191229 Sermon on Luke 2:22-40 (Christmas 1) December 29, 2019

191229 Sermon on Luke 2:22-40 (Christmas 1) December 29, 2019

There are four books of the Bible that tell us about the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. These are called Gospels, which means, “good news.” They have been grouped together at the beginning of the New Testament. They are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are named after their authors, and so we say at the beginning of our Gospel reading, “The holy Gospel according to St.-whoever-wrote-that-Gospel, the such-and-such chapter.” 

There is a common expectation that the four Gospels are like biographies. Biographies almost always begin with the birth of a person, and then the life of that person is laid out in a systematic and sequential way. This style of telling a person’s life, however, has not been around very long. Biographies weren’t really written before the 1800s. The Gospels aren’t biographies. They are far from complete records of everything that Jesus did and said. St. John the Evangelist tells us why he included what he did in his Gospel. He said that if everything were written down about Jesus, then all the libraries of the world wouldn’t be able to contain them all. But these things were written that you should believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that you may have life in his name. Learning about Jesus is different than just learning about somebody famous. It’s not meant to be just information. It calls for judgment. What do you say about Jesus? Is he the Christ, is he the Savior, or not?

And so the Gospels are different from biographies. They do not systematically tell a complete story. In fact, two out of the four Gospels do not say much at all about Jesus before he was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Only Matthew and Luke speak of his life prior to his baptism. And even in Matthew and Luke there is quite a bit we might otherwise like to know. Both Matthew and Luke speak about the very early life of Jesus, but after he is maybe about 2 years old, the Gospels don’t tell us anything more about Jesus until his baptism, except for one episode when he was about 12. That is when he went to Jerusalem with his family. The family headed for home and accidently left Jesus behind. He was busy discussing God’s Word in the Temple. But this is the only thing we hear about Jesus’s life from about 2 years old until he was perhaps around 30 years old, when he was baptized.

During this Christmas season, when we are thinking about Jesus’s birth, it is only natural that whatever the Gospels do say about Jesus’s earthly life should be focus of our readings, and so it is. Although we don’t know hardly anything about Jesus as a boy and a young man, the Gospels tell us more about when he was a baby.

The first part of Luke chapter 2 is the Christmas Gospel. This is where we hear about Mary and Joseph making their way to Bethlehem because of a census and giving birth while lodging in a stable because there was no room for them in the inn. This is also where we hear about the shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night, but an angel of the Lord appears to them and tells them that a Savior was born for them.

Our reading today is the second part of Luke 2. This is about 6 weeks after Jesus’s birth. The Law that God gave to Moses required sacrifices for Mary and Jesus. Mary needed to offer sacrifice in order to become ritually clean after childbirth. Jesus, her firstborn, needed to be redeemed as the firstborn child by sacrifice. This hearkened back to the time of Passover while the Israelites were still in Egypt. The firstborn belonged to God and he would take that life unless it were redeemed by the blood of the lamb that was placed on the sides and tops of the doors. Ever since that time, the firstborn of each family was redeemed by the sacrifice of an animal in their place.

This devotion to the Law is God humbling himself. When he sent his Son to be born of a woman, he entered also under the Law, even though God is Lord of the Law. Jesus would not have needed to keep that Law as God, but he voluntarily kept the Law as an Israelite and as a human being in our place in order to fulfill it. The way that all laws work is that if they are kept, then the outcome will be good. If they are not kept, then the outcome will be bad. Since we have not kept the Law, the Law is not our friend. It is calling out for our punishment. If we actually kept the Law, then we could count on it for our blessing, but since we have not, it calls for our punishment.

In order that the Law should not condemn us, Jesus entered into our place. Not only did he take the punishment that we deserve for breaking the Law, but he also kept and fulfilled the Law that we have not been able to keep. His keeping of the Law is credited to us when we believe in him. What we see in Jerusalem about six weeks after Jesus was born is a small part of the way that Jesus fulfilled the Law that was given to the Jews. Jews who have not kept the Law cannot look to the Law for help. All they are going to find there is condemnation. But they can look to Jesus, who lived the perfect life and fulfilled the Law that they were not able to keep.

While Mary, Joseph, and the Baby were in Jerusalem they met an elderly man named Simeon and an elderly woman named Anna. The old man had been waiting for the fulfillment of a promise God had made to him that he would see the Christ, the promised Savior, before he died. Luke does not answer all the questions we might have about this. We might wonder how Simeon was told that this would happen. We might also wonder how it was that Simeon knew that Jesus was the Christ versus all the other baby boys that he saw. It is possible that an angel, a messenger from God, told him directly. Luke does not say.

But Luke does record much of what Simeon said. He took Jesus up into his arms and said, “Lord, now you dismiss your servant in peace, according to your word, because my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.”

These words are familiar to us. We know them by the first two words in Latin, the “Nunc Dimmitis.” It is a part of our Divine Service liturgy. We sing this song after receiving the Lord’s Supper. It is not a coincidence that this song was chosen, nor is it a coincidence that it is sung after communion. When Simeon took Jesus up into his arms he said that he has received the Christ. God had kept his promise. This boy is a light that reveals salvation for the Gentiles and for Israel. Accordingly, Simeon is ready to die in peace.

When we receive the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are receiving the same Christ that Simeon held. It is the body and blood sacrificed for our salvation. This is our life, our hope’s foundation, our glory, and our salvation. When we have returned to our seat after receiving the pledge of God’s love and forgiveness to us in the Lord’s Supper, we are even better prepared than Simeon to say, “I am ready to die in peace.” The message God gives us is clear. If we have doubts about whether God’s good will is toward mankind, then we should remember this gift that he gives to us. If he gives us his own Son’s body and blood to eat and drink, then how can he deny us? We are the very ones who have been purchased by that body and blood. Although we have not taken Jesus into our arms, like Simeon did, we have become one with him in an even closer way.

