“This is Why Jesus Came,” Mark 1:29-39

²⁹And immediately [Jesus] left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. ³¹And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

³²That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered together at the door. ³⁴And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

³⁵And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. ³⁶And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, ³⁷and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” ³⁸And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”

³⁹And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. (ESV)

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

In Article III of the Apostles’ Creed, we confess, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” In his Large Catechism, written primarily for pastors, Luther writes this, “Neither you nor I could ever know anything about Christ, or believe in Him, and have Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel (1 Cor. 12:3; Gal. 4:6)” (LC, Part II, para. 38).

This preaching of the Gospel takes place in its proclamation, where the Word of the living God goes forth. Most especially does such preaching take place in God’s house – on the Lord’s Day. Those who willingly separate themselves from this Word and Work of God separate themselves from that which saves – that which enlivens – that which makes new – that which revives – that which gives life. God’s Word – the preaching of Christ – does all these things.

Here – many might begin to think or say more about the preacher and the dressing of his preaching rather than the content. But for the Christian, what matters most is the content. Some will always look for something else than what God gives and promises. These will always be left unsatisfied. They look for something only temporary, not eternal and lasting. Only God gives that.

If the church is about the preaching of any thing other than God’s Word alone – be weary. God has not given His body to be about the business of giving sinners what they want. What sinners need – this is what God gives. What sinners need – from the greatest to the least – all sinners – none excluded – is Christ crucified – Christ risen – the Gospel – sins forgiven – Peace with God. Those who don’t deliver Christ are only playing Church. Worse than this – they are deceiving and misleading their hearers away from the only true and lasting comfort and consolation given by God – that which hangs – not on you or anything within you – but entirely on Jesus, Who Himself says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28 NKJ, Δεῦτε πρός με πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι, κἀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς).

Such a premium is placed on the preaching of Christ that, with Luther, we, too, say and confess, “Where Christ is not preached, there is no Holy Spirit who creates, calls, and gathers the Christian Church, without which no one can see the Lord” (LC, Part II, para. 45). The work of the Holy Spirit, says Jesus, is this, to teach and to bring remembrance the word of Christ (John 14:26. Again, of the Holy Spirit – Whom Jesus calls “the Spirit of Truth,” Jesus says, “He will testify of Me” (John 15:26, Ὅταν ἔλθῃ ὁ παράκλητος ὃν ἐγὼ πέμψω ὑμῖν παρὰ τοῦ πατρός, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας ὃ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται, ἐκεῖνος μαρτυρήσει περὶ ἐμοῦ ). The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ. This is what the Holy Spirit does. In doing so, He…convicts “the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in” Jesus; “of righteousness, because” Jesus goes to His Father and” the disciples see” Him “no more; Of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged” (Jn. 16:8-11 NKJ, Καὶ ἐλθὼν ἐκεῖνος ἐλέγξει τὸν κόσμον περὶ ἁμαρτίας καὶ περὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ περὶ κρίσεως· περὶ ἁμαρτίας μέν, ὅτι οὐ πιστεύουσιν εἰς ἐμέ· περὶ δικαιοσύνης δέ, ὅτι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὑπάγω καὶ οὐκέτι θεωρεῖτέ με· περὶ δὲ κρίσεως, ὅτι ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου κέκριται.).

In Lutheran Catechesis, the resource used here for the teaching of younger and older alike in the Lutheran Christian faith, this is written concerning the Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s work. “It is the work of the Holy Spirit to ‘convince’ the world ‘by announcing the verdict of God’ concerning such things as sin, righteousness, and judgment. Even if no one in the world believes the testimony, it is no less true. Through the proclamation of Law and Gospel, the Holy Spirit ‘convicts the world of what is true in Christ before the Father. The Word of God says what is so! Through the proclamation of the Word the world is convicted of sin, righteousness, and of judgment. This means that when the truth of the Gospel sounds forth, many believe it, many reject it, but the realities of what the Word proclaims are, nevertheless, eternally true in Christ Jesus” (Lutheran Catechesis, Catechist Edition, 2^nd Ed., 147).

Concerning the Holy Spirit convicting the world of sin, because they do not believe Jesus, the Law shows us our sin – our unbelief – our rebellion against God.

“We know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:19-20 NKJ, οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι ὅσα ὁ νόμος λέγει τοῖς ἐν τῷ νόμῳ λαλεῖ, ἵνα πᾶν στόμα φραγῇ καὶ ὑπόδικος γένηται πᾶς ὁ κόσμος τῷ θεῷ· διότι ἐξ ἔργων νόμου οὐ δικαιωθήσεται πᾶσα σὰρξ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, διὰ γὰρ νόμου ἐπίγνωσις ἁμαρτίας.).

“The death of Christ for the sins of this world is the righteousness of God…Jesus ‘went to the Father’ in His death to offer up Himself as the righteous offering for the sins of the world. Christ suffered death and all that we by our sins have deserved. The righteousness of Christ’s death is the only source of salvation for the world. Unless the Holy Spirit convicts us of the righteousness of Christ through the preaching of the forgiveness of sins, we cannot be saved from sin. The proclamation of the Gospel creates faith in Christ and declares us righteous for Jesus’ sake. The proclamation of the forgiveness of sins for Jesus’ sake is the heart of the Spirit’s work” (Lutheran Catechesis, Catechist Edition, 2^nd Ed., 147).

“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Rom. 3:21-26 NKJ).

“The judgment of God that the sinner is righteous for Christ’s sake sets man free from the judgment of the Law that the devil uses to condemn the world. Since God forgives us all sin and declares us righteous for Jesus’ sake as a gift of His grace, the devil cannot accuse us of sin or damn to eternal death (Romans 8:1-4; Romans 8:31-34)” (Lutheran Catechesis, Catechist Edition, 2^nd Ed., 148).

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:1 NKJ).

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” (Rom. 8:31-34 NKJ).

The preaching of Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit. Through such preaching, faith comes. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17 NAU, ἄρα ἡ πίστις ἐξ ἀκοῆς, ἡ δὲ ἀκοὴ διὰ ῥήματος Χριστοῦ.). The preaching of Christ is not without significance. It is not without import and necessity.

To pastor Timothy does St. Paul write, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” (2 Tim. 4:1-4 NKJ).

To Timothy, Paul also says, “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (1 Tim. 4:16 NKJ, ἔπεχε σεαυτῷ καὶ τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ, ἐπίμενε αὐτοῖς· τοῦτο γὰρ ποιῶν καὶ σεαυτὸν σώσεις καὶ τοὺς ἀκούοντάς σου.).

In another place, Paul even says, “If I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16 NKJ, ἐὰν γὰρ εὐαγγελίζωμαι, οὐκ ἔστιν μοι καύχημα· ἀνάγκη γάρ μοι ἐπίκειται· οὐαὶ γάρ μοί ἐστιν ἐὰν μὴ εὐαγγελίσωμαι.).

The Law of God condemns us all as sinners. The Gospel of God is the preaching of salvation to condemned sinners – now no longer condemned – because of Christ’s Word and work.

It is true – as recorded in the Gospels – that Jesus healed and cast out demons – as in St. Mark chapter 1. It is also true that many – then – and now – seek Jesus only for the physical aid and relief that He might give. Many a one visits the church expecting to get free help – and to fulfill their wants. But more than wants – God meets our needs – our true need – that of a loving and gracious God in the Person of Jesus – Who delivers from death and hell.

“Everything in the Christian Church is ordered toward this goal: we shall daily receive in the Church nothing but the forgiveness of sins through the Word and signs, to comfort and encourage our consciences as long as we live here. So even though we have sins, the <grace of the> Holy Spirit does not allow them to harm us. For we are in the Christian Church, where there is nothing but <continuous, uninterrupted> forgiveness of ins. This is because God forgives us and because we forgive, bear with, and help one another (Gal. 6:1-2)” (LC, Part II, para. 56).

God’s primary work and Jesus’ ministry was – and is – not centered on healing human illnesses and casting out demons – even though He did and does these things. Jesus preaching – then – and now – takes center stage. That’s where life is – in Him – the forgiveness of sins – peace with God.

This means Christ’s church does not just preach about Christ. Christ’s church preaches Christ – for you – today – here – now – in the present. Believe the Gospel. Take eat – Take drink – for the forgiveness of sins. Amen.

The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist,” Mark 6:14-29

¹⁴King Herod heard [about all this], for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” ¹⁵But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” ¹⁶But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” ¹⁷For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. ¹⁸For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, ²⁰for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.

