Sanctification - Easter Day - March 31, 2024 - Text: Third Article; 1 Cor. 2:14; 1 Cor. 12:3

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

Last Friday we continued our series on Lutheran Doctrine by hearing what we believe about the Law as a curb and a mirror. Today we conclude our series by being reminded of what we believe about sanctification, that is about how, following our being justified, being made just and right in God’s eyes, how He continues to work to make us and keep us holy, saints, at least while we remain sinners in this world.
 

February 14 we began the Lenten Season with our Ash Wednesday Service. On Ash Wednesday we were reminded of God’s work of creation, how God created all things in six days and rested on the seven day, giving us a day of rest. As a part of God’s perfect creation He created a perfect Garden, the Garden of Eden in which He put the perfect man and woman He had created so that they might work tending the Garden. Adam and Eve were perfect and had free will.
 

God also placed two special, important trees in the Garden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. In order to give Adam and Eve a way to “give back” to God He gave them one simple rule, not to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil with the threat of punishment that the day they eat of the fruit they would die. They would begin to die a physical death and apart from God’s promise of a Savior they would die an eternal death in hell. God set the price for sin, for disobedience at death, human death for human sin.
 

Of course, we know the history. We know that Adam and Eve did disobey God. They did eat from the tree and with that sin God entered and cursed the world. God’s curse means we know live in a sinful world. The curse means that we are destined to die from the moment of conception. The curse means that our will has been tainted so that we no longer have a free will to do good. Thanks be to God that He immediately stepped in and with the curse promised a solution, a Savior, a Messiah, a Christ, thus the birth of the Christian church.
 

Some four thousand years later God fulfilled the promise He made. He sent Jesus, true God being born in human flesh, being true man into the world. Jesus came to do what Adam and Eve, what God’s chosen people, the children of Israel and what we, His children cannot do, live a perfect live in word and deed. Jesus obeyed all of God’s Laws, ceremonial, moral, and civil, perfectly. He fulfilled all of God’s promises, perfectly and then He took all our sins, all the sins of all people who have ever lived, and all the sins of people who ever will live on Himself and He suffered the eternal punishment of hell for us in our place. He paid the price for sin and makes us right before God, justified.
 

As you have heard me say time and time again, we get it right when we point to Jesus. We are justified, we are made right and just in God’s eyes by the faith God gives to us in Jesus as our Savior alone for our salvation. Our salvation has been completely accomplished for us by God Himself in Jesus and given to us. Thanks be to God for His gift of forgiveness.
 

Now that we have been forgiven and justified before God, He continues sending His Holy Spirit in order to sanctify us, that is in order to stir in us to be the people He would have us to be, although continually being His people imperfectly. We understand sanctification as being made holy in God’s eyes, yet we continue to understand that this side of heaven we will continue to be at the same time a sinner as well as a saint.
 

So, our lives of sanctification are our response of faith. Our sanctification is simply a response of faith. We must always be clear that our living lives of faith is not something we do in order to gain any favor from God. And actually our sanctification, our living lives of faith is not something we naturally do, rather this too has at its heart what God is doing.
  

Our sanctification is the work of God in us, that is the Holy Spirit working in us through His usual means, Word and Sacrament. Through the waters of Holy Baptism and God’s name being put on us the Holy Spirit forgives our sins and puts faith in our hearts. Confessing our sins and hearing the words of Absolution the Holy Spirit forgives our sins. Hearing the Word of God read and proclaimed the Holy Spirit works through that very word to strengthen us in our faith. Partaking of Jesus’ body and blood, in, with, and under the bread and wine, the Holy Spirit again forgives us and strengthens our faith. God is at work in us in our living lives of faith.
 

As you have no doubt heard before, only Christians can do those works that are considered good works in God’s eyes, because only Christians do those good works that are motivated by God, worked in and through us by God and done to His glory. Yes, there are those in our world who are motivated to do what we call civil good works, but those are not truly good works in God’s eyes.
 

Which means that more often than not when we actually do a good work that is a good work in God’s eyes we understand that it is done in and through us by God, and we probably do not even notice. So, here again, as with justification, we get it right when we point to Jesus, so too with sanctification, we get it right when we point to Jesus. Perhaps you may have noticed that in all of Scripture we do not hear a lot about the Holy Spirit and His work. The reason is because the Holy Spirit always points us to Jesus.
 

What does this mean? In the Third Article of the Apostles’ creed we confess what we believe about the Holy Spirit and His work. We confess, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him.” Indeed, because our will has been tainted by sin all we can do is refuse and reject Jesus. Thanks be to God that the Holy Spirit works in our hearts through Holy Baptism and His Holy Word to give us faith.
 

But we continue and further confess about the Holy Spirit that “the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel.” Here again, we believe that not only is the Word of God inspired, inerrant, and infallible, we also confess that the Word of God is sufficient, clear, efficacious and powerful, such that through the very Word of God the Holy Spirit works in us and gives us faith. This faith is not something we choose or get for ourselves, and we know this fact because we are born spiritually blind, spiritually dead and enemies of God such that we cannot bring ourselves back to life or have any part in our being given faith. It is all the doing of the Holy Spirit, thanks be to God.
 

And we continue confessing the work of the Holy Spirit that is that He “enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” The gifts the Holy Spirit uses to enlighten us are Holy Absolution and the Sacraments, Holy Baptism and His Holy Supper. Through these very means the Holy Spirit gives, strengthens and keeps us in faith, pouring out on us and lavishing us with all the good gives and blessings He has to give. And again, thanks be to God.
 

This morning we rejoice, not only in our justification, being made just and right in God’s eyes as we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and defeat of sin, death and the devil, but we rejoice in God’s gift of sanctification, that God gives us to be His people, living lives of faith through the means of grace as well.
 

And we rejoice that God keeps us in faith through those very same means of grace. As we remember our Baptism and God’s name put on us, that our sins are forgiven we are strengthened. As we confess our sins and hear those most beautiful words, that our sins are forgiven, we are strengthened. As we hear God’s Word read and proclaimed and as we partake of our Lord’s body and blood, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins, we are strengthened. Indeed, as we are strengthened so is our desire to be given even more of the gifts He has to give.
 

Once again, as always, we get it right when we point to Jesus. Jesus does all and gives all. Jesus makes us right before God and keeps us right before God. Although we may not be able to trust ourselves, our own doing, our own thinking, our own reasoning, we most certainly can trust Jesus, His doing, His giving, His work in and through us. Thanks be to God.
 

Once again we come and we celebrate what a great God we have, what a loving God we have, what a gift giving God we have. He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Justification - Easter Sonrise - March 31, 2024 - Text: Second Article; John 3:16; Eph. 2:8-9

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

Last Friday, Good Friday we continued our series on Lutheran Doctrine by hearing what we believe about the Law as a curb and a mirror. Today we begin our Easter celebration and we continue our series by being reminded of what we believe about justification.
 

The word “justification” is a great word. Perhaps you have heard me suggest that to be justified means that when God looks at us He sees us “just as if I’d” never sinned and that is our greatest desire on the day of judgment, for to be otherwise judged would indeed be hell. We live in a world where we constantly hear people who have been harmed cry out for “justice.” Unfortunately, I would suggest that in too many cases in our world today it really is not justice that people want but more often than not what they truly want is revenge. So, what is justification and why is it so important, especially to us Christians? And how are we justified?
 

In order to understand justification and God’s justice we must begin with ourselves. Our nature is that we are conceived and born in sin. Following God’s curse in the Garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s one command, God promised to take care of their sin by sending a Savior. Yet, their sin and corrupt nature continue to be born in each one of us. It is in our DNA  and from the moment of conception we are sinful and are held accountable for our sin. If we were  not sinful nor held accountable for our sin from the moment of conception, or until we should reach some age of accountability as some would suggest, then we would not die because it is sin and our accountability for our sin which brings death, notice then the importance of infant baptism.
 

