Holy Absolution - New Year’s Eve - December 31, 2023 - Text: Matthew 6:14-15

This year during the season of Advent through to New Year’s Eve our theme has been “The Means of God’s Giving.” Today we rejoice in God’s gift of His Holy Absolution, that is we rejoice in God’s spoken Word of forgiveness of sins because we know that with forgiveness is life and salvation.
 

As we have been doing during this Advent through Christmas season and now here as we conclude this series we go back once again to Genesis. In Genesis we were reminded that before creation there was only God who lived in the eternal present. On day one God created time for us and that God in His creation of all things, living in the eternal present He was completely omniscient, all knowing, even knowing what would happen before He began creating, that His creation would sin and that He would have to live according to His commands and demands, suffer and die because His creation would be unable to do so.
 

And so, in the beginning we were reminded of the power and efficacy of God’s Word, such that as God spoke His creating Word all things were brought into being, were created. And as God created, all things were good and finally on the last day of creation God said that all that He created was good, even very good. In other words, according to God’s all powerful creating Word all things were created perfect and good.
 

Unfortunately, not only did God’s Word bring into being and create all things, God’s Word also brought a curse on the world, not that this curse was God’s desire, but was the consequence of the disobedience and sin of Adam and Eve. So, in the beginning we see God’s usual work, creation and Gospel and we see God’s alien work, justice, law and condemnation.
 

Yet, again we see God’s usual work in that immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, which God knew would happen, God gave His usual work in that by His Word of Gospel God brought the promise of a Savior. God did not give a time frame for His giving of a Savior, simply that He would send a Savior so that here in Genesis we see the beginning of the Christian Church, that is in God’s promise of a Messiah, a Savior, a Christened one, a Christ, the Christian Church began. All people who believed God’s promise of a Christ were a part of the Holy Christian Church. So, even in Genesis all people were saved by God’s grace through faith given to them in the One promised to come, the Christ.
 

How does God deliver the gifts He has promised, the gifts won and paid for by Jesus’ life, death and resurrection? As we have been hearing throughout Advent and Christmas, through His means of grace. First and foremost God gives faith and forgiveness through the waters of Holy Baptism and His name. In the Old Testament a child was made a part of the people of God through the sacrament of Circumcision. Circumcision marked the Old Testament believers as members of the body of Christ.
 

In the New Testament God has given us the sacrament of Holy Baptism to replace the sacrament of Circumcision. In Holy Baptism we are marked with the water and having God’s name put on us so that Holy Baptism gives us faith, forgives our sins and marks us as New Testament believers. As the Apostle Peter says so well, “Baptism . . .  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” (1 Peter 3:21).
 

As always, as with all the means of grace, as we have heard time and again, the power of Baptism is in the Word of Jesus. Jesus says, “baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And again through Peter He tells us “baptism now saves.” What joy to be given faith, forgiveness, life and salvation, to have God’s name written on us, to have our names written in the book of Life, through Holy Baptism.
 

Having been brought into the Church through Holy Baptism, God gives us His Holy Supper so that we are strengthened and kept in faith. Just as the Passover Seder was celebrated in the Old Testament, pointing to Jesus, so Jesus came and fulfilled that to which the Passover pointed. In the Old Testament the unblemished lamb was selected and slaughtered. Its blood marked the homes of those to be saved and its flesh was eaten so that the lamb became a physical part of the people.
 

On the night in which He was betrayed, Jesus was celebrating the Passover with His disciples and from that Passover meal He gives us His Holy Supper which also points us to Him. In the Holy Supper we eat the body of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, as John the Baptists so well pointed out and we drink His blood, thus we are marked with the body and blood of the Christ so that the angel of eternal death and hell pass over us. He becomes a physical part of us. His perfect life, suffering, death and resurrection become our perfect life, suffering, death and resurrection.
 

Just as we see the creating power in the Word of God, so we see its power in Holy Baptism giving faith, forgiveness and eternal life, so also we see that the power of the Holy Supper is also the Word of Jesus, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. What joy is given to us through this Holy Meal.
 

Tonight we celebrate what is considered by some the third sacrament, and although it may not be considered a sacrament because it is missing a physical, earthly element, we do know that Holy Absolution is a means of grace, that it is a way in which God gives us the forgiveness of sins. What Jesus earned on the cross, forgiveness of sins, He gives to us through the means of Holy Absolution.
 

Before His ascension Jesus gives His Church and pastors the joy of giving forgive sins. When we confess our sins and the pastor speaks those words of Absolution, “As a called and ordained servant of the Word, and by His authority, I forgive you all your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” then we can be certain that our sins are forgiven. That they are forgiven in heaven just as the forgiveness is pronounced on earth.
 

Yet, one more time we see the power of Holy Absolution is the same as that of Holy Baptism and the Holy Supper, it is the Word of Jesus. God said it and it really does not matter if we believe it or not, because God said it, that settles it. God’s Word does and gives what it says because of the power and efficacy of His Word.
 

What does this mean? As we agree with many Christian Churches, God’s Word is Inspired, Inerrant, and Infallible. And yet we would continue and say that God’s Word is Sufficient, that is His Word is enough. God’s Word is Clear, that is we can understand His Word as plain word. God’s
Word is efficacious, that is it does what it says and gives the gifts it says it gives. And God’s Word is powerful. God’s Word creates. Again, as you have heard me say many times, God’s Word is efficacious, it does and gives what it says. We can be sure that when God speaks His Word that we are given faith we can be sure we have faith. When God’s Word says our sins are forgiven we can be sure our sins are forgiven. When God’s Word says we have life and salvation we can be sure we have life and salvation.
 

While humans may and do get it wrong and fail, all the time, God is always right and never fails. God’s Word is a Word with authority, the authority He has given us in His great giving of authority in Matthew 28. God’s Word is never wrong which is why we never elevate our own human reason over God’s Word, even when there are times we may not completely understand God’s Word and when God’s Word may seem too difficult for us to handle. We simply speak what God’s says, not taking away from it nor adding to it.
 

For us Christians, God’s Word is the heart and power of the means that God uses to give, strengthen and keep in faith. Thus, the Holy Spirit works in and through us to have a desire and yearning to make regular and diligent us of His means of grace, being in Divine Service as often as offered, remembering our Baptism, confessing our sins and hearing His Word of Absolution, hearing His Word read and preached, partaking of Jesus’ body and blood in His Holy Supper, having personal and family devotions, reading God’s Word on our own. Indeed, God’s means of grace become most precious to us who are being saved because it is the means through which God lavishes us with all the good gifts and blessings He has to give.
 

It is my prayer that having heard of all the wonderful power and gifts God’s Word and Sacraments and His means of grace give that we have an even greater desire to be where and when His gifts are given out so that we might always be strengthened and kept in faith until Christ comes again. What a great God we have. What a loving God we have. What a gift giving God we have. To Him alone be all glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

God’s Plan Is Not Coincidence - First Sunday after Christmas - December 31, 2023 - Text: Gal. 4:4-7

It was a cold night. You were on your way home from a friends house. It was late and the road seemed deserted. You had not seen a house or another car for miles. All of a sudden your tire blows, you swerve and find yourself in the ditch. You are not hurt, just a little shaken. You get out to survey the situation. Your mind is racing a hundred miles an hour as you see no way to move your car, and no house within miles. Behind you a car pulls up and stops. It is your neighbors who are on their way home. How relieved you are as you explain to them what happened. You all get in the neighbors car and marvel at the coincidence of the events that took place. I am here to tell you that it was not a coincidence. As a matter of fact, I do not believe in coincidence. God’s ways are not our ways. He works in our lives according to His plan and purposes. As I say that, however, let me remind you that God always has the best in mind for us in our lives. Pain, suffering, struggles, evil happen because we live in a sin filled world. Pain, suffering, struggles, evil happen because of sin. For God’s part, He always works to bring out the best in any and all situations especially for us His chosen children. And the best may not always be what we perceive to be the best. Certainly we might not think of physical death to a very ill person as being the best, but in Godly terms, what is better than the perfect healing of eternal life in heaven? So, this story is not meant to suggest that God necessarily or always only intends evil or “bad” things to happen, rather it  illustrates how God works to bring good in our lives even out of seeming bad situations and so in our text this morning Paul explains the seeming coincidences of our salvation.
 

From the events at the end of the book of Malachi to the beginning of the events of the gospel of Matthew was a period of over 400 years. From the events of Genesis chapter three to Matthew was a period of over 4000 years. After Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden in Genesis chapter three, God immediately promised to send a Savior. God’s promise was that the Savior would come and would crush Satan, while in turn being crushed, that is in completely defeating Satan, God would suffer death Himself. God did not attach a time to His promise. And as we know, God’s time is not our time. God’s plan was that at the right time, the time He had set, this Savior would be born. Paul’s reference is that Christ’s birth, which we celebrated last Sunday night and Monday morning, was the right time, thus Christ Jesus was born. This was not a coincidence but was a part of God’s plan.
 