      ²¹But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. ²²For when Herodias’s daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” ²³And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” ²⁴And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” ²⁵And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” ²⁶And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. ²⁷And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison ²⁸and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. (ESV)

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

King Herod, as he is called in today’s Gospel reading from Mark chapter 6, was not an upright man, nor a fair ruler.  He had no concern for God and His Word and every concern for man and his, especially King Herod’s.  How one treats one of God’s servants is an indication of how treats God, and how one heeds the words of a servant of God when he speaks the Word of God shows how one heeds God and His Word.  King Herod did what he did to John because King Herod had rejected God and His Word. Rejecting the Word of a prophet is rejecting the Word of the One who sent Him (i.e., Luke 10:16).   

John the Baptist was a prophet.  When he was named on the day of his circumcision, eight days after his birth, his father, Zechariah by name, being filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied of his son John saying, You “will be called the prophet of the Highest”, who would, “Go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:76-79).

This John, of whom Zechariah his father spoke at his birth, is the same John that King Herod so thoughtlessly considered, even calling for John’s beheading on account of a rash and irrational oath, an oath that King Herod was intent on keeping before his dinner guests, lest he go back on his own word and admit his own foolishness.  Human pride does this.  Sinful pride keeps one from admitting one’s own error.  Though Herod knew John to be “a righteous and holy man”, he had him beheaded (Mark 6:20).

John the Baptist was a prophet.  He was the one of whom the angel Gabriel spoke to Zechariah his father in the temple, sixth months before announcing to Mary that she would “Conceive in her womb and bring forth a Son, and call His name Jesus” (Luke 1:26, 31).  The angel Gabriel said of John the Baptist, before he was born, that “He will be great in the sight of the Lord.  He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:15-17).

This is the same John of whom Jesus said, “What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’ Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist.”  Jesus also had said of John the Baptist, “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come” (Matthew 11:9-11, 13-14).

King Herod, in rejecting John’s testimony, was really rejecting God’s testimony, just as Jesus had said to His disciples, “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me” (Luke 10:16).  And what was John’s testimony?  His testimony to Herod was this, that it was not lawful for him to have married his brother Phillip’s wife (Mark 6:18).  Herod had committed adultery.  He had divorced his previous wife. Then he married his brother’s wife. Such was Herod’s infidelity and idolatry, placing himself above God’s holy institution of marriage, doing what he wanted rather than abiding in what God had given. Of this adultery John the Baptist testified against. 

Today, calling out one’s sexual sins would likely receive the response, “That’s personal.” That’s my business.” “It’s not your concern.” “Who are you to judge?” But what affects neighbors is the concern of the Christian. Sexual sins affect others, not only those behind closed doors. And if the sexual sin be public, it affects many more, even society itself, encouraging greater license and emboldening against God, even as we see going on in our day, where perversity is accepted as the norm and godly chastity is rejected as sinful and judged as intolerant.

For preaching against sin and speaking according to God’s Word, John the Baptist was thrown into prison, as the Gospel for today reads, “Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife; for he had married her” (Mark 6:17).  For speaking the truth, John was treated shamefully.  For a mindless and senseless oath which Herod failed to recant, he beheaded a servant of the Lord.

Today, too, preachers of God’s order of creation, that marriage is between one man and one woman alone, who reject of any other kind of union devised by society; they find themselves canceled, silenced, fined, incarcerated—all because they do not cater to the growing animosity against God and His Law, that the hearer be prepared and hear the Gospel of sins forgiven in Christ, the Gospel of God.

For preaching during the lockdown, preachers have been fined, arrested, and jailed (England, Canada, California).[1] For teaching what the Bible says about human sexuality, that God made man and woman and to them alone God gave the institution of Holy Matrimony and that “homosexual unions are against God’s will,” a Finnish Lutheran pastor and bishop (Finland) is facing trial before the courts “with incitement against a group of people.”[2] Other preachers and members of the clergy have been arrested, like in England, simply for calling the sin of homosexuality a sin, what it is.

Such does not seem right for one who speaks the truth.  The godly are to prosper, not suffer, so the thought goes. God’s servants ought to be lifted and exalted, not cast aside and treated as criminals for saying what needs to be said.  Such is the state of affairs in our fallen world. As it was in days before, even as recorded in Old and New Testaments, so it is also now, because God’s Word itself is being rejected. 

Yet, how easy it is to hear the preaching against others and them, but to refuse the preaching against ourselves and us!  How easy it is to distance ourselves from other people’s sins, but not to acknowledge our own.

With the Psalmist, therefore, do we say, “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.” With the Psalmist we pray, “Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:12-14).

To Christ, we hold fast.  He alone is our strength and our Redeemer.  With humbleness, we come before God’s “throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).  “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

Through the very preachers of righteousness rejected by the world, God declares God’s judgement upon sin, yes, and even our own.  Also, through them does God declare to us the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.  This doctrine is not of our own making or of man’s doing.  It is truly of God. Only God reveals the forgiveness of sins through Him who suffered at the hands of men on account of His doctrine and rose again on day three after crucifixion.  Only God truly shows us our sin through His law, that He reveal to us our Savior, Jesus the Christ, through His Gospel. Those who reject the former, the Law of God, cannot but also reject the latter, too, the Gospel of God itself.

It is true that the world rejects Christ.  It will have none of Him.  It may accept His words of love and peace, as the world understands them, but the same world will reject His Words of how that love and peace be obtained, through the shed blood of Christ.  It will not accept that by the merits of Christ alone salvation is given.  So be it.  The good confession of our faith will continue. God’s Word stands sure.  We will still proclaim that Jesus is our Savior, that He alone remains our Savior.  “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).  He is “The way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through” Him (John 14:6).

This we believe, teach, and confess according to Christ’s Word.  According to that same Word, we continue to place our confidence, our hope, and our stay on Christ Jesus our Lord.  John the Baptist suffered unjustly at the hands of Herod, though John spoke the truth, preaching the message of repentance to sinners. For the preaching of the truth, John died. Jesus, too, similar to John, died unjustly, for His preaching of repentance and forgiveness. But through the suffering and death of our Lord, we live. ^|Any suffering we receive for Christ’s Name does not at all diminish Him who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). Nor does any suffering given diminish God’s grace, which is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9).

St. Paul writes, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs– heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:16-18 NKJ).

To the Philippians, Paul writes, “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Phil. 1:29 NKJ).

St. Peter writes, “It is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Pet. 3:17-18 NKJ).

Just a bit later, Peter also says, “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now ‘If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?’ Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator” (1 Pet. 4:14-19 NKJ).^{| Not in original sermon}

Open your ears.  Christ is your life and peace with God, regardless of what the world says and does.  Hear the Word.  Give heed to the preaching.  Examine the doctrine.  Hold fast to the Word of the living God, and His gracious and abundant promises in Jesus Christ.  These will sustain you.  The will guide you.  His hand will uphold you.

When the preacher preaches against sin, hear and repent. Hear and repent is what God is giving you to do.  When the preacher preaches God’s grace and mercy in Christ through Word and absolution and gives the very body and blood of God’s own Son for the forgiveness of our sins in the Lord’s Supper, hear and believe. Eat and drink. God grants these great gifts for your eternal well-being, that you live, now and forevermore, in the world, but not of the world (John 17:14, 16; 1 John 2:16).

For the joy set before us, we carry the cross that accompanies our doctrine and preaching.  The Gospel of our Lord Christ will endure.  On and in that Gospel, we rest, and from it does our Lord give strength.  Our Lord gives strength through His Word and Promise.  Through His forgiveness, you have His peace.  Through His body and blood given to you in bread and wine, He sustains you.  Through His Word preached to you, even His doctrine declared to you, Christ gives you confidence of His grace and of His goodness.

Whatever befalls you because you are Christian, your strength lies not in you, but in Him who gave you faith through the waters of Holy Baptism, and who gives you faith by the preaching of His Holy Word, and through the heavenly meal set for you at His altar, He strengthens and preserves you in that faith.  Through these means, God turns your eyes to Him, to Him who saves your soul, delivers you from death, and keeps you from the evil one.

Take heart.  The hostility of a Herod toward John, a Pilate toward Christ, a government against gathering in Christ’s Name, a society loathe to hear of its sins that sinners repent, or hostility toward they who believe Christ and His doctrine taught and proclaimed—these  cannot take away the gifts given in the crucified and risen Son of the Living God for salvation.  Jesus is your hope and stay.  His death means that sin is done away with.  His resurrection means eternal life.  His doctrine is your confidence of a gracious God who does not forsake you, but Who hears your prayers, Who builds up your faith, Who promises heaven itself.  

