Preaching among the Harvesters

Redeeming the Tongue

2009-11-08T11:16:00.001-06:00

23nd Sunday after Pentecost (Series B, Proper 27)
James 3:1-12

James begins this chapter of his epistle with another warning to pastors, as he has done several times in previous chapters. He first warns that not everyone should seek to be a pastor, because preaching and teaching come with great responsibilities. The Bible clearly teaches that the only way to salvation is by Grace, through faith, because of Jesus, and this is true of all people, including pastors. However, the Bible also warns that, even though their sins are forgiven, pastors will have to face an examination on the last day regarding whether what they have taught was true or false doctrine and whether they faithfully led their congregations according to Jesus’ teachings. This is why James warns the people that not many of them should become pastors, because they will have to bear this added accountability.

For the same reason, he also warns pastors to be careful what they say. If they speak without thinking or respond wrongly in a heated situation, a pastor’s words can cause great offense and spark huge problems in a congregation. More importantly, though, if when he preaches and teaches, his words teach things that are not Biblical, he can cause far greater damage, not just to the congregation, but to the eternal souls of those who hear him. Jesus, Paul, John, and the other authors of the Bible all give strong warnings about false doctrine. They warn congregations not to accept preachers who teach doctrines which are different than what they had learned from the Apostles. They also warn Christians not to harbor or listen to teachers of these false doctrines. If a pastor has a difficult personality, an annoying voice, poor fashion sense, or even a lack of personal hygiene, it will, no doubt, negatively impact his effectiveness in ministry, but they would not cause any eternal harm. On the other hand, if a preacher teaches false doctrine, it can result in people being led away from Jesus and trusting in someone or something else in His place. If this occurs, the preacher’s tongue has not only harmed the congregation, but it has led souls away from eternal life, and to the loss of their salvation and eternal punishment as a result.

This warning about careful speech applies to all Christians too. Many people have formed negative opinions of Christianity because of thoughtless or ignorant words spoken by Christians, and this has become a barrier to their trusting Jesus and being saved.

James compares the tongue to other small structures which have a large impact. A rudder is a relatively small part of a ship, but it determines the direction the ship will go. A bit placed into a horse’s mouth is extremely small compared to the size of the animal, yet it can be used, even by a child, to steer the horse where the rider desires. Likewise, the tongue, even though it is a very small part of the human body, can change the direction of lives, relationships, communities, nations, and churches. The tongue can be used for good to bless, praise, and inspire; but when misused, it can cause destruction that takes ages to repair.

This is so important that one of the ten commandments is devoted to exactly this sin of misusing the tongue. The eighth commandment says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” When Martin Luther explains this commandment, he teaches us that this commandment does not only prohibit us from lying about other people. This commandment forbids us from using our tongues and our words in any way which harms our neighbor and his reputation. It even forbids us from telling other people true things about others if it would cause harm to their reputation. We call this sin gossip, and it is one of the most commonly committed sins, as well as one of the most frequently overlooked and ignored by those who commit it.

James compares the Christian who praises God on Sunday morning, but gossips about his neighbor on Monday afternoon to a well that produces salt water or a plant that produces the wrong fruit. When Christians use their tongue to praise God and also to harm their neighbors, they are not bearing the fruit which should come from a follower of Jesus.

However, God has graciously ordained that this most dangerous part of the body which is so often misused to be used for the greatest good. Just as he redeems our sinful lives to give glory to Him, He also redeems our venomous tongues to speak of His grace.

Romans 10:14 asks, “How are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”

Jesus has called these pastors who Paul warns of the dangers of the tongue to use that same tongue to speak words which proclaim the message of Jesus, crucified for the forgiveness of the sins of the world, and risen from the grave to give evidence that He has defeated death. He transforms those venomous tongues to instead disperse the sweet medicine of the Gospel of Jesus. He still calls pastors today to use their tongues publicly proclaim the message of Jesus through the preaching of the Church. God gives His forgiveness as those tongues are used to speak absolution in the Divine Service “as a called and ordained servant of Christ.” He uses those tongues to forgive the sins of adults and children in the waters of Holy Baptism, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” and Jesus uses words spoken by human tongues to make His own Body and Blood present upon this altar “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

He uses the redeemed and restored tongues, not just of pastors, but of all Christians to take the message of Jesus to the whole world. One tongue speaks from the pulpit, but dozens go out from there into factories, garages, farms, elevators, restaurants, and all manner of places where ears need to hear about Jesus.

Thanks be to God for His forgiveness for tongues misused, and we ask that He would continue to redeem and renew ours to speak His message in all places.

Amen.

Stewardship

2009-11-01T15:16:00.001-06:00

Dear friends in Christ, and His children through the cross,

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace… in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 4:10-11 ESV)

Often, when we hear the word, “Stewardship” in the church, our thoughts immediately go to money. Congregations hold stewardship drives, usually around this time of year, which usually involve special offerings or pledges for the coming year. Many congregations also have stewardship committees which deal with the congregation’s finances.

Stewardship is not just about money, though. Stewards are people found several times in the Bible. Peter even describes Christians here as stewards of God’s grace, and in 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about pastors as “stewards of the mysteries of God.” A steward is someone who has been entrusted with something belonging to another person and given the task of using, managing, or investing that resource in the wisest and most profitable way possible.

Being a steward as a Christian means using all of the resources at our disposal in a way which glorifies God, but it also means using them in a way which furthers the work of the Gospel and the mission of the church. Financial contributions are one way that this is done, but Christian stewardship means so much more than that.

Those with financial blessings use them to support the work of the congregation, but they also have the opportunity to use them to show Christ’s mercy by personally helping neighbors in need. Our various skills and abilities are another resource which can be used in service both to the church as well as our neighbors. Friendships and business connections are one of our greatest resources, because they give each of us the occasion to speak about Jesus to those who do not yet trust in Him, which may even lead to one day leading them to join in God’s work with us in the congregation.

This only begins to scratch the surface of the things with which God has blessed us, and which can be used in service to Him. Therefore let us seek to be faithful stewards and thank Him for all that He has given to us.

[St. John's Messenger, November 2009]

Labor Day

2009-09-01T15:12:00.001-05:00

Dear friends in Christ, and His children through the cross,

September begins each year with the commemoration of Labor Day. Even though Labor Day sometimes becomes no more than an extra day off of work, it was originally intended as a way of honoring the workers of the nation and recognizing that their work is a valuable contribution to society.

At the time of Martin Luther, 500 years ago, it was thought to be more holy if a person hid away in a monastery rather than learning a trade and working. Working for a living was not necessarily looked down upon, but becoming a monk or a nun was certainly seen as a higher status than common work on a farm or in a shop. Those who entered the monasteries did minimal work and often lived on church resources or the donations of other citizens. Instead of working to provide for their own needs, they attended seven or more church services daily, prayed, and engaged in other activities which were intended to make them holy, even beating themselves and undergoing other penitential acts to attempt to make up for their sins.

After leaving the monastery, Martin Luther often criticized this way of life in His writings. Through studying the Scriptures, particularly the book of Romans, he realized that it was not his own efforts which could make him holy. It was only through trust in Jesus that a person can be forgiven by God. This resulted in a different outlook on work for Luther and those he taught. Knowing God’s grace, he came to see work, not as a lesser way of life, but as an honorable and god-pleasing thing.

We call this idea the “doctrine of vocation,” and it is one of the most distinctive aspects of Lutheranism among the world’s Christians. In the large catechism and in other places, Luther often commented that a woman changing a diaper or a man plowing a field is doing a far greater thing in God’s sight than a monk who suffers and prays the entire day.

As Christians, our labor is not merely a means to earn wealth or a necessary evil which must be endured to survive. Instead, it is an activity which we approach joyfully as followers of Jesus, knowing that it is blessed by God and pleasing in His sight.

[St. John's Messenger, September 2009]

Welcoming

2009-07-01T15:14:00.001-05:00

Dear friends in Christ, and His children through the cross,

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25 NIV)

Just a few weeks ago, we celebrated the festival of Pentecost, which commemorates the day that the Holy Spirit was given to Jesus disciples after He had ascended to Heaven. From that Sunday forward, Christians have continually met to hear Jesus’ words, receive the Lord’s Supper, and pray. In the words above from Hebrews, the Bible clearly instructs Christians to keep on meeting together—even today.

However, we know that there are many in our congregation who have not been as consistent as they should in attending services, going months, or even years between services attended. All of us know that they need to be here, and we know that we should be active in reminding them. But how? Hebrews tells us: “Encourage one another.” Condemnation, judgment, or ridicule will only drive them further from the Lord and this congregation. There is a time to “get tough” with those who refuse to attend, but you can leave that part to your pastor and elders. Instead, encourage them by reminding them what God offers here for them and that we would love to see them more often.

Now, when they do come, or when you are surprised to see someone in church who hasn’t been here in a while, how do you respond? Is that an uncomfortable moment for you? Let me give a couple of examples, with translation:

If you say: “….” (nothing)
They hear: “Nobody here really knows me. Do they care about me or whether I come to church?”

If you say: “Hey, maybe you should sign the guestbook.” (even as a joke)
They hear: “I am not really a part of this congregation. My presence is not valued and I am not respected.”

What would be an alternative way to welcome long-absent members of the congregation back when they return? Every church should frequently ask itself… How can we encourage one another as fellow Christians to faithfully hear God’s Word and consistently meet together? Have we set up obstacles which keep people away from God’s house? If so, what can we do to remove them?

[St. John's Messenger, July 2009]

Same-sex "marriage" - part 2

2009-06-01T02:45:00.001-05:00

Dear friends in Christ, and His children through the cross,

Last month, I commented on the recent court ruling in Iowa regarding same-sex marriages. Now the media storm around the issue has begun to cool, and because nothing has changed in the past two months, new news has taken its place. Still, though, the offense and outrage at the court and the concept of same-sex marriages remains. As we continue to live in the shadow of these developments, it is important to remember why we reject the concept of same-sex “marriages,” and to be on guard against several excesses which often occur surrounding this issue.

Our church holds the position that marriage is between one man and one woman because that is the position of God as expressed in the Bible. (Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:24-26, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and 1 Timothy 1:8-10, etc.) However, we do not hold this position because we view the Bible as simply a rule-book for life. Neither do we do so in order to build a “pure” society which precisely reflects God’s Law. We believe as we do and defend the true definition of marriage out of love for other people. We know that disobedience to God’s law has natural consequences which we do not want them to face, but more importantly, we know that anyone who clings unrepentantly to their sin is rejecting God’s forgiveness and choosing a path toward eternal punishment.

Often those who oppose same-sex marriages allow their devoted opposition to sinful behavior to carry them past a line where they see those who practice it as enemies rather than neighbors. While we do not compromise the Biblical declaration that homosexual behavior is sinful, our goal is to work toward the repentance and salvation of our neighbor rather than their alienation and condemnation. Too often, Christians’ outlook on this issue becomes so adversarial that they are no longer able to see homosexual neighbors as fellow sinners in need of a savior, but it is entirely possible to oppose a behavior, yet live in a civil way as neighbors to those who engage in it.

This principle does not apply to this specific sin alone. Whenever we allow our opposition to something sinful to become adversarial, it is evidence of pride which leads us to believe that our sins are somehow less than theirs. When we view homosexual behavior (or any sexual behavior, for that matter) as a bigger sin than our gossip, dishonesty, lust, or other sins, we have crossed the line from defending truth to pridefully trying to justify ourselves. The difference is not in the type of sin, but whether it is has been forgiven. May we always recognize our unrepentant neighbors, whether their sins are the same or different than ours, as fellow sinners in need of Jesus, who He desires to bring to repentance.

[Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter, June 2009]

Same-sex "marriage" - part 1

2009-05-01T23:06:00.002-05:00

Dear friends in Christ, and His children through the cross,

Every four years, Iowa becomes the center of national news because our state is the first in the nation to express our presidential preference through our Caucuses. This month, however, Iowa has become a regular fixture in national news stories for a far different reason. On April 3, deciding a lawsuit manufactured by activists in a long and deceptive effort, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled against a state law which restricted marriage to one man and one woman. Many conclude that this opens the door for “marriages” between people of the same sex in Iowa.

By this point, you have probably heard numerous opinions about this ruling on both sides. Many have expressed political, legal, moral, and religious reasons why this ruling is wrong and bad for our state. Because of the number and variety of these lines of reasoning, there is not space to repeat them here, and it seems redundant to do so anyway. I will simply remind you that both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible consider homosexual behavior to be a sin against the Sixth Commandment. (Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:24-26, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and 1 Timothy 1:8-10, among others) As Christians, we do not have the privilege of explaining away God’s commandments or choosing only those with which we agree. We confess what Scripture teaches because it is God’s Word.

At the present time, the court ruling does allow churches to act according to their beliefs regarding these “marriages.” However, this does not mean that this will always be the case. In several other countries which have constitutions guaranteeing free speech and freedom of religion, pastors have been fined or jailed for simply reading the Bible verses I listed above. History indicates that every nation which has ever redefined marriage in this way has quickly moved on to also limit religious freedom accordingly, by punishing churches and pastors who refuse to accept and participate in these “marriages.” Within a decade, this could mean a loss of tax-exempt status for churches, or by the time your grandchildren are adults, this could mean fines and imprisonment of religious leaders who still hold and preach the Biblical truth for “hate crimes.”

What does this mean for us? God created marriage, and he, not judges, defines it. They can redefine the language, but their decisions do not change reality. Regardless of what they call it or how they define it, marriage has not changed, and any new thing which occurs under this ruling is not a marriage before God or our church. In our confirmation vows, we promise to hold to the truth, even to the point of death, and this is no exception. Governments may be able to make life less comfortable for us, but they cannot change God’s Word. “We must obey God rather than men,” (Acts 5:29) and so we shall. Earthly governments are not our savior, and regardless of their opinions, the Lord rules His Church and will continue to protect her so that the Gospel of Jesus will continue to be proclaimed purely among us.

[Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter, May 2009]

Tuesday of Lent 2 - Mark 8:27-38

2009-03-10T15:32:00.002-05:00

Peter’s confession, “You are the Christ,” together with all of its implications, is still the only acceptable answer to this day. It is still controversial, it remains offensive to many, but it is, nonetheless true. Today one can find any Jesus he wants in the marketplace of religious ideas: A Jesus to help you tap your divine potential, to help you raise obedient and intelligent children, or help you manage your finances and succeed in business according to Biblical principles. There is someone selling each of these new and improved versions of Jesus and more. Scripture reminds us that there is another who sold Jesus…for 30 pieces of silver…Judas, and he was inspired to do so by Satan. Our enemy tempts us to scratch itching ears by selling a Jesus who is less than the Christ—an uncrucified savior. But if Jesus isn’t “The Christ, the Son of the Living God,” who became man to die to save the world from sin, and rise on the third day, then He is nothing, we are still in our sins, and all is lost.

While this reading’s three paragraphs seem at first to consist of three individual exchanges with 3 individual ideas, all three of the Synoptic evangelists record them together in this progression to express an important point: The preacher of the cross will face many trials, perhaps even a cross of his own. As soon as Peter confesses the identity of Christ, Jesus goes on to teach the disciples about the events to come in His crucifixion, death and resurrection, and Peter’s objection shows that, even though we heard the truth he confessed about Jesus, he didn’t actually understand the significance of what he had just said. It is as if the conversation went like this:

Peter: “You are the Christ”
Jesus: “Do you realize that means I will be crucified, die, and rise?”
Peter: “I’ll never have it. This is not the Jesus I agreed to follow.”
Jesus: “Your answer is Satanic.

Jesus then calls together the whole crowd before he continues with his next point. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and forfeit his life, for what can a man give in return for his life. Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

May we never be said to have compromised the confession of Christ to avoid the cross, and may we never exchange the message of eternal life for an easy “gospel” which sells Christ for less than He truly is, and woe to us if for the sake of earthly gain or expediency we present a false Christ to please the desires of sinful men. We have no choice but to present Him pure and whole, with all the offense and controversy that entails, because He took up His cross to offer Himself as sacrifice in our place. He gave up His life to give us eternal life, and even though we had nothing to give in exchange for our souls, He gave His life to redeem ours. In order that others may obtain this faith, He has also called you to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments as stewards of His mysteries, and to forgive sins in his stead and by his command.

Where we, as ministers, have failed to bear our crosses as we should, Jesus restores and strengthens us to execute His commission just as He restored Peter after the resurrection with the threefold command to tend His flock. We can carry this Truth to our communities and the world, regardless of the opposition given or offense taken, because He who has called us is faithful, and the preaching of the Christ will accomplish that for was sent.

[Sermon for Algona Circuit Pastors Conference, March 10, 2009, St. John's Lutheran Church, Burt, IA]

Book Review - The Shack

2009-03-04T18:05:00.001-06:00

There has been much talk recently about a book called The Shack. As of the time this is being written, it is the #3 book on Amazon.com and #1 in paperback fiction on the New York Times Bestsellers List. I doubt there are many of you who haven’t heard of it. If you haven’t read it, you probably know someone who has.

It’s easy to see why the book is so appealing. In spite of the dark events underlying the book’s story, it has a sort of feel-good quality to it. It addresses questions which people everywhere are asking today: Who is God? Why does He allow tragedies and suffering? Where was He when…? The subject of the book is observably religious, but is it Christian? Who is the “god” of The Shack?

For those of you who haven’t read the book, let me give you the basics. Mack, a man who has experienced the brutal murder of his daughter, is the main character of the book. His wife and children appear in the book, but do not play a large part in the plot, and his friend Willie turns out to be the ghost-writer of the book. The other three main characters are meant to represent the Trinity. Papa (God the Father) is a large African-American woman. Jesus is a 30-some year old Middle-eastern man, and Sarayu (The Holy Spirit) is a small Asian woman. After receiving a note in his mailbox from “Papa,” Mack returns to the shack where his daughter was murdered and encounters “God” as he is portrayed by the author.

I will start out by pointing out a few areas the book handles well: It actually addresses the question of God’s identity—an often-overlooked topic in recent times. It does describe God in terms of the Trinity—a step in the right direction. It acknowledges that Jesus is the center of everything. It even recognizes our inability to please God by our good deeds or behavior.

