Speaker: Warren Graff

ASH WEDNESDAY                                          February 26, 2020

 

JOEL 2:12-19

¹² “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping, and mourning; ¹³ And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, And relenting of evil. ¹⁴ Who knows whether He will not turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a libation For the LORD your God? ¹⁵ Blow a trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, ¹⁶ Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room And the bride out of her bridal chamber. ¹⁷ Let the priests, the LORD’s ministers, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, “Spare Thy people, O LORD, And do not make Thine inheritance a reproach, A byword among the nations. Why should they among the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?'” ¹⁸ Then the LORD will be zealous for His land, And will have pity on His people. ¹⁹ And the LORD will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine, and oil, And you will be satisfied in full with them; And I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.

 

IN THE NAME OF JESUS.

 

Confession has two parts. That’s the way the Catechism puts it.

 

The first part of Confession, we could call that the ashes. Joel 2:13:

 

[The Lord says,] “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping, and mourning; And rend your heart and not your garments.”

 

The first part of Confession is the rending of the heart. Pride is emptied out; every attempt to justify ourselves is torn in two. The first part of Confession is, simply, the admitting before God that we are sinners.

 

Joel mentions things that are outwardly: Fasting, weeping, mourning. These are outward actions that we do, actions that are visible.

 

But then that’s explained: “rend your heart and not your garments.”

 

Garments are outward. Don’t tear them, says the Lord, but tear your heart.

 

Rending the heart is not outward.

 

It is contrition over sin. It’s the guilt in our conscience brought in sorrow to God. The outward things of fasting and weeping and mourning, they aren’t the contrition; they’re simply the sinner using outward words and actions and tears to express the sorrow of the contrite heart.

 

 

So we come to Ash Wednesday. Any who would like are invited to step forward and have ashes placed on the forehead. Is this contrition? Is it repentance? Is it not just an outward work, accomplishing nothing actual?

 

The ashes are an outward work. They are one way for the sorrowful heart to express contrition. In this way, it’s much like kneeling down to receive Holy Communion. The kneeling, of course, in no way constitutes the Communion. The Communion is holy because it is the Lord’s gift of forgiving sins. The kneeling is just a small way that the Christian may go about extolling the Lord’s giving of gifts.

 

With the ashes, it is to express contrition. It is a sorrowful heart extolling the gift of being able to come before the Lord as nothing but sinner—and yet not be destroyed, but absolved.

 

Then what do the ashes give? If that is the question, then the answer is, nothing. God didn’t institute the ashes, he didn’t mandate that we do them as he did with Baptism or Holy Communion, he didn’t promise to distribute forgiveness in them.

 

Then what are they? They are not mandated by the Lord. Rather, the ashes must be described as a church tradition, as something Christians have done to express the contrition of a heart that is torn in two by sin and is waiting to hear the Lord’s word of absolution.

 

The ashes are not commanded, not required, but are simply the Lord’s people expressing sorrow over sin and extolling his gift of repentance and forgiveness.

 

We may remember this as we see the ashes placed on the foreheads. These are the foreheads of sinners. But sinners who have baptized into Christ Jesus, who are purified by the Gospel, and thus, sinners who rejoice in no longer having to hide sins, but in coming to the Lord to be cleansed by him in his Word of Gospel.

 

Then, after saying, “Rend your hearts,” the prophet Joel tells us, “Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.”

 

And that’s the Gospel. The Gospel is the forgiveness of sins. The Gospel is that the blood Christ shed on the cross atones for the sin of the world, and it was that atonement which the prophet Joel was delivering to Israel, even before the cross.

 

So the heart torn in two by sorrow over sin, it is now the heart cleansed by the word of forgiveness. The eyes of tears, they are now eyes of joy. The Christian confessing sin is now the Christian confessing Christ Jesus and his grace.

 

Confession, says the Catechism, has two parts. The first part is to confess our sins. The second part is to confess Christ Jesus our Lord as we receive absolution from him.

 

So what becomes of that heart torn apart by sorrow over sin? It is now the heart consoled and comforted by the Gospel. The Large Catechism puts it like this:

In Confession, we sharply separate its two parts. We place slight value on our part in it. But we hold in high and great esteem God’s Word in the Absolution part of Confession. We should not proceed as if we intended to perform and offer him a splendid work, but we should simply accept and receive something from him …  What you must see to is that you lament your problem and that you let yourself be helped to acquire a cheerful heart and conscience.

 

That’s the gift of Confession. We confess, first, that we are sinful. Then we confess, second and foremost, that our Lord Jesus is gracious and merciful, abounding in steadfast love, and he forgives all sin.

 

In that confession, we are given a cheerful heart and conscience.

 

IN THE NAME OF JESUS.

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany [a]                              February 16, 2020

 

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

¹ But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. ² I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, ³ for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? ⁴ For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? ⁵ What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. ⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷ So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. ⁹ For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

What kind of Church do you want to be in?

 

We choose where we eat. If I don’t like the food and atmosphere at Cracker Barrel, maybe I go to Buffalo Wings. We choose where we buy our pants. If Burlington Coat Factory’s selection is no good, maybe I go to Kohl’s. We even choose where to drink a beer. If I don’t like the beer at Bosque Brewing, maybe I go to Marble.

 

What kind of Church do you want to be in?

 

Surely there’s some sort of baseline. A Church with good preaching? That’s a start. A Church with a nice building? A Church with a Sunday School?

 

How about the people? A Church with nice people. Kind. Inviting. Friendly.

 

What kind of Church do you want to be in?

 

Would you want to be in the Church in Corinth? Corinth, this major city of commerce and trade and education, this city 40 or 50 miles from Athens—you could leave from Plato’s Academy in Athens early in the morning and walk to Corinth by nightfall; would you want to be in the Church in Corinth?

 

 

Before signing on, first, what Paul says about this Church, it’s members, how they’ve been treating each other.

 

There is jealousy and strife among you, says Paul. [1 Corinthians 3:3]

 

Some of you say, “I follow Paul,” others say, “I follow Apollos.”