Like Christ, so also His followers.  Jesus do we trust.  The outcome of what is in this life is not our guide.  Rather is it God’s Holy Word.  Thus, do we keep proclaiming God’s judgment against sin and God’s mercy in Christ.  And thus does our Lord keep for Himself a people.  Hearing His Word, we repent.  Hearing His Word of forgiveness, we believe. Amen.

Luther: Therefore let no one have a terror concerning suffering and cross. Let no one envy the persecutors of the Gospel that they are enjoying honors, are great and mighty. For cross and suffering is the only way by which thou shalt come to the heritage and the kingdom of Christ; and all saints, and Christ Himself, have gone this way. Who, then, would be terrorized and complain about it? And it will be seen how quickly the change will come for the tyrants, that their suffering will come upon them in due time and finally last in eternity. From this may God mercifully keep us., and rather let us, with the sainted John the Baptist, suffer all manner of ignominy and disgrace, that we may but come to the kingdom of God; as our Lord Christ says that it is appointed to us, as to Him, cross and suffering.” (Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bibe, New Testament, Vol 1, p196-197).

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[1] Canada: Pastor Artur Pawlowski and his brother, Dawid Pawlowski,  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/canadian-pastor-is-arrested-for-holding-church-service/ar-BB1gyiZL; Tim Stephens, https://www.christianpost.com/news/pastor-arrested-for-outdoor-service-in-violation-court-order.html; CA Mike McClure, Church fined $55,000, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-pastor-church-found-contempt-fined-over-covid-rules-n1250481

[2] https://reporter.lcms.org/2021/finnish-bishop-charged-over-biblical-teaching-on-human-sexuality/; also in London, https://www.christianpost.com/news/preacher-arrested-for-preaching-biblical-marriage-on-uk-street.html

“The Gathering of the Nations,” Matthew 25:31-46

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³¹[Jesus said:] “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸ And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹ And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

      ⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (ESV)

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

A popular  notion about Christianity, even common among many Christians, is the idea that Christianity is all about your works, that the Christian faith and life is all about the Christian doing for God and improving his or her life, continually gettering better in thought, word, and deed.

The common theme in many a church body today is “social justice,” a social kind of Gospel that really is no Gospel, no good news, at all. The emphasis of these churches is set not only on doing more for one’s salvation, but that notion of doing better and more in and for society, trying to change the course of the hungry, the poor, the impoverished and the oppressed, not with the Gospel of sins forgiven in Christ, but based upon our works and what we do. This has become the new mantra of the modern church. She’s all about remedying society’s ills, and her own, and ushering in the kingdom of God in a more tangible way than before, as determined by her, and without God’s stamp of approval.

But in the process, Christendom, at least in part, has lost sight of the “One Thing Needful” (LSB 536). The church is not about remedying the ills of society that these be eradicated entirely from existence. She has a more realistic approach to the ills of society, according to God’s revelation in His Word. She acknowledges the reality of sin, its depth, and the duration of its effects until Christ’s return. God Himself makes known that the Savior of the sinful world is not the church nor her people, but Christ alone. Jesus says, “The poor you have with you always” (Jn. 12:8 NKJ). This does not mean that the poor and the needy, the neglected and the suffering, we are permitted to forsake. Not at all. Rather, as the Christian church cares for them, she does so, not in the confidence of her own ability, but in the recognition that this is what she is given to do, not in order to change the world, but because of Christ’s Word, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:29). Let Jesus do the saving! We are His servants. In the meanwhile, front and center in the church’s mercy work and within our calling as God’s holy people, is Christ. What we do as God’s people, we do not do for ourselves, but for others, as God would have us do, as God in Christ has done and does for us.

Today’s Gospel reading from Matthew 25 gets at this—the life of God’s people—as they live out their lives as God’s people—and especially, the result of such lives lived—not as determined by them, but as given by God, in Whom alone God’s people trust.

The following is going to be far different from the popular understanding and the generally accepted reading of this text. Much of Christendom today sees what they want to see and reads into the text what is not there, trying to make the text say what it does not say – in keeping with their perception of things apart from God’s revelation in Christ – with the emphasis on them and their doing and not God’s and His.

Today’s text from Matthew 25 is NOT about doing things to get into heaven. It’s not about laying a guilt trip on those who have not – fed the hungry, given the thirsty something to drink, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, visited the sick, or went to those in prison – for the purpose of trying to get them to begin doing those things, or that you do more of those things to make yourself a sheep and not a goat, to make oneself more righteous and less cursed. According to the text, the goats placed to the left, the ones told to depart from the Son of Man, the King, on the Last Day, the Day of Judgment, they themselves certainly thought they were “doing” the will of God. “When did we see you and not serve you?” (v44). But they were not doing what God desired them to do.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matt. 7:21-23 NKJ).

How often the text before us has been used in the attempt to get people more active, more giving, more doing—as if by these things the sinner has salvation and greater certainty of being in God’s good stead—because they “live” for God!

The text is not about this—at all! The only way to get to that understanding of the text, that the text is about turning from their not doing to now doing in order to be one of God’s blessed sheep—is to not only miss key elements of the text itself, but to make the text say what It doesn’t, for the purpose of advancing the false teaching from the Fall of Adam and Eve, that we, not God, have the authority to give meaning to God’s Word according to our own unbelief and not according to the truth that natural man does not and cannot of Himself comprehend.

“The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14 NKJ).

Key elements of this text that cannot be ignored, omitted, or changed for a proper reading and application are:

• the Son of Man, the King, Who separates the sheep and the goat, and not the sheep and the goats separating themselves from each other;
• the King, saying to those on His right, “Come,” and “You who are blessed of My Father,” “Inherit” the Kingdom prepared for your “from the foundation of the world”; and
• “You did these things,” without even recognizing that you had done them, in contrast to those who thought they were doing those things, but truly were not, not recognizing the Lord in the least of these.

When it comes to the Christian faith and life, it is not the sinner who determines right from wrong, what is acceptable to God from what is not, what is to be believed or rejected, nor the one in whom Christ is served, the least of these. God Himself reveals these to us in His Word. His revealing doesn’t then mean that they agree with how we think is or ought to be. Rather, we submit to His Word.  There alone, God’s Word, is our only confidence—not in our submitting to it, but in His giving it. If we have it any other way, then we become the standards upon which we take our stand, and everyone each becomes His own God, deciding right from wrong, what is acceptable from what is not, what is to be believed or rejected, and the one whom we choose to serve or not serve for serving Christ.

The Son of Man, Jesus, the King upon His throne, He is the One separating the sheep from the goats. Only He has that authority. Neither we, nor scholar, nor pastor, nor a pope, nor a church decides who is or who doesn’t belong to God. Though we naturally judge others by what they do or say as to whether they are Christian, only God knows. But one who is of God will seek to say and do what God says.

Based on what God says, we “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23 NKJ). We are not as God would have us be. None of us deserve any place in God’s kingdom.

This is what makes the word of our Lord at the beginning of today’s Gospel from Matthew 25 stand out even more. The words of our Lord of “Come,” “You who are blessed of my Father,” “Inherit,” “The kingdom prepared for you,” and “From the foundation of the world”—these words stand , and they stand out greatly against the false idea that they way to the kingdom is by you doing more, you giving more, you being more—and basing the certainty of your peace with God on the more you do. Those things the goats, those separated to the left, readily thought. They thought they did the “right” things. But really, they were doing their own things, not God’s things. Thus, to them does and will the King say, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (v44).

The words “Come,” “You who are blessed of my Father,” “Inherit,” “The kingdom prepared for you,” and “From the foundation of the world”—these are all words originating from the Son, not from the sheep. These are Words clearly independent of the doing of the hearers; before anything on their part was done. They didn’t deserve them based on any original or external merit of their own. They didn’t do anything to have the words spoken to them. They did not even recognize that they were doing the very things that the Son had said that they had done. There were ignorant of their own good works, being defined as they were by the King Himself. Their focus was not their doing, though they were fruitful. Their focus was on God’s doing, on God’s Word; on what He says; not only at the end, but throughout their days.

That word “Come” is one of invitation. Here it is not a word of obligation. It is a Word of salvation, from the Inviter Himself, distinct from the words, “Depart from me, you cursed” spoken to the others (v44). Being “blessed of the Father” is to have His full and bountiful blessing, according to His Word, not because of your doing; Having His forgiveness and mercy, before even asking it; Having God’s favor and peace, according to His good will, and not because of any change in you.

So also, “The Kingdom prepared for you” and the “From the foundation of the world” excludes you as part of the equation. You merely receive what God declares, and in this, are you and will be then fully and bountifully blessed. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,” God revealed to Jeremiah the prophet (Jer. 1:5 NKJ). So also does God know you. Before you knew of the Kingdom, it was prepared for you. Before you knew that in the Father’s house there were many mansions, Jesus there prepared a place for you by His going, by His death, resurrection, and ascension (John 14:2-3).

