4th Commandment

4^th Commandment - July 6, 2016

Honor thy father and thy mother that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God that we may not despise our parents and masters, nor provoke them to anger, but give them honor, serve and obey them, and hold them in love and esteem.

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As we see in the 10 Commandments, God’s law is divided into two tables.  The first table teaches us our duty to love God.  The second table teaches us our duty to love our neighbor.  To love God requires that we fear him and trust him.  To fear him is to acknowledge that he made us and that he is right to hold us to his holy standards.  To trust him is to have confidence toward him that he will deal with us as he has promised in his word.  This is what it means to love God.  It is both to fear and to trust him so that we have no other god, so that we call upon him in all trouble, and so that we gladly hear his word. 

Augustana

Nehemiah 8:1-2, 5-6, 9-13, 1 Timothy 6:11-16, Matthew 10:26-33

Augustana Service - St. Paul Lutheran Church, Bennett, IA - June 25, 2016

The Joy that Is Set before You

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The joy of the Lord is your strength.  These words from Nehemiah 8 are one of those beautiful Bible passages that are very easily marketed.  So much can be said in such a short pithy statement.  Years ago, I was given a coffee mug with this verse on it.  I still like it.  What a wonderful thing to read or hear – that even when you are weak, your strength is found in the joy you have in the Lord who saves you!  There is no other strength you need. 

But like with many one-liner Bible passages, if it can fit on a coffee mug or a bumper sticker, it is liable to be taken way out of context.  As you no doubt heard last Sunday, the words of Jesus, “Judge not, and you will not be judged,” have a wildly different meaning than what most people assume.  We should beware of when Bible passages are used as clichés in order to contradict what the Bible actually teaches us, “for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain”  (Ex. 20:7). 

St. Matthew's

Matthew 9:9-13 - St. Matthew the Apostle & Evangelist - September 21, 2014
Jesus Is Our Merciful Physician

As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. 

Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

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Christ gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.  He gave them for the Church.  We continue to benefit from the ministry of the apostles, prophets, and evangelists through Holy Scripture.  God commanded them to speak his words and for some to commit them to writing for our sake.  He gave them his Spirit to work in them and through them.  We hear and read the words they recorded and receive them as from God himself, because they are from God himself.  The Bible is a gift from Jesus. 

Jesus sends ministers today to teach us the Bible. 

John the Baptist

Luke 1:57-80 - Nativity of John the Baptist - June 24, 2012 

Serving God Without Fear

Six months before Jesus’ birth, John the Baptist was born to prepare his way.  Six months from today is Christmas Eve.  And so today, on June 24, we celebrate the nativity of the greatest prophet and preacher who ever lived.  Of course John’s ministry didn’t begin until he was much older, but even before he grew and became strong in spirit the events surrounding his birth tell us quite a bit about his mission as the prophet of the Most High.  These recorded events also teach us about our duty always to listen to what God says. 

Pentecost 14

Matthew 15:21-28- Pentecost 14- September 11, 2011 

  Great Faith Holds onto Jesus Words

Jesus met a Gentile woman while traveling with His disciples in non-Jewish land.  Well, at least it was inhabited by non-Jews.  It was actually part of the land of Canaan that God had long ago promised to Abraham – to give to him and to his children as an inheritance forever (Gen. 12ff.).  Now, if the children of Israel had simply done what God had told them to do, there would not have been any Gentiles left in this land by the time Jesus walked through it.  They would have been completely driven out.  That’s what God commanded them to do.  But rather than faithfully establishing the true worship of God in all the land, instead the children of Israel disobeyed God, and inter-married with the Canaanites, and even worshipped their false gods.  Most of the Old Testament was written to respond in one way or another to this particular disobedience on the part of God’s chosen people.  Therefore, even up to the days of Jesus, the very presence of someone living in the land of Canaan who was not Jewish served as a constant reminder not only that their fathers had greatly sinned against God, but also that God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants had yet to be fully realized.  Many expectations of the long-awaited Messiah that God promised revolved around re-possessing and ruling this land, and purging it of all Gentile contamination.  

