210228 Sermon on Gen 32, Rom 5, Matt 15 (Lent 2) February 28, 2021

 Audio recording

Sermon manuscript:

All three of our readings today deal with something that is important for us to understand. I have to warn you from the outset, though, that it is a hard thing to learn. Here is what we can learn: Although there is sadness in all three readings, that sadness was for the good. All the Christians involved ended up praising their God who laid these burdens on them.

So first let’s look at the sadness in each of the readings. In our Old Testament reading Jacob is being put through the wringer. He’s so frightened of his brother Esau coming and slaughtering his family that he splits them into two groups. The thought is that while Esau and his men are slaughtering the one group the other group, would be given enough time to run away. Can you imagine the anguish involved with such a decision? He has already given up half his family as being as good as dead.

Shouldn’t this be enough trouble for anyone? But we’re not done yet. Then this mysterious man shows up in the middle of the night who tries his darndest to kill Jacob. They wrestle with each other to the point of exhaustion. The man does what seems like a cheap shot. He touches Jacob’s hip and puts it out of joint. I don’t know what it feels like to have your hip bone pulled out of its socket, but I can’t imagine that if feels good. Still the wrestling goes on until it starts to grow light in the east.

Then Jacob does something so wonderful. The man tells him to let him go. Jacob, who had to have been exhausted beyond words, refuses. He knew that he was not wrestling with just any ordinary man. He was going to demand a blessing from him before letting him go. And so the man gives Jacob a new name, a name that stuck. He was now going to be called Israel, for he wrestled with God and man and prevailed. Jacob, for his part, gave that location a new name. He called it “Peniel,” which means “face of God.” He knew that he had been in God’s presence and survived to tell the tale.

Now you might be wondering, “What’s so sad about this story?” It’s only sad from a certain perspective. It’s sad if you understand that life is supposed to be about having fun, of minimizing pain and of maximizing pleasure. With that perspective what happened to Jacob is exhausting at best and probably more like torture. But this is eliminating from the consideration what gives Jacob joy—and that is the relationship that he has with God. He came to know his God better, to rely on him more, and to love him more.

Let’s see what is sad in our epistle reading. Paul says something nonsensical to the pleasure seeker: “We rejoice in our sufferings.” The verb there is actually a little stronger in the Greek. Perhaps the translator was a little timid. The word that is translated as “rejoice” is normally translated with “to be proud of,” or even, “brag.” So then the sentence would read: “We boast in our sufferings…” We are not normally proud of the things that we have suffered. If anything, we tend to be ashamed of them.

The sufferings that Paul has especially in mind are the things that he has lost for the sake of the Gospel. He lost friendships. He lost his good name. I’m sure that he lost business. He was beaten, stoned, left for dead. Are not these sad things? Are these things that you would want to have happen to you? At best they seem to be things that one should just grit his teeth and bear. They certainly do not seem to be things that one should brag about.

And, again, if these things were considered just on their own, without reference to God, that would most certainly be true. But as Paul also says in our reading, he knows that he has peace with God, having been justified through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Just before he says that he boasts in his sufferings he says that he boasts in the hope of the glory of God that he has because of that relationship with God. He uses the same word. He boasts about his hope of glory. He boasts about his sufferings. They are connected. The things that he has suffered has worked endurance, character, and hope, because the love of God has been poured into his heart by the Holy Spirit.

Finally, what is sad in our Gospel reading? This is easy to see. This Gentile woman, this Canaanite, whose ancestors should have been wiped out with Joshua’s conquest of the Promised Land, is put off again and again by Jesus. He acts as though he doesn’t hear her. He tells her that he wasn’t sent for the Gentiles like her. He was sent for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He even implies that she is a dog when he says, “It is not right to give the children’s bread to dogs.” I’m sure that you can sympathize with this woman, who only wanted help for her demon possessed daughter, not even for herself.

In fact, some commentators on this text have so much sympathy for the woman that they claim that Jesus was sinning against her in this exchange. Allow me to go on a little bit of a tangent concerning people who teach that Jesus was a sinner. Such people are either very foolish—not knowing anything about the Scriptures, or, more likely, they are wolves, false prophets, veritable agents of Satan. Anybody who teaches that Jesus was a sinner is not a Christian. Such a person is an antichrist. To be sure, Jesus became sin, as Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 5, but as Paul says in that very verse, he became sin, but it wasn’t with his own sin. The verse reads, “God made him, (that is, Jesus) who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”

If Jesus himself was a sinner, then he cannot be a Savior. He himself would be in need of a Savior, an atoning sacrifice. We poor sinners would have no hope of forgiveness in him. And this is precisely the end point towards which all of Satan’s temptations are directed. He wants everyone to have no hope, but rather despair, just as he himself has no hope and only despair. So if you hear anyone claim that Jesus was sinning against the Canaanite woman because he was not “nice,” mark that person as an agent of Satan and have nothing to do with them. Believe me, there are such fools or devils running around, masquerading as Christian preachers!

You yourselves, unless you are blind, should be able to see that Jesus is not sinning against this woman. So what if Jesus is not “nice” to her. It is obvious to anyone who has ears to hear that he loves her. He says, “O woman! Great is your faith!” There is a lot of emotion in those two words, “O woman!” It is obvious that this woman has completely captured Jesus’s heart. He loved her all the way along, just as he also loved the Apostle Paul with all his troubles, and Jacob with all of his troubles.

The woman, for her part, also loves Jesus deeply. This, too, is obvious. If she were some brat, like most modern people are when it comes to God, she would have gone off in a huff with the first rebuff. She would have said, “I’m not going to take this from him! Who does he think he is?” Modern people are so quick to judge God. This is why the Bible is a sealed book for them. When the God of the Scriptures does not match up with the indulgent Grandma of a god that they have cooked up for themselves in their heads, they self-righteously declare that God is “not nice.”

Well, they aren’t the first ones to claim that God is not nice. I know of a creature once who said in a Garden somewhere that it’s not nice for God to forbid anyone from eating from a tree that they might want to eat from. That’s not nice. Ever since then it seems that we sinners have been long on niceness and short on love. Being nice is often a cover for not giving a rip about the other person. If you gave a rip about the other person you’d actually act towards them according to what they need. That might very well mean that you won’t be “nice” to them. Love sometimes requires us to wound so as to heal. Sometimes the boil needs to be lanced to let all the puss and filth drain out. Pampering and keeping the boil intact is exactly the wrong thing to do.

We know this to be true with our human interactions with each other, and we are sinners. How much more is it the case, then, that our great Physician knows how to work with us? He knows how to wound, and he knows how to heal. He knows how to afflict, and he knows how to comfort the afflicted. Does he do these things because he hates us? Of course not. Jesus speaks about the Christian life as being one of taking up our cross and following him. Crosses hurt, in case you didn’t know. Perhaps we have a lot of boils that need lancing? Perhaps we have a lot of dross that needs to be burned off?

