Thanksgiving

Luke 12:13-21 - Thanksgiving/Harvest - November 24, 2016
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

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Why does God give us so much?  In order to answer this question, we must also be able to answer the question of why God permits us to go without.  No matter how much wealth we have, our sinful flesh would present this latter question as the most pressing: Why God?  How could God let me suffer so much?  Why do you take so much away?  Well, could it be, perhaps, that we don’t deserve even that which he lets us keep?  Are we not sinners at the constant mercy of God who gives and takes according to his own inscrutable wisdom?  Yes.  We are.  It is as Job confessed, “the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). 

So how is it that Job was able to confess this so plainly and confidently?  How is it that we might learn to live with much as well as with little – to be, with St. Paul, content in whatever state we find ourselves?  It comes down to knowing the character of God – that is, getting a glimpse into this inscrutable wisdom of his – whether he is giving or taking.  This glimpse is graciously afforded where God reveals his favor and regard for you.  In fact, he shows you where it is always found, so it is more than a glimpse.  The face of God that shines upon you is found in Christ his Son who suffered and died for you.  It is found where this same Christ continues to serve you with his blood-bought forgiveness, teaching you to accept all God’s goodness with a clean conscience as free gifts from a loving Father. 

We interpret all things that God permits through the lens of the cross.  Through the cross of Jesus that gains our salvation, we are able to see the hardships and pain we endure not as the crushing heel of an aloof or vengeful deity, but as the gentle hand of our Father who lays crosses on us in order to sharpen our gaze on Christ his beloved Son, our Brother, who is our all and all. 

Trinity 27

Matthew 25:1-13 – Trinity Twenty-Seven – November 20, 2016
Ten Virgins  ♫♫♫

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Five virgins went to heaven.  Five virgins went to hell.  All ten washed their sins away and received eternal life in the water of Holy Baptism that clothed them in Christ and made them pure.  All ten heard and learned the promises of the gospel, and in our day would have been confirmed.  All ten belonged to a good and respectable church.  All ten knew how a Christian should behave and look.  But only five of them believed the gospel.  The other five did not.  Those who believed the gospel went into the eternal wedding feast.  Those who did not believe were sent away forever. 

Last week, with the parable of the sheep and the goats, we learned how God distinguishes those who believe from those who don’t believe by how they treated and served Christ’s Christians here on earth.  Those who did not show love to Christ’s brothers did not show love to Christ.  This pertains to the second table of the law: “love your neighbor as yourself.”  Of all neighbors most worthy of our service, and of the greatest concern to our Lord, it is those who are of the household of faith – those who worship with us, confess with us, preach to us, correct us when no one else will, and care for our souls by the commission and command of our Savior.  It is those who receive with us the forgiveness of sins – our brothers and sisters in Christ.  God distinguishes his sheep from the goats by what they do and leave undone towards the least of his brothers.

This week, with the parable of the ten virgins, we learn how God distinguishes those who believe from those who don’t believe in another way: by how they treated the word of God here on earth.  Those who did not gladly hear and learn it did not love Christ.  This pertains to the first table of the law: “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). 

All Saints'

Revelation 7:9-17 - All Saints' Day - November 6, 2016
Looking Forward to Heaven

What will heaven be like?  How will we enjoy ourselves?  I recall reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer when I was young.  Mark Twain, a clever observer of human behavior and custom, assigned to his character a common misunderstanding of heaven.  In his attempt to justify why he would rather remain a naughty and precocious boy, Tom Sawyer said that he would rather not spend eternity sitting on a cloud and playing a harp anyway.  Is that what heaven is like?  Watching Loony Toons as a kid filled me with the same kind of apprehension.  It looks like heaven will be awfully boring … and lonely.  Of course, this caricature of heaven is untrue.  But many modern replacements of this uninspiring image actually fall even further from the truth. 

Nearly every morning I take a walk through the Springdale Cemetery.  It’s beautiful in there, especially this time of year.  Many faithful Christians are buried there including some of our own departed members and some of your dear loved-ones.  It always strikes me, though, to see some of the memorials that are erected in honor of the dead – whether it be some little banner that describes heaven as a never-ending fishing trip or just a Hawkeye flag in place of flowers.  Some of them are permanent too – like the image of golf clubs on the headstone or an engraved poem about how one has become an angel in heaven.  But how are these images of heaven any closer to the truth than the imagination of Tom Sawyer and Elmer Fudd?  These are fantasies.  They are unspiritual fantasies too, that turn heaven into an extension of earth.  In reality, the life we live on earth should be regarded as an extension of the life we will live in heaven. 

Trinity 23

Matthew 22:15-22 - Trinity Twenty-Three - November 8, 2015
The Things That Are God’s

A logical fallacy is a kind of argument that doesn’t follow the basic rules of logic, and so doesn’t make any sense.   One of the most common logical fallacies that people use, and which people often fall for, is the fallacy of a false dichotomy.  It is also known as the either/or fallacy or false dilemma fallacy.  It’s when two options are presented as though they are the only two options to choose from.  It’s like if someone were to ask you whether you had breakfast or lunch yesterday.  Well, can’t you have had both?  It’s not necessarily either/or.  Or here’s a better one: it’s like if somebody asked you whether you are saved by faith or by your Baptism.  Well, again, can’t it be both?  It is both.  Faith relies on the word of God.  Baptism is the word of God attached to water.  Faith finds God’s promise where God makes his promise – not out of thin air.  To say that Baptism saves us is to affirm that we are saved by faith alone since faith trusts the promise given to us in Baptism.  Baptism saves you because faith saves you.  