God chose Abraham by grace alone.  He could have chosen someone else.  He could have chosen among the Europeans or the Asians or Africans.  But He didn’t.  He chose Abraham, and He called him out of the land of Ur, by grace alone. 

There was nothing about Abraham that made him more worthy to be chosen than any other individual person or nation in the world.  He wasn’t more likable or electable than anyone else.  God elected Abraham, and, through the promise He made to him, worked faith in his heart, solely by grace.  And so it is with us.  We are saved by grace alone.  There is nothing about you that makes God like you more than the unbeliever.  The fact that you believe the Gospel does not indicate that there is something more worth saving and redeeming and dying for in you that is somehow lacking in others.  No.  It indicates that in His abundant mercy, God took pity on you, a sinner. 

Pentecost 12

Matthew 14:22-33- Pentecost 12- September 4, 2011 

  The Presence, the Power, and the Promise of God

 This morning, our Gospel reading picks up where last week’s Gospel reading left off, and begins with Jesus saying goodbye.  After He had miraculously fed over 5000 people, it was finally time for everyone to go his own way.  He sent His disciples across the Sea of Galilee in a boat, and He sent the well-satisfied crowds to their own homes.   Jesus said goodbye.  We do the same thing when we go our own ways after having spent time together.  We say goodbye.  And with our goodbyes, we send off those whom we love with a certain part of ourselves along with them, even if it’s nothing more than the fond memory of when we were together.  To say goodbye for us is to say, in a certain sense, I will still be with you. 

It is interesting to look at how goodbye is spoken in other languages that have been influenced by Christianity over the centuries.  In French, for example, they say Adieu.  In Spanish, they say Adios.  In German they say Tschüss.  In English we say Goodbye.  All of these words mean, and derive from, the same thing: God be with you.  What an appropriate blessing to give someone when you have to go your separate ways.  God be with you.  This is even better than saying to someone, “I will be with you,” because God is much stronger than we are.  God can protect.  God can guide.  His abiding presence is much more than just a fond memory.  It is good for God to be with us, because with God’s presence, there is also God’s almighty power.  Let us consider this, because in order for us to truly benefit from the presence and power of God, WE also NEED TO know THE PROMISE OF GOD in Christ.   

Pentecost 11

Matthew 14:13-21- Pentecost 11- August 28, 2011 

  The Love of God is Always Found in Christ

Frequently in the four Gospels, we hear of Jesus withdrawing someplace by Himself alone.  He did this often in order to pray, or to instruct His disciples, or sometimes even just to rest.  The Gospel reading for this morning begins by saying, “When Jesus heard this, He withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by Himself.”  What Jesus had just heard is explained right before our text begins.  Jesus had just heard that John the Baptist had been beheaded by King Herod.  Herod had married his own brother’s wife, which was a sin. Leviticus 20:21 reads: “If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing.”  John was a prophet.  So he told Herod what no one else wanted to tell him.  And he suffered for doing the right thing.  John probably knew that his rebuke would likely do no good.  He probably knew furthermore that it would bring him into great danger to confront such a powerful and crooked man.  But he did it anyway.  

He took this great risk because he was convinced of three things.  First, of course, John was convinced that Herod was a sinner who needed to be called out on his sin.  Second, John was convinced that Jesus was his Savior.  He knew that the message of all the prophets before him, and the subject of his own preaching, was fulfilled in the object of his own faith.  He pointed to Jesus with his own finger calling Him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  That’s what faith does it points to Jesus and says behold the Lamb of God who takes my sin away too.  And whatever doubts John might have had while he was languishing in prison were answered by Jesus Himself through messengers, saying, “Go tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.”  And this brings us to the third thing that John the Baptist was convinced of: that nothing, not even death, could separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus his Lord.  THE LOVE OF GOD IS ALWAYS FOUND IN CHRIST.  