[1 Corinthians 3:4]

 

This congregation has divided themselves up into parties, each group aligning with a different pastor.

 

Back in chapter one, Paul shows this division even further:

For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

[1 Corinthians 1:13]

 

So these Christians in Corinth have divided themselves up into at least four competing parties. Those aligning themselves with Paul, those aligning themselves with Apollos, those claiming the name Cephas, those claiming the name Christ, and who knows who might be over on the sidelines forming up another party.

 

Do you want to be a member of this Church in Corinth?

 

It gets worse.

 

Not only does Paul accuse them of jealousy and strife and quarrelling, he also accuses them of judging one another, of arrogance against one another, and then he even goes into sexual immorality in the Church (chapter 5), of holding sins against one another (chapter 6), of husbands not loving their wives even more than themselves, of wives not loving their husbands as they should (chapter 7), and then, after all that, Paul accuses them of mistreating the Lord’s Table, of treating Holy Communion as if it were not actual the holy Body and Blood of Christ the Lord for the forgiveness of sins, but a common meal of wine and crackers to symbolize something.

 

These Christian in Corinth—do you want to be in this Church?

 

He accuses them of treating the Lord’s Table not as holy, but as a meal where you are eating with your friends, so that at the end of the day, the rich people are communing with the rich people, but not with the poor.

 

He accuses them of forgetting whose table it is, so that Christians are communing at altars which teach different doctrines, as if what is taught about Jesus baptizing babies, or about the Body and Blood being the true Body and Blood of Christ, or about the sinner being fully cleansed, purged by the blood of all guilt, so that no sin remains after the blood of Christ, or about the free and full justification of the sinner before the face of God—Paul accuses them of treating the Lord’s doctrine cheaply, as if it doesn’t matter what is taught about Christ and his gifts. These tables, these altars that teach a different doctrine of Christ, says Paul, they are not to be approved. [1 Corinthians 11]

 

Do you want to be a member of the Church in Corinth?

 

 

Three words from Paul, in his address to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 3:1:

“But I, brothers, …”

 

Paul, knowing all these things about the Corinthian congregation addresses them as … brothers—brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

This from his salutation at the beginning of his letter to the Christians in Corinth, 1 Corinthians 1:2:

Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus … To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.

 

Paul, knowing everything about this Corinthian congregation—he had lived with them for several years—knowing their problems, their struggles, their backbiting, their neglect of the Lord’s Supper, Paul addresses them as the Church of God in Corinth, and as those called saints, those made holy by the blood of Christ, those who belong to the grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, as those for whom Paul give thanks.

 

Do you want to be a member of this Church in Corinth?

 

You are.

 

We hear how Paul tells them they are called saints together along with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Meaning, they are saints together along with us; we are saints together with them. The same blood of Jesus that was given to sanctify them each Lord’s day, is given also to us to make us holy, each Lord’s day.

 

When we have been gathered to the Body and the Blood, we are gathered along with all our brothers and sisters assembled to the true Body and Blood for the forgiveness of all sin.

 

We are all of the same sinful flesh, we are all under the same judgment of Law, we are all unable to do anything at all to justify ourselves, and we are all cleansed, though, sanctified, made holy by the Body and Blood of Christ. We are all justified by the Gospel of all sins forgiven. We are brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

This is God’s work, says Paul. It is his doing. From start to finish. The pastor—it’s not the pastor’s doing, he is only the vessel, only the messenger doing what the Lord sets the messenger to do.

 

What then is Apollos?,

says Paul,

What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

[1 Corinthians 3:9]

 

The pastor brings nothing to this. He’s only the vessel, the clay pot as Paul calls him elsewhere. The pastor can get himself out of the way. It is God who cleanses the sinner by the Word he gives the pastor to speak. It is God who makes the sinner holy, by the Body and Blood he instructs the pastor to distribute. It is God who binds sinners together as brothers and sisters in Christ, by the Gospel.

 

It is God who builds up the Church, those in Corinth, those in Athens, in Jerusalem, also Albuquerque—it is God doing it, it is God’s building, all built upon the chief cornerstone, he who cleanses the sinner, Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 3:9:

You are God’s field, God’s building.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany [a]                February 9, 2020

 

1 Corinthians 2:1-16

 

Matthew 5:13-20

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. ¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹ Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

If you want to know how to be a Christian, Jesus will tell you how to do that.

 

To be a Christian, be salt to this world. Salt brings tastes and seasoning. In a world filled with rot, a world teaching young women how to be objects, teaching young men how to grasp according to your desire, a world tempting some to envy and grab after the wealth of others, and others to tear down their neighbors, in a world filled with this despising of neighbor, Be salt. Bring health. You are the salt of the Earth, says Jesus. [Matthew 5:13]

 

To be a Christian, be light. A world relishing the lie, a world run by secret conversations and things done in the dark, Be light. You are the light of the world, says Jesus. [Matthew 5:14]

 

Let people see your good works, says Jesus, and that will give glory to your Father in Heaven. [Matthew 5:16]

 

So every sermon will be in danger of ending up as methods and regulations for being salt. And procedures and strategies for how to let your light shine. And constant lists and rules for how to let people see your good works.

 

Every sermon will end up being, in short, how, if you’re a Christian, the Law is your method, rule, procedure, strategy, and guide for life.

 

If we want to be a Christian, Jesus will tell us how. Let’s just take the Bible and write huge red letters on it: Rule Book for Life—and we’re off to the races.

 

 

I did not come to abolish the Law, says Jesus. [Matthew 5:17]

 

But then this: “Not an iota,” said Jesus, “not a dot will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” [Matthew 5:18]

 

If you want to live by the Law, you better be ready to live by the Law. The whole Law. No iota left out, no dot missing.

 

“I tell you,” said Jesus, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven.”

 

The Scribes and Pharisees, these are the teachers of the Law. They kept every iota and dot. Or at least they thought they did, or pretended they did.

