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As he shares insight from the Bible

“Can I Offer You a Drink?”

4/2/2023

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​Lent 6 – Palmarum                                                                                                                                            April 2, 2023
Matthew 27:11-54
 
“Can I Offer You a Drink?”
 
v.48   “And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to Him to drink.”
 
          Dear friends in Christ, there was a pastor who once lived in California.  During his time there he developed a passion for hiking, especially around the area of Mt. Diablo, approximately 20 miles east of San Francisco.  Featuring breathtaking, panoramic views in virtually every direction and, at the same time, picturesque streams, meadows, and cliffs, nestled in the countless nooks and crannies, it is a hiker’s paradise.  A good day of hiking starts around 7 am when the fog has barely lifted and the grass is still moist with the nightly dew.  One day, however, this pastor forgot his water.
          He had only gone for about half an hour when he realized his water container was missing.  “No matter,” he figured.  He could handle it.  That same day he got a little lost.  His 6.4 mile loop turned into a 9.4 mile loop.  And the additional three miles were not level.  He had deviated from his regular path into a charming little valley.  Well, it was charming, but not so little.  The path took him deep into a ragged gorge, dry as a lecture on medieval monasteries.  The August heat had long since deprived this natural oven of anything even remotely resembling water, and the hoped for aquatic gurgling was replaced with a tunnel of wind that howled in concert with the groaning of his empty stomach.  He began to realize why they had named the mountain “Diablo.”  It was suited only for the devil and his spawn.
          The word parched would not adequately describe his lips and mouth as the long morning dragged on.  Withered, scorched, desiccated—gaping cracks void of life and moisture—such were his lips.  In the hot California sun you don’t really sweat because the water evaporates as quickly as you perspire.  On that day, however, the pastor did not sweat because there was nothing left in his prune-like body to emit.  He was thirsty.
When he finally made it back to his car he realized that he had not even brought any water in the vehicle.  It was at least 6 miles to the nearest drinking establishment, and no rural Lutheran pastor ever drove so fast.  He got to the bar—and he got a drink—fast.[1]
We can safely assume that the bartender, witnessing his dehydrated estate, quickly offered him a drink.  Just as any good host would.  Not too many people would offer a drink of sour lemon juice or vinegar to a thirsty person.  Especially as hosts, when we have invited people into our homes, we take special care to not just get them any drink, but something that they will truly like and enjoy. 
However, as we see in our text for this morning, this was not the kind of treatment Jesus received.  He thirsted during His crucifixion.  He had been up for well over 24 hours straight.  He had suffered brutal beatings and long hours of questioning by the Jews as well as Pilate.  All with no respite.  Now, in a cruel twist of irony, He who gives springs of living water to those who have faith in Him, is Himself now thirsty.
The Romans soldiers appear quick to oblige Him.  However, they are not really being kind.  In mockery they offer the cheapest of wine vinegars, something that will not really satisfy His thirst, but just might strengthen Him enough so that He might endure more hours of gruelling torture.  And so, in a terrible kind of glee, one of the soldiers races to offer this final insult to the “King of the Jews.” 
Herein Jesus is again linked to OT prophecy.  In psalm 69:21, the psalmist speaks of how his enemies have given him wine vinegar to increase his pain and affliction, while he suffers from thirst.  Such is Jesus’ situation here.  Yet He is not only linked with the sufferings of the long-dead psalmist who gave witness of the coming Messiah.  But He is also joined with our sufferings, our sins.  For on the cross He has taken them to Himself.  He knows our deepest need—our thirst for God—for He who is our righteousness.
And yet, we sinful people often wander don’t we?  As the pastor in the opening story wandered futilely on the devil’s mountain with no source of water, so we oft have wandered far from the Lord’s grace and mercy in the waters of our own baptism.  We don’t want to drink of Christ and the Christian life which can so frequently be filled with bitterness, pain, and suffering.  We don’t care that these sufferings help to conform our lives to Christ. 
Rather we grow angry and resentful.  We despise the freely offered gift of the springs of everlasting life in Jesus Christ, and instead drink deeply of the sinfully delicious sights, smells, and tastes of the inmost desires of our sinful selves.  We’d much rather drink of the glory, success, and pleasures of this world than the burden of carrying our crosses.  In fact, we greatly dislike the very thought of ever suffering like Christ on the cross.  Which, for many of us, is rather ironic, since we often pray to be made more like Christ.  Yet when God answers our prayers—we reject the sufferings that would do just that.
Yet thanks be to God that Jesus didn’t turn away from His own sufferings—from bearing the burden of His cross—which was really ours.  He didn’t choose to drink from the wells of power and glory and honour which were rightfully His to begin with as King of kings and Lord of lords.  Rather, He drank the fullness of the cup of God’s wrath—all of it—every last drop—He drank our death, our condemnation, the punishment for each and every sin of every sinner—the cup of Almighty God’s eternal wrath—the drink that His own Father offered Him. 
Jesus prayed the night in which He was betrayed to have that cup removed from Him—indeed, He longed for another way—any other way.  But His Father’s response was that there is no other way for man to be saved—for you and me to live, not die.  So, Jesus took the cup of deadly poison that rightly belonged to each of us—filled to the brim with pain and suffering—the sour, bitter taste of death—and He drank it.  He drank and He drank and He drank.  Until there was nothing left.  Until God’s just wrath for sin was poured out completely—upon His own beloved Son.  Which is why through His suffering and death Jesus was given the greatest honour and glory—as our epistle reading stated—the Name that is above all names.
As the Roman soldier filled up the sponge with sour wine, so Christ on the cross was filled with the sour, bitterness of all human sin.  He who was the Highest, became the lowest of the low—as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”  Indeed, as Paul notes in Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’” 
So we can see that it was necessary for Jesus to suffer God’s mighty displeasure and fury over our sin.  Christ drank deeply from the depths of the wells of our sin and death—yours and mine—so that we might become the righteousness of God and enjoy the sweet taste of His eternal blessings of forgiveness, life, and salvation—all purchased with His own precious blood.  Make no mistake, we needed Jesus to suffer for us, lest we be eternally condemned—and we need Him still.
We daily need to drink the draught of His mercy and righteousness that is poured out for us in Word and Sacrament.  For it is the Gospel of Jesus—that Good News of His suffering and death on our behalf—that causes the well-spring of eternal life to bubble up within us and come pouring forth. 
In the waters of our baptism we have been bathed with the sweet blood of the Lamb slain for sinners.  We have drunk deeply of His death and life—so that both have now become ours.  In baptism we have the assurance of the water of life.  This is not some special water found in the ground or in a special mountain lake.  This water of eternal salvation is found anywhere and everywhere God’s Word of promise is combined with any kind of water and applied to sinful, penitent people—be they the tiniest of newborn babes—to the largest of grown adults.  This water is yours.  This promise is yours.  So that His assurance and steadfast love and mercy may always be yours.
In the OT sacrificial system, strong drink was often used for drink offerings.  These offerings were never drunk, but rather were poured out upon the ground before the altar of God.  Beloved in the Lord, Jesus’ blood was outpoured on the cross—on the altar of Calvary—as the final drink offering to God for the penalty of our sins.  And now this sweetest of all blood, this strongest of all drinks, is freely offered to all believers in the Sacrament that we partake of this day around this altar. 
As His Word of promise is combined with the wine in this very cup, God comes to you.  He comes to you not to offer you a cup of woe (though if taken without faith, that is precisely what it becomes), but rather to you, His faithful and beloved children, He comes to bring you the cup of joy and blessing.  A cup brimming to overflowing with forgiveness, grace, mercy, love, salvation, and life.  A cup filled with the precious blood of Christ. 
Indeed, as Jesus is both true God and true man, just one drop of His sweet blood would be enough to forgive the sins of the whole world for all time—yet in His infinite compassion—He offers you the entire cup—over and over again.  As you gather round this altar—receive His cup of blessing, drinking deeply of His forgiveness, with joy and thanksgiving—for in it He offers and gives you—life, salvation, and all the blessings of His eternal kingdom.  Freely He offers—freely drink.  Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus.  Amen.