The words in Matthew 25 draw attention, really, to Christ and His Words, not to your works or the works of others. These are only the fruit, or the barrenness, of the faith already there, or not. Jesus says, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned” (Jn. 15:4-6 NKJ).

The one’s on the left, who go into eternal punishment, these are they who abide in their own thoughts and notions of how they think things are and will be, now and at the end, thinking that they themselves affect the outcome of their eternal well-being. They don’t. They don’t recognize that entrance into the Kingdom is not at all dependent on one’s doing or not doing, believing oneself to be good, or in seeking to be good as self-defined.

Entrance into the Kingdom is dependent on God’s doing—in Christ having done—not believing yourself to be worthy enough or good enough, but believing what Christ has already done for you in His life and death and in what He gives you today in Word and bread and wine and body and blood. In Him is your confidence, throughout the year and on this last Sunday of the Church Year. They who look to Christ and to His Word and work for mercy, these are already righteous, because they have no righteousness of their own claim; Christ is their righteousness. In Him is their trust. To such as these will our Lord say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (v34).

On the other hand, are those who do not look to Christ and His Word and His Work for mercy. They seek to work for it themselves. In such work, they will not find it, for they do not go according to the Word of God. Only there, in Christ alone, is true lasting certainty—sins forgiven, peace with God, Kingdom come. Amen.

The peace that passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). Amen.

The central teaching of the Christian faith is that God alone, in Christ, saves sinful man.  Sinners do not save themselves.  You do not contribute at all to your salvation.  You do not make a choice to be saved.  Your works, nor your neglect, add or subtract anything to God’s promise in Christ. 

With reference to God’s grace, you are recipients, not the active agents, of eternal life. 

This is good news! 

Since God is the One who does the saving, you can’t mess it up.  God gives full confidence, and the blessed assurance, of complete and total forgiveness on account of Christ Jesus, apart from your works, distinct from what you do. 

This is the Gospel, and woe to the one to whom the Gospel is not preached.  No faith is given apart from the hearing.  To the one who hears the good news of sins forgiven but doesn’t believe, the certainty of eternal death remains.  But to him who hears and believes, the hope of everlasting life is the sure promise from the God of all grace.

This is so because of Christ’s cross.  Christ died to save you from your sins.  Jesus fulfilled all that the Heavenly Father gave Him to fulfill.  This means that there is nothing for you to do for your salvation.  Christ has already done it all. 

To speak, teach, or believe differently than this is to step outside of the Word of God and to walk by sinful reason, instead of going the Lord’s way of revelation. 

Any who teach that what you do earns you heaven teaches falsely and leads away from Christ and is outside the parameters of the Christian faith. 

Any who teach that what you do keeps you in the faith misunderstands God’s working. It is most certainly true that you cannot by your own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ your Lord or come to Him.  So, we confess by the words of the 3^rd Article of the Creed.  It is also most certainly true that it is the Holy Spirit who calls you by the Gospel, and the Holy Spirit who keeps you in the true faith, and not you yourselves (i.e. Galatians 3:3-9).

God keeps and preserves you in the true faith, according to His good and gracious will, by means of His Holy Word.  Here, He directs you to Jesus and away from your own self-righteousness, and away from your sinful pride. 

Away from these and to God’s Means of Grace the Lord directs you, where you find refuge and shelter from the attacks of the world, strength to resist temptation and the evil one, and rest for your weary souls (Matthew 11:28-30).  By means of His Word and Sacrament, God keeps and preserves you a people for Himself, a people who live by faith, yet a people who also live in the world.

What God gives in Word, Baptism, and Supper, are the very means by which you live.  Without these, you would be as the nonbeliever who sees Christianity as one religion among many.  All religions, except Christianity, teach ways of getting right with God by what one does.

Only the true Christian religion teaches that God saves sinful man through the suffering and death of the God-man Christ, and that God works through visible means of water, bread, and wine, and that in these, according to divine revelation, God gives forgiveness, life, and salvation. This the nonbeliever cannot fathom.  He believes himself to have to do ‘for God,’ rather than say the ‘for me’ of faith.

The truth is you do nothing ‘for God.’  He already has everything.  He needs nothing.  He is God, and as God, you in no way add to or take away from Him who possesses all things.  It is rather He who gives to you. 

God needs nothing from you.  You need everything of Him.  His forgiveness, grace, mercy, kindness, favor, help, provision, and supply you cannot do without, lest you despair of God in your own sinfulness or rest in the false confidence of your wayward flesh.

Either way, whether falling into despair or having a false sense of security before God, you are sinners in need of God’s rescue.  The Lord will come to judge between ‘the living and the dead.’   And when He does, He will come in all His glory, with all His angels, and will then sit on His throne. 

Only for Christ’s sake, when Jesus does come to separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the chaff (Matthew 3:12), and the believer from the nonbeliever, will you not be the nonbeliever, nor the hypocrite, the chaff, or the goats, to whom He will say, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41, ESV), but those to whom the Lord will say, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34, ESV).

And how does this come about?  How will the Lord distinguish between the righteous and the wicked?  How does the Lord distinguish between the good and the bad? 

In the parable from St. Matthew’s Gospel, the Lord says of the righteous that they had given Christ food and drink, welcomed Him, clothed Him, visited Him when He was sick, and came to Him in prison. Then the righteous answered, “When did we do these things?” 

In other words, the righteous themselves were not aware of doing the very things that the Lord had said of them.  They did not seek a name for themselves in doing good.  They did not call out for everyone to see.  They did not do what they did that others take notice.  From their hearts they did what they did because they didn’t believe in their works, but in Him through whose works they were acceptable to God. 

The righteous are called righteous, not because of any self-righteousness, virtuous living, or upright morality, but because of Him who declares them to be righteous, good, and holy, not of themselves, but of the good and gracious God who gave His One and Only Begotten Son, that all would live through Him (John 3:16). 

Being righteous has to do with Christ, and having faith alone in Him, whose holiness is counted as your own through faith and not apart from it.  Of yourselves, you are nothing but sinful and unclean.  This is why you, and all people, are in desperate need of Christ.

Any and all who would deny this truth of Scripture, that you are sinners and remain sinners in need of God’s forgiveness, diminish Christ and throw Him out, regardless of how often and how frequently the name of Christ might be mentioned.  The ‘happy preacher,’ Joel Osteen, in Texas, and the popular Joyce Meyer of TV and radio fame are such who give lip service to Christ, but don’t know Him in their teaching, for when they say that you need to stop calling yourselves sinners and move on, they deny John’s First letter which says, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8, 10).

They and others in Christendom have said that churches and congregations that confess their sins ‘every’ Sunday need to stop this needless bringing down of its members and speak of the sanctified life, for we no longer sin. 

Such optimistic words of the human condition are far from true.  Being a Christian does not mean that you stop sinning.  Nor does it mean that you need less forgiveness.  The maturing Christian finds just the opposite to be the case.

Instead of being ‘sin-free,’ Christians find themselves fighting even more with themselves because of the sin that still clings to them.  Rather than see himself improving and getting better, the Christian sees his sinfulness ever clearer and wants to rid himself of his sinful inclinations and desires even more. 

The Christian despairs of himself and leans ever the more on Christ, through whom alone is his salvation.  The Christian sees himself decreasing, and Christ even more increasing (John 3:30).

This is what it is to be growing in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Since it is this way, less and less stock do you place in your own doing.  More and more do you place in the Lord’s doing, to whom is all glory, honor, and praise. 

Because it is this way, because the Christian believes that he has no righteousness of his own, and that He is saved completely by another, by Christ Jesus the Lord, all the more good works does He do because of the Lord who works in Him, who creates and strengthens faith by means of His Word.

It is through faith in Christ alone that you are saved, are promised heaven, and have new life.  But this new life is not lived unto itself.  Nor is faith ever alone regarding good works.  Faith is active and busy in love.  Fruits will be born unto it, even as Jesus says in the Gospel according to St. John, the 15^th chapter, “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5 NKJ).

In Christ, therefore, through faith, you are not fruitless.  You do bear fruit, good fruit, works that are good and acceptable to God, for only with faith is it possible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). 

Such fruits are works are done in faith and according to His God’s Word.

When in our text the Lord describes that judgement made upon the ‘Blessed of the Father’ and ‘the cursed’ on account of their feeding or not feeding the hungry, giving drink or not giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming or not welcoming the stranger, clothing or not clothing the naked, visiting or not visiting the sick, or coming or not coming to visit the prisoner, He’s looking at the fruits of faith or faith’s outcome. 

