God builds on the Foundation, Jesus Christ.

 

Sermon for Septuagesima, January 31, 2021

Grace, mercy, and peace to you all from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

1 Corinthians 3:7-15  ⁷So then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but it is God who causes the growth.  ⁸The one who plants and the one who waters are united, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.  ⁹For God is the one whom we serve as coworkers, and you are God’s field, God’s building.  ¹⁰In keeping with the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it.  But let each person be careful how he builds on it.  ¹¹In fact, no one can lay any other foundation than the one that has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.  ¹²But if anyone is building on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, ¹³each person’s work will become evident.  The Day will make it plain, because it is going to be revealed in fire, and the fire will test each person’s work to show what sort of work it is.  ¹⁴If what someone has built remains, he will receive a reward.  ¹⁵If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but it will be like an escape through fire. (EHV)

God builds on the Foundation, Jesus Christ.

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

            The congregation at Corinth had a serious problem; it was being torn apart by rivalries among the members. (1 Corinthians 1:11)  Some of those early Christians claimed to follow Paul, but others Apollos or Peter or Jesus.  Paul wrote to say how ridiculous those ideas were.  There is only one Savior and only one Lord, Jesus Christ.  Becoming enamored of the eloquence, teachings, leadings, or personalities of various men can only lead to disaster.  No ordinary pastor can save anyone.  In fact, the point of our text is to assure Christians that God builds on the Foundation, Jesus Christ.

Now, perhaps you have had a favorite pastor at some point in your life.  Naturally, we do well to give thanks to God for those who have brought us to Jesus’ feet or opened the Good News of the Scriptures to us.  Yet, we dare not confuse God’s coworkers for what God Himself does for us.  That’s why Paul says, “So then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but it is God who causes the growth.”  For many of his readers, Paul had been the planter of the seed, yet those other faithful preachers had watered the new faith with further proclamation of the Word. 

Pastors, evangelists, teachers, and preachers are all just mortal men.  By ourselves, we can do nothing.  Like Paul, we are charged by the grace of God to preach the Gospel in the field of humanity so that the Holy Spirit can build faith in the former lost souls of our race to produce a rich harvest of souls for the Lord’s heavenly kingdom.  Thus, it is the Lord who produces that faith.

Of course, we who by God’s grace serve the Lord in preaching and teaching may or may not be rewarded in this world for our efforts.  History is filled with scores of faithful teachers who were chased out of parishes or persecuted by the world, but the Holy Spirit promises, “The one who plants and the one who waters are united, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.”  Faithful pastors and teachers are not in a competition for a prize.  We are united through faith in Christ and empowered by Him to serve in such a way that our reward comes in our heavenly home.

In the course of its 133 years, this little congregation has had 26 pastors, each with his own set of talents, gifts, and weaknesses, but God used each one of those men to bring the living water to you.  Yet, it wasn’t any particular talent or strength in the men that worked faith in anyone, for “no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3)  Instead, “We hold this treasure in clay jars to show that its extraordinary power is from God and not from us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7)  Therefore, though many have served here, only God builds on the Foundation, Jesus Christ.

Paul then observes that “God is the one whom we serve as coworkers, and you are God’s field, God’s building.”  What is especially interesting is that God Himself chooses those who He wants to serve Him.  Our confessions testify that no one should preach or teach without a regular call.  We don’t staff our churches by seeking out the most eloquent preacher or smooth-talking, best looking teacher.  We use the calling process so that the Lord may work through the calling body to place servants of the Word in your midst. 

God makes us His co-workers!  To me that is a great yet humbling honor.  Still, it is not something about which we should boast.  Often, I think I was chosen for this work simply because of my ordinariness.  That God can work through someone of such humble talents as myself shows that all good things are done by Him alone.  Consider Jesus’ twelve apostles.  To the world, those men couldn’t have seemed less likely of making a difference in the world, yet through them, the Lord changed the world and changed the eternal destination of countless generations.

Because Paul was the first to preach about Christ in the city of Corinth, he laid the foundation for that congregation.  That was Paul’s role throughout his earthly ministry.  God chose that sinner and once-rebellious man to carry the Gospel to the gentiles, and the Lord gifted him with the talents and determination to succeed against all odds.  Paul wrote, “In keeping with the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it.  But let each person be careful how he builds on it.”  Though a humble tent maker by trade, Paul was a master builder of the Christian Church in that through him, the Lord founded numerous congregations.  At the same time, other co-workers with Christ followed after Paul to continue preaching the Good News and building up the church.

There also is a warning here—“But let each person be careful how he builds on it.”  Sometimes, this can be misconstrued to imagine that nothing can ever be changed and that every tradition and practice followed in the past must be continued.  However, Paul’s point is that we must be careful to keep the focus on the foundation which is Christ.  “In fact, no one can lay any other foundation than the one that has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.”  To let our preaching and teaching be about anything other than Jesus is to lay some false foundation that will not uphold the church.  Even if that congregation should grow large and prosperous in the view of the world, it will not stand in the judgment.