The apostle Peter says in his epistle: “Do not think that it is strange when the fiery trial comes upon you so as to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” Those whom God loves, he also chastises. Being disciplined is never pleasant for the moment, but we all know that loving discipline is one of the finest things that good fathers and mothers can do for their children. If this is something that is true for us sinners, then how much more wholesome might the discipline be that comes from our wise heavenly Father? As we’ve seen from our readings, when God does this there is sadness, but the Christians end up praising God who laid these burdens upon them for their good.

Now there are some very practical things that we can take from this. When calamity or sadness or affliction strike you, do not be like the huge unbelieving horde who imagines that this is just a matter of being unlucky. God is the Creator. He does all things. Being lucky or unlucky is just a quick and easy way to put one’s conscience back to sleep.

Instead we must learn to read to the signs of the times. When you are struck by evil, see whether this just might be God lancing a boil that you have. See if God might be saying to you “Repent, lest worse things should happen to you.” Turn to the one who has stricken you, like a child who has been spanked. Ask the God of all comfort to comfort you in your afflictions. Help will not be long in coming to such a prayer, although it won’t necessarily be the help that you expect to come. It may mean more trouble ahead as you make your way from the broad and easy road that leads to destruction to the narrow and hard way that leads to eternal life.

As our guide in this journey that all Christians must make, we must use the Word of God. The events themselves might serve as a wake up call, but they won’t inform us much beyond that. In order to learn, to grow, to receive forgiveness, to become more holy, there is no substitute for God’s commandments and promises, his instructions on what is good and evil. So if you receive one of these wake-up calls, do not harden your heart or go back to sleep. Use it as an opportunity to learn more. Start reading your Bible. Pay attention at church. Tto help people to learn and grow is also why God has put me here as your servant. I’m happy to do that formally or informally, in class or in person, at church or in your home, lecturing or simply having a conversation with you.

It is obvious from the Scriptures that the way that God works with us poor, miserable sinners, so that we do not end up in hell, is not with kid gloves. Perhaps if we were good, if we actually gladly heard and learned his Word, we wouldn’t have to be treated as roughly as we are. As it is, our Physician knows what he is doing. We should not be worried when trouble and sadness come our way. If anything we should be worried when everything is coming up roses, for God certainly can quit knocking at our door when we refuse to listen. Then we will be given over to the vain imaginings of our own heart, instead of being filled with the Word of God that gives true wisdom.

God already is wrestling with each one of us. Perhaps hips are being put out of joint. Perhaps we walk with a limp. Imitate Jacob, that wonderful man, and don’t let God get away without blessing you first.

210224 What is Baptism? (Lent 1 Midweek) February 24, 2021

 Audio recording

Sermon manuscript:

Tonight we are considering the question: What is baptism? Let’s begin with the word itself. Baptism is not an English word, but a Greek word. It comes from the Greek word Baptizdo, which means “to wash.” So to baptize something means to wash it. Normally when we are washing something we use water, and so it is also with Christian baptism, but, as our catechism puts it, it is “not just plain water.” Something has been added to it.

What has been added to it is God’s command and God’s word. Baptism was not something that was invented by the apostles. As we heard in our second reading from the end of Matthew’s Gospel, after Jesus rose from the dead but before he ascended into heaven he told his disciples to baptize in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. These disciples were commanded by their Master what they were supposed to do. They were also told how to do it. While applying water they were to do this in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

So now we know what baptism is. It is the application of water while the words are said, “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” This is very simple. It takes less than a minute. So long as it is performed according to how Jesus instituted it, so long as the water and the words are used, it is a valid and effective baptism.

We know what baptism is. What does it mean? Our two readings tonight from Matthew’s Gospel are helpful for answering this question. The first reading was from chapter three. This was before Jesus began to publicly preach, teach, perform miracles, and so on. It was before Jesus himself was baptized in the Jordan river—as we heard about in our reading. In this prehistory of Jesus’s work, the forerunner to Jesus is described—a man named John. He eventually became known as John the Baptizer, or, John the Baptist.

You can probably guess how he got that name. He preached, and then those who were sorry for their sins, he baptized. So we can see that Christian baptism did not come out of nowhere. There was a precedent that had already been set with John, who was before Jesus, or possibly others, although the Bible doesn’t tell us anything about that. The meaning of baptism is already indicated in John’s baptism.

We heard about the preaching that accompanied his baptism. He said, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven is near!” This means that God, with his kingship, is coming. God, as king, will apply his judgments. How will you fare in that judgment?

John says, “Already the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Some of you may face this judgment from God in a very short time. It might be a year or two from now. Indeed, for any of us—no matter how old we might be, it could be this very night. For we know neither the day nor the hour. And what should happen when you are weighed in the balance?

This is the kinds of things that John preached. But it is not really just John’s preaching, but the whole Bible’s preaching. John sounds very much like the Old Testament prophets who spoke about the coming of the great and terrible Day of the Lord. When God comes, when the king comes, there will be judgment.

Many at the time of John the Baptist rejected this preaching. They thought that John was too worked up over nothing. So it was at the time of Noah. So it was at the time of Sodom. So it is also today. Most people never think of the idea of it at all, for years and years on end—even when they think about dying. And if it is brought to their attention they quickly dismiss it.

Those who were baptized by John, however, did not dismiss this truth. When they considered the thought of being judged by God they were terrified of his justice and punishment. When they thought about the life that they had lived, they knew that they had committed many and grievous sins. They literally asked John what they should do. John told them to repent and be baptized. He also, and most importantly, pointed them to Jesus, whose sandal strap John felt he was unworthy to untie. He said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

And, indeed, with Jesus, this is the very thing that we see. In a sense the great and terrible Day of the Lord happened that one Friday, in the spring time, so many years ago. The great and terrible Day of the Lord came with clouds and think darkness. Bodies were raised from the dead, rocks were split, and the curtain in the temple was torn in two. The Lamb, God’s own Son, was sacrificed. That is to say that he was judged with all the sins of the world laid upon him. He was pronounced guilty and punished with the full weight of the wrath of God.

In him, and in him alone, can sinners find consolation when they are worried about being judged by God, for it is only in him, the God-man, Jesus Christ, that there is redemption for sin. There is no other sacrifice that will cut it. There is no other way to make it up or cover over our sins. If you climbed every mountain, went to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, or cured COVID, cancer, and the common cold all at the same time—none of this can wash away the stains of sin on your soul. None of these things can make something that is evil into something that is good. Even all the good intentions in the world, all the turning over of new leafs, will not cut it. All that stuff is but cosmetic. Our problem goes far deeper. And it is only addressed by this one man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary.

And this takes us to our second reading, the last chapter of Matthew. The redemption that Jesus has worked by his sacrificial death is distributed through the risen and ascended Lord Jesus. When Jesus tells his disciples to go and make disciples by baptizing them, he is telling them how he will rule in his kingdom, and that is through the preaching of the Gospel. The Christian baptism in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is the way that Jesus’s completed work of redemption is applied to sinners so that they may hold to it by faith. By this baptism we are forgiven of all our sins, rescued from death and the devil, and given eternal salvation as the words and promises of God declare.