In order to touch on the most important elements of how the book portrays God, I will move quickly past a few obvious things. There is difficulty with the way in which God communicates with Mack in the book (notes and people in a shack), but I will just assume that as a fictional element necessary to create the plot. It is obvious from the character descriptions above that any Christian should have immediate questions about the way the author portrays God the Father and the Holy Spirit. The author acknowledges that his portrayal of God in the book is metaphorical rather than literal, but it still seems unwise and dangerous to portray God in images which are different, if not opposite from the way He has revealed Himself in the Bible. (For the sake of keeping this analysis to 2 pages, I will move quickly to the most important difficulties with the book for a Christian. However, I should be finished with a more detailed
analysis of the book by the time this newsletter is published. It will be available on my blog http://www.LutheranReformission.com, by requesting a paper copy from the Church Office or from me personally.)

Mack makes a few off-target statements about God in the book, but we can dismiss them as being just the opinion of the character. On the other hand, when the character making the errant statements about God is God, we can be sure that the author intends us to receive this statement as true. As Christians, we have the ability to know certain things about God. When He has told us something about Himself in Scripture, we can know it is a fact. However, when He has been silent about something in Scripture, we are just as obligated to also remain silent. This is the primary way The Shack falls short on describing God..

The author does get a couple of facts correct: There are three persons, yet one God. Jesus is fully God and fully human. However, the “God” characters in the book go on to explain the Trinity in ways which are clearly contrary to Scripture. First, Papa, Jesus, and Sarayu all bear the marks of crucifixion on their bodies, when Scripture clearly teaches that only Jesus died at the cross. Papa (and the others) say “We became fully human.” when Scripture clearly teaches that only Jesus, the Son, took on human nature. Additionally, the author confuses several important facts about Jesus by having Papa say that Jesus never acted out of His authority as God and that He is still limited in using His divine power by His human nature.

There is a recurring pattern in the book where Mack confronts one of the God characters with a Scriptural truth, only to have God respond by saying that the Bible’s words aren’t what He really meant. Not only does this devalue the Bible, it also seeks to inspire doubt about important Biblical teachings. The most obvious example of this is when Papa and Mack discuss the crucifixion. Mack asks about God the Father forsaking Jesus, and Papa responds that He did not actually forsake Jesus, but that Jesus just felt forsaken even though it was not reality. I think the most relevant contradiction in the book is when Mack and Jesus discuss salvation. The Jesus character states that there are people from all of the world’s religions who love Him, and that He does not desire that they become Christians. This clearly contradicts the Bible’s claims that there is no way to salvation except for Jesus and the commandment against having any other gods.

So, you’re probably asking, “Should I read this book?” (or “Should I have read it?”) If you are a mature Christian who is strongly rooted in the Bible’s teachings, reading this book is not going to harm you, providing you read it with the careful understanding that you are not encountering a true portrayal of God. In fact, since so many of your neighbors are reading it already, it might even be beneficial for you to be knowledgeable enough about its contents that you can help guide them around its pitfalls. On the other hand, for children, most teenagers, new Christians, or those who do not have a precise understanding of the Bible’s teachings, this book should most certainly not be on your reading list. It will only serve to obscure God’s identity for you rather than reveal it, and it could lead you to great spiritual harm. However, do consider reading my full review on the web so you can be well-informed when discussions arise with friends or neighbors about this book.

The Shack attempts to answer humanity’s questions about God’s presence in suffering, but we have much more to offer the world about this topic when we have the right God as the foundation for our answers. If you have questions about God’s place in sorrow and tragedies, I would recommend the book I reviewed in our January Messenger: Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel.

Faith, Hope, and Elected Leaders

2009-02-01T02:54:00.000-06:00

Dear friends in Christ, and His children through the cross,

For over two years now, news coverage and everyday conversations have revolved largely around the election, and for the past several months, they have been almost completely dominated by election-related stories. There has been in-depth coverage, first of the election results, then various recounts and controversies, then speculation about the upcoming administration, and finally yesterday (as of the time I am writing) the inauguration itself.

As I listened to everyday people being interviewed about the inauguration of the new president, their statements and the language they used seriously surprised me. It seemed strikingly out of place. It seemed more fitting to be used of a deity or savior than a president. One of those interviewed talked about having given up hope long ago, but that the inauguration of this president had given her hope again. Others who were interviewed expressed how much faith they have in the new president and his ability to improve their lives. I even heard one person say “Barack Obama has come to show us the way!” All combined, the audio clips that I heard expressing similar thoughts to these in the past 24 hours would add up to well over an hour.

Of course the selection of our elected leaders is an important matter, and they are to be chosen carefully, but these statements were incredible. It was almost as if they were talking about God rather than a president. The president seemed to be the one in whom they placed all of their hope and trust. I couldn’t help but wonder if those making these statements knew about Jesus. How would He respond if it were His followers saying these things about a mere man?

Psalm 146 says, “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.”

As Christians, some of us will agree with the new president, others will disagree, but we all know that he is not the one who is deserving of our faith, trust, and hope. Earthly leaders come and go, rise and fall, and eventually die; but Jesus is risen, lives forever, and is always constant. Earthly leaders manage sin and punish sinners, but Jesus conquers sin and forgives sinners. It is in Him alone that we place our faith and hope.

[Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter, February 2009]

Book Review - Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel

2009-01-01T02:06:00.004-06:00

Book Review: Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel
Translated and edited by Theodore G. Tappert

Occasionally, I have been bringing you reviews of excellent books from our church library in place of my normal monthly article. The following review is the third in this series.

The most familiar of Martin Luther’s writings for most of us is his Small Catechism, which we have all studied, and most of us memorized at some point in life. There are also 55 volumes of Luther’s writings available in English, which include commentaries, lectures, sermons, and hymns, but there is another product of Luther’s pen which is less frequently seen, and not commonly known. In addition to being one of the most prolific author’s in recorded history, he spent countless hours writing letters in response to friends and others throughout Germany who were facing trying times in life.

This book includes letters he wrote to the sick and dying, the bereaved, the anxious, the doubting, those in trouble or need, the persecuted and imprisoned, advice in time of epidemic and famine, counsel in questions about marriage, his advice to other pastors, and even letters he wrote to princes and other rulers.

Luther’s letters are insightful, pastoral, and practical as He addresses the concerns and problems of those two whom he writes. The letters written here are considerably more accessible to the average reader than his more formal writings, and of course, they also contain plentiful doses of Luther’s colorful, candid personality.

Whether you are interested in a particular topic or just want to enjoy the pleasure of Luther’s wit and wisdom, this is a great book to spend some time reading by the light of a fire or a Christmas tree (which was introduced by Luther) during a cold Iowa winter.

A copy of The Anonymous God is available for loan from our church library.

[Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter, January 2009]

Christmas Day

2008-12-25T09:50:00.000-06:00

John 1:1-18

The most well-known Christmas Gospel is Luke, Chapter 2. This is an account of Jesus’ birth which is quite different from the one just read from John. Luke gives us the facts and events of the story in the greatest detail of any of the Gospel writers. Since John is writing to those who already know the story, He takes some time for theological reflection upon Jesus’ birth rather than the details of where and when. This is why our lectionary provides for Luke’s account to be read last night, when we have so many visitors and family among us who need to hear the basics of the story, and then brings John to us this morning. Luke gives the facts. John tells us what they mean.

John starts at the beginning—the very beginning. The similarity of these words to the first words of Genesis is no coincidence. John starts with Jesus and the Father together before creation, when together they made the heavens and the earth. The story of Jesus does not begin with His birth in Bethlehem. He existed as God from eternity, but on the Bethlehem night the divine Son of God took on a body like ours, still fully God, but now also human.

He was not born as the result of the ordinary course of conception. While under normal circumstances, children are conceived from the genetic line of two parents, either by their willful choice, or at least as the unintended result of their passion, Jesus was conceived by the supernatural power of God, carried to Mary’s ears on the words of the Angel.

Likewise, we become children of our Heavenly Father by remarkably different means than we become children of our earthly parents. The reach of the sin with which we were born was so deep that we were incapable of overcoming it, so, as the only one capable of fulfilling the requirements of the Law, God became man to live sinlessly in our place, and defeated death for us by the cross. Just as Jesus was not born by the natural power of human action, so it is with all children of God. We are made Christians not by our own effort or will, but by the power of God. He calls, gathers, enlightens. He converts. He justifies. He sanctifies, and we are given life.

The spiritual thoughts of the world are nothing but sin, for they were conceived as the natural product of sinful hearts, and they are powerless to overcome the darkness of death, but the Light of the World has been revealed to us this day. If it is God you seek, look no further than the body laid upon the wood of the manger, nailed to the wood of the cross, and present upon the wood of this altar today, for it is His light to which we look rather than our dark hearts, and it is His body and blood upon which we feast for the forgiveness of our sins, for He is God made known to us.

Lutheran Reformission

2008-12-19T17:42:00.006-06:00

The blog you are currently reading is primarily an archive of sermons, articles, and other material which I composed in the everyday activities of my ministry. I have recently launched another blog for the purpose of publishing posts which I have written as the result of my personal study or as theological reflection on items I read in the news or see in church culture. I began with a few best-of posts from blogs I formerly operated, and I am now in the process of adding new content as it is written. Please visit and check back often for new additions.

http://www.LutheranReformission.com/

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Wednesday in Advent 3

2008-12-17T20:49:00.000-06:00

Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever and love me, I pray.
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
And take us to heaven to live with Thee there.

"Be near me, Lord Jesus," the hymn prays, and this is often our prayer too. On frequent occasions, we find ourselves seeking God's presence in life. Whether faced with struggles from which we wish to be rescued or boredom we wish to be broken, we know that God's presence will somehow provide the solution.

At no time is God's presence sought more earnestly than times of trouble. We might almost imagine that a person would pray, "Be near me, Lord Jesus!" as they see the oncoming headlights in the wrong lane, much like one might say, "Help" or "Kyrie Eleison." While this is certainly fitting with Luther's admonition in the catecism to "call upon [God's name] in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks," Paul also reminds the Thessalonians to "Pray continuously." The fact is that there is not a time when we do not need God's presence to sustain us, and without it, the universe itself would cease.

In many branches of Christianity, bringing about God's presence is a common goal of worship. It is as if one could bring about God's presence, much as one conjures a genie from a lamp, if only the right combination of songs, prayers, and other manipulations would be achieved. Some even imagine that if it is done precisely enough, once might even see the presence of God visibly manifested in a sort of cloud. While it is true that just this type of event is recorded in the history of the Old Testament temple, it is also true that such things are neither described as occurring in the New Testament nor prescribed for Christians to seek.

We learn from Jesus in the Gospels that God's presence is inseparably tied to Him. While God is certainly omnipresent, it is only through Jesus that we are directed to seek God's presence. To experience God's presence apart from Jesus could only mean condemnation and certain death for any sinful man who experienced it. But how is Jesus present? Should we expect him to sit down on the pew beside us or stand at the foot of our bed as we drift to sleep? Just as we are directed only to seek God through Jesus, so also we are directed where to seek Jesus. Just as the manger held Him on the night of His birth, so the Scriptures hold Him today. Apart from Jesus presence, that manger would be no more remembered than any other feeding trought, and apart from the events of that night, we would not have Jesus. Likewise, apart from Jesus, the scriptures are no more than a piece of literature, but apart from their Words, Jesus has not promised to speak. He has also promised an extraordinary presence in the Lord's Supper, where we receive His true body and blood as bread and wine.

Regarding Jesus presence, the nature of this presence has also been variously misunderstood. An old hymn says, "You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart." I remember this sentiment taught to me by many well-intentioned Sunday School teachers when I was young. It was so-often stressed that Jesus is "in your heart," but even as a young child, something about this struck me as wrong, or at least insufficient. Other times I would be reminded that Jesus is "with me" and I have heard many prayers express the same desire. It is so often we hear that Jesus is with us or in us, that it can be easy to forget that Jesus was first, and most importantly, for us.

As He sacrificed Himself to an execution by crucifixion, even though He had committed neither crime nor sin, He did so for us. Unless He is first for us, he could neither be with nor in us, and if He were not first for us, it would matter little whether He was with or in us, because we would remain lost and condemned creatures who should expect nothing but wrath and judgment apart from His death for us.

The last line of the hymn prays that Jesus would take us to heaven to live with Him there. This is the presence for which Christians long most deeply--to experience the presence of our Lord in His unveiled majesty, but not as if we would become angels with harps riding upon the clouds, or as disembodied spirits in some etherial dimension. Instead, we long for the day when Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead, and all the dead will be raised with renewed bodies. On that day, all believers in Christ will expeience the glorious presence of God apart from any means or intermediary, and view the resurrected Lord literally face-to-face with their own eyes and enjoy this same presence for eternity.

Wednesday in Advent 2

2008-12-10T20:09:00.002-06:00

The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes.
I love Thee, Lord Jesus! Look down from the sky,
And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.

Hebrews 2:18, 4:15

A picture of a baby who does not cry, with livestock kneeling reverently while He sleeps atop what was meant to be their supper seems at first glance to be congruent neither with experience nor with the nature of babies or of animals. Perhaps this describes a brief moment upon the child's waking before his hunger and that of the animals changed the picture drastically. Beyond that, though, it seems that this verse is an excellent example of the way we have tended to romanticize and idealize the story, not only of Jesus' birth, but of far too many aspects of His life and ministry.

When one pictures the story of Jesus birth, the common image is one of a child with "radiant beams" streaming from His face or a glowing halo surrounding His head while the nearby animals were brought low to the ground, not by fatigue or the need for rest, but by reverence. One might even find himself inadvertently lured into thinking that Jesus appeared almost magically at Mary's side apart from the usual labor and difficulty. Well-intentioned directors of Christmas programs world-wide have added extraneous characters to the story, such as a donkey or an innkeeper. Many an imaginative story has even been told about the childhood of Jesus, which as far as Scripture speaks was nothing but normal, although without sin, excepting one incident where the boy Jesus was found teaching the teachers in the temple one Passover.

Then, who could number the ways in which the adult life and ministry of Jesus have been idealized and conformed to man's imagination? There is black Jesus, white, long-haired, white-robed Jesus, and any number of others who seem ignorant of the fact that Jesus was a first-century Jewish male. We have peaceful, feminine, Hippie Jesus who told people to love one another never offended anyone, when it is clearly known that he worked in the construction trade (not a feminine pursuit, especially in those times) and scripture gives numerous instances when He was quite offensive.

He certainly was compassionate toward those oppressed by sin and the difficulties of life, but when He encountered the proud and self-righteous, He resembled more the Jesus of Revelation--on a horse, with a sword--than the Jesus of sanitized Sunday School stories. When interacting with false shepherds of Israel, the tables were turned, quite literally, as when He cleansed the temple of money changers. He referred to them as the offspring of snakes and said, "Your Father is the Devil," and lest you be inclined to take this statement lightly, let me tell you this is in fact also an insult against their mothers (let the reader understand). Those who promote this idealized Jesus follow up by asking the question, "What would Jesus do?" expecting the rest of us to use their imagined savior as an example. Once when asked this question, I replied, "He would cleanse you from the temple for asking such a thing!"

The implications of such a romanticizing of Jesus story are far reaching. If his birth was so tidy and effortless and His life so sanitized of offense, humor, and rebuke, then why did they kill Him? Did he actually suffer? Was He indeed tempted? The author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is able to identify with our weaknesses and trials because He was tempted as we are, but without sin. He endured every struggle, discomfort, and adversity which we face. He suffered illness and injury, and even death--both of those around Him, and ultimately His own.

As we sing the words asking Jesus to "look down from the sky," let us not be confused. Scripture does tell us that Jesus ascended into Heaven after His resurrection, but he is not trapped there as if His body were limited to a six foot cell above the sky. As God, He is present everywhere, and whenever two gather together in His Name, that is around His Word and Sacraments, He is present in an extraordinary way. He speaks through the scriptures whenever they are read and preached, and He is present in His true body and blood at the Lord's Supper to feed our souls and preserve us in the One True Faith until He comes to judge the living and the dead.

Wednesday in Advent 1

2008-12-03T20:13:00.002-06:00

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.
The stars in the sky looked down where He lay,
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

John 1:3, Psalm 19:1

“Away in a manger” lays a newborn boy. Far from home and without proper lodging, His mother finds herself enduring labor in the least comfortable of places and giving her son a feeding trough as His first bed.

The child, lays his head where animals have fed. A head the hymn describes as “sweet”, but couldn’t that be said of every child? What makes this boy differnt? If you are among those who have or have had children, it is quite certain that this word left your lips almost nightly in description of your own new baby. As you beheld them sleeping, who did they look like? You, your spouse, one of their grandparents? No doubt this unique child bore a resemblance to His mother, but who was His father? Certainly it was not the man who attended to His mother that night during her labor. Who is the child in the manger, and from where does He come?

Such humility was He born into, that although he was born to the fiancé of a carpenter, he had no crib and slept instead upon borrowed hay, but lest we be mistaken, this is not a lesson on poverty or a plea for charity, as has often been said. The primary lesson here is not compassion or humility, at least not on the part of any human, but we see here the humility and compassion of God given human flesh that night.

The child there laid was the “little Lord”, named Jesus, born a truly human male, but that boy was God, born not in the natural way, but born as the power of God overshadowed a virgin by the Holy Spirit and the divine Son of God was given human flesh to be the savior of humanity. This is not the kind of thing inspired by an imaginative author or the stuff of hallmark cards or a movie of the week. This is the incarnation of God Himself upon the earth. The hymn says that the stars in the sky looked down where he lay. The Psalm says that the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of his hands, and on that night a new star declared the glorious action of God in sending His Son, without whom nothing on earth was made, and angels filled the sky proclaiming the merciful work of God—that the creator of heaven, sky, stars, angels and all things had come to reside in a Bethlehem stable as a newborn baby.

