Sermon: Christmas Eve - 2021

24 December 2021

Text: John 1:1-14 (Isa 7:10-14, Mic 5:2-4, Isa 9:2-7, Matt 1:18-25, Matt 2:1-12)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

The wonder of Christmas is God breaking into time and space. 

Time is a funny thing in how we perceive it.  When we’re children, waiting for Christmas seems like forever.  When we grow up, we scratch our heads thinking that just yesterday it was July 4^th.

God’s people of the Old Testament waited for hundreds of years for God to break into space and time.  Our reading from Isaiah as written seven hundred years before Christ: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name ‘Immanuel.’”  “Immanuel” is Hebrew for “God with Us.”  For in Christ, God is with us in space and time. 

And this was prophesied even earlier than the days of Isaiah.  Back in the Garden of Eden, after man’s fall into sin, God made the devil an offer that he couldn’t refuse.  He said that the “Seed of the woman” as coming to destroy him.  The “Seed of the woman” is a strange thing to say.  For women produce eggs, not seed.  Isaiah’s prophecy makes it clear: the Savior would come without a human father.  And when the centuries of waiting had passed, when the fullness of time had come, “the angel Gabriel from heaven came” to our “most highly favored lady.”   

Our God breaks into time, where we dwell.  Or more accurately, “when” we dwell.

But He also comes to us in space, dear friends.  The prophet Micah was preaching about the same time as Isaiah.  And God revealed to him where the Christ would come: Bethlehem.  The “little town of Bethlehem” – “who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for Me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.”  And this “ruler” (the “Seed of the woman”) “shall be great to the ends of the earth.  And He shall be their peace.” 

Unlike the other religions of the world, Jesus is God in the flesh, He comes in time and in space, Bethlehem being a real place in the world: a world in need of redemption and peace.  For it is there and then that He comes to us and abides with us: “Our Lord Immanuel.”

Isaiah has more to say about the Christ – again seven centuries back in time.  For darkness will be removed by the “great light” that the prophet points out has come to “the people who walked in darkness.”  At the darkest time of the year, in the dark of the night, when life as at its gloomiest, darkest, and coldest – it is then when “the world in solemn stillness lay” that we “hear the angels sing.”

And their song is “Peace on the earth, goodwill to all, from heaven’s gracious King.”  The darkness of our waiting was broken by the angel hosts singing from the “cloven skies” – the heavens themselves torn in to like the veil of the temple will be after the baby in the manger becomes the King on the cross.  “For to us,” to us, dear friends, “for to us a child is born.  To us a son is given.”  And “His word of peace shall to the earth God’s ancient promise bring.”

And this King, the Creator of the universe, does not come down to us brandishing a sword or riding on a stallion.  Indeed, he comes “away in a manger, no crib for a bed.”  For just as the prophets of old had been saying for hundreds of years, “Mary was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.”  And the angel told Joseph, Mary’s fiancé, “She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”  The name “Jesus” means “God saves.”  Jesus is the Savior.  He is God with us, in the flesh, in space and time.  He is the fulfillment of hundreds, even thousands of years of prophecy and waiting.  And like when a woman is ready to give birth, no force can stop it.  And as our Lord was coming into space and time, men and demons conspired to snuff out His life, to extinguish the light, but their conspiracy as all in vain. 

And the plotting of evil men as foiled by a child, a helpless baby and a very ordinary couple – whose life was anything but ordinary. 

And so all the world – friend and foe alike, ask the great question: “what child is this?”  There have been billions of children born.  But who is this one?  Who is He “whom angels greet with anthems sweet while shepherds watch are keeping?”  We ill learn more when the “wise men from the east” will come to Jerusalem in search of this child, this “Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing,” and they will “haste to bring Him laud, the babe the Son of Mary.”

And they will offer this king their treasures: “gold and frankincense and myrrh.”  And we join their praises and their worship, singing: “Joy, joy, for Christ is born, the babe, the Son of Mary.”

And lest we forget who He is, lest we be fooled by His coming as a little child, Scripture reminds us that He is “the Word.”  He is the voice and mind that brought all creation into being.  Jesus has taken on flesh, but He is eternal.  Jesus has joined creation in space and time, but He is no creature; He is the Creator.  He was “of the Father’s love begotten, ere the worlds began to be.”  He is the “Alpha and Omega” and He is from evermore to evermore.

