the Lord somewhere else. Close your mouth Amos, or we'll close it for you." they threatened.
But what was Amos to do? What was John the Baptist to do? What was the Word of God made flesh to do? The seed of the Word was to be sown and scattered and broadcast in every place, among every people, in every tongue, to those (as the hymn-writer says) — to those who like or like it not. Come what may, the prophets were called to announce the Word of God he had placed in their mouths to speak.
Amos did not ask the Lord for credit when it came to his calling as a prophet, just as John the Baptist did not look for a merit badge from God or applause from the world, as he called Herod — as he called all — to receive the Word of the Lord — the Word of the Lord that alone convicts us of sin. The Word of the Lord that alone creates faith in our heart. The Word of the Lord that alone begins and sustains and finishes our salvation and the salvation of all who believe.
Amos didn't decide, John the Baptist didn't determine to be the mouthpiece of the Word of God — just as you didn't turn on faith in your heart or make yourself acceptable to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
The seed planted by Christ did that. The Word announced by the Prophets and Apostles did that. The Scriptures in the liturgy and the hymns and the Catechism and the Creed did that. God did all of it — all out of fatherly love and pure, divine, undeserved mercy and grace.
It is in this way that the Word does it's convicting, restoring work in our minds and hearts and lives this day. It is the Word that has called us to God's house this morning. It is the Word of God that has sat you down in that pew this morning. And it is the Word of God who will sustain you in the one, holy, Christian faith and keep you with our Lord and with fellow Christians in the communion of the Church until he comes again in glory.
Hear how Martin Luther explains it in his Explanation of the Third Article of the Creed:
I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.
In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.
In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers.
On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.
This is most certainly true.
You see, it is the Word that gives us a hunger for the Word. It is the Word that gives us a thirst for hearing and reading and marking and taking to heart what Moses foretold, what Amos foretold, what John the Baptist foretold: the Word that won our salvation as he took our skin and bones and flesh and blood upon himself to carry our sin to the Cross and atone for it once and for all.
And it is the Word of God alone that compels us as Christians, as Christian families, as a Christian congregation, to speak what the Lord has given us to speak — no more and no less. A double Word. A word of Law for those comfortable with their sin, and a word of Gospel for those who are terrified and crushed by their sin.
The religious leaders of Israel in Amos' day couldn't silence the Word. Herod couldn't silence the Word in his day, even when he sacrificed and silenced a righteous and holy man sent by the maker of heaven and earth to announce the advent of the world's redemption.
And so it is with those forces today that want nothing more than to sacrifice and silence the Word of God. To remove — as we say on our front sign — Scripture alone.
And yes we can point our finger at those who would demand that churches not share the Word of God with those of other "faith traditions." We are called to speak the truth in a winsome way even to those from within Christian denominations who now say the Word of God says nothing about the sanctity of human life, the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of the family — the sanctity of the Scriptures and the Sacraments.
But our own old nature is also condemned when the spotlight is put on those who would sacrifice and attempt to silence the Word of God. It is the old nature that we as Christians drag around with us that continues to fight against what Amos has to say, what John the Baptist has to say, what the Word incarnate has to say about our poor, miserable, completely helpless condition before the Almighty.
And so we ask ourselves this morning:
Have I neglected the reading of the Bible thinking that hearing it on Sunday is enough? Do I let other daily activities take presidence over prayer and meditation on God's Word? Have I kept every day holy with the reading and meditation upon God's Word? Has the hearing and reading of God's Word become boring and meaningless to me? Have I despised the preaching of God's Word by not coming to services and studies as regularly as I should? Have I allowed my mind to wander during services and studies and become distracted by my thoughts? Have I been an unfaithful witness to God's Word to others in this congregation by my absence or inattention during services and studies? Do I reflect on the readings and sermon after the service, or do I quickly forget it all? Do I have a desire to learn from the readings and sermon and apply it to my own faith and life?
In other words, do I take seriously the Third Commandment which announces that: "We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and his Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it."
Stubborn, unbelieving Herod offered up to half of his kingdom — and received the full weight of God's condemnation for agreeing to have John the Baptist's Word sacrificed and silenced.
But our Lord Christ didn't sacrifice half his kingdom for those who had performed well or made the right "life choices."
Christ offered up all that he had, all that he was, his very life-blood, for those who could only decide to sin, for those who could only dedicate themselves to unfulfilled intentions and self-centered, sin-stained works for God and for their neighbor. Christ promised life for all — even for those whose old nature desired to hear any voice except the one God had sent.
We take a good hard look at our mind and heart and life this day. Where are we sacrificing the Word of God? Where are we turning a deaf ear to God's Word in, with and under water — in, with and under bread and wine — in, with and under the prophets and apostles?

Let the Word have its way with you. Let it come and convict — that it might then come and comfort. Let it come and diagnose your rebellion and unbelief and sin — that it might then come and announce the sweet medicine of Christ offered up for you.
In a land and in a culture that believes it's all about personal decisions, it is a redeeming comfort to hear Scripture's revelation that when it comes to our salvation — when it comes to being baptized, when it comes to believing in Christ and remaining in Christ — it all rests not with any of us, but with God and his precious Word, his gracious Spirit, his life-giving Son.
We didn't choose our parents or our family or any of the circumstances surrounding our birth — and we didn't choose the circumstances of our eternal life either.
It is the eternal Word of God in Christ that brings life to things that were all but dead, illuminating our darkened minds and giving life to sinful and hardened hearts.
We have been called by the Gospel, enlightened with the Holy Spirit, and brought to faith by the Word sent out by the prophets — Amos and John the Baptist — by the apostles — Paul and Peter, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
It is Christ who decided — to die for our sin. It is God who chose us — before the foundations of the world — to be a daughter, to be a son. To be a husband, a wife. A father, a mother. A citizen. A student or worker.
God gets every bit of the credit and praise for making each of us a baptized Christian who lives in Christ and his Word and Spirit — to freely live a life that gives glory to God, that serves what is best for our neighbor-in-need.
In an age that demands the right to decide, what do we contribute to our salvation? Simply our sin.
In faith, let Christ and his Word continue to gift you with salvation and guard and keep you always.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Abandoned by the Lord?

2009-05-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Redeemed by our Crucified, Risen and Ascended Lord:

This morning we find ourselves in twilight time, in that fuzzy gray time of transition between day and night. These days in the Church year are like no other as Christians around the world observe both Ascension Day (last Thursday — forty days after Easter Sunday) and the Feast of Pentecost next Sunday (fifty days after Easter Sunday).
For all who follow Christ these ten days are peculiar days, days to mark and ponder and take to heart. Days between our Lord's triumphal ascension to the right hand of God Almighty and the sending of the Holy Spirit upon all his children.
These ten days between Ascension Day and Pentecost were difficult days for the disciples. They remained — for the most part — clueless as Jesus gave his final farewell — his final commands and promise — before being taken up into heaven.
We hear how the disciples were left with their mouths open and their heads and feet motionless on that Ascension Day through the inspired pen of Saint Luke when he writes these words in the first chapter of the book of Acts:

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. [Christ candle extinguished.] And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. (Acts 1:1-14 ESV)

Confused, under threat of persecution and death, numb from the events of the last forty days, and tempted to believe they had been abandoned by their Lord.
But, with words of encouragement from the two heavenly angels, the disciples held tight to Jesus' Word and Promise, the one thing that could keep them together and give direction and words to their continuous prayers during those ten "up-in-the-air" days between Ascension Day and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
This is the reason why more than a few Christian groups have, for generations, set aside these ten days between Ascension Day and Pentecost as a time of fasting and prayer and devotion and acts of mercy to their neighbor-in-need. Some congregations observe this week-and-a-half by offering a continuous (240 hour) prayer vigil in the sanctuary.
But what do you pray for for 240 hours?
Well, what did the disciples pray in that upper room — that upper room in which they had celebrated the Lord's Supper, that upper room in which they had seen the risen Christ and the saving marks of his sacrificial death upon a cross, that upper room in which they had — as apostles and pastors of the Church — received through the Holy Spirit their calling to forgive sins in the stead and by the command of Christ himself.
What did the disciples — the Church — pray in their time of need and bewilderment and fear and uncertainty?
That is a good question to ask for congregations who find themselves in their own "twilight time" as they struggle with declining membership and resources and changing neighborhoods — for husbands and wives who find themselves in times of temptation and uncertainty — for parents and children who find themselves at odds with their respective roles in the family and the world around them — for individual Christians who find their faith under attack and their hope in heaven shaken.
What do we pray?
The prayer the Church has always prayed — a prayer based on the sure foundation of Christ's Word for us: the collect for the seventh Sunday of Easter — the collect for the Sunday between Ascension Day and Pentecost:
O King of glory, Lord of the heavenly hosts, uplifted in triumph far above all heavens, leave us not without consolation but send us the Spirit of truth whom you promised from the Father.
The prayer of Christ's Church — our prayer — your prayer — is to be found in the one source of all hope and comfort and consolation: the Holy Scriptures. In the Introit — the entrance psalm — for the Seventh Sunday of Easter (also known as "Waiting Sunday"). Psalm 27 — a psalm from the inspired king David as he proclaims from God:

"Wait for the Lord. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, and wait for the Lord!" (Psalm 27:14 ESV)

This is the same Lord who spoke pure comfort and hope and strength to his own as he prepared them for his betrayal — his holy, innocent, suffering and death.
Imagine, if you will, the head of the household gathering his family around the Thanksgiving Day table. Everyone is in attendance. Everyone in the family is seated in their proper place. All individual quarrels are put aside as the household circles around the gifts presented: an enjoyable meal and the enjoyable company of each other's presence. The head of the household leads those gathered in giving thanks for the table prepared, for the fellowship created in, with and under bread and wine and the care of the Master of the house.
But as the plates are cleared, the householder announces that he has decided to go ahead with the plans he had made to join the armed forces and fight to defend the life and liberties of his family and fellow countrymen. He will be leaving them now, to lay down his life that the life of his family might be defended, preserved, secured.
Think of the resolve of the Master of the house as he announces what will happen in the days ahead. Think of the fear and despair of those gathered at table as they hear the words:
"I am leaving you now. But it is for your good. If I don't go this house cannot survive and flourish. I must leave you now. And you must wait for my return — in faith and hope and confidence that this is the way it must be — for your good. Hold tight to my word of promise: you will see me again. I will not leave you as orphans."
Hear again Jesus as he prays for his own on the night he was betrayed. The Holy Gospel According to Saint John, the Seventeenth chapter:

[Jesus prayed,] "Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth." (John 17:11b-19 ESV)

For a Church that would rather hide in a bomb shelter — behind closed doors of an upper room — until their Lord's return, Jesus sends out his own into the world. But he sends them out as his own — marked by his holy Cross, his holy Name, his sanctifying Word.
In these ten uncomfortable days between our Lord's Ascension and the pouring out of Christ's Spirit at Pentecost, we are called to live Christian lives of faith in Christ's Word, lives that reflect Christ's Word and Promise — in our prayers and worship, in our Christian witness, and in our service to those God himself has placed in our lives.
Our Lord has gone out to do battle for us and for all fallen children of Adam and Eve. But he has not left us to helplessly try to fend for ouselves. We have not been made orphans — for we are, even now, held safe in his saving Name, his eternal Word, his enlivening Spirit and Baptism — that we may live lives of thanksgiving by serving each other in the bond of peace.
Is your world upside-down this morning? Are you wondering why Christ has left his own to return to heaven?
Hold tight to Christ's Word of promise as he embraces you, treasures you, keeps you and preserves you for eternity.
Wait for the Lord. Be strong. Take heart. And wait for the Lord. He is faithful.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Life After Easter - Only in the Word Crucified.

2009-04-18T10:27:00.000-07:00

In the Name of our Crucified and Risen Lord Christ. Amen

Dear fellow Christians redeemed through the blood of Jesus:

In the old days, the Church pulled out all the stops for services on Easter Dawn and Easter Morning — and Easter Evening and Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday. Forty days of Lent followed by fifty days of Easter Light, Easter Joy, Easter Alleluias. Fifty full days of responding in faith — with our mouths and hearts — to the announcement of the angels, "You seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen. See the place where they laid him."
But these days we are all wiped out after Easter Morning. Our energies are spent, our batteries dead and our service to the Lord and his Church worn out. No wonder why, more often than not, in Christian Churches around the country, this Sunday, the Sunday after Easter, suffers from the worst attendance of any Sunday of the Church Year. "What's wrong with this picture?"
Is there life after Easter? And if so, what kind of life is there for the Church, for us as Christians, for all who are true children of God and his salvation given through Christ's Word and Spirit?
Life for the believer in the light of Easter is to be understood in light of seven verses in the third chapter of the book of Genesis:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (Genesis 3:1-7 ESV)

The temptation to follow our fallen eyes instead of our redeemed ears is as much a reality for us as it was for Eve in the Garden under the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The world, in it's unbelief, knows everything about seeing, but very little about listening. Our old nature will always prefer what is glorious to the eyes over the truth and hidden glory of the Word. As Satan whispered, "Look at it. Touch it. Feel it. Take it." to our great-great-grandmother, so he whispered to the disciples and to Thomas: "Seeing is believing. Follow your eyes and finger and hand. Don't trust mere words. Don't put your faith in what comes out of some man's mouth. Demand evidence that you can grab and hold on to."
The women had — despite their great fear and the great possibility that the disciples would write them off as silly — faithfully reported what the angel at the tomb had announced. As the first Easter dawn witnesses of their Lord's resurrection, the women had not only reported what they had seen, but, bottom line, what they had heard from heaven's messenger:

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, [just] as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” (Matthew 28:1-6 ESV)

There are too many congregations that believe the center of the saving Gospel in light of the Lord's Resurrection is: "Jesus isn't dead anymore. He lives on." But Easter is as much a celebration of Jesus not being dead anymore as Good Friday is a funeral service.
This is the dirty little secret that the devil, the world and our old sinful nature loves to perpetuate. This is the Gospel that isn't really the Gospel at all. And this is the reason why we feel so burned out and lifeless after all the busyness and hoopla of Easter activities.
The festival of the Resurrection of our Lord can't be an event "for our eyes only." It must be a fifty day "Amen!" to what we have heard from heaven, a fifty day "Alleluia!" to the words of the angels, a life-long response in faith to the Word of God — the Word of God in, with and under the prophets and apostles; the Word of God in, with and under water; the Word of God in, with and under bread and wine; the Word of God in, with, and under human flesh and blood.
When Saint John began his inspired narrative of salvation fulfilled in Christ, he focused not on Jesus' good looks and charismatic personality that made teenage girls scream and faint. Saint John follows the revealed history of creation when he presents the history of creation restored by centering not only the first chapter but the entire Gospel account on the Word — the Word with a capital W. The Word that creates and redeems and restores a fallen creation and a sin-enslaved humanity.
Thomas doubted the reports of the women and the other disciples because he let his unbelieving old nature lead. "I need proof — proof that my eyes can see, my finger touch, my hand confirm. Without evidence that I can grab on to — I will never believe!"
That's why churches have thrown out the hymnal and the pipe organ and the piano and the choir and replaced it with sub-woofers, liturgical dancers and a drum set. "I don't want to hear the worship service, I want to feel it." they say.
But feeling that Jesus is alive again does us no good at all. Sometimes, when it comes to the true Christian faith, seeing isn't believing.
That was exactly the problem with the Jewish religious leaders. They demanded signs because they didn't want the Word of God given in grace and received in faith. They hungered for a religious circus. The religious leaders at the foot of the cross became the mouthpiece of Satan himself as they tempted Jesus with the words, "Come down from the cross, that we may see and believe!"
They followed evil King Herod himself in demanding that Jesus perform for them. "Show me." Herod demanded. "Do a little performance for me, and maybe I won't do to you what I did to your friend, John the Baptist."
But, as Jesus had told the Pharisees, no performance would be given. No song and dance for those who refused to hear the Word of the Lord — for those who refused to open their ears and hearts to the Word of God made flesh and blood. No miraculous sightings in bleeding marble statues. No miraculous appearances in patterns of granite cut for a church altar. No miraculous images on bagels or tortillas or Cheetos or frozen fish stick. Nothing we can see today save the words handed down from the pen of the prophets and apostles; the words of the Divine Service, the words of the Creed; the words of the hymnal and Small Catechism; the words from the font and altar.
So when Jesus shows up before the disciples in the upper room that first Easter Sunday evening, the first thing our Lord does is not give out hugs or pull a rabbit out of his tunic. He speaks as the Word of God — the Word of God crucified, dead and buried, raised on the third day.
He speaks as the great Good Shepherd — the great Good Shepherd who bears in his wrists and feet and side the marks of laying his life down — for the eternal salvation of sheep that loved to wander.
This is the only thing that could bring the shaking-in-their-boots disciples peace, and it is the only thing that can give any of us the peace that surpasses all human understanding. Jesus is giving witness to all that he had been sent to accomplish as he shows the marks of his sacrificial death in his hands and feet and side — marks of the crucifixion that will bear witness to God's grace and Christ's love for the world — even in eternity.
Only with Christ the crucified can we hear the Word of eternal peace graciously given for doubting, grumbling, unbelieving, rebel children of Adam and Eve who would rather see a floor show than close their mouths and listen to the Word of God with the ears and heart of faith.
"Peace be unto you." our risen-from-the-dead Lord announces on that first Easter evening. "I given you my peace — the fruit of my birth, for you; the fruit of my perfect life, for you; the fruit of my agony in the garden, for you; the fruit of my passion, for you; the fruit of my bitter suffering and death, for you; the fruit of my three day rest in the tomb, for you; the fruit of my resurrection and ascension into heaven — all for you and for the world."

