The “Magic Words” of a “Full Believer”

Let me begin with a story. Although this story is contrived, the message of the story is based on actual events.
 

While visiting with a friend, we were discussing the topic of believers, Christians. My friend told me that, when they are speaking with other friends and as they talk when the topic of one’s faith comes up, they ask if the person is a Christian. When they acknowledge that they are a Christian. I was a bit surprised my friend then added that they delve deeper to make sure the person is a believer. They “push” the point to see if the person has said the “believer’s prayer,” or as I call it, the “magic words.” If the person cannot tell them if and when they said the “believer’s prayer,” they judge the person as not being a “full believer.”
 

My first concern is how can someone be so judgmental; after all no one can look into another’s heart to see if they believe or not. Second, I am wondering what is a “full believer?” Having never said the “magic words” (prayed the “believer’s prayer”) myself, I do, however, almost every Sunday confess my faith with the Apostles’ Creed or Nicene Creed or Athanasian Creed. Even as the Apostle Paul tells us, “9if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:9–10). Notice he says nothing about a “believer’s prayer.” I would suppose in my friend’s eyes I would not be considered a “full believer,” whatever that means. I am guessing that a “full believer” would be someone who said the “magic words.”
 

So, let us compare and contrast the “magic words” of the “believer’s prayer” theology versus what the Bible say about faith. If the “believer’s prayer” is the magic bullet that makes one a “full believer,” that would mean a person can actually do something in order to be saved, in other words; their salvation is actually dependent on something they do. Unfortunately, if we look at God’s Word, nowhere does God give us the “believer’s prayer,” or tell us we are to do anything to gain, earn, or claim faith. As a matter of fact, the Bible actually tells us the opposite. To help us understand, we might ask, “Can a dead person bring himself back to life?” or “Can a drowning person save himself?”  Of course, we know the answer to both those questions is a resounding “NO!”
 

What does God tell us about our nature? “None is righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10 ). “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). So, God actually tells us that we, in and of ourselves, cannot say the magic words, the believer’s prayer. When Jesus was asking His apostles who others thought He was and then asked them pointedly, Peter answered, “And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven’” (Matthew 16:17). Notice, it was not Peter who was speaking, but God speaking through him. Also, Paul reminds us, “Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says ‘Jesus is accursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). Here again, our confession of faith is not from inside of us but comes from outside of us by the Holy Spirit working through the Means of Grace, the Word of God.
 

As far as one confessing their faith (not with some magic words), Paul reminds us, “9because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Rom. 10:9-10). The Greek word for “confess” is ὁμολογήσῃ - homolegeo and in verse ten it is a passive word, not active. In other words, again, it is the Holy Spirit giving us the words of confession.  And finally, John tells us, ”Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:15). So, when a person confesses faith, saying the creed, saying they are a Christian, who are we to judge that faith especially since we cannot look into their heart?

Passing Things - August 3, 2025 - Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 13) - Text: Luke 12:13-21

This Sunday, today, we continue in the Pentecost Season. For the last seven Sundays and for the next twenty-one or so Sundays, with a couple of exceptions, the color on the altar, the pulpit, the lectern and the banners will continue to be green. Green, you might remember, is the color of growth. The Pentecost Season is the time of the church year that we “grow” in our Christian faith and life. So, if you have been diligently following along each week you may have noticed the progression of events as the Holy Spirit, working through these words of Holy Scripture, works to strengthen and keep us in faith.
 

So I want to begin this morning with a little review of our Gospel readings over the past weeks to catch us up. Three weeks ago we were reminded, through the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan, that there is nothing we can do to gain or earn our salvation, eternal life, but that eternal life is a free gift, earned for us by Jesus’ death on the cross. Two weeks ago we were reminded, again through another familiar bit of Biblical history, through the account of Mary and Martha that there is one thing that is needful and that is immersing ourselves in the Word of God. It is this Word of God through which the Holy Spirit comes to give, strengthen and keep us in faith so that we have forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. Last week we were encouraged in our response to all that God does for us by being in conversation with the Lord, that is that He speaks to us through His Word and we speak to Him in prayer. This morning, again by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the very Word of God, through our text, we have another familiar Biblical account in which we are encouraged in our response of faith, this time our response of faith being in the giving of ourselves to the Lord. And yes, this is somewhat of a text on stewardship. Recently I read a statement that suggested that we are to give our LIFE to the Lord, that is that we give our Labor, Influence, Finances, and Expertise to the Lord. That is a nice way to think about our stewardship and especially as we would say our stewardship of our time, talents, and treasure and I would add, and tissue, that is taking care of our bodies as well. When we realize that everything we have is first and foremost a gift from God, how can we not be moved to acknowledge such gifts by a response of returning our first fruits to the Lord in thanksgiving.
 

But, let us get to our text. Our text begins with someone from the crowd asking Jesus a question. He asked, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Now, that may not sound like a question, but the heart of his words are that he is asking Jesus to be a judge between him and his brother. Jesus’ response is that this is a social matter, and that he should take it to the civil courts to be resolved.
 

But Jesus does not drop the issue. Instead, He uses question this as an opportunity for teaching. Jesus says to “Take care!” The issue of money, and of all the gifts which come from Him, our time, our talents, our vocation; is not an issue to take lightly. “Be on your guard against all covetousness” or as some translations say, “kinds of greed;” “for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Boy, do we not have a problem with that statement in our world today. In our world we learn from early on that you are nothing and your life is meaningless unless you have a career and are making a lot of money. Our lives consists in accumulating more and more, bigger and better, finer and costlier things. And that is exactly what we are accumulating, “things.” Please, do not misunderstand, the sin is not in the fact that we have things. The sin is in our greed and covetousness for more and more things. And to drive home His point, Jesus tells the parable of the rich man.
 

Jesus tells the parable, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16b-21).
 

In this parable we are reminded that it is God who provides for all our needs and even more. It is God who provided for a good crop for the rich man. God gave him the right amount of rain and sunshine, the good earth and good seed to plant. God gave for him to have an abundance of a good crop. God blessed this man and provided for him so that he might in turn provide for his family, his workers, their families and even for others.
 

Now think about your own life. Certainly we do not have to look hard to see how God has provided for us and for our families. God has given us certain abilities and talents in order to be able to perform certain tasks and works. He has provided us with a job or with work in order to earn a living. Through our work, job or career, that is through our various vocations God provides us with a wage so that we might be able to purchase food, clothing, shelter, even “all the comforts of home.” And, for most of us, God has so well provided for us that we have even more than we need and often more than we could want. Although having said that I know we can always want more.
 

And we have not yet mentioned that God has also provided for us the one thing that everyone needs, that is, He has provided for our forgiveness and our eternal inheritance. Left to ourselves and our own devices, we know that we are unable to save ourselves, we are unable to earn our eternal inheritance. Our eternal inheritance has been earned for us by Jesus’ life, suffering and death on the cross. Our eternal inheritance has been made ours by the Holy Spirit working through the means of grace to create, strengthen and keep us in faith. It is by God’s grace, through faith, given to us, that we have the gift and promise of eternal life. And it is the Holy Spirit, again, working through the means of grace who works in us a response to these gifts from God. What is that response? Let us continue and see.
 

In our text, the man’s response was one of selfishness. In his mind he was thinking, “this is my crop to do with as I please.” He was not thinking that this abundance was a gift from God. He had no thought of God’s providing him with good soil, good seed, rain and sunshine, and an abundance of the crop. No, he simply thought that this abundance was something he himself had accomplished. The man’s response, then, was one of covetousness and greed. He was not content with what he had, instead he wanted more. “I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones.”
 

What we can also see in this man’s response is a false security. He thought he could depend on himself and all that he had accumulated. His statement that he would, “Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry,” tells us that he had no thought or concern about his eternal life or his spiritual life and I would add he had no thought for others as well. Perhaps in the future, when he was old, then he would begin to think about an afterlife and where he might spend it.
 

What about you and me? What is our response? Is our goal in life to accumulate as much as we can so that we might “take life easy; eat, drink and be merry?” And please do not misunderstand, do not confuse planning for ones retirement and taking care of, as it might be expressed today, not being a burden as we get older, as what this text is speaking against. This text is not speaking against using our knowledge to take care of ourselves and our loved ones, rather this text is speaking against looking out for ourselves to the exclusion of taking care of the gifts that God has given and using them for the purpose in which He has given them, extending His kingdom and caring for others. If our only goal in life is ourselves, then we are in the same house with the rich man in the parable.
 

God’s response to the rich man and His response to those in our world who are only looking out for themselves is a call to judgement. Yes, we will be held accountable for our accounting, for our stewarding, for our taking care of all the good gifts and blessings our Lord has seen to put into our care. For the rich man and for too many in our world who refuse to offer a response of faith, God’s call is a call to eternal death, to hell. Again, verse twenty-one, “So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
 

Through all three of our readings for today, Jesus gives us an understanding concerning the gifts He gives us while we are in this world and how we are to use them. In our Old Testament reading we are reminded that there are treasures on earth but too often, we “gather and store up wealth [only] to hand it over to the one who pleases God.” How true it is that there are many who accumulate a large estate, only to die and have someone else spend it, because we know we cannot take it with us.
 

