Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
9 E Homestead Ave. Palisades Park, NJ 07650 201-944-2107 Sundays 11:00 a.m. We preach Christ crucified (1. Corinthians 1,23)

Monday, February 1, 2016

Hebrews 4,12-13. Sexagesima

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
The Word of the Lord Endures Forever
Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Hebrews 4,12-13 1116
Sexagesimä 021  
Vigilius, Bishop of Trent, Italy. Martyr 410
31. Januar 2016

1. O Lord God, Heavenly Father: we thank You, that through Your Son Jesus Christ You have sown Your holy word among us: We pray that You will prepare our hearts by Your Holy Spirit, so that we may diligently and reverently hear Your word, keep It in good hearts, and bring forth fruit with patience; and so that we may not incline to sin, but subdue it by Your power and in all persecutions comfort ourselves with Your grace and continual help.  Amen. (Veit Dietrich for Sexagesima). 
2. For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.  
3. The Apostle tells us in his epistle this morning that the Word of God is a two-edged sword. One edge is the law, and the other edge is the gospel: both edges pierce our soul and spirit. „The law teaches what is right and pleasing to God, and the law also rebukes everything that is sin and contrary to God’s will“ (Epitome V,3). The law reveals our sinfulness, accuses us of particular sins and exhorts us to repent of our sin to God. Thus when we read and meditate upon the 10 Commandments, we feel guilty because we realize that we do not fear, love and trust God as we should; we also realize that we do not love our neighbors, but often times we harbor thoughts or actual actions of harming them, stealing from them and coveting what they have and we do not. All of the world’s problems stem from men and women’s sinful hatred of God and mankind, and thus sinful actions result from our sinful and fallen nature. 
4. We also see in today’s Gospel parable that the law reveals that three of the four types of people who hear the gospel of Jesus will reject it. Some people let the devil snatch the gospel from them without even a struggle. Other people believe the gospel for a while, but then they forsake Jesus and His gospel when trials and tribulations befall them. Then there are people who allow the riches and pleasures of life to divert them from the gospel. The law says that in each instance such people do not really fear, love and trust God and His Word. Their actions betray their intent, and their intent is to remain just as separated from God as they were before they received His gospel. Such people do not bear the good works that God wants from them (Luke 8,12-14). 
5. The gospel is the other edge of the Word of God. The gospel teaches what we who have not observed the law, and therefore are condemned by the law, are to believe, namely, that Christ has expiated and made satisfaction for all sins, and has obtained and acquired for us, without any merit of our own, forgiveness of sins and righteousness that avails before God and eternal life (Epitome 5,5). The gospel is simply that Jesus, and only Jesus, is the Savior of the world who has redeemed us by His suffering, death and resurrection, all of which, by the way, are the Divine fulfillment of the law. The law demands that sinners be punished for their sinfulness, and Jesus was punished for our sin in our place. The law says sinners must die, and Jesus died in our place. The gospel promises that because Jesus has been punished and crucified in our place, then we are forgiven and redeemed by His righteous merit. Furthermore, the gospel says that Jesus has saved us and will raise us back up to new life. 
6. In today’s Gospel parable the gospel reveals that one of the four types of people who hear the gospel will receive it, believe it and do the good works that the law expects from everyone. They are those who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience (Luke 8,15). Such believers refuse to let the devil take the gospel from them no matter how hard he tries. They also do not let trials and tribulations convince them that God has forsaken them but rather steadfastly trust in God and His promises. Finally, they may have and enjoy the riches and pleasures of this world, but they do not allow them to become an idol for they know that all we have is a blessing from God. 
7. »No person is hidden from God’s sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.« The two-edged sword of the Bible is sharp. The law says what it meant and meant what it says, it damns everyone of us one hundred percent (The Rev. Matthew Harrison). The gospel promises what it gives and gives what it promises, it saves everyone of us so that we shall live (The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind). The law says: you must pay for your sinfulness; the gospel says: Jesus has paid for your sinfulness. The law exhorts contrition over sin; the gospel promises forgiveness (Augsburg Confession XII,4). 
8. The Apostle Paul speaks of this double-edged Word of God in his Epistle to the Romans: »Do we then overthrow the law by faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why righteousness depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written: I have made you the father of many nations. Righteousness will be counted to us who believe in God who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification« (Romans 3,31; 4,15-17.24-25).  
9. Jesus teaches in today’s parable that »the good soil are those people who, hearing the Word, believe and bear fruit with patience« (Luke 8,15). If you have faith, then you have  the good fruit of works. You love God and your neighbor. By our fallen nature, we are unable to produce this fruit and love, but by the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds through the power of the gospel He creates our faith in Jesus, strengthens it and nurtures it to produce good fruit. 
10. In His Parable of the Sower Jesus teaches that grace is passively received. Jesus Himself went looking for you, found you and sowed the gospel upon your heart. You heard the gospel, and the Holy Spirit created faith in your heart. God has done it all, and we have merely received the gospel as the gift that it is. 
11. The parable also teaches that grace is actively rejected.  The gospel is not a popular message in the world, and people strive against it. Earlier in the Gospel according to St. Luke Jesus taught that during His public ministry the gospel is preached but everyone tries to force their way into the reign of God apart from the gospel (Luke 16,16). Furthermore, the generation in which Jesus lived mocked the gospel. They accused John the Baptizer of having a demon because he fasted and refrained from alcohol. Then they accused Jesus of being a glutton and a drunkard because He ate, drank and befriended tax collectors and sinners (Luke 7,31-35). Many today reject or ridicule the gospel and those who proclaim it. Our modern culture is enamored with spirituality and tolerance. All roads lead to Rome is the modern understanding of spirituality; all spiritual paths will lead to the same God. Furthermore, we are told to uphold every spiritual belief as equal to all others. So the world views the gospel as just another spiritual message among many other spiritual messages.  
12. Jesus teaches that the gospel is the absolute truth: »I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one draws near to God the Father except through Me« (John 14,6). Jesus says there is only one path to God, and that Path is Jesus. He is the Only-begotten Son of God and the Only Word of God. Jesus alone speaks for His Father. The path to God is the path of of the gospel which says Jesus died and rose again for the world so that they are now saved, forgiven and redeemed. No other spiritual path or religion teaches this nor leads to God. The Apostle Paul proclaims: »For by grace we have been saved through faith, and this is not from ourselves, for faith is the gift of God« (Ephesians 2,8). Faith is the gift that Jesus graciously sows among the world. Many will reject the gospel for one reason or another, but some, like us and other Christians, will receive the gospel as a gift and it will germinate in us first as faith and then the fruit of good works will grow on our tree of faith. 
13. The Holy Spirit has elected us to eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, who is our Savior and Redeemer, who was crucified and resurrected for our forgiveness and thus gives us the gift of eternal life. Faith clings to this Glorious Savior and believes that in Christ and on account of Christ we are elected and saved. Election, salvation, forgiveness and eternal life are all gifts given to us through Christ, for great is our Heavenly Father’s love toward us and abundant is the Holy Spirit’s preservation in the Christian faith so that we endure unto the last day and receive the inheritance given to all who are God’s children through Christ Jesus alone. „May our dear Lord Jesus Christ grant us His grace so that we may diligently hear His Word, retain it in a pure heart and bring forth fruit in patience“ (Luther 293). Amen. 
14. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, Thou Voice of God, send forth to us the Holy Spirit so that we do not harden our hearts to Your gospel.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 
Soli Deo Gloria

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.  
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Luther, Martin. Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol. 5. Copyright © 2000 Baker Book House Company. 

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