Not only are we conceived and born in sin, but God’s demand is and has been since creation that we are perfect. That is that we perfectly obey all God’s Laws and commands. Since we are conceived and born in sin our nature is to sin, as God tells us in Genesis, “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” (Genesis 6:5) and daily we add to our inborn sin our own sins. We sin in thought, word and deed, in our actions. We sin sins of commission by doing the things we should not do. We sin sins of omission by failing to do the things we should be doing. Indeed, we sin continually and we do not even need to practice because it comes natural to us to sin.
 

God promised Adam and Eve a Savior. God reiterated His promise to Abraham with the promise that the Savior would come through His family line. God added a condition to His covenant with Moses and Israel that if they would be obedient He would give them a lasting earthly kingdom, which we know they lost because of their failure to be obedient. Yet, God’s eternal, unconditional covenant with Adam and Eve and Abraham was never lost that is the eternal kingdom of heaven. So, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, God Himself taking on human flesh and blood in order to do what Adam and Eve could not do, obey one command; what Abraham and all Israel could not do, obey Ten Commandments; and yes, even what we cannot do, be perfectly obedient. Jesus, true God, born as a human, in the flesh, lived the perfect life demanded of us for us in our place.
 

And so we understand that Jesus, true God in perfection had to be truly human in order to be our substitute, that is to trade His perfection for our imperfection. And He did. He who knew no sin became sin for us. Last Friday we came and we were reminded of Jesus perfect life and His perfect suffering and death for us, in our place.
 

As we have heard said many times, God created us to love us and so He does. In His Gospel John quotes Jesus as saying, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The love of which Jesus speaks is the Greek love of “agape,” which is well defined as a self-less concern or a God-like love, truly the kind of love only God can have for us so much so that He gave His life for ours and for us.
 

To help us better understand that this agape love can truly only be the love God has for us and we are unable to emulate such love we have the account following His resurrection when Jesus asked Peter, “do you agape me?” And Peter’s response was, “Yes, Lord, I phila” or brotherly “love you.” A second time Jesus asked Peter, “do you agape me?” And Peter’s response was, “Yes, Lord, I phila you” or brotherly “love you.” Finally, the third time Jesus asked Peter, but instead this time He asked, “do you phila me?” And Peter’s response was, “Yes, Lord, I phila you.”  Peter understood he could not have agape love for Jesus because, as Jesus asks him the third time he knows that three times he denied knowing Jesus. Peter knew he could only “phila Jesus.” Thus, the third time Jesus helps Peter know he has been forgiven because of God’s agape love for him. For God so loved, agaped the world. Indeed, agape love is a selfless concern for another person, the kind of love only God can have for us.
 

Paul helps us to better understand God’s agape love in His work of making us just and right in His eyes as he tells us, “8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 ). We would define grace as gift. A gift is not a present such that we give someone a present and they give us one in return. A gift, a true gift is given without expectation of anything given in return. Thus, God gifts us in giving us all the gifts and blessings He has to give even knowing that not only is our nature to not respond, but we are unable to respond, at least not without His help.
 

Thus, we are saved, we are gifted salvation through faith which is a gift as well. Faith is that thing which takes hold of and makes something ours. Yet, not only is faith important, but so is the object of faith. Faith in faith is empty faith. Faith must have an object and it must be the right object. Faith in a tree will not bring forgiveness and salvation.
 

The only object of saving faith is Jesus.  Because we are conceived and born in sin. Because every intention of our hearts is evil all time. Because we cannot choose Jesus. Because we cannot accept Jesus. Because we cannot dedicate our lives to Jesus. Because we cannot be perfectly obedient, God sent Jesus to do all these things for us, choose us, accept us, dedicate His life to us, live a perfectly obedient life for us. God is the one who calls us to faith and gives us faith. God calls us to and gives us faith, forgiveness, life and salvation and He does so through the means He has given, His Word, Holy Absolution and His Sacraments, Holy Baptism and His Holy Supper. Through these very means He gives, strengthens and keeps us in faith.
 

What does this mean? Our nature is that we are conceived and born in sin and we daily add to our sin. We cannot justify ourselves. When we look in inside ourselves all we see is sin. Just as a dead person cannot bring himself back to life, just as a drowning person cannot save himself, just as we cannot choose to be born, so we cannot save ourselves, no matter how hard we try or are told to try.
 

Salvation, justification must come from outside of us. We must look outside ourselves and when we look outside ourselves we are to look to Jesus to see our salvation. Because of God’s great agape love for us, knowing all that would happen, He created the world and us anyway. He promised and fulfilled His promise of a Savior. He came, God in flesh to live for us, to suffer and die for us and to rise for us. He came defeating sin, death and the devil, for us. And He gives it all to us, faith, forgiveness, life and salvation.
 

As you continually hear me say, we get it right when we point to Jesus. Pointing to ourselves only brings despair, or it could bring us to works righteousness. We get it right when we point to Jesus. It is all God’s doing and gift, all our being done to and gift given. We are made just and right in God’s eyes, where it counts as He is the judge of all, by God Himself, through the gift of faith, the instrument which He gives to grab on to Jesus, for forgiveness and life.
 

As we once again begin our Easter celebration we rejoice in what a great God we have, what a loving God we have, what a gift giving God we have. He gives and we are given to. He does and we are done to. He gives faith and we are given faith. He gives forgiveness and we are forgiven. He gives eternal life and we know for certain that we have eternal live. Thanks be to God.
 

He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Law as Curb and Mirror - Good Friday - March 29, 2024 - Text: Commandments; Rom. 2:14-15; Rom. 3:20

Last night we continued our series on Lutheran Doctrine by hearing what we believe about our daily bread, especially the daily bread of the Word of God and Jesus’ body and blood, given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins in His Holy Supper. Today on this Good Friday we fittingly continue our series by being reminded of what we believe about the Law as a curb and a mirror, how it works, but often fails to keep us on the straight and narrow, but more importantly how is shows us our sins.
 

We begin with the Law as curb. Most of us understand and have actually seen a curb, you know that thing on each side of a road that is meant to keep cars on the road, out of the ditch, and off peoples property. The first use of the Law, as we are taught is that it is a curb. As a curb the Law attempts to keep order with its does and don’ts. The Law tells us, most especially, what we are not to do, but in telling us what we are not to do it also tells us what we are to do, that is the opposite of what we are not to do. In his explanations of the commandments, as we have learned in Luther’s Small Catechism with explanation, Luther reminds us of these does and don’ts and how when we do the don’ts that is the sin of commission and when we fail to do the does that is a sin of omission. As Luther says, “we should fear and love God so that we do not . . .  ” and he expresses what we are not to do and then he goes on and says, “but we should . . . ” and he expresses what we should be doing. Thus, we see that either way we sin, by doing something we should not and not doing something we should be doing.
 

As a curb the Law attempts to control behavior. As parents, as teachers, as anyone in charge of others knows, the Law is the best way to attempt to control behavior. Classrooms, cities, states, nations must have Laws in order to keep order and peace. Without Laws there would only be anarchy and chaos.
 

And so, the first thing the Law does is it always demands. The Law demands our complete obedience. The Law threatens punishment when it is not followed and obeyed. And if the punishment for the Law is not meted out then the Law means nothing. As a child in a classroom if the teacher fails to punish those children who disobey the Law then the rest of the class do not feel safe. If our legal system fails to punish crimes we citizens feel less and less safe. Thus, the Law is good.
 

The second use of the Law, as we are taught, is that it is a mirror. A mirror is that thing we use to look into in order to see what is on our face or body. As a mirror the Law reflects our natural condition, that is it shows our sins. Just as a person can look at their face in a mirror and see their acne, their scars, their need to shave, their “flaws” so when we look at the Law it shows us what we have done that we should not have done and what we have failed to do that we should have done, thus it shows our faults, our failures, our sins.
 