In the Epistle lesson, Paul reminds us that there are treasures in heaven and that is what should be our goal in life, gaining eternal life and those treasures waiting for us in heaven. Here we are reminded that our earthly treasures will last but a lifetime, twenty, thirty, sixty, eighty, maybe a hundred years, but our heavenly treasure, eternal life is forever.
 

In college, going through the teacher education courses and especially during student teaching, I was always reminded to “teach and re-teach.” It is this process of hearing the same lesson over and over again that we finally get it, that is why it is so important in our own lives to hear God’s Word, over and over again, not just once a week, but daily. It is through His Word that our Lord teaches us and re-teaches us. And the message He continues to drive home, to teach us, is the importance of immersing ourselves in His Word through which the Holy Spirit works to create, strengthen and keep us in faith; through which the Holy Spirit works to show us our Savior, Jesus Christ Himself and His life, suffering, death and resurrection, along with His gift of forgiveness and eternal life; and it is through His Word that the Holy Spirit works in order to motivate us to respond to all God’s good gifts and blessings. And we do respond. We respond in prayer and we respond in giving our LIFE, again, our Labor, Influences, Finances and Expertise, or as we often hear today, our time, talents and treasure. And we do this to His glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

I Have Come to Fulfill the Law - July 27, 2025 - Sixth Sunday after Trinity - Text: Matthew 5:(17-20) 21-26

This morning I want to begin by saying, “Thank goodness for the Epistle reading.” The Old Testament reading gives us the Moral Law, the Ten Commandments, and our text, the Gospel gives us or rather reminds us that Jesus has not done away with the Law. And yet, He also reminds us of the fact and joy that He has fulfilled the Law for us, in our place. We Lutheran Christians understand that the fullness of the Gospel is not simply that Jesus died and rose, but the fact that He actually lived for us. The perfect life demanded of us, the perfect life we cannot live on our own, He lived for us, in our place, so that when God looks at us He sees Jesus’ perfection in us. Thanks be to God.
 

Our text reminds of the importance of God’s Word, its efficacy and its unchangeableness. Beginning at verse seventeen, “17Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (v. 17-19). In verse seventeen we are reminded that we worship an unchanging God. Jesus came to fulfill all the Old Testament, He did not come to change it or to abolish it. Jesus did not come to change or do away with the Ten Commandments, He came to fulfill them. He did not come to change or do away with the tithe, He came to fulfill it. He did not come to change or do away with any part of the Old Testament, rather He came to fulfill the whole Old Testament.
 

Jesus’ words to us this morning remind us that none of Scripture has been changed or abolished. It is still all God’s Word. It is still God’s gift to us. All of scripture is valid for us today. I think we need these words of reminder as we defend our faith against those individuals and denominations who think they can vote on the truth and validity of God’s Word or of certain portions of God’s Word. It is becoming more and more difficult in our so called “tolerant” society to proclaim faith in a God who is intolerant of sin. It just does not make for good publicity. So what happens? People, individuals, and denominations begin to vote out the old, intolerant Word of God and vote in an new, user friendly God. If you do not like the Word of God, change it. Today we want to stay away from talking about the real needs of the people, sin and forgiveness, instead we want talk about their felt needs, how I can keep from feeling guilty about what I have been doing and what I am about to do without having to compromise doing what “comes natural.”
 

Of course, we may ask how can anyone do that, but it is really quite simple, instead of believing that the Bible is the Word of God, we will say that it contains the Word of God. Or we will say that some parts of the Bible are culturally or timely valid. In other words, we place ourselves over the Word of God as the authority and in essence we become our own gods, judging God’s Word and instead of allowing God’s Word to mean what it says. We say it means this or that, in other words, we make ourselves our own little gods determining what is God’s Word and what is not God’s Word. What happens is there are no longer any absolutes and truly, no longer a Word of God.
 

Jesus teaches us that to teach that some of Scripture is not of value is to be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Unfortunately, in our world today such a person who speaks against Scripture might be thought of as being a great thinker or as being innovative, but not so in God’s kingdom. As I read and reread these words of Jesus, I am reminded of the importance of the Word of God. It is the Word of God which is one means that He uses through which He gives us His good gifts and blessings; faith, strengthening of faith, forgiveness of sins, life in this world, eternal life and salvation. It is the Word of God which is His Word, which is an absolute, which is what permeates our time together in Divine Service. I will be the first to admit that my sermon is not the most important part of our divine service. Rather, it is the readings, the liturgy, confession and absolution, being reminded of our baptism, the Lord’s Supper, those parts of our service which are the means of grace are the most important parts of our Divine Service, because it is through His means of grace, His Word and Sacraments and confession and absolution that God gives us His good gifts and blessings. My sermon is only as effective as the Word which it proclaims.
 

Which brings us to the next verse of our text, the one that reminds us that there are two ways to get to heaven. Verse twenty, “20For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (v. 20). One way to get to heaven is by being perfect, that is by our own good works being perfect, which means that because of the sin that is born in us, we would be doomed from the start if we tried to be saved by our own good works. Which leaves the only other way of salvation which is God’s free grace and favor. The example that Jesus gives is that of the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. Their righteousness was great in that they followed the letter of the law. However, theirs was a civil righteousness, not God’s righteousness. And their righteousness did not save them.
 

If we were to try to be saved by our own righteousness, we would be doomed as they, yet, Jesus reminds us that our righteousness does surpasses theirs, not because we are so good, but because of our faith in Him. By faith in Jesus, faith which He gives to us, God’s righteousness, Jesus’ perfection, is made our righteousness. Again, God’s righteousness is made ours by faith in Jesus. Thus, it is God’s righteousness that works in us so that we do the good works which He has prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10). And they are truly good works because they are motivated by Him, done in and through us by Him, and done to His glory. And truly, these are the good works that more often than not we are not aware that we are doing.
 

Continuing on to our text Jesus speaks to us about the fifth, sixth and second commandments. Listen carefully, because Jesus’ point is not so much the commandment as it is in the way we sin against these commandments. And the way we sin against these commandments is not necessarily the way you and I might think. Jesus begins by saying, “you have heard that it was said,” meaning that we have heard from the Pharisees and teachers of the law and implying that their words might not be completely reliable. We pick up at verse twenty-one, “21You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother  will be liable to judgment; whoever insults  his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell  of fire. 23So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny” (v. 21-26).
 

Now, let us put Jesus’ words into our modern language and I hope this is something that you learned in catechism class. Jesus says, you have heard it said that the fifth commandment refers only to actual killing, or murder but I am here to tell you that the fifth commandment refers not only to actual killing, not only to murder, but also to anger, to name calling, and to angry cursing. In other words, killing and murder is merely the final stage of sin, sin which began in one’s heart. Sin which began with anger, then escalated to name calling, grew more intense with angry cursing, and ended with actual murder. Jesus’ words remind us that all sins, no matter how small we might think they are, are sin. For Jesus, there is no degree of sin. Maybe you have heard it said this way, in God’s eyes, a sin is a sin is a sin.
 

Jesus reminds us that we sin not just in our actions, by what we do or do not do. You might remember that we sin sins of commission, when we do an actual sin and we sin sins of omission when we sin by not doing something we should be doing. Not only do we sin in action but we also sin in our words and in our very thoughts. Sin has its beginning in our heart, in our thoughts, in our mind and soul. Jesus reminds us that all sins, no matter how small we may think they are, all sins are serious offenses in deed, in word or in thought, so much so that it might hamper one’s own worship.
 

With our sins in mind Jesus reminds us with His “therefore,” therefore Jesus says we are to settle our earthly accounts of conflict before attempting to bring an offering to His altar. Yes, you heard Jesus right. If you are about to put your offering in the offering basket and you remember that you have sinned against someone, or that someone has sinned against you and those sins have not been reconciled, do not put your offering in the basket. Here again we are reminded that our giving back to the Lord is a privilege. And Jesus continues by telling us that we are to settle our earthly accounts of conflict lest, ultimately, they are carried over into heaven where we will have to settle them before the eternal judge.
 

I guess by now we have all been convicted by the words which Jesus has for us today, which is the point of Jesus’ words of law, to convict us. Jesus words remind us that we daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness, which, again, is the point of the law, to show us our sins and how sinful we truly are. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law tried to narrow the definitions of the commandments in order to convince themselves that they were able to keep them. Thus, if we are able to keep the commandments ourselves, we have no need for God. Jesus broadens the definitions of the commandments showing us how sinful we are so that we clearly see our need for a Savior. Fortunately for us, Jesus is also the one who is giving us His Word and His Word includes words of “Your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more.”
 