 

But you better be better than them, says Jesus. If you are going to live by the Law, you’d better surpass the Scribes and the Pharisees—they better be in your rear-view mirror. Every iota. Every dot. The whole Law. Nothing left out. Or you might as well keep none of it.

 

Love God with your whole heart, love neighbor as yourself, and it better be full blast, the whole enchilada, nothing left out. Or you might as well do nothing.

 

The Law is that full, that demanding, that all-encompassing. Who can do it?

 

Can the Apostle Paul do it? Not if you look at his hands and see the innocent blood of Stephen on them.

 

Can King David do it? Not if you look into his palace and see the great sin of his multiple wives.

 

Can the Apostle John do it? Not if you read the account of him arguing about how he would be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

Can St. Augustine do it? Not if you read the words of his own hand in his Confessions.

 

Who can do it? Not anyone who can look at himself in the mirror and remember even a fraction of the times he cared for self more than neighbor.

 

No one can do it. We know that. Our own lives testify to it.

 

 

No one can. But One.

 

And that is what Jesus is teaching. While the scribes and Pharisees are teaching you how to live under the Law, Jesus says,

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

[Matthew 5:17]

 

The Law, Jesus came to accomplish it. It is all completed in him.

 

That’s the cross.

 

Later, after Jesus ascends to Heaven, after he has sent forth the Apostles to proclaim his Gospel, the Apostle Paul proclaims to the Christians in Corinth,

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

[1 Corinthians 2:2]

 

Why didn’t Paul proclaim how to keep the Law? Why didn’t he teach the methods and systems of a Christian life? He knew how to. He was trained up as a teacher of the Law, as a chief Pharisee. He knew the Law inside and out. Every iota, every dot, every which-a-way.

 

When I came to you, I knew nothing among you except Christ and him crucified.

 

Because, the cross is the keeping of the Law. The cross is the full accomplishment of the Law. On the cross is the only One who has truly loved God the Father with his whole mind and whole soul and whole heart, and loved his neighbor more than himself—the cross is him loving his neighbor, loving you and me and our children, even to the point of his own death. The cross is him shedding the blood to atone for your failure of Law and mine.

 

We are those who proclaim him who kept every iota, every dot of the Law, even to his own death on the cross.

 

We are those who, as Paul says, know nothing except Jesus Christ in him crucified.

 

We are those who daily hear the Law, and there see not a way we can justify ourselves, but daily see our sin, daily putting the old man of sin to death in repentance.

 

We are those who, in a world of Law, a world where people are forever coming up with new systems of Law and new methods of how to live a victorious life, a life of lofty speech and impressive wisdom—we are those who speak in the weakness and even trembling, giving thanks for the Gospel, and proclaiming nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified, so that our faith may rest not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, which is the forgiveness of sins unto everlasting life.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

The Purification of Mary and Presentation of our Lord   February 2, 2020

 

Hebrews 2:14-18

¹⁴ Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. ¹⁶ For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. ¹⁷ Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

He was made like us. What does this mean?

 

We know that he was just as flesh and blood as we are—that’s the Incarnation, him being born child of Mary.

 

So he would wake up hungry, as any child would. He needed water, he needed warmth on cold nights, he needed protection from mean dogs or poisonous spiders, or whatever.

 

We can guess he had his favorite food; the way one child likes cake but another ice-cream.

 

So we know that he was like us. Same flesh and blood. Same need for a bath to wash off the day’s dirt, the need to tie the shoes and comb the hair. But the writer to the Hebrew Christians is saying more. Hebrews 2:17:

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

 

He was made like us not only in that he knows all the daily tasks that belong to every human, but like us in that he was tempted. And he suffered.

 

And we want to know this because, in this, he is able to help us when we are tempted.

 

 

Which is an interesting thought. When we are tempted, how does Jesus help us? By putting up a big sign in our brain that says, “Don’t do it!”? But for that, he didn’t need to become man.

 

For if God’s help for us when we are tempted is to say “Don’t do it!”, we already had that—it’s called the Law.

 

Doesn’t everyone know the Law? Everyone knows you’re not to slander your neighbor, which is why, when we do, we make excuses and point to others who do it even more. Everyone knows that you’re to speak well of others, to uphold their names and reputations, to give your neighbor encouragement.

 

Everyone knows you are not to commit adultery, to have lust, to do anything to damage or speak ill of another’s marriage—everyone knows this, which is why we’re sneaky when we do it.

 

Do not kill, but love your neighbor and care for him and help him keep his property and wealth and reputation.

 

Honor your father and your mother. Care for your children. Speak well of your neighbor’s family. Does not everyone know these things, even when doing the opposite?

 

Remember the Sabbath; come to the Lord’s Name to hear his word; encourage your fellow Christians, reminding them of the gifts the Lord is serving out at his Service each week; do not hinder your neighbor, but help him to hear the invitation of the Gospel and to be gathered into the Church—what Christian doesn’t already know these things.

 

This is just the Law, the Ten Commandments, but even those who don’t know the commandments specifically, they already know, for, as the Apostle says, the Lord has written the Law on everyone’s heart. [Rom. 2:15]

 

 

So when we are tempted, how will Jesus help us? By popping up a big sign in our brain which says, Don’t do it. Turn the other way.

 

Will he help us by the Law? We already had the Law, it only increased our guilt and covered in shame. No. As the writer to the Hebrew Christians tells us, Jesus was made like us in every respect

to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

[Hebrews 2:18]

 

He will help us by joining with sinners and being cut into the covenant—that’s his circumcision where he was cut into the covenant along with every other Israelite from the time the promise of circumcision was given to Abraham.

 

He will help us by undergoing temptation from Satan, even as Satan daily tempts us. That’s his temptation in the wilderness where Satan tempted Jesus to have the desires of the body all filled to the brim, if only he would turn some stones into bread; where Satan tempted Jesus to make demands on his Father, that God must respond to him and send angels whenever he said, if only Jesus would throw himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple; where Satan tempted Jesus to have power and control over his neighbor, even over every person on the Earth, if only he would fall down and worship Satan.

