Trinity 3

Luke 15:1-10 - Trinity Three - June 12, 2016
 Heavenly joy

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“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and 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.  For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”  (Hebrews 12:1-3)

We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.  These witnesses are those who in Old Testament times were saved from sin and divine judgment by grace alone through faith in Christ.  Like us they never saw Jesus.  But they waited for him.  In him they found their joy in the midst of trials, and their confidence in the midst of spiritual conflict and failure, because in him was their redemption, their forgiveness, their righteousness, and their eternal life.  By faith in God’s promise they received Jesus even before he was born, because by the faithfulness of God’s promise Jesus received them. 

Trinity Sunday

John 3:1-15 - Trinity - May 22, 2016
Confronting God

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Today is Trinity Sunday.  The word Trinity is not found in the Bible.  It’s a word that was created by Christians in order to express what the Bible teaches about God.  The Bible teaches clearly that God is three distinct Persons in one divine Essence: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  That’s what Trinity means: tri + unity = Trinity.  The only true God is the Triune God.  All true Christians believe this.  Every true Church confesses this.  The Christian Church has learned to articulate her faith in the three ecumenical creeds – the Apostles, the Nicene, and the Athanasian – not by thinking really hard about God – not by sitting down and figuring out his mind – no, but by learning from Holy Scripture who God is and what God does, and by defending the doctrine they learned when controversy arose.  Our creeds are not extra words that we impose upon the word of God.  They are concise expressions of the holy Faith that God’s word teaches us. 

Easter 7

John 15:26–16:4 - Exaudi (Confirmation) Sunday - May 8, 2016
Remember That I Told You So

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Jesus does not want you to stumble.  He wants you to stand firm.  That is why he has spoken to you in the Holy Scriptures, in the preaching and teaching of the gospel, and in the simple instruction of the Catechism.  This is what he intended when he commanded that his saving grace be preached to all creatures.  He teaches you where you may stand and walk secure, and follow him without tripping and falling.  The prophet Isaiah prophesied that Christ the Lord “will make each of [His] mountains a road, and [His] highways shall be elevated” (Isaiah 49:11).  This is his way of promising that your pilgrimage will be safe and your path will be level as you follow him through life, death, and into heaven.  He makes your journey safe and your path level, however, not by making life easy, though, or even by removing the great dangers that threaten you and your faith along the way.  Oh, no!  They will be plenty, as we sing:

I walk in danger all the way.
The thought shall never leave me
That Satan, who has marked his prey,
Is plotting to deceive me.
This foe with hidden snares
May seize me unawares
If ever I fail to watch and pray.
I walk in danger all the way.

Easter 6

John 16:23-30 - Rogate Sunday - May 1, 2016
Scattered Prayers

If there is something important that you don’t know, but that you need to know, you should ask someone, right?  More specifically, you should ask someone who knows the answer.  It won’t do any good just to think about it until you suddenly come to know what you previously did not.  That’s simply not how it works; that’s not how knowledge is gained.  To ask a question is to make a request for information from someone who has it.  It’s to pray for knowledge, so to speak.   And that is why to seek instruction from God is really the highest form of prayer.  In fact, one cannot pray at all unless he first learns from God who God is, and why it is that He listens to our prayers.  This is how God’s name is hallowed. 

Easter 5

John 16:5-15 - Cantate - April 24, 2016
Speaking from God

Dear saints in Christ, grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen

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

The Gospel lesson I just read from the lectern is from the New King James Version of the Bible.  In this translation, we read that the Spirit of Truth does “not speak on his own authority.”  The English Standard Bible says the same thing – “on his own authority.”  The New International Version says, “He will not speak on his own,” and omits the word authority.  That’s actually closer to the original Greek in which the Holy Spirit first inspired these words (the word authority isn’t there).  The King James Version comes closest, “He shall not speak of (that is, from) himself.”  That’s exactly what St. John records.  The Holy Spirit does “not speak from himself.”  Now, what does this mean?  And what does this have to do with authority? 

Easter 4

John 16:16-23 - Jubilate - April 17, 2016
While We Wait

Lord, how long will the wicked,
How long will the wicked triumph? (Psalm 94:3)

If we listened to our Gospel lesson this morning, we know the answer already.  Not long.  Our loving Savior tells us that it is just a little while until our sorrow will turn to eternal joy, which no one can take from us.  As we will sing in our closing hymn,

O little flock, fear not the Foe
Who madly seeks your overthrow;
Dread not his rage and power.
What though your courage sometimes faints,
His seeming triumph o’er God’s saints
Lasts but a little hour.

Easter 2

John20:19-31 - Quasimodogeniti - April 3, 2016
He Is Not Here — He Is Here

Jesus was crucified for all to see.  For us, his death is depicted in the preaching of the gospel, as St. Paul writes to the Galatians, “before [your] eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified” (Galatians 3:1).  He who knew no sin of his own became a sin offering for us by bearing the blame of our sin in himself (2 Corinthians 5:21).  By his bitter death, he satisfied the wrath of God against the sin of all men (Isaiah 53:11).  On the cross we behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).  The Bible tells us to “[look] 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” (Hebrews 12:2).  This is what we see.  This is where God’s word directs our faith.  God urges us to behold him who sits at the right hand of the Father where he exercises all authority in heaven and on earth.  Yes, but so that we might behold him there, so that we might know that he intercedes for us there as our Mediator, we are first urged to behold him by faith in the image of his crucifixion.