The Lutheran Way - It Makes A Difference? (Series 3 of 9)

(Worship or Divine Service)
 

The very word “worship” is defined in the following ways: a religious ceremony, the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity, a show of reverence and adoration for a deity, to honor or show reverence, to bend over or bow down in a gesture of respect or submission. Some have suggested that worship comes from “worth ship” meaning that we worship someone or something, a deity who is worthy of being worshiped. When we look at the above definitions of worship we might well note that they are all pointing in one direction. They all define worship as something people are doing for something or someone, perhaps a deity, a god. The definition of worship is from a lower to a higher.
 

There are those who describe worship as such: God is the audience, the congregation are the actors, and the organist, choir, praise band, etc., are the prompters. Thus, worship is our show of praise and exaltation before our God, and so worship is something we are doing for God because He deserves our worship. And most certainly God does deserve our worship and praise, but the question we might ask is, “Does God need our worship and praise?” or as some have asked, “Does God need us to build up His self-esteem through our praise songs?” Actually, we might simply ask, “What does God need from us? Does He not already have everything He needs? It is not He who is the one who gives everything to us in the first place? And if He is the One who gives us everything in the first place, then what we are giving to Him is simply some of what He has already first given to us, which is His in the first place.
 

This understanding brings us to what we do on Sunday mornings which is that we come to “Divine Service.” Divine Service is just that. It is divine because it is God’s service. God is the actor. God is the One giving. We are the audience or better said, we are the ones who are given to. We come to Divine Service, not because God needs us to come, but because of our need. We come because of our need to be strengthened in faith. We come because of our need to confess our sins and be given His most beautiful words of absolution. We come to hear His Word read and proclaimed, that Word which works faith, strengthens faith, forgives sins, and gives eternal life. We come to Divine Service to bring our prayers and petitions, not that God does not already know even before we ask, but because of our need to express and acknowledge our needs. We come to sing praises, again, not because God needs to hear our praises, but because of our need, our overflow of faith, which He first gives to us. We come to present our offerings, preferably our first fruits and tithes, not because God needs our money, but because of our need to respond in faith, that is, to respond to the fact that He has given us life, faith, vocation, talents and abilities to work to earn a living and our need to respond in thanks and faith. Indeed, our offerings are a response of faith. To not give in response is to deny God as the prime mover and the giver of all the gifts. To not respond is a lack of faith for indeed, our giving of our first fruits and tithes acknowledges and thanks God for our vocations, our work, and for our wages. It expresses our faith that He will continue to provide. Thus, we might summarize “Divine Service” as our focus on God and what He gives.
 

So, what is that thing we do on Sunday mornings? Is it “worship” or is it “Divine Service?” Because we believe we get it right when we point to Jesus, because we understand it is the Law, not the Gospel, which points us to ourselves (showing our sin, etc.), because we believe we are born with nothing and will leave this earth with nothing, and everything we have while we are here on this earth has been loaned to us by God of which we are to be good stewards and because we believe God needs nothing from us but rather we need to be given to by Him, we come to “Divine Service” to be given all the good gifts and blessings our Lord has to give. We come to be given to in the way in which He has given to us to come to us.
 

Next time, why and how does “worship” “practice” match and have to match “Divine Service” and “doctrine”? And what does the design of the church building have to do with anything?

May 2023 Newsletter

May 2023

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This month I would like to continue the conversation about “What is the church?” and “What is worship (Divine Service)?” Please understand I am presenting this material not to bash other churches but to help us understand what church and Divine Service are about and how our Lord comes to us to give us all the good gifts and blessings He has to give, in other words, to best understand the Objective Means of Grace.

Paging through some of the reviews online you might read about churches, you may see some of the following comments. My cautionary comments follow each quote. “The message is always relatable, and I always get something out of it.” Notice it is believed by some that the church should have a “relatable” message. Sometimes the word “relative” is used, as if to suggest the Bible may not always be relative or relatable so someone must help God out and make it so.

“Plenty of parking. Comfortable seating. Friendly folks.” What can I say? What is more important than parking, comfortable seating and friendly folks is the Gospel being preached in all its purity and the Sacraments being rightly administered.

“Church service was motivational and the book store has reasonably priced items.  Excellent visit!” What does it mean that the service was “motivational”? Certainly it is the Holy Spirit working through the very Word of God itself which stirs in us and moves us to live as priests in the priesthood of all believers, not the motivational speech of someone.

“The service was touching and inspirational!! Music was terrific!! Checked out the gift shop and purchased a couple of books. Overall, it was a nice experience” and “Touching and inspirational” “nice experience,” are words directed toward myself and not toward God and His Word. These are subjective words because everyone is “touched” or “inspired” and “experience” things differently. It is the Objective Word of God which does and gives what God says it does and gives.

“If you’re looking to grow in your faith and relationship with Christ, and form meaningful relationships with a diverse, loving, and caring community then I recommend you visit . . .” “It’s about family,” and no this was not a quote from Vin Diesel (for those of you who get that reference). Certainly we should desire to grow in our faith and in our “relationship” with Christ and others; however, it is not we who initiate such growth, and it is not our “relationship” with Christ which brings us forgiveness and salvation.

It is the Objective Word of God which gives the gifts God has to give, and His Objective Word is given to us through Holy Baptism when water and God’s name are put on us. It is the Objective Word of God spoken to us by the Pastor when he pronounces that our sins are forgiven in Holy Absolution. It is the Objective Word of God which is read and proclaimed to us from the pulpit. It is the Objective Word of God in the Holy Supper connected with the bread and wine through which we are given Christ’s true body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. So, when someone is “looking” for a church, the church one should look for is not one that feeds into the subjectivity of oneself, a church which teaches what one wants to hear and believe. Rather one should look for a church which preaches the Gospel in all its truth and purity, Law and Gospel, and one which rightly administers and understands the Sacraments which God gives, a church which rightly understand the truth and power of the Objective Word of God whether or not one might feel, experience, relate to, be inspired by, or find their own meaning. In other words, good confessional Lutheran Church, like St. Matthew, in other words!


God’s richest blessings.
In His Service,

Pastor Bogs
1 Cor. 15:3-5

Don’t forget, if you miss a Sunday, you can read the sermon on my blog: http://rabswritings.blogspot.com.

Holy Days and Holidays in May: St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (May 1); National Day of Prayer (May 4); Mother’s Day (May 14); The Ascension of Our Lord (May 18); Armed Forces Day (May 20); Annual Church Picnic (May 21); The Day of Pentecost (May 28); Memorial Day (May 29); The Visitation (May 31).