So we, as Jesus’s disciples, are to continue to do what Jesus has given us to do. We are to preach like John the Baptist. The kingdom of heaven draws near. God comes to judge the earth. How will you escape from the wrath about to be revealed? How can you stand up under his judgment? And the answer is that we are baptized into Christ. By baptism we are released from our slavery to the devil and become children of God with all things in common together with Christ.

There is no higher or better thing that we Christians have to offer to the world than to distribute baptism. Like the ark saved Noah and his family, so baptism saves us. This does not mean that it is recognized as great or powerful or salvific. No, it is despised as worthless, not only by unbelievers (which you would expect), but even by Christians as we will learn more about in the weeks ahead.

But let us not be moved away from the simple logic of baptism. Have you sinned? Are you dirty? Do you want to be washed and made clean? Baptism will do that for those who are not yet baptized. Baptism has done that and continues to do its saving work if you have been baptized. These are not my thoughts or words, but Jesus’s. For he himself says, “Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved, whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

In this way, be prepared for the great and terrible Day of the Lord by believing in the gift of forgiveness and salvation that God has given to you when he baptized you. Then that great and terrible day will prove to be for you the best day that you have ever lived.

210221 Sermon on Matthew 4:1-11 (Lent 1) February 21, 2021

 Audio recording (sorry about the quality)

Sermon manuscript:

In both our Old Testament reading and our Gospel reading this morning we heard about temptations. In the Old Testament reading we heard about Adam and Eve being tempted in the Garden. In the Gospel reading we heard about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. It is important to understand that with both of these temptations we are dealing with a different situation than what happens when we are tempted. The reason why the situation is different with both Adam and Eve as well as Christ is that we are dealing with people who were not “sold under sin,” as Paul puts it. Adam and Eve had not yet fallen. Christ was sinless and would remain sinless. But with both instances the people involved were free.

This means that they were able to react differently to temptation than the way that we are able to react to temptation. After the fall into sin human beings couldn’t get back up on their own. The minds of Adam and Eve and all their children down to each one of us were darkened. We became turned in on ourselves, caring only about ourselves, and so we no longer could do anything other than sin. Even if it should appear that people are able to resist temptation, you can be sure that they are doing it for selfish reasons, unless they are being moved by the Holy Spirit. After the fall into sin, human beings lost the ability to defeat temptation. Temptation results in either the course sin, to which the person is being tempted, or it will result in a more refined sin like lying, pride, or self-righteousness.

The only correct and godly way for a person to deal with temptation would for that person to burn with love for God, and that that love for god would be the sole reason for a person’s actions. The greatest commandment is that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. So if we are not reacting to temptation with this love as what motivates us, then obviously we are sinning—even breaking the greatest commandment.

So if you are skeptical about the Bible’s claim that no sinner has reacted correctly to temptation, simply examine your own life. Perhaps you have been able to resist something that you knew to be wrong. Was the reason why you did this because you burned with love for God in every fiber of your being? I don’t think so. What probably prevented you was that you didn’t want to lose face in the community, or even you did not want to lose esteem for yourself. Probably the best that could be mustered up within ourselves would be a terror at the thought of God casting you into hell. That might be as close as sinners can get to reacting rightly. What you can be sure didn’t happen, is that you joined your will with God’s will because you love him so much. With the fall into sin we simply aren’t wired that way anymore. Instead, we are under the slavery of the devil.

So both of the temptations that we heard about were received by people who are so different than us that we can’t understand what it was like. Adam and Eve were sinless up to that point. Jesus was sinless. But there is an obvious difference in how these two temptations turned out. When Adam and Eve were tested they failed. When Jesus was tested he succeeded. This is not a mere factoid, but has the broadest of implications. It also is not just something that has to do with Jesus, but is also applicable to us. The fact that Jesus met and defeated temptation is good news for us sinners, for whom there is no hope otherwise.

The reason why this is good news is because the Law of God had to be fulfilled. What we’ve been talking about so far today is the way that we have not kept the Law and cannot keep the Law. Every time we are tempted, if left to our own devices, we cannot help but fail to love the Lord our God with our whole being. If the Law of God were not fulfilled so far as we are concerned, then we are damned and bound for hell. That’s where evil creatures are supposed to go, and the Law of God, which we have not kept, is proof positive that we are evil.

But Jesus did not sin. He kept the Law. He continued to love the Lord his God even though he was tempted to do otherwise by the devil. Where we have all failed, he prevailed. He lived the life of righteousness that we have not lived. This righteousness of his is credited to us when we believe in him as Paul says in Romans chapter three. When we are baptized into him, and thereby joined to him, all that is his becomes ours. That means that his righteous life becomes ours through faith, even though we have not lived righteous lives ourselves. Even though we have fallen into temptation and sin, Jesus’s steadfastness, his love for God, and his defeat of temptation is given to us and to all who believe. Jesus’s wonderful victory is our victory.

Here we see something about the gift of Christ and his salvation that often gets overlooked. When we think about what Christ has done for us we often think of the cross. At the cross we see the consequences of breaking God’s Law. Jesus is punished for the sins that we have committed so that they are atoned for by the shedding of his blood and forgiven. The record of sins against us is blotted out. This is focusing on what we have done against the Law.

It is easy to miss the requirement that the Law must also be fulfilled. Not only do we need to be emptied of all our evil, but we also need to be filled with righteousness in order to be justified. This was accomplished by the life that Jesus lived that is credited to you. Jesus’s life of righteousness is your life of righteousness. Your justification before God is completely of Jesus. He has washed away your sins. He has given you his own righteousness. The Father, therefore, looks upon you with the love and the approval that he has for his beloved Son.

This teaching of Jesus’s righteous life that is credited to you can seem like a minor thing. Forgiveness seems to be more the major thing. But it is not a minor teaching. It prevents Christians from false beliefs that we are prone to hold to because our reason likes them better.

So, for example, there are some who believe that the benefit of Jesus is limited to undoing what we have done wrong. Then, after we have been forgiven, it is up to us to be righteous. But what happens when a person can’t live up to that righteous life that he or she is supposed to live? And this is not a “what if,” some kind of hypothetical. There’s no way for a person to live even a respectably righteous life so long as the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh are still hanging about.

There are only two options for people who are taught that after they have been forgiven they have to be perfect with their works. Either they will fall into despair, believe that they are no Christian, and are damned before God because of their failure to live righteously. Or (and this is the road more often taken) they will lie to themselves and others. They will pretend that they have been able not only to get rid of sin, but also to love the Lord our God with all their heart, soul, strength, and mind. In this way their faith in being justified before God ends up being based on their own works, and not on Christ alone.