Jesus was there “in the beginning.”  He was “with God” and at the same time “was God.”  And He is indeed the Light in the darkness,” the “true light, which enlightens everyone” has indeed come “into the world.” 

“He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

And so on this Christmas Eve, we sing with not only the Church around the world, in every time and place, but also “with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven.” Singing:

Christ to Thee, with God the Father,
And O Holy Ghost to Thee
Hymn and chant and high thanksgiving
And unending praises be,
Honor, glory, and dominion,
And eternal victory
Evermore and evermore.

Amen.

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

 

Sermon: Rorate Coeli (Advent 4) - 2021

19 December 2021

Text: John 1:19-28 (Deut 18:15-19, Phil 4:4-7)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

John the Baptist is a preacher of the Gospel because he is a preacher of Jesus.  When he as causing a stir while calling multitudes of people to repent and be baptized, “the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

This is a funny question.  For what they are really asking is this: “Are you the Messiah?”  John had a large following.  A lot of people were wondering the same thing.  He could have taken the glory for himself, but instead, “he confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’”

They also asked him if he were Elijah come back to earth.  “No.”  How about the Prophet spoken of by Moses in Deuteronomy?  “No.”  And so they ask him again, “Who are you?”  And here is where John reveals both his mission and who he is according to the Old Testament: “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” 

At this point, the Pharisees who are conducting this interrogation should have figured out that John is the forerunner to the Christ.  But they are still fixated on John.  “Why are you baptizing?” they ask him. 

And here, John confesses not only who he isn’t, but also who Jesus is: “I baptize with water,” he says, “but among you stands one you do not know, even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 

They are perplexed by John, but there’s more where that came from.  As much grief as John is giving them, they haven’t seen anything yet.  The one who is coming after John, the one about whom John cries out: “Make straight the way of the Lord,” John’s cousin Jesus, whom John will baptize and about whom he will hear the voice of the Father and see a miracle of the Holy Spirit – this Jesus will confound the Pharisees, the priests, the Levites, the Sadducees, the scribes, and the lawyers.  He will berate them, mock them, call them to repent, challenge them, and perform miracles on the Sabbath Day right in front of them, because He knows that this is their hobby horse.  They are more concerned about rules – rules that they made up in the first place – than they are about loving God and serving their neighbors. 

They’re already terrified of John, and they have no idea what’s coming.

While the world ponders chestnuts roasting on an open fire, a reindeer with a red nose, and “happy holidays,” the church winds down Advent and prepares for Christmas by meditating on John the Baptist’s message to the ones who will ultimately conspire to crucify the Christ child thirty years after the first Christmas.

John’s message is that Jesus is coming.  And for the Pharisees and those who are obsessed with the law, this is a terrifying prospect.  For Jesus will knock them off of their self-made pedestals, but will forgive tax collectors and prostitutes.  In the words of our Lord’s mother – which we sing to this day – “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has exalted the lowly.”

Jesus comes to put the proud in their place, but to raise those who have been beaten down: by the devil, by the world, and by our own sinful nature.  To the Pharisees, Jesus is a menace and a challenge to their power. But to us “poor, miserable sinners,” Jesus is our Savior.  They see a dangerous man who must be put to death for His supposed sins; we see a righteous man who is put to death for our sins. 

As we approach the remembrance of our Lord’s birth, we allow John, the prophets, the apostles, the entirety of Scripture, and preachers of every age to point us to Jesus, to the cross, and to the manger.  We meditate on what it means that God has come to earth in the form of a baby, in the form of a man who was baptized in the Jordan, in the form of a preacher who puts the Pharisees in their place, a man who is convicted of terrorism and publicly tortured and executed – and a man who walks out of His own tomb to the consternation of not only the Jews, but also the Romans – and at first, even the disciples themselves.

And this is why Christmas brings Christians such joy, dear friends.  It goes far beyond family get-togethers and parties and children opening gifts.  Our joy transcends trees and decorations and festive lights.  The real joy of Christmas is in the Christ, the Messiah, the Prophet spoken of by Moses, the one Elijah and Moses will speak with on top of the Mountain of Transfiguration, the one John baptized with water, the one who comes to baptize us not only with water but into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  We Christians cannot contain our joy because God has come to earth to save us, and He comes to us as one of us: as a baby, as a man who suffers, but also as a mighty king, as God in the flesh, as the one who deals the death-blow to Satan and who rises from death to destroy death.