Ultimately, if we only have the Law it would lead us either to works righteousness or despair. If we only have the Law that tells us what we are to do and not do we may come to the conclusion that we can indeed keep the Law. Of course, the bar we set for keeping the Law must be set very low. In other words, we may think that just because we have never actually stolen anything or actually killed anyone, we may believe we are good people. We may even compare ourselves with others and see that we are pretty good people. And so we may actually be lead to believe we are good and right which amounts to thinking we have earned our way into heaven, works righteousness. On the other hand, if we only hear the Law and we understand and see just how sinful we truly are we may finally reach the point where we believe there is actually no hope for us so we are led into despair.
 

Simply stated, the Law points us to ourselves. After all the Law is about us. It is about what we are to do and not do. It demands our obedience with the threat of punishment. It makes us evaluate our lives and unfortunately, as we have just said it can only lead to either works righteousness or despair.
 

In the beginning God’s Law was simply written on the hearts of people. Actually, His Law is still written on our hearts at conception still today, what we often refer to as our conscience. God’s Law simply stated is that we are to be perfect. As God told Israel, “You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:45b).
 

In the beginning God created all things perfect and holy. He created a perfect man and a perfect woman and He put them in the perfect Garden He created for them, the Garden of Eden. And He gave them only one rule, to not eat of the tree in the middle of the Garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, with the threat that the day they ate of it dying they would die. They would suffer eternal death and hell, unless God stepped in, and they began dying a physical death.
 

It was not until we get to the Exodus of the Children of Israel from their bondage of slavery in Egypt that we get to the written Law. In order to bring order to the multitude of Israelites, God gave Moses the ceremonial Law, the sacrificial system, which was a constant reminder that the price for sin was death, but He also gave Him the written moral law of the Ten Commandments. The moral Law of the Ten Commandments was given as a curb, a mirror and as we heard a few weeks ago, because these were God’s people, they were given as a guide for their lives in order to keep peace and harmony.
 

As we gather once again on this Good Friday to be reminded of God’s great love for us in Jesus we ask, “What does this mean, the giving of the Law of God for us today?” God’s one rule, one Law given to Adam and Eve in Eden was given so that they might respond to all that God had given them by being obedient to God’s one rule. Adam and Eve had a free will and were actually able to decide to do or not do as they pleased. Personally, I believe that since they only knew good the devil used that as a way to exercise his usual way of lying, being the father of lies. Anyway, God’s threat was that any disobedience, any sin would bring death, human death for human sin. And we know that account, which is very much why we are here today. They did sin. Their sin brought death and the curse. Today, each one of us is born with that sin in our DNA. Remember, no sin, no accountability nor sin would mean no death. Because we know that a person can die from the moment of conception therefore we are conceived and born in and are accountable for our sin.
 

And because we are conceived and born in sin we cannot overcome sin. Just as a dead person cannot bring themself back to life. Just as a drowning person cannot save themself. Just as we cannot choose to be born or reborn, so we cannot pay the price for our sin. There is absolutely nothing we can do to save ourselves. In order to be saved, our salvation must come from outside of us and thanks be to God that it does and that is what we continue to rejoice in and be reminded of this very day, Good Friday.
 

Just as God promised in Eden and reiterated to Abraham, so Jesus was born. Jesus was true God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and true man, conceived by the human woman, the virgin Mary, thus He was conceived and born in perfection. He had to be God in order to be born perfect in order to live the perfect life demanded of us. He had to be truly human in order to be our substitute, that is in order to trade His human life, His perfect human life for our human life, our imperfect human life.
 

Jesus was born, which we celebrated at Christmas. Jesus lived a perfect life, obeying all of God’s Laws, the ceremonial, moral and civil laws, never breaking any nor sinning even once. Jesus fulfilled all of God’s promises for the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior He promised. And then He took all sin, the sin of all people who ever lived, who are living and who ever will live upon Himself and He paid the price of death; physical and eternal death for us in our place.
 

But, we know the rest of the story, the history, what we will come and celebrate on Sunday, Jesus did not stay dead, but He rose from the dead thus He defeated death. He defeated sin, death and the devil. Thanks be to God.
 

So, this evening, as we should we look at the Law and we see just how completely lost we are, what great sinners we are, how it was because of me and my sin that Jesus was nailed to the cross, but more importantly we recognize and believe what great love God has for us so much so that even if we were the only person in the world, Jesus would have done what He did for us anyway. What a great God we have. What a loving God we have. What a gift giving God we have. To Him be all the glory. Amen.

Daily Bread - March 28, 2024 - Maundy Thursday - Text: Fourth Petition; Ps. 104:14; Ps. 145:15-16; 1 Tim. 6:8; John 4:34

Last week we continued our series on Lutheran Doctrine by hearing what we believe about worship and the Divine Service. Today we continue our series by being reminded of what we believe about our daily bread as we pray in the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer.
 

In the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” In our catechism we have Luther’s question and response, “What does this mean? God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.” And we have his understanding with the question and answer, “What is meant by daily bread? Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.”
 

So, we might rightly understand our prayer for daily bread as being a prayer for bodily blessings. Certainly we have all been taught that this is the only petition of the seven that is asking for bodily, physical blessings where as the other six petitions ask for spiritual blessings and turning from evil, and yet in a moment we will see that not only does this petition speak to bodily blessings, but also to spiritual blessings.
 

When we prayer for our daily bread we will first recognize that all that we have in one way or another first comes from God. As we have been taught, what we are born with and what we take with us, meaning that nothing in this world, is truly ours. We can truly trace all that we have in this world back to God who is from eternity, who created all and gives all to us.
 

We will also recognize that God gives to the just and the unjust. As we look around the world we can see that even the heathen, even the pagans have food to eat, clothes to wear, shoes to wear, a roof over their houses and so forth. So, it is not simply our prayer that brings these needs to us from God. Even before we ask, God knows our needs and the needs of all and He lovingly provides for all whether all recognize such provision or not.
 

So, why do we bother to pray? We pray for daily bread in order to recognize and give thanks to God. Our prayer is an acknowledgment that all that we have is a gift from God, whether we believe we may have earned it or not. In other words, we can recognize that all that we have is a gift from God as we recognize that He has given us life, gifts, talents and abilities as well as a job or career in order to earn a living to purchase our daily needs. Again, all things first come from God and can be traced back to Him. So, our prayer is a prayer of recognition and giving thanks for all the good gifts and blessings our Lord gives to us.
 

Now, as for the spiritual bread for which we pray. On the night in which He was betrayed we are told that Jesus was celebrating the Passover Seder with His disciples and from that Passover celebration and the eating of the lamb, Jesus gives us Himself, the Lamb of God, to eat marking us as redeemed by Him. Remember, at the time of the Passover a spotless lamb was selected. When Jesus was beginning His ministry John the Baptist pointed to Him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Indeed, Jesus is the spotless lamb promised in Eden, reiterated to Abraham, pointed to by the ceremonial laws and born to give His life for ours. The Passover lamb was slaughtered and roasted and its flesh was eaten so that the people physically, not symbolically nor spiritually eat its meat, but actually ate the lamb. In the same way, when Jesus gives us the bread in His Holy Supper and says, “Take, eat, this is my body, given and shed for you,” we do not eat it symbolically or spiritually, but we physically eat the body of Christ so that He becomes a physical part of us.
 

In the same way, after the Supper, Jesus took the cup of wine. In the Passover celebration the blood of the lamb was caught in a basin and used to mark of the door of the house with the blood of the lamb, so that the angel of death would pass over those houses. Jesus took the cup of wine, blessed it and gave it to the disciples and us saying, “Take and drink, this is my blood.” Jesus gives us His blood to drink, not symbolically nor spiritually, but physically so that we are marked as His children. So that the angel of eternal death and hell will pass over us.
 