[1] Klemet I. Preus, The Fire and the Staff: Lutheran Theology in Practice (St. Louis: CPH, 2004), 69-70.
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A Challenging Test

3/26/2023

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​Lent 5 – Judica                                                                                                                                                     March 26, 2023
Genesis 22:1-14
 
A Challenging Test
 
v.1-2 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."  He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
 
          Dear friends in Christ, all told my post-secondary (post High School) academic career has taken nine years: 3 years for a Bachelor of Arts, 2 years for a Bachelor of Education, and 4 years for a Master of Divinity.  I say this not to boast of my academic accomplishments, but simply to illustrate that over the course of my life I have taken a great many tests.  A TON of tests!  Some have been relatively easy.  Some have been extremely difficult.  Of course, you know that there are different kinds of tests: often the most important not being academic in nature. 
          Such is the case for our text today.  For herein the great Patriarch, Abraham, is tested by the Lord God.  And he is tested in such a way that you and I pray we never will be.  For after more than 25 years since the first promise by God to Abraham to provide him a son—after long years of waiting and failed attempts to bring it about on their own (ie. Hagar and Ishmael)—God had at long last fulfilled His promised Word and had given Abraham and Sarah a son—Isaac—even in their advanced age (Sarah being 90 and Abraham 100 at the time of his birth).
          And now, some years later, God has commanded that Abraham take his son, his beloved son, Isaac, and sacrifice him as a burnt offering to the Lord.  Can you even imagine such a thing?  Abraham had previously sent his son Ishmael away at God's command, since God had declared (Genesis 21:12b), "through Isaac shall your offspring be named." Meaning that Isaac was the genuine son of the promise, which God had made to Abraham repeatedly in Genesis 12:2, 15:4, and 18:10, 18-19, "And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing." 
          And now God tells Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son as a burnt offering.  What an incredible test of faith!  Not a temptation, for as James writes (1:13b), God "tempts no one."  But rather a test, as St. Peter writes (1:6-7), "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."  So, God is herein testing Abraham's faith—to further refine it as gold in fire—that it may be purified and shine all the brighter for all to see.  But this didn't make it any easier on Abraham.
          Just as your own tests and trials are not always easy to endure, beloved.  For you, too, may be tested by the Lord God in many and various ways.  Perhaps you are being tested as you wrestle with depression and despair at the ugliness and sin in the world and in your own sin-darkened heart.  Or maybe you are being tested due to struggles with grief or broken and shattered relationships.  Furthermore, you may be tested to resist some form of addiction, or you are facing incredibly difficult health challenges, or even persecution for your faith.  No matter what it is you are enduring, it is no more challenging than the test that was laid before Abraham by God Almighty.
          The pagan Canaanites who surrounded Abraham in the land no doubt practiced such abominable things as child sacrifice—indeed, we have records of this ugly and despicable thing taking place as worship of Molech and Chemosh.  But this command of God seemed to contradict the promise He Himself had made to Abraham that Isaac was the son of the promise through whom all the nations of the world would ultimately be blessed—as through Isaac would eventually sprout the seed of the woman promised in Genesis 3 who would crush the head of the devil and end sin's dread curse upon humanity.  And now God was ordering Abraham to kill his son!
          Amazingly, by God's grace, Abraham doesn't seem to flinch.  "So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac."  Abraham simply goes at the Word of the Lord.  How? How could he even think of doing such a thing?  How could he fulfill such a challenging word of God?  We are given a hint in v.5 when Abraham says to the young men who had accompanied him, "Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you."  Abraham clearly states that he would go with Isaac, worship, and then BOTH would return.  How could this be?  The writer to the Hebrews (11:19) helps us understand when he writes of Abraham, "He considered that God was able even to raise him [Isaac] from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back." 
          What keeps us going through our own tests and trials in life?  The same promise and hope that helped Abraham persevere—the sure promise of God of the resurrection from the dead and life everlasting.  Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac up even from the dead, which He would have had to do had Abraham sacrificed Isaac.  Because Isaac was the son of the promise.  God had said so.  And Abraham had learned through long and hard experience that God never went back on His Word, but always fulfilled it.  So, if Isaac was to die, but was also the son of the promise, then God would simply have to raise him back to life again. 
          Now we also receive this hope and comfort of the promise of the resurrection amidst our trials by this same gift of faith in the Son of God who was offered up as a sacrifice for our sin in our place, as the Ram was sacrificed up instead of Isaac.  For Isaac serves as a prefiguring of Jesus in many ways: Isaac is the beloved son of his father, just as Jesus is the heavenly Father's beloved Son.  You will recall at Jesus' baptism the voice of the Father from heaven declaring (Matthew 3:17), "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." 
          Furthermore, Isaac carries the wood of his own sacrifice up the mountain just as Jesus carried the wood of His own cross (John 19:17), "So they took Jesus, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called The Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha."  Incredibly, Isaac (though a strong young man, having carried a heavy load up a mountain), offered no resistance to his father, but trusted him, even when about to be sacrificed.  Jesus, fulfilled this when He exhibited perfect trust in His father as the time of His sacrifice approached (Luke 22:42), while praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.  Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done."  And when He was bound upon the wood of the cross to be sacrificed, yet He did not revile or rebuke, instead He offered up words of forgiveness (Luke 23:34), "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And, as St. Peter writes (1:23), "When [Jesus] was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly."
          But Isaac is not the only one who prefigures Christ in our text.  For we also see that God provides a ram to be sacrificed in place of Isaac.  God prevented Abraham from slaying Isaac by saying (Genesis 22:12-13), 'Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.' And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns.  And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son."
          So there is a ram—a sheep—caught in a thicket of thorns by the  horns around its head.  Just so, you will recall how our Lord Jesus at His passion was given a crown of thorns for His head (Matthew 27:29a), "…and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head…"  Furthermore, John the Baptist declared of Jesus (John 1:29), "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."  So Jesus is the final and ultimate sacrifice of God for the sins of the world.  He is the perfect Lamb without blemish, sacrificed on the altar of the cross for the sins of all people—you and me included!  It was there on Mount Moriah, later known as Mount Calvary, that the beloved Son of God would give His life as the pure and holy sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. 
          Indeed, the Lord has provided for you, as He did for Abraham and Isaac.  Prophesying of what was to come we are told, (Genesis 22:14), "So Abraham called the name of that place, 'The Lord will provide'; as it is said to this day, 'On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.'"  Jesus has offered up Himself for you—giving you the good promise and assurance of forgiveness for all of your sins by His blood sacrifice.  For all the sacrifices of rams, bulls, and goats could not take away your sins as the author of Hebrews notes (10:4), "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins."  Therefore, Christ came to offer Himself and His blood for you and me and all people. 
          By the forgiveness of your sins you now also have the promise of the resurrection and everlasting life.  St. Paul writes (1 Cor. 15:20-24), "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.  But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and authority and power."
          So, beloved, take heart!  Be of good cheer!  No matter the trials and tests you are undergoing.  For you can withstand and endure every test knowing that the Lord your God loves and has given His only Son to die for you.  And that by His resurrection, you also shall be raised to new and everlasting life, free from sin, sorrow, pain, suffering, and death.  For Christ has destroyed every rule and authority and power by His resurrection.  His victory is complete.  He has passed the test!  And by faith in Him (faith further strengthened by such testing), that victory is yours!  Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus.  Amen.
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Stinking Up to High Heaven

3/12/2023

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​Lent 3 – Oculi                                                                                                                                          March 12, 2023
Ephesians 5:1-9
 