The gift of not only forgiveness, but also Christ’s life of righteousness, given to you and to all who believe, means that you can be certain that you are justified before God because it all depends on Jesus. It doesn’t depend on you at all. The reason why you are justified is because God has given you his Son as a gift. So when you look at yourself and do not like what you see, you can look beyond appearances to your faith in Christ. When you look within yourself you will only see sin, the failure to bear up under temptation, and so on. But as the Scriptures say, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We are justified by faith, faith in Christ, not in our works or the goodness we might see in ourselves. We have a sure and certain hope that we are and will be acceptable before God for Christ’s sake, and that we will receive the inheritance of eternal life. These are not things we can see right now. They are things that we believe, and, one day, will see with our own resurrected eyes.

So know this: Jesus’s righteous life is your life. Jesus’s victory over temptation that we heard about is your victory over temptation. You are not justified by your life. You are justified by faith in Jesus. This is always true and will always be yours whenever you are told it or recall it to your mind.

That said, at the end here, I need to speak to a couple things could derail us from this saving truth. First of all, our sinful flesh is liable to hear this message and draw this conclusion: “This is a pretty good deal. God likes to forgive sin and pardon sinners. I like to sin. Therefore, why don’t I sin all the more so that grace may abound?” This is a stupid, but common thought among Christians. It’s stupid because it’s like we are somehow outsmarting God, who knows all things. It’s common, though, because our fallen flesh likes sin so much.

Paul addresses this issue in Romans chapter 6. By your baptism into Christ’s death you have died to sin. If you want to remain a Christian, you can’t go back to the life of sin that Christ has redeemed you from. If you live according to the flesh, if you give yourself over to your sinful desires, you will die. The Holy Spirit will forsake you and you will no longer have a genuine faith in Christ. But if, by the Holy Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live.

This means that although you have been justified before God for Jesus’s sake, and although you have been given the gift of faith so as to receive this righteousness, you can nonetheless thwart Almighty God’s tireless efforts to save you. Since faith is not a good work of your own, but is a gift of the Holy Spirit, you are not in control over it. You might think that you can sin all you want and keep your faith, but God’s Word tells you that this is not so.

So this is your warning: Don’t play games with God. God will not be mocked. You will not trick him with empty words.

Let’s also speak to the temptations themselves: Learn that the devil’s temptations are ugly. Righteousness is beautiful. Temptations do not call us to a higher and better life. They call us to a baser and meaner life. This is not surprising, because temptations are always lies. Happiness is promised, but it is not truly delivered. Often you find that the people who give themselves over to temptations the most are the most miserable. Life can become so miserable that they prefer to murder themselves rather than go on living the way they have. This also is not surprising, because Jesus says of the devil that he is a liar and a murderer.

These are a couple things to keep in mind. But let us not forget the main teaching which is our hope of everlasting life. The main thing is that Jesus has atoned for your sins on the cross, and lived a righteous life in your place. He has suffered and died for the temptations that you have accommodated and accepted. He has fulfilled the Law that you have not kept with his righteous life. Therefore you are forgiven of all your sins and righteous before God, because you have been given him as a gift. When you hear of Jesus’s withstanding of temptations, you should rejoice, for he didn’t do this for his own benefit. He did it for you.

210217 Sermon for Ash Wednesday, February 17, 2021

 (Sorry, no audio recording)

Sermon manuscript:

King David says in Psalms 14 and 53: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” It is easy for solid, Midwestern people to think that this verse of the Bible hardly applies to them. The vast majority of the people in our neck of the woods would say that there is a God if you asked them. If there are atheists among us, they don’t seem to be very militant. Plus, when it comes to you, not only do you believe that there is a God, but you actually come to church—even on a Wednesday in addition to Sunday. Surely you are no fool who says that there is no God.

But I think there is a significant qualifier that David adds. He says, “In his heart.” “The fool says in his heart that there is no God.” There are a lot of things that we know with our heads that don’t get translated into our lives. A great many of the things that we do which are wrong are not done because we are ignorant of what is supposed to be done. We all know what we are supposed to eat and to drink, how we are supposed to spend or not spend our money, how we should treat one another, and so on. Does that mean that we actually do it? You know the Ten Commandments. Have you kept them? You know that the Ten Commandments came from God, right? You know that he threatens to punish all who break his commandments, right? So why have you not kept them?

The reason why is because we are fools. We foolishly believe that we will get away with whatever we have done. We foolishly believe that we won’t be held accountable to God. We act as though there were no God. The first temptation and the first sin already establishes this pattern. God said, “Don’t eat from this tree.” The serpent said, “Ach! You won’t surely die. You’ll get away with it! Plus you’ll enjoy it!” So Adam and Eve said in their hearts, “There is no God.” At least, that is, there is no God who is going to act according to what he had told them.

To be sure, since that time we human beings have not gotten better. We can easily say with our heads and even with our mouths that there is a God. We can even say that we have his Word and know it to be true. But we betray what is really going on in our hearts by what we do. When it comes to God we have a very hard time keeping him in mind. Isn’t it true that hours upon hours will go by in your life without you giving a thought to him? Dare I say, can’t there even be days and weeks that go by?

Or when we are gathered together for the Divine Service are you actually thinking about God when we sing, “Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!” Where might your mind wander as you hear Jesus say, “Do this in remembrance of me”?

Over the years a lot of people have tried to solve this problem by revamping the church service. If we do this or do that, pump up the jam, and continually innovate, then we’ll have people’s attention. In a sense this is true. If I came out of the sacristy dressed in a clown suit, I know that I’d have your attention. You won’t be bored—at least not for a while. But it is not just a lack of attention that we’re dealing with. We’re dealing with an incredibly deep spiritual problem, not just an attention problem. And the problem is that we do not pay attention to God. We live as though he doesn’t exist. We neither fear, nor love, nor trust in him.

Even the things that are supposed to be directly connected with God can be put towards other purposes. This is what Jesus is talking about in our Gospel reading tonight from the Sermon on the Mount. “When you do something nice,” Jesus says, “do not blow the trumpet so that everyone can admire you for your surpassing greatness.” In this way your good work is done for you own glory. God, his commandments, and his approval or disapproval have nothing to do with it. It’s all about you.

Or when you pray or fast, do not leave one eye open to keep track of the impression that is being made on other people—to see if they think you are pious. When we do this, are we really praying to God? Aren’t we more intent on the impression that we are making for others to admire? Isn’t the goal, in a sense, to be worshipped by others? That’s sick! You’d be better off if you didn’t pray at all!

Or why do you come to the divine service? Is it because that’s just the tradition? Is it because you were raised that way? Is it because your parents make you? Is it so that you can keep things on an even keel with friends and family—so that they don’t look down on you? Doesn’t God have anything to do with it?

The divine service is an opportunity to lift up your heart unto the Lord, to call upon him in prayer and praise, and to pay close attention to what he says to you in his Word. God exists! He curses and blesses. He damns and saves. He speaks specifically to you by the Word that he lays out before you. If you let this go in one ear and out the other because you are thinking about who-knows-what, then you will be responsible to him for that—whether you like it or not. It’s best that you realize this, take it to heart, and repent. That is, change your ways. Quit being a fool.