This Word Is the Good News - April 23, 2023 - Text: 1 Peter 1:17-25 - Third Sunday of Easter

Again this morning we continue to revel and rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What a great God we have. What a loving God we have. What a gift giving God we have. I often lament for those people who do not know Jesus and for those who have no surety of salvation because they do not understand grace and the gifts God gives and instead cling to some wishy washy human hope that they have been good enough, or done enough good things, or the right things, or have chosen Jesus or dedicated their lives to him, or have been obedient enough. And I lament those who worship some deceased god or leader of some cult or sect. Indeed, as Christians we worship a living God. We worship a God who does it all and gives it all to us and demands nothing from us. Notice the complete difference. Worshiping a god who needs and demands of us to do everything for him, which is truly idolatry, or worshiping the one true God who has done everything and given His all, even His life for us and needs nothing from us, but who has created us for the very purpose of loving us! Indeed, we worship a risen God. He is risen, He is risen, indeed, Alleluia.
 

In our text we might say that Peter lays out God’s plan for our sanctification, picking up at verse seventeen, “17And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, 21who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (v. 17-21).
 

Peter explains that according to God’s foreknowledge, that is what God knew before He set the foundation of the world, God knew that Adam and Eve would be disobedient and would sin and He knew that He would send His Son to suffer and die. This is what we call foreknowledge that is that God knew before it would happen. This does not mean that this is something God had predestined, that is that He had predetermined that these events would happen. What God had predestined, or better said, what is God’s will is spoken of elsewhere in His Holy Word and that is that it is God’s will that all people are saved and yet, even in His foreknowledge, even before it happens, God knows there are those who refuse and reject Him. God’s plan was and is to save all people.
 

According to God’s plan to save all people, He sent His only Son, yes, even God Himself taking on human flesh and blood in the person of Jesus. Jesus is the perfect, spotless Lamb, like the sacrificial lamb which pointed to Him. He was without spot or blemish. He was perfect and holy. And He had to be perfect and holy because God’s demand is that we are perfect and holy.
 

According to God’s plan, Jesus, being perfect and holy, took our sins upon Himself. He who was without sin became sin for us, in our place. Jesus paid the price for sin, eternal death and hell for us, not with perishable barter, but with His Holy Innocent suffering and death and with His holy precious blood. The price for sin was set in the Garden of Eden, death, human death for human sin, blood had to be shed and Jesus shed His blood, He died for us.
 

According to God’s plan, this was done so that we might call on God as our Father, that is so that we might pray to Him. God’s desire is to be in communion and fellowship with us. Since we broke that fellowship, He has restored our relationship. And now He carries on a conversation with us through our listening to Him in His Word and our speaking to Him in our prayers.
 

And, according to God’s plan, we call on Him as Father in fear, that is in respect because He is an impartial judge. Indeed, when we are in our sin, we should fear and tremble before the Lord as He is a just and impartial judge and we are guilty sinners. Yet, because of Jesus, because Jesus took our sins and paid the price for our sins, we fear our Father as we respectfully and joyfully call on Him just as we call on our earthly fathers.
 

Peter moves from explaining God’s plan to giving us the result, picking up at verse twenty-two, “22Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you (v. 22-25).
 

God has taken care of everything for us. God has taken care of our sins by having Jesus pay the price for our sins. By faith in Jesus, which faith is given to us, Jesus perfect life, His perfect death, His perfect resurrection have become our perfect life, death and resurrection. Indeed, He has purified us so that when we stand before God what our Father sees is that He sees us in purity and perfection, in Jesus purity and perfection made ours.
 

Peter goes on to remind us that our time on this earth is fast and fading. One look at the obituaries in the paper on any given day bears out the fact that we will die and our hour of death can come at anytime, young or old. Indeed, each day we live moves us one day closer to our final day on this earth and that time will be sooner than we know and sooner than we might imagine. With that “warning” if you will, then we are moved to understand the importance of being ready at all times to meet our maker.
 

And so Peter reminds us that God’s Word yet remains, even forever. Peter reminds us of the certainty of God’s Word because it is through the Word of God that we get ready and are made ready for our final hour on this earth. Perhaps Peter’s words might stir us to understand the futility of investing so much of our time and energies focusing on ourselves and the momentary joys and sorrows of this world and instead focusing our attention on where it needs to be, in our relationship with Him, in our encouraging and building up one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, and in our living lives as living sacrifices, always speaking encouraging words, giving an answer for our faith, and sharing God’s love and word with those who do not yet know Him.
 

What does this mean? For those of us who think we are good people, who think we do not have a spiritual problem, who do not think we need God’s forgiveness each and every day, we need the constant reminder that we are conceived and born in sin. And we daily add to our sinfulness. One quick trip through the Ten Commandments reminds us of our total depravity before God and if we think we are good simply because we have not actually physically broken any of the commandments, then we need the reminder that we break them through our thoughts and words as well as by not doing what is required, that is by sinning sins of omission as well as actually, physically committing sin. Indeed, by ourselves, in and of ourselves our standing before God, even in our “goodness” is that we are totally lost and condemned creatures, or as Isaiah tells us, what we present as our good works before God are filthy rags.
 

Thanks be to God that Jesus lived for us, being perfectly obedient to all of God’s laws and commands. Remember, the demand of God is that we are perfect and since we cannot be perfect, although we might think we can be pretty good, thus minimizing God’s gifts to us, the fact is that Jesus was perfect for us. If we want to make any comparison of ourselves because we think we are pretty good, the only comparison we need to make is to compare ourselves with Jesus and we always come up lacking. But, again, thanks be to God that Jesus lived for us.
 

Thanks be to God that Jesus came to give His life as a ransom for us, to be sacrificed for us in our place. Because we cannot pay the price for our sins, Jesus took our sins and paid the price for us in our place. What we owe, Jesus paid. What Jesus earned, He has given to us. It is all gift and gift given and we are given to.
 

Thanks be to God that He continues to give us the gifts He has to give and His usual way of giving us the gifts He has to give is through His means of grace. Indeed, we are born again through the Word and through the waters of Holy Baptism. We are given forgiveness and strengthening of faith though Confession and Absolution and through His Holy Supper. These gifts are gifts, neither earned nor deserved, but wholly given to us because of His great love for us.
 

Sometimes in our catechism we have the second question after “What does this mean?” as “How is this done?” Or we might say, what is our response of faith and that is what it is a response to what God has first done for us and given to us. Our response of faith is to, with the Lord’s help, live lives of faith. I call this living in our vocation, that is that as we live our lives in our various vocations as a son or daughter, father or mother, husband or wife, owner or worker, police officer, lawyer, doctor, teacher, carpenter, welder, engineer, computer programer, salesman, whatever our vocation we serve God by serving others. We live and work for God demonstrating our faith through our labors.
 

And our response of faith is to make regular and diligent use of the means of grace. We can be most sure of God speaking to us and working in and through us when He does so through His means of grace. It is through the means of His Word, Confession and absolution, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper that our Lord gives to us and moves and stirs in us what we might call our works obedience, and yet, we always point to and give credit to our Lord for His gifts to us.
 

