Speaker: Warren Graff

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (Proper 9[a])                July 5, 2020

 

ROMANS 7:14-25

 

MATTHEW 11:25-30

²⁵ At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; ²⁶ yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²⁷ All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

What is our flesh trying to do?

 

Paul knows the problem as well as we do. Paul writes,

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.

[Romans 7:15]

 

Paul would’ve made a terrible employee, a terrible student.

 

He can’t follow simple directions. As an employee, his boss would’ve ended up asking him, “Why did you ship the boxes to Phoenix? I told you to ship them to Atlanta.” And Paul would say, “I don’t understand my own actions. I wanted to send the boxes to Atlanta, but I did not. I sent them to Phoenix, which is the very thing I hate!”

 

“Nothing good dwells in me,” says Paul, [Romans 7:18] “that is, nothing good dwells in my flesh, for what I will to do I cannot do in my flesh.”

 

Paul, you’re fired.

 

Of course, in real life Paul wasn’t a bad employee—he made tents for a living and we can assume that many people would buy his tents or he would’ve starved to death. For that matter, Paul wasn’t a bad student either. He had been a first-class pupil of Gamaliel, a preeminent teacher of the Pharisees.

 

But Paul isn’t talking about his abilities as an employee or student. It’s about his life before the face of God, he’s talking about his life in the flesh where he is given to love the Lord his God with all his heart and all his mind and all his soul, and to love his neighbor as himself, and in this life before God and as a servant to his neighbor, Paul says, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

 

Paul is describing, as he calls it, our life of flesh. Elsewhere he speaks of this as the old Adam, or the old Man of our sinful flesh. Elsewhere, as the outer man. Paul is describing our life of flesh as being so given over to sin that it cannot be reformed or rescued.

 

We want to think our life of flesh is somehow reformable. There is somehow a little spark of good, and we just need to fan the spark into flame to improve ourselves. This would mean that the answer to sin is the right instruction so we could know how not to sin anymore or to be coached out of it, like a baseball pitcher being coached out of a bad throwing motion.

 

But Paul is saying that our life of flesh is so given over to sin that even when we are trying to do good, we do evil.

 

What is our flesh trying to do?

 

 

Our flesh is trying to justify self. That is the essence of our sin.

 

Our flesh, when caught in sin, is trying to make up for it by doing outwardly good works to redeem itself. It’s trying to save itself by Law, so that even when sinning against God’s Law, we’re trying to use works of Law to improve ourselves.

 

Our flesh, is using the Law to point at others and show their sin, as if accusing others of sin somehow rescues us from our own.

 

Our flesh, when caught in sin, and seeing the salvation freely given by Christ Jesus, does not want to be justified by Jesus, but wants to justify self, in this way turning from the salvation given by Jesus, as if salvation is something we can accomplish on our own.

 

What is our flesh trying to do? It’s trying to save self by works, it’s trying to justify self, and this sinfulness is so deep seated, so much at our origin, that we cannot rescue ourselves from it.

 

When we ask the question, What is our flesh trying to do?, the answer is not pretty.

 

 

What is Jesus doing?

 

That is the question. For he is the Savior, we are those he is saving. He is the justifier, we are those being justified. He is the merciful one, we are the ones receiving mercy.

 

Jesus turns our eyes from our flesh. He has us look outside ourselves to him and his grace, and in seeing Jesus, we finally find rescue from our sinful flesh.

“Come unto me,”

[says Jesus,]

“all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

[Matthew 11:29]

 

Jesus makes no appeal to our flesh. He doesn’t give us his Law in order to tell us how to improve our life of flesh, how to reform it, how to rescue it.

 

He gives us his Law in order to tell us that our life of flesh is over. It’s daily to be repented of, daily to be put to death in the water and promise of Baptism.

 

The heavy yoke of the Law finally grinds our life of flesh to nothing—no hope, no justification, no rescue. And then the Law has done its work.

 

Now, it’s the new yoke. The yoke of Jesus. The yoke of the Gospel. A yoke easy and light, a yoke gentle and lowly and giving not burden, but rest. It’s a yoke which is really no yoke at all.

 

It is Jesus redeeming the sinner with his own blood and calling us out of works into faith.

 

It is Jesus speaking not the Law, but grace, so that, being done with our life of flesh, we now are daily given our life of faith.

 

It is Jesus putting us not under burden (for that is the work of the Law and no life will ever come from that), but under grace (for that is the gift of the Gospel, and in the Gospel, there is only gifts and life).

 

 

This Gospel is only gift. It is not according to our works, not according to our efforts or understanding, as if we can grab onto the Gospel with the wisdom of our flesh or the understanding of our minds. Matthew 11:25:

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”

 

This Gospel is only gift, given to the sinner as a parent gives gift to a little child.

 

This is what Jesus is doing: he sees us in our life of flesh, and he doesn’t try to improve the sinful flesh into somehow being strong enough to bear the heavy yoke of the Law, but he gives his Law to daily drown the sinful flesh in repentance.

 

Then he is daily putting you and me under the yoke of the Gospel, which is so light and gentle that it is really no yoke at all, but only gifts.

 

In this yoke of the Gospel, this life of faith, this life living in grace, you find rest for your soul.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 8]                           June 28, 2020

 

Romans 7:1-13

 

Matthew 10:34-42

³⁴ “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶ And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. ³⁷ Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ⁴⁰ “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. ⁴¹ The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. ⁴² And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

Jesus comes not to bring peace but a sword. What do we do with this?

 

He’s our prince of peace. [Isaiah 9:6]

 

Going to the cross, he will ride into Jerusalem not on a warhorse, but humble and lowly on the back of a donkey.

 

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

says Jesus. [Matthew 11:29]

 

But here in chapter ten of Matthew, it’s the sword:

[Jesus said,] “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the Earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

 

What price does Jesus exact with this sword?

[Jesus said,] “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

 

It’s a costly sword. You lose your father, your daughter, your family, your own household. And you take up your cross and follow Jesus.

 

What does Jesus mean? Is not this the same Jesus who says to love your neighbor as yourself, even love your enemy? He commands to love and obey and respect our parents, even to respect and obey the governing authorities.

 

Can he really be telling us to hate our family and household?

 

 

Jesus is taking a sword to us. There’s no doubt about that. It is the sword of the Law. A sword cutting us off from everything we grasp and hold onto in the way of the Law.

 

That is what we do in our sin. This old Adam of our sinful flesh clings to us every day. We hold onto things according to how we benefit from them only as long as we hold onto them. We hold on even to people for what they are to us and we can get out of them.

