200503 Easter 4 Drive in Service

200503 Easter 4 Drive in Service (audio)

200503 Easter 4 Order of Service

Sermon Manuscript:

One of the words that Christians use in a special way is the word “world.” Those who are not familiar with Christ’s the apostles’ teachings might think that the globe, the planet earth, is being talked about with that word. That is not what is meant when the New Testament speaks about the “world.” What is meant by the word “world” has a lot to do with another special Christian word—the “flesh.” Here, too, those who are unfamiliar with Christian teaching might think of the butcher shop with such a word. But, again, that is not what Christians mean with the word “flesh.”

So let’s begin by better understanding the word “flesh” as it is used in the Bible. “Flesh” is the word that is used to talk about the way that all people are after the fall into sin. When Adam and Eve sinned against God it was no longer natural for them to do the will of God. Instead, they loved themselves above everything else. What they wanted out of life was to be as comfortable as possible. They did not want to work or have trouble or suffer. They wanted to minimize these things as much as they possibly could, and they wanted to maximize pleasure. The more pleasure the better. This often drags the flesh into gluttony, drunkenness, pornography, adultery, and many other excesses.

This is all contradictory to God’s will. It is God’s will that we should be content with what we have and to thank God for it. It is his will that we should love our neighbor and look out for him. We should help and support him in whatever needs he might have. We should help him to improve and protect his possessions and income. We should work, have trouble, and suffer—not so that we can get filthy stinking rich, but because it is helpful to those whom we are serving.

And so now, perhaps, we have an idea of what the flesh is and what it is after. The flesh is greedy, lazy, deceitful, hankering after pleasure, honor, glory, and power. With these things as the endpoints, the goalposts, in life, all our thoughts, words, and actions are directed towards attaining them. Our flesh acts as though we are going to live forever and so it tries to accumulate more and more. It acts as though we will never be judged, and so it has no scruples. Whatever it can get away with, it does. If no one is looking, then do it. This is what is meant by the word “flesh” in the New Testament.

What is meant by the word “world,” then, is the accumulation of all people’s flesh. The flesh’s goals and philosophies and ways of living are all included in the word “world.” As the accumulated wisdom of everybody’s flesh, you might say that the “world,” that is, its philosophy and way of life, is what comes naturally to people. People naturally understand looking out for themselves. They naturally understand that striving after honor, glory, and power is beneficial for a person’s quality of life. It is inconceivable to our flesh that any other way of living is even possible, because any other way of living is so impractical.

But it is actually the world that is impractical, for the world cannot go on forever. It will not go on forever. Something that Jesus points out about the people who lived at the time of Noah and at the time of Sodom and Gomorrah was that they assumed that things would keep going on the way they had been. The folks at those times were contentedly living their lives as each saw fit. None of them paid any mind to their Creator or to any kind of judgment. They thought things would go on like that forever—perhaps they believed that they were going to build a more wonderful and advanced world. But then judgment came.

A whole lot of people hope that there is no god. In fact, this is what comes naturally to our flesh as David points out in Psalm 14. People hope that there is no God so that they won’t be accountable for what they have done. But there is a God. And he does, indeed, judge, as every calamity and every disaster testifies to us, including the flood, and including our present troubled times.

It is an unpleasant experience to recognize that God is judging and punishing accordingly, for if you actually understand this, then you will be disturbed or even terrified. Who wants that? Nevertheless it is a very good thing for us. It is good to learn that the way of the flesh means death and, therefore, by God’s just judgment, eternal death in hell. Adam and Eve would have much rather continued to busy themselves in the garden with their fig leaf clothes and making a life for themselves. They didn’t want to hear God’s Word. With their bad consciences, they were terrified when they sensed that God was drawing near. But it was much better for them to have this happen than for them to continue on as they were. Why? Because God did not just have a word of judgment; he also had a word of hope. He had a word of promised redemption. They were not doomed to live forever stuck in a life of selfishness, murder, and adultery. The Christ would come and he would set things right.

And so he has. You know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers. You know that you were redeemed, that is, purchased, not with things that pass away, such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ—a Lamb without spot or blemish. In him, and in his resurrection, you have been born into a new way of life. With your first birth you were born into the flesh. With the second birth, being baptized into Christ, you have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, as Peter says.

And so in contrast to living according to the flesh, you now are enabled to walk according to the Spirit. The way of the Holy Spirit is God’s will for us. God’s will is that we should love him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Your sights are set above the horizon of this present world. As Peter says in our Epistle reading today, we are aliens and temporary residents in this world. This world of sin and injustice, misery and death, cannot go on forever and will not go on forever. We do not put our hope in any earthly thing. Our hope is in that world where our sinful flesh, together with every other evil thing, is put under Jesus’s feet once and for all. In heaven we will no longer be selfish, lazy, bloated, corrupt wretches. We will be filled with love from the top of our heads to the soles of our feet.

But we do not need to wait until we get to heaven to live this new life of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, we cannot continue to live according to the flesh if we hope to be saved. Do not let anybody deceive you. We cannot live according to the flesh all our lives and then, at the last moment, treat the Gospel like a get-out-of-hell-free card. It’s remarkable how people get what they want. Those who want to chew up and spit out their neighbor like a peach pit are going to end up in such a place where evil people will have each other to chew on. Those who burn with lust so as to take possession of that which is not theirs, will burn with lust and be taken possession of eternally. They’ll get what they want, but so will those who pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence and taken not they Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation and uphold me with Thy free spirit.” Those who pray for such things, will get what they want too. And this gift will be eternal.

But, again, we do not need to wait for heaven to live this new life of love. You may begin to love now by the gift of the Holy Spirit who has been given to you. You may live according to the Holy Spirit instead of according to the flesh. All the apostles urge his new life for us Christians. Their letters would be incomplete if they did not teach those who believe in Christ how to live a life that is pleasing to God. That is why they give instructions for Christians, depending on their calling in life, for how they should conduct themselves. Our epistle reading today is a portion of such a section of Peter’s letter. Peter tells us not to live for pleasure, to be obedient to those whom God has placed in authority over us, and specifically addresses how slaves are to interact with their masters.

There is a lot of worthy instruction that we could do with what Peter tells us, but with the time that we have remaining today I’d like to hone in on one thing in particular. I think it illustrates especially well the difference between the way of the flesh and the philosophies of the world vs. the sanctification of our lives that takes place in us by the Holy Spirit.

It has to do with what Peter says to those Christians who happen to be slaves. Now there is no reason for us not to simply translate what Peter says to terms that are more familiar to us, so that is what I’ll do. I use the terms employee and employer instead of slaves and masters.

So Peter says, “Employees: submit to your employers with total respect, not only to those who are good and kind, but also to those who are harsh. For this is favorable: if a person endures sorrows while suffering unjustly because he is conscious of God.”

Such thinking, such humble actions, are totally foreign to our flesh, as I think all of us can immediately recognize. The flesh is only interested in those good works that are handsomely rewarded (if nothing else than) by praise and recognition. But what about this little good work that Peter speaks of here? You are not going to get on the six o’clock news for cheerfully doing what your boss tells you to do. Nobody notices things like that. Perhaps even your boss wouldn’t recognize your cheerful obedience, so how could anybody else know about it? No monuments or statues are put up to memorialize such actions. You won’t get a building named after you at some university someplace. But it is especially these kinds of good works that Christ’s apostles urge upon us Christians in our new life in Jesus’s resurrection.