Jesus created us to love us. Jesus came into our world to live for us, to deliver us from sin, death and the power of the devil. He did that, delivered us from sin, death and the power of the devil by living the perfect life demanded of us for us, in our place, and by sacrificing Himself on the cross for us, in our place. And now He works in us, through His means of grace, the Word and the sacraments, to help us to overcome the temptations of the devil, the world and our own sinful nature. It is Jesus who reminds us that sin begins in the heart, and it is Jesus who works in our hearts to overcome sin and temptation. It is Jesus who reminds us that we are not perfect and as long as we are on this earth we will not be perfect, and it is Jesus who reminds us that He has overcome the world. Each day then, we wake up, we remember our baptism, we remember that we have been washed by Jesus, we have been forgiven. Each day we get a fresh start because all our sins have been paid for and Jesus will help us to go out and sin no more. Strengthened by Jesus’ Word, we go out in faith and confidence and live lives that say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Promise of the Helper - June 1, 2025 - Seventh Sunday of Easter - Text: John 15:26-16:4

Today is the Seventh Sunday of Easter meaning that next Sunday we will celebrate the Pentecost of our Lord and we will rejoice in God’s sending of the Holy Spirit. You remember the Holy Spirit, the person of the trinity of which we rarely like to speak and I would suggest for good reason. Too often in our world today the Holy Spirit is misrepresented, misunderstood, and miss proclaimed. This morning in our text Jesus is preparing His Apostles for the sending of the Holy Spirit and is giving them a bit of a better understanding of the Holy Spirit before He is given.
 

Our text begins with Jesus teaching concerning the Holy Spirit, 26“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
 

Jesus begins by telling us that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. Perhaps this image of Truth might remind you of Jesus’ response to the Jews, “31So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” (John 8:31-33).
 

Or perhaps this image of Truth might remind you of Jesus’ Jesus’ response to Thomas: “6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7).
 

Or perhaps this image of Truth might remind you of Jesus before Pilate when Jesus said, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” (John 18:37b-38a).
 

Jesus is the Truth and as you may or may not have heard the adage, “No (N-O) Jesus, No Truth, Know (K-N-O-W) Jesus, Know Truth.” Indeed, apart from Jesus there truly is no such thing as truth. Have you ever wondered why our world has such a problem with truth? Today truth is said to be relative and there are no absolutes. What may be true for me may not be true for you and vica versa. Have you ever wondered why someone is more interested in truth than facts? Because facts can be explained away according to my own truth. It is no wonder we have such a problem because our world has become so Jesus-less it is quite truth-less.
 

Continuing on, Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father (and the Son), as we proclaim in the Nicene Creed. Of course we want to be careful so as not to misunderstand the Holy Spirit and our Triune God for that matter. We certainly believe that our God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three equal persons in one eternal Godhead. And we do not want to gravitate to any form of Modalism, such that God came first in the from of the Father, then the mode of the Son and now the mode of the Holy Spirit. Rather, Jesus is speaking of the fact that although the Holy Spirit was at work even in the Old Testament, now He will be the primary one at work in our New Testament times.
 

Moving on in our text, Jesus speaks of the persecution of the Apostles “1I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me” (John 16:1-3).
 

Jesus gives quite a warning to His Apostles and I might add, to us today. They will be put out of synagogues. Now, that might not sound so bad to us today, but in the days of the Apostles to be put out of the synagogue was tantamount to excommunication. Of course, the Apostles and we today understand that because of Jesus’ defeat of sin, death and the devil, because Jesus fulfilled all the Law and prophets perfectly, the symbol of the synagogue no longer had the meaning it once had. Even Martin Luther was excommunicated by the Roman church. Yet, for the Apostles to be put out of the synagogue could mean a separation from family and friends.
 

But their difficulties would not simply be being put out of the synagogue, but also the possibility and the eventuality of their being murdered. And we do know that all the Apostles, except John were persecuted and died a martyrs death.
 

Jesus tells the Apostles that people will persecute them because they will be believing they are doing God a favor. Very much like the Apostle Paul himself who was out persecuting the early Christian church because he believed they were a false church, that they were blaspheming God. And I would say, just like many people in our world today who are constantly bombarded with false, misleading lies about Christians and the Christian church there are Christians around the world who are being martyred for their faith. Fortunately, for us here in America our persecution is not necessarily so open. Today our persecution is more subtle and yet I would say it may get worse in the near future.
 

Thanks be to God that Jesus goes on to give words of courage, “But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you (John 16:4). We might say that Jesus is speaking to preempt the fears of His Apostles. Jesus is warning them of the persecutions they will be facing. His intent in not to discourage them because He has a great task laid out for them. He will be sending them out to bear witness of what they have seen, the initiation of the end times. They have seen Jesus as He lived the perfect life demanded of us, took our sins, paid the complete price for our sins and the sins of the world, and rose from the dead. And they will be taking that message to others, many who will reject that good news.
 

So, Jesus is offering encouragement now because as He tells them, before He sends the Holy Spirit He was with them, but when the Holy Spirit comes He will no longer be with them physically. Although He will continue to be watching over them, ruling over them, and interceding for them.
 

What does this mean? First and foremost it means that today we have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is with us. As we learn in catechesis the Holy Spirit is God with all the attributes of God. He is everywhere present. He is all powerful. He is almighty. And so He is with us, as we hear, where two or three are gathered together in my name I am with you.
 

The Holy Spirit is with us and He is working in and through us. How does the Holy Spirit work? First and foremost the Holy Spirit works through means, namely the means of grace, the Word, Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and the Holy Supper. This working through means is His usual way of working with us. Now, although working through means is His usual way of working with us that does not mean He cannot work otherwise, after all He is God and can do whatever He wants to do, but His usual way is through means, thus the importance of the means of grace.
 

Just to be clear, the Holy Spirit’s usual way of coming to us is through means. We call that mediately or through a mediator of sorts, Word and Sacrament. He does not usually come to us immediately that is directly as in a dream or vision or voice and again that is not to say He cannot come in those ways. However we are also told that we are to test the spirits to see if they are from God or not. Thus, when anyone speaks of an immediate speaking of the Holy Spirit my response is to test the spirit. If what is said contradicts what God says elsewhere, then that is not the Holy Spirit. If it is in agreement, then maybe. Yes, I will always be a skeptic.
 

One good test of the spirit, is the fact that the Holy Spirit always points to Jesus, never Himself, which is why we do not hear much about Him. The Holy Spirit points to Jesus through the Word, and in particular the Word in flesh, Jesus Himself. He points to Jesus through the Word in Holy Absolution as the one forgiving us, in Holy Baptism as the one who’s name is put on us and in the Holy Supper as we partake of Jesus’ body and blood.
 

How is this done? How does the Holy Spirit go about His work? The Holy Spirit works through means, in particular through the means of grace. Thus, first and foremost we should see the necessity of our coming to Divine Service and Bible Class so that we might be given the gifts the Holy Spirit has to give. Our desire as Christians is to making regular and diligent use of the means of grace, that is to be where and when the gifts of God are being given out. The gifts of faith, forgiveness, strengthening of faith, life and salvation. It is only as we are filled and refilled each and every Sunday, yes, each and every day through our own personal reading of God’s Word, our own personal and family devotions, that we are and can be filled. I liken this filling to God being a never empty vessel and we are cups who are filled every time we make use of the means of grace. However, should we be filled and then absent ourselves, just like a cup of water will evaporate, so when we absent ourselves from the means of grace our faith may evaporate as well. Indeed, it is only as we are filled that we will ever reach a point that we overflow and then we too become instruments to carry out the means of grace, the Word of God to others.
 

Which brings us to God’s desire that we are always ready to give an answer for the hope that we have. Paul says that we are to be ready to give an apology which means a defense. And yet, he tells us that this defense is not something we try to force on others, but is what we are to be ready to offer when we are asked. And he says to do it with gentleness. As we live lives of faith. As we live as priests in the priesthood of all believers. As we offer our lives as living sacrifices, other people see and notice that we are different. Ultimately they may ask, what is different about us. It is only as we have been filled with the gifts of God that we can be ready to give an answer. And as Jesus promised His Apostles so He promises us. He is with us. The Holy Spirit is with us. The Holy Spirit will give us the Words to speak, those words we heard in the Divine Service and Bible Class, those words we read in our devotions. The Holy Spirit will give us the words and the courage to speak those words. And the Holy Spirit will work and give faith, when and where He pleases. Ours is not to give faith, ours is simply to give an answer.
 

Next week we will celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit. This week Jesus is preparing us as He prepared His Apostles. We have the Holy Spirit. He is with us. We have the Truth, which sets us free. We live in a world in opposition to Jesus and thus in opposition to us. We have God’s Word which sets us free to be His people. And we have His promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us. This morning we are thus encouraged as we continue celebrating Easter that we worship a living God who has taken care of everything for us and gives everything to us. And He even gives us the joy of sharing that message of forgiveness and salvation to others. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Thoughts on a Lutheran Identity Vs. a Lutheran Confession

The following are my personal thoughts concerning the 2025 Texas District Convention Resolution 02-03-25: To Define and Affirm Lutheran Identity.

I am against the resolution. To quote from the resolution, “The Lutheran Church is not defined by cultural or national identity but by its confession of Christ and the pure teaching of His Gospel. To be Lutheran is to confess what the Scriptures teach and what the Church has always believed.” – Herman Sasse, Here We Stand: Nature and Character of the Lutheran Faith.

Unfortunately the overuse of the word “identity” has almost emptied it of its meaning. With that said, there is a distinct and great difference between one’s “identity” and one’s “confession.” Today anyone may identify as just about anything, a woman may identify as a man (however that does not change her XX chromosome to XY) and a man may identify as a woman (again that does not change his XY chromosomes to XX), and yet neither identity is true or real.