Joseph had to go to Bethlehem for the census of Caesar Augustus because he was a descendant of David, King David. Joseph was also a descendant of the line of promise of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Mary was pregnant at the time of the news of the census. You remember also that Mary’s relative Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist the fore runner, the way preparer of Jesus, was also pregnant at this time. That all these things were taking place and that Jesus was born at this time was not a coincidence, but was a part of God’s divine plan.
 

One other aspect of this fullness of time is that as Paul says in Romans [5:6-8] “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinner, Christ died for us.” God did not wait until we could work out our own salvation. He did not wait for us to become good people. It was not a coincidence that He came while we were sinners, as a matter of fact this is the reason He came. He came in the fullness of time, while we were sinners, because we are sinners, Because we cannot save ourselves.
 

Paul goes on to add that Christ was born of a woman. Something so obvious seems trivial, but Paul does not write to be trivial. Our Savior is our Savior because He was born of a woman. Only because He was a human being like us could He save us. Only because He was a human being could He be our substitute, trading His perfect life for our imperfect, sin filled lives. And, so that we do not go away mislead I must remind you that Jesus was also truly God, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit as we confess in the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed. He had to be truly God in order to be born in perfection, in order to fulfill the command of God to be perfect and in order to raise Himself from the dead. Before the time had fully come, at which time Christ became a man, He was true God with the Father and the Spirit in heaven enjoying all the glory that was His as God. When the time had fully come, when all of human history was at just the right point, when the nine months of gestation was completed, Jesus took upon Himself to be one of us, a human being. This was not a coincidence, but was part of God’s plan.
 

As a human being He was born under the Law, the civil law, the moral law and the ceremonial law. We remember that eight days after His birth His mother and father took Him to be circumcised and as we heard read in our Gospel reading for today, we remember that at the age of 40 days Mary and Joseph took Him to the Temple to offer the sacrifice to redeem the first born as prescribed by the Law. We remember that at the temple Mary and Joseph met Simeon and Anna. We remember that at the age of twelve Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. He followed all the Jewish Laws, perfectly. This was not a coincidence, but was a part of God’s plan. What Adam and Eve could not do, obey one command. What the whole nation of Israel could not do obey the Ten Commandments. What we cannot do, be perfectly obedient, Jesus did perfectly, for us and for all people, in our place. All that the ceremonial laws commanded, all that the ceremonial laws were intended to point to, Jesus fulfilled, completing and abolishing all the ceremonial laws so that they are no longer necessary. All this He did for us in our place and for all people of all places of all times, because of His great love for us.
 

He did all of this to redeem us. Redeem, that is a big word. And I know you have heard me say this before and I do so and continually repeat because it is such a great way to understand redemptions. When I hear the word redeem I usually think of trading stamps. You might remember, the S & H Green stamps. But now I want to pause for a moment, because my family has heard this illustration often as well and they tell me that no one knows S & H Green Stamps. So, I have tried to think of a more modern illustrations such as how fast food places, grocery stores and the like will let you collect points or reward points that you can cash in, but I cannot think of any that offer the best illustration of redeeming those points. So, back to my illustrious illustration. With S & H Green stamps, you collect the stamps, paste them in a book and then take them to the “redemption” center where you redeemed them or “traded” them for some merchandise. Redeem is a good word to use for Christ’s work. However, Christ did not collect a bunch of trading stamps with which to redeem us. We have been born into this world in sin. Each of us is a sinner. We are conceived in sin and lost and condemned from birth. As Scripture so well points out, we are spiritually blind, spiritually dead and enemies of God. By ourselves we are lost. There is no way we can save ourselves. By God’s grace, His undeserved love for us, He sent His one and only Son born in the flesh for us. As God, Christ was born perfect. As man, Christ was born as one of us in order to save us. Christ lived the perfect life, under the Law. He fulfilled all the demands of the ceremonial law, all the demands of the moral law and all the demands of the civil law. Then, of His own free will He took all our sins upon Himself. He suffered, physically, mentally, spiritually and eternally and He died, suffering hell for us. By His suffering He bought us back, redeemed us from sin, Satan, death, and hell. He redeemed us, He traded, His life for ours, His death for ours, His resurrection for our. Purely by His grace for us, not as a coincidence, but as a part of His plan.
 

Because we are redeemed, God’s children, with the Holy Spirit we cry out, “Abba! Father!” Paul is not making reference to some charismatic utterance with which we will respond. What he is saying is that because God has redeemed us, made us His sons and daughters, He has filled us with His Spirit through which we can call upon Him and worship Him. Our worship of God is not something we do of our selves and is not a coincidence, but is from God and is a part of His plan.
 

“So you are no longer a slave, but a son” (v. 7). A slave is subject to a master. In our case we were slaves to sin, ruled by our own sinful desires. Now, because we have been redeemed, we are no longer slaves, but God’s children. We are ruled by God, living our lives to please Him. It is not a coincidence that we live our lives for Him, this is a part of His plan.
 

In all His doings God made us His sons and daughters and heirs of the kingdom of heaven. He did it all. There is nothing left for us to do. As His sons and daughters, His children, we are His heirs. We are the one’s who are given and who receive the inheritance of eternal life in heaven. So that at the right time, when our time has fully come, He will take us to be with Himself in heaven for eternity. This is not a coincidence, but this is a part of His plan.
 

The last two words of verse seven are very important. The last two words are “through God.” It is only through God and God in Christ that we are heirs of the kingdom of heaven. Paul expresses this same idea in Romans [8:15-17], he says, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” Through Christ we are heirs. Through Christ we share in His suffering, death, and resurrection. Through Christ we are redeemed, bought back and made heirs. Through Christ we share in His glory in heaven not by coincidence but by God’s plan.
 

That you are here today, that you are a redeemed child of God is not a coincidence. As Paul says in First Timothy, “This is good, and pleases god our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth [1 Tim. 2:3-4].” God has chosen you. He has sent His one and only Son to die for you and to rise for you. It did not just happen but is a part of God’s plan. Thanks be to the Lord for He is good for His mercy endures forever. To Him alone be the glory, for Jesus’ sake, Amen.

Holy Supper - Christmas Day - December 25, 2023 - Text: Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:18-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-25

This year during the season of Advent through to New Year’s Eve our theme continues to be “The Means of God’s Giving.” Today not only do we rejoice and celebrate the birth of our Savior, the Word made flesh, we also rejoice in God’s gift of the Holy Supper and how through the simple earthly elements of bread and wine and the power of God’s Word, namely God’s name, God does such great things, strengthening us in faith, giving us forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
 

In order to best under God’s gift of the Holy Supper we must go back to what Jesus was celebrating with His disciples when He gave us this Holy Meal. Jesus was celebrating the Passover with His disciples, that is the deliverance of Israel from their bondage of slavery in Egypt, the tenth plague of the angel of death and their being spared through the blood of the lamb marking their houses. As you might remember, preparation for the night of the exodus and the tenth plague, a spotless lamb was chosen and sacrificed. It’s blood was collected and painted on door post and lintel of the house, a marking similar to making the sign of the cross, to mark the house so the angel of death would pass over that house.
 

On the night of the plague along with unleavened bread, the lamb was eaten. At this time God also gave this ordinance to Israel that in remembrance of this night, this tenth plague and their deliverance from Egypt, every year they were to celebrate this event. They were to cleanse their houses of leaven. They were to eat unleavened bread as well as the lamb. No where do we have any indication that the children of Israel were to participate in this meal in any manner other than actually physically eating so that the lamb became a part of their physical being. In other words, no where do we get any idea that any of this was symbolic or representative.
 

On the night of the tenth plague, the houses were marked with the blood of the lamb. Indeed, the people staying in those houses were marked. Those marked with the blood of the lamb were saved because the angel of death passed over those houses and spared the people inside.
 

Before we move to Jesus’ celebration of the Passover with His disciples we want to take a moment to connect the dots of history. First in the Garden of Eden, then throughout the Old Testament, especially in Exodus and Leviticus, and finally with John the Baptist. In the beginning God created all things perfect and holy. He created a perfect man and a perfect woman and placed them in the perfect garden He had created for them. He gave them one rule, do not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He even set the penalty if they disobeyed His one rule. The price for disobedience, for sin was set at death, human death for human sin. And we know that account, they sinned and God stepped in with the promise to take care of their sin by sending a Savior.
 

Moving on to Exodus and Leviticus, as we were earlier reminded, God established the celebration of the Passover as the Israelites were being rescued from Egypt. In Leviticus God gives the ceremonial sacrificial system of laws which were intended to separate and set aside His people, the Israelites, from the rest of the world, the pagan nations that would surround them. All these sacrifices had the main emphasis and pointed to the fact that the price for sin was death, human death for human sin and ultimately pointed to the one ultimate sacrifice of the Savior God would send. Remembering that the price for human sin was human death the animal sacrifices were not what brought salvation but pointed to the One human who would pay the price, the complete price.
 

When we get to the New Testament we begin with John the Baptist who was born to prepare the way for the One promised in Eden, the Savior. When John was with his disciples and sees Jesus he points to Jesus and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John acknowledges that Jesus is the Lamb of God. The One ultimate sacrifice to which the people were looking was indeed this Lamb of God.
 