 

Even onto our own loved ones, our family, our own flesh and blood, we hold to them as if they are something we can control for our own use.

 

We’ll call it love. But it’s not love. It’s self-love. It’s loving something for what good it is to you. It’s our old Adam of sinful flesh loving self and then loving others for their usefulness to us.

 

To that kind of love, Jesus takes a sword. He brings the Law in the most harsh way we can imagine.

 

Jesus tells us we will be cut off from family, cut off from our loved ones, from our household, and all that will be left is him. Him and his cross, which we must bear. Him and his blood, which he shed to redeem us from the sin of loving self over others. Him and his atonement which he paid for every sinner.

 

Jesus brings the sword of the Law, and it leaves us with nothing which we, in our sin, deemed necessary and valuable to our lives. But then we are given everything. Matthew 10:38:

[Jesus said,] “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

 

 

Our old life of holding on to people for our own advantage, of controlling others for our own benefit, of figuring out what good others are to us, Jesus has us lose our old life.

 

The accusation of the Law cuts us off from that. We daily die to it in repentance.

 

And we find our life. Our true life of receiving gifts from our Lord. Our life of receiving others—our parents, our children, our families, our neighbor—as gifts from our Lord.

 

Gifts to be daily received, even in their weaknesses, as those we are given to love and serve. Gifts of persons to cherish and honor, and, as our Lord gives us opportunity, to give gifts to.

 

Matthew 10:42:

[Jesus said,] “And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

 

In our life of the Old Adam, of the sinful flesh, we start out seeing a child as one who needs to serve us, even as one to control, but now, in our life of the New Adam, our life of faith, where we are only receiving gifts from Jesus, we are given to see the child as a gift from our Lord—the gift of a little one to whom we give gifts, even the gift of a cup of cold water.

 

And now when we teach the child a lesson, it is not to be over the child, not to control the child, but to give the gift of learning things beneficial to life.

 

 

Catechumens, we rejoice in this day as you come to your Lord’s Table to be given gifts by him.

 

This is your life of faith, of the new Adam, where you have put on the new man and are renewed in knowledge according to Christ who has created your life of faith, so that Christ is all in all. And that, Daxton, is your confirmation verse, Colossians 3:10.

 

In this life of faith, you stand before God not according to your own righteousness, but as his chosen generation, his royal priesthood, his holy nation and his own special people, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. And that, Amanda, is your confirmation verse, 1 Peter 2:9.

 

And this life of faith is not just some fleeting emotion, but it is the heart of faith created in you by the hearing of the Gospel, it is the sure confidence that you have been justified by the word of Christ, so that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation for all who have faith, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in this Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith unto faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” And that, Carleigh, is your confirmation verse, Romans 1:16.

 

Jesus creates you anew in this life of faith as he has his Word proclaimed to you and gathers you to his Body and Blood and the fellowship of his saints, so that the peace of God rules in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; so that you are thankful as you let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, as you teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And that, Kaitlyn, is your confirmation verse, Colossians 3:15.

 

And, Catechumens, all of this—this daily putting to death the old Adam in repentance, this daily standing before God in the life of faith, rejoicing in his justification of the sinner, this life with other Christians gathered to the Name of Jesus, of hearing his Gospel proclaimed, of receiving his Body and Blood as he has appointed for you for the forgiveness of your sins—all of this is to you not by way of Law, not by way of what you can grasp by your own might or get under your control, but it is all to you by way of gift. The gift of justification, of forgiveness of all sins, of the Name of the Lord on your head, the gift of life, all gift from him who gives gifts.

 

He gives the gift of the sword, the gift of the Law, to cut you off from anything the old Adam would try to gain on his own; and he gives you the gift of grace, the gift of the Gospel, to create you anew, so that, in losing your old life of sin, you daily gain your new life of faith.

 

He serves you with all his gifts, for he, the Son of Man, came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. And that, Carter, is your confirmation verse, Mark 10:45.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

Third Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 7 [a]                         June 21, 2020

 

Jeremiah 20:7-13; Romans 6:12-23

 

Matthew 10:5[a], 21-33

⁵ These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, …²¹ “Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, ²² and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ²³ When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. ²⁴ A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. ²⁶ So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. ²⁷ What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. ²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ³⁰ But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. ³² So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in Heaven, ³³ but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in Heaven.”

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

Jesus tells you who you should fear, and it is pure gift: [Jesus said,] “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Hell.”

 

It’s true, usually when we think of fear, we don’t think of gift. Anxiety, sleepless nights, terror, sweaty palms, troubled conscience, distress and nerves—that’s what we think of with fear.

 

But Jesus tells you who to fear, and it is pure gift: “Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Hell.”

 

The only one who can throw you, body and soul, into Hell, it’s Jesus.

 

No earthly army can throw you into Hell. An army can kill your body, but cannot cast into Hell. No loss of friends, no loss of job, no attack by any other can throw you into Hell. Satan can’t cast you into Hell. He, like you, is a creature, and does not have power over eternal life. Only Jesus can throw you into Hell.

 

Which means, do not fear the army with weapons, do not fear the attack of enemies, do not fear loss of wealth or income, do not fear any earthly onslaught, do not fear Satan and the demons.

 

Fear only Jesus.

 

 

But when you fear only Jesus, you look at Jesus and you see in his hands the print of the nails, and you know it was for you.

 

It was for you that his body took the sword’s piercing, the insults and spitting of the soldiers, it was for you that he spilled his blood, even unto death.

 

Fear only Jesus. And then hear the words Jesus speaks, “Fear not”! The only one you should fear is the one who says to you, Fear not.

 

Fear not your sin, I have taken it away. Your shame, I have covered you with my own honor. Your anxiety, your sleepless nights, your terror and sweaty palms, your troubled conscience, your distress and nerves—do not fear, I have taken it all upon myself, I have redeemed you, I have cleansed you and made you mine, you have nothing to fear.

 

 

It’s a joyful life Jesus gives. A blessed life. A life of hope and grace.

 

What could make it go wrong? What could rob you of this joy? The way to rob a Christian of joy is to put the Christian under the Law.

 

The Law is God’s Word showing guilt. God’s Word always accusing the sinner.

 

The Law is God’s Word echoing in our conscience, his Word from which we want to run, his Word used by the devil to bring our sins up in front of our face and to cause us to tremble.

 

Do not fear the devil. He cannot throw you into Hell. Fear only Jesus, the one with nail prints in his hand for you, the one saying to you, Fear not.