Pentecost 10

Matthew 13:44-52 - Pentecost 10 - August 21, 2011 

  We Value What God Calls Valuable

Have you ever expressed a deeply held conviction to someone only to hear that person say in response, “I value your opinion,” and then immediately proceed to disagree with what you just said?  It’s really kind of silly, isn’t it?  If this person valued your opinion, he must not have valued it very highly.  Oh it’s worth something, I suppose; it’s just not worth agreeing with.  Such reassurance that someone values what you have to say is essentially meaningless if that person will not also admit that what you have said is true.  We value what is true.  For example, I value my wife telling me that she loves me.  I love to hear it.  I regard such assurance of my wife’s love as precious and valuable, not because I believe that perhaps she doesn’t really love me.  No, it’s precisely the opposite; it’s because I believe she does.  It’s the same for all of you have someone that you care about.  We value what is good and true.  We don’t value what is insincere or false.  

But in this world where the concept of truth and goodness is as subjective and temporary as teenage clothing styles, people like to talk about what they value instead of speaking clearly about what is true and false, or about what is right and wrong.  Everyone, we are told, is entitled to, his or her own values.  And what you value might be a little less valuable to someone else.  It is all subjective.  We have American values, Iowa values, rural, urban, and suburban values, Christian values, Islamic values, conservative, liberal and secular values, and the list goes on.  Somehow all of these “values” are supposed to coexist side by side without any contradiction.  But the moment you claim to have the truth is the moment that you are accused of imposing your values on others.  Value is regarded as solely in the eye of the beholder.  Rarely is something regarded as in and of itself worth believing.  It’s all subjective.  

We see an example of this today in discussions regarding the value of human life.  The fifth commandment plainly tells us not to murder.  There is an intrinsic value to human life that God requires of us to recognize and respect and defend.  All human life is valuable.  This includes the helpless little baby inside his mother’s womb just as much as one who is newly born.  It includes the elderly woman who requires constant assistance to stay alive just as much as a healthy young man full of promise.  It does not matter if someone’s life does not appear very useful or full of potential.  The value of human life does not depend on our evaluation.  It depends on God’s evaluation.  He is the Lord and giver of life.  Our duty, therefore, to help, and defend our neighbor does not stem from how we feel about our neighbor.  It is a duty given to us by God who made each one of us.  God endows mankind with dignity not because of some virtue that can be found in man, but by virtue of the fact that God created man in His own image.  When God calls something precious, that settles it.  WE VALUE WHAT GOD CALLS VALUABLE.  

Pentecost 9

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43- Pentecost 9 - August 14, 2011 

  God's Word Is Fruitful

The 13^th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew contains a section of Jesus’ words known as the “Kingdom of Heaven Parables.”  Last week we heard Jesus compare good seeds to the kingdom of heaven.  This week, He compares these same good seeds to the sons of the kingdom of heaven.  You can see the connection.  Last week, Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to the word of the Gospel.  This week, He compares the sons of the kingdom of heaven to Christians who hear and believe the Gospel.  We see here the relationship between the word of God and Christians.  The one produces the other.  The other depends on the one.  GOD’S WORD IS FRUITFUL in that it creates Christian faith.  

Christians rely on the Gospel.  Just as the word of God comes from God, so also Christians come from God.  St. Peter tells us that we have “been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”  This is why we hold the word of God sacred.  This why we gladly hear and learn it – because we become children of God through it.  Our faith is the fruit of the Gospel.  St. James writes, “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”  GOD’S WORD IS FRUITFUL in that it creates faithful Christians.  

Pentecost 8

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 - Pentecost 8 - August 7, 2011 

 Christians Listen to the Word of God

Why do you go to church?  Perhaps you have been asked this question before.  Maybe you have even asked yourself this question.  It’s a good question to learn how to answer.  Do you go to church because you are a Christian?  Or do you go to church in order to be a Christian?  The answer is, of course, yes.  It is both.  

