Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Jan 28

28 January 2020

Text: Rom 16:17-27

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

St. Paul finishes his letter to the Church at Rome with a warning: “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.  Avoid them.”

In our day and age, we have taken the notion of tolerance and changed its meaning.  To tolerate means to know that something is wrong, and yet put up with it.  For example, in a free society, people are free to believe in God, many gods, or no God.  They are free to practice their beliefs without fear of being arrested.  And so, Christians tolerate Jews and Muslims and Satan-worshipers and atheists.  We coexist peacefully, and even work together with them where we have common ground.  We do not persecute them, or force them to believe what we believe – for belief cannot truly be compelled. 

But today, tolerance means acceptance.  Tolerance means that no group can claim to be right.  Tolerance means no person may be excluded or told he is wrong.  And this perverts the meaning of tolerance – which presumes that we do disagree with each other and make claims of truth.

When it comes to the Church (For this is whom Paul is addressing), there is to be no tolerance for false doctrine.  We Lutherans confess the Bible as God’s Word and that it is without error.  And we confess it according to our Book of Concord.  To those who disagree with the Bible and the Book of Concord, we wish them no harm, we don’t seek to coerce them with the state, but as St. Paul advises, we “watch out” for such people, and we “avoid them.”  This is a cause to be excommunicated from our churches – whether such people are pastors or lay persons. 

St. Paul advises us to carefully guard our doctrine because he wants us “to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.” 

The great 19^th century Lutheran pastor Charles Porterfield Krauth wrote: “When error is admitted into the Church, it will be found that the stages of its progress are always three.  It begins by asking toleration.  Its friends say to the majority: You need not be afraid of us; we are few, and weak; only let us alone; we shall not disturb the faith of others.  The Church has her standards of doctrine; of course we shall never interfere with them; we only ask for ourselves to be spared interference with our private opinions.  Indulged in this for a time, error goes on to assert equal rights.  Truth and error are two balancing forces.  The Church shall do nothing which looks like deciding between them; that would be partiality.  It is bigotry to assert any superior right for the truth….  From this point error soon goes on to its natural end, which is to assert supremacy.”

Dr. Krauth knew what St. Paul warned the Church in first century Rome, and the Church in his day, and the Church in our times.  If we hold to orthodox doctrine, if we remain grounded in God’s Word, if we are guided by the Gospel and our confession, we will be wise, and as the apostle says, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”

The holy apostle ends his letter with a praise of our Lord, as shall we: “To the only God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ!  Amen.”

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Guest Sermon by Bishop Vsevold Lytkin - St. Titus, 2020

26 January 2020

Text: Titus 1:1-9

You know, I remember, one of my older colleagues told me that during his childhood his greatest fear was ordination. At the same time, he really wanted to become a priest.

He grew up in a free country where religion was not prohibited, but, on the contrary, every Sunday the churches were filled with Christian people.  The boy tried to get as close to the altar as possible to observe how the priests are moving in there.  Instinctively, he even tried to repeat their motions, as if brandishing a censer or lifting up a chalice and a paten with holy gifts.

And only one thing bothered him a lot.  The fact was that one day a bishop came to their parish for ordination, and when the priests surrounded the candidate on all sides, the boy asked his father what they are doing there. “They pulled his spine out of him,” his father replied.

After that, for many years the boy stopped wanting to become a priest, and even approached the altar not to observe how the priest was “turning” bread and wine into the body and blood, but to understand how he does that without a spine.

Nevertheless, the desire to become a clergyman did not pass, and once, having already finished seminary, he knelt down with feet bending in holy fear to receive the sacrament of ordination.  His spine remained with him.

Well...  Let’s read now from the beginning of the epistle of Saint Paul to Titus:

To Titus, my true child in a common faith:

Grace and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Savior.  This is why I left you in Crete, so that you complete the unfinished, and appoint presbyters in every town as I directed you.

Today the Church celebrates the Festival of Saint Timothy and Saint Titus. As the Holy Scriptures speaks of them, Timothy was a native of the Asia Minor town of Lystra, the son of a Greek man and a Jewish woman. He was a Christian from childhood and became a companion of Saint Paul in his missionary travels, and then became a bishop of the Church in Ephesus.

Titus was a Greek convert to Christianity; he also accompanied Saint Paul on his travels, carried out his instructions; and then Saint Paul consecrated him to be a bishop of Crete.

Paul treated both of them not only as his beloved disciples, but even as his beloved children, calling them “sons” in his epistles:

Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ...

to Timothy, my true child in the faith...  

Paul, the servant of God and the apostle of Jesus Christ... to Titus, my true child in a common faith.

The apostle dedicated the epistles to both of them, which are often called “pastoral” epistles, that means, addressed not to the churches, but personally to the bishops.  In these letters, much is said about the Church hierarchy, about its three steps: bishops, priests and deacons:

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of bishop, he desires a noble task.

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you complete the unfinished, and appoint presbyters in every town. 

Deacons... must be... honest. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.

