The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity - September 11, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (September 11, 2011)

Readings:   
    Psalm 146
    Isaiah 29:17-24
    1 Cor. 3:4-11
    Mark 7:31-37

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
The text for today’s message is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 7th chapter of St. Mark

Mark 7:31-37 (NIV)
31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man. 33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 (Jesus)He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. 36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

There is a lot going on today.  It is the tenth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania.  Hijackers flew two planes into the twin towers and one plane into the Pentagon and there was also a third plane that was set to strike yet another building, but crashed because the passengers on board resisted the hijackers.  We certainly want to take a moment sometime today and think about these events.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus loosed the tongue which the devil had tied and opened the ears that the devil wished to stop.  Christ had come for this purpose and He continues this work among His people.  He is the Helper of suffering mankind and desires to heal all afflictions with which the devil burdens us, and to drive Jesus away from us.  It would be all too easy to remember 9/11 and say the devil won on this day.

But Christ shows us that He opens ears and unbinds tongues. He seeks to perform this work daily in His church against the devil.  It is a physical fact that God gives sound ears and tongues to those opposed to His Word, but only for Christians is this spiritual fact true, that He opens ears and looses tongues.  For we Christians must hear His Word with our ears and confess with our lips.  St. Paul writes to His beloved timothy these words, “Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

This is sure, that we have our salvation alone through the Word of God alone.  What would we otherwise about God, about our Lord Christ, His sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit?  To this day the greatest miracle and mightiest work is giving a person ears that gladly hear God's Word and a tongue that honors God.

Whether we face the biggest tragedy in our lifetime like 911 or have seen bigger tragedies or if it is jut the biggest tragedy of the day, God stirs our tongues and causes us to speak, as St. Paul says, “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”(Rom. 10:10).

So it is through faith in Christ we come to have forgiveness of our sins; and our confession should also follow.  We must not be mute, but speak what we believe in our hearts.  And again as St. Paul wrote to Timothy how we should speak as pastors, “Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach.”(1 Tim 3:2)

Now hear of our Lord’s unusual performance in this Gospel reading.  The people bring the poor man to Him, asking that Jesus should place His hands on him.  With all His care, Jesus takes him aside from the crowd, places His fingers into his ears, spits, and in this way loosens the man’s tongue.  Then Jesus looks up to heaven, sighs, and says, “Ephphatha!”, meaning be opened.

We must note why the Lord employed such an unusual routine and procedure in this miracle.  He surely could have affected this miracle by a simple worked, for again and again in the Gospel that it merely requires His Word to cause something to be done, and it is done.  Lazarus, Jesus woke up with a word.  To the palsied man Jesus said, “Stand up and walk.!”  But with the deaf and dumb man He does not proceed in such a short and simple way, but takes unusual steps.

Our Lord employs such vivid action here for the sake of the spiritual miracle.  He wants to demonstrate how great an effort is required to cause a deaf man to hear and a mute man to speak.  He wants this lesson to be remembered.  He shows us that if we are to be loosed from the devil’s bonds and posses ready tongues and good ears, this can happen only through the external Word and preaching.  We must, first of all, hear the Word, not neglecting Baptism or the Sacrament either, and the Holy Spirit will then be present to free the ears and tongues.  And if the message is not conveyed properly the message is lost.

It is true that we all must be on guard against the fantastic spirits who despise the external Word and Sacraments, or those who would wait until God speaks to them in the heart.  But Jesus says, “No, here is My finger, the external Word, the spoken and preached Word that must sound in the ears’  My spit which must moisten the tongue.  In this way My work proceeds rightly.”  We see this wherever the external Word has free course and is delivered according to scripture and conveyed like a healing salve exactly and directly to the location it is needed.  There Christians will be found, for as goes the shepherd, so go the sheep.

We should all take care to be found on this path and gladly hear God’s Word.  Without the true inspired Word, God does not reveal Himself in your heart.  To see and know Him can happen only through the external Word and through the Sacraments.  The Holy Spirit works in no other way.  Proclaim that Word to those in need of hearing it, share it, hear it in this place, and beyond these walls, with those who are around you by your actions and deeds.