For decades, there has been a tremendous push in our world to find methods that bring people into a congregation and tickle their itching ears with promises of glory, riches, or ease here on earth.  This is why some supposedly very pious Christians can propose heinous actions as somehow moral.  Abortion, sexual freedom, liberation theology, and other deviant ideas are promoted as good for the people, but the people promoting such things have abandoned the one foundation upon which salvation is found. That movement has seemingly done a lot of damage to traditional churches.  Yet, that is a misconception, for the real church is only found built on the solid foundation of Christ regardless of the earthly trappings that surround the members. 

Paul wrote, “But if anyone is building on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, each person’s work will become evident.  The Day will make it plain, because it is going to be revealed in fire, and the fire will test each person’s work to show what sort of work it is.”  Preachers and pastors will come and go.  Some will be faithful, and others less so.  Those who build with the imperishable Word of God will see results that last. 

Yet, while others may build earthly congregations that look good on the surface, when the final day shall come the fires of Judgment will consume all they have built.  The work we do cannot be hidden from the Lord’s fierce gaze.  Those who seek the quick and easy build would be advised to give an ear to the story of the Three Little Pigs, or better yet, they should listen to Jesus who said, “But, if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.  Woe to the world because of temptations to sin.  Temptations must come, but woe to that person through whom the temptation comes!” (Matthew 18:6-7)

Every faithful pastor takes this admonition to heart.  We dare not preach what our own nature might dream up.  Instead, the faithful servant of the Lord will preach Christ crucified, rightly dividing law and gospel so that you members of the church are not led astray but continually receive the Bread of Life and Living Water of the Son of God, the Savior who gave His life to take away your sins and give you perfect righteousness before God.  Paul wrote to Timothy, “We brought nothing into the world, and we certainly cannot take anything out.” (1 Timothy 6:7)  The only treasure we can hope to take with us to heaven is fellow believers who have been strengthened by our service to the Lord through Word and Sacrament.

This section of the letter to the Corinthians concludes with this: “If what someone has built remains, he will receive a reward.  If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but it will be like an escape through fire.”  Pastors, teachers, and parents too can be comforted with the certainty that even if we fail to build something that will withstand the fires of Judgment Day, those who believe in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation will be saved.  If all that remains after our time on earth comes to an end is an empty shell of a building that once was filled with living souls, our service will not have been in vain.

“It is required of stewards that they be found faithful.” (1 Corinthians 4:2)  No one should pretend anything different.  At the same time, we don’t make the seed grow.  Only the Lord can make the Word work in the hearts of sinners.  We know that God wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, but we also know that many will reject the truth for the devil’s lies.  Therefore, as pastors, teachers, and parents, we should work diligently as co-workers of the Lord to build with only the finest materials, the Word and Sacraments of our Lord.  These are the things that will last, and the only things that the Holy Spirit uses to produce fruit in the fields of the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)  Faithful workers, and those they serve for the Lord, trust that these are the precious materials that will build God’s church and bring them their reward in heaven because God builds on the Foundation, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore.  Amen. 

Jesus dresses His people for heaven.

 

Sermon for Transfiguration, January 24, 2021

Grace to you and abundant peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Lord. Amen.

Isaiah 61:10-11  ¹⁰I will rejoice greatly in the Lord.  My soul will celebrate because of my God, for he has clothed me in garments of salvation.  With a robe of righteousness he covered me, like a bridegroom who wears a beautiful headdress like a priest, and like a bride who adorns herself with her jewelry.  ¹¹For as the earth produces its growth, and as a garden causes what has been sown to sprout up, so God the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up in the presence of all the nations. (EHV)

Jesus dresses His people for heaven.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            Through Moses, the Lord God told the whole community of Israel, “You shall be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2)  This is usually treated as a command, as well it should be.  However, it is also a promise, because the Lord has always recognized that we cannot save ourselves.  In the beginning verses of this chapter of Isaiah, the Holy One of Israel spoke of healing the brokenhearted and freeing the captives.  Then, in Luke’s Gospel, we hear of Jesus reading the first couple sentences of this chapter, after which He sat down and declared, “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21)  Therefore, everything that God promised to do for the fallen human race is accomplished through Jesus. 

Now, in these two verses appointed for our sermon, we find the response of the Christian Church in heaven.  There it will be that we never again have to confront sin.  There, we will never again be separated from God who created us, loved us, and redeemed us from our wretched state under the devil’s control, for with the glory of His life and sacrifice, Jesus dresses His people for heaven.

It may sometimes be hard for us to comprehend the change that will come upon us when we leave this world and enter our new home in heaven.  Here on earth, the devil would like to convince us that we are doing okay, that we really are living holy lives, and that we can positively compare ourselves with sinful neighbors.  That is a dangerous temptation. 

The truth is, as long as we walk this earth, we will be saying with St. Paul, “The desire to do good is present with me, but I am not able to carry it out.  So I fail to do the good I want to do.  Instead, the evil I do not want to do, that is what I keep doing.” (Romans 7:18-19)  Truly, this is the Christian life on earth.  The Holy Spirit has worked faith in us by Word and Sacrament, and that faith in Jesus leads us to want to do right, but our sinful flesh often keeps us doing what we know is wrong, for we do not yet enjoy the full benefit of Jesus’ holiness until we reach our heavenly home.  That does not at all mean we have been shortchanged.