When Jesus appeared to his disciples it was in the same upper room in which he instituted his Holy Supper: the culmination and fulfillment of everything the Passover and Exodus pointed to. The same room in which he announced how this particular peace would be won. "Take, drink. This is the cup of the new testament [my last will and testament] poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin."
This is how central the forgiveness of sins is for the Church and for each of us as Christians — because it was everything that Christ came to fulfill for us all. Eternal, life-giving peace between God and neighbor through the forgiveness of sins. That is what was on Jesus' mind during the Last Supper, the walk to the Garden of Gesthemane, the agonizing prayer a stone's throw away from sleeping disciples, the scourging, the mockery and temptation from the foot of the cross, the unimaginable forsakenness upon the Cross. "This will win peace for the world. This will secure forgiveness for all my Father's children."

There is life after Easter — only if there is life given and received and kept safe in our Lord Christ. Even after the Easter lilies have faded and the family get-togethers forgotten and the Easter left-overs consumed, there is life in Christ wherever he is present to announce: "Stop being faithless and believe that I have secured the forgiveness of sins through my sacrificial death and resurrection. Freely I give to you my saving Word. Hold tight to it as I declare unto all who will receive my Word in faith: Peace be with you — always."
May we, with Thomas, hear the Word of God with redeemed ears, that we might respond with a mouth and heart of faith, "Alleluia. He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity — for me."

In the Name of our Crucified and Risen Lord Christ. Amen

Easter Vigil Sermon - John 1:5

2009-04-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Brothers and Sisters Brought into the Light of Christ:

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. (Mark 15:33 ESV)

Things couldn't have been darker on that Good Friday. The sun and the moon hid their faces from the unimaginable. The earth quaked at the sight of the very Son of God receiving the cruelest of deaths as a barbaric murderer, a capital offender, a renegade deserving no show of humane treatment. Those who passed by turned their heads at the sight. The disciples had looked on from a distance, and then left, overpowered with grief and trembling with fear.
The darkness of the sky paled in comparison to the darkness of despair, for now the Promised One, the Messiah, the Savior and Redeemer of the World hung suspended motionless between the heavens and the earth, slain at the hands of evil men bent on preserving their power and prestige at any cost.
Jesus had announced the coming of "the hour" throughout his three and a half year public ministry — to his mother, to his brothers, to the disciples, to the Samaritan woman at the well, to his heavenly Father. And now the hour had finally arrived.
On the day that our Lord Christ was sacrificed upon the wood of the cross, the God-appointed substitute for an entire rebel race was plunged into the dark chaos of time before God spoke his Word of light and order and life. The Light of the World lay lifeless upon a borrowed Cross. The Light of the World lay lifeless in a borrowed tomb.
The night of despair for those who had placed their trust in this Jesus of Nazareth kept the disciples and the women who had followed him from any sense of certainty or peace. There was no consolation. There was no solace. There would be no restful sleep this night.
And so the women threw themselves into making preparations for their Sunday visit to the tomb to array the dead body of Jesus with their tokens of love and devotion.
Yes, the darkness was suffocating for Christ's own. The silence and cold damp of the night. The wrestling of mind and heart. "Why had Jesus walked down this road? Why didn't he see what was coming? What are we to do when we have no power to bring him back to us or restore the light of life in our souls? How can we meet another day void of hope and gripped in confusion and fear? Who will rescue us from this overwhelming darkness and despair?"
The hour of darkness had fallen upon Jesus, and all his disciples who found themselves blindly groping for anything that would help make sense of a completely senseless situation. We see that unshakeable despondency in the disciples on the road to Emmaus, in Mary weeping at the tomb, in the disciples cowering behind bolted doors, in Thomas' pledge to himself that he would never be hurt this way again.

But Christ had not left them without his Word. He had announced that his Passion would be followed with his being raised form the dead. He had preached the sign of Jonah. He had proclaimed that he was the fulfillment of the very Passover eaten by the children of Israel the night before their deliverance from the darkness and death of Egypt's oppression. He had promised them deliverance and life and light.
But they were asking themselves, "What use are mere words now that darkness has overtaken us?" That's the question each of us as believers must settle in our own hearts and minds. "What are mere words in the midst of such dark uncertainty — in the midst of such dark sin and despair and death?"
That is the question of the hour this hour as we await in darkness — in faith — as we await the appearance of the Light of salvation. That is the question that frames the entire fourth Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
The Holy Gospel According to Saint John, the first chapter:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. (John 1:1-5, 9-14, 16-18 ESV)

For those of us who are on the verge of despair, for those of us who are fighting against the enveloping darkness of our sin, for those of us who are shaking in the cold damp of our helplessness and hopelessness, God announces clearly that there is One who was before the darkness, One who is above the darkness: the enlightening Word of God through whom all things were made; the life-giving Word of God who overcame the darkness — through the darkness of the sky on Good Friday, through the darkness and chill of the grave on Holy Saturday.
For, when it comes to the redeeming Word of God made flesh, it is as the old proverb says, "The darkest hour is just before the dawn."
Moses confirms that the darkness of night gives way to the light of day when he writes, "God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day." (Genesis 1:5 ESV)
And so the faithful, even in the midst of darkness, wait in faith for the morning light to come and restore all things.
Faith, created by the same Word that created the sun and the moon and the stars, keeps vigil for the appearance of Christ, even on the most hopeless of nights. Faith in the Word of God that keeps us awake and alert and watching for the first rays of his appearing.
This is the Christian faith that triumphs over fear and sin and death itself. This is the gift of trust in the Word of Christ that prevents us from scurrying back into the darkness of our ignorance, guilt and shame when the Light of Heaven reveals himself to us.
Christ has not come to simply expose our sin and then leave us to our own pitiful abilities to rescue ourselves out of the gloom of our own spiritual quicksand. That was the job of the Law and Moses and the Ten Commandments: exposing sin in the light of God's holy will for his creatures.
No, Christ has come to bring sin to light, that he might take it and drag it to Calvary.
The light of Easter morning is the light of God's own revelation —that Christ's sacrifice for sin has been accepted, — that Christ is raised to life never to die again, — that the Light of all Grace and Mercy has illuminated our hearts and minds as the Word comes and announces: you are now baptized into my name, my death and resurrection.
The Holy Gospel According to Saint John, the Sixteenth Chapter:

[Jesus'] disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:29-33 ESV)

As the first rays of Easter dawn approach, let us sing the praises of him who is our light that no darkness can overcome. Let us give thanks to him who by his death destroyed death. Let us offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to him who has brought life and immortality to light for all who believe.

Mighty Victim from the sky
Hell's fierce pow'rs beneath you lie;
You have conquered in the fight;
You have brought us life and light. Alleluia!
(At the Lamb's High Feast We Sing. LSB 633:5)

Let us pray:
O thou that art the Light eternal, the Sun of Righteousness, evermore arising and never going down, giving light, food, and gladness unto all, mercifully vouchsafe to shine upon us, and cast thy blessed beams upon the dullness of our understanding and upon the dark mists of our sins and errors; for thine only merits, who art alone our Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen

Maundy Thursday Sermon "God's Unexpected Grace."

2009-04-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Brothers and Sisters Redeemed by the Grace of God in Christ Jesus:
For all intents and purposes, we should have finished our journey through the book of Jonah last Wednesday. The plot seemed straightforward enough: Jonah is called by God to preach to Ninevah. Jonah, for whatever reason, decides otherwise and heads the opposite way - to Tarshish via the open sea. God intervenes. Jonah is rescued from destruction by a great fish. Spit out on dry land, he journeys to Ninevah and preaches the city's immanent destruction. Ninevah repents; God relents. End of story.
But similar to some contemporary movies that have a scene or two after the credits roll, we suddenly realize that there is more to the book of Jonah, even after everything seems to have come to a pleasant end. Like the last chapter of the Gospel of John, here we have a kind of epilogue as Jonah stands and watches Ninevah repent and the storm clouds of God's wrath subside. Here we get a glimpse of the inner struggle within God's called and ordained prophet as he witnesses God's unexpected grace and mercy toward the most undeserving of people.
The book of Jonah, the third and fourth chapter:

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. (Jonah 3:10-4:2 ESV)

This unexpected "narrative after the narrative" begins with what should have been received as good news. God's justice and power serving his mercy and forgiveness. God's Word, despite the inadequacies and weaknesses and sin of God's prophet, has it's way with the inhabitants of Ninevah. The severity of the Law brings a confession of sin and, in the midst of hopelessness, a hope that maybe God would turn from delivering upon their heads what the Ninevites knew they had coming as a result of all the evil their hands had done. God sends the sweetness of his Gospel to those found in sackcloth and ashes.
"However, it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry." Our ESV translations soften the force of the original Hebrew text. A better translation into English might read, "However, it was evil to Jonah — a great evil — so that it inflamed him." (R. Reed Lessing. Jonah. 350)
God's Gospel of amazing grace was truly amazing to the people of Ninevah — and, in a completely different way, to God's own prophet Jonah.
Now we see clearly the inner-workings of Jonah as faith wrestles with unbelief, as the desire to forgive struggles with the desire to never forgive, as the Word of God goes head-to-head with the words of fallen Jonah.
The unbelievable had happened: God had relented of what he had said he would inflict on these undeserving people. And, because of this, the even more unbelievable had happened: Jonah calls God's declaration of unearned grace to the Ninevites not only unexpected and unbelievable — but evil — a great evil.
This revelation of the depravity of Jonah's sinful heart is the shocking kicker to the plot of the book of Jonah. We heard about some great things in the first three chapters of this book of the Bible. The greatness of the city of Ninevah. The greatness of the storm God hurled at the boat to bring pagan sailors to a confession of their sins. The greatness of the fish that rescues Jonah from his desire to drown in the sea rather than preach to those he had written off as undeserving of God's gift of a second chance. The greatness of Ninevah's repentance, from the king right down to the least of Ninevah's lowly animals.
And now we see up-front and center the greatness of Jonah's resentment — a resentment that calls God's great and amazing grace a great and amazing evil.
Jonah shakes his fist before God. "I knew you were going to do something unbelievable like this. I knew you might relent of your threats if they acknowledged their sin before you. Why didn't you follow through with what they had coming? Why are you so easily persuaded to give another chance to those who shouldn't be given any more chances, even if they should repent? Showing divine mercy to the unmerciful. Showing loving-kindness to the unloveable. Showing grace to those who had committed great evil is an even greater evil!"
Jonah had slid into something greater than mere confusion or displeasure or frustration. He was inflamed with anger. He had become enraged. He was seething with resentment.
And in the heat of his anger he prays a very different prayer than the one offered after being consumed by a sea creature. Jonah is now consumed with an unrighteous, sinful anger that cries out for something completely different than deliverance by God's gracious hand: unrestrained punishment for a city that, from Jonah's perspective, was not worth even the thought of saving.
"Why did you have to go and forgive them?" is Jonah's furious cry. "And why did you have to call me to deliver your almighty Word that brought about their repentance and pardon? Why did I have to be the one to bring your Word to these undeserving Gentiles? Your Word that allowed you to then come as a God of grace and mercy and loving-kindness, slow to bring punishment and disaster on the heads of those who deserve to drink your cup of wrath to the last drop? Your caving in to these Ninevites' plea for pardon is unfair and unjust and inexcusable. How dare you let your grace have the final word!"
The fact that God, in his heart of hearts, is a merciful God who's Word of Law serves his Word of Grace is a stone of stumbling to more than just an indignant Jonah. It consumed Cain and lead to the murder of his own brother. It consumed the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus' day and lead to the murder of the Son of God.
"This showing mercy to the undeserving is unacceptable." is found coming from not only the lips of the fallen prophet Jonah but also from the lips of Caiaphas and the Pharisees and scribes who took issue with Jesus' liberal dispensing of deliverance — salvation to even low-life tax collectors and sinners.
Jonah was a prisoner of his own sinful nature, a sinful nature that, in anger, cries out to the merciful Lord of heaven and earth: "If you are going to forgive the unforgivable sins of those people — if those kind of people are going to be graciously included in heaven — then I don't think I want to be a part of your plan of redemption. If Christ died for the deserving — the people I would approve of — the people that I can forgive — then all well and good. But there's got to be a limit on who Christ atones for."
That, unfortunately, is the teaching of many who call themselves Christians. "Christ died only for the elect," they mistakenly believe. "Those who God knew would do the right thing and change their heart and give some reason for God to offer them salvation. Everyone else is outside God's grace and mercy."
It makes sense to our old, sinful nature and to the world around us. God showering his grace on us is one thing. God showering his grace on others less deserving is quite another.
But sin is sin. Breaking God's holy and perfect will is breaking God's holy and perfect will. Deserving of God's wrath and punishment is deserving God's wrath and punishment.
Nevertheless, God's grace is God's grace. It is, by it's very nature completely undeserved, completely unexpected. Complete gift that has nothing to do with us, and everything to do with our Father and the one he has sent to save.
And as gift it can't be bought, earned or regulated — even by the old nature of God's called and ordained mouthpieces. The amazing gift of God's grace is always pure gift. That's what made it so foreign to Jonah's fallen way of thinking. God's grace for even foreigners. God's mercy for those who didn't have a clue how redemption would be revealed — how redemption would be won and secured for a sinful Adam and Eve and all their lost children.
When asked "what is the most difficult petition of the Lord's Prayer," some privately confess that it is the phrase, "thy will be done." That was the petition that also got Jonah's nose all out of joint. "Not my will, but yours be done" was perfectly prayed by only one: our Lord Christ on the night he was betrayed, on the night Judas gave himself over to the belief that Jesus' dispensing deliverance to the undeserving — even undeserving tax collectors and prostitutes and Gentiles — needed to come to a very quick end.
Jesus prayed for God's good and gracious will to be done. And tonight he calls on each of his own to join him in praying that God's Law would always serve his Gospel of forgiveness and restoration. That we would ask God to graciously forgive us as we, at the same time, are given the grace to forgive others.
Some things are out of our control. The way our sinful nature stains even our best intentions and seems to get the upper hand just when we think we've got him under control.
Some things are out of our control. The way God works all things for our ultimate good and the good of his people. The way the Word of God comes, even through poor and miserable sinners, to bring to despair those secure in their sins, and bring comfort to those who despair of any attempts to earn God's forgiveness.
The older brother of the prodigal son became incensed at what he saw as an unacceptable injustice in his father's gracious restoration of a son who didn't deserve restoring. But, thanks be to God, our heavenly Father replies to the old nature in Jonah — in each of us — with an affirmation of who he is — of who he cannot but be. This is the confession of faith found on the lips of Moses and all who are being saved:

“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin ... ." (Exodus 34:6-7 ESV)

Tonight we remember in faith the culmination of God's revelation of his redeeming grace for the undeserving who have nothing to offer their Lord but their many sins. Tonight we see clearly for who's sake "the many" — Ninevah, the sailors, Jonah, Israel and each of us — are freely, lavishly, eternally forgiven.

