Justification in the Lord’s Supper - December 31, 2017 - New Year’s Eve - Text: The Lord’s Supper

This year, in keeping with the celebration of the 500 anniversary of the Reformation, for the Advent through New Year’s Eve services we have been looking at the main emphasis of the Reformation, which is the authority of the Word of God and the article of the confessions on which the church stands or falls, the article on justification by grace through faith in Jesus alone. We have been looking at justification in the way of the six chief parts of Luther’s Small Catechism and prayerfully we have been connecting this justification to our Christmas, birth of Jesus celebration and finally, this evening, our New Year’s celebration as well.

Today we conclude our series by looking at the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. In order to better understand the Lord’s Supper we will want to look at what Jesus was doing when He gave us His Holy Meal. When Jesus gave us His Holy Supper He was celebrating the Passover with His Apostles. As you remember, the Passover happened when the children of Israel were in Egypt. As God was rescuing them from their bondage of slavery in Egypt, when He sent the Angel of Death to kill the firstborn in Egypt, God gave the Israelites special instructions so that the firstborn in Israel might be spared. These instructions were given so that the Angel of Death would pass over the houses of the Israelites and spare their firstborn. Following their deliverance God gave the Passover as a meal of remembrance. During the Passover He gave them instructions for the celebration and this Passover meal which would become a precursor to its fulfillment in the Lord’s Supper.

God gave the instructions that on the tenth day of the month a lamb, a spotless lamb was to be chosen and then on the fourteenth day of the month the lamb was to be slaughtered at twilight. The blood of the lamb was to be caught and then painted on the doorpost and lintel of the door marking the house as a house in which the lamb was eaten.

The children of Israel were to eat the lamb roasted over fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They were not to leave any until morning, but burn what was left and they were to eat it standing with their belt fastened, their sandals on and their staff in their hand. Later, after they had exited Egypt as they celebrated the Passover on a yearly basis they were to eat it in a more relaxed manner, not in haste, yet still consuming the lamb and drinking wine as well as unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

The instructions that God gave were so that preparation was made so that the Angel of Death that would be passing over Egypt killing the firstborn of every family would pass over the houses marked with the blood of the lamb, which was eaten in those houses marked by the blood. It was the blood of the lamb sacrificed for those in the house and the eating of the lamb that brought life to those in the house.

Fast forward to Jesus and the Maundy Thursday before His arrest, trials and crucifixion. As John the Baptist pointed out many times when He would see Jesus, he would say, “behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus is the spotless Lamb of God conceived by the Holy Spirit, thus born in perfection, born of the woman, Mary, thus being completely human. Jesus is the Lamb of God chosen to shed His blood for all mankind.

Jesus shed His blood on the cross marking those of faith with His blood. As the painting of the blood of the lamb in Egypt on the door post and lintel in essence made the sign of the cross with the up and down and sideways painting, so with the trunk of the cross and the cross bar on which Jesus was nailed we are marked with the blood He shed.

During the Passover Seder there are three pieces of matzah or unleavened bread that are placed in a burse which is a pouch with three slots. The middle matzah is broken and half is hidden until it is later found and brought back. This middle matzah, which the Jews today cannot figure out what it means thinking perhaps the three matzahs mean Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, yet we rightly understand that the three matzah truly are God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This middle matzah, and if you have ever seen matzah it is a flat bread, a cracker which has holes pierced in it and has black burn marks or stripes, this middle matzah is Jesus who was broken, by whose stripes we are healed, who was pierced for our transgressions, who was buried, was risen, and given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins. This is the bread Jesus held, blessed and broke give it to His apostles with the words, Take and eat, this is my body given for you.

During the Passover Seder celebration four cups of wine are consumed. It is the third cup, the cup of redemption which is what Jesus took and gave to His apostles with the words, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” As the apostles ate the lamb, the unleavened bread and drink the wine they were marked with the blood of the Lamb so that the angel of eternal spiritual death would pass over them.

What does this mean? During the original Passover the children of Israel did not consume a symbolic lamb, they ate a real lamb. The lamb became a part of them, a physical part of them as they ate the flesh of the lamb. As Jesus gives us His Holy Supper from this Passover celebration when He takes the bread He tells us that it is His body. He does not tell us that it is changed into nor symbolizes His body but is His body so that we are not symbolically eating His body so that it has no affect on us but that we are truly eating His body so that it is a real physical part of us. When Jesus takes the cup of wine He does not say that it symbolizes nor is changed into His blood, but that it is His blood so that His blood becomes a part of those who drink His blood marking them with His blood. As Jesus says, and even if we may not completely comprehend, nor logically understand, yet we believe it is because Jesus says, this is, not this symbolizes, not this is turned into, but this is, with bread and wine, His body and His blood.

The importance of this bread and wine being the true body and blood of Jesus is that if it is not His true body and blood then we miss the important part of participating in Jesus’ life, suffering, death and resurrection. Indeed, as we consume the true body and true blood we are participating in Him. His life, His perfect life becomes our life, our perfect life. His suffering, His perfect suffering, His complete suffering of eternal spiritual death becomes our suffering, our complete and perfect suffering of eternal spiritual death, the price for sin. His death and resurrection become our death and resurrection. His eternal salvation become our eternal salvation.

This is not a symbolic participation for what would a symbolic participation be? Indeed, how can one symbolically participate in something and expect it to be something that is real? Does one symbolically run a race or win a race? Does one symbolically eat a meal so that is sustains them in the flesh? Does one symbolically believe in Jesus as their Savior and if only symbolically does that mean that one only has a symbolic salvation and eternal life in heaven? No, this participation is a real participation, so that Jesus becomes one with us and we with Him.

As we eat His body and drink His blood we have forgiveness of sins. Our faith is strengthening, and we know we have life, eternal life.

And best of all, this sacrament is all gift. God gives and we are given to. We come to the table as sinners, confessing our sins and rejoicing in the forgiveness that He gives to us. We come to the table where He is the host and He is the very meal itself. We come to the table, we open our mouths, we are given the Lord’s body and blood, we hear the words, for you for the forgiveness of your sins and we know that He becomes a part of us so that we have forgiveness, life and salvation and we rejoice and respond in faith, “Amen!”

During Advent through Christmas and now as we are on the verge of a beginning a new year, we are reminded of the forgiveness of sins Jesus gives to us and our participation in Him through our eating His body and drinking His blood in His Holy Supper for the forgiveness of sins and with forgiveness is life and salvation.

How wonderful it is for us as Christians to begin and end a year pointing to Jesus. We come in our sin and we are pointed to Jesus who gives us forgiveness of sins. We are pointed to Jesus who has brought us back into a right relationship with Himself, who makes us just and right in God’s eyes. We are pointed to Jesus and we give Him thanks and praise for His good gifts and blessings. Indeed, we respond and say, to Him be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Lord Clothes Us - December 31, 2017 - First Sunday after Christmas - Text: Isaiah 61:10-62:3

Today is the first Sunday after Christmas. For too many people this has usually been a kind of an in-between Sunday, in-between Christmas and New Years. This year this in-between Sunday is New Years Eve, which we celebrate tonight. The children have been out of school. Some people have been off work. For many work seemed to simply slow down as we wait to get ready for the new year. For us, this is the seventh day of Christmas. Remember, Christmas lasts for twelve days, from December 25 to January 6, the day in which we celebrate Epiphany, the visit of the Magi or wise men, and the beginning of the Epiphany season. So, although the radio stations have ceased playing Christmas music and the stores are stocking their shelves for Valentines day, I guess, which by the way is on Ash Wednesday this year, truly for us Christians, we are really in the middle of our Christmas celebration.

Our readings for this morning speak of joy, true joy. We have joy, true joy because in the birth of Christ Jesus we have forgiveness of sins, we have righteousness, hope and grace which have been given to us by God. Christmas is a time of gift giving and I distinguish gift giving from present exchanging in that what we often do is simply exchange presents, that is I give you a present and you give me a present, which is a nice custom, whereas gift giving is what God does, that is He gives gifts without expecting anything in return; thus, it is God who is the Gift Giver and we who are the ones who are given to. This morning we continue to celebrate the gifts our great God gives to us.

In our text Isaiah rejoices in the Lord. Isaiah rejoices because of the Lord’s promised salvation, as he says, “61:10I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (v. 10).  By faith in Jesus, the Lord’s promised salvation, whose birth we celebrated just six days ago, by faith in Jesus we wear, not our robes of sins but we are clothed with Jesus’ robes of righteousness. By faith in Jesus, when God looks at us, He sees, not our sin, but Jesus’ perfection. By faith in Jesus, we are clothed in our heavenly wedding garments, in His garments of salvation.