This “Little Lord” was born to a humble beginning, but a humility unable be compared to the agony of His end as He bore the sin of the world at the cross. The wood of the manger at his birth would be exchanged for the wood of another tree upon which creator of the man and beast, stable and star, would pay the penalty for His creature’s rebellion, and the mother who knelt above the manger in joy would kneel in sorrow beneath His cross.

For this, we prepare to celebrate His birth with repentant joy, for in Him we are made children of God by water and the spirit, and promised new life as His brothers in resurrection, when He returns to raise and judge the living and the dead and give eternal life to all who trust in Him.

Election Commentary - Part 3

2008-12-01T16:09:00.000-06:00

In the previous two issues of St. John’s Messenger, I wrote about two scriptural ideas which should guide Christian voters. A few short weeks ago, that election was held, and a new president and other leaders for our nation have been elected. So, now that the election is past, what do you think? How did your vote compare with the results? Do you think those elected will be wise and godly leaders? Depending on how you answer these questions, there are implications for you as a Christian to consider.

Did the candidates you supported win? If so, be careful. When the candidates we favor are in power it can be very tempting to have a false sense of security and to place our hope and trust in them. Sometimes a person might even make the mistake of relying on political leaders to correct the world’s problems. If we follow down this path, our political leaders can even become an idol which displaces God. When we place hope in trust in elected officials above or instead of God, we have really put them in the place of God in our lives. God may certainly use these elected leaders to bless our nation or state, but our ultimate hope and trust should be in Him and not them. When we are given the privilege to choose our leaders, we must be vigilant to examine their actions and hold them accountable, even after they have been elected.

Were the candidates you supported defeated? Be careful also. Do not let yourself fall into despair, thinking that all is lost. When we allow ourselves to fall into hopelessness based on the results of an election, we have also made an idol out of elected leaders. We must keep in mind the fact that God ultimately guides all things. Even if an elected leader opposes and rejects God or is manifestly evil, God can still use that situation to carry out His will. We see this occurring frequently in the kings of Israel in the Old Testament. We also know from history that during the first centuries after Jesus death, the most wicked and immoral Caesars ruled Rome, but the church preached Christ and added believers anyway. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that “all things work together for good for those who love God.” Even if the rulers over us are not those we would choose, God is still ruling all things and guiding them for our benefit, regardless of which earthly leaders He uses to do so.

So, in these days between elections, obey your leaders, regardless of their party, but obey God above any human leader. Carefully study the actions of those who were elected so that you are prepared to play your part in influencing those elected next for the benefit of your neighbor and nation. And trust that, whatever the earthly appearance, God is guiding all of human history for His will, which is that people hear and believe the Gospel of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins.

[Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter December 2008]

Election Commentary - Part 2

2008-11-01T16:08:00.001-05:00

(continued from the October edition of St. John’s Messenger) …The second scriptural idea which would help guide our decisions regarding elected leaders can be found in Peter’s answer when placed on trial for preaching about Jesus, “We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29 ESV) Applied to the election of national leaders, this reminds us that when God has spoken through Scripture on a certain topic, then we as Christians adhere to the Biblical position on that question, regardless of what the trends of public opinion say on the matter.

Sometimes the concept of electing godly leaders is abused in such a way that Christians try to work through the political process to impose a certain code of morality on the nation, mistakenly believing that if we can just enact the right laws regulating bad behavior that we can build the perfect nation and earn God’s blessing. This is not the appropriate application of the idea of obedience to God over man. We do not elect godly leaders in an attempt to impose a moral code on society or even to build a “Christian nation.” We elect godly leaders in order to have a safe and orderly nation where we are free to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus. Voting responsibly is part of our vocation as citizens and of our duty as Christians to defend our neighbor (such as defending our unborn neighbors by opposing abortion).

One place where this is especially carried out is in a candidate’s stance on religious freedom. The First Amendment to our nation’s constitution prohibits both the establishment of a particular religion by the government (often called the separation of church and state), but it also guarantees that the government may not infringe on the people’s right to exercise their religion (freedom of religion). Additionally, it protects the right of United States citizens to freedom of speech.

However, these freedoms have recently been endangered. There are two basic opinions on how to interpret the constitution. One holds that we must read the constitution in light of what its authors intended when they wrote it. The other holds that we are free to redefine the meaning of the constitution in light of current cultural opinions. In two countries which have similar constitutional guarantees to freedom of speech and religion, Christian pastors have recently been punished for teaching certain doctrines from the Bible. In Canada, pastors are being fined tens of thousands of dollars, without the benefit of an attorney or a trial, just for reading certain chapters of the Bible (Romans 1, Leviticus 18 & 20) They consider this to be “hate-speech” and punishable by law similar to yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre or inciting a riot. In Sweden (where the state-church is even Lutheran) similar actions to those of the Canadian pastors have been punished with jail sentences.

Depending on who is appointing our nation’s judges, courts in the U.S. could rule similarly to those in Canada and Sweden, making it very important that Christians examine the ideology of those running for office and choose carefully between the candidates.

[Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter November 2008]

Election Commentary - Part 1

2008-10-01T16:05:00.001-05:00

Dear friends in Christ, and His children through the cross,

This newsletter should be reaching your boxes just about one month before this year’s presidential election. From coast to coast, people and organizations will spend the coming weeks putting on their final push to convince others to vote for their chosen candidate. Often times, churches will also be found engaging in this sort of activity, some even going so far as to invite one of the candidates into their “pulpit” on Sunday morning. Is this proper? How should the church handle politics, especially in relation to the presidential election? This will be a two-part article, articulating two important ideas from scripture which should guide us as Christians as we consider our vote in the coming election.

The first of these says, “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. [4] Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4 ESV) All too often, people, churches, and even denominations blindly follow one political party without considering the positions of its candidates or their opponents. Loyalty to that party can even to so far as to disrupt their relationships with their friends and neighbors who hold differing allegiances, even within the church. Paul answers this by instructing us to “do nothing out of rivalry or conceit.” Allegiance to a political party or other earthly thing should never cause division in Christ’s church. Even if our conclusions differ, they should be based on carefully considered facts rather than blind partisanship and should certainly not be valued above the unity of Christ’s Church.

More importantly, Paul goes on to say that Christians should consider others more highly than themselves and look to others’ interests ahead of their own. All too often, decisions about political candidates are made primarily out of self-interest. We are inclined to choose a candidate based on whose health care plan will save us money or whose tax cuts will improve our bottom line, but if we consider the interests of our neighbor ahead of our own, this would not be so. We would not vote based on a candidate’s position on ethanol subsidies or the inheritance tax, but rather on the basis of what is most beneficial for our nation and our neighbor.

Placing ourselves in the back seat in this way is a difficult thing to do, but we must realize that the answers to the world’s problems are not political anyway. Even the best political solutions cannot solve the problem of human sin which is the disease to which all of the world’s other problems are merely symptoms. Jesus instructs us in the Gospel of Matthew to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all these things [material needs] will be added to you.” So, we as Christians should examine candidates, not in light of what they can do for us, but instead by the standard of whether they will be a righteous leader who will rule for the benefit of our neighbor… (to be continued)

[Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter October 2008]

"god"

2008-06-01T00:05:00.000-05:00

Dear friends in Christ, and His children through the cross,

Last month I included a review of the book The Anonymous God in place of the usual article. The book discusses the nature of the “god” believed in by many Americans—a God with no real identity, not the Christian God, but not the god of any other major religion either. In our culture, when you mention “god,” everybody fills in their own definition. For example, take the phrase, “In God we trust.” If you were to go to the streets of any major city and ask 10 people what “god” that is speaking of, I would bet you would hear at least 12 different answers.

It used to be that when we used the word “god,” we could be certain that the people who heard us speak held the same definition we did and that we all were talking about the Christian God. Perhaps this is still the case with many of our neighbors in our local communities, but no longer is this the way all of our neighbors think. For many of them, “god” means whomever you or your hearer make it to mean, and all too often the identity is immaterial for them anyway. Elected leaders and celebrities do not hesitate for a moment to talk about “god” in their interviews or speeches, but what “god” are they talking about? Pay careful attention to what they say about their “god” and you will find that it is certainly not the One True God revealed in the Bible.

Even many Christian books and songs fall into the trap of talking about God in this way. I do not mean to say that these authors and composers are in doubt about God’s identity, but if they or we speak generically about God, our hearers will most likely fill in their own definition at the expense of the Truth. However, as Christians, this should not be the case for us. We do not believe that one “god” is as good as the next. We do not believe that the definition of “god” is variable based on the hearer’s point of view. We have the certain truth that God has revealed Himself as Triune in the Scriptures and become man in Jesus Christ. Therefore, we must be careful about our speech. We believe in the True God, and how we speak of Him matters if we care about the souls of our neighbors. Faith in “god” benefits no one, but faith in the One True God, the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, saves from all sin, from death, and from the power of the devil.

Consequently, as the ideas of our culture have changed, so our way of speaking must also change if we wish to communicate the truth clearly. Talk about “god” and nobody will be offended, but neither will anyone be saved. If we continue to speak of God in generic terms, the non-Christians with whom we speak will continue to believe in a generic god and will be condemned forever. If we talk about Jesus, then people might be offended, but the door will be opened for them to hear the Gospel and turn from their false “gods” to the truth of Jesus Christ. Many people believe that what is necessary for salvation is belief in “god” and an attempt to live a moral life. This could not be further from the truth. Make it a point in your everyday speech to introduce people to the God who takes away the sin of the world, our Lord, Christ Jesus.

[Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter June 2008]

Book Review: The Anonymous God

2008-05-01T02:05:00.000-05:00

Book Review: The Anonymous God, Edited by, David L. Adams and Ken Schurb

From time to time I will bring you reviews of excellent books from our church library in place of my normal monthly article. The following review is the second in this series.

In a conversation with the “man on the street,” if you speak of “god,” you will rarely hear an objection…as long as you don’t get to specific. Belief in “god” is almost universally accepted, especially among our neighbors here in middle America. But who is this “god” in whom our neighbors believe? Certainly some of our neighbors are faithful members of Christian churches and for them it is the True God of the Bible. On the other hand, it is increasingly the case that people are turning to a different “god.” This popular god is increasingly undefined, and thus anonymous, as the title of the book indicates, and this is the trend which The Anonymous God examines.

The book is a collection of essays by various authors. The editor, Dr. Adams is a professor of Old Testament at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and an insightful commentator on current religious trends who is frequently invited to speak throughout the country. Pastor Schurb, the book’s other editor, is a pastor in North-central Missouri, a former assistant to the Synodical president, and a frequent guest on the past radio program Issues, Etc. The other authors are LCMS pastors, primarily college and seminar professors.

The book refers to the belief in this anonymous god as “American Civil Religion.” This is a belief in a wise and powerful god of some kind who punishes evil and rewards good. This god, as understood by many Americans is rarely defined more specifically than this, except that He is generally though to have a favorable attitude toward the United States and its citizens. While the God of the Bible is certainly wise, powerful, and fair, He is certainly much more than that. He is Triune, He became man in Jesus Christ, and His attitude toward each person is not based on their personal morality, but on God’s grace and the death of Jesus.

The authors of this book’s essays examine this trend in American religious thought and explore what this means for us as Christians, as Lutherans, and as members of the Missouri Synod. Their insights are worth the time and effort to pick up this book. Even if the whole book is a bit heavy for your tastes, even reading a couple of selected essays will greatly prepare you to understand and engage this deceptive side to religious-sounding speech and to be a witness to your neighbors of the One True God.

A copy of The Anonymous God is available for loan from our church library.

Even until death?

2008-04-01T20:01:00.001-05:00

Dear friends in Christ, and His children through the cross,

At the end of this month, Confirmation will come again at St. John’s for a number of eighth grade students. The questions they will be asked are very similar to those we were each asked when we were confirmed. Some of the answers seem easy. For example, they will be asked the same questions their sponsors answered for them at Baptism: “Do you renounce the Devil and all his works and all his ways? Do you believe in God the Father Almighty? Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord? Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?” They will be asked, “Do you hold all the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God?” These first few questions can be answered by most without hesitation.

The final two questions, however, should inspire much more consideration if we pay close attention to them: “Do you intend to live according to the Word of God, and in faith, word, and deed to remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death?” “Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall way from it?”

Suffer even death??? We might think that this is a pretty serious thing to ask someone so young to promise, but this is how seriously God takes our faith. Like Stephen, Peter, and the other apostles and martyrs, each Christian should be prepared to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from anything that the Bible teaches about Jesus. A long life is meaningless for one who has denied Jesus because even though their earthly life is preserved for a time, it would be at the cost of eternal condemnation. (Matthew 10:28) If one loses their life for the confession of Jesus, they have lost nothing, for those who die with faith in Christ have eternal life. Now, this commitment doesn’t simply mean remaining in any church, but specifically in a church which teaches only the pure truth about all teachings of Scripture, for if a person has faith in Jesus, but mixes it with other unscriptural teachings about God, how long can that faith last?

These promises seem daunting, but within the answer, we find hope. The confirmands answer “I do, by the grace of God.” Here is our hope. On our own, we would never be able keep the Bible’s whole teaching pure or to keep faith in Jesus, but this does not depend on our strength. We are preserved in true faith by the grace of God! He saved us by grace alone, and He preserves us in faith in His Son also by grace. Here is the reason for the middle promise made at confirmation. “Do you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully?” His Word and the Lord’s Supper are the ways God promises to preserve us in the One True Faith and the pure teaching of Jesus. As the church gathers to hear the Word and receive the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper, God works to grow and sustain the faith of the Christian. If separated from these, the Christian will wither and die like a plant uprooted from the soil, but through them, God preserves even until death by His grace.

[Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter April 2008]

Good Friday Tenebrae

2008-03-21T23:06:00.002-05:00

Hebrews 4:14-5:9

Who can rise up to heaven? Can you? Can I? Can anyone? Many throughout history have proposed paths by which a person might rise to heaven, to God, to divinity, but all paths have ultimately led not to any of these, but instead to disappointing and condemning failure. Who can rise up to heaven? Only he who came down from heaven.

In the person of Jesus Christ, God came down from heaven to be made man in the womb of the virgin Mary. Although not conceived through natural means, He was born as we were born, grew as we grew, lived as we lived, suffered as we suffered, and died as all are destined to die.

In Him, we have a God unlike any other proposed by men, for this God is not a distant heavenly authority, but one who can identify with our weaknesses, trials, and sufferings, for he endured them Himself in order to save humanity from the wages of sin. Think back over the troubled times of your life and know that He has suffered these too. His adopted father died an early death. Most of His family turned away from Him during His ministry. He was betrayed by a close friend. He suffered a brutal and torturous death at the hands of professional Roman executioners. Now there is one difference. All this He did without sin.

But, let us not stop at this. After He had endured every weakness and temptation of our human flesh, He endured one thing that no man has ever experienced in this world. He was forsaken by God—His own Father, not because of any sin on His part, but for you and your sins.

Undeserving of death, He died for you, and this not just any death. God chose to send His own son into history in such a time when one of the most violent and barbaric armies ever known was carrying out the most torturous execution of known history in crucifixion. Even if you had suffered this death yourself, it would not gain your salvation, for it would still be stained with your sin. Only the death of one who is perfect can satisfy God not just for the sins of one, but for the sin of the world.

Because of His perfect life and innocent death, salvation has come into the world for all who would trust in this perfect sacrifice to pay their debt of sin. Because He stands before God on our behalf, our prayers are heard on His behalf. Beg as you will, but apart from the death of Jesus upon the cross, there is no salvation for sin. But in Jesus there is forgiveness for sin.

So, hear now how your salvation was won. Hear the story of the blood shed for you. Behold your savior in His dying grief, the suffering He endured to give you life.

[Sermon for Good Friday, March 21, 2008, St. John's Lutheran Church, Burt, IA]

Tuesday of Lent 5 (Series A)

2008-03-11T13:09:00.001-05:00

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Imagine if in a vision of a deserted valley, God showed you the congregation to which you would preach—one of sun-baked bones, long-aged in the sleep of death with life nowhere to be found, nor even a hint of muscle, skin, or blood. It would seem an impossible thing to raise a church from such an audience but God has chosen for Himself such a church of skeletal devastation, and this is the very task with which you have been charged—to make dead men live, and dry bones walk.

If you were to prophesy from your own heart, all you could bring about from the bones would be dead bodies with no life. You might manage to sculpt flesh for the bones and paint them with a sort of skin, but no life would come to them, it would only be a dead imitation.

As He did for Ezekiel, so too for you has God given not only the command to prophesy, but the very words by which to do so. You have been given the Word which carries with it the very Spirit of God, and becomes a life-giving prophesy.

So, prophet, preach not to the felt needs of the bones, and scratch not the itching ears, but prophesy as God Himself has given. Bring sinew and flesh to grow upon the bones and skin to cover them. Call the breath, not of your own skill or eloquence, but by the promise of God.

As a Steward of the Mysteries of God, fill up not their bellies and their self-esteem, but rather fill their ears with that Word which forces them to seek not the desires of their sinful hearts, but rather to fix their eyes on Christ crucified for them. This is the Word which will bring life to dry souls when the name of the Triune God with the water. This is the Word which makes divine body and blood to be placed on their lips for the forgiveness of sins. This is the word which makes a living Israel of a dead nation, not by parental lineage, but by the Father of all who makes for His Son a bride of the resurrected dead and calls it Church, born again, not by a decision of their own will but by the Spirit through the Word, and gathered not out of common interest or ideology, but out of a common sickness and a common savior who cures their plague, even out of death.

God who reinvigorated not only the faithful remnant, but even the dry bones of Gentile dogs and made them living men by giving birth to God Himself through the womb of an Israelite virgin continues this work today by your prophesy, so that even if your bones would bake prematurely in the sun like those of the martyrs before you, God would be faithful to continue prophesying to the dry dead world until the graves of all are opened either to eternal destruction or eternal life on the last day.

[Sermon for Algona Circuit Pastors Conference, March 11, 2008, St. John's Lutheran Church, Burt, IA]

Justification

2008-02-01T11:56:00.001-06:00

Dear friends in Christ, and His children through the cross,

What is the most important teaching of the Christian faith?