So, the main thing in the Lord’s Supper is the eating of Jesus’ body and the drinking of His blood through which He gives us forgiveness of sins, strengthens us in faith, gives us eternal salvation. He also promises that we are to do this in remembrance, that is in participation, meaning He becomes a physical part of us. His perfect life then becomes our perfect life. His perfect suffering and death become our perfect suffering and death and His perfect resurrection and eternal life become our perfect resurrection and eternal life.
 

As we began a few weeks ago, we were reminded that God created us to love us. In loving us He has provide for all our needs. Because we are conceived and born in sin, because every inclination of our hearts is evil all the time, because we are spiritually blind, spiritually dead and enemies of God our greatest needs are forgiveness of sins and faith. God takes care of our needs. He gives us faith through Holy Baptism. He gives us faith and strengthens our faith through His Word. He gives us forgiveness of sins through Holy Absolution. He gives strengthening of faith and forgiveness in His Holy Supper.
 

When we are born we are born naked, needing food, clothing, shelter. Again, God knows our needs and He well provides for us. He provides for the just and the unjust alike. Indeed, God needs nothing from us and we need everything from Him. Why do we offer prayers? Why do we come to church? Why do we give our offerings? Why do we worship? We do all that we do because of our own need to do so, to recognize all that God does for us and gives to us. Simply stated we do what we do because we cannot help to do so as the Holy Spirit stirs in us and works in us our response of faith.
 

Most certainly we need to continually recognize and give thanks for all that our Lord does for us and gives to us, again not because He needs such thanks, but because of our need to respond with such praise. God gives and we are given to. God does and we are done to, thanks be to God.
 

What does this mean? I cannot say it too much, God gives all and we are given to. God needs nothing from us, we need everything from Him. And our God created us in order to give everything to us, all that we need, and I would suggest even more than we truly need.
 

So now, because we can, we pray to God as our dear Father because as our earthly Fathers and even more, He loves us, He desires to hear from us, and He seeks to give to us. God created us to love us and we are loved and we rejoice in His love for us, recognizing His love especially in our prayers.
 

On this Maundy Thursday, the night in which Jesus was betrayed, the night in which Jesus was celebrating the Passover Seder, we rejoice that from this celebration He gives us the fulfillment of His promises beginning in the Garden of Eden. Our greatest need is forgiveness which is the first promise in Eden, that God would take care of ours sins by sending a Messiah, an anointed One, a Christ, a Savior, and that was the beginning of the Christian Church. Jesus is that Christ. Jesus came to do what Adam and Eve could not do, what all of Israel could not do, even what we can not do, live the perfect life demanded of us, for us in our place. Not only did He live for us, He took our sins upon Himself. He who was without sin became sin for us and He paid the price, the death penalty, hell for us in our place. And this evening we celebrate even more His giving us the greatest gift of His body and blood in His Holy Supper, marking us as redeemed by Him by His paying the price for our sins on the cross.
 

What a great God we have, what a gift giving God we have, what a loving God we have. A God who created us to love us, who gives us all that we need, who takes our sins and pays the price for our sins, who gives us faith, forgives our sins, strengthens us in faith, keeps us in faith and gives us eternal salvation. And He even stirs in us our response of faith, to rejoice and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Our Attitude, like Christ’s - Palm Sunday - March 24, 2024 - Text: Philippians 2:5-11

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

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

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

Yet, His attitude is what moved Him to give up all that was His in heaven. He gave up all the glory that was His in heaven in order to show how much He loved us, His creation. He gave up the use of His divine attributes, so that while He was here on this earth He did not always use His divine attributes or power, nor did He use them to their full potential. He gave up enjoying the eternal bliss of heaven. His attitude was that He gave up all this, not because He had to or was forced to, but because of His love for us.
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Notice, as always, we get it right when we point, not to ourselves, but to Jesus. Confirmation is something we do, but only after something has been done to us and for us. As we recall, the Church stands or falls on the doctrine of Justification, that is that we are made just and right in God’s eyes by God Himself. Just as a drowning person cannot save themself, or they would not be drowning, so we cannot save ourselves. Our salvation must and does come from outside of us, it comes from Christ. In the waters of Holy Baptism with God’s name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God imputes faith, that is He puts faith in our hearts. God gives faith. As we grow in our faith through the means of God’s Word, in Sunday School and in reading our Bible, the Holy Spirit works through these means to strengthen and keep us in faith and then to help us to do what is right which we call sanctification. And yet, just as our justification begins and ends with Jesus, He is the One doing the justifying and making us just and right in God’s eyes, so even in sanctification the Holy Spirit is the One doing the doing, moving in us to make good decisions, and yet, as I said last week, though imperfectly. So, in pointing to Jesus, Confirmation is the Holy Spirit moving in the hearts of these young men to speak words of affirmation of the faith which God has given them in the baptism.
 

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

I would summarize this morning by saying that Confirmation is a time to continue in the attitude of Christ, to continue in living a life to the glory of God by continuing to be in the Word and partake of the Sacrament, and to be willing to give your life for Him. May God grant you the will and the strength to live in such a way. To Him be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Worship, Divine Service - March 20, 2024 - Sixth Wednesday in Lent - Text: Third Commandment; Matt. 11:28; Luke 11:28; Col. 3:16; 1 Pet. 2:5

Last week we continued our series on Lutheran Doctrine by hearing what we believe about the Law as a guide in our lives. Today we continue our series by being reminded of what we believe about worship and especially about the Divine Service. Why it is divine and what makes it a service?
 

As we begin we need to make sure we define our words. Personally, I have found that more and more in our world today one of the first things we need to do when speaking to others, especially when speaking about our faith, is to make sure we define our words, that is to make sure the words we are using, especially if we are using the same words, is that we are using them meaning the same thing. This defining of words is especially important as we delve into our understanding of worship and Divine Service.
 

The very word “worship” has been defined many different ways including suggesting that worship is our worthship or our worshiping God because He is worthy of our worship, and although that statement is true, that is that God is worthy of our worship, that is not the reason for worship or at least that is not what we do on Sunday mornings. Again, very often the word “worship” is meant to suggest that our worship is something we are doing for God, as if God needs us to be doing something for Him. Thus, worship is defined as first and foremost what we are doing. Some have even fallaciously suggested that in worship God is the audience, the people are the actors and the pastor and choirs, etc., are the prompters.
 

When understanding that the thing we do on Sunday mornings and other days, like today is something we are doing and even need to be doing for God begs the question, “What does God need from us?” Does God really need us to come to Him to sing His praises, to give Him our offerings, to do anything for Him? Or is it rather that we need to come and be given to by God who created us to love us and gives everything to us?
 

When we put ourselves in the definition of worship, that our importance in worship is that we are to be doing something for God, then we are simply pointing to ourselves as the prime movers. I believe one of my best professors at Seminary said it best when he said, “We worship best when we say back to God the Words He has given us to say.” As I have said before, all words or Law words until the Lord makes them Gospel words. So, when we speak back to God the words that He has given us to say, we can be sure that we are speaking and hearing Gospel words.
 

On the other hand, what we do on Sunday mornings and today is what we call Divine Service, or as simply defined, God’s service, as in God comes to us to serve us, because of our need to be given to. Thus, our Divine Service is first and foremost God coming to us to serve us, to give to us, to forgive us, to strengthen us, to remind us of His choosing us, His putting His name on us, His forgiving our sins, His giving us His body and blood to eat and drink, His giving and our being given too.
 

Our Divine Service flows out of and reflects what we believe, teach and confess about our God and especially how He gives us the gifts He has to give, that is through what means He comes to us to give us the gifts and blessings He has to give. Our Divine Service begins reflecting our belief that God first comes to us and gives us faith and forgiveness through Holy Baptism, as we hear the words of Invocation. Our Divine Service proceeds with our confession of faith and hearing how through the mouth of the Pastor God speaks His words of forgiveness on us through Holy Absolution. A little later we hear God speak to us through His Holy Word which is read and proclaimed. Then, we are given Jesus’ body and blood, in, with, and under the bread and wine in  His Holy Supper for the forgiveness of our sins. These are the very means the Lord has given to us and through which He gives us all the good gifts and blessings He has to give. So, our service is permeated with God’s Word and His Sacraments, the means of grace.
 