Trinity 24

Matthew 9:18-26 - Trinity Twenty-four - November 15, 2015
This Child Is Only Sleeping

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“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). 

Let us pray:

Teach me to live that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed.
Teach me to die that so I may
Rise glorious on Thy Judgment Day. Amen. 

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Laugh to scorn the gloomy grave
And at death no longer tremble. 

What a great thing to say!  It’s what we just sang.  But how can we laugh at the grave when it always wins?  How can we scorn death when we know it always wins?  As we sing in another great hymn,

Thanksgiving

Luke 17:11-19 - Thanksgiving - November 27, 2014
Thanking God by Returning to Christ

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

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. 

Let us pray:

Christ, the Life of all the living,
Christ, the Death of death, our foe,
Who, Thyself for me once giving
To the darkest depths of woe:
Through thy sufferings, death, and merit
I eternal life inherit. 
Thousand, thousand thanks shall be,
Dearest Jesus, unto Thee.

Thou hast borne the smiting only
That my wounds might all be whole;
Thou hast suffered, sad and lonely,
Rest to give my weary soul;
Yea, the curse of God enduring,
Blessing unto me securing.
Thousand, thousand thanks shall be,
Dearest Jesus, unto Thee.  Amen. 

Today is Thanksgiving Day.  It is a national holiday.  It’s good and wise that a nation set aside a day for such a worthy celebration. 

Trinity 27

Matthew 25:1-13 - Trinity 27 - November 23, 2014
The Fullness of Heavenly Wisdom is Mine

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. 

Wisdom’s highest, noblest treasure,
Jesus, lies concealed in You.
Let me find in You my pleasure,
And my wayward will subdue,
Humility there and simplicity reigning,
In paths of true wisdom my steps ever training.
If I learn from Jesus this knowledge divine,
The fullness of heavenly wisdom is mine.[i]  Amen. 

This morning I’d like to talk about wisdom, what it is, and how we get it.  We consider the parable of the ten virgins.  There are five foolish, and five wise.  Foolishness is a terrible thing.  To be foolish is to be self-destructive and willingly ignorant of what is good for you.  It is to be stubbornly unconcerned with true righteousness.  The word in Greek is μωρός, where we get the word moron.  A spiritual moron is one who does not take the word of God to heart. 

Wisdom, on the other hand, is a beautiful thing.  The Greek word for wisdom is σοφία.  To have σοφία is to have full knowledge of what is eternally true.  It is to love what is righteous and to completely delight in what is good.  To have wisdom is to know Christ and his saving grace.  Wisdom is a gift from God because faith is a gift from God.  When our youngest daughter was born, Monica and I had this very truth in mind when we settled on her name.  Sophia Dorothy translates straight from the Greek: Wisdom is God’s Gift.  And so it is. 

Trinity 26

Matthew 25:31-46 - Trinity 26 - November 16, 2014
And Their Works Do Follow Them

In our Old Testament lesson, the prophet Daniel received a vision of the very same event that Jesus described in our Gospel lesson.  He saw the Ancient of Days gather the nations for the final judgment.  The Ancient of Days is God.  Ancient is not simply to say that he is very old.  It is to say, rather, that he is eternal.  It bends the mind to try and comprehend it, doesn’t it?  But we can’t, because God cannot be measured by time.  He has quite simply always been.  He lives in the eternal Day.  Time itself has a beginning, and it will soon have an end.  All that will remain is God and his word.  That’s why we listen to it now while time still exists. 

What a beautiful name God gives himself to express the fact that he is eternal: Ancient of Days.  This name got me thinking about another place in Scripture where the word day is used not for any specific period of time, but likewise for the eternal Day that has neither beginning nor end. It comes from Psalm 2 where the second Person of the holy Trinity says the following:

Trinity 25

Exodus 32:1-20 & Luke17:20-30 - Trinity 25 - November 9, 2014

Christian Worship Is Divine Service

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Last week, I spoke of two mountains.  There was the mountain of curse, and the mountain of blessing.  The mountain of curse was Mt. Sinai from where God spoke the 10 Commandments to Israel.  It is the mountain of curse because the law curses all who disobey.  The mountain of blessing is where Jesus fulfills the law for us and blesses us with the righteousness that he earned in our place.  For the sake of contrast, last week I spoke of this mountain as the place where Jesus preached the beatitudes — “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” and so forth.  But the mountain of blessing is more than just where God speaks the blessing.  It is where God earns the blessing.  It is Mt. Calvary.   It is where the curse of the law was spoken against the Son of God in our place.  Jesus placed himself under the law for us, and suffered and died as our holy Substitute.  Without the cross, there is no blessing.  Without Mt. Calvary, there is no Mt. Zion. 