Simeon also makes a prophesy regarding Jesus. He says that he is set for the falling and rising of many in Israel. A sword will go through Mary’s heart. The thoughts of many will be revealed. Jesus was not accepted by everybody. Some received him—usually they were the poor, blind, and needy. The big shots, by and large, refused to believe in him.  They thought he was a country bumpkin, a Sabbath breaker, and a blasphemer. When he became popular with the people they thought that he was a threat to their national identity and the relationship that the Jews had with the Romans. This is why they killed him. These leaders were not evil looking on the outside. Just the opposite. They were highly respectable and greatly honored. But when Jesus came, their real thoughts were revealed. They did not believe God’s Word. They did not believe in Jesus. They believed in a lot of other things instead. They were liars and murderers.

The same thing still happens today. Faith and unbelief has always divided the world in two ever since the beginning. There are a lot of people in our community who are very fine citizens. They are polite and respectable and obey the laws of the state. Nothing bad could be said about them or their behavior. But they do not believe that Jesus is the Christ. They do not stake their life and salvation on his crucifixion for their sins. They do not hope in the resurrection from the dead. They believe in a lot of things, but they do not believe God’s Word. They do not believe in Jesus. Therefore they are left in their sins.

If this fact is made known to them with any potency at all, then you will see another side of them. The mask will come off, and you will see what they think of this Jesus whom you believe in. They will put you out of their circle of friends and feel as though they have done the right thing by doing so. In the end, Jesus will always either be embraced and adored or he will be spit at and hated. There is no in between. He is set for the falling and rising of every individual. The thoughts and beliefs of each will be revealed in how they regard him.

Finally, the holy family comes across a very old woman named Anna. She was a long time widow, which probably meant that she was very poor. She was nearby and gave thanks to God when she heard about Jesus and saw him. God was her only hope and stay. She didn’t have anything else to rely upon. She was greatly cheered by seeing the fulfillment of God’s promise of a Savior.

She did what comes naturally to those who believe. She talked about Jesus to all those who were waiting for the consolation and salvation of Israel. Here we have the simplest and best understanding of evangelism. When a person believes, he speaks. We can’t help but want to talk about things that we love or enjoy. Even if you just get some new gadget for the kitchen or the workshop, you are likely to tell your family and friends about it. So also, Christians will speak about Jesus.

Note, however, that there is a big difference between praising gadgets and praising Jesus . When you are speaking about Jesus you will be confronting and fighting against powers and principalities who do not want the name of Jesus to be known so that it can be called upon. This very often makes it difficult or awkward to speak about Jesus. That might make you think that you need some kind of program to do it.

No, don’t worry about that. You are all well equipped to praise Jesus. You know who he is. You know what he has done. You know what evils he has come to save us from. All that you need is some boldness. If you find that lacking, then ask God for it. Realize that this might mean—in fact, it probably will mean—that you will not be loved by everyone. The coming of Christ reveals the thoughts of many. Something of a sword might pass through your heart. But what are these things compared to being saved from hell and being received as a child of God? That is what you are offering people when you speak to them about Jesus. It is an act of love. True love does not look out for one’s self, but for the good of the other.

Do not be ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of salvation to all who believe—both you and those who cross your path.

191225 Sermon on John 1:1-18 (Christmas Day) December 25, 2019

191225 Sermon on John 1:1-18 (Christmas Day) December 25, 2019

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” That is the first sentence of the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis was written with two great objectives in mind. Moses speaks about two things more than anything else. He speaks about God and he speaks about God’s people. God created Man. Man feel into sin. God called him out of darkness into the light. Some received that light; some did not. Abel believed. Cain did not. Noah believed. The rest of the world did not. Abraham believed. The rest of the world only fell deeper and deeper into darkness. God blessed Abraham and his descendants. He was their God. They were his people. He was present among them and blessed them and fought for them. He made a mighty nation of them and they lived for hundreds and hundreds of years in the land that he had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” is the first sentence of the book of Genesis. “In the beginning was the Word,” is the first sentence of the Gospel of John. “The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him everything was made, and without him not one thing was made that has been made.” The apostle John is obviously referring to the first book of the bible by using the same words. He also shows us something that we might not otherwise see as easily. He says that the Word was with God—referring to the Son of God. It was through the Word that God created. Now how did God create? He spoke. He used words. He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. The Trinity is there already in the first verses of Genesis. God, as in God the Father, was there. The Word, as in the Son, was there. The Holy Spirit was also there, for Moses says, “and the Spirit hovered over the face of the waters.” The triune God created all things, and without the Trinity nothing was made. There is one God, one Creator. He has universal significance.

The apostle John has something to say about this God as it has been shown to him in Jesus Christ. That is why he is writing this Gospel. What is of great importance to God is his relationship with Man. Remember that I said Moses had two objectives in Genesis. He wanted to speak about God and he wanted to speak about God’s people. The same is true here with John in his Gospel. He says that John the Baptist came, telling people about the Word, the Light, that has come into the world in Jesus, born of Mary, but these people who were descendants of the people of God did not receive him. “But,” John says, “to all who did receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. They were born, not of blood, or of the desire of the flesh, or of a husband’s will, but born of God.”

Here we are introduced to a peculiar nation, a peculiar tribe, a peculiar family. The families that we know of are ones that are produced through the desire of the flesh and the will of a husband. Father and mother come together and children are born. One generation follows another, and if God so wills it, they might increase greatly in number.

This is what God says to Abraham, as you might remember. He says, “Look at the stars. Try to number them. That is how many descendants you will have.” A side note here: even with all our technology, our scientists still have not been able to number all the stars. The farther into space they look, the more stars they see. And God directs Abraham to the sand of the seashore. All those countless grains of sand—that’s how many descendants you will have.

But just as the apostle John has shown us some things that we might not otherwise see with the opening words of Genesis—namely, that the Trinity was the God who created the earth—so also he might be filling us in on something here too. The true descendants of Abraham, the true children of God, are not those of the flesh. It’s not a matter of genetics or family lineage. It’s a matter of faith, which is given according to the will of God.