The one who calls himself a Christian and who claims that doing these things is reason for God’s favor is no Christian.  Such a one instead demonstrates unbelief in Christ because He trusts in his own doing.  This one, therefore, will go into eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46). 

The one who fails to recognize the good that he’s done because of His sin, places no confidence in what he’s done, yet clings to Christ and Him alone for mercy and pardon, this one is righteous, and will enter eternal life.  This is the Christian; whose confidence and hope is the Lord.  The nonbeliever does not do these things but trusts another.

The Christian rests on God’s forgiveness for hope and salvation, not on his own works.  The glory goes to God.  He seeks to do what God says because God has given him to do this.  He serves others because Jesus“did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). 

The Christian is active in good works.  By faith he is righteous.  This faith is active in serving and helping others, especially those who are of the “household of faith” (Galatians 6:10), the brothers and sisters of Christ, and even the least of these His brethren.  Amen.

Eternal God, merciful Father, You have appointed Your Son as judge of the living and the dead. Enable us to wait for the day of His return with our eyes fixed on the kingdom prepared for Your own from the foundation of the world; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect of the Day)

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“God’s Revelation of the Christ,” Matthew 16:13-20

¹³When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷And 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. ¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” ²⁰Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. (ESV)

 

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In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Flesh and blood do not reveal the identity of our Lord Jesus. 

God does, by means of His Holy Word. 

Going away from that Word, you won’t be able to get at this Jesus whom we worship, praise, and believe in. 

By that Word you have Jesus as He reveals Himself, conceived miraculously, born of a virgin, suffering and dying at the hands of sinners, resurrected, ascended, continuing to reign, and coming again to judge between the living and the dead.

When the disciples in today’s Gospel reading were giving answer to Jesus’ question about Himself, they first answered by saying what others had thought about Him.

Thus, was Jesus’ initial question. 

But what others think of Jesus, ultimately, doesn’t compare to the most important question of questions, who do you say that Jesus is?

It might be easier to say what others have said and do say, but confession doesn’t call for saying what other people believe about something. 

Confession is personal, not about the other, but for you. 

Confession is also a public, not a private affair. 

The confession of the mouth accompanies the faith of the heart.

You can’t have one without the other.

Writes St. Paul, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom. 10:9-10 NKJ).

What others were saying of Jesus, their confession, demonstrated where they stood concerning their faith, or lack thereof. 

Some said, for example, that Jesus was John the Baptist. 

Others said that Jesus was Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.

They were not right. 

They were all wrong because they were going by what others were saying, or by what they themselves believed apart from Jesus’ revelation of Himself.

Don’t listen to Jesus, and you will get Him wrong. 

Listen to Jesus, and you will be in the right.

It is true that Jesus was like one of the prophets. 

Jesus did amazing, miraculous things.  He healed. He cleansed. He raised the dead.

Prophets did these things, too, but the authority by which they did so was given by Another. Jesus’ authority was His own—of the Father.

Jesus also preached. He spoke God’s Word. 

These very things the prophets of Old also did.

Like John the Baptist, Jesus also preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2, 4:17).

But Jesus is more than John the Baptist. 

Of John God spoke through the prophet Malachi over 400 years earlier when He said, “Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,’ Says the LORD of hosts” (Mal. 3:1 NKJ).

John the Baptist was that messenger.

He was “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Make straight the way of the LORD,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (Jn. 1:23 NKJ | Isaiah 40:3).

But Jesus was not John the Baptist. He was not merely the messenger.

Jesus was, is, the Lord come to his temple, whose way John the Baptist prepared.

Jesus is not John the baptist.

Nor is Jesus one of the prophets. 

Jesus is more than the forerunner of the Lord to come. 

Jesus is more than an Elijah or a Jeremiah, a prophet of Old come back to life, who spoke what God gave to speak and who await the coming of the Lord.

If Jesus were only a prophet, like those others had believed, they would still be waiting for the Messiah, the Savior, to come.

Yet, the Scriptures teach, and Jesus revealed by what He did and spoke that He is God in the flesh, for sinners, who came, not only to declare the Father’s message of life and salvation through faith in Him, but who came to win life and salvation itself by means of His own blood on the cross.

What cannot be done in keeping the Law of God, Jesus did. 

To save from sin and death, Jesus suffered hell’s punishment and God’s wrath.

This Jesus is more than example to emulate and more than a ‘good teacher’ to trail.

Trying to do what Jesus did won’t save you. 

It is not you doing or you trying to do what Jesus did that saves. 

It is what Jesus did do in keeping the Commandments, bearing your sins, and dying—for you—that you have eternal life and peace with the Father.

Jesus being a ‘good teacher,’ though most certainly true, also doesn’t warrant God’s favor, unless He also be God. 

Only believing that Jesus is good, or that His teaching is good for morality, but not to believe Him to be Savior—this still is not faith that trusts in Jesus alone for help and absolution.

For Jesus to be good, this must mean that His Word is true and right.

To be truly good is of God, for only God is truly good. 

For Jesus to be a ‘good teacher,’ this must also mean that His life and death are salvific for the sinner, for so Jesus revealed, and so Jesus confessed, “Truly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (Jn. 5:24 NKJ).

People who claim that Jesus is only a ‘good’ teacher and not God, nor Savior, however, deny these very words of our Lord. 

Yet, Jesus cannot be ‘good’ if He doesn’t speak the truth in all that He says.

We are hypocritical, not always doing what we say, but Jesus says what He does and does what He says.

Jesus is trustworthy and good—always—righteous and having salvation (Zechariah 9:9). 

He journeyed to the cross for your forgiveness and salvation. 

All that He had said came to pass and will.

Just as Jesus had said, that He “would suffer many things…be killed…and be raised the third day” (Matthew 16:21), so He had. 

The Word of Jesus is truth (Psalm 119:160; John 14:6). 

Jesus’ is not just one of the prophets, Jeremiah, Elijah, or John the Baptist as others thought and as some might still claim.

To some Jews, Jesus might be considered a teacher, but He is not considered the Messiah.

To Muslims, Jesus is one prophet among many, in the line of Muhammad, but certainly not the Son of God, nor the One through who whom sinners have salvation and life before the One True God.

Contrary to these positions, and the misidentification of Jesus according to most people in Jesus’ day, Peter’s answer to Jesus was concrete and exact.

His confession was not of his own making but came by way of the Father’s revelation of His Son. 

The right confession of the Christ is only true, and only remains true, as it mirrors what God Himself makes known in His Word and not according to what we might think or want to be.

The world will not – and does not – agree with such a narrow position concerning the truth, even as the world and no one in it determines the right and true confession of our Lord but the Lord Himself.

In the words of Luther, “God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven! But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the name of God among us. Protect us from this, heavenly Father!” (First Petition of the Lord’s Prayer).

Believing Jesus according to His revelation of Himself means going by what He says, not by what others think or teach about Him.

Life as a Christian, as a child of God, centers on Him who is more than a John the Baptist, more than an Elijah, a Jeremiah, or one of the prophets; more than an example or a ‘good’ teacher. 

Life as a Christian, as a child of God, centers on Christ crucified and resurrected, God’s Son, for your salvation. 

Christianity stands or falls on the identity, word, and work of Christ.

It is in that One Who did do, Who speaks, and Who is, which enlivens to continue as His people, confessing with Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 15:16).

So we are, by God’s grace, and so we do, as the Father reveals in His Word.

So, we speak. So, we confess. Amen.

 

Almighty God, whom to know is everlasting life, grant us to know Your Son, Jesus, to be the way, the truth, and the life that we may boldly confess Him to be the Christ and steadfastly walk in the way that leads to life eternal; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost)

 

Audio

 

Nothing to Fear but the Lord Himself — Gottesdienst

 

via Nothing to Fear but the Lord Himself — Gottesdienst

 

Proverbs 9:10

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

 

Matthew 16:24-26 NKJ

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

 

Matthew 10:28-33 NKJ

“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”

 

Concerning a “Virginia Pastor Who Defiantly Held Church Service Dies of New Chinese Coronavirus”

 

via Virginia Pastor Who Defiantly Held Church Service Dies of New Chinese Coronavirus

 

Christians are not immune from the effects of sin, including troubles of this life, both physical and spiritual.

Christians are not immune from sin’s consequence of physical death, either.

This is important to note!

God’s people are defiant of sin’s tyranny and hold—because of Christ—Who Himself died on the cross and “rose again on the third day” (2^nd Article of the Apostle’s Creed).

It was St. Paul, inspired of God, who wrote, “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14 NKJ).

A little bit later in the same letter of Paul to the Romans, he writes, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1 NKJ).