While we all live in this world, we live in a war zone.  We are both sinners and saints.  One of the battles in that war pits our natural desire to nurture a grudge against our holy desire to forgive.  Only the reconciliation with God that Jesus provided through His death on the cross gives us the victory.  Once again, we see that God does all the work.  It is His forgiveness working though us in Word and Sacraments that forgives our brother.  It is His forgiveness that gives us the victory and reconciles us with God and our brother forever and ever.  Receive the healing power of God’s forgiveness, it lifts you from the depth of the deepest and darkest despair.  Ephphatha, be opened, come hear, come eat, come receive Christ’s forgiveness, Christ alone makes you well to eternal life. Amen.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
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The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity - September 4, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (September 4, 2011)

Readings:   
    Psalm 50:7-23
    Genesis 4:1-15
    Ephesians 2:1-10
    Luke 18:9-14

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 18th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verse:

Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:

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

How we worship affects what we believe.  The reverse is also true.  What we believe affects how we worship. We can see this principle in the parable.  The pharisee prays from what is in his heart.  He is full of self-righteousness, so he prays a self-righteous prayer.  The tax collector is filled with repentance by the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, he prays a repentant prayer.

We can also see this posture of worship from experience.  If someone in their heart does not really believe that they are a poor, miserable sinner, then they will get tired of confessing these words in the liturgy.  If a person thinks that the love in their heart is the most important thing in worship, then they want to sing about how much they love Jesus.  If a person sings songs over and over about the love in their heart, then they will forget about repentance, or at best, repentance will become shallow, not heartfelt.

But if we keep ourselves in the historic Divine Service handed down to us by centuries of saints before us, then we will keep confessing these important Biblical truths.  We are wretched beggars who must cry out to God constantly, "Have mercy upon me, the sinner." But we should make sure that we do not confuse prayer with the means of grace.  In other words, a person is not forgiven because they pray for it.  Although God surely gives forgiveness in answer to the prayers of His saints, it is not the prayer itself that earns us forgiveness.  Jesus is not saying that the tax collector was forgiven because of the great fervor and sincerity and humility in his prayer.

We know this for certain because not everyone who is sorrowful over their sins and prays for it is forgiven.  Many pagans pray to the wrong god for forgiveness.  Many Americans suddenly decide to get religion and pray to God.  They may even name Jesus, yet not have faith in His sacrificial death.  Even sorrow over your sins is not enough.  Think about it, Judas was very sorrowful over his betrayal of the Jesus.  Yet he received no forgiveness, since he had no faith.  Without faith, there is neither true prayer before God nor is there forgiveness.

The prayers of both the pharisee and tax collector took place within the context of atonement from the true God.  In the Temple of God, there is no doubt to whom they were praying.  More than that, their prayers would take place at the time of the morning and evening sacrifices.  Those were the times that public, individual prayer was allowed in the Temple.  So there was before their eyes the true God's covenant, that is agreement of forgiveness through the shed blood of lambs and goats.

But in this Parable only one of them prayed out of sorrowful humility and awareness of the magnitude of his sins.  Only one of them looked upon God as the only possible Savior from the incredible weight of his overwhelming sins.

The other one believed that he is not that bad.  Sacrifice would only need to take care of a few small mistakes in his life.  Overall, he was a pretty good guy, or so he thought. But no one is a pretty good guy before God's Law. The tax collector saw things as they truly are.  We are very great sinners, each one of us.  We should see things as Saint Paul did, who said, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."  In the words of the tax collector, we are "THE sinner," not just "A sinner".  There should not be a sinner greater than us in our eyes.  We should approach the throne of God with the awareness that we are most unworthy that He should listen to our prayers.

Yet He hears, nonetheless.  We beg Him, "Have mercy upon us," and He grants what we ask.  What we are asking for, along with the tax collector, involves more complicated church words like "propitiate" and "conciliate" and "expiate."  We are asking that God pay the price for the incredible weight of our overwhelming sins.  The only price that can satisfy God's anger against sin is the sacrifice of a pure, innocent Lamb.  There can be only one such Lamb.  Christ alone could be the propitiation for your sins.  He alone silences the wrath of God against the magnitude of your sins by shedding precious Blood and dying in perfect innocence.  Only He could atone for your sins by sprinkling His Blood upon you.

This He has done.  Therefore, the Father does not see your sins.  They are covered up by the Blood of the Lamb.  Because of the sacrifice upon the Cross, the Father has declared you righteous in His eyes. He has done it even today, as He delights to do it as often as He can.  He has declared you righteous in this Divine Service, and every Divine Service where the pure Gospel is proclaimed.  He has declared you innocent in your Baptism, in which you were Baptized into His sacrificial death.  In His Holy Supper, He also bids us eat the sacrifice of the Lamb, whose true Body and Blood are received by our mouths.