If you were to read the answer to this question given in theology books, you would see many terms mentioned, such as “substiutionary atonement”, “Doctrine of Justification”, or maybe even something very scholarly sounding in a foreign language, like “satisfactio vicaria.” If you ask the man on the street, you could get a wide range of answers. Some answers would have to do with social justice, like equality or helping the poor. Some would reflect the feelings and preferences of the person you are asking, such as love or acceptance. If you encountered a particularly theologically-minded person, they might even mention the Trinity or the deity of Christ as most important.

The apostle Paul answers the question with these words:

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, [and] that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Cor. 15:3-4 ESV)

and further explains by saying:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephes. 2:8-9 ESV)

While these other things have their place, they all come to nothing without the teaching that Jesus Christ died in our place for the forgiveness of our sins, and that we receive this forgiveness completely by grace, apart from anything on our part to deserve it. The wise teachers of our church at the time of the reformation referred to this as the teaching “by which the church stands or falls.” If this teaching is not proclaimed, the church which fails to do so has lost its inheritance and is doomed to fall. If this teaching is faithfully kept, then the church which does so will be held up by God’s power, regardless of the trials it might face.

Every other teaching of Christianity is certainly important, but this is the one which holds them all together and makes the Christian Church different from every man-made religion of the world. The many good works which we Christians do as forgiven people in the world are certainly important, but apart from this teaching, they would all be sin before God. Because Christ died, we live, and because our sin was placed on him, we can be counted righteous before God. He took our place and suffered our punishment. Our sin is exchanged for His righteousness, and the death we deserved is exchanged for the eternal life He earned by His cross.

[Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter February 2008]

Jesus Born for You

2007-12-24T23:59:00.000-06:00

The Nativity of our Lord (Christmas Eve)

Luke 2

There seems to be an atmosphere of the miraculous surrounding the things of Christmas. Perhaps you remember the wonder which filled your mind as you arose as a child, several hours before your parents hoped you would, and approached the tree where unknown treasures awaited beneath paper destined for destruction by little hands. A tree, which usually lay darkened to the approach of foggy eyes at dawn, awaited, proudly lit, the approach of those who would receive the gifts it guarded. Sights, tastes, sounds, and aromas all served to alert you to the fact that these were miraculous days.

Possibly, it is because the gifts are no longer unknown beneath the paper, or maybe because the tree comes about not as a mysterious appearance, but as the result of my own labor, Perhaps even because I now realize the inevitable effects which cookies have had upon the former location of my waist, but that sort of anticipation seems more like a memory than a reality anymore. Perhaps it is more blissful to be ignorant of such things, or at least forgetful.

Likewise, how often have we each lost the wonder at the miracle we celebrate here today? When Christmas is reduced to a list of tasks to accomplish and appointments to keep, it is robbed of the extraordinary awe with which it ought to be approached. The most astonishing miracle of history was coming to realization. The hopeful expectation begun thousands of years before when God the Father promised to send the Serpent-destroying Savior found its fulfillment that night.

While it is said by many that birth is a miracle, this birth stands alone, for it is like no other before or since. That night, God was born! He who had no beginning descended through the virgins womb to be made man, to take on her flesh and yours for the salvation of the world. For you, he was born of the Virgin Mary. For you, he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. For you, He rose again on the third day, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father. At this we should stand in awe as if the whole heavenly host was displayed before us singing “Glory to God.” For the child in the manger is a far greater miracle than even the choir of angels witnessed by the Shepherds or the star followed by the Magi. The miracle lies not under the tree, but in the manger.

So also, he who was born that night has promised to be with His Church wherever she gathers in His name. He who came to His mother in Bethlehem comes still today. The Body born of Mary and broken on the cross of Calvary is present here for you as bread, and the blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins is present upon this altar as wine. Here too, however, familiarity can conceal the miracle which occurs before us each Lord’s Day. We see and hear and taste the signs of His presence, but the moment quickly passes as if the shepherds had returned to their sleep, dismissing the angels as a dream.

So let us rejoice with the angels, not only on the eve of His birth, but each time He comes to this altar, for not one of you knows which day will be the eve of His coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead. On that day, all believers in Christ will rejoice at a glory which will never fade with familiarity, as we join forever the song of the heavenly angels to the Lord who lives and reigns to all eternity.

Amen.

[Sermon for Christmas Eve, December 24, 2007, St. John's Lutheran Church, Burt, IA]

Book Review: Why I am a Lutheran

2007-12-01T02:04:00.000-06:00

Dear friends in Christ, and His children through the cross,

As most who will read this probably know, our church offers a library with a variety of religious books and videos for the benefit of our congregation’s members. Many members take advantage of the children’s books and movies in the library and of the fiction and “inspirational” books. There are also a number of enjoyable titles which offer a deeper look at what we as Lutheran Christians believe. These books are there to help you better understand topics of your interest or where you may have questions and to equip you to better articulate and explain the faith of your church as you encounter unbelievers and non-Lutherans in your daily life.

From time to time, I will include a book review in the Messenger rather than my usual letter. I hope that you will consider making an effort to grow in your understanding of the Christian faith with the help of these authors. New books will be appearing periodically in the library, and I will try to make it a priority to review those books first. A brief review can be found below of one of the books I consider a gem of our collection.

Why I am a Lutheran: Jesus at the Center, by Rev. Daniel Preus

Pastor Preus, former Missouri Synod vice-president, former director of the Concordia Historical Institute and the current president/director of the Luther Academy in St. Louis, Missouri, authored this brief, but excellent book in 2004. The book is not a thorough explanation of Lutheran doctrine, but instead, a moving book which mixes personal stories and engaging illustrations to demonstrate the virtues of Lutheran Christianity.

Why are we Lutherans? Because pure Lutheran teaching places Jesus as the center of everything. Drawing examples from several teachings of the Lutheran Church, pastor Preus demonstrates in a way that is both convincing and interesting to read, how Jesus is the center of all that Lutherans teach. In a book like this, it could be easy to appear negative or antagonistic to other denominations with different teachings, but throughout the book, pastor Preus remains positive in commending the virtues of Christ-centered Lutheranism.

I consider this book one of the best positive portrayal of Lutheranism I have read. It is a great read, both for life-long Lutherans as well as for those considering the Lutheran faith. This book is given as a gift to each new confirmand at St. John’s, and is currently a topic of Study for the Board of Elders. It will be well worth your time to read this brief book, or even to order one to give as a gift to a friend.

The Race

2007-11-01T11:50:00.000-05:00

Dear friends in Christ, and His children through the cross,

Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. (1 Timothy 2:3-7)

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

October and November are a time that I anticipate each year. You might be expecting some uplifting reason regarding the beauty of nature or a profound insight on the symbolism of the harvest. Unfortunately, the reason is not nearly so high-minded. I anticipate this time of year because there are a lot of sports televised, and for many of them this is the time for champions to be crowned. The World Series will name the champion in professional baseball. College Football is well underway, and the biggest rivalry games are happening. Basketball and Hockey are beginning their seasons, and NASCAR is down to the final races before awarding its prize. Add to all of this the many high school sports which occur in the fall, and it’s a busy time for a sports fan.

When the apostle Paul uses the image of a Roman athlete as an illustration of the life of a Christian in His letters to Timothy, perhaps he is trying to appeal to athletically-minded individuals, or maybe he is using one of Timothy's interests in order to result in a more motivating message to the young pastor. Whatever the reason, we can look to these athletic contests as a reminder of the challenge which faces us throughout life as Christians. Like a competitor, we have an adversary in Satan who seeks to throw us off of our game so that he can defeat us. Like the athlete, we must take care to be prepared and to give all our effort to the contest. In an athletic competition, athletes often find that they are able to put forth effort from reserves they were unaware they had. They often accomplish feats in the heat of competition that would be difficult to imagine without the motivation of the contest.

We must always remember that life in this world is much like a race or other competition in that we Christians are not called simply to ride along until our days our done, but to continue training in the Faith. Like an athlete must practice, we Christians must continually read and hear the Word of God, be vigilant in prayer, and always on our guard against the deceptive attacks of our enemy. Unlike the athlete, however, our victory does not come by our own effort. A Roman athlete was crowned when he won the race. We are given victory and the crown of eternal life because it was won for us by Christ Jesus on the cross. He has won for us what we were unable to attain, and we carry on, trusting in Him to give us the strength through His Word and Holy Supper to finish the race of this life by His faithfulness.

[Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter November 2007]

Reformation 2007

2007-10-12T18:39:00.000-05:00

Dear friends in Christ and His children through the cross,

This month, we will again commemorate the Reformation, which began 490 years ago. Many Christian denominations trace their history back to the events of that time in history when opposition began to arise over false teachings in the Roman Catholic Church over how a person is saved.

Today, many American preachers are calling for a new “reformation.” What do they insist needs to be reformed? Have they looked at the wide variety of doctrines being taught among American churches and proposed that agreement should be sought on which is true? Have they noticed the mixing and matching of world religions which goes on in the name of “tolerance” and demanded that Christians should be faithful only to the One True God? Unfortunately not. One popular author, and pastor of a church of thousands, has spoken of this new reformation as being one of “deeds, not creeds.” What does this mean? The reformation that began with Luther’s 95 Theses was a reformation about creeds. Creeds are statements by which Christians confess publicly before the world what the scriptures teach about Jesus. The church of the time had been teaching false things about Jesus, so many pastors and teachers stood up to proclaim the truth in an attempt to correct the Church’s direction.

The “new reformation” proposed by this group of preachers intentionally seeks to push “creeds,” also known as doctrine, aside. They see detailed definitions of what the Bible teaches as divisive and not helpful to the Christian life. When they seek a reformation of “deeds, not creeds,” they are saying that they desire for Christians to stop focusing on doctrine and pay attention to their behavior instead. If we look closely, though, this “new reformation” is no reformation at all. In fact, it is really a reverse-reformation which returns their followers to exactly the problems of the Roman Catholic Church that Luther and the other reformers sought to correct. In the Church of Luther’s youth, it was taught that people must do good works or make payment for indulgences to earn their salvation or that of their relatives. In the churches which seek this “new reformation,” it is no different. Instead of the message of God’s forgiveness of sins given by grace, through faith, they focus their energy on tips and techniques to please God in this life.

God’s law still condemns sin and demands perfection, but what the world needs is not another plan to follow or ten easy steps to a god-pleasing life, because these can never pay the debt of our sin. We need to be reminded continually that Jesus has paid that debt, and God declares us forgiven because of His death, not because we deserve it, but because He is gracious and merciful. May we, as members of the Church of the Reformation, proudly be bearers of this truth to a world which desperately needs not just a reformation of behavior, but the Good News about Jesus.

[Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter October 2007]

True Humility

2007-09-02T16:53:00.000-05:00

Luke 14:1-14

Why do Lutherans sit in the back of the church? Is it because they are a shy or self-conscious group of people? Is it because the seats in back are closer to the coffee pot or potluck line? A staff member at the seminary told me of a study which found where people sit in a room reflects their personality. The more extroverted a person, the farther forward, the more introverted, the farther back. Could it be that being responsible and time-conscious, they keep at their chores as long as possible, so as not to waste time sitting before the service and arrive too late to walk to the front pews?

I've always wondered if, and hoped that the reason Lutherans sit in the back of the church might have somethign to do with the words of Jesus found in today's Gospel reading. Certainly to choose one's seat in church out of godly humility seems like an attractive explanation to why Lutheran sit where they do. In fact, it seems almost noble, as if maybe someone might do a documentary on it, like they do on the customs of var-away tribes or ancient cultures. No one may ever know why Lutherans sit in the back of the church, but Jesus instructions certainly go beyond being a lesson either in seating preference at church, ancient middle-eastern table manners, or even charity. In fact, although it is certainly a virtue Christians should seek to manifest, this teaching goes far beyond even being primarily a lesson in showing humility.

Jesus is using this dinner gathering as an occasion to illustrate the error of His hosts's and his fellow guests' ways. From the other three Gospels, we know that the Pharisees criticized Jesus other times for healing on the Sabbath day. They may have sen this as an opportunity to catch Him breaking the rules regarding work on the Sabbath, but this was not because of any God-given law. In an attempt to keep from breaking God's law, the Pharisees has made more restrictive laws that they required their followers to obey. The Old Testament never forbids showing mercy or helping one's neighbor on the Sabbath, as Jesus shows with his comments regarding helping a son, ox, or donkey who has fallen into a pit, leaving the Pharisees speechless.

These Pharisees were guilty of the worst lack of humility, not just by their scrambling for the best seats at dinner parties, but by their arrogance to think that they could please God by their actions of following the Law, whether God's or their own. The rule against Sabbath healing displayed in this reading is an examble of this legalistic arrogance. For any person to think that there is anything they can do to earn God's favor is the highest arrogance imaginable. No matter what work man might do in an attempt to please God, it will ultimately fail because God's standard is perfection, not just in legal observation, but even in thought and desire.

The Pharisees treated the Sabbath like a favor they did for God, something they did to earn points toward eternal rewards. Much like them, many people today who claim the name Christian look to good works as a reason or assurance for salvation and accordingly see the New Testament Sabbath of the Divine Service (a.k.a. worship) as something they do for God, as if they had anything but sin to offer Him. Just as the Pharisees misunderstood God's gracious gift of the sabbath which was intended to point to Messiah's coming, all too many people today redefine God's gift of worship, which was meant to deliver the cross-won forgiveness of sins to them through the Word and Sacraments, and instead replace it with their feeble attempts to tell God how great He is or appease His wrath.

As Jesus mentions the "resurrection of the just," a man enthusiastically replies to Him, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!" But knowing the inmost thoughts of His hearers, Jesus shows how they have treated God's kingdom and what share in it they will have by the words of the "Master" in the parable, "none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet." The invitation of the Master in the parable is not only one to unbelievers to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. It is also an invitation to believers to continue having their sins forgiven at the services of God's house where He is present in Word and Water, Body and Blood, to cleanse them of all unrighteousness and sustain them in the One true Faith.

Certainly it can be seen how those who refuse the invitation in this parable compare to unbelievers, but Christians also harm themselves and risk separating themselves from God's grace and forgiveness if they cite feeble excuses like the invited guests of the parable to neglect God's gifts offered for them in the Divine Service. This risk is not one to be taken lightly, for the consequences are eternal, and none whose neglect starves their faith to the point it dies will taste the banquets of heaven.

Like the master in the parable, the One True God also desires that His house be full. Both the mansions of Heaven which Christ has gone to prepare and his houses of the Christian chruch here on earth where He makes Himself present in Word and Sacrament to deliver the forgiveness of sins to sinners. He has not invited only His "friends, brothers, relatives, and rish neighbors" as the Pharisees did, for because of sin, no man or woman can be called a friend or brother of God by their own merit. We can do nothing to bring ourselves close to God or find our way into his relation or friendship. However, He has invited us who were nothing but "poor crippled, lame, and blind" in His sight, and made us His children and brothers with Christ, fellow heirs of His Kingdom because of His sacrificial death on the cross.

As the master sent out his servants in the parable, God sent His son, not just to invite the world, but to do all that is necessary to earn admission to the to the feast of heaven for all who trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. There is "still room" at the heavenly feast, and He continues to send His servants to bring people to His table as His pastors preach Christ from the Scriptures and as His people speak of His goodness in the highways and in the country.

True humility is this, that God became man, born of a virgin, live in this sin-infected world, suffer, and die for sin of the world, taking the punishment for our transgressions upon Himself in order to give to us eternal life by His blood. True humility is to trust in Christ, rather than self for salvation, knowing that He is the only sacrifice sufficient to declare you holy before God. So, blessed are you who eat the very bread of heaven this day, given for you for the forgiveness of sins, for here you have a foretaste of the feast which you will join on the last day as all believers in Christ, from all times and places, gather in the eternal banquet celebrating the marriage of the Lamb of God to His Holy Church.

[Sermon given at St. John's Lutheran Church, Burt, IA, the 15th Sunday after Pentecost, 2007]

The Kingdom and Daily Bread

2007-09-01T17:45:00.000-05:00

Dear friends in Christ and His children through the cross,

Matthew 6:31-34 (ESV)
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' [32] For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Each year, God reminds us that we live in a world that is beyond our control. A lack or an overabundance of rain, along with the winds, do as they will, and there is nothing that can be done either to stop them or prevent their destruction of crop and property. Stock markets, fuel prices, and the like rise and fall apart from any man’s attempts to alter them. Sometimes, when circumstances look bleak, an unexpected turn occurs and damage is averted; other times, it is not. Either way, Jesus reminds us in this Gospel text that our Heavenly Father provides for our physical needs, therefore we should not worry, but trust in His providing.

In the closing words of this teaching, Jesus tells His hearers, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” A few verses earlier, He had instructed His disciples how to pray, giving them the Lord’s Prayer, including these words:

Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.

As we pray these words, we are reflecting this teaching of Jesus. If we seek earthly provision apart from the God who created and still sustains the world, it will be in vain. Jesus instead tells us to seek first God’s kingdom, that is, His gracious rule on earth to forgive sins and give eternal life. Along with this, He directs us to God’s righteousness. We have no righteousness in ourselves—only sin. Therefore, we must trust in God’s righteousness to save us. This righteousness was lived on our behalf by Jesus, then the punishment we deserved was given to Him at the cross so that we are given credit for what He did and seen as righteous before the Father, apart from our own worthiness. First we pray for God’s kingdom to come among us to save our souls, then we trust that He who provides for the eternally significant matter of our salvation will also provide for the comparatively simple matter of our bodily needs.

In the face of danger and uncertainty, we need not fear, for our God has promised to provide daily bread to sustain our lives in this world, just as He provided the Bread of Life in His Only Son for the forgiveness of our sins.

(Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter September 2007)

Modern-day False Prophets

2007-08-19T16:21:00.000-05:00

Jeremiah 23:16-29, Luke 12:49-56

As in the days of Jeremiah, we too live in a world filled with false prophets. Because the Truth of God is contrary to our sinful hearts, we as sinners often stray into following these, whether they be found among our neighbors, the media, religious television, or even our own thoughts. Our world today loves to talk about God, and "spiritual" sounding words are found on nearly every tongue. But who is the "god" that is spoken of? Is it one or more of the many gods claimed by the various religions of the world? Is it some generic god whose precise identity the speaker will not specify and who is left undefined? Is it a "god" much like the one seen in the Old Testament, but spoken of apart from Jesus? Does this God even include Jesus or is does it match the classic definition of the Trinity, but lack the cross? Is it the Triune God, with Christ crucified, but whose sacrifice does not do all things necessary to forgive your sin; a god who cooperates with you in salvation, does his part if you contribute your best efforts; a god who asks you to choose him, give him your heart, invite him into your heart, or add any other work to His grace in order to gain salvation?

If the god spoken of fits any of these definitions just mentioned, you should expect nothing but judgment if you believe in it, for any God which is not the Holy Trinity, and any Jesus whose death by crucifixion did anything short of all that was needed to forgive your sins is a god unable to save. In fact, we cannot even judge the truth or falsehood of claims to religious truth by their results. If we followed our own thoughts, we would certainly conclude that the true religion would result in unity and peace and would only bring people together, but our Lord Jesus presents another idea in today's Gospel reading. He says that He did not come to bring peace, but division! The false prophets of Jeremiah's day and the Pharisees of Jesus time certainly made their hearers happy with their false teaching and gained a large following, because they told people what they wanted to hear, but because they denied the truth, they harmed the souls of those who believed them. False doctrine draws hearts and minds away from the True God because it directs people to themselves, their own works, or any other thing than Jesus for hope. The message God gave through Jeremiah certainly shows this as He accuses the false prophets of "prophesying lies" and "the deceit of their own hearts" and of making people forget the name of the True God. This is what false doctrine does. It allows people to set up an idol of their own making alongside the One True God. "What has wheat to do with sraw?" the prophet asks. The truth about God revealed in scripture is like wheat to be kept and stored, for it nourishes the souls of those who hear it, but the claims of false teachers are like straw which is good for nothing more than burning in the fire and absorbing animal waste.

The truth of Christ, on the other hand, is bound to cause division, for it distinguishes truth from error, belief from unbelief, salvation from condemnation. When divisions occur because of Jesus and His teachings, though, the truth is never at fault. Jesus came to bring peace between believers and God, but because of their stubborn refusal to keep the truth, followers of false teaching create divisions in the church visible and risk their place in the church invisible by placing their trust in something other than God. The divisions caused by false belief strike right to the foundations of society and family, as Jesus tells of division arising even between parents and children over the Truth, but these divisions are always the fault of unbelievers and false teachers, never to be blamed on true doctrine, or Jesus its author.

Now there is another division which was caused by the Truth of the Gospel, in fact it is at the Gospel's heart. On a hill outside Jerusalem, the Incarnate Truth hung upon a cross to bear the sin of the world, and as He suffered, He was utterly forsaken by God the Father, a division which we shall never know in this world. While our sins separated us from God our Father, Jesus endured the ultimate division by being fosaken by His Father on the cross in our place.

Thanks be to God that we do not have a God about whom we must merely dream and speculate, as do the false teachers. We have a God who became man in the person of Jesus Chrsit and visbly entered history to sacrifice Himself for your sin. And today, He gives us His Holy Word to continually remind us of the truth about Himself and keep us from straying into false teaching. This Word, and no human philosophy is to be the standard for judging religious truth, for in the Scriptures, God has revealed Himself to us.

Because Jesus was forsaken by His Father, we have been brought together with God and made sons in His kingdom. On the last day, He will raise us and all the dead, and all the earth will know the identity of the One True God. On that day, we will see him revealed not in words, but in His unveiled presence. Until that day, we await His return, strengthened by His Holy Spirit, through the Word, and sustained by His Body and Blood. And we, His Church stand as bearers of His revealed truth to the world, that men might turn from false teachers and embrace the One True Faith in all its purity.

[Sermon given at St. John's Lutheran Church, Burt, IA, the 12th Sunday after Pentecost, 2007]

Vacation

2007-07-01T19:04:00.000-05:00

Dear friends in Christ and His children through the cross,

Have you ever returned from a vacation just to feel like you needed another vacation to recover from the one you just took? Or have you been on vacation only to feel like you needed a break from it? Sometimes vacation doesn’t turn out to be the break that it’s supposed to be, and instead it is just as hectic, if not more hectic, than everyday life.

Having just taken a long trip where we drove over 3300 miles in two weeks, Sarah and I experienced this at the end of May. Seeing family was great, and going to the old places we liked from our past was nice, but there were days when we just wanted it to be over and to be back in our own house again, and not driving and living out of a suitcase. Summer can often be the same way. Kids are off from school and they call it “summer vacation,” but with summer activities and family trips or reunions, sometimes it seems like anything but a vacation.

The third commandment required that Old Testament believers rest from their work on the seventh day of the week. This was called the Sabbath. They were not allowed to work, harvest, or even carry packages on that day. God directed them to do this because after creating the world in six days, He rested on the seventh day.

When Jesus came, He fulfilled this Sabbath day, and it was no longer a rule that no work was allowed on Saturday. However, God has given us as His church a new Sabbath in the Divine Service, that is, our Sunday worship. Today, the third commandment directs us Christians to gather each Lord’s Day to hear God’s word as it is read and preached, and to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord for the forgiveness of sins.

In the midst of vacations which seem like anything but, there is a rest for the people of God in the Services of His House. Here is offered each Sunday morning, the “peace which passes all understanding” in the cross of Christ.

As we traveled last month, we had the privilege to visit two other congregations of our synod, hear God’s Word spoken to us by His pastors, and have our sins forgiven by Jesus’ Body and Blood. When you travel this summer, please do not forget to rest from your vacationing and hear God’s Word at one of our synod’s congregations, and when you are home, don’t take a vacation from receiving God’s gifts for you in Word and Sacrament. Your need for His grace never ceases, so also, He never ceases to make Himself present for you in His Church.

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:9-12)

(Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter July/August 2007)

Confirmation/Graduation

2007-06-01T17:15:00.001-05:00

Dear friends in Christ and His children through the cross,

During this season, we celebrate many graduations. Generally these mean moving on, whether it is from school to school or school to work. Due to unfortunate timing and coincidences of appearance, Confirmation is all too often mistaken as a sort of graduation as well. A classmate of mine told me this weekend of students in his confirmation class accidentally referring to confirmation as “graduation.” Even though it tends to happen at the end of the school year, it marks the end of “confirmation class,” and it involves similarly styled robes, Confirmation is certainly not in any way a graduation. It is, in fact, quite the opposite.

A popular radio host refers to his daily show as an institute of study “where there are no graduations because the learning never stops.” This is the way it is meant to be with Christ’s Church as well. There is far too much to learn about our God to ever graduate from hearing His Word. No Christian has ever completely figured out all there is to know about God, even pastors or the most recognized seminary professor. He is so great that no amount of study will full comprehend His ways. Confirmation class is an introduction to the teachings of scripture, but by no means should it be the end.

God intends the Christian life to be one of constant attention to and study of His Word. Because our sinful nature seeks to drive us away from God, we must be continually reminded of His Truth by hearing His Word read and preached, and studying it with our fellow believers. This is of great importance for all believers, from the newly confirmed to the eldest saints, to remain faithful to gladly hear and learn God’s Word until the day when He takes us from this world to Himself in Heaven. By His Word and Sacraments, He has promised to sustain our faith in Him and bring us to everlasting life. He is faithful to continue coming to us through these means in His Church, but if we refuse to receive them, we refuse His protection from the enemy and place our souls in grave danger.

(Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter June 2007)

Death

2007-05-01T17:52:00.000-05:00

Dear friends in Christ and His children through the cross,

The days leading up to the deadline for this month’s Messenger article have been filled with the news of the mass-shooting of students at Virginia Tech. How did you react to the news reports? Are you afraid for the young people you know who live on the campus of another college? Are you angry that more couldn’t be done to stop such an incident?

Have you stopped to think, “What does this have to do with us in Iowa?” The shooter’s bullets could not reach our homes here. I doubt any of us reasonably believe that one of our neighbors is on the brink of a similar rampage. What it has to do with us, however, is that death threatens us all. This is why events like this can strike us so strongly, even though we are so far removed from their specific dangers. At times, it can be all too easy to coast through life ignoring, not only our bodily mortality, but the sin which threatens our souls when our earthly bodies yield to their limitations and fail to sustain life. Death will one day take us all, and events like this remind us that from it there is no escape.

When asked about the sudden death which came upon two groups of people in His time, Jesus responded to the people’s question by saying, “I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13) We do not know when our lives will end. The suddenness of death can be astonishing. This is repeatedly witnessed by the events which Jesus spoke of and which fill our headlines each week. Sudden and catastrophic death may cause us to fear, but the death which comes upon the soul which has not been forgiven by Christ is far more to be feared. Jesus points His hearers to this fact when he reminds them that their souls are in as much danger as the lives of those who died.

Thanks be to God that we who trust Jesus need not fear this second death, for “In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.” (Job 12:10) The catastrophes of this world may take our life, but we will live eternally because of Christ’s sacrifice for us. Death is not the end. “Take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife, though these all be gone, our victory has been won.” (LW298, v. 4) In the face of death, we go forward, knowing that death and life are in the hands of our God, and whether present in the body here or present with the Lord in eternity, we are His.

(Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter May 2007)

Good Friday

2007-04-06T23:00:00.000-05:00

Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9

By this hour on that Passover so many years ago, the great high priest, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, had already been several hours buried. After suffering a torturous Roman execution, His body lay lifeless in a borrowed tomb, hastily hidden away behind its stone so as not to defile the coming Sabbath.

A night earlier, as He awaited His betrayal at the hands of a false disciple, He prayed that if it were possible, the suffering He was about to endure would be bypassed. Although His prayer was answered, it was not with a change of the awaited pain. There was no last minute pardon, for this is not How our God works. Could He have changed His plan for salvation? Could He have changed the rules which He Himself set in place governing the souls of the universe, we might ask, but this is not for us to know.

The fact remains that sin has been committed, so blood must be shed. The blood of bull and ram and bird had been shed for centuries upon the Temple’s altar, yet these of themselves no sin could forgive. Man had sinned, so man must die. Our God is not the kind of Father who changes the rules to accommodate our failure. Rather, God Himself bears the burden for our rebellion against His Law, against His will, in the body of His Son.

Look upon the cross. Look upon the death died for you. This is the reward your works have earned. What you see is but the beginning of the suffering that would be yours if it were not for His sacrifice. What can be seen is only the surface, for the Son of Man was forsaken not only by His courage-less disciples, but by God Himself. He was crucified and died, but before He breathed His last, He suffered a torment you will never know in this world, the absolute absence of God. God the Father sent and forsook His own Son for you to inherit eternal life by His death.

He was forsaken that you would never be. He died that you would not know eternal death. By His sacrificial death, He paid all the debt of sin that you owed. He who was perfect in thought, word, and deed, bore the death of the greatest sinner so that sinners would live eternally.

He who prayed for relief in the garden with loud cries and tears was denied His request, and He was led to death so that you might be saved. He who once died, the Lamb who once was slain, became the source of Eternal salvation for you who believe and trust in His sacrifice for you.

And now, having been raised, He stands as your High Priest before His Father in Heaven, His own body the sacrifice, your advocate before a God which you are not worthy to approach apart from His blood. Let us then hold fast our confession, proclaiming to the world that Jesus is the only sacrifice for sin, the One and Only Way to the Father, the One Saving Truth, and the Life everlasting, and behold His death on your behalf.

[Sermon for Good Friday, April 6, 2007, St. John's Lutheran Church, Burt, IA]

Maundy Thursday

2007-04-05T22:59:00.000-05:00

Luke 22:7-20

At the beginning of this evening’s reading, we see a miraculous demonstration of Jesus’ divine knowledge and power in providing a place to celebrate the Passover. Much like He told the disciples how to obtain the donkey colt on which He rode into Jerusalem, He gives them instructions on where to go, and when they do, it happens just as Jesus said. Yet this is only the preparation. A mystery more miraculous is yet to come.

Once the room had been prepared, Jesus reclined with His disciples to celebrate this most ancient of feasts. The feast remembered God’s great deliverance of Israel in the Exodus, when it was first celebrated at God’s command. But the feast foreshadowed a far greater Exodus of one to come, led by one who was far greater than Moses. God delivered the Israelites from slavery to Pharaoh, but in Christ, God Himself, having become man, delivered the people of all nations from slavery to sin by His cross. In the first Passover, the blood of the slain lamb covered the doorpost to save the firstborn of the household from death, but true Passover lamb would pay the price for the sin of the world, and save from eternal death.

So in that borrowed room, the Passover celebrated for centuries met its fulfillment in the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. For the next morning, the ultimate and all-sufficient sacrifice for sin would be offered upon the Cross of Calvary. So this night, Jesus reveals the mystery of the Passover to His disciples, transforming it into the new testament in His own blood. The old sacrifices have passed away because they were fulfilled in Christ, the one sacrifice for sin, but the deliverance of God still comes to His people, in a meal which not only remembers or celebrates His deliverance, but pours the very forgiveness of sins into your mouth.

As Jesus used a seemingly ordinary sign to do something extraordinary in preparing to eat that last Passover, He performs a miraculous mystery among you this night, although the means may seem ordinary at first glance. There are many who would tempt you to doubt Jesus words, “This is my body.” “This is my blood,” but our Lord does not lie. If the Lord tells you what a thing is, that is what it must be, for He who spoke the heavens and the earth into existence can surely cause His body and blood to be present by His word. In that last Passover, our Lord’s last meal, becomes that by which He feeds and strengthens His bride, the church, to eternal life. In this supper, bread and wine truly are the body and blood sacrificed by our Lord to pay for your sin, and through them, He delivers to you the very forgiveness which He earned by His sacrificial death for you.

[Sermon for Maundy Thursday, April 5, 2007, St. John's Lutheran Church, Burt, IA]

Resurrection

2007-03-29T18:41:00.000-05:00

Dear friends in Christ and His children through the cross,

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Cor. 15:13,17-19 ESV)

This month we will celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus from the dead on Easter morning. This is not merely a nice Sunday school story or a happy ending to a seemingly tragic set of events. It is a true historical event. In Jerusalem, on the Sunday following Passover, just under 2000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, actually did rise after having been truly dead by crucifixion.

The fact that Jesus did rise from the dead is essential for the truth of the Christian faith. As Paul says, if Christ did not rise from the dead, then we believe for nothing, for if he did not rise from the dead, then our sins are not forgiven, He was not God as He claimed, and Christianity would be based on nothing but a good story. This is how we know the truth of Scriptural Christianity, that Jesus rose from the dead. His death won the forgiveness for our sins, but His resurrection proved the truthfulness of His message and the sufficiency of His sacrifice on our behalf. Because he did rise from the dead, we know that His Word is true and that our sins are forgiven.

Many of you may have heard a recent documentary which claimed to have found the tomb of Jesus and His family. If it were true, this would certainly be a great victory for those who hate Christ and seek to undermine the faith of believers. If the bones of Christ could be found, it would render Christianity meaningless, but we do not hold to a faith which denies reality. The evidence presented in documentary was fatally flawed and was more fantasy than truth. (For a short examination of the documentary’s evidence, see the article by Paul Maier later in this newsletter.) Jesus’ bones will never be found, for He lives in a resurrected body, and because He lives, we shall also live and be raised with Him on the last day.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. [21] For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. [22] For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Cor. 15:20-22 ESV)

(Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter Apr. 2007)

Watchman-Prophet

2007-03-15T15:24:00.000-05:00

Grace and peace to you, O watchmen of the true Israel of God, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just as God commanded a watchman for Jerusalem to blow the horn, warning of oncoming attack in illustration of Ezekiel’s watchman duties to warn the house of Israel of the rod of correction which was about to besiege them on account their iniquity, He has appointed prophets to stand watch over His Israel, His Church.

Even though you may not be privileged with immediate inspiration to place the proclamation of God on our lips, nor be commanded to cook your bread over a fire of dung in symbol of Jerusalem’s siege, the Word of the Lord has just as surely come to you as He speaks to you through the holy scriptures, and with the benefit of your training and prayerful meditation allows you the honor of delivering that Word weekly to His Israel and directing the eyes of His children to the New Jerusalem and Christ, which is Her light.

Your message is the same as that given to Ezekiel, for the Lord of the Old Testament is Lord also of the New, and He does not change. Neither then nor now will the righteousness of any man save him, for all transgress God's perfect Law and deserve damnation. Therefore, anyone who trusts in His own righteousness to save him stands already condemned. On the other hand, neither will the wickedness of the wicked condemn him, for it is Christ's righteousness which saves a man, not his own. Therefore, since Christ did live in perfect righteousness, by His death, he took on condemnation for sinners and credited His perfect righteousness toward all who trust in Him.

It seems that a message of such importance would require no prodding, with warnings of God requiring the sinner’s blood at the preachers hand, so that the preacher would deliver His own soul by the preaching of the message given, but when the message is hard to swallow, both for preacher and people, prophets are not often well-received, and there can be temptation to alter the message to suit the hearer’s desires.

Fear not, though, for our Lord has promised to preserve His Gospel, in spite of the faults of His prophets, and just as your hearers’ righteousness will not save them, neither will yours save you, but our God is faithful to keep His promise that neither will you fall by your wickedness, but instead will stand as righteous for He is righteous.

[Sermon on Tuesday of Lent 3, March 13, 2007, Circuit Conference of the Algona Circuit, Iowa District West; held at St. John's Lutheran Church, Burt, IA]

Sermon on the Temptation of Jesus (Feb 25, 2007)

2007-03-02T17:48:00.000-06:00

Satan may not appear before you visibly and speak as he did to Jesus in today's Gospel reading, but he does constantly seek to tempt you, that is to turn you away from Jesus. While God's desire is to save by His grace through Christ, Satan's purpose is to turn the eyes of men anyplace other than the cross of Christ. He does this because he desires the damnation of all people.