In the Lutheran Church and in our Confessions we do not use the term “identity,” but we use the word “confession” because to have a confession means so much more than simply to have an identity. To have a confession means that one not only confesses with their lips, but believes in their heart and that belief is then acted out and seen in their life. Thus, a true confession is a combination of faith and life or better said, doctrine and practice. For one to practice something different than their doctrine or to simply say they identify as something means that they are truly not confessing. As mamma always said, “Practice what you preach.” Or as we hear today, “If you’re gonna talk the talk, then you better walk the walk.”

Unfortunately, this denominational identity seems to be as divisive as identity politics. Also, as memory serves, it was during the Seminary Walkout that the one group wanted to have a Lutheran “identity” very much like we heard in recent times from Concordia Austin. Yet, simply to have a Lutheran “identity” does not mean one is a confessional Lutheran. One example of how this is happening and is so divisive in our synod today is what happens on Sunday mornings. Back in the early 1980s this Texas District was involved in the Chuck and Win Arn Church Growth movement. That movement defined what was done on Sunday morning as worship and suggested that in worship God was the audience, the congregation were the actors, the pastor and choir were the prompters, thus, if not outright stating, it was implied that people were to attend worship in order to do something for God and thus needed to have a part in the worship service, such as read the lessons, be in the praise band or the drama team, etc. As confessional Lutherans we understand that what we do on Sunday morning is Divine Service wherein God is the actor and the congregation are the ones being acted on and given to, such that the called and ordained pastor is the one through which God works to deliver the gifts He has to give and the laity are there to be given to. The response of the laity is simply to offer hymns (good sound theological hymns), offer prayers, and offer their firstfruits and tithes (which were hopefully the same). So, we see in this example the difference between an identity and a true confession which is acted out.

Finally, to quote again from the resolution, “The Lutheran Church is not defined by cultural or national identity but by its confession of Christ and the pure teaching of His Gospel. To be Lutheran is to confess what the Scriptures teach and what the Church has always believed.” - Herman Sasse, Here We Stand: Nature and Character of the Lutheran Faith. Notice the difference in the words, identity and confession. So, to simply identify as a Lutheran does not make one a Lutheran. Only to confess with the lips and live that confession makes one a true Lutheran.

It Is Done - May 18, 2025 - Fifth Sunday of Easter - Text: Revelation 21:1-7

So, when I sit down to write a sermon (and no, we do not get our sermons from Synod and someone once actually asked me that question) after thirty years of preaching, I have seen every text at least three times, anyway, I always pull up my work from the last time I preached on the text. When I pulled up the work from nine years ago the title was “It Is Done,” and I thought that would be a great title for my last official sermon here at St. Matthew. As usual, I think God has an interesting sense of humor in that the timing of this text was such that the title would be so fitting.
 

But, getting to today. I know we have heard the saying, because I have said it before, that goes something like this: “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” Unfortunately, as you hear me rail in Bible Class so often, why are we interjecting ourselves into the equation, as if we have something to do with anything. The more correct saying would be: “God said it, that settles it.” Our belief or unbelief has no affect on what God says or does. If I deny the existence of China, that does not mean it does not exist. If I say I believe in fairies, that does not mean they exist. In our text for today, as we continue on in the Revelation of John we see, as always, God’s Word does what it says, and gives the gifts He speaks.
 

John begins by describing the new heaven and the new earth, “1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (v. 1-4).
 

In the beginning God created the first heaven and earth. The heaven and earth God initially created was perfect and holy. As we read of God’s creating in the first two chapters of Genesis we hear that as God is the one doing the doing, everything is perfect and holy. When we get to chapter three we hear of Adam and Eve and when Adam and Eve hit the scene that is when everything which God created as perfect and holy becomes imperfect and cursed. Thus, God’s perfect creation fell into sin, and is perfect no more.
 

In his vision John now sees the new heaven and the new earth which will be without sin. When God created all things out of nothing His intent was for all things to remain without sin. We see God’s great love, however, in the fact that even though He knew what was going to happen, what we call His Divine foreknowledge, even knowing He would have to suffer and die for His creation, He created all things anyway. Now as we approach the end of His revealed Word to us, He speaks to us of what will happen in the end, that is that He will make all things new.
 

John sees how God will dwell with man once again. Remember how in the Garden of Eden we are told that Adam and God had a very intimate relationship. God and Adam would walk together in the Garden. After the fall into sin and the curse, the relationship of God and man has been tenuous at best. After Adam broke his perfect relationship with God, having been cursed, the sin of Adam has been passed down from generation to generation so that even today man’s relationship with God is tenuous at best. Yet, because of Jesus, because of His perfect life for us in our place, because He took our sins and paid the price for our sins, because He died and rose thus earning forgiveness for us and restoring our relationship with Himself, even with God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit our hearts are being renewed daily. So, John speaks of what he sees in his vision and tells us that in the end God will once again dwell with us.
 

And we might, I think, obviously surmise that it will be a place of perfection. God is perfect and holy. God dwells in perfection and holiness. Where God dwells is perfection, thus as God dwells with man once again it will be a place of perfection.
 

John goes on to tell us that he was told to write this down, “5And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (v. 5). As we began so we hear from the one speaking to John, God said it and that settles it. God is the one speaking. God is the one who makes all things new. In heaven there will be no more sin.
 

John, the same John who wrote the Gospel of John in which many times he refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved, and as he bears witness that his testimony is true, even as he speaks of Jesus own testimony that He is truth, indeed, the Way, the truth and the life, he is told to write this down, because it is trustworthy and true, that is as we say, God’s Word is efficacious it does what it says and gives the gifts of which it speaks.
 

Finally he says, it is done, “6And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son”(v. 6-7).
 

It is done. As we heard Jesus say on the cross, “It is finished,” so He declared that the sins of all people, of all places, of all times had been paid for. The price for sin, death, eternal death and hell has been paid for by Jesus’ suffering and dying. Indeed as we hear declared here again in this revelation to John, it is done, all sins have been forgiven. Notice this is an already accomplished, past action, completed action. Nothing more needs to be done, as if there is anything we need to do or can do. And so as began saying it is not necessary that we believe it for it to be done and true. All sins have been paid for because Jesus paid the price, because we are declared forgiven and so as God declares it is accomplished. You are forgiven, thanks be to God.
 

As we laid out a few weeks ago, Jesus is alpha and omega, beginning and end, even without beginning or end, there at the creation of the world and here at the end of the world, or better said here at the beginning of eternity. Jesus is the alpha and the omega, the one who died and has been raised to life. Jesus is God in flesh who accomplished all things for us.
 

Jesus gives eternal life, as He is the one who paid the price for our sins in order to earn eternal life for us. We do nothing to gain eternal life. We do nothing to earn eternal life. Eternal life is a gift given to us by the one who earned and paid for it, Jesus. Indeed, we come before our Lord as wretched beggars. He is the one who scoops us up our of the muck and mire of our own sin. He washes us in His blood and robes us with His robes of righteousness. He makes us His own through the waters of Holy Baptism and His Holy Word. He gives us eternal life.
 

Yet not just to us for He gives this inheritance of eternal life to all who believe. As we have heard many times, we are the true children of Abraham, the true Israel, not by DNA, but by faith. God’s covenant first given in Eden, to Adam and Eve, before there ever was a Jew or Gentile, His covenant reiterated to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and so forth was always a covenant of grace, always pointing to Jesus. God said it and that settles it.
 

What Does this mean? I attended college enrolled in the teacher education program. Having taken many methods of teaching classes and student teaching and one phrase that continually sticks in my mind is that the best way to teach is to teach and reteach, in other words to teach the same thing over and over until it is mastered. The reason we attend Divine Service and Bible class every week is because we so easily forget. Thus we need the constant reminder of God’s love and forgiveness for us. This morning John, through his vision reminds us once again of the fact that in the beginning God created all things perfect and holy and man sinned.
 

As we approach the end of God’s revealed Word of Holy Scripture, in this book of revelation of the vision to John we hear what John sees which is God’s recreation, that is the fact that Jesus has paid the price for sin, for all sin, for all people, and most especially for your sin and mine. In the Gospel reading for this morning, John’s Gospel nonetheless, we are reminded of Jesus’ words to love one another. Indeed, as we hear these words most certainly they remind us of how much we fail. Time and again we fail to love one another. And as I have said many times, it is only as we see just how sinful we truly are that we can then truly understand how gracious and loving God truly is. The less sinful we are the less we think we need Jesus and truly the more we simply think we can rely on ourselves, which leads only to death. The more sinful we realize we are the more we understand how much Jesus has suffered and forgiven and the more we understand God’s grace and love.
 

John sees the end. Johns sees God recreating, making a new heaven and a new earth. John sees how God makes all things new, like in the beginning, except this time God will not allow for sin and a curse. God creates everything new, perfect and holy and dwells with us in perfection and holiness.
 

God gives eternal inheritance to all who believe. Heaven is not a matter of DNA. It is not a matter of who are your parents. It is not a matter of having your name on the roles of a congregation, especially if you never step foot in the door of that congregation. It is not a matter of what you know rather it is a matter of who knows you, who has redeemed you, who has given you faith, and who gives you eternal life, Jesus.
 