What a great God we have, the most loving, gift giving, living God. When we come to understand the depth of our depravity and greatness of God’s love for us, how can we not but desire to be given even more of the gifts He has to give? How can we not help but desire to be blessed by Him, being where the gifts are given as often and whenever they are offered? Indeed as Peter so well says this morning, “This Word is the Good News that was (and is now being) preached to you.” Our response is simply to be given to and to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Test Results Equals Praise - April 16, 2023 - Text: 1 Peter 1:3-9 - Second Sunday of Easter

This morning we continue to bask and revel in the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Have you ever wondered why the world, or we might say why the Christian Church moved its day of worship from Saturday, the last day of the week, the day God rested from His work of creation, to worshiping on Sunday, the first day of the week? Something really great and wonderful must have happened to change what the world and what the Christian Church was doing for so many years. Of course, we know that the change came about because of the resurrection of Jesus and now each and every Sunday is for us Christians a mini Easter resurrection celebration. And so, we might rightly greet each other every Sunday as we greeted each other on Easter Sunday, with the words and response, He is risen. He is risen, indeed! Alleluia.
 

In our text for this morning Peter rightly expresses our words of praise to God, to our God who gave His life and raised Himself from the dead for us. Peter tells us that God is blessed. Peter says, “3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (v. 3-5). God is blessed because He has earned salvation for us. Here again we are able to distinguish the Christian Church and even our own protestant denomination from many others with the focus of these events. Going back to the Garden of Eden, it was Eve and Adam, the crown of God’s creation, God’s perfect creation, who disobeyed God and brought sin and death into the world. And because God knew His creatures could not restore their broken relationship with Himself, He made a promise to restore that relationship for them.
 

This past Sunday we celebrated the completion of the restoration of God’s creation, us to Himself. Last Christmas, as we do every year at Christmas, we celebrated the birth of God in flesh, the one who came to restore our relationship with God. We celebrated God taking on human flesh. On Friday, on Good Friday we watched as Jesus suffered the punishment for the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and for the sins of all people who have ever lived, for all our sins and for the sins of all people who ever will live. Jesus paid the complete price and cost for sin. As Peter says in the text, Jesus has earned for us an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.
 

Not only has God taken care of our sins, completely, now He continues to guard our faith. It is important that our Lord continue to guard our faith, because the devil, Satan, the old evil foe is still alive and well and is still working to wreak havoc on the world. The devil hates us and he hates everything that God does. His only interest is to destroy, because he is completely evil. And so, he continues, roaming around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Yet, we have our Lord on our side, continuing to guard us and keep us safe.
 

Yes, temptations may come from the devil, but the Lord guards us and keeps us safe. At the same time, in order to strengthen us so that we might bear up under temptation and sin, there may come times of trial in our lives. Peter goes on to explain picking up at verse six, “6In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (v. 6-9). The Lord may allow us to face certain trials while we still live in this world and we understand that these trials may come for a little while.
 

The reason the Lord may allow us to be subject to trials is so that our faith, the genuineness of our faith, which is more precious than gold, may be tested. Gold is a precious metal and is very valuable and yet, even gold may perish. Gold is purified through fire, that is, gold is subjected to extreme heat in order to burn away the impurities so that only the gold remains. Likewise, when it comes to our faith, it too is tested through fiery trials so that it is strengthened. At the same time, Peter assures us that our faith is more precious than gold, meaning that as the Lord tests our faith, He is there to give us the strength we need as we go through our testing.
 

The desired outcome of putting gold through fire is that through the fire it may be made pure. The desired outcome of the fiery trials we may face is so that we may give praise, glory and honor to Christ. Trials may not seem pleasant at the time we undergo them, and sometimes even for sometime later they may not seem pleasant, as if they might ever seem pleasant, yet, the goal of trials is not to make us comfortable, but to build us up, to strengthen us so that we might be drawn closer to the Lord and give Him praise and glory and honor. During times of trials we might rightly think of Jesus and what He underwent for us, namely that He suffered eternal death and hell for us, in our place and so we will gladly suffer for His name sake in order to give praise and glory to His holy name.
 

Ultimately the desired outcome of trials is eternal life in heaven. The ultimate desired outcome of our life in this world is indeed, eternal life in heaven. Of course, we understand that this outcome has already been achieved and accomplished for us. It is meted out to us by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus and His death and resurrection for us.
 

What does this mean? It means that we will face trials, tribulations and temptations. Just because we are Christians, does not mean that life will be easy. As a matter of fact, if you have been taking notice of what has been going on in the world, since the beginning of time, is that those who are Christians are usually, more than likely, the ones who are undergoing trials, tribulations and temptations, even more than those who are not Christians. This is true on two counts, one is that the world does not like the exclusive claim of Christians, that is that there is only one way to heaven and that is through faith in Jesus, alone, and the second count is that the devil hates us and all that is God’s and he is feverishly working to destroy anything and everything that is good. And we can see these two things constantly happening in our world.
 

Yes, we will face trials and temptations and we must understand that we cannot face them alone. Oh, I guess we can face them alone, but we will fail. We cannot resist the devil on our own. We need help and God is there, always, to help us.
 

Not only is our Lord always there to help us, He has already taken care of everything. God in Christ has already done everything for us. All the temptations that we may face, Jesus has already faced and won. Jesus soundly defeated the devil and He is always there to help us.
 

We may try to face the devil on our own. We may try to face trials, tribulations and temptation on our own, but we will fail. We need God’s help.
 

How do we get God’s help? How does God help? How is this done? When we face trials and temptations God may provide help in one of three ways. First, God may provide a way out. Perhaps you are visiting with some friends when someone begins defaming someone’s precious name. (And here I would suggest we pray for that friend who Satan is using to defame another.) As this one person continues they may stop and look at you with that expecting look, giving you the opportunity to join in and defame that person as well. A way out of this temptation would be simply to change the subject and talk about something more uplifting.
 

When we face trials and temptations, God may provide a way out or God may provide the strengthen need to bear up. Again, back to our scenario, suppose the person turns and looks at you with that expectation that you join in the defaming. God may provide you with the strength to say that it is not right to be defaming this person and you will not join in.
 

And once again, when we face trials and temptations, God may provide a way out or God may provide the strengthen need to bear up, or God may take away the trial or temptation. Back to our scenario, if God does not provide a way out, that is that you may simply change the subject and if God does not provide you with the strength you might think you need, then He may take the temptation away, perhaps something will distract your friend and the subject will be changed.
 

Now, I know this is a rather simplistic scenario, but it does, nonetheless, illustrate that fact that God does help us in times of trials and temptations. The bottom line, if you will, is that because we are Christians, we will face difficulties in this world. Rather than fear those challenges, our Lord would have us cling to Him, who has defeated all, so that we can be certain that He will help us to overcome and win out in the end, or as Peter says, so that we may attain the salvation of our souls. And rest assured, even when we fail, and we do and will fail, with Jesus there is always forgiveness, that is the reason He came to give His life for ours.
 