The history of the Old Testament confirms this. To be sure, the vast majority of believers were blood descendants of Abraham, but not all of them. There was always a trickle of Gentiles, a trickle of people from other nations, who also came to faith. Rahab, the prostitute from Jericho, came to faith. In fact, she is in the family line from which Jesus was born. At the time of Solomon, the queen Sheba came from Africa to visit him. When she went back, it appears that there was a congregation that began to call on the name of the Lord in what is today Ethiopia.

There are other examples we could mention too. But this is enough to show that John is teaching us what it means to be a child of God. It has always been a matter of faith in the God who promises salvation. Adam and Eve believed that they were reconciled to God, though they were sinners, by what God had said. Abel believed. Cain did not. Abel was a child of God. Cain remained a child of the devil, which we all are by nature, since the fall into sin. The religion of Christianity was not invented at the time of Jesus. The God who was there at the beginning is the same God that is now and ever shall be. The way that people were children of God then, namely, by faith, is the same way that people are children of God now.

So did nothing change with Jesus? Did everything just carry on like it always had? No, as the apostle John himself tells us. With Jesus something tremendous happens. The Word which was in the beginning and was God, has been made Man. “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.” The promise made in the Garden of Eden was brought to a fulfillment. Because God loved each one of us individually and every individual who has ever lived, he wished to save us from our slavery to the serpent which we had brought upon ourselves. He sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem us who were guilty according to that Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Though the serpent sunk his fangs into the heel of Jesus on the cross so that he died, the serpent himself was undone by that action.

In Jesus there is forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. Now, by faith, we may call upon God as our dear Father. We may walk with him and talk with him like Adam and Eve did before they sinned. We are urged to do just that, having a good conscience, by the blood of Jesus that purifies us from our sins. Because we still have our sinful flesh, however, this is a great struggle to believe and do. None of us do it as we would like to be able to do it. But this will change one day too. We will not always walk by faith. One day we will walk by sight and our sinful flesh will be purified through the resurrection from the dead. Then we will know fully the splendor of being a child of God.

In Jesus the fullness of God’s will toward us is revealed. In Jesus the fullness of God’s salvation is worked out by Jesus’s death and resurrection. And so, certainly, things do not just carry on like they always have with the coming of the Son of God into the flesh. And yet, on the other hand, there is a carrying on of things as they always have been. God blessed the people of the Old Testament with his Word. They believed it. Through that faith they were justified and children of God. Now that Word of God has come to you. You are hearing it, are you not? You believe that Jesus is the Savior who was born for you, do you not? Then you are children of God. God has chosen you from before the foundation of the world to know and love Jesus and to live together with him forever. Just as God loved and protected Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the people of God that we read about in the Bible, so also he loves and will protect you.

And so it is a great blessing that God has brought it about that you should hear his promises. God keeps his promises, for he is not a liar like us. And he dwells among us, he tabernacles among us, as the apostle John says. Today we will know that in a special way. In order that we may believe his promises more firmly he gives us the very body and blood that was sacrificed on the cross for our redemption to eat and to drink. I can’t imagine a more forceful way for God to say to you that you are redeemed from all your sin. You are a child of God. God loves you.

Let us, therefore, this Christmas morning, receive this pledge and seal of our salvation with thanksgiving to our God for making us his children.

191224 Sermon on Luke 2:1-14 (Christmas Eve) December 24, 2019

191224 Sermon on Luke 2:1-14 (Christmas Eve) December 24, 2019

One of the books that I use to teach bible history has a picture of Adam and Eve after they have been kicked out of the Garden of Eden. In the artist’s mind it must be several years later. Cain, their firstborn son is in the picture. He looks like he might be about 12. Abel also is in the picture. He looks like he might be about 6. The picture also has some of the fruits of their labors. There is a humble shelter. Some wooden fences have been assembled.

What I find most interesting about the picture, though, are the poses and faces of Adam and Eve. Adam is resting his chin on top of his hands while he leans on his hoe. Eve is sitting down with a tattered mop in her hands. Both are looking at Abel who is contentedly playing with sheep. The expression on both of their faces is best described with the word tired. They are not exactly sad. They certainly aren't beaming brightly. Adam is tired of hoeing out the thorns and thistles that infest the ground. Eve is tired of cleaning that which, so very quickly, only gets dirty again.

This artist understood what life is like, particularly as we age. Children still have some get-up and go, and it seems that the artist understood this too. Cain and Abel do not look tired. They look ready to tootle about. Adam and Eve look like they are ready for a vacation. Or retirement.  But wait a minute: will that solve their problems? Not quite. Vacations and retirement aren’t the fountain of youth. They don’t make us into children again. About all that they can manage to do for us is to offer us a little more pleasant way to pass the time—no hoeing or mopping.

I’m going to be honest about what is going on here. Some of you might get mad at me for this, but I think you have to acknowledge the truth of it. As we age we get closer to death. Practically every part of ourselves progressively breaks down. Our strength goes. Our flexibility goes. Our curiosity goes. Our mind goes. Our energy goes. You see, “In the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” The curse of death hangs over us all.

Now what have I done? Have I gone and wrecked our holly, jolly Christmas? That depends on how you answer this crucial question: “Is there anything that can be done about death?” If the answer is, “No,” then the best that we can do is try to ignore it. There are a lot of ways to do that. You can eat, drink, and be merry. You can get drunk on the sentimentality of Christmases past. You can spend your hard earned cash for stimulants—some new toy or gadget that will allow you not to be bored for a while, not to feel so tired for a while. Have you noticed how hard it is to buy a gift that an old person really enjoys? That’s because they’re all strung out. They’ve all been there and done that. A child, on the other hand—all you really need to give them is a big cardboard box. Old people need new cars or to win the lottery to feel good.

All of these stimulants are ways to try to deal with the curse of death that hangs over us without actually facing it. They are kind of like cold medicine. Cold medicine does nothing to make the cold go away any faster. All that it can do is alleviate some of the symptoms. Although cold medicine helps, we all know that it isn’t the real deal. Decongestant makes it so you can breathe out your nose, but your nose still feels funny. There’s no replacing the vim and vigor that returns to us naturally once the cold has finally left us.

