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 18

Matthew 22:34-46 - Trinity Eighteen - September 25, 2016
David’s Son and David’s Lord

The reason the Pharisees were so blind to the true nature of the law is because they were so disinterested in theology.  The reason they were so unable to see how the law applied to their lives is because they did not care about Christian doctrine.  They found theological discussion of God’s word boring.  They were much more interested in what they considered more practical matters, and they thought they had a firm handle on these.  Instead of meditating on the promises and mysteries of Holy Scripture, the Pharisees preferred to discuss other things — like what they had to do to gain God’s favor and blessing — or how they might build some sort of system for remaining faithful to God while caring as little as possible about the why and wherefore of what God actually commanded. 

This is what they did.  In order to do this, they took interest in what all men know by nature (at least to some degree): the law.  The law is written on everyone’s heart.  It can be smeared, distorted, ignored, or even added to, sure.  But it is God who wrote it on our hearts when he made us in his image – so it’s there.  We call this natural law.  Now, every false religion out there, or that’s ever existed, is and has been what really just amounts to an ornate and perverted twisting of this natural law.  People suppose that by being obedient to the law, however they may have arranged it, they might find approval in their consciences and rewards in heaven.  This is natural.  And it makes sense.  Doing good makes you feel good.  And only good people go to heaven.  So be good, and you’ll get there and you’ll feel good about yourself on the way. 

All Saints'

Matthew 5:1-12 - All Saints’ Sunday - November 2, 2014
The Blessedness of the Christian Life

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high …” (Hebrews 1:1-3) — through Him, our Lord and Mediator, Jesus Christ, grace, mercy, and peace, be to you.  Amen. 

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When God curses, that which he curses is cursed.  When God blesses, that which he blesses is blessed.  When God speaks, it is so.  God’s word is efficacious.  He who upholds all things by the word of his power knows what he says and why he says it and to whom he is saying it.  In times past, God spoke through the prophet Moses.  Moses was God’s mouthpiece. 

But on one occasion, from Mt. Sinai, God actually spoke without a mouthpiece.  He revealed his Majesty by speaking directly to all of Israel. 
After this, our fathers begged Moses to have God speak only through him from now on.  Why?  What words did God speak that scared them so?  The 10 Commandments. 

Trinity 21

John 4:46-54 - Trinity XXI - October 20, 2013

Taking up the Full Armor of God

This morning’s Scripture lessons teach us about faith.  What does faith do?  From whom does it seek help?  How does it respond to God’s word?  What does faith need to stay strong?  And how does it stand up against doubt? 

We will receive an answer to each one of these questions as we consider the account of the nobleman whose son was severely ill and at the point of death.  Let us pray:

Increase my faith, dear Savior,
For Satan seeks by night and day
To rob me of this treasure
And take my hope of bliss away.
But, Lord, with Thee beside me,
I shall be undismayed;
And led by Thy good Spirit,
I shall be unafraid.
Abide with me, O Savior,
A firmer faith bestow;
Then I shall bid defiance
To every evil foe.     Amen. 

Trinity 26

Matthew 25:31-46 - Trinity 26 - November 17, 2013

The Sheep and the Goats

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.”  The Son of Man is the Son of God.  Jesus frequently applies this title to Himself in order to emphasize his human nature as true man born of the Virgin Mary.  As Jesus said, for instance, when he healed the paralytic, “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins— Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”  During His earthly life, Jesus hid His glory as the Son of God behind a lowly appearance, so that, besides the occasional miracle, all people could see was His humanity – a man like anyone else.  Yet while Jesus hid from the world His divine nature, He nonetheless remained fully God.  By hiding His glory, and submitting Himself to the law, Jesus served sinners as only God is able to do, all the way to the cross where He suffered and died in our place.  It is this man who is going to return to judge all the living and the dead for all eyes to see. 

Trinity 25

Mark 13:24-31 - Trinity 25 - November 10, 2013 

The World remains evil; the Word remains true.