Notice how Isaiah gives credit where credit is due. “11For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations” (v. 11). It is the Lord, or as Isaiah says, the Lord God, who motivates our rejoicing. Because of our sinful nature, because we are conceived and born in sin and because we continue to sin we cannot rejoice on our own, thus it is the Lord God who stirs this rejoicing in us. And Isaiah states this for us clearly reminding us that it is the Lord God who makes righteousness and praise spring up in us.

And notice who it is that is saved. Jesus came, not just to save the children of Israel, but to save all people. Isaiah tells us that the Lord brings salvation to all nations. We are included in the all nations. Jesus was born to be the Savior for all people, of all places, of all times, that is what we call universal atonement, Jesus died for the universe. Just as important, and even more important to each one of us, however, is what we call vicarious atonement, that is that Jesus came to be my Savior, for me, in my place. That is what vicarious atonement means, that Jesus came to atone for each one of us personally in our place, that Jesus is our Savior, your Savior and mine.

Following Isaiah’s words, the Lord speaks. We pick up at verse one, “62:1For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. 2The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. 3You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God” (v. 1-3). Because of His great love for us, Isaiah tells us that the Lord will send a Savior and will call all people to faith in His Savior. The Lord promised to send a Savior and He specifically made His promise to Abram, whose name He changed to Abraham. Through Abraham, all nations will be blessed. Through the children of Israel, the Lord would send a Savior for the world. Jesus came as an Israelite. He came to fulfill God’s promise to send a Savior. By faith in Jesus all people who believe in  Him will be clothed in the righteousness won by Him on the cross.

Jesus is the Savior who came to His own, but His own did not receive Him. Many among the children of Israel rejected Him as their Savior, as John tells us in His Gospel, but to those who received Him, to those who believed on Him, they have been given life, new life, eternal life. The plans of God were that the children of Israel were to be a light for all nations. They were not to refuse the Savior, but they were to be the ones through whom the Savior came and through whom the message of salvation went out into the rest of the world.

The faithful, those who believe in Jesus, are to be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand. We Christians, believers in Jesus, are a crown of splendor. We are the recipients of all God’s good gifts and blessings. By faith in Jesus we are clothed with His robes of righteousness, we are seen as perfect before God in heaven, we are given abundant life in this world and life in the world to come, even eternal life in heaven. As John says we are given blessings upon blessings.

What does all this mean? Our lessons for this morning remind us of all that we have recently celebrated, namely the fulfillment of all these words in the birth of Jesus. We celebrate that we have seen the Lord’s righteousness. We have seen the Lord’s salvation. We have seen and we bear witness of the Savior of the world, Christ Jesus, the Lord.

This morning we are reminded that we celebrated, not the trappings of Christmas, but the Christ of Christmas. As John tells us in his “Christmas” account, the Word, God, became flesh, and made His dwelling among us. God tented among us for a short time, long enough to take care of our salvation. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only, God Himself. When we are asked, “what is God like?” We can give an answer, because we have seen God. We have seen God in Jesus, who is true God.

This morning we continue to celebrated the gift of the Baby. And as we celebrate the gift of the Baby, we are reminded, once again, that our celebration of this Child is always a celebration in the shadow of the cross, because this Baby was born for a purpose, this Baby was born to die. Which brings us back to our first statement, that our readings are readings of joy. We do not think very much joy is to be had in death, but it is only because of the death of Jesus that we can have joy; joy of forgiveness and joy of eternal life.

How is this done? This is done by the Lord as we said earlier. First, it is the Lord who makes the promises to us. He made the first promise in the Garden of Eden and continued to reiterate His promise to us through time. His promise was that He would send a Savior for all people, all nations. Yes, He narrowed the line of fulfillment of His promise, that He would fulfill His promise through the Children of Israel, but He never narrowed His promise of who would be saved, that is that the Savior would be the Savior of all people.

It is also the Lord who fulfills the promises He makes. He is the one who gave His Son, true God, to be born of a woman, to become true man. He is the one who put all our sins on His Son. He is the one who took out the punishment for all our sins on His Son. He is the one who did what needed to be done in order to bring us back into a right relationship with Himself. He is the one who showed His great love for us.

It is the Lord who gives us the rewards of the promise. Sin separates us from God. God sends His Son to take care of our sins. With our sins paid for, and by faith in Jesus, we are seen by God as being righteous and holy, sinless and perfect. Being clothed in Christ’s perfection, when God looks at us He sees us as being perfect and invites us into His heavenly mansions to be given eternal joy, forever.

Finally, it is the Lord who gives us to rejoice in His rewards. Again, as we read earlier in Isaiah, it is the Lord who makes praise spring up in us, to give praise to the Lord for all He has done, does and continues to do for us. Notice it is the Lord who does and gives all things for us, and sometimes we might imagine, in spite of us. God gives and we are given to. God gives His Son. He gives us faith in His Son. He strengthens and keeps us in faith in His Son. He clothes us with His Son’s robes of righteousness. He gives us heaven because of the faith He gives us in His Son. He even gives us the ability and moves in us to speak words of thanks for all that He does for us. He gives and we are given to.

Let us rejoice and give thanks to God. And I say that as a Gospel imperative. As we have seen, it is not we, of ourselves who do the things we do, but it is the Lord who works and stirs in us to do the things we do. With that in mind, then I say, let us, with the help and by the motivation of the Lord, give thanks to the Lord. Let us, with the help and by the motivation of the Lord, say together, to Him be the glory, forever. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Justification in Confession - December 25, 2017 - Christmas Day - Text: Confession and Absolution

This year, in keeping with the celebration of the 500 anniversary of the Reformation, for the Advent through New Year’s Eve services we have been looking at the main emphasis of the Reformation, which is the authority of the Word of God and the article of the confessions on which the church stands or falls, the article on justification by grace through faith in Jesus alone. We have been looking at justification in the way of the six chief parts of Luther’s Small Catechism and prayerfully we have been connecting this justification to our Christmas, birth of Jesus celebration and our New Year’s celebration as well.

Today we tackle the joyous gift of the means of grace of confession and absolution. We will begin by talking about what we believe, teach and confess about confession and absolution and then we will connect this teaching with our celebration of the birth of our Savior as we today celebrate Jesus’ birth. As we get to confession and absolution first we want to look at what motivates us to confess. As Lutheran Christians we mark our distinctiveness in our proper distinction of Law and Gospel, rightly dividing Scripture into Law and Gospel and never mixing nor commingling Law and Gospel. As for the Law, when I was in confirmation the learning phrase that helped me was the S.O.S. of the Law and the Gospel. The S.O. S. of the Law is that the Law Shows our Sins. The Law is first and foremost God’s demand of perfection, we are demanded to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.

Again, the Law shows our sins, that is what we learned when we talked about the Ten Commandments. The purpose of the commandments is to show us our sins. The commandments show our sin as they give us a rule which we cannot follow and they reflect back to us the fact that we have broken all the rules. Indeed, the Law shows us how sinful we truly are, especially when compared to the perfection of Jesus.

The Law must never be proclaimed by itself because this proclamation may lead to works righteousness, that is if we merely hear the Law we might actually think we can live by the Law and this living by the Law may lead us to believe we are good enough on our own to be saved. Indeed, as it is preached by some today, we may believe that our obedience to the Law can make us just and right in God’s eyes, rather than depending on God’s grace. The Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, even many Christian denominations today who do not understand this proper distinction between the Law and the Gospel pose to their members that they can be the people God want them to be, that they can be obedient, that they can be good enough, that they can do enough good to gain God’s favor. Indeed, if we could be the people God would have us to be we would have no need for Jesus.

If the Law proclaimed by itself does not lead to works righteousness, it could lead to despair. Upon hearing the Law and knowing that there is no way we can keep the Law we may simply despair and think there is no way we can be saved, thus we would simply resign ourselves to a life of sin and eternal condemnation.

Which brings us to the Gospel. As the S.O.S. of the Law Shows our Sin, the S.O. S. of the Gospel shows our Savior. The very heart of the Gospel is Jesus, just Jesus, and Jesus alone. As the Law points us to ourselves, the Gospel points us away from ourselves and to Jesus. The heart of the Gospel is that verse we call the Gospel in a nutshell, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Indeed, the fulfillment of this sending of God’s Son, even God in flesh is what we are celebrating today.

