Trinity 1

Luke 16:19-31 - Trinity One - June 22, 2014
Fear, Love, and Trust in God

It’s easy to oversimplify things and imagine a certain virtue in poverty and a certain vice in wealth.  And so it is tempting to judge peoples’ hearts according to what we see.  This is because it is often true that poverty grants the opportunity to consider what is most important in life.  That’s why Jesus encourages us to fast, for instance —because denying ourselves certain pleasures helps us to consider the value of heavenly things over earthly things.  And if poverty aids a man in his piety, so it is even more often true that wealth corrupts a man and makes him stingy and materialistic.  That’s why Jesus says that it is very difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. 

But this is not a hard and fast rule.  Poor people are very often among the greediest, aren’t they?  Just look at how many people figure that if they don’t possess very many nice things, that makes it OK to covet the nice things that others have – as though it’s only fair that they give up a piece of the pie.  And they’ll even appeal to those in authority to take it from them by force in a way that only appears right.  Well, that’s greed if there is such a thing.  And then on the other hand, rich people are often among the most generous.  Just consider the endowments and offerings made by wealthy Christians to build schools and beautiful churches, and to support the preaching of the gospel in their own congregations and around the world – not to mention their personal contributions to the need they see around them. 

We shouldn’t judge vice and virtue by what we see, because we can’t see the heart.  Only God can.  Rich people are not necessarily bad; and poor people are not necessarily good.  The story that Jesus tells in our Gospel lesson shouldn’t be interpreted to teach otherwise. 

Easter 7

John 15:26-16:4 - Exaudi Sunday - June 1, 2014
Pure Doctrine

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

God’s Word is our great heritage
And shall be ours forever;
To spread its Light from age to age
Shall be our chief endeavor.
Through life it guides our way,
In death it is our stay.
Lord, grant, while worlds endure,
We keep its teachings pure.
Throughout all generations.  Amen. 

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

“We keep its teachings pure.”  We pray that the Lord grant that as long as the ages continue to come and pass we keep pure what his word teaches.  Now obviously, it is not we who keep doctrine pure.  No, it is God who keeps it pure in our midst.  That’s why we pray for it.  But we don’t ask that angels keep it pure, because God doesn’t send angels to preach it to us.  We pray that we keep it pure.  And we don’t pray simply that our pastors keep it pure, since Christ has commanded us to identify his voice on our own and judge our pastors.  So in order for us – for you the hearers who came here to listen to what God wants you to know – in order for you to make sure you are hearing the pure doctrine of God’s holy word, you need to make this prayer your own: namely, that you keep pure in your hearts and minds the word of God like a seed that grows and bears abundant fruit.  You keep it pure by embracing what is true and by rejecting what is false.  You bear fruit when you do — fruit that coming generations will praise God for – just as we also praise God for our fathers and mothers in the faith who left us a great heritage. 

Ascension

Mark 16:14-20 - Festival of Christ’s Ascension - May 29, 2014
Ascension

We confess in the Creed that Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty, and that from thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.  What does “thence” mean?  Why don’t we just say “from there”?  The reason is so we don’t get the idea that the right hand of the Father is some distant geographical location.  It isn’t.  If we said, “and from there he will come,” it might sound that way.  But “thence” means more.  It means not only from that time and place, but it also means from that source, or position of authority.  This is to say that when Christ returns, he will judge the earth with the same authority by which he ascended into heaven, and with the same authority by which he has been ruling his Church for the last 2,000 years. 

And what is this authority?  Of what does it consist?  His authority consists in the forgiveness of sins, the rescuing from death and the devil, and the giving of eternal salvation to all who believe.  It is through the means of grace that Christ exerts his authority as the King of kings and Lord of lords over all nations, and indeed over all creation.  And it is by distributing this salvation which he has won that he shall reign forever and ever.  “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.  He who does not believe will be condemned.” 