How different this is from the world! The world falls over themselves in praising rich philanthropists and other famous do-gooders. They have no time for little people or little acts of kindness. But while it is probably the case that other people do not notice the little things that you do in your callings and stations in life, God certainly sees such things. You might not have your praise from men now, but it is much better to have your praise from God if he should say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.” It is much better to receive praise from God, because he knows what he is talking about—something that you won’t find with the praise of men. Men are always looking for the best bang for their buck in the good works that they do. Christians, on the other hand, love so that they can love some more. Having loved some more, they love yet still more.

Therefore we have something very practical for you Christians with Peter’s words here. Do you want to be a Christian? Do you want to live a new life of love instead of your old life of selfishness? Then listen to your boss and cheerfully do what you are told. Don’t do this just for those who are reasonable and lavish praise upon you, but also for those who are cranky and harsh.

But I know that a lot of you are retired, so what about you? You also have the opportunity to love, right in front of your noses. Break those old habits of bickering with your spouse, annoying one another. Slough off whatever mean things are said or done to you and think about how you can do good for them. Wives, submit to your husbands. Husbands, honor and cherish your wives and be patient with them.

Or take children: theirs is right in from of their noses too. The golden work for children to do is to honor their father and mother. Again, this is totally unimpressive to the flesh and to the world. They make disobedience to those who are in authority into a sign of independence and manhood. But they are fools and liars. Children, make it your goal for your parents to be glad that you are their child. Gladly serve and obey them. God attaches a special promise to the fourth commandment: if you honor your father and your mother it will go well with you, and you will enjoy long life on the earth.

All people, regardless of age or station in life, have people right in front of their noses that they can love and work and suffer for. This work that the world sneers at as servile is actually royal, noble work, for you are following in the steps of your master, your king. Jesus loved. His was a good life. You, likewise, will live a good life by loving those whom God has placed into your path.

200426 Easter 3 Drive in Service

200426 Easter 3 Drive in Service audio

200426 Easter 3 Order of Service

Sermon Manuscript:

There are a lot of different voices that say, “Follow me!” Your financial adviser says, “Follow me; I’ll make you a lot of money.” Your professor says, “Follow me; I’ll lead you out of the darkness of superstition into the light of reason.” Your doctor says, “Follow me; I’ll make you healthy.” Your political candidate says, “Follow me; I’ll lead you into a better future.”

There are a lot of such voices, and they do not all agree. One financial adviser says, “sell;” another says, “buy.” One professor says “study humanities,” another professor says, “humanities are a waste of time. You should study the STEM subjects.” One doctor says this medicine will work, another says it won’t. And as for the politicians, they talk as though they are worlds apart, but they all seem to be in the rich people’s pockets.

This multitude of voices, all saying, “Follow me!” is part of the human condition. It goes all the way back to the earliest days of creation. Adam and Eve had heard a definite, “Follow me,” but they followed someone else instead. Adam and Eve’s descendants followed different voices. Their sons Abel and Seth followed in the paths of their parents, but Cain and his descendants did not. When you read this very early history of mankind in Genesis chapter 4, you find out that although Cain was a murderer and a vagabond, his descendants were great innovators. They discovered many things about agriculture, metallurgy. They were the first artists and musicians.

Adam and Eve’s son, Seth, was born after Cain murdered his brother Abel. When Moses describes Seth and his descendants you don’t hear anything about innovations. All that you hear about them is that they called on the Name of the Lord. That means that they were preoccupied with what God had said to Adam, and they prayed, praised, and gave thanks.

Whereas the family line of Cain culminates in Lamech bragging about how he has two wives instead of one, and that he would kick anybody’s butt who tried to stand up against him, the family line of Seth has its highpoint in Enoch. Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God. Then, Enoch was not there, for God took him. Enoch is one of the very few people who have been taken into heaven, body and soul, without experiencing the bitterness of death. What a contrast you see between these two! Lamech was a mover and a shaker. Nobody was going to tell him what’s what. Enoch’s outstanding feature was that he walked with God. God said to him, “Follow me,” and Enoch followed, until he was no more, for God took him.

It is interesting that Moses wrote what he did about this earliest of all histories. In a sermon a while back I talked to you about how surprisingly honest the Scriptures are about the many embarrassing and shameful things that it records. There is no effort to clean up the family history. If anything, it seems that the Scriptures are determined to boast about the weaknesses of the people of God, for when we are weak, then we are strong. Same thing here. Moses lists the accomplishments and mountains of glory that Cain’s descendants were able to climb. At the least you might think that Moses should edit that out and be silent about it, but he doesn’t. Cain’s descendants were richer, smarter, and better looking than Seth’s descendants. The voices that Cain’s descendants listened to seemed to offer much better prospects for advancement and happiness and practicality than the Sethites’ “calling on the name of the Lord.”

Here’s the thing, though: God’s people have never been at home in the business of salesmanship or propaganda. So much that passes for salesmanship and propaganda is lying and manipulation. The commercials that you see on TV lie to you and manipulate you. They tell you that if you follow them, and buy their product, you will be rich or beautiful or smart or whatever else. That is to say, if you follow them you will be happy. That is to say, if you follow them, you will be blessed—for that is the old fashioned word for “happiness.” God’s people have never had any business trying to shoehorn people into calling on the name of the Lord. Instead, there is to be open testimony to the truth. And this testimony doesn’t always produce faith. Paul openly admits this. He says that the word of Jesus’s cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. The Cainites are so busy feathering their own nests, following this technique and that technique. They know what’s what, but they can’t understand how somebody dying on a cross helps anybody.

This distain for the usefulness of the Gospel is apparent in our times. In the light of the plague that has befallen us there is a lot of talk about what is “essential.” For many people—even most people—hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd is about as essential as a Lion’s club meeting or a support group. It is thought to have no power. Where the real power is supposed to be located is the in press conferences and scientific studies. These things have their place, just like your doctor’s advice for how to stay healthy, but Jesus’s call to follow him, to call on the name of the Lord, is above and beyond all other promises of happiness, of blessedness.

How so? Jesus tells us: “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. All these other voices and leaders will quit when it is no longer advantageous to themselves. They refuse to suffer for the good of anybody besides themselves. Not so with me. I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay my life down for the sheep.”

Jesus, the Son of God, was under no compulsion to suffer and die under the wrath of God for the sins of the world. It wasn’t like he was trapped in a bad situation with no way out. He could have called down legions of angels to fight for him, but it was by his death that we poor sinners are set free from the curse of the Law that calls for our death. It was by Jesus’s resurrection that a happy life together with the Creator of the universe was promised for us, for atonement has been made for sin. This is the promise made all the way back in the Garden when God said that he would send his Son, born of the woman, born under the Law, to redeem us who are under the Law, so that we would receive adoption as sons. The serpent’s head was crushed by Jesus on the cross.and we were set free from our bondage to him to become children of God.

Therefore, Jesus says, “Follow me, and you will be blessed. Follow me, and you will make your way through the wilderness of this world to the promised land of your inheritance that is flowing with milk and honey.” Your relationship with your God and your Creator is much more important than what is offered to you from all the other voices that are telling you to follow them. When this Shepherd knows you and you know this Shepherd, then even if you should walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you need not fear any evil, for he is with you. His rod and his staff comfort you. So if you are able to walk through the valley of the shadow of death together with this Good Shepherd, then what are all these other trials and tribulations in comparison to that? What is the loss of wealth or health, if, in his good time, all things are set right by his almighty power? Walk with God. Take up your cross and follow him. In time you will find that you have walked in the way that Enoch trod.