And so all the stimulants we buy are like shuffling along with cold medicine while stubbornly denying that we have a cold. Nobody knows of anything better, and so it is expected that we continue shuffling along, taking our stimulants when we can get them. This is a hopeless and depressing way of looking at life, and so I can understand why some of you might be irritated. But this reaction is built upon the firm belief that there isn’t anything that can be done about death, and so might as well just try to cope in some way.

Believe it or not, something can be done about death—not only can be done, but has been done. Furthermore, it doesn’t just deal with death itself, but all the slowing down and irritation and dissatisfaction that leads up to it. The cold that we have had since the moment we were conceived in our mother’s womb has a cure—not just a way to treat the symptoms. We’ve never known what is like to live without this cold, without death and all that leads up to it, weighing us down. But there is a cure, and this cure is what is so vitally important about Christmas.

The angel says to the shepherds that he has good news of great joy. What is this good news? A Savior was born for you. When we use a word frequently enough we tend to become desensitized to it. I think that happens with the word “Savior.” It’s hardly possible to understand the word without experiencing salvation. We can try to imagine it though.

If you were stuck in a burning building and the firemen sent one of their ladders up to you and helped you through the window and down to the ground in safety, you would start to know what a savior is. But this is quite hypothetical. I don’t know if any one of us has been stuck in a burning building. Let’s talk about something we do know. We’ve felt the blues of life, which come with the curse of death. We know drudgery. The boredom, the sadness, the restlessness of Adam and Eve, hoeing and mopping. The lack of curiosity and of get up and go. The frustration, the impatience, the anger. There is salvation from all of these things in the Savior who was born for you. He gives us a new heart.

Furthermore, we can also speak of what is scariest of all. We can speak of the ending to those nightmares, where we somehow get caught and die. Unless Christ should come back first, this is what will happen to each and every one of us will get caught by something. Jesus is the Savior who was born for us for that too. The words that we say at the graveside of a Christian are not empty.  These words might be said at your graveside:

We now commit the body of our brother or sister to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subdue all things to Himself.

Jesus is the Savior for us from the cold, dark grave. When the time is right he will cause us to rise to life, cured from that cold, cured from death, and, like we say after a long cold, we will feel like ourselves for the very first time. Nobody will have to tell us to be energetic or curious or joyful or all the other good things that we associate with youth, because we will already be these things. We won’t be tired anymore. If your bodies hurt now, they won’t hurt anymore then. All of that will be passed away as that which is old. Behold, the new has come. All of this is because a Savior was born for you.

Something to keep in mind here, though: We have not yet been resurrected. We have to wait. Until that time comes, we will still feel the effects of this fallen world. When someone becomes a Christian, their lives are not transformed into paradises. There is no promise that they will have less suffering or more pleasure. This can make unbelievers wonder what good it is to be a Christian. Technology, hoeing, and mopping seem to hold out more promise of making us happy so long as we try hard enough and never give up. There’s some truth to this, as we’ve already talked about. Some of the symptoms can be addressed. Technology will never progress to the point, however, where we will be redeemed from the devil, death and hell, or be reconciled to our Creator. Only the blood of God, the blood of Jesus, born in a stable in Bethlehem, can do that.

And so there are two things that I think we, as Christians, should keep in mind. First, be patient. In times past this was well known as a good Christian virtue. It’s fallen off our radar in modern times. Perhaps it’s because we’ve been able to fix so many things, that we think that we can fix everything. But the things that we have talked about tonight cannot be fixed by anything other than the resurrection from the dead. This is still in the future, and so we must wait. God will help us while we wait. And when that time comes, believe me, it will be worth the wait. As it says in Revelation, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

First, be patient. Second, don’t let the way that you feel mislead you. There’s a lot of pressure at Christmas to feel merry and joyful. There’s an expectation that opening presents has to make us happy. What if it doesn’t? Are your emotions so powerful that they are able to undo the work of God? Do your emotions change Jesus being a Savior for you?

Paul says that we carry around the treasure of salvation in jars of clay. Jars of clay aren’t known for their resiliency. The treasure of salvation is one thing. Jars of clay are another. And so it happens that we as Christians experience hardship and pain and frustration and heartache and sadness and tiredness and all the other things that go along with this old world. At the same time, though, we are being renewed inwardly day by day. What he is referring to there is the promise of God that we hold to by faith. And so it might very well be the case that we are sorrowful and yet always rejoicing, as being poor and yet making everybody rich, as having nothing and yet possessing everything.

It’s okay to feel tired or sad or any other thing like that. That’s just the jar of clay being a jar of clay? Here’s what’s important: What is your treasure? In what do you hope? If you believe that Jesus is your Savior, then your treasure will not disappointed you.

We aren’t in control of our feelings as much as we might think that we are. Sad things make us sad. Happy things make us happy. Why lie about such things or pretend? Things are the way that they are. We don’t need to be afraid of reality. Reality, because of Jesus, is on our side in the end. When salvation is complete—when death and all that leads up to it is put away—then we won’t need anyone to tell us to be happy. We will be happy, because we won’t be able to help being anything but.

Until that time, catch as catch can. Enjoy whatever happiness comes your way. Although we are under the curse of death, God still gives us a lot of good and happy times. It is my sincere wish that such good and happy and lively times are given to each and every one of you this Christmas. But remember that you being blessed does not depend on that. What that depends on is your God who loves you and who sent his Son into this dying world to open up the way to everlasting life. This he gives to you as a gift to be held to by faith, until he decides to bring it about.

191222 Sermon on John 1:29-34 (Advent 4) December 22, 2019

191222 Sermon on John 1:29-34 (Advent 4) December 22, 2019

The first thing that is noticed with John is how he was cowed by no one. We can see that in our reading for today. John was out preaching, and who should show up but some bigwigs from Synod headquarters. They’ve come to make sure that everything that John is doing is proper and in order. They’ve heard some strange things about John baptizing, and they aren’t so sure about that. Had John received the prior approval from his ecclesiastical supervisors before doing that? Or maybe John has some grand ideas about himself. Does he think he’s the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet that Moses speaks about in our Old Testament reading? In any case, they thought they better get to the bottom of it.