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the [new testament], which is poured out for [the] many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matthew 26:26-28 ESV)

By his grace, may God keep us from the great sin of being offended by the generosity of heaven's Gospel to those we don't believe it should be extended to. May our Lord through his Word open our lips, that our mouth would declare the amazing, unexpected grace of our Heavenly Father in Christ — in our lives and in the lives of all for who Christ died. Amen

The Gift of New Life - Born of Word and Water and Spirit (John 3:14-21)

2009-03-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

In the Name of Jesus
Dear Redeemed in Christ:
Nicodemus was a nice enough guy. Educated, schooled in the best rabbinic institutions, he had climbed his way up to be one of the elite, a member of the Sanhedrin, those seventy priests and scribes who made up the ruling council in Jerusalem and governed Jerusalem and all of Judea, subject only to the Roman governor Pilate. Nicodemus had earned the honor of his fellow councilmen, and was the model Israelite not only before the council, but before his fellow citizens of Jerusalem. He had made it to the top. He enjoyed celebrity status. Favored by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and admired by all who saw him on the streets of Jerusalem. Nicodemus: outstanding citizen and example of everything best in an obedient son of Israel. If anyone had an impressive list of the good they had done for God and their neighbor, it was Nicodemus.
But not everything was rosy on the inside for this man who's behavior was beyond reproach. He had recently seen with his very eyes and heard with his very ears something that was more and more disturbing to his scholarly mind and dedicated heart: the dawning of salvation through the advent of that wild man John the Baptist and his incessant cry that the Kingdom of God had finally come with the appearance of this strange carpenter's son from somewhere up in Galilee.
Nicodemus was intrigued and bewildered by the manner of Jesus' behavior: the miracles he freely performed and the authority that he claimed — all despite his quiet demeanor and unimpressive looks and far from charismatic personality.
Nicodemus didn't get quivers in his liver when he finally saw and hear this Jesus for himself. What he did receive was a strange, unexpected sense that something was going on here that defied his — and the Jerusalem council's — expectations, something that convicted him and seemed to put into question all the good he thought was racking up — for God, for God's people, for — ultimately — himself.
"What to do?" haunted this man Nicodemus until, one restless night, he could take it no longer. He would go to Jesus under the cover of darkness and see if this self-proclaimed man of God was actually the real thing — or a self-seeking impostor and trouble-maker like his fellow councilmen had argued.
The Word of Christ was doing his work on Nicodemus, as it continues to do in our hearts and minds as well. And with some recognition that everything was not as it should be when it came to Nicodemus' salvation, he approached Jesus with a strange mix of hesitation and expectation.
The Holy Gospel According to Saint John, the Third Chapter:
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” (John 3:1-13 ESV)
Nicodemus' heart and mind were suddenly reeling. Jesus' reply to his opening complements had gone in a completely unexpected direction. Instead of giving a few pointers on how to behave a little more pious, Jesus was revealing the complete inability of fallen human flesh and blood to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus was calling for a entirely new birth of water and the Spirit. And he was calling for faith that put its trust solely on the working of God through water and Word and Spirit — independent of any fallen human understanding behind the why and the where and the how.
That's the one thing that had been left out of the equation during Nicodemus' theological training. That's the one thing the world will never get. That's the one thing the Sanhedrin would never accept: salvation by grace through faith in the sacrifice of God's one and only Son. A plan that ran in the face of all human wisdom and logic. A plan of redemption that gave no credit to any human work not a fruit, a product, of water and the Word and the Spirit of God from above.
Jesus' words seem harsh because, as we are re-learning in the midweek Lenten services this year, God must first kill with his Word before he can make alive. The Word from Heaven must first condemn all attempts by fallen, sinful people to to ascend into heaven on the merit of their own good works. For the Spirit of God has not come to rehabilitate the old nature through some program of spiritual chin-ups and jumping jacks. The Spirit of God has come to take our old nature and drown it.
This is the "earthly thing" Jesus is clearly revealing to Nicodemus — and through him to you and me. Our own best efforts are useless. Our good works — necessary as they are in this life — don't do anything before Almighty God, who sees our depraved hearts and the sin-stained fruit it can't help but produce. Nothing we can do as fallen and helpless children of our first fallen and helpless parents can get us out of the dark night of our sin and the deadly consequences of that sin.
Despite all the talk these days about doing this or not doing that in order to be saved - only a new birth will suffice — a new birth by God in Christ and his Word through the Holy Spirit.
As a teenager I wished everyday that I could have had a decision in who my parents and brothers and sister would be. Why didn't I get a vote in choosing not to suffer through the icy winters of Michigan while kids my age in Huntington Beach were walking around the mall in shorts and boogie boarding in March?
Well, because the gift of live is a gift. It is not chosen by us. It is not created by us or voted on. We didn't ask God to create the heavens and the earth in seven days or our body and soul, our family and neighbors and church. They were gifted upon us, in spite of the venemous disease of sin. Life and new life as an undeserved, unexpected, unexplained, unmeasurable, joyous gift descended from the Lord of heaven himself in the person and work of his Son.
God had a different plan than the children of Israel or the Sanhedrin or the spiritual elite could have even imagined. Deliverance won by thirty pieces of silver - the price of a slave. Redemption accomplished by the handing over of the Messiah into the clutches of evil men. The cup of salvation secured by Christ drinking to the dregs the cup of God's deadly wrath. Death defeated for all through the death of the Word of Life himself made flesh.
Jesus says as much as he reveals to Nicodemus,
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:14-15 ESV)
God uses the earthly things of this world to redeem the world. God uses the flesh and bones of his Son made flesh to glorify our bodies and rescue our souls from the cold chill of the grave.
Christ delivers us from sin by becoming flesh of our flesh — by becoming sin for us.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:16-21 ESV)
Our old nature wants salvation to come in a very different way: through some ecstatic emotional experience or the handling of poisonous snakes or a new regiment of spiritual principles. Our sinful nature wants salvation to show up at the door through some "discipline of Lent" in which we re-dedicate ourselves to being nicer Christians and more lovable people before God.
But the verbs of Lent — the verbs of redemption — are never to be centered on what we "give up" or give to God. That's why the season of Lent must be re-interpreted (or just plain ignored) by by those that will not allow Jesus himself to "do the verbs" of salvation.
Handed over, lead away, poured out, offered up.
These are the proper verbs of Lent because they put the spotlight on the object of saving faith: our Lord Christ and his work in our place.
When Nicodemus came to see Jesus, it was in the darkness of not knowing — not believing — that Jesus had come to reveal himself as someone very different than some great rabbi who can channel divine spirits. Nicodemus is the stand-in for our own fallen nature as he investigates not only who Jesus really is but what has he come to do — what has he come to accomplish and win.
And Jesus' reply to the questions of Nicodemus: It is necessary that the Son of Man be lifted up, as the bronze serpent was lifted up in the wilderness.
To shame all fallen human understanding. To condemn all human attempts of constructing a ladder to heaven out of our own good works.
To allow only faith — God-gifted faith — to believe that the greatest and clearest revelation of God's wrath unleashed upon sin is — at the same time — the greatest and clearest revelation of God's boundless grace and mercy and forgiveness and reconciliation for Nicodemus. For Caiaphas and Pilate. For the betrayer Judas. For those we find it so difficult to forgive and care for.
Jesus lifted up — for even you. Amen

Straightaway with Power — to Save.

2009-02-03T09:18:00.001-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Fellow Baptized into Christ:

The season is Epiphany, that time of the church year that encompasses Jesus' entire public ministry from the time of his Baptism in the Jordan by John until his holy, innocent suffering and death in Jerusalem. Epiphany is a season that focuses our eyes upon Christ as the Light of the world, the revelation of God's good favor to the nations.
And so the great epiphany hymn (the lead-off hymn in the epiphany section of our hymnal), "Songs of Thankfulness and Praise," recounts the many and various ways in which Christ manifested himself and his redeeming mission to the nations drawn to the very glory of Israel hidden in this carpenter's son from the back woods of Nazareth.
In this season of Epiphany we place our ears and our hearts under the Word of God to listen to the ways Jesus was revealed to us: in the star that guided the magi to the infant king's manger; in the thunderous pronouncement by our heavenly Father at Jesus' baptism; and, as our Gospel this morning reveals: manifest in miraculous healings of not only physical illness, but as Saint Mark would want us to take to heart, manifest most importantly in the rescue from the forces of evil that ensnare and helplessly chain us to a life of misery and slavery to the powers of darkness and evil.
Hear again as the Word of God Incarnate comes with power to redeem all languishing under the load of the devil, the world and their own sinful nature.
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Mark, the first chapter:
And they [Jesus and the disciples he had just called] went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. (Mark 1:21-22 ESV)
In the Gospel narrative of Saint Mark, we see Jesus wasting no time in bringing all of salvation history to it's fulfillment. "And immediately" characterizes Jesus as he comes to a fallen humanity to fulfill Moses and the Prophets and establish redemption as the Messiah — as the very Son of God. With the inauguration of Jesus' public ministry through the water of the Jordan, the hand of the Baptist, and the Word of God from heaven, the wheels of redemption are set in motion. The disciples are called straightaway; the unadulterated Word of God is preached without delay; the suffering are speedily healed; repentant sinners are given the undeserved gifts of forgiveness and restored as children of God and heirs of heaven right then and there.
Jesus didn't have time for small talk and five hour pre-game shows. Our Lord didn't have the luxury of getting around to things next year or next month or next week. The time of salvation in the person and work of the Messiah had come, and with Jesus' anointing as Messiah, there could be no time outs, no half-time show, no commercial break, no delay of game. Jesus marched into Capernaum and straightaway entered the synagogue on the Sabbath to immediately do what he had been called to do: preach and teach and heal as he resolutely made his "without delay," "without hesitation," "straightaway" walk to Jerusalem, and the Cross that awaited him there.
That was the sum and substance of Jesus' life-giving teaching in that synagogue in Capermaum that Sabbath, and that continues to be the life-giving content of all God-pleasing preaching and teaching this day — this Super Bowl Sunday — and every day — until that day when Christ will come to judge the living and the dead.
That's what made Jesus' teaching on that day completely different than the ramblings of the scribes. Jesus did not have any need to quote the unending and often contradictory opinions of those who presented themselves as religious experts. Jesus had no need of wasting the time of those sick and dying in their sin with a litany of lecturing on religious etiquette of the day. Christ didn't need the permission or the blessing of Moses or the prophets (or the pharisees or the scribes — the interpreters of Moses and the prophets) as he spoke to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Christ did not come to interpret and give some opinion on the Word of God. Those in the synagogue that day were bowled over by Jesus' teaching simply because the divine Word of God was made manifest right in their midst. Jesus did not justify his words by pointing to the opinions of the world's religious experts. Unlike the scribes, Jesus proclaimed that Moses and the prophets pointed to him. The scribes came to justify their own opinions through Moses and the Prophets. Jesus came and announced that Moses and the Prophets are justified through him.
"And they were astonished at the authority of his teaching."
That's what happens when God's people are fed a steady diet of the rambling opinions of religious leaders who justify themselves by quoting anyone and everyone — but refuse to preach the One to whom Moses and the Prophets ultimately point: the Word of God incarnate, the one true Son of God, the one true Suffering Servant of God, the one true Light of Heaven and sinless Lamb of God who alone can take away the sin of the world.
"And they were astonished at the authority of his teaching."
Finally, here was the Word of God right in their midst, the Word of God that creates and sustains and calls forth faith in Christ and the power of his gracious, redeeming Word.
And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are— the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. (Mark 1:23-26 ESV)
The congregation is left speechless by the clear Word of Christ as his teaching begins to illuminate darkened minds and hearts. And immediately, suddenly, without warning, Jesus' saving Word is met with the word of a representative of all who would fight against God and the Kingdom of Grace and Salvation he has sent Christ to eternally establish.
"This is our territory." the unclean spirit announces. "This is our arena." "We know that God has set you apart to do his holy work. But we will not let you go unchallenged. Have you come to engage us in battle? Have you come to lay claim to this sin-infested world and these sin-infected people? Tell us — what exactly are you are up to? Explain yourself!"
But Jesus will have no part in justifying his calling and mission to his opponents — to the devil, the world or our own sinful nature. The Son of God did not come to justify himself, but that through him, those oppressed with sin and the forces of evil might be rescued from the dungeon of darkness and death.
He will be the one to order what is to be said, and what is to be silenced. And with the authority of almighty God, Jesus immediately puts a muzzle on the tongue of the unclean spirit. There will be no appeal or pleading. No debate. No deal-making. Just an authoritative command: "Be silent and come out of him!"
And, as we already know, the Word of God has the power to do what it commands. "Be silent. Come out of him. Depart. Release him. Let him go. He is now mine."
Yes, the devil and his minions are real. The forces of evil are great. But, thanks be to God, the grace of Christ to defend his own is even greater.
And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. (Mark 1:26 ESV)
You could have heard a pin drop in that synagogue in Capernaum that Sabbath as the sunshine through the doors illuminated the dust in the air and the now motionless man freed from the control of a oppressive spirit — a demon opposed to everything Christ had been sent to be and do.
And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. (Mark 1:27-28 ESV)
"What is this?" indeed. A sure and certain Word come straight from God with all the authority of heaven itself.

Are you tired of listening to the religious experts of the world with their endless opinions on what you should or shouldn't do to earn God's favor while you languish under the forces that oppress and enslave you?
Are you sick of trying another five-step program to challenge your old sinful nature and get control over your doubts and fears and rebellion to what you know is God's good and gracious will?
Are you at your wit's end when it comes to living the double life of behaving like the perfect Christian but secretly knowing that your heart and mind and soul is far from the holiness and righteousness almighty God requires?
Are you waving the white flag of surrender after hearing the severity of the Law Moses has brought down from the mountain, engraved on tablets of stone by the very finger of God?
Then listen with the ears and heart of faith as Moses announces:
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen." (Deuteronomy 18:15 ESV)
Listen to the one to whom Moses points. Listen to the one who is the Torah of God, the Wisdom of God, the one who fulfilled perfectly the Ten Commandments — for Moses and the prophets and the congregation gathered in Capernaum on that Sabbath — and the congregation gathered here this morning.
Christ has come without delay to wash you with his Word in, with and under water, as he commands through the mouth of the pastor:
"Depart you unclean spirit and make room for the Holy Spirit in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Receive the sign of the holy cross both upon your forehead and upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified."
Christ has come without delay to manifest his great mercy — as he forgives you all of your sins and strengthens God-given faith in, with and under the bread and wine of his holy Supper.
Christ has come without delay, just as Moses has said, to show his great mercy to all oppressed by the kingdom of darkness and death, showing his power in delivering us from evil.
Christ has not come to debate or babysit or entertain you. He has come to take upon himself your sin and wretchedness, to free you from your chains, and cover you with the white robe of his perfect righteousness.
Receive him and his redeeming Word as he comes this day. Put your trust solely upon him as you and all his saints await the day of his final epiphany — the glorious day when he will manifest himself to all, calling all who believe into his eternal presence, into that eternal Sabbath rest.
May we ever be prepared for his appearing, as we join the saints in heaven and on earth and pray, "Come Lord Jesus. Come without delay. Come quickly and speak your mighty Word — your gracious Word — and save us."

"Turn a Blind Eye? Christ Calls his Own to Follow Him."

2009-01-20T07:05:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Fellow Redeemed by the Grace of our All-Knowing Savior:
The ancient wisdom of the ages continues to offer its advise for those who are entering into a new relationship: keep both eyes open before beginning that new relationship - and then, after joining in that relationship, keep one eye closed. That might be good advise for not only those considering marriage, but for those entering into a business partnership or a friendship in the classroom. On a very practical level, that proverb speaks to our relationships in the home, at work, at school, in our neighborhood, and even in the way we relate to others in the church.
Because "keep both eyes open, and then keep one eye closed" speaks to how we can carry out our partnerships with others: examine everything with a judicious eye before signing on the bottom line, before promising vows before the altar, before swearing mutually undying loyalty to each other. Be very critical when it comes to choosing friends and business partners and neighbors and a spouse. Know exactly what you are getting into.
That's the intended strength of online dating services and pre-marital counseling with a pastor. That's the thought behind Dr. Phil stressing that parents have to know what's going on with their children's friends. If we want relationships to last, if we want partnerships to stand the test of time, if we want friendships to be more than just arrangements of convenience and self-centered utilitarianism, we need to realistically, responsibly, cautiously investigate what we are getting ourselves into.
That's why Redeemer Lutheran offers new membership classes on a regular basis. So that prospective members can check out what this congregation believes, teaches and confesses, that there wouldn't be any surprises down the road. Guests and visitors and friends of the congregation should know — up front — where we stand on important doctrines of Christianity, where our priorities lie, what we are committed to be and do under God's grace and calling.
But "keep both eyes open" is only the first half of the saying. Proverbial wisdom would also have us (after doing the hard work of checking things out and doing our "due diligence") remember to keep one eye closed.
Because our spouse and parent and child and partner and friend and neighbor is a weak and fallen human being who is far from perfect, despite what we might initially think or feel. The world acknowledges that it is hard work to keep relationships going because people in our life sometimes — even often — do things and say things and think things that bother us and annoy us and even hurt and wound us.
Scripture goes even further as it reveals not only the real fallen, weak and sinful condition of all those he places into our lives. Scripture — the holy Word of God — reveals that we too contribute to difficulties and strains and bumps in the road when it comes to those with which we share some significant part of our life.
Scripture holds up the clear mirror of the Law — to not only our neighbor's eyes but also to our eyes, that we might begin to understand that our behavior is much more problematic that we might first think. That's what God continues to do — even for Christians — in the Ten Commandments and in the Beatitudes and the exhortations of the prophets and apostles. God holds up his holy and perfect will to our eyes — for our sake and the sake of the precious relationships he has given us to nurture.
Relationships — lasting and blessed relationships — are so precious here on earth because all of us — without exception — live in a universe that too often revolves around self and what relationships can do for our own pleasure and power, for own own interests and greatness and glory.
That's the hard reality that forms the backdrop of broken relationships and spoiled partnerships and friendships gone toxic. According to the wisdom of the world, we need to understand our neighbor as best we can, but then, when we enter into a relationship with another fallen child of Adam and Eve, we need to keep one eye closed — to turn a blind eye to fallen behavior that can be difficult to put up with. To pretend those annoying habits and quirks just aren't there. The wisdom of the world: turn a discriminating eye, but then turn a blind eye to the fallen words and actions of those around us.
But on this the Lord's Day, on this the Second Sunday of Epiphany, how does Christ Jesus manifest his saving glory to us and to the nations? Does he follow the lead of Andrew and Nathaniel in the world's wisdom of "keeping one eye open, then turning a blind eye to the faults and trespasses around us"? How does Christ come to save?
The Holy Gospel According to Saint John, the first chapter:
The next day, after Jesus had decided to leave for Galilee, he found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and the prophets gave witness to: Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to [Andrew], ‘From Nazareth? Can anything good come from there?’ Philip replied to him, ‘Come and see.’ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him he said of him, ‘Look! A true Israelite in whom there is no deceit.’ Nathanael asked [Jesus], ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus replied, ‘Before Philip called you, while you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’ Nathanael answered, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are the king of Israel.’ (John 1:43-49)
That inspired, eyewitness account of day four of the beginning of Jesus' redeeming ministry should properly take our breath away and make our jaw drop (as it did Nathaniel's) — for more than a few reasons — first and foremost being that Christ, true man, manifests himself as — shows himself to be — the all-seeing, all-knowing Son of God.
It is Christ who amazingly approaches this dark and dying world, approaches each of us, with his eyes wide open. It is Christ who reveals himself as the omniscient Son of God. He knows Nathaniel's behavior and actions. He sees Nathaniel's mind and heart. Nothing is hidden from his eyes. He sees all our fears and doubt, and he knows if we have received his gracious gifts in faith and taken them to heart. Christ sees everything when it comes to Nathaniel and he sees and knows and understands everything when it comes to me and when it comes to you. Even when he finds us in darkness, the Light brings everything to light.
Jesus not only sees the gift of faith received in Nathaniel, but sees the rest of us as well. Our questions and our doubts, our unbelief in the scandal of God's redemption sent in the hiddenness of the ordinary, the hiddenness of the unexpected, the hiddenness of suffering and the agony of the Cross.
When Jesus comes, everything is transparent. Nathaniel began to realize that nothing could be hidden from this carpenter's son from the lowly, unimpressive little town of Nazareth. Jesus saw Nathaniel as no one else could ever see him, his helplessness and weakness and fallenness and sin. And, in spite of all that — with eyes wide open — Jesus called Nathaniel to faith. He called him to be one of twelve members of the new Israel, and bids him to be an eyewitness of the love of Christ — love that compels our Lord to do something very different than turn a blind eye to sin and pretend it doesn't exist.
Jesus doesn't turn a blind eye, but turns our trespasses and sins into his own, offering his righteousness in their place.
The Word of God incarnate comes to shine his revealing Light into our lives and behavior, into our past, into our minds and heart and soul. He sees us as we really are, as so much less that what he has create us to be. And still, he finds us and brings us to himself, to forgive and renew and wash clean in his sacrifice — his sacrifice for an entire world that couldn't sustain a God-pleasing relationship if its life depended on it.
Our Lord is in the business of graciously, mercifully giving the saving gifts he has won for us by his holy, innocent suffering and death. Christ the Light does not make light of our sins — he mercifully atones for them.
He gave the gift of life, forgiveness and salvation to Andrew. Jesus gave the gift of faith to Andrew, and that faith showed itself in Andrew inviting Nathaniel to come into the light — into the Light of Christ.
The season of Epiphany is the season of Christ revealing himself to not only the children of Israel, but also to the nations, just as his salvation was revealed to the magi not long after his birth. The season of Epiphany is, therefore, also a season of Christian mission — a season of God-given faith calling and exhorting and inviting others to come to him who sees all, who knows all — and still, comes to save, through the shedding of his very life-blood.
Jesus replied, ‘Do you believe just because I said: I saw you under the fig tree? You are going to see greater things than these.’ And he said to [Nathaniel], ‘Truly, truly I tell you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.’ (John 1:50-51)
Christ manifests himself not as a way-shower, but as the Way. He is not some tour guide to heaven. His work upon the Cross is the very ladder into God's presence — for sinful Jacob and for you.
Receive the Light of Heaven as he comes with his eyes wide open to put everything of yours in the light.
Receive the King of Israel as he manifests himself as the one and only foundation of any lasting relationship we could ever receive, on earth and in heaven.
Receive the very Son of God, as he blinds the eyes of those who will not believe, and opens the eyes of faith to his redemption in, with and under the lowly prophets and apostles — in, with and under lowly water and bread and wine — in, with and under the giving of his very self at Calvary.
Let Christ come and bring you into his Light. Let him take a good look at you in the light of his Law. And then let him deal with that one thing that prevents us from any lasting relationship with God or our neighbor.
Let Christ come and forgive and bring new life to you — and those he has placed in your life.
God grant it for the sake of his glory and the salvation of many.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Singing the Song of the Coming Christ