Today we enter into Lent. It is a season of repentance, of changing our ways, before the highest feast of the Christian calendar—Easter. Repentance is becoming mindful of God, with his commands and his promises, in all aspects of our life and throughout our whole day. We have a dreadful congenital defect, spiritually speaking. We are by nature all fools who give no mind to God. We might think that this sin or that sin is what is really bad about us. The deeper problem is that we unwittingly say in our hearts, “There is no God.” Our greater sins are against the first table of the Law, the first three of the Ten Commandments, which have to do with God. If we were to get those straight, then we would find that the others would quickly and easily fall into place.

So the season of Lent is not about a smudge of ash. It is not about fish on Fridays. It isn’t about any self-chosen good work of giving up this or that. These things are silly. They don’t get to the root. “Rend your hearts, and not your garments,” the prophet Joel says. Pay attention to God. Fear his threats and punishments. Embrace and find joy in his promises. Call upon him in prayer as he commands you to do. He also promises to hear your prayers. In this way you will find that the Holy Spirit will do his good work in you. Instead of being a fool, who plunges stupidly into disobedience, angering God, you will be made wise unto salvation.

 

210214 Sermon on 1 Corinthians 13 (Quinquagesima) February 14, 2021

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The original temptation held out a promise to Adam and Eve. The serpent said, “You will be like God.” That promise achieved the serpent’s desired effect and has continued to be attractive up to the present day. Deeply seated within us is the desire to be recognized as the greatest. If it were possible we would all like to be the greatest in absolutely every aspect of life. We would all want to be the most charming, the prettiest, the smartest, the fastest, the strongest, the richest, the one with the most authority, so on and so forth. But most people are smart enough to realize that they cannot excel in every area of life. Some people will never be the prettiest. Others will never be the smartest. And so we all pick for ourselves certain areas of life where we have a better chance of being recognized as the greatest.

I attribute this to that seed which was planted in our hearts in the Garden. We all want to be like God. We all, in a sense, want to be worshipped. That is, we want everybody to turn their heads to look at us when we walk into a room. We’d like it if they’d cover their mouths in awe, just being in our presence. Whispering to their neighbor they might say, “There goes that magnificent human being!” I might be exaggerating a little bit. Perhaps you don’t think you’re that vain. But isn’t that just one more feather in your cap? Not only are you so outstanding, but you’re modest to boot! The desire to be the greatest is in our blood.

Therefore, since Christians also have flesh and blood, this desire will also always found in us too. We are no different from the people we read about in the Bible. Perhaps you remember that on the night when Jesus was betrayed, on the night when Jesus instituted the Sacrament, the disciples were arguing with one another over who among them was the greatest. Also in the congregation at Corinth, it seems that the members of that congregation were competing with one another over who was the most talented and the most gifted.

Our epistle reading today comes from Paul’s letter to this congregation. He intends to teach them about a different kind of greatness. This is the letter where he says, “The Jews seek signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified—foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Jews.” Christ the crucified was Paul’s model for greatness. In fact he went so far as to say that he was determined to know nothing among them except Christ and him crucified. Christ and him crucified was the sum and substance of his message. He had nothing better or higher to tell them.

So what does Christ and him crucified mean? We cannot easily grasp this truth. Paul says that it is foolishness to  our old Adam. We also won’t be able to grasp it all and master it, for we are dealing with the most holy act that has ever been done. But let us take up just one aspect of Christ and him crucified that applies to what we have been speaking about today.

The serpent’s lie in the Garden was that we would become like God by being obedient to him. What actually happened, though, is that we became utterly unlike God. We became self-conscious and self-absorbed. This is where each striving after his or her own greatness began. This seems as though it should be no big deal. The world urges this as a great virtue. But a great many church fathers over the centuries have called pride the “queen of sins.” Far from being a virtue, as the world would have you believe, it is an impenetrable roadblock for entering the kingdom of heaven. Over and over throughout the whole Bible God says that he has mercy on the humble, but the proud he sends empty away. We most certainly did not become like God when we fell into sin. We became rebels and enemies of his will. We wanted our will to be done rather than his.

But in Christ and him crucified we are given an opportunity to truly become like God. Unlike that other promise in the Garden, this one is not a lie. In Christ and him crucified we first of all see what God is really like. How can we become like God if we do not know what God is like? And the way that God really is, is that he loves. Love is a word whose meaning almost gets destroyed through overuse. No doubt the arch-liar is behind that. But if you want to know what love really is, then look to Christ and him crucified.

There you see that he is poor, sorrowful, gentle, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, a peacemaker, and being persecuted for righteousness sake. Blessed be he! This was all foreordained by God. As Jesus said in our Gospel reading, it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, to be turned over to the Gentiles, to be mocked, mistreated, spit upon, flogged, and killed. And on the third day he would rise again.

This was necessary to fulfill the prophecies in the Old Testament. Those prophecies spoke about the glorious reign of the coming Savior. And so it was that by his bloody sweat, by his cross and passion, by his precious death and burial, by his glorious resurrection and ascension, and by the coming of the Holy Spirit the comforter, he was going to help us.

The lie in the Garden that brought about our bondage was thereby defeated. Here, in the fruit of the cross, given to us to eat and drink, we have something of a do-over. The tree of the cross is both the tree of life as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. By Christ’s cross we are given eternal life. Also by that cross, we truly learn what is good and evil, instead of being misled like our father and mother were in the Garden when they tried to grasp these things for themselves. In Christ and him crucified we are redeemed and given the right to be called the children of God, and so we are.

So, do you wish to become great? Truly great—and not just a fake greatness that passes away? Then listen to Jesus’s teaching. The disciples once came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus called a little child, had him stand in the middle of them, and said, “Amen I tell you: Unless you are turned and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives a little child like this one in my name receives me.”

On the occasion that we have already mentioned, on the night when Jesus was betrayed, in the very midst of instituting the Lord’s Supper, the disciples were arguing with one another over which of them should be considered the greatest. Jesus responded: “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But it is not to be that way with you. Instead, let the greatest among you become like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves. For who is greater, one who reclines at the table or one who serves? Isn’t it the one who reclines at the table? But, behold, I am among you as one who serves.”

If you want to be great, if you want to become like God, then do not say things like: “I’m too good or too important to do something like you-name-it.” Jesus says that the one who gives a cup of water to a child will not lose his or her reward. And do not wait for the other person to shape up before you will treat that other person kindly. Did Jesus wait for us to shape up before he was kind to us? Do not just love your friends. If you do, then you’re no different than the Gentiles. Love your enemies and do good to them.

Consider how Jesus was while he was being mistreated by his enemies. He did not rage and fume and curse and swear. Like a Lamb he was led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent in front of its shearers, he did not open his mouth. But we must also pay attention to when he actually did speak to his enemies. He didn’t say much, but whatever he did say was the truth. He was not vindictive and mean-spirited. His truths were spoken for the benefit of those who heard them.

Love, true love, is always outward directed. It does not consider one’s self, but is concerned with the well-being of the other. That means there might be times when sharp words are to be spoken—as Jesus himself sometimes did. But this was so that those who heard them could be turned from the broad and easy way that leads to destruction to the way that leads to eternal life.