John, however, was indifferent. If the church bureaucracy doesn’t like what he has to say, then they will just have to continue to not like what he says. He is not accountable to them. He is accountable to the God who sent him to preach and to baptize. He has no need for their exalted titles. He’s content with being just a voice. He is the voice of one calling out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord.” The glory of the Lord is about to be revealed in Jesus Christ, whose sandal strap he is unworthy to untie. These words do not require great intelligence to be understood. John was not a genius. He was a voice who spoke what was given to him to speak. But what did set him apart from others was that his voice was wholly dedicated to God and God’s will that has been made known through his Word. What other people thought did not overly concern him.

The word that we might use to describe John’s willingness to go against the grain might be “independence.” Someone who is independent is not beholden to others. But that would almost be the opposite of what is really going on here. John was completely dependent—not upon men, to be sure, but upon his God. He was free from making his words sound pretty or plausible so as to please people. God’s truth, served straight, was the way he did things. If trouble came as a result, which it often did, then he was wholly dependent upon God for his comfort, strength, and protection. This dependence upon God set him apart from the herd. Being set apart from everybody else looks like independence, but this is actually an extreme form of dependence.

Being dependent upon God and becoming only ever more dependent upon God was the way that John lived and this was the message that he urged upon those who heard his voice. Independence is not a good thing according to the Bible. What happened when Adam and Eve became independent? They ended up going away from God. And when God came after them, they only wanted to get further away. One of the common pictures used in the Scriptures for sin is the picture of a sheep wandering off on its own. “We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.” The picture of turning away from sin corresponds to this. The sheep are called back. They return to the shepherding of the Lord. When the shepherd finds the one who has wandered off he places it on his shoulders and carries it back to the fold rejoicing. Such sheep are independent no more. They have returned to dependence upon the Good Shepherd.

Something that responsibility requires as an accompaniment to this message is the danger—the impossibility—of independence from God. It simply won’t work. Sheep are defenseless against the wolf if they are left to their own devices. They aren’t very big. They don’t have sharp claws or teeth. They aren’t that fast. They also aren’t that smart. If a person decides that he or she wants to remain estranged and alienated from the Good Shepherd, then it is necessary to point out that this can’t turn out well for them.

John had the guts to lay out this danger clearly and vividly. The ax is laid at the root of the tree. God’s winnowing fork is in his hand. He will gather the grain into the bin, but the chaff shall be burned. There will come a time when it is too late to repent—too late to return. Then people will be stuck with what they have decided for themselves as being their hope and stay.

There is an old understanding of hell where the inhabitants are tortured by the sins that they had so much gusto for in this life. It’s like the way some people have tried to turn their kid away from smoking when they have discovered the child experimenting with it. They sit the child down and make them smoke a pack of cigarettes—one after another—until they are sick to death of them. So it is with this understanding of hell. The things that a sinner has turned to over the years for comfort or pleasure, will be the very things that they will be compelled to turn to. The forbidden pleasure, the false god will be coming out of their ears—they’ll be so full of it.

God does not pull us into heaven by our hair. To the one who chooses sin he says, “Let him be a sinner eternally.” To the one who chooses to go their own way he says, “Let him go his own way eternally.” But this is not the way that God would have it. The voice that speaks from the Scriptures is remarkably consistent. It says, “Return to the Lord your God.” Ever since the fall into sin, this has been the message. You have been estranged. You have wandered off. You have sought success and blessing and happiness in all kinds of things beside the only source of good, the Father of lights. It is not too late to turn away from these things and hold fast to the Lord—the only God there is.

This might seem as though it is a rather simple thing to accomplish because it is totally logical. I suppose it should be a simple thing, but mysteriously it is not. As a child I used to wonder about the people of God in the Old Testament. I couldn’t understand why they were always going after all these idols. I thought idols were dumb. I thought they were just hunks of metal or wood. Why couldn’t they just cut them all down and get rid of them? Realize, the Old Testament people were never able to get rid of them totally. Even with the best and most faithful kings, with the best and most courageous prophets, there were always at least a few that they didn’t dare get rid of.

Now I understand that what is important about idols is not that they are statues or poles. It is the ideas or goals or powers to which the statues are dedicated that are important. Idolatry offers the person a way to get ahead in life. It says, “Devote your life to me, and I will make you happy.” And so it is that our friends, families, and neighbors believe much more firmly that all kinds of other pursuits in life will offer them happiness besides following after the true God. These are unbelievers. We Christians aren’t hardly any better. We have made a commitment to Jesus being our God, but where does the heart really lie? In what do we really trust for our blessing, that is, our happiness and success? We are no different from the people in the Old Testament. They went to church, but they also covered their bases by living according to other sets of rules and beliefs too. So also we go to church, but our heart is divided. There is a fear that God won’t do squat for us; we better see to things ourselves.

And so it is imminently logical that returning to the Lord our God is good for us, but we can’t believe it. Our Catechism says, “I believe that I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” We are not capable of believing, unless the almighty power of God the Holy Spirit makes it otherwise. If we are left to our own powers of choice, then we are going to worship the things that give us pleasure now, but will prove to be our eternal torment hereafter—these demons dressed up as idols.

And so it has always been God’s plan that he should draw near to us instead of us drawing near to him. This is John the Baptist’s preaching, the pointing that is involved in the season of Advent, and the significance of Christmas. God did not leave us to our own devices. He did not wait for us to figure out the proper logic and make the correspondingly correct choice. The King of Glory comes in. He breaks the bars of brass and bursts the bonds of iron. God draws near to us sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ to be a blessing to us. It is unheard of that God should become flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, but that is what he does in the seed of the woman, in the Virgin Mary. The way that we are made dependent upon God, and thereby blessed, is not by anything within us, but by God’s working in us by his Word and Holy Spirit.