Ascension

Mark 16:14-20 – Festival of Christ’s Ascension – May 29, 2014
Ascension

We confess in the Creed that Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty, and that from thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.  What does “thence” mean?  Why don’t we just say “from there”?  The reason is so we don’t get the idea that the right hand of the Father is some distant geographical location.  It isn’t.  If we said, “and from there he will come,” it might sound that way.  But “thence” means more.  It means not only from that time and place, but it also means from that source, or position of authority.  This is to say that when Christ returns, he will judge the earth with the same authority by which he ascended into heaven, and with the same authority by which he has been ruling his Church for the last 2,000 years. 

And what is this authority?  Of what does it consist?  His authority consists in the forgiveness of sins, the rescuing from death and the devil, and the giving of eternal salvation to all who believe.  It is through the means of grace that Christ exerts his authority as the King of kings and Lord of lords over all nations, and indeed over all creation.  And it is by distributing this salvation which he has won that he shall reign forever and ever.  “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.  He who does not believe will be condemned.” 

In Psalm 2, the eternal Father speaks to his eternally begotten Son, “Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.  You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.”   

Well, his only begotten Son asked of him. 

Easter 5

John 16:5-15 - Cantate Sunday - May 18, 2014
Convicting the World

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) 

What is a yoke?  My wife is reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the kids right now and so I had to explain this to them recently, because in the story the main character Almanzo got a yoke for his birthday.  A yoke is a rather simple device that binds two work animals together so that they learn to walk in a straight line rather than going off in their own preferred directions as young animals are prone to do.  In this way they’re able to share the burden that is placed on them and get stuff done.  What they are meant to do they must learn to do together – otherwise the work is too much for only one of them.  The more stubborn an animal is the heavier the yoke needs to be. 

Jesus says that the yoke he places on us is light. 

Easter Sunday

Matthew 27:51-54 - The Resurrection of Our Lord - April 20, 2014
Good Friday’s Easter Sunday

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

That portion of Scripture which we consider this Easter morning the Holy Spirit caused to be recorded in the twenty-seventh chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, starting at the fifty-fourth verse, which we read as follows in Jesus’ name: 

Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.  So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

These are your words, holy Father; sanctify us in the truth; your word is truth.  Amen. 

There is no resurrection without the crucifixion.  And so there’s no such thing as celebrating Easter morning if we do not celebrate Good Friday.  Now, obviously this means that we should come to church and hear the word of God on Good Friday.  After all, what more fitting time to mediate on what our Lord Jesus has done for us than on the day when he did it?  And how else are we poor sinners supposed to learn to properly meditate on Christ’s suffering at all other than by gathering as his lambs to hear his holy word?  But more importantly than just being here and doing that on this day or another, the fact that there is no Easter apart from Good Friday means that we should believe the gospel and see the connection between these two events.  To this end, this morning on this indescribably wonderful festival of Christ’s resurrection, we consider also the death that Jesus rose from. 

Good Friday

Matthew 27:45-46 - Good Friday Tenebrae - April 18, 2014
Reconciled to God

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

That portion of Scripture which we consider this evening the Holy Spirit caused to be recorded in the twenty-seventh chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, starting at the forty-fifth verse, which we read as follows in Jesus’ name: 

Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

These are your words, holy Father; sanctify us in the truth; your word is truth.  Amen. 

The first thing that God created was light.  He spoke his Word and there it was: light shining in the darkness.  All things that God created were made by the Father through the Son.  He is the eternal Word of God.  Wherever the Son of God goes forth from his Father, the Father accomplishes that for which he sent him.  God sends his Son by speaking.  The Son does what the Father says.  God spoke, and there was light. 

God did not create light for his own sake.  He himself is light.  He doesn’t need what he creates.  We do.  Light, the very first thing that God created, was made for the sake of man, the very last thing that God created.  He is the crown of God’s creation and love.  Everything on earth was made for our sake.