2008-12-03T13:02:00.000-08:00

In the Name of Jesus

Dear Fellow Christians awaiting the coming of Christ:

The inspired Gospel writers were lead by the Holy Spirit to begin at the very beginning. And, as we know from the Sound of Music, the beginning is a very good place to start.
For the Evangelists Matthew and Mark and Luke and John, there can be no beginning at the manger, there can be no beginning with shepherds and angels, there can be no beginning of our Christmas celebration, no celebration of Christ's coming, without observing what comes before the coming, what begins before the beginning: the birth of John the Baptist before the birth of Christ.
Take a look at the four Gospel narratives that have, since the first days of the Christian Church, formed the skeleton of the Church Year and the rhythm, the seasons of our Christian life.
Saint Matthew does not begin with Joseph talking to the innkeeper. Saint Mark does not begin his Gospel narrative with Mary's water breaking. Saint Luke does not begin his account with the cold and clear blue of Bethlehem's night sky and the star that guided magi to the manger. Saint John does not begin the revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by documenting the angel's visit to shepherds who search for a new-born wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
The Evangelists begin at the very beginning: a time of waiting and anticipation and hope as God himself begins the countdown toward the fulfillment of all salvation history in the coming of the promised one, the one foretold by angels, the one who's name was given by heaven itself, the one received by some, rejected by many: John the Baptist - the forerunner of Christ.
This afternoon/evening, we hear the beginning before the beginning from Saint Luke, who doesn't even begin talking about Jesus by talking about John the Baptist, but by taking another step back and recounting the circumstances that led up to John the Baptist's birth.
It is Saint Luke that tells us that Zechariah and Elizabeth were, by God's mercy and grace, believing children of Israel, who put their faith in the Word of God — through Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms; believing people who looked forward in hope to the day God would remember his people and the covenant he had sworn to them — to come and redeem and deliver them from an enemy even greater than evil Pharaoh in Egypt. But Zechariah and Elizabeth had no child. "For [as Saint Luke writes,] Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years." (Luke 1:7 ESV)
For all intents and purposes, the door had been shut, bolted and locked on any possibility that they would ever enjoy the precious gift of a child. They struggled with their own human disappointment and frustration. They had placed themselves under the good and gracious Word of the Lord, they had received God's promises in the Messiah to come, but — in spite of their hope in God's deliverance, they had no child. God had not visited them with the gift of new life.
But as they continued to hope in the midst of hopelessness, as they continued to put their faith in the mercy of God despite all their worry and doubt, despite the temptations to abandon the Word of the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob came and drew Zechariah to his holy Temple. He brought Zechariah to himself and the altar of his mercy. Through the mouthpiece of his holy angel, God announced that fear would give way to God-given trust. The burden of barrenness would be exchanged for the gift of new life. Elizabeth would surely bear a son, and his name would be "John," meaning, "The Lord has been gracious."
And so, for more than fifteen hundred years, God's struggling, frustrated, waiting people — languishing in a barren world of sin and longing for new life — have, in faith, placed themselves under the promises given to Elizabeth and Zechariah.
And the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. ... and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared." (Luke 1:13-17 ESV)
Our Lord, through his messenger, the angel, announced to Zechariah the job description of Christ's forerunner, John. Called to a ministry that will complete the preparations made through all the Old Testament prophets, John will be used by God to "make ready for the Lord a people prepared — for the Lord's own coming." (Luke 1:17 ESV)
Through his holy angel, heaven announces to our old, unbelieving nature that there will be no advent of the Savior before the advent of Elijah in the person and work of John the Baptist. John must first do his God-given work, and then, when that work is accomplished, the Messiah will come and forgive and rescue and save.
And despite the fact that John the Baptist is given such little notice in our own Christmas preparations — his voice today continues to "make ready for the Lord a people prepared — for the Lord's own coming." (Luke 1:17 ESV)
We learn from Scripture that as Christians, we have nothing to say to God (or to our neighbor) concerning our redemption until God speaks a word to us — through his inspired messengers. And this afternoon / tonight we take time to hear the inspired words from Zechariah.
From a man who's mouth was shut and his tongue tied by his own doubt and sin and unbelief, we hear words of renewed faith and heartfelt joy. For Zechariah's faith in the coming Messiah — the same faith that was even then evident in his new-born son — gave way not only to a spoken confession of faith, but a heavenly song.
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Luke, the first chapter:

And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:67-79 ESV)

This song of Zechariah is the first of three inspired songs given to the Christian Church and each of us to sing in repentant joy and faith as we look forward to Christmas Day. Today we join Zechariah in blessing the Lord God of Israel for the holy, one-way covenant he made before Abraham and Moses and David. This gracious promise to send the Deliverer — the very Word of God made human flesh — is the center of Zechariah's Song as it is the center of our song to God and to each other. This is the covenant announced by the Lord as he promised the Seed of the Woman to Adam and Eve as he sacrificed an animal in order to cover their shame. This is the covenant announced to Abraham as the Lord "cut" his covenant in the sacrifice of a heifer, goat and ram. This is the covenant announced as John the Baptist was circumcised on the eighth day, the first day of a new week, the first day of a new creation.
This is the covenant announced at a table in the upper room, on the night when our Lord was betrayed — the very night that led to the Messiah's sacrificial death and the securing of our deliverance from the hand of our enemies: sin, death and the power of the devil.
The presence of John the Baptist will give way to the presence of our Lord as he comes to establish salvation to all who would believe. "He must increase, and I must decrease." John says. But for now, as we wait for the final coming of our Bridegroom, as we patiently wait for the final rising of heaven's sun, we join Zechariah in blessing the Lord — in word and in song.
God grant us the faith to "start at the very beginning" — to sing back to him what he has first revealed to us through his servants Zechariah and John the Baptist. May the Benedictus also be found on our lips this season of preparation as God comes in his Word and gives us a new heart and a new hope and a new song.
A blessed advent-tide to each of you in the Name of the Coming Christ.

Sheep do as Sheep are. Matthew 25:31-46

2008-11-24T06:50:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Brothers — Disciples — in Christ, the Righteous Judge:

With this week, the Christian Church closes the book on an entire year focused on our Lord and his gracious promises and the gift of salvation freely given to us as revealed in the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew. A year ago we heard of Jesus' first discourse to his own brothers — his disciples — in the words of the Beatitudes. And this morning we hear from Jesus the last discourse to the Twelve and to us as he winds up his public ministry with an increasingly clear announcement of what lies ahead for his own and for the world. The Seven Woes of chapter 23, followed by the signs of the last days and the command to keep watch in chapter 24, followed by the Parable of the Ten Virgins and the Parable of the Talents.
And now, everything our Lord Christ has announced to his followers comes to it's completion, it's zenith, it's conclusion, with verse 31 and following:

[Jesus said,] “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-48 ESV)

At first hearing, that's a difficult section of Scripture to respond to with the words, "Thanks be to God." But like any other Word of the Lord, Christ is doing two things as he reveals something much more real and impending than a simple story about shepherds separating farm animals. He is giving nothing but condemnation to those who are shown void of what Christ-created and sustained faith produces: care for those in need; true care for those deemed insignificant by the world and our own sinful nature: the least of those Christ calls his brothers.
But Christ also gives the most comforting promise of grace and hope to all who have put their trust in the Lamb who once was slain and in his righteousness, his innocence, his blessedness.
Through these words, our Lord announces that all things have been given to him by his Father. As the Son of Man — the Messiah foretold by the prophets — Christ will, by his all-powerful Word, raise the dead and gather all peoples before him as he sits upon his judgment throne.
Once he came with his glory hidden, to be born, to live, to suffer and die as one of us, to take our sins upon his sinless body and make atonement for all in the giving of his own life-blood.
But with the words, "It is complete. It is fulfilled. The debt has been paid in full," Christ-given faith begins to see that hidden, saving glory — in the Cross, in the Scriptures, in Holy Baptism, in the Holy Supper.
That is our faith as we confess with the whole Christian Church on earth: I believe in Jesus Christ, who will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom will have no end."
This is our faith as we confess in the words of the Athanasian Creed: I believe in Jesus Christ ... At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies and will give an account of their own works. And they that have done good will go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire.
The glorious Son of Man, before whom no unholiness can survive, will, on the last day, raise and gather all of humanity in order to separate each person into one of only two groups. No third, miscellaneous category. No third, "I don't really know what to do with this one" group.
Simply sheep and goats — and the sheep are placed on his favored side, on the side of honor, on his right.
As a shepherd separates at the end of the day those animals who have grazed together in the same field, as the farmer separates the wheat from the tares at harvest time, as the fisherman separates the good fish from the bad fish after gathering them all in his net, as the master of the house, upon his return, separates the profitable from the wicked servants, so the Son of Man will come in his glory to gather in order to separate what is judged holy from what is judged unholy, what is judged righteous from what is judged unrighteous, what is judged blessed from what is judged as cursed.
As the sheep and goats are ushered by the shepherd into two separate quarters at the end of the day, so it will be for Adam and Eve and all their children.
And to the favored sheep on his right he will say, "Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world."
Christ's precious sheep will be announced as gracious, undeserving heirs of the kingdom all of history has waited to be revealed, a kingdom cleansed from sin and doubt and rebellion and suffering and pain and death, a kingdom in which we will be released from the burden of an old nature that can do nothing but sin and grumble and attempt to work its way into God's good graces.
For Christ there will be no surprises, but for all those gathered, the judgment received will not be the kind of judgment expected.
More than a few will come before the King expecting praise for all the good they have achieved, for all the good they have manufactured, for all the accolades given to them by the world, for all that their heart told them would earn heaven and open it's glorious gates.
But they would have nothing to do with a King of the Cross, a Redeemer whose glory was hidden to all but God-given faith, a Savior who would freely clothe all undeserving sinners with his spotless robe of righteousness. And because they did not recognize Christ and the hidden glory of his Word and his Baptism and his Supper, they failed to see him in Christ's lowly and needy brothers.
In these days, we are tempted to look for a glorious Christ, that we might earn a favored place by his side through our own great and glorious works.
But the surprising thing is not that some will be revealed as goats on the last day. Salvation must remain a free gift that can be either received by faith or rejected in unbelief and rebellion. The surprising thing is that there are any of us who are judged righteous and blessed.
Scripture and Christ, the hymns we sing and the Catechism we learn — announce with one voice that we are the spiritually starving, wandering, naked, enslaved — sick unto death in our sin.
We were the needy ones that had no great or lasting importance — and Christ came and fed and clothed and visited us with his love and care, his grace and mercy, his very self.
To all who look to their own nature, their own spiritual poverty, their own sinfulness, their own inability to keep the Beatitudes — their own inability to produce any kind of righteousness of their own — Jesus comes to offer the gift of a righteous robe, a washing of regeneration, an undeserved place in heaven, a faith that gives us the ability to see Christ in the least of his brothers, in the least of fellow disciples and followers.
As we approach that great and fearful day, let us not fear but continue to keep our eyes on Christ and his righteousness — his righteousness that has made us his precious sheep, his righteousness that has made us blessed, his righteousness that gives us the ability to care for even the lowliest of Christ's own with a care that has no concern of earning God's favor.
God, in his abundant grace, increase our faith, that we might keep awake and watchful in these last days, and serve him — not by doing something glorious for his kingdom, but by simply allowing Christ to be our Shepherd, to work the works of faith through us, his undeserving sheep.
May Christ give us the hope and strength to look forward to the day when Christ will come in all his glory with his angels to declare his judgment upon all he has clothed in the redeeming fruits of his cross.
In faith, may we say today and always, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, and clothe us in the robe of the Lamb."

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The Blessed Ones and the Blessed One

2008-11-04T06:48:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Beloved Saints in Christ:
Today, a week after Reformation Sunday, the Christian Church commemorates her saints. That can be more than a little confusing for those who believe Martin Luther's great contribution to Christianity was ridding sanctuaries of statues and paintings and stain glass windows depicting believers who have been called to the Church triumphant.
But, contrary to what some may believe, there is no inconsistency between observing the Lutheran Reformation — the rediscovery of the true Gospel of God's grace and forgiveness in the substitutionary sacrifice Christ Jesus — and observing the commemoration of the saints — those who have received by true faith the true Gospel of God's grace in Christ.
God always means for the two to go together: the bright beams of the Gospel — and the fruits of that saving Light in the minds and hearts of the faithful that constitute the Church — Militant (Christ's children on earth) and Triumphant (Christ's children now in heaven).
God in his mercy gave us the one saving gift of his Son upon the Cross — and with that redeeming gift comes all others, including the gift of the saints.
And how many individuals came up to you Friday and wished you a blessed Reformation Day? How many did you wish a blessed Reformation Day to, only to receive a blank stare back?
And so it is with a proper understanding of All Saint's Day. The world knows of Hallow's Eve, but knows nothing of the true reason to bow the knee and give thanks to the Triune God for all those our Creator and Redeemer properly considers his own dear saints.
For example, ask your neighbor the significance of the first of November — and more likely than not you'll get the answer: it's the day after Halloween. The day to pick up the discarded candy wrappers in the front lawn. It's the day to take the rented costumes back to the store and put the "cobwebs in a can" and the squeeze bottle of fake blood back in the box until next year.
But what of the saints? The hallowed of All Hallow's Eve? Does our world (and our old nature) commemorate saints? Well, yes, but in it's own worldly way.
You see, the world's saints are marked by behavior thought to earn the title "saint" or "holy" or "pious" or "moral." If you're shooting for sainthood you can't kick the dog or be a disappointment to those who know you best. If you want to make the grade you have to prove yourself worthy of the title "saint." No investing in tobacco or oil companies. No problems at work or at home or with the neighbors. To be a saint, you need to present yourself to everyone around you in a way that will make them compelled to confess, "She's a saint." "He's a saint."
The requirements are grueling if you desire to be the world's saint. You have to stand out from the crowd with your saintliness, with your holy living. The competition is so ruthless the Roman Catholic Church now requires three miracles by the candidate — performed after his or her death.
But what of us here this morning? What of us here who have given up long ago on impressing the world or our relatives or boss or neighbors that we're on our way to earning our halo and becoming a saint in the eyes of the world? What of us who just struggle to get through the day without saying something stupid or hurtful — or neglecting those we have been called to serve with our time and care and resources? What of us who have our hands full trying to curb our own pride and self-centered concerns, that our Lord and his Word and love of God and neighbor would follow? What does commemorating the saints have to do with us who are so spiritually challenged — so morally disabled — so crippled and debilitated with temptation and sin and excuse-making?
We might, on a good day, be able to fool those around us, to produce in our neighbor some applause or accolades for our saintly behavior, but everything comes to a dead end when we realize that before God, everything is seen as it really is, for God looks at the heart. God looks at our fallen heart and sees even in our desire to be saintly the stain of sin and the hunger to be rewarded for what we believe we have made ourselves into.
But as we hear the clear words of the Beatitudes that come from our Lord before his disciples, a part of us cried out with the recognition that the moat he constructs is too wide and deep to cross, and the wall is too smooth and high to get over.