This reference to Romans 8 in no way disassociates the Christian from the flesh and spirit reality in which he lives. That “according to the flesh” Paul is speaking of doesn’t have to do with the physical body, but of the way of the flesh, that is, with reference to and concerning the desires of the flesh, which are at odds, even at enmity and war, with the way of the spirit, the things of God.

In Galatians, St. Paul writes, for example, “The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law” (Gal. 5:17-23 NKJ).

St. John the evangelist also writes, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world– the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life– is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 Jn. 2:15-17 NKJ).

All of this is to draw attention to the truth that Christians are simultaneously body and soul.

The physical does not cease being physical because of the spiritual, or vice versa.

This has import concerning not only how Christians live, but also their proclamation.

The Christian Church preaches “Christ crucified” (i.e. 1 Cor. 1:23).

Such a Jesus died bodily, according to His human nature. But this does not at all imply or indicate that the divine nature of our Lord did not at all participate, even as Jesus is both God and man in one person.

What this means regarding the current topic is that, just as preaching “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (i.e. 1 Cor. 2:2) is not to say that only “half” of Jesus died and therefore, insignificant and not worth our attention. So also, when Christians preach of salvation through faith in Christ, overcoming sin and death, this does not at all imply that the effects of sin in the world and crucifying the sinful flesh are somehow now obsolete, as if Christians somehow live only spiritually in the world and not also bodily.

Jesus does say, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:24-26 NKJ).

Said another way, faith in Christ and confidence in the Lord’s salvation does not now mean that we no longer live in the world, suffering due to the consequences of the first sin of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3).

God disciplines His children, whom He loves.

Referencing Proverbs and commenting, Paul writes, ” ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives’ (Proverbs 3:11-12). If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:5-11 NKJ).

God forgives the sin of sinners. This is true!

The hope of the resurrection of our bodies is certain, just as Christ is risen from the dead (1 Cor. 15).

Nonetheless, Christians do not deny the truth that we live in the fallen world and are at God’s mercy as we live in it.

Christians do not lay claim to being above death or the effects of say, a virus.

At the same time, however, it is important to clearly state that the Bible clearly teaches that God is above these.

Though we suffer, as God wills, suffering does not indicate that God is less than, or not God, because we suffer.

The article referenced above may be advancing the view that Bishop Glenn was wrong to declare that “God is larger than this dreaded virus,” because if God were larger than the virus, then Bishop Glenn would not have died.

Glenn’s death, even after stating what he did, does not disprove God’s authority over sickness, or death.

What Glenn suffered demonstrates the hold of sin and death upon all people.

“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

We ourselves are not in authority over it. Only God is.

Yet, God in the flesh, Jesus, having authority over it, submitted Himself to His heavenly Father and Himself died (Phil. 2:5-8).

Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead.

Could Bishop Glenn not have died as a result of the virus, even as he expressed God’s “largeness” over it? Most certainly!

The account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego may here be directive.

When commanded to bow down to a statue of the king, these three refused.

They were threatened with death.

They replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Dan. 3:16-18 NKJ).

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego believed that God could save them.

Such salvation, they also believed, was not up to them.

Additionally, they believed in God regardless of a momentary deliverance in the face of trial.

God was God, independent of the outcome.

Such is what true faith does. It believes according to the Word and promise of God. Either way, whether of temporary deliverance or of suffering in faithfulness to the Lord, God remains God.

Such words may seem to be of fantasy by the world.

What God would not save those who claim to be His and claim Him to be God?

The God of the Bible contrasts with the God of our own making and intellect.

“God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God– and righteousness and sanctification and redemption– that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the LORD’ ” (1 Cor. 1:27-31 NKJ).

The God of the Bible reveals that through the death of Christ is eternal life; through trial and tribulation—peace; through sorrow and grief—joy; through lack and emptiness—abundance and fullness, in the Lord Jesus.

Also, through humility and humbleness before the Lord, glory and exaltation.

 

 

The Small Catechism, Part V: Confession

 

Audio of sermon here on podcast.

 

First Reading: 2 Samuel 12:1-13

¹ Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. ² “The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. ³ “But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. ⁴ “And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” ⁵ So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! ⁶ “And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.” ⁷ Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: `I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. <sup>8</sup> `I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! ⁹ `Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. <sup>10</sup> `Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ ¹¹ “Thus says the LORD: `Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. <sup>12</sup> `For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.'” ¹³ So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. (NKJ)

Second Reading: John 20:19-23

“¹⁹ Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹ So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” ²² And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”” (NKJ)

 

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Fifth Chief Part of Luther’s Small Catechism: Confession.

Words of the Psalmist from Psalm 51, expressive of King David’s contrite heart and confidence in God when confronted with the Word of God as recorded in 2 Samuel 12 for his sin against God, and the words of Jesus to His disciples on the night of His resurrection, as recorded in John 20, example, illustrate, and highlight for us what confession is and its centrality in and to the Christian Church.

First, what confession is…

Confession, as a word used in the church and in the world, is often understood in the way of ‘relating one’s sins to a member of the clergy,’ as in, ‘going to confession.’

The phrase, ‘fess up means, ‘admit your wrongdoing.’

This is what many consider confession to mean.

In the church, such a use of the term is not wrong, but it certainly is not the only use of the term.

Biblically, the word ‘confess’ has the basic meaning of “to say the same thing,” “to agree with,” or “to acknowledge.”

Where St. John writes, “If we confess our sins” (1 John 1:9), here we then have to clarify.

To confess, to say the same thing, to agree with, to acknowledge our sins according to Whom—provides the clarification.

A related usage of the word, “confess,” is exampled by John the Baptist, as recorded in John chapter 1, where we read,

“Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ’” (Jn. 1:19-20 NKJ).

Here, John the Baptist “confesses” that he is not the Christ, that he is not the Messiah.

The word, “confess,” used in both examples, is identical, that of John the Baptist confessing that he is not the Christ, and that of “confessing sins.”

The “saying the same thing as,” “agreeing with,” and “acknowledging,” either of sins or of John the Baptist in confessing that he is not the Christ also have this in common—that they are not according to self-determination, designation, or definition.

The confession of sins (and what sin is or what sin is not) and the confession of John about his identity (who he is or who he is not), is according to the determination, designation, and definition of Another.

That Other, for John, and for one confessing sin is not self, but God alone.

For John, the One who sent John the Baptist to preach and to baptize was not John Himself, but the Father.  Thus, John pointed to, he confessed, not himself, but Jesus, to be, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

John the Baptist—same said, agreed with, acknowledged—what God made known to him concerning the Christ, who John was clearly not.

In similar fashion, confession of sins has to do with—same saying, agreeing with, acknowledging as true—what God reveals, what He makes known—about our condition and our doing and our not doing.

To confess sin to God is to say that God is right in all of His judgments and that we are rightly deserving of the consequences that God imposes on that sin, even eternal death—as determined by God—not according to our own definition or our own self-determination of how great or little that sin may be in our own eyes.

God declares,

“There is none righteous, no, no one” (Psalm 14/53: 1Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:10).

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23 NKJ).

With Isaiah the prophet, we too confess, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isa. 6:5 NKJ).

With David we also say, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me” (Ps. 51:5 NKJ).

These things we acknowledge to be true, and not only broadly, but also narrowly.

The Law of God, stated by the 10 Commandments, shows this.

We can do nothing to escape.  There is no work around. No isolationism can help. There is no home remedy, vaccine, or cure.

We are at God’s mercy!

Concerning the confession of sins, Luther writes,

“Consider your place in life according to the Ten Commandments: Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker? Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you been hot-tempered, rude, or quarrelsome? Have you hurt someone by your words or deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm?” (SC, Confession, Which are these?).

Looking into the clear and reflective mirror of God’s Word, we must admit that, yes, we are guilty.

We are not as God would have us be—not only with each other and in our own stations and vocations in life—but also, and especially, before God.

“Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law” (Jas. 2:10-11 NKJ).

Like David, we say, “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:13).

The very First Commandment condemns us all.

Writes Luther,

“Let everyone, then, take care to magnify and exalt this commandment above all things and not make light of it. Search and examine your own heart thoroughly and you will find whether or not it clings to God alone. Do you have the kind of heart that expects from him nothing but good, especially in distress and want, and renounces and forsakes all that is not God? Then you have the one true God. On the contrary, does your heart cling to something else, from which it hopes to receive more good and help than from God, and does it flee not to him but from him when things go wrong? Then you have an idol, another god.” (LC, 1^st Commandment ¶28)

Luther also says,

“Thus you can easily understand the nature and scope of this commandment. It requires that man’s whole heart and confidence be placed in God alone, and in no one else. To have God, you see, does not mean to lay hands upon him, or put him into a purse, or shut him up in a chest.