 

Jesus willingly placed himself under every temptation—of desire and lusts, of love of self over neighbor, of love of self over God, of self-justification and works-righteousness—under every temptation. Now, when we are tempted by Satan, Jesus knows our temptation even better than we do.

 

 

But that doesn’t yet help us in our temptation.

 

He himself has suffered when tempted, [so] he is able to help those who are being tempted, says the writer of Hebrews.

 

He suffered not only in his own temptation by Satan. He suffered fully in going to the cross.

 

The accusations of the Law the Pharisees threw at him, the attacks of the teachers of the Law and the Temple officials, the indictment spoken by the high-priest, Caiaphas, the verdict of the people yelling Crucify him, Crucify him, the nails bringing to him the death of the cross—he suffered it all.

 

But all that he was suffering, it was the accusation and of the Law against us. Against every sinner.

 

For he who knew no sin, who was made like us in every way yet without sin, was tempted as we are and took our sin, our temptation upon himself, and put it all to death on the cross, making atonement by his own blood.

 

 

How will he help us when we are tempted?

 

By the Law? Yes, by the Law, for the Law shows us our sin, and we must know that we cannot justify ourselves. But we already had the Law before Jesus was made like us.

 

How will Jesus help us in our temptation?

 

By the Gospel. By being with us. By binding himself to us in Baptism, making us his own. By coming to us in his Body and Blood to forgive. By being with us as our High Priest, who is able to suffer with us in all things, who cares for us, and who has one final, life-giving word for us:

 

His final, full word, by which he makes us his own, by which he cleanses us and breathes into us his Holy Spirit, by which he constantly gives us repentance, that the new man of faith may daily stand before God in righteousness and purity, by which he is with us in all temptation—his final, full word:

I am with you, in the same flesh and blood you are;

In my death on the cross, I have defeated Satan, taking from him his accusation against you;

I have destroyed the power of death, delivering you out of the slavery of the fear of death;

I am your merciful High Priest, interceding for you to my Father;

For I have atoned for you with my own blood, I have made propitiation for your sins with my cross, and I am with you when you are being tempted.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

St. Titus, Pastor and Confessor                                January 26, 2020

 

Titus 1:1-9

¹ Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, ² in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began ³ and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior; ⁴ To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. ⁵ This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—⁶ if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. ⁷ For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, ⁸ but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. ⁹ He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

Crete needs a pastor. So the Apostle Paul will not let them be without one.

 

 

In order that the Church would be cared for, in order that the Gospel would be preached in the Church, that families and children would be baptized, that the holy Body and Blood of Jesus would each week be served to the Lord’s people for the forgiveness of their sins, the Lord instituted the Office of Holy Ministry. We call them pastors.

 

Paul called them pastors, too. He used also other titles for this office, including “servant” or “minister,” including “elder” and “overseer,” so we don’t need to get too concerned about the title.

 

But the Church in Crete, these Christians, need a pastor, and Paul will not leave them without. So he calls Titus. Titus will be the Lord’s pastor in Crete.

 

So a note about Crete. This is going to be a rough church to be called to. Everyone knows about Crete. These are tough people. They have a proud history, but they are arrogant. Cretans are known for demanding their way, for imposing their will, for making dishonest deals, for doing things however they want. Titus should be under no illusion when he takes the pulpit in Crete. Paul refers to them as insubordinate. In his letter to Titus, Paul is right up front with Titus about these Cretans. Paul writes,

There are many [in Crete who are] insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.

[Titus 1:10]

 

And it isn’t just Paul’s view. Paul even goes and gives Titus a famous quote from Epimenides, a famous Greek philosopher who was himself from Crete. Paul writes:

One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

[Titus 1:12]

 

 

Oh, Titus, pastor Titus. Are you sure you want this call to Crete?

 

But Titus is honored. The Apostle sets him there with a charge. Paul loves these Cretans. How could he not?—Paul knows that Jesus has atoned for them with his own blood.

 

So he sets Titus there to be a pastor to the Cretans. “I left you in Crete,” says Paul, “so that you might put what remained into order, appointing elders in every town as I directed you.” [Titus 1:5]

 

“Elders” is one of Paul’s words for the Office of Holy Ministry. Paul wants Titus to appoint elders, pastors, in all the towns on the great island of Crete. Paul wants no one left apart from the Gospel.

 

But how will Titus do this? How will he bring this Gospel week after week to these Cretans? Not in the way they expect. Not in the way they are used to.

 

They’re used to having their own way, to insubordination, to imposing their will, to harshness. But Titus is preaching a different Lord. Titus 3:4:

When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

 

Titus will preach a Lord opposite everything the Cretans grew up with.

 

These Cretans were idol worshipers, now they have been baptized into Christ. This Lord into which they are baptized is known by mercy, by loving kindness; known not by demanding submission, but by cleansing the sinner in Baptism—the washing of regeneration.

 

This Lord is known by justifying sinners by his grace, making them heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus will be a pastor of the grace and gentleness of Christ Jesus, a pastor of kindness among a harsh people.

 

So the pastor, Paul tells Titus, “will not be arrogant or quick tempered, but will be hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright , holy, disciplined,” and, says Paul, “the pastor will hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” [Titus 1:9]

 

“The trustworthy word as taught”—that’s the word of Christ crucified and his sacraments which Titus has been taught by Paul and which the other Apostles have been teaching to the Church.

 

“Giving instruction in sound doctrine”—this is the doctrine of the Apostles. In the Greek in which Paul wrote this letter, the “sound doctrine” is more literally “the healthful doctrine”—it’s a word having to do with taking a sick person and giving him health, with taking one who is near death and giving healing. The doctrine from the Apostles is the doctrine which brings health, which heals those who are the dying.

 

“Rebuke those who contradict this doctrine,” says the Apostle.

 

Do we wonder why there are uncomfortable arguments in the history of the Church? Do we wonder why a pastor stands in front of the Catechism class and warns the students of the danger of a doctrine which says that Jesus is unable to cleanse and give faith to a baby, so you must wait until 17 or some other arbitrary age before you let Jesus do his work of Baptism? Or warn the students of a doctrine which says that the blood of Jesus is unable to purge all your sins, so you must go to purgatory to purge the sins Jesus didn’t catch.

