Sermon for Maundy Thursday

Exodus 12:1-14  +  1 Corinthians 11:23-32  +  John 13:1-15

For 1500 years, from the days of Moses until Maundy Thursday, God’s people Israel were commanded to celebrate the Passover in commemoration of that night when God’s destroying angel passed over the houses of the Israelites who had painted the blood of the Passover lamb on their doors. Jesus was eager to celebrate the Passover meal with His disciples, because it would be the last Jewish Passover ever celebrated. Now, even though Jews have continued to observe the Passover for the 2000 years since that Maundy Thursday—in fact, tomorrow is the beginning of the Jewish celebration—the truth is, the Passover that Jesus celebrated with His disciples on Maundy Thursday was the very last legitimate Jewish Passover in history, even as it was the beginning of the Christian Passover that has no ending date, but keeps going on and on and on until the end of the world.

Let’s compare the Jewish Passover with the Christian Passover. And as we do, we’ll see just how far superior the Christian Passover is.

Both Passovers were instituted by God. The Jewish Passover was about deliverance from slavery in Egypt. That slavery was horrible. It was oppressive and painful and sometimes lethal. But it was still only temporal and only a superficial slavery—a slavery of the body, but not of the soul. The Christian Passover is about deliverance from a slavery that is far worse, a slavery of both body and soul, a slavery to sin and to death and to the power of the devil, all of which are far worse taskmasters than the Egyptian Pharaoh was. And worst of all, the slavery to sin cuts a person off from God and continues even after death, continues for all eternity.

The Jewish Passover involved a spotless young lamb. Actually, it involved thousands of spotless young lambs, one for each Israelite household in Egypt. Such spotless lambs were not at all uncommon or hard to find, and sheep were slaughtered all the time anyway. Their blood was not all that precious. But the Christian Passover involves a single Lamb, the Lamb of God, the only-begotten Son of God and Son of Man, one perfect, sinless life whose blood is infinitely precious. To slaughter a thousand lambs is nothing. But to slaughter the Lamb of God? That means…everything.

At the Jewish Passover, only the firstborn in the family was at risk, so only the firstborn was actually saved by the lamb’s blood painted on the doorframes of the house. But the blood of the Lamb of God is applied to the heart through faith, and it saves from death everyone to whom it is applied. It doesn’t just save the firstborn. It saves the whole family of believers by means of the death of the Firstborn—the Firstborn Son of God.

The Jewish Passover meal consisted (chiefly) of roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. The lamb had to be roasted in the fire. The bread had to be unleavened, both because of the haste with which it had to be made, and as a symbol of the sinlessness that was required to approach God. The herbs had to be bitter to remind them of their bitter slavery in Egypt. There are no bitter herbs in the Christian Passover meal, instituted by Christ on Maundy Thursday. All the bitterness of sin and death was tasted by Christ for us. The Christian Passover meal consists of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, and the wine of joy and celebration.

It also consists of lamb. And you say, what? There is no lamb on our altar, no lamb included in our Christian Passover meal! Ah, but there is. Not the meat of an animal, but the very body and blood of the Lamb of God who was sacrificed for us on the cross—His body and blood that are truly present in, with, and under the bread and wine, so that the bread is His true body, and the wine is His true blood—the body and blood of the Lamb, a true communion with our Savior Jesus Christ in which He visits us here, in space and time, gives us Himself and unites us to His death and resurrection.

The Jewish Passover happened only once at the time of Moses. All the Jewish Passovers after that first Passover were mere commemorations. There was no more destroying angel, there was no more blood on the doorframes of Jewish houses; just a remembrance of God’s great deliverance of their Israelite forefathers. But the Christian Passover is more than just a remembrance of something that happened in the past. It’s an ongoing thing, an ongoing remembrance of Christ who not only died as the Passover Lamb but rose from the dead and now lives to save His people. The Lamb was sacrificed once for all, but His blood is constantly being applied to sinners through the Means of Grace, our deliverance from sin and death is constantly being carried out by Him, and His body and blood are offered to His people “as often as you drink it,” as often as we celebrate the Sacrament of the Altar. He continues to forgive us our sins by these Means, and by them He continues to preserve us in the faith and guard and protect us from sin, death, and Satan until He brings us safely into His heavenly kingdom.

The Jewish Passover was part of the Old Covenant that was always destined to pass away and be replaced by the New Covenant, the New Testament in the blood of Jesus the Christ. So we will never celebrate a Jewish Passover Seder at our church. It’s over. It’s obsolete. It has been replaced by something far, far better. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has given us His Holy Supper, the Eucharist, Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, which both replaces and surpasses all that came before. This is the Christian Passover—the Passover that we call “Easter” and the Passover meal that we call the Lord’s Supper. And we will continue to celebrate it, not only on Maundy Thursday, but every Sunday and sometimes in between for the rest of our earthly lives, proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon for Holy Tuesday

+  Luke 22 – 23  +

Out of all the things to consider from the Passion History, let’s focus this evening on what the Holy Spirit teaches us from Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus, and from Judas’ remorse, and from the thieves on the cross.

In Peter, Judas, and the thieves, we see the ugliness of sin show itself in different ways, and we also see their different responses to sin and to Christ.

We have Peter, the devout disciple of Jesus who once confessed his faith in Christ so boldly: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” And even on Maundy Thursday night, Peter boldly objected when Jesus foretold his falling away: Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death. No doubt Peter believed his own words earlier in the night. But when the moment of truth came, when the three moments of truth came, each time Peter went back on his word. Each time Peter turned his thoughts and the confidence of his heart away from Christ and toward his own devices, toward the cross he might have to bear if he were to confess his friendship with Jesus. So he denied his Friend, his Savior, his God. He refused the cross and walked away from His Lord. Three times.

But then the rooster crowed and the Lord Jesus turned and looked right at Peter, recalling to his mind the fateful prediction Jesus had made hours before and the horrible crime Peter had committed in denying the Christ before men. Jesus had once said, “Whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Confronted by the Word of Christ and the gaze of Christ, Peter acknowledged his sin; he repented. Repentance includes both sorrow over sin and faith in Christ, who bore that sin on the cross. Peter went and wept bitterly over his sin. “What have I done?!?” But to that sorrow, faith was added, so that Peter turned again to Christ in his heart—to Christ who doesn’t save the deserving, but the undeserving. And so Peter was restored and forgiven—forgiven as Peter applied to himself the words Jesus had spoken earlier that same evening, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

Then we have Judas, who may have believed in Christ at some point, though it seems he was never really sincere in his faith, never wanted Jesus as a Savior from sin. He was an impenitent thief, even before he chose to sell his Lord for thirty pieces of silver. He was so angry at Jesus’ kindness, like His kindness shown to Mary when she anointed Him with that costly perfume—that was the last straw. He was ready to be done with Jesus. So he sold Jesus to the highest bidder and betrayed the Son of Man with a kiss of phony friendship.