What shall we say, then, about all these other voices? What shall we say about the concerns of agriculture, metallurgy, the arts and sciences? Does following the voice of the Good Shepherd not allow us to handle or touch such things? One group of Christians who takes a stand like that are the Amish. They have separated themselves by placing limits on what is godly to pursue or not pursue. While it seems as though this should make them immune from the idolatry of believing that we can fix everything ourselves, I’m not so sure that that is how it turns out in practice. The source of unbelief, the source of idolatry, is not in anything material. It comes from the devil and resides in the hearts and minds of sinners. God has not given us any commandments that say we can’t pursue agriculture, metallurgy, arts, and sciences. We should not make laws where God has not made laws.

That being said, it is important for us to notice the difference between the descendants of Cain and the descendants of Seth. The descendants of Cain were living only for this world. They poured their heart and soul into being the most glorious creatures that they could make of themselves. They wanted with all their heart to be rich and famous. They were seeking after a kind of immortality, but not an immortality that is life together with their Creator God. The immortality that they were seeking after was to be remembered fondly by their descendants, to have their life celebrated, and, for the most ambitious among them, to be written into the history books.

The descendants of Seth were not totally different from the descendants of Cain. They also had to make their way through this world. They had to sew and reap and gather into barns. They were married and being given in marriage. They bought and sold and fixed problems. But they did not have the same perspective. They did not look at the things of this world or their own glory and success as the most important things. They valued calling on the name of the Lord as their highest ambition. They were more eager to please God than they were to make a buck. They knew that their time on this earth was temporary. They saw themselves as strangers here; heaven was their home.

This should be our perspective too. We should think of ourselves as though we are living in a hotel instead of a permanent home. You stay in a hotel for some time, but when it’s time to check out, your heart isn’t wrapped up in the hotel room. You don’t weep when you have to check out. That is how we should be in this world. Our heart should not be wrapped up in glory or progress or any of the false gods that promise us blessing. Our hearts should be wrapped up in our Creator God. He has redeemed us to set us free from all the evil that so mercilessly afflicts us in this life. Not only will we be set free from getting old, from disasters, from diseases, from disappointments; we will also be set free from our own evil hearts and minds. Instead, we will be filled with love for God and for our neighbor. There is so much in us that is dreadfully unattractive and evil. We are being set free from that to follow the pattern set by our Lord Jesus.

It is a tragedy, a very deep tragedy, when people are taken in by the voices that promise them blessing to the exclusion of the voice of our Good Shepherd. The voices of the false gods are judgmental and harsh and demanding. They require every fiber of your being in order to achieve success. And what are you left with in the end? Even if you should end up becoming the best athlete, the richest businessman, the famous actor or actress, the powerful politician—what are you left with after following these voices with all your heart? You end up moldering in a grave somewhere, which is bad enough. What’s worse is that by unbelief you will be alienated from God—his enemy, because you did not believe in the only begotten Son whom he has sent.

The Good Shepherd is different. Instead of you serving him, he serves you. He leads you into good pasture and peaceful waters. He calms you. He gives you a place in the house of the Lord forever by laying down his life for you.

Jesus is a good God. Follow him, and you will be blessed forever.

200419 Easter 2 Drive in Service

200419 Easter 2 Drive in Service audio

200419 Easter 2 Order of Service

Sermon Manuscript:

When Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning he appeared to several disciples in different places, as you yourself can read about in the last chapters of the Gospels. Our Gospel reading today tells us what happened on the evening of Easter Day as well as a week later with Thomas. On the evening of Easter Day his disciples were in lockdown in an upper room of a house, fearing the Jews. Locked doors are no problem for Jesus with his glorified body. He appeared, showed them his hands and his feet, and said, “Peace be with you.” That is what is meant when we say, “God bless you.” When we say, “God bless you,” we are saying, “May God make it so that things go well for you today.”

So when Jesus said, “Peace be with you,” he was saying, “Let your hearts be at rest, for things are set right. Look at my hands and my feet. Although I died in agony with big fat nails stuck through my limbs, I am dead no longer. I am the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

These are kind and generous words to these disciples who have not been very faithful or admirable. Jesus does not say, “What’s wrong with you?” or “Shame on you.” He says, “Everything is going to be fine. The bloody cross has made it so—just look at my hands and my feet. I did this for you—for your blessing.”

Then we have some words that are very important for understanding the nature of the Gospel ministry and the Christian Church that is created by that ministry. If you want to know who Christians are and what they do, then this is one of the best places to go.

Jesus said, “Just as the Father has sent me, I am also sending you.” After saying this he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whenever you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus says he is sending the apostles. The word “apostle” means “one who is sent.” Jesus was sent from the Father to do and make known the Father’s will, so also these apostles were sent out by Jesus. When the apostles went out they did not preach their own will, their own ideas. They were sent out with a particular mission. They were to forgive the sins of those who repent. They were to bind the sins of those who do not repent. In this way the will of the Father that is accomplished in the Son finds its home in the hearts of those who believe by the power of the Holy Spirit. The will of the Father is that we should be set free from our slavery to sin, death, and the devil and become his beloved children by being baptized into Christ his only Son.

You and I and all Christians are creations of this Gospel ministry that was set in motion by Jesus’s sending of the apostles. The lineage of our Christian faith passes through the generations all the way back to these apostles. There is a genealogy. For these apostles went out and preached. Some of those who heard them believed. From among those who heard and believed, God raised up fathers and mothers who taught their children, witnesses and martyrs who prevailed against the devil’s and the world’s attacks, pastors and teachers who preached the Word. They corrected, rebuked, and encouraged with great patience and careful instruction. Through these people, who made known the will of our Triune God, some more people heard and believed. So on and so forth, it has gone down through the ages until this very day.

Christians are made through the preaching of the Gospel. The Gospel is not just preached through preachers, or pastors, but by all who make known the will of God toward us poor, miserable sinners. When Christian fathers and mothers preach to their children, their words are certainly not less efficacious than a pastor’s preaching—so long as they are not making things up out of their own head, but are faithfully making known the will of God that is given to us in the Scriptures, that has its fulfillment in the great, saving deeds of our Lord Jesus Christ. As long as folks speak of the words and deeds of our great God and Savior, then that Word will go to work in those who hear it.

There is no greater kindness that we can do for our children than to bring them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. There is no greater kindness that we can do for all the people we love, than to speak to them about the wages of sin being death, but the gift of God being eternal life in Christ Jesus. Even if we were able to make our children into the smartest, most honorable, most glorious people on earth by training them and sending them to the right schools, and so on, what difference does all that make if they are not trained in the righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ that enables us to escape death and hell? Hell is plump full of people who were glorious and happy in this life, but who had no regard for the preaching of Christ’s disciples. “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but to lose his soul?” Jesus asks.

The Gospel ministry that all Christians participate in is the salt of the earth that preserves it from rotting and decaying. The devil would like nothing more than that all people are corrupted and rot, both while they live as well as eternally in the grave and in hell. Christ’s resurrection from the dead, that all Christians believe in, and therefore receive, is what fights against his foul delight in all that is putrid and gross. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in him will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in him will never die. Such a believer in Christ passes through the door of death and enters into eternal life with God.

So if the Gospel ministry belongs to all Christians, then what about pastors? How do pastors fit in with all of this if Christians already have the preaching of the Gospel? This question has troubled the Lutheran Church for 200 years. This is unfortunate for a couple of reasons.

First, when something is controversial among Christians it is only natural for people to assume that the matter is unclear in the Bible. If something is unclear, then it doesn’t seem like a worthy topic to spend a person’s time on—unless that happens to be a hobby of theirs. It makes it seem unimportant.

Second, when something is controversial you end up getting a huge body of literature about it. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry writes a book about it, and so it becomes a massive task to sort out what all these people say and don’t say. This makes the task seem impossible.