As we read and hear John’s words we know that we can believe his words because they are God’s words and He is faithful and true. And it is not a matter of our believing that make it faithful and true, rather it is a matter of the fact that He said it that makes it faithful and true. God said it and that settles it because He is all powerful and gives what He says and makes what He says happen.
 

This morning on my last official Sunday here at St. Matthew Lutheran Church of Westfield I might say, “It is done.” My work here is complete, but as are all things earthly, God’s work in this place will continue and I most certainly believe that as the members of this congregation continue to be about the Lord’s business, continue steadfast in the Apostles’ Doctrine, the breaking of bread and prayers, the Lord will continue to bless you, as He has blessed and sustained you for the past 125 years. Your work, God’s work, even my work will continue until the Lord returns and as I have said time and again, each day we live moves us one day closer and it will happen. We will each meet the Lord either at our own passing or when He returns and yes, that day will be sooner than we know and sooner than we can imagine. As I said last week so I repeat, the main thing in this life is being ready for the life to come. No matter what we may believe are our accomplishments in this world, none of that will matter in heaven. It is all about Jesus. And I have to say it one more time, as you always hear me say, we get it right when we point to Jesus. God said it, that settles it. It is done. Come Lord Jesus, come quickly. To God be the glory. Amen.

Washed in the Blood of the Lamb - May 11, 2025 - Fourth Sunday of Easter - Text: Revelation 7:9-17

Let me begin by wishing our mothers a happy Mother’s Day. We are glad you are here and we rejoice in your most blessed vocation of being a mother.
 

Thus, we might say how fitting is our text for this morning as we continue our look into heaven. We see, again, the enumerable number of people in heaven, not only the four creatures, the twenty-four elders, the enumerable number of angels, but also the enumerable number of Christians. We see them wearing white robes and holding palm branches. We hear them sing. We see how, even John, is unable to answer the question from God concerning what he is seeing, so he refers the question back to God answering, “Sir, you know.” John’s answer reminds us that we do not need to know all the answers to all the questions about God or about the Bible, rather we need to realize that God is so much bigger than we are and He does know all the answers. Which in turn encourages us to continue steadfast in the Apostles’ Doctrine to learn more about Him and be strengthened in our faith.
 

Our text begins with John telling us that he sees “a great multitude that no one could number.” These words remind us that the reference to 144,000, mentioned in the verses at the beginning of this chapter, as being the number of people in heaven, is not a counting figure, but is a symbolic figure. The 144,000 means the Old Testament believers from the twelve tribes of Israel times (X) the New Testament believers from the twelve apostles times (X) the number of completion, ten, cubed (v.9-10). In other words, the number 144,000 is what John is seeing, that is a great multitude, all believers who ever lived, from Old and New Testament times. Everyone who believes in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is included in the great multitude, and in the 144,000. We, you and I are included in that 144,000.
 

Their song reminds us that salvation is given by God to those who believe. Salvation is not something we get. It is not something we earn. It is not something we claim for ourselves. Salvation belongs to God. It was earned by Him and it is given out by Him. It is given by His grace through faith in Jesus. And it is given out through the means of grace, His Word and sacraments.
 

The song of the great multitude is followed by a song by the angels, elders and four living creatures and it is again a sevenfold song of praise. We are told that “they fell on their faces before the throne” (v. 11b). They fell down in fear, in awe and in respect. In the Old Testament we are often told of people falling prostrate before the Lord, or a king or whoever. To fall prostrate means to fall on your face, completely flat, face down on the ground. This falling is a posture of complete submission. Thus, even the angels, elders and four living creatures recognize Jesus as Lord and fall down in complete submission to Him. And they sang another sevenfold song of blessings, something like the song in last week’s reading, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen” (v. 11- 12).
 

They worshiped and said “Amen!” They spoke the word which reminds us that God is faithful. In His faithfulness He remembered His promise to send a Savior, Christ the Lord. In His faithfulness Jesus came to earth to live perfectly. In His faithfulness Jesus fulfilled all God’s laws and prophecies, perfectly and completely. In His faithfulness Jesus took our sins, your sins and my sins and the sins of all people, on Himself and He suffered and paid the price for our sins. In His faithfulness He gave His life for ours on the cross. And in His faithfulness He rose from the dead, victorious over sins, death and the devil. In His faithfulness Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to bring us to faith, to give us faith, and to keep us in faith until He comes again.
 

John is then questioned by one of the elders. He asks, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”(v. 12-17). John rightly answers, “Sir, you know.” John does not know and so he turns the question back to the man who asked so that he might get an answer. The answer is that they are those who have suffered for their faith. The word in our text that is used for tribulation is the same word that Jesus used when He said that we would have trouble in this world, but we are to take heart, because He has overcome the world. This trouble, this tribulation that we suffer is what we have suffered since the fall into sin in the Garden of Eden. To be a Christian means that you inevitably suffer trials and tribulations.
 

You might think of it this way, the devil does not spend as much time working on those he already has. Why should he if they already belong to him? Instead, he spends his time working on those he does not have. Which means that if you are not suffering from the trials and tribulations of the devil you might want to take a hard look at yourself to make sure that he does not have you already [smile :)]. And yet, we have to admit that we do daily fall for the lies and temptations of the devil. We daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness. We daily become the means and instruments the devil uses, not only for our own sin, but for the sin of others. Here again, that is why we come to Divine Service every Sunday, in order to confess our sins and hear our Lord’s most beautify words of absolution, that our sins are forgiven.
 

The elder continues by saying that these are they who “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.” It is faith in Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, the shedding of His blood that brings the white robes of righteousness. By faith in Jesus, we stand before God in His perfection, in His white robes of righteousness.
 

“Therefore,” the elder says, meaning, as a result of Jesus redeeming work, because Jesus shed His blood on the cross, by faith in Him, therefore, salvation comes to those who believe. The perfect bliss of the redeemed people of God is described in the next series of ten statements. Remember too, that the number ten is the number of completeness and perfection and so we are reminded by these ten statements that there is complete release from all evil and complete fullness of joy which is ours, given to us by God in heaven.
 

The first three lines describe the blessedness of the redeemed who stand in the presence of God spending their days and nights in service to Him. Their service is a worship service, time spent in praise and adoration to Jesus.
 

The next four lines speak about the freedom we Christians have from the effects of sin. The curse which was placed on all creation in the Garden of Eden is now broken. In heaven there is no hunger, no thirst, no begin beaten down by the sun.
 

The final three lines describe heaven in positive terms. We are reminded first that Jesus is the Good Shepherd as we read in the Gospel lesson for today. Jesus compares us to His sheep and He is our Shepherd. He leads us beside the quiet waters as we read in the Psalms. Jesus is the living water. We are Baptized into faith through water. We need water to live. Jesus is that living water for us. And with God there will be no suffering, no more tears. Heaven is a place of complete and unending joy.
 

This morning we get another glimpse of heaven. We are reminded that heaven is a gift, given by God, earned by Jesus’ death on the cross and the shedding of His blood. We are reminded that heaven is a place of forever joy. And we are reminded that heaven is a place of forever worship.
 

Again, the question we might ask ourselves this week is “are we ready?” If you ask young people “are you ready to go to heaven?” Many times you will get the answer, “Yes, I am ready, but I would rather grow up before I go.” How often do we find ourselves answering in like manner. “I think I am ready for Jesus to come again, but I would rather get done doing the things I think I need to do here on earth.” I think that begs the question even more. Are we ready? Are we ready if we believe that there is more for us to do on this earth than to get ourselves ready for Jesus’ coming? And maybe spending time getting others ready. I wonder if we are ready as we continue to keep our focus on the things of this world instead of focusing on things heavenward.
 

To help us know if we are ready, perhaps we would do well to ask the question, why are we here? Why are we here as a church, even as a Christian congregation, St. Matthew Lutheran church? Are we here to be self-serving? Are we here to only to be an outreach post? Might I suggest that we are here for a three-fold purpose. We are here for the sake of encouraging and building up each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, in other words, we are here for our own faith and to be strengthened in our own faith. Of course that means, as you hear me so often say, making regular and diligent use of the means of grace, being in Divine Service and Bible class, every Sunday, in order to be strengthened. We are also here to extend God’s kingdom in this place. We are here as an outreach post in order to invite others, our unchurched family and friends and the community to come and see the Lord, to come and be given faith, to come and be a part of His family. And we are here to give praise and glory to His holy name. As we go about the business of being the church in this place, perhaps at every meeting, and concerning all the decisions we make we should ask the question, “How is what we are doing encouraging and building up the body of Christ? How is what we are doing helping to reach out to share the Gospel with others? How is what we are doing giving glory to God?” And if we cannot answer those questions or if we cannot answer them in a God pleasing way, them maybe we need to rethink what we are doing? Our time on this earth is short. Now more than ever is the time to be about the Lord’s business.
 