“We lay hold of him when our heart embraces him and clings to him.

“To cling to him with all our heart is nothing else than to entrust ourselves to him completely. He wishes to turn us away from everything else, and draw us to himself, because he is the one eternal good. It is as if he said: “What you formerly sought from the saints, or what you hoped to receive from mammon or anything else, turn to me for all this; look upon me as the one who wishes to help you and to lavish all good upon you richly.” (LC, 1^st Commandment ¶13-15)

Lastly, Luther states,

“Behold, here you have the true honor and the true worship which please God and which he commands under penalty of eternal wrath, namely, that the heart should know no other consolation or confidence than that in him, nor let itself be torn from him, but for him should risk and disregard everything else on earth.

“On the other hand, you can easily judge how the world practices nothing but false worship and idolatry. There has never been a people so wicked that it did not establish and maintain some sort of worship. Everyone has set up a god of his own, to which he looked for blessings, help, and comfort.” (LC, 1^st Commandment ¶16-17)

Our hope, our confidence, our hope—is not in God as it should be.

The responses to our worldly circumstances show where our trust and confidence is or is not.

Yet, to the sinner, God gives forgiveness (Acts 13:38).

To the fearful, God gives courage (John 14:1, 27; Ephesians 6:10; 2 Timothy 1:7).

To the doubting, God gives faith (John 14:1;2 Corinthians 5:7).

To the uncertain, God gives confidence (Psalm 118:8; 1 John 3:20-21).

To the anxious, God gives peace (John 14:27; Philippians 4:6ff).

To the weak and the weary, God gives Rest (Matthew 11:28).

To the speechless, God gives voice (Psalm 51:15; Ezekiel 33:22; Matthew 12:22; 15:30-31; Mark 7:37).

God gives His Word that we believe, and places that Word on our tongue to say what He Himself makes known.

Confession of sin is acknowledging what God says of our fallen condition, what God says of us in our fallen condition.

We are sinners, sinners in the state of death and dying, hopeless of ourselves before Him.

“To God’s mercy we cling.  Our sins before Him we bring.”

God is right and true in His judgments.

We are not blameless before Him.

Yet, He does not forsake us.

This, too, we confess, agree with, same say, and acknowledge: God is God, the gracious, merciful God, who out of love for sinners, out of love for you, individually and collectively, sent His Son Jesus to be your Savior from sin, death, and hell.

Even as confess God to be true according to His Word in condemning sin, our sin, all of it, so we also confess to be true God’s mercy and forgiveness because of Jesus the Christ.

“God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21 NKJ).

Instead of you suffering the eternal consequences for your sin, Jesus suffered all in your stead on the blessed cross.

Whatever you face today or in days to come in no way and in no sense compares to what the Lord Jesus has delivered you from—to the where of your promised inheritance in Him.

This, too, we confess before Him and before one another.

We acknowledge our sins before God, all of them, even those we don’t know, for against Him have we sinned, as well as against our neighbor, from whom we also ask forgiveness.

We also and especially believe God’s promise in Christ, “Your sin is forgiven.”

The Word of absolution, also spoken by the pastor, is full of import.

That Word delivers to you the very Word of God spoken.

Not only are these words for you publicly, corporately, on Sunday morning–they are also for you privately, too.

Before the pastor you may confess sins for which you are troubled.

We call this private confession, private absolution.

This is different from the Roman Catholic churches, where one is told to do in order to be forgiven, or because of obligations’ sake.

For the Christian, the main thing in the confession of sin privately to the pastor—or corporately as in the Divine Service—is not your part.

It is the absolution, “For you is the forgiveness of sins.”

These words mean something.

They are life.  They are salvation.  They are reason for joy.  They are reason to rejoice.

Thus, do we also confess,

“I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself” (SC, Confession, Office of the Keys, What do you believe according to these words).

The church is just about doing this: proclaiming God’s forgiveness of sins in and through Christ.

This continues to be her message and it is in this that she remains faithful—confessing, same saying, agreeing with, acknowledging to be true—what God says. Amen.

 

Almighty, everlasting God, for my many sins I justly deserve eternal condemnation. In Your mercy You sent Your dear Son, my Lord Jesus Christ, who won for me forgiveness of sins and everlasting salvation. Grant me a true confession that, dead to sin, I may be raised up by Your life-giving absolution. Grant me Your Holy Spirit that I may be ever watchful and live a true and godly life in Your service; through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen. (Lutheran Service Book, inside front cover, Before confession and absolution).

 

Audio of the sermon here on podcast.

 

 

Devotion: “Father, into Your Hands,” Luke 23:46

 

Daily Prayer, Early Evening LSB 297

Devotion on Psalm 100, Luke 23:46, 3^rd Petition

 

The words of our Lord from the cross we know.  We also know what happens after. Jesus died.

In the conclusion of both Luther’s morning and evening prayer, these words are prayed, “Into your hands I commend my myself, my body, and soul, and all things.”

On the surface, these words say what they mean.  In the midst of experience, they are exhaustive and include everything.  Everything.

To say such a prayer, only the Christian can pray. This prayer reflects only what a Christian can pray. When all else seems lost, the Christian continues to have hope, and to be hopeful.

Such hope and such hopefulness does not rest in our decisions, but in the Lord who establishes in the faith, and feeds that faith with and by none other than Christ and His precious gifts.

As God’s children, purchased “not with gold or silver but with Christ’s holy precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death” (Meaning to 2nd Article of the Apostles’ Creed), we have, really, nothing to fear.  As our hope is in Christ, so is our confidence that all will be according to God’s will, in His time, and in His way.

God sustains and will keep a people for Himself, by means of His Holy Word.

What things might look like in time to come, doing what we are able with the blessings God continues to freely bestow, as His people, we entrust ourselves into His care and keeping, certain of His promises, which are “Yes” in Christ, and unto eternity (2 Corithians 1:19).

Uncertainty might remain with reference to how things will be on this side of heaven, but there is the certainty that God’s church will always remain His church, for it is His, not ours.

Also are we not our own.  We belong to the Lord (Romans 14:8).

Let these words sink in.  “The Lord, He is God.  It is He who made us, and not we ourselves.  We are His people and the sheep of His pasture” (Psalm 100:3).

We are His.  The Church is His. His will be done.  And it is, and will be, as He “breaks and hinders” the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh, and “when He strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith until we die.”  So He does.  Amen.

Prayer: Lord, you have your church to proclaim the good news of sins forgiven in Christ, to faithfully confess your name, to speak the truth in love to those who would hear it and to those who will not. As we your children petition you to guide and direct our conversations and thoughts, so do so, that we reflect Christ and be ever confident in your unmerited and abundant mercies.  Help us to know that whether we have less or more, true contentment is found in you alone.  Amen.

 

 

“Many Called, Few Chosen”

¹Again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, ²“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, ³and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. ⁴Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ ⁵But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. ⁷The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. ⁸Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. ⁹Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ ¹⁰And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

      ¹¹“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. ¹²And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. ¹³Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:1-14)

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

The joining together of one man and one woman in holy matrimony and the accompanying festivities are a fitting picture of Christ the bridegroom uniting with His holy Bride, the Church, on the last day.  That the groom wear black and the bride wear white on their wedding day is a fitting depiction of Christ and His Church, fitting because Christ takes upon Himself our sins and gives us His righteousness.  He becomes our sin, symbolized by the black, and we, the church, are declared holy, symbolized by the white.

St. Paul describes the relationship between husband and wife a similar way.  In His letter to the Ephesians he writes, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:25-27).

The Church does not sanctify or clean herself, nor is she sanctified or cleaned of herself.  She is sanctified and cleansed by another, by her betrothed.  Thus does she not have spot or wrinkle, but is holy and without blemish on account of the bridegroom, Christ Jesus.

This is what Christ does for you.  Joined together with him through faith, He sanctifies and cleanses you of your sin.  You still struggle and bear your burdens while in the flesh, but before God, you are holy and without blemish.  He does not your sins count against you.  Though you see the dirt, the shortcomings, the failings, the spots, and the blemishes, God does not.  His love for you is greater than your sin.  His compassion for you is more abundant than your iniquity.  His mercy far exceeds your transgression.

Christ calls you His beloved.  As He chose Israel, not “because they were more in number than any other people, for they were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loved them, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to their fathers,” so God calls you His very own people, that you know the Lord God to be also your God, the faithful God who keeps His Word and fulfills His promises (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).

“You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Through the prophet Hosea, God declares to His people Israel, “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD” (Hosea 2:19-20).