God, in His holiness, gave the Law so that sinners might recognize our sin and our need for a Savior.  The blunt clarity of the law brings brutal condemnation that drops us to our knees in repentance and breaks any arrogant thought left in our hearts, so that we, like the tax collector at the temple, as one with nowhere else to turn, might cry out, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13)  Again, that is the true Christian life—recognizing and confessing that there is nothing good in us to merit God’s forgiveness and love but also hearing and believing Jesus invite us, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)

Jesus left His Father’s side in heaven to be holiness for you and me.  Jesus, the Son of God, saw our wretched state, saw us defenseless before the devil’s ruthless scheming and attacks, saw us suffering and scattered as sheep without a shepherd, saw us naked, bleeding, and dying without hope, so Jesus left His throne of glory to become one of us and be the Suffering Servant who takes the price of our guilt so that we might be lifted up to life and glory.  Then, because Jesus lived, died, and rose again for sinners like you and me, for all of eternity, this will be our song of praise: “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord.  My soul will celebrate because of my God, for he has clothed me in garments of salvation.” 

Through faith worked in us by the Holy Spirit in Word and Sacrament, God’s Son has rescued us from an eternity of darkness and pain.  Yet, He doesn’t bring us to some neutral spot and say start over.  Instead, He makes us His own beloved Bride and dresses us for the wedding celebration of heaven.  Isaiah wrote, “With a robe of righteousness he covered me, like a bridegroom who wears a beautiful headdress like a priest, and like a bride who adorns herself with her jewelry.”

No earthly clothing would prepare us to enter the holiness of heaven.  Adam and Eve tried to cover their shame in the garden but nothing they could do would hide their guilt from the discerning eyes of the holy Almighty.  Yet, after confronting them in their sin, God offered forgiveness and restoration.  We see that same heart of the Lord our God when He came to Solomon in a dream and promised, “When…my people, who are called by my Name, humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sins and heal.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14)

That is what we find in this text.  God took people who had nothing to offer Him.  He found us putrid and worthless in our sins and picked us up out of the gutter of despair.  He healed us of our sin and iniquities through Jesus’ sacrifice, and today He calls us His beloved.  Jesus perfectly fulfilled all the law that accused us.  He perfectly fulfilled all that His Father had desired for men and women to be, and through faith, God now credits Jesus’ holiness to each of us.

So that we might be perfectly beautiful for all our days in heaven, Jesus dresses His people for heaven in righteousness, obedience, and holiness.  In place of the sins that once marred our souls, we are given the glorious jewels of Jesus’ perfection.  That is what Jesus, and the Father, will see as we enter the banquet hall of heaven—a people dressed in perfect glory to be loved forever.  Thus, the Church will sing unceasingly, “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord.  My soul will celebrate because of my God, for he has clothed me in garments of salvation.”

As we look around the world, and even around this room, however, we don’t see that perfection right now, but make no mistake, God sees it.  He sees it in His Son of Whom He has declared, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.  Listen to him.” (Matthew 17:5)  In our Gospel lesson we saw the transfiguration of our Lord Jesus.  There for a few moments, Jesus lifted the veil of His humiliation to give His chosen disciples a view of the glory He possesses as God, a glory still His as Man, for Jesus never once deviated from His mission to save. 

Jesus never could, nor ever would, depart from His mission.  Isaiah wrote, “For as the earth produces its growth, and as a garden causes what has been sown to sprout up, so God the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up in the presence of all the nations.”  When Isaiah was called to serve as God’s prophet, he saw a vision of the Lord on His throne, and the angels surrounded Him singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies!  The whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)

God is holy, and St. John, likewise, tells us that “God is love.” (1 John 4:8)  Therefore, to do anything less than to give Himself into saving us would be to deny His very self.  Thus, “When the set time had fully come, God sent his Son to be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, in order to redeem those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5)  St. Paul also wrote to Timothy, “This saying is trustworthy: Indeed, if we have died with him, we will also live with him; If we endure, we will also reign with him; If we deny him, he will also deny us; If we are faithless, he remains faithful, because he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:11-13)

This morning, we celebrate the transfiguration of our Lord.  In those moments on that mountaintop, Jesus revealed His glory to the world for the first time.  Isaiah had foreseen this glory seven hundred years earlier as God revealed it to him.  God being true to Himself so that we could be rescued from darkness, and though we may in this present time not see nor feel the holiness Jesus has given us, it is coming, and when our days here on earth are ended, glory and joy will be ours everlasting, for our sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake, and we are counted holy in His Father’s eyes for the same.

Knowing the love Jesus demonstrated for us with His life and sacrifice, we can boldly face any trial or hardship this world might bring—even death.  With the hymn writer, we can joyfully enter heaven singing, “Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness my beauty are, my glorious dress; ’midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head.”  “Rejoice greatly in the Lord,” dear friends, Jesus dresses His people for heaven.  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.

Jesus had to bring you living water.

 

Sermon for Epiphany 2, January 17, 2021

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ your Redeemer and Savior.  Amen.