When I was attending the Seminary, one of my classes followed chapel. Every morning we had chapel at 9 a.m. It was a short service in which we heard the Word of God and sang some hymns. The professor in our class that immediately followed chapel, noticed that some of the men from our class were not making it to chapel, but were missing for some reason. He chastened us one morning by using the following words, “Gentlemen, receive the gifts.” So, too, I come to you and as I come to you I ask you to share these words especially with those who are not here, those who are rejecting the gifts. Ladies and gentlemen, receive the gifts. Because it is only through the gifts God gives, the gifts of His Word and Sacraments and the gifts given through His Word and Sacraments that He can prepare us for Jesus’ coming. And now more than ever is the time to be prepared. And, as the angels and elders and the four living creatures say, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen” (v. 12). Amen.

May 2025 Newsletter - Last Newsletter for St. Matthew Lutheran Church of Westfield as Senior Pastor

May 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As I conclude my 23 years of service here at St. Matthew I would like to use this last newsletter article to highlight the top ten lessons I hope and pray you have learned over all these years.

10.    I have sought to continually inform and instruct you as to the business of our Synod, that is our national church body as well as our District. I have done so with the goal that you should know what is being proposed and accomplished within the church body with which this congregation has agreed to walk together (which is what synod means, walking together).

9.    I have encouraged you to understand that caring for one another in a congregation is not simply one person’s responsibility, but it is the joy and privilege of being a member of a church family to speak well of one another, as well as the congregation as a whole, and to share in what we call the mutual consolation of our brothers and sisters in Christ by building each other up and caring for one another. As I have said, if you see some in need, seek to be God’s helper; do not simply think that someone else might do it.

8.    I have encouraged you in your life of witness and evangelism reminding you that “as you are going,” that is as you are living your life in your various vocations, you have God’s authority to speak His Word, so that as you are asked, you can give an answer for your faith and hope in Christ Jesus, knowing you have God’s promise that He will give you not only the courage, but also the words to speak.

7.    I have encouraged you in your faith life and stewardship reminding you that God is the Author and Perfecter of our faith. God gives first, and He gives us His best. Our response of faith is just that, a response of faith. As we learn the joy of first fruits giving and especially of tithing, we will see that we cannot out give God. We will also begin to understand that our response of faith in our giving is just that, a response of faith. We first acknowledge that all we have has been first given to us by God, so our offerings (of our time, talent, and treasures) are simply our thankful response to God’s giving and a step in faith believing God will continue to bless us.

6.    I have sought to teach you and encourage you in understanding the importance of making regular and diligent use of the Means of Grace, meaning every Sunday and every day. I have encouraged you to be not only in Divine Service on Sunday mornings but also to be in one or more of the weekly Bible Studies that are offered. I have reminded you that the more you learn about God, the more you realize there is so much more you do not know. And I have warned you that lack of regular and diligent use of the Means of Grace makes us weak and a target of Satan and his lies.

5.    I have taught and encouraged you to have a clear understanding that our doctrine (what we believe, teach and, confess) is seen as it should be in our practice (how we act out what we believe) and in particular in our practice of the Divine Service. We also understand that our practice informs our doctrine so that what our worship (noun) demonstrates is what we believe. Thus, on Sunday morning we do not worship (verb) as some others do believing that we are there to do something for God as if He is the audience and as if He needs us to do something for Him. Rather, we worship (verb) by coming to Divine Service to be given the gifts God has to give through His called and ordained servant, the pastor, and the response as laity is to offer hymns, prayers. and first fruits.

4.    I have reminded you that, as Lutherans, we have the clearest understanding that God’s usual way of dealing with us, of giving us the gifts He has to give is mediately, that is through means and in particular through the Means of Grace. This understanding does not negate the fact that God can come to us immediately, in a dream, in a voice, etc., but that is not His usual way. God gives us faith through His Word and Holy Baptism. God forgives our sins in Holy Baptism, through Holy Absolution, and in His Holy Supper. God strengthens and keeps us in faith through His Holy Word, through our remembering our Baptism, and through His Holy Supper.

3.    I have reminded you that, as Lutherans, we have the clearest understanding of Law and Gospel. The Law points us to ourselves showing our sins (mirror), keeping us on the straight and narrow (curb), and instructing us in holy living (guide). The Gospel points us to Jesus and tells us everything that Jesus has done and continues to do for us. The fullness of the Gospel is the fact that God created us to love us and that love is seen in the fact that Jesus lived for us, the perfect life demanded of us, in our place.

2.    I have encouraged and reminded you that we as Lutherans have the clearest understanding of Justification and Sanctification. We are justified in God’s eyes, by His Grace through the faith He has given us, in Jesus. We are Sanctified in that we are made holy and lead holy lives as the Holy Spirit stirs in us and moves in us, and as we live lives as priests as living sacrifices, always being ready to give an answer for the hope that we have in Jesus, we do so to the glory of God.

1.    I have continually sought to remind you that we get it right when we point to Jesus. When we point to ourselves, we are talking “Law talk,” and the Law does not save us. When we point to Jesus, we are talking Gospel. We are saved, we are justified, and we are made right before God by Grace. God’s Grace is a gift given to us first in our Baptism as God’s Name is put on us. We are forgiven through Holy Absolution. We are strengthened through our making regular and diligent use of the Means of Grace. We have Jesus put into us in His Holy Supper. God gives, and we are given to!

Let me encourage you as I have encouraged every congregation I have served when concluding my service: the Lord will provide a replacement for me (probably even better than me). Here at St. Matthew I would remind you that you are in a position of not many congregations. You have a history of God’s blessings of over 125 years. You have all your buildings paid for (albeit, some repairs not withstanding), and you have no debt. This congregation has members which possess all the gifts, talents, and abilities you need in this church family, and God will give you all that you need to continue to be His people and His congregation in this place to be a beacon to the community and beyond.

Having served the Lord at St. Matthew for 23 years (the longest tenured pastor of 125), I am reminded of how quickly time passes. We arrived with two children and have added two more the youngest of whom is eighteen. And yet those 23 years have been but a blink of the eye reminding us that our lives on this earth are short indeed as Job says, “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1) compared to our eternity in heaven. So, again I would encourage you to live a life with a priority of making sure that your real forever life in heaven is a certainty. With that, I will continue to pray for you as I ask that you continue to pray for me and my family.

As many of you know, pastors never retire, or as the bad dad joke goes, pastors do not retire they are put out to pasture. As of this writing I have already been ask to fill in and preach twice in the coming months. I hope to take the Witness Workshop to other churches and publish the books I have written. Hopefully they will soon be available on my webpage for purchase. And You can keep up with what is happening by checking my blog: http://rabswritings.blogspot.com and by visiting my webpage: Point2Jesus.org.

God’s richest blessings.
In His Service,

Pastor Bogs
1 Cor. 15:3-5

I Am the Living One - April 27, 2025 - Second Sunday of Easter - Text: Revelation 1:4-18

Jesus is risen from the dead. He is alive. We worship a living God. This morning we continue in the afterglow of our Easter celebration, and really, as Christians we are reminded that each and every Sunday is an Easter celebration. This morning we continue with using the Epistle lesson as our text and although you might not think it, Revelation is a fitting after Easter text. Let me put it this way. Maybe you remember that Luke wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the follow up book of Acts. In much the same way, John wrote the Gospel of John and the follow up book of Revelation. As we get to our text we will see that Revelation is indeed “A Distant Triumph Song,” as one of my commentaries calls it. I might also begin by saying that John’s revelation is appropriate because what John is seeing is the resurrected Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, who is in all His glory, which He had given up to be born as one of us.
 

Our text begins right at the beginning of the book. Immediately after introducing this writing as a revelation from God in the first three verses, John continues with words of doxology and greeting in the next four verses. John writes “to the seven churches in the province of Asia.” Many times in the Bible numbers have special meaning. Yet, we need to be careful, because not every number has special meaning. Here in the book of Revelation, which is a vision, many of the numbers do have special meaning. Here John uses the number seven, “the seven churches” to mean the number of completion. In other words, John is seeing this vision which is for the complete number of churches, the whole church of God, all believers in Jesus.
 

John begins with doxology. He begins with trinity. He begins with “grace and peace” “from him who is, and who was, and who is to come,” in other words, he begins with God the Father. God is eternal. He always was, always is and always will be. He is forever.
 

John then speaks of God the Holy Spirit, or as he calls him, “from the seven spirits.” It is possible that John uses the term “seven spirits” to bring to mind “the seven-fold description of the Holy Spirit found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah (11:2).”
 

And John speaks of God the Son. John describes Jesus in His role as the faithful witness, which is the role of the prophet; as the firstborn from the dead, and here I would make an aside to remind you that He is the firstborn from the dead after having made Himself the sacrifice for our sins, which we are reminded that the role of the priest was to make sacrifices; and He is the ruler of the kings of the earth (v.5), meaning that Jesus is our King, even the King of kings. So, we see Jesus as prophet, priest and king. And we see that John begins with the trinity, Father, Holy Spirit and Son. And he begins with Jesus threefold office of prophet, priest and king.
 

John reminds us that Jesus is the one who has freed us from our sins. He did this by the shedding of His blood on the cross for us. He did this by His death and resurrection (v.6) for us, in our place. And John reminds us as Paul does in many of his letters, that we are redeemed, not for nothing, but so that we might serve Him in His kingdom, so that we might do the good works which He has prepared in advance for us to do.
 