 

Rebuke those who contradict the doctrine which brings health, says Paul, the doctrine of justification by faith alone.

 

So Titus is to keep the Cretans in the healthy doctrine.

 

 

This is the day, January 26, when the Church rejoices in the gift of St. Titus, Pastor and Confessor. In this, the Church is rejoicing in and extolling the gift of the office of holy ministry.

 

We are rejoicing that the Lord justifies the sinner, so that the sinner stands before God righteous not by any strengths, merits, or works of the sinner, but by faith in Christ Jesus.

 

We are rejoicing that, so that the sinner may obtain this faith, God has instituted the Office of Holy Ministry so that his Gospel of grace would be taught in the Church and his Sacraments of the forgiveness of sins would be freely distributed to his people.

 

We are rejoicing than when a pastor is doing this work of preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments, the gift does not depend on any sufficiency or worthiness of the pastor himself, but on the Word and Institution of the Lord, by which the Office has been instituted, and by which the forgiveness of sins is distributed to the sinner.

 

We are rejoicing that when the Holy Spirit gathers us to the preaching of the Word and the distribution of the Body and Blood for the forgiveness of all sin, we may repent of our sin, we may be done with trying to justify ourselves, for we are given, instead, to receive and hold onto only the righteousness of Christ Jesus in which we have been clothed in Baptism and by which we stand before the Father in righteousness and purity forever.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

The Baptism of our Lord [a]                                      January 12, 2020

 

Romans 6:1-11

¹ What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

Who needs Baptism?

 

John the Baptist, when he sees Jesus walking toward him, speaks of Baptism as something needed. Matthew 3:14:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

 

Who needs Baptism? A sinner standing in front of Jesus needs Baptism.

 

Baptism, this act instituted not by the sinner, but by holy God for the sinner. Baptism, this act instituted by God whereby God uses common water, combines it with his Word, taking this water up into his use, to cleanse the sinner of all sin.

 

Who needs Baptism? Only the cross saves. Only the cross is the Holy One of God shedding innocent blood to redeem the sinner from all sin.

 

Who needs Baptism? The sinner, who needs only the cross. Romans 6:4:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death.

 

We can’t go back to the cross, of course. No sinner can do that, any more than we could go back and help Noah build the Ark. But God can bring the cross to us. And does, bringing the innocent death on the cross to us in Baptism, and uniting it to us. So that the cross belongs to us just as much as it does to Jesus, into whom we have been baptized.

 

Who needs Baptism? Anyone subject to death, anyone counting up their life and finding lacking, fearing the judgement, anyone needing the good news of the fulness of an eternal life secured by Christ and never to be taken from the sinner. Romans 6:5:

We were buried therefore with [Christ] by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

 

Who needs Baptism?

 

Anyone needing to be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. Anyone needing the washing of regeneration whereby the sinner is cleansed and given life.

 

Who doesn’t need Baptism?

 

Anyone who doesn’t want to free gift of the righteousness of Christ, but wants to stand on their own righteousness. Anyone who is not fearful of death, but wants to defeat death on their own. Anyone who has no guilt in the conscience, no shame to hide, but is fully confident of standing before holy, eternal God entirely on one’s own.

 

Who doesn’t need Baptism?

 

Anyone thinking Baptism is something the sinner does or decides, anyone thinking Baptism is the sinner virtue-signaling his own spirituality, anyone thinking that we sinners invented Baptism on our own as our own little ritual we can control.

 

But if you are a sinner, if you cannot stand before God in your own righteousness, if you are clothed in your own shame, if you stare at approaching death and see an abyss, then, Baptism:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

 

The work all belongs to God. For the sinner did not invent Baptism, but God gave it for the sinner.

 

 

Then why was Jesus baptized? The holy One, the creator of life, he who himself knew no sin, why Baptism for him? Matthew 3:14:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

 

Why is Jesus baptized? To fulfill all righteousness.

 

All righteousness is the sinner declared righteous before the Father. All righteousness is the Servant of God being publicly set into the office of being the Lamb of God who bears the sin of every sinner. All righteousness is God in the flesh to bring salvation to the nations.

 

All righteousness is he who has no sin being clothed in the sin of every sinner, so that he is accounted the greatest sinner of all, not because of any sin of his own, but because of the sin of you and me, which, in his Baptism, he publicly took upon himself.

 

All righteousness, then, is Jesus baptized by John in the Jordan and now bearing the sin of the world, in order to put it all to death in his body on the cross.

 

 

A death into which he has baptized little Russell this morning, and baptized you and me and our children.

 

A death giving the blood which atones for our sin and justifies us before the Father. A death on the cross which belongs to you and me just as much as it belongs to Jesus because Jesus, in his grace, has baptized us into it, uniting us to himself.

 

Our old man, our old Adam of sin, is, in Baptism, put to death in the crucifixion of that cross. Romans 6:6:

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him

 

We still live in our body of death, in our flesh of the old Adam. We are still tempted and afflicted. We still fall to sin in our old-Adam life, our life of the flesh.

 

But the new man, the new Adam of faith, the new self, does not look at the works of the flesh. The new man, the new Adam of faith, the new self looks to Baptism. To being united to the cross and to the resurrection. To being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. To being given the new life where Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again, for death no longer has dominion over him, and now the life he lives he lives to God.

 

So we, too, along with our brother Russell, consider ourselves dead to sin as we daily put the old Adam of sin to death in repentance, and live to God in Christ Jesus, as daily the new Adam of faith stands up alive in the promise of Baptism.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

New Year’s Eve                               December 30, 2019

 

Psalm 90

¹ Lord, you have been our dwelling place

in all generations.

² Before the mountains were brought forth,

or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

³ You return man to dust and say,

“Return, O children of man!”

⁴ For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past,

or as a watch in the night.