But, not only does God come to us in the Divine Service through Word and Sacrament, He also comes to us to give us our response of faith. Our response of faith is just that, a response. Our response of faith is not some obedience to some command God gives, again, as if He needs anything from us. No, our response of faith is simply that, a response, which is also moved in us by the Holy Spirit working through the very means of grace He uses to give us the gifts He has to give.
 

Our response of faith is to sing hymns of praise. We sing during the opening hymn, chanting the very words of Scripture in the Introit, offering a poetic rendition in the hymn of the day or the sermon hymn, hymns during the distribution and the closing hymn. All the hymns are poetic verses based on Holy Scripture such that even our responsive hymnody is a singing back to God the very words He has given us to speak.
 

Our response of faith is to offer prayers. In our prayers we give thanks to God for the great gifts and blessings He has seen fit to bestow on us. We offer prayers and petitions for our governing authorities that they may govern with honesty and integrity. We offer prayers and petitions for the sick and downtrodden. We offer prayers for the extending of God’s Kingdom through our going out into the world living lives as priests always being ready to give an answer for the hope we have in our faith in Jesus.
 

Our response of faith is that we are able to return to the Lord from that which He has first given to us, that is to offer our first fruits. Our offering is indeed a mark of our faith, recognizing that all that we have has been first given to us by God, through His giving us gifts, talents and abilities to perform a job as well as giving us a job so that we may be able to take care of ourselves and our families. Our first fruits is also a sign of our faith that God will continue to bless us with all that we need for our lives in this world.
 

What does this mean? When we delve into worship and Divine Service, as always we get it right when we point to Jesus. Jesus is God and as God there is nothing that He needs from us. As a matter of fact He is the One who gives everything to us. God is the prime mover. It all begins with Him. We might even go back to Genesis One, in the beginning God created all things, including us. He has given us all that we need while we live in this world. We are the ones in need and we need all that our Lord gives to us.
 

The words of the Apostle Paul when speaking to the Athenians on Mars Hill are quite appropriate when speaking about worship and Divine Service. Paul said, “24The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-25). Indeed, God needs nothing from us, we need everything from Him and He gives everything to us.
 

We need Divine Service. We need to be given the gifts God has to give. We come to Divine Service in order to be fed so that we may go out into the world and live as priests during the week, out in the mission field. Writing to the Romans, and to us, Paul reminds us of how important is our Divine Service, where we come to be fed and filled so that we might go out and share the good news of Jesus with others. He says, “14How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ 16But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?’ 17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:14-17).
 

Every Sunday and on other days we have opportunities to come and hear so that we might go out into the harvest field, living lives as priests, offering our lives as living sacrifices, always being ready to give an answer for the hope that we have, inviting other to our Divine Service, to Bible Class, to come and hear the Good News of Jesus so that the Holy Spirit might do His work of giving faith. Our Divine Service is that place where our doctrine is practice and taught and the place that our Lord comes to us to strengthen us in faith, giving us His good gifts and blessings, preparing us for the week ahead. And stirring in us to rejoice and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’s sake. Amen.

Learning Obedience - Fifth Sunday in Lent - March 17, 2024 - Text: Hebrews 5:1-10

The word “obey” is not necessarily a popular word in our world today. To some it gives a negative connotation of being inferior or under someone else, or to be in someone else’s control. Even my dictionary says that part of being obedient is to submit to another’s control. Here in America we have come to believe that we are self-made people, that we make our own decisions and that we are under no one’s control. This lack of control, lack of obedience is one reason for chaos and anarchy in our society today. The problem is that we have come to misunderstand that we are not free from control, it is just the controller, so to speak, who has changed. Paul would describe it this way, we are no longer under the control of our loving Lord, rather we are under the control of sin. We are obedient, whether we want to be or not, it is just where does our obedience lay? In our Epistle lesson we read of Jesus’ obedience and where that lead.
 

The writer to the Hebrews first lays out the Office of the High Priest. We begin at verse one, “1For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. 4And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’; 6as he says also in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek’” (v. 1-6).
 

The high priest who would offer sacrifices was the one who was elected from his brethren. He did not elect or appoint himself.  Every year on the day of atonement the chosen Priest would enter the most Holy place to offer sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people.
 

Not only was this high priest elected from his brethren, he was also called and appointed by God. Thus, we see two parts to the election to the office of the high priest, that is that one is elected from his people and one is chosen by God. This election reflects the calling processes of our church body in calling a man to be a pastor in any given congregation, that is that a man does not elect himself or call himself to be a pastor, but he is chosen by a congregation and this choosing is as directed by God. To put it more succinctly, God calls the man through the congregation to be the pastor in that congregation.
 

The writer to the Hebrews now moves to speaking about our Great High Priest, even Jesus Himself. Our text continues with verse seven, “7In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (v. 7). The first image that comes to mind is the image of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. As we read through each of the four gospels we continually find Jesus in prayer, but the most vivid image of Jesus in prayer is when He was in the Garden praying, even pleading, that there might be some other way to save the world. Jesus was a human being. He had the human emotion of humiliation and of not wanting to be crucified. But while praying in the Garden, as He always did, He prayed for the will of the Father. Jesus did not try to get out of doing the Father’s will, rather He prayed so the He might be sure of the Father’s will and being sure of His Fathers will He proceeded with confidence to lay down His life for the world.
 

God the Father answered Jesus’ prayer, not by taking the crucifixion from Him, but by giving Him the strength to go through His suffering and death and ultimately by raising Him from the dead. God the Father answered Jesus’ prayer in that through Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection He saved all people from their sins. He saved us, you and me from our sins.
 

Moving on and picking up at verse eight we read about true obedience, “8Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek” (v. 8-10). Jesus was obedient. He was a perfect child.  He was a perfect teenager. He was a perfect adult. He was perfect and obedient in all things. He did what Adam and Eve were unable to do. He did what the nation of Israel was unable to do. He did what we are unable to do. He was perfectly obedient and ultimately He was perfectly obedient in our place, for us, to the point of death.
 

His perfect obedience became the source of our eternal salvation. By faith in Jesus, His perfect obedience has become our perfect obedience. By faith in Jesus, His death has become our death and ultimately His resurrection will become our resurrection. Even in our Gospel Lesson Jesus refers to His obedience unto death, meaning that this was the fulfillment of the Father’s plan for the salvation of the world and through it He would be glorified.
 

The words of our text offer to us Jesus as an example of a high priest and specifically Jesus is called our High Priest. One of the jobs of a high priest was to pray for the people. Jesus as High Priest prayed for the people. Again, going back to the four gospels we have account after account showing Jesus in prayer, praying for the people.
 

As our high priest Jesus prays for us. Jesus stands before God the Father, our eternal judge, and prays for us. As we pray to the Father in Jesus’ name, Jesus confesses us before the Father and pleads for us along with our plea.
 

Another job of the high priest was to offer sacrifices for the people. The people would bring a spotless lamb which the priest would sacrifice for the sins of the people. The problem with this sacrifice was that it had to be repeated over and over again, because the people continued to sin. The reason for these sacrifices was to show that blood had to be shed. The price for sin is death. The blood of an innocent lamb was shed for the forgiveness of sins of the guilty person. Being that people are sinful and do not stop sinning, sacrifices had to continually be made.
 

But, Jesus was a different High Priest. As our High Priest Jesus offered Himself, a sinless person, as a sacrifice for us. His sacrifice was the perfect sacrifice. His sacrifice accomplished for all people of all time and all places what the other sacrifices only pointed to, this ultimate sacrifice. Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself on the cross made all other sacrifices obsolete. No longer do we or anyone else need to make any kind of sacrifice to remind us of the price of sin. Jesus’ obedient suffering, death, and resurrection accomplished the forgiveness of all people of all time and all places, once and for all. Thanks be to God.
 