The Gospel is the means through which the Holy Spirit works to give faith. Indeed, the Word of God is a Word with power, the power to do exactly what it says. The Holy Spirit works through the Word to give us faith, forgiveness and life. The Holy Spirit works through the Word to strengthen and keep us in faith and it does this by pointing to Jesus who has earned and won forgiveness for us. The Gospel is the means through which the Holy Spirit works to move us to repentance.

Which brings us to our topic of Confession and Absolution. As we say, Confession embraces two parts, the first part is that we confess our sins. Without the Law we would not know that we have sin, thus the Law shows us our sin. The Law does not motivate us to confess, because we might think we are good enough or there is no hope. The Gospel, the Word of God’s forgiveness moves us to confess so that we might be given forgiveness.

Which brings the second part of confession that is that we are absolved, forgiven. As we hear the Word of God, even as we hear the Pastor proclaim the Word of forgiveness either corporately or privately we know that we have exactly what the Word and what the Pastor says, forgiveness of sins. As we learn in the Office of the Keys, the absolution comes from God, through the mouth of the pastor.

What does this mean? I know I have used this illustration before in different Bible classes and even from the pulpit but it bears repeating to help us get a better understanding of the proper distinction of Law and Gospel and how it is the Gospel not the Law that motivates confession. There was a teacher who passed out new boxes of crayons to all her students. She told them to be careful in using the new crayons. She told them not to push to hard on the crayons lest they should break them. One student, little Ralphie pushed too hard and broke a crayon. A little later the teacher told the students to put any broken crayons on their desk. Little Ralphie, not wanting to get into trouble pushed the bottom half of the crayon in the box and put the top half on top so no one would know it was broken. The teacher then went around and collected the broken crayons and replaced them with new crayons. Little Ralphie, however, did not receive a new crayon since he did not confess he had broken his. Notice, no confession, means no absolution. As we respond in our service, “8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9). Now, had the teacher announced before hand the words of Gospel, had she said, if you have broken a crayon place it on your desk and I will replace it with a new crayon, then little Ralphie would have confessed his broken crayon and received a new one.

It is the Gospel, not the Law, that moves us to confess. It is the knowledge that our sins have already been forgiven that motivates us to confess those sins, and all our sins. While the Law brings fear of wrath and condemnation, the Gospel gives solitude and comfort in sins forgiven.

As we said, with confession is absolution. Sins confessed, sins forgiven. Indeed, the sins which we have yet to commit have already been paid for by Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. The very reason Jesus was born and the reason we today celebrate His birth is because He was born to save us from our sins, in other words He was born to die. That thought, that He was born to die  may not seem like such a pleasant thought as we are celebrating His birth, but knowing our sins are forgiven is a most assuring news.

And even more, we understand that with absolution is a change of heart, mind and behavior. In other words, knowing that our sins are forgiven we forgive others. Knowing that our sins are forgiven we live lives striving with God’s help to not sin so much. Oh, we still sin, but our desire is to not sin.

As we begin celebrating Christmas, which I would remind you we celebrate beginning today and for twelve days, as we celebrate Christmas we are reminded of Jesus’ forgiveness which is the Gospel message which stirs in us to repent so that we might be given forgiveness of sins, life and  and salvation.

Notice, once again, that we get it right, we get faith right, we get forgiveness right, we get salvation right, we get justification right when we point to Jesus, just Jesus. The Law and the Gospel, Confession and Absolution point us to Jesus, to His perfection, to His perfect birth, life, suffering, death and resurrection for us, in our place so that we have forgiveness of sins and with forgiveness is life and salvation. And our response is to give praise and glory to His Holy Name, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Justification in Holy Baptism - December 24, 2017 - Christmas Eve - Text: Holy Baptism

This year, in keeping with the celebration of the 500 anniversary of the Reformation, for the Advent through New Year’s Eve services we have been looking at the main emphasis of the Reformation, which is the authority of the Word of God and the article of the confessions on which the church stands or falls, the article on justification by grace through faith in Jesus alone. We have been looking at justification in the way of the six chief parts of Luther’s Small Catechism and prayerfully we have been connecting this justification to our Christmas, birth of Jesus celebration and our New Year’s celebration as well.
 

Today our focus is on justification in Holy Baptism that Sacrament that connects us to Jesus as we celebrate His birth, simple enough. First we begin by defining baptism. As we confess in the catechism, “Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s word.” Thus we see that baptism is water and the Word of God. In particular the Word of God in Baptism is God’s name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as we have Jesus command, telling us to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
 

Baptism is not some act of obedience on our part wherein we demonstrate to God that we have done something for Him as He has given us the power to do so. So also, grace is not some power God gives to us so that we can be obedient to Him. Grace in its simplest understanding is gift. When we understand that a gift given to us excludes anything on our part, except that we might refuse and reject the gift, then and only then can we truly understand grace, that is that grace is gift. To respond to a gift in any way other than a way of gratitude, that is to extend a payment or suggest an earning of a gift removes it from being gift. To express anything other than thanks for the grace that God gives, the undeserved love He has for us moves grace from gift to work, to something earned or deserved. Just as a wage is earned and not gift, so to imply or think that grace is earned or deserved means that it is no longer grace nor gift. Also, to suggest that there is any effort on our part, any obedience in obtaining a gift makes is no longer a gift either. Indeed, although God does not do fractions, math, here we might express grace as we would with addition. Grace is gift, zero work or effort on our part. Zero plus anything is the anything. Zero plus anything is no longer zero. Zero plus one is one. Zero plus two is two. Thus, grace, zero, nothing on our part, plus anything, our obedience, our choosing Jesus, our doing something, anything would mean it is no longer zero, no longer grace, but the anything that saves us, our obedience, our choosing, our doing.
 

Baptism is gift and gives gifts. As we confess, “It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.” Baptism is not our doing but God’s doing. We do not work for, earn nor deserve forgiveness of sins, rather Jesus earned and paid for our forgiveness through His perfect life, suffering, death and resurrection. Which was the reason He was born. He is the reason for the season and why we celebrate. We cannot rescue ourselves from death and the devil, only Jesus can and He has through His perfect life, suffering, death and resurrection. We cannot gain eternal salvation for ourselves, only Jesus can and He has through His perfect life, suffering, death and resurrection.
 

Baptism is the Word and faith given in the Word. Faith is grace, it is gift. Just as one cannot choose to be born so one cannot choose to be saved. Just as a drowning person cannot save him or herself so as a lost and condemned person one cannot save him or herself. It must come from outside oneself. God gives life through loving parents, at least that is His will and way for life. A life guard saves a drowning person and should the one drowning attempt to help in the rescue the life guard must push them back lest they both drown. Baptism is God’s doing and our being done to.
 

Where does Baptism come from and why is Baptism so important? Baptism is the fulfilled form of circumcision which occurred on the eight day after one’s birth and was the sacrament of the Old Testament and the way in which one was identified as being a part of God’s covenant people. In the patriarchal society of the Old Testament one became a son of the covenant through circumcision, the marking of one in the flesh. One was a part of the covenant as a daughter through the father and later through her husband. In either way only as one was in the covenant would one be saved. Jesus was born, that is what we celebrate, and on the eight day He was circumcised marking Him as a son of the covenant. Yet, not only was Jesus a Son of the covenant, He fulfilled the very covenant into which He was circumcised, which is why He was born, to fulfill all things for us as our substitute. The covenant of God with His people was first given in the Garden of Eden and was given to all people, that is that God would send a Savior. The covenant was reiterated to Abraham and the line of fulfillment was narrowed through His people, those marked with circumcision. The covenant was a covenant of God’s grace, of gift, that God would pay the price for the sins of all people and that by faith those who believe will be forgiven and saved. Jesus obeyed all God’s laws and commands perfectly, suffered and died to pay the price for all sin, and rose victorious over sin, death and the devil.
 

At His ascension Jesus gives us Baptism as a fulfillment of circumcision. Baptism is given for all nations, in other words for children and baptism has always been for children. When one is born one is a citizen of the nation in which they are born, thus they are in need of baptism. Baptism marks one by having water and God’s name put on them. Baptism is God’s doing through the hands and mouth of the one baptizing.
 

And Baptism saves as we hear in 1 Peter 3:21. Peter connects baptism and circumcision as he says, “18For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him” (1 Peter 3:18-22).
 

What does this mean? As can be seen especially in the Baptism of a child, Baptism is all God’s doing. The child does not make a decision to be baptized. The child does not bring itself to be baptized. The child does not answer for him or herself. The parents bring the child. The parents and sponsors answer for the child. God using the hands of the pastor and the mouth and voice of the pastor puts water and His name on the child.
 