This morning we continue to revel in our Easter celebration. Every year we make our way through the church year calendar in order to be reminded of what great things our Lord has done, does and continues to do for us. We need these constant reminders. We need to be constantly fed with the spiritual nourishment of our Lord’s means of grace. Yes, the old cliche is true, seven days without the Word of God makes one weak (that’s w-e-a-k), that is why we come every Sunday, that is why we have personal and family devotions and read our Bible every day, that is why we remind ourselves of our Baptism, that is why we come here and confess our sins so that we might hear those most beautiful words in the world, that our sins are forgiven, that is why we come to the Lord’s Table where we eat His body and drink His blood, so that we are fed, nourished and strengthened in order that the Lord might help us in times of trials and temptations. And He will help and we will win and we will give praise, glory and honor to His Holy name. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Jesus Brings Peace - April 9, 2023 - Easter Morning - Text: Psalm 16:10; Matt. 16:21; Luke 24:36-49

He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

This year during the season of Lent through Easter Sunday morning we have been continuing what we started during our Advent season, that is we are looking at some of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, passages including His life, trials, suffering and crucifixion and finding the New Testament passages that confirm their fulfillment in our Savior, Christ Jesus. Today we rejoice in Jesus resurrection.
 

By inspiration of God, King David prophesies of Jesus resurrection in the Psalm as he says, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption” (Psalm 16:10). David spoke of Jesus resurrection, not outright saying Jesus would rise from the dead, but speaking of the fact that His body would not see corruption, that is His body would not rot in the grave.
 

   We know, as we confess in our creeds that after His resurrection, before He showed Himself to be alive that Jesus descended into hell. His descent into hell was not to suffer because He had already suffered complete suffering and hell on the cross. Jesus descended into hell to declare victory over the devil, over sin, death and the devil.
 

And so, as David prophesied, Jesus’ body did not see corruption, it did not rot in the ground, it did not return to dust as we hear on Ash Wednesday, that we are dust and to dust we shall return. No, Jesus body did not see corruption because He rose from the dead.
 

Thus, David speaks of our own resurrection. Indeed, we have the promise that by faith in Jesus as our Savior that although we may pass on from this world, although we may die and our bodies may be put in the ground and return to dust, we will not be abandoned to Sheol or hell and our bodies will not see corruption. Our bodies, as promised by God, will be resurrected and made glories, perfect as was originally intended by God.
 

In his account of these events of Jesus’ life Matthew tells us, “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21). Contrary to what some may say or believe, Jesus did speak about His suffering and death. As you read through the Gospels there are times that the disciples did not understand Jesus’ plan and there are times that He was rebuked by His disciples, especially Peter because they did not understand His plan of salvation. Here in this reading from Matthew Jesus again speaks of the events because they are at a place where they can understand and accept what will happen.
 

But notice that when Jesus speaks of the events to take place, of His suffering and dying, He always also speaks about His resurrection. In other words, Jesus always leaves His disciples and us with confidence in Him and in our eternal well being.
 

In his account of the events of this Easter morning, the Gospel writer Luke tells us, “36As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you!’ 37But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. 38And he said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ 40And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ 42They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43and he took it and ate before them. 44Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ 45Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high’” (Luke 24:36-49).
 

Although the doors are locked, for fear, Jesus, true God in human flesh enters the room because doors and walls are no match for His infinite nature. Just as an aside, for those who do not believe that Jesus can be locally present with His body and blood in His Holy Supper, as He promises, because they would suggest that He is in heaven and cannot be at two places at one time, this event of Jesus appearing in the room with His disciples shows that although we believe that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, in His body, because He is God, He can still be omnipresent, that is He can be locally present in all places, including His Holy Supper. He is God after all and He can do whatever He wants!
 

The disciples were afraid. Jesus was hung on a cross. They witnessed Him die. They had heard that the body was missing and they were prime suspects. Of course they were afraid. Yet, Jesus appears to them, in the flesh, though the doors were locked. And the first thing that Jesus does is He gives them peace. The peace He gives is true peace because the peace He gives is the forgiveness of sins. Without forgiveness we would be lost and in despair, but with forgiveness is peace and a renewed relationship with God.
 

Jesus gives them peace and He shows Himself to be alive. Actually, beginning with this appearance on Easter He will spend forty days showing Himself to be alive so that as many people as possible will bear witness of His resurrection. He shows the marks from the crucifixion so that there is no doubt that it is He.
 

And Jesus opens their minds to understand all that has happened. Even so, we know that it will not be until fifty days later, on the morning of Pentecost and the sending of the Holy Spirit that all these events, as we say all the dots will be connected, but now they are ready to understand all that Jesus did and said. They will be able to understand God’s plan for their salvation and for the salvation of the world.
 

And finally, Jesus sends them out. Just as we come here on Sunday morning and are given the gifts of God, so that we are strengthened in our faith, we are not to keep the faith, that is keep it to ourselves, but we are to take the faith out with us into the mission field, always being ready to give an answer for the hope that we have in Jesus which we do in our vocations.
 

What does this mean? As you have heard me say many times, God’s Word is a word of power and authority. God’s Word effects, does and gives what it says. In the Garden of Eden, immediately after Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned, God stepped in and promised a Savior who would pay the price for sin, the price of death, hell.
 

God’s promise of a Savior, reiterated throughout the Old Testament was fulfilled in Jesus who was born as our substitute. What Adam and Eve could not do, what the whole nation of Israel could not do, what we could not and cannot do, live in perfection and be perfectly obedient to all of God’s laws and commands, Jesus did. Jesus, conceived in perfection by the Holy Spirit, true God and true man, born to be our substitute lived, obeyed, suffered, died for us, in our place.
 

Jesus fulfilled all Holy Scripture. He fulfilled all God’s promises, prophesies concerning the coming Messiah. He fulfilled and fully obeyed all of God’s laws and commands, perfectly. Of His own free will, not under compulsion nor by coercion He took our sins, all our sins and the sins of all people, of all places, of all times on Himself and paid the price for all sins, once for all.
 

Jesus earned and paid the price for sin by His suffering and death. And now He gives us what He earned, forgiveness and with forgiveness true peace. The peace Jesus gives is not simply a few moments or hours of calm in our world of chaos. His peace is a peace that comes only with knowing our sins are forgiven. In our sinful state we would be like the disciples, in fear, fear of the unknown, fear of God and punishment, fear and despair. But with forgiveness there is true peace. A reconciliation between God and us. A peace of the gift and promise of eternal life.
 

And so, with peace, Jesus sends us out. How can we not be sent? How can we not have the desire to share the good news of forgiveness, peace, life and salvation with others? Indeed, Jesus sends us out, not alone but with His authority to tell others, with His promise to be with us and His promise to give us the words to speak, words of forgiveness to the world.
 