⁵ You sweep them away as with a flood;

they are like a dream,

like grass that is renewed in the morning:

⁶ in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;

in the evening it fades and withers.

⁷ For we are brought to an end by your anger;

by your wrath we are dismayed.

⁸ You have set our iniquities before you,

our secret sins in the light of your presence.

⁹ For all our days pass away under your wrath;

we bring our years to an end like a sigh.

¹⁰ The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty;

yet their span is but toil and trouble;

they are soon gone, and we fly away.

¹¹ Who considers the power of your anger,

and your wrath according to the fear of you?

¹² So teach us to number our days

that we may get a heart of wisdom.

¹³ Return, O LORD! How long?

Have pity on your servants!

¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,

that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

and for as many years as we have seen evil.

¹⁶ Let your work be shown to your servants,

and your glorious power to their children.

¹⁷ Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes,

establish the work of our hands!

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

We go into the new year, but not alone.

 

 

We go into the new year with hopes and with fears.

 

Our nation’s employment numbers are as strong as they’ve been in our lifetime—we are optimistic. But the deficit is as high as its ever been. Pessimistic.

 

We see incredible improvements in medicine, and prospects of many more. Optimistic. But doctors are complaining about the constant flood of electronic reports they must fill out and we’ve made healthcare more expensive than ever. Pessimistic.

 

We are spending more resources than ever on education, demonstrating care for our youth. Optimistic. But our youth are being educated to think there is no value to life, even defenseless life in the womb, and that there’s no such thing as natural marriage. Pessimistic.

 

 

We go into the new year with hope and with fear, but we don’t go alone.

 

We go with him who has ransomed us with his own blood and made us his own people.

 

We go with him who has given us his own Name, promising that in Baptism he is with us, even until the end of the age. [Matthew 28]

 

We go with him who has told us that no one will separate us from his love. Romans 8:35:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

 

So we go into the new year not knowing what to expect, sometimes overly optimistic, sometimes overly pessimistic, for no one knows how to account for and number our days, but knowing to whom we belong.

 

And to this Lord to whom we belong, we have a prayer—a prayer sure and certain, for he has given it for us to pray. Psalm 90:35:

Make us glad, [O Lord,] for as many days as you have afflicted us,

and for as many years as we have seen evil.

 

Make us glad. Give us joy! We pray this because we know something else about how we go into the new year.

 

We go not only as those happy about strong employment numbers, or fearful due to the deficit; or optimistic about new technologies in medicine, or fearful about the way we’ve caused health care cost to skyrocket; or happy about more money being spent annually on education, or fearful about what the children are being taught, be as we go into the new year, we know something even more profound, more consequential to each of us.

 

We go into the new year as sinners. As people living in sinful flesh. As those who to think that the sin and baggage has been left behind in the past year, and yet we cannot deny that we are still in sinful flesh.

 

But as we go into the new year in our sinful flesh, we go not alone. There is one who is with us. Nothing, not tribulation, not distress, not persecution, not famine, not nakedness, not peril nor sword, will separate him from those he loves. As we go into the new year, he goes with us daily bestowing upon us a gift. Isaiah 30:15:

For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, “In repentance and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength.”

 

He, Jesus, the Holy One, is with us. And his gift to us every day is, Repentance and Rest.

 

Repentance as he accuses us with the Law, and as he turns us back to himself to hear his Word of forgiveness, to hear his voice justifying us, declaring us innocent before his Father in Heaven.

 

Rest, as he gathers us from the affliction and tribulation of our world, from the despair of our own sinful flesh, and to the comfort and hope of his Gospel, to the joy of his gift of life.

 

We go into the new year not alone. He who joins himself to us, his holy Body and Blood to our sinful bodies, his holy Body and Blood to forgive our sin and make us his own—he who joins himself to us is never apart from us.

 

We go with him. We enter the new year in joy—the joy of a sinner knowing that he is daily clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We go into the new year with the prayer on our lips that he gives us to pray. Psalm 90:

Make us glad, [O Lord,] for as many days as you have afflicted us, …

¹⁷ Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes,

establish the work of our hands!

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

First Sunday after Christmas [a]                              December 29, 2019

 

Matthew 2:13-23

¹³ Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” ¹⁴ And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt ¹⁵ and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” ¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. ¹⁷ Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: ¹⁸ “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” ¹⁹ But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, ²⁰ saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” ²¹ And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. ²³ And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

The first martyrs of the New Testament church, the little boys of Bethlehem.

 

King Herod wants baby Jesus dead. Herod knows the prophecy of the birth of a king. But he’s king. He can’t have other kings. He must secure his throne.

 

So Herod wants the new King—the one heralded by the wise men, foretold by the prophets—Herod wants him dead.

 

But Herod can’t find the baby Jesus—the wise men were no help to him in that. But the wise men had gone to Bethlehem, Herod knows that much. So, to kill the boy who is born a king, it seems easy. Herod will just kill all the Bethlehem boys two and under, and surely, he figures, that will take care of the Jesus problem.

 

So we have the first martyrs of the New Testament church, the little boys of Bethlehem. Historians say this would have been perhaps 10 to 20 little boys. They are martyrs. Their lives bear witness to Jesus, who himself is marked for death, but a death God has not appointed for another 30 or so years.

 

And, as the prophet Jeremiah had foretold, the Bethlehem families, after Herod’s murderous deed, were now in tears. Jeremiah 31:15:

“A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”

 

Rachel is, of course, a wife of Jacob’s in the Old Testament. She stands in as a mother of Israel. Israel weeps. The boys have been killed; they are no more.

 

So these little boys will be forever known as the first martyrs of the New Testament Church.

 

 

The word martyr comes from the Greek. It means witness. A legal witness, one who bears testimony in a trial.

 

Here’s how that word martyr works. At the trial of Jesus, witnesses came forward and testified. They were false witnesses, to be sure, but witnesses in the trial. Matthew 26:60:

Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward.

 

That word for witness, and the verb for bearing witness, is the Greek word martyr.