When we come to baptism we come in sin, conceived in sin, born in sin, and even after being baptized as a child we are daily adding to our sin. This does not mean we need to be baptized more than once, as once is sufficient, rather this means that we daily remember our baptism and God’s forgiveness. As we confess, “[Baptism] indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”
 

Baptism is all God’s doing and all our being done to. In Holy Baptism God claims us, He washes us, He forgives us, He writes His name on us, He writes our name in the Book of Life. As always, we can be most certain of our salvation in our baptism because it is all God’s doing and just as we cannot be certain of our own doing, we can always be certain of God’s doing.
 

Holy Baptism is pure justification, God making us just and right in His eyes through the very means He has given to make us just and right, water and His Word.
 

As we come to begin our celebration of God in flesh, the birth of our Savior, Jesus, we will continue to walk through the history of His life. We will soon be reminded of Jesus’ baptism for us, not as a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as Jesus never sinned, but that He was baptized as one of us, for us, in our place in order to be our substitute.
 

Just as all of History focuses and centers on Jesus, just as all of Holy Scripture focuses and centers on Jesus, the Old Testament pointing to Jesus and the New Testament pointing to Jesus, so Jesus brings all things together. His fulfillment of the Old Covenant in His circumcision pointing to His fulfillment and the given of Holy Baptism as the mark of the New Covenant points us to our great God who does all and gives all. Just as we can never be sure of ourselves, so we can be sure of God and His doing and giving. As we celebrate Jesus’ birth, so we celebrate that He has done all things for us and He gives all things to us. He gives and we are given to and we rejoice and say, to Him be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

I Will Establish You - December 24, 2017 - Fourth Sunday in Advent - Text: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

The fourth Advent candle has been lit, telling us that we are almost ready, just a few hours as a matter of fact, to celebrate our Savior’s Christ Mas. The fourth candle is the Angels candle and reminds us of the important job of the angels during this Advent season. The angel worked tirelessly to prepare the world for the coming of the Savior. The angel announced to Zechariah that his wife, Elizabeth, would be the mother of the forerunner of the Savior. The angel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Savior of the world. The angels announced to the shepherds that the Savior was born. So much work for the angels. The angels were doing the Lord’s bidding and announcing the fulfillment of what God had promised so many years earlier. Our text reminds us of God’s promises.
 

Our text begins with David taking stock of all he had done. We begin at verse one, “1Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, 2the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent’” (v. 1-2). The Lord had given David rest. God working through David had done a lot of work in his lifetime. He helped unite the people, the children of Israel into one nation. He worked to rid the promised land of the foreign, heathen, pagan nations. And of course, we know, he sinned, and he suffered the consequences of his sin. And he repented and received forgiveness. David had a full life.
 

David also realized that the Lord had given him everything and even a palace in which to live. I am sure he was aware of this all throughout his life, after all, the Lord said of David that he was “a man after His heart.” But here, in our text we see that David takes some time to sit back and count all the blessings the Lord has given to him, that in itself might be a good example to us today, that is that we might take the time to sit back and count the blessings the Lord has given and continues to give to us today.
 

After some reflection, David asks the question of what could he do for the Lord? David does not ask what he can do to repay the Lord. He knows he can never repay and that God never asks us to, even, attempt to repay. David asks how he can respond to all the Lord has done for him and all the Lord has given to him. That is how it is with us when we practice being priests in the priesthood of all believers, living our lives as living sacrifices for the Lord, that is being good stewards of all that God has given continues to shower down on us. God has given us everything. Everything we have is a gift from God. God continually fills us with His blessings, blessings upon blessings, blessings even to overflowing. Upon some reflection on our part we sit back and say, what can we do for the Lord? How can we respond to all the Lord has done for us and given to us.
 

David tells the Lord’s representative, the prophet Nathan, what he has in mind and then we have the Lord’s response to David’s plan. We pick up at verse three, “3And Nathan said to the king, ‘Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.’ 4But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, 5‘Go and tell my servant David, “Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? 6I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. 7In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’”” (v. 3-7).
 

At first, Nathan gave David the go ahead. He gave his “go ahead” without consulting the Lord. The Lord came to Nathan and said “No” to David’s plan. But the Lord’s “no” came with an explanation. The Lord reminds David that He has never dwelt in a house and that He does not need to dwell in a house. A house cannot hold the Lord. Yes, we would like to think that we come to church, to the Lord’s house to worship Him and we do. Some people would like to keep Him here, only coming on Sundays to visit Him, yet, our Lord is not contained by these four walls and a roof. God is everywhere present and our coming here to divine service does not diminish His omnipresence.
 

The Lord reminds David that in the desert a tent was His house. In John’s Gospel he reminds us that Jesus is the Word made flesh who dwelt or tented among us. God does not dwell in a permanent building on earth. God merely tents with us on earth because this tenting shows us that the earth is not His permanent residence.
 

And God tells David that He has never asked for a temple. God’s desire is not to locate Himself in any one particular place, but to assure everyone that while He is always everywhere present, that is, He is right here with us, He is also everywhere else at the same time. God is not bound by time and space as we are, because He is God.
 

Rather than letting David build Him a temple, the Lord tells David what He will do. We read picking up at verse eight, “8Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. 9And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house” (v.8-11).
 

The Lord turns the tables on David. Rather than David building the Lord a permanent house, a temple, He tells David what He, the Lord, will do for David. He reminds David that He has always taken care of Him, that He is taking care of him and that He always will take care of him.
 

He tells David that He will make his name great. Even today David is known as the greatest, or one of the greatest, kings of Israel. David is known to us as one of the ancestors of the Savior of the world.
 

And God says that He will give the people a permanent home. Contrary to what some teach and believe in our world today, the Lord’s promise of a permanent home is not necessarily a promise of a permanent earthly home. Remember, the promise of a Savior was not the promise of a political savior, but the promise of a spiritual Savior, a Savior who would bring forgiveness and restoration with God the Father, thus God’s promise is for an ultimate permanent home in heaven paid for by Jesus on the cross. We have talked about this before, how the children of Israel, as a result of their continually disobeying God were disciplined in that they were moved from place to place as they were conquered by many nations. We can relate to this, not that we are moved because we are conquered by many nations, because of our sin and disobedience, but because so many people work for companies that move them from place to place. Here during the hustle and bustle of Christmas we cling to God’s word of promise that He gives us rest.

The last verse of our text pulls us into the Advent season. We read verse sixteen, “16And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (v. 16). Here we have words of the promise of a Savior. God will make David’s kingdom endure forever and He will do it through the birth of the Savior through David’s throne.
 

God will establish David’s throne forever. The Savior that will be born will also be king and ruler in heaven. Paul in our Epistle lesson reminds us that Jesus was established by God according to the mystery hidden for long ages past. Jesus was the promise fulfilled for our salvation, to the glory of God.
 

Jesus kingdom will be forever. It will have no end. In our Gospel for today, the angel expressed the words to Mary, “And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” By God’s grace, through faith, we are children of Abraham, we are children of David, we are a part of God’s redeemed children and we will reign with Him forever in eternity.
 

So what does all this mean? We have the privilege of being able to look back and see that all this has taken place. The Savior of the world was born through the line of David. Jesus is from David’s royal line.
 

Even more, the Savior established the line of faith forever. By faith in Jesus’ work on the cross we have become children of Abraham, heirs with Jesus, brothers and sisters in the eternal kingdom. Heaven is ours.
 

And even more, the Savior established this forever. God’s promise to Abraham is still His promise to us. God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation. By faith we are the children of Abraham and heirs of eternal life. God promised Abraham that he would give him the promised land. The promised land to which we look forward is eternal life in heaven. God promised Abraham that through him all nations would be blessed. We are blessed because through Abraham the Savior of the world, our Savior was born. And through this Savior we have the greatest blessing ever, the forgiveness of sins.
 

Today we are not greeted with angels bringing us good news, but we are greeted with God’s Word, the Bible. As were read and hear God’s Word, the Holy Spirit works through that Word to bring us to faith, to strengthen us in our faith, and to keep us in our faith. God’s Word works faith which makes us children of Abraham, heirs of eternal life in heaven and recipients of all God’s good gifts and blessings. And like David, we are left with only the option to respond as the Lord moves us to respond. Today we are left to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Justification in the Lord’s Prayer - December 20, 2017 - Third Advent Midweek - Text: The Lord’s Prayer

This year, in keeping with the celebration of the 500 anniversary of the Reformation, for the Advent through New Year’s Eve services we are looking at the main emphasis of the Reformation, which is the authority of the Word of God and the article of the confessions on which the church stands or falls, the article on justification by grace through faith in Jesus alone. We are looking at justification in the way of the six chief parts of Luther’s Small Catechism and prayerfully we are connecting this justification to our Christmas, birth of Jesus celebration and our New Year’s celebration as well.
 