According to the Church calendar, the Feast of Saint Timothy and Saint Titus immediately follows the Day of conversion of the Apostle Paul, and this is not by accident. This is because the today’s festival is a continuation of the previous one, but not only in the sense of the calendar, that is, not only because Jesus first converted Paul, and then Paul called his faithful helpers Timothy and Titus.

This, of course, is right.  But the Feast of Saint Timothy and Saint Titus is celebrated after the feast of Saint Paul, primarily because exactly in this sequence Christianity increased.

You know, if you ask a common person, an ordinary Christian, about how, in his opinion, Christianity increased, he is unlikely answer about the clergy, in other words, about the priests.

It happens because of the post-Protestant influence on our brains; sometimes it seems to us that the increase of the Church was very “laymen”: somebody went to someplace, said something to someone and called somewhere.

We, too, are often captives of this error.  But now think about this: is Christianity possible without the Church?  Now, people who went to someplace and said something, where did they call those who listened to them? To their home?

They called them to the church.  Because only in the church you can be baptized, only in the church you can hear the word of forgiveness spoken with Divine authority, and only in the church you can taste of the salvific Eucharist.

And without what the Eucharist is impossible? Without what absolution of sins is impossible? Or, better, I will ask in a different way: without whom?  Without whom are the sacraments impossible?  Without priests, of course.

You know, a several years ago in one of our eastern parishes, two parishioners had a great conflict with a priest, and then, they left slamming the door, and organized their own “church.”

Before joining Lutheranism, they were Pentecostals, but I think that they remained Pentecostals: they left us because they never became ours.

They declared themselves as the priests, created an “altar” and began to serve “liturgy.”  And they tried to explain to me their “right” to serve the Eucharist using this “argument”: well, they said, really, if we take bread and wine and pray how we should from all our heart, they will for sure become the Body and Blood of Christ!

No, they will not, I answered them, of course.  You can yell as much as you can with a loud voice, and even, like those prophets of Baal, stab yourself with swords and lances until the night time, but the bread will remain ordinary bread and the wine remains ordinary wine.

And the words of forgiveness that you say to your “parishioners” will remain nothing more than a good wish.

The Augsburg Confession says this, “We teach about the church ministry that no one in the Church should publicly teach or preach or conduct the sacraments without being legally ordained” (Art. XIV).

And this means that if a person is not ordained, then all his “sacred actions” will be just a beautiful (if you look positively) performance.  But if you look realistically, this performance is deadly: because in fact, it brings death to its participants: after all, some of them sincerely trust the actors who illegally put on the clothes of priests. Can you imagine what that means?  This means that sins are not forgiven.

It often happens that some people like to steal what they have no right to, but God does not play such games.  He will never contradict Himself.  Because in order to save His people, He created the Church, and granted her a succession of ordinations of priests.

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you complete the unfinished, and appoint presbyters in every town as I directed you.

Yes.  The Epistles of Saint Paul to Timothy and Titus are very, so to speak, hierarchical.  They emphasize the special importance of the clergy in the Church.  “Special” does not mean “privileged.”  You know, sometimes we hear that priests have seized authority in the Church and are doing what they want.  I have heard this -- also from our two former parishioners about whom I just have told you.

Well...  Priests, of course, are different, some of them are intolerant and inattentive. I myself am also one of those.  But we did not seize any authority.  Because apart from the clergy, no one in the Church has ever had any authority.  And this is God who gave us authority - the authority to forgive your sins, to baptize your children, to conduct Holy Communion, the authority to serve you and care for you.

And it was so from the beginning.  In the Old Testament, God chose certain people to stand at the altar and conduct the sacrifices.  The Old Testament hierarchy was genetic: of the twelve tribes of Israel, God chose the descendants of Levi, whom God ordered to serve at the altar.

No one else could stand near the altar, God would not accept the sacrifice from anyone else.  Although already in the Old Testament we repeatedly encounter rebellions against the hierarchy.  One of these rebellions is described in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Numbers. Do you remember that story?

They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, ”You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” 

The idea of ​​the so-called “universal priesthood” is often attributed to us Lutherans, even in some dictionaries and encyclopedias you can read that everyone in our Church may celebrate the liturgy and that a person becomes a pastor as a result of voting.  But it is nowhere in our confessions.  There has never been universal equality in the Church. And those who want to argue with this will have to argue not with humans, but with God - because it was God Who was the author, the Creator of the holy hierarchy.

The New Testament priesthood is different from the Old Testament. Because it is not genetic.  Christ called the twelve apostles and gave them authority to forgive sins and to conduct the sacraments.

And the feast of Saint Timothy and Saint Titus follows immediately the feast of Saint Paul because it was from the Apostle Paul that his disciples Timothy and Titus received ordinations and became priests and later the bishops. This is exactly how the Church extends:

• The Lord gave the authority to forgive sins to His apostles;

• The apostles transferred this authority to the first generation of bishops;

• Bishops transferred this authority to the next generation of bishops,

• and so it has reached our days.