We go to church, first, in order to be Christians – in order to hear the word of God that teaches us both our need for God’s mercy as well as how God has had mercy on us through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.  God’s gracious word of pardon and peace creates Christian faith in our hearts to trust in God and to rely upon everything that He tells us.  We go to church in order to become Christians, because the Gospel makes us Christians.  

We also go to church because we are Christians.  As adopted children of God through Holy Baptism, we love to hear every word that proceeds from the mouth of Him who saved us.  Upon His words our souls find nourishment and eternal life.  And we know that part from His word, our faith will starve and die.  We go to churches where we hear the word of God preached in its truth and purity and receive the Sacraments according to Christ’s institution; and we mark and avoid churches that do not.  We do this because we are Christians.  That’s what we do.  CHRISTIANS LISTEN TO THE WORD OF GOD.  

Pentecost 7

Matthew 11:25-30 - Pentecost 7 - July 31, 2011 
God Elects Us in Christ's Suffering

What is God’s plan for my life?  What does the Maker of heaven and earth want for me – today, tomorrow, forever?  What does God have in store for you, your children, for all of us beyond this short life of ours on earth?  Many people exert a lot of energy and spend lifetimes trying to figure out the answer to such questions.  And we can hardly blame them?  These are really deep questions.  It’s not easy to just stumble upon the right answer (though many believe they have).  But who is to say when you think you’ve figured it out, that you haven’t just been deluded and deceived – especially considering that greater and wiser men than we have spent their entire lives seeking such understanding without any success?  Who’s to say that what we have figured out, on one hand, and what God has chosen, on the other hand, are not totally different?  It’s a hard question, and it’s even harder to answer it.  And so people often give up and pretend like it isn’t even an all that important question anyway.  But it is.  Our life depends on it.  And we here at Trinity Lutheran Church know the answer to it.  We learn of God’s will for our eternal welfare when we learn what His will for each one of us is right here today: GOD’S GOOD WILL IS FOR CHRIST TO BEAR OUR BURDENS.  

“Jesus said, ‘I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.’”   God the Father hides from some that which He reveals to others.  Wow!  This presents one of the most difficult teachings of Holy Scripture: God’s eternal election, or what is called the doctrine of predestination.  But what exactly does God hide?  And what exactly does He reveal?  How do we find out what God’s eternal choice is for us, and whether He is holding something back by hiding something from us?  Since these questions are so pressing and fundamental to a true knowledge of our God, many theologians have attempted in different ways to provide definitive answers.  

Pentecost 6

Matthew 10:34-42 - Pentecost 6 - July 24, 2011
The Divisiveness of the Gospel 

It is fitting for me as your pastor to speak such words to you.  Grace, mercy and peace.  With these and similar words the apostles frequently addressed the letters they wrote to various people and congregations.  And God has sent me to this congregation through your call to be your pastor.  My job as your pastor is to preach to you the exact same grace, mercy and peace that Jesus once sent His disciples to preach.  Jesus said to them, and so also to me and to everyone who speaks the word of God to another, “He who receives you, receives Me.”   

We need to hear what Jesus has to say; that’s how we receive Him; that’s how we receive what He has to give.  And so that is what Christians do.  We gather together regularly, as often as we can, to hear Jesus – to receive from Him the peace that He has established between God and sinners.  This peace consists of the knowledge that all our sins have been taken away and paid for by His atoning death on the cross.  This peace is grounded in the certainty that God our Father no longer sees or considers any of our sins – but for Jesus’ sake, He sees only the righteous obedience of His Son our Savior.  We are reconciled to God.  God is reconciled to man.  This, and this alone, is true peace – because this peace was purchased by the blood of Christ, and it means that God our Maker will never again be angry with us, but has in store for us only the most indescribable kindness and mercy.  Just as God once sent angels to fill the night sky in order to preach to just a few lowly shepherds in a field, so for the same reason has God sent me to echo for you that angelic sermon that forever binds God’s greatest glory with the peace on earth that Jesus was sent to bring: “Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”  The Father sent the Son to bring peace on earth.  Have no doubt about that.  And GOD’S PEACE GIVES US LIFE.