Satan seeks to turn people's eyes toward self so that they seek to serve their own desires and find what gives them pleasure and satisfaction. He does this as he tempts Jesus to use his divine power to escape hunger and feed Himself rather than enduring temptation for us. He tempted our first mother, Eve, in the garden in a similar way when he pointed out the quality of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, implying that God was withholding some gift from His children.

He also uses lies and empty promises to tempt Jesus by promising Him the kingdoms of the world if He would just worship him. In fact, the devil neither had possession of those things nor could he give them. Jesus already has ownership of all the earth, so Satan has nothing to offer. In the same way, Satan promised our first parents that it would make them like God if they ate from the tree, and he lied by denying the truth that eating the tree's fruit would cause death.

Satan even goes so far as to twist and misquote scripture to Jesus by using God's promise to protect His children with His angels to entice Jesus to jump from the pinnacle of the temple. In the Garden, he questioned God's word to Adam and Eve regarding what fruits they could eat, and even drew eve into adding to God's command in her attempt to fend off His temptation.

While you do not see him or hear his voice, he continues today to use these same methods revealed in his temptation of Jesus. He urges you to follow your sinful inclination toward selfishness to indulge whatever gives you pleasure in the moment, regardless of God's Law. Through the voice of your neighbor or through the insistence of the media, He pushes you to question God's truth and the one way to salvation. He even tries to guide you to interpret God's Holy Word to suit your own desires instead of allowing it to point you to Jesus.

Although you will certainly fall prey to these temptations from time to time, you no longer need to fear God's punishment for your failure to keep His law, because Jesus has kept it perfectly, not only in His forty-day wilderness temptation, but in all His life. Then, after being the only one ever to perfectly keep God's law, He suffered the punishment you deserve, being forsaken by the Father on the cross. Because of His perfect life and sacrificial death for you, when you stand to be judged on the last day, God will judge all who believe in Christ as having lived as Christ, because Jesus has already taken the punishment for your sins.

Paul informs us in 1 Corinthians that god will not tempt us beyond what we can bear and that He will also provide a way out of the temptation. This is certainly comforting to know that the God who lived perfectly on our behalf, then was punished for our sins also watches out to sustain us in faith in His Son, so that we would endure, by His power, to eternal life. Even though He may allow temptation to cross our path, we know that He it is done to further His will of preserving us in Faith in Christ. He tempts us, not to harm us, but to strengthen us and prepare us to help our neighbor in his temptations.

Not only has Jesus resisted temptation for you, but He has given you the necessary defense against the devil's attacks--His Word. The apostle Paul calls the scriptures, "The Sword of the Spirit," because they are the one defense we have in this world against Satan. Jesus has forgiven our sins, and enabled us to live as His children, giving us His Word, not only to warn us of Satan's ways, but also as the weapon to defend against the unbelief, despair, and shame in which Satan would seek to bury us.

Take heart that Jesus has endured the devil's temptations for you, and that he has taken your place, being punished for your failures. Not only this, but be glad because He has not left you to face temptation alone. By His Holy Spirit, through the Word, he strengthens your soul in faith and defends you from the devil's lies until your last day.

[Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent, February 25, 2006, St. John's Lutheran Church, Burt, IA]

Lenten Worship

2007-03-01T17:38:00.000-06:00

Dear friends in Christ and His children through the cross,

Our worship undergoes many changes during the season of Lent that reflect the repentant nature of the time. We give up certain joyous songs and responses because we are remembering our unworthy sinfulness, and so that the joy of celebrating Christ’s resurrection in the Easter morning service will be all the more evident by the contrast. In a similar way, some Christians choose to give up something in their everyday life, such as a food or activity, to help them better reflect on Jesus’ sacrifice for them.

Often people misunderstand the reason why things are taken out of the service or why we give things up for Lent. It is easy to make the mistake that we are somehow mourning for Jesus and that is why this season is more somber. It can also be easy to mistakenly think that giving something up is some sort of sacrifice we make for God, or something we do to for His benefit, or that we must do these things.

This same misunderstanding all too often creeps into the understanding many Christians have of worship. Our sinful nature has a desire to think that we are offering something to God or doing something for Him. Lutheran Christians believe, in agreement with scripture, that this is not the case. In fact, it is God who serves us in worship, not we who serve Him. He speaks to us to forgive our sins and strengthen our faith. He offers Himself to us in the Lord’s Supper, and forgives our sins to preserve us to everlasting life.

This is the reason that our service is composed the way it is. The Lutheran Liturgy highlights God’s Word and the Lord’s Supper because they are the highest gifts that God gives to His people. Even in those portions of the service where we give thanks to God for His gifts, we do so using the words of scripture, reflecting the fact that we have nothing in ourselves to offer God, but only through His grace are we made worthy to call Him Father. Similar to the significance of the customs of Lent, all the things we do as Lutherans in worship are meant to teach us. Art, Architecture, the seasons of the Church Year, and everything we do are meant to teach us about Jesus, much like the object lessons some pastors use in Children’s sermons. We as Lutherans worship the way we do, not because it is a law that we must follow, but because Lutheran Worship shows us Jesus. It is my hope that our worship and liturgy will do just that during this Lenten season as we prepare for Easter.

(Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter Mar. 2007)

Alleluia

2007-02-01T11:43:00.000-06:00

Alleluia cannot always Be our song while here below;
Alleluia, our transgressions Make us for a while forgo;
For the solemn time is coming When our tears for sin must flow.

Therefore in our hymns we pray Thee, Grant us, blessed Trinity,
At the last to keep Thine Easter With Thy faithful saints on high;
There to Thee forever singing Alleluia joyfully. (LSB 417, vv 3-4)

These are the words to a hymn that we will sing with the help of our choir for the first three Sundays of February. Alleluia is an exclamation of praise for God that is used frequently in the liturgy of the Church. For a portion of the church year, though, this expression is “put away” so to speak in our services. It is omitted from being sung during the season of Lent as an expression of sorrow over our sin. During this Lenten season, we focus our themes in worship on our failure to live up to God’s law and on Jesus’ work of fulfilling that Law, culminating with His dying in our place.

This is why we abstain from the singing of “Alleluia” during the Lenten season. As we examine ourselves, we realize how unworthy we are of God’s Grace. If it were not for Christ’s death to save us, we would not be worthy even to speak to God, much less praise Him.

We know, however, that this is not where it ends. While we take the time of lent to examine ourselves and return to repentance for our sins, at the same time we know we have been forgiven for our sins because of Jesus’ death for us. While we are reminded during Lent of our sinful failures, we know that just around the corner is the celebration of the ultimate victory. As we go without the “Alleluia’s” in our services for those 40 days, we know that at their end they will ring out stronger than ever when we celebrate Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday, remembering that His death was shown worthy in His rising from the dead. We can be sure that, just as the “Alleluia” of God’s praise will follow the darkness of Lenten season, an eternity of praise to the Holy Trinity will also follow the dark sufferings of our earthly lives. Even though we endure trials for a time, He will raise us to His eternal praise on the Last Day.

(Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter Feb. 2007)

Epiphany

2007-01-01T10:07:00.000-06:00

Dear friends in Christ and His children through the cross,

Perhaps in the past few days you have felt a sense of relief that the frenzied activity of the holidays is over. Leftover Thanksgiving turkey is nothing but a memory. Christmas celebrations are done and the gifts have been put to their intended use. You’ve finally recovered from that late night on New Years. Another busy year has ended. January brings the usual routine, and that is somewhat comforting.

So also, in church, it can be easy to see January as the beginning of a sort of intermission between Christmas and Lent/Easter. The torrent of services in the Christmas season having passed, it can be easy to leave that Bethlehem baby in the manger of our minds until Lent awakens us to a grown man marching toward Calvary.

While we might simply think of it as the dead of winter, the church year calls this season Epiphany. Having celebrated Jesus birth during Christmas, the church’s calendar continues to follow the life of Jesus, ending in His death and resurrection during Holy Week. In the time between, we remember the events of His life by which he showed His followers His Messianic Identity as their God-made-flesh savior.

His Baptism by John in the Jordan River reveals the Triune God, as the voice of the Father and the Spirit’s dove descend over the anointed Son. Miracles and signs mark this portion of the church’s time as Jesus showed His role as creator of all things. Finally three disciples will witness a glimpse of Jesus’ divine glory as during His conversation with the prophets of old, Moses and Elijah, the Father’s voice comes again from Heaven to announce His Son on the Mount of Transfiguration. These are literal “Epiphanies” of God, that is revelations of Jesus Christ as the One True God.

Through the events of His earthly life, Jesus showed the world that He was indeed God Himself, and in His church, he is continually revealed to believers in His Word, Body, and Blood. May God bless you, not during an intermission between holidays, but as you remember once again the revelation of Christ to the world this Epiphany.

(Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter Jan. 2007)

"From Heaven Above to Earth I Come!"

2006-12-27T10:00:00.000-06:00

Luke 2:1-20

“From Heaven above to earth I come,” says the Angel of the Lord, “to tell Good news to everyone. Unto you a Child is born, and unto you a Son is given, this night in the city of David. The promised Messiah, Savior from sin, the Lord Christ has been born to a Virgin in a stable. The miraculous sign is not so much that a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths is lying in the manger, but the miracle is that the child is God Himself. Having taken on human flesh from a daughter of David, a daughter of Eve, He was born into this world to re-create the sons of Adam to be children of God.

He who was born to be wrapped in swaddling cloths would one day be wrapped in linen bands and buried for three days in the earth that we who were born dead in trespasses and sins could be raised to new life. He who was born a man like us came to die for us to give us life. The crying lord, found resting in the arms of His mother is the dying Lord, found forsaken on His cross by His Father.

Blessed are you this night, not because angels sing Glory to God in an open heaven before your eyes, but because unto you was born that not-so-silent night in the city of David a Savior from sin, death, and devil. Blessed are you for He was forsaken and died for your sin, and blessed are you because you have heard the good news that He who was given for all people gives the peace of Heaven to all who trust in Him.

So we sing with all believers, “Welcome to earth O noble guest, who has come to take on our flesh to take on our sin, that we might be called Children of God.” Our Lord Himself came down to this earth from Heaven to become our brother in the flesh, and He entered this world through the trial of birth in order that His Father might adopt us as true heirs of the kingdom with sins forgiven in of the trial of the cross.

So also He says to you, “Welcome to this place, to my kingdom prepared for you.” For here he dwells for you, this altar as His throne. The Lord of Heaven dwells in this very place to speak to you words which deliver His forgiveness for your sin, to wash you in the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, and to feed you with His own Body and Blood. The king of heaven calls you here to His weekly feast to receive Him and to join the angels as they sing, “Glory to God in Highest Heaven, who unto us His Son has Given.”

[Sermon for Christmas Eve, December 24, 2006, St. John's Lutheran Church, Burt, IA]

Where is Jesus coming to you?

2006-12-05T10:47:00.000-06:00

It might seem a bit premature to say, but "Happy New Year." Don't worry if you haven't gotten your new calendar yet. You won't need it for another month. This Sunday marked the beginning of a new year in the church's calendar, which follows a year based on the life of Jesus. The first season in this year, is called Advent, which means"coming." It is called this because during this season, we prepare to celebrate Jesus coming when he was born in a stable in Bethlehem to the Virgin Mary, and also because during this season we especially remember that we today live awaiting his coming again to judge the living and the dead on the last day.

In the time between these two comings, Jesus has also promised to come to us, but He warned us of those who claim to be a Messiah or who point to a Lord other than Him. (Luke 21) So that we might not be left in doubt, he has promised us very certain places where we may find Him. There are some who might point you in other directions such as a Purpose Driven Life where you look to your works for assurance or a Best Life Now where you can be assured of God's blessing by your health and prosperity. Some may even point you to formulas of prayer or devotion or to look at your own expeience of faith, but in these, how can you be sure Jesus is there for you?

Indeed, God is present in all times and places, but where has hepromised to be FOR YOU and directed you to look forHim? The two places God has promised to be for you and has directed you to look for His grace. These are His Word of Holy Scripture, given by His Holy Spirit to tell you of His Son, Jesus, and the sacraments of Holy Baptism where His Word with the water forgave your sins, and of the Lord's Supper where you are given the True Body and Blood of Jesus Himself to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of your sins. In these places, he truely delivers you His grace as He has promised, and you need not doubt them, for His promises are surely true. Any other way of looking for God or assurance of His grace is at best unreliable, because it lacks this promise, but unlike these other paths which claim to connect you to God, this Word of God and His Sacraments bear God's own promise. Through these, he will come to you and sustain you in this, the Advent of His Second Coming, until he returns.

(Staff Devotion for Exceptional Opportunities, Religious Nurture, Burt, IA)

Advent

2006-12-01T17:54:00.000-06:00

Dear friends in Christ and His children through the cross,

As December begins, we enter a new season of the church’s year. After a long stretch of “Sundays after Pentecost,” Advent begins. The colors of our sanctuary will change from green to blue, and soon evergreen and sparkling ornaments will decorate God’s house, finally culminating with Christmas Eve and Christmas day when the decorations are lit, and we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus into this world.

During this month preceding Christmas, you will certainly make many preparations. There are gifts to be bought, meals to be made, cookies to be baked, and all manner of things to prepare for the celebrations we will have. The season of Advent in our church is also a time of preparation for the celebration which is to come at Christmas. We will hear the accounts of all the events leading up to Jesus’ birth such as the announcement by the Angel to Mary, the birth and preaching of John the Baptizer, and the journey to Bethlehem. We will sing songs of anticipation as we wait to finally celebrate the birth of Christ. We as a church will also plan and prepare as the children practice their parts, as costumes are prepared, and as all the special services of this season are planned.

In the midst of all these arrangements, there is another type of preparation going on as well. Advent exists as part of our church year so that we might prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Christ, not by baking or decorating, but by repentance. Much like there are many preparations to make for our earthly celebrations, we in the church have seasons of preparation ahead of the major festivals of the church year. During these seasons, we are especially reminded of our sin and failure to live up to God’s expectations, but we turn and know that God is faithful to forgive our sins. In the knowledge of this great forgiveness, we are freed to worship and give thanks with the greatest joy as we celebrate, on Christmas morning, the coming of Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, born into this world to save us from our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

As we await the celebration of His birth, we also remember that today we wait for his Second Coming when He will return to this earth to judge the living and the dead, and give eternal life to all who believe in Christ. Since our sins are forgiven by Christ’s death, Christians have no fear of God’s judgment, but we look forward in joyful expectation to Christ’s return for His Church. As we wait, we watch and pray, knowing that He could return at any hour, and we are given the task to pass on this Good news of the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ to all who do not regularly receive His grace for them in the services of His house. During this preparatory season of Advent, and the Celebrations of Christmas that are to come, think about using the many services at St. John’s as an opportunity to share the love of Christ with those you know by inviting them to join you. For here, our Savior has promised to be present in His Word as the Gospel of Christ is proclaimed. May the message of Christ be heard by all people in our community and throughout the world this Christmas so that they too may await His return with us in joy and peace.

(Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter Dec. 2006)

Behold, I am coming soon!

2006-11-26T11:30:00.000-06:00

Jude 20-25, Mark 13:32-37, Rev. 22:12-13

“Behold, I am coming soon,” says our Lord, “even though no one knows the day or hour, not even the angels in Heaven, but only the Father.” This is the last Sunday of the Church year, called the Sunday of the Fulfillment. On this day, we especially remember our Lord’s promise that He will return. The One who was born of a virgin, lived without sin, died by crucifixion, rose from the dead on the third day, and ascended into Heaven, will one day return to raise all who have died, judge the living and the dead, give eternal life to all who believe in Him, and condemn the devil and his followers, both human and demon, to the most severe of punishments—everlasting torment in separation from God.

Who are these followers of Satan? They include all who have rebelled against God, not only the demons who joined his revolt against Heaven, but all people who rebel against God by trusting in false gods, no god, or even their own abilities instead of Jesus death for them. As sinners, this return of Jesus to judge the living and the dead can be a frightening prospect. Visions of the masses gathered around the throne might come to mind with those judged ascending to heaven or descending to the depths. We might imagine fire scorching the earth and destruction falling upon the cities of the world.

The results of sin are indeed frightening, and those who do not trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins are right to fear the judgment, for there is coming a true and just judgment, and a real and fearsome punishment for sin. While God is gracious and merciful, he is also just in His judgment. He comes to all people according to His grace, but for those who turn Him away in His grace, He will come again with His wrathful justice. When Christ comes to judge the living and the dead, he will see either you either according to your own works, or He will see His death. In your own works, there is no hope, only punishment, but His work of dying for you suffered the punishment you deserved, so that you would be given the life eternal which He earned.

When will this be? Here we have the best kept secret in all creation. No man, nor even the angels in heaven know the day or hour. In fact, Jesus Himself even chose to give up the knowledge of that day during His life on earth. We know not when he will come again. It could happen while we sit here today. It could happen generations from now after our souls have long enjoyed Christ’s presence after death. This is the reason we live not for the things of this world, but we live in expectation for the Life of the World to come.

What shall we do, then, and how shall we wait? Jesus instruction to His disciples shows us the life of Christians who await their Lord’s return. First, he warns them to stay awake. The Christian life is one of joyful expectation, not idle ignorance of spiritual things. Like the servants of a house, whose master has gone away on a journey, Christ’s servants in this earth await watchfully for His return, not neglecting to be prepared, but always ready for when the Master comes. This is done as we watch and pray as Jesus commands. The Christian uses the gifts the Master leaves behind in preparation for His coming. Our Lord has given us His True Word to show Himself to us and sustain us until we see Him return. He has given us His true Body and Blood on which our souls feed to forgive our sins as long as we live. He has invited us also to pray so that we might conform ourselves to His will and overcome all trials of this world, trusting in His mercy.

As we wait, we are also to proclaim the Lord’s return to all among whom we live and work, lest they be swept away by His judgment when he returns. Our neighbors need to hear the reality that apart from Christ, they can and should fear His return in judgment, for without Him, they can look forward only to God’s wrath. They need to know that God delivers for them and for all the forgiveness of sins in this Holy House week after week as He comes to us in Water and the Word and His own Body and Blood. We should encourage those believers who face trials or doubt, as our epistle reading instructs, lest they fall away from the faith. We should also take seriously the need of the unbeliever for the Gospel of Jesus, for in showing them the cure for their sin-sick souls, we literally save them from the flames of eternal punishment.