Luke doesn’t mention it, but the other Evangelists do: Judas was driven to remorse after he saw that his actions had led to Jesus’ death sentence. Apparently he thought it wouldn’t come to that. He was sorrowful over having betrayed innocent blood. But that wasn’t yet repentance, because he put no faith in that blood to cover his sins. He despaired of God’s mercy and imagined his sins to be more powerful, more important, more valuable than the blood of Christ. So he hanged himself and was condemned before God.

Then we have the thieves on the cross, both of whom were criminals, robbers, rebels, both of whom had been impenitent unbelievers, with no prior association with Jesus until they were hung beside Him on their own crosses. One of them, now facing imminent death for his trespasses, still wanted nothing to do with Jesus. He would rather go to hell than rely on the blood of Christ. But the other—the other sees the guiltless Lamb of God, or as the sign above His head read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,” and he believes and seeks pity and pardon from that King. And he receives it! He finally enters into Christ’s kingdom, even there on the cross, and has Paradise promised to him before the day’s end.

Four men—all sinners from birth. Four men—none of whom deserved anything from God but condemnation. One, a devout believer who stumbled severely, but repented and was received back again. One, a hypocrite who recognized his sin of betrayal but still didn’t look to Christ for forgiveness. One, a robber who never acknowledged his sin nor believed in Jesus. One, a robber who finally did acknowledge his sin and believed in Jesus.

Two of these men—Peter and the one robber—were eternally saved. The other two were eternally condemned. What was the difference? Was it the gravity of their sins against God? No, Peter’s denial of Christ was just as damnable as Judas’ betrayal, and the two robbers committed the same crimes. What was the difference? Was it the desire of God that two of the four be damned? No, for God says, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. What was the difference? Was it that Christ didn’t do enough to make up for sins of the two men? No, He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. What, then, was the difference? The difference was that Peter and the one robber were brought by the Holy Spirit to repentance, while Judas and the other robber resisted the working of the Holy Spirit, pointing them to Christ as their Savior. Two were saved by faith. Two were condemned in unbelief.

Who in the world isn’t like one of those four men? The believer who stumbles, the hypocrite who pretends to be a Christian but doesn’t believe, the heathen who is never converted and the heathen who finally is. Notice what we don’t have in the whole Passion History: the believer who never stumbles, the disciple who commits no sin. There is a lesson for us in this, and St. John summarizes it well in his first epistle: My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Always turn back to Him, your Advocate with the Father, if you do sin. Always know that God earnestly desires your repentance, not your death. And see in the Passion History how Jesus never, ever turned away the one who looked to Him for mercy, but always forgave, always restored. And He always will. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon for Holy Monday

+  Mark 14 – 15  +

The Passion History is so rich in teaching and meaning that we could spend the rest of our lives delving into it and we still wouldn’t cover it all. But consider with me this evening for just a moment Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

All alone the Son of God will bear the sins of the world. Before He does it, before He can do it, there’s something He must do: He has to pray. He prays: Abba, Father. “Abba” is just “Father” in Aramaic, the first language spoken by Jews at that time. St. Mark otherwise wrote in Greek, but here is this little Aramaic word thrown in to give us a glimpse into Gethsemane, to the first word that poured from Jesus’ lips, straight from the heart, in the agony of His soul. “Abba.” Father. No matter how painful the cross, no matter how difficult was the task before Him, Jesus knew that nothing could happen that was outside of the will and permission of His Father who loved Him as His dear Child and was well-pleased with His beloved Son. So Jesus knows His prayer will be heard and will be pleasing to His Father, because it is uttered in faith.

It’s the Spirit of Jesus who now makes sinners into children of God by bringing them to faith in Jesus. With the same love, with the same confidence, with the same boldness, you who believe in Christ are now invited to call upon God as your dear Father, even as Paul writes to the Romans, you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” Just like Jesus. No matter how painful the cross, no matter how difficult may be the task before you in this life, nothing is beyond your Father’s control, and nothing is too big or too small to ask.

All things are possible for You. That’s at the heart of every prayer, or it should be: that God has the power to do anything, from small to big, from simple to miraculous. That’s why it was a misguided prayer when the man once came to Jesus and said, “if You can do anything.” That’s just it: Jesus can do anything. His Father can do anything. It’s possible for God to make the sun stand still in the sky. Or to cause the storm to be stilled, or to make the dead rise. Surely it was possible for God the Father to thwart the betrayal of Judas and the plans of the murderous Jews. Surely He could save His Son from condemnation and from crucifixion and from death.

Take this cup away from Me. This cup, this course upon which Jesus had been placed by His Father, was, of course, the very reason why Jesus had taken on human flesh in the first place. This course of betrayal, condemnation, crucifixion and death had been laid out for the Son of God since before the foundations of the world were laid. He was, as John referred to Him in his Revelation, “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The Scriptures had to be fulfilled, and Jesus knew it. Indeed, Jesus had just a short time ago blessed the cup of the New Testament in His blood, which He had already given to His disciples to drink. He knew this cup was already poured out for Him. And yet still He prays, “Take it away from Me.”

That wasn’t a sinful prayer. It’s a prayer that shows us just how much Jesus dreaded what was coming, just how painful He knew it would be, just how much He would have to suffer to make atonement for the sins of the world. We shouldn’t imagine that Jesus approached the cross easily. He felt the temper’s temptation to drop the cross and walk away.

Jesus earnestly prayed, “Take this cup away from Me.” But He just as earnestly added: Nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will. Jesus wouldn’t put the cup down without His Father’s permission. See, there are levels of willing or wanting. You may want, on some level, to be at home right now resting or getting housework done. But more than that, you wanted to come here to hear the Word of Christ. So, too, Jesus wanted to avoid the cross. But more than that, He wanted to do His Father’s will, to obey His Father, to serve His Father, and in the process, to serve us. So, then, in the words of the writer to the Hebrews: let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

A final thought for this evening. Consider this: if your beloved son were about to be betrayed and innocently condemned and ruthlessly tortured and painfully slaughtered, and if it were possible for you to stop it, wouldn’t you? The only reason you wouldn’t is if you loved someone else more than your son, someone else who would benefit from your son’s death. You can’t even imagine that, can you? But see how great is the love of God toward us sinners, toward us who were His enemies and not even His sons. In order to spare us from death and hell, God refused to spare His Son. So we must conclude with St. Paul: He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? Because Jesus yielded to His Father’s will, the answer to that question is, No one! Amen.

Source: Sermons

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Sermon for Palmarum

Philippians 2:5-11  +  Matthew 21:1-9  +  Matthew 26-27

It’s good that we connect the beginning of Holy Week to the end of it, that we connect Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to His humiliating entry into the grave on Friday afternoon. That way, we learn to expect the right things from King Jesus.