Last week we looked at justification in the Apostles’ Creed. Today we are looking at the greatest prayer we have and I say the greatest because it was given to us by Jesus and we certainly cannot make up a better prayer than Him. Today we focus our attention on the Lord’s Prayer and the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. We begin by looking at the petitions given for spiritual blessings, the first three petitions. In the first three petitions we pray that God’s name is kept holy, that His kingdom of power, grace and glory may come and that His will is done. We pray that God’s name is kept holy because His name is holy in and of itself and because we cannot make it holy. We pray that God’s kingdom may come which means that we are praying for the mission work of the Church and our congregation in particular, that is that we may live lives of faith, giving an answer for the hope that we have when we are asked, and share God’s love and Word so that His Church on earth might grow and increase. We are also praying for the Lord to hasten His coming on the last day when He will judge the world and take us to be with Himself in heaven. And we are praying that God’s will be done here on earth. Certainly we cannot oppose God’s will, although as we see daily in our world there are those who continually attempt to oppose God and His Word and will. God’s will is that, as we live lives as priests in the priesthood of all believers and as we have opportunity as He gives us His authority to speak and His promise to be with us and give us the words to speak so others may come to faith and be a part of His kingdom.
 

In the fourth petition, although we often say that this petition is for bodily blessings and we will speak of that in a moment, when we pray for daily bread, we are also praying for spiritual blessings as we are praying for spiritual bread through the means of grace. In other words, just as we eat food to sustain our bodies so we eat the Lord’s spiritual food of His Word and Sacraments to nourish our souls.
 

In the final three petitions we pray for more spiritual blessings in our prayer as we pray for our turning from evil, that we forgive as we are forgiven, that we are not lead into temptation and that we are delivered from evil. Our prayer that we are forgiven as we forgive others is not so much a deal we are making with God nor is it a condition for our forgiveness rather it is an acknowledgment that we are to forgive others as we have been forgiven. How can we expect forgiveness except that we also forgive others. Yet, we are reminded that it is God who forgives us first and moves and stirs in us to forgive those who have sinned against us. We pray that God would not allow us to be lead into temptation because we know our sinful nature and the fact that we are so easily lead into temptation and sin. Yet we focus on Jesus who was tempted yet never sinned and we pray that as He has overcome temptation and sin that He would help us as well in our time of need. And we pray for deliverance from evil and the evil one, Satan himself. We cannot stand the attacks of the devil by ourselves, but we know that Jesus has defeated the devil and so we pray that He might deliver us as He has on the cross. So, as we see, all seven petitions do indeed speak of our need for spiritual blessings.
 

Getting back to the fourth petition, this petition is the one that also speaks of our bodily blessings. This petition reminds us that we do have bodily needs and that it is okay to express ourselves and to pray for our bodily needs. We pray this petition not because God needs us to list those things which we need to support our body and life, indeed He is God and He already knows what we need even before we ask. Rather than praying because God needs to hear from us, we pray because of our need to pray. We pray this fourth petition as a recognition of God’s gift of physical blessings. We pray this petition as a way of expressing our thanks and praise to God for providing us with all that we need even when we fail to express our need.
 

What does this mean? So far we have been reminded of our sin through the Ten Commandments. We have been reminded of God’s gifts of this world, of life, of salvation and faith through the work of the three persons of the Holy Trinity, God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Apostles’ Creed. In this third chief article, the Lord’s Prayer, we are given words of response to all that God has done, all that He is doing and all that He continues to do for us. In this prayer we pray because we need to pray and because we need to acknowledge that God provides.
 

As we have said, God is omniscient, all knowing. He knows what we need even before we know what we need and even before we ask. God does not necessarily wait until we ask to provide for our needs, indeed, even the wicked who do not pray have their needs met and often before they realize their needs as well.  We pray because of our need to prayer, because of our need recognize and verbalize our needs.
 

In the beginning God created all things out of nothing. At our conception God gave each one of us life, physical life, a body and a soul. God created us in order to love us. Indeed, just as parents have children to love not so that they might be served by their children, so God has created us in order to love us. God created us and He gives to us because of our need and because of His need and desire to give to us, because of His great love for us. We are born with nothing and we will leave this world with nothing. All that we have is God’s and is on loan to us from God to use for our own purposes but even more to use in service to Him while we are in this world.
 

Our greatest need is the need we fail to recognize the most. Our greatest need and the need we most especially pray for is forgiveness of sins. Without forgiveness we would remain in our sin and in our sin we would be eternally condemned, but with forgiveness is life and salvation. Thus, in recognizing God’s forgiveness we forgive others as He forgives us.
 

The Lord’s prayer reminds us that God is the prime mover, God gives and we are given to. As we cannot make ourselves just and right in God’s eyes, so it is God who comes to us to do for us and give to us. It is God who makes us just and right in His own eyes. We love because He first loved us. We have no love of our own, but only reflect the love with which He first loves us. The Lord’s Prayer reminds us of our greatest need for spiritual blessings and gives us the very Words of Jesus to speak back to Him recognizing and praying for those blessings we need the most.
 

During the season of advent we are especially reminded of that part of our prayer of the Lord’s prayer that we call the second petition, “thy kingdom come,” which includes the celebration of God’s Son, the King of all, born to save us from our sins. As we have heard time and again, the Kingdom of God is here. We are living in the last days of this world as ushered in by the birth of Jesus, the Savior of the world. Yes, God waited some four to six thousand years before fulfilling His first promise to send a Savior, but that does not mean that He will wait that long before fulfilling His promise to return to take us to be with Himself in heaven for eternity. He has waited almost two thousand years, but what is that to Him. Certainly we understand that God is not slow in His return rather He is patient wanting as many people as possible to come to faith and to be saved before His return.
 

Thy kingdom come, Come Lord Jesus, this is our prayer and especially during the season of Advent as we prepare for our celebration of the birth of the One promised, the One who lived for us, who took our sins and suffered and died to pay the price for our sins, the one who justifies us, that is the one who makes us just and right in God’s eyes, and who has made us just and right in His eyes, so we continue to pray that He might come again in all glory to take us to be with Himself in heaven for all eternity. Thus, we rejoice and say, to Him be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Proclaim, the Year of the Lord’s Favor - December 17, 2017 - Third Sunday in Advent - Text: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Today is the third Sunday in Advent which means we are at the three-fourths way point in getting ready for our Christmas celebration. Before we celebrate we still have some preparation to do. Remember, when we do not prepare ourselves things do not necessarily go the way we expect. This morning we continue our Advent preparation with the words of the prophet Isaiah. These are the words Jesus read when He preached at His home church in Nazareth and of which Jesus said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). As we read these words from Isaiah we are reminded that the “me” of the text is the Messiah, that is, it is Jesus Himself who is speaking.
 

Our text begins with Jesus, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, telling us what He was anointed to do. (And yes, I know the words are not printed in Red, but Jesus is God and God is Jesus and these are Jesus’ words.) We begin at verse one, “1The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified . 4They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations” (v. 1-4).
 

Jesus came to preach good news to the poor. This way of saying it might be a play on words, for the word translated as “preach” comes from the word used for “skin.” In other words, Jesus came not only to preach, but He also came to be in skin, that is, He came in human flesh to preach the good news, to live the good news, to give His life as a ransom for all. And the poor is not necessarily those with little or no material possessions. The poor about whom he is speaking are the spiritually poor. Jesus came to be the good news to the spiritually poor. He came to live His life and give His life for ours.
 

Jesus came to bind up the brokenhearted. You can almost sense a medical emergency with these words. Our hearts are broken. They are broken because of the sin and guilt that have infected our lives. Literally, we are crushed by the weight of sin that is upon us. Jesus comes to bind up our sin caused wounds. But not only does Jesus bind our brokeness, He takes our sins, our brokeness upon Himself on the cross.
 