We do all this so that they might join us in looking forward with hope to the return of our Lord to take His Church to eternal life with Him. There, we will join those who have gone before us as their bodies are raised, and ours together are made to be like the risen body of Jesus, free from the stain of sin. The judgment will pose no threat to us, for we know the gift of God’s grace which leads to eternal life in Jesus. We often speak of the comforting hope that we will “Die and be with Christ,” but we look forward with the greatest hope to the day when He will raise our bodies from the grave so that we may live eternally with Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

This is an urgent matter, however, for who knows the day of His return? Who knows even the day of His own death? Each of us and each of our neighbors could be taken at any time, whether by death or by Jesus coming again. For this reason, we live with all urgency that the Gospel of Christ would be spread to all, both near and far, so that they may be saved with us, from the fires of eternal punishment.

We who trust in Jesus for our salvation also trust in Him that He will preserve us all the days of our life until we go to be with Him. Although trial, temptation, and plague my come against us, we know that in all things, God is seeking the salvation of mankind and of His children and has promised to preserve us in His grace, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life in His kingdom.

We can await the return of Jesus without fear of death or judgment only because we know that His death has taken our punishment, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who trust in Him. Surely I am coming soon, he proclaims, and we await—not with fear, but in hope—for because he was judged, forsaken, and punished on our behalf, we can reply, “Amen. Come Lord Jesus,” for He who promised is faithful to fulfill His Words and take us to our eternal home.

[Sermon for the Sunday of the Fulfillment, November 26, 2006, St. John's Lutheran Church, Burt, IA]

Thanksgiving

2006-11-01T16:28:00.000-06:00

Dear friends in Christ and His children through the cross,

When we think of the month of November, our minds most often think first of the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of the month. On that day, we especially remember our thankfulness for all we have, and usually celebrate this by gathering with friends and family to eat a large meal, some might call it a feast. As Christians, we know that although our hands have done the labor to earn these earthly blessings, that they are ultimately gifts from God, for even the hands and minds by which we earn our living are themselves gifts from God as he gives us the means to provide for our earthly life. We remember these words from Luther’s Small Catechism about God’s provision for us.

I believe that God has made me and all creatures, that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife, children, land, animals, and all that I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life…For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.

These are known as “First Article Gifts” among Lutheran teachers because we speak about them in the first article of the Apostles’ Creed as God’s provision for us. We also know that God provided for the world in another way by taking upon His own Son the punishment for the sins of the world. He who provides for our earthly needs by giving us all the things we need to support our life also provides for the needs of our souls by forgiving our sins on account of Jesus death on the cross. How much more thanks does this deserve above those earthly blessings he gives us?

We often tell others when we receive an earthly blessing that we are thankful for. New cars, unexpected money to cover a bill, or a great meal all inspire us to tell others of the thing for which we are thankful. This should also be our attitude toward those spiritual blessings given to us by our Father in Heaven. He who provides for our bodies with food, shelter, and all good things also provides all that is needed for our souls, which were dead in sin, to be raised to a new life in Christ has promised to deliver these blessings to us in certain ways—His Word and the Sacraments. Our sins were forgiven at Baptism and we were given faith in Jesus by the Holy Spirit. From that point, He continues to nourish this faith in us as we hear His Word read and preached and as we receive His True Body and Blood in the Lord’s Supper for the continued forgiveness of our sins. Many of our neighbors, some of them even brothers and sisters in this congregation have souls starving for these gifts of God which are given to them for the highest good.

We as the Church are a sort of family, and each Sunday we gather to receive these gifts of God that we so desperately need for the salvation of our souls. We gather around a feast much greater than any turkey dinner we could imagine. Even though it looks like simple bread and wine, it is the greatest feast of thanksgiving to our God where we receive the body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. As we sing following receiving this Feast, we say, “Thank the Lord and sing His praise. Tell everyone what He has done. Let all who seek the Lord rejoice and proudly bear His name. He recalls His promises and leads His people forth in joy, with shouts of thanksgiving, Alleluia.” I pray that we as a church would never be ashamed to “bear His name” among our friends and neighbors to tell them of the one and only way to salvation for their sins and the gifts that God has invited them to receive in the services of His house. May the Lord grant us always to go out in joy from His feast, telling what he has done so that one day all might hear the Gospel and join us in this hymn of praise to the One True God, by whose gifts and blessing alone we find forgiveness of our sins, eternal life, and salvation.

(Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter Nov. 2006)

True Disciples of Jesus hold to His teachings

2006-10-29T09:30:00.000-06:00

John 8:31, Romans 3:21-28, Reformation Sunday, 2006

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

"If you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples." are Jesus words to those who believe in Him. 489 years ago this week, a true disciple of Christ sought to defend the true teachings of Jesus against the errors that had crept into the Church of His time. Martin Luther did this by nailing 95 statements to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany regarding abuses and false doctrine by the Roman Catholic Church of his time.

You may have heard that nailing a statement to the door of the church was the way to open debate on a theological question in that era. By nailing these statements to the church door, Luther was seeking to open debate with the theologians of his time to correct the false doctrine reflected in the selling of indulgences, a way that people could buy forgiveness for themselves or others. In 16th Century Europe, the Roman Catholic church was the only one there was. Those who disagreed with Rome's errors couldn't pull up and go to another church, because none other existed.

We live in the midst of a far different landscape today, though. We have not only different denominations of Christianity on every corner, but we are also among many who worship a false god or no god at all. In the midst of this, we often are encouraged by social and religious leaders to overlook differences in doctrine rather than stand up for the truth. It is fashionable today to hold that nobody can claim to have the whole truth or that truth does not exist at all. As if this weren't enough, we are tempted by our own desires to seek peace at the expense of purity of truth. It is far easier to let truth and error stand side by side as if they were equals than it is to be a witness to the world of the truth we know in Christ.

What is this truth? It is every detail that the scriptures teach us about the One True God. The Christian is not to seek to believe the most desirable thing about God or the most culturally acceptable. The Christian seeks to believe the truth about God, no matter how uncomfortable that may be. In His letter to Timothy, Paul reminds the young pastor to guard the good deposit of the true doctrine that has been entrusted to Him. On every question of Christian teaching where Scripture has spoken, there is one true answer. The Bible is not unclear, and its truth does not change based on our desires or personal convictions.

As we celebrate Reformation, we specifically concentrate on one of these doctrines, the Doctrine of Justification. This has been called by our Lutheran fathers "The doctrine by which the Church stands or falls," for among all things, the Christian faith is about Justification of sinners before God. This is the heart of the Christian faith, that although man was unable to keep the law, God became man in Jesus Christ and won forgiveness for the sins of the world. This is given by Grace, apart from works of the Law, as Paul says in our Epistle reading. We were sinful from the moment of our conception, dead in our trespasses and sins, and unable to come to God, but He did all that was necessary to save us from our sins, and he gives us this forgivness by His grace, gives us even the faith by which we believe in it, and requires nothing from us to earn it.

This teaching is hard to accept because it does not fit with our own desires, and it has been under attack throught all of Christian History in many ways. It was attacked by the Pharissees and Gnostics in the time of the new testament as they taught a "different Gospel" as Paul calls it. They would have people to believe that we must add the Jewish law on top of God's grace to truly be Christians or that we must drive the desires of the flesh into submission in order to be truly spiritual.

This core teaching of the entire Christian faith is attack even among us today. It is undermined when it is taught that we can or must do something to come to God. Big-time evangelists would have us believe that we play a part in coming to God. They tell us that we must "give our heart to Jesus" or "Decide to follow Jesus." Whether that means coming down the aisle, raising a hand, or praying a "sinners' prayer," they want to make man a cooperating partner in his own salvation, rather than acknowledging the truth that God is solely responsible both for forgiving sins and giving faith, apart from our works or decision.

This central teaching of the Christian faith is also undermined when it is taught that we can or must add our own actions to Jesus work in order to be saved or that we cooperate in salvation. Those who impose their own thoughts upon God's truth would lead us to believe that salvation is a process where God does part, and we add or best attempts, and together our salvation is accomplished. This simply cannot be the case, for scripture tells us that we are dead in our trespasses and sins. A dead man cannot cooperate in bringing himself to life. This can be done by God alone.

This doctrine is undermined again when it is taught that we are saved at first by God's grace, but that we must do good works in order to remain saved. Much of popular religion today will acknowledge God's grace as the beginning of salvation, but then they take away with the left hand what they have just given with the right by saying that once you are saved, you must do good works to remain in God's favor or to make up for the sins you committed after you received grace. This again denies the Christian faith and makes man the center of religion rather than God. Not that works are unimportant to the Christian, but we do then not to earn any kind of favor before God, but because we are now freed to love God's law as his children as we serve our neighbor, so that he too might know the truth of the Gospel.

All of these teachings of human invention contradict the truth of God's revelation of Himself to us in scripture. He is just and He is the justifier of all who have faith in Christ. Salvation is accomplished solely by the work of Jesus on the cross, granted to man solely by God's grace, and even the faith to believe in Jesus sacrifice is given by God the Holy Spirit as a gift from God to man.

God has promised to deliver the salvation won by Christ for us in certain ways. Therefore, this teaching of Justification by grace through faith is also undermined when anyone adds to or denies the means by which God has promised to give us His grace. This happens when it is taught that we should seek God in any way other than those which He has promised us. We are often tempted to appeal to our personal experiences, some mystical path or a special revelation of God directly to our minds. God has not promised us that he will come to us here, though. He has promised us that he will be present wherever His Word is read and preached, wherever the waters of Holy Baptism combine with that Word to forgive sins, and wherever the true Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ are present on His altar for us to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of our sins.

The teaching of Justification by Grace is therefore also undermined when it is taught that Baptism does not deliver God's forgiveness to us, but rather that it is our act of obedience, or when Baptism is denied to children. To do so denies God's grace offered to all in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, which God gave us with the promise that through it he would forgive our sins, deliver us from death and the devil, and give us eternal salvation. This teaching is undermined once again when it is taught that Jesus is not truly present in His Body and Blood int he Lord's Supper or that He is not present there forgiving our sins and saving us, but rather that it is something we do only to remember Him. To teach this denies God's grace promised when Jesus told us that it IS His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins, and it turns the gift of God to us for our benefit into a work we do to please Him instead.

These things make the difference between the Lutheran Church of our Confessions and the other Christian denominations of the World. When we are faithful to Lutheran teaching, we give all credit to God for salvation and keep Jesus life and death for us at the center of the One True Faith. Any deviation from this denies God's grace and takes credit from him, giving it to man as earning His own salvation.

Now we do not deny that those in denominations that teach differently from us are Christians. In a church which still holds to some element of the Christian faith, believers may still be made there by God through whatever remnant of the truth remains in them. God is so gracious that even in the midst of many errors of doctrine, the Holy Spirit may still work to create faith in those who hear God's Word. This is not to say, however that their false doctrine is any less dangerous, for any time man changes the teachings of God, he is opening avenues for the enemy to attack the souls of believers. The pure truth is always the best defense against the attacks of the devil.

For this reason, we are not only to spread this good news of the Gospel of Jesus to unbelievers. We should remind one another of it as brothers and sisters in the faith. We should teach it to our children so that they will not depart from it for the more desirable teachings of man's mind. We should also proclaim it proudly to our neighbor so that they might know the true hope and full assurance of the rightly preached Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is the true mighty fortress and sure foundation of the Christian faith, that God took us who were dead to sin and separated from Him, and by His grace came down from heaven to be crucified, forsaken by the Father, and die in our place so that we would live, that he does this without our help or contribution, but purely by His grace, so that even the faith by which we believe His promise is a gift from Him by the Holy Spirit, and that he delivers His grace to us through means which we can be sure are true and certain, so that we need have no doubt when and where he comes to us. These are the Word of Holy Scripture, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper.

This is why we are instructed to guard closely the precious treasure of the pure truth of the Doctrine of Justification and every teaching of the Christian faith. Any time we change a word of what God has spoken to us, we have changed the identity of the Jesus in whom we believe. Who is to say how much we can change before the Jesus we believe in is no longer the True Son of God who died to forgive our sins? For this reason, we hold closely to every doctrine taught by scripture and trust in God that by His grace he will keep us in the One True Faith until we are taken to the mansions of paradise in Life Everlasting.

Amen.

[Sermon for Reformation Sunday, 2006, St. John's Lutheran Church, Burt, IA]

Reformation

2006-10-01T10:55:00.000-05:00

Dear friends in Christ and His children through the cross,

This month, we will celebrate the Reformation, as Lutherans do each October. On October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg church door, the process of rediscovering the true teaching of Christianity had begun. For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church had taught that we must add our works to Jesus’ sacrifice in order to be saved. As the Reformation progressed, some of those who disagreed with the Pope began to take away everything that even remotely looked Roman Catholic from their churches. They smashed statues and paintings, stopped wearing the traditional vestments, and even went so far as to deny the power of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Luther and the pastors who helped to shape the statements of belief we still hold to today walked a different path, though. They opposed the false teachings of Roman Catholicism which denied the Gospel, but at the same time, they were not so drastic as to take away valuable expressions of the Faith in the arts or God’s gifts of forgiveness in the sacraments.

We live in a similar tension today. In the world of ideas in popular Christianity, there are those who would have us believe that “I do my best and Jesus will do the rest,” or that we get to heaven by being good people and following God’s rules. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We as Lutherans know that it is Jesus who saves us, Jesus who purifies us, and that only through Him is eternal life to be found, apart from any work we might do. He completed all that is necessary to save us from our sin and sustains us in the faith by His Holy Spirit through the Word and Sacraments. All that we can do is live in thanksgiving for what he has given us.

On the other hand, many in the Christian world today would have us believe that God does not actually hate sin or that His body and blood are not really present on the altar to forgive our sins. They would even make Baptism out to be an act by which we show our obedience to God instead of an act by which he takes away our sins by His grace. One side would heap a burden of works on us to earn forgiveness. The other would take away the means by which Jesus removes our burdens, but they have in common that they both turn us away from God’s grace.

However, we as Lutherans give thanks that God blessed His Church with the men of the Reformation who uncovered the true doctrine of scripture that had long been buried. We praise Him for preserving that doctrine for nearly 500 years in our Lutheran churches. We know that the things our church teaches are true because they truly reflect the teachings of scripture. This true doctrine of the Christian Church is the only cure for the sin which kills the souls of all the children of Adam. We are saved by God’s Grace alone, through the faith He has given us by His Holy Spirit, and we know this is true because it is revealed in the Holy Scriptures he has given us to read and to learn. May God preserve us by the gifts he gives in His Church so that we remain in this one true doctrine until he returns to claim His church once and for all.

(Pastor's article from St. John's Messenger newsletter Oct. 2006)

Beautiful Feet

2006-09-23T12:24:00.000-05:00

Isaiah 52:7-10
7 How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice;
together they sing for joy;
for eye to eye they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.
9 Break forth together into singing,
you waste places of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.

How Beautiful, indeed, are the feet which bring the Gospel of Jesus to the ends of the earth. How blessed also are you who have been given the privilege that your feet would carry this Gospel as you teach the One True Faith to your children and grandchildren, as you speak Jesus words of Life to your neighbor, and as your mites send the feet of others to proclaim the Gospel of Christ in Iowa and in foreign lands.

Thanks be to Jesus that His feet carried Him from His perfect life lived for us to the hill where he would be counted guilty for our sin on the cross. He who washed His disciples feet has cleansed us from sin by His blood shed for us. Because His feet were wounded, they are counted most beautiful of all in their scars, for His wounds have forgiven our sin.

May God grant us by His grace to continue this work of taking the news of Jesus to our neighbors and the nations until the day when the angels of heaven herald His coming again in glory and we shall see with our own eyes the Salvation of our God.

(Closing Devotion for Fall Rally of the Northeast Zone Lutheran Women's Missionary League of Iowa District West, LMCS. Theme of the rally was "Beautiful Feet" based on Romans 10:14-15.)

Messengers

2006-09-02T10:59:00.000-05:00

Dear friends in Christ and His children through the cross,

As I was thinking of what to write for this first Messenger article, and looking at some copies of past articles, my eyes locked, for a moment, onto the title at the top of the page—Messenger. As many experienced Lutherans have probably had happen to them, I said to myself, “What does this mean?” Once the reflex response passed to say something beginning with the words, “We should fear and love God,“ I began to think of the significance of this word for the Church.

For myself, I think of the call I have to serve among you. Christ called His twelve disciples to be messengers of His Gospel, spreading the news of forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation from sin, to all the world. In their tradition, you at St. John’s have called me to be a messenger among you, to remind you of the words of Christ through which his Holy Spirit first worked faith in you, to proclaim to you and our community the forgiveness he has won for you and for all, and to carry his very body and blood from the altar to you, through which he forgives your sins and cleanses you from all unrighteousness.

You are also messengers of Christ. In rural areas, it can be tempting to envy the large harvests of souls which grow suburban churches at enormous rates advertised in religious news. Massive evangelistic crusades and colossal programs to grow the church are not the way of life here, but we are just as much a part of Christ’s mission. As you daily live and work among your neighbors, you carry Christ’s message. As your neighbors know you as a Christian, you have the opportunity to remind the believing neighbor of Christ’s gifts to them, and to reflect His grace to the unbeliever, so that they might know the hope that you have in Jesus.

As we in Christ’s Church at this place carry His message together into the world, whether in public or in private, we know that we are living out His mission. We as Lutheran Christians know the hope of eternal life in Christ comes as a free gift and that only through His gracious forgiveness can we enter the mansions of the Father’s house one day. As I begin His work among and with you here, I hope that His Word and Sacraments will increase your faith in Him and your love for one another and that our lives together as Christ’s messengers will always be centered in the mission of telling, in purity, the Good News about Jesus by what we say and what we do as we wait for his return when we will join with all the saints of God who have gone before in the worship of our Triune God forever.