 

But if you do want to rob yourself of this joy, it’s easy: Return to the Law; leave behind the Gospel.

 

Return to the Law, so that you try to deal with your sin by keeping the Law, so that you try to find your honor by making yourself righteous with the Law, so that you try to justify yourself by sorting yourself out with the Law.

 

Leave the Gospel behind and return to the Law, and then you will know fear—the fear of trying to make yourself holy but being unable, of hearing the demons accuse you and keep you in guilt, of having the Word of Law stinging your conscience, of the anxiety and distress belonging to one who fears everything but Jesus, who alone can cast you into Hell.

 

Sin has no dominion over you,

says Paul,

since you are not under the law, but under grace.

[Romans 6:14]

 

Sin brings fear and despair. Sin is made manifest as the guilt of our sin is thrown in our face by the Law. The has no dominion over you, says Paul, for you are not under the Law, but under grace.

 

By the Law you will never deliver yourself from sin or death or fear. You will only drive deeper into it.

 

What delivers you from sin and death and fear? Jesus. Grace. Sins forgiven. The Word of the cross cleansing your conscience. The Name of Jesus put on you in Baptism. The Body and Blood making you holy. This, Jesus and his gifts, delivers you from fear.

 

You are not under the Law. You are under grace.

 

You are not under the accusing word the demons bring to your conscience. You are under the Word of justification, giving you a good conscience at peace with God.

 

You are not paying the wages of sin, which are death—Jesus paid that wage by the price of his own blood on the cross. You are receiving the free gift of God which is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 6:23]

 

 

Then what is the Law to you?

 

It is still the Word of God which we must hear. It is still the accusation which we must hear every day as long as we are still in our life of flesh. It is still the Word of God accusing us so that constantly we are brought to repentance and the old Adam of sin is daily put to death in that repentance.

 

And it is still the Word by which we know, even while we are yet in sinful flesh, that we should love our neighbor as ourselves, we should obey the government authorities for the good of society and the benefit of our neighbor, and we should know our guilt when we do not do these things of God’s Law.

 

But the Law is not the Word by which we are righteous. Not the Word which will ever bring life or deliver from fear.

 

The Gospel, the Word of grace, the Word of sins forgiven and consciences cleansed, you are under that Word.

 

The Gospel brings no fear, only forgiveness and grace.

 

The Gospel does not cast into Hell, it brings the gift of life.

 

You are under the Gospel. It is your life of faith.

 

It is your life of knowing that Jesus is the only one who can cast into Hell, and he is the one with nail prints in his hands for you.

 

Matthew 10:28:

[Jesus said,] “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

 

In the Name of Jesus.

2^nd Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 6 [a]                                             June 14, 2020

 

Exodus 19:2-8

² They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, ³ while Moses went up to God. The LORD called to [Moses] out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ⁴ You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; ⁶ and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” ⁷ So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. ⁸ All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD.

 

Romans 5:6-15

⁶ For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—⁸ but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹ More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. ¹² Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned– ¹³ for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. ¹⁴ Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. ¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

Where is God’s hand?

 

This world we are in, this world of an unjust killing we all saw on T.V., of the tears of a child, of a brother, shed for the unjust loss of a loved one, this world of an innocent man shot in front of a pawn shop, of shop owners seeing their family’s property taken away by looters and rioters, this world of neighbors isolated from one another because of a pandemic, of doctors and nurses in New York or even northwestern New Mexico working days on end to attend to the sick—this world we are in, what is our Lord’s hand in it?

 

He loves this world, we know that. He so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son so that we would not die but will live eternally.

 

With all the sickness and death, the injustice and violence, the fear and despair, our Lord loves this world, loving every person, even to the point of sending his Son die for the ungodly.

 

What is our Lord’s hand in this world?

 

 

Our Lord’s hand is in this world. He created it, he loves it, and even when we took it into sin and death, he entered it, becoming Man, to redeem it.

 

Now we may see his hand in our world.

 

We can speak of his hand in two ways: his left-hand and his right.

 

So we speak of our Lord’s left-hand kingdom and his right-hand kingdom.

 

The left-hand kingdom is the kingdom of the Law, of justice and retribution, the kingdom of earthly governments and authorities. [Romans 13:1-4]

 

It’s the kingdom of the sword, the kingdom of the police officer who pulls me over for speeding, the judge who throws into prison for murder or harassment, the state sending a bill to pay your taxes, the bank making me sign a contract for a loan, the teacher giving an “A” to the student who turns in the perfect essay, a “D” to the student turning in only half the homework.

 

The left kingdom is the kingdom of a man protecting his home from thievery and violence, a store expecting me to pay for the bread I take home, of voters turning out of office the mayor and council members who hire a police chief who doesn’t train the officers to protect the innocent.

 

The left-hand is not about mercy and grace. It is the kingdom of earthly governance, the kingdom of the sword of justice, it is known by its power and retribution.

 

And we have said nothing yet about the Church.

 

 

Our Lord’s right-hand kingdom, it is the kingdom of grace. It is not of earthly governments and authorities. It is the Church.

 

It speaks not retribution, but mercy.

 

It’s means is not the sword, but the Word of Gospel.

 

It comes not in power, but in weakness.

 

Our Lord’s right-hand kingdom comes not from the halls of Washington D.C., nor Santa Fe, but from the pulpit proclaiming the Gospel, and the Lord’s people gathered to the Table of his Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sin.

 

Our Lord’s right-hand kingdom will never be understood by the government, for the Church knows no retribution, no violence, no action of power, no coercion, or else it’s not the Church.

 

The Church knows the voice of Christ, who did not crush the ungodly with retribution, but who, while we were still weak, at the right time, died for the ungodly. [Romans 5:6]

 

The Church lives by the Word of Christ, who justified us not by pronouncing the sentence of death upon the heads of those who deserve death, but who justified us with his own blood. [Romans 5:10]

 

The Church lives as those who have been made members of the Church not by the citizenship of where we were born nor by the citizenship of earthly allegiance, but by the Name the Lord placed on us in Baptism.

 

The Church is those who were under the sentence of death which reigned over all people from Adam, but who have now been called out of that reign into the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of the man Jesus Christ. [Romans 5:15]

 

 

You are the Church. What is your role in this world?

 

You live in the left-hand kingdom and in the right-hand kingdom, simultaneously.

 

You live in the left-hand kingdom by your life of flesh, by your daily life under the Law. You live in the left-hand according to all the things of this world: the governmental authorities, the contracts you make with your neighbor, the food you buy, the doctor you see, the wealth you earn for your family, and the property and home and business you protect.