John 4:4-26  ⁴He had to go through Samaria.  ⁵So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the piece of land Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  ⁶Jacob’s well was there.  Then Jesus, being tired from the journey, sat down by the well.  It was about the sixth hour.  ⁷A woman from Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸(His disciples had gone into town to buy food.)  ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)  ¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”  ¹¹“Sir,” she said, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep.  So where do you get this living water?  ¹²You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you?  He gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his animals.”  ¹³Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty ever again.  Rather, the water I will give him will become in him a spring of water, bubbling up to eternal life.”  ¹⁵“Sir, give me this water,” the woman said to him, “so I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”  ¹⁶Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband, and come back here.”  ¹⁷“I have no husband,” the woman answered.  Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say, ‘I have no husband.’  ¹⁸In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband.  What you have said is true.”  ¹⁹“Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet.  ²⁰Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews insist that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”  ²¹Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will not worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem.  ²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know.  We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.  ²³But a time is coming and now is here when the real worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for those are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.  ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”  ²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ).  “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”  ²⁶Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.” (EHV)

Jesus had to bring you living water.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            It has been said that one shouldn’t major in the minors.  In other words, if you want to be successful, you should pay attention to the big picture, not all the little details.  Whether that is great advice or not, I will leave to others, but this morning, I want to concentrate especially on one supposedly inconsequential word of our text—the word “had”.  The Greek word is likewise very short, and its literal translation is “it was necessary.”

John tells us that Jesus “had to go through Samaria.”  Of course, it is not as if there was only one option to go from Judea to Galilee.  There were at least two other roads more popular among Jewish travelers.  Some commentators skip over this little word assuming that John just meant that Jesus chose the shorter route, but I seriously doubt that the Father felt it necessary for Jesus to take this path simply to save time.  Instead, it was necessary for Jesus to go through Samaria because His Father wanted to save people.  Likewise, to save, Jesus had to bring you living water.

In that little city of Samaria, God saw people loosely descended from Abraham who had been misled and mistreated for centuries.  At the same time, they too had mistreated their cousins to the south, so the animosity between Jew and Samaritan was part of a longstanding conflict.

Specifically for us, Jesus went to Sychar in Samaria purposely to meet a woman who was troubled by isolation from her neighbors, the pain of numerous failed relationships, perhaps some discrimination, and especially, guilt.

Jesus met that woman at the sixth hour of the day.  Depending on whether John is using Jewish or Roman time, it was either noon or 6:00 in the evening.  In either case, it would be unusual for a woman to fetch water at that time of day.  More typically, the women of the village gathered there in the morning to supply their families’ needs, to visit, and to learn the latest news.  This woman came alone.  Either she was shunned by the other women, or she wasn’t comfortable around them.

We don’t know her full story, but for anyone to have five failed marriages, there must be a story.  It is unlikely that she was widowed five times, but if that were the case, her neighbors may have considered her cursed.  Since that isn’t mentioned, was she hard to live with?  Was she bad at picking men?  Was she what some might ungraciously call a harlot?  While we cannot answer the questions, it is obvious that she was hurting, and Jesus knew it.  Therefore, in God’s great love for her and for us, Jesus had to come to her with a message of hope.

As the woman approached the well, Jesus asked her for a drink.  Seems like a simple request, but she was taken aback.  She was surprised most of all because a Jew was asking a Samaritan for help.  Nine hundred years of conflict between two cultures will do that.  The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 

As He responded, Jesus gently rebuked her, not because she didn’t give Him the water, but because she didn’t ask Him for something much better.  You can almost imagine the perplexity on her face when she heard Jesus say, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 

Part of me really wants to know that woman’s story.  She didn’t want to speak with a stranger, but here she found herself in the strangest conversation.  Who was this Man?  And what is living water?  She thought the situation was ludicrous.  “Sir,” she said, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep.  So where do you get this living water?  You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you?  He gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his animals.” 

From this little exchange, we see how much things haven’t changed.  Like that woman, no one expects to meet a Man like Jesus.  Furthermore, no one can imagine something better than what we see in the world around us.  Once, you and I were just as lost and sorrowful as she, until Jesus brought us living water.

Like that Samaritan woman, we were born not knowing Jesus or His Father.  Like her, we all live in a world troubled with prejudice, broken relationships, political upheaval, wars and rumors of wars, and neighbors blacklisting (or we might say, cancelling) those they look down on or oppose.  How many of us have hurt almost more than we could bear?  How many of us have felt all alone in the world?  Yet, like that Samaritan woman, without Jesus’ guidance, we still wouldn’t understand when Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty ever again.  Rather, the water I will give him will become in him a spring of water, bubbling up to eternal life.”  “Sir, give me this water,” the woman said to him, “so I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 

We live in a broken world.  We sin.  We shame ourselves with the lack of love that is so prevalent in our lives.  On our own, we cannot imagine something more than what this world offers, but Jesus came to be the cure that brings life.  What is the gift of God and the living water Jesus promised?  The letter to the Ephesians tells us, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)  Jesus was leading her to eternal life and salvation by faith.  He was offering her hope that far surpasses any riches or troubles we might have here on earth.  It is the same hope He offers to us through Baptism and hearing the Gospel.  Yes, so you could have hope in any trouble, Jesus had to bring you living water. 