Stinking Up to High Heaven
 
v.2     And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
 
          Dear friends in Christ, one of our previous pets was a cat named Hermione (yes, after the Harry Potter character).  She was a black cat.  She was tiny and cute, though not too cuddly.  She loved to be outdoors.  We used to have a long clothes line running the length of the back yard, and we would often attach Hermione to the clothes line in her harness so that she could wander more freely.  However, one summer evening, Hermione accidentally got left outside.  Normally, this probably wouldn't have been too big an issue, but on this particular night we had a local skunk wander through our yard.  Hermione, being black, was well camouflaged at night, but she must have startled the skunk because in the morning when we discovered her—she reeked—she stunk to high heaven!—Pee ew!  That skunk smell is NASTY!!!
          Today, in our epistle reading from St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he continues his discourse on how Christians are supposed to be living their lives as sanctified and holy people—living new lives formed and shaped by faith in Jesus.  He begins chapter 5:1-2 by saying, "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.  And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." 
          That is, since we are God's beloved children—the recipients of His undeserved kindness and favour—we ought to walk in that same kind of self-sacrificial love (appropriate for this season of Lent), remembering how Christ gave Himself fully as the required sacrifice to God for our sin—a sin offering—that was a pleasing aroma unto the Lord. Jesus' life was one of perfect love toward God and mankind.  He fulfilled the Ten Commandments by always loving God and neighbor rightly—in the way God directs us to love in His Word.  Furthermore, His atoning death on the cross whereby He suffered the wrath of God in our place, was received by the Father as the most perfect and pleasing sacrifice.  Indeed, the Sacrifice of all sacrifices—the One Sacrifice that all other sacrifices pointed towards.  Indeed, as the author of Hebrews notes (7:27), "[Jesus] has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for His own sins and then for those of the people, since He did this once for all when He offered up Himself."
          Jesus, by offering Himself to God as the blood sacrifice for our sin, has taken away the guilt of our sin, washing us clean and making us holy in the sight of God, as Paul will make clear at the end of Ephesians 5.  In light of this work of Christ then, it naturally follows that those who have been redeemed by Jesus—covered with the pleasing aroma of His sacrifice—will now live in love as Christ lives in love.  Paul specifically goes on to mention is v.3-4 that the Christian is to not engage in sexual immorality or impurity (sex only in the confines of holy marriage between one man and one woman), nor covetousness (desiring those temporal gifts and blessings that the Lord has not granted you), nor disgusting or foolish talk or joking (crude jokes, uncouth speech of any kind that disparages other people or any of God's gifts); instead, our lips and mouths ought only to be used in praise and thanksgiving toward God. 
          Why is this so important, beloved?  Is it because we set a bad example by our poor behaviour?  Is it because it is unkind to act and speak in these ways?  Yes, but there is even more to it than that.  Paul says in v.5, "For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God."  So, this is an eternal salvation issue. For those who do not walk in love as Christ walked in love, sacrificing of themselves for their neighbor, and living in accordance with ALL of God's Word, will not receive the Kingdom of God—will not be inheritors of heaven. 
          Whoa.  This is a hard word for us to hear.  We don't like to hear such things, especially when we know we are guilty of breaking these commandments of God.  But, dear friends, this is what Lent is all about.  Repentance over our sin and an emphasis on proper living—loving as God would have us love.  For, by failing to walk as children of light, we fall into darkness.  The darkness of sin that leads ultimately to eternal death in hell.  While walking this earth, nonetheless, by forsaking God's Word we may become as those who are dead.  No longer smelling clean and pure and holy before God, but sending up a stench that stinks to high heaven. 
          Indeed, as the writer of Ecclesiastes states so wisely (10:1), "Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honour."  Those who give themselves over to sin and licentious behavior end up stinking before the Lord—giving off a stench of death.  As the King James version puts it so descriptively regarding the conversation between Martha and Jesus just before Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead (John 11:39), "Jesus said, 'Take ye away the stone.' Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto Him, 'Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.'"  He stinketh.  How fitting.  Our sin stinketh.  WE stinketh up to high heaven.
          And so we must repent. We must turn away from our sin and look to Christ who offered Himself as a sacrifice of pleasing aroma unto the Father.  A sacrifice so pleasing that it not only covers over our sin, but cleanses us from all sin, making us a pleasing aroma unto the Lord, through the blood sacrifice of Jesus.  Indeed, in speaking of the coming Messiah, Jesus, the prophet Ezekiel (20:41), declares from the Lord, "As a pleasing aroma I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered.  And I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations."
          So, God promised to gather His people together, and make them a pleasing aroma acceptable to Him.  This He has done by manifesting His holiness in the person and work of His Son, Jesus, who is the one perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world!  Indeed, Paul concludes chapter 5 of Ephesians by making the connection between Christ and His church as that between husband and wife, when he says (5:25-27), "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."
          Beloved, you ARE the beloved of God, more dear to Him than a wife is to her husband.  Jesus gave Himself up for you, that by His blood sacrifice your sins might be cleansed—washed away in the water of Baptism—so that now, having been purified by Christ you might now be resplendent before Him—without any spot or stain of sin—no wrinkles to mar your robe of His righteousness—no stench of death—but only clean and refreshing sweet smelling life!
          So, dear friends, beware of those who would come to you to "deceive you with empty words."  That is, those words of the false teachers who preach to you only what your itching ears want to hear, rather than the truth of God's Word—the Law in all of its sternness—the Gospel in all of its sweetness.  For those who listen to those empty words, reject God's Word, and so revert back to being sons of disobedience—children of Satan—children of God's wrath—children that stink of death—walking in the darkness of rebellion and sin. 
          Rather, Paul encourages us to "walk as children of light" for "you are light in the Lord."  In Jesus, all the darkness of your sin and death has been scattered by the Light of His love and forgiveness and mercy.  His light fills you with goodness and peace, leading you to abound in the fruit of light that is found in all that is good and right and true.  So now you share the love of Jesus with your neighbor in Word and in deed.  Loving them as Christ has first loved you.  Fleeing from all sexual immorality and impurity, gross speech, and covetous desires. 
          So now you, beloved, who cling to Jesus by faith, are children of light—children who are a pleasing aroma unto the Lord—made so by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for you.  So we do not act as pigs who enjoy wallowing in filth, but rather, having been cleansed by Christ's blood, we are clean and pure—sweeter smelling than any perfume—for we have been sanctified by the Lord Jesus—washed clean in Holy Baptism—and covered in the pure white robe of Christ's own righteousness.  As His beloved children who imitate Christ, you are inheritors of the Kingdom of Christ and God—forever sending up by faith a pleasing aroma to the highest heaven. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus.  Amen.
          
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Standing in Hope

3/5/2023

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​Lent 2 – Reminiscere                                                                                                                                 March 5, 2023
Romans 5:1-5
 
Standing in Hope
 
v.2     Through Him [Jesus] we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
 