John reminds us of the coming day of Judgement. He reminds us that Jesus is the one who is coming to judge the world. In His coming to judge the world, the unbeliever will mourn because of Him (v. 7), because he will know that means his eternal destruction.
 

John goes on to share Jesus’ words of greeting and his description of what he saw (v. 8-18). John tells us that Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, that is, He describes Himself as the beginning and the end (v. 8). Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last. It would be like saying in English that He is from A to Z. Notice also that Jesus’ words remind us that He is one with the Father and the Spirit and that He was with the Father and the Spirit even from the beginning, even at the creation of the world.
 

John writes that he is suffering as Jesus said he would (cf. John 16:33). Interestingly enough, the word that John uses for suffering is the same word that Jesus used for trouble in the Gospel of John when He reminded us that we would have trouble in this world, but we are to take heart, because Jesus has overcome the world. In other words, Christ has overcome the suffering and troubles of this world.
 

John says he saw the seven golden lampstands. These lampstands are symbols of the seven churches. As we said earlier, John is speaking to the whole Christian church.
 

John goes on to describe God (v.13-16). His head and hair were white like wool, not because of His old age, even though I would wonder if it could not be from the trouble we have been, but His hair is white to show His wisdom and dignity. His whiteness shows His purity, holiness, and righteousness. His eyes of blazing fire show with what purifying fire He will judge, as He sees absolute truth from a lie (v.14). His feet were bronze “showing his authority and the exercise of His power over His enemies, who must serve as His footstool,” and His voice was the sound of rushing water, both frightening for sinners and calming for believers (v.15).
 

John describes what came out of His mouth as being like a “sharp double-edged sword.” And what comes out of Jesus’ mouth is nothing but His Word. Paul reminds us that as Christians the only offensive weapon we carry into battle against the devil is the sword of the Word of God.
 

John, quoting Jesus, again, says that He describes Himself as the “living one.” That brings us back to the understanding that we worship a living God. And we worship a God who holds the keys to heaven. Faith in Jesus is the key. Faith saves, unbelief condemns.
 

So, why am I excited about having the book of Revelation as our text? One reason is in the book of revelation we have an answer for those who knock at our door dismissing the idea that Jesus is truly God and truly man. Follow along with me if you will. And you may use the Bible in the pew if you do not have your own with you. I would suggest marking this in your Bible at home so you have it when someone knocks at your door. First, we want to establish that God is the Alpha and Omega. We do that by looking at Rev. 1:8 (p. 1377 in the pew Bible). “I am the Alpha and Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” So, we ask, who is the Alpha and Omega? The answer is, God is. Now turn to Rev. 21:5-7 (p. 1395) “He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” Again, who is the Alpha and the Omega? He is the Beginning and the End, in other words, He is God. So, not only is God described as the Alpha and the Omega, He is also described as the Beginning and the End. Now, turn to Rev. 22:13 (p. 1396). John writes: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” And again we ask, “who is saying this?” and the answer is that God is saying this. Now for the clincher if you will, turn to Rev. 1:17-18 (p. 1377-1378). And this is again from our text for this morning. John writes: “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” Now we ask, once more, “who did we say was the Alpha and the Omega?” We said it was God. And then we make our case that Jesus is God by asking, “when did God die and come back to life?” And of course, we know the answer, when Jesus, who is God, died on the cross and rose again. Which is what we just celebrated.
 

A another reason I am excited about having the book of Revelation as our text is because we do not get to have it as a text too often, probably because it is so misunderstood by our society. As I said earlier, the book of Revelation is the second half of John’s Gospel. It is a book of Gospel, reminding us that our God is not dead but is alive. It is a book in which we see Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Father ruling over us, interceding for us, watching out for us and caring for us. The book of Revelation shows us Jesus in all His glory. He is in heaven living in all the glory that is His, that He gave up to be born as a human being. He is in heaven where He is using His divine attributes to their fullest.
 

The book of Revelation reminds us that Jesus is our Judge. that He will come again with power and great glory and might. He will come to judge the living and the dead. He will come to take us, the faithful, believing Christians to heaven to live with Him forever in eternity. He will do this because that is what He earned for us by His death on the cross for our sins and by His resurrection.
 

Finally, the book of Revelation reminds us of our need to be ready. We need to be ready at anytime and at all times, because we do not know the day or the hour when He will come again, only the Father knows. We need to be ready and we ready ourselves by being in the word, by reading our Bible, by remembering our Baptism, by confessing our sins and hearing His Word of absolution, by partaking of the Lord’s Supper. We ready ourselves and we show that we are ready by being about the Lord’s business, sharing His Word with others, being good stewards of our time, talents and treasures, using them to extend God’s kingdom, and especially to extend God’s kingdom here in this place. We show we are ready through our thoughts, our words and our actions, as they are directed heavenward. We need to be ready and we are ready as our Lord makes us ready through the means of grace.
 

Again, I cannot say it enough, in our text for today, and as we will be in the book of Revelation for the next few Sundays, John reminds us that Jesus’ death and resurrection was not for nothing. His death earned life for us. His resurrection reminds us that we too will rise again. Jesus has accomplished all things for us and to that we say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Christ Did Rise - April 20, 2025 - Easter Day - Text: 1 Corinthians 15:19-26

He is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!
 

In a court of law, witnesses play one of the most important roles. The prosecution, as well as the defense, each get to call their own witnesses and cross examine the other witnesses. The role of the witness is to explain what they saw. As Christians we are witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. As we read God’s powerful Word, the Holy Spirit works through that word to work faith in our hearts. Thus, by the working of the Holy Spirit, through faith we have seen and bear witness to Jesus’ resurrection. Now, that witness may be good enough for others who share the same faith, but for those who do not believe, that witness may not be enough. Thanks be to God that we have reliable witnesses so that we have proof positive of the resurrection. If we did not have such reliable witnesses then Paul’s words would be devastating, “19If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (v. 19-20).
 

From my Catechetical Helps book I have a list of witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. According to this list (p. 90) Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene. She is listed with Mary the mother of James, and Salome in our Gospel lesson as having witnessed Jesus alive. Jesus appeared to Peter as we read in Luke (24:34). Jesus appeared to James as we read in 1 Corinthians (15:7). He appeared to the disciples of Emmaus on that first Easter afternoon. He appeared to the disciples when Thomas was absent, again on that first Easter evening. One week later He appeared to the disciples and Thomas. He appeared to the seven disciples by the sea, that was when He helped them catch a large number of fish. He appeared to the eleven on the mountain and possibly these were some of the 500 mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians (15:6).
 

These witnesses I have just mentioned are written in our Bible. What about witnesses outside our Bible? Are there any witnesses of Jesus resurrection outside of the Bible? The answer to that question is yes and no. No, there is no specific witness saying that the Easter Resurrection happened without a doubt, but there is evidence which supports the resurrection. The first bit of evidence is the very fact that the Jewish argument shared with Christians the conviction that the tomb was empty, but the explanations for its being empty are different. Dr. Paul Maier puts it this way, “Such positive evidence within a hostile source is the strongest kind of evidence and becomes self-authenticating.” In other words, if the enemy disagrees, which they naturally would, that is one thing, but if the enemy agrees, such as the tomb being empty, that would mean your case holds the strongest argument. Another extra Biblical witness is that of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus who mentions that it was reported that Jesus appeared alive again three days after His crucifixion. As archeology continues to find ancient relics there is no doubt that even more evidence is forthcoming.
 

There are still other reasons for believing in Jesus’ resurrection, such as the very fact that Jesus Himself spoke of His resurrection. In passage after passage Jesus told the people that He had to die and that He would rise again. Another reason to believe in the resurrection is the fact that the disciples are trustworthy historians. The disciples were out to tell the truth, to bear witness to the facts they saw. Why would they make up such stories, especially if they knew that they would be executed for doing so? More than likely people make up things in order to get out of being punished. Why would the disciples make up the stories of the resurrection in order to be punished?
 

Another reason for believing the resurrection is the change of the behavior of the disciples, and especially that of Peter who changed from being what I would call a reactionary to being a responder, someone who responded to the needs of others.
 

Another reason for believing the resurrection is the observance of Sunday. What else would account for the change of the day of worship, the Sabbath rest, from Saturday to Sunday? It would have to be something very dramatic. And it was, it was the resurrection which moved people to want to worship on Sunday in order that every Sunday would be a little Easter celebration.
 

Another reason for believing the resurrection is that of Christianity. Christianity was not some kind of new sect, rather it is the followers of Christ, the fulfiller of all the Old Testament prophecies and the way to eternal life. And actually most of the first Christians were Jews who were waiting for a Messiah, and especially those waiting for an eternal life, forgiving Messiah. For these first Jewish Christians, their Jewishness no longer had any meaning except in Christ, thus becoming little Christs or Christians.
 