The woman wasn’t convinced yet, but Jesus knew her weak spot.  Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband, and come back here.”  “I have no husband,” the woman answered.  Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say, ‘I have no husband.’  In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband.  What you have said is true.”  Jesus had to confront the source of her sorrow.  Sin was ruining her life—her sin and the sins of the men around her. 

Like so often happens with us, when confronted with our sins, our defenses spring up in defiance.  “Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet.  Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews insist that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”  When confronted, people often deflect the accusation.  Call her a sinner!  She was worshipping as her forefathers had taught her!  Trouble is, they were all worshipping a mixture of false gods and ideas.  Now, for the cure.

Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will not worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem.  You Samaritans worship what you do not know.  We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews.  But a time is coming and now is here when the real worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for those are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”  The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ).  “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”  Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”

Long standing error had left the Samaritans with only a glimmer of the truth.  They knew a Messiah was coming, but not much more.  Still, for her, there was a glimmer of hope.  Jesus spent two days at the little town.  She went boldly to those who she formerly avoided, told them what she had seen, and asked them to help her understand.  Thus, Jesus could tell a whole town about the love of God which He was living and giving to the world.

True worship isn’t in Jerusalem or any man-made temple.  It isn’t in making the right sacrifices while performing the perfect ceremony.  True worship is trusting the truth of God as the Holy Spirit has given it.  True worship is knowing Jesus, and believing that He lived for us, died for us, rose on the third day, and ascended to heaven to live and reign for us for all the time this world is allowed to last.  True worship is trusting that Jesus has done everything needed to reconcile you with God in heaven.  True worship doesn’t look for salvation on earth but in the sacrifice Jesus made so that we can live with Him forever above.  True worship is knowing that Jesus and the Father are One, and that their love has set us free from sin, death, and the devil.

Dear friends, while we were lost in the sins of our forefather, Adam, we didn’t know Jesus and couldn’t find God.  Any worship we might have imagined would only have left us in torment.  But, the Father saw that it was necessary for Jesus to come to us, so for you and me, Jesus gave His life as the perfect sacrifice for your sins and mine.  Then, when all things were finished for our redemption, Jesus returned to His Father’s side, and together, they sent the Holy Spirit so that we could worship in spirit and truth.  He gave us His Word so that we could know our sins but learn how Jesus has set us free.  He came to us, personally, in His message of grace and in Baptism so that we wouldn’t be wandering in darkness while covered in shame.  Through disciples who told us the Good News, Jesus gave us living water, a Spirit-given faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior and Redeemer, and a spiritual life that will never end.  Give thanks to the Triune God, for Jesus has brought you living water.  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.

Our Brother frees us from the fear of death.

 

Sermon for Epiphany 1, January 10, 2021

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  He gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father—to whom be the glory forever and ever.  Amen.

Hebrews 2:11-16  ¹¹For he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified all have one Father.  For that reason, he is not ashamed to call them brothers.  ¹²He says: I will declare your name to my brothers.  Within the congregation I will sing your praise.  ¹³And again: I will trust in him.  And again: Here I am and the children God has given me.  ¹⁴Therefore, since the children share flesh and blood, he also shared the same flesh and blood, so that through death he could destroy the one who had the power of death (that is, the Devil) ¹⁵and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.  ¹⁶For surely he was not concerned with helping angels but with helping Abraham’s offspring. (EHV)

Our Brother frees us from the fear of death.

Dear brothers and sisters of Christ Jesus,

            This week, we saw graphic evidence of what happens when emotions rule reason and actions.  The invasion of our nation’s capital by protestors is setting off verbal ballistics on all sides.  One side claims that nothing like this has ever been seen before, conveniently forgetting all the riots they applauded this past summer.  The other side claims that these rioters are justified because of malfeasance on the other side, and so the word bombs get thrown back and forth day by day.  People of all walks of life vilifying those who disagree with them, which is especially true among our political leaders and media influencers.

Time and again, we elect childish leaders with overinflated egos who are sure that only they know what is best for everyone else, and people who bribe us for votes with money they will take from us and others by force.  We put our hopes in sinful, arrogant men and women as if they have god-like powers even the ancient pagans couldn’t imagine.  Yet, we marvel that things go wrong.  Thus, we see almost all people blaming anyone but themselves for every problem under the sun, but who is really to blame?

As unlikely as it might seem, we can find the answer even in a long-forgotten comic strip.  Way back in 1971, cartoonist Walt Kelly pointed out the problem by using his comic strip character, Pogo, to say, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”  As we view all the turmoil in our families, our state, our nation, and our world, the problem is us. 

Now, it is not the color of our skin, not our level of education, not what political party we might favor, what state or nation we live in, not even what church we attend, or what faith or lack thereof we might claim—the problem is that every person on earth is infected with the poison of a sinful nature, and that poison makes us fear what we know it will bring, which is death, and our fear gives power to the devil.