The Church is continuous.  This her continuity is commonly called as “apostolic succession.”  It is about this continuity and this succession that we speak every liturgy when we pronounce the Creed: “I believe ... in ... one holy Christian and apostolic Church.”

And today’s festival is a feast of the apostolic, in other words: a continuous Church. It is very important for us that the Church did not stop, that her tree, even it was divided into several branches (denominations), still grows and stands on the foundation of the apostles.

That is why we can be sure that our sins are forgiven and that the church tradition is not interrupted, because the hierarchy is continuous and modern clergymen have the same authority to forgive sins, which Christ gave to His apostles.

So Saint Paul gave the direction to bishop Titus,

complete the unfinished, and appoint presbyters in every town.  

And on the Feast of Saint Timothy and Saint Titus it is customary to preach about holy ministry. And during the liturgy, we read the prayers about holy ministry, include preface prayer from the order of ordination:

“It is truly good, right and salutary, always and everywhere to thank You, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty eternal God. By the anointing of the Holy Spirit, You have made Your only begotten Son High Priest of the new and eternal Testament, and by the indescribable authority You have honored the Church with the consecration, granting her the continuous priesthood of Christ. For He not only crowned His people with the dignity of the royal priesthood, but also, by His grace, He chose the people who, through the laying of hands, partake in His priesthood. Therefore with the angels and archangels...” (end of quote).

Complete the unfinished, and appoint presbyters in every town.  

And so it continues to this day. Until now, the bishops complete the unfinished of the apostles when we ordain new priests and deacons in every town around the world.

This is how the ministry of the apostles continues, and this is how the Christian Church grows and increases and the word and sacraments are given to the people.  And so it will be until the end of this world.

Brothers and sisters!  Through the succession of ordinations, God continues to give His priests authority to forgive sins and to conduct the sacraments. To forgive your sins and to conduct the sacraments for you.  So you and your children will be saved.  

(And by the way, nobody pulled out the priests’ spines when the bishops ordain them -- you should trust me!) 

So always rush to the church and receive here the gifts that the Lord offers to you here.

I congratulate you with this festival, dear father Larry and my dear brothers and sisters, with the festival of the Saint bishop Timothy and Saint bishop Titus! Amen!

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Jan 21

21 January 2020

Text: Rom 10:1-21

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

St. Paul wants people to be saved – that is, saved from sin, from the devil, and from hell.  He is dedicated to doing what he can to rescue people from alienation from God, from not living to their true human potential as God designed them to be.  And so he lays out how it all works: the ordo salutis, the order of salvation.

If you want this salvation, you must “call on the name of the Lord.” 

But how does a person get to this point?  What would prompt someone to seek divine help?  Well, first such people must have some kind of belief in God.  The apostle asks: “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?”  And where does this belief come from?  Well, people need to hear about God, about the order of salvation, about the good news itself, about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For, as he says, “How are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?”

And so to be saved, one must call on the Lord.  To call on the Lord, one must believe.  To believe, one must hear.  And to hear, one must have someone to speak something to be heard, as St. Paul puts it: “How are they to hear without someone preaching?”  And so, St. Paul argues that we need preachers to have salvation.  But then the apostle takes this regression analysis a step further: where do preachers come from?  Or as the holy apostle asks: “How are they to preach unless they are sent?” 

Preachers are sent, dear friends.  They do not send themselves.  Rather, Jesus Himself calls them and sends them.  The Greek word for “to send” is ἀποστέλλω (apostello).  When Jesus chose a specific group of men from his disciples and made them apostles, He sent them out to baptize and teach, Jesus was sending them, armed with the powerful Word of God, the message of the Gospel – so that people might hear, believe, call upon the Lord, and be saved.

And so the Church continues to operate on Christ’s instruction to prayerfully send men out.  Those who have received the gift of preaching and teaching are also charged with giving this gift – the Lord’s gift – to other men.  For like the old Eastern adage: “If a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears, does it make a sound?”  Well, makes a sound objectively, but the sound is not heard subjectively.

And so even though Jesus objectively died for the sins of the whole world, all of the people in the world need to subjectively hear, they need the preached Word, so that they might believe, and call upon the Lord, and be saved.  It is the Word that saves, not the preacher, and yet the preacher is the Lord’s chosen instrument to deliver the Word.  We need pastors, dear friends.  Why?  Because they preach the Word!  It is the Church’s job to listen to those who preach.  It is the Church’s job to support seminaries, and encourage those who prepare for the holy ministry.  It is the Church’s job to support their pastors and most of all, to hear them.

For “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sermon: Epiphany 2 - 2020

19 January 2020

Text: John 2:1-11

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Sometimes people make light of our Lord’s miracle in Cana, turning water into wine at a wedding feast.  Sometimes people laugh because it involves alcohol.  Sometimes people speculate that Jesus was making a show of His power, or making sure people knew that He was God.

But Jesus is not a comedian (though He is witty), nor is he a magician (He is the Creator).  He is God in the flesh who has not come to condemn man for His sinfulness, but rather to save him, by forgiveness, by mercy.