 

So to name those innocent little boys of Bethlehem as the first martyrs of the New Testament church is to say that their lives were given in testimony for the name of Jesus. In their innocent deaths, they bore witness to the innocent of death of Jesus which would be accomplished some thirty years later on the cross.

 

Tertullian, an early Church father, at a time when the Church was being severely persecuted and martyred, said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

 

When Abel was murdered by his brother, Cain, the Lord said to Cain, “The voice of [Abel’s] blood cries out to me from the ground.” [Genesis 4:10]

 

Abel stands in history as the first martyr of the Old Testament church, even as the sons of Bethlehem as the first martyrs of the New Testament Church. The blood of Abel as also the blood of the little boys of Bethlehem cry out from the ground in testimony of the Name for which they were killed, Jesus.

 

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

 

 

We, along with Abel, along with the boys of Bethlehem, are members of the Church of the Lord Jesus.

 

Our lives, as the life of Abel, as the lives of the little boys of Bethlehem, are marked with the Name of Christ—we, along with them, belong to the innocent death of the Holy One on the cross.

 

Our lives bear the Name of Jesus; we are marked with the cross. Romans 6:3:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

 

Baptized into Christ, into his death, united to him in all his suffering, our lives are given in testimony of Christ whose name we bear.

 

So we live in tears. The same tears that would’ve been shed by Adam and Eve as they mourned their son, Abel, who was martyred because of the faith. The same tears as those mothers and fathers in Bethlehem, who mourned their baby sons martyred because of the faith.

 

The tears of the Church, for those men wearing orange jumpsuits who were martyred by the Muslims on the beach in Libya and those martyred by the Muslims last week in Nigeria because they confessed the Name of Jesus; the tears of the Church for those 110 Christian girls kidnapped and stolen from their families by the Boko Haram Muslims in Nigeria; the tears of the Church for the Christian families in China threatened with reeducation camps if caught teaching the faith to their children, or the Christian judge in Texas under threat for her job for supporting natural marriage; the tears of the Church for the family going to bed crying each night over a child having been indoctrinated against the faith by a teacher; the tears of the Church over the suffering and persecution of those who bear the Name of Jesus.

 

We bear the Name. Our lives are lived in witness to him who is the Suffering Servant. Our lives bear testimony. We are given as martyrs, in the full sense of the word, which means, to bear witness.

 

But in midst of the tears, joy. In the midst of the suffering, hope and life. For our lives bear witness to Jesus, who is the Suffering Servant of the cross. But the cross then gives the empty tomb, the defeat of death, the certainty of tomorrow. Those who suffer, do not suffer in vain.

 

Abel, martyred by Cain, he lives at the face of God.

 

Those Bethlehem boys, martyred by Herod, they live at the face of God.

 

Those Christians martyred by the Muslims on that Libyan beach or in Nigeria, they are alive at the face of God.

 

The Church now, as she cries tears for the suffering, the afflicted, the persecuted, the martyred, she lives in faith at the face of God.

 

We live in faith at the face of God.

 

To those parents of the little Bethlehem martyrs, as they shed tears, the Lord’s Word, spoken by the Prophet Jeremiah some 600 years prior, was of hope and life. Jeremiah 31:17:

“Restrain your voice from weeping, And your eyes from tears; For your work shall be rewarded,” says the LORD, “And they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future,” says the LORD.

 

 

We live in this hope. We have a future. We have a tomorrow. For we bear the Name of the One who redeemed us with the price of his own blood.

 

We bear the Name of him who in Baptism united us to his cross and his resurrection.

 

Our lives bear witness to him who cleanses us of all sin, who covers us in his righteousness, who justifies us before his Father in Heaven.

 

Our lives bear witness to him, so that when the world looks at us, the testimony they are given to see is not the testimony of a people who overcomes every obstacle, nor the testimony of a church which is victorious in the eyes of the world, but, when the world looks at us, the testimony they are given to see is the witness of sinners redeemed by the blood of Christ, forgiven of all sin, and forgiving of one another.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

Christmas Eve                                 December 24, 2019

 

1 John 4:7-16

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. ¹³ By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

 

In the Name of Jesus.

 

God the Father, we will know him for his love.

 

By his love the Father does what he does toward us.

 

Now we rejoice in the Father’s sending of his Son to be born of Mary.

 

It is not to show his might and power. For that the Father could’ve just sent down fire and brimstone on the Earth.

 

It is not to impress or amaze. For that he could’ve simply had locusts eat all the crops or even have had flooded the whole world, killing everything but one boatload of animals and people.  He could’ve left it at that, and we would’ve been impressed.

 

It’s not to convince or make a proof of himself. For that he could’ve sent philosophers and wise men to make the argument for God, and we would’ve been persuaded by the fine logic and proofs.

 

In his love the Father does this. His love for the sinner, his love for each one of us and our families.

 

 

He sent his Son into our world of death, that in Him we would have life; his Son into our world of lies, that in Him we would have truth; his Son into our world of despair and hatred, than in him, and him alone, we would have hope and love—Love for God, love for one another.

 

 

That first Christmas morning: Life entered death, and overcame; truth entered lies, and prevailed; love entered enmity, and triumphed. All because, God the Father sent his Son, and the Son entered the world and gave himself.

 

Because, Christmas is more than the astounding account of a miracle of God coming-in-the flesh. It is a holy Baby being born into our world out of the love of the Father. The Son of God coming-in-the-flesh for the sole purpose of taking upon his himself all our sin, taking up into his life all our despair and our shame, and having taken it all upon himself, then putting it to death in his own body on the cross.

 

Without that word of the cross, without the proclamation that he died in our place, for us, purely and simply out of love for us—without the word of the cross, then we might be tempted to reduce the Christmas story to nothing more than a story of a special miracle baby intended to show impress and amaze and to convince us to look at just how awesome God can be.

 

 

But against that stands that one word: Love. Out of love for us, the Father sent his Son. Out of his love for the world, for the sinner, his love of you and me and our children, the Son gave himself.

 

For love his Son, Jesus, took our sins upon himself, so that John the Baptist was able to describe him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

 

For love his Jesus stood in front of Caiaphus and Pilate and the others and let himself be spit upon and yelled at.