As we celebrate on this Easter morning we are reminded of what a great God we have, what loving God we have, what a gift giving God we have a God who gives us peace through the forgiveness of our sins, and we are moved to rejoice in His gifts and in His means of giving us His gifts. We are constantly reminded of our Baptism and our being brought into His church with His name being put on us and faith being put into our hearts at our Baptism. We are reminded of the forgiveness we are given as we confess and hear those most wonderful words of Holy Absolution, that our sins are forgiven. We are reminded of all our Lord has done for us and all he will do through His Word read and preached. And we are reminded that as we come to His table, as we eat His body and drink His blood, in, with and under the bread and wine, that He becomes a part of us so that His perfect life becomes our perfect life. His perfect suffering and death becomes our perfect suffering and death. His resurrection becomes our resurrection and His eternal life in heaven becomes our eternal life in heaven. How can we not rejoice and declare, to God be the glory, for Jesus’s sake.
 

He is risen! He is risen, indeed, Alleluia! Amen.

Jesus Is Alive - April 9, 2023 - Easter Sonrise - Text: Psalm 16:10; Matt. 16:21; Matt. 28:9

He is risen! He is risen, indeed, Alleluia.

This year during the season of Lent through Easter Sunday morning we are continue what we started during our Advent season, that is we are looking at some of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, passages including His life, trials, suffering and crucifixion and finding the New Testament passages that confirm their fulfillment in our Savior, Christ Jesus. Today we rejoice in Jesus resurrection.
 

In his Psalm, King David, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit writes, that is foretells and prophesies, that Jesus will rise from the dead, or as David says it, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption” (Psalm 16:10). So, David spoke of Jesus’ resurrection, that is that His body would not see corruption or as we might say, His body would not rot in the grave. Indeed, Jesus’ body would not rot in the grave because it would only be in the grave for the three days, from His death and burial on Friday until His resurrection on Easter Sunday morning.
 

Of course, we do know that Jesus did descend into hell, as we confess in our creeds, but He did not descend into hell to suffer. As a matter of fact, all of His suffering, even His eternal suffering and hell took place on the cross, well, at His being mocked, stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, His being beaten and forsaken by God the Father. Jesus went to hell to declare victory over Satan Himself.
 

As we confess in our creeds, Jesus died and on the third day He rose from the dead. According to the normal course of life once a person dies their body is placed into the ground. As we hear in another Psalm, we are dust and to dust shall we return. Again, normally the body is buried and eventually rots and turns back into dust. Not so with Jesus. Because Jesus is truly God in human flesh, because He rose on the third day, there was no time for His body to see corruption.
 

In speaking of Jesus’ resurrection, David is also speaking of our own resurrection. Yes, although we may die, unless the Lord should return first, our bodies will see corruption, that is they will return to dust, but that is not the end because God has promised that He will raise our lowly bodies so they will be like His glorious body, that is we will have our own bodies recreated in the perfection originally planned for us. So David’s words are words of faith and may be our words of faith as well, that is that upon our passing on from this world we will not be abandoned to Sheol or hell, nor will we see corruption, because by faith in Jesus and His life we will be raised to eternal life with Him in heaven.
 

The Gospel writer Matthew begins to confirm David’s prophecy at least concerning the fact of Jesus death as he writes, “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21.) Notice in Matthew’s account of the events of Jesus’ life that Jesus Himself spoke about His suffering and death. Yes, you may remember that many times the disciples did not understand Jesus’ words and even at times resisted Jesus’ plan, but, at least here in this text Jesus knew His disciples were at the point in their training and understanding to be able to come to grips with what would happen.
 

Yet, whenever Jesus did speak about His suffering and death He always included His resurrection, “on the third day be raised.” Indeed, God’s plan from before creation was that He would reconcile the world to Himself by paying the price for sin and then defeat sin, death and the devil by His rising from the dead. Thus, death and the grave have no power over us.
 

And in his account of these events Matthew speaks of Jesus resurrection as he writes, “And behold, Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him” (Matthew 28:9). Yes, Jesus spoke of His death and His resurrection. On Good Friday the disciples went to their homes probably believing all was lost and that there was no hope. Yet, on Easter morning and Easter evening and for forty days Jesus came and showed Himself to be alive.
 

When Jesus shows Himself to be alive He always bring words of peace. And Jesus’ words are words of peace. They are not words of some temporal earthly peace, that is some bit of calm in a world and day of chaos. His are not words of peace of a few moments alone, but His are words of true and lasting peace, peace that transcends all of life.
 

Jesus’ words of peace are true peace that is, the peace of forgiveness of sins. While we live in this world, while we remain in our sin we do not have true peace. Our sin brings worry, anxiety, guilt, despair and the like. It is only as our sins are forgiven and as we know that our sins are forgiven that we can have true peace. While we remain in our sin we remain apart from God, distant from Jesus, alone and in despair. With forgiveness is a renewed relationship with God the Father. With forgiveness is the peace and calm of knowing our eternal life is guaranteed.
 

What does this mean? Before God began creating the world He knew what was going to happen. He knew what was going to happen because He is not bound by time like you and I. God lives in the eternal present so all things that happen are concurrent with Him. Remember, the first thing God created was time, morning and evening the first day and He created time for us. Yet, even knowing all that would happen God in His love created us anyway and when sin did enter into the world He promised a Savior who would pay the price for sin.
 

God’s promise of a Savior was reiterated time and again and the line of fulfillment was narrowed until Jesus was born. Jesus was born to be our substitute, that is He was born as God in flesh to do for us, actually to do for Adam and Eve, to do for the whole nation Israel and to do for us what He demands and what we are unable to do. Jesus was born, lived, was fully obedient to all of God’s law and commands, He took our sins and he suffered and died to pay the price for our sins, to reconcile us with Himself.
 

Jesus fulfilled all Holy Scripture. As I have said many times, God’s Word is true. God’s Word is a word with authority. God’s Word is always over and above fallible human words. God’s word effects, does and gives what He says. Jesus fulfilled all of God’s Word for us, in our place.
 

Because we are unable to be the people God would have us to be, because of His great love for us, God sent His only Son, Jesus. Jesus earned and paid the price for sin, the price set in the Garden of Eden, death, human death for human sin, and now He gives us what He earned, forgiveness, peace, life and salvation.
 

As we celebrate on this Easter morning we are reminded of what a great God we have, what loving God we have, what a gift giving God we have and we are moved to rejoice in His gifts and in His means of giving us His gifts. We are constantly reminded of our Baptism and our being brought into His church with His name being put on us and faith being put into our hearts at our Baptism. We are reminded of the forgiveness we are given as we confess and hear those most wonderful words of Holy Absolution, that our sins are forgiven. We are reminded of all our Lord has done for us and all he will do through His Word read and preached. And we are reminded that as we come to His table, as we eat His body and drink His blood, in, with and under the bread and wine, that He becomes a pary of us so that His perfect life becomes our perfect life. His perfect suffering and death becomes our perfect suffering and death. His resurrection becomes our resurrection and His eternal life in heaven becomes our eternal life in heaven. How can we not rejoice and declare, to God be the glory, for Jesus’s sake.
 