 

At the same time, you live in the right-hand kingdom, the kingdom of grace. You live in the right-hand kingdom according to your life of faith. You live in the right-hand kingdom by the life given you in Baptism, by your hearing of Christ’s Word of forgiveness and reconciliation, by your eating and drinking of his Body and Blood for your justification.

 

And, so, as you live your life of faith, your life in the right-hand kingdom, what is God doing with you in the left-hand kingdom?

 

Exodus 19:6:

[The Lord said, to Israel,] “You shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the Earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

 

In this world of the left-hand, this world of Law, of power and retribution, this world where sin can only be restrained outwardly by the exercise of the sword, in the midst of this world, the Lord has his holy people, a kingdom of priests—it is his Israel.

 

At the time of Moses, Israel was those who bore the Name of the Lord by circumcision into the covenant. And that pertained up until the crucifixion of Jesus.

 

Now, after the crucifixion of Jesus, the Lord’s Israel are those given his Name in Baptism.

 

Baptism is the new circumcision. [Colossians 2:11]

 

The Church is the new Israel.

 

And you, baptized into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are God’s kingdom of priests, his holy nation.

 

And as those bearing the Lord’s Name by Baptism, as those made the Israel of God, his holy people by the blood of Christ, God sets us as his kingdom of priests in a world of sin, his holy people among people who need holiness.

 

As priests before God, we intercede.

 

We pray for our neighbor, that where a man is unjustly killed, the one who killed would be brought to justice, the governmental authorities responsible for him would be brought to justice, and that his family would know the honor of vindication for the victim.

 

We pray for our neighbor that where a shop owner is looted, where a liquor store is taken down in flames, where a man guarding a pawn shop is murdered, those breaking the windows, stealing the goods, lighting the flames, shooting the guard, would be held up to earthly justice, and the owners of the businesses and the family of the guard would be vindicated.

 

We pray for our neighbor, that all life—the life of the infant, the life of the adult, all life—would be protected and held in honor.

 

We pray for the president, for the governors, for the mayors, that they would rightly wield the sword for the punishment of those who do evil and the protection of the innocent.

 

And, as the Lord’s priests in this world of sin, as those living our life of faith, our life of the right hand kingdom of grace, in the midst of the world of the left hand-kingdom of Law—as the Lord’s priesthood of the baptized, we pray that all people, of every family, language, and tribe, all people would hear the proclamation of Christ Jesus who died for the ungodly, of Christ Jesus who’s kingdom is not of the sword, but of grace, who forgives all sin, releases all guilt, and covers all shame, including ours.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

Sixth Sunday of Easter [a]                           May 17, 2020

 

1 PETER 3:13-22

¹³ Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, ¹⁵ but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶ having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. ¹⁷ For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. ¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, ¹⁹ in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, ²⁰ because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. ²¹ Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into Heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

 

IN THE NAME OF JESUS.

 

Hell is not meant for you.

 

Jesus created you for life. With his own blood Jesus redeemed you. He baptized you for salvation.

 

Baptism now saves you,

says Peter,

not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience.

 

That’s why Jesus went to the cross for you, that’s why he baptized you—to give you a peaceful conscience. A conscience cleansed of sin, belonging not to death, but life.

 

 

Hell is not for you.

 

St. Peter in his letter to the church, tells us what our Lord has done about Hell. Hell is a spiritual place, literally, the place of the demons and of those people who have died outside of the Gospel.

 

 

This place of the unclean spirits, we can hardly conceive of what it’s even like.

 

We end up needing to picture Hell as a pit under the Earth, or a fiery furnace with people tied to pillars—images like that.

 

The chief unclean spirit of Hell? That’s Lucifer, of course, Satan.

 

In his fall, Satan took many angels with him. We are now to know them by titles given them in Scripture: demons, devils, unclean spirits.

 

Then Hell becomes also the place of the spirits of those people who died apart from the Gospel, those who wanted to justify themselves, do it on their own, without Christ’s word of grace.

 

The place of the fallen angels and of the spirits of people who died in rejection of the Gospel, that’s Hell. No resurrection of the body, no eternal life with the God the Father.

 

What will our Lord Jesus do about Hell?

 

 

We sometimes talk about “Hell on Earth”—a fire, the Muslim attack on the Twin Towers, some grisly murder: Hell on Earth.

 

Maybe that’s not too far from true.

 

It’s not Hell, of course, not the Hell, but it is the work of the devil. The sickness, the malice, the warfare, the lies, none of this belongs to creation as God created it.

 

He created it, and us, for life, for health and joy, for fellowship with him and one another. The sickness and malice and hatred and lies, this belongs to the realm of death—the kingdom of the demons. We might rightly call it all a bit of Hell on Earth.

 

 

We may consider this time we are now in—the virus, the threat to health, the pressure on our doctors and nurses, citizens at the throat of one another, there is a way we can speak of this, certainly as not Hell itself, but as a precursor to Hell, as a harbinger of life apart from God.

 

So in the Church, while we are still in this sinful world, we suffer.

 

The Church is the Body of Christ. The Church is the people God gathers to his Name. We hear his word; we receive his Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sin; we encourage and comfort each other.

 

So all this discomfort of social distancing, of smiles hidden by masks, of no shaking of hands or giving hugs—none of this should be natural to the us. A pandemic like this—we haven’t seen it in our lifetime. We don’t know how to handle it in the way that is best for each other.

 

Yet, in the midst of it all, in the midst of a society trying to protect itself from pandemic, of neighbors on edge and often handling things poorly, of governing authorities given the office to protect citizens, and sometimes carrying out the office well, and other times incompetently, and in the midst of the Church, a people Jesus gathers to his Name, yet a people often confused about how to go about things, often frustrated, often not as caring as should be, in the midst of the Church, a voice.

 

The voice of Christ, risen from the dead. The Easter voice—right in the middle of the fear and the confusion, the voice of the resurrection.

 

It’s the voice of Jesus we hear.

 

Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, says Peter,

He speaks his voice to forgive our sins and make us righteous.

 

Christ also suffered … that he might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18),

He speaks his voice to call us out of our fear, out of any sin of not caring for one another, and to bring us to his Father, binding us together as the people of Christ.

 

He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:19).

That is, he who gave himself on the cross to make us righteous, before he was resurrected, went in spirit to the spirits in prison, says Peter. That is, Christ went to Hell.

 

But not to suffer.