All of this joy is pent up in us as we count down the days until our Lord’s birth – even as we bubble over in the joy that we know He is coming again to save us, to raise the dead, and to re-create the world anew.  Jesus will come again to liberate us from today’s Pharisees: unbelievers, scoffers, those who lord over us, those who are hell-bent to destroy civilization and turn the world upside-down, to call evil good and good evil, and to serve the cause of Satan.

In spite of it all, we look to the manger and we rejoice.  We rejoice with the angels and the shepherds, with Mary and Joseph, with the animals and all of creation – and eventually with the wise men who will come and bring the good news back to the Gentiles.  We rejoice with the Lord’s followers who rejoiced at His resurrection. We rejoice because He is coming again.  We rejoice with St. Paul: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.  Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy - Dec 14

14 December 2021

Text: Rev 2:1-29

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

In today’s reading, we hear four of the seven letters of Jesus to the churches delivered by John the apostle.  There is a pattern that should cause us in our modern churches to take notice.  Our Lord judges the churches based on two things: their doctrine and their works – which our Lord often speaks of as love.

For indeed, there are two ditches into which we Christians and our congregations can fall.  The first is to be doctrinally pure, but lacking in love and good works.  This is an easy trap to fall into dear friends.  We can reduce the faith to abstracts, to logical deductions, to memorized proof texts from the Scriptures, and to nothing more than dogmatic rightness – while overlooking actual righteousness. 

Our Lord praises the Church of Ephesus for their fidelity to the apostolic doctrine and in their condemnation of the Nicolaitan heresy.  But He warns them to “repent” as they have “abandoned the love [they] had at first.”  And “if not,” He will “come to [them] and remove [their] lampstand from its place.”

The other extreme is to focus on good works, but to be doctrinally unfaithful.  This is a cross for many of our modern churches that are more concerned with “niceness” and image than fidelity to the Scriptures.  Our Lord warns the Church of Pergamum, who “held fast [His] name, and [they] did not deny [His] faith” even under persecution “where Satan dwells.”  However, unlike the Ephesians, the Christians at Pergamum tolerated the Nicolaitans.  Jesus commands them to “repent.”  And “if not, [He] will come to [them] soon and war against them with the sword of [His] mouth.

Similarly, our Lord praises the Church of Thyatira for their “works, [their] love and faith and service and patient endurance.”  However, they are tolerant of a certain woman in the congregation who claims to be a “prophetess” who is committing the same errors as the Nicolaitans: sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols.  However, our Lord also encourages those who rejected this so-called prophetess and her teachings to “hold fast… until I come.”

The Smyrnaeans are given a different kind of letter – one that warns them of persecution to come and encouragement to “be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life,” says our Lord.

 

The Christian life is both doctrine and practice, both confession of the truth and living a life of love.  We must not neglect love in pursuit of doctrine.  We must not neglect doctrine in pursuit of love.  We are called to hold both, even as our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us in purity and loves us.  And we must also take our Lord’s encouragement to heart concerning times of persecution and tribulation.  For “the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.”   

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Amen.

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

 

Sermon: Ad Te Levavi - 2021

28 November 2021

Text: Matt 21:1-9 (Jer 23:5-8, Rom 13:8-14)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

“Behold, your king is coming to you.”

Jesus came to us “humble, and mounted on a donkey, a beast of burden” when He came to Jerusalem to be enthroned on the cross “for us men and for our salvation,” an innocent Man who was perceived to be guilty.

But some three decades earlier, Jesus had come to us even humbler, mounted as a fertilized egg in a young woman, whose condition was a scandal – an innocent women who was perceived to be guilty.

Kings of the earth typically come into the world with men making great celebration: sons of the king.  But “your king is coming to you” with no earthly father, the descendant of a king of a thousand years earlier, whose country is now under the domination of the Romans, a King whose mother was unmarried at His conception, and whose birth necessitated His lying in a manger: a food trough for animals, for beasts of burden.

And yet, there was great celebration at this King’s birth, as shepherds and angels rejoiced at His coming.