Another reason for believing the resurrection is because of our calendar. We are living in the year 2025 A.D. that is translated as, “in the year of our Lord.” The years before our Lord are cleverly referred to as the years before Christ or B.C. In an attempt to thwart Christianity there are some who are trying to change our references to B.C.E. being “before the common era” and C.E. being “common era,” but the fact remains that for so many years and even with the “common era” reference we continue to reference time according to the days of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 

As Christians we can rest assured in the fact of the resurrection and because of the resurrection we know that we too have victory over sin, death and the devil. Going back to our text Paul says, “24Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power” (v. 24). And “26The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (v. 26). Yes, we may still experience physical death, but because of Jesus’ death and resurrection we are assured that we will never experience eternal death in hell.
 

We have victory over sin, death, and the devil meaning we have victory over original sin as well as actual sin. Going back to our text Paul says, “21For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (v. 21-22). The genetically transferred sin of Adam which is born in each and everyone of us is forgiven as well as the sins we commit each and every day.
 

What does this mean? This means that we are free from the bondage of sin, original and actual sin, sins of omission and sins of commission. We are free from death, eternal death and hell, and we are free from the power of the devil. We will still have to face trials and temptations. We will still have the struggle of resisting sin and temptation. We will more than likely still face physical death. But now we have the added advantage that our sins have been forgiven and we have the Holy Spirit, the Comforter who is with us to help us resist sin and temptation and to overcome and win out in the end.
 

This means that we have the promise of eternal life. We may fear the way in which we may physically die, but we do not fear what will happen after our physical death. By grace, through faith in Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection we have the assurance that we have a place in heaven waiting for us, so that we may be sure, as the thief on the cross, that in the very day we die we will be with Jesus in paradise.
 

How is this done? This done by the Holy Spirit working through the means of Grace, the Word, Holy Absolution, and the Sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Holy Spirit uses these means to bring us to faith, to forgive us our sins, and to keep us in faith. The Holy Spirit uses these means to impart God’s gifts to us, His gifts of faith, forgiveness, assurance of forgiveness, assurance of life and salvation and the list of gifts never ends.
 

What are we to do? With the help and by the power of the Holy Spirit we respond to all our Lord has done for us not because He needs anything from us but simply because of our need to respond. We respond by taking part in God’s Means of Grace so that He can pour out even more of His gifts on us. When we absent ourselves from His Means of Grace then He has no way to give us His gifts and ultimately we fall away, but when we daily read His Word, when we daily remember our Baptism, when we regularly, once a week, come to Him in Divine Service and confess our sins and partake of His true body and blood in His Holy meal as often as we are able, then He has ample opportunity to give us His gifts and even more of His gifts. It is very much like any sport, art, craft, or talent, playing golf, bowling, playing piano or any musical instrument, the only way to continue to do well is to practice, to make time to practice, no matter how many distractions tempt you away from practice. So it is with the Lord’s gifts. We  cannot receive His gifts if we absent ourselves from them and believe me the temptations to be absent from the Lord’s Word are far greater than any other.
 

Yet, as we respond in faith; as we take any and every opportunity to make regular and diligent use of the Means of Grace, being in Divine Service and Bible Class, having personal and family devotions, reading God’s Word, remembering our Baptism, hear His Word of Holy Absolution, partaking of His body and blood in His Holy Supper, offering our tithes, first fruits and offerings, singing our hymns and offering our prayers; as we are moved to respond so the Lord fills us and fills us and fills us so that our desire is to respond even more. Indeed, our desire as little Christs is to be where the gifts of God are being given out and then to respond even more as He has first given to us. With the help of and by the power of the Holy Spirit we respond in gratitude and praise for all our Lord has done for us, all He does for us and all He will continue to do for us. He comes to us through His Means of Grace and we go to Him in pray, praise, and giving thanks.
 

“19If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (v. 19, 20). He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

Jesus Is Risen - April 20, 2025 - Easter Sunday - Sunrise Text: Mark 16:1-6

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

This is the day we have been waiting for, planning for, and anticipating since Friday, the day we saw our Messiah, God in human flesh, die on the cross. Have you ever thought about it, our God died. For a moment in time it seemed like all was lost. It seemed like evil overcame good. Certainly Satan and all his evil angels were celebrating the death of Jesus. Little did they know that He would not stay dead, but that He would rise again. Little did they know that their fiendish plot to get rid of the Savior would backfire and that instead of being rid of Jesus their plot brought about the salvation of all people of all places of all times. And that brings us to the second astounding thought, our God rose. The Christian church is very different than all other religions. All other religions worship a dead person or persons. You can find the grave of Mohammad, of Buddha, of great cult leaders. You cannot find the grave for Jesus because, well first of all His was simply a borrowed tomb that He only used for a weekend stay and because He did not stay dead but rose from the dead. The Christian church is founded not on a dead God, but on a living God, Christ, the Lord.
 

Our text is the Easter account. We begin with the setting. We read verses one and two (v.1-2), “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb” The Sabbath, the day of rest was over. They were now allowed to go back to work as it were. As you recall they were only able to make some minor preparations of Jesus’ body on Friday, as it was late in the day and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women came early on the first day of the week, Sunday morning, because they could not do anything on Saturday, the Sabbath, which was from Friday 6 pm to Saturday 6 pm. The Jewish ceremonial law forbid any work on the Sabbath.
 

So, the women came early to complete the preparation of Jesus body that they began on Friday. They came prepared. Perhaps they had purchased the spices on Saturday after 6 pm and were ready to go early on Sunday, even before sunrise.
 

They came early to the grave, as early as possible, probably right at sunrise. They came early because they knew that the body would decay quickly and they needed to hurry in order to give it proper burial. What they were intending to do was one of the deepest devotions of love a person could have for another. They intended to give their Lord, and our Lord, a very decent burial.
 

As they approached the tomb they had certain expectations. We read verse three (v.3), “and they asked each other, ‘Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?’” Their conversation shows that they did not expect Jesus to be gone. They had no expectation of a resurrection. Their concern was the fact that the grave was shut with a large stone and it would need to be removed before they could give the body a proper burial.
 

They may or may not have known about the guards, that there had been guards posted. Remember, the Pharisees asked Pilate to post a guard to that the disciples would not be able to steal the body and claim Jesus rose as He said He would. Perhaps if they knew about the guards they would have thought they could ask them to move the stone, of course they did not know that they would have been gone anyway.
 

They were too preoccupied with preparations to be concerned about any of the other events that were taking place around the crucifixion. They were not concerned about the political part of the crucifixion, only about their love for their Savior.
 

Our text tells us what they found. We pick up at verse four (v.4-6), “But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. ‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.’”
 

As Mark relates the account, we are told that they found the stone, as our text meekly says, “rolled away.” I think Marks account understates the reality that is what they found was that the stone had been blown off its “hinges,” so to speak. This stone was a huge stone which probably took more than one person to move. It was probably rolled down in a little “grove” so that it would be with great difficulty to be moved, back up to its original place before being rolled down to cover the entrance to the tomb. So, when they arrived they found the stone thrown out, back away from the tomb and lying on the ground, “blown off its hinges.”
 

When they arrived they entered into the tomb. What they found was an empty tomb, empty with the exception of the angel. The angle was robed in white, a white of purity from sin. The angel was there to comfort them and help them understand what had taken place.
 

They did not find what they were coming to prepare for burial, the body of Jesus. The angel pointed out the place where Jesus was laid and then he gave them some instructions.
 

The angel told the women what they were told to do. We pick up at verse seven (v.7-8), “‘But go, tell his disciples and Peter, “He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”’ Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. As Mark gives his account he says that they said nothing to anyone, “because they were afraid.”
 

Notice that the first thing the angel tells the women was that they were not to be afraid. Here they were standing in the presence of perfection, and they in their sin and yet they are told that they are not to be afraid. They were not to be afraid because their sins had been forgiven. I hope and pray that you will notice as we move through the Easter season over the next seven weeks that when Jesus appears to show Himself alive He often speaks those same words, “Don’t be afraid.” Indeed, you might recall back in Advent when the angels were delivering God’s messages of the birth of Jesus they often began by saying, “Don’t be afraid.” Perhaps we would do well to remind ourselves to not be afraid in this world, because Christ has over come the world and has won the victory over sin, death and the devil. Indeed, there is nothing in the world for us to fear.
 

Then the angel tells the women to go and tell the disciples and Peter that Jesus had arisen. They were to especially to tell Peter so that he would know he was forgiven for his denial. Although Mark does not relate the telling of Peter, the other Gospel writers fill in more details about Jesus resurrection so that with all four Gospel we get a fuller witness of the events of the first Easter morning.
 

As the women left, notice that our text says “they said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.” Why Mark tells us this information can only be speculation. Perhaps they said nothing because they were in a hurry to speak to the disciples and Peter. Perhaps it was because they remembered all the times people would bear witness of their faith while Jesus was alive and how they were ridiculed by the Pharisees. Why Mark tells us this information is really not important especially since we have the accounts of the other Gospel writers.
 

What a wonderful experience Easter always is for us. During the season of Lent we continually reflected on our part in Jesus’ death. We realized that Jesus died for me and for you. And that if you or I were the only person on earth, Jesus still would have died for us.
 

Easter morning comes and reminds us that Jesus also rose for me and for you. Because Jesus rose we know that we too will rise again. Death has been defeated. Death has no power over us. The victory is our.
 

With excitement we raise our voices. He is risen: He is risen, indeed, Alleluia! To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.