It’s true that some people expect absolutely nothing from Jesus. They want nothing from Him except for Him to shut up and go away, because His unwavering truth and His unchanging moral Law nag at their consciences, and His Gospel of free forgiveness through faith in Him is repugnant to them. But He’ll never shut up and He’ll never go away. Jesus is the King, whether a person believes it or not, whether a person wants Him for a king or not. No one can remove Him from His well-earned throne—the throne at the right hand of God that is not only His by right, but His by merit, because He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.

Still, many people want or expect something different from this King than what He actually came to give. Some people see Him riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, and they want or expect an always-mild, never-offend-anyone, never-get-angry, let-you-go-on-living-in-sin kind of King. Such people should consider that immediately after riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Jesus went to the temple and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. The same Jesus warned those who rejected Him that they would see Him one day coming on the clouds of heaven for judgment.

Many people want or expect a make-the-world-a-better-place kind of King, or a make-my-life-better kind of king, or a make-me-feel-good kind of king. But you can’t honestly follow Jesus through Holy Week and pretend that Jesus fits that description. No, even if you got that impression from Palm Sunday and the celebration that accompanied it, you get to Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and you’re left with the glaring reality: That isn’t Jesus. His kingdom is not of this world. He’s not that kind of King.

What He is, is a King who knows the future like the palm of His hand, who knows where His disciples will find those donkeys tied up, who knows how He will be despised and hated, betrayed, arrested, condemned, tortured, ridiculed, crucified, dead, and buried by Friday afternoon, but still He sends for those donkeys that will transport Him into Jerusalem. Still He gets up on those donkeys and rides gently and humbly into the city, Jerusalem’s true King, righteous and having salvation.

What Jesus is, is a King who knows just how dark and evil the human heart is by nature, who knows your darkest thoughts and your vilest deeds, and yet still He rides into Jerusalem and walks resolutely toward Gethsemane, where He knows His betrayer will find Him. He chooses to drink the cup His Father gives—the cup that was yours and mine to drink.

What Jesus is, is a King who wasn’t ashamed to be dressed in a scarlet robe and a crown of thorns, to receive the mock-worship of Pilate’s soldiers, to make Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, a King who yielded to His Father’s will, obedient, obedient, obedient unto death, like a Lamb who went uncomplaining forth, the guilt of all men bearing, a King who, though He knew no sin, became sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

What we have in Jesus is the kind of King who earned eternal life for sinners by shedding His innocent blood on the cross, and then gives it all away—His body, His blood, and the forgiveness they earned—through a new Sacrament He instituted, a New Testament in His blood, that He instituted to be administered, not once or twice, but over and over and over again, as long as you have sins in this life that need forgiving, as long as you have need of the atoning blood of Christ. He gives it in Holy Communion.

This is your King, O Jerusalem, O Church of God: not a whatever-you-want-Him-to-be kind of King. But a Redeemer-King who purchased and won you from sin, death, and the power of the devil. A crucified-for-you-and-risen King, a standing-between-you-and-death kind of King. Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna in the highest! Amen.

Source: Sermons

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Sermon for Judica

Genesis 12:1-3  +  Hebrews 9:11-15  +  John 8:46-59

Today is known historically as “Passion Sunday.” That is, the Sunday on which we start preparing ourselves in earnest to consider Jesus’ suffering and death. We’ll be reading the Passion history from all four Gospels starting next Sunday, and continuing through the week. Today, we focus on one of those events that led to the suffering of Jesus. The Jews were already ready to kill Jesus after He spoke to them in our Gospel. They actually tried to stone Him to death on the spot, but His time had not yet come. Why did they hate Him so much? What did He do to make them so angry? He harmed no one. He broke no law. What they hated Him for, what they eventually crucified Him for, was for telling the truth, without blinking, without wavering or watering anything down, without compromise. Over the past couple of weeks many people in the political sphere have been praising the newly re-elected prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, for being such a bold, uncompromising leader. And politically, he may be an ally. But I tell you, Netanyahu is as much an enemy of Christ as were the Jews who opposed Him in today’s Gospel. And every Christian in this room is more of a son of Abraham and of Israel than 98% of those who live in Israel today.

To be a true son of Israel, or of Abraham, one must believe, not only in the God who made great promises to Abraham about the land that Abraham’s seed would inherit, but also in that same God who fulfilled His promise to Abraham by sending His Son Jesus, the Christ, in whom Abraham believed and rejoiced. You can’t separate this God from His promises about Christ. That’s what the Jews tried to do 2,000 years ago. They thought they could worship the God of Abraham while rejecting the Son of Abraham whom God had sent. It’s what modern followers of the Jewish religion still do, to their own eternal ruin. They pretend to believe in God, even while disbelieving God’s Son Jesus.

Impossible, Jesus says. If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. It’s just that simple. Those who do not love Jesus do not have God for a Father. In fact, Jesus says in the verses before our text that the Jews who didn’t believe in Him as the Christ had the devil for a father! People can list all the good things they have done in their life. But Christianity clearly teaches that all that does not come from faith in Christ is sin. And where there is faith in Christ, sin is not counted against a person at all.

Let’s consider some of the other things Jesus claimed about Himself: I honor My Father…I know Him. And I keep His Word. Jesus doesn’t just say that about Himself. Remember what the Father proclaimed at Jesus’ baptism and again at His transfiguration: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Of all the men born of women, only Jesus in all of history can claim to have perfectly honored God at all times and in all places, with all His heart, soul, mind and strength. Of all the men born of women, only Jesus can claim to perfectly know God the Father, because only Jesus has seen the Father and came from the Father’s bosom. Of all the men born of women, only Jesus can claim to have perfectly kept God’s Word, who became obedient to death, even the death of a cross. So only by faith in Jesus can anyone begin to honor God, know God, and keep God’s Word.

What else does Jesus claim about Himself? He says that God seeks glory for His Son, that the Father expects men to honor and glorify Jesus. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. The Father commands all men to worship Jesus. But do you know where that worship begins? It begins with repentance and faith. It begins with acknowledging your complete unworthiness before God, confessing your sins against God, including all the idols you have set up in your heart and life that compete with God’s honor and with God’s Word. And then faith in Jesus as the Redeemer, as the One sent by God, not to save good, decent people, but to save sinners, like you and me. This is Jesus’ true glory, to be the Savior of sinners, to suffer for the sins of the world, and to be believed on in the world. This is what the chorus of heaven also praises Jesus for continually: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!

The saints of God, the true children of Abraham, glorify Jesus with that song. But the Jews in our Gospel dishonored Jesus by their unbelief.