He will come into Jerusalem some three decades later, riding a beast of burden, to the acclaim of men shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” and “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”  But in five days, He would come as a convicted criminal, carrying His own cross, to the cursing of men who spat on Him, beating Him with their fists, and with a sign that condemned Him as “King of the Jews,” bearing the burden of the Scripture that says, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.”

Behold, your king is coming to you, lying in a manger, and lying in a tomb – worshiped by men and angels, scorned by men and demons. 

So how do you receive your king, dear brothers and sisters?

Your king comes to you in His Word, in Holy Absolution, in the preaching of the Gospel, in the bread and the wine of Holy Communion.  He comes the same way that He came to Bethlehem and to Jerusalem – humble, rejected by most people, and yet, coming as your Redeemer, your Savior.  He still comes again and again, coming to you with His nail-scarred hands, offering you mercy and eternal life – an offer bought by His blood – whether you receive Him and His gifts, or whether you scorn Him and reject His offer.

He comes to you not only in mercy, but in love: perfect love that sacrifices Himself for the sake of His beloved. 

We receive Him with Advent hymns and Christmas carols, with trees and ornaments, with changes in the liturgy.  But we also receive Him with an awareness of our sins, with confession and repentance and with the church’s ongoing prayer of “Lord have mercy upon us.  Christ have mercy upon us.  Lord, have mercy upon us.”

We receive Him as a distracted people, spending more time and energy focusing on the holiday rather than the Holy One, thinking more about buying gifts than receiving the Gift that comes to us without price and by God’s grace, concerning ourselves more with food and drink for parties than the food and drink that gives us eternal life by His command and by His promise.

So it is fitting that Advent, while a joyful time, is also a penitential time, with hymns that remind us of the “reason for the season,” to bring to the forefront of our minds that His coming is not about buying more stuff, nor of stuffing ourselves, nor of the hustle and bustle and frustrations of standing in line and spending money.  For Advent is about our Lord’s coming, and for remembering why He came to us “humble and mounted on a donkey,” and humbly “incarnate of the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.”

It is fitting that we call to mind the “Hosanna” of His coming to Jerusalem, and it is also fitting that we hold off on singing the “Gloria” of His coming to Bethlehem until we actually celebrate His birth in a few weeks. 

And it is fitting, dear brothers and sisters, that we receive Him yet again, in His flesh and blood, in the bread and wine, as He comes to us, humble, under these simple elements for us to eat and to drink.  For by receiving Him, we have eternal life as He has promised.  Let us remember the preaching of the prophet Jeremiah, who says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as king and deal wisely.”

Let us “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” as St. Paul invites us, “and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.”

For just as our Lord came to us at Bethlehem in the manger, and just as He came to us in Jerusalem at the cross, and just as He comes to us here at our altar in the elements of Holy Communion, and even as He comes to us here from the pulpit in His Word, let us not forget that He is coming again.  St. Paul reminds us “that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.  For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.”

“So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

This is indeed a time to repent, dear friends.  It is a time when we ponder our Lord’s coming – not only in the past, not only in the present, but also in the days to come.  We know neither the day nor the hour.  But we do know this: He is coming.  And next time, your King will not come to you humble, neither as a child, nor on the cross.  You will not receive Him as bread and wine, but rather in the fullness of His glory and His might.  He will return to the world to take vengeance upon those who rejected Him, upon those who oppressed His bride, the Church.  He will come to judge the world, but our judge will be merciful to those who receive Him, who repent, who are baptized, who believe.

And so we wait.  We wait like the prophet Jeremiah.  We wait like the Virgin Mary.  We wait like the early Christians who suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Jews and the Romans.  We wait amid our own struggles with sin, death, and the devil.  We wait still singing, “Hosanna” and crying out “Lord, have mercy.”  We wait hearing His Word, rejoicing in His forgiveness, and receiving Him in His body and blood.  We wait with joyful expectation, and we wait knowing that His coming is as inevitable as the coming of the day of Christmas, whether we are ready or not. 

And it is fitting that we wait, humble, knowing that we do not deserve His mercy, but knowing that He gives it to us anyway.  And we know that of all the gifts we give and the gifts we receive, the gift of Christ is the greatest gift of all: for in Him we have forgiveness, life, and salvation.

For we are guilty, but are to be perceived to be innocent.  And so we sing, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest!”

“Behold, your king is coming to you.”

Amen.