(Pastor's Article from St. John's Messenger newsletter, Sept. 2006)

2006-05-03T13:40:00.000-05:00

Wednesday of Lent 4
(From a series of lenten sermons written for the class Preaching Workshop)

Lord, Now You Let Your Servant Go in Peace

Luke 2:29-32

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

The forty-day old Lord of the universe enters his temple. He, like any other Israelite boy at the time, is brought to the temple with His mother to offer the sacrifice specified for their purification. This time, however, the doves whose blood would be shed for the sacrifice are not the end of the story, for the fulfillment of that sacrifice rests in His mother’s arms in His temple.

On this day, a man named Simeon waits in the temple, as he probably had done daily for some time. He had received the promise from God that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah, the savior of the world from sin, with his own eyes. On this day, that promise was fulfilled to him. He sees with his own eyes the forty-day old savior of the world, God in human flesh, Jesus. Having seen Jesus, he responds by singing the canticle which is the text for tonight’s sermon. “Lord now you let your servant go in peace. Your Word has been fulfilled.” He praises God for the gift of His Son to save the world and reveal God’s grace to the gentiles and for the salvation that God the Father has prepared for all who would believe in Him through Jesus, the Christ.

Having seen Jesus and knowing the fulfillment of God’s promise to Him, Simeon reacts in a way which would seem strange to our world. He says that he is ready to depart this world. Having seen Jesus, he is ready to face death. If he dies in this world, he will be in the presence of Jesus the same as he has been as he stands before the forty-day old child in the temple. To this world, this seems strange. We hold on to earthly life as long as we can, preserve as many days as we are able at all cost, to avoid death. This is natural for us as humans. It is easier to trust in what we can see. We know life in this world. Life in the world to come can only be understood by faith. If this world were all we had, if we were not sure that we would enjoy paradise with Christ and be raised on the last day, we would be wise to claw and scrape for every last day of earthly life, for it would be all we have and all we could hope for. But we, like Simeon, know the greater life that is to come through Jesus, for He is our life.

With Simeon, we can rejoice because we have seen the Lord. To the eyes of the flesh, the forty-day old child in the temple was no different from any other boy one might see. The world and human knowledge could not know or predict how that child would grow and what he would do. It could not be seen that he was God Himself. It could not be seen that he had all the power and knowledge of God within that 10 pound body in His mother’s arms, but the Lord had revealed it to Simeon. Similarly, the world does not see Jesus as he comes to us today. Like the child in Mary’s arms did not look like the victorious savior to the world, the bread and wine we receive each time we come to the Lord’s Table do not look like the heavenly food which gives the forgiveness of sins. They do not look like the very body and blood of God, Jesus Christ. The world seeks a great display of power, of glory, an exhibition of strength as the marks of God’s presence, but we find Him just where He has promised to be—in His body and blood on the altar of our sanctuary. God comes to us through means which do not seem glorious to the world, but which are, in reality, the greatest and most powerful means known in creation to forgive our sins and give us salvation from sins and eternal life.

As we receive the Lord’s body and blood at His altar, we can say as certainly as Simeon, “My eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared.” At His altar, Jesus comes to us and gives himself to us. Each Lord’s Day, we see Jesus as certainly as those with whom he walked the earth before His death. Having seen the Lord and received His body and blood, we can face life and death with the certainty that we are His, and with Simeon we can look with faith to the eternal life to come, not in fear of death, but in the hope the resurrection of our bodies to eternal life with Christ in His kingdom. Amen.

The Peace which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus.

Reflection on "In Praise of Preaching"

2006-05-03T13:39:00.000-05:00

Loehe recognizes in this writing the importance of preaching for the church, and the attention that should be paid to it by the pastor. Preaching, as Loehe points out, is the primary means that the church has at her disposal for the saving of souls. Preaching calls out in the distance to those who do not believe, and at the same time, it speaks correction and encouragement to those who are already part of the church. Preaching brings the unbeliever to faith in Christ, and strengthens the believer to continue in the faith.

As preachers, it will do us good to remember this. In the Sunday service, we aren’t preaching a tent revival to see how many people we can bring to the altar to sorrow and cry and pray the sinners prayer. At the same time, we are not only preaching to the choir. We preach to our sheep of our congregation who are believers, but our audience also includes those who have not yet heard the Gospel and those who, while members of our congregation, do not believe the words they so often hear. We preach to believer and unbeliever alike, but it is not two different messages our sermon contains, but the same Law condemns both the sins of the believer and the unbeliever, and the same Gospel proclaims the forgiveness needed by the unbeliever and already possessed by the believer. We do not convert the sinner or strengthen the believer, but the Word does it.

As preachers, the temptation will certainly arise for us to rely on our own self-proclaimed brilliance or eloquence to make the sermon effective or to reach the sinner or inspire the believer. Many television preachers are prime examples of the numerical success and apparent effectiveness that can be achieved by a man who can craft words well and stir up the emotions of the listener, but this is done at the cost of faithfulness to the teachings of scripture and relies on his talents rather than on the Word’s power to accomplish the result.
In speaking of preaching, Loehe points another pitfall that may await a preacher. This is done when the preacher places himself in the forefront in his preaching. He may do this by speaking frequently of his own experience or faith. Loehe concludes that by doing this, he is only recommending himself rather than preaching the Gospel. Loehe instead prescribes that the preacher and the Word should come together, so that the preacher neither withdraws himself nor makes himself prominent.

Much of preaching today does just what Loehe speaks of here. Preachers speak of their own faith as an example to the congregation instead of speaking of Christ’s faithfulness to us. Jesse Duplantis speaks frequently about the things that he “believed God for” and then miraculously received, like his studio campus or two private jets. His monetary success is held up at least twice as often as the Gospel. Other preachers, like Joel Osteen fill their sermons from beginning to end with anecdotes about their life and their families and how they did the right thing in each situation. They hold up their own right behavior as a pattern for the congregation to follow. To do this obscures the Gospel. Instead of pointing clearly to Christ and the forgiveness of sins, the preaching points to the preacher as prime example of what he speaks. Instead of exhorting the people to faith and confidence in the one who has forgiven their sins, it encourages them to emulate the behavior of their preacher so as to attain the results he has found.

Loehe speaks of the method of preaching being one of “simplicity.” He says that the preacher “despises every sort of machinery” and “does not seek to win friends for the Lord.” He doesn’t use human eloquence, feelings or excitement to manipulate the hearers. He speaks simply of the divine things and makes them clear to his hearers. He takes the word of God and explains and proclaims it to them.

Again, we as Lutheran preachers will be different from our colleagues of many other traditions. While they seek to excite and work up the emotions of their hearers for a desired effect, we proclaim the works and ways of God to our hearers so that they might understand and believe what they hear, not because of emotional excitement or sentimentality, but because it addresses the greatest needs of their souls—forgiveness of sins. Instead of manipulating the emotions of our hearers as others might, we awaken their hearts and minds by speaking the simple words of God which address them and all people. We do not rely on our methods or our techniques for the effectiveness of the Word we preach. We rely on the Word himself to awaken them by His Holy Spirit to faith in Jesus who died to forgive their sins.

Loehe closes by speaking of the hope that the preacher has that the Word he has preached will work in the way God has promised. He describes this like the “gradual, silent growth of the mustard seed.” He says that the preacher does not live by human impatience, but “a patient waiting for the Lord.” Loehe observes that “precious fruits do not grow in a night,” and that the preacher “waits upon all his sheep, for he knows that the Lord has his own hour, his own haste, but also his own delays.”

We can be confident that if we preach God’s Word faithfully, rather than relying on our own methods and trickery, God will work what he desires through our preaching. We may not see the immediate results used by preachers who rely on the world’s methods, but we can still know with confidence that we are doing God’s will in our preaching. Even though we do not see an altar call with hundreds “giving their lives to Jesus,” we can know that God is working faith in our hearers and strengthening the sheep of our flock through His message that we preach. While the world looks for immediate visible results, we who preach faithfully the pure doctrine and simple Gospel of the scriptures are dispensing the medicine most needed by the human soul instead of the spiritual junk food offered by far too many preachers around us. Our preaching may not yield the visible immediate results that they are praised for, but we know anyway that we do God’s will by preaching His Word to His people faithfully.

In Praise of Preaching

2006-05-03T13:23:00.000-05:00

Among the means which the church uses to save souls, preaching stands first. It is the means whereby which those are called who stand afar off, and those who have been called are rendered steadfast in their calling and election. In preaching, the church does not aim to support the holy Word by human art, but the chief matter is not to hinder its power and operation and not to impose upon the Word any kind or manner of operation which does not befit it. The preacher proclaims salvation in Christ Jesus with the consciousness that not what he does, but the noble contents of the Word, must divide souls from the world and bring them near to God. Of course the preacher believes and therefore speaks, and it is a detestable contradiction to preach and yet not to believe; but a true preacher will not try to recommend the truth by imparting his faith and experience; that would be only to recommend himself; rather does he seek to bring his people to say with the Samaritans: “Now we believe, not because of thy saying; for we have heart him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” An upright preacher does not purposely withdraw himself, nor does he purposely make him prominent, but he comes with the Word and the Word comes with him; he is a simple, faithful witness of the Word, and the Word witnesses to him; he and his Word appear like one thing. All his preaching is based upon holy peace. Even when he rebukes, and zeal for God’s house eats him up, it is not the wrath of the restless that burns within him. It is not he that speaks, but the Lord speaks in him and through him, and his execution of his office is worthy of the Lord. The churchly preacher always may be known by his manliness and maturity.

In great confidence in the divine Word he therefore despises every sort of machinery. He has a method, the method of simplicity. He does not seek to win friends for the Lord Jesus Christ by means of human eloquence, nor by exciting the feelings nor by meretricious excitement of the nerves. His object is not a disturbed awakening, but the transformation of divine thoughts. Just as vocation goes on to enlightenment, and all progress in the inner life is conditioned by the progress of knowledge; so he seeks before all else to make the holy thoughts of the divine Word rightly known and to bring them before the memory, contemplation, will and inmost being of his hearers. He does not despise the feelings of men, but he awakens them by holding before them the heavenly light, or rather he sets up this light and is assured that with its ray warmth also will proceed from it. His watchwords are not Awake and the like, but those of the divine mustard-seed. His insistence and compulsion are not the instance and compulsion of human impatience, but a patient waiting on the Word. He gladly waits, knowing that precious fruits do not grow in a night. And he waits upon all his sheep, for he knows that the Lord has his own hour, his own haste, but also his own delays.

-Wilhelm Loehe

The Parable of the Sower

2005-07-10T23:39:00.000-05:00

Matthew 13:1-23

At the time of Jesus, planting a field did not involve large tractors or planting implements that covered dozens of rows in a pass. Instead, it involved a leather bag carried over the shoulder and filled with seed. The farmer would walk through the field and scatter the seeds over the ground, then plow them under afterward. Because of this, he could not control where each individual seed fell. It could fall in good ground where it would grow, but it might fall on the path worn in the field by travelers, or on the rocky, gravel-like ground, or be overcome by weeds and thorns.

Jesus uses these soils from our parable to demonstrate the different results when the Word of God is preached:

"When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the
evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what
was sown along the path."

If the sower scattered seed, and it landed on the path worn across the field by travelers, where the soil had been packed down, it would lay on top of the hardened ground, and the birds would eat the seed, preventing it from growing. Some people hear the Word of God preached and it's as if it just bounced off of them. They hear, but no faith is produced, and they are still lost.

"As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and
immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for
a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word,
immediately he falls away."

If the sower scattered the seed on ground that was rocky, similar to gravel, that seed would begin to grow, but in dry times or times of heat, it would die off because the soil was not deep enough for it to produce roots. This happens frequently in churches, and has happened here, where a person or family is drawn into the church, but for some reason they soon disappear and are also lost. They began in the faith, but because of their following a single person or taking offense at something, or some other reason, they leave behind the Church and the Christian faith.

"As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the
cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves
unfruitful."

Like a seed that was planted, but later was choked out by thorns or weeds, many Christians who began in faithfulness forsake the faith later in their lives. They were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, catechized and confirmed in the faith, but later, for one reason another--whether it was greed, or sin, or even the love of sleep, they begin to neglect the services of God's House, and eventually are not seen again and are lost as well.

"As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and
understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in
another sixty, and in another thirty."

There are, however, others who are brought into the faith and remain faithful to Christ until the end. God brings them into the faith through Baptism, taught the faith, and kept faithful throughout life until they have gone from the Church in this world to join the liturgy of the faithful which is sung continually with the angels as they praise Christ without ceasing.

One thing we see in all these soils--The soil can do nothing without the seed. We, in ourselves can do nothing to save ourselves. We cannot choose Christ, we cannot decide to follow Jesus. We cannot earn our salvation through works. We cannot even contribute to our salvation through works. God comes to us with the Gospel, and only after the Holy Spirit has given us faith through the Gospel are we saved.

This Gospel comes among us in many ways. The Sower Himself--God in the flesh--comes among us personally. God comes to us in His Word as it is read and preached in the Divine Service. Jesus is present among us in His Body and Blood in the Lord's Supper. He also comes to us with this Gospel through the words of our pastors, as Paul says,

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as
the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the
growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only
God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and
each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's
fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. (1 Cor 3:5-9
ESV)

Additionally, he comes to us through the encouragement and counsel of other Christians. The parable says that when the seed is planted in good soil, it produces a harvest 30, 60, or 100 times what was sown. A normal harvest in Israel might have ranged from 8-30 times what was planted. The harvest Jesus speaks of here is greater than any earthly thing because it comes through His Gospel. As Christians who have heard the Word go out, we cannot help but tell others of the Gospel of the God who has saved us. As Christians go out, they tell the Good News about Jesus and then bring more people to the services of God's House to hear this Gospel, and in this way Christ builds his Church of faithful believers.

Jesus told the disciples, "Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” This seed of the Gospel had been being planted since the beginning when God promised Eve that her offspring would defeat the evil one. The Prophets and the faithful of Israel longed to see the Messiah, and Jesus, the promised Savior stood in front of the apostles in the flesh during his earthly ministry.

John records other words of Jesus to the diciples where He said,

"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it
remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his
life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal
life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there
will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. "

Jesus uses this same image of a seed planted here also. He speaks of himself as the grain of wheat which must fall to the ground and die in order to bear fruit. Jesus did fall to the earth and die. He was crucified to pay the price for all our sins on the cross. He was then burried like a seed is planted in the ground. Then, on the third day, he rose again from the dead. Like a grain of wheat grows a stalk and produces much fruit, Jesus rose from the dead and brought many to faith in himself. Because he died for our sins, the Father declares us to be righteous and keeps us as the good soil, bearing the fruit of faithfulness, and he promises to keep us in this One True Faith until we join Him in eternity to spend all time in the perfect mansions of the Father's House.

Abridged sermon for 8th Sunday after Pentecost at Zion Lutheran Church, Altamont, IL. (July 10, 2005)

Vicar Jason P. Peterson

"I have come to set a man against his father."

2005-06-19T23:28:00.000-05:00

Matthew 10:34-42

The Son of God goes forth to war, carrying a sword to divide a father against his son, and a mother against her daughter. This is a surprising image in a day when one of the most visible priorities of Christians seems to be "family values."

Both in the time of Jesus and ours, households have been divided over faith in Christ. In Jesus time, a son might be disowned from a household for becoming a Christian. To believe in Christ was un-Roman and unpatriotic, because the Christian faith did not allow the worship of Caesar and the Roman gods. Also, in a time of persecution, if a Father believed in Christ, his whole family was endangered. Similarly today, family relationships may be strained over the Christian faith, such as when a son leaves the Church to do his own thing and his Christian father is upset and worried over his son's soul or when an unbelieving father ridicules his son's new faith. In any of these situations, it could be a tempting for a man to turn his back on the Christian faith to restore family peace, but Jesus tells us, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."

It appears that the Christian faith is responsible for these divisions, and we might wonder why God would allow division to occur over faith in Him. However, it is sin which causes the division. The sinful and unbelieving world hates Christ and His Church. The unbeliever hates God and wants nothing to do with Him. Because of this sin, Christianity divides, because the sin of those who hates Christ divides them from their family as they seek to run from God.

Another division will occur when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead. All the dead will rise, and Jesus will divide them. The sheep, who had faith in him, to his right, will go to eternal life with Christ. The goats, who rejected him, to his left, will go to everlasting condemnation with Satan and his angels. This, again, is because of sin. Those who have rejected the forgivness Christ offers cannot follow Him into the father's mansions.

Another greater division resulted from our sin also--Jesus Christ, the son of God was forsaken by his father on the cross. While Jesus hung on the cross, he was divided from the father and suffered the forsaking we deserved. He was abandoned by the Father so that we would be forgiven for our sins. He was forsaken by the Father so that we could be reconciled to the Father. He suffered division from the Father so that we might never be divided from Him again.

Not only has Jesus restored us to right standing before the Heavenly Father, but he has also blessed us with many fathers on this earth to carry out His work of guiding us in our life and the faith. He has given us our Fathers who protected and provided for us, who raised us in the Church and taught us the faith, and who brought us to the waters of Holy Baptism to be forgiven of our sins and given eternal life. For many of us, these fathers and their fathers built the churches where we worship and made places where God's Word could be heard and the Sacraments could be administered.

He has also given us pastors--fathers in the faith. These men guided the church of our fathers and the church today, and our earthly fathers made provision for the church to call and support pastors so that God's Word and the Sacraments would have a place among us as the pastors preached the Gospel and administered the Sacraments.

Jesus said, "Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward." Our fathers received the pastors God sent them and as these preachers administered Word and Sacrament among them, they were kept in their faith, and their children were taught the faith. As our churches have received faithful pastors, our churches have been built up and God's Word preached to our people. We thank God that he has done this work among us, and pray that he would continue to do so.

Abridged sermon for 5th (& 6th) Sunday after Pentecost (also Fathers Day) at St. Peter Lutheran Church, St. Peter, IL and Zion Lutheran Church, Altamont, IL. (June 19/26, 2005)

Vicar Jason P. Peterson