John the Baptist points at Jesus and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Are you someone who deserves to be tortured eternally by demons? Have you been unfaithful to God? Have you refused to return to the Lord your God, your Good Shepherd? Look, there he is. He takes away the sin of the world. He was tortured in your place. He was forsaken by God so that you wouldn’t need to be. The Son of God has come to you so that you may have a good conscience before God—not because of what you have done or left undone—but by the gift of adoption by being baptized into Christ, the Son of God.

The command, “Return to the Lord your God,” is different than this statement of Jesus’s: “I am yours and your and mine. Where I am, you may remain. The foe shall not divide us.” This activity on God’s part, reconciling us to himself, is indicated by John the Baptist’s words about the baptisms he has been doing. He says, “I baptize with water, but the one who comes after me baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” It’s as though he said, “I have been pointing out how you must be dependent upon God rather than independent, but all the urging and coaching and water and logic in the world cannot accomplish such a thing. The Holy Spirit—he’s different. In him God draws near to us and claims us as his own.”

Or we could use a picture to which we’ve already referred. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who searches for his lost sheep. When he has found these independent but foolish sheep he puts them on his shoulders and carries them back to his fold. There he rules over them by his Holy Spirit from the right hand of God. God gives those who are baptized and who hear his Word his Holy Spirit so that they are dependent upon him and will only become more dependent (if God should be so gracious to them).

God is good. He is the source of all goodness. This is the way that it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. In his goodness he comes to us even though we are sinners. He does this through his Word and Sacraments. It’s all part of the salvation he worked by drawing near to us when the Son of God became man at Christmas. He comes to draw us ever nearer to him and away from all that is harmful and evil. John the Baptist is a gift God has given through whom he has worked. The same is true for all Christians today. It does not matter one bit whether they are pastors or teachers or laymen. When they are dependent upon God, and show others the way so that they too can become ever more dependent upon him, they are gifts. They are a voice calling out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord. There he is: the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

And so we have a role model in John the Baptist, the greatest man born of woman. He points us the way to the good life, even though his head got chopped off. He lost nothing by this and gained everything. You will be blessed likewise following his lead.

191223 Funeral Sermon for Butch Schroeder, December 23, 2019

191223 Funeral Sermon for Butch Schroeder, December 23, 2019

Christmas can be a hard time for people who have lost a loved one. Christmas is, bar none, the most nostalgic of all holidays. When a person is missing from the Christmas get-together, there is a hole. With Butch’s death coming so close to Christmas, and this funeral service coming even closer to Christmas, it’s on our minds. There are a lot of people here who are sad when they think of those difficult moments in the couple days ahead for Butch’s family.

Because we do not want to remain sad, and we don’t want others to be sad either, there is a tendency to chop some logic to make it seem better. There is some truth in the gentle arguments that get made at such times. Butch lived to be 72. We’d all like it if he had lived longer, but 72 years is nothing to sneeze at. He had fairly good health despite his very serious disease until not long before he died. Regardless of whatever else gets said, we might also add that the memories of him will live on even though he has died.

Some more specifically Christian logic can be chopped at such a time as this too. Biblical truths are taken in hand. The goal is the same. We’d like to feel better—not feel so sad.

There is something that I’d like us to consider this afternoon, though, that might surprise you. It has to do with what happened to a friend of Jesus’s. What we find is that sadness is not taken away, even for Jesus, who obviously knew all the truths of God’s saving will towards us, for he himself is God.

The friend’s name was Lazarus. His sisters were Mary and Martha. One day Lazarus fell sick, and his family sent word to Jesus in the hopes that he could come and heal him like he had healed many others. Jesus, however, didn’t come right away. He stayed where he was for a couple more days. In the meantime Lazarus died, was prepared for burial, and by the time Jesus got to where they lived, he was already in the tomb. This was not by accident. Jesus knew what he was going to do.

When Jesus came near to the house word of this came to Martha. She ran out to meet Jesus on the road, and she tells him what undoubtedly had been on her mind the last few days. She said, “Jesus, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” “That’s true,” Martha replied through the tears, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.”

Martha knew her Bible. She also knew that Lazarus believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. She knew that through this faith in Jesus, her brother Lazarus had received salvation from sin, death, and hell, and that he was destined, therefore, to eternal life. Here are some of those Christian truths I referred to before which are looked to to take away sadness.

Jesus responded to Martha with some words that you will hear as part of our service in a few minutes. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Jesus powerfully confirms everything that Martha has just said. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in him will live, even though he dies. With faith in him, death hardly even deserves to be called death anymore, for Jesus has defeated it. Here’s some more truth we can chew on.

Martha then sends somebody back to the house to get her sister Mary. Mary comes, weeping. Everybody else is weeping too. Now here’s why I bring this up. When Jesus saw Mary it says that he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. There was a tightness in his chest and a lump in his throat he had a hard time choking down. He asked, “Where have you laid him?” They said, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus could hold back the tears no longer. He wept. And when he got to the tomb, it says that he was deeply moved yet again.

If there were ever anybody who knew the saving truths of God’s will, it would be Jesus. Indeed, Jesus even knew that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead twice. He was going to do it that day, and then he is going to do it again on the Last Day. Even though Jesus knew all these truths—and they are such fine and good truths—he was still deeply grieved and sad. To be sure, when Lazarus was raised to life that sadness was erased utterly and replaced with a joy that we cannot even comprehend. Until that time, however, Jesus was full of sorrow even though he knew all truth.

And so we should not have the expectation that our sadness and sorrow should be taken away by what gets said. If that is the thing that we are striving after, then it’s likely that vain philosophy will provide more comfort than Christian truth. These are the kinds of things that I mentioned at the beginning, where we kind of argue our way out of feeling sad: “Soandso lived a long life.” “Everybody has to go sometime.” “Death is just a part of life.” “Treasure the memories.”