Jesus is not motivated by power or the desire to be accepted.  He is motivated by His love for His creatures: love that manifests itself as mercy.  For He knows how far the world has gone from His original plan.  He knows how wretched our condition is, thanks to sin.  And instead of being repulsed by us, instead of turning away from us, instead of writing us off and starting over – He has mercy, and He comes to fix that which is broken.

And no act of mercy is too great or too small for Him.  For even as His Father intimately knows every sparrow on the planet, He the Son, likewise knows us.  And in knowing us, He willingly took flesh in our broken world to save us from our sorrows, great and small.

Jesus is in Cana for a wedding.  He Himself created the institution of marriage, in which one man and one woman become one flesh, committed to one another for life.  And in this holy state of matrimony, each is better off than when he and she were alone.  Men and women who are called to married life are better off together than alone.  Not everyone is called to married life, but to those who are, Holy Matrimony is the most natural, blessed state of all.  And if God wills it, such unions are blessed by children.  This is how God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit chose to bring new people into the world.  

What a delight for Jesus to witness a man and a woman carrying out the divine plan to which they were called.  And as is universal around the world, there is a celebration.  There is a feast.  There is food and drink and toasts and music.  There are beloved friends and family members to bless the couple.  Money has been saved to make this day special. 

But, of course, we live in a fallen world.  Things do not always go as planned.  And the couple’s wonderful day is about to be ruined.  For whatever reason, there is not enough wine for the guests.  This was not a problem that could be solved with a quick drive to a big box store and a swipe of the credit card.  This was going to be a major disappointment for all in attendance.

In the grand scheme of things, this may not seem like a big deal.  Nobody is dying.  The house didn’t catch on fire.  Marauders did not show up plundering and putting people to the sword.  Nevertheless, this holy day to celebrate a holy estate was on the verge of being turned into a negative, desecrated, if you will, by the lack of something needed for the celebration.  And only God knows the words that might have been spoken, the hurt feelings that may have occurred, the broken relationships that might have taken place.  We do not know the road not taken.

And so Jesus saves the day by exercising His mighty power.  He is not looking for affirmation, but for the provision of mercy to a newly-married couple and their families.  It is fitting that He uses stone jars used in “Jewish rites of purification,” as He is going to do something that not even the ceremonial Law was capable of doing.  Jesus is going to do the seemingly impossible – that is, impossible for anyone except the living God.  

Our blessed Lord has the servants “fill the jars with water.”  And then He commands water to be drawn out.  “Take it to the master of the feast,” He says.  

“So they took it.”  The servants obey the Word of Jesus, even as do the very molecules of water.  The water had become wine.  The master of the feast “did not know where it came from.”  But the servants did.  Often Jesus reveals Himself to the most lowly.  

Because of this action, the bridegroom is praised instead of humiliated.  “Everyone serves the good wine first,” says the master of the feast, “and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine.  But you have kept the good wine until now.” 

The groom is a hero.  The bride’s reputation has been saved.  The families of the couple continue to rejoice.  The master of the feast is astonished.  And the lowly servants have been introduced to Jesus – the one who showed mercy to the newlyweds.  And while this was a small miracle in the grand scheme of things, for the couple, this was no small deed.  Perhaps it saved them from events that could eventually have ruined their marriage.  Their holy day remained joyful, and not a day of pointed fingers, blame, and harsh words.  

And the disciples of Jesus also saw something for the first time: that Jesus manifested His glory – not in glorifying Himself, but in covering the shame of an ordinary and obscure man and a likewise ordinary and obscure woman.  His glory is in His mercy, in His love, and in this love being shown not to the mighty and powerful, but to those of ordinary estate.

Jesus blessed a marriage.  Jesus took away their reproach.  Jesus commanded not only servants, but water itself, to do the will of His Father.  And what’s more, with this first great miracle as recorded by John the Evangelist, in this “first of His signs,” we see that the “disciples believed in Him.” 

They do not believe in Him only for the sake of the miracle, of the power, of the remarkable action that only God could do, they believe in Him because His power is wielded in love and mercy.  Jesus has not come to condemn, but to save.

And on this day, our Lord Jesus Christ saved a wedding feast from disaster.

Of course, He would do many more signs over the next three years, healing many sick, including the blind and the deaf, the leprous, and the demon-possessed.  Each miracle that He does is an act of mercy, of making someone whole.  He will even raise the dead: which is His mission – to restore life to the dead, we who are dead in our sins and brought back to the dust from which we were created.  Jesus would die for the sins of the world, and then rise to life to render death itself impotent against His mighty power of forgiveness and mercy.  And He, the Bridegroom of the Church, will allow Himself to be humiliated in order to save His beloved, His Bride.  And He will invite her to the eternal wedding feast, where indeed, the good wine will be served last, for all of eternity.