For Christ is the sacrifice.  Christ is the propitiation for your sins. He also is the true Temple.  He is the presence of the true God Jehovah, since He is the same Lord, one with His Father.  Where He is, there holy saints are gathered to worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth.  Therefore, you also are the Temple, since you are one with Christ, and He with you.  You dwell in Him, and He in you.  You are a holy building not made with human hands, one Church with all the saints on earth and in glory.

Christ could only be these things for you because He claimed for Himself the most humble place.  Even though He had no sin, He was willing to be numbered with us sinners.  More than that, He became sin itself, since He carried all sins upon His shoulders on Calvary.  He became THE sinner, taking the guilt of all and the punishment of all.  And by His wounds, you are healed.  In His suffering for your guilt, you are declared innocent.

Therefore, you are going home from this House of God justified today.  For to all whom He has given the gift of repentance, He has also declared righteous.  So depart in peace today, since your sins are forgiven you. Amen.

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The Tenth Sunday after Trinity - August 28, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Tenth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (August 28, 2011)

Readings:   
    Psalm 92
    Jeremiah 7:1-11
    1 Corinthians 12:1-11

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the New Testament Lesson from 19th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verse:

Luke 19:41-48 (NIV)

41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” 45 Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. 46 “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” 47 Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. 48 Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.

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

Christ our Lord could see the destruction coming.  His heart was not unfeeling.  As He had lamented in sorrow when He brought the cataclysm upon Noah's world, so He wept over Jerusalem.  As the holy prophet Jeremiah had wept over Jerusalem, so the holiest prophet of all, Jesus Christ, shed tears at the oncoming bloodshed.

Christ shows us that He deeply regrets the sins of men and their punishment.  He takes no pleasure in the death of the godless, but that the godless convert from their evil ways and live.  He finds no joy in the damnation of those who reject His Word.  He would much rather give life and salvation. Here we see Christ's tears rebuke those who think that God desires the death of some, or that He keeps them from being saved.  Our Lord is not such a God who delights in the death of anyone.  He is not hardened and cold against the sins and impenitence of unbelievers.

On the contrary, He desires that we take warning from His tears, so that we might also repent.  He wants us to follow the example of the Ninevites who repented and were rescued from downfall and ruin. But so many of the Jews rejected God's will for them and resisted the Holy Spirit.  In the same way, so many people today have contradicted and blasphemed God's Word.  So many have rejected the Word, making themselves unworthy of it.  Therefore, as both temporal and eternal punishment fell on the Jews, so it will fall upon any of us who treat this Word with disdain.

For Christ was not only lamenting the physical, earthly misfortune of the Jews that would happen when the city was destroyed.  Much more, He saw the eternal punishment that would fall upon them.  In spite of His preaching and teaching, those who would not repent would have to face the visitation of His wrath.  For when Christ comes to men, He visits them with grace.  But if they will not receive it, He gives them instead His punishment.

So you must be diligent today to listen and heed this Word.  Today is also the visitation of Christ among you.  Here He is offering you His own deeds that give you the forgiveness of sins.  Here is grace and justification and eternal life.  Therefore, sincerely repent, rejecting your sins and life as worthless to earn salvation, and cling instead in trust to the precious work of Christ for you.  For the same tears of Christ should move you to repentance.

What terrible agonies the damned will experience when they realize that the Lord God so passionately called them to repentance and life, and how Christ worked mightily to earn their salvation - only to have them reject the precious gift!  The Lord keep you from that fate, as instead you seize Christ and His Cross as your only salvation.

No one naturally has the right kind of heart to repent.  As Christ said, "Now it is hidden from your eyes."  That is, the natural man does not receive the things of God.  The human heart is most crooked and deceitful, as in the time of Noah.  Our heart does not sympathize as it should with our neighbor.  Too many times, we do not see a brother's distress and mourn over his condition, as Christ did.  Too often, we also push away from ourselves the sacred Word, thinking that we have enough and need no more, as if we sinners could ever have too much.

So Christ comes riding into your hearts as He did into Jerusalem.  He comes in a humble way, in His Word.  He has snatched you from the jaws of sin and brought you to repentance and reconciliation with God.  For the Word gives you Christ Himself, and He is the only medicine for your sick souls.  He is the food for your starving spirit.

But if you reject this medicine and this food, how will you escape death?  He has sent down to you manna from heaven.  If you despise the Bread of Life, how will you escape His wrath?  The Lord will not treat kindly those who reject His mercy.  Therefore repent, since the kingdom of heaven is here.