The result of all this? People don’t talk about it. That’s unfortunate, because who pastors are and what they do  isn’t as unclear as people think it is. There is also a lot of practical importance in understanding what God is doing through the Gospel ministry in general and what pastors do in particular. So although I certainly won’t get into the ins and outs of the 200 year old debate with you, I’d still like to speak with you about it.

A Bible passage that I think is especially helpful in understanding what pastors are is Ephesians chapter 4. There Paul speaks about how when Christ ascended into heaven he gave gifts to his dear Christian disciples. Paul says, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Paul lists the gifts that Jesus gave: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. What is the nature of these gifts? What do they do? How are they helpful? We heard that in our Gospel reading today. They have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. They forgive the sins of those who are sorry for their sins, and they tell those who are not sorry for their sins that they are not forgiven. This Gospel ministry is something that all people can and should do, whenever the opportunity arises, but Christ also gives us the gift of pastors to help us. So how should we regard pastors? They are gifts of God.

Now I am sensitive to how this probably sounds. It sounds like the pastor is saying that he’s a gift of God—what a proud thing to say about himself! But that is not how I see it. When I consider myself I see many sins and weaknesses that not only hamper me personally, but even hamper my work as a pastor. So I do not see Michael Holmen as the gift of God to you, I see the fact that you have a pastor to preach, teach, and administer the Sacraments to you as the gift from God that is given for your benefit.

In this way, also, the apostles were gifts of God to the people to whom they were sent. They were a light shining in a dark place—not because of some outstanding quality they had as Peter, Bartholomew, or Matthias, but with the Gospel of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ that they were given to make known. Through them God spoke, and when and where it pleased the Holy Spirit, people where converted to faith in Christ. Likewise, through your pastor God speaks (so long as he speaks according to the Scriptures and not according to his own thoughts). When and where it pleases the Holy Spirit, people are converted to faith in Christ.

This is not said to glorify apostles or pastors. Apostles and pastors should regard themselves as unworthy servants, and when they start to think more of themselves than they ought, then trouble is at hand, as the Gospels clearly show us. What I’ve said is not meant to glorify apostles and pastors, but to glory the grace of God.

I can give thanks to God also, for I am just as much a beneficiary of his grace as you are: I have been blessed with someone who baptized me. I’ve been blessed by someone who catechized me. I’ve been blessed with wonderful teachers in the seminary who opened up the Scriptures for me. I’ve been blessed with pastors who have given the Sacrament of the Altar to me. Without these gifts that have come to me through the various men who have been pastors in my life, where would my faith be? Would I repent of my sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? I am dependent upon the same Gospel that I have been tasked with delivering to you. It is still necessary that the Gospel ministry continue to expose my sin, make me fear God, and take refuge in the cross of Jesus Christ.

So it is also with you. I have not been your only pastor. By sending you the gift of pastors, ministers of the Gospel, Jesus has given you the Holy Spirit and made you heirs of eternal life. This is not in opposition to the good Gospel work that has been given to you through Christian fathers, mothers, siblings, friends, and so on. It is not in opposition to these gifts, but a gift on top of other gifts. It is similar to the gifts of God’s forgiveness. Baptism forgives sins. The Lord’s Supper forgives sin. These things are not in opposition to each other. They are both directed towards the same thing.

So it is also with all who testify to the saving power of Jesus’s blood. The more gifts there are in this regard the better. The more people there are testifying to Jesus the Savior, the more Satan’s evil designs of death and corruption are smashed and destroyed. Thank God for the gifts God has given to you. Thank God for your Christian spouses, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, fellow congregation members, and pastors that God has given to you through the years. They have done more good for you than you are aware of.

They come from God, and it is good to give him thanks for them, for our Gospel reading today shows us that it is through the preaching of the Gospel that sinners are saved from what they deserve for their sins. Do your part, and thereby become this gift of God to others, by telling people the truth about life. Make them fear God as sinners who have offended him, then tell them the good news that Jesus has atoned for sinners by his holy precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. In this way Satan is beat down under our feet. But where the Word of the Gospel is not at work, there you have the devil’s kingdom, and he will surely take his prey. We are not playing games here. Therefore, do your part! The Lord will help you. Just ask him.

200412 Easter Drive in Service

200412 Easter Drive in Service audio

200412 Easter Order of Service

Sermon manuscript:

There is a lot of peace that can be gained from the thought that everything is going to go back to normal. It is encouraging when we think of that time when we will no longer need to meet in cars or listen to sermons on our computer. It will be nice when we can go sit down in a restaurant somewhere or go to the golf course. But maybe what will be nicest of all is when we won’t have to worry about getting sick. We’ve had this trouble of this disease come upon us. We will all have a greater peace of mind when the trouble is taken away from us.

The peace that comes from troubles being taken away from us is a peace that everybody immediately understands. We’ve understood since we were babies. When we had the trouble of being hungry we let Mom know about it. When we were filled up with milk, we had peace. When we stubbed our toe and it throbbed painfully, we had peace when the pain went away. When we have trouble we are not at peace. When the trouble goes away, we have peace.

Now let’s apply this thinking to Easter morning. To call what had been going on “trouble,” is such an understatement that it is almost farcical. Jesus did not just have “trouble.” He lost his reputation and his dignity. People treated him as though he were a fool. He was beaten and whipped and spit upon. All his friends left him. Peter denied him three times. Nails were pounded through his hands and his feet and his body was suspended from these nails until he could no longer breathe. His heart gave out, and he hanged limply upon the cross, dead. To make sure that he was really dead the soldiers callously thrust a spear into his side, further mutilating his beaten and scarred body. Just before sunset on Good Friday he was placed into a cold dark grave.

That was a heap of trouble for Jesus personally, but this also extended to his disciples. His disciples loved him tremendously, and so to hear of the terrible things that happened to him was dreadfully painful. And he had died. There is a special kind of sadness that comes from young people dying. Jesus was in the prime of his life—around 30 years old. But, more than that, Jesus was so good and loveable. The disciples adored him. Now he was so suddenly and violently dead.

But there’s more. The disciples did not think that Jesus was just an ordinary man. They believed that he was the Christ who was promised to come according to the Old Testament Scriptures. They believed that he was by all rights in heaven and on earth the king of the Jews. The twelve apostles had left their livelihoods behind to be his students. They had preached and urged others to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that through that faith, they would be blessed by his rulership. According to their way of thinking about how Jesus should be the Christ, Jesus’s death meant was all over and done with. How can someone who is dead be king? You can’t prop his corpse up on a throne, can you?

And so all of Jesus’s disciples had a heap of troubles too as they all entered into that Easter morning. All of their most pressing troubles came from the fact that Jesus was dead. So according to the logic that we’ve looked at this morning, with the removal of these heaps and heaps of troubles that comes with Jesus being resurrected—no longer dead—Jesus’s disciples should have had peace—tons and tons of peace. So my question to you is, “Where’s the peace?” The angel told these women the good news: They should not be alarmed. Jesus, who was crucified, is risen. That’s why he isn’t there. He lives and is out and about. That’s why he’s not lying there as the women expected him to be.

You’d think that after hearing how all their troubles have ended that they would go out from the tomb leaping and skipping for joy—peace having taken complete possession of their hearts. But what Mark says is that they bolted for the door and got out of there as quickly as they could. A shiver was running down their spine. They were shaking and bewildered. They didn’t say anything to anyone because they were afraid. How’s that for peace? And these women’s reaction was by no means limited to them. All who heard it, all who realized the truth of it, were shaken and bewildered. They couldn’t make heads or tails of it. By no means was the reaction of the disciples like, “Whew, I’m glad everything turned out all right in the end.” No, there were shivers and their stomachs were doing flip flops.