Trinity 19

Matthew 9:1-8 - Trinity XIX - October 6, 2013

How Can Faith Do Such Great Thing?

Baptism saves.  That little girl just received the forgiveness of all her sins.  In that font right there she was forgiven the original sin, which she inherited through me, her earthly father;   at the same time she was forgiven whatever other sin she might have committed since the moment she was conceived.  Now, of course, only God could possibly be a witness to these things—either to her sinful nature or any actual sins.  She’s just a baby.  She’s a sinner for sure – yeah – but certainly I haven’t seen it.  We know it’s true, however, not because we see it, but because God says it.  For now it remains an article of faith that such a sweet little child made of sugar and spice could in reality be a poor wretched sinner in need of God’s mercy.

But, you know, in good time it will hardly take faith to admit it.  Before we know it, she’ll be acting like her older sisters, who, although very sweet, from time to time blatantly disobey us and exhibit a selfishness that is unmistakably sin.  Before the eyes of her parents and those around her, maybe even before you, she will prove her need for what she already needs and what each one of us continues to need today: it is the need for a Savior.  And in Baptism, that’s what we get.  Right there, God delivered little Sophia Dorothy from real enemies – from our enemies – from death and from the power of the devil – by washing her sin away.  To her, and to all who believe this, God gives eternal salvation through water and the word.  How do we know this?  Well how do we know anything?  God says it.  The word and promises of God declare it: “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; he who does not believe shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16).  Baptism saves. 

Trinity 27

Matthew 25:1-13 - Trinity XXVII - November 25, 2012
Faith’s Anticipation

Anticipation is half the pleasure.  There’s something true about this.  When you’re looking forward to something, not only do you feel like each day is filled with that much more meaning, but also in those moments of waiting you have the opportunity to ponder and reflect upon whatever it is you’re waiting for.  And that’s nice.  It kind of keeps you energized in a way.  But you know that with whatever pleasure that you’re looking forward to, nine times out of ten you end up spending more time looking forward to it than you do actually enjoying it.  It’s funny how that works. 
Just think of thanksgiving guests coming and leaving … and now they are leaving again.    

But this isn’t how it works when it comes to eternal life.  It’s eternal, after all.  It lasts forever.  No amount of waiting will outlast or match what God has prepared for us there.  We wait for heaven by waiting on God who gives us heaven.  We wait on God by listening to His word that saves us.  We hear and believe the promises that He makes to us in Christ, and, although we can neither see nor feel any evidence that He will deliver on His promises, we wait, because God’s word is true.  His reliability is not determined by what we are able to see or feel.  No, but God swears by Himself that all who wait on Him shall not be put to shame.  And so, in Jesus’ name we pray with the Psalmist:

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation.
For you I wait all the day long (Psalm 25:4-5).

In other words, we pray that God teach us the Gospel.  That’s how we wait.  That’s what it means to wait – that’s what it’s always meant.  To wait is to believe the Gospel.

Trinity 20

Matthew 22:1-14 - Trinity XX - October 21, 2012
The Christian’s Robe of Righteousness

“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.”   It’s interesting here that Jesus speaks the way He does.  No one asked Him about the kingdom of heaven: what it was or what it was like.  Instead they asked Him by what authority He did the things He did (Mt. 21:23).  Who gave Him this authority?  That’s what they asked.  And Jesus responded to their insolent inquiry by telling them parables about the kingdom of heaven.  The word kingdom tends to incite images of a static government with castles and towers and a throne.  But the word for kingdom is perhaps better translated as reign.  It is an active, dynamic thing.  The kingdom of heaven is not a power structure built far away.  No, it is the day-by-day ruling and governing of God over His dominion.  More specifically, it is the reign of Christ who governs and rules our hearts and consciences by the forgiveness of our sins. 

This is the authority of Jesus.  This authority He received from His Father.  He earned this authority by bearing the sins of the world on the cross.  Jesus rules us because we are His.  He owns us.  He has purchased and won us, not with gold or silver, the way the rulers of this world buy favor and obedience and by which they manipulate their subjects.  No. But Jesus made us His by buying us with His own holy and precious blood – by becoming our servant – by paying our redemption price with His innocent suffering and death.  All this He did in order that we, as we confess in the Small Catechism, “may be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.” 

Trinity 19

Matthew 9:1-8 - Trinity XIX - October 14, 2012
God’s Authority on Earth

What’s easier?  To say to a sinner, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say to a paralytic, “Rise and walk”?  At first, I suppose we might think that it’s easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” since no one can really tell if it’s true or not.  There’s no way of determining whether or not someone’s sins are truly retained or absolved when somebody says that they are.  Such a thing is invisible.  What does it look like, after all, to have your sins forgiven? 

But to heal someone – oh, that requires a power that can be scrutinized. Or to put it quite simply, you can see it.  If someone tells a paralyzed man to get up and walk around, you’ll know immediately whether the guy has any power to heal.  And who has such power, but God?  And so I guess it seems that “rise and walk” would be the harder thing to say.  We know what it looks like, after all, not to be paralyzed.  But what does it look like to be forgiven?  You can’t see the forgiveness of sins. 

But God can.