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

Sermon: Last Sunday of the Church Year - 2021

21 November 2021

Text: Matt 25:1-13 (Isa 65:17-25, 1 Thess 5:1-11)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

There are a series of mottos for the military that have the Latin word “semper” in them.  The motto of the Marine Corps is “Semper fidelis” (always faithful).  The motto of the Coast Guard is “Semper paratus” (always prepared).  The motto of the Civil Air Patrol is “Semper vigilans” (always vigilant or always awake).

It’s easy to focus on the second word, that our military and first responders are faithful, prepared, and vigilant, but the first word is also of primary importance.  For what would our enemies want more than a Marine Corps that is “At times faithful”?  How helpful would a Coast Guard be that is “Occasionally prepared”?  How useful would a Civil Air Patrol be that is “Sometimes vigilant”?  For the enemy can attack at any time.  Disaster often strikes without warning.

The same is true of other first responders like the police and fire service.  They are ready at a moment’s notice, 24-7, to spring into action.  The wise policeman or fireman doesn’t procrastinate: “I’ll reassemble my pistol after I finish my nap.”  “I’ll gather my gear tomorrow.”  For when the call to action comes, there is no time for preparation.  The time is now.

The Christian life is the same way, dear friends.  We are called to be faithful, prepared, and vigilant – not just on Sundays, not just when we feel like it, not just when we aren’t busy with other things.  And that is what this Last Sunday of the Church Year is all about.  This is what our Gospel reading is all about.  This is what our Hymn of the Day: one of the most well-known and beloved Lutheran chorales – is all about.

For what makes first responders slow and flabby and ineffective is inactivity.  Peace is good, of course, but it can destroy the ability of warriors to fight and first responders to save.  That’s why such vocations are constantly training.  We Christians also grow flabby and slow, losing our edge, forgetting our training, lazy, and allowing the enemy to achieve small victories.

We often forget that we are at war with the enemy, that we must be prepared for eternity – whether our own deaths or whether the return of our Lord. We forget that faithfulness, preparedness, and vigilance are not of much value without the “semper.”  And Jesus calls us to the “semper” with His parable of the ten virgins.

It’s a simple story, dear friends.  Five wise girls and five foolish girls all in the same squadron, so to speak.  They are a unit, and they have a mission.  The five wise virgins are faithful, prepared, and vigilant.  They have what they need to be ready at a moment’s notice to fall in.  For when the call comes, there won’t be time to buy oil and prepare their lamps.  For the bridegroom is coming, and they were invited to the feast.  The time to prepare was yesterday.  The time to be ready is today. 

But the five foolish virgins are not ready.  They are not faithful, prepared, and vigilant.  Their equipment is not battle-ready, and they are sleeping instead of waiting in a state of readiness. 

And when the bridegroom is announced, when the time has come for action, the wise virgins carry out their vocations just as they have trained.  “Here is the bridegroom!  Come out to meet him.”  And the wise respond accordingly.

But the foolish virgins, being unready, now have to go and buy oil.  They have to prepare their lamps.  And so off they go to the dealers – carrying out tasks that should have been done before.  Their laziness and folly have caught up with them, and there is now no time to prepare.  And while they are away, the bridegroom comes.  “And those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.  Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’  But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’”

Jesus is not teaching us to be good Marines or Coasties or Volunteer Airmen, dear friends.  Jesus is teaching us how to be Christians, how to be prepared to die, how to be prepared for His return.  We do have a mission, dear brothers and sisters.  We were made for a purpose.  That purpose is not simply to amass as much wealth as we can, to have as much fun as we can, to sop up as much pleasure as we can.  We are always God’s children, created for the sake of service in the kingdom.  And eternity is waiting for us.  Eternity can begin at any moment.

The wise keep their lamps trimmed and full of oil.  As the Psalmist says about the Scriptures: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  To be prepared, we need to hear the Word of God, read the Word of God, and allow the Word of God to illuminate our lives.  Are you doing that?  Are you ready?  If not, stop messing around and get ready.  Are you praying regularly?  Are you confessing your sins and being absolved?  Are you in the battle by supplying the kingdom even as God supplies you with time, talent, and treasure?  If not, you know what to do.  The time to start is now, not after the first of the year.  Not when you get your house in order.  Not when things are more convenient.  That’s not how this works.  Are you regularly receiving the body and blood of the Lord to strengthen you for the battle?  If not, the time to start is now.  And don’t allow yourself to become unfaithful, unprepared, and unvigilant.  That is not an option for a first responder.  Remember the “semper.”

