The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity - September 25, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (September 25, 2011)

Readings: 
    Psalm 119:9-16
    Proverbs 4:10-23
    Galatians 5:16-24
    Luke 17:11-19

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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’s message is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 17th chapter of St. Luke, the following verses,

Luke 17:11-19 (ESV)

11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

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

What a wonderful exposition of grace, salvation, mercy, and worship.  The Words of scripture are always enlightening and joyful to read, yet even what a greater joy when our ears, so often filled with self-righteous thoughts, hear how the scripture screams through our ears and shatters our inwardness by the densely packed words reflecting the mercy of our Lord.  Truth is, His mercy and grace is always there and is only by His Word do we hear of Jesus who sets us free from all that ails us.  The setting of this Gospel lesson from the beginning piles on the despair that is related to the challenges we face in life, the ones which we see no way to overcome.

While leprosy is not really a disease that we are familiar with in modern times, it is still a excellent metaphor for sin.  Sin, like leprosy, requires healing which can only come from outside you.  No one has ever cured themselves of leprosy just like no on can or ever will be able to cure themselves of sin.

And leprosy is a disease which cannot be ignored.  For if you ignore it, then it only gets worse.  Again, the same as sin, although you try to heal yourself, you give it the old college try, you cannot defeat sin by any action of your own.  But we say, What if I just don’t think about sin, maybe it will go away.  Maybe I won’t sin anymore or maybe if I do sin it really won’t be sin, because I know I’m not supposed to sin,  but God forgives right?  God will just wink and I’m good to go thank God He understands what I’m up against.

Well, God certainly understands sin, but He can’t stand sin. Sin is repulsive before God.  Nothing unclean is able to stand before Him and live.  But what can we do?  We’re going to die anyway wink, wink, nudge, nudge, God will understand the challenges of what I encounter.

As Jesus was walking along he encountered 10 lepers, He healed them all, but only one returned to give thanks and that one was a foreigner.  That one who returned was a Samaritan who was therefore was a foreigner, a non-Jew, a non-believer.  The word translated as “foreigner” here, ἀλλογενής, is only used once in the entirety of the New Testament and literally means “other born”.  It is this one Leper who is “other born”, a stranger, of another race, someone who in reality could not do what Jesus told him to do.  Because a non-Jew could not go to “the priests and show himself”(v. 14) And this truth is born out even further as we know the only other known recorded use of the word ἀλλογενής, other born in all of history was used on a sign at the temple in Jerusalem.  It was , “the famous Jerusalem Temple inscription μηδένα ἀλλογενῆ εἰσπορεύεσθαι;” which roughly stated,  “no one other born may go in or out.”  So this one Leper could not go to the Temple built by the hands of man to be healed, to be cleansed, to be verified as ritually clean.

But remember what this leper first said when he saw Jesus, “Jesus, Master have mercy on us.”(v. 13) And the words he used in Greek you know and have spoken here in church, for he said Eleison Me, remember, it.  Kyrie Eleison, Lord have mercy?  This is the exact scripture where those words come from which we repeat to this very day.  Eleison me, have mercy on me.  And so this foreigner receives that for which he prays, that is cleansing, healing, and the mercy he prayed for “Elieison me”.(v. 16)  And all these blessings are delivered by hearing the Word of the God from the Word God who is The Great High Priest, Jesus Christ.  For Christ is The One who was “other born.” who Himself “was made man” by the speaking of the Holy Spirit into the ear of a virgin.  And so it is only by the free gift of pure grace from the very lips of our Lord Jesus Christ that faith turns this “foreigner” around.  What does it mean to be turned around, well that is exactly the word for repentance, to be turned around.  And so he returned and came before the presence of the Lord.   He fell on his face at the feet of Jesus and then gave what?  He gave Eucharist, thanksgiving to Jesus Christ.  Thus, the One Jesus, who would “take away the sin of the world” gives access to the very Temple of God, to this leper who faced an incurable disease.  

It is indeed sad to note that most people who call themselves Christians only call upon the Lord when they need Him. And it is also indeed sad that once they receive what they ask, they never bother to thank Him. They never bother to show any sort of gratitude. They get their handout and keep on running.  But do not be deceived. God is not mocked. What will happen when God removes His gracious Hand from you if you believe that you can control His mercy? You will wither and die.

Repent. Believe once again what God's Word says about our Savior, Jesus Christ. Saint Paul tells Saint Timothy: This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. You can't argue with Saint Paul, he was a filthy, rotten sinner, just like you and just like me.

However, the Gospel, that is the Good News is that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Jesus did not come into the world to save grateful sinners, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” Jesus suffered pain and scorn from the same people He came to save from their sin. Jesus could have removed His gracious Hand from His beloved children. He could have paid for the sin of Gentiles only, or Jews only. Nevertheless, Jesus suffered unbelief and ingratitude, just as He does today. Jesus suffers unbelief and ingratitude, but does not cease to offer His deliverance from the distress of sin.

Jesus laments that only one out of the ten lepers returned to give Him honor and praise. Luke adds, and He was a Samaritan. It's amazing how often the Samaritans upstage the Jews in the Gospels. Two weeks in a row the Holy Gospel has a Samaritan doing something he shouldn't. Jesus tells the Samaritan, Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.