Jesus is not a comedian, but we laugh with joy and delight.  Jesus is not a magician, but He does truly change the world by means of His Word.  There is no trickery here, only honest mercy by God in the flesh.  And when he says: “I forgive you all your sins,” and when He says, “This is My body,” and “This cup is the New Testament in My blood,” we too see Him manifest His glory: His glory that is His love and mercy and salvation, even commanding bread and wine to bend to His will for our sake and for our salvation.  

For indeed, our Lord has kept the good wine until now.  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Jan 14

14 January 2020

Text: Rom 5:1-21

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Philosophers have always wrestled with the question: “Why is there evil in the world?”  And they have also pondered, “What is to be done about it?” 

St. Paul does not shy away from these questions.  The answer lies in Adam and in Adam’s Redeemer: our Lord Jesus Christ.  One man sinned, and sin spread to everyone – resulting in universal suffering and death.  And again, one man – by submitting to sinful men and to death, for the sake of love, conquers both sin and death.  And atonement is offered universally – resulting in justification for all sinful men who receive the gift.

“For as by one man’s disobedience,” says the holy apostle, “the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”

The first Adam – whose name means “man” – was created perfect and righteous, but when tempted by Satan, he fell into sin – and he died.  But the Second Adam – whose name means “God Saves” – was not created, but was from eternity perfect and righteous, and when tempted by Satan, he did not fall into sin.  

And yet, He, the New and Greater Adam, also died.  He did not have to die, but willingly laid down His life for His friends.  He died because of love, for His beloved: every son and daughter of Adam who was, who is, or who is to come.  The New and Greater Adam does not yield to Satan, but rather vanquishes him.  And our Lord’s death results in our life; His punishment results in our justification.  

And because we receive the promise, because we believe His Word, as St. Paul proclaims: “We have been justified by faith” and “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  So why is there evil in the world?  And what is to be done about it?  The answer is so profound and joyful that we must sing it: “As by one man all mankind fell / And born in sin, was doomed to hell, / So by one Man, who took our place, / we all were justified by grace.”  Amen!

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sermon: Baptism of our Lord - 2020

12 January 2020

Text: Matt 3:13-17 (Isa 42:1-7, 1 Cor 1:26-31)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

“For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” 

Our Lord does many things that He doesn’t have to do.  He was born of the flesh, circumcised, baptized, and put to death on a cross.  All of these things involve the Law – the Law that we have not kept.  But Jesus takes on our burdens.  He suffers the very obligations that we have, but which He is above.  Why does He do this, dear friends?  Because He loves us.  The lover is willing to suffer for the sake of the beloved.  This is the true meaning of the word “passion” – a word that we have reduced to describing what people think about pizza and hobbies.  True passion, in the original sense of the word, means suffering.  Even the baptism of our Lord was a kind of passion, a humiliation.  For by submitting to a washing is to give the impression of being filthy.  Jesus is not, but we are.

Jesus fulfills the Law, or as He says, fulfills “all righteousness” – so that we can be righteous.  For of ourselves, we can’t do it.  We are damaged goods.  We are rotten to the core.  We are headed to the scrap heap.  But Jesus looks upon us with pity, knowing that it is sin that has made us filthy and ugly.  It is sin that has crippled us and turned us into monsters.  It is sin that has brought death into the world.

And only He, the Righteous One who is both God (who is perfect) and Man (who exists in the flesh in our world) can keep the Law on our behalf, and then transmit His righteousness to us as a free gift.

But this gift is actually an exchange, a trade.  He gives us His righteousness, and we give Him our sins; we get everlasting life, and He gets the cross and death.  We are exalted; He is humiliated. 

“For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” 

This idea of a once-for-all blood sacrifice is radical.  But it is the only solution for us poor, miserable sinners.  God loves us infinitely, and He is willing to go to any length to redeem us, to drag us out of the pit, to bind up our wounds, to dress us in the finest clothing, and sit us at the table with Him.

St. John the Baptist recognizes the radical nature of the Messiah coming to him for baptism.  In fact, “John would have prevented Him.”  John realizes that this is contrary to how the world works.  For in the world, the guilty are punished and the innocent are rewarded.  In the world, love takes a back seat to selfish desire.  In the world, the judge punishes the offender; He does not serve the offender’s sentence.  John is aghast at just how extraordinary this is: “I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”

And here is where Jesus explains the mystery of the Gospel: “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

We cannot fulfill all righteousness, but Jesus does.  He keeps the Law where we fail.  And like Abraham, by faith, the righteousness of God Himself is counted to us, credited to us, given to us by proxy.  We wear the royal ring and we bear the royal scepter – because our Lord has given them to us as a passport, as a key to admission to the Kingdom of God.  It is He who takes the beating reserved for the impostor and the intruder – even as we are clothed in unearned royal garb and seated undeserved at the head table of the banquet.

And where is this faith given to us, dear friends?  In baptism!  For just before He ascended into heaven, He gave the apostles, the ministers of the church, both the authority and the order to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  John’s baptism of repentance is completed in our Lord’s baptism of salvation.  And this is what the Church does, dear friends.  We follow in the footsteps of our Lord: bringing sinners to where they find life: to Jesus, to Holy Baptism, to the Word of God, to the Gospel.