 

He went to Hell to proclaim to the spirits of Hell that he has forgiven the sin of all people, so they no longer have any accusation against us; to proclaim that he has defeated death and the devil; to proclaim that those who belong to him do not belong to death, Hell is not for them, they belong to him, Christ, and he is their Lord.

 

 

This Jesus who went to the cross to make us righteous with his own blood—the righteous for the unrighteous, says Peter; who went to Hell to proclaim the sinner forgiven and victory over death and the demons; this Jesus has now gone into Heaven and is at the right hand of God, with the angels, authorities, and powers subject to him (1 Peter 3:22).

 

This Jesus, he is your Lord.

 

Because he is our Lord, we do not belong to Hell, not to death.

 

Even in the midst of world of sickness and confusion, we belong to life.

 

You belong to the Lord of life.

 

Even as we suffer while still on Earth, even suffering in our sinful flesh, we belong to our life of faith, to the grace and mercy of Christ Jesus, to the patience and kindness of the Lord of life, and we belong to life, even as our eyes cannot see it, because, Christ has baptized us into his Name.

 

Baptism now saves you, says Peter (1 Peter 3:21).

 

Baptism now saves you not because it removes any dirt from your skin, but because in Baptism, Jesus unites you to his cross, unites you to his proclamation of victory over the demons of Hell, unites you to his walk out of the tomb, so that his resurrection is now your resurrection—Baptism now saves you because your guilt is taken away and Baptism is your appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:21).

 

IN THE NAME OF JESUS.

The Third Sunday in Lent [a]                      March 15, 2020

 

Psalm 95:1-9

¹ Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;

let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

² Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;

let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

³ For the LORD is a great God,

and a great King above all gods.

⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth;

the heights of the mountains are his also.

⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,

and his hands formed the dry land.

⁶ Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

⁷ For he is our God,

and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Today, if you hear his voice,

⁸ do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

⁹ when your fathers put me to the test

and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

The Psalm is a prayer. A prayer given us by our Lord. An intercession to God in Heaven from the lips of those who belong to him. It is an intercession he wants to hear from our lips.

 

¹ Oh come, let us sing to the LORD;

let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

[Psalm 95:1]

 

Those are the first words our Lord gives us in this Psalm. They are words we are given to speak not to him, but to one another—we are encouraging one another:

Oh, Come, Let us sing to the Lord.

 

In this short petition our Lord gives us so much.

 

First, we are bound together, all of us, as brothers and sisters in Christ, in such a way that we speak to each other in encouragement.

 

Second, as we speak to one another in encouragement, we are inviting each another to come to the Lord’s Name to receive his gifts.

 

Third, we are inviting one another to join as one voice to make a joyful noise. And that noise is joyful because it is “to the Rock of our salvation.” That is, we have a Savior, we are justified by faith in that Savior, and that Savior is our Lord Jesus Christ. [Romans 5:1]

 

 

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;

let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

[Psalm 95:2]

 

In this encouragement we are given to speak to one another, we remind each other with words of thanksgiving. For to give thanks is to rejoice in knowing that all that we have is from our Lord, he is the one who cares for us, and we now sing to him with that joy, praising his Name.

 

 

For the LORD is a great God,

and a great King above all gods.

[Psalm 95:3]

 

We pray to our Lord who is the Creator of all. There is no power above him, either in Heaven or on Earth. Our every breath comes from him, our every care we commend to him.

 

 

In his hand are the depths of the earth;

the heights of the mountains are his also.

The sea is his, for he made it,

and his hands formed the dry land.

[Psalm 95:4-5]

 

All things are in his hands.

 

We give petition to our God for the Earth and all things around us, praying that in hurricane or earthquake, in pestilence or famine, he cares for us, as he has promised to do.

 

We pray to him for all the things of the created order. This includes the things of our parents and our children, of our families and our neighbor. It includes those given to serve us in positions of authority, the prince and the king, or, in our case, the president, the governor, the mayor, and all given public office.

 

We commend them to our Lord’s care that they would use their offices to protect families and all persons, and that we would give them due respect and help as we are able.

 

We pray for the police officers and first responders, for the doctors and nurses, commending them to our Lord’s care, that they would do well in providing safety and medical care, and would receive due honor from us.

 

We pray for our neighbor, that our neighbor would be kept in health, and where our neighbor is sick or weak or even just fearful, we rejoice in helping our neighbor as we are able and in speaking encouragement.

 

And especially at a time such as these days now, we pray for our neighbor and our nation. We know that our President has declared the Coronavirus to be a national emergency.

 

We may not know or understand the scope of this, we may not agree with all the assessments being made, but we give thanks to our Lord for the president and all governing authorities.

 

We do not panic, we do not fear, for we know that we belong to the Lord who is our Shepherd, and in this faith we pray that our authorities handle things with wisdom, and that they receive, as the Catechism puts it, honor, service, and obedience from us and our fellow citizens.

 

Especially at a time such as this, we pray for those who may be especially susceptible, and we pray for the doctors and nurses and medical providers, that they may have much success in their service to us and our neighbor.

 

And we pray with confidence and thanksgiving, for our God is our Shepherd who loves us, and we are the people of his pasture.

 

 

⁶ Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

⁷ For he is our God,

and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

 

We pray to our God in the confidence that he is, indeed, our God. He has named us as his children, himself as our God, and he will not depart us.

 

We are the people of his pasture, the sheep of his hand.

 

He cares for us as a shepherd not letting his sheep go without good water, as a shepherd guarding his sheep from the wolf, as a shepherd, even, who lays down his life for the sheep.

 

God has shown his love for us in that, even while we were still sinners, he gave his Son to die for us. [Romans 5:8]

 

Through Christ, we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. [Romans 5:9]

 

Because he is our Shepherd and we his sheep, and because by his blood he has given us access to grace in which we stand, we pray to him in worship.

 

A worship which receives gifts from him. For to worship God in faith is not to bring gifts to God to make him happy, but is to come to him to receive all good gifts from him.

 

To worship God in faith is to know that even as we suffer, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that he is our God who loves us, and this suffering produces endurance.

 

And enduring this suffering produces character—a character by which we know that we are his people, he is our Lord, and in our every doubt or weakness or fear, we commend ourselves to him.