But Jesus continues to speak the truth to them: Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death. That’s a terrible warning to the Jews and to all those who refuse to keep Jesus’ word. They shall indeed see death! Because death is the wages of sin, and all have sinned. So the only way to defeat death is by dealing with the sin that causes it. But the only way to deal with sin is for God to forgive us our sins. But the only way for God to forgive us our sins is if there is a human sacrifice for human sin, and not just any human, but the One whom God provides as the sacrifice, His only-begotten Son, the Christ. God forgives us our sins through faith in Him. And so Jesus makes the tremendous promise, If anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.

What does that mean? It means you live forever. It means that, even though your body returns to the dust from whence it was taken, your soul doesn’t lie in the ground with your body, and your soul certainly doesn’t spend even a moment suffering or being tortured by the devil, but goes to rest with God. It means that, just as Christ once died and rose again, so all who die trusting in Him will also be raised again, body and soul, to live with Him forever.

The Jews thought such a promise revealed Jesus as an imposter, or as demon-possessed, because no one had ever conquered death, not Moses, not any of the prophets, not even their father Abraham. How could Jesus claim to conquer death? Was He actually claiming to be greater than their father Abraham?

Oh, yes He was. He was claiming to be the object of Abraham’s faith, the One in whom Abraham rejoiced, the Seed and Offspring of Abraham in whom all nations on earth would be blessed, and at the same time, the God of Abraham, the great I AM, Jehovah, Yahweh, the LORD and Creator of all. The Savior from sin, death, and the devil.

The Jews rejected Jesus’ words and hated Him all the more for these great claims He made for Himself. These same claims of Jesus are still rejected by modern Jews. And by Muslims. And by atheists. And most tragically, by many who still call themselves Christians. Make no mistake: there is only one true God, and He can only be approached through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. Those who refuse to repent and believe in Christ will perish eternally. But all who trust in Him will never be put to shame.

This Gospel is a strong and urgent warning to unbelievers, to repent before the day of salvation comes to an end. It’s also a warning to those Christians who have grown secure in their sins, as if they could honor Christ in their hearts while at the same time willfully dishonoring Him and His Word by refusing to come and hear the preaching of His Word or by stubbornly disobeying His other commandments. They, too, should repent before the day of salvation runs out. But this Gospel is pure comfort to the meek and penitent, to those know and believe that Jesus, in our Gospel, is telling the truth! See how He stands up for you! See how He refuses to back down in the face of opposition, but tells the truth boldly, even though He knows it will spur the Jews on to crucify Him. He didn’t tell the truth on that day for His own benefit, but for yours, so that you may know Him for what He truly is, the Son of Abraham, the Son of God, and the Destroyer of death.

A final warning is taken from today’s Gospel, not to be deceived by the plethora of people in the media or in the Evangelical, millenialist churches who claim some sort of spiritual alliance between the nation of Israel and Christians, who imagine some sort of significance for the modern nation of Israel in God’s plan of salvation. As I said at the beginning of the sermon, the true sons of Abraham are not the Jews who reject Christ, but the Christians who believe in Him, even as Abraham believed in Him based on the promise God gave to Abraham and his children forever. Watch out for those who claim that Christians and non-Christians worship the same God or are spiritually united with one another. We do not, and we are not. The truth of Christ, as He spoke it in today’s Gospel, is opposed to every other teaching and every other religion, and every teaching and every religion that opposes the truth of Christ is built on a lie. To say such things openly in today’s world is dangerous, and will often result in suffering for the Christian who says them. But today is Passion Sunday. As Christ was willing to suffer for our salvation, so we must be ready to suffer for His truth. But after suffering here for a little while, we have Christ’s promise of the end of suffering and victory over death, even as He suffered and then entered into glory. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon for Midweek of Laetare

2 Peter 1:2-11  +  John 6:36-51

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. I say those words to you, even as Peter once wrote them to the Christians scattered around the Roman empire. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. God’s grace and peace are directly connected to the knowledge of God the Father and of Jesus our Lord. There is no grace and there is no peace apart from that knowledge. With that knowledge, there is pure grace and peace. More than that, Peter says that all things that pertain to life and godliness come through that knowledge. Or as Jesus once prayed to the Father, This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.

What is this knowledge? What is it to “know God”? To know God is to believe in Him as the God who sent His divine Son into the flesh, so that, through His sacrificial death, sinners might be reconciled to God. This isn’t just head knowledge. It’s faith-knowledge. It’s knowing with confidence that Jesus is the Christ, the bread of life, whose flesh was given for the life of the world, even for your life.

How does a person come to have that faith-knowledge? Peter refers to the fact that God is the One who “called us” and has given us exceedingly great and precious promises. God has called us and made promises to us only in one place: only through the preaching of His Word by which He has made His will known to us, called us to repentance and faith in Christ, and promised us forgiveness of sins, life and salvation through His Son.

Through the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments, Jesus reveals Himself to us, even as He revealed Himself to the crowds in John 6. And those in whom the Holy Spirit creates faith are grafted into Christ and so become “partakers of the divine nature.” Not that we become “God,” but we do share in the eternal life of the Son of God, as we are made into members of His body.

As such, as members of the body of Christ who have received grace and peace and forgiveness from God, Peter calls on us to live our lives accordingly, giving all diligence, to add to your faith virtue. Literally, “Hurry up to add to your faith virtue.” Don’t let a moment go by, after having been brought to faith in Christ, without adding virtue to your faith. What is virtue? It’s a quality of God Himself. It’s moral excellence and goodness. To be virtuous is to love what is good and noble and right and to hate what is evil and sinful and wrong. Don’t spend any more time wallowing in the mud of the sins from which you were cleansed. Add virtue.

To virtue add knowledge. You have already come to know God. But you mustn’t be content to know Him just a little when He has given you 66 books of the Bible to study, to learn, to meditate on, when He has given you access to solid theological material in the Lutheran Confessions and multiple opportunities to hear the preaching of His Word. Christians are called upon to continually add knowledge to their knowledge.

To knowledge add self-control. Self-control is exactly what the world doesn’t want you to have. The world wants you to indulge in every craving, whether it’s buying stuff you don’t need or eating more food than you do need, or drinking too much or sleeping too much, or pursuing illicit sex or watching too much TV or playing too much on your devices. And your sinful flesh is more than happy to be led out of control by the world and its marketing schemes. But the Christian life is about daily bringing the Old Adam into submission by practicing self-control.

To self-control add perseverance: bearing up under adversity or hardship. Perseverance means that your hardship may not be over with quickly. And struggling with sin is certainly not over with quickly; it’s a lifelong endeavor. Don’t give up. Don’t despair. We have the exceedingly great promises of God to help us persevere.