Jesus comes to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. In the Apostles’ Creed we confess that Jesus descended into hell. This line comes from Peter’s epistle and reminds us that Jesus went to hell, not to suffer, but to declare victory over the devil. Jesus suffered hell on the cross. On the cross He suffered the eternal punishment for all people of all times and all places. He suffered the complete suffering for all. By His suffering and death we are free from the tyranny of sin, death and the devil. We are freed from our captivity and released from the darkness of the prison of sin.
 

Jesus comes to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God. Here we see the contrast of God’s Law and His Gospel. Notice that the Law, the vengeance of the Lord, is for but a day, “the day of vengeance”. On the other hand, notice that the Gospel, the Lord’s favor is for a year, “the year of the Lord’s favor”. That is a 365 to one ratio. God’s Gospel always far our weighs His Law.
 

Jesus comes to comfort all who mourn and to provide for those who grieve in Zion. Those who mourn or grieve do so because of the victories won over us by sin, death, and the devil in their own lives as well as in this world. Our lives in this world may often be a walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
 

Jesus comes to comfort and to provide for those in sadness and He will do so by bestowing on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. What a great contrast. With Jesus we trade in sorrow for joy, sadness for gladness and despair for praise. Obviously we get the better end of the bargain.
 

But there is more. Our text continues by telling us what Jesus has done, but notice, Isaiah is speaking of what has yet to take place and he does so in a tense that suggests that it has already taken place. The future is presented as being in the past. Isaiah proclaims for the Lord, “8For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed. 10I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (v. 8-10).
 

We will delight greatly in the Lord. We will delight greatly because of the Lord’s plan for our salvation. The Lord is the one who prepared the plan. The Lord is the one who set His plan in motion. The Lord is the one who worked out His plan. The Lord is the one who gave His Son on the cross for us. The Lord is the one who did everything for us.
 

We delight greatly that the Lord has clothed us with garments of salvation. The garments of salvation with which we are clothed are Jesus’ blood and righteousness, made ours by faith in His work on the cross in our place. Our sin stained garments are covered by Jesus’ perfect garments of salvation.
 

We delight greatly because we have been arrayed in robes of righteousness. Again, the robes of righteousness are Jesus’ robes made ours by faith in His work on the cross. Our imperfections are covered by Jesus’ perfections.
 

In verse eleven we have an analogy. We read, “11For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations” (v. 11).
 

Isaiah’s analogy reminds us that the seed is the word of the Lord. Jesus told many parables about the sower and the seed. The seed is that Word of God which is planted in our hearts. It is planted either by our own reading of God’s Word, or by our hearing God’s Word read to us. Or it was planted in our hearts at our baptism. Notice, it is done to us, it is planted in us, we do not do it to ourselves, we do not plant it ourselves.
 

We are the soil. The seed is planted in the soil that is in our hearts. Our hearts are either fertile or infertile. We either are given the Word of God or we reject it. And again, notice that we are passively done to. The only active part we may play is to reject God and His Word, that is to reject the faith that is given.
 

All Christians together are the garden which is the Church. Together we come to hear God’s Word, to have it planted in our hearts. Together we come to hear God’s Word which waters that seed planted in our hearts. Together we come to hear God’s Word which works in us so that we spring up and bear abundant fruit. Together we come to passively be given to.
 

We are still in the Advent season. We are still getting ready to celebrate Christ’s Mass. As we read and hear our text for today we are reminded that we are not the ones who are doing anything, really. Rather it is God who does everything for us. He gets us ready for the “just the right time” that God will set His plan into motion. Remember, Isaiah is looking forward to what he is telling us has already happened.
 

God does everything. He is the one who sent His Son to give His life for us on the cross. He is the one who gives us faith through His Word and through the waters of Holy Baptism. He is the one who gives us strengthening of faith through His means of grace, as we remember our baptism, as we confess our sins and hear the words of absolution, “Your sins are forgiven,” as we come to the Lord’s table to eat His body and drink His blood. He is the one who gives us forgiveness of sins. He is the one who gives us eternal life. He is the one who gives and gives and gives and we are the ones who are given to.
 

God gives us grace through His Son. I am sure you have heard the definition of grace. Grace is God’s riches at Christ expense. God gives us His grace, His undeserved love, His good gifts and blessings. This gift of grace is shown in the giving of His one and only Son to die on the cross for our forgiveness. As we continue to prepare ourselves during this Advent season we do so keeping in mind that as we will celebrate the birth of the Savior, we do so in the shadow of the cross.
 

The bad news is that we are sinners and there is no way of getting around it. We daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness. We daily break all the commandments. We are conceived and born in sin and every inclination of our hearts is evil all the time. The good news, the best news, the greatest news, the Gospel is that there is hope and as Christian we understand hope to be a certainty, not an iffy thing. Our hope, our certainty is that Jesus was anointed to give His life on the cross as a ransom for all people, and that is what He has already done, so that we might be given the righteousness that He earned. And we are moved by Him to give praise and glory, eternally, to His holy name. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Justification in the Apostles’ Creed - December 13, 2017 - Second Advent Midweek - Text: The Apostles’ Creed

This year, in keeping with the celebration of the 500 anniversary of the Reformation, for the Advent through New Year’s Eve services we will look at the main emphasis of the Reformation, which is the authority of the Word of God and the article of the confessions on which the church stands or falls, the article on justification by grace through faith in Jesus alone. We will look at justification in the way of the six chief parts of Luther’s Small Catechism and prayerfully we will connect this justification to our Christmas, birth of Jesus celebration and our New Year’s celebration as well.

Last week we took up the first of the six chief parts of Luther’s Small Catechism, the Ten Commandments. Today we take up the second chief part of Luther’s Small Catechism, the Apostles’ Creed. As there are some in our world who say they do not believe in creeds I would suggest that is because they do not know what a creed is. So we define a creed as nothing more than a statement or confession of faith or as some call it today a statement of faith. We might liken a creed to Jesus warning that if we do not confess faith in Jesus, He will not confess His dying for us.

Although we learn of the persons of the trinity each individually as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we must at all times remember that they are never separate, but are always one, just as the creed is one creed. With that reminder we want to being with the first article of the creed. In the first article we begin in the beginning with a confession of faith that in the beginning God created. God created all things out of nothing. In the beginning all was perfect because all was created by our perfect God.

Unfortunately, what God created as perfect, as good, man quickly made sinful through disobedience. It was the disobedience of Adam and Eve that brought sin and the need for a Savior which brings us to the second article.

In the second article we confess our faith in God’s promise of forgiveness, especially His promise first given in the Garden of Eden and reiterated to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, King David and so on throughout the Old Testament, a Savior for all people.

We confess that we believe that Jesus is and had to be true God in order to be born in perfection. Because we humans have had our DNA, our genes tainted by sin and because only God can be born sinless, therefore Jesus was conceived by God the Holy Spirit in order to be born sinless and truly God incarnate, or in the flesh. We confess that we believe that Jesus is also truly human and He had to be a human in order to be our substitute, that is in order to trade His life for ours. Remember, the price for sins was death, one human death for another human death. All the sacrifices of the Old Testament did nothing to gain or earn forgiveness, they merely pointed to the one ultimate sacrifice of a true man, Jesus and His death for our death as a substitute for us.

We confess that we believe that Jesus lived for us. He lived in perfection, as we were reminded last week, never disobeying any of the commandments but perfectly keeping them all. He perfectly obeyed all God’s Law and perfectly fulfilled all God’s promises concerning His coming as the Messiah, the Savior, the Christ.

We confess that we believe that having lived in perfection Jesus then took our sins, all our sins and the sins of all people, of all places, of all times on Himself. The price for sin which was set in the Garden of Eden was death, physical death and apart from Jesus and faith in Jesus it would be eternal spiritual death. Jesus suffered death, physical death as well as hell, eternal spiritual death for us on the cross and He died.

We confess that we believe the Jesus did not stay dead but on the third day He rose from the dead. He rose bodily from the grave. Death and the grave had no power over Him as He defeated death and the grave. He rose and showed Himself to be alive for forty days so as many as possible might bear witness of His resurrection. He rose and because He rose we know that we too will rise again.

In the third article we confess our faith in the third person of the trinity, God the Holy Spirit who is one with the Father and the Son, undivided in unity. We confess that we believe that God sends the Holy Spirit just as He promised to bring us to faith and keep us in faith.

We confess that we believe the Holy Spirit points to Jesus and points us to Jesus. The Holy Spirit does not point to Himself and does nothing to point us to look at Him. We hear little of the Holy Spirit because He is doing His work of pointing to Jesus. He points us to Jesus because in Jesus is life and salvation.