So, on Maundy Thursday, the night in which He was betrayed Jesus is celebrating this Passover meal, the eating of unleavened bread and drinking of wine. During the meal we are told as the three Gospel writers and Paul attests, “Now 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’” (Matthew 26:26). Jesus does not say that this bread symbolized His body nor that it represented His body, nor that it was changed into His body. He says the bread He was holding in His hand was and is His body.
 

After giving His disciples the bread/body we are told that, “In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me’” (1 Corinthians 11:25). In other words, here again Jesus does not say that this cup of wine symbolized His blood nor that it represented His blood, nor that it was changed into His blood. He says the cup of wine He was holding in His hand was and is His blood.
 

How can this be? How can this bread be His body and this wine be His blood? If we raise our human reason over the very Words Jesus speaks then we may not understand and so we may be tempted to attempt to explain these words in some way we as humans may accept as more rational. However, when we believe the Words that Jesus speaks we simply say what He says and believe what He tells us whether or not we may fully comprehend something of God’s nature we are not intended to fully comprehend.
 

But the important thing to know, believe and confess is that because the price for sin was set at death, at the shedding of human blood for human sin, in this Holy Supper Jesus gives us His body and blood marking His disciples and us so that eternal death and hell passes over us. In our physically eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus He becomes a physical part of us so that His perfect life becomes our perfect life. His perfect death and resurrection become our perfect death and resurrection.
 

So, what does this mean? And what does this mean as we celebrate the birth of our Savior? From the fall into sin in the Garden of Eden human beings have been cursed with the sin of our first parents as well as our own sin, the price of which was set at death. From the moment of conception we are all destined to die at least to physically pass away from this world. Left to ourselves we would also be destined to die an eternal death in hell. Yet, in the very beginning God promised to take care of the sin of Adam and Eve and all people, us included. In Egypt the people of God were physically marked with the blood and eating the lamb so that in their deliverance from bondage to slavery, the punishment of the Egyptians passed over them.
 

Today, for us, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the birth of the One, as the Gospel writer John described, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1,14). We celebrate the first word, the oral word of the promise of a Savior spoken to Adam and Eve, the written words of promise given throughout the Old Testament, the Word of promise made flesh in Jesus and now the tangible Word given to us in the Lord’s Supper. Today we celebrate that we physically consume Jesus’ body and blood, marking us for salvation and the passing over of eternal death and hell.
 

As we have been expounding on the power of these means that God uses, through which God gives us the gifts He has to give, this morning we rejoice once again in the Word of God which gives His Holy Supper the power to forgive sins and with forgiveness is life and salvation. Indeed, as we are given the bread and His body and the wine and His blood and as we hear those most beautiful words, “For you,” then we know that we are being given exactly what we are told, Jesus’ body and blood for the forgiveness of sins.
 

As we begin our Christmas celebration and Christmas season we rejoice in the clarity, sufficiency, efficacy and power of God’s Word. Indeed, we rejoice that God’s Word is the power in His means of grace to give the gifts He has to give. We rejoice that nothing depends on us, nor our reason, but all God’s gifts are given to us and we are simply given to and moved to rejoice in being given to. And so now we begin our twelve day Christmas celebration, beginning by celebrating what a great God we have, what a loving God we have, what a gift giving God we have. To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Word Made Flesh - Christmas Eve - December 24, 2023 - Text: John 1:14

This year during the season of Advent through to New Year’s Eve our theme is “The Means of God’s Giving.” Today we rejoice in God’s gift of His Word, made flesh, that is we rejoice in God’s spoken Word of creation and promise of a Messiah, Savior, God’s written Word and promise of a Messiah, Savior and God’s Word of promise begin born in the flesh in the person of Jesus.
 

As you have heard me say many times, God lives outside of time, in the eternal present. For God there is no yesterday nor is there a tomorrow, only the eternal present, the eternal now, which is why God is omniscient, all knowing. On the first day of creation God created time for us when He created the light and night and day, the first day. Because God lives in the eternal present and because He is omniscient He knew even before He began creating that Adam and Eve would sin and that He would have to live, suffer and die in order to pay the price for our sin and yet, because of His great love for us He created anyway. Indeed, no greater love can one have than they would lay down their life for another, which is what was promised in Eden, a Savior, Jesus.
 

Just as an aside, please do not mistake God’s omniscience, His foreknowledge, that is His knowing all even before it happens as if He predestines or predetermines all that will happen, including one’s eternal death in hell or salvation in heaven. To know something before it happens does not mean it is or has been predetermined.
 

In the beginning, in Genesis, we have the history, the account of  God creating a perfect world. We have the account of God creating a perfect man and from his side, from his rib God created a perfect woman. Finally, we have God creating a perfect garden, a place for the man and the woman to live. God also created two special trees, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And God gave the man and the woman one rule, to not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God told them that if they did disobey Him and eat of the fruit of the tree they would begin to die a physical death and ultimately, without a sinless substitute, a Savior, they would die and eternal death in hell.
 

Of course, we know the history, Eve and Adam, tempted by the devil, Satan, Lucifer, the father of lies, they ate from the fruit questioning God and believing the devil and so their eyes were open so that now instead of knowing only good they also knew evil. In their defense I would suggest that because they only knew good and did not know what a lie was and because of their naivety, they sinned and their sin brought God’s just judgement and a curse.
 

Thanks be to God that because He already knew what was going to happen He had a plan and so He immediately stepped in and promised a Savior, One who would do what Adam and Eve could not do, be perfectly obedient, and who would pay the price of eternal death for them.
 

As time moved forward, God continued to remember His promise. After God washed the world with a flood, as the population grew, God chose a man, Abram whose name He changed to Abraham and God promised Abraham that he would be the father of the Savior, that is through his family line, his DNA, the Savior promised some thousand years earlier, would be born. Of course, God did not mention it would be about another two thousand years before it would actually happen. God’s promise to Abraham, as we have heard earlier in this series, was an unconditional promise, just as His promise was to Adam and Eve, who had all nations of peoples in their DNA.
 

Moving on in time, God chose Moses and reiterated His promise of a Savior through Moses. However, part of God’s covenant with Moses had a conditional promise, that is Moses and Israel would be given a land flowing with milk and honey and they would keep that land as long as they would be faithful and obedient to God, which we know they were unable to do, so the land was forfeited. Yet, God’s unconditional promise of a Savior never wavered, indeed, God’s ultimate promise always pointed to Jesus.
 

Once again, moving forward in time and history. Finally, when all things were just right, or better said, at just the right time, that is according to God’s perfect timing. As the world and the powers of the world were in just the right place, God began fulfilling the promise He made in the Garden of Eden, the promise He reiterated to Abraham, the promise reiterated to the Children of Israel.
 

Today we begin our celebration, once again, of God’s fulfilling His promise of a Savior for all people, of all places of all times, indeed, a Savior for you and for me. I would refer you back to the title of our message for this morning and remind you that the very first promise of a Savior God made was an oral promise, a promise spoken to Adam and Eve. At the time of Moses God told Moses and even moved in Moses to write down the history of His people and the history of the promise He made beginning in Genesis. So, the oral promise brought forth the written promise. In our text John expresses these promises as the Word, that is that now that oral and written promise take on flesh and blood in the person, the human being of Jesus. Jesus is the Word, the promise of God, made flesh in order to fulfill that promise. As we confess in the creeds, Jesus is truly God, conceived by the Holy Spirit. He had to be truly God in order to be born in perfection, so that He could trade His perfection for our imperfection.
 

Also, as we confess in our creeds, Jesus is truly man, born of the Virgin Mary. And Jesus had to be a true human because the price for sin was set in the Garden of Eden. The price for sin was death, human death for human sin, blood had to be shed. All the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament, all the sacrifices truly did not bring forgiveness but simply were a reminder that the price for sin was death and pointed to the one ultimate sacrifice, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” Jesus Himself. And so Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s first promise in Eden and God’s reiterated promise to Abraham and to Moses and all Israel.
 

What does this mean? This evening we are reminded once again that the reason Jesus was born, the reason we celebrate the birth of this Christ-child is because God’s perfection and command were broken in Eden which brought sin and a curse on the world, which brought death. Indeed, as difficult as it may seem, we always celebrate Christmas in the shadow of the cross.
 

However, not only were God’s perfection and commands broken in Eden so too were God’s promises and commands to His chosen people, the Children of Israel. Because of Israel’s disobedience they lost the conditional part of God’s promise of a land. Yet, God’s unconditional promise of a Savior through their family line was never negated. And even though Jesus was not a one hundred percent Hebrew as He had Moabites and prostitutes and other ethnicities in His family line.
 

So, today we celebrate that God sent His one and only son, Jesus, God in flesh, to do what Adam and Eve could not do, what Israel could not do, what we cannot do, live perfectly according to all God’s laws, demands and commands. As you have heard me say time and again, the fullness of the Gospel is not simply that Jesus died and rose, but that Jesus lived for us, in our place, as our substitute, doing what we cannot do.
 