What does this mean? First, we must remember that in these historic accounts from the Bible as we learn about Jesus there is no moral to the story. I get quite concerned when I hear people talking about the moral of the story, especially when the reference is a Biblical parable or narrative account. The moral of the story is good for fables and the like, but with God’s Word there is no moral to the story, there is only Law and Gospel. So, first we must remember that the main message from God’s Words always is what God has done for us, and in today’s lesson, specifically, what God has done for us in and through Christ Jesus. Remembering what God has done for us then we move to seeing Jesus’ life as an example of how we are to live our lives. Right from the start then we will realize that Jesus was perfect and we are not, so any attempt to live as Jesus is really an attempt at futility on our part. But thanks be to God that He has sent us His Holy Spirit, so that with the Holy Spirit working in and through us we can accomplish great things. With the Holy Spirit working in and through us we can live our lives following Jesus’ example, but of course it is not we who are doing these great things, but God working through us, thus we say as always, to God alone be the glory. And I would always add, yet with God working these things in and through us we still accomplish them imperfectly.
 

Because of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection, because we see Him in prayer, we learn that we too need to pray and that we can go to Him in prayer because He has experienced all the problems we are dealing with and even more. We can pray to Him because He understands all our trials and tribulations because He has already experienced the same ones and has overcome. We know that, because He has overcome, He will help us to overcome and win out in the end.
 

From Jesus we learn persistence in prayer, again with the help of the Holy Spirit. We know that God always answers prayer, even though sometimes His answer is no. We pray in all sincerity, with strength of belief and in persistence but we remember that these are not the reasons God answers our prayers. God answers our prayers for Jesus’ sake. That is why we end our prayers in Jesus’ name, remembering that He too is pleading our case before our Father in heaven.
 

From Jesus we learn what true submission and obedience really is.  True submission and true obedience is to know that God answers prayer according to our need and according to His good and gracious will, according to what He knows we need. Perhaps that is reason enough that we should end our prayers, not only praying that God’s will be done, but also that we be able to accept whatever is God’s will.
 

From Jesus we learn obedience, but we realize that it is not our obedience that saves us, rather it is Jesus’ obedience that saved us. With the help of the Holy Spirit we too can be obedient as a response to what Jesus has done for us, and yet imperfectly.
 

No matter how hard we try we can never be free from some kind of control. There is something or someone to which we will always be obedient. We can either remain in our sin and remain under that control, being obedient to sin, or we can, with the help of the Holy Spirit become obedient to our Lord. Obedience to the Lord entails remaining faithful, that is living our lives to His glory, despite what negatives that may have for our lives, including our own obedience to death. Jesus said it this way, “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” Love for our own life goes back to the garden of Eden and the desire to be our own gods. Hating our own life goes back to Jesus and His death on the cross because of our sins; we hate what our lives of sin have done for Jesus. Because of His great love for us, Jesus was obedient, for us, in our place, obedient even to the point of death. Now, remembering that in pointing to Jesus we are reminded that we love only because He first loves us, and we are obedient only as He has first been completely obedient giving His life for ours, knowing that we are saved by God’s grace, not by our works, yet saved to do the good works which God has initiated beforehand, my prayer is that you will not resist the working of the Holy Spirit so that He might have control of your life and work such obedience in you. Even if it is imperfect. God grant it for Jesus’ sake. And to Him be the glory. Amen.

The Law as Guide - March 13, 2024 - Fifth Wednesday in Lent - Text: Commandments; Ps. 119:105; 1 Timothy 1:8-11; 1 John 4:9, 11

Last week we continued our series on Lutheran Doctrine by hearing what we believe about the prayer. Today we continue our series by being reminded of what we believe about the Law as a guide in our lives.
 

In confirmation class we are taught and hopefully we learn that the Law serves three purposes, as a curb, a mirror and a guide or rule. The Law serves as a curb in that it attempts to keep order with its does and don’ts. Just as a curb on a street is there to keep cars on the street and off the sidewalk or out of the ditch, so God gives us the Law to keep us on the straight and narrow. The Law, and specifically speaking of the Ten Commandments, is intended to curb us from doing things we should not be doing and to move us to be doing the things we should be doing. Indeed, the Law is a list of dos and don’ts. When we do the things we should not be doing we sin sins of commission, committing things we should not commit. When we fail to do the things we should be doing, as Luther points out in his explanations to the commandments, “but we should . . . “ then we sin sins of omission, omitting to do what we should be doing.
 

The Law as a curb is meant to attempt to control our behavior. Now we might understand that to control one’s behavior does not mean that one’s heart can be controlled as well and that is most certainly true. Thus, we see that although the Law may be an outward control it does not and cannot change our hearts.
 

The Law also serves as a mirror, that is it shows our sins. The purpose of the Law is to show us our sins, to show us how sinful we truly are and how we cannot do anything to work off our sins or save ourselves. Although we may try to find some grey area in the Law in order to justify ourselves, our sinful thoughts, our sinful words and our sinful actions or sinful inactions, that is not the purpose of the Law. The Law as a mirror reflects our thoughts, words, and deeds so that we see how sinful we are especially compared to the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Himself. The purpose of the Law is to move us to hear the Gospel. Please note, although we may believe the purpose of the Law is to move us to repent, it cannot do so.
 

The Law, without the Gospel never leads to repentance. The Law without the Gospel leads to works righteousness or despair. The Law leads to works righteousness when we believe we can actually keep the Law, that is that we can be the good obedient people the Law requires us to be. We believe we are good and are doing what we should be doing and not doing what we should not be doing. Or, the Law leads us to despair when we realize that there really is no way we can keep the Law so we begin to believe there is no hope for us so we despair and give up all together.
 

As you have heard me say many times before, the Law points us to ourselves. As the apostle Paul so well wrote to young pastor Timothy, “8Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 11in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted” (1 Timothy 1:8-11). Indeed, the Law shows us our sins.
 

However, as Christians and only as Christians is the Law available and useful as a guide. We might suggest something to the effect that the Law is a rule book in the game of life in order to keep order so there is not anarchy and chaos. For the non-Christian, for those without faith, the Law is strictly a set of rules intended to hamper one’s freedom. But for the Christian, for those who hear, learn, know, believe the Gospel, as King David so well stated, for us the Law from God is “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). We rejoice in the Law, not because we believe we can keep the Law, but we know the Law is a gift from God to keep us, though imperfectly, on the straight and narrow.
 

The Law is a guide only to those who have faith and thus desire to lead God pleasing lives. Without faith in Jesus or even in a god for that matter there would be no reason to need a guide. Indeed, if all life is but a survival of the fittest then the Law is seen as hampering one’s ability to survive, to get ahead. As Christians we rejoice in the Law, not because we believe we can keep the Law, but because the Law was given so that we might, with God’s help love our neighbor as ourselves, which is the second table of the Law, those Commandments dealing with our relationships with our neighbor.
 

Again, by faith, one is motivated to lead a God pleasing life. As Christians we rejoice in the Law because the Law was given so that we might, with God’s help, love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul and all our might, which is the first table of the Law, those commandments which deal with our relationship with God Himself. As we have most certainly heard, if we could keep the first commandment we could keep them all. The problem is we cannot even keep the first commandment. And since we, since Adam and Eve, have broken the first commandment we cannot keep any of the rest. Since our relationship with God has been broke so have our relationships with each other and the purpose of the Law is to show us this broken-ness so that we might hear the good news of the Gospel and repent.
 

What does this mean? As I said earlier, the Law without the Gospel leads to despair, believing there is no hope or to works righteousness, believing we can keep the Law. Thus, we see the importance of the Law as a curb and mirror, continually attempting to keep us on the straight and narrow and showing us our sins by reflecting our sinful lives compared to Jesus perfection.
 