          Dear friends in Christ, standing seems like such a simple and easy thing to do, doesn't it?  Many of us can, and have, stood for long periods of time—usually when we are trying to get some sort of government service (haha).  But this isn't always the case, either.  We know that parents anxiously await that moment when their child first stands on their own—usually supported by some sort of couch or table or loving hands.  We beam with pride when our children stand (and then go on to rue the day as we have to move so many things up and out of their reach, lest they damage something or hurt themselves!).  Furthermore, many people suffer from ailments or disease or injury which make it difficult to stand.  And, of course, the older we get the more challenging even the once simple task of standing seems to be, and we often need support in terms of canes or walkers to better help us balance and stand, lest we fall and injure ourselves.
          No, standing is not always as simple and easy as it looks.  This is also true for us Christians in terms of standing firm in our Christian faith and hope.  It seems so easy on the surface.  "Trust in God and His promises no matter what happens—no matter what you're going through.  Keep the faith."  But, as is often the case, this is so much easier said than done.  Just ask Jacob who was attacked by an unknown assailant in the middle of the night, even after receiving promises of God that the Messiah's line would continue through him.  Imagine Jacob's great surprise and distress when he learned that it was God Himself who was fighting him!
          Now, we have been declared righteous by God.  A blessed, objective Word from God outside of us that says we are righteous (that is, cleansed from sin) by the work of Jesus on the cross for us.  This act of justification happens from faith, St. Paul says. That is, faith receives this promised Word—this wondrous declaration—from God and says, "This is mine! This is true!  I believe it."  This gives us peace with God—a cessation of hostility between us on account of our sin—because of Jesus Christ's work on the cross, whereby the dreadful wrath of God for our sin has been poured out upon Jesus in our place.  He endured the pain, the suffering, the death that we deserve for our sin.  And because He has done so, we are now at peace with God, and justified in His sight.
          So now, beloved, through our Lord Jesus we have access to the royal throne room of God and His grace and mercy for us in Christ.  By faith in Jesus we are placed firmly in a position of God's grace—meaning we receive God's great gifts of forgiveness and mercy for our sin, life in the face of death, salvation rather than damnation—no matter what we experience this side of heaven.  This give us cause to joyfully boast in the hope that we have in this great glory of God in which we share by faith in Jesus. 
          Indeed, having been declared righteous by God on account of Christ, we now stand in the firm hope that we will one day enjoy a fully restored experience of God's image and presence that was lost in Eden so long ago by our first parents in the Fall.  So, despite Satan's best efforts, despite the world's grumbling and persecutions, despite even our own rebellious flesh, we trust that we will one day be fully restored to God because of the blood that Jesus shed for us.  And it is in this great and wondrous hope that the Christian boasts: not of our works, which avail us nothing before God, but of Jesus and His sacrifice for us.
          Yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we recognize that our experience of standing firm in our faith is fraught with difficulties and perils.  You know, beloved, how difficult it can be to stand at times: whether through fatigue, or injury, or illness.  Yet, can you also imagine how difficult it is to stand when you are surrounded by things that are pushing and pulling you in different directions, desiring to make you fall? 
          Such is the case with the Christian.  There are many things that seek to push and pull us away from Christ, leading us to fall away from faith.  Perhaps it is challenging arguments from unbelievers or difficult relationships from friends and families.  Maybe it is some kind of particular health crisis affecting you or a loved one.  A health problem that you do not understand why it has come to you, or why your loved one is being made to suffer in this way?  We can be tempted to fall from faith and hope into unbelief and despair when confronted with the great evils of the world all around us.  Sometimes, trying to stand in our faith is incredibly difficult because it feels as though we are trying to stand in the midst of an earthquake!
          Yet into these desperate situations come the clear Word of God to our rescue.  For God is the One who provides the firm foundation upon which we stand in faith.  The foundation of Jesus Christ crucified for you and for me.  As we are often pushed to and fro, our Lord Jesus comes alongside us to bear us up and hold us firmly in His loving arms of mercy, so that we can be led by the Holy Spirit to "boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope" (Romans 5:3b-4). 
          Beloved, the sufferings we experience are not in themselves good, but God uses them to direct us to the hope that we have in Christ Jesus, and it is this sure and certain hope that enables us to boast even in the midst of our sufferings.  Calling unto Christ our Lord for mercy we are able to patiently endure our trials and tribulations—to stay standing in the faith despite the pressures pushing us in various directions, or trying to knock us down.
          Indeed, the Lord works so that this patient endurance accomplishes or brings about tested character—a character that has been refined in suffering as metal is refined by fire—purifying our faith to look ever and only to Jesus for strength, comfort, and peace.  This character accomplishes hope in us.  The very hope that God first gave us when He declared us righteous, providing us a firm place to stand in the first place!  God is the One who accomplishes all of this in you by His grace, which you receive from faith in Jesus.
          And this blessed hope that you have been given—that you have been confirmed in—through your many sufferings and trials—is a hope that will not put you to shame on the Last Day.  No, indeed, despite the pressures and attacks of the hostile unbelieving world around us, it is THEY who will be put to shame and humiliation when Christ returns to Judge the living and the dead—not you.  For you have a sure and certain hope that "does not put [you] to shame, because God's love has been poured into [your] hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to [you]" (Romans 5:5). 
          Indeed, beloved, the basis for your confident hope, despite your afflictions, is that the love of God has been poured out and remains within your hearts.  Yes, God's love is in your hearts only because He has placed it in you.  His love seeks to replace the impure desires and doubts of your sinful hearts.  His love comes from outside of you to accomplish this.  How?  By the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who was given to you, and remains with you in your Baptism.  As Paul writes in Titus 3:5-6, "[God] saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior." 
          What joy it is to know, dear friends, that you truly are the "Beloved" of God in Christ.  That His love not only sent His Son Jesus to the cross for you, but His love has been given to you richly through the Holy Spirit whom He poured out upon you in your Baptism, washing you clean of all sin, declaring you righteous in the sight of God, and providing you a firm foundation for your faith in the work of God to save you.  The Holy Spirit continues to work in you not only in your Baptism, but by His Word that continually declares you free from sin on account of Christ. 
          Knowing that God Himself has planted you firmly in His grace in Christ Jesus, you may now withstand the buffeting blows that assault your faith.  For you do not stand alone.  You do not stand on sinking sand.  You stand on Christ the crucified and risen One.  He holds you in His nail pierced hands.  The blood and water that flowed from His side cover you with His righteousness and bear you up against all trials and assaults to your faith.  Your eyes look not to you or your own works for your comfort and peace, but rather to the One who was pierced for your transgressions.  You look to Him who smiles upon you in grace and mercy.  It is in Him and Him alone that you boast.  For as Paul writes in 1 Cor. 1:31 and 2 Cor. 10:17 (paraphrasing Jeremiah 9:23-24), "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."  For truly, it is the Lord who saves—it is the Lord who makes you stand firm in your faith—stand firm in hope.  Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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Delicious Forbidden Fruit

2/26/2023

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​Lent 1 – Invocabit                                                                                                                                February 26, 2023
Genesis 3:1-21
 
Delicious Forbidden Fruit
 
v.6     So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
 
          Dear friends in Christ, this day marks the first Sunday in the season of Lent:  a season of repentance, self-sacrifice, self-discipline, and prayer.  These activities of piety are very important to the Christian because of sin.  And today in our Old Testament reading, we recounted, once again, the first sin against God by our first parents, which has had such drastic consequences for all mankind ever since.  For here in this text, we see Satan's great cunning in that he doesn't first try to tempt Eve by the loveliness of the fruit, but rather first goes after her and Adam's greatest strength—faith in the Word.  We see that the root and source of all sin is unbelief and a turning away from God—a rejection of Him and His Word.  This Fall then brings forth death, destruction, depravity, pain, and suffering to the whole world.
          Because of our fallen estate, it is important for Christians to engage in rigorous self-discipline, in an effort to curb our sinful passions and desires.  So, Lent is an opportune time for us to be strengthened in acts such as fasting, almsgiving, and prayer.  Practices that help us put a leash on our sinful flesh, and work to serve our neighbor in love, while focusing on the gifts of God in Christ.
          This is important for us to do, beloved, because we face temptation each and every day.  Temptation that arises from our own sinful hearts, or from the world around us, but truly originates from the devil, who desires all people to be damned as he is, and to delight in rejection of God and His Word of truth and salvation.  These daily temptations lead us to sin, as we saw in Genesis 3. 
          For we see in this account that the devil isn't a fool.  That is, he doesn't tempt us with things that are easy to reject, but rather with things that are pleasing to us—that already conform to our broken natures and desires that are contrary to God's Word.  For example, Satan will not ordinarily tempt a person in our society to run over a box of puppies with our car—because we would be outraged at such a blatant and evil act.  He's not so foolish.  He will, however, often tempt people to pay more attention to their pets than to their families.  Indeed, we often see it today where people will treat having animals on a par with having actual children, calling them their "fur babies." Though this may sound cute on the surface, it actually indicates a devaluing and debasing of human nature as the pinnacle of God's creation—lessening the intrinsic nature of human beings so that it eventually becomes easier and easier for us to do our neighbor harm. 
          Indeed, some years ago a survey was conducted at a university campus, asking a hypothetical question as to whether a person would elect to save a drowning dog, whom they loved, over a drowning person, whom they disliked.  A significant percentage of people chose to save the animal over the human being.  Why?  Because animals are now often viewed as being on a par, or even of higher value, than human beings. 
          So often in our temptations, dear friends, we are faced with choices between things we find attractive according to our broken natures, over and against what God's Word says.  "You find people of the same sex more attractive than the opposite sex?  Fine.  Love is love as they say.  Your girlfriend has become pregnant and neither of you want to be burdened with that kind of responsibility?  No problem.  Just get an abortion and be free to live your live as you please.  That's really the highest good.  Feeling uncomfortable in your own body? Don't worry, simply undergo major surgery and drug treatments and you can change who God made you to be."  You see, the devil uses those things that appear to be delicious—leading us to think these things can't be THAT bad.  As long as we feel good, that's all that matters, right?
          Wrong.  And you see, here is the biggest problem.  For Adam and Eve had sinned before Eve ever reached out her hand to pluck the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and Good and Evil and eat.  No, indeed, the devil gets Eve to question God's Word first.  "Did God actually say….?"  Eve responds by quoting God's Word back to the devil, but already begins to add to what God has said, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"  Then Satan plunges the dagger of doubt and unbelief into Eve's heart when he outright rejects God's Word, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."  "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate."
          So, you see, beloved, the sin occurred before she reached out her hand.  She is tempted to a knowledge beyond God and sound reason.  For she and Adam already possessed firm knowledge of good. They lived and worked in the Garden of Eden—a perfect paradise prepared by God for them.  No pain, no suffering, no death marred this place as they dwelt in the goodness of God's presence.  But during her conversation with the devil, she is tempted to go beyond all this.  Indeed, she wants the knowledge of evil to be added—she wants insight beyond what God has given.  This wisdom looked so good, so right.  Yet this wisdom was death, and was hostile to the wisdom of God which was given to her.
          And this, beloved, is the way in which the devil brings about all his temptations.  Before he can actually get you to reach out your hand and embrace the temptation to sin, he must first get you to reject God and His Word—to act in unbelief.  And the farther human beings draw away from the Word of God, the more deeply we fall into sin and temptation, without even realizing it, for we think we are more learned and wise.  "We KNOW people can change their sex.  We KNOW that our love/lust for anyone and anything is the highest good.  We KNOW that unborn children have no rights when their existence threatens our comfort.  We KNOW all these things to be true, and God's Word be damned."
          Now, these matters of morality are certainly important for us to consider. And we ought always to be guided by the clear Word of God in all these matters.  But the devil works even more insidiously at times to bring doubt to the most important matters of all—those that are the root cause of our salvation.  For Jesus says in John 17:3, "And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."  And yet, we are daily tempted to disregard this wisdom, and replace it with our own, turning to our own thoughts.  "My salvation must include some little things that I do.  Being nice to my neighbor. Fasting during Lent.  By my Baptism declaring to God that I am His."  Beloved, by departing from the Word of God, which clearly indicates that God works to save us by the blood of His Son, even pouring out His forgiveness upon us in the waters of Baptism, we join in sinning with all our senses: by seeing, thinking, desiring, and by doing.
          Adam and Eve's greatest sin was not eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree.  That was merely the outgrowth of sin already at work in their hearts.  St. James notes this in his letter (1:14-15), "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." 
          So, Lent is indeed a time of deep reflection and repentance for us as Christians.  We even begin the season each year by "clothing" ourselves in ashes, as an outward mark of our contrition and sorrow for our sin.  Adam and Eve, terrified of God, tried hiding from Him in the garden, to no avail.  You cannot hide your sin from God.  He knows.  He always knows.  He knows your sin better than you do.  But He is gracious.  He promised to send a seed of the woman who would crush the serpent's head, thus delivering His children from the sin and death that resulted from Satan's temptation. 
          Jesus has gone into death for you.  Jesus has overcome every temptation in your place.  Jesus has shed His blood on the cross so that you may be redeemed from your every sin, and may receive forgiveness and life through faith in Him. For on the cross Jesus, by dying in your place, crushed the head of Satan, denying him his greatest weapon against us: guilt and shame for our sin.  For Jesus' blood has wiped it all away.  Just as God went on to clothe Adam and Eve with the skins of animals, covering up their nakedness and shame, so God has clothed you in the robe of Christ's own righteousness, which you received freely by His hand in your Baptism. 
          The Lord fills your heart with His Spirit of wisdom and strength that we might ever turn to His Word in time of temptation, even as Jesus did when tempted in the wilderness.  For we have received forgiveness and mercy from Christ Jesus not to continue in sin—to embrace temptation—but to resist it, by His grace, looking ever and always to the cross of Jesus whereby we partake of the Tree of Life.  The fruit of life that is found flowing from the side of Christ in blood and water on the tree of the cross that forgives, redeems, and restores us to our loving God. Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus.  Amen.
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Seeing Clearly with Eyes of Faith