Today we begin our celebration that Jesus is the Word, the Word spoken in Eden, the Word written by Moses, the Word born of Mary. Jesus is the Word made flesh who dwelt, tented, lived for a short time among us a time short enough, but long enough to complete what needed to be done for our forgiveness and salvation. A time short enough and long enough to accomplish what we could not accomplish. As you always hear me say, we get it right when we point to Jesus. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot be perfectly obedient. We cannot choose Jesus as our Savior. We cannot dedicate our lives to Him. Thanks be to God that He has saved us. He was perfectly obedient for us. He chose us. He dedicated His life to us. He does it all for us and give it all to us. Jesus gives faith, forgiveness, life, even eternal life and salvation.
 

Today we once again begin our Christmas celebration and remember, our celebration lasts for twelve day, the full twelve days of Christmas. Our celebration lasts until Epiphany, the visit of the Magi, the Wisemen to see Baby Jesus and what is often referred to as our Gentile Christmas. Let the celebration begin and to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

To God Be Glory - Fourth Sunday in Advent - December 24, 2023 - Text: Romans 16:25-27

Have you ever heard someone say something like, “It’s a mystery to me.” Or have you ever read a “mystery” novel? Or, maybe you watch shows on television that are consider “mystery” shows? When we speak in such terms, using the word “mystery,” we usually mean something that we cannot explain, at least not right off. Of course, most “mystery” novels and “mystery” shows disclose the secret by the end of the book. In our text for this morning Paul speaks of “the mystery that was kept secret for long ages.” To help us better understand this “mystery” and the revelation of the secret of this mystery let us take a moment to do a little word study. The word “mystery” in the New Testament is often connected with another word, the word “kerygma,” which means “proclamation,” that is that one proclaims or preaches something. Paul links this word to the cross which is divine wisdom. Linking these words together, Paul is speaking of the mystery of the eternal counsel of God hidden from the world but fulfilled and revealed in the cross of Christ. This mystery is before the world, hidden from eternity, hidden in God, but fulfilled and revealed in Christ. And today this mystery is continually revealed through the means of grace, especially through the proclamation of the Gospel.
 

So, what about this mystery? What is such a mystery? For us Christians, there really is no mystery, at least not any more. For those of us who have been given faith, the mystery has been revealed and we revel in the mystery and give glory to God. Yet, there are many in our world who continue to be confused and for whom the Gospel, the Good News of salvation is and continues to be a mystery. For too many, their eyes are veiled and they cannot fathom the revelation of the mystery of God. Perhaps we would do well to reveal this mystery to them. What is this mystery? The mystery is how a Creator God could so love and care for His creation so much that He would do anything and everything (even giving His own life) to save His creation. This just does not make sense to the average person. We live in what has been called a “throw away” society, even a consumer society. We buy, use, and dispense, that is, we throw away and discard what we have used. We purchase “fast” food, eat it on the run and then dispose of our trash. Certainly we must all admit that we are very wasteful people. Unfortunately, this translates into the fact that we very often care very little for the so many blessings we have.
 

Maybe the illustration of a potter might help. A potter works the clay in order to make a pot to serve a purpose. If the potter is not satisfied with the clay he or she simply smashes it and begins to rework it, or if they have completed the work and then in the firing process, that is when it is put in the oven to make it hard, something happens, they simply throw it away. God is our Creator. He has molded us. Through trials and tribulations He fires us. And yet, even as we are conceived and born in sin, even as we daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness, He does not simply start over or throw us away. Instead, because of His great love for us, He set out to redeem us, to buy us back to take care of our impurities and imperfections, which is no small task. And so it is to many a mystery, how a Creator God could have such love for His wayward creation.
 

This is not a new mystery, but is a mystery that was given through the prophetic writings of the Old Testament. Moses recorded the words of the Lord as He recounted the history of His creation of the world, out of nothing, in six - twenty-four hour days. Moses recorded the account of the perfection of God’s creation, that all was good and even very good. And Moses, by inspiration from God, who was there, recounts the fall into sin. God, who created all things out of nothing, who created the man in His own image, perfect and holy, who created the woman as a helper suitable for the man, gave only one requirement for His creatures, not to eat of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And God even set the penalty for such transgression if it would occur and that penalty was eternal death and hell and physical death.
 

And, of course, we know the history, Eve and Adam did disobey God. They did eat from the fruit and their disobedience brought sin and death into our once perfect world. Fortunately, God, who knew this would happen, even before He set out and began creation, God also knew that He would take care of this sin as well. See, this too is a mystery, a mystery from eternity, that is that God knew all these things from before He set out to create and yet, He created this world and us anyway. And He also knew the price that He would willingly pay for His creation.
 

The mystery is given in the Old Testament and the mystery is made know to the world through the birth of Jesus Christ. We are in the fourth week of Advent, preparing ourselves for our celebration of the birth of Christ, the birth of God in flesh, according to the promise God made in the Garden of Eden, the promise to send a Savior. Jesus is God from eternity, with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is God who took on human flesh and blood in order to do for us what we are unable to do for ourselves. Jesus had to be truly God in order to be perfect, in order to live perfectly, in order to do for us all that we in our imperfection cannot do for ourselves. Jesus also had to be truly human in order to be our substitute. Just as we speak of different things, such as apples and oranges, these cannot be substituted because they are not the same, so our substitute had to be one of us, thus Jesus was truly one of us, truly human.
 

Jesus came, God in flesh, to do for us what we cannot do. Jesus came to bring reconciliation, to set our account with God straight, that is to pay what we owe, the price for our sins as well as for the sins of all people of all places of all times. Remember, when the promise to send a Savior was first made, it was made to Adam and Eve, to all people, to all their offspring. Yes, later the promise was narrowed, that is that the Savior would be born through the chosen people of the children of Israel, but that did not negate the fact that the promise was for all people, especially for you and for me.
 

Today Jesus still comes to us. He comes to us to gives us all His good gifts and blessings. He comes to give us forgiveness of sins. He comes to give us faith and to bring us strengthening of faith. He comes to strengthen and keep us in faith.
 

And, as Paul says, our Lord continues to come to us to “bring about obedience of faith,” that is to work in and through us so that we do the good works which God has prepared for us to do. Of course we understand that this is properly the work of the Holy Spirit. And yet, this too is a mystery, that is how we, who are spiritually blind, spiritually dead and enemies of God can do anything that is pleasing in God’s eyes. But these things we do, as the Lord works these good works in and through us and as they are done to His glory.
 

What does this mean? For many in our world, and unfortunately for many even in the Christian church this continues to be a mystery. This is the mystery of God’s great love. How often we, even as faithful Christians, wonder how, in our sin, God can love us so much? Yet, we realize that this is just the work of Satan trying to fill us with doubt and despair in order to lead us away from Christ. Our answer is, as always, to go back to the place where God reveals His mystery and that is to go back to His Word which rightly and boldly proclaims our forgiveness and God’s love to us in Christ.
 

Yes, the mystery has been and continues to be revealed. It is revealed every time the Word of God is read and heard and, yet it continues to be missed by many. It continues to be rejected by many. God’s word is rejected as phoney, as counterfeit, as restrictive and so it continues to be a mystery.
 

The mystery has been revealed in Christ, the Word made flesh. As we read and hear all the promises of the Old Testament, we see all these promises, not just some, but all these promises fulfilled in this one person, Jesus Christ, God in flesh. Certainly the odds that only one person might fulfill one or two of these promises would be great, but Jesus fulfilled them all. He is the one eternal God from eternity, without beginning, without end, who intervened in our own human history, who took on human flesh and blood in order to take care of our broken relationship with Himself as Creator God.
 

The mystery is revealed in Holy Absolution. Whenever we confess our sins as we do at the beginning of almost every service, and we hear those most beautiful words, “your sins are forgiven,” then we know that this is exactly what we have, forgiveness of sins. Our sins did not simply vanish. The price for our sins had to be paid and it was paid. It was paid by Christ on the cross.
 

The mystery is revealed in Holy Baptism. Again, unfortunately too many people fail to understand the power of water and God’s Word, depending, instead, on their own finite, human understanding. And yet our Lord tells us how baptism even saves us, not simply the water, but the word connected with God’s Word, namely His name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, through which our Lord works to give us faith, to write His name on us, to write our names in the book of life, to claim us as His own.
 

And the mystery is revealed in our Lord’s Holy Supper. Again, according to our own finite human understanding too many fail to understand our Lord’s Word when He tells us that Jesus took bread and took wine and gave it saying that this “is,” not that this “is changed into,” nor that this “symbolizes,” but that this “is” My body and My blood. And that as we do “this,” that is as we eat His body and drink His blood we do this in remembrance, that is we do this in participation of His death and resurrection, so that His life becomes our life, His death becomes our death and His resurrection becomes our resurrection.
 