We confess that we believe the Holy Spirit works through means to point to Jesus. God has given us a way or a means in which He comes to us to give us the good gifts and blessings He has to give and those means are His Holy Word, confession and absolution and His sacred acts or Sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Through these very means, even ordinary means God comes to give us faith, to give us forgiveness, to strengthen us in faith, to keep us in faith, to give us life and salvation. As we read and hear God’s Word the Holy Spirit uses and works through that Word to give and strengthen us in faith. As we confess our sins and hear the pastor speak the words of absolution the Holy Spirit works through that proclamation to give us the forgiveness won, earned and paid for by Jesus. As water and God’s name are spoken on us at our Baptism the Holy Spirit gives us faith and forgiveness, writes our names in the Book of Life, and makes us His own. As we eat and drink Jesus’ body and blood in His holy meal the Holy Spirit connects us to Jesus so that we participate in Jesus’ life, suffering, death and resurrection so that they become a part of us and ours.

As we confess our faith in God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we confess our faith in our justification by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. On our own, our standing before God is that we have messed up what God has first given in perfection. Even as Adam and Eve brought sin into the world through their disobedience, we daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness. God created all things in perfection and He demands the same from us that we live in perfection, which we cannot do.

God’s demand is perfection and we cannot regain perfection on our own, no matter what. As we were reminded last week, a drowning person cannot save themself but must completely depend on the life guard to save them. So even us, we cannot save ourselves but we must completely depend on Jesus to save us.

As we confess in this creed, God cleans up what man messes up, and He does so on a daily basis. As we heard last week and the reason for the commandments is to show us our sin so that the Gospel might lead us to repentance. The Apostles’ Creed is a confession of the Gospel, of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who created all things perfect and holy out of nothing; who took on flesh and blood in order to bring us back into a right relationship with Himself, who comes to us through ordinary earthly means, Word, Water, Bread, and Wine, to give us forgiveness, to strengthening and keep us in faith.

As I have reminded you time and again, we get it right when we point to Jesus. We point to Jesus as we confess that God makes us right with Himself because He loves us so.

As we continue to move through this Advent season we continue to prepare ourselves to celebrate the beginning of the end, the birth of the One sent to bring us justification to us and to all, Jesus. We are reminded of the reason for Jesus’ birth, our sinful and fallen nature. But more we are reminded of God’s great love for us so much that He did give His life so that we might have forgiveness and life.

And so we boldly confess, not for someone else, but for ourselves. We confess and profess our faith in God who is one God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We confess and profess pointing to Jesus, the author and Perfecter of our faith. We confess and profess as we reflect His love back to Him, as we echo His Word, that is as we say back to Him the very Words that He has given us to say and in so doing worship Him and give praise and glory to His Holy Name, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Prepare the Way for the Lord - December 10, 2017 - Second Sunday in Advent - Isaiah 40:1-11

Today is the Second Sunday in Advent and we continue to prepare ourselves for our Christmas Day Celebration. Preparation is something that is very important to us. When we do not take the time to prepare, things do not go the way we might want. It is very much like the old saying goes, “People do not plan to fail, they fail to plan.” God had a plan. His plan was to send His one and only Son to suffer the eternal consequences for the sins of the whole world. God did a lot of preparing to make sure His plan worked. At just the right time God set His plan in motion and His plan did work, because God prepared it and worked it. As we go about our daily lives during this time of the year, it is as if most people skip the part of planning for Christmas and just jump straight to the Christmas celebration. That is too bad, because the time for preparation brings more excitement and anticipation for the celebration.
 

Our text for today speaks of God’s preparation. We read about the sending of a Savior beginning at verse one; “1Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken’” (v. 1-5).
 

In English a double negative is not a good thing. In Greek and Hebrew a double negative compounds and emphasizes the negative. Likewise a double positive emphasizes the positive. In our text we hear the prophet Isaiah emphasizing the positive when he says, “Comfort, comfort.” This word is one which means to breath deeply, to sigh in deep relief. These words remind us that our comfort, our real comfort, comes only from God. The prophet speaks words which prepare the people for God’s comfort, because the people had suffered enough.
 

The prophet announces the Savior’s coming. The Savior’s coming would be in Bethlehem, but His saving work, His dying on the cross would be in Jerusalem, the capital city of the children of Israel.
 

Before Jesus began His earthly ministry, His way, His path was prepared. John the Baptist is the voice of one calling in the desert. John the Baptist is the one the Lord sent to prepare the way for the Savior. In somewhat the same way as we prepare ourselves for our Christmas celebration, so the Lord prepared His people, those who continued to believe in the promise of a Messiah so that they would recognize Jesus as the One promised to save the world.
 

John came calling in the desert. Many years earlier the Lord delivered the children of Israel out of the desert into the promised land. This deliverance was a foreshadowing of what was now about to happen. Now the Lord has sent His Son to deliver the people out of their desert of sin into the promised land of salvation. How fitting that John came calling in the desert.
 

John came calling people to repentance. Jesus came to earn forgiveness for the world, but the world can refuse that forgiveness. John knew and understood this, thus he came calling the people to not refuse Jesus’ work of forgiveness by encouraging them to repent. John knew that some of the people were looking for a social-political savior, one who would overthrow those in power over them. He also knew that this was not the reason Jesus came into the world, as a social-political savior. The promise of a Savior was first given in the Garden of Eden, to Adam and Eve and to all humanity. The promise was for a Savior who would bring forgiveness of sins, a Savior who would bring humanity back into a right relationship with God the Father. Thus, John came calling, not a call to arms, but a call to repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
 

The prophet continues with his encouragement to repent because he knows the shortness of time. We pick up at verse six, “6A voice says, ‘Cry!’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’ All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 7The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. 8The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (v. 6-8).
 

We have talked about this before and we will again. Time is always relative. When you were a child, how long did it take you to go from one place to another? It depended on what you had to do to occupy your time. How long did it take for Christmas day to arrive? It depended on how much other stuff you had filling your time. Our time on this earth is short, especially when we fill it with so much earthy stuff and, even more so when we compare our short time here with our eternity in heaven. The prophet reminds us that our time is like that of the grass and flowers, that is, our time is but a season compared to the whole year.
 

Again, our time is nothing, our time is very short, compared to eternity. We tend to forget that in eternity our time here on this earth will be merely a blip on the screen, and yet we spend more time being concerned about the things of this world, often to the detriment of our eternal life. The Devil would have us contend ourselves with the pettiness of this world rather than being about the business of being God’s people, because if our time is time away from the Lord, if we die in sin and unbelief, then our time away from the Lord will be in hell for eternity.
 

If you have lived in this world long enough you may have come to the conclusion that there is nothing permanent in this world. The only thing that does not change is the fact that everything does change. As Christians we realize that everything in the world might change, but the Word of the Lord does not change. The word of the Lord stands forever.
 

God through the prophet proclaims the Savior’s first coming, but the prophet also reminds us of Jesus second coming. We pick up at verse nine, “9Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’ 10Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him’ and his recompense before him. 11He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young” (v. 9-11).
 

Jesus’ first coming was to live for us and to give His life for us. Jesus’ second coming will be to take us to live with Himself forever in eternity. Jesus’ second coming will also be at a time no one knows.
 

Jesus’ first coming was humble and in a manger. He came riding humbly into Jerusalem on a donkey. He humbled Himself and was crucified for us on the cross. He humbled Himself so that He did not always or fully use all His divine power. Jesus’ second coming will be with power and great might. He will come to judge the world. He will come to create a new heaven and a new earth. He will come to destroy the devil and all his works and all his ways and to lock him up forever in the abys. He will come in all His glory and all His divine power and all His majesty.
 

At Jesus’ second coming every knee will bow, those believing as well as the unbelievers. Unfortunately, it will be the unbelievers who will bow and yet blame God for their unbelief. They will blame God because they are going to hell. They will blame God because they still will not recognize that God does hold us accountable for our sins if and when we refuse Jesus’ work on the cross to grant us forgiveness.
 

Jesus’ second coming will be to judge the world. He will judge the world rightly. He will judge those with faith in His saving work on the cross to eternal life with Him in heaven. And He will judge those who refuse to believe in Him to eternal life in hell.
 

Jesus’ first coming was to give His life as a ransom for the world. Jesus’ second coming will be to take us to heaven to be with Himself for eternity.
 

As we move into this second week in Advent we ask, “how do we prepare ourselves to celebrate Jesus first coming?” We begin preparing ourselves by being in the Word, that is by reading and studying our Bibles. We begin in the Word, because the Word, the Bible is a word with power. It is a Word through which the Holy Spirit works to create faith and to strengthen faith.
 