 

For, this character he gives us, this character of knowing that we are his, produces, says Paul, hope. [Romans 5:4]

 

Romans 5:8:

We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

Wednesday, Lent 2                                       March 11, 2020

 

Amos 2:6-16

⁶ Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they sell the righteous for silver, And the poor for a pair of sandals. ⁷ They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, And pervert the way of the humble. A man and his father go in to the same girl, To defile My holy name. ⁸ They lie down by every altar on clothes taken in pledge, And drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god. ⁹ “Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, Whose height was like the height of the cedars, And he was as strong as the oaks; Yet I destroyed his fruit above And his roots beneath. ¹⁰ Also it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, And led you forty years through the wilderness, To possess the land of the Amorite. ¹¹ I raised up some of your sons as prophets, And some of your young men as Nazirites. Is it not so, O you children of Israel?” Says the LORD. ¹² “But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, And commanded the prophets saying,`Do not prophesy!’ ¹³ “Behold, I am weighed down by you, As a cart full of sheaves is weighed down. ¹⁴ Therefore flight shall perish from the swift, The strong shall not strengthen his power, Nor shall the mighty deliver himself; ¹⁵ He shall not stand who handles the bow, The swift of foot shall not escape, Nor shall he who rides a horse deliver himself. ¹⁶ The most courageous men of might Shall flee naked in that day,” Says the LORD.

 

 

Mark 2:23-27

²³ Now it happened that [Jesus] went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. ²⁴ And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: ²⁶ “how he went into the house of God in the days  of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?” ²⁷ And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.

 

Catechism Emphasis: The Third Commandment

Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it Holy.

 

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and his Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.

 

 

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

To dishonor the Sabbath is to use it as the Lord has not given it to be used.

 

The Sabbath does have a use:  Jesus said,

“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”

[Mark 2:27]

 

How should we understand that, that the Sabbath was made for man?

 

The Sabbath was the day given by God, set aside by God, for his people to come to his Name, to hear his word, and to receive his gifts. His Name is the Name of salvation, his word is the word of cleansing and peace with him, his gifts are the sacrifice and the blood for the forgiveness of sins.

 

God did not want his people left in any uncertainty. For these things of forgiveness and grace and life, God set a particular time, setting the Sabbath day before his people as a gift:

“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”

 

The word Sabbath means rest—it is rest and restoration and peace and fellowship from God.

 

When Jesus our Lord came into the flesh, he named himself as our Sabbath, for he is the One who tells the sinner, Come unto me and I will give you rest—Sabbath!

 

But this is done not without price.

 

When Jesus told the Pharisees that “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath,” Jesus knew that that statement was true only in light of what he was about to do in going to the cross. For it is only by the cross that the innocent blood is shed to atone for our sins, and it is only by that blood that we have rest and restoration before God.

 

Our Sabbath rest was not done without a price. In promising Sabbath rest to the sinner, Jesus consigned himself over to the death of the cross.

 

In the church, it is Lent, were the church looks at the cross. The Church sees the humiliation and suffering of the Son of Man, and comes to her Lord in repentance.

 

And that is rest, Sabbath—it is Jesus forgiving our sins.

 

Now the commandment, Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it Holy, takes on its full meaning.

 

The Sabbath day was Jesus giving us rest from our sins by his death on the cross. And now the Sabbath day is whenever we hear the preaching of his word, holding it sacred, and gladly hearing and learning it.

 

So, to close, a few words from the Large Catechism concerning Sabbath rest:

Let me tell you this. Even though you know the Word perfectly and have already mastered everything, still you are daily under the dominion of the devil, who neither day nor night relaxes his effort to steal upon you unawares and to kindle in your heart unbelief and wicked thoughts against all these commandments. Therefore you must continually keep God’s Word in your heart, on your lips, and in your ears. For where the heart stands idle and the Word is not heard, the devil breaks in and does his damage before we realize it. On the other hand, when we seriously ponder the Word, hear it, and put it to use, such is its power that it never departs without fruit. It always awakens new understanding, new pleasure, and a new spirit of devotion, and it constantly cleanses the heart and its meditations. For these words are not idle or dead, but effective and living. Even if no other interest or need drove us to the Word, yet everyone should be spurred on by the realization that in this way the devil is cast out and put to flight, this commandment is fulfilled, and God is more pleased than by any work of hypocrisy, however brilliant.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

Second Sunday in Advent [a]                     March 8, 2020

 

John 3:1-17

¹ Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ⁹ Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into Heaven except he who descended from Heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

There are some words that we hear so often, maybe we forget their impact, their force, their edge.

 

A word like “awesome.” Only so many things can actually be awesome—if everything is awesome, then nothing is.

 

Or a word like “literally.” It can be used for things which are not literal; it can be used for literally anything.

 

For the Christian, maybe the word “gift,” or “give.”

 

Ephesians 2:8:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

 

Or, John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.

 

So we want to not lose the radical meaning of this word. We want to hold tight to what this word gift means for us, and what the word gift does not mean, what it rules out.

 

 

Nicodemus did not know how to receive gifts.

 

Nicodemus knew much. He was a Pharisee, and that’s serious business. He was a ruler of the Jews. He was a teacher of Israel.

 

He knew much. He knew the Bible by heart.

 

He was, to put it in today’s language, “a Bible preacher,” and we can know that if you would have heard one of Nicodemus’s sermons, he would’ve been quoting the Bible left and right. He taught the Law. He kept the Torah. The Ten Commandments came off his lips as easily as if talking about the weather. And he knew many other commandments, too, commandments designed by the Pharisees to keep good order, to show people how to live, to make sure everyone was doing everything in the right way.

 

Nicodemus knew much, he could teach you much, but he did not know how to receive gifts.

 

 

But now Nicodemus stands before Jesus.

 

Not before the Bible presented as a book of rules and regulations. Not before his fellow Pharisees as one who can judge others by the Law. Not before his neighbors as one who could tell them how to do things right.

 

But before Jesus. And Jesus is the giver of gifts.

 

 

It was by night that Nicodemus came to Jesus. Privately. Almost as if he knew that he would be hearing things from Jesus that a good Pharisee should not be hearing, but he wanted to hear it anyway.

 

The first thing Nicodemus hears from Jesus turns his world upside down. John 3:3:

Jesus answered [Nicodemus], “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

 

This is different. Not the part about the kingdom of God. Nicodemus knew how to talk like that. He had taught it himself to many people. To see the kingdom of God, you obey the Law, you keep the Torah. To see the kingdom of God, you live a clean life.

 

But what is this “born again” Jesus is talking about?

 

Birth, that’s not something you do. No baby is born from his mother because he was being obedient.

 

To make the kingdom of God a matter of being born, this is to take it completely out of the realm of obedience, out of something the person can do. What baby was ever born because he made a decision to be conceived? Who among us were brought into the open air of that hospital room because we called God into our heart?