Most of you know that I tend to be a simple person and I like things simple. The simpler the better. That is the reason I always say, when you have a theological question, the first place I always go for an answer is my catechism, which many equate with being a children’s catechism. Yet, this is the first place I always go for answers to great theological questions. So, for an answer to the mystery of God, might I suggest in simple terms and this is nothing new, you have heard it before, we know we get it right, we know we get the mystery of God right when we get it right as to who is doing what. When we are “running the verbs,” that is when we put ourselves in the position of doing the doing, we get it wrong and everything continues to be a mystery. However, when we have God “running the verbs,” that is when God is doing the doing and we are the ones being done to, when God is doing the giving and we are the ones being given to, then we get it right and we have the mystery revealed. And certainly, when God is doing the doing and doing the giving, then He is also the one who moves and stirs in us to say, “to Him be the glory.” Which brings us back to Paul’s words, which are words of benediction and words with which I leave you this morning, “25Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—27to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen” (v. 25-27).

Holy Baptism - Third Wednesday in Advent (Midweek 3) - December 20, 2023 - Text: Matthew 28:17-20

This year during the season of Advent through to New Year’s Eve our theme is “The Means of God’s Giving.” Today we rejoice in God’s gift of Holy Baptism and how through the simple earthly element of water and the power of God’s Word, namely God’s name, God does such great things, giving us faith, forgiveness and eternal life.
 

Before His ascension Jesus gathered His disciples on the mountain. Interestingly enough, Matthew tells us, “And when they saw him [Jesus] they worshiped him, but some doubted” (Matt. 28:17). I guess we are in good company when we at times have doubts in our own lives. Anyway, as Jesus gathers His disciples He tells them that all authority has been given to Him by God. As Matthew relates the account, “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Indeed, as true God Jesus does have all authority. Before His being born in human flesh He was in heaven enjoying all the authority and glory that was His and that He gave up in order to take on human flesh and blood. So, now Jesus once again has all authority and is once again able to exercise His divine power in all things.
 

Notice that Jesus does not keep His authority to Himself, but, and it seems more implied here in the text, but we know that Jesus is giving His authority to His apostles and I would say, yes, He even gives us His authority today. I say that because Jesus’ authority is in His divine Word. God’s Word is a Word with authority and power to give and do what it says. As for the Apostles, they were also given the power to perform signs and wonders as evidence, proof if you will of the Word they proclaimed. And we understand that as they passed away so did such power and authority to perform such signs and wonders. Today we do not need signs and wonders because we have the authority of God’s Word.
 

And then Jesus gives directions. He says, “19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). Please understand, Jesus’ instructions are not a command, not an imperative, but are passive as in “As you are going, as you are living in your vocation, nothing out of the ordinary.” In other words, Jesus is simply expressing what naturally occurs in our lives. As we are living our daily lives in our vocations and as we have the opportunity we are to share the good news of Jesus with others.
 

Now, Jesus words, “make disciples” is an imperative, yet here too we understand that we cannot make anyone have faith, that is not our work, but the work of the Holy Spirit, yet what is imperative is our natural desire to share the good news with others. How can we not help but share the greatest news of all with others. And to whom are we to share this good news, not to some “target audience,” but to “all nations.” And notice, at what point in ones life one is a citizen of a nation? At their birth, in other words as an infant child. And how do we make one a disciple? Jesus says, “by baptizing,” yet, here again this is God’s work, not ours. So, we see Jesus’ Words that baptism is for all people from the moment of birth until the grave and baptism is the instrument through which He gives faith.
 

But, Jesus is not done with His instructions. He tells us that one is a disciple, that is one is given faith through the water and God’s name put on them at baptism, but then there is the living a life and growing in one’s faith by teaching. So, we understand, we are given faith through baptism and we grow in our faith through our continuing to read, study and learn God’s Word.
 

In our Catecheses we learn what is Holy Baptism. Holy Baptism is water and Word, namely God’s name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We learn that Baptism is a means of grace, that is it is one of the ways in which God comes to us to give us the good gifts and blessings He has to give.
 

So, how can Baptism give the gifts God has to give? What gives Baptism its power? The power of Baptism is God’s Word, His name, which is efficacious, it effects, gives and does what it says. As we started out, God’s Word is the power in all of God’s means of grace. God’s Word speaks clearly. God’s Word is enough, we do not have to add anything especially not our human reason nor understanding, nor misunderstanding. God’s Word is efficacious, it effects, does what it says. God’s Word has power because it is God’s Word. Remember back at creation? It was God’s Word that brought all things into existence.
 

Thus, we rejoice that Holy Baptism gives faith because it comes from God, it is a gift from God and because it points us to Jesus. Baptism is not about us, what we are doing or think we are doing, it is about God and His promises. It is about the gifts that God gives, faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. And just as a person cannot get faith, claim faith, make a decision for Jesus, so one cannot baptize themself. Indeed, just as a dead person cannot bring themself back to life so we who are spiritually blind, dead and enemies of God cannot save ourselves no matter what we might think or try to do.
 

Finally, getting back to our text from Matthew, Jesus gives another promise. He says, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20b). What great comfort to know that God is with us, always. When the time comes and it may come soon, when we are being persecuted for our faith, when we are being put before Kings and Princes, or simply when we are asked to give an answer for the hope that we have we can know for certain that Jesus is with us giving us the authority, the words, and the courage to speak.
 

Our flimsy excuse of, “Well I would not know what to say,” is overshadowed by Jesus promise to be with us and His promise to give us the words to speak and the courage to speak. From where does He get those words He gives us to speak, from our making regular and diligent use of His means of grace, reading our Bible, having personal and family devotions, being in Divine Service and Bible Class. As we hear and learn so the Holy Spirit draws from our well of learning and gives us the words and the courage to speak.
 

What does this mean? In the Old Testament the children of Israel were marked as children of the covenant through the sacrament of Holy Circumcision. Even Jesus Himself was circumcised on the eighth day as a child of Israel. In the New Testament, here as Jesus is ready to ascend back into heaven He gives us a new sacrament and mark as His children that is He gives us Holy Baptism which now supercedes circumcision.
 

In Holy Baptism God, using the hands of the pastor puts water on us and using the mouth of the pastor speaks His name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In so doing, in speaking and with simple earthly water God promises and gives faith and marks one as a redeemed child of God. The baptism of an infant demonstrates well the gift, joy and power of Holy Baptism. The child is doing nothing, not even bringing itself. The parents, out of love and care for their child and its eternal well being bring the child. God speaks through the pastor putting His name on us, forgiving us our sins, marking us as His children and writing our names in the book of heaven.
 

Holy Baptism saves because it is God’s doing and we know how we get it right when we point to Jesus, just Jesus. We are justified, given faith, made God’s children and our response of faith is then the desire to continue in the faith or as Jesus expresses to continue to be taught the faith. There are many of us who have come to understand that the more we grow in our faith the more we realize how much more we need to learn instilling in us a stronger desire to continue to be in the Word and be given more and more of God’s gifts.
 

Today we are reminded once again of the importance of the means of Grace, those means through which God comes to us to give us the good gifts and blessings He has to give. We are again reminded of the power of those means, that it is the Word of God which gives power to Holy Absolution, the Holy Supper and specifically today, Holy Baptism. And we are reminded of what a great God we have, what a loving God we have, what gift giving God we have. So that all we can do is rejoice and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Give Thanks in All Circumstances - Third Sunday in Advent - December 17, 2023 - Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

“Some day you will thank me for this.” “This will hurt me more than it hurts you.” “If I do not punish you now you will never learn you lesson and I will be doing a disservice to you if I do not punish you.” These are just a few statements you may have heard or even said yourself when being disciplined or when disciplining your child. Discipline is not an easy thing to do. For the parent it is a matter of tough love, love that demands boundaries be set and kept for the safety and security of the child. The good news for parents is that children need and want those boundaries because these boundaries do make them feel safe and secure. And really, the fact of the matter is, it does not matter how old we are, we all like boundaries because boundaries keep us safe and secure. God has set up such boundaries, including boundaries such as the ten commandments, in order to keep us safe and secure. It is when we test those boundaries and find those boundaries no longer there, that is when we no longer feel safe and secure. Unfortunately, we live in a world and a society that is continually testing and working to remove such boundaries. Boundaries are necessary and discipline is necessary. For the one being disciplined it is not always easy to see the good that is intended which makes reception of discipline not always easy. Our text for today is Paul’s exhortation to “rejoice always . . . in all circumstances,” including times of discipline which can be difficult. As we look at our text we will see how God gives us the strength and encouragement to give thanks in all situations.
 

Beginning with verses sixteen Paul says, “16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (v. 16-18) What does Paul mean? Why and how are we to be joyful always? We are to be joyful always because that is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus. More specifically God’s will is that all people are saved, what could be more joyful than that? Even more specifically it is God’s will that you are saved. How amazing this will of God is, especially when we step back and think about our own personal situation. We are sinful human beings. We are conceived and born in sin. We are enemies of God. We daily sin much and are worthy of eternal punishment in hell. We daily sin in thought, word and deed, that is by what we think, say and do. We sin sins of omission, not doing what we should be doing and sins of commission, doing what we should not be doing. We sin with our evil wishes on another person, our calling our neighbor a bad name, our cursing the slow driver in front of us, our neglect to help another in need. When we think about our sinful state how can we do anything except rejoice because we know that while we were in our sinful state God sent His only Son to take all our sins upon Himself, to suffer and die for our sins so that we might have forgiveness and with forgiveness we are saved.
 