These sentiments might very well work better at relieving grief than Christian truths do, precisely because these are easier to believe. The reason why Martha and Mary were so sad is that they thought the time for their brother to get better had passed. Maybe if Jesus had been there earlier, then he could have done something, but it’s too late now. They had to wait for the resurrection before they felt better. The same is true, surprisingly, even with Jesus. But the truths of God won out in the end. All vain philosophy, on the other hand, will prove to be worthless, or even to be lies, when Christ comes to raise the dead.

In the days ahead, therefore, I want to encourage all of you who have loved Butch to take to heart the truths communicated to us about our God. Do this, not with the expectation that it will take away your sadness, but with the conviction that you, most certainly, will not be disappointed in the end, even if, for a season and time, you have sadness. The glorious promises that God has made to us have not yet come to pass. These truths—the greatest of which is resurrection—are waiting in the wings. One day they will come into action and our joy will be full.

So what, exactly, are the truths about our God that are communicated to us at Christmas? All three readings that I chose for today are Christmas readings. The most direct is the reading from Luke chapter 2. God sent his angel to the shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks by night. When the angel appeared, the shepherds were terrified—and understandably so. Whenever God shows up, even through one of his messengers, our thoughts immediately turn to our uncleanness, our sin. But the angel says those golden words that sinners love to hear from their God: “Do not be afraid.” I’m not here to harm you. Quite the opposite, in fact. “I bring you good news of great joy that is for all people: Today in the town of David a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord.”

Now wouldn’t it be nice to have someone like Jesus in our corner? Some great friend who could do the kinds of things that he did even for Lazarus, Martha and Mary?  Well, there’s no need for supposing. That is what the angel says explicitly. A Savior was born. For whom? Not just for the guy in the Bible. Not just the guy down the street. Not just for the guy who seems to have earned it by coming to Church. Are you a sinner? Then Jesus is for you. He has been born to redeem you by his holy precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. He has been born to defeat death for you, so that when you are laid into the grave, it may not be the end of the story. Nor will we have to be satisfied with mere memories and other ghostly things like that. You will be raised from the dead like Lazarus was, but it will be a better resurrection, for you will not be resurrected only to die again, but you will be resurrected to a life where death is no more.

Today we lay the body of Butch into the grave. Wouldn’t our moods change in an instant if he were raised to life—and even a better life than the only one that we have ever known? Our sadness would be turned to wonder and to joy, just like that. Well, this is true. We only have to wait for it.

In the meantime, take to heart what God is saying to you this Christmas. That Savior has been born for you.

191215 Sermon on Isaiah 40:1-11 (Advent 3) December 15, 2019

191215 Sermon on Isaiah 40:1-11 (Advent 3) December 15, 2019

We are in the season for “Dear Santa” letters. “Dear Santa, I’d like this and this and this and this. Be careful that it’s this one and not that one. Make it just so.” Everybody knows that Santa is the giver of good gifts. Christians know that God is the giver or all good things. James, in his letter, says, “Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, who does not change or shift like a shadow.” God alone is good, as Jesus says. If anything is good, then, it comes from him. And so might we write our own “Dear God” letters? “Dear God, I’d like this and this and this and this.” What might we put on that list? Better health? More money? More glory? Less sadness? There are a lot of things that boys and girls of all ages want. There are also a lot of things that folks don’t want, too, but that might be what they get. Are these things like coal in the stocking?

Even those we know God approves of, get from him things to which we might say, “Yuck! Keep that away from me.” Do you suppose that John the Baptist wrote a letter that said, “Dear God, I’d like to be put in prison. I’d like to be afflicted with doubt. I’d like to have my head chopped off because of a stupid dare that some girl made at a drinking party”? Sounds weird doesn’t it?

Or consider the author of our epistle reading, Paul. Do you suppose that he wrote a letter that said, “Dear God, I’d like to be stoned and left for dead. I’d like to be chased and harassed from one city to the next. I’d like to be shipwrecked. I’d like to be given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, which you refuse to remove. Oh, and after all this, I’d like my head to be chopped off too.”

This can all sound ridiculous because of a principle that we are hardwired to accept. The principle is that this life is everything. If this life is everything, then you better hold on to every possibility for pleasure that comes your way and don’t let a single one escape. Fight for what is yours. Don’t make trouble for yourself. If trouble or suffering or hardship come your way, then you better figure out a way to get rid of it, otherwise your life will not be worth living.

From a perspective such as this, the Christian life that is filled with suffering looks like the stupidest thing anybody could ever do. Paul would agree with you. In 1 Cor. 15 he addresses the resurrection from the dead. Some of the people in Corinth were saying that there was no such thing as the resurrection from the dead. When Paul responds to them he says that if there is no such thing as the resurrection from the dead, then Christians are to be pitied above all people. All that sacrificing and suffering would be to no purpose. If this life is everything, then it only makes sense to try to suck everything out of it that you possibly can. Those who don’t are fools!

Paul kind of embraced this label as being a fool. Several times in his letters he calls himself a fool. If people wanted to think that he was a fool, then there wasn’t much that he could do about that. He wasn’t bothered by it because the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. The weakness of God is stronger than the strength of men. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. In Christ Paul has redemption from the devil and the adoption of being a child of God. In Christ Paul has the resurrection from the dead to live an infinitely better life than the one that we have in this sinful flesh. That was why Paul was free to love and thereby also suffer as a Christian. There was nothing that he gave up or sacrificed that would not be given back to him a hundred fold in the life to come. He aspired to live for love—for the good of others—rather than for himself. So if people think he is foolish for living the way he did, then they would also have to think that Christ is foolish and that God is foolish, for God is love.

It is not foolish, though, to live for love. Quite the opposite, actually. In our reading from Isaiah it said, “A voice is saying, ‘Cry out!’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry out?’” By speaking in this way, by “crying out” you can see God’s urgency for what he has to say. What he has to say is something that has to be forcefully impressed upon those who hear. They won’t otherwise hear it. And so God gives the message that is to be cried out: “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like a flower in the field. Grass withers, flowers fade, when the breath of the Lord blows upon them. Surely the people are grass. Grass withers, flowers fade, but the Word of our God endures forever.”