Where repentance receives this Word, it is the sword of the Spirit that protects against the devil, the world, and the flesh.  For the Word gives Christ and Him crucified.  The Word sprinkles upon you the Blood of Atonement, shed for you.  If you are covered with the holy Blood, how can satan or anyone destroy you?

But where a soul refuses to repent, there the devil will build fortifications around him and besiege him with a vast army of sins to invade that soul, until it is utterly destroyed.  That person will think that he is safe upon the foundation of his good works.  Yet those works will be cast down, so that what was thought to be a strong wall will have not one stone left upon another. 

But for you, Christ has come.  He has visited you with His grace and His Spirit.  He has poured out His forgiveness upon you and soothed your soul with the medicine of salvation.  So God has done all things for you.  Nothing is left.  All is accomplished.  Rest secure in Him and in the sufferings and death of His Son for you. Amen.

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The Ninth Sunday after Trinity - August 21, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity

The Ninth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (August 21, 2011)

Readings:   
    Psalm 51:1-12
    2 Samuel 22:26-34
    1 Corinthians 10:6-13
    Luke 16:1-13

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the New Testament Lesson from 16th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verse:

Luke 16:1-13 (NIV)

1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’ 3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’ 5 “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 “‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’ 7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’ “‘A thousand bushels of wheat,’ he replied. “He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’ 8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? 13 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

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

Christ our Lord speaks of the money and goods of this world as "unrighteous mammon."  We should not misunderstand what He is saying.  He does not mean that the physical blessings we have are somehow evil in themselves.  Even money itself is not the root of all evil.  Rather, it is love of money that is the root of all evil.  In themselves, each creation of God is a good gift from His loving hand. Yet Christ speaks of them as unrighteous mammon because they belong to this unrighteous world.  They are only temporary blessings, as opposed to the eternal blessings in the world to come.

Since they are temporary, do not get too attached to them.  Do not hold onto them.  Spend them freely and generously.  You are not owners, but only stewards of God's gifts, and must give account for your stewardship. So we rightly examine ourselves.  Are we giving generously, as God has generously given to us?  Or are we too often selfish and self-centered?  I do not only speak of giving to the Church, although that is indeed a command from God.  But in many other ways we are to think of our vocation and remember how God wants us to give of our substance to others.  If we are husbands, then our substance is to be for our wife; if a father, then for our children; as citizens; and so forth. This does not mean that we must never use the blessings we receive for our own pleasure, as if any enjoyment in life were sinful.  Certainly not.  Yet we must be certain first and foremost to take care of those for whom God has given us responsibility.  In fact, to use blessings also for our own care and enjoyment helps to keep us healthy and happy, and therefore more able to care for others.  We should not feel guilty for the responsible use of God's blessings to us, since it is His intention that we take joy from His good creation.

Of course, we should never think that we are giving our money or property in order to earn eternal blessings.  We know that Christ alone gives us our heavenly reward.  It is so easy to slip into this mind-set.  If a person gives generously, then we might say, "Surely they are going to heaven!" Yet that is not necessarily the case. If we forget this, then we may get confused by the words of Christ in our Gospel, "They will receive you into an everlasting home."  This cannot mean that our works of charity earn us a place in Paradise.  It also does not mean that we will win people into the kingdom by the persuasion of our charity.  Our works earn salvation for neither us nor for our neighbor. Yet our works done in Christ will follow us.  On the Last Day, witnesses will rise up to praise us for the deeds of sanctification that the Spirit produced in us.  In so doing, they will not really be praising us, but praising God who created these works in us.

As the story of the sheep and goats shows, these are works done by believers to Christ Himself.  So in truth, it is God through Christ who receives us into eternal dwellings.  It is not as though we must convince a jury picked from among our peers.  There is only one Judge, and He is only pleased with His Son.  So all who are in Christ will enter eternal glory. But as we examine our lives according to our sinful flesh, we find that we have failed to be as charitable and generous as we should.  Our hearts have sometimes been stingy, no matter how loving we try to be.  Although we hold the example of Christ before us, yet we fail to live up to His perfection.  Too often we give grudgingly or bitterly or with thought of reward.

In truth, we are not worthy of the mercy of the Father.  But that is what mercy is - love given to the unworthy. So we see the perfect Giver only in God.  He always spends generously.  He gave away His prized Treasure, which was His beloved, only-begotten Son.  Christ in turn spent Himself.  He gave His life away generously into death and has given to you more than could be imagined. He has canceled all your debts.  You owed to God an eternity of slavery because you could not pay back the debt for your sins.  Yet Christ has written down in God's book that you are free of all debt.  You are paid in full by the Blood of your Savior.