 

For love he let nails be driven into his hands and his feet, so that he could be lifted up to die in front of the world.

 

For love. 1 John 4:9:

⁹ In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

 

 

Now, he has makes us the people of his love.  Now, as John says, we love God. Not that we did love him, or are even able to love him, but that he first loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

 

This is the Christmas gift, that he has made us the people of his love. A people living through him. Through the one who died for us, we now have life. He forgives our sins, in his Gospel, he overcomes our fears and dispels our despair. Through the one given as a baby in Mother Mary’s arms, we now have love—love for God, love for one another.

 

It is in his love that is love the Father gave us his Son on that first Christmas morning.  And we now live through him:

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

 

IN THE NAME OF JESUS.

Fourth Sunday in Advent [a]                                     December 22, 2019

Isaiah 7:10-14

¹⁰ Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, ¹¹ “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as Heaven.” ¹² But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” ¹³ And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. ¹⁵ He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. ¹⁶ For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. ¹⁷ The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.”

In the Name of Jesus.

 

The Virgin will conceive and bear a Son. Call his Name Immanuel. Immanuel, the Hebrew word meaning God-with-us.

 

When this Immanuel comes, he is the child of a virgin named Mary, and his name is given as Jesus. Jesus is the Hebrew word meaning The-Lord-saves.

 

So now we have Mary’s little baby fully named. He is Immanuel, that is, he is God in the flesh to dwell with us. And he is Jesus, that is, he is the Lord having come into the flesh, but having come into the flesh for the purpose of saving us.

What does it mean that he is God-with-us?

 

Isaiah makes an extraordinary announcement to King Ahaz. There will be Virgin—Isaiah doesn’t say here precisely where or when—but there will be a Virgin, and she will become pregnant and have a Son.

 

How will this happen? Isaiah doesn’t unfold this. He gives only one piece of description. This child will be God-with-us. That is, he will be human—he is, after all, the son of a woman. And this child will be God. For he is God dwelling with us as Man.

 

Isaiah doesn’t go further. The when, the where, the how, Isaiah seems to be happy to leave it all hanging. But this son of the Virgin will be true God, and he will be God dwelling with us.

 

What does it mean that he is God-with-us? It means that he will live in this world with us in a natural way, and in this way, he will share with us not only in the joys, but also in the sufferings.

 

He will share in such joys as a wedding party where people are singing and dancing and drinking wine. He’s right there in the middle. He will share in such joys as, perhaps, watching Mary, his mother, smile as she roasts a chicken for a family dinner, or, perhaps, seeing Joseph, his earthly father, smile in pride as he puts the finishing touches on a new table he’s built.

 

The joys of birthdays, of family dinners, of new clothes, he has shared with us in all of that. And in the suffering. To come into the world as Immanuel, God-with-us, means that he will share with us in the suffering common to every person.

 

Laying in bed for three days with the flu, or sidelined with a migraine—we don’t know if Jesus himself had the flu or migraines, or whatever other sicknesses, but he shared in the pain of a friend being sick, or a loved one throwing-up, or a relative bent over with an ulcer, or he saw a friend crying when his pet dog died, or a neighbor in travail when hard rain washed away the crop he planted a month before.

 

God-with-us, Jesus, shared in all that is common to the human in this world.

 

 

He shared with us also in temptation. Common to every person is the enticement of the demons.

 

Temptations take different forms and force for each one of us—for the demons can observe us and know us and will tempt each of us in the way most harmful to each. So the demons may tempt one man most greatly to lust, another they tempt to envy his neighbor’s wealth, another to judge those around him, and all are afflicted by voice of the demons in our consciences, where, in this demonic conversation, they hold us under the guilt of the Law, leading us to despair.

 

God came to be with us in this. Jesus knows our temptation even better than we do, having given himself to be tempted in every way by Satan in the wilderness.

 

These lives of ours, these lives where we live in the suffering we know in our sinful world, where we live under suffering brought by the affliction of the devil, where we live in our own sinful flesh—in these lives of ours, he is God-with-us, he joined with us in all that we are and in all that we do, though he himself is without sin. He has shared with us in it all.

 

What is the one fact common to every human, that no human can escape, and that to be absent of would be to not even be human?

 

Death. Death at the end. Maybe by violence, maybe by sickness, maybe by the weakening of age, but death.

 

Had Jesus shared with us in everything it is to be human, the joys and the sufferings, the eating and the drinking, the laughter and the tears—had Jesus shared with us in it all, but had not died, then he would not have shared with us, he would not have been one of us.

 

For we are sinners, and to the sinner is assigned death.

 

He is without sin. But he clothed himself in our sin. He came into the world holy, but he stood in for us, taking our unholiness upon himself.

 

And as the greatest sinner of all, for he who himself is without sin, bore the sin of every sinner—as the greatest sinner of all, he took upon himself what belongs to the sinner. Death. A death which did not belong to him, but which he took according to his Name. His Name is Jesus, which means, the Lord saves, and he came to save us from death.  A death which, though not belonging to him, he took in its fulness, for he was taking it for every sinner, because he is Immanuel, which means, God-with-us.

 

God with us in the deepest, most profound thing we have made ourselves to be: with us in our sin, in our fear, in our death.

 

God-with-us, in our sinful humanity, in order to take it all upon himself and put it to death in his own human body on the cross.

 

He who knows no sin, is God-with-us as Jesus, our Lord who saves us. He is with us, having joined us to himself in Baptism, so that just as he was clothed in our sin, he has now clothed us in his righteousness.

 

With us in Baptism such that, as we saw in his gift given to little Bailey Marie this morning, he calls us into his Church, he promises to continue teaching us all the gifts of his Gospel as he gathers us with his people in the fellowship of his Church, and, in this fellowship of the baptized, he keeps us in the faith of the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.

 

We are body and blood humans. Now he makes himself with us in his Body and Blood way, which is always to be with us forgiving our sins.

 

In the Name of Jesus.