So what is going on here? We’ve already got the answer with the logic that we’ve discussed. The reason why they are not at peace is that life was not going to go back to “normal” ever again! They perceived immediately that something new was here. They were swept up to a higher plane of life. Life was no longer about dollars and cents, viruses and vaccines, plugging along with tomorrow hopefully being a little better than today. All this stuff is only dealing with the various elements of creation. What the disciples were realizing; what was new, was that they were dealing with the Creator. In their dealings with this Creator they were even tied up with the necessity of human sacrifice, for that is what Jesus did—but of course it was not just the sacrifice of an ordinary man, but a sinless man, and not just a sinless man, but a man who also is God’s own Son.

Meeting God, having to come to grips with the necessity of Jesus dying in your place—these things are far from what people consider normal, daily life. The Gospel is not like horse tranquilizer, meant to deaden the pain by putting you into a stupor. The Gospel says that there is a life that is higher and more exciting where we are not just dealing with God’s creation, but with God himself.

There’s an old way of talking about death that has almost completely disappeared from our people’s consciousness. It used to be said much more frequently that when a person died, he met his Maker. When he met his Maker, he would be judged. One possibility, when he was judged, was that there was something even worse than temporal death—an eternal death—punishment for a life ill lived. This fork in the road is what we all deserve to receive because of our sins.

The other possibility was life together with a holy and all powerful God. Frankly, this way of life is a complete impossibility for us, for sinners do not belong together with a holy God. Sinners belong with the devil. But the reason why Jesus came is to redeem us from the devil, and to open for us the way to everlasting life. Jesus indeed did this by living a perfect and holy life in our place, fulfilling the Law, and also suffering and dying as punishment for the sin that we have committed.

Either way—whether you are talking about going to hell or about going to heaven—either way you most certainly are not dealing with something boring, or even “normal” or “peaceful” in the way that we commonly use those words.

Contrast this with the way that our people have come to talk about what happens when you die. There’s no meeting of your Maker. There is no judgment. There is no hell. Neither is there really a heaven. People will use the word “heaven,” but what they mean by that is that everything will go back to normal. If you were sick or sad or whatever, when you die that will all go back to normal. Heaven, in the popular imagination, is a place where you greet loved ones who have died before you. It is where you get to farm if you really like farming, or ride horses if you really liked horses. In the way that people talk about heaven all the focus is on created things, the removal of troubles, of getting things back to normal. Therefore, it is also peaceful. Because this vision is so comforting, and it goes down smooth, and gives you a good buzz, most folks greatly prefer this tranquil, soothing talk to the heart-pounding thought of being before God’s all-knowing presence.

This is a great tragedy. It is so heinous that I have to think that it comes from the father of lies himself. And here’s why: The message of Easter is such good news. There is no reason to be scared away from it. It is God’s offer and bestowal of grace that is so gracious we have a hard time believing that it is true. When Jesus rose triumphant on Easter morning, having atoned for the sins of the whole world, did he say, “I’m only going to give this hard won redemption to a few? Did he say that he would only give it to people who are good enough to deserve it? Heavens no! He says it is for you and for your children; for those who are far off and for those who are near. There isn’t a single sinner whose sins were not atoned for by Jesus’s blood, and so there isn’t a single person who cannot take hold of the forgiveness of sins  and eternal life that Jesus says to you today: “Here. This is for you.” There isn’t a single person who cannot become a child of God by being baptized into Christ. All people—everyone who believes—can walk through the door of death, meet their Maker, and be graciously received for Jesus’s sake into eternal life with the awesome and holy God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

With Easter we are given peace, but it is not the peace that the world gives. The world’s peace says that you don’t have to worry about God. There probably isn’t a God anyway. Just make sure to keep the good times rolling. Keep checking off the things on your bucket list. Seize the day by grabbing this experience and indulging in that pleasure. In this way it would have you deal with created things, with trinkets, rather than coming to grips with God himself who has created you. It is to the devil’s advantage to keep you preoccupied with trinkets. He says that you can always play with the trinkets—even eternally: “If you like horses, then you get to ride horses in heaven.” But this is a lie. There are only two ways when it comes to the afterlife and both of them deal very intimately with God rather than with created trinkets. Either we will get what we deserve in hell or we will get what we don’t deserve through Jesus.

Easter, indeed, gives peace. It is peace with a capital P. But it is not like horse tranquilizer that puts people to sleep. The peace that Easter gives is enlivening. Jesus says that he came so that people may have life and have it to the full. The peace of Easter is that God has taken your side, and God is a good guy to have on your side. All powers and principalities must submit to God. You are not dependent upon having trouble taken away from you to be happy and blessed. Even such a severe trouble as an incurable disease or death itself must submit because God has taken your side and worked your salvation through Jesus’s death and resurrection. Though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you shall fear no evil, for God is for you. If you die today, then tomorrow you will be resurrected from the dead when Jesus comes at the end of the world.

It’s not surprising that the disciples had a shiver go up their spine on Easter. It’s not unusual that they trembled, and, in a sense, were afraid. We all are so accustomed to a worldly peace. We are all accustomed to relying upon the things of this creation being predictable and eventually returning to normal if given enough time. We are not accustomed to being drawn up so intimately to God’s own bosom and invited to trust in him for our help in everything and anything that comes our way. But just because it is new, and not normal, doesn’t mean that it is good.

Remember: God’s peace is not like being in a coma. God’s peace is having him as your powerful friend who’s going to fight and conquer all your enemies including sin, death, and the devil. You know that your Redeemer lives. He is your friend. All your enemies better watch out!

200410 Good Friday Drive in Service

200410 Good Friday Drive in Service (audio)

200410 Good Friday Order of Service (bulletin)

Sermon Manuscript:

I’d like to speak with you tonight about the events leading up to the crucifixion during Holy Week. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday. 500 years before Holy Week the prophet Zechariah said, “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! Look! Your King is coming to you. He is righteous and brings salvation. He is humble and is riding on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey.” We heard this prophesy being fulfilled on Palm Sunday. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey the people were shouting and rejoicing. They said, “Hosanna,” which means, “please, save us.” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.”

This did not make everyone in Jerusalem happy, though. Most of the church officials in Jerusalem thought that Jesus was a false teacher—a Sabbath breaker. “How could someone who heals on the Sabbath be anything but evil?” they wondered. Since they were so certain that Jesus was no good, it was extremely galling to them that he was so popular. The stupid people who hadn’t read the right books were latching on to Jesus and asking him to save them. They were calling him “the anointed,” or “the Christ.” They were calling him the King.

This was troubling to the Jewish authorities. The Romans were the occupying power over the Jews at that time. If they heard about this king idea, then there was going to be trouble. The church officials always had to walk a fine line. They had to be subservient to the Romans on the one hand, but appear independent and orthodox to the Jewish faithful on the other. If the people go after Jesus as the king, then this throws their whole well-choreographed scheme into chaos. Who knows what might happen? But it probably wouldn’t be good for them. They had to neutralize Jesus as the rising leader of the Jewish people.

This is what they try to do. The first couple days after Palm Sunday they send their best debaters after Jesus. They ask him tough question after tough question. They tried to trap Jesus into saying something wrong. This doesn’t work. Instead of Jesus looking like a fool, they were looking like fools. It got to the point where they didn’t dare ask him any more questions.

I think Jesus’s disciples thought that this was great fun. It’s always good to be a part of the winning team, and Jesus was winning. It’s also nice to be part of the inner circle of somebody who is powerful, and, to be sure, Jesus’s star was rising.