When we have failed to give freely, He gave with the freedom of pure grace.  His generosity has covered up the selfish fruits of our flesh.  His Blood has covered and erased our lack of charity. Now He has given eternal goods to you that are not bound by this temporary world of unrighteousness.  No, His blessings do not fade or rust.  He has given a new heaven and a new earth.  He has given physical blessings that you have not seen yet - perfect food and drink, perfect life and health and body, and a perfect home in which to enjoy His blessings.

You cannot even understand how great the blessings are you are to receive.  But consider this: that your reward was earned by the sufferings and death of Christ.  Since that price is infinite, then your reward is also of infinite value.  Therefore the glory of the resurrection that awaits you will far exceed all expectations. This Christ has earned for you, by the Father's free gift of mercy.  For this is the charity of God, that He has freely given to us poor beggars all that we could ever need, and far more.

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The Eighth Sunday after Trinity - August 14, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Eighth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (August 14, 2011)

Readings:   
        Psalm 26
        Jeremiah 23:16-23
        Acts 20:27-38
        Matthew 7:15-23

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 7th chapter of St. Matthew, especially the following verses:

Matthew 7:15-16 (NIV)

15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16You will recognize them by their fruits.”

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

The worst thing a person can do is cause someone else to do is doubt the Word of the Lord and the Sacraments. They are the foundation of saving faith. More than that, the Lord’s Word and His sacramental Gifts are the Gospel. They are not just things that tell us about God’s mercy and love.  That is how we are forgiven, rescued from death, protected from the devil and evil, and brought safely through this life to the life of the world to come. No, for without preaching and sacraments, there is no knowledge of salvation or comfort from God or hope in Christ.

That is what the Christian Church has consistently taught for 20 centuries. That is what every Christian must believe in order to be safe and secure in the holy ark of the Church. The proclamation of the Lord’s mercy, in baptism by God’s Word combined with the water, and the consumption of the Lord’s own body flesh and blood, these are the only means of salvation and the only things faith has to hang onto. Anyone who calls them into question, who causes someone to doubt these words and gifts of God, who says they are not valid and certain or beneficial or that they don’t matter, or who causes even the littlest child who believes in Jesus to question his faith – it would be better for them if a millstone were hung around his neck and they were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Anyone who does these things – anyone who causes the faithful to question their faith in the Lord and His promises tied to preaching and the Sacraments – that person is a false prophet. False prophets are not easily identified fanatics, they are not all raving lunatics. Neither are they people who urge you to worship Satan. A false prophet is anyone who says to you, “peace, peace” where there is not peace; anyone who lures and entices you to believe in yourself; anyone who says, “Here is your help, your better way to Christ”; and anyone who undermines your trust and confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. These are all false prophets that our Lord both warns us about in today’s Gospel, and He urges us to avoid to avoid them.

Jesus says, “Beware of them, for they come to you all pretty and nice, speaking soothingly, and with kind words, promising help from God and giving you what seems so comforting. But they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They seek only their own gain and comfort. They speak only the fantasies of their mind. They tell lies – either purposefully or not. Or, at least, they skirt the Truth, and that the only truth is Jesus Christ Himself. Their desire is not to comfort you, but to control you. They offer a false hope since it is not based on God’s Word so they end up destroying your soul.”

And, of course, this begs the question, “What is truth?” Truth is our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s not just that He tells the Truth. Our Lord Jesus is Truth in the flesh. Everything apart from Him is a lie or a dream. Any substantial and essential Truth both traces back to Him and relies on Jesus Christ.

False prophets not only work against Christ. They also urge you to believe truths that don’t matter; truths that will not help you. What good is it to know that two plus three equals five if that truth cannot begin or sustain your life? What good is it to figure out all kinds of truisms and axioms and philosophies, if they do not bring you back from the dead?

The Truth is Christ Jesus Who truly does fight for you against every evil, Who truly does deliver you from your past, Who truly does help you in every life-threatening need, and Who truly can and does bring you through death to life – now, in the waters of Holy Baptism, and later in the grave. He is Truth, and whoever causes you to look anywhere else, to anything else, for comfort and hope and peace – that person perverts the truth and replaces it with a preaching of what is false and empty. “Beware of them,” our Lord says.