To perseverance add godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Listen to how St. Peter describes the Christian life to which you have been called, a life of faith and love at all times, faith and love that should consume your thoughts, faith and love that are to keep growing and being multiplied as long as you live.

For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has brought you to this faith-knowledge of Christ with the same intent as a farmer who sows seed in his field, so that the seed can grow and produce abundant fruit. But he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble. Sin always accompanies the believer, but faith doesn’t let sin get the upper hand so that it rules and takes over. A believer in Christ always goes back to how God washed away his sins in Holy Baptism, and then, each day, drowns the Old Adam with his desires and puts on the New Man and strives to get rid of sin and to live according to God’s commandments. But where that isn’t taking place, faith has died. Here’s how the Apology of the Augsburg Confession puts it: Do good works in order that you may persevere in your calling, in order that you do not lose the gifts of your calling. They were given to you before, and not because of works that follow, and which now are kept through faith. Faith does not remain in those who lose the Holy Spirit and reject repentance. As we have said before (Article XII 1), faith exists in repentance.

And so, once again in this Lenten season, we come back to repentance as the daily calling of the Christian. To live in repentance is to know Christ and to flee to Christ for forgiveness, and to take seriously the will of Christ that His forgiven people should lead holy lives on earth, producing the fruits of faith with the help of His Holy Spirit. It is through repentance that an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon for Laetare

Isaiah 49:8-13  +  Galatians 4:21-31  +  John 6:1-15

The multitude of people had been with Jesus all day. He had actually gone to this side of the Sea of Galilee to spend some time alone with His disciples, but the crowds found out about it and followed Him, “because they saw the signs that He performed on the sick,” which they took as a sign that He would continue to heal the sick. He did. He had compassion on the people and preached to them all day about the kingdom of God and healed their diseases. Before He sent them away, Jesus had in mind one more sign for the people, and for His own disciples, and for us. So we turn our thoughts to the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Consider the Gospel carefully, because most of the people who saw the sign Jesus performed that day missed the point of it completely, to their eternal ruin.

St. John tells us that Jesus wanted to test the apostle Philip. So He asked Philip: Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat? Remember, when God tests His people, it always involves some sort of hardship. Here are five steps for dealing with hardship in a God-pleasing way:

(1) First, consider your problem. What is it that you lack? In Philip’s case, the problem was a lack of food for the 5,000+ people. Not that they would have starved if Jesus had sent them back into the villages without feeding them; they weren’t that far out of town. But it was a need, nonetheless. They needed to eat.

(2) Second, consider what means God has provided to solve your problem. The answer may be as simple as going to your pantry, or going to the store, or going to your neighbor for help. In Philip’s case, God had not provided any earthly means of getting food for so many people. There was absolutely nothing Philip or the other disciples could do to solve this particular problem.

(3) Third, remember the mighty acts of God and the merciful character of God. Remember the power and the goodness of Christ. Remember how He has solved similar problems in the past, especially as recorded in Holy Scripture. In Philip’s case, he had a solid example from Holy Scripture, how God had provided food miraculously for His people Israel at the time of Moses, giving them bread from heaven every day for 40 years. What’s more, Philip was one of those early disciples who had been there with Jesus at the wedding at Cana when Jesus had turned the water into wine. Surely He could do something similar here.

(4) Fourth, consider God’s promises. What has He promised to do? Let’s say you think your hardship is not having cable TV. Has God ever promised to provide you with cable TV? No. So don’t trust in Him to give you that, when He has never promised that. What has He promised? He has promised you your daily bread—what you need to sustain your body and life today. In Philip’s case, there was a promise hidden in Jesus’ question to him. It was Jesus Himself who asked, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” Since Jesus knew full well that they had no money to buy bread, Philip should have seen in Jesus’ question a promise to provide.

(5) And fifth, ask the Lord Christ for His help, based on what He has done and what He has promised to do, trusting in Him to provide what He has promised.

Keeping that in mind, what would have been the perfect answer on Philip’s part to Jesus’ question? “O Lord Christ, our money is useless to feed so many people. We have no earthly means of solving the problem. But God, through Moses, once provided bread from heaven for the hundreds of thousands of Israel. And You once provided wine for the wedding guests in Cana using only water. Would you consider performing a similar miracle for these people here?”

Now that would have been an answer! Instead, Philip got stuck on step #2: Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little. He correctly assessed the problem; he knew what they lacked. And he knew that God had not provided enough money to buy bread. But that’s as far as Philip went. He forgot about God’s saving acts in the past, he ignored Jesus’ implied promise to provide, and he failed to ask Jesus for help.

Philip’s failure was turned around by Christ into a blessing for the 5,000, and it serves as yet another example for us of the power and goodness of Jesus as He took those five loaves of bread and two fish and miraculously multiplied them so that there was more than enough for all the people to eat their fill of bread.

In the miracle itself, Jesus shows His willingness and ability to provide for our earthly needs at any time, by whatever means necessary. He urges us to do what Philip didn’t do on this occasion: to remember His saving acts, to consider His saving promises, and to ask for His help in every time of need.

But we dare not stop there! The 5,000 believed in Jesus up to that point—up to the point of looking to Him to satisfy their earthly needs. But they remained unbelievers when it came to their soul’s salvation. See what it says at the end of the Gospel? Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

The multitudes who saw the sign and benefited from Jesus’ miraculous gift of bread and fish wanted nothing more from Jesus than earthly bread. They failed to recognize their spiritual need. They thought they had the means to approach God on their own, by their own works. That becomes even clearer on the next day when they followed Jesus to the other side of the Sea of Galilee and then turned away from Him when He wanted to give them the greater gift of Himself as their Savior from sin.

So learn from Jesus’ sign of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Learn how to handle earthly hardships rightly. But more importantly, learn to look for greater signs than bread—greater signs for your greater spiritual needs.

(1) First, consider your problem. What do you lack? By nature, you lack God’s approval, God’s righteousness, God’s favor. By nature, all you have is sins, and you lack the ability to atone for them. Apart from Christ, your sins will condemn you. That’s a real problem, an urgent problem. As Jesus once said, What good is it for a man to gain the world yet forfeit his soul? What good is it if you have a good family and plenty of money if God is angry with you? You’re a sinner. That’s your problem.

(2) Second, what means has God provided to deal with this problem? God hasn’t provided any way for you to save yourself. All the good works in the world couldn’t make up for your sins. All you can do is admit that you are poor and needy before God, that you have sinned against Him and deserve only His wrath and punishment.

(3) Third, remember the mighty acts of God and the merciful character of God. Remember the power and the goodness of Christ. What has God done about your sins in the past? Remember Jesus Christ and Him crucified. For this He came into the world: to save sinners. To bear the sins of the world. To suffer for them. To die for them. To make atonement for them. For all of them. He did make atonement for them. It is finished. And He applied that atonement and forgave sins to all who trusted in Him.