But these rebukes and warnings are not always welcomed, to say the least! No doubt a goodly part of why the Jewish authorities hated Jesus so much that they shrieked for him to be crucified is because his words had hit home with them and stunk like the dickens. They didn’t repent; they got even.

And so it is up to our own day. The only thing that should get us into trouble as Christians is our mouth. We should use our mouth to call to repentance anyone and everyone who is on the path of destruction. It shouldn’t matter if the person is high or low, if they are a bum or a pillar of the community. All are thrown together into one heap, and, like John the Baptist always said: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven draws near!”

If you begin to do this, and do it vigorously, I can guarantee you that the cross will not be long in coming. But then you can apply to yourself what Jesus says at the end of the beatitudes: “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. In fact, that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

All the prophets, that is, all those who have spoken God’s genuine Word, have had a rough go of it, beginning with Abel who was killed by his worldly brother Cain. The enemies of God are real. And they fight. The devil, the world, and our sinful flesh will not give us any peace day or night. These enemies of God wittingly or unwittingly want to keep everyone in bondage to the devil and his lies. They do not want anyone to know the truth and thereby to become children of God. They want everyone to keep chasing after those things that moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal.

Love enriches and serves the other. Our love can be and must be demonstrated with earthly things where we give and forgive, bless when we are cursed, and so on. No unbeliever is going to complain about this. In fact, with their evil hearts, they might even look forward to trying to exploit us. God himself, of course, will put a limit as to how far they might go in that.

But when we are dealing not just with earthly riches but heavenly riches, not everybody is going to be so happy about that. When we testify so as to turn people away from damnation, this is seldom welcome—even among those who think of themselves as Christian and want to be Christian. But love still requires this of us nonetheless.

The greatest weakness among us, and it has been around us for a long time—well over a century, is that we have not loved people enough to warn them of the coming judgment in which they will most certainly fall short with their unbelief and sin. We’ve acted this way because we love ourselves. We don’t want the tension. We’re afraid of how people will react. Instead our churches have busied themselves with things that are not the Gospel. It is no surprise, therefore, that we are weak and in decline.

Beloved, let us love one another. Let us love one another enough to stick our necks out for those we love. The world won’t applaud you for this. In fact, the world will denounce you for it. But the true and almighty God will help you if you ask him to. Jesus has made a specific promise that our prayers for the Holy Spirit to be granted to us will not be denied. That is a mighty thing, for the Holy Spirit is God.

Let us also take in hand one more passage. When we think of those we love who are estranged from God and living in rebellion against his will, the thought of speaking to them about it makes us anxious. But the apostle Paul directs our hearts to someplace else besides our feelings. He would have us lift up our eyes to the one who made the heavens and the earth. He says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

210207 Sermon on Mark 4:2-20 (Sexagesima) February 7, 2021

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There is no higher or more exalted thing than that God should speak to us. The fact that this is the highest thing in life is understood even by those who do not know the true God, but follow some other god in their hearts. The Buddhist monk sits in silence at the monastery, waiting for enlightenment. When he believes that he has received it, he is very pleased. The astro-physicist pours over numbers and theories, looking for new insight. When enlightenment comes, he is delighted. Even the great horde of humanity, who might care more about their creature comforts than they do about anything else, are pleased to hear about and use some new gadget. In this way they all are participating and anticipating the greatness that is to come, the greatness that their god is bringing about on the earth. It is a grand thing to hear your God speak.

Our one and only true God, of course, has something different to tell us than all the other things that people trust in. The true God tells us that he has worked redemption and eternal life in the birth, life, suffering, and death of his eternally begotten Son Jesus Christ. We are forgiven and received by God as beloved children for Christ’s sake.

Furthermore, since we have already been redeemed from sin and death, we already have begun to live our eternal life. This eternal life is not one where we pick whichever way we might want to live—which would probably mean that we would pick sinful things, or at least selfish things. Instead this eternal life is only of the highest and best things. We live sacrificial and selfless lives of love by the power of the Holy Spirit. In this way we disciples follow our master, our great teacher, Jesus, who has taught us that whoever would be the greatest must become the least. The more we love, the more we suffer in that love, the more we become like the glory of God, which is Christ the crucified.

There is more that could be said about what our God tells us. This, after all, is why we have the Bible and why we gather to hear readings from the Bible. But I’ve tried to sum up the two chief teachings for Christians. First, the Lord Jesus Christ is our Redeemer and Savior. He has purchased us with his holy precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. Through him our sins are forgiven and we are accepted by God. Second, now that we are his own, we serve him in his kingdom in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

All of Scripture, all the preaching of God’s prophets and apostles, is for us to know this, believe this, and thereby be blessed eternally as God’s chosen children. This is what the true God says to us and to all who have ears to hear. There is nothing higher or more exalted. This will become especially clear when Jesus comes to judge the living and the dead.

Although this is the highest message there is, not everyone believes it. Among those who believe, not everyone continues to believe it. Among those who believe and continue to believe it, it is not always to the same extent or with the same results. This is what our Lord’s parable of the sower of the seed is about.

The seed is the Word of God. Some of it falls on the hard beaten path so that it never takes root. The devil comes and takes it out of people’s hearts.

Some falls on soil where the seed sprouts, but it doesn’t continue to grow or come to maturity. Some seed falls on the sandy, rocky ground that quickly warms up in the spring. The person quickly and joyously believes. But then the hot sun comes out. Jesus says that persecution comes because of the Word. That means that people have to choose between remaining with the Word of God or forsaking the Word of God so that they can get along more easily with unbelievers. In that struggle these people choose their friends and family. They save their own skin by silencing the Word of God. But this also means that their faith immediately withers and dies.

Some seed falls among the thorns. This seed starts out fine, but right along with the good seeds are the weed seeds. They grow up together with it. Jesus says that these thorns are “the worries of this life, and the deceitfulness of wealth, and desires for other things. They enter in and choke the Word.” Another way of saying this is that the heart, mind, strength, and soul slowly but surely go after other things.

In a way, the slowness of the onset is the worst part about it. As you well know a garden can survive some weed pressure for quite some time. Days and weeks can go by without seriously affecting the yield. You don’t have to pull them immediately. But the longer they grow, the harder it is to pull them. The roots go deeper and deeper. So it is with the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things besides our Lord. Since these things are stuck to our flesh we can’t get rid of them. The weed seeds are part of the soil and they will pop up inevitably. So it is with these desires in our flesh. But if, through neglect, we just let them grow, or, worse yet, water the weeds instead of the seed of faith, then it can’t help but end in disaster. This happens all the time. It is not just in youth that a person can lose faith. Not a single one of us is safe until we have died faithfully and sincerely confessing our Savior.

So with these first three types of soil we have seen how the greatest message there is—about the Son of God being the Savior of the world—is brought to nothing. Faith is lost. That might be something deliberate and well known—such as it is with those who hear the Gospel, but they scoff at it and judge it. Or it can be hidden under a show of piety—where someone truly believes himself to be a Christian, but in truth he is a worldling or someone whose heart is stuffed with other concerns. Either way, Jesus is not Lord for these people. Some thing or someone else is Lord for them.