But don’t simply watch out. For there is also no good in going on a witch hunt for false prophets. Cling to the Truth instead. Take Jesus at His Word. Believe Him when He says, “My promise is true. My blood truly does forgive you. My flesh is your life. My Word truly is your strength, your comfort, your hope, and your salvation. Everything else will fade away, and all other truths will fail you in death. But God’s Word is sure, His promises never fail, and He always come through for you – if not now, then certainly in the end when it matters most.”

What is our prayer? Is it that we get the wisdom, the magic eyes, the brilliance to pick out the truth from the lies? Is it to isolate ourselves from others in fear that they may be false? Is it to become fanatics who cling to conniving, mesmerizing preachers? Is it that we get the ability to understand all sorts of signs and wonders? No. All of that is also false.

Our prayer is that the Lord God would continue to grant us His Holy Spirit – the Holy Spirit Who brings to your remembrance everything Christ Jesus said, the Spirit Who leads you into all Truth. It is only by the Holy Spirit, Who comes by the preaching and by the Sacraments, do you believe the Lord’s holy Word. Without the Lord you can do no good thing. We desire to live according to His Word and will. So we pray Thy kingdom come with the confidence that God’s kingdom comes by His Spirit whenever we hear His holy Word and receive His blessed Sacraments as He gives them to us by His ordained ministers. We rely on these truthful Sacraments and that truthful Gospel knowing that in them we both receive Christ and live in Him.  Not by false prophets telling you how to grow a church or grow your faith.  But by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, who gives you your faith freely ad brings you to eternal life.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
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The Seventh Sunday after Trinity - August 7, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Seventh Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (August 7, 2011)

Readings:        Gen. 2:7–17

                        Psalm 33:1–11

                        Rom. 6:19–23

                       Mark 8:1-9

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 8th chapter of St. Mark, especially the following verse:

Mark 8:1-8

1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away." 4And his disciples answered him, "How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?" 5And he asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven." 6And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.

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

Jesus said to them, "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have remained with me now three days and do not have anything to eat." This great crowd that followed Jesus seemed to be a very foolish crowd.  They did not properly plan out their days journey.  They did not pack the right amount of food for their travels.  There were no fast foods or chain restaurants to count on. This crow had not thought about considerations for food.  What was important to them was Jesus Christ, and Him alone.  They wanted to remain with Jesus.  Oh that we would be so single-minded.  But, when we are challenged to follow our Lord even in our hardships, are we able to turn away for fear of hunger or want?

In the midst of their hunger, Christ looked upon that crowd as He looks upon us.  He saw their need that they suffered for His sake, and Jesus was moved to compassion.  His compassion is stronger and better than anyone else's.  Christ had a deep affection, a pity for the people, a tender mercy toward their need.  He acted upon that compassion by giving them food in the wilderness, and by a miracle of multiplying loaves and fishes.

But, were the disciples compassionate?  Well, the text does not make the content of their hearts clear.  They seemed confused, and did not understand how Christ could satisfy the needs of all those people.  But their lack of understanding did not mean that they did not also feel compassion.  Maybe they did.

Whatever pity the disciples felt for the crowds, it could not compare with the pure and perfect love of the Savior.  Without Christ’s love and His power, their compassion, no matter how sincere, would be unable to do anything. Yet Jesus Christ makes the disciples participants in His merciful deed.  He gives them the loaves and the fishes to hand out.  They become the distributors of His miracle.  They become the hands and feet for His compassion.

Surely there was no one among the crowd who refused to eat the bread because they thought that the disciples were not compassionate enough.  And if such people existed, they might even be correct.  The disciples surely did not have as much compassion as they should.  Yet the gift of Christ was real and miraculous nonetheless, and exactly what the crowd needed.  To refuse the gift of Christ because of what they supposed was in the disciples' heart would be the greatest of all foolishness.

No one has enough mercy in their soul, or in their hearts toward another.  At our best moments, we feel for others and their needs, and sympathize with their pain.  But there is always impurity in us.  We are never loving enough.  However glorious our emotions and works of charity may seem to us, they are always spoiled and rotten because of our sinful nature.

May we never go around judging each other's hearts as to how much love is there.  We cannot even see each other's hearts.  Our motives are hidden from one another.  Any attempt to judge another person's emotions is automatically breaking of the Eighth Commandment. Let us focus instead on the heart of Jesus Christ.  His heart is perfect.  His compassion never ends and is never spoiled.  He always sees our needs and supplies exactly what helps us. 

What may still disturb us is that He gives His perfect gifts through other people.  In our Gospel text, He did not pass out the miraculous bread and fish, but assigned the disciples to do it.  In the same way, Christ gives us vocations in which we are to work and serve.  All of our vocations really amount to us carrying the gifts of Christ to others.  We become the hands of His compassion.