Being prepared means discipline.  That’s why followers of Jesus are called “disciples.”  That’s why the military and first responders are always training: improving their bodies, minds, and spirits to meet the enemy, or to perform tasks to save lives and property.  Always being faithful, prepared, and vigilant comes by making a commitment and keeping it.  The uniform is a reminder that we are not just like everyone else, but others are depending on us.  We are warriors.

And when I say “we” dear friends, I mean “we Christians.”  The uniform is not only my black shirt and vestments.  The uniform of the Christian is his or her baptismal garment.  You can’t see it, but it is there.  You have been baptized and received into the service of the Lord.  You have signed up for this warrior life when you took your vows, pledged your allegiance to the Holy Trinity and to the Church, when you renounced Satan, his works, and his ways.  You have accepted the burden of the “semper” in pursuit of the victory that has already been won by Christ at the cross.  You have been blessed to be a blessing to others.  You have been redeemed to see to it that others are redeemed. 

Warriors and first responders to not live the disciplined life of service for the money, dear friends.  They do it because it is just who they are.  It is their calling.  It is their duty.  But it is also their life.  It is their joy.  It’s who they are.  And the wise know what it means to be ready.  The foolish only weigh everyone else down and waste resources that could be used to save others.  We Christians are called to offer our lives to Him who offered His life for us. 

So as the days grow short, as the times become darker, as the moment of Christ’s return draws closer, let us be faithful, prepared, and vigilant.  Let’s have our reserves of oil stocked, our lamps trimmed, our guns loaded, our gear in its place, our planes maintained, our bodies, minds, and spirits ready to engage, our children well-catechized, our families praying and hearing the Word of God, and our church taken care of. 

Let us be ever-ready for the coming of the new heavens and the new earth, for “the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.”  And “let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love.”  Let us be faithful, prepared, and vigilant – by God’s grace.  For He equips and outfits us for action. 

“For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us…. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”  Semper Christus.

Amen.

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

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Oct 5

5 October 2021

Text: Matt 8:18-34

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Early in our reading, our Lord’s disciples are afraid that they will drown.  At the end of the reading, the demons enter into a herd of pigs who drown.  And this is a lesson on faith.

The disciples are in a boat, and when “there arose a great storm,” our Lord slept calmly through the turmoil.  The disciples “woke Him, saying, ‘Save us, Lord; we are perishing.’”  Our Lord calms the storm, puts everything aright, and asks the disciples, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”  The disciples are still trying to figure out who Jesus is: “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey Him?”  They still lack real knowledge of who Jesus is.

But the demons have no such deficit of knowledge of Jesus.  They know that He is there to “torment” them, knowing that the “time” of their destruction is coming.  Our Lord casts them out into a herd of pigs, and the pigs drown themselves.  Our Lord does not tell the demons that they have little faith.  For faith is not knowledge.  The demons have knowledge, but the disciples do not.  And yes, the disciples, in their fear, demonstrate a deficit of faith.  But the demons have no faith at all.  For faith is not merely believing in God, or even believing in Jesus.  Faith is believing the Word and promise of Jesus, that it applies to you.  That promise is forgiveness, reconciliation, communion with God, and everlasting life.

As James says, the demons believe – in the sense that they recognize Jesus – but they “shudder.”  To believe in the sense of faith means to not only know the facts, but to take them to heart, to “fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”  To have faith – the faith that saves – is to confess the truth of who Jesus is, and also to believe what He does!  And this faith often struggles against our senses and our reason – even as storms, literal and figurative, rage, as the world taunts, as the devil lies, and as our sinful nature betrays.  Through it all, faith clings to Christ, to His cross, to His word, and to His promise. 

And when the storms rage, even a little faith is by far greater than the sure knowledge and the kind of belief displayed by the demons.  Unlike the people of the town, let us not pray to Jesus to “Leave [our] region,” but rather, like the disciples of little faith, let us pray to Jesus to “Save us!”

Amen.

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

Sermon: Trinity 18 - 2021

3 October 2021

Text: Matt 22:34-46

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

When Jesus was making His way about the countryside preaching, healing, casting out demons, and gathering disciples, there were two groups who were at one another’s throats: the liberals and the conservatives.