And all righteousness is fulfilled in the faith given as a gift by means of Holy Baptism, by the “Word of God in and with the water” and the “faith which trusts this Word.”  The Holy Baptism that the baptized, crucified, and risen Lord Jesus Christ gives us is “a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit.”

And even as Jesus emerged from the water with “the heavens… opened to Him,” and just as the Holy Spirit descended and came “to rest on Him,” and even as the Father claims Him as His “beloved Son with whom [He] is well pleased,” so too does all of this happen to us in Christ.

The Father is pleased with us, His baptized.  The Son exchanges His righteousness for our sin, and the Holy Spirit comes to rest upon us.  Our baptism links us to the cross, to the passion of Jesus, whose love impels Him to take our punishment while we receive His justification as a free gift of faith.  This is why we make the sign of the cross in remembrance of Holy Baptism, for the cross is where all righteousness was truly fulfilled.  And that fulfillment of the Law and satisfaction for our sins is made at the cross, and it is given to us “to fulfill all righteousness” at our own Holy Baptism.

Most of us were baptized as little children, even as young as our Lord was when He was brought into the covenant through circumcision.  We are weak, and God uses “what is weak in the world to shame the strong,” as St. Paul proclaims.  As children, as newcomers to the faith, we are “low and despised in the world,” so that we cannot boast of ourselves, but so that “in Christ Jesus,” God Himself “is the source of your life.”  Christ is our “wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” 

For even as children, even as sinners, even as those who are despised by the world, God Himself sends His beloved Son to us to redeem us, “as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

“For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Jan 7

7 January 2020

Text: Romans 1:1-17

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

St. Paul writes to the Church at Rome, the eternal city, the capital of the empire – the center of the known world.  He is taking the battle for the Christian faith right to the enemy – to the seat of Caesar himself.  And it is the apostle’s earnest desire and intention to come to Rome to minister to the saints there.

St. Paul wishes to “reap some harvest” among the Roman Christians, as well as “the rest of the Gentiles” that he is evangelizing.  He wishes to “preach the gospel” to the Romans, as the Lord has called him to do, and as this letter is preparing them for this preaching.

The Book of Romans is indeed a beautiful presentation of the Gospel in its fullness, beginning with the law and the painful reality that we do not keep it, that we cannot save ourselves, and that apart from Christ, we are doomed.  But of course, along with the Law comes the Gospel, the good news that our Lord has indeed come to rescue us by means of His blood, by grace and through faith. 

The very first theological statement that St. Paul makes in this letter sums up the entire Christian faith, that the Gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”  Salvation’s power, dear friends, lies not in our own righteousness, our own struggle to achieve holiness, or even in the Law.  It has nothing to do with our ethnicity or station in life.  Salvation’s power is in the Gospel, the good news that Christ has come to redeem us poor, miserable sinners.  Paul’s letter to the Romans is not only a systematic theological treatise, it is a joyful epistle that celebrates the Lord’s victory over sin, death, and the devil, and proclaims this Good News unabashedly, even as the apostle has said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel.”

And his next sentence put Dr. Luther into the trajectory of rethinking the Gospel, even as we Lutherans are known as “Evangelicals” in Germany, meaning, we are the confessors of the Gospel!  For Luther contemplated Paul’s assertion that “The righteous shall live by faith.”  And that one powerful verse from the Word of God and the pen of St. Paul changed Luther’s life, and the lives of millions who were liberated by the Gospel.

Let us savor the Word of God, dear friends, for in the Word, we receive the gift of everlasting life, through Christ our Lord.  Amen!

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sermon: Epiphany - 2020

5 January 2020

Text: Matt 2:1-12

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

One of the most beloved verses of Scripture is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”  Jesus Himself spoke these words to Nicodemus, who came to Him by night, so as not to be seen by others.

Just three verses later, our Lord mentions the darkness to Nicodemus: “The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest His works should be exposed.”

As is always the case, Jesus is teaching Nicodemus (and us) about Himself.  For ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden, our world has been shrouded in darkness.  But in the fullness of time, God brought light – the light of forgiveness and life – back into our world – by sending His only begotten Son.  But of course, not everyone wants the light.  For it is in darkness that we poor miserable sinners love to commit “wicked deeds.”  And darkness and light cannot coexist.

When our Lord was still an infant, we see this clash between the light of Christ and the darkness of men.  And that is what the Epiphany is all about.  The word “Epiphany” means “to show.”  For what was hidden in the darkness now comes to light.  And so God uses the light of a star to guide Gentile “wise men from the east” to come and see the showing of this Jewish Messiah, this boy King who is to save the world by enlightening it and chasing away the darkness of sin and death.  They were led to the Light of the World by the light of a star.

This sign in the heavens was so powerful that it impelled the Magi to set out on a very long journey from the east, from the land where the sun rises, to see the coming of the Son of God.  For it was not only the Jews who were waiting for the Savior to come, but also the Gentiles, that is, all of the nations of the world, who according to God’s Word spoken two thousand years earlier to Abraham, they too would be blessed by Abraham’s promised descendant.  