Fear of death makes people do things to hide the truth, deny their fear, pretend holiness, and fight back against any perceived threat.  In doing these things, sinful people make minor gods of themselves—condemning (preferably without a trial) those who hold a differing viewpoint, casting stones at anyone else who offends or hurts us, failing to take responsibility for our own words and actions, and expecting everyone else to be perfectly agreeable in thought, word, and deed. 

This sad, sinful reality of the human condition is what the writer to the Hebrews is answering.  He doesn’t tell us how we ourselves can cure our corruption and fears, for no one ever could.  Rather, he shares with us the amazing Good News that Our Brother frees us from the fear of death.

The writer tells us, “He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified all have one Father.  For that reason, He is not ashamed to call them brothers.”  There is real comfort in understanding that we all come from God the Father.  The one who sanctifies is, of course, Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father.  Jesus can be the Sanctifier because He alone never fell into sin.  Only Jesus has always been perfect in thought, word, and deed.  Indeed, in His perfection, God’s Son was not ashamed to humble Himself to become one with us. 

The whole universe, including us, was created through the Word of God, which is Jesus, but at the creation, humankind was specially created with a unique relationship with God, as God breathed the breath of life into the man.  Therefore, Jesus has loved us since before time began, and He has always loved us with the perfect love of God.  Thus, He willingly gave Himself into saving us from death.

The writer then quotes several passages from the ancient writings which tell us of Jesus’ joy in bringing forgiveness and salvation to His lost and wandering brothers and sisters.  Therefore, as Christ Jesus, the Man, walked this earth in our physical flesh and blood, He proclaimed the love and mercy of His Father in heaven.  Though many expected Israel’s Messiah to set up a political kingdom of power and ease, Jesus instead far exceeded those expectations to establish a kingdom of perfect love, harmony, and eternal glory that transcends this broken world, entered only by faith.  On our behalf, Jesus lived perfect humility, obedience, and humble trust in His heavenly Father, even to the point of laying down His life in death to pay the debt the law demanded for you and me and all, confident that His Father in heaven would not abandon Him to the grave. 

Because of His love and trust in His Father that Jesus lived and demonstrated continually on our behalf, Jesus will, on the last day, present all those who believe in Him to the Father of all as a holy and perfect people prepared to praise our Creator for all the ages still to come.  What a scene of triumph there is in the halls of heaven as gathered around the throne of His heavenly Father with all of us in tow Jesus finally and joyfully announces for all creation to hear, “Here I am and the children God has given me.” 

You and I who have been baptized into this kingdom of grace, and trust in the riches of God’s mercy in Christ Jesus, stand in that glorious Light, though not yet physically.  Our physical appearance at the throne comes only after all the corruption and decay of this world is put behind us in death—just as Jesus went through death to glorify His Father and Himself and to make us holy forevermore.

Like us, the people to whom this apostle wrote were also facing times of unease, danger, hardship, and persecution.  Many were under threat from the government and their own relatives for believing in Jesus.  So that their fears would not overwhelm their faith, the writer reminded them of Jesus’ love and commitment to their eternal salvation.  He wrote, “Therefore, since the children share flesh and blood, he also shared the same flesh and blood, so that through death he could destroy the one who had the power of death (that is, the Devil) and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.”  The eternal Son of God left His heavenly home to become one with us.  He put on the same blood and flesh we live in so that He could eliminate those things that trouble us so much.

This is how great God’s love for us is, He does not sit stewing in wrath over our sins while eagerly plotting our destruction.  Rather, Christ Jesus made Himself equal to the worst of us and even worse than that, so that no one would have to be subject to the devil’s fate in hell, for as St. Paul wrote, “God made Him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

The devil is such a twisted, slanderous, malicious snake that after he manages to tempt us into sin, he gleefully pricks our consciences with the point of the law, attempting to terrify us with its curse which is death to all who sin.  Satan has used that power throughout history to lead people into ever greater sin, selfishness, greed, and hatred.  The devil knows that hell was prepared for him and his evil angels, but he so despises his Creator that he doesn’t want Jesus to save anyone. 

But dear friends, Satan’s power has been defeated forever.  How gleefully the devil must have danced when Jesus’ body was laid in the tomb.  The devil’s excitement though was oh so short lived, for Jesus rose from the grave on the third day in full and glorious victory.  To all the world, the message has gone out about Jesus rising from the grave.  His chosen apostles carried the Good News of Jesus’ sacrifice, suffering, death, and resurrection exactly as promised so that you and I and everyone else would have the opportunity to hear the Good News and be saved.

Because we are still troubled by our sinful flesh and the wickedness of this world, we find it very easy to be afraid of the trials and hardships of life in this world that is not our home.  It may feel like this is home, but our home is truly another place where none of this matters.  It is very easy to succumb to fear in the face of the torments wicked people dream up, but at most, those things can only hurt the flesh while Jesus has your everlasting future firmly in His control, so that you will dwell forever where “God himself will be with [His children], and He will be their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain, because the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4)

For those who trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior, there is no longer any reason to fear the world around us.  No reason to fear poverty or hardship because we have the riches of heaven waiting for us.  No reason to fear death because we will live and never die.  Even though our bodies will be laid in the grave to rest until the return of our Lord Jesus in judgment over this wretched place, we live in His mansions forever.  There is no longer any reason to fear the devil’s accusations and threats, either, because Jesus has already paid for every sin ever committed by anyone who ever lives on this planet, wiping all our sins and shortcomings from God’s memory.  There is no reason to fear viruses, angry mobs, corrupt and wicked rulers, virulent rhetoric from those who follow the devil’s lead, or anything else in heaven or earth, because Jesus is ruling all things so that we, His brothers and sisters, may dwell with Him eternally in the new Paradise.