We prepare ourselves by remembering our baptism. It was at our baptism that the Lord put His name on us, put faith in our hearts, gave us the forgiveness of sins, life, eternal life and salvation. There may be times during this Advent season that we do not feel very Christmas-y or very Advent-y for that matter. It is at these times that we put our minds in gear and remember that it is not our feelings that save us, rather it is God through Jesus who saves us.
 

We prepare ourselves by coming and confessing our sins and hearing the most beautiful words in the world, “Your sins are forgiven.” These are the most precious words because left in our sin we would be eternally condemned, but with forgiveness is life and salvation.
 

And we prepare ourselves by attending the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is that means where by the Lord comes to us through His true body, in, with and under the bread, and His true blood, in, with and under the wine, to give us forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins gives us strengthening to know that God has accomplished His work of salvation for us on the cross.
 

Our text for this morning reminds us, not of the messenger, but of the message and its fulfillment. It is not the messenger that is most important. What is most important is the message and its fulfillment. The message of God is the message of the sending a Savior to be born to save us and to come back to take us to heaven. The message and its fulfillment is given as we read, hear and experience it in God’s means of grace. As we make use of God’s means of grace, these means do what they say, that is they give the gifts God has to give, faith, forgiveness and life, even eternal life. And as we are given these gifts we are so moved to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Justification in the Ten Commandments - December 6, 2017 - First Advent Midweek - Text: The Ten Commandments

This year, in keeping with the celebration of the 500 anniversary of the Reformation, for the Advent through New Year’s Eve services we will look at the main emphasis of the Reformation, which is the authority of the Word of God and the article of the confessions on which the church stands or falls, the article on justification by grace through faith in Jesus alone. We will look at justification in the way of the six chief parts of Luther’s Small Catechism and prayerfully we will connect this justification to our Christmas, birth of Jesus celebration and our New Year’s celebration as well.

Today we begin with the first of the six chief parts of Luther’s Small Catechism, the Ten Commandments. We divide the Ten Commandments into two parts, the first table, commandments 1-3 and the second table, commandments 4-10. The first table of the commandments concerns our relationship with God and gives us direction in how we are to be in relation with God.

The very first commandment is indeed the key to all the commandments. The very first commandment reminds us that we shall have no other gods than the one true God. If we could get this first commandment right, if we could keep this very first commandment then we can get them all right. The problem is that because we are conceived and born in sin, because our very nature is contrary to God, we have a tendency and we actually place many people and things before God in our lives, thus breaking this commandment, thus breaking our relationship with God and therefore causing us to break all the rest of the commandments as well.

This very first table of the commandments does what all of history and all of Holy Scripture does, it points us to God and to Jesus in particular. God is the Creator, the Redeemer, the Sanctifier and the Preserver. He gives and we are given to, thus He rightly demands first place in our lives, He rightly demands perfection, He rightly demands our all, but because we are spiritually blind, spiritually dead and enemies of God, in and of ourselves we are unable to keep this very first commandment and truly we are unable to keep all the commandments.

In these first three commandments we have God’s very gift of Himself and His desire to abundantly pour out on us all the good gifts and blessings He has to give. And He does give to us through the means that He has given to pour out on us all He has to give. We are to fear, love and trust in God above all which includes keeping His name Holy through our participation of the Divine Service Sabbath rest. It is only as we keep the Sabbath that we are given the gifts and blessings God has to give and we keep the Sabbath by not refusing and rejecting the gifts of God by absenting ourselves, putting something before God, but by making regular, every time service is offered, and diligent, paying close attention, use of the means of grace.

The second table of the commandments concerns our relationships with each other. This second table directs us in the way in which we should go in our daily lives so that we might have order and peace with each other in our world. Of course, as we realize that our relationship with God has been broken so this broken relationship puts a strain on our relationships with one another. Yet God in His infinite wisdom and mercy has given us this second table of commandments in order to direct our ways even if imperfectly.

The first commandment of the second table, that is, the fourth commandment sets the foundation for all authority, that is for all government. All government flows from God to us through mediators in particularly first and foremost through our parents. God gives parents the gift of children and the authority and responsibility to care for, raise and nurture children in the ways of the Lord, or as we say, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. As parents we extend this authority as we give some authority to those who rule over us for the common good of all, that is to those who teach our children, to those we elect into office, mayors, governors, presidents, also those in law enforcement and the like.

In the remainder of the commandments, which are often seen as simply God’s Law, we might understand the blessings of the commandments as God gives the gifts of authority, life, sexuality, possessions, reputation, and contentment. As we hear God’s law that we should not murder we can see that in this command God gives us the gift of life, that is we are to live and let live according to God’s will. As God commands chastity so we see God’s gift of sexuality and the good He gives us in leading chaste and decent lives. In God’s command to not steal we see God’s gift of possessions and care for the possessions of others as well. In God’s command to not bear false witness we see God’s gift of our reputation and the need to be careful of what we say and how we speak of others, always explaining everything the best way possible. And in God’s command to not covet we see God’s gift of contentment, that is to be content in all the good gifts and blessings He gives as well as to not be envious or covetous of others who have different gifts and blessings, rather to rejoice with them and to help them improve and protect what is theirs.

What does this mean? The main point of the commandments is to point out the fact that we are sinners. As we confess at the beginning of many services, “8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9). How can we confess if we fail to recognize our sins and if we fail to confess then our sins remain on us and we would be eternally condemned.

 

The commandments were given and were not meant for us to find loopholes as some and even as we would sometimes seek to do, but they are given to show us our sins so we might repent. Indeed, how often do we find others and ourselves making excuses for our sins, pointing the finger of blame to someone else, “It was not my fault, after all,” or so we protest, “He/She/You made me do it.” “The woman you gave me.” “The serpent beguiled me.” And so it continues even today. This denial and loop hole finding is the work the Devil who would have us remain in our sin.

As we may need to be reminded, the Law shows us our sins, that is the point of the Law. And yet, ultimately it is also the point of the Law to point us to the Gospel. The Law does not motivate us to repent, only the Gospel motivates repentance. However the Law does show us our sins so that we see our need for the Gospel.

The Law and the Gospel together remind us that we cannot justify ourselves. We cannot make ourselves just and right in God’s eyes. We are conceived and born in sin. Every inclination of our hearts if evil all the time. The good that we would do we do not do but the evil that is before us, that is what we do, wretched people that we are. Just as a drowning person cannot save himself so we cannot justify ourselves.

Justification must and does come from outside of us. As a drowning person must have someone come to save them so we must have someone to come and save us. Just as a lifeguard will push away a drowning person attempting to help save himself so as to not have them both drown so too we cannot help God save us. He must do the work completely because He and He alone is without sin and He and He alone can take our sins and give us forgiveness.

As we prepare for the Advent of our King, we prepare to celebrate the birth of the One who came as true God, in perfection in the flesh as true man, we prepare for the one who justifies, Jesus. Jesus is true God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and true man, born of the human woman. Jesus is perfection and He is God’s answer to our sin and imperfection. We owe our very lives because of our sins, remember, the wages of sin is death. Jesus owes nothing as He is the sinless Son of God even God Himself in human flesh. Jesus came as God promised, to reconcile us, to bring us back into a right relationship with Himself, a relationship that we broken in the Garden of Eden.

The fullness of the Gospel is the fact that Jesus came to live for us, to do for us what we are unable to do, to be perfect for us, and that perfection He fulfilled by keeping the commandments for us, in our place. When God looks at us, by faith in Jesus He no longer sees us as sinners, but as saints, as redeemed children. He sees Jesus in and through us.

Jesus makes us just and right in God’s eyes. We have no part in what Jesus has done, does and continues to do for us and in and through us. It is all Jesus and Jesus alone.

As we prepare our hearts and mind to celebrate the birth of Jesus, God in flesh, we do so by being reminded of the reason He was born, to live for us, to be perfect for us in our place, to obey all the commandments for us because we cannot. As we prepare our hearts and minds we do so by confessing our sins and our part in the reason for Jesus’ birth, especially as we are reminded that the ultimate reason for His birth was to give His life as a ransom for us all, not out of coercion, but because of His great love for us. As we prepare our hearts and minds to celebrate Jesus’ birth we do so with the joy of the faith given to us through the very means of the Word of God which is the ultimate authority in this Word, given to us by God because of His great love for us a love seen in His Son and His life for our forgiveness. Our response; to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.