And now, with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem of Judea, that time has come.  The light was shining, and could not be contained.  The light was being shown forth in a great epiphany that drew men from beyond the borders of Jerusalem, of Judea and Samaria, and of the ends of the earth – to come and see, to behold the light, to announce to the world that the darkness has been conquered!

But let us not forget, men love the darkness because their deeds are wicked.  Wicked King Herod was a fraudulent King, a pretender to the throne who only sat there by currying favor with the Romans.  Herod benefitted from the darkness of Roman rule, and the last thing he wanted was the light of the True King of Israel to expose his dark deeds as a traitor to his own people.  And so hearing about the light, Herod tried to snuff it out.  

When it had been revealed to the wise men that the light was shining in Bethlehem, Herod was “troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.”  And it was only with this troubled mind that the lawless man of darkness consults the Scriptures – not to learn from God, not to repent of his wickedness, not to submit to the rule of the true King – but to try to extinguish the light of the hope of all mankind.  

And so Herod resorted to a lie to cover up his attempted murder of the King, saying to the wise men: “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found Him, bring me Word, that I too may come and worship Him.”

After meeting with Herod, the wise men continue to follow the starry guidepost in the heavens, directing them to the epiphany of the Lord Jesus Christ “over the place where the child was.”  And “when they saw the star, the rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.”

The light in the sky led them to the Light of the World.  These wise men, sometimes depicted as three kings, rejoiced to see the King of kings, the One who is the incarnate God – the Son from the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – the epiphany, that is, the manifestation, the showing, of God in the flesh.  The rule of darkness has come to an end with the epiphany of the Light of the World in the flesh.  And not even the scheming of Herod could empower the darkness to overcome the light!

It is little wonder that the Magi rejoiced!  Truly great men are joyful to submit to the rule of “God in man, made manifest.” 

And even as Herod lied about worshiping the Child, these wise men did indeed worship Him.  Worship is something reserved to God alone.  And unlike the pagan myths about various gods that they were taught to worship in the east, these wise men were now in the presence of the True God, a God who is not a myth, not a story, not a character in an unbelievable tale – but rather a baby, a flesh and blood child, a boy who has a mother.  

For the Light of the One who said “Let there be light” when all of the universe was created, now manifests Himself as the Light of the World in the flesh of this boy King.  And even as we do today, out of joy and gratitude, they offer Him gifts.  They are not buying His favor, the way they would a wicked fraudulent king of darkness, like Herod.  Rather they offer Him gifts given in the spirit of worship, of love, of joy, of thankfulness and praise.  They bring Him the kingly gold that men like Herod lust after.  They bring Him priestly incense, which was offered in the temple as a reminder of the prayers that ascend to heaven that God receives as a sweet aroma that pleases Him.  They bring Him myrrh – an aromatic spice used in embalming that would some thirty years later be brought to His tomb – His empty tomb.  

For though these gifts are offered with the spirit of gratitude and right sacrifice, ultimately Jesus doesn’t need them.  For God doesn’t need or lack anything.  Jesus is the Creator of all the gold.  Jesus is the fulfillment of all the incense.  And Jesus is the One who makes embalming myrrh obsolete.  Rather than being things that are needed, in the New Creation that Jesus brings to the world, these things are luxuries to be enjoyed for their beauty, objects used in worship that remind us of Jesus and His epiphany, of the wise men, and of the inextinguishable Light of the World.

And as much as Herod schemed to get to the Christ Child to snuff out His young life, his dark plan was foiled by God, who simply warned the magi to avoid Herod, and to “depart” and go back home “by another way.”

Jesus is that other way, dear friends.  We do not need to wallow in darkness and be harassed by death.  We do not need to fear the Herods of this world, or be consumed by deeds of wickedness.  Jesus calls us to repent, and He teaches us – even in the lingering darkness, even as He taught Nicodemus.  

And we too worship Him.  We too bring Him our treasures.  But what is even greater than what we bring Him is what He brings us: forgiveness, life, and salvation.  Jesus conquers the darkness as the uncreated and unconquerable Light! 

As the ancient prayer of the church confesses: “Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, the Light no darkness can overcome!”  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sermon: Circumcision and Name of Jesus - 2020

1 January 2020

Text: Luke 2:21 (Num 6:22-27, Gal 3:23-29)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

In the Old Covenant, circumcision was the equivalent of Baptism.  It brought a man or boy – typically a baby eight days old – into the Church; the people of God.  It also signified that his wife and children were also part of the covenant.

This was a minor shedding of blood that is a reminder of the shedding of blood required to forgive sins.  And in ancient times, a covenant wasn’t signed on paper, but rather a covenant was “cut” – as the bodies of sacrificed animals were split in two, and those making the covenant would walk between the bloody pieces as a sign of their agreement.