Still, as this world continues to decay into anarchy and devilish rebellion against our Creator, many will wonder, but what is He doing for me now?  Through any trial, hardship, or pain, our confidence can and should remain: “For surely he was not concerned with helping angels but with helping Abraham’s offspring.”  Jesus didn’t live, die, and rise to help any angel, neither those who follow Him nor those who rebelled.  Their fate is sealed.  No, Jesus lived and died and rose again for you and for all who believe as “Abram believed in the Lord, and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)  Jesus paid the ransom price for the whole world so that any and all who believe in Him will be saved, and not just for momentary, earthly trinkets or time, but for everlasting glory, majesty, and peace.  Furthermore, our Lord promises that He will never leave us alone, but He is with us always, (Matthew 28:20) and His angels surround and protect us. (Psalm 91:11)

Dear friends, the years of our time on earth are often filled with hardships and trials.  We each could say with Jacob, “The days and the years of my life have been few and full of trouble.” (Genesis 47:9)  But like Jacob, who believed in God’s promises as his grandfather Abraham believed, our end is eternal glory and life with our Brother and our true Father in heaven.  We can say that confidently and boldly even in the face of whatever danger, sorrow, persecution, or death this world might throw against us, because with His sacrifice and powerful resurrection from the grave, Our Brother frees us from the fear of death.  Amen.

May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.  Amen.

Trust the holy King kept safe in His Father’s care.

 

Sermon for Christmas 2, January 3, 2021

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, Savior, and Lord.  Amen.

Matthew 2:13-23  ¹³After the Wise Men were gone, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to Joseph in a dream.  He said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt.  Stay there until I tell you, because Herod will search for the child in order to kill him.”  ¹⁴Joseph got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and left for Egypt.  ¹⁵He stayed there until the death of Herod.  This happened to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”  ¹⁶When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Wise Men, he was furious.  He issued orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under.  This was in keeping with the exact time he had learned from the Wise Men.  ¹⁷Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: ¹⁸A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.  ¹⁹After Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.  The angel said, ²⁰“Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to kill the child are dead.”  ²¹Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel.  ²²But when he heard that Archelaus, Herod’s son, had succeeded his father as ruler in Judea, he was afraid to go there.  Since he had been warned in a dream, he went to the region of Galilee.  ²³When he arrived there, he settled in a city called Nazareth.  So what was spoken through the prophets was fulfilled: “He will be called a Nazarene.” (EHV)

Trust the holy King kept safe in His Father’s care.

Dear brothers and sisters of the infant King,

            It is hard to read this text without being horrified by the account.  It struck me as I was studying it that if my parents had been living in Bethlehem at that time, all the children in our family could have been wiped out in an instant, for there was a time when all four siblings were two years old or younger.  It isn’t hard to imagine the horror that was inflicted upon young families as the little ones were destroyed to satisfy the paranoid, arrogant rage of a cruel, unmerciful tyrant.

Throughout the years, many have questioned, or even denied, the events of our text as too horrible to be believed, but the truth is every detail happened exactly as reported, and furthermore, everything about it had to happen exactly in the way that it did, so that we could implicitly and without question Trust the holy King kept safe in His Father’s care.

In this text, we see perhaps the greatest contrast between two kings ever witnessed.  The weaker of the two was a horrible, spiteful, jealous, bitter excuse of a man who had no qualms about murdering strangers and loved ones without regard to right or wrong.  Herod ruled exclusively by manipulative scheming with the power brokers of his day and by striking terror into any possible foe.  He was not long for the world and died a most horrible end leading to an eternity in hell.

On the other hand, we meet the King in whom all power and authority in the universe rests yet who needed to be rescued from the raging hatred of a weak and evil man.  Thus, many foolishly question why we should put our hope in this Child being rushed out of Judea for His safety.  Though the Child would outlive Herod, He would die much younger and in the most painful way imaginable, yet He lives and will never die again, and He reigns on the throne of heaven for you and me.  So from that, I expect you already understand why we Trust the holy King kept safe in His Father’s care.

Though Herod was perhaps one of the most evil men in history, we can also see a little of him in each of us.  Herod’s great fault and failure was in not trusting the God who created this world and everything in it.  Herod desired to control his own destiny and to have everything be exactly as he wished.  His actions were always self-centered.  Everything he did was to further only his own desires.  Yet, how often aren’t we also afflicted with these same sins and desires?

This is the reason Jesus was in the position He was in that fateful night—Jesus didn’t enter the world to further His own cause, but so that He could do His Father’s will in perfect submission, humility, and trust, living in pure holiness for people like you and me who so often fall short of trusting God and obeying His will for our lives, humbling Himself even for those who like Herod oppose Jesus in every way they can. 