2/19/2023

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​Quinquagesima                                                                                                                                    February 19, 2023
Luke 18:31-43          
 
Seeing Clearly with Eyes of Faith
 
v.40-41       And Jesus stopped and commanded him [the blind man] to be brought to Him.  And when he came near, He asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, let me recovery my sight."
 
          Dear friends in Christ, how's your vision?  Perhaps you, like me, have trouble seeing things at certain distances.  Indeed, I have made an appointment to see my eye doctor in a few weeks' time.  I am quite certain that he will tell me that my vision has gotten worse since my last visit two years ago, and that I will need a stronger prescription to see more clearly the things around me.
          In the Scriptures, the theme of blindness is prevalent.  Though there are many instances of people being physically blind, such as the man in our text for today, yet there are even more instances of people being spiritually blind to the truth of God around them.  Such is the case of the disciples in our text.  Ironically, though they could physically see just fine, yet they continued to be blinded to the truth of Jesus' ultimate mission—even when He told them plainly. 
          As Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover, He clearly speaks to the Twelve disciples that His enemies (Luke 18:33-34) "'will kill Him, and on the third day He will rise.'  But they understood none of these things.  This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said."  They did not see that Jesus' mission was one of mercy.  Mercy for the people of the world.  Mercy for the forgiveness of their sins, which Jesus would earn with His suffering and death on the cross in just a matter of days. 
          St. Luke contrasts this beautifully for us with the blind beggar.  You see, Jesus was traveling not only with the Twelve to Jerusalem, but with a host of people on their way for the Passover festival—one of the biggest religious festivals of the year.  Since there was going to be a lot of pilgrims on this road from Jericho to Jerusalem, the blind man situates himself along the road where he might beg more effectively from the great number of people going up for the festival.  When this man hears the crowd going by, he is told that Jesus of Nazareth is passing along.
          Now, though this man might not have ever been in the presence of Jesus before, he has somehow heard about this Jesus of Nazareth.  When the blind man hears this title, "Jesus of Nazareth," he is prompted to cry out for mercy.  Why?  For one thing, this title designates Jesus as the  miracle-working prophet from Nazareth that has taken Israel by storm.  Furthermore, the spelling that Luke uses here for Nazarene indicates a close relationship to the OT word for "branch," recalling Isaiah 11:1, "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of its roots."  This title alerted the blind man that this Jesus is the Spirit-endowed healer, the Branch, the Son of David, the Messiah.  Thus, he cries out (v.38), "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
          Again, the irony is that a physically blind man sees more clearly with eyes of faith than those around him—even Jesus' own Twelve disciples!  He latches on to the promises of the Word of God concerning the Messiah—and recognizes that this is who Jesus is.  Therefore, he will not be quieted—he will not be shushed—but calls out all the more (v.39), "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 
          The cry of faith, beloved, is always for mercy.  For the faithful know and understand their sinful condition before God.  We have evidence of sin all around us: in pain and suffering of the world, the darkness of sin in our hearts, broken relationships, natural disasters, and even within our own bodies, as this blind man knew.  Yet, this is why Jesus has come.  Jesus has come to undo the work of the devil, and to restore Fallen creation with His perfect life and sacrificial death.  
          Indeed, St. Luke records for us Jesus' own words concerning His earthly mission.  For in Luke 4, following Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, and the beginning of His public ministry, He was at worship in the synagogue in Nazareth (His hometown), and was invited to preach.  First, He read from Isaiah 61:1-2, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  Following the reading of the text, Jesus gave the shortest sermon of His career (Luke 4:21), "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
          Jesus took that Messianic prophecy from Isaiah and directly applied it to Himself and His mission and ministry as the Lord's Anointed—the Messiah—the Christ.  He came to proclaim the Gospel, to set those in captivity to sin free by the power of His Word, to give sight to the blind (both physically and spiritually), to free the oppressed, and usher in the year (the eternal time) of the Lord's favor.
          Upon hearing these cries of faith from the blind beggar in the crowd, Jesus stopped and had the man brought before Him.  He then gives the man yet another opportunity to publicly confess his faith in Jesus by asking him (v.41), "'What do you want me to do for you?'  He said, 'Lord, let me recover my sight.'"
          This, too, is somewhat ironic, for the blind man already sees more clearly who Jesus is than those around him with perfect vision.  For he sees Jesus with eyes of faith, confessing Him as "Lord."  Jesus, the Lord and Creator of all things, responds in mercy, as is His wont, and replies (v.42), "Recover your sight; your faith has made you well."  Jesus brings healing, a foretaste of the restoration of all creation, and the man recovers his physical sight.  Indeed, now his earthly eyes are blessed to see as clearly as his "spiritual" eyes.  He may now behold the Lord and Savior of all with his own eyes, rejoicing in the gift of salvation that Jesus brings.
          For, beloved, the essence of who Jesus is is revealed in His acts of mercy.  For He will show ultimate mercy by traveling on to Jerusalem where (v.31-33), "…everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.  For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.  And after flogging Him, they will kill Him and on the third day He will rise."  Jesus' shows mercy to the world—to all people—by dying on a cross in Jerusalem—so that, by His grace, He may restore and re-create fallen humanity.
          And Jesus has done this for you, beloved.  He has gathered you into His arms of mercy, declaring you free from the captivity of your sin, restoring your sight so that you may see Him clearly with eyes of faith.  Eyes that see all things through the lens of Holy Scripture, knowing that this Fallen world shall not last, the devil will not prevail, nor death be triumphant.  For Jesus has taken your sin to the cross.  Jesus has been killed—died your death.  And what's more, Jesus has risen again on the third day, showing His victory over all our enemies—and that His mission of mercy has been accomplished.
          So, beloved, continue to pray to Jesus—to cry out to Him—whatever your circumstances may be—whatever trials you may be enduring—whatever heartaches afflict the world and your family—cry out with the blind man, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  As we do each week in the Kyrie of the divine service, "Lord, have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy!" 
          Cry to Jesus.  He will hear and answer you in His good time and according to His good pleasure.  You are His children.  He has bled and died for each and every one of you.  He loves you  more than you know.  And He declares to you, "Your faith has made you well."  Your trust in Him as your Savior has resulted in your receiving forgiveness for all of your sins, being set free from the bonds of the devil, and a recipient of eternal life, which no one can take away from you, for now you see clearly with eyes of faith.
          What joy, beloved!  Is it any wonder that we also now respond as the formerly blind man did in our text by following Jesus and glorifying God?  Indeed (v.43b), "And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God."  For God's people always respond in praise to the One who has brought recovery of sight to the blind. Who has rescued us from our sin.  Who promises life in the face of death.  Who has ushered in the eternal time of the Lord's favor through the blood of His Son.  Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus.  Amen.
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Word Power