And maybe the most obvious vocation may be that of preacher.  In a preacher’s vocation, we are to give you the gifts of Jesus Christ, which are perfect and wonderful.  And we do so by proclaiming His Word.  Christ Himself does not appear before you to speak.  Instead, He uses a man to do it.

So, should you inquire into my heart to see whether I have enough tender mercy?  Save yourself the trouble.  Take my word for it.  I do not have enough.  My love falls short, since my heart is spoiled by sin.  I am a man like any other.  I am a sinner, right down to my heart. But that does not matter in my vocation.  Although I should strive to love, my love is irrelevant to the gifts that you receive.  I am merely the man who carries the gifts to you from someone else. The food comes from Jesus Christ.

The Word I preach is the compassion of Christ.  He is the miraculous Bread of Life that you are fed.  He gives strength to all who are weak and fainthearted upon this wilderness of life.See how great His tender mercy is!  He sees your greatest hunger, which is the hunger for righteousness.  In yourselves, you are empty and need to fill yourselves with holiness.  But who could get enough holiness to satisfy all these people?  You cannot find holiness for yourselves.  You cannot buy it or produce it by your hard work.  You cannot trade anything for it.  So you might have starved, completely empty of righteousness.

Yet Christ has miraculously produced the feast of righteousness that you need.  He has given you His Word that declares you righteous.  This precious Word gives all you need, because the Word gives you Christ Himself.  Jesus completely fills you, because the holiness of Christ overflows with infinite grace. Remember, “My cup runneth over...?”  Of course this bread is something produced by death.  The wheat must be plucked and crushed and ground and baked.  So your Savior was betrayed and scourged and crucified, and finally burned with a baptism of fire upon the Cross.  The wrath of God for sinful man fell upon Christ, until He died in bitter agony.

Because of Jesus suffering and death, He is the perfect Bread of Life for you.  He is the perfect One who gives you life.  Jesus stops the death of sin that would have destroyed you.  You would have been lost in a worse wilderness than any on earth, hotter and more desolate than any desert, the very furnace of hell.  But He Jesus Christ your precious Savior, who suffered that furnace in your place so that you never will endure that suffering.  You are saved.

Yet Christ is more than a Savior who died once for you, and now He is dead and gone.  No, Jesus is the Living Bread.  He is risen from the dead, and can never die again.  So you also, who eat the Living Bread by faith, are also immortal.  You are alive forever with Jesus Christ.  Although your body may sleep in the ground for a time, it will also rise, never to die again.  This is compassion, for you by Jesus Christ. This is the Word and promise of Christ the Lord for you.  Let no one doubt it, for it is binding to all eternity. “Ad they all ate and were satisfied” forever and ever.  Amen.

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.
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The Sixth Sunday after Trinity - July 31, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Sixth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (July 31, 2011)

Readings:   
        Psalm 19
        Exodus 20:1-7
        Romans 6:1-11
        Matthew 5:17-26

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 5th chapter of St. Matthew, especially the following verse:

Matthew 5:17-26 (NIV)

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. 21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. 23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. 25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

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

To understand this passage, you must know what was wrong with the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.  What is righteousness?  It is being free from guilt, and sin, it is not something you earn, but are given by the work of Jesus Christ.  So the problem here was not that the Pharisees were obviously evil.  If you saw their behavior, you would think that they were good men.  These were the respected people, the ones looked up to as prominent members of the community, known as moral examples.  They were very careful and zealous to follow painstaking rules of behavior.

But those rules were a part of the problem.  The scribes and Pharisees had a multitude of extra commandments to help them obey the commandments of God.  They thought that they were being extra-righteous by following extra commandments.

But the extra commandments were actually lowering the bar on their obedience.  That is, their rules of behavior made the commandments easier to obey.  Not that the commandments themselves were really easier to obey; it was only that the scribes and pharisees convinced themselves that, by obeying their rules, they were obeying the commandments.  But their rules actually softened the commandments of God.

However, God does not want His commandments easier or softer.  His commandments are perfect the way they are.  They are hard and difficult for a reason, namely, to show you how much you need Christ and His Cross.

In today's Gospel lesson, Christ gives the example of the Fifth Commandment.  The Lord said, "Thou shalt not murder."  The Pharisees and scribes thought that, as long as they did not actually murder, they had kept the Commandment perfectly.  But Christ showed that murder does not only take place in an outward action of bloodshed.  Murder happens in the heart when you are angry without just cause.  Murder happens in your mouth when you call someone an idiot or a fool.  Most sinners have used far harsher words and names than "idiot" or "fool".  Christ says that anyone who uses even these relatively mild words or has angry thoughts has broken the Commandment, and is in danger of hellfire.