He is risen! He is risen, indeed, Alleluia! Amen.

Jesus’ Pierced Side - April 7, 2023 - Good Friday - Text: Zechariah 12:10; John 19:34

This year during the season of Lent through Easter Sunday morning we are continue what we started during our Advent season, that is we are looking at some of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, passages including His life, trials, suffering and crucifixion and finding the New Testament passages that confirm their fulfillment in our Savior, Christ Jesus. Today we rehearse the events of Jesus’ death.
 

By inspiration of God Zechariah writes prophesying Jesus’ death on the cross. He writes, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10). Notice that Jesus is the one promised in the Old Testament, the one promised by God back in the Garden of Eden. Jesus is the one promised to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. Jesus is the one promised in Zechariah, being born from the house of David.
 

Today is Good Friday and the day we remember and rehearse the events of Jesus’ death on the cross. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, all the world has been cursed. Everyone born, from the moment of conception is born in sin. Sin is in our DNA, it is in our genes. If you remember, before Adam and Eve sinned there was no death only life. Their sin brought death so that everyone born is born to die. Here we might be reminded of why infant baptism is so important, because infants are conceived and born sinful. If infants had no sin and if they were not accountable for their sin, they would not be subject to death. Jesus, was born sinless because as we confess in the creeds, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit making Him truly God, perfect and holy. Jesus was also truly human, again as we confess in the creeds, born of the human woman, the virgin Mary. Jesus was human so that He might live for us, that is so that He might fulfill all the demands of God for us in our place.
 

Thus, as we have rehearsed and will continue to rehearse, the life of Jesus was a life of perfection for us, in our place. Jesus never sinned. Jesus knew no sin and after living in complete perfection and obedience He took our sins and the sins of all people, of all places, of all times upon Himself. He who knew no sin became sin for us. And because of our sin on Him He was crucified, that is He suffered the most cruel of deaths, even and including eternal death and hell. He suffered and he died on the cross.
 

As Zechariah foretells, after Jesus died, while yet hanging on the cross, in order to confirm His death His side was pierced and out flowed blood and water.
 

The Gospel writer John, the disciple Jesus loved, writes of the account of which he was an eyewitness, “But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water” (John 19:34). Jesus was crucified with two thieves, one on His right and one on His left. He was hung on the cross about nine in the morning and He died at about three in the afternoon. While the other two criminals were not yet dead, because it was getting close to sundown and the bodies needed to be buried, in order to make sure they did not crawl away and survive the custom was to break the legs of the criminals and throw their bodies in the ground.
 

When the soldier came to Jesus he saw that He was already dead, at least he believed Him to be dead. In order to confirm that Jesus was dead and to fulfill the words of Zechariah, the soldier pierced His side, that is he thrust a spear into Jesus’ side. If Jesus were still alive He would have reacted or the soldier may have pierced Him simply to complete the job of crucifixion, to kill Him.
 

John then writes that he witnessed the phenomenon of blood and water flowing from Jesus side. Some had suggested that this is the sign of a broken heart. Others have said this blood and water was due to the sever beating and traumatic death of Jesus. The point is that Jesus had indeed suffered the cruelest of suffering and had died.
 

Now we might ask, as some have, how can God die? Simply stated, as we each have a body and a soul, so Jesus was a human being, as we said born of the virgin Mary, and He had a soul, He was God in human flesh. Thus, just as when we humans die our soul leaves our body, so when Jesus died His soul, His being true God also left His body.
 

What does this mean? As we mentioned, Jesus was and is true God and true man, conceived and born in perfection. He had to be true God in order to be perfect which is the demand of God. And He had to be truly human in order to trade, substitute Himself and His perfection for us and our imperfection.
 

What was demanded of Adam and Eve, one rule, do not eat from the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, what the whole nation of Israel could not do, live according to the laws that God through Moses set down for them, even and especially what we cannot do, live obedient, God pleasing lives in word and deed, Jesus did. Because He was conceived and born in perfection, because He was true God in human flesh, Jesus lived the perfect, obedient life for Adam and Eve, for all Israel, and especially for us, for you and for me.
 

Because God is omniscient, living outside of time, in the eternal present, because He knew what was going to happen even before He began creating the world and because of His great love for us, He created the world and us anyway, but because of His love and foreknowledge, God has given us His Holy Scripture. His Word is a word with authority and power. His Word does and gives what it says. His Word set forth and foretold the events that would take place. His Word gives the promise of Jesus and Jesus fulfilled every promise and prophecy concerning Himself as the Savior.
 

Jesus was conceived and born in perfection. He lived a perfectly obedient life and then, of His own free will, not under compulsion or coercion He took our sins, all our sins and the sins of all people, of all places, of all times upon Himself. He suffered the price for sin, the complete price for sin, eternal death and hell. He suffered physically and eternally. He suffered for us, in our place.
 

Jesus suffered physical torment in that He was beaten, spit upon, mocked, slapped and nailed to a cross, the most horrid of deaths. His physical suffering ultimately ended with His suffocation while hanging on the cross. And so Jesus suffered and He died. Please understand, His life was not taken from Him. He freely, of His own free will and because of His great love for us, gave His life for us.
 

As John confirms the prophecy of Zechariah, to confirm Jesus death the soldier pierced His side with the spear and out flowed blood and water. As I said, some believe this to be a sign of a broken heart. Some point to the blood and water as Jesus’ blood was shed to wash away our sins, which was the reason for His birth and life.
 

Today as we rehearse the events of Good Friday we are reminded that it is Good Friday, not so much for Jesus and not so much that we celebrate, but that these events were for us and for our good. Jesus suffered and died in order to earn and pay for our sins in order to give us the forgiveness He earned and paid for.
 

We come on this Good Friday to be reminded. We come to be reminded that it was because of us, because of you and me, because of our sins, our sins of omission and commission, our sins of thought, word and deed, that Jesus had to be born, that He had to be perfect, because we cannot. He came to do for us what we would be unable to do. Because we are conceived and born in sin and because we daily sin much, we cannot pay the cost for our sin. Jesus came to pay the price for us because of His great love for us. Greater love can no one have than they would lay down their life for another and Jesus gave His life for us and now even greater He gives us forgiveness and eternal life with Him in heaven. What a great God we have. What a loving God we have. What a gift giving God we have. As we rehearse these events we give thanks to our God and we say, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Day of Unleavened Bread - April 6, 2023 - Maundy Thursday - Text: Leviticus 23:4-8; Matt. 26:17-29

This year during the season of Lent through Easter Sunday morning we are continuing what we started during our Advent season, that is we are looking at some of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, passages including His life, trials, suffering and crucifixion and finding the New Testament passages that confirm their fulfillment in our Savior, Christ Jesus. Today we rehearse the events of the day of Unleavened Bread or Passover.
 