Knowing what our Lord has done for us makes it much easier to be joyful in all circumstances. Knowing that God knows the reason for all circumstances, why He allows certain things to happen in our lives makes it much easier to be joyful in all circumstances. Why is it you got laid off from your job? Maybe the Lord has a better job in mind for you. Why is it you got sick and went into the hospital? Maybe the Lord needed you there to bear witness to others of your faith. Why is it you got a speeding ticket? Maybe the Lord was reminding you to be more careful while driving. Our Lord only has our good in mind for us, even when seeming bad things happen to us. Knowing that He has good in mind makes it easier for us to be joyful in all circumstances.
 

Our joy moves us to pray continually. Does that mean we spend all our time in church, or even at home kneeling with our heads bowed in prayer? Not necessarily. To pray means to have a heart to heart talk with God. This can be done anytime and anyplace. How often do you find yourself in prayer as you work through the struggles of each day. I find myself constantly say, “Lord help me.” We pray constantly when we live our lives as a prayer, that is when we live our lives bearing witness to all our Lord has done for us and to the joy that is in us.
 

About what kind of joy are talking? Are we talking about temporal or eternal joy? Yes, we are, we are talking about both. We do have temporal, earthly joy while we are here on this earth, but an even greater joy awaits us in heaven, an eternal joy which, of course, lasts forever.
 

Our joy is based on God’s good gifts which lead Paul to say, “19Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise prophecies, 21but test everything; hold fast what is good” (v. 19-21). These verses are definitely a reference to the third commandment, that is, that we do not despise preaching and God’s Word. We do not want to “quench the Spirit,” that means we do not want to put out the Spirit’s fire in us, nor do we want to “despise prophecies,” that is we do not want to despise the proclamation of God’s Word. We quench the Spirit when we absent ourselves from Divine Service.  Some of you may be familiar with the illustration of how charcoal, when all piled together burns well, but take a lump of that charcoal and place it by itself and it goes out because it does not have the warm flames of fellowship with the other charcoal. Likewise, when we as members of the body of Christ absent ourselves from Divine Service and fellowship with each other, we are putting out the Spirit’s fire by being away from the glowing, warming Christian fellowship. How encouraging we should be toward each other and especially toward those who absent themselves from the means of grace to work to bring them back into the fold. How we have forgotten and fall into the sin of omission by not speaking, exhorting and encouraging each other and especially those who absent themselves to come to Divine Service with us. May the Lord strengthen us so we do not put out the Spirit’s fire and so we may encourage each other as brothers and sisters in the faith.
 

In our text for this morning we also have the answer to the question that some ask, “How do we know that what we teach is true?” We know by doing what Paul says in our text, by testing everything. We do not take people’s word for what is true, rather we take God’s Word for truth. We know that what we teach is true because His Word tells us so. When we have doubts we do not rely on our own understanding, that only leads to more doubt and confusion. Rather when we have doubts we go to God’s Word which has power to make us wise unto salvation. We test everything and pray, “Lord show me what is true, show me what is from You.”
 

The last two verses of our text are Paul’s blessing, “23Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” (v. 23-24). Paul’s words of blessing are the reason we can be joyful in all circumstances. We are joyful because we have been made right with God, we have been justified because of Jesus’ work on the cross on our behalf. Now, as Christians we live the life of sanctification which is also a gift from God. Because of what God has done for us, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we respond by living our lives according to His good and gracious will, learning more and more each day through His gracious discipline and guidance how to be more and more Christlike, more and more holy.
 

We are able to do this not because there is something special about us but simply because it is God who is faithful and moves us to do so. We rejoice and are sure of our salvation because God is faithful. Our faith rests in Him, not ourselves. God makes us blameless, right before Himself.  God works good in us, through and through.  God calls us to faith. God does it and we say thank you with our very lives.
 

What beautiful words for Advent Paul gives us. We are here in the third week of advent, waiting to celebrate the first coming of the Messiah and we give thanks. We give thanks because our Lord saw our sinful condition and sent His Son to take our place and give us forgiveness. God saw our sinful condition and intervened in human history. God saw our sinful condition and became a human being. He took our sins of commission, the sins we do against God and our neighbor, as well as our sins of omission, the sins of neglecting to help one another and our neighbor, He took all those sins upon Himself and shed His blood upon the cross for those sins, for us. Not because He had to, but because He wanted to, because He wanted to fulfill the promise He made to Adam and Eve way back in the garden of Eden, immediately after the fall into sin.
 

We give thanks for God’s faithfulness in sending the Messiah. God promised to send a Savior and He kept His promise. How often it is that we have made promises to God to try to be better Christians and how often it is we fail to keep our promises, but God is faithful and just and remembers His promise and we are so thankful to Him.
 

We give thanks for God’s faithfulness in bringing us to faith. Not only has our God given us forgiveness, but He has also given us the faith to grasp that forgiveness and make it ours. It is the Holy Spirit who brings us to faith through His Word and sacraments. He brings us to faith and works constantly through times of discipline and chastisement to keep us in faith and we say thank you Lord.
 

We give thanks for God’s faithfulness in keeping us in faith, in our sanctification, until He comes again. Here we are in the third Sunday of Advent, 2023 getting ready to celebrate the birth of our Savior over 2000 years ago. At the same time we are preparing our hearts to receive our Savior when He comes again to take us to be with Him forever in eternity. We do not know when He will come again, so we keep ourselves constantly prepared for when He does come.
 

“16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” How can we do this? Only with the help and by the power of the Holy Spirit, as He works in us to not put out the Spirit’s fire; to not treat prophecies with contempt. By testing everything. By holding on to the good. And by avoiding every kind of evil. These things we cannot do by ourselves that is why Paul gives us the blessing he gives us, the blessing that tells us that it is God who works these things in and through us, to the praise and glory of His holy name. So, I leave your with Paul’s blessing, “23Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Written Word, Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants - Second Wednesday in Advent (Midweek 2) - December 13, 2023 - Text: Gen. 12:1-3; Ex. 19:1-6

This year during the season of Advent through to New Year’s Eve our theme is “The Means of God’s Giving.” Today we rejoice in God’s gift of His Written Word, Covenants and promises and how through the power of God’s Written Word, Covenants, and promises God does such great things, giving us faith, forgiveness and eternal life.
 

In the Garden of Eden, immediately after Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, God cursed the world, as He promised. But, He also then promised to send a Savior, One who would take care of the sin of Adam and Eve and all people. In the Garden of Eden there were no Jews or Gentiles, only Adam and Eve and from their seed the nations of the world would be born. Later on in Genesis God chose Abram and narrowed the line of promise of the Savior, that is that through the blood line of Abram, whose name He changed to Abraham, the Savior would be born. God made a covenant with Abraham. The covenant God made with Abraham was an unconditional covenant, one that God would not break. God promised Abraham that He would make him a great nation. Now, just so we understand, the nation God promised to make of Abraham’s descendants was not necessarily an earthly nation, in other words, the nation of Abraham would ultimately be an eternal life in heaven nation for all those who believe in the Savior.
 

God promised Abraham that He would bless Him and God most certainly did. During Abraham’s life he became a very blessed man, not only because of the promise of the Savior, but also in his amassing flocks, herds, and many earthly blessings. God was with Abraham and protected him.
 

And because of God’s promise, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed,” God granted he and his wife Sarah a son. Of course, all of this was done according God’s good and gracious will and His perfect timing, which is not always according to our imperfect will and our timing. As we know the history of Abraham and Sarah, they were old and beyond child bearing years when their son Isaac was born, but God did keep His promise and the line of Abraham continued through Isaac as well as through his son Jacob and the twelve tribes of Israel through the line of Judah.
 

As time went on, God remembered His promise to Adam and Eve and to Abraham. When the twelve sons of Jacob, Israel, were enslaved in Egypt, God called Moses to lead His people out of slavery and into what is called the promised land. So, God made a covenant with Moses. But, God’s covenant with Moses, while being similar to His covenant with Abraham, the covenant with Moses was a conditional covenant, at least the promised land, earthly part of the covenant was a conditional covenant. God’s covenant with Moses was that, “if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant” I will bless you and these people.
 

So, if and as long as the Children of Israel would obey God’s voice and keep His covenant He would make them His people, that is they would live under His divine care and protection. And very often we seek God’s care and protection for His people, pillaging the Egyptian people, bringing them out of slavery in Egypt, routing the Egyptians army, guiding them through the wilderness, defeating those destined for destruction in the land they were to possess.
 

God’s promise to the Children of Israel is that if they would obey God’s voice and keep His covenant He would make them into an earthy kingdom. And God did make them into an earthly kingdom beginning with King Saul, King David and King Solomon. And yet as we review their sordid history we can see that because of their sinful nature, that they were a stiff-necked people, that they continually were disobedient and did not keep God’s covenant so that the kingdom was divided and eventually the people were carried off to other nations.
 