2/12/2023

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​Sexagesima                                                                                                                                          February 12, 2023
Isaiah 55:10-13
 
Word Power
 
v.10-11       For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
 
          Dear friends in Christ, just ask any farmer – rain and snow are very important.  For without them—without enough of them—plants will not grow—seeds will not germinate—stalks will not bring forth fruit in abundance.  You can harrow and plough and fertilize till the cows come home—nothing’s going to happen—without rain.  For it is water that is the catalyst—water that sparks the growth and gets things moving.  Just look at the trouble we have when there are droughts—erosion of farmland and poor crops that can lead to widespread famine. 
          And water, dear friends, is what God says His Word is like.  The Word He promises will cause great fruit to burst forth from the earth, for which all shall give thanks and rejoice.  His Word pours forth from His abundant pleasure—gracing us with His promises of love, peace, and life.  Yet the Word is such a small thing—such an ordinary, everyday, commonplace thing—we sometimes forget how powerful it truly is.  Just like with rain and snow, sometimes we don’t appreciate it—even grumble and groan about it, taking it for granted when it is given to us in abundance—until it is gone that is.
          See the Word seems so inconsequential—especially when compared with the great and mighty powers of the earth—sin runs rampant in our society, seemingly unchecked—people and churches slide into error and heresy—Christ is proclaimed not as Saviour, but as mere mortal, wise teacher.  The church grows ever smaller and less impactful on the world around her.  Indeed, it can be very difficult to trust that what God has given us will be sufficient to see us through the day, when we are beset on all sides by many and varied evils.
          So it is very easy for us to begin to believe that the Word simply by itself—undiluted and without any trappings—will have any effect.  In looking at the state of the world and the church around us we may think that the Word is not enough—that we must do something, anything, to help nudge it along and so build the church.  And therein lies our greatest folly.  Therein lies our problem.
          Whenever we start to think that the great work of growing Christ’s church has anything to do with us we should remember this text spoken from the mouth of the prophet Isaiah centuries before the coming of Jesus.  Here God is very clear—it is He who accomplishes this great and mighty task—Christ—His Spirit—and His Word.  It is all Him.  We are called upon to scatter the seed, but it is He who causes it to grow.
          The Word of God is not simply words written on a page, or spoken aloud that are an empty echo—just reverberating noise.  No, indeed, the Word accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent—it does what it says—for the Word is imbued with divine power and life.  Indeed, the will of God becomes concrete and audible in the Word—it is the very utterance of His nature.
          What is the great divine purpose of the Word?  His purpose is to save you and all sinners like you.  For the Word was sent forth from the Father—the divine Word—the Son of God—took on flesh—to live and die for you—so that by His sacrificial death in your place—He might garner a harvest of abundant fruit, Himself being the firstfruit of all the dead in His resurrection. 
          The message of the Word—the promise given through Isaiah and all the other prophets of the OT, pointed forward to the divine Word of God who would become man.  The message of the Word of God—the message of salvation and redemption—has been personified and fulfilled in Christ Jesus.  What a blessing this Word is to us—this Word which speaks to us the forgiveness and mercy of God granted for His sake to us sinful human beings.  This Word teaches us that there is naught that we can do to earn God’s favour, but that we have been called to the one true faith through this holy Word of the Gospel and have been changed.
          As the snow and the rain are the mediating causes of growth, and therefore, the cause of the enjoyment of what is harvested (ie the fruit)—so is the soil of the human heart (that Jesus described in the Gospel reading for today) softened, refreshed, and rendered productive and fruitful by the Word out of the mouth of God.  For in the flood of the Lord’s Baptism, wherein water is combined with God’s Word of promise, our hearts were softened and the seed of faith planted deep—to spring forth—through continued nurturing of this life-giving  Word—unto life everlasting.  For His powerful Word has broken down and removed the barriers of sin and death that entangled us—causing new life to spring forth—a burning faith and desire to do God’s will.
          Jesus is the living Word made flesh—those who despise Him and His Word will perish.  But the Word is effective because it is God’s Word—and it will not depart without bearing fruit.  For where the Word of Christ is believed –there is the church—and there she is growing—growing in the hearts and minds of all those who believe.  By the preaching of the Gospel unbelievers are dramatically changed as their many idols are destroyed.  For where the Gospel is—there also then is faith and mercy and forgiveness and life—for the Gospel sanctifies—makes holy—in every place and bears fruit—according to God’s good purpose.
          But once again, the Word seems so weak and foolish—there appears to be no strength in it—how can it be believed that all the power, victory, and triumph of God are in the Word of a feeble human mouth?  For the enemies of the Gospel may ask, “Do you really think that everything depends on the Word?  No.  We must act, we must work, we must think.”  But here this text contradicts them for it says plainly and clearly—the Word does this.  This, dear friends, is a great consolation to those of us who are weak—to give us strength—lest we be offended at the lowliness of God, who says that His every victory is in His Word.
          This holds true as we meditate on Christ—the Word made flesh.  His cross seems so weak—so terrible—on Calvary’s mountain Jesus seems to have lost to Satan, sin, and death.  Yet it is precisely in His cross that His victory was accomplished—for you and for me.  It is in the weak and lowly things of this world—water, bread, wine, and the Word that God works such great miracles.  With a Word He declares you no longer guilty sinners deserving of His wrath—but forgiven—freed children—His beloved sons and daughters for the sake of His Son on the cross.  With a Word He washed you in baptism.  With a Word He gives you His own body and blood to eat and to drink—to strengthen and nourish you all the days of your life.  Just as the rain and the snow achieve everything for the earth—so also the Word of Christ accomplishes everything for the sinner—calling us to repentance and faith in the living Word made flesh.  Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus.  Amen. 
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You Can’t Get Blood From a Stone! Right?

2/5/2023

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​Septuagesima                                                                                                                                         February 5, 2023
Exodus 17:1-7
 
You Can’t Get Blood From a Stone! Right?
 
v.6     Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.
 