After their deliverance from their bondage of slavery in Egypt, the Lord gave the Children of Israel the moral law, the civil laws and the ceremonial laws including the sacrifices and the feasts they were to celebrate. Concerning the Feast of Unleavened Bread or the Passover, from which we get the Lord’s Supper, Moses writes in Leviticus, “4These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. 5In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD’s Passover. 6And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. 8But you shall present a food offering to the LORD for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work” (Leviticus 23:4-8).
 

The Feast of Unleavened Bread was intended to be a reminder to the Children of Israel of their deliverance from slavery. Indeed, even today we use the church year calendar and the seasons of the church year to remind us, lest we too, as the Israelites often did, forget our deliverance from our bondage to sin. Thus, the feast was an important part of life. The important parts of the feast were that a lamb is selected and slaughtered. Indeed, as John the Baptist recognizes Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
 

Because leavening is compared to sin in that sin continually multiplies in our lives, so at Passover time the leavening was removed from the homes and just as the children of Israel ate unleavened bread because of their quick exit from Egypt, so it is eaten at the feast.
 

The blood of the lamb that was slain was used to mark the door post and lintel of the homes of the children of Israel so that the angel of death would pass over and not kill the firstborn. More on this later. And finally, all of this celebration was done in remembrance, lest the people forget.
 

On the night in which He was betrayed, Jesus gathered with His disciples to celebrate this feast given back in the Old Testament. The Gospel writer Matthew narrates the events of that night, “17Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?’ 18He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, “The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.”’ 19And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. 20When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. 21And as they were eating, he said, ‘Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.’ 22And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, ‘Is it I, Lord?’ 23He answered, ‘He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. 24The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.’ 25Judas, who would betray him, answered, ‘Is it I, Rabbi?’ He said to him, ‘You have said so.’ 26Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ 27And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, 28for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’” (Matthew 26:17-29).
 

Jesus sent His disciples to prepare the Passover in the guest room, the upper room. Evidently Jesus had made prior arrangements and moved in the hearts of people to willingly agree. The Passover Seder was a feast rehearsed according to the instructions given in Leviticus. There are certain foods which are eaten as well as four glasses of wine which are consumed during the Seder.
 

According to the commentator Paul Kretzmann, the Seder was administered as such: “Jesus had all twelve of His disciples with Him when the meal began. It began with the benediction over the wine and the feast and the drinking of the first cup, the master of the house drinking first, after him the rest. After all had washed their hands, they ate the bitter herbs, dipped in vinegar or salt water, as a reminder of the sorrows of Egypt. In the mean time the paschal dishes were brought in, the charoseth, or broth, the unleavened loaves, the festal offerings, and, above all, the roasted lamb, after which came the explanation of all these dishes by the head of the household. They now sang the first part of the Hallel, Ps. 113 and 114, and drank the second cup. Hereupon began the feast proper, the householder taking two loaves, breaking one in two, laying this upon the whole loaf, blessing it, wrapping it with bitter herbs, dipping it into the broth, and handing it around the circle, with the words: This is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in Egypt. The master next blessed the paschal lamb and ate of it; the festal offerings were eaten with the bread, dipped in the broth; and finally also the lamb. The thanksgiving for the meal followed the blessing and the drinking of the third cup. In conclusion, the remainder of the Hallel was sung, Ps. 115-118, and the fourth cup drunk. 195) “The first cup was thus devoted to the announcement of the feast; and Luke tells us that with this cup Christ announced to the disciples that this was the last feast which He would celebrate with them in this world…. The second cup was devoted to the interpretation of the festal act; with it the Apostle Paul connects the exhortation: ‘As oft as ye eat of this bread and drink of the cup.’ The third cup followed the breaking of the loaves, which celebrated the unleavened bread and was the cup of thanksgiving; this the Lord consecrated as the cup of the New Covenant.’”
 

What does this mean? And why is this sacrament so important? Jesus was celebrating the Passover, that is the passing over of the angel of death over Egypt as the Children of Israel were being delivered from bondage to slavery. The night of the Passover those in the house were eating the lamb that was slaughter and the blood of that lamb marking door.
 

As Jesus gives to us His Sacrament of Lord’s Supper He is giving us our deliverance from our bondage of slavery to sin. At the Lord’s Supper, like the Children of Israel in the homes, Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is giving us His body to eat. Thus, just at the lamb became a physical part of the children of Israel, so the Lamb of God becomes a physical part of us.
 

In Egypt the blood of the lamb was painted on the door post and lintel of the door, making the sign of the cross in the upward and cross motion. In the Lord’s Supper Jesus gives us His blood to drink, the blood of the lamb of God marking us so that the angel of eternal death will pass over us so that we have eternal salvation.
 

From the Passover Jesus gives us a new sacrament, the Lord’s Supper. Jesus then goes to the cross where He suffers and dies and pays the complete price for our sins. Yet, we do not go to the cross for forgiveness. If we want forgiveness we go to His Supper where He gives what He earned and paid for, forgiveness of sins. And most certainly, as Jesus is now in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, so as true God He continues to be everywhere present so that He is in the bread and wine so that we are eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus, just as His words tell us because He is the One who makes it His Sacrament and through His Sacrament He does great things.
 

As we rehearse once again on this Maundy Thursday we are reminded of what a great God we have, what a loving God we have, what a gift giving God we have. He has done everything for us and He gives everything to us. He has paid the price for our sins. He gives us the forgiveness He earned for us and we are given to. Thus, we rejoice and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Our Attitude, Like Christ’s - April 2, 2023 - Palm Sunday - Text: Philippians 2:5-11

Today is Palm Sunday, the day we are reminded of Jesus’ Triumphant entry into Jerusalem for the last time, on His way to the cross. Unfortunately, because so many in our world and in our congregations decline to take advantage of the Holy Week services of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and without these services and remembrances of what happened leading up to Easter morning, especially the Passion of Christ, our Gospel reading is not the reading of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, but is the Passion Reading. So, as we hear our Epistle reading for this morning as our sermon text, I pray that the Holy Spirit will work in your hearts so that on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday you also will have the attitude of Christ and will take advantage of these opportunities for being in Divine Service to be given the gifts of God.
 

With that said, today is a day that five young people have been working and looking forward to for two years. And I do have to say it, this is not their graduation day. This is their day of confirmation and really is the day that they are now considered to be adults in the church and in this congregation. With that “change of status” comes the responsibility to take the initiative in their spiritual life, meaning, being an active member, being involved in Divine Service and Bible class, being involved with this congregation and beginning to get interested and involved in serving on the boards and committees of this congregation. Today is the day that they are to take on the attitude of Christ that Paul describes for us in our text for today.
 