God’s promise to the Children of Israel is that if they would obey God’s voice and keep His covenant He would bless them. And indeed, they were blessed, at least for a while. God continually disciplined His people because of His love and promises to them. Ultimately, however, although they lost the conditional Mosaic covenant, the land and the kingdom, they never lost the unconditional covenant, that is the Abrahamic covenant. Indeed, through the line of Judah and King David, the Savior of the world was born.
 

So, how do these two covenants compare? The Abrahamic Covenant was an unconditional, eternal covenant. The first promise of a Savior given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was reiterated to Abraham who was chosen by God’s grace to be the family through which the promise would be fulfilled. It was not until later that the people of Abraham became know as the Jews or Jewish nation, and after God changed Jacob’s name to Israel that they became known as Israelites. Yet, the promise made to Abraham, that is the promise of a Messiah was not a promise of salvation because of one’s DNA, their being born from the line of Abraham. As Jesus said, speaking to the Pharasees, “And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:9). And, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (Luke 3:8). Indeed, all who have faith in Jesus are children of Abraham. We are children of Abraham.
 

As for the Mosaic Covenant, that was a conditional, earthly covenant with its main objective ultimately pointing to the heavenly covenant. In other words, the Mosaic covenant with all the ceremonial, sacrificial laws was given to continually remind the people that the price for sin was death, the shedding of blood. Even more, the price for human sin, the sin of Adam and Eve in Eden was set at death, human death for human sin. Thus, none of the animal sacrifices were counted for forgiveness, but pointed to the One Human, the One Promised, the Messiah, the Savior, whose birth we are preparing to celebrate.
 

Fortunately, Israel’s breaking of the Mosaic covenant did not negate God’s unconditional Abrahamic covenant. So, although Israel lost the promised land and God’s hand of blessing, the world never lost God’s promise of a Savior.
 

What does this mean? During this Advent season we are preparing our hearts and minds to celebrate once again the birth of the One promised in Eden. Indeed, God never forgot the promise He made to Adam and Eve and to all people, the promise He reiterated and narrowed through Abraham and the promise reiterated to Moses. Jesus was born to fulfill that promise in Eden, to Abraham, and to Moses.
 

In simple terms, in the beginning God gave Adam and Eve one command, which they could not keep so God promised to send a Savior to take care of what they could not do. God made a covenant with Israel, which they could not keep. God calls us to live lives of faith and obedience, which we cannot do. So, what Adam and Eve could not do, what the whole nation of Israel could not do, what we cannot do, Jesus did. Jesus was born, true God in human flesh for the purpose of doing for us what we cannot do, live a perfectly obedient life and He did. Jesus obeyed all of God’s laws and promises perfectly, never sinning even once. Then, of His own free will, not by coercion, but because of His great love for us, He took our sins, all our sins, our sins of thought, word and deed, our sins of commission and omission and the sins of all people of all times on Himself and suffered and paid the price of eternal death and hell for us and all people, just as He promised.
 

As we continue through this Advent season we see clearly that Jesus is the fulfillment of the spoken Word in Eden, the Written Word of Moses, the Word in flesh for us and our salvation. We rejoice in the fact that every Sunday we are able to hear the Word God, be reminded of our Baptism, be given the forgiveness He earned for us, and partake of His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins and strengthening of our faith.
 

What a great God we have, what a loving God we have, what a gift giving God we have, One who created us to love us, One who has taken care of all our needs, reconciling us with Himself and One who rejoice in our coming to be given the gifts He has to give. To Him be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Anticipating His Coming - Second Sunday in Advent - December 10, 2023 - Text: 2 Peter 3:8-14

Today brings us to the second week of advent and just as it was fitting last week to look at Paul’s epistle, so this week it is fitting that we look at Peter’s epistle. As Peter encourages the people of his day, so today I want to encourage you. I want to encourage you so that you might be strengthened in your faith and in your belief that Christ will return. And as a “by-product” of your faith and encouragement I want to stimulate your anticipation of the celebration of His first coming at Bethlehem in the manger as we look forward to that celebration on Christmas morning. Again, I encourage you, do not celebrate Christmas yet. We celebrate Christmas for twelve days beginning with Christmas.
 

As I mentioned Wednesday in our mid-week service, back in the book of Genesis, before God created the Sun, He created time. God, who is outside of time, created time for us, His creatures. On the first day of creation God created light and set time in motion. It was not until the fourth day that God created the sun and when He created the sun He set it in motion to help mark time for us, in other words, at the time He created the sun He also set the sun in the heavens to conform to His creation of a twenty-four hour day. All through Scripture, the reference of a “day” is a reference to a twenty-four hour period, please keep this in mind. Indeed God lives outside of time. God lives in the eternal present. For God there is no yesterday, nor is there a tomorrow, there is only the eternal now. God created time for us.
 

So, Peter says, “. . . with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (8b). Peter’s statement here is not meant to be confusing. He is not saying, nor is he implying any reference to creation and the length of a day at the time of creation as some people would have you believe. Peter’s statement is meant to help the reader to understand that God’s time is not our time. God does not see time or live in time as we humans do. Again, to God there are no yesterdays and no tomorrows. God lives in what we might call the eternal present, in the eternal now. God created time for us human beings in order that we might be able to have a frame of reference in which to live. Because He lives in the eternal now, for God a day may be no shorter than many years and many years may be no longer than a day. Since time is purely relative, for God, He can sit and watch patiently as we humans live impatiently.
 

Thus, the Lord’s timing is such that He is giving enough time for all mankind to be saved. In his letter to Timothy Paul says, “3This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3-4). As I have said before of Paul, so it is with Peter as well as all the disciples, they believed that Christ’s return would be very soon after His ascension. This is true for people throughout history. We all believe that Christ’s return will be very soon. We read our Bibles and every day we believe we see the signs of the end times and expect Christ to return. We hear of wars and rumors of wars. We hear of earthquakes, hurricanes, and natural disasters and rumors of earthquakes, hurricanes and natural disasters and we believe that He will be here soon. Who knows, He may wait another 2000 years before He comes again. But be assured, that He will come and He will come when He knows that He has given enough time for everyone, or as many people as possible to come to repentance.
 

And when He comes, He will come as a thief in the night. Just as a thief will not come when the owner expects him, so Christ will not return at our expectation. Peter’s imagery is interesting because I wonder if he was not saying something about our human character when he uses the term thief. As a thief comes at night so as to not be seen, so we often do our best sinning in what we think is secret so as to not be seen by others. But God sees our sins, whether we sin in the open or in secret. God’s coming will be as a thief in the night, when we least expect it, and maybe even when we are in the middle of our own thievery and sin.
 

At the Lord’s coming, “the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (v. 10b). We know that fire is a purifying agent. Precious metals like gold and silver are purified by fire. Milk and other foods are purified, or pasteurized by fire. In the beginning God created a prefect world. Man spoiled God’s prefect world and infected it with sin. The world that the people from Adam to Noah knew was destroyed, or purified by water. At Christ’s second coming fire will burn up the old heaven and earth, purifying them into one new heaven and earth, a perfect heaven and earth.
 

Although we do not know when the Lord will return, as in Paul’s day, as in Peter’s day, we know the time will be soon. How do we know it will be soon? We have waited some 2000 years already, so certainly we are 2000 years closer to the Lord’s return than in Paul’s and Peter’s day.  And as I have said before, each day we live brings us one day closer to the Lord’s return. And as I have said, or our passing on and going to Him. But be sure of this, the day will come when we will stand before our Lord.
 

How then are we to live in order to prepare ourselves for Christ’s second coming? First and foremost we are to prepare our lives by being given the gifts our Lord has to give and being given them through the means He has of giving them, in other words by making regular and diligent use of the means of grace. Then, we are to prepare ourselves by living holy and Godly lives. We do this by making regular and diligent use of the means of grace, by our daily remembering of our baptism. We daily repent and are given forgiveness. We have daily devotions, Scripture reading, and prayers. We prepare ourselves by attending Divine Service, the Lord’s Supper, Bible studies, and Adult Bible class. We prepare ourselves by living our lives according to God’s good and gracious will, knowing that, as I said earlier, His coming will be as a thief in the night, when we least expect it. So, with the help and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we live our lives daily according to His good and gracious will, imperfectly as that may be this side of heaven.
 

We prepare ourselves by expecting a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. Christ has promised to return and to take us with Himself to live with Him forever. Because of His long delay in coming, do not think that He is not coming. We may be reminded of the people of Noah’s day who laughed at his building the ark and telling them that the flood would come. We remember that at His first coming, at His birth, the Jewish nation had been waiting many thousands of years and many who were not ready really did miss His coming. We are reminded of those of Jesus day who would not believe He was the Messiah. Each year at this time we begin anew, looking forward to celebrating His birth on Christmas morning. Today we have many skeptics who each year add another notch in their belt of skepticism and the idea that He is not coming. But just as His patience convinces some that He is not coming, so it convinces us even more that His coming will be soon and each year we draw that much closer to His return.
 