(4) Fourth, consider God’s promises. What has He promised to do? For the sake of Christ alone, God has promised to forgive you your sins, too, to wash you clean, to save you and to grant you eternal life. For Christ’s sake God has promised to make you a part of that “Jerusalem above” that St. Paul talked about in Galatians 4, the Jerusalem above that is free, no longer a slave to sin, death, and the power of the devil. By faith in Christ you enter that spiritual Jerusalem, which is the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints.

That’s a promise; it requires faith, which God has also promised to give through Word and Sacrament. He has attached His promise of salvation and forgiveness to water and called it Baptism. He has attached His promise of salvation and forgiveness to the word of Absolution. He has attached His promise of salvation and forgiveness to bread and wine and called it Communion. These are the greater signs God has given for your greater needs, your spiritual needs. And just as you need food for your body on a regular basis, so also you need these spiritual gifts on a regular basis. Even more so, because your body will eventually give out, no matter how well you feed it. But the spiritual food that God gives in the Means of Grace will prevent your soul from ever dying.

(5) Finally, ask the Lord Christ for His help, based on what He has done and what He has promised to do, trusting in Him to provide what He has promised. Seek His help, and not only with your bodily, earthly needs. Seek His forgiveness where He has promised to forgive: in the Means of Grace. Pray the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer—all of them—and know that you are heard for the sake of Christ. Approach this altar in faith, to be fed by your Savior from sin.

All that you need, Christ has provided, and will provide. Only be careful not to turn away from Him, as the majority of the 5,000 did on the day after they were fed. They didn’t want Jesus as a Savior from sin, only as a Savior from hunger. Keep following Him, and He will continue to give you the living Bread from heaven, even as He has already brought you into His holy Church and has caused you to “rejoice with Jerusalem” in the goodness and mercy of Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon for Midweek of Oculi

+  Revelation 2:1-7  +

At the end of the first century AD, Christian churches everywhere were surrounded by pagans and by a depraved society, increasingly persecuted by the government and by other religions, with more and more false teachers around claiming to have the true apostolic doctrine, always under attack from the evil one, always tempted, always in danger, always bearing the weight of the sinful flesh and of the cross. Churches everywhere were struggling in one way or another. In many ways, the Church then is no different from the Church now.

So before the last apostle, the Apostle John, died, the Lord Jesus spoke one final Word to His Church until He returns again in glory at the end of the age. One final Word that would help His Church on earth to weather all the storms of the coming centuries, one final piece of the Scripture puzzle by which He would continue to rebuke, correct, admonish and encourage His dear Christians of all ages. Jesus spoke to John the words contained in the Book of Revelation, words that were addressed to seven churches in Asia Minor, but words that were meant for the whole Church to hear. Of those words of Revelation, one short letter was addressed to each of the seven churches. Together, those seven letters address all the needs that Christian churches in the future would face.

We have before us the letter to the church that was in Ephesus, and there we see plenty of application to our church, too.

To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:

Just a few verses earlier, Jesus Himself identified these stars and lampstands for us. The seven stars are the seven angels, the seven messengers, the seven bishops or pastors of the seven churches. And the seven golden lampstands are the seven churches.

See where the pastors are in relation to Jesus? He holds them in His right hand. They are solemnly charged with the task of caring for Christ’s Church on earth by means of His Word and His Sacraments. They are the voice of Christ to His people and must be regarded as such, and they must give an account to the One who holds them in His right hand.

See where Jesus is in relation to the churches? Even though we don’t see Him, He’s walking back and forth among the seven golden lampstands. Even though we don’t see Him, Jesus is true to His promise that wherever two or three come together in his name, there He is in the midst of them. Here He is in our midst. He knows what’s going on in our church and in the life of each member. What a comfort that is when we’re afflicted! What a warning that is when we wander away from Him!

I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.

Jesus is speaking directly to the pastor here using singular forms of “you” and “your.” Jesus expects from and praises in His pastors the qualities He mentions here: hard work in the ministry, labor, patience, no tolerance for those who are evil, testing and exposing the false teachers, perseverance, patience, serving for the sake of Christ’s name, and not growing weary.

But what Jesus says to the pastor also has implications for the flock he shepherds, and we can assume that the members were on the same page as their pastor in all these things, agreeing with the doctrine he taught, helping and supporting him in fighting for the truth and persevering under trial; helping and supporting him as he carried out his ministry, as he warned those who sinned and excommunicated the impenitent; and as He comforted and absolved the penitent.

Jesus adds this later, this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

We know little about the Nicolaitans, except that they lived lives of unrestrained indulgence: in food and in sex. Things that God’s Law condemns, they counted as adiaphora, things that Christians could engage in if they wanted to. Sounds like what our country has turned into, even what many so-called Christian churches have turned into.  The pastor and the church in Ephesus were rightly appalled by the unrestrained wickedness of those people. They hated it, just as Jesus also hates it. Remember this passage when false teachers falsely portray Jesus as so “loving” that He permits all kinds of deviant behavior.

So all these things, Jesus expects from the preachers of the Word, and also from the hearers of the Word. He sees when His people are being faithful in their vocations, when they are working hard for His kingdom and when they are enduring hardship and trials with patience. He commends His people for hating the evil deeds of the wicked. He commends His people for being intolerant of evil people and for being strict when it comes to doctrinal correctness.

Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

Thirty years earlier, when the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, here’s what he said about their love: “Ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you.” The Ephesians’ love for their fellow believers, both in Ephesus and in all the world, had been a well-known fact in the 60’s AD. But by the 90’s AD, their pastor’s love, and, presumably, the love of the congregation as a whole, had grown cold. They had forsaken it. They had become cold-hearted toward other Christians, and perhaps also toward the poor and needy.

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.

Jesus is serious about doctrine. He’s also serious about His pastors and His people loving one another from the heart. Love means that the well-being of your fellow believers comes before your own, and that sometimes means saying the hard thing, practicing unpleasant discipline, even jeopardizing your relationship with them because their souls matter more than their friendship. Love means living for the good of your fellow believer, even if it’s not good for you. Love means you spend your day figuring out how you can be a blessing to your church and then carrying it out, rather than waiting for your church to be a blessing to you. That’s love.

Is that you? Is that how Jesus would describe you? Remember, he walks among the lampstands. He sees, both the actions of the hand and the motivations of the heart. It’s a common occurrence for Christians to fall down in this regard.