As we look at our text, the first thing I want to say about our text is that it is thought that this text may have been a part of an early Christian creed which was spoken during a worship service, similar to how we speak the Nicene or Apostles’ Creeds. Our text begins by telling us about Jesus Christ, and specifically, about His attitude. Paul says, “5Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,” (v. 5-6). Paul exhorts us to have the mind, that is, the attitude, of Jesus. This is what I just said about our confirmands, that they are to have the attitude of Christ, and really, we are all to have the attitude of Christ. Okay, so what is the attitude of Christ?
 

The attitude of Christ has its foundation in the fact that He is true God. As true God He was enjoying all the glory that was His. He was in heaven where He freely used all His divine attributes of omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, and the like. He was in heaven being God, watching over us, ruling over us, taking care of us. He was in heaven enjoying the eternal bliss of heaven. And we might be thinking, that is an easy attitude to have, enjoying heaven.
 

Yet, His attitude is what moved Him to give up all that was His in heaven. He gave up all the glory that was His in heaven in order to show how much He loved us, His creation. He gave up the use of His divine attributes, so that He did not always use them or use them to their full potential. He gave up enjoying the eternal bliss of heaven. His attitude was that He gave up all this, not because He had to or was forced to, but because of His love for us.
 

His attitude is that He humbled Himself. As Paul continues, Christ “7[but] made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, 8he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (v. 7-8). Paul says, Jesus emptied Himself, that is, He made a decision not to use His divine attributes to their fullest. Did you notice Him doing this? Remember when He was tempted by the devil in the desert, He did not change the rock into bread. Did you notice that He did not raise everyone He met from the dead. He did not heal everyone who was sick. Yes, He did use some of His divine attributes to some extend, but He did not fully use them as He could, as God.
 

Not only is Jesus truly God, and He had to be God in order to be perfect, but He is also truly human, and He had to be human in order to be our substitute. In His love for us He took on human flesh and blood. He was born as a human. He was born, humbly and lowly. He had a manger, an animals feeding trough, for His first bed. His parents were not wealthy or of seeming nobility, although He was born from the line of King David. He lived a rather obscure life. We do not hear anything about Him from birth until age twelve. Then we do not hear anything about Him again, until He reaches thirty and is ready to begin His earthly ministry and mission. He did not seek to be rich, or famous and or powerful, which are the things we deem as being great in our world today.
 

His greatest humility is in this, that He humbled Himself to the point of death. He was obedient to the Father’s will. He actively obeyed all of God’s laws, perfectly, because we cannot. He passively obeyed God’s command to allow Himself to be crucified. He took all our sins upon Himself. Our sins of pride, greed, envy, and lust. Our sins of wanting our own way even to the detriment of others. Our sins of neglecting our own spiritual well being, absenting ourselves from Divine Service and Bible Class, reading God’s Word and praying to Him. He took all these sins upon Himself. He became sin for us. Not because He had too, but because He wanted to. Yes, because He wanted to, because of His great love for us.
 

He is our prophet, priest and king. As our priest He went to the altar to make sacrifices for us. As our Savior He became the sacrifice for us, in our place, once and for all, on the cross. He suffered the cruellest of deaths. He suffered the most humiliating and shameful of deaths. He suffered so that we might not have to suffer. He suffered so that we might have forgiveness of sins and life. Think about it this way, if He had not humbled Himself, if He had not suffered for our sins, if He had not died, we would still be in our sins and if we were still in our sins that would ultimately mean eternal death and hell for us.
 

After His suffering, as Paul continues in our text, “9therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (v. 9-11). Paul says, “therefore,” therefore, because of what He did for us, He was exalted. God exalted Him so that now He is seated at the right hand of the Father. He has returned to the place from where He came. He has returned to the right hand of the Father. There He is interceding for us, praying for us, watching over us, ruling over us, and guiding and directing our doings in this life.
 

There, at the right hand of the Father, in heaven, He enjoys all the glory that is His, that He had given up for us. Paul tells us what John tells us in Revelation, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and in earth. All creation will bow before the Lord, both those who believe and those who do not believe. In the end, all people will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, some will confess to their demise, other to their eternal glory.
 

And, every tongue will confess, in heaven and in earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord. Again, Paul tells us the same thing John tells us in Revelation. The unbelievers will confess and then will try to blame God for their unbelief. The believers, we faithful Christians, will rejoice and sing praises to the Holy Name of the Lord.
 

Likewise, as Paul tells us, so should our attitude be. This morning we have the privilege of confirming five young people of our congregation. Certainly our text speaks to them. As they have worked hard for two years in order to reach this point, the point of confirmation, so we pray that they now realize that this is not an end, this is not a graduation, but this is just a beginning. For them, and really, for all of us, to take on the attitude of Christ is to understand and acknowledge that when it comes to knowing God, the more we learn about Him, the more we can see that there is so much more that we do not know about Him. And that reminds us that there is even more reason to continue on with our own instruction in God’s Word, continuing to be a part of a Sunday Bible class, continuing to read God’s Word at home, and to have personal and family devotions, continuing to humbly learn and grow in faith. This is taking on Christ’s attitude.
 

Again, I can never say it too much, Confirmation is not graduation. Confirmation, as defined in our catechism, is “a public rite of the church preceded by a period of instruction designed to help baptized Christians identify with the life and mission of the Christian community.” And the catechism also notes, “Prior to admission to the Lord’s Supper, it is necessary to be instructed in the Christian faith (1 Cor. 11:28). The rite of confirmation provides an opportunity for the individual Christian, relying on God’s promise given in Holy Baptism, to make a personal public confession of the faith and a lifelong pledge of fidelity to Christ.”
 

Confirmation, then, is a new beginning. Confirmation is a rite marking our beginning to be responsible for our own spiritual life. To those of us who have already been confirmed, I ask you, do you remember your confirmation and what it meant for you? Did it give you any incentive to be more self-responsible? Did your confirmation make you what I will suggest to these confirmands? That is, that now is the time to not depend so much on your mom or dad to wake you to tell you it is time to get up and get ready for church and Bible class, but to take the initiative on your own to get up and get ready. Maybe even to wake them up and remind them to get ready? I think that would be a part of taking on the attitude of Christ.
 

I would summarize this morning by saying that Confirmation is a time to: and let me say first to recognize all that the Lord has done for you; that is He has called you to faith through the waters of Holy Baptism, strengthened you in faith through His Holy Word, forgiven your sins through Holy Absolution and has prepared you to be strengthened through His Holy Body and Blood in His Holy Supper. Remember, always point to Jesus. Now, and here I would especially make note that what I am saying is that this is only with the help and by the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us, in other words, this is only according to our sanctified life. Confirmation is a time to continue in the attitude of Christ, to continue in living a life to the glory of God by continuing to be in the Word, continuing to be reminded of our Baptism, continuing to confess our sins and hear our Lord’s most beautiful words, that our sins are forgiven and continuing to partake of the Lord’s Body and Blood in His Holy Sacrament, and to be willing to give your life for Him. It is a time to love Him who first loved you and gave His life for you. May God grant you the will and the strength to live in such a way. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.