          Dear friends in Christ, you’ve all heard the saying, “You can’t get blood from a stone,” right?  We usually use this phrase when talking about economics and financial hard times to indicate that you can’t get more money from someone who doesn’t have any, just like you can’t get blood from a stone that doesn’t have any blood.  Well, today in our OT reading we see the Israelites confronted with a slightly different problem.  Following their exodus from Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea, they are traveling through the Wilderness of Sin.  This is dry, desert area—not a lot of water—and the people grow thirsty.  What does God have Moses do?  Get water from a stone!  Graciously, the Lord provided for the needs of His people, even though they didn’t deserve it.
          You see, the Israelites' real problem was not a lack of water, but rather a lack of faith.  Though God had led them out of the land of slavery and death in Egypt—though God had very recently begun supplying them with Manna from heaven for them to eat during their journey—yet now, in this remote wilderness—their lips were dry, cracked, and bleeding—their livestock suffering from the burning of the relentless sun—their families wilting under the scorching heat—they doubt God—doubt His promises—doubt His care—doubt His provision.  And whom do they take their frustration and anger out on?  Moses, of course.
          As Moses points out for us in v.7, the Israelites' problem was that of “testing the Lord” by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”  Even after His many miracles—even though He travelled with them by day as a pillar of cloud and by night as a pillar of fire—signifying to them and all others, His gracious and permanent presence among them—yet they doubted Him still. 
          Now we may be rather quick to judge the Israelites in our text.  We may be ready and willing to point and shake our finger at those silly, backward, people, believing that we are so much better—so much more trusting than they—but are we, really?  How many times have you found yourself questioning the gracious promises of God—doubting His presence in your life (even as a baptized child of God)—even after just having received His body and blood in His house for your salvation?  How many times do we receive His gifts here in this place and then immediately go back to worrying and wondering how this or that problem is ever going to be solved—whether we will receive health and vitality in the face of illness—whether the money will hold out to the end of the month—whether God is really with us and actually cares about us.
          There are times, dearly beloved—many times—when it seems as though God has abandoned us to the scorching heat and devastation of this sinful world.  There are times when our souls are dry, cracked, and bleeding—and we wonder if God can or even will do something to help us.  There are times no doubt when we have even taken out our anger and frustration on God’s called servant because he was close at hand, throwing stones of false witness, slander, and hurt his way or someone else’s way, while we are really frustrated and angry with God, wondering why He would allow certain things to happen to us and treat us in this way?
          In fact, much of the time, we act very much like the Israelites in Exodus 17—or the labourers in the vineyard of Jesus’ parable in our Gospel—complaining that God is being unfair toward us in some way.  How quickly we forget that God is unfair—He doesn’t treat us the way we deserve—rather He treats us graciously in mercy and compassion.  In our rebellion and sin we deserve to be treated with punishment and hell by God, yet instead, miraculously, He treats on the basis of His abounding grace in Christ Jesus!
          For you see, you CAN get blood from a stone—as long as that stone is Christ the Lord, as St. Paul makes clear in our Epistle for today.  Indeed, as the Psalmist (19:14) declared, and as we pray together before each sermon, “Let the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” 
          Scripture calls Jesus the Rock of our salvation.  He is the chief cornerstone of our faith because He was struck by the rod of God’s Law and wrath in our stead.  He was broken on the rock of Golgotha—His body beaten and bloodied—His life given up into death—for your sin and mine.  He has given Himself up in this way that we might eat and drink of His own holy body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith.  You want to know if God really cares for you—really loves you?  Then look no further than the cross.  For there the innocent Lamb of God was struck down for your sin and mine.
          Think back on Christ’s crucifixion, dear friends.  Remember what happened after Jesus gave up His Spirit and died?  As St. John records it for us (19:34), “one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.”  So you can plainly see, how it IS possible to get both blood and water from a stone—as long as that stone is Christ the Rock of our salvation.  The blood and water that poured forth from His side flows to His Holy bride, the church, in the Sacraments to sustain her and give her life as she travels the wilderness of sin in this life.
          St. Ambrose reminds us that as water flowed through the rock at God’s command to Moses, so also for you blood and water flowed from Christ.  The water that the Israelites drank in the desert satisfied only for a time, but the water of Holy Baptism and the Blood of Jesus in the Supper that flowed from His pierced side at Calvary’s cross, satisfies for all eternity.  For it is in His Word and Sacrament that the Gospel comes to you, dear friends, to forgive, lift up and restore your parched and dry, dead souls.  With the water of Baptism He brings a renewing flood of His grace and mercy that forgives every sin—removes all guilt—and breaks through the hardness of your own unbelieving heart—to create and sustain a living faith for all eternity in Jesus your Lord and Saviour.
          What is more, the body and blood of His Supper refreshes you in your own journey in the wilderness of sin—that the temptations of the devil, the world, and your own evil flesh—may not consume you and send you to the eternal fires of hell.  In this Sacrament Jesus very plainly shows you that He is with you—not in wrath and punishment as you deserve because of your doubt and rebellion—but rather in mercy and grace—clean, cool, and refreshing righteousness.
          Drink deeply from the well of His salvation, given to you this day and every Lord’s Day.  For the Lord Jesus Christ Himself comes to you each week in this place to serve you with His own divine goodness and mercy.  In the Words of the Absolution that I proclaim—hear Christ speaking to you—declaring you free from all guilt of sin and death.  In the Invocation—be reminded of your Baptism—that it is for your ultimate good that Christ came and washed you clean—anointing you with His own Holy Spirit and putting His mark forever upon you and writing your name into His book of life.  In the Supper you eat this day—rejoice in the full forgiveness of sins that Christ earned on the cross with His bloody death, and which He now gives to you under bread and wine His very own body and blood—that you may eat and drink and be restored to fullness of life everlasting.
          When tempted to doubt God’s gracious will for you—when wrestling with sin and guilt—when fearful of death and dying—remember that the rock hardness of the Law and of sin and death have all been broken asunder by the power of Jesus’ cross from which we receive forgiveness, healing, and life everlasting—in His Word and Sacraments.  These are His visible signs of His testimony of love for you—signed and sealed in His blood shed on the cross—and delivered to you through water, bread, and wine along with His Word of promise and hope.  And there is absolutely no doubt about it.  For you can indeed get blood from a stone—the Rock of our Salvation.  Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus.  Amen.
          
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The Hour of Power

1/15/2023

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​Epiphany 2                                                                                                                                                    January 15, 2023
John 2:1-11
 
The Hour of Power
 
v.4                   And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me?  My hour has not yet come.”
 
Dear friends in Christ, I am sure that many of you have heard of, if not actually seen, the television program called The Hour of Power.  It was begun by the notable Rev. Dr. Schuller, but is now hosted by his grandson, Bobby Schuller.  This program which grew prominent under Dr. Schuller’s prosperity gospel preaching, has suffered some decline in recent years.  Indeed, this iconic “hour of power,” which for so long seemed so strong, so impressive, with its beautiful building—the Crystal Cathedral, magnificent choir, charismatic preacher, etc. has shown signs of weakening and eroding.  Quite a contrast with our Lord in talking about His hour and the power that He revealed. 
Our text takes place following Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist, wherein as we heard last week, Jesus was confirmed in His public ministry by the sign of His Father’s voice from heaven proclaiming His pleasure in the Son, as well as the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who came upon Jesus in the form of a dove.  Now, however, Jesus will confirm His ministry among sinners with this first sign of His power—at this very hour.
Now, this is certainly not the way in which you would expect our Lord to first demonstrate His power to the people He had come to save.  It takes place at a wedding celebration and involves saving the bride and groom from some embarrassment in not having provided enough wine for their guests.  At first, Jesus attempts to avoid this situation claiming His hour has not yet come, but His mother simply instructs the servants to do whatever He tells them.
We see at this wedding feast the elements of a fallen creation run short.  Jesus, as the One who has come to make all things new, steps in to restore creation, and miraculously changes water into an abundance of the very best wine, thereby fulfilling one of many Old Testament prophecies regarding the Messiah.  With this sign Christ does indeed manifest His glory.  However, again, it is not as we would do.  For only the servants and Jesus’ own disciples knew what had happened—furthermore, this miracle occurred in a small town in the back country of Galilee.  Not the most auspicious of beginnings for such a powerful ministry. 
This hour, where Jesus first manifested His power and glory at Cana in Galilee pointed ahead to a greater hour of power—though one not adorned with what we would consider great displays of power—His cross at Golgotha.  There Jesus showed His glory by taking all of creation’s curse into His own flesh to release us from its power.  Paul describes this great hour for us in our epistle reading where He speaks of Jesus as the bridegroom who gave His life for His bride.  This Christ has done with His own suffering and death on the cross.
Jesus' greatest “hour of power” was in taking your place upon the cross—suffering shame, humility, agonizing pain, and death—unjustly—for your sin and mine.  He gave Himself up to the judgement and wrath of God so that you and I might be spared—saved from damnation and hell—and given a place at the great wedding feast of the kingdom of God in everlasting life. 
Just so it is today that Christ continues to use the fallen elements of this creation to bring abundant blessing and life and to manifest His power and glory this side of heaven.  We see Jesus’ power at work in each hour of worship here in His house.  For Christ has chosen to combine the power of His redeeming Word with common elements—water, bread, and wine—that in them—lowly though they may appear—Christ’s great power is manifested for sinners like you and me. 
Apart from Christ’s Word the water is just plain water, but with His Word it is a Baptism—that is a washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit—forgiving sins, creating faith, pouring out life and salvation where before there had been only death and decay.  This is His gift to you, dear friends.  That you may always look back to the hour of your Baptism as the moment when God made you His own dear child—showering upon you the power of His grace and mercy—that you might be washed clean and so receive entry into the kingdom of heaven.
Similarly, in the Sacrament of the Altar, again Christ took simple, everyday elements, bread and wine, and combined them with His Word of promise to give us a foretaste of the great feast to come.  For, under the power of Christ’s own creative and salvific Word, Christ’s body and blood are present with the bread and wine.  His body and blood given up for you at the hour of His death on Calvary’s cross come to bring you His holiness and purity—wiping out every stain and wrinkle of sin in your life—pledging you His eternal life and salvation.  This gift He gives to you each hour we come together to celebrate Him and His Word.  The mighty and powerful benefits of His hour of death become fully yours through faith as you believe and trust in Him and His sacrifice for you.
Indeed, the whole hour of this Divine Service is one in which God is at work serving you, dear friends, with His powerful Word and Sacrament.  From the beautiful words of the liturgy that speak back to God what He has already told us in His Word, to the words of the Creed, the hymns and the prayers.  Indeed, in the absolution and the preached Word of the sermon God’s powerful and redemptive Word comes to you to lift up and restore your weary souls.  To pull you from the depths of the darkness of your sin-shrouded lives and bring you to His glorious light. 
As you come and hear—as you come and receive—the water and blood that flowed from Christ’s side at Calvary—you are able to rejoice!  For the bridegroom has given His life for the bride—to wash her and sanctify her—purifying her from all unrighteousness—through His own shed blood.  You are the bride dear friends, and Christ is the groom.  He has given Himself up to death, even death upon a cross—so that He might take creation’s curse into His own flesh to release you from its power—thereby manifesting His glory in a most unusual way—in suffering and death. 
Yet through His tremendous sacrifice—through His glorious resurrection and triumph over the grave, Satan, and all our enemies—you are promised a seat at the great wedding feast in the kingdom of heaven where there will be no sorrow—no pain or suffering—where death and darkness will be a distant memory, for Christ our Light and Life will shine upon us always in glorious splendor. 
This is His great promise to you, dear friends, that at the hour of trial and tribulation—at the very hour of your death—you may be comforted in the sure and certain knowledge that the benefits of Christ’s hour that came upon Him at the cross—have been given wholly and completely to you.  May this hope bring you all comfort and joy in this hour, now and forever.  Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus.  Amen.
 