The World is Very Evil.  It’s true.  There is an old hymn in our hymnal that used to have these very words as its title.  The hymn has undergone some editions through the years, and in our hymnal, the first line of the hymn now reads, The Clouds of Judgment Gather.  Now at first it kind of annoyed me that they changed the words, and I suppose they didn’t need to.  But the difference of translation offers us a fitting interpretation of what’s going to happen.  Why do the clouds of judgment gather?  Because the world is very evil.  That’s why.  Jesus tells us that the Son of Man will come with great power and glory in the clouds to judge the living and the dead.  Now, you can’t do anything to stop the clouds from coming, and I suppose that’s why Jesus talks the way he does.  Talk about something impending, and making everything around you dark, and suddenly you have to reckon with what is about to happen … when the clouds come. 

Jesus used an example from nature to explain to us how we will know when this will occur.  As soon as the fig tree’s branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.  The meaning of this is really simple.  Just as nature gives certain and definite signs that summer is coming, so also Jesus has told us to look for certain and definite signs that Judgment Day is coming. 

Thanksgiving

Luke 17:11-19 - Thanksgiving - November 22, 2012 

Knowing Whom to Thank

                         

Today is Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is not a church holiday.  It’s a national holiday.  It’s a nice thing for our country to have devoted a day to consider what we are thankful for.  We’ll take advantage of it.  But we celebrate this holiday in church, not because we need the state to remind us to be thankful, but because it is here that we learn how to be thankful, and to whom to be thankful, because it is here that we learn about Jesus.  Consider what we pray before we celebrate the Lord's Supper: “It is truly mete, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto you, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ our Lord…”  We thank God first by identifying who He is.  He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He is our God who shed His blood to redeem us.  He is the One who comforts us and brings us peace through the words of Jesus.  He is the triune God who tends to our needs, who saves us, and who takes care of us in body and soul by grace alone.  And so, in this way, He teaches us how to thank. 

The word “thank” is kind of a neat word.  It derives simply from the word “think.”  To be thankful is to think about what it is that another has given you – and to think about why he gave it.  Consider that other word that we have and use: “grateful.”  This word derives from where we get our word “grace.”  And this is a wonderful connection, and I’ll use it to make the point that we all need to know about thanksgiving.  To thank God is to think about His grace.  This means that whatever it is that you have – that God has given you – that you don’t deserve – that you kind of think you kind of do deserve – whatever it is that makes you wealthy and fortunate and happy and safe and fed today – all this you have solely because of God’s grace and favor – grace and favor (and here’s the point) that is found in Christ alone.  There is no such thing as thanking/being grateful to God apart from knowing Jesus. 

All Saints'

Matthew 5:1-12 - All Saints’ Sunday - November 6, 2011

The Blessedness of the Christian Life

November 1^st was All Saints’ Day.  But we celebrate this holiday today in order to remember those saints who have gone before us.  But what exactly is a saint?  To be a saint is to be sinless, and perfectly holy.  Our Epistle reading from Revelation 7 provides the most excellent definition: “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  Even in heaven, a saint’s identity continues to be found, not in his or her own good works, but in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  A saint is one who is blessed by God. 

Although saints certainly do good works on earth, and they are indeed rewarded in heaven, a saint is a saint not because of his own righteousness that he earned by obeying the law.  A saint is a saint because he receives Christ’s righteousness that Jesus earned by obeying the law in our place.  God calls them saints who have been baptized into the death of Christ and share in His resurrection victory over sin and the grave.  A saint is one who while yet living on earth reasoned accordingly: Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; I am a sinner; therefore Jesus took away my sin too.  That’s what a saint believes.  And God counts this faith to him as righteousness and calls him holy.  A saint is one who has washed his robe in Jesus’ blood, and it has come out spotless, and it remains spotless forever.  That’s what a saint is. 