But Jesus’s mindset was different than his disciples. While his disciples are thinking about kingdom building and greatness, Jesus has his eye toward the end of the world. It is during the first part of this Holy Week that we get Jesus’s great teachings about the end of the world. At the end of the Church Year, when we consider the prophesies about the end of the world, our Gospel readings come from what Jesus says on Holy Week.

The fact that Jesus and his disciples are not on the same page explains several things that happen. It explains why the disciples were arguing among themselves over who among them was the greatest when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. It explains why Peter took out his sword and was prepared to fight when Jesus was arrested. Instead of praising Peter for this bold act Jesus told Peter to knock it off. The story line that the disciples had of going from one triumph to another did not include Jesus being arrested—or at least not peaceably going along with it. It is shameful when someone gets arrested. Even if the person is innocent, it is still highly embarrassing, for most people think, “the guy must have done something wrong, otherwise they wouldn’t have arrested him.”

And so it came to pass that in spite of all the disciples’ bravado; in spite of all their bragging about being willing to die rather than forsake Jesus; when the Shepherd was struck the sheep were scattered. They all took to the hills. I think if Jesus would have followed the disciples’ plans and called them to arms, they might have stuck with him to the end. But they couldn’t understand why Jesus was allowing himself to be taken into custody by the very same powers whom he had shamed earlier in the week when they tried to entrap him. Jesus was supposed to be a king, not a criminal. Jesus was supposed to be a winner; here he is, forfeiting the match. A great reversal was taking place. Jesus had the power, but he wasn’t using it.

According to Jesus’s enemies, this was a good development. They couldn’t face Jesus openly without being put to shame, and so they conspired to deal with him in the dead of night. The Gospels don’t give us any exact time markers, but we know that it was sometime in the night when they arrested Jesus. By daybreak on Friday the Jewish authorities had already decided that Jesus was guilty of blasphemy and deserved to die. Maybe they arrested Jesus at midnight? Maybe at three in the morning? Who conducts official business at such hours? People who are up to no good—that’s who. People who can’t stand the scrutiny that comes with the light of day. Before the general population could even know that Jesus had been arrested, he was already found guilty. They got him before Pontius Pilate as quick as they could so that they could get him nailed to a cross before anybody could do anything about it.

The first thing that Pontius Pilate asks Jesus is, “So you’re the king of the Jews are you?” Jesus sure didn’t look like the king of the Jews to him. Pontius Pilate is a scoffing Gentile. He thinks Jesus is delusional. He’s annoyed that the Jewish authorities are making him have to deal with such a silly matter. He’d like them to see how petty they are being. Therefore, he has Jesus beaten up—if nothing else, this is his comeuppance for being so cheeky. Jesus, bruised and bloodied, covered in spit, was then dressed up like a king. A crown of thorns was put on his head. A purple robe is put on him. They give him a reed for a scepter. Pilate brings him before the Jewish authorities and says, “Behold the man,” as though to say, “Why are you envious of this fool? He obviously is no king.”

But the Jews won’t have it. They had already committed themselves to be rid of Jesus. They had gone this far. They were going to see this through. They were already prepared to neutralize any second guessing. They thought Pilate might be reluctant to crucify Jesus, so they made sure that everyone would call for Barabbas to be released instead of Jesus. Overall they were given one thing to say over and over again, no matter what Pilate might say, “Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him!”

Pilate had no time for this nonsense. He wasn’t getting anywhere, and he didn’t really care about Jesus—whether he was innocent or not. He had roads to build and taxes to collect. To be rid of the matter he gave the order for Jesus to be crucified. “Hand a sign over the cross,” he said, “Have it read, ‘Jesus, king of the Jews.’ No, better yet, have it read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth (what a ridiculous place for a king to be from!); Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews.’”

The joke about Jesus being the king of the Jews continued all the way through the crucifixion. This is what the other fellow who was being crucified said to Jesus, “If you are really the king of the Jews, then help us get down from these miserable crosses.” The people who passed by the crosses said, “If you are really the king of the Jews, then come down from that cross. Give us a sign. Then we’ll believe in you!” But this was no honest request. They weren’t waiting to see whether Jesus could do it or not. They knew those nails sunk through the limbs of his body and deep into the wood would keep Jesus firmly affixed to that cross. They were making fun of him.

Throughout our narrative tonight we have not talked about the way Jesus responds to all these shameful things that happen to him. He is noble. He does not weep or beg them to spare his life. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter he opens not his mouth.

The Lamb goes uncomplaining forth, the guilt of sinners bearing. And laden with the sins of the earth, none else the burden sharing. Goes patient on, grows weak and faint. To slaughter led without complaint, that spotless life to offer. He bears the stripes, the wounds, the lies, the mockery, and yet replies, “All this I gladly suffer.”

Jesus is meek and kind. Having loved his disciples he loved them to the end. While he is suffering in anguish he sees his mother and is concerned for her. He tells John to take care of her. A sword was passing through her soul, for no mother has ever loved her son like Mary loved her sinless Jesus.

Finally, having done all things well, Jesus said, “It is finished.” His head slumped. His body became limp, his color became pale. He had died.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a church official or two who also at the moment said, “It is finished.” They had gotten rid of this thorn in their side. They had to get their hands dirty to do it, but now it’s done and peace would return to the church.

And, you know, all of these people would have been right if Jesus did not rise from the dead. The disciples would have been right to have abandoned him. The Jews would have been right in calling him a blasphemer. Pilate would have been right in thinking he was crazy. The crowds and the soldiers would have been right in laughing at him because he looked so little like a king.

But Jesus did rise from the dead. He lives and he reigns. A new order has been put in place. The old order of secrecy and lies and death that are so often successful in this old world, ruled by the devil, is going down. Its days are numbered. On the other hand, whoever believes in Jesus is on the way up! They will not perish but have eternal life, for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Jesus now sits at the right hand of God the Father. When the time is right he will come in power and great glory to judge the living and the dead. He will give eternal life to you and to all believers in Christ.

The resurrection changes everything. Jesus, who looks like he loses, as he meekly goes to the cross and death, actually wins. The devil, and all who practice his arts of lies and death, loses. By Jesus’s atonement he purchases all people back from the devil. Jesus has purchased and won you. Therefore you will live forever with him.

Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Your king comes to you. The kingdom and the power and the glory are his!

200409 Maundy Thursday Drive in Service

200409 Maundy Thursday Drive in Service

200409 Maundy Thursday bulletin

Sermon manuscript:

About two and a half years ago our church celebrated the 500^th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing the 95 theses concerning indulgences to the church door. This marked the beginning of an intense struggle throughout Christendom. Martin Luther’s writings caused much turmoil. Everybody had to take a stand. Was Luther correct or not?

There was another man, named Desiderius Erasmus, who was a little older than Luther. He had long been in favor of cleaning up corruption in the Church at that time. For that reason he was sympathetic to some of what Luther was teaching. However, there was a lot that he didn’t like too. In a way he was rather conservative. He wanted to keep the teachings as they were, even if they weren’t biblical, because he feared the strife and dissension that comes with doctrinal controversies.

So in 1524 Desiderius Erasmus wrote a short book where he attacked something that Luther had been teaching. Luther taught that we are born with an enslaved will. Erasmus said that we have a free will. This topic is important and beneficial to study. Perhaps we will some time. But I’m not bringing this up to discuss the controversy itself. I want to talk about something Erasmus said against Luther in course of his book.

He basically said that Luther was being altogether too certain about what the Bible said. Over the course of history there have been a lot of people who have said different things about what the Bible says about this or that topic. The Bible, he said, was a confusing book. Who can make heads or tails of it? It is best to leave interpretation to the professionals. Let the priests, bishops, and the pope tell us what it all means, because the Bible is basically useless in settling any controversies.