Finally, there is the good soil. These are the ones who hear the message, who accept it, and who produce fruit. Some produce thirty fold, some sixty fold, and some one hundred times what was sown. As you know from your own experience of growing things, the yield isn’t always the same. Some of the hindrances that we have already talked about are often factors in the yield. If there is a lot of weed pressure, then there will be less fruit. If there was dryness and excessive heat, then the crop will suffer. Good growing conditions produce bountiful harvests.

This shows us that there is no such thing as “safe sins” for us Christians. If you are anything like me, then I’m sure you’ve heard this alluring lie in your head: “Don’t worry so much about committing this or that sin. It won’t hurt you. You can repent later. You can be forgiven later.” Not only can such thinking bring about a disaster—a complete loss of faith without recovery. Even if God does pick you back up after you have fallen, the sin inevitably leaves its mark. The resistance to it will be less next time. Regardless, even if everything goes to plan as we hoped, the heart will still be weighed down with joylessness and self-loathing.

This variance in yield in the good soil also shows that we can’t have our cake and eat it too. That is, we can’t belong both to the world and to God. The world has its own beliefs as to what is good and what is evil, what we should strive for and what we should avoid. The world teaches, for example, that everybody should look out for himself, strive for the applause of the crowd, and become as rich and popular as we can in every possible way.

Thus the world is terribly deceitful, as Jesus points out when he says that wealth is deceitful. We are deceived, and, in fact, we enjoy being deceived, into thinking that all that we accumulate will last. We imagine that if we have a big balance in our bank and retirement accounts that we are all set. But, as Jesus says elsewhere, “You fool! Your soul may be required of you this very night. What, then, will become of all your riches?” Or again, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but lose his soul. What will he give in exchange for his soul? Or, How can he redeem himself?”

But it is not natural for us to know this or feel this way. By nature we are secure and sleepy so long as we have many months and years of bread stowed away. That is why this is so tricky and deadly. We are deceived into paying homage to the god called mammon. Mammon wants us to be drunk and stoned and high and asleep at the same time. That is how he catches his prey. He does not want us praying to the true God for our daily bread. Being alert and sober is the way that we begin to break free from mammon’s grip.

And what do we as Christians do as we begin to break free from the grip of other gods? We produce fruit. Paul tells us the fruit of the Holy Spirit: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” These are wonderful things that we could consider with much profit, but let this suffice for today: The first one mentioned is the most important and it encompasses all the rest. Love is the first and foremost fruit that Christians are to produce.

The word “love” gets used a lot, so there can be a lot of confusion about it. No doubt this comes from the father of lies, who is always messing around with the meanings of words. So if you want to know what it means to love, you can do no better than to look to our Lord Jesus Christ. He is God, and God is love. And what did God do? He humbled himself and took on the form of a servant. He did not count the cost to himself, but poured himself out for even the most wretched and vile sinner, including you. He did not die just for his friends and family, for those who treated him well. He died for those who set and naught and sold him, pierced and nailed him to the tree. He died for you even though you have denied him and loved other gods more than him.

So, also, you are to love one another. Love the ones whom God has placed in your life. Love your spouse. Jesus died for the worst of the worst. Your spouse isn’t the worst of the worst, even if he or she has treated you badly in the past. And even if your spouse should treat you badly in the present or in the future, don’t let that put a damper on your love. What credit is it to you if you love someone who is already incredibly loveable? What is noteworthy about divine, Christian love is that it loves the unloveable.

Let that be the way that it is with you with all the people whom God places into our life. We are to love them. The world regards this love as nothing. It is too humble. It goes unnoticed, and so they believe that it simply goes away, whereas their riches, supposedly, last forever. But it is actually the other way around. The love that Christians have (which certainly includes courageously preaching the Gospel wherever and whenever the opportunity might arise for you to do so), produces fruit that lasts eternally in the lives that it touches. The world and all that is on it, including all the riches, will melt as it burns. Only human beings, with their eternal bodies and souls, will last forever. What if your love warms some cold, unbelieving heart, so that that person comes to believe in Christ, the true God, rather than in all kinds of other gods? Will not this be eternally precious both to you and to the person whom you serve? What if your word of tough love, that turns the sinner from his sins, brings that person to repentance?

There is nothing higher or more exalted than God speaking to us. In you speaking to others, God is speaking, for Jesus says, “He who hears you, hears me.” The message that our God gives to us, where he tells us what his will towards us sinners is, is the best thing that there is in the universe. Everything else, no matter how brilliantly it shimmers or shines, is nothing but fool’s gold. Therefore, it is my hope that the seed falls into your heart, that you accept it, and that you produce fruit according to God’s good pleasure.

210131 Sermon on Exodus 17:1-6 (Septuagesima) January 31, 2021

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Today I’d like to speak about our will? Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is a person’s last will and testament. This is a solemn declaration that a person makes about his or her property and effects—what he or she wants to have done after death. A will is what someone wants to have happen. And so we can talk about a person’s will in a different way than just this last will and testament. We can speak about a person’s will as being what a person wants, not just after death, but also as we live out our life.

What do you want? Whatever that might be is your will. If you want water, then you just might get out of your chair to get some. If you want entertainment, then you might turn on the TV or play a game. These are some mundane examples. Our will might go after some higher goals.

We might want to be rich. We might want to be fit and athletic. To fulfill these wants there is a lot that has to go into it. We might have to spend time doing things that are tiresome to become rich. We might have to quit eating some things we like, and start eating some things that we don’t like, as well as spend time making our muscles ache in order to be fit and athletic. So perhaps you can see that wanting something is one thing. Actually achieving it is another. We all might want to be rich or fit, but we might not want to do what is necessary to achieve those goals.

The Israelites, when they were slaves in Egypt, had something that they wanted. They wanted to live in the land of Canaan, promised to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was a land flowing with milk and honey. But as they were making their way through the wilderness that existed between Egypt and Canaan, they were thwarted by many things that they did not want.

For example, in our Old Testament reading we heard about how they were tested right away after passing through the Red Sea on their way to Sinai. There was no water to drink. They, their children, and their livestock were thirsty. So they quarreled with Moses and told him that this goal of going to Canaan was a terrible idea. They would rather have stayed in Egypt.

There was no end to these kinds of challenges against God and against his prophet Moses. Over and over again the people no longer wanted to go to Canaan. It was too hard to go to Canaan. They didn’t have water or food or weapons. One thing after another they lacked. They would have liked to have lived in Canaan if it were easy, but, barring that, they would have rather just eaten, drunk, and been merry.

As it turned out, the people that we heard about, this generation of Israelites, ended up getting neither. They rebelled against God who would have brought them into the promised land regardless of the difficulties. God punished them with 40 years of wandering in the wilderness until all of them were dead. None of them would make it into the promised land. Plus they wouldn’t have the niceties of life that they had enjoyed in Egypt even though they were slaves. They truly had tragic, miserable lives. They lost God’s favor and they didn’t enjoy the creature comforts that caused them to rebel against him in the first place. Such are the sorrows of the wicked that even what they have is taken away from them.