We know the Law does not motivate repentance, but only the Gospel. As you have no doubt heard my illustration of the teacher in the classroom who passed out new boxes of crayons to all her students with the warning to be careful and not break the crayon. Yet, several students did break the crayons so when the teacher asked if those students that broke crayons would place them on their desks, one student decided to not get in trouble and hid the broken crayon in the box. When the teacher picked up the broken crayons and gave new crayons that student did not get one because he failed to confess his broken crayon. Such is the Law without the Gospel. However, had the teacher proclaimed the Gospel, that she would give a new crayon for the old crayon, the student, motivated by the Gospel of forgiveness would have confessed the broken crayon and been given a new one.
 

So, when Law and Gospel are confused and commingled it leads to moralism, such as Aesop’s fables. Moralism takes the Gospel and makes it into a new Law, such as if you want to be saved all you have to do is be good, choose Jesus, be obedient, dedicate your live to Jesus, and so forth rather than simply hearing the Words of the Gospel.
 

So, the Law must be preached in all its harshness and the Gospel in all its sweetness. The Law must be preached so we can know just how sinful we truly are. And the Gospel must be preached so that we can know for sure, have the certainty that the reason God created us was to love us and the reason Jesus came into the world was to do for us what we could not and cannot do. Jesus came to live for us, to be obedient for us, to choose us, to dedicate His life for ours. Jesus came to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus came to take our sins, all our sins and to pay the complete price for our sins so that nothing more need to be done. Indeed, the Gospel must predominate.
 

As we continue in this Lenten Season, we too rejoice in the Law that although it is for us Christians a guide, when we are in our sin it still continues to be a curb and a mirror showing us our sins and our part in putting Jesus on the cross. But even more we rejoice in our privilege to hear the Gospel, the Good News of God’s great love for us, of Jesus living for us, of Jesus paying the price for our sins, of Jesus giving us the forgiveness He earned and of our gift and promise of eternal life with Him in heaven. To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Dead and Alive - Fourth Sunday in Lent - March 10, 2024 - Text: Ephesians 2:1-10

Our text for this morning contains a very familiar verse and one that is particularly important for us as Lutherans, the verse which reminds us that we are saved by God’s grace, through the faith which He gives to us, and not by our works. This verse is one which is important to us and sets us apart from other religions, cults and sects and even from many other denominations. Not only is our text for this morning familiar, so are the Old Testament lesson and the Gospel lesson.
 

In the Old Testament lesson we hear the account of the grumbling of the children of Israel in the wilderness. As we follow the life of the children of Israel, we know that God took care of them, watched over them, provided for all their needs and yet, they still found things to complain about. In the Old Testament reading for today we hear them complaining about a lack of food and water, as if God had not provided these in the past and as if He would not continue to provide these for them now. They sound a lot like we sound today. God has provided for all our needs and yet, at times, we tend to doubt if He will continue to provide for our needs today and tomorrow. We would rather trust in ourselves than in Him. In the Old Testament reading we are introduced to what is called a type of Christ. A type of Christ is something which looks like Christ will look like when He comes. In the Old Testament reading the serpent is the type of Christ. The serpent is that thing which brought death, but is also that thing which would bring life. If a person was bitten by the serpent, the person would die, unless that same person looked at the image of the serpent on the pole which would then bring life to that person.
 

In the Gospel Lesson we are given what we call the antitype, that is Christ Himself. Christ is the antitype. Christ is a human being, as well as truly God. In Genesis we are reminded that  Adam, a human being, brought death into the world. In the Gospel lesson we are reminded of Christ, a human being, who brings life into the world. Thus, as a serpent brought death, so a man brought death and as one looked at the serpent on the cross to gain life, so we look at a man, Christ on the cross to gain life, eternal life. Paul expounds on this in our text for this morning when he reminds us that our salvation is ours by God’s free grace.
 

Paul begins by laying out our condition. We being with verse one, “1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (v. 1-3).
 

Paul reminds us that we are spiritually dead. We are conceived and born in sin. From moment of conception we are spiritually dead. And just as a physically dead persons cannot raise himself, so it is with spiritually dead people, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. Indeed and unfortunately there are those that would suggest that we are to reach out to God, we are to choose, accept, or do something, anything to save ourselves, which is just as impossible as it is for someone to raise themselves from the dead.
 

Not only are we spiritually dead, we are also spiritually blind. We are so wrapped up and involved in our sinfulness we cannot see how sinful we really are. We cannot see what is right or good. Indeed and again unfortunately there are those who do not see their spiritual blindness and so unwittingly lead others to think they can do something, even anything to bring themselves alive from spiritual death.
 

Thus, we are also enemies of God. If we are not for God, we are against Him. Paul says it this way, that we “follow the prince of the power of the air,” in other words, we follow Satan. Yes, we are enemies of God,  fighting against Him. This fighting against God is, or rather, happens before Christ has His way with us, in other words, this was our condition.
 

After laying out our condition, Paul lays out God’s rich mercy. We continue at verse four, “4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (v. 4-7).
 

God shows His great love for us in this that He raised us up with His grace and He did this while we were yet sinners. We talked about this a couple weeks ago, that is that someone might give their life for someone or some cause deemed worthy, but for someone or some cause deemed unworthy this would never happen. Yet, God shows His great love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, while we were sinning and fighting against Him, He gave His life for ours. This is just as John spells it out for us in our Gospel reading for this morning, the Gospel in a nutshell as we call it.
 

God in Christ has given His life for ours, yet God is not through with His giving. He also gives us faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. As we talked about last week and many times before, the greatest gift we are given is the gift of forgiveness of sins, because with forgiveness of sins is life and salvation.
 

And here, our Lord gives us a glimpse of His immeasurable riches in heaven. Our God is a gift giving God. He gives and we are given to. And when our Lord gives He does not give some now and hold off and give some more later. There are no conditions on His giving, that He will give us some now and if we do this or if we do that He will give us more later. No, our Lord always gives us the whole lot of His gifts and a whole lot more.
 

Finally, in our text for this morning we have the infamous words that remind us that we are saved by grace through faith. We pick up at verse eight, “8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (v. 8-10).
 

We are saved by grace and I do like how this is spelled out as, grace is “God’s riches at Christ expense.” God’s grace is His undeserved love. We do not deserve any of the gifts our Lord gives. As a matter of fact, this is what Paul is so well laying out for us, we are spiritually blind, spiritually dead and enemies of God. There is no reason we should imagine that God owes us anything. And the more sinful we realize we are, the greater God’s great grace is understood. Yet, as we know, God’s grace did not come without a cost. While it costs us nothing, it cost Christ His life.
 

We are saved by grace and through faith. This faith is something that is given to us as well, This faith is given through the means of grace and this faith is the instrument which grabs hold of and makes the rest of the gifts ours. Thus, we see that not only is faith important, but the object of faith is important. Not only does it matter that we believe, it also matters in whom we believe.
 

And finally, Paul does bring up the issue of good works. We are saved for a purpose, to do the good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do. Thus, we see that these are not good works we initiate, but these are good works which God initiates, which God works in and through us and which are done to His glory. Always the focus going back to our Lord. And what are these good works which God prepared in advance for us to do? They are works which the Holy Spirit works in and through us, so we can take no credit in these good works. They are good works which begin with loving God and loving our neighbor, and we show these good works by living confident lives of faith, that is by living with a joyous trusting attitude in all things. They are good works which include encouraging each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, encouraging each other in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. They are good works which include spreading the good news of Jesus. They are good works which give glory to our great Lord.
 