This really struck a nerve for Luther. I don’t think Erasmus was prepared for the vehemence with which Luther responded. I think Erasmus thought that all people thought that the Bible was a rather hazy and difficult book whose interpretation was best left to the professionals. Luther said, “No. The Bible is not hazy. The Bible is clear. If there’s anything that’s hazy, then it’s the people who are reading it. You will be better blessed by reading the inspired prophets and apostles than you will with reading all the other stuff that folks have written about what the Bible says. Each person can and should believe what the Bible says, not what people say.”

I agree with Luther: The Bible is clear. It is plain spoken. It doesn’t beat around the bush and leave all kinds of things open to a person’s interpretation. If anything, the Bible is a bit too clear for our liking. People would like it to be less clear so that they can bend and twist it any way they please.

I’ll give you a couple examples of the Bible being more explicit than we want it to be. When God called Abraham and his descendants to be his people he gave Abraham the sign of circumcision to accompany it. That means, “Cut off the foreskin from your penis, and cut off the foreskin from all your sons’ and grandsons’ penises eight days after they are born.” Does that make you a little uncomfortable? Well, that’s what circumcision is. I didn’t make it up. It’s right there in Genesis. How does circumcision do anything or benefit anyone? I’m not sure. But that’s what God clearly said.

Or one time God told Abraham to take his son, his only son, Isaac, whom he loved, and kill him as a sacrifice on a mountain that God would show him. That’s all too plain in its meaning for our liking. We’d like to turn it into a metaphor or something so that we can safely ignore it. But Abraham believed this word to be true and faithful. He didn’t interpret it out of existence. Let God be true and every man a liar.

This is how the Bible is. It records how God deals with people in a very simple way. The problem is that we often have a hard time believing it. But that isn’t God’s fault. Neither is it the Scriptures’ fault. It’s our fault if we don’t believe what God has said.

Now let’s talk a little bit about the Lord’s Supper. There are very few things in Christendom that have been fought over more than the Lord’s Supper. What is it? What does it do? Very learned men have written big books about it, arguing with some other guy who wrote big books about it. The different confessions of the Lord’s Supper divide Christendom to this day.

Desiderius Erasmus’s solution looks attractive here. For the sake of peace we could maybe say that this is all very confusing and difficult. Who knows what Jesus means when he institutes the Lord’s Supper. Let’s all just agree to disagree.

If this were just an earthly and unimportant matter, then such advice would be well taken. If you and I were having an argument over which football team is the best, then it would be wise to set the argument aside if it was causing turmoil and strife.

But that’s not the nature of the debate when it comes to the Lord’s Supper. Jesus is speaking plainly and simply. What he says is not difficult to understand so far as the words are concerned.

He took break and when he had given thanks, be broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat. This is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me.” In the same way also, he took the cup after supper, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying: “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in my blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

These words are plain, perhaps all too plain, like the other examples that we looked at. For what does Jesus say? He says, “This bread is my body. I give it for you.” “This wine is my blood. It is the new testament, the new covenant, the new arrangement between God and you.” What is the nature of this arrangement? It is that this blood is shed for the forgiveness of all your sins.

Now perhaps you might wonder, “How can the bread of the Lord’s Supper be Christ’s body? How can the wine be his blood? How can forgiveness be so freely dispensed? How can there be such a gracious relationship defined by such a testament between God and the sinner ? Isn’t that too easy?”

There are always a thousand and one objections and qualifications that can be raised to make something that is clear seem obscure. This is nothing new. We see this with the first commandment God gave to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God said not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that they eat of it they would surely. The devil came along and twisted this clear statement. He gets the ball rolling by saying, “Did God really say that you couldn’t eat from any tree in the garden? What an odd thing for God to say. You must not be interpreting it right.” Then the serpent followed this up with an explanation that seemed more plausible and believable than the plain words that God originally spoke. In this way Adam and Eve were deceived and thereby robbed of the peace and joy that they used to have in their Creator.

Don’t let anyone rob you of the peace and joy that God offers to you with the plain words of the Lord’s Supper. The body that hung on the cross is given to you to eat in, with, and under the bread. The blood of the Lamb of God that was shed on the cross, stilling the wrath of God against sin, is given you to drink in, with, and under the wine. The peace between God and man that was lost by the fall into sin is restored by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

This same Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when he was betrayed, gave his disciples this gift, and told them to continue to give this to Jesus’s disciples in remembrance of him. And so Jesus’s disciples have continued to do this according to the Lord’s plain command. So this sacrament also comes to you.

The peace and joy that Adam and Eve were robbed of is given to you in the Sacrament. It is the new arrangement between God and you. It forgives your sins. Having received this gift you should believe that God looks upon you as sinless and beloved and well pleasing as he looked upon Adam and Eve before they fell. This is not because of something that you have done. It is not because you lived in such and such a way, did or didn’t do this or that. The reason why God looks upon you as holy and righteous is because of what Jesus did by dying and rising for you.

I’m glad that we are able to receive this Sacrament tonight. But I know that there are some here tonight who cannot yet receive it. There are also some who will listen to this broadcast later in their homes. I’d like to speak a word to those who, for whatever reason, are not able to physically eat and drink Christ’s body and blood. Let me therefore ask you: Do you believe what Jesus says when he says that this sacrament is his body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins? Do you believe that the body and blood of Jesus was sacrificed for the forgiveness of your sins? If you believe this, then you are not despising the sacrament even though you are prevented from receiving it at this time.

If you didn’t care about the Sacrament, then that would be one thing. Also, if you stubbornly refuse to repent of your sins and believe the plain words that Jesus speaks, then that would be one thing. But it’s another thing when other circumstances are preventing you from communing, but you still believe what Jesus says. Then you are receiving Jesus’s body and blood spiritually, even if you are not able to receive them physically with the congregation that is here right tonight.

God is not a legalist who insists that every i be dotted and every t crossed. The Lord’s Supper is not a hoop to jump through or a stipulation God requires before he will be gracious. No, the Lord’s Supper is a gift, not a prerequisite.

As a gift it works the same way that all good gifts work: the power behind the gift is the love that prompts the gift to be given in the first place. Suppose a loved one gives you a gift. If they really love you, then that gift is not a test. If, for some reason, you couldn’t receive the gift at that moment, it doesn’t change the love that is behind it. The giver of the gift understands. But if you despised the gift a loved one wanted to give you because you couldn’t go to the trouble to receive it, or you didn’t care, or you didn’t think it was important—that, of course, is a different thing. So it us also with the Sacrament.

To sum up tonight: The words Jesus speaks in the Lord’s Supper are plain. We might not understand how it works , but there are a lot of things we don’t understand—even about earthly things. Jesus also is very plain about what the Sacrament gives. It gives forgiveness and reconciliation with God through Jesus who was sacrificed on the cross. By what Jesus plainly says to you, you are told that you have peace with God for his body and blood’s sake.

200405 Palm Sunday Drive in Service

200405 Palm Sunday Drive in Service <--click here for audio

200405 Palm Sunday Order of Service <--click here for bulletin

Sermon manuscript:

Parades are a time of celebration and pageantry. You don’t have a parade at the time of tragedy and defeat. Parades are for winners. Today we hear of a parade that happened in Jerusalem. The winner is Jesus. He was the one who was being celebrated.