[Jesus] opened his mouth and taught them, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:2-8 ESV)

How could Christ come and announce such an impossible standard for those who's simple desire was to become God-pleasing saints? How could he take the measuring stick of the Ten Commandments and not only affirm them but show them to be a thousand times more impossible for any of us to master?
How can a loving, merciful, forgiving Savior announce such standards that are beyond our grasp, even for an hour or a day? Why did he have to shut and bolt and weld the door shut on my attempts to attain holiness and sainthood — and with it the reward of heaven?
Couldn't Jesus simply overlook the demand for complete obedience under the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes? Couldn't God just look the other way and measure my life only according to my outward behavior — when I'm in public? Why does everything I say and do and think, why does everything I have done and failed to do have to factor into the Almighty's decision when it comes to granting me the title "saint"?
King David himself may have been wrestling with the same impossibilities of attaining sainthood when he wrote the psalm quoted in this morning's introit — Psalm 31. In repentance, aware of his own sinful hopelessness, he is given the gift to accept the fulfillment and end of Moses and the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes as he cries out:

In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me!
Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily!
Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!
For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; ... .

Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God. (Psalm 31:1-3, 5 ESV)

We are God's dear, holy saints in the same way we are God's dear, holy Church. Not because we have attained or earned or deserve it. Not because we have sincerely tried or somehow desired to make it our own.
We are God's saints because Christ has won that title for each of us. It was Christ whom God judged by both his public behavior and his private thoughts. It was Christ who was laid in the balance and proclaimed without spot or blemish. Christ is the holy one, the saintly one, the dear one before God on his almighty throne.
And in winning that title "saint" with his perfect life, our Lord Christ bestows it on all who will look to him in faith as their only righteousness and blessedness and holiness.
If there are any here this day who have fallen for the temptation to believe that the title "saint" and the status of being God's own dear child is for sale, that it can be earned by outward behavior the world labels good and perfect, then turn and look to the holy and perfect Law of God and then look to your own heart. Repent and confess the reality of your fallen human condition and God's revelation that only One has earned righteous before God. Salvation belongs to him alone.
Christ has taken upon himself your failure and sin and inability to keep God's righteous Law. He has taken it and made atonement for it. And in your Baptism, you have been given that white robe that makes you God's dear, precious, holy saint. Clothed in Christ you have been declared blessed, sanctified, hallowed, God-pleasing, perfect and pure.
In repentant joy, come to his table, clothed in faith and in the wedding garment of the Lamb who knew no sin, yet was made sin for us. Feed from his pierced hands and hear again the word of his heavenly Father this day:
"Trusting in my Son and his Cross, I declare you my dear child and saint."

A blessed All Saints Day to you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

The Broadcasting of the Word - Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

2008-07-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

It was the Lutheran theologian Martin Franzmann who determined to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Illinois in 1971 by writing the words of a new hymn that focused on the Spirit-inspired intent of the Parable of the Sower. Franzmann, the author of another great hymn we in this congregation are all very familiar with — "Thy Strong Word" — calls the entire Christian Church — pastors and teachers, elders, deacons and deaconesses, Sunday School instructors and preschool teachers — each one of us in our various vocations — to be faithful to the one directive given to us by God in Christ through the Holy Spirit.
And in an age where more and more congregations forget or neglect or reject their Christ-given calling, trading in ministry done to garner a heavenly harvest for a ministry that will garner the applause of the world, Franzmann's words continue to ring out as a clarion call. A call that we would repent of the sin of attempting to limit and re-define and re-invent the mysterious, unexpected, two-fold reign of God as revealed by the prophets and apostles.
In a time and place where the religiously fashionable take information obtained from credit card companies in order to determine which ethnic group or which economic strata or which newly-sprouted suburb is appropriate soil for their future Christian ministry, the Parable of the Sower needs to be heard anew.
In a time and place where those who are judged to be religiously successful prey on those pastors and congregations struggling with finances and membership by selling books at weekend workshops that promise to disclose their magic formula of testing the soil to guarantee increased numbers in the pews and offering plates, the Parable of the Sower needs to be heard anew.
In a time and place where even Lutheran church leaders are constantly tempted to trade in the family inheritance for the porridge bowl of a beautifully packaged, guaranteed-to-succeed growth program, the Parable of the Sower — and Franzmann's insightful reflection of it — is increasingly needed.
We live at at time when even life-long Christians are trading in the clear Word of Scripture and faithful confessions of it for more enticing interpretations of the Bible that actually put our old nature back into the driver's seat, assuring us that we have, through our own human calculations, harnessed heaven's salvation and manipulated it to sprout and grow and multiply when and where and how we think best.
But what does our Lord reveal in this parable? What divine reality does Franzmann so accurately reflect in the first stanza of his hymn?

1. Preach you the Word and plant it home / To men who like or like it not,
The Word that shall endure and stand / When flow'rs and men shall be forgot.

When our Lord gave to his Church the Parable of the Sower, he gave it as a revelation of how his two-fold heavenly reign is breaking into our fallen, self-centered, self-consumed world.
Despite all that you will hear from the self-proclaimed "experts" of Scripture and the hidden meanings they believe only they can discern in the sacred text, the Parable of the Sower is not all about how we make ourselves the good soil or how we can determine if others have made themselves good enough soil to merit our effort to plant the Word of God in them.
We are called to preach, to announce, to offer, to broadcast the Word of God — Law and Gospel — to all, as God gives us opportunity. It is a sin and a stumbling block to put ourselves in the position of deciding with whom we will share the Word of God — and to whom we will not. For, as Franzmann reminds us, the Word will remain after all the programs and policies and powers of church agencies will have been discarded and forever forgotten.
The Christian Church has not been called to invent some new slick and market-tested forty day program that makes thorn-infested, hard-hearted people into nutrient-rich soil for the Gospel. Like it or not, we — the Church — have been called to simply broadcast God's Word whenever, wherever possible — always leaving the results in the hands of the One who alone can bring forth life from a dead seed thrown upon dead soil.
For Christ, as announced to us in the Parable of the Sower, the critical event is not our making ourselves — or anyone else — good soil deserving of the fruits of divine blessing. We don't create the conditions for salvation and then ask God to come and put a little frosting and sugar sprinkles on our great redeeming work.
The parable this morning calls each of us and this congregation and the entire Christian Church on earth to do one thing: faithfully, clearly broadcast the eternal Word — God's Word — without any consideration of who deserves it or what we may or may not get out of it.
The prime directive: faithfully broadcast the Word of God to all God places in our lives — without consideration or calculation. Not an easy thing to do for any one of us, as Franzmann writes in the second verse:

2. We know how hard, O Lord, the task / Your servant bade us undertake:
To preach Your Word and never ask / What prideful profit it may make.

This parable does not center around our self-wraught metamorphosis into good soil. This Parable does not center on the often-preached question: "So, what soil have you made yourself into?"
This parable of our Lord centers, instead, around the sower, the way in which he sows and the God-wraught results. And how can we be sure of that? The 18th verse gives us the name of this morning's parable, and it is the name given by our Lord himself. The theme of Jesus' presentation of the Kingdom of Heaven — his presentation of the reign of heaven — throughout this entire 13th chapter of Matthew, is simply a presentation of how Christ's reign comes and how it will all turn out.
The sowing of the saving reign of our Lord is not only the proper subject of this parable, but the proper subject of the Christian Church and this congregation. Everything revolves around his sowing and his reaping, as he comes in the most ordinary-looking ways to accomplish the most un-ordinary things in us and among us.
This morning Franzmann calls us to, before all else, ask forgiveness for those times we have discrimanently sowed the seed of God's Word for our own ends and our own rewards.
The calling to abundantly, generously, graciously, indiscrimanantly sow is not only difficult, but simply impossible without Christ's forgiveness and grace to just stick to the faithful preaching of the Word to any and to all — and then let things fall where they may.
God grant the courage and faith to do what he has called us to do, no more and no less.
Franzmann continues:

3. The sower sows; his reckless love / Scatters abroad the goodly seed,
Intent alone that all may have / The wholesome loaves that all men need.

How does the sower sow? With calculated precision so that only the deserving will receive his freely sent gift? Is the saving Kingdom of God to be directed only to those we determine to be God's elect? To those we determine posess a "better-than-average" chance of producing abundant fruit?
The entire Gospel of Matthew stands as a testament to the abundant, generous, reckless, gracious, almost thoughtless way Christ through his disciples — his Church — sends out the Word of God. It is in Matthew's inspired account we see Jesus scattering the goodly seed to the most seemingly undeserving of people - to the residents of Galilee of the Gentiles — and beyond. All this that his Father's will would be accomplished: that all would receive in faith the Word which, like the spring rains, falls to earth to renew and re-create a fallen world.
Only a gracious God would be so reckless to send his Word to all peoples and nations and languages and tribes, regardless of the inconsistent, seemingly unpredictable results. Only such a gracious God would be so reckless to send his Word — his Son — regardless of the inconsistent, seemingly unpredictable results. This is is his love for the world. This is his love for you — and each person God has called you to be a neighbor to.
This is the saving gift of God broadcast to all who would come and receive it in faith — at Sunday services, during Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, in adult classes, in the preschool, at community Christmas concerts and Summer outreach concerts. God sows his seed, and he sows it with divine grace and abandon.
The fourth stanza:

4. Though some be snatched and some be scorched / And some be choked and matted flat,
The sower sows; his heart cries out, / "Oh, what of that, and what of that?"

What is the one, true treasure of the one, holy, Christian and apostolic Church? Anyone? (If you say the Shroud of Turin, I'll resign as pastor of this congregation and become a Thrivent insurance salesman.)
Christ, his redemption as sacrifice upon the Cross for me and for the world, and the means by which he connects me with the benefits of his death and resurrection: the Scriptures, Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
And when these divine gifts are broadcast by God's grace over a fallen and rebel world, some of that grace will not be received with God-created and God-sustained faith. You know that in your heart if you have ever given someone a gift — only to have it given back or abused or put up for auction the next week on eBay.
And our old nature responds: "I'll never give a gift of love again. I'll never do such a risky, potentially painful thing again. Enough with grace and gifts and being vulnerable to pain and hurt and rejection."
You see, the fallen world and our fallen nature take offense at the way Christ's reign comes. It comes in the most gracious of ways, in the most hidden of ways — in a way seen and taken to heart only by faith.
Salvation is discuoraging and dis-heartening, yet our Lord is a reckless Savior, risking everything that all might be offered the gift of salvation.
Stanza five:

5. Of all his scattered plenteousness / One-fourth waves ripe on hill and flat,
And bears a harvest hundredfold: / "Ah, what of that, Lord, what of that!"

In the midst of the crushed and choked out and snatched and scorched seed there remains God-pleasing results. The amazement that so much of the seed seems wasted and rejected by the soil is, at the end of the day and at the end of our life and at the end of this age, overtaken by the amazement that so much fruit has been produced — but — as the Catechism says, when and where God wills.
The shock and heart-ache felt for those who repeatedly refuse to receive the Word of God — in, with, and under the prophets and apostles; the Word in, with and under water; the Word in, with and under bread and wine, is ultimately overtaken by the shock of seeing the hundred-fold harvest in heaven.
Our Lord calls us to simply trust that he continues to preserve a remnant of his believing people, a remnant through which his Word will accomplish all that he has sent it out to do.
And the final verse:

6. Preach you the Word and plant it home / And never faint; the Harvest Lord
Who gave the sower seed to sow / Will watch and tend his planted Word.

As Christ's disciple, you are called to trust in the most unlikely of things: the reign of God breaking into this world by the gracious, reckless preaching of God's eternal Word. As Christ's Church, we are called not to loose heart but keep and treasure the Gospel by sending it out "to those who like or like it not."
Christ has been called by his heavenly Father to be the gracious, forgiving, loving, reckless Sower. And what does the Sower do? He mercifully, tirelessly, caringly, abundantly sows his seed. And his disciples are called to faithfully, trustingly follow.
God grant it for Jesus' sake. Amen

Called to Serve and Protect Word and Sacrament - Matthew 28

2008-05-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dear Redeemed in Christ:

One of the aspects of parenthood more and more neglected — even rejected — by more and more parents is the calling, the responsibility, the duty to protect those placed by God under their care. Parents can be great friends to their children and grandchildren, important mentors and confidantes and guides and resources for their kids. But before any of that, there's the matter of protecting those who can't fend for themselves: those who are most vulnerable and at risk. Care-taking, protecting, and watching out for those who cannot yet take care of themselves is a constant responsibility, a 24/7 job, a life-long labor of love for the sake of those to whom we will pass the torch, in the same way our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents were called to protect and defend and sacrifice for us and for all to whom they left their legacy.
"To serve and protect" is not some slogan only for the side of a police cruiser. That is why, last Sunday, we not only gave thanks to God for the good confession given by this year's five Confirmands, but also, by God's grace, renewed our pledge to pray for them and, as a congregation, continue to watch over them as they grow up in their Christian faith and life.
We take Confirmation — and youth group, and Sunday School, and Vacation Bible School and Preschool — seriously because we take seriously the spiritual welfare of those placed under our care, by parents and grandparents and by God himself. It's what we've been called in Christ and his mercy to be and to do.
And that means not only putting a security fence around the preschool and providing adult supervision when the youth group goes to Six Flags.
We, as Christ's Church, are called to "serve and protect" those placed under our care, those most precious to our Lord. That's the command part, the Law part, of the Great Commission given to us by the One who has been given all power and authority in heaven and on earth. "As you are going," Jesus says, "make disciples of all nations." It is as if our Lord is saying, "I am sending you out into the world, that I may graciously work 'in, with and under' you to create and sustain saving faith in my own dear children from every language and nation and people. I am calling you to be my ambassadors and servants entrusted with all that you will need to bring salvation to the ends of the earth."
And, as I have said before, Christ does not leave it up to our imaginations how he will accomplish this miracle of creating trusting hearts and minds from spiritually dead and rebellious people.
What does he say? "I will, through my Church, make disciples by means of healers who can talk with the dead."? By means of the believer's own will-power to turn their life over to God and believe in him with their whole heart and mind and soul."? By means of what my own fallen intuition tells me is the leading of the Spirit."? By means of what make the most sense to the world or the world's own religions."?
Christ clearly announces to Peter and the Disciples and the entire Christian Church on earth that disciples will be graciously made by the Lord of heaven and earth by means of — what? By means of Word and Sacrament, by means of the entire Word of God Christ has revealed to the Apostles and by means of the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper that is naturally to follow in the lives of the Baptized.
Christ makes disciples through his own, divinely appointed means: Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. "Salvation," Jesus says, "is to be found where I have established it and sustain it: in the grace offered and given through my Word of forgiveness in, with, and under water, my Word of forgiveness in, with and under bread and wine. Here you will find me with my gracious gifts, working in you and all my children the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Look for me here — at the Baptismal font, in that same life-giving water created from my all-powerful Word that water that gave birth to creation, to the heavens and the earth."
And, this morning, we are once again reminded that not only was the gracious creation of the world a trinitarian event, the work of the One true God in the persons of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, but the even more gracious salvation of the world was won in Our Lord Christ winning what he had been sent by the father to accomplish: redemption through the giving of his perfect life upon the altar of the Cross, that Cross upon which Christ handed over to his Father the Spirit, that it might be poured out upon all God's children on the day of Pentecost.
Our creation and our re-creation is by the gracious hand of our trinitarian God. That is what he has revealed to the prophets and apostles to be proclaimed and believed and defended by his Church until Christ comes again.
That's why every service here begins in the name (singular) of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. That's why every Baptism in this sanctuary is administered in the name of the Trinity — because in his grace and loving-kindness, the greatest gift given to us by the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit is, as the second commandment reveals, his saving Name.
And that name is not kept holy when we smother it in bubble wrap and put it in the church's safety-deposit box. It is kept holy when used by Christ's Church and each of us Christians when we wake up in the morning and when we go to bed at night, when we gather for fellowship around the table and around the Scriptures, when we share the Word of God with ourselves and with our families and with our neighbor. When we use it daily (and this is the catch) — in God-given faith.
God the Father has called each of us and all of us together to treasure and protect and defend all that he has revealed about himself through Christ and his Word and Spirit. And, at the most fundamental level, that means upholding and guarding and singing and confessing and sharing the doctrine of the Holy Trinity: one God in three persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
And we keep and treasure Scripture's teaching of the Trinity as our precious treasure because so much of what calls itself Christian or spiritual or religious or uplifting has no need of Scripture's teaching of the Trinity, or even teaches against it.
The doctrine of the Trinity was the first great struggle of the early Church. And, by God's grace, the Church's confession as spoken in the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed was a faithful one, one that reflected the truth of the Holy Scriptures and no more than that.
In many congregations this morning, Holy Trinity Sunday is no longer recognized as anything special or great or precious or worth observing. It is simply another Sunday in some new series of sermons on how individual Christians can earn God's favor by making themselves nicer people.
But this morning, here, in this place, around lectern and font and pulpit and altar, God again reminds us of who he is and what he does as our gracious, redeeming, life-giving God — with his Word in, with and under water and bread and wine.
God has called us to treasure those he has placed under our care. And, by his grace, he will continue to preserve among us the teaching of the Holy Trinity, that we might feed the youngest among us with the pure, clear and sustaining Word given to us by Christ himself.
May we be found faithful in treasuring the only Name under heaven by which we must be saved, for God's glory, and the salvation of many, especially those entrusted to our care.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Holy Thursday - "The New Testament in My Blood."