So what should they have done instead? Should they have feared, loved, and trusted in God more? Should they not have despised Moses’s preaching and God’s Word, but rather gladly heard and learned it? Should they have called upon God’s name in every trouble, prayed, praised, and given thanks? All of this goes without saying. Of course they should have done these things. But that’s a little bit like telling a lame man that he should get up and walk, or telling a deaf man that he should listen up and hear. They were blinded to what was truly good, which was their relationship with God. For God had told them that they were a chosen nation, a nation of priests before God. But this meant very little to them. Their will was directed towards the maximization of pleasure and the minimization of pain. Accordingly they were filled with covetousness from the tops of their heads to the soles of their feet.

This is not surprising, because ever since the fall into sin our wills have been mangled beyond all recognition. As human beings were originally created, before the fall into sin, we were to find delight in our God and his will being done. But immediately after the fall into sin, Adam and Eve got to work accumulating things for themselves. Being fed by God like the birds are fed, day after day, became practically a nightmare to them. They didn’t want daily bread. They wanted enough money socked away for months and months or years and years. In fact, we never seem to be satisfied no matter how much we have. We always want more. We want it all. And we want it now.

The only way that we can be set free from this ravenous, covetous will of ours is by the gift of God’s Word that works by the power of the Holy Spirit. By God’s Word Adam and Eve’s eyes were lifted up from their paltry human existence to the coming of the Savior. For God had told them that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. Ever since then the Word of God has been spoken on this earth.

Year after year and generation after generation it has been passed on. People have been encouraged to lift up their eyes to their Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. They have been urged to believe that God is their Father who art in heaven. They have been taught that there is no greater blessing that we can receive from God than that his name should be hallowed among us, and that his kingdom should come to us. Thus there have been believers, and there will continue to be believers, until that last person whom God has chosen for salvation is converted to faith in Jesus. Then the end will come, for there will no longer be a reason for this old earth to keep spinning ‘round.

But at the same time there have also always been unbelievers, despite the Word of God being available and used. Right from the get-go, Cain, the first man born in the natural way, turned away from God, murdered his believing brother Abel, and went off to make his fortunes.

Even when the Word of God is preached with power, and mighty signs accompany it, such as at the time of Moses, it can still be disbelieved. Those who once believed might not necessarily always believe. St. Paul himself, in our epistle reading, admits the possibility that he who preached Christ to others could fall and be disqualified. It is as the old hymn says, “[We] walk in danger all the way.”

So let us be done with a common misconception among us where it is believed that practically everybody is a believer, practically everybody goes to heaven, as though it were a matter of course. It is believed by many that some vague commitment is sufficient—some tip of the hat towards Jesus or the Bible where a person lives his or her life as they dang well please, but show up at Christmas and Easter. It is a widespread fantasy that the Word of God doesn’t matter, that you don’t have to learn and keep learning what God says, and of course this is an attractive idea. Who wouldn’t be attracted to the idea that you can indulge your sinful will to the fullest, that you can live sopped and lathered in covetousness, and with a wink and a gleam in his eye the old man upstairs says that all that’s just fine?

This same thing applies also to others who cut a better figure, who make a better show of piety by coming to church more often, or even every Sunday. In our epistle reading Paul says that God was displeased with the vast, vast majority of the Israelites. If there has ever been anyone who could brag about being a member of a great congregation, it would be these Israelites. Who has had a better, more energetic and serious preacher sent to them than these did with Moses? Who has seen so many prophesies fulfilled before their very eyes?

So it is the height of foolishness for people to believe that just because they are on a membership roll of a congregation that they are bound for heaven because of that. Jesus does not say that whoever goes to church or whoever gives offerings will go to heaven. Rather he says, “Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved. Whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

Unbelief is not rare, even among church members. Even among those whom God has elected to salvation, there are many instances of falling away and unbelief. King David, for example, grew covetous, became an adulterer, and finally a murderer. If he had died during this time he surely would have gone to hell, for he was living according to his flesh in unbelief. But God had mercy on him and sent him the prophet Nathan. Through Nathan God converted him again to faith.

The Christian life consists of walking, and (unfortunately) stumbling, perhaps (unfortunately) falling, and (by God’s grace) getting back up again. But it can happen that our fight against sin grows less and less. Our will gets bent more and more away from God’s will. And perhaps when we fall, God does not pick us back up again. God preserve and keep us from such a fate, for this is the worst thing that can possibly happen, and it can happen while still being outwardly a member of a congregation like the Israelites were.

The problem is that we continue to have our sinful flesh, even after receiving the Holy Spirit when we believe. Our sinful flesh fights against the Spirit, so that we do not continue to do those things that we would want. Our flesh has its desires; the Holy Spirit has different desires. Our flesh wants sexual immorality, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, discord, jealousy, selfish ambition, drunkenness, feasting, and so on. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. If we return to slavery to our flesh, then we will be condemned. If, by the Spirit, we put to death the deeds of the flesh, then we will live.

Christians always find this a terrible burden, a war between the flesh and the Spirit that drags on for years, until our sinful flesh is finally destroyed by death. One of the things that you can look forward to in heaven is that this battle will be over. For we will be resurrected from the dead with a flesh that has been purified from sin.

What might we do in the meantime? Are there any aides available to fight in this battle? Yes, there are. They correspond to the first three commandments. God has given us his Word and his Sacraments. Joined to this Word is the Holy Spirit, who is able to open the ears of the deaf and give sight to the blind. The Holy Spirit is able to bring us to repentance, to hate our own will, and ask that God’s will be done instead of our own.

The Sacrament of the altar is also important for us as we are battered and beaten by the devil, the world, and our own flesh. Jesus’s body and blood work the forgiveness of our sins and lift up our eyes from the mundane covetousness of this world to Christ on the cross. As Jesus himself says, we are to do this in remembrance of him. The Sacrament changes our will so that our faith in God is increased, and we begin to fervently love one another.

So the first aide that we have against our flesh and unbelief is God’s Word. The second aide that we have is prayer. In the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray we ask that God’s name would be hallowed among us, that his kingdom would come, and that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. All of these petitions are directed against our bent and sinful will. Instead of praying for more stuff or for an increase in pleasure and a decrease in suffering, Jesus teaches that it is most important that the Holy Spirit be at work in God’s kingdom among us. When we pray these things that Jesus has taught us to pray we should be certain that our prayer is heard by God and is well pleasing to him. For he himself has commanded us to pray this way and has promised to hear us.

The Word of God, the Sacraments, and prayer have God’s promise of creating faith in us. It is by faith, and faith alone, that we overcome the world. There is no other way for us to bend our will towards God than by the Holy Spirit accomplishing it in us—drowning our flesh, and raising us together with Christ. Fight the good fight of faith, therefore, by taking in hand these divine weapons that our God has given to us.