This was also the official naming of the child.  We do the same today in Holy Baptism, as we actually pronounce two names over the person being brought into the covenant: his or her name, and the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Circumcision as a sign of the covenant reached its fulfillment in Christ.  For it was truly a minor shedding of blood in his flesh that would be a preview of His sacrificial offering in the New Testament in His blood: on the cross and in the cup.  The covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is brought to its fulfillment in Christ, and the New Covenant is offered to all of the baptized – whether they are biological children of Abraham or not: “for in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith.  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek.”  In baptism, we have put on the circumcised and crucified Christ.  And just as we are all adopted as children of Abraham, we are all adopted as “sons” of God.  For in Christ, all of the baptized: men, women, boys, and girls enjoy the legal privilege of being sons, that is, heirs.  And the biological Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, gives us all a share in His Sonship “by faith.”

And when we are baptized, the name of Jesus, the name of God – the name of the Most Holy Trinity in His fullness: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is placed upon us, even as Aaron and his sons were authorized to speak the triune benediction upon the people, invoking the Lord three times.  

Jesus was baptized on His eighth day after His birth in accordance with the Law – which He keeps for us.  The eighth day is a reminder that in Baptism, which is to say, in Christ, we enter into a new week of creation.  The Most Holy Trinity created the universe in six days, and then rested on the seventh.  And we are in the first day of the new creation, dear friends!  In Christ, we are in the eighth day – even as we remember the eight people saved from sin and death through water, safe in the ark.

And like baptism, circumcision provided the opportunity to place a name on the child.  Our Lord is known by many descriptive names: “Lord” (which refers to the holy name of God), “Immanuel” (which means “God with us”), the Word Made Flesh (being the divine Word that brought creation into being), and the Messiah or Christ (which means “the anointed one” who is Prophet, Priest, and King prophesied in Scripture).  But His personal name is the most extraordinary of all, dear friends: “Jesus.”  This is the name that is above every name, the name before which “every knee shall bow” and “every tongue confess” that “Jesus Christ is Lord.”  The name “Jesus” is the Greek version of the Hebrew name “Joshua.” 

Joshua was a common name for boys and men – but this Joshua, though He lives among us common men, is unique and holy, for He is the fulfillment of what the name means: “God saves.”

The most well-known Joshua in the Old Testament took over leadership of the people of God from Moses, after his death and his own coming up short of leading the people to the Promised Land.  Moses was a truly great prophet.  He gave the law.  He spoke with God face to face.  But Moses did not complete the work of the Lord to bring the people fully out of slavery into their Promised Land.  That work was completed by his successor: Joshua, the great general and leader of the people, who crossed the Jordan River, and led the church to her home.

There was another Joshua in the Old Testament, who was the high priest – the priest who offered sacrifice for all of the people and stood in the very presence of God in the temple.

Jesus fulfills both of these Joshuas.  For He is the new and greater prophet Moses who leads us out of slavery to sin and death.  But where Moses only gave the Law, Jesus fulfills it.  Jesus gives us the Gospel.  And Jesus is also the new and greater general Joshua who leads us to the Promised Land.  But where Joshua only defeated flesh and blood enemies, the flesh and blood Jesus conquers the devil, and He leads the Church to the Promised Land of everlasting life: by His blood, in His name, and by faith!

And whereas the high priest Joshua could only offer sacrifices and stand in God’s presence, our Lord Jesus Christ is the new and greater high priest Joshua who offers the once-for-all sacrifice – which is Himself!  For He is both priest and victim, and His blood atones for the sins of the whole world.  And whereas Joshua could only stand in the presence of God, Jesus is God.  Jesus is the presence.  And Jesus has caused the curtain of the temple to be torn in two, and we now stand in God’s presence based upon Jesus’ holiness.  For His blood, His sacrifice, His righteousness makes us worthy of the presence of God that requires no temple and no priestly sacrifice.

The holy name of Jesus describes Him simply and perfectly: “God saves.”  The name of Jesus is a complete sentence: a subject and a verb.  His name tells us who He is (“God”) and what He does (“saves”).  This chosen personal name of Jesus makes it clear that whereas the other Joshuas only pointed to God, our Lord, as fulfillment of all of the Old Covenant, is God.  And what did He come to earth to do, dear friends?  Why did He take flesh: flesh that can be circumcised and even crucified?  He came to save!  For the name Jesus does not emphasize His divine worthiness, righteousness, power, might, eternity, or His Sonship within the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.  For though these are all true, the name “Jesus” emphasizes the revelation that is wrapped up in His name, His circumcision, His incarnation, His death, and His resurrection: the fact that God saves.  

Jesus is our Savior, our Rescuer, the One whose blood is the new covenant, the One who leads us to the Promised Land and brings us into the presence of the Lord, whose name is holy and above every name.

Let us ponder His holy name, dear friends, and let us rejoice that His name and His blood have been placed upon us.  Let us sing His praises for saving us.  Let us joyfully remember our baptism with the sign of the holy cross, even as we continue to receive the Lord’s blessing:

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you + peace.”  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.