2008-03-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Dear Fellow Redeemed and Heir of Heaven:
"Therefore [Jesus] is the mediator of a new testament, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first testament. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death ... ." (Hebrews 9:15-17a)
God doesn't really mind it that much when we remind him of what he has promised to us. Actually, God loves it when we remind him of his promises. That's the difference between fallen people such as you and me and our gracious gift-giving God. Too often we have little patience when someone goes on about what we have promised to them, especially when it makes our lives more complicated and difficult and stressful and burdensome. "I know, I know. You don't have to remind me!" we think or even say out loud. But, as Martin Luther once said, God loves it when we rub his promises in his ears and — in faith — allow him to do what he loves to do: be faithful to what he has promised on behalf of undeserving, wandering and wayward sheep.
That's the life of true faith: to hold on, come what may, to the promises — the promises that come not from our mouth, but the promises that come from the merciful mouth of the Lord. It's his promise, his commitment, his doing, his faithfulness, his follow-through, his sacrifice of himself on behalf of a people who could not even begin to make amends for their sins and sinfulness.
When the children of Israel heard the Book of the Testament read at the foot of Mount Sinai, they mistakenly believed that it was all about them. "Do this and don't do that, and then you'll be saved." is what they heard. But everything outside of faith can only go one way, and that is the way of the Law and contract and two-way deal. "I'll do this for you if only you first do that for me." is the way a fallen world and a fallen nature always operates — a way that can only lead to one of two spiritual dead-ends: pride or despair.
But God announced his one-way covenant with his people and desired that they would respond with a simple "Amen." But in their fallen-ness the children of Israel replied, "We'll do our duty. We'll fulfill our part of the bargain God, and then we expect you to keep yours."
Yet, for even that sin of believing our redemption begins and ends with our decision and commitment and will-power and action, God freely offers forgiveness undeserved.
Tonight we again hear and take to heart the covenant God made with his people at Mount Sinai and Mount Calvary, a covenant like no other covenant in it's character and its effect. A testament given to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob — a testament that is, from beginning to end, a one-way arrangement: from a faithful God to unfaithful sheep caught tight in the brambles of their sin.
The covenant of the Lord is a one-way covenant. It is the Lord's covenant and promise and testament, in the same way it is the Lord's Word and the Lord's Baptism and the Lord's Supper — despite all our foolish attempts to make it something that we do and accomplish.
The Lord will have no talk of two-way deal-making when it comes to the deliverance of his enslaved people. At Passover he comes to save — simply because he loves to show grace and mercy and forgiveness, even when it costs us nothing and costs him everything.
That was the Gospel at the foot of Mount Sinai and that was the Gospel as Jesus stooped at the feet of the disciples in the upper room. "Salvation will be secured eternally through one great sacrifice for your sin and for the sin of an entire fallen world." Jesus is saying. "But it was to my blood that the sacrifices under Abraham and Moses pointed. I have come to not only usher in another covenant and testament and promise; I am that new testament and the final Word on salvation. I am that gracious, saving promise first given to Adam and Eve and to all who would receive it in faith. In the giving up of my life-blood, blessed communion between God and his people is restored. Fellowship at heaven's table is, this night, resurrected with my sacrificial death and the pouring out of my life before God's altar."
On the night of the Passover, the Lord delivered sinful, undeserving people through his Word of grace and promise in, with and under the marks of life offered up and blood shed. There was no "Do this for me and then maybe I'll get you out of your helpless situation." — at least from God. God saves because he loves to save. God forgives because he loves to forgive. God offers up his beloved Son because he is a God of abundant grace who will spare nothing that his people might again enjoy that perfect fellowship given to man before the Fall.
Scripture is very clear: there is no redeeming testament without the shedding of blood. There is no purification without the death of the appointed sacrifice.
God has little need of our great-sounding but empty promises to perfectly obey him and make him proud of us by never sinning again. Christ came to wash us from our sins and take upon himself the dust and dirt of our transgressions.
Christ came to establish forever the eternal, once-for-all new testament, a last will and testament that could only go into effect with his death on the altar of the Cross. And he bids us to simply respond in faith with the words, "Amen. Let it be so for me."
Everything in this miserable world that will not acknowledge and receive in faith the verdict of the last will and testament established by the Lamb of God stands condemned.
Because, when it comes to your salvation, God will hear nothing but the voice of his Son, our High Priest. His cries for us from the manger. His cries for us as he submits to circumcision and the Law. His cries for us as he looked upon helpless and wandering sheep. His cries as he looked to heaven, gave thanks and broke bread as he fed his own with — himself.
Tonight we have been gathered to receive God's pure and saving gift. We have been gathered to hear salvation announced, salvation promised, salvation offered, salvation secured, and, trustingly receive it — as the last will and testament of our Lord is spoken, and the fruits of his death are taken in and extolled with cleansed lips and hearts.
Tonight, around the Lord's Table, we take to heart again the great and final Word on our salvation from John the Evangelist:
"Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." (John 13:1 ESV)

Palm Sunday — Passion Sunday 2008

2008-03-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Everything was going as planned. Jesus of Nazareth had performed many signs as Messiah, from the changing of water into wine at Cana to the healing of the man born blind. And now, rumor had it, that he had even raised the dead man Lazarus. Nothing could stop what was now in motion. Jesus was coming to the holy city, God's own city, to deliver God's holy people. No more oppression! No more slavery! No more suffering under the foot of foreign enemies who had made life pure misery for the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The wheels were beginning to turn as Jesus of Nazareth approached Jerusalem in grand style, with his disciples cheering, with the children of Jerusalem singing, with the crowds making a royal highway with their cloaks and palm branches. Soon it would be the time for battle as God's people followed the Messiah in rising up to defeat the foe who had their foot on Israel's neck.
"Hosanna!" they shouted. "Lord, save us!" Save us from our political enemies. Rid this land from the stench of the Romans that we might be free to live as we wish, worship as we want, believe as we desire to believe.
On that first Palm Sunday, Jerusalem was on edge. The Jewish religious leaders were anxious and the Romans were tense with anticipation. The crowds could feel it in the air. The time was ripe for battle and rebellion and insurrection. The normal population of the holy city and the outlying suburbs had grown from about 20,000 to 60 or 80,000. And everyone knew more than a few Jews on that Palm Sunday were armed with more than a palm branch just in case the fighting broke out that afternoon. "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Bring it on, Jesus!" they cried. "Now save us!" Begin in ernest what we've wanted you to do since the beginning of your public ministry! Put us back in power. Restore the glory we once enjoyed as a people in the days of Solomon and in the days of Solomon's Temple. Bring it on. We're ready to follow you into battle!"
That Palm Sunday everything was going as planned. God had finally sent the One to overturn the tables and bring the good life back to the children of Israel. Jesus would make the Romans respect the power of the Lord and his chosen people. No more suffering. No more doubt. No more sadness and disappointment and uncertainty. And it all would begin with this triumphal entry by the anointed Son of David.
But the royal steed on which the conquer rode ... . Couldn't have his disciples found something a little more impressive? A young donkey that seemed to be noticeable uncomfortable with this small stature of a man upon his back? A young donkey that still needed to have its mother lead the way? A much too common-looking beast of burden for the conqueror's procession? How was that going to put fear into the Romans and instill the desire for battle in the hearts and minds of the Jewish population? A poor, miserable donkey?
But, everything was going according to plan. For, you see, although there was no one in and around Jerusalem that Palm Sunday that had a clue what this triumphal entry really meant, everything was going according to plan. God has sent his beloved, his one and only Son from heaven, for just this day and just this entry on just this kind of animal.
There had been no last-minute mix-up. The Anointed One, the Christ, the Son of David and David's Lord, processes into the City of David, Mount Zion, to take it by storm: mounted on a donkey.
Not many years after Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, Roman soldiers mocked Christians as they were led into the Coliseum to be torn apart by bears and lions. They mocked them in hurling insults at them, and they mocked them by drawing graffiti of their Savior: Jesus of Nazareth, ridiculed by being depicted as a donkey crucified upon a cross.
A donkey king? How is it that for two thousand years the Christian Church has seen fit to glory in a donkey king?
That's what the last six weeks and the next seven days are all about. For even today, everyone sees the signs Jesus revealed, but no one sees where those signs actually point.
The crowds that met Jesus that day were caught up in the ecstasy of a Messiah that could heal and raise the dead and provide wine for celebration. The crowds that waved palm branches and shouted "Hosanna!" were caught up in a Jesus of their own making, a glory of their own making, a deliverance of their own making, and not much has changed — even in our day.
Do we really know what Jesus comes to accomplish for us and for all who would, in faith, follow him? Do we really know what enemy Jesus has come to defeat? Do we really grasp the real glory and power and might of the Anointed One sent from heaven?
For anyone here this morning who will listen, the animal upon which Jesus rides is a key into the hidden meaning of this day, the true meaning of Christ and his salvation and our spiritual condition and the world's refusal — our old nature's refusal — to have anything to do with any of it.
Jesus comes to his own, to you and me, on a borrowed beast of burden, as he bears the burden of sins not his own. His entry is not only a humble entry, it is the first step in his great humiliation in delivering us from what really oppresses and strangles us.
This is the way our enemies will be defeated. This is the way we will be released from all that oppresses and binds and smothers and suffocates us. This is the way God promised to save the likes of Adam and Eve and all their poor, miserable, helpless and rebellious children: through the poor, miserable, innocent suffering and death of the One who could change water into wine, heal the blind, cure the lame, and even raise the dead, but could not, would not save himself from the unspeakable horrors of suffering under the burden of our sin.
Everything was going as planned, just as it had the first time Jesus had rode on a donkey: as his mother Mary took the hard road from Nazareth to Bethlehem only to give birth to her firstborn son in a stable cave, among the most unlikely of witnesses: the lowliest beasts of burden, animals fitted with reigns and yokes and saddles, the marks of bondage and hard labor.
We cried out for a glorious Savior, and God sent his King upon a donkey. We clamored for a powerful Deliverer, and heaven sent the most common-looking of men who could do unimaginable miracles and signs, who exhibited unlimited power to restore health and life, but, strangely, refused to out-smart the betrayer's plot, refused to release himself from the bonds of those who arrested and abused him, refused to stand up and defend himself before Caiaphas or Herod or Pilate, refused to even find a horse upon which to ride into Jerusalem. All for your redemption.
"And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it."
Jesus placed all things into the gracious hands of his heavenly Father, and, according to his Father's will, laid aside his glory and the honor due his name, to come to us and do everything in our place, as our substitute.
Jesus was born in your cave. Jesus was born in the chill of your fallen-ness and the poverty of your sin. Jesus lived — to die under the crushing burden we rightly were called by the Law to bear. And he rode into Jerusalem as the donkey king to be fitted with a crown made from the thorny fruit of Adam's betrayal to take his seat on a throne of mercy and forgiveness and nothing-withheld loving-kindness for you and for an entire undeserving world.
God will indeed save his people from their enemies: sin, death and the power of the devil, but he will not deliver them with a war horse and the sword. He will break the oppressor's rod with the blood of his precious Son; he will defeat the captive's chains as his one and only freely offers up his life as the one, eternal sacrifice for sin.
This hour, the King of Israel comes to you. He comes not to shame you or strike a bargain with you or force you into submission. He comes humble and hidden to all but the eyes of faith, in, with and under the most common of means: bread and wine. In his very body and blood, given up for you, offered for you, sacrificed for you upon the Cross, for the forgiveness of all your sins.
Hail, to the Lord's Anointed! Lord, save us!

Lenten Sermon: The Cross and the Peculiar Office of the Church

2008-03-13T08:49:00.000-07:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Dear Redeemed in Christ:
The Christian Church can do a lot of really good things: help people with their loneliness, give parents a place to educate their children, keep teenagers off the streets on Sunday mornings, organize family camping trips, teach people how to sing or play a musical instrument, offer a basketball court to the neighborhood kids, and enjoy potlucks and sauerkraut and jell-o — and dessert.
But what makes a Church that calls itself "Christian" the one, holy, Christian and apostolic Church is something very peculiar — something very uncommon — something very strange, unexpected and, to more than a few, something very unsettling.
That isn't pointing out to the world our holy living and it's moral failings.
The peculiar thing about the true Christian Church is not that we have some pope or an archbishop or a synodical or district president.
The peculiar thing about the true Christian Church is not that we have a great sanctuary that will take your breath away or a hand-carved altar imported from the Black Forest.
The peculiar thing about the true Christian Church is not the presence of expensive paraments draped over pulpit or lectern or altar or pastor.
The peculiar thing about the true Christian Church cannot be discerned in silver-plated chalices or gold-plated offering plates.
The peculiar thing about the true Christian Church is "peculiar" because it is something that God has called only his Church to be and to do. Not the psychologist, not the politician, not the welfare agency, not the hospital or the school or university or athletic club.
And, contrary to popular thought, this peculiar "office" is not found among the clutter of the pastor's study. It is not the kind of office with a door, desk, phone and stapler. It is a peculiar role, calling, duty, responsibility, command given only to the Church by the Lord and Ruler of the Church: Christ himself.
And to properly understand that special calling, we turn to two special passages of Scripture: Matthew 16 and John 20.
Now if you attended the Bible studies on the Gospel of Matthew several weeks ago you might remember that Matthew 16:13-20 is the culmination of the entire three year ministry of Jesus with his disciples, a three year ministry of Jesus preaching faith into the disciples, and the resulting fruit of faith as Jesus' asks the Twelve: "But who do you (plural) — you all — say that I am?" Hear what the disciples confess through their spokesman, the first among equals: Peter. (Read Matthew 16:16-19.)

Only upon this confession of faith — a confession of faith that faithfully reflects what God himself has revealed about his Son through his Word and Spirit — will Christ build his Church.
But what a peculiar Church it will be: a Church under Christ exercising it's peculiar calling to bind and release one specific thing: sin.
This is what so much of what calls itself Christian today has forgotten or neglected or disdained as it trumpets it's own ability to release people from a spirit of low self-esteem or a demon of arthritis or the bonds of financial insecurity or the burden of a seemingly unfulfilling marriage.
The forgiveness of sins — real, unconditional, free, no-strings-attached forgiveness of sins — is the peculiar mark of the true Christian Church because only the true Christian Church has been given the call and authority to use the God-given keys that unlock and open — and close and bolt shut — the gates of heaven.
That is why we confess in the Creed that we believe in "the forgiveness of sins" when we talk about the saving work of the Holy Spirit as he creates and sustains the Church of Christ.
No Holy Spirit, no true Christian Church. No true Christian Church, no office of the keys. No office of the keys, no forgiveness of sins. No forgiveness of sins, no chance of heaven for hopeless sinners.
Now maybe some days we aren't all that convinced that the freeing and binding of people and their sins is all that peculiar or special or essential when it comes to the Christian Church. Why else would millions and millions of people walk away from congregations who spotlight the office of the keys in order to join a church that never mentions forgiveness, let alone that little three-letter word "sin"?
For anyone wondering if the office of the keys is a big deal to Christ and should be a big deal to the Church and to each of us as Christians, take a good hard look at John 20 and re-discover the first things Jesus had on his mind as he greets the Twelve (minus Judas and Thomas) on that first Easter Sunday. (Read John 20:19-23.)
The gracious gift of the crucified and risen Christ brings the gift of the peace his Cross secured. The gift of the redeeming presence of Christ brings the gift of the Holy Spirit and the call to be the body of Christ as he — through his Church and his pastors — forgives those who in faith confess their sins and look to Christ alone for their forgiveness — and retains the sins of those who will not lay their sins before the crucified Savior.
Now on some days we might think that the Church can't be the Church if the electricity goes out or the water main breaks or someone forgot to brew the coffee and pick up the donuts. But this afternoon / tonight God gathers us to again remind us that the true Christian Church can actually survive very well without all the conveniences that we've somehow made into necessities.
There is one thing that robs the Christian Church of its peculiarity, its uniqueness, its calling and duty and responsibility and obligation — and gracious privilege — as the Body of Christ: the absence of the exercise of the office of the keys, the releasing and binding, the locking and unlocking, the forgiving and retaining of sin.
Listen to me closely. Christ has not called the Church to make the world admire her or obey her or behave like her.
When it comes to everything outside of Christ and his body, the Church, the only authority any congregation is called to exercise is the authority to forgive the sins of those who look to Christ as their gracious Redeemer and Substitute.
Martin Luther, preaching on John 20:19-31, admonishes us when he says, "Christ's mandate to his disciples was not to have secular authority, but to preach the Gospel and to have authority over sins. Christ himself defined the commission and the authority: preach the Gospel, and remit and retain sins. The power of the apostolic keys, first and foremost, is to preach the Gospel of Christ, to bind and to loose sins." (Klug. Sermons of Martin Luther: The House Postils. 2:62.)
Well, O.K., the Church may do many things pretty well, but there's one peculiar thing it has been called to carry out: announce forgiveness to those who look to Christ with repentant hearts. — But what does all of this have to do with having our faith strengthened and our hope and comfort in Christ and his grace deepened?
Let's take another look at the Small Catechism, as it shows what Scripture reveals about "the Office of the Ministry."