All Saints'

Revelation 7:2-19 & Matthew 5:1-12 - All Saints’ Sunday - November 4, 2012
Being Blessed

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

Those portions of Scripture, which we just heard a moment ago, which the Holy Spirit caused to be recorded in Revelation 7 and in Matthew 5, we now consider in Jesus’ name.  Let us pray: These are Your words, Holy Father; sanctify us by Your truth; Your word is truth.  Amen. 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

Consider with me, so far, since I have stepped up into this pulpit, what you have heard me say.  I began by invoking the name of God that is familiar to all Christians: the triune name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  St. Paul tells us in Romans 10:13, that “whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  And so that’s what we do.  I then proceeded to, if not actually read the words of Scripture, to direct your attention to the word of God that we just heard.  St. Paul tells us in 1^st Timothy 4:5 that all things are “sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”  And so that’s what we did next.  We prayed.  We prayed to the God who reveals Himself in His word, that He would, by His word, make us holy.  After that, I spoke a blessing to you: grace, mercy, and peace.  The Apostles would frequently begin their epistles with this same blessing or one similar to it.  When God blesses you in this way, grace, mercy, and peace actually become yours.  God gives it to you.  God’s words are not mere sentiments or wishes.  They are operative.  They accomplish what God sends them out to accomplish. 

Now, right here we have just condensed in few words a little mini-Divine Service.  Think of it.  This is the structure that we see fleshed out Sunday after Sunday after Sunday.  Invocation—word—prayer—blessing.  * 

Thanksgiving

Psalm 100- Thanksgiving - November 24, 2011 

  O Give Thanks unto the Lord, for He is Good

Last Sunday was the Last Sunday of the Church Year.  Next Sunday is the First Sunday in Advent, which marks the beginning of the Church Year.  Today is Thanksgiving Day.  But you won’t find this day in the liturgical calendar, because Thanksgiving is not a Church holiday.  It’s a national holiday invented by Americans.  Of all national holidays this is the most appropriate one for us to celebrate in church.  After all, God commands us to give Him thanks every day for all that He has done for us.  GOD TEACHES US HOW TO THANK HIM BY TEACHING US WHAT HE HAS DONE. 

Trinity 27

Matthew 25:1-13- Trinity 27- November 20, 2011 

  While We Wait, We Watch with Joy

The marriage of a man and a woman is a common image in the Bible for the relationship between Christ and the Church.  St. Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, [that’s Baptism] that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”  The Church is not beautiful on her own.  Christ makes His bride so beautiful by forgiving her her sins. 

When a husband and wife are married, they become one flesh.  So also we, who by faith are members of the Church, are also members of Christ Himself.  By loving us, Jesus teaches us what true marriage is.  This one-flesh relationship between the Church and her Lord is a mystery that we will not fully understand until the Day when Christ returns.  Then He will welcome all believers – both those who have died, and those who will yet be living – into the heavenly banquet hall to celebrate the wedding feast of the Lamb that has no end.  Christ is returning for His Church.  It is His love for His holy bride that compels Him.  The parable that we just heard about the Ten Virgins describes this future event. 

Trinity 26

Matthew 25:31-46- Trinity 26- November 13, 2011 

  We Shall Be Judged by Our Works

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.”  The Son of Man is a title that Jesus frequently uses for Himself that puts especial emphasis on His human nature as true man born of the Virgin Mary.  As Jesus said, e.g. “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”  During His earthly life, Jesus hid His glory as the Son of God behind a lowly appearance, so that, besides the occasional miracle, all people could see was His humanity – a man like anyone else.  Yet while Jesus hid from the world His divine nature, He nonetheless remained fully God.  By hiding His glory, and submitting Himself to the law, Jesus served sinners as only God is able to do, all the way to the cross where He suffered and died in our place.  It is this man who is going to return to judge all the living and the dead for all eyes to see. 

Jesus was glorified when He was raised from the dead, but He continues now to hide His glory.  In fact, today Jesus hides not only His divine nature, but also His human nature.  Think about it.  We can’t see Him.  We can’t touch Him.  Just as He once hid His eternal glory in humility as a man, so He now hides both His divine and His human natures under even humbler appearances.  He comes to serve you through the words of sinful men like me.  But these words have God’s promise and power to forgive you your sins.  We see simple water, but through the promise of Christ, it is a washing of regeneration and a renewing of the Holy Spirit – It is a Holy Baptism that washes our sin away and gives us eternal life.  We see mere bread and wine.  That’s all we taste too.  But in it and through it the Son of Man comes to serve us with His own body and blood that bore our sin on the cross.  There is no greater glory in either heaven or on earth than where the incarnate Son of God forgives sinners their sins. 