 
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Foolish Christians!

1/8/2023

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​Epiphany 1 – The Baptism of our Lord                                                                                                 January 8, 2023
1 Corinthians 1:26-31              
 
Foolish Christians!
 
v.26-27       For considers your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong…
 
          Dear friends in Christ, the world looks at us and our belief in Jesus as the Saviour of the world as though we are a bunch of fools.  In our postmodern western society, the notion that there is a singular powerful deity who created all things and to whom all people are responsible for their moral shortcomings seems to be utterly ridiculous.  This scorn is, of course, nothing new for us Christians.  Indeed the second century Greek philosopher, Celsus, was an outspoken advocate against Christians—considering them to be supremely stupid people.  He wrote of the Christians:
Their injunctions are like this: "Let no one educated, no one wise, no one sensible draw near.  For these abilities are thought by us [Christians] to be evils.  But as for anyone ignorant, anyone stupid, anyone uneducated, anyone who is a child, let him come boldly."  By the fact that they themselves admit that these people are worthy of their God, they show that they want and are able to convince only the foolish, dishonourable and stupid, and only slaves, women, and children.
          Of course, dear friends, this a gross mischaracterization of the Christian Gospel.  For Paul does not say to the Corinthian Christian congregation "none of you were wise according to worldly standards, none of  you were powerful, none of you were of noble birth," but rather "not many."  To be sure, all people are welcomed by our God into His holy family, the church, including both the foolish and the wise, the weak and the powerful, the ordinary and the noble.  And the great good news is that He does so, even though we are completely unworthy.
          The fact is that many of the Corinthian Christians were either slaves or freed slaves, and so were looked down upon by most of the society around them.  We, too, today are looked upon by the world as foolish, ignorant people for believing the Scriptures' account of God working in and through Christ Jesus to save us from our sin.  Sometimes, they will say that if we were more educated then we would know better.  Sadly, you and I know that the statistics for Christians retaining their faith after entering the hostile secular realm of the university education system are rather grim.  Many young Christians have had their faith shaken, and worse yet, even destroyed, by the hounding of their professors and classmates who challenge their faith.
          Does this mean that we should steer clear of university education for our children?  Of course not.  But it does mean that we need to do a better job of preparing them prior to sending them away, and make sure that while they are gone (if they are far from home) that they are connected to a local church where they can hear and receive God's gifts and be strengthened in their faith.
          And when we are tested, we need to remember St. Paul's words here.  That God specifically chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.  He chose the seemingly idiotic idea of sending His own beloved Son to suffer and die on the cross in order to redeem those who are enslaved to sin and death.  God chose His Son to be the wisdom that we need.  This is why "no human being might boast in the presence of God."  For our wisdom and power and achievements earn us nothing toward our salvation.  Only clinging to the cross of Jesus grants us forgiveness for our sins and everlasting life and salvation.
          There simply is no room for boasting before God because the Christian has received their whole existence in Christ from God in the first place.  For He "became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification and redemption…"  And, as Paul says in Galatians (3:26), "for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith."  Beloved, what joy and comfort and peace this gives to us.  In Christ, we have received everything from God.  Through our Baptism into the body of Christ—He is our wisdom—all the treasures of divine wisdom are bound up in Christ and on display in the foolish and weak act of His crucifixion—and our preaching about it.
          Beloved, through faith, you have received the righteousness of Christ—the Passover Lamb who covers your sins with His blood.  All that you have done against God's Word and God's will—is wiped clean by this precious blood of Jesus outpoured for you on the cross.  Furthermore, you have received the sanctification (the holiness) of God in Christ.  Your guilt has been taken away and your sin atoned for—received freely in your Baptism into the triune name of God.  But none of these gifts could have been given to you without the gift of redemption.  You have been redeemed (bought back from sin and death) by the spilling of the blood of Jesus. 
          Therefore, instead of boasting of your own wisdom or intellectual achievements—the Christian is directed to the wisdom of Another—Jesus Christ.  Only by being in Christ and having that alien wisdom conferred on you as a cover for your own foolishness and sin, do you, the Christian, gain the wisdom that is actually God pleasing—the wisdom that is faith in Jesus' work on the cross to forgive your sin and grant you life.
          Nowhere is this foolish and weak act of God toward the Christian more on display than in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism—particularly for infants.  Anyone can see how Baptism is not the baby's own doing—they cannot walk, they cannot talk, they cannot move or do anything of their own will.  They are completely passive.  Yet in Baptism (of both children and adults) God works a mighty miracle: He cleanses from all sin, bestows the gift of the Holy Spirit (creating and sustaining faith in Christ), and grants the treasure of eternal life to the baptized.     Who, then, is doing the action or the work in Baptism?  It is not the one being baptized, but rather God Almighty.  He alone has the power to remove the devil from your stubborn heart.  He alone has the ability to grant you the grace to believe and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.  He alone can change your heart from an unbelieving, scorning stubborn heart of dead stone, to one of living flesh—alive with the Spirit of God through faith in Christ. 
          So thanks be to God, dear friends, that "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong…"  For in so doing, God has demonstrated His great love and care for us in Christ Jesus—He who was baptized into our sin in the Jordan and carried it to the cross for us.  We sinful human beings cannot boast in the presence of God.  As Christians we would never dare to do so.  For we know and trust and believe that our salvation from start to finish rests securely in the nail-pierced hands of Jesus.  And so we who boast, boast only in the Lord.  And if the world mocks and ridicules us for our faith—so be it.  We will continue to reach out to them in Christian love and charity so that they too may hear the "foolish" wisdom of God that has so dramatically impacted our lives with the saving grace of Jesus.  For by God's grace, we ARE fools.  Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus.  Amen.
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