John tells us that one of the reasons why there was a large crowd surrounding Jesus as he entered the city was that they had heard about what he had done to Lazarus. Lazarus was a man who had died not long before this. He remained dead for four days. His body had started to decompose. But the composer of the Universe showed up—that’s Jesus—and told Lazarus to come out of his tomb. And he did. God’s people had had prophets in the past who were able to bring life back to the dead, but that was very rare. It also happened only with those who had freshly died. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Jesus had told Mary and Martha, Lazarus’s sisters, that he is the resurrection and the life. That indeed seemed to be the case.

And so the people were wondering, might this be the Christ? Why, yes, that must be so. You hear them say that in the rousing chants as they marched along: “Hosanna,” (which means “please, save us.”) “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel.” They knew who Jesus was and they acted accordingly. There was a great deal of enthusiasm and warmth in that crowd. They were moved to produce song and dance and art spontaneously—which always makes the best kind of such things. They cut palm branches and waved them. They put their own clothes on the road for Jesus’s donkey to walk on them.

Here we see a little foretaste of heaven. We creatures were made to praise God. It is our highest and most fulfilling activity. The problem we have while in this life is that our heart is so often not in it. And our heart is not in it because we are weighed down with cares and worries and sadness. That is why we Christians always enjoy when a little bit of heaven breaks into our gray and dreary lives and lifts up our hearts—lifts them up unto the Lord. It is good and right and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to the Lord. Nobody had to tell these people to do what they did. They did what they did because they wanted to, more than anything. Luke tells us that the Pharisees were appalled by this creative worship, but Jesus tells them that if the people didn’t cry out, then the stones would have to sing. The joy simply couldn’t be contained.

Heaven is a good place.

But the sour faces of the Pharisees show us that not everyone thought this parade was heavenly. The Pharisees had been convinced long before this that Jesus was no good. They were irritated that the people were being taken in by Jesus, whom they regarded as a false teacher. They had tried to get it across to the people that Jesus was a Sabbath breaker, and therefore couldn’t be any good, but the people weren’t listening to them. The Pharisees are frustrated, as you heard in our Gospel reading. “We aren’t getting anywhere,” they said. “Look, the whole world is going after him.”

But they were exaggerating, as cranky churchmen are liable to do, when they said that the whole world was going after him. Not all of Jerusalem was there. Pontius Pilate certainly wasn’t there. He didn’t know anything about Jesus until the Jews brought him before him so that Jesus could be put to death. The vast majority of Jerusalem was going about their workday, for this was not a day of rest for them. According to the Jewish mindset their Saturday is our Sunday. Therefore their Sunday is our Monday. Sunday was the beginning of the work week for them. These Jews who joined in on the parade had to skip work to do so, which they gladly did. It’s not every day that the Messiah comes to town. But most people paid no mind to what was going on.

They should have, though. Something was happening here that was more important for their happiness and blessedness than anything that they might otherwise do. We can see this from Jesus’s words this morning. When some Greek people came to Philip and Andrew and said that they wanted to see Jesus, and Philip and Andrew went and told Jesus. Then Jesus knew that the end had come. The Old Testament is full of prophesies that in the end times the Gentiles, the non-Jews, are going to be streaming into Zion. Now here were some Gentiles who wanted to see Jesus.

Immediately Jesus is troubled. Jesus is true man, after all. He is not made of stone. He knew there’d be hell to pay. There is a large part of him that wants to say, “Father, deliver me from this hour,” but it was for this very hour that he came. And what was to happen at this hour? Jesus tells us: “Now is this world judged. Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate what kind of death he was going to die.

What does this mean? How is this world judged? This world is judged for its unbelief in our Creator who made us. All manner of various things are pursued with gusto, with hope for advancement and blessing—not so with our God. We have been estranged from God by our disobedience, which is bad enough. But what makes it even worse is that we haven’t cared. We care about all manner of things, but not our good God who created us in his image.

And what does it mean that the ruler of this world is thrown out? The ruler of this world is the devil. All disbelief and all idolatry ultimately trace back to him and his lies. He lied in the beginning when he promised that Eve and Adam would be better blessed by following after his pursuits and ideas rather than being obedient to the word and will of God. Ever since then he has had tremendous power over all people. We are born under his lordship and would remain under his lordship, if we were not born again by being baptized with Jesus’s baptism. He is thrown out. The devil’s reign of lies and death come to an end with the preaching of the Gospel. For the Gospel is the truth and it gives eternal life.

The first preaching of the Gospel took place in the Garden. Unimaginable woe had come upon God’s good creation with the fall into sin, but God did not forsake Adam and Eve and their children. He promised to send a Savior who would crush the serpent’s head. The devil’s lordship, under which Adam and Eve had voluntarily entered, would come to an end. And that would happen by the severe wounding of this Savior. In the crushing of the serpent’s head this Savior’s heel would be crushed. It was by death that Adam and Eve and their children would be set free from their slavery to the devil, his world, and their own sin. They would be set free to be children of God now in time, with the fullness of that inheritance being given in the life of the world to come.

This takes us to the tremendous words: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” Here we have a statement that could be written large above all space and time—even existence itself. What is life all about? It is about the sacrifice of the Son of God which reconciles all sinners to the Father by virtue of the excellency of the sacrifice. The Word of this accomplished fact goes out over the face of the whole earth. When and where it pleases the Holy Spirit he creates faith in this promise. Those who believe have received the Holy Spirit. They have come to know their God. They are no longer let astray by idols. They are no longer afraid of God and his wrath. They regard God as their dear Father and that they are his dear children, so that with all boldness and confidence they may speak to him like dear children with their dear Father.

The truth that Jesus draws all people to himself, and through him, to the Father, is the truth that all other truths must submit to. There is nothing more important. It doesn’t matter what might happen to us otherwise. Whatever else might happen can’t separate us from the love of God that is given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. All things are made right by the blood of God shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of their sins. It is the blood, the death, the cross that reconciles—not any merit or worthiness in you. Therefore you may have comfort and joy regardless of what you have done or left undone. The Father is satisfied with Jesus. Therefore the Father is also satisfied with you for whom Jesus has died.

We are congregated together this Palm Sunday under strange circumstances. In one way or another you are all hearing my voice coming from a speaker—perhaps in your car or perhaps in your home. We might feel as though our circumstances are so strange that we can’t at all relate to the people who greeted Jesus as he made his way into Jerusalem. What kind of parade do we have here as we sit in our cars or in our homes? But that is not true. Although we might be stuck in our cars or stuck in our homes, we still may sing our praises to Jesus, just like they did. Hosanna, loud hosanna! Please save us. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Jesus is the King of Israel. Jesus is the King of the world. He has graciously drawn us to himself. We know that because he has told us.

Just as not all of Jerusalem did not go out to great Jesus, because they had better things to do, so it is also today. Folks look for their blessing elsewhere. They are busy in this way and that way. They might think our little parade today is strange and can’t do a darned thing to fix this world’s problems.

You know that isn’t true. There is no problem that is too big for Jesus to handle. Sin, death, and the devil all have to give way to him. And so what is a virus? Even if this virus should infect you and kill you, it still has gained nothing. The end point of your life remains the same whether you live a short time or a long time on this earth. The end point of your life is the resurrection from the dead when all powers and principalities are put under Jesus’s feet. In that resurrection your flesh will be purified from all your sin. All evil will forever be confined in hell. Then you will sing like you’ve never sang before. Then you will love, like you’ve never loved before. Then you will live, like you’ve never lived before.

In anticipation of this we will already sing, love, and live. I wish we would all be able to hear each other better when we sing, but certainly God hears us. When we close our service this morning we will sing a hymn to Jesus: “Ride on, ride on in majesty.” Then you will be given the opportunity to thank Jesus for riding on in lowly pomp, riding on to die. He did it for you. He has saved you.