What is the way he should go? He goes in the way of the Lord, the Way the Truth and the Life.  He goes walking with Jesus to the new Jerusalem for the Temple is no longer a guilding but the body of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Jesus takes the Samaritan's greatest infirmity, his sin, and puts sin on His own back, walks to Golgotha, and dies for it. Jesus does the same with your sin, too. Jesus takes your infirmities and diseases, that which scares you, that which ails you, and especially the infirmity of your unbelief and the disease of your ingratitude, and Jesus dies for all that on the cross. By Jesus Christ you are healed, you are forgiven.

You are made well not by your own actions but by the absolution of your sin.  And so you journey with Jesus through this life, washed clean in Baptism, fed with His True Body and Blood in the Holy Supper of our Lord, he Eucharistic blessing.  And you are pronounced clean from the leprosy of sin in Absolution, dying in His Name in order to rise from the dead when He calls you forth on the Last Day. In the meantime, Jesus' healing Word powered by the Holy Spirit speaks through you when you show gratitude to your neighbor to Eleison them, to have Mercy on them. This gratitude shown to your neighbor is a fruit of faith. It shows that the healing medicine of Christ is at work in you.  His medicine given in the Word and Sacraments.

The Lord Jesus Christ keeps His Church in His perpetual mercy. He takes away your infirmities and makes you whole. You are no longer are you a leper, an outcast, an other born of sin. You are part of the family of God. You are clean. Your faith, a gift from a loving and gracious God, not something you earned on your own, has saved you. An eternal gift from the Jesus the One has been bestowed upon you by Him who died and was resurrected from the dead, for all who would believe in Him. Jesus speaks to you, Be not incurable anymore, “Rise and go your way, your faith has made you well.”(v. 19) Amen.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
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The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity - September 18, 2011

The Church Season of Trinity
The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (September 18, 2011)

Readings:  
    Psalm 32
    2 Chronicles 28:8-15
    Galatians 3:15-22
    Luke 10:23-37

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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’s message is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 10th chapter of St. Luke, the following verses,

Luke 10:23-37 (NIV)

23 Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” 25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Our Gospel reading is known as “The Parable of the Good Samaritan.”  Everyone knows this one, even people who have never read the Bible are probably familiar with it.  It is so well known that even the words “Good Samaritan” have made their way into our vocabulary.  When someone stops to help a traveler with a broken down vehicle, the person stopping is called a “Good Samaritan.” And though most of the people who go by and don’t bother to stop, we all very much want to be like the Good Samaritans who stops and help us, in fact that is what we are called to do.  But, just like the Priest and the Levite more likely than not, we make our way to the other side of the road so that we can pass on by.  Jesus first told this parable to an expert in the Law in the presence of the disciples about an unfortunate man, found on the road who was left half-dead.

In our Gospel lesson Jesus knew the intent of these questions by the so called expert in the Law.  Jesus knew the lawyer wasn’t really asking any of his questions for any of the right reasons.  Because the lawyer after engaging in a discussion, the real reason for him asking all those questions soon became apparent.  

In fact, the first question asked by the lawyer is very telling, he asked, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”(v.25)  Usually there are only two reasons to ask a question, either you know the answer and want everybody to know how smart you are, or you don’t know the answer and really want to learn.  

So why did the lawyer ask the question in the first place, if he already knew the answer?  The text gives us the answer, “He wanted to justify himself.”(v. 29)  So Jesus told him a parable which spoke of life and death and half-death. It was a parable which talked about a half-dead man.  Ironic, quite frankly, for the man that Jesus was telling this to thought he was alive by his own actions and would live because of his own actions.  Truth be told the lawyer listening to the parable was worse off than the man on the side of the road, because the lawer was, “dead in his transgressions.”(Eph 2:5)

And greater still is how we today hear the parable with our own confident smugness.  Oh yes, we say, I would have helped that poor unfortunate man.  We look at our lives and only think of the good that we have done.  Yet somehow we forget all the words which we have spoken in anger, and the lack of charity we have toward our fellow man.  We peek out of the side of our eyes at someone else and think of what a hypocrite they are.  We forget the angry slip of the tongue, the Sunday morning golf outing.  And just like the lawyer, at the end of the day we believe our charity outweighs our sin, we justify our actions, and expect that we live a good life because of all that we have done. It is a reality that this medicine of life leaves us half-dead.

But the real question remains, “What must we do to inherit eternal life?”  Repent.  Know that there is nothing we can do, there is no list which we can complete which will give us justification for all eternity.  For it is a miracle that only one man lived a perfect life on this earth and He lived it so that you too may live with Him.  There is nothing we have done, there is nothing we are doing, there is nothing we will ever do to justify ourselves, because Christ has already done all that needs to be done, and He freely gives you the inheritance of eternal life.

By our own efforts and the life we live, and by all our sins, we take our place next to the priest, the levite, and the lawyer in the parable of the Good Samaritan.  The lawyer implied that maybe not everyone was his neighbor.  And yes we do stand there right next to the lawyer because we too want to pick and choose our neighbors, liking some and hating others, but in no case do we love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.  

We thank and praise God that he has been merciful to us.  That He loved us so much, He gave us His one and only son, Jesus Christ.  In Holy baptism, by the water combined with God’s Word we are freed from the condemnation of the Law, the guilt and power of sin, and the power of the devil and death.  By the faith, which we are given through the work of the Holy Spirit we are bound to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.  Like the Good Samaritan we are called to show mercy to the needy and miserable, no matter who they may be.  Because Christ first did this same thing for us, He loved us the needy and the miserable.  By His actions, Jesus Christ loved us so much that He gave His life to conquer death, and in so doing Jesus gives us the assurance that we will inherit eternal life.  Amen.

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

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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’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

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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 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

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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 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

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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 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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