 

Being born is passive. To be born is to receive a gift—the very gift of who you are before God. This can’t be, not in Nicodemus’s world. John 3:4:

Nicodemus said to [Jesus], “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

 

At least Nicodemus is now seeing the problem. Being born is receptive, it is passive, it is not something you do for yourself.

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

[John 3:5]

 

 

Jesus will have Nicodemus live only by gift. Not by works, not by decision, not by obedience. By gift.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever has faith in him should not perish but have eternal life.

[John 3:16]

 

Jesus will have you and me live only by gift. Not by works. Not by decision. Not by obedience. By gift.

 

By gift, Jesus gives you the new birth of water and the Spirit. If it were by your work, your effort, then it would be by your flesh. But, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, says Jesus, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

 

You are born of the Holy Spirit.

 

By flesh, you know your sin. Your shame. Your fear of death.

 

At the same time, by faith, by your life created by the Holy Spirit, you know the righteousness that belongs to you by the Word of Jesus. You know the honor that belongs to you as you stand before the Father bearing the Name given you in Baptism—the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. By faith you know that being given birth by the Spirit, you belong to life, eternal life, with no fear of death, for God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son that by faith in him you will not die but have eternal life.

 

 

This word give, this word gift—we want to not lose its radical meaning. We want to hold tight to what this word gift means for us, and what it rules out.

 

It means that from God all things come to us by grace, by way of gift. Just as we had nothing to do with making a decision to be born of our natural mothers, we have nothing to do with being born of the Holy Spirit.

 

This word gift means that even as our Lord gave us his Name in Holy Baptism, in giving us his Name, he gives us everything that comes with his Name.

 

He gives us the Holy Spirit.

 

The Holy Spirit gives gifts, giving us the gift of the Gospel, the gift of the forgiveness of sins, the gift of justification before the Father, the gift of life everlasting. It is all of one piece. The Lord does not give out his Name piecemeal.

 

When he gives you his Name, he gives you everything he has done for the sinner and everything he is as your Lord.

 

And what the word give, the word gift, cannot mean, is, you earn it. If you earn it, it’s no gift. Any child can tell us that.

 

 

In the Catechism, when it speaks of the Holy Spirit, in the section for the Third Article of the Creed, it says,

[The Holy Spirit] calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on Earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

 

In this Christian Church he daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers.

 

On the Last Day he [the Holy Spirit,] will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.

 

Ours is the life of gifts. John 3:17:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

 

Wednesday, Lent 1                                                                     March 4, 2020

 

Catechism Emphasis: The Second Commandment

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by his name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.

 

Amos 1:1-12

¹ The words of Amos, who was among the sheepbreeders of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. ² And he said: “The LORD roars from Zion, And utters His voice from Jerusalem; The pastures of the shepherds mourn, And the top of Carmel withers.” ³ Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they have threshed Gilead with implements of iron. ⁴ But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, Which shall devour the palaces of Ben-Hadad. ⁵ I will also break the gate bar of Damascus, And cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven, And the one who holds the scepter from Beth Eden. The people of Syria shall go captive to Kir,” Says the LORD. ⁶ Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they took captive the whole captivity To deliver them up to Edom. ⁷ But I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, Which shall devour its palaces. ⁸ I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, And the one who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn My hand against Ekron, And the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,” Says the Lord GOD. ⁹ Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood. ¹⁰ But I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, Which shall devour its palaces.” ¹¹ Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because he pursued his brother with the sword, And cast off all pity; His anger tore perpetually, And he kept his wrath forever. ¹² But I will send a fire upon Teman, Which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah.”

 

Mark 2:13-17

¹³ Then [Jesus] went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. ¹⁴ As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. ¹⁵ Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s  house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. ¹⁶ And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

 

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

And [Amos] said: “The LORD roars from Zion, And utters His voice from Jerusalem.”

 

Strong words by the prophet, accusing Israel of misusing the name of the Lord her God: Commandment 2.

 

The Lord God had made a promise to Israel, and he had bound that promise with his Name. He had told Israel that the Temple in Jerusalem was a gift to her. A gift by which all her families would go to the Temple to receive the Lord’s gift of sacrifice, to hear the Lord’s priest declare them clean by the blood of the Lamb, to have all sins forgiven.

 

To have sins forgiven—that was the gift the Lord gave by his Temple in Jerusalem. And where sins are forgiven, there is life and salvation.

 

Come to Jerusalem, come to the Temple at Mt. Zion, come to the voice of the priest, come to the blood of the Lamb, come to sins-washed-away and guilt-removed—that was the call that went out to every Israelite family. The Lord loved his people, and he would have them nowhere else. Jerusalem, the Temple, the altar of the sanctifying blood—this was where the Lord God placed his Name, where located himself for the benefit of his people, to sanctify them for himself: they are to look for him nowhere else.

 

 

But Israel forgot Mt. Zion. She didn’t go just to Jerusalem. She went also to the altar at Gilgal, and the altar at Bethel, and at Mt. Carmel, and other altars. These were altars away from Jerusalem, altars where other gods were prayed to, and the Lord God of Israel had not promised to be at these altars in his forgiveness, had not called Israel to pray at these altars, and these prayers to the other gods were an abomination.

 

So, seeing his people go to the false altars at Gilgal and Bethel, that’s when the Lord God sent his prophet Amos to say those burning words:

“It is from Zion that the LORD roars; and it is from Jerusalem that he utters His voice.”

[Amos 1:2]

Here is Israel’s sin: In going to altars other than Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, in praying along with the priests from altars where the Lord God had not placed his Name, Israel was taking the name of the Lord her God in vain. She was misusing his Name.

 

So Amos called upon Israel to return to Mt. Zion, to Jerusalem, and there find forgiveness.

 

 

For us, for the church today, it is not Mt. Zion, it is not Jerusalem. Jerusalem on top of Mt. Zion has served its purpose. So it is no longer the given-location of the Lord’s holy Name. The Lord God, for the sins of Israel and the sins of the world, came into the flesh, and on Mt. Zion, he gave himself over to death on the cross—the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. At that hill in Jerusalem, he made himself, his person, his body and blood, the location of salvation for all sinners.

 

So now if we want to know where God locates himself on Earth for the salvation of the sinner, we go to … Jesus. To his voice, to the location of his body and blood, to his Name, and there, where he gathers two or three to his Name, he is in the midst, forgiving sins, cleansing, bestowing salvation.

 

The Second Commandment:

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

 

What does this mean?

As we learn in the Catechism,

We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by his Name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.

 

God has his Name proclaimed. God has located his Name at his word and sacraments.