All authority in heaven and earth was given to Christ Jesus.  As the only-begotten of God, Jesus had dwelled perfectly at home in the glories of heaven.  Yet, the Son of God left His home of glory to make Himself the humblest of children in a sin-damaged world.  We meet Jesus in this account because He was living the complete trust in His Father’s care for you and me.  To become our holiness, Jesus made Himself a helpless infant, but Jesus didn’t cry out in fear.  He didn’t use His almighty authority and power to save Himself from Herod.  Instead, Jesus trusted His Father’s will, and He trusted the man who was put in position to be Jesus’ earthly father and protector.

Like Jesus, we should submit to those God puts in authority over us, and like Joseph, we should submit to God’s will in loving and caring for those God gives us to provide and care for.  Like us, Joseph had his faults, I am sure, yet being a righteous man, he devoted Himself to loving Jesus.

The main thing we should learn from this event is the perfect humility and submission of Jesus on our behalf, but there is more for us to learn here.  Three times in this text, we are reminded that God’s prophecies were being completed.  Therefore, we should learn that God defends and keeps His Word down to the very tiniest detail.  Many might question why a wicked tyrant was driving the course of these events, but we are assured that even though this world is populated by wicked people intent on doing only their own evil deeds with no regard to God’s Word, God will not let one little promise of His Word be defeated.  Rather, God uses even the evil intent of His enemies to further His cause of saving the world from the devil’s rebellion.

Another thing we can learn is that being faithful to the God of all creation doesn’t guarantee peace here on earth.  Though the angels sang about peace on earth, that peace is between God and the human race, not between believers and those controlled by the devil.  The devil’s hoards, both demonic and human, will always appose God’s will and Word.  As Jesus later warned His disciples, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated me first.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, for that very reason the world hates you.  Remember the saying I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’  If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too.” (John 15:18-20) 

Now, that might not feel very comforting in the moment of trial, but we need to remember God’s end goal, which is not giving us perfect comfort on earth but eternal peace and glory in heaven.  For that, we should have every confidence, because there was not one detail missed in the heavenly Father’s care for Jesus or for our salvation.  Every prophecy and promise has been kept in Jesus.  Herod planned destruction; God provided the escape.  The whole family was provided for with the gifts brought to honor Jesus.  Egypt was an ideal location for safety for the Christ Child because though it was part of the Roman Empire, it was outside of Herod’s control.  Furthermore, God was showing the world that He never forgets even one detail of His Word or His loving care of His own.

From this text, we also learn that God intervenes in the world as He determines the need.  More than that, God intervenes with the means of grace He gives to protect us from the wickedness of Satan’s schemes.  Many people rightly shudder at the horridness of those little boys’ deaths.  At the same time, for the faithful among those families, they would have the comfort, even in their immense pain and grief, of knowing that in the rite of circumcision, God had claimed those children as His own, so that their physical deaths were not the end for their lives.

For you and me today, God provides Baptism as a means of grace by which He forgives sins, gives faith, and makes our children His own, so that even should the wicked schemes of some madman wrest a child from our loving arms, we have the assurance that the little one of faith cannot ever be taken from God’s loving embrace.  This Sunday has been celebrated throughout the history of the Church as the feast of the holy innocents.  Those little ones of Bethlehem were the first martyrs for Jesus—little ones entrusted to God’s care who died because the world hates God’s Son.  Yet, by God’s grace, we expect to meet them around the throne of our Savior praising Him for their salvation.

So, what should we take away from our worship service today?  First of all, take this truth: that Jesus lived in perfect submission and humility before His Father for you, that He trusted His heavenly Father perfectly so that you and I may be counted holy in God’s eyes for Jesus’ sake.  Trust also, that Jesus knows exactly every trouble and pain we might ever feel in this life, because He has already experienced the worst treatment evil men could dish out.

Second, take from this text God’s commitment to every word of His holy Scripture.  All the prophecies of the Bible are carried out in Jesus, always for our everlasting good, so that we can know without any doubt or worry that whoever believes and is baptized will be saved just as Jesus promised.  Furthermore, by that faith, we have life and just as Jesus rose from the grave to live and never die again, so also will we rise from the grave to dwell in peace and joy everlasting in heaven.

Finally, take from this text God’s loving care for His own dear children.  Nothing under the stars, or above them either, escapes God’s notice, and as Paul assured us in the letter to the Romans, “If God is for us, who can be against us?  Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him?” (Romans 8:31-32)

God the Father gave His Son into the world to rescue you and me from sin and death.  The Son, Jesus Christ, humbled Himself to be born of a woman and live in lowest estate, to endure poverty, persecution, pain, and ultimately even separation from God in our place, and death, so that the Holy Spirit could bring us everlasting life through faith in the Son who conquered the grave to live and never die again, who rules all things so that all of God’s elect will be saved.

Dear friends, there will be times when we will weep in this world.  Troubles may still come our way, even death, but Jesus lives, and because He lives, the victory is won for you and me.  We too will live in glory and peace when we Trust the holy King kept safe in His Father’s care.  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.