What Does This Mean? We live in a world in which many people are looking for meaning and purpose. For too long we have been taught, and unfortunately too many people believe, that we are simply a product of many thousands of accidents. Our Christian country has digressed to the point of no longer being a Christian country but in being a country in which there are some Christians. As we look at the three lessons for this morning and in particular as we look at these texts wrapped up in our text, Paul reminds us, as Moses does in Numbers and as John does in his Gospel, that we do have a purpose. Our purpose in life is first and foremost that God created us to love us. As we were reminded last week, parents do not have children in order to be served by them, but parents have children in order to love them, care for them and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, so our Lord created us, not to serve Him, as if He needs anything from us, but in order to love us, care for us and bring us up in His nurture and admonition.
 

God created us. We sin. God redeems us. God created us to love us and to do for us. At the same time, God redeemed us for a purpose, to do good works. But, lest we think in terms of our good works as something we do on our own, let us remind ourselves that our good works are good works because they are good works which He works in and through us. Remember Paul’s words, that these are good works which were prepared beforehand. God is the one who initiates. God initiated in the creation of the world. God initiated in our redemption. God initiates or gives us faith, bringing us from spiritual death to eternal life. And now we see that God initiated in our sanctification.
 

What a Great God we have. God does, God gives and we are done to and we are given to. And even when God does and gives, we continue to follow our former ways of resisting and sinning. We tend so much to be like the children of Israel. Thanks be to God that He does not and will not give up on us. Thanks be to God that He continues to do for us and give to us.
 

What a great trio of lessons we have again this morning. With God’s Word, we cannot go wrong. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” So that, “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us,” has taken care of everything. God gives and we are given to. Thanks be to God and to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Prayer - March 6, 2024 - Fourth Wednesday in Lent - Text: First Petition; Ps. 19:14; Matthew 6:5-15

Last week we continued our series on Lutheran Doctrine by hearing what we believe about the correlation of faith and works. Today we continue our series by being reminded of what we believe about the prayer. What is prayer? What is the best prayer and why the Lord’s Prayer is the best prayer? And the importance of prayer, not for God, but for us.
 

So, what is prayer? In confirmation class we define prayer as a heart to heart talk with God, anytime and any place. And we distinguish between prayer and a creed, as you might remember, we study the Ten Commandments followed by the Creed and then the Lord’s Prayer, so we distinguish between a creed and a prayer as such; a creed is a confession of faith. A prayer is simply speaking to God as we would speak to another person. I bring up this difference because on any given Sunday when we profess our faith using the creed many of us do so bowing our heads as if we are praying. And we can pray the creed, there is nothing wrong with that practice. However, perhaps we would do well to boldly hold up our heads and do as one of my friends said they do in their church, open the doors and confess and profess to the world.
 

But, I digress. A prayer is a heart to heart talk with God. I like the bumper sticker I once read that said, “As long as there are tests there will be prayer in public schools.” How true I am sure. A prayer does not necessarily have to be spoken out loud, although it is suggested by some that speaking our prayers out loud is a good habit as it helps us to hear what we are praying. To define prayer as a heart to heart talk with God helps us better understand that our prayer includes our thoughts as well as our words. Indeed, in my own life I often find myself in prayer, not out loud, but simply speaking to God as I walk or drive or whatever it is I may be doing.
  

Prayer is also a part of our conversation with God. A conversation is a two way path, God speaks to us through His Word, we speak to Him in prayer. We are reminded that God commands that we pray, but also He promises to hear our prayer and to answer our prayers. Although we often need to be reminded that sometimes God’s answer is “no.”
 

Prayer is a gift from God, given to us so that we might know His love for us and His desire to hear us. Because prayer is so important He even gives us the best prayer, His Prayer, the Lord’s Prayer as we call it. In the Lord’s Prayer, as Jesus taught His disciples and us to pray, at their request, Jesus gives us the very words to say and Jesus rejoices when we speak back to Him the very words He has given us to say, indeed, to pray the words of the Lord’s Prayer makes it the most perfect prayer because they are God’s perfect Word.
 

Yet, not only has God given us the most perfect prayer, He has also given us all of Scripture and especially the Psalms. When we may be having a difficult time we can read through the Psalms and we can find great prayers throughout the Psalms, prayers that express the thoughts and feelings that we are having, but are not sure how to express them.
 

And again, as I said, Jesus rejoices when we speak back to Him the Words He has given us to say. One of my favorite professors expressed that all words are Law words until Jesus makes them Gospel words. So, here in His prayer, throughout the Psalms, in all of Holy Scripture, Jesus gives us His Word, Gospel Words to speak and to pray back to Him. And He rejoices when we speak His Word, His perfect Gospel Word back to Him.
 

Along with God’s gifts of faith, forgiveness and life is His gift of prayer. As we navigate the struggles of this world we see the importance of prayer and we see our need to pray. Truly it is we who need this gift of prayer and that is why God gives us His gift of prayer. Because God is omniscient, all knowing, certainly we know that God’s knows what we need even before we pray, which may bring us to wonder why then do we pray? We pray because of our need to acknowledge such needs. We pray because of our need to pray.
 

It is the same with all that we do. We come to Divine Service because of our need to be given the gifts God gives in the Divine Service. While God might rejoice in our coming to Him to Divine Service and even to worship Him, He does not need our worship, as if it is our worship that keeps God going. Why do you thing we call our service, Divine Service, that is God service? Because first and foremost we come to be given to by God so that we might then be able to go out into the world and face the world for another week.
 

Again, all that we do, worship, pray, even bringing our firstfruits, tithes and offerings we do because of our need, our need to give, as a response of faith, we simply cannot help ourselves. God needs nothing from us. God does not need our prayers. God does not need our worship. God does not need our money. Why would we think that God would actually need anything from us? Speaking to the people on Mars Hill Paul expresses the fact that as the Creator of all, God needs nothing from us, rather He is the One who does all and gives all to us. As Luke relates the account, “22So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:22-25). God gives and we are given to and He even gives to us to respond because of our need to respond.
 

What does this mean? Prayer is another example of what a great God we have, what a loving God we have, what a gift giving God we have. God created us to love us and He does love us and He shows His love for us in all that He does for us and gives to us. God gives us His Word. The Word that God gives is a Word that effects, that does and gives what it says because it is a Word with power. When God says it, that settles it. God gives us His Word and His Word is the power in Holy Baptism, in Holy Absolution and in His Holy Supper.
 

God gives us His Word and today we rejoice that God gives us prayer, the privilege to communicate with Him, to speak to Him. He speaks to us and gifts us with all that He has to give through His Word and He gives us prayer to speak to Him responding in faith, acknowledging the gifts He gives and seek further gifts from Him, which is His greatest desire to give to us.
 

God gives us His Word. God gives us prayer. And because of our need to respond to all that He does for us and gives to us, God gives us, stirs in us, and rejoices when we respond with our prayers as well as our thanks and praise.
 

Growing up I was always a bit concerned about Paul’s words of encouragement writing to the Thessalonians. Paul says, “16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). I had a difficult time understanding how one can “pray without ceasing.” Now that I am older and life seems to be throwing more and more difficulties at me I can truly understand Paul’s exhortation. Indeed, I can truly say that my life is a life of “praying without ceasing,” as I find myself constantly during the day in prayer, that is in a silent, thoughtful, heart to heart talk with God, whether that be in the morning brushing my teeth, driving to work, driving to see a shut-in or to the hospital, in prayer seeking an answer in Bible Class, asking the Spirit for the Words while preaching. Yes, I can see my life as being in constant prayer and I rejoice in this most blessed and wonderful gift that God has given to us.
 

As we continue rejoicing in the gifts of God, I would encourage you as Paul does to “pray without ceasing.” Speak to God as you would speak to a friend. His desire is to hear you and His desire is to pour out on you all the gifts and blessings He has to give. To paraphrase James a bit, “You have not because you ask not.” Today we rejoice in this most wonderful gift of God, the gift of prayer and even more in the most perfect prayer, His prayer, the Lord’s Prayer. Thanks be to God for His gifts and love for us. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.