 

It is no longer at Mt. Zion and Jerusalem from which the Lord roars and utters his voice—Mt. Zion and Jerusalem have served their final, full, and ultimate purpose by being the location of the cross of Jesus.

 

Now, for us, for the New Testament Israel, for the church of Jesus Christ, the Lord God roars, he utters his voice from the location of his word and sacrament. It is his roaring of victory over sin and death, it is his voice uttering sins-forgiven, grace bestowed, shame removed. We look for his voice nowhere else but where he has promised to be for our benefit—in his Word and Sacrament.

 

Lent looks to the cross: the humiliation of the Son of God, the murder of the Innocent Man, the sacrifice to atone for all sin, the blood poured out.

 

Looking at that cross, we call upon his Name. It is the Name he has put on us in Baptism, the Name he gathers his church to each week at his sacrament, the Name of salvation—it is the Name we are given to “call upon in every trouble, praying, praising, and giving thanks.”

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

First Sunday in Lent [a]                                March 1, 2020

 

Genesis 3:1-21

¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. ⁸ And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” ¹⁴ The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. ¹⁵ I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” ¹⁶ To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” ¹⁷ And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; ¹⁸ thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹ By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” ²⁰ The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. ²¹ And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

The kindness.

 

The kindness of a Lord who sees the sinner and wants not to destroy, but to restore.

 

The kindness of a Lord who sees the sinner covered in shame, and wants not to add to the shame, but to cleanse and cover in honor.

 

The kindness of a Lord who sees the sinner hiding, and who then, in love, calls out in invitation. Genesis 3:9:

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

 

“Where are you?”—not a question of fact. The Lord knew where they were. He created them. He created the bush they crouched behind. He no more needed to find out where they were than he needed to find out the color of the sky he had created.

 

Where are you? A kind question eliciting a reply from two sinners too afraid to even face themselves up to their Creator. A question of kindness by which he is placing himself in conversation with them so they could hear his voice and could speak to him. A kind question establishing that he was their God: even after the sin, he didn’t depart the scene and act like he didn’t care—but he was still their God and he would speak to them as his people.

 

 

Where are you?—to two sinners hiding in shame.

 

Sin does that. They had eaten the fruit. The Lord had given them that tree. He had given it to them to look at, to care for, and to not eat of. But they ate.

 

They took the tree and its fruit not as a gift to be received in the way it was given, but as something they could grasp.

 

That’s rebellion against the giver of gifts. That’s enmity with the Creator of life. And to be at enmity with the Creator of life is death:

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

[Romans 5:12]

 

We weren’t created for death. Death is not natural. It’s not part of nature. It’s alien to nature. Death is against our creation.

 

But sin does that.

 

Sin is not just at outward action which can be corrected, like a high school quarterback learning to correct a bad throwing motion. It’s not just cosmetic, like a rash, that can be chased away with the right ointment.

 

Sin goes to the depth of the soul. It cuts to the heart of the person. This sin, this refusal to receive gifts from the Lord, this rebellion of Adam against his Creator, it’s sickness penetrating to the very being of the person. It’s death to Adam, who now finds himself just waiting around to die. And it is inherited by the children of Adam, by you and me.

 

 

Where are you? Our Lord’s kind invitation to us.

 

He knows where we are. He’s our Creator. He continues upholding his creation, including giving us our every breath.

 

He knows where we are. He sees how we treat the gifts of creation.

 

Our neighbor? Is our neighbor not a gift of creation? He, along with us, is created by the Lord, knit together by the Lord in the mother’s womb, and now sustained by the Lord with food, with oxygen, with the hours of sleep, the hours of waking. It’s all from the Lord. Who else would it come from?

 

He sees how we treat our neighbor. The lack of love, the whispered conversation behind the back, the quick words to tear down or plant doubt, does our Lord miss any of this? The thoughts kept secret, the veiled hatred, the accusations implanting distrust, will we think we keep any of it hidden from the Lord who gives us every breath of our life?

 

He sees us behind our own little bush, whatever that bush may be.

 

Where are you?, he says, finding us in our shame.

 

The kindness of his invitation. The kindness of a Lord who sees the sinner and wants not to destroy, but to restore. The kindness of a Lord who sees one covered in shame, and wants not to add to the shame, but to cleanse and cover in honor. The kindness of a Lord who sees the sinner hiding, and who then, in love, calls out in invitation. Genesis 3:9:

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

 

He came to them in that Garden. He presented himself in a way they could see and hear, and he walked into the Garden. He had done it before. But before they weren’t hiding. Before, they had welcomed his walking into the Garden he had created for them. It was his day to be with them, his day of Sabbath, day of rest and peace and fellowship.

 

This time, they are hiding. That’s what sin does. It cuts to the heart.

 

He came, though, not to judge—they already knew the judgment, that’s why they’re hiding. He came not to judge, but to save. [John 12:47]

 

From Eve’s seed, from her offspring, will come the Savior, he tells them. This one, of the lineage of Eve, Satan will strike him on the heal, but he will strike Satan on the head.

 

Salvation. Salvation from sin, from the devil, from death. No more hiding. This Lord is life, and he speaks life. The shame is removed. The sinner is cleansed and covered in honor.

 

He does it with his Word. His Word promising the seed of Eve, this descendant who would crush the head of Satan, this Jesus, through whom we receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness which now reigns for us. [Romans 5:17]

 

 

This world we’re in of sin, of death, of people hiding in shame—the people of this world, will they hear this word of kind invitation?

 

They will know what to expect from the Church. At least they think they will know what to expect.

 

From the Church, from the voice of the Lord’s people, the people of the world will expect to hear shame heaped upon the shame they already try to hide, our neighbor will expect to hear the judgment of impending death. Our neighbor will expect to hear words by which they will be not good enough for the Church, will be chased from the Church.

 

Then comes the Lord’s voice of kind invitation. He loves the sinner. He loves us. He loves our neighbor.

 

For those hiding, he doesn’t depart the scene. He engages, he speaks, Where are you?

 

It’s his voice of kind invitation inviting the sinner to his cleansing word of Gospel, inviting the sinner to hear the free justification spoken in the Church from the throne in Heaven, inviting our neighbor into the fellowship of those restored to the grace and peace of Sabbath rest with God.

 

The kind invitation of the Gospel, calling out of guilt, into grace, out of death, into life, out of this world of sin, to the Table of the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus.

 

For if, because of one man’s trespass [Adam’s], death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

[Romans 5:17]

 

In the Name of Jesus.