So hear the voice of Christ calling out, “Repent!” Admit that your heart, apart from Christ, is a loveless place, a selfish place. And if that lovelessness has gained the upper hand in your heart and has spilled over into your actions and your words, then admit that, too, and repent before it’s too late, before this church is removed by Jesus from its place.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” 

It’s not too late! The voice of Jesus still calls out in this preaching of the Word. Do you hear Christ calling you to diagnose your lovelessness and to mourn over it? Then mourn! Do you hear His promise of forgiveness and eternal life in the paradise of God to him who overcomes by faith in Christ, who shed His blood for these sins? Then trust! Do you hear His call to return to the works of deep and devoted love that mark Christ and the followers of Christ? Then return to them! Hear what the Spirit says to the churches, and you will be eternally blessed. Amen.

Source: Sermons

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Sermon for Oculi

2 Samuel 22:1-7  +  Ephesians 5:1-9  +  Luke 11:14-28

We’re presented in the Gospel with the reality of demons. It’s the third week in a row we’ve considered Christ’s power over the devil and his kingdom of darkness, as Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, and then He healed the demon-afflicted daughter of the Canaanite woman. Today He not only drives out a demon, but is accused of having one Himself.

It’s frightening to think of this kingdom of darkness being all around us, of devils or demons and their dark power. And don’t imagine that I’ll tell you this morning that the devil is powerless or that you have nothing to fear from him. He isn’t, and you do. Today’s Gospel is an urgent warning to unbelievers, who still remain in the devil’s kingdom and whose souls still remain under the influence of the devil, whether or not their bodies are possessed; and it’s also a warning to believers, that you should not take for granted the redemption that Christ has given you from the devil’s kingdom, lest you sweep the Holy Spirit out of your hearts and allow the devil to return with vengeance. The devil may not possess people as he did in Jesus’ day, but the devil is still your enemy.

Jesus shows His power over the devil at the beginning of our Gospel as He drives out the demon from the man who was blind and mute (Matthew adds that he was blind as well as mute). Jesus released that poor man from the torment he was suffering at the hands of the devil. That’s the kind of Savior He showed Himself to be: merciful, with divine power over sickness, over nature, and also over the spiritual forces of evil, never receiving anything for the help He gave to the sick, just lending His help to everyone who came to Him for it.

As Matthew tells us, these miracles, especially His power over the demons, were causing people to wonder, “Could this Jesus be the Son of David? Could He be the Christ?” Of course, they were right. But the Pharisees’ hearts were hard, and they didn’t want the people putting their faith in Jesus. So they had to come up with a blasphemous accusation to brand Him with. He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven.

For the sake of the believers and those who would believe, Jesus chose to answer those accusations. He didn’t want to leave them wondering if, just maybe, the Pharisees were right. Because if someone starts to believe that Jesus is on the side of the demons, then he is lost. You can’t believe in Jesus as the Son of God and wonder if He might be the ally of the devil at the same time. It’s either one or the other. There are only two sides in this great war.

First, Jesus points out how foolish the accusation was that He was driving out demons while at the same time working with the demons. Demons don’t drive out demons. Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. If Satan has turned against himself, if the demons are fighting with one another, then Satan’s kingdom will fall apart and you have nothing to fear from him. Ah, but his kingdom is not falling apart. It is strong, and his demon allies are perfectly united in their hatred toward God and in their purpose to keep men trapped in their dark kingdom, or to entice those who have entered God’s kingdom to fall away.

Secondly, Jesus answers those who were looking for a sign from heaven. He challenges them, By whom do your sons cast the demons out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Matthew tells us that when Jesus cast out demons, the people marveled and said, “This has never been seen in Israel!” The Jews had no power over the demons. But now Christ is here, driving them out one after another by “the finger of God,” or as Matthew says, “by the Spirit of God.” You want a sign from heaven that Jesus comes from God? Look at His power over the demons! And beware, because if only Jesus has the power to drive out demons, then those who turn away from Jesus will be running right into the demons’ open arms.

We should not envision the devil as being stupid or weak. Far from it. Jesus describes him as a “strong man,” fully armed, who guards his own palace, whose goods are in peace. No man on earth can stand up to the devil or defeat him, or escape from his well-guarded palace, or rescue those who are held prisoner there, which is all people by nature. This is Jesus’ third argument against the Pharisees. What Jesus is doing on earth is not helping the devil to gain a kingdom. He already has a kingdom! And he doesn’t need any help holding onto it. No man can defeat him! Instead, Jesus has come to the earth because He is the one and only Person who is stronger than the devil. He is the Son of God. And He has come to earth to redeem sinful men from the devil’s kingdom, to tie up the devil so that he can no longer accuse or hold captive those who trust in Christ, the Stronger Man. Christ has come to destroy the devil’s power by giving His own life on the cross. So again, those who trust in Christ are delivered out of the kingdom of darkness and placed in the kingdom of Christ. But those who reject Christ remain trapped in the house of the devil.

Now a warning: He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters. To be with Christ is to trust in Him for help against our great enemies: sin, death, and the devil. To gather with Christ is to hear His Word and to do His works, to serve the people of Christ in His holy Church, and to show the love of Christ to the world. Make no mistake, there is no middle ground when it comes to Jesus. There is no half-hearted Christianity. There is either faith that works in love and obedience to Christ, or there is unbelief. See how urgent it is to heed Christ’s call to come to Him for rest and for mercy. Those who believe in Him are safe from the devil. Those who reject Christ are on the devil’s side, even though they would never admit such a thing. People often speak of there being many paths to God. Jesus says, anyone who doesn’t believe in Me is and remains God’s enemy.

Jesus then issues a final warning. He describes what we cannot see, what a demon does when it’s cast out. It wanders around for awhile, and then returns to its former home. And if he finds it swept and put in order, he brings along seven other spirits more wicked than himself, so that the last state of that man is worse than the first. In other words, if the demon finds that your heart is vacant, without the Holy Spirit dwelling there, he will move back in. This isn’t just a warning to those who have been possessed by a demon and then been exorcized. It’s also a warning to those who hear the Gospel, which drives out the demon and brings with it the Holy Spirit, but then they grow tired of hearing it. They return to sin, like a dog returns to its vomit, and they walk away from the Church and from the ministry of the Word. In doing that, they drive out the Holy Spirit Himself from their hearts—what a terrible power God has allowed men to have! And so they invite the demons back in. The writer to the Hebrews issues the same kind of warning: For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

You see, God isn’t playing around here. The Christian faith is a matter of life or death. You have no power to save yourself from the devil’s kingdom. But God gave His Son for you to rescue you from sin, death, and the devil. He gives His Spirit to you in this Word and in the Sacraments to convict you of sin and to show you the goodness of Jesus, to bring you to faith in Him, to forgive you your sins, and to keep you firm in the faith. Listen to His words and take heed to His warning. And then, as Paul says, be imitators of God as dear children.