We prepare ourselves by having Him find us without spot or blemish and at peace with one another. Actually for us to be completely without spot and blemish is impossible, but it is something we strive for in our sanctified life, that is with God’s help. Peter’s imagery here reminds us of Jesus, the spotless lamb of God, who without spot or blemish allowed Himself to be the perfect sacrifice for us, in our place, so that we can be at peace with Him and with one another.  Because we are made right with God through faith in Jesus, He makes us right, He makes us without spot or blemish. Now with His help we live in peace with one another. We do this in preparation for His second coming.
 

What Does This Mean? First and foremost we constantly remind ourselves that our time on this earth is limited. Certainly, while we are alive in this world, and especially as little children, we might think our hundred years of life, if we should live that long, is a long time, but compared to eternity, our lives are but a blink of an eye. Because time is relative for us, and remember how it was as a child, it seemed like Christmas took so long to get here, but as we have grown older and have added so many responsibilities and things to our lives it seems as if we just celebrated Christmas about a month ago. As we grow older we tend to think more in terms of our mortality, whereas, if we look at the obituaries in the paper we notice that death is no respecter of persons, that is that people die at any age, from the age of the moment of conception to even a hundred years. Thus it is important that we focus on what is important, our spiritual well being, our faith and our forgiveness.
 

Remember, God’s desire is that all people are saved. God does not want anyone to perish and so He is patient and waiting patiently for as many people as possible to be given faith before He returns to judge the world. Certainly this implies our responsibility to be living lives of faith, sharing our faith through our actions as well as through our words, through inviting others to Divine Service to hear the message of salvation as well.
 

God has taken care of everything. He has created us and continues to take care of us, providing us with all that we need (and we talked about that on Thanksgiving Eve). God has taken care of our sins, by sending Jesus, even Himself in flesh in order to pay the price for our sins. And yes, even as we continue to daily sin much and need forgiveness, Jesus’ death has taken care of all those sins as well. And now our Lord continues to be a part of our lives in that He helps us to live our lives as lives of faith looking forward to heaven.
 

This is the second week in Advent. The second candle, the Bethlehem Candle, is lit. The second candle reminds us that the promised Savior would be born in Bethlehem. As we daily prepare for Christ’s second coming, even so as we are in this season of Advent, we prepare for our celebration of His first birth in Bethlehem. May the Lord continue to work faith and strengthening of faith in your heart during this Advent season, so that when He does return He will find you ready to receive Him and to go to be with Him in heaven forever. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Spoken Word - First Wednesday in Advent (Midweek 1) - December 6, 2023 - Text: Gen. 1-3; John 1:1-15

This year during the season of Advent through to New Year’s Eve our theme is “The Means of God’s Giving.” We will be answering the questions: “How does God give us the gifts He has to give? What are the means He uses? And what is the power behind the means God uses?” This year we will look at the power of God’s Word and how His Word is what gives power to the other means of grace. We will hear how God’s Word effects, that is how God’s Word actually does what it speaks. Today we begin with “The Spoken Word.”
 

In the beginning, the very beginning, Genesis one, we hear and see the power of God’s creating Word. In Genesis one we are told, “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light” (Gen. 1:3 ). Simply by speaking, “God said,” all things were brought into being. Indeed, in this very first book and first chapter of God’s Word we are witnesses of the power of God’s Word. And I do not necessarily believe it was that God said, “let there be,” but perhaps He simply said, “light.” As we hear the cliche, “the pen is mightier than the sword,” so indeed, God’s Word is mighty in creation.
 

In the beginning we are told that all was chaos, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep” (Gen. 1:2a). In the beginning there was no time, there was no yesterday, or tomorrow, only the eternal present. Thus, in the beginning God began by creating and giving us time. He gave us time when He gave us light, night and day. “God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day” (Gen. 1:5). You may have noticed that this light was not the Sun which was not created until day four. Yet, at this very moment God gives us time, a twenty-four hour day.
 

Very much like the temptation of Lucifer, to believe himself to be like God such that he rebelled against God, so too today, too many people think more highly of themselves, thinking they are smarter or mightier than God such that they elevate their own reason over God’s Word. In so elevating themselves they deny the Word of God and elevate human reason which truly amounts to idolatry, a belief in themselves and their own reasoning. Thus, we have such outlandish unprovable theories as “molecules to man evolution,” but I will not delve into that topic any more for today.
 

Later in Genesis chapter three after God had completed His creation, having created the man and the woman, the crown of His creation, and given them a perfect garden home, Lucifer, Satan, the light bearer, the one who rebelled and for which hell was created, the one who is the father of lies and hates everything that is of God and from God moved in to tempt Adam and Eve. His lie was that God was holding something back from Adam and Eve. He convinced them that God was holding back their knowledge of evil. Most assuredly they knew good as God had created them in perfection. Perhaps they were easy targets because they were naive and did not know what a lie was nor what was evil and so they did as Satan tempted and ate from the fruit in the middle of the Garden the fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. That one sin brought God’s Condemning curse into the world. But it also brought God’s saving Promise.
 

From this one account, here so early in Genesis, we see that God’s Word is truth, including His warnings and threats. God’s gave Adam and Eve one rule, not to eat from the one tree. They failed. They believed the lies of Satan. They believe their own reason over God’s Word and their sin brought death. Oh, they did not die immediately, but they would most certainly die a physical death as we all will. But their sin also brought eternal death, or would have brought hell if God had not stepped in.
 

Notice how doubting, testing, and questioning God’s Word brought a curse. The curse was such that now man’s own ability to reason and think have been tainted. We no longer have perfect reasoning. Our reasoning is tainted by sin and the curse. Our thoughts are such that “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5).
 

Thanks be to God that He immediately stepped in with His Word of promise. God promised that He would take care of the sin of Adam and Eve. He would send One who would be perfectly obedient, in other words, One who would live as He expected Adam and Eve to live. He would send One who would pay the price for their sin, that is One who would die the eternal death penalty of hell for them.
 

In our Gospel reading we hear God fulfill the promise He made to Adam and Eve and to all people. We hear and see God’s Word becoming flesh. Yes, what was spoken, what was written, the promise of a Savior was born in flesh. John tells us, “1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5).
 

Notice how John tells us that Jesus is truly God as He was there in the beginning, in Genesis, with the Father and the Holy Spirit creating the world. Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness, that is He is forgiveness shining in the darkness of our sin-filled world. And the darkness, sin, death and the devil cannot overcome Him, they cannot and will not defeat Him. Interestingly enough, there are some translations that say “the darkness cannot comprehend it,” that is those sitting in the darkness of sin in our world cannot comprehend how God can love His sinful, corrupt people so much that He would die for them, but as we know, such is God’s love for us.
 

The four Gospels continually bear out the facts, the history of Jesus fulfilling all of God’s Word and promises. What Adam and Eve could not do, obey one command, what the whole nation of Israel could not do, obey Ten Commandments, what we cannot do, be obedient to God’s Word, Jesus came to do and did, perfectly. As true God Jesus was born in perfection. As true man Jesus was born to be our substitute, to live for us and He did. Jesus lived in perfect and complete obedience.
 

So, as John bears out, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus, the Word, the spoken promise, the written promise, is the Word in flesh, bring forgiveness, life and salvation.
 

What does this mean? As we begin this series concerning the means of God’s giving us the gifts He has to give I hope and pray that we will see how God’s Word is the power in all things. How does God give us the gifts He has to give? We believe, teach and confess, according to the Word of God that first and foremost God gives us His gifts through the very means of His Word. As God speaks it is done and given to us.
 

I pray we will see that God’s Word is the power in Holy Baptism. As water and God’s name are put on us by God using the hands of the pastor and the voice of the pastor, so we are given faith and forgiveness. Our names are written in the book of life and we have eternal salvation.
 

I pray that we will see God’s Word is the power in Holy Absolution. As we confess our sins each and every Sunday and as we hear God speak through the mouth of the pastor announcing that our sins are forgiven that we know and believe that is exactly what has happened, our sins have been forgiven.
 

I pray that we will see God’s Word is the power in the read and preached Word. As the pastor reads the Word and expounds on the Word from the pulpit in the sermon that we will know that was is said is what God gives and accomplishes. We are forgiven, our faith is strengthened, we are ready to go out into the world, the mission field and live lives as priests in the priesthood of all believers, living in our vocations always being ready to give an answer for the hope that we have in our faith in Jesus.
 

And I pray that we will see God’s Word is the power in His Holy Supper. As the pastor gives us the bread and the body of Jesus in our mouths and the wine and the blood of Jesus we will know for certain that we are partaking of Jesus’ body and blood, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins such that He actually becomes a physical part of us so that the angel of eternal death will pass over us.
 

So, once again, what a great God we have. What a loving God we have. What a gift giving God we have. What joy we have to know and understand, to believe, teach and confess the power of God’s Word and the means through which He gives us the gifts He has to give. What joy to know our sins are forgiven and that we have life and salvation in the Word made flesh, the Word in Holy Baptism, the Word in Holy Absolution and the Word in the Holy Supper. To God be the glory for Jesus’, the Word in flesh, sake. Amen.