This is a striking message about our mortality. Grass grows up in the spring. By November it is dead and brown. The flower blooms, but if you get a stiff breeze it is all tattered or gone altogether. So why do you work for what cannot endure? What difference does it make if you have a mountain of money? It cannot prolong your life for even a single hour. The works that are done in a Christian life of love, however, live on. Several weeks ago we heard about how we would be judged. God will not judge you favorably for having this and this and this and this. He will not be impressed by even a whole mountain range of money. Insofar as you did it to the least of Jesus’s brothers, you did it unto him. Insofar as you didn’t do it to the least of Jesus’s brothers you did not do it unto him. It is not our money that lives on after us, but the deeds that we have done in the flesh. He will bring to light whatever is hidden in darkness and also reveal the intentions of hearts.

In contrast to the fleeting nature of our earthly life where we are alive one minute and dead the next, we are told, “The Word of our God endures forever.” The Word of God is given to us to make us wise. It tells us what’s what. It interprets our lives and diagnoses us and tells us what is in store for us and all people. It therefore gives us a different perspective than what we would otherwise have. This different perspective might make some people call us fools, but time will tell with that. If there is no resurrection from the dead, then they are right. But if there is a resurrection from the dead, then they are wrong. Believing and unbelieving will no longer be applicable. Faith will then be replaced by knowledge.

Until that time there will remain believers and unbelievers. They will remain opposed to one another because practically every facet of life looks different from God’s perspective, from the perspective of eternity. Suffering and sacrifice will be shunned by the one side; praised by the other. Riches will be prized by the one side and be neither here nor there for the other. God’s Word will be embraced by the one side and scoffed at by the other.

Ultimately the difference between believers and unbelievers comes down to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. How is this regarded? Believers will cherish it as God’s great message of love, forgiveness, and salvation. On my heart imprint Thine image, blessed Jesus King of grace, that life’s riches, cares, and pleasures, have no power Thee to efface. This the superscription be: Jesus crucified for me. Is my life, my hope’s foundation, and my glory and salvation. Believers say, “On my heart imprint Thine image.” I don’t know how unbelievers look at the cross of Christ. Probably in many different ways, but certainly not as their source of everlasting life, and the pattern of love by which we are to live as God’s creatures.

Because of these two very different outlooks on life that has as its center the cross of Christ, there will always be enmity of unbelievers towards believers. Paul, in 2 Cor. 2, says that Christians are a sweet smelling sacrifice to God. It’s the fragrance of Christ. Those who are being saved recognize it as a fragrance of life that is a prelude to life everlasting. Those who do not believe regard it as an odor of death that is a prelude to eternal death. something of our eternal destinies is already revealed with the presence of Christians.

It is not actually that great of a surprise, therefore, that we find Christians being persecuted. Herod hated John the Baptist because John convicted him of a sin whereby he would be judged. Both Jews and Gentiles hated Paul because the Jews refused to believe in the Savior and the Gentiles wanted to believe that this life is everything.

Persecution does not need to be so dramatic as having one’s head chopped off though. There are subtler and arguably more effective ways to frighten Christians from testifying to their neighbor. Christian teenagers are regarded as being “not cool.” It seems that we hardly ever outgrow high school, for the embarrassment remains. Friends, young and old, turn cold if talk should turn to the life of the world to come. People might roll their eyes or refuse to look you in the eye if the topic turns hot, but that is unusual. Perhaps the commonest and also deadliest of all reactions to the proclamation of the Gospel is that polite silence. They wait patiently until you’ve done your spiel. Then we can get back to things that are less divisive, more socially acceptable.

One of the very important reasons for Christians to congregate is so that we can help and support one another when we have been rejected. This is not something for the pastor alone to do, but you should do this for one another. Help from a fellow Christian who is not a pastor is often more effective than the encouragement that a pastor can give, because people assume that the pastor has to say what he says because that’s his job. And there’s some truth in that. Talk with one another—not just about the weather—but about your problems. You are all fully equipped as Christians. There is nothing that I have as a pastor that you don’t also have. Let’s help one another. Let’s bear one another’s burdens.

Another reason to congregate is to hear God’s Word. Our Old Testament reading is helpful for what we have been talking about today. It says that all flesh is grass and its beauty is like the flowers of the field. It does not skimp on this truth. But it also says, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” God’s will toward us is not an unhappy message.

Now, just a second: Mark one of the devil’s lies here. Immediately he will rise up and say, “Oh yeah? What about all this all flesh is grass stuff? That’s not very comforting. I can tell you a tale that is a whole lot safer and more comforting than that!” But what is always the essence of this tale? Is it not the same thing he said to Eve: “You won’t surely die. Just ignore that nasty frightening talk.” But you know what this is. It’s a lie. It’s the deadliest lie ever told, because all people would rather believe that, than believe the truth. People would rather remain in darkness than have their sins exposed. But coming into the light is not evil, but good.

When God says, “Comfort, comfort my people,” it is with full knowledge of your mortality. It is with full knowledge of your sin. And yet there is comfort and goodness for the sinner. In order to fight and defeat death, to fight and defeat sin, God, in love, sacrificed his Son, his dearest treasure. God suffered and sacrificed to secure for everyone everlasting life. We don’t have to believe in lies for our comfort. Believe in Jesus. Through faith in him all your enemies are defeated—even if they seem to triumph in this life. Your guilt is fully paid for. For each one of your sins, God gives you double goodness. With this last statement we are close to contradicting Paul when he rhetorically asks, “Should we then sin, that grace may abound?” That is not what God is saying here, but he wants you to know and to believe that your sins do not prevent him from having a good relationship with you, from being gracious to you. The basis of your relationship with God is not what you have done and left undone. The basis of your relationship is Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Let us not be ashamed, then, of the Gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. Let us resolve to sacrifice and suffer all—even our head, if need be—rather than deny our Lord Jesus Christ. May God grant it.

191211 Sermon on Council of Jerusalem Part 2 (Advent 2 Midweek) December 11, 2019

191211 Sermon on Council of Jerusalem Part 2 (Advent 2 Midweek) December 11, 2019