The liberals were called the Sadducees.  They were often temple priests.  They read the Scriptures, but didn’t really believe much of what was in them.  They didn’t believe in angels.  They didn’t believe in the afterlife.  They certainly didn’t believe in “the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

Jesus told these liberals “You are wrong, because you neither know the Scriptures nor the power of God.”  He used the Word of God and reason to make them look foolish.

And so their rivals, the conservative Pharisees, “gathered together” after our Lord embarrassed the Sadducees.  They decided to take their shot at Jesus.  But the Pharisees, who did believe in angels and the afterlife, did not believe in God’s grace.  They had a made-up religion not based on Scripture, but rather on being rewarded for doing the rituals that they and their rabbis just made up.  Jesus went out of His way to ignore their artificial rules and to call them out for their hypocrisy.

Jesus did not side with either the liberal Sadducees or the conservative Pharisees.  Both of them were wrong, and both needed to hear the truth from Him who is “the way, the truth, and the life.”  Both were sinners in need of a Savior.

So when the Sadducees challenged Jesus, they did so based on the resurrection (that they denied).  When the Pharisees challenged Jesus, they did so based on the Law (that is, the Ten Commandments) – which they believed a man could keep and earn salvation for himself.  Of course, to pull this off, the Pharisees had to reinterpret the commandments in such a way so as to look like they were actually keeping it. 

And so when they heard that Jesus “had silenced the Sadducees,” they made their move and questioned Jesus about the Law.  In fact, one of them, a lawyer in fact, “asked Him a question to test Him.”  And when lawyers ask questions, they’re not really asking questions.

So the Pharisee lawyer asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  The lawyer probably had a refutation to throw at Jesus no matter what answer He gave.  But our Lord gave Him an answer that He didn’t expect.  He talked about love.

The greatest commandment of all is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  Jesus quoted this from the Book of Deuteronomy.  And our Lord added, “And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  He quoted this from the Book of Leviticus.  Jesus is using the Books of Moses (that the Sadducees considered authoritative) to argue against the Pharisees, who themselves used tradition and the utterances of rabbis to argue their point.

And combining the two, that is, the command to love God and to love one’s neighbor, our Lord said, “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” 

This was sheer genius.  For the Pharisees read the law in a loveless way, using the Ten Commandments to aggrandize themselves.  Jesus said that the point of the Ten Commandments is love – and love is directed outwardly.  So if you “love the Lord your God,” you will not have other gods before Him, misuse the name of the Lord your God, and you will indeed remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy – not just going through the motions like the loveless Pharisees.

And, dear friends, if you love your neighbor as yourself, you will honor your father and your mother, you won’t murder, or commit adultery, or steal.  You won’t give false testimony against your neighbor, covet your neighbor’s house, or covet your neighbor’s spouse or other people.  If you focus on love, you will keep the commandments.

And so our Lord has silenced both the liberal Sadducees and the conservative Pharisees, teaching both of them the truths that they deny.  And both groups were angry at Jesus, enough to conspire together – two hated enemies – who were willing even to collaborate with the hated Romans to ensnare Jesus, so that He could be silenced by being killed.

But once again, they are the ones who fell into the trap, for it was at the cross that our Lord purchased our resurrection denied by the Sadducees, and perfectly kept the Law unlike the hypocritical Pharisees who played lawyer’s games with words and only pretended to keep the Law. 

And Jesus did this all out of love.  He even died for every Sadducee and every Pharisee.

The Pharisees again fell into our Lord’s trap even as they tried to trap Him.  Our Lord asked them, “What do you think about the Christ?  Whose son is He?”  They knew the Scriptures well enough to answer correctly, “The Son of David.”  Unlike the liberal Sadducees, the conservative Pharisees did believe the Bible and its supernatural claims.  But our Lord makes the Pharisees ponder the mystery of the Messiah (and He does this as the very Messiah who is talking to them).  So now Jesus asks a question: since David refers to the Messiah as “Lord,” how can the Messiah be both David’s Son and David’s Lord?

The Pharisees were so wrapped up in using Scripture to justify themselves, to prop up their man-made religion, and to use the Bible as a weapon against their enemies, that they did not know how to apply the Scriptures to the Messiah.