When He was born, Jesus hid from the world His divinity.  When He ascended, Jesus hid from the world His humanity as well.  But when Jesus comes again, He will unhide both.  He will reveal to the world that He is both God and Man.  But that is not all He will unhide and reveal.  Every heart, every righteous deed ever done, and every sin ever committed will be publicly shown for what it has been.  And so, WE SHALL BE JUDGED BY OUR WORKS. 

All Saints'

Matthew 5:1-12- All Saints Sunday - November 6, 2011 

  The Blessedness of the Christian Life

November 1^st was All Saints’ Day.  But we celebrate this holiday today in order to remember those saints who have gone before us.  But what exactly is a saint?  To be a saint is to be sinless, and perfectly holy.  Our Epistle reading from Revelation 7 provides the most excellent definition: “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  Even in heaven, a saint’s identity continues to be found, not in his or her own good works, but in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  A saint is one who is blessed by God. 

Although saints certainly do good works on earth, and they are indeed rewarded in heaven, a saint is a saint not because of his own righteousness that he earned by obeying the law.  A saint is a saint because he receives Christ’s righteousness that Jesus earned by obeying the law in our place.  God calls them saints who have been baptized into the death of Christ and share in His resurrection victory over sin and the grave.  A saint is one who while yet living on earth reasoned accordingly: Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; I am a sinner; therefore Jesus took away my sin too.  That’s what a saint believes.  And God counts this faith to him as righteousness and calls him holy.  A saint is one who has washed his robe in Jesus’ blood, and it has come out spotless, and it remains spotless forever.  That’s what a saint is. 

Trinity 12

Mark 7:31-37 - Trinity Twelve - August 14, 2016
 Personal Faith & Christian Love

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Consider those kind people in our Gospel lesson this morning.  There was a man who could not hear and who could not speak – at least he did so with difficulty and unintelligibly.  He was deaf and mute, or as they used to say, dumb.  It’s not like he couldn’t speak at all.  He could make sounds, but his tongue couldn’t move right and his noises made no sense.  That’s why the word dumb eventually came to be synonymous with stupid.  Deaf and mute people, as much as they might groan for what they want, don’t sound very clever.  This man had no way to communicate his need.  He relied on the kindness of others to express his desires and to request the help he hoped for. 

Trinity 11

Luke 18:9-14 - Trinity Eleven - August 7, 2016
 A Meditation on Divine Mercy

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Last week while I was gone, the appointed Gospel lesson gave a stirring image of God’s wrath as our Lord Jesus overturned the tables in the temple court and drove out those who bought and sold.  Divine zeal had consumed him.  If that wasn’t divine wrath nothing is.  In fact, last year the title for my sermon on last Sunday’s lesson was, “A Meditation on Divine Wrath.”  Since God’s wrath is real, it’s important that we know what makes God angry.  God demonstrates his wrath and teaches us to fear it not only in order that we might obey him, but also so that we might see our need for him to have mercy.  Even as Jesus wept for Jerusalem right before these events, we already learned the purpose of his wrath.  God’s wrath always serves his mercy.  Today’s sermon is therefore titled, “A Meditation on Divine Mercy.”  

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. 

Trinity 5

Luke 5:1-11 - Trinity Five - June 26, 2016
At Your Word

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At your word.  This is the Christian response to Jesus.  The crowds gathered to hear him.  His word is truth.  That is why we respond as we do.

Peter believed what we do about the words that Jesus preached.  What he spoke was God’s word.  What he taught was true and reliable.  Peter knew this.  So he listened to Jesus.  Peter knew furthermore that it was good also for the people to hear what Jesus had to say.  So there was no question about what to do when Jesus asked him to push out his boat a little so he might more effectively preach to the large crowd gathered at the edge of the lake.  Peter gladly supported the Lord in his preaching of the kingdom of God.  He did this by contributing what he had – much as we do when we give our offerings. 

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).