Though they were rebellious, God would take action.  Because of His love for His people, He would not leave them alone.  Though He would discipline them, such was His love for them, that they come to see Him as the God who forgives and bestows mercy.

That same love, forgiveness, and mercy your Lord gives to you.  God does not leave you alone.  You He will not abandon.  He gives You His Word, that you be certain that He is with you, even present with you in His Word and in His sacrament.   By these does our Lord assure you of His kindness and strengthen you in the true faith that you continue in Him.

He calls you, not because of what you might be able to do for Him, nor because of how good you are, but because He loves you and desires you to be His.  He baptized you with water and His Word, there washing away your sins and calling you His very own.

Therefore do we say with King Solomon, “I am my beloved’s, And my beloved is mine” (Song of Solomon 6:3).  I am Christ’s and He is mine.

“For to me live is Christ and if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (Philippians 1:21; Romans 14:8).

He gives you every kind of confidence and assurance of His grace and favor for Christ’s sake.  These our Lord plentifully reveals through His Word.  These He abundantly provides, through His Holy Word of absolution and blessing, preaching and proclaiming.

It is just these things that the servants in our Gospel text were doing, preaching and proclaiming that the wedding feast for the king’s Son was all ready.  Everything was prepared.  All that was left was the arrival of the guests.  All was ready.  Preparations were complete.

The first group of servants went out to invite the welcomed guests.  They did just as they were given to do.  They were sent to call those who had been invited.  These received the announcement, but replied in the negative.  They would not come.  They were not willing to come (NKJ).

This group, and the next, those that refused the invitation and mistreated those whom the king had sent, refer specifically to the Jews, but also to all who continue to reject the Lord’s call and invitation.

The refusal to attend the wedding feast was a refusal of the king Himself.  But this was not the only thing that these refusers did.  Our text says that they not only ‘paid no attention and went off’, but others seized the king’s servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.  This is exactly what happened to the servants sent by God to His people Israel.

The rejection of the messenger is also the rejection of the One who sent Him.  One cannot say that they believe in the Sender and yet reject the one whom He sends.  The reception of the one is the reception of the other, and vice versa.

From this, it’s clear as to why the king in the parable acted the way He did.  His gracious invitation went out.  Everything was prepared and ready. He invited the guests, and what do the guests do?  They reject, harm, injure, and kill the servants that the king sent.

God’s gracious invitation of forgiveness, life, and salvation continues to go forth today, just as it did when Jesus’ proclaimed the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven.

There remain those who continue to reject God’s grace and His Son today.  They refuse to believe.

But today is the day of salvation.  Today, Christ forgives you of all of your sins and calls you His own.  Today is the invitation to hear and keep hearing His Word, to take heart His goodness which is yours in Christ, and “to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

There is another table that is prepared, another feast that is offered: the foretaste of THE feast to come, Christ’s body and Christ’s blood, given and shed for you for the remission of your sins.  Through bread and the wine, God strengthens you in the faith, and preserves you steadfast in the true faith.

Do not despise or take for granted this gracious meal.  God calls you to receive it , not for your harm, but for your good.  Because He desires to give you eternal life, He also gives the Supper of our Lord, that you may know God to be a good and gracious God who does not forsake His people, but is really and truly with you throughout your days.

Through faith in Christ, believing the body and the blood of Christ to be truly present, you receive what He offers.  And confessing the faith of this altar, we together proclaim the death of Christ in the unity of faith before the world.

The third group of servants sent out by the king in St. Matthew’s parable were sent out, not to those who were originally invited, but to those who were on the main roads.  These are the Gentiles, and us.  God sent and sends His servants throughout the world, to call all people to believe in Christ as Savior of the world.

Because the Jews rejected, and still reject Christ, God has seen fit to go elsewhere, to those who will believe.

Where Christ’s Word is preached and rejected, that Word will move on, and those who continually reject it will themselves be rejected.

Those who refuse to hear God’s Word and call upon Him may eventually have what they want–the Lord’s rejection of them.  This is the worst thing that can happen, that God take His Word away and leave you to yourself, in your own sin.

But because God is Love incarnate in Christ, He bears and is longsuffering.  He continues to send out the call to repent, that those who hear believe the Gospel.  He sends servant after servant after servant to preach His Word and faith, calling hearers to come to the wedding feast, that is, to believe in Christ and so be saved.  And all who hear the Lord’s blessed invitation and believe in Christ, receiving what God freely offers, these are given to wear the white robe of Christ’s righteousness.

You don’t go to heaven in your own attire.  You stand before God naked in your sin.  He sees all that you do.  He knows all that you think and all that you desire.  He hears all of your thoughts and all of your words, both good and ill.

But for Christ’s sake alone, God does not condemn.  The thoughts, desires, and actions of Jesus are righteous and holy thoughts, desires, and actions.  On account of Christ, God judges you, not as sinners, but as having no sin, not because you don’t have any, but because Christ didn’t.

At the wedding feast on the last day of Christ and His bride, the consummation of the ages, you will wear the clothes with which He clothes you.  Your clothes of sin and transgression are filthy and unclean.  His are pure and white as snow, without spot and without blemish.

Wearing your own clothes, that is, bringing your own righteousness and not believing Christ to be your perfection, your holiness, and your goodness, is to be bound hand and foot and to be cast into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This is another way of saying hell.  It does exist.  This is the destination of all who try to get to heaven by what they do or who they are, and all who try to be good and do better apart from believing in Christ as their only Savior.

You don’t save yourself.  It is another who saves you.  And in His salvation, there is no doubt or uncertainty of His goodness and kindness,  There is no questioning of your own worthiness, because your worthiness is not your own.  It is Christ who is your worthiness.  Because of Him, heaven is yours, and called to heaven you are.

Throw away the old clothes of your sin and your self-righteousness, that you be clothed with Christ’s righteousness.  Put on Christ, and “be found in Him, not having your own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” (Philippians 3:9).   Amen.

Ruling by the Supreme Court on Same-Sex Marriage

“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

(John 16:33)

This past week, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, legalized same-sex “marriage” throughout the nation for every state. Such unions are contrary to the Word of God and therefore, are not pleasing to Him. They are unnatural and are unions against nature. This truth we must continually speak, even in the midst of growing opposition. Also, as God’s people, we must continually stand against the growing tide of compromise so readily accepted in Christendom today and speak the “whole counsel” of God (Acts 20:27).

God Himself instituted marriage, to be between man and woman, between husband and wife (Genesis 2:23-24; Matthew 19:4-6). There is no other union acceptable to God. Thus, there is no other union acceptable to Christ’s body, the Church.

What does the decision of the Supreme Court mean for us?   It shouldn’t surprise us if greater difficulties and challenges arise for the faithful children of God. Despite such animosity from the world (John 15:18-19), God calls us to be faithful to His Word and to boldly confess His Name.

Note these very applicable words of our Lord Jesus. “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven (Matthew 10:32-33).

Confessing Christ has just to do with speaking the truth of Holy Scripture, the truth of sin and judgment, and the truth of God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ. Not all will hear and believe, to be sure, yet the Lord calls His Church to continue to call sinners to repentance.

This does include calling homosexuals to repentance. This also includes preaching the uncomfortable truth that we, with them, and all people, are deserving of God’s wrath, for “All have sinned” (Romans 3:23) and “The wages of sin is death.” Here, none are excluded, and no sinner is worse than another before God.

It’s easy to point the finger! But God’s Holy Word also applies to you and me. Thus, humbly we speak “the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), acknowledging that we, too, are sinners deserving of everlasting condemnation, but for the grace of God in Jesus Christ, God forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness (Romans 3:21-26; 5:1-4, 8; 8:1; 1 John 1:8-10; 2:1-2).

God alone, by means of His Word, changes hearts from unbelief to belief (Romans 10:17). Yours, too!

Though the days now and ahead be and become more difficult for the church as evil and sin become more greatly accepted (i.e. Genesis 6:5, 12; 8:21; Isaiah 5:20-21), we need not fear that God will forsake us. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). His mercy for you endures forever (Psalm 118). “Do not be afraid; only believe (Mark 5:36).

We know these words to be true because God sent His Son (John 3:16-21). Our Lord is faithful (2 Timothy 2:11-13. Even as He suffered, so will we, His church and His people. But we do not lose hope. Confidence in Christ is yours, for as He now lives, having conquered death itself through His own death (Romans 6:10), so do you now live unto Him! He is your peace and your confidence, even amid the growing challenges of our day.

The world will go as it will, but God’s people abide in Christ and His Word (John 8:31-32). Do not be anxious about the ways of the world. Continue to trust in God. Fail you, He will not!

“Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.”

(Psalm 124:8)