And perhaps this is why they did not believe in Him, in spite of His miracles, His powerful preaching, and His fulfillment of prophecy.  They were blinded by their pride, and they could not see the Messiah with the very eyes of faith that Jesus longed to give them.

At any rate, the Pharisees were outsmarted.  But instead of humbly asking Jesus for an explanation, instead of praying for guidance, they, like the Sadducees, were simply silenced by Jesus.  They shut down.  For “from that day” nobody would “dare to ask Him any more questions.”

In fact, the Pharisees and the Sadducees plotted to silence Jesus, not by the Word of God and reason, but by a traitor, by lying witnesses, and by the brutality of the Roman cross. 

Even as our Lord taught them about love, they willingly perverted justice to torture an innocent man to death.  All the while the Pharisees boasted about how they kept the commandments, and the Sadducees boasted about how important they were to the now useless temple sacrifices.

Dear friends, let us know the Scriptures and let us know the power of God.  Let us know the love of Jesus by seeing in His life and ministry and death and resurrection the very things spoken of in the Old Testament – the Law and the Prophets. 

Let us be neither skeptical Sadducees nor hypocritical Pharisees.  Let us be humble and willing to learn.  Let us strive to love God and our neighbor – not for the praise of men, and not trying to impress God.  Let us love because we have first been loved: by the Triune God who created us, redeemed us, and called us, by the God who ransomed us by His blood, and who speaks to us even today in His Word.  Let us love our neighbors by telling them and showing them the love of Christ, who fulfills the Law and the Prophets by pure love, and whose love assures for us “the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” 

Amen.

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

Facebook and "Spam"

 

Zuckerberg and his neo-Nazi minions think we're stupid.  While running interference for his insect overlords, censors any posts at political odds with his masters.

But what's more, they come up with cockamamie cover stories. 

Take this link that I posted from a writer commenting on the well-known and documented change in policy in Norway regarding Covid.

It was removed by Facebook ostensibly - not because it was false information, dangerous, threatening, or even contrary to Facebook's political and social conventions - but because it was "spam."

How can a FB post on my own FB timeline be "spam."  "Spam" is when you send unwanted emails or posts to someone else's account.

There is no other conclusion to draw than the fact that Facebook is manned by political hacks and censors, but also blatant liars. seeking to suppress any truths that are inconvenient to their lords' and masters' agenda.

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Sept 28

Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Sept 28

28 September 2021

Text: Matt 5:1-20

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

The kingdom of God is counterintuitive.  Just look at the kinds of people the Lord says are “blessed”: the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the ones who lack righteousness (but desire it), the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted.  The world believes the exact opposite, desiring to be the opposite, and considering them to be the blessed ones: the rich, the happy, the strong, the ones who don’t care about righteousness, the ones who build themselves up, the winners who win by any means necessary, and the ones who do the persecuting; for it is better to be the hammer than the nail.

Our Lord’s hearers must have thought He was crazy.  Certainly there were people who did.  And they still do.

But listen carefully to our Lord’s words, dear friends.  Jesus is pointing out the brokenness of this world, but also the justice to come when the kingdom is fully realized.  The poor in spirit will inherit everything.  The mourners will be comforted.  The meek likewise become rich and powerful.  Those who seek after righteousness will receive their desire.  The merciful will be shown divine mercy.  The pure in heart will stand face to face with God.  The peacemakers will inherit the kingdom.  And those who are persecuted will receive justice and vindication, along with “the kingdom of heaven.”

Wrongs will be righted.  The oppressed will be made whole.  The ones who suffer will be comforted. 

And we believe this promise based on faith – that is, our confidence in the truthfulness of our Lord’s Words.  For His promises are true, and His Word is the truth.  This world is topsy-turvy, and Jesus has come to set it aright.  And so what the world believes is backwards.  They are the crazy ones.   Our Lord is the sane one.  And we can either receive His Word in faith, or dismiss it convinced that we know better than God Himself.

And so even in the midst of this “crooked and perverse generation,” even in the face of persecution, let us rejoice, dear brothers and sisters!  For we have the Word of God, the promise of Christ, and the hope of justice in the age to come!  Let us “rejoice and be glad” in this, our heartfelt belief, and let us invite others to join us in partaking of the hope of this Good News! 

Amen.

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