What do you believe according to these words (John 20:22-23)?
I believe that, when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by his divine command, especially when they exclude manifest and impenitent sinners from the Christian congregation, and again, when they absolve those who repent of their sins and are willing to amend, this is as valid and certain, in heaven also, as if Christ, our dear Lord, dealt with us himself.

Yes, there is the stern warning that those who are not repentant, those who will not look to Christ and his work upon the Cross for their deliverance will in no way have their sins forgiven. The Church is called to uphold that truth and prevent it from being watered down or put into the storage shed out back.
But for those who are hear today struggling with a sinful act or an impure thought or a word said that seems too great for even the Church to forgive — I say to you: Christ has given his life, lovingly, for all of your sins and for the sins of the entire world. He has taken upon himself on the Cross the weight of your sin. The sin that terrifies you and gnaws at you and binds itself to you has been — through your baptism — dragged to the Cross of Christ to be forever buried in his tomb.
And the same Christ who forgave his disciples for their unforgivable unbelief and doubt and cowardice and sent his Church out to preach the Cross and forgive the penitent who put their faith in it — that same Christ forgives you and gives you his saving peace as you hear the pastor declare, "Upon this, your confession, ... I forgive you all your sins."
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

"My Eyes" Sunday - John 9 - March 2, 2008

2008-03-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Dear Brothers and Sisters Enlightened in the waters of Baptism:

It is confessed every time we sing "Amazing grace."
It is confessed every time we remember our Baptism or receive the Lord's Supper.
It is confessed every time we gather as the sun sets for the service of Evening Prayer:
"Jesus Christ is the Light of the world; the light no darkness can overcome."

We have heard it since our days in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School.
We have seen it depicted in our illustrated Bibles and stained glass windows.
We have joined the disciples on the road to Emmaus as we find ourselves in the saving presence of Jesus and cry out to him,
"Stay with us, Lord, for it is evening, and the day is almost over.
Let your light scatter the darkness and illumine your Church."

For generations this Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, has been referred to as OCULI Sunday -- "My eyes" Sunday -- ever since the words of Psalm 25 were used as the Introit for this particular week in Lent: "My eyes are ever toward the Lord, ... ." (Psalm 25:15 ESV); and the words of Psalm 123 were read or sung as the congregation readied itself for the reading of the Holy Gospel: "To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!" (Psalm 123:1)

But even though today is referred to as "my eyes" Sunday, the object of the verb is not our eyes but the object upon which our eyes are drawn. "To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!"
This morning God has, in his abundant grace, gathered us around his Word and his Son and his Light and his Sacraments, that we might receive them with the eye of faith and put our trust in his saving treasures: the enlightening work of our compassionate Lord on behalf of all who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. (Luke 1:79)
The ninth chapter of John has always enjoyed a special place in the hearts of God's redeemed people. As it is with many other sections of the fourth Gospel, this chapter soars in setting before our eyes a sign -- a manifestation -- of Christ's glory, that we might see salvation come not only from the hand of Christ, but especially his mouth, and respond with both our mouth and hand in an offering of thanksgiving.
Sadly, such is not the case with everyone who sees with their eyes and hears with their ears God's final revelation of salvation in his Son. We see that clearly and dramatically in this chapter of John's Gospel account, but for the catechumen, the believing student, of the fourth Gospel, it is no surprise.
For you see, everything has already been laid out before our eyes in the first few verses of Saint John's inspired Gospel. Redemption by the very Word of God taking upon himself our fallen flesh, that the light of God's grace might shine into the darkness of our sin-diseased hearts. Notice the themes of light and darkness and the gift of sight as we read together the first 18 verses of John. (Read John 1:1-18)
Those 18 verses reveal more about God and his grace and Moses and Christ and the wretched state of this fallen world and our spiritual blindness than just about every book sitting on the shelves in today's Christian bookstores.
In our Gospel today we see Jesus confront the darkness that has not only clouded and obscured our minds and our hearts but made us rebels that rage against the light, the light that exposes so that it might then illuminate, the light that uncovers our wretchedness so that it might be covered with the righteousness of God's Son who came to tent -- tabernacle -- among us.
Now the Gospel of John is structured around seven signs that shock all who see it and provoke a response that is attentive to the Word that follows, the word from Jesus that scatters the darkness and illuminates our darkened souls.
The first "sign" John presents is the miraculous gift of wine during the wedding at Cana, and the healing of the man born blind is the sixth, to be followed by (seemingly) the final sign as Jesus brings forth Lazarus from the dead.
But as we see in this ninth chapter, the miracle is given as an occasion to look upon the greater revelation from the lips of the Savior -- the gracious promise hidden to all but the eyes of faith as Jesus says: "Go, wash."
This section cannot be properly used to argue that we are not born sinful any more than it can be used to argue that it was the blind man's obedience and good work of following orders that ultimately account for his healing. Hidden in Jesus' instructions is his promise that creates trust to go and wash, just as it does when we hear the words, "Take, eat. Take, drink."
The Word made flesh created the heavens and the earth from nothing. He spoke and by his gracious will it was. And that same Word, now made flesh, created faith in the man born blind -- faith that believes Jesus as he says, "Trust in me and my salvation. With the same clay from which I created your first parent, I now re-create your sight and the greater gift of faith that looks to me for the redemption of this sin-blinded world."
A man born blind suffered the debilitating effects of a dark and dying world and to it was added the judgment of neighbors and passers-by who believed that somehow he -- or someone else in the family -- had deserved it.
My family is, today, in the Lutheran Church because -- in the midst of a family member born deformed and dying -- good-intentioned Christians told my parents that this was a direct result of some secret sin the two of them had committed -- a sin that they needed to make amends for before my brother's condition worsened.
In my parent's struggling with what Scripture revealed about sin and the effects of sin they were guided to the faithful counsel of a Lutheran pastor who simply sat down with my parents and a Bible and said, "Every one of us has been born into a sinful and fallen world and every one of us manifests that fallen-ness in different ways. I don't know why your son was born so sick. But let me tell you what I do know: God is a God of grace who has allowed this tragedy into your lives for the strengthening of your faith and ultimately for his glory."
We are, outside of God's grace and the redeeming Word of his Son, spiritually-blind people suffering in many and various ways the effects of our first parent's fall.
And regardless of what the TV and radio evangelists say, our hope is not that we have opened our eyes and decided to think good thoughts and make the world a little more like heaven.
Our hope begins with the confession that we were conceived and born with sin-infected eyes that refused to see anything farther than the illusion of gaining heaven by our own good works.
Our hope, this Fourth Sunday in Lent, or any other day, is to be found not in our fallen eyes, but in the eyes of another, who, passing by, saw us with the eyes of divine grace: the great I AM who's eyes are eyes of mercy and forgiveness, eyes of a loving-kindness that will not rest until all has been given to secure and offer son-ship in the kingdom of glory.

Jesus ... having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” (John 9:35-39 ESV)

Christ comes to reveal signs and wonders, that he might then reveal the glory of his redeeming grace. He is the great I AM. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is your healing substitute and sacrifice. And he has looked upon you with his eye of forgiveness -- from the Cross.

A blessed OCULI Sunday to each of you — in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

"Jesus Alone." Matthew 17:1-9 The Transfiguration of Our Lord

2008-02-04T07:05:00.000-08:00

In the Name of Jesus our Saving Glory. Amen

Dear Fellow-Redeemed:
Just this week a member here at Redeemer commented on the unhealthy fascination given by many Christians to the possibility of a physical, brick and mortar temple being rebuilt in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount so that animal sacrifices might resume and thereby usher in the Last Day.
Why people professing to put their faith in Christ so easily slide back into putting their faith in signs and types and foreshadows while abandoning the real, honest-to-goodness thing that everything else pointed to may be sad, disappointing and lamentable, but not completely surprising.
Guided by the Spirit of Christ working through the Word of God, we should be grieved but not shocked when we see Christians — sometimes even ourselves — hankering for a return to the former things and the old ways with which our old nature, the fallen world and wily Satan will always feel most comfortable: the glory of gold and silver, the glory of institutions and ceremonies and personalities and talents that impress the world and give us what we think we want — what we often think we need: a vehicle to prove to God and our neighbor and ourselves that we are deserving the good things of this life and the next.
God comes to us this morning to reveal to the disciples of Jesus the true place of Moses and Elijah and the true glory of salvation. God comes this morning that each of us might see through the eyes of Peter, James and John, the saving distinction between God's Law and God's Gospel and the difference between salvation by two-way contract and salvation by God's gracious, unmerited gift.
May God mercifully bless the preaching of his Word and the reception of it by faith. Amen.
It's a special Sunday, whether you look at the Christian calendar or the television program schedule. For us brought into this sanctuary by our Lord himself, it is a special, glorious, once-a-year commemoration of the Transfiguration of our Lord on this last Sunday after the Epiphany; for much of the nation, it is a special, glorious, once-a-year commemoration of the best the sports world has to offer: the arena of no second chances, may the best man win, winner take all competition sprinkled with cheerleaders and million-dollar-a-pop commercials.
Today we find ourselves in the middle of two kinds of glory, two kinds of prestige, two kinds of basking in the light of praise and honor and adoration, two kinds of dazzling performance and brilliant achievement. One strengthens the American ideal that with hard work and determination and a little luck, we are ultimately rewarded with the fruits of our effort; and the other strengthens our belief that being rewarded with what we actually deserve is the worst thing that could ever happen to us.
One kind of approach is by two-way contract: sweat and hard work for a glorious reward; the other sees sweat and hard work as the reward for our fall from glory.
One kind of approach desires to live and die by transactions and barters and contracts and deal-making; the other approach desires a different kind of life: one that transforms and remolds our own minds and hearts through something completely unmerited, something completely undeserved, something that is pure grace; pure glorious gift.
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Matthew, the 17th chapter:
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. (Matthew 17:1 ESV)
A good question to ask ourselves upon hearing this introductory verse to our Gospel this morning is, "Six days after what?" And for that we need to open the Scriptures and retrace what important event had occurred just before Jesus grabbed the three disciples who made up the inner circle of the Twelve and lead them up this high mountain in Galilee.
What we find in the second half of chapter 16 is the completion of three years of instruction that began way back in chapter 4, instruction by Jesus that finally produces in them a God-given recognition that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16) Jesus commends the confession given to him by the Twelve through the lips of Peter their spokesman, and announces that upon this true faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah himself will build his eternal Church, through which he will do the double work of binding sins and forgiving sins. And Peter begins to dream of wearing a gold champion ring that would put anything given at the Super-bowl to shame.
But Jesus will not keep the Twelve in the dark when it comes to how this reign of God's saving Word in Christ will be eternally established:
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. (Matthew 16:21 ESV)
Peter again speaks for the Twelve. After three years he still wants salvation by negotiation and vote. "No, Lord! That can't be the way the reign of heaven will be established! That's not fair and that's not what you deserve. Your suffering and death is the last thing we need. We're all waiting for your glorious kingdom, and we'll give even our lives to make it happen."
For the next six days Jesus' unexpected answer kept ringing in their ears:
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 16:24b-25 ESV)
Jesus had thrown a bucket of cold water on the disciples' wild dreams of a grand parade into glory hanging on the coattails of triumphant Jesus. It was time to show his little band of followers the difference between salvation by contract and salvation by grace at the top of a high Galilean mountain.
It very well may have been night by the time they reached their destination. As was his habit, Jesus removed himself a stone's throw in order to pray. Saint Luke tells us that Peter and James and John were heavy with sleep, but awoke sometime later to behold a sight that would not only take their breath away but drive them to fall on their faces in fear.
And [Jesus] was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. (Matthew 17:2-3 ESV)
Now this event in which Jesus was transfigured before the disciples was like, well, nothing else during the earthly ministry of Jesus. The Evangelists Matthew and Mark and Luke can only try to describe for us this heavenly scene in earthly language as Peter, James and John get a glimpse of that heavenly glory the divine Son of God had laid aside since the manger as he talks with Moses and Elijah about the greater exodus he was to fulfill at Jerusalem.
It is sleepy-eyed Peter who quickly wants to set up shop for Jesus and Moses and Elijah and get everything ready for the reign of heaven and the coming glory of deliverance for God's special people. But God himself will have no more of Peter's mistaken notions and intervenes with the bright cloud of his hidden majesty.
Falling to the ground, Peter now recalled the reality of his precarious situation as the voice of Yahweh himself thundered from the cloud. He remembered the pleas of the Israelites under Moses after he had come down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments:
Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” (Exodus 20:18-21 ESV)
This is not the time for Peter to make-a-deal or do some good work to get the Lord's attention and impress the dignitaries. This is a time for the maker of heaven and earth to strengthen his only-begotten:
... behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Matthew 17:5 ESV)
This is the center of salvation and the core of life eternal. No talk of you do this for me and then I might do this for you. No talk of a building committee or setting up phone lines for a praise-a-thon. The Almighty re-affirms the verdict on Jesus' one-of-a-kind mission given at his Baptism, while also re-affirming the inspired words given his people through Moses:
"The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you—from your brothers. It is to him you shall listen." (Deuteronomy 18:15 ESV)
And as Peter and James and John raised their heads at the touch of Jesus and his word of comfort, "Rise and have no fear," (Matthew 17:7 ESV) they saw with their eyes what they had heard from the cloud of divine majesty: no longer was there Moses the Law-giver; no longer was there Elijah the prophet who was to usher in the glory of the Messiah and his redeeming kingdom. No glorious cloud. Only the hand and touch of Jesus.
This is one of the most glorious Sundays of the entire year. But it is faith in the Almighty's faithful Son, the Beloved One — God-given and sustained faith in the Word and touch of the only-begotten Son of God come in human flesh—that sees what is truly glorious and redemptive and eternal.
The Word and hands of Christ — as he prays at his Baptism, as he comforts and leads the disciples at his Transfiguration, as he washes and feeds them in the Upper Room, as he announces and embraces his calling to freely lay down his life in the most unfair of exchanges and the most unimaginable deals: our sin for his righteousness; his glory for our shame, his death for our eternal life.
This afternoon, on the gridiron, eleven men will gather to get what they deserve and revel in it. This morning, in this sanctuary, God announces anew — through the glory on the mountain and the glory of the cross and empty tomb — that not only the Twelve but all who put their faith in the Word and touch of Christ with water, with bread and wine, receive the ring of son-ship, the crown of eternal life, the gift only God's grace can give: victory over death, Satan and the grave.
A glorious Transfiguration Sunday to each of you in the name of Christ.