Finally, at the end of the Gospel, a woman from the crowd makes a pious-sounding statement, thinking she’ll impress Jesus with it: Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You! How foolish! What is it to you if the Virgin Mary is blessed, or if Christ Himself is blessed? Christ wasn’t speaking to the crowds that day so that they could dwell on the blessedness of other people. More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it! Christ taught the people so that they themselves could hear His Word and be blessed. In the same way, right now, Christ is teaching you, so that you may hear His word, believe it, and keep it, and be blessed forever. It does you no good against the devil to think of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or even to think of how strong and powerful Jesus is. What does you good, is to believe that that strong Lord Jesus came to redeem you from the devil’s kingdom by His holy, precious blood, and to bring you into His kingdom through Holy Baptism, and to keep you in His Kingdom, through His Word and Sacraments. He wants for you to be blessed, and as you hear and keep His Word as the treasure of your heart, you will be.

There are demons all around. The devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. He is strong. Jesus is stronger. Call on Him who is stronger. And sing confidently with David, as his words are recorded in today’s First Lesson, I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies. From all your enemies, including the devil. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon for Midweek of Reminiscere

James 5:13-20  +  Mark 9:17-29

Tonight, in both of our Scripture readings, God turns our attention to prayer. Prayer, Jesus says, is the only way to deal with certain afflictions, like the demon possession He dealt with in the reading from Mark. Not for Jesus—He is God; He didn’t need to pray or fast to cast out that demon. But his disciples need to pray. We need to pray. And this time of Lent is an ideal time to recommit ourselves to an active, daily practice of prayer.

In fact, James paints a broad picture of the Christian life in his epistle as a life prayer.

First, he speaks to Christians in their day to day life, both in times of sorrow and in times of joy. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Simple advice. Advice that every Christian knows to follow. But the sinful flesh doesn’t like to pray, even in times of trouble. The flesh turns to other remedies or other coping mechanisms when you’re suffering in some way: to drinking, to eating, to self-medicating in some other way, to complaining and worrying and arguing and fighting and figuring it out all on your own. And all the while, your Father, the Almighty ruler of the universe, stands ready, 24/7, to listen and to keep listening, and to help in just the right way. Pray. Pray without ceasing. And trust that your prayers mean something to God, who has called you into communion with His own dear Son. Trust that He will hear and act. Deliver us from evil!

Or, in times of joy, again James says, “Let him sing psalms.” James isn’t referring to humming a little tune, or singing along to the radio, but to the specific kind of singing that we find in the Book of Psalms, songs that are, really, prayers to God, prayers of thanksgiving and praise. Because if you have your daily bread and your heart is glad for it, that came from God. Sing or say a prayer of thanksgiving! It will not go unheard.

Christians can pray those prayers at any time, wherever you are, all by yourself. The Lord’s Prayer is a model for such prayers.

There is another kind of prayer that James refers to that you can’t pray on your own. Instead, he instructs Christians to go seek the “elders of the church.” And throughout the New Testament, when it says, “elders,” it’s always referring to pastors, to those who have been called and ordained to preach the Word of God and administer His Sacraments. He’s directing Christians to the ministry of the Word.

James says, Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

What is he talking about there? There are two things, really. When Jesus sent out His apostles, He gave them special, miraculous gifts, including healing the sick. In Mark 6, it says that they went out and preached that people should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them. This anointing with oil was an outward sign that accompanied the special gift of healing in the early Church. So James is instructing the Christians at his time to make use of this gift and how to make use of it: by going to the pastors when they were sick, having the pastors pray over them and anoint them with oil, as the apostles did when they healed the sick.

But that gift of healing wouldn’t last forever. The miraculous signs that accompanied the preaching of the apostles came to an end after the age of the apostles. Speaking in tongues, prophesying future events, healing miracles—they all ceased in the Church after the Gospel was confirmed. We have no permanent command from God to anoint with oil, and we have no permanent promise from God that He will miraculously heal when the pastor prays over you.

Incidentally, this is where the papists get their “extreme unction,” which they call a sacrament, where they perform the “last rites” and anoint the dying person with “holy oil,” as if this offered some special forgiveness that you couldn’t get until you’re on your deathbed. Nowhere in the context of James is this applied to last rites for the dying. On the contrary, James says that the sick person will get better!

But not everything James discusses here has passed away. On the contrary, outward sickness is always a reminder of the sin that infects everyone in this world, and Christians still have the instruction to go to their pastors, confess their sins, pray in faith for God to forgive them, and hear the preaching of the Word. Pastors still have the instruction to pray for the sinners who come to them, to teach God’s Word and to speak absolution to the penitent. And God still promises to forgive sins through the ministry of the Word and to hear the prayer of faith. Going to church is still an essential part of the prayer life of the Christian.

Finally, James gives instructions about how Christians are to deal with one another. Confess your trespasses to one another, he says, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. Confess your trespasses to one another. Jesus put it another way. He said, “If you remember that your brother has something against you…go and be reconciled to your brother.” That’s a command from Jesus. If you know that you hurt your fellow Christian—parent, spouse, brother, sister, pastor, fellow member—you are instructed to go and confess your trespasses to that person. And, if you are the one who was sinned against, then, if your brother comes and repents, you are commanded by Jesus to forgive him. And then, pray for one another. It’s so simple, really, but it’s something that Christians are sometimes slow to do. Instead, we let Satan persuade us to live in discord and disharmony, with bitterness and anger and with offenses that we let fester instead of dealing with them. That path leads to death, because refusing to say you’re sorry to your fellow Christian or refusing to forgive the one who repents drives out faith and the Holy Spirit.

As we deal with our fellow Christians, James has one last encouragement in our text: Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. This is yet another part of the Christian life that is “hard.” Approaching a brother who sins and “wanders from the truth.” Our culture tells us not to “judge.” But God expects us to judge if someone has wandered from the truth, and James highlights the immeasurable blessing of a Christian who turns back the wandering brother to the truth of Christ and to repentance. Not as if you have the power to make someone repent or return. Only the Holy Spirit has that power. But you have the power to speak to those whom you know to be wandering, to point out their error and to plead with them to return.

And above all, you most certainly have the power and the privilege to pray for them, as we pray often in our General Prayer for “those who have erred and gone astray from the faith of their Baptism,” or as we pray in the Litany, “to bring into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived.”

Are such prayers good for anything? Are your prayers when you’re suffering or when you’re giving thanks valuable? Are your prayers of faith for forgiveness useful and do your pastor’s prayers do anything for you? Yes, James says! The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

This is the Christian life. A life filled with suffering, and yet with reasons to rejoice. A life in which sin will always be present, but so will repentance and faith and the ministry of the Word and forgiveness. A life in which we will always have needs, but also a life in which our heavenly Father has invited us to pray to Him in every situation, in every need. Let us all, young and old, learn to pray more and more, and to make prayer as much a part of our life as breathing. The Christian life is a life of prayer. Amen.

Source: Sermons