The scribes and Pharisees did not understand this.  Likewise, few people today understand it.  The spirit of the scribes and Pharisees pretty much rules our land. According to Jesus Christ, to be worthy of entering the kingdom of heaven you must have a righteousness that goes beyond a shallow, superficial obedience to the commandments.  Your righteousness must go all the way to heart and lips, which are the two hardest things to control.  No Pharisee ever had that kind of righteousness.  No man at all had or ever had had that kind of righteousness, save One an that is Jesus Christ.

We too fail to keep this Commandment.  Yet Christ the Lord, the perfect Man who is God, has kept this and every commandment of God, in hand and heart and lips alike. And here is the good news for you: He has given away His righteousness as a gift.  He lets His perfect obedience count as your righteousness.  Therefore, although you deserve judgment and hellfire, instead you receive innocence and life.  For your righteousness does indeed exceed that of the Pharisee and scribes, since your righteousness is the exact holiness of Christ, the Lamb without blemish.  You are as pure and innocent as He is, in God's sight.  You are clothed in His righteousness.

Because you have this superior righteousness from Christ, you are able to risk much and suffer much for your neighbor.  Christ gives one example of this.  He says that if you are offering your gift at the altar and suddenly remember that your brother has something against you, go and first be reconciled with him. Now, if you are at the altar, perhaps receiving Holy Communion, and suddenly got up in the middle of it and left, what would people think?  They would certainly wonder what was wrong.  As people often do, they would surely talk and speculate about your sudden, strange behavior.  So, to follow this kind of directive from Christ, you must be willing to subject yourself to embarrassment and ridicule.

You see, it is not only when you are at the altar.  Christ is saying that, whatever the circumstances, you should try to reconcile with your brother, even if it means risking inconvenience and shame. You can only make such extravagant risks if you are safe in Jesus Christ.  Your reward is in Him, not in what you can gain in this life.  So it is nothing for you if you are rejected by men and treated scornfully, since your sure and certain reward is so great in heaven.  If men deride you in their eyes, what is that to you?  For the eyes of the Father look upon you with approval because of Christ.  Nothing can take that away, not any amount of shame and humiliation you could suffer.

For Christ our Lord did no less.  Because He desired reconciliation with you, He was willing to suffer the ridicule of men.  He accepted the shame of the Cross and the humiliation of being treated as a horrible sinner.  He considered all that as nothing compared to the great glory of winning sinners back.

So He received all the murder of all people.  Not only was He put to death most unjustly, since He never committed any crime.  But He also received upon Himself all the murders of men, from the slaughter of Abel to the abortions of our day.  All the murderous anger of every sinful heart struck Him upon Calvary.  The hateful words said to any person anywhere were heaped upon Him.  Yes, even your hateful feelings and words as well were placed upon your Lord on the Cross.

You have heard it said that “God helps those who help themselves.”  The same person who penned that quip is the same person who wrote this one, “A penny saved is a penny earned.”  Yes, Ben Franklin wrote those words, they are not found or even implied anywhere in the Bible.  Ben Franklin points to those helping themselves to their own right way in this life, to their own righteousness, which is exactly what Jesus Christ s teaching against in this reading fro Holy Scripture.  Jesus knew the scriptures and He knew that they say, “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.”Jer. 17:5, and they say, “He who trusts in himself is a fool.”(Prov. 28:26)

Not you, nor I, nor Benjamin Franklin, but only Jesus Christ, has received all the punishment and guilt.  Jesus has paid the debt you owed, to the very last penny.  We can not pay the debt of our own sins, but Jesus was more than willing to do so in your place.

Now there is no judgment to fear.  There is no punishment yet to receive.  The Judge, the Lord God Almighty, has already ruled in your favor.  You are declared innocent now and for all time.  No one can take that judgment away. For you are NOT saved by any penny you earned, your are not saved by helping yourself, you are only saved by the unearned grace of Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ came to help those who cannot help themselves.

And that is exactly what righteousness is.  It is being judged innocent and right in the eyes of God.  This has been done for you.  Your Advocate, Christ Jesus your dear Lord, has spoken in your favor, and no one can overthrow the words of this Great King.  He never calls you hateful or mocking words.  In love, He only calls you holy and precious and innocent.  He has spoken it, and His Word endures forever.

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