"Faithful, but in unexpected ways." Matthew 4:12-17

2008-01-29T07:31:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Brothers and Sisters Baptized into the Death and Resurrection of Christ Jesus:

For eight hundred years the Jewish residents of the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali had vainly attempted to forget the memories of the Assyrian invasion recorded for us in the 15th and 17th chapters of 2Kings. During that military strike, residents who possessed skills that might be of use to the Assyrian Empire were ripped from their family and land and hauled off to the capital of the kingdom of the north. Oppressive conditions at the hands of Babylon followed. Both farmers and fisherman were brutally deported, only to be replaced by settlements of Assyrians who brought with them their distasteful customs and language and religious beliefs and practices.
This northern section of the promised land given to the twelve tribes of Israel was one of the first to suffer at the hands of Israel's pagan enemies. And, in many respects, one of the last regions to begin to recover. Even in the days of Jesus, eight hundred years later, the area was still considered by the rest of the Jewish nation as backward, colloquial, less Jewish, more infected with heathen influences, and, at the end of the day, less important to God and his continuing kingdom. "Galilee of the Gentiles," although predominantly Jewish, was a frontier territory inhabited by many different kinds of peoples, languages, customs and religions; a region of continual temptation to abandon the Word and Sacraments revealed by the God of Scripture. (Remind you of any place in our nation today?)
The region of Galilee, particularly the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, was disdained by much of the southern kingdom of Judah. The northerners dressed differently, spoke with an accent, and their family and religious pedigrees were not as pure as those enjoyed by the Jewish residents in the regions that surrounded Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon.
No doubt that even in Jesus' day, generations —centuries —after the brutal siege that tore apart the Jewish fabric of the these northern regions, the residents of Zebulun and Naphtali had little hope that they would ever regain what they had lost: their status as true children of Israel and the life-giving promises from the hand of Israel's gracious God. A darkness and gloom had settled over these northern districts, and the results upon the faith of their residents was as devastating as that experienced at the hand of the Assyrians.
Nevertheless, even though many had thrown in the towel on God's merciful intervention, the prophet Isaiah was called to send word to Zebulun and Naphtali. Isaiah had a word of hope for those who had given up on God's salvation, for those who had sat down in hopeless resignation. God would surely come and restore his people who lived oppressed in the shadow of death. The Lord had not forgotten these pitiful people, despite their unfaithfulness and failed attempts to resist the temptations presented by their new Assyrian neighbors.
Through his prophet, the Lord of Israel had announced life-giving Good News to hopeless people who could do nothing but sit in their own no-win situation. God's glorious Light had come to break through the darkness of believing that God had forever abandoned his people to suffer the loss of their families, their land, their culture and language — their connection with the Lord of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. "The God of your fathers will restore you." Isaiah proclaimed. "The God of David will come through his Messiah to bring back everything you have lost. He will deliver you, just as he did in Egypt. Put your faith in his Word and in his Son — in the One who will surely come for you."
You see, the appearance of being forsaken and handed over to one's enemies by the God who revealed himself to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob is nothing new in the history of salvation. Hope — in the midst of hopelessly being "handed over" to evil men — was a saving gift of God given to our first parents and to those who followed them in faith: to men and women such as Joseph and Ruth, Moses and Samson, David and the prophets that followed him.
And so we are surprised, but not completely surprised, when we hear this morning that the public ministry of Jesus is set into motion with the news that with John the Baptist, again, God has allowed one of his own to be handed over, to be seized and arrested and taken by evil men into the land of darkness and despair.
We had a feeling this is the way it might end for John as he followed in the way of the Old Testament prophets of the Lord, prophets who were subjected to abuse at the hands of those who had no intention of receiving their God-given proclamation in obedience and faith. We had a feeling this is the way it might end for John as he pointed to the coming of a Messiah hunted down by King Herod and despised by his sons who ruled after him; the Christ who had to flee to Egypt and then to Nazareth, and now withdraws to Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee.
But just when all hope in rescue from the hands of the oppressor has seemingly vanished, God's trusting people hear that their Lord is on the move. This unexpected Good News, this undeserved Gospel of our God's gracious intervention — his breaking through to rescue and save and restore — was placed in the mouth of Isaiah and fulfilled in the coming of the Messiah, in the coming of Jesus to set up his base for ministry at Capernaum.
John had been handed over, and now, in Jesus, the gracious reign of heaven has come near. His epiphany, the manifestation of his redeeming light, has dawned on a hopeless people who can only sit in the darkness of their despair and wait for the merciful intervention of One more powerful than their sin and doubt and empty promises to remain faithful to the perfect will and law of God.
It is Saint Matthew, guided by the Holy Spirit, who sees the same Immanuel, the same "God-is-now-with-us," manifested to betrothed Joseph in a dream now rising with healing in his wings to the inhabitants of forsaken and despised Zebulun and Naphtali. "God-is-now-with-us" to complete and fulfill all that John the Baptist pointed to, but in a way that takes our breath away.
The Lord of heaven and earth is faithful to what he promises — in his time and in his way. That revelation is written on every page from the inspired pen of Saint Matthew. God is — unexpectedly — faithful. From the inclusion of five unexpected women in Jesus' genealogy to the unexpected visitation of the angels to Mary and her husband Joseph; from the unexpected faith of foreign star-gazers and the unexpected hatred of Herod to the handing over of the infant children of Bethlehem to the flight into Egypt and the sudden appearance of John at the Jordan, God is suddenly on the move to redeem and rescue and save — in a way unheard of, in a way we would never have expected.
Jesus came to do what we did not expect in a way our old nature will never accept. Jesus came to reveal his Gospel light of deliverance to sinners, to those who have not been faithful, to those who have given in to the evil ways of their spiritually heathen neighbors. Jesus has come for all who have given up and now can only hope against hope that an undeserved Champion over darkness and death will graciously arrive.
Jesus is that Victor. True God, that he might conquer forever the forces of death, devil and world, and true man, that he might atone for our sin in our stead. But how he conquers shuts our mouths and brings fear to our hearts: he — the spotless Lamb of God, the innocent One, the righteous One, the beloved One — is handed over to evil men in our place to suffer the separation from God's love reserved for not only the unfaithful inhabitants of Zebulun and Naphtali, but for an entire wayward race, for you.
Christ, handed over and abandoned, that his saving light might shine upon the darkness of your sin.
That is the Christian faith; that is our confession and belief and song:

The people that in darkness sat
A glorious light have seen;
The light has shined on them who long
In shades of death have been. ...

Lord Jesus, reign in us, we pray,
And make us Thine alone,
Who with the Father ever art
And Holy Spirit, one. ... Amen

"A Faithful Pointer." John 1:29-41

2008-01-21T07:17:00.000-08:00

In the Name of Jesus
Dear Brothers and Sisters washed white in the blood of the Lamb:

The dictionary gives several meanings for the word "pointer," ranging from a star in the Big Dipper to a long tapered stick; from a breed of hunting dog to the hands of a clock. But regardless of the details, a pointer is, simply, something that points. It is an indicator, an arrow. It functions as a guide, as a compass.
And whether it is composed of burning gas or sharpened wood a pointer is judged to be a good or a bad pointer based on just one thing: the precision of it's point. No one wants a sloppy pointer. No one wants directions from someone who keeps his hands in his pocket and answers, "I think it could be over there somewhere — I think." We want to know if it's nine o'clock or eleven o'clock, if it's northwest or northeast, if it's something to shoot or something to shoo, if it's the woman with the ponytails or the man with the baseball cap. If a pointer is going to be a good pointer, it must point to something, something definite and specific. It must be accurate.
That's why only a handful of watches are given the name "chronograph." That's why hikers these days use GPS units and not bread crumbs to find their way home. That's why law enforcement personnel match DNA and not shoe sizes. Sometimes — often — it just not good enough to be "somewhere in the ballpark" or headed in a general direction. Except for horseshoes and hand grenades, "almost" counts for very little.
Now when it comes to people being pointers, there are always an uncountable array of guides out there running around and saying, "It's not over there, it's over here!" And when it comes to the realm of salvation, just when we think we've seen and heard it all, up jumps another self-proclaimed spiritual expert yelling, "Hey, everybody, this way!"
This morning God through his holy Word comes to get our attention, that it might be placed upon his only-begotten Son come in the flesh. And this morning he does that life-and-death work through the mouth and the finger of a man named John.
Generations have watched the old television series with Raymond Burr as master defense attorney Perry Mason. And like other classic "who-done-it" dramas, the court case suddenly comes to a head as Perry scans the room, casts his eyes upon the unsuspected culprit and says, "My client actually didn't commit the crime he is accused of. Isn't that right Mr. Phillips?"
And so it was with John the Baptist. He was called by God himself to guide others through his riveting look and boney finger. He was to be "a voice calling out in the wilderness" — a prophetic pointer.
For the evangelist of the fourth Gospel, the life and death and resurrection of Jesus played out much like one of those courtroom dramas we listened to on the radio and watched on television. The scenario is similar, but those who take part in the biblical drama are even more real. Saint John presents the setting, and we are called to be the jury as we hear and watch Jesus on trial. Witnesses are called to testify — to give witness. The attorneys make their next move as they announce, "Your honor, for the next witness, I call — John the Baptist."
The Holy Gospel According to Saint John, the first chapter:
The next day [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:29-34 ESV)
This faithful testimony of John the Baptist is one of the most endearing statements in the entire Scripture. It doesn't begin with a "Hey!" or a "Yo!" or a "Look guys!" It begins, intentionally, with the distinctive word "behold," the announcement that the words just about to be proclaimed are from none other than the Lord of heaven himself. "Behold!" he says. "I come with the Word of God. This is the one who has come to bring comfort to repentant hearts! This is the holy Lamb of God, provided by heaven as the eternal sacrifice for sin — for you and for the world!"
By the grace of God, John the Baptist was allowed to do more with his little right index finger than many of us have done with our entire lives. The same hand that was used by God to scoop up water during the Baptism of our Lord now points others to the one whom the Bible and the prophets and the Father and the Spirit all give witness: Jesus, the Redeemer of the children of Israel and the nations that surround her.
The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). (John 1:35-41 ESV)
That pointing finger and the accompanying proclamation of John the Baptist set into motion one of the first events of Jesus' public ministry: sinners receiving Jesus — not as another coach or another policeman or another prophet or another cheerleader, but the Lamb of God.
Luther is un-moveable on this point:
This [announcement, "Behold! The Lamb of God!"] is an excellent and splendid testimony of John regarding the introduction of the new rule and kingdom of Christ. It is a powerful statement. The words are clear and lucid. They tell us what one should think of Christ. ... This [proclamation by John the Baptist] is an extraordinary fine and comforting sermon on Christ our Savior. Neither our thoughts nor our words can do the subject full justice, but in the life beyond it will rebound to our eternal joy and bliss that [this] Son of God abased himself so and burdened himself with my sins. ... Despite its show of holiness, virtue, power and glory, the world continues to be under the dominion of sin and [its human works] are completely discounted before God. [Therefore,] anyone who wishes to be saved must know that all his sins have been placed on the back of this Lamb! ... If you really want to find the place where all the sins of the world are exterminated and cancelled, then cast your gaze upon the Cross. The Lord placed all our sins on the back of this Lamb. As the prophet Isaiah declares, 'We have all strayed like sheep, each of us going his own way, but the Lord laid on him the guilt of us all.' [Isaiah 53:6] ... Isaiah says that the right way is this: 'God placed all our sins upon him and struck him [down] for the sins of [all who] went astray. God put all our sins on the back of this Lamb and upon no other. ... Therefore a Christian must cling to this verse [in the Gospel of John] and let no one rob him of it. For there is no other comfort either in heaven or on earth to fortify us against all attacks and temptations, especially in the agony of death. ... This is the basis of all Christian teaching. Whoever believes it is a Christian; whoever does not is not a Christian. ... The statement is clear enough: 'This is the Lamb of God who bears the sin of the world.' " (Am. Ed. of Luther's Works 22:161-64)
It was the all-powerful Word of God given to John the Baptist that animated his finger and his voice as he guided the disciples to Christ and then quietly stepped back out of the spotlight. Faith creates pointers who guide others to the Word of God, and then get out of the way. That's a lesson that each of us needs to learn and take to heart. Each of us has been given a voice and an index finger that we might point others to one specific thing.
Will that be our own human abilities and accomplishments? Will it be the things of the kingdom we have built around ourselves? Will it be our certificates of merit or trophies of achievement?
Or will we allow God to place before our eyes his faithful pointer, the greatest of the prophets, the forerunner with the forefinger calling all lost and condemned creatures to receive the One who has come to place upon his shoulders all our fears and failings?
Will you allow John the Baptist to be your guide? Will you point to Christ as you daily remember your Baptism and hear his life-giving Word? Will you point to Christ as you live under his mercy and grace? Will you faithfully give witness as you receive the forgiveness of sins through his very body and blood?
Hear and hold tight to the object of John's undivided attention as he says to you this day,
"Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.1

Matthew 3:13-17 "Baptized—but into what?"

2008-01-13T16:37:00.000-08:00

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Christians, baptized into the Death and Resurrection of Christ:

For thousands of years this Sunday has been celebrated in Christian churches as the Sunday of the Baptism of our Lord.
But for most churches and most Christians today, it's just another Sunday with just another sermon and just another bunch of hymns and prayers.
But, just like many other important things, it's an important day in the church year, whether we recognize it or not. The Baptism of our Lord was a big deal and will remain a big deal for all eternity.
To emphasize the importance of this day we have special music and special hymns and a special children's message and a special sermon and a special time of sharing after each morning service.
Just like the adults gathered around the Passover table, every one of us here should be able to give a good Biblical answer if a child should ask us, "Why is this Sunday different than all the other Sundays of the year?" Our answer should be much better than: "Well, the pastor likes to mix it up a bit from time to time."
It's like I told the Sunday morning adult Bible class last week: any visitor should know very quickly when coming to services that this is a trinitarian congregation. And so it is with Christ's Baptism and our own. People shouldn't be able to leave Redeemer without hearing about the Word of God in, with and under simple water.
Jesus' baptism and your baptism is a regular feature of what we "believe, teach and confess" as a Church, as a congregation, as a church family. It's part and parcel of what we say and hear and sing and do — and remember.
One of the saddest experiences I have as a pastor is visiting someone who has forgotten even their own family name. Sometimes I wonder: "How can they have forgotten their own name?" But this is a reality in the fallen world we live in. And it's the same with our spiritual life as well.
Not a day should go by when we don't remind ourselves of Christ's Baptism and our own. That's one of the assignments in Confirmation class: write three things that you can do to daily remind yourself of your Baptism." That's a good assignment for each of us here today as well.
And so this morning we fight against the threat of spiritual amnesia by first and foremost, focusing our attention on the Baptism of our Lord. The "what" and "so what" of Jesus' wading out into the Jordan to John the Baptist and the once-for-all-time event that followed; the one event that put into motion the mission of the only-begotten Messiah.
Read Matthew 3:13-15
John refused. Jesus called for faith in fulfilling all righteousness, then John consented. Not very different than what Jesus calls each of us to do. "Follow my word," he says. "Even though you don't really get it, put your trust in my direction and my word of assurance. This needs to be done. Say 'Amen' to me and my instructions and my way of ushering in salvation. "Let it now be so." Jesus says. And John consents.
Maybe there's someone here who secretly doesn't believe in Christian Baptism — especially of infant children — or has serious concerns about what Jesus calls us to do and say and believe. Unlike any one else, Jesus' comes with a Word that has the ability to create faith that responds to his direction by saying, "I give my consent, despite my questions and doubts and inability to understand fully. Despite it all, Jesus, I will say 'Amen' to your Word and call."
Now we want to state clearly up-front that Jesus didn't need to come to John to say a word of repentance and have his sins washed away.
Jesus, from his very conception, was the spotless Lamb of God. Hebrews 4:15: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Then, if not for cleansing, then for what purpose was Jesus baptized?
Twenty-four chapters later in the Holy Gospel According to Saint Matthew, someone will submit to a washing to publicly announce that he will have no part in the fate of the one put under his protection. In Matthew 27:24, Pilate washes his hands of carrying out justice on behalf of Jesus. "I am innocent of this man's blood." he cried.
This Baptism of our Lord, this particular Sunday in the Church Year, stands as the direct opposite of any washing away of sin or any washing away of personal or judicial responsibility.
Jesus' Baptism is a public proclamation, a public submission, a public consecration into his unique mission of redemption. Here, in the Jordan River, Jesus says "Amen" to the heavenly Father's call to become the once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of a weak and helpless world.
For anyone asking, "Who is Jesus?" "What did he come to do?" no one need look any farther than his Baptism. Jesus is baptized in the Jordan, but, more importantly, he is baptized into his calling, his mission, his office as Redeemer and Savior and Sacrifice. His atoning work all begins in ernest here.
Read Matthew 3:16-17
Through his Baptism, Jesus does not walk away from protecting and saving those placed under his care. He does not wash his hands of your fate or mine. He is baptized into your place, into your stead, into your condemnation, that he might redeem each of us from it and its deadly consequences. Though equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit according to his divine nature, Jesus, according to his human nature freely submits to the Father's call to go down and rescue you and all people by the giving of his life-blood upon the cross. That's the call and mission and assignment Jesus said "Yes" to at his Baptism. And we, through the four New Testament evangelists are brought to the shore of the Jordan to watch and hear and bow our head and knee at the unbelievable: the holy Son of God taking on our burden as he begins to make good on God's gracious promise to win us back.
Satisfy the wrath of God's holy will against sin. That's an assignment that would have crushed even the best of us. But Jesus, at his Baptism, as water is poured over him, prays, "Yes, Father. I willingly will give my life for these, your wandering and wayward children."
And the Holy Spirit hovers over Jesus as the Father responds: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
This is the Jesus you and I have been baptized into. The "incarnate by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified and buried" Jesus.
The most shocking thing in preparing for a Baptism here at Redeemer is often telling the excited parents desiring a "Christening" of their pure-as-the-driven-snow baby that Christian Baptism is a Baptism into Christ's death. That will get their attention, as it should get ours this morning. "What were you baptized into?" "The perfect life and sacrificial death of Christ."
That's the only way out of this dead-end life in this dead-end world. Baptized into the life and death of Christ.
That's why it has been a Christian practice for as long as anyone can remember to make the sign of the cross in remembrance of one's baptism. Not some sign of the empty tomb, or some sign of Pentecost, but the sign of the Cross.
And if you're wondering to yourself, isn't that making-the-sign-of-the-cross a Roman Catholic thing that we Lutheran Christians got rid of a long time ago, take a look at Martin Luther's instruction of how to begin each and every day as it's outlined in the Small Catechism.
Why is reminding ourselves of our Baptism and the Cross such a big deal? Because it is only after Jesus fulfilled his redemptive mission upon the cross, and the heavenly Father's seal of approval at his resurrection, that the Crucified One commands his Body, his family, his own, the Church, to make disciples of all nations by baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
At your Baptism, you have been born into the family of Christ, his Body, the Church. You have been given the family name for all eternity — whether you remember it or not, the name "Christian."
In the Jordan, God the Father, through John, through the Holy Spirit, anointed his very Son. In the Jordan, Jesus bound himself to your sins, that he might bind you to his righteousness.
Be who you are as a Baptized child of God. Live under your family name. Hold tight to Christ's promises. Bind yourself to him and his sacrificial work on your behalf.
Remember your Baptism. Remember which family you have been born into. Remember who you have been united with: Christ, the Lamb of God, who graciously remembers you, even on those days you forget him and his Cross.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.