Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Ephesians 2,17-22. Trinity II

Ephesians 2,17-22 3624

2. Trinitatis. Trinity II 48

Primus and Felicianus, Martyrs at Rome, 286 (Diocletian, 284-311/12; persecution 302-11)

9. Juli 2024

1. ℣ Yahweh became my Proctector. He lead me out into a broad place:

℟ He delivered me because He delighted in me. (Psalm 17,19b-20 vul lxx mas).

O Gracious God and Father, provide for us in earthly things: good health, food and clothing. Accompany us in all our ways. Preserve us from evil. Bless our labor. Let us always abundantly experience Your Fatherly faithfulness and grace. Amen. (Stark 55; English 118).

2. »And Christ Jesus arrived and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God bythe Spirit.«

3. The Apostle Paul proclaimed: We are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus as the Cornerstone of this foundation. The Holy Spirit has preserved for us the words of the apostles and prophets in the Old and New Testaments. These Scriptures point us to Christ. The traditions and laws of men are not part of this foundation. Those traditions and laws may be good and wise, but they do not save for only Christ Jesus saves us.

4. Apostolicity is integral to the Church (Sasse III 86). The claim of the Lutheran Church to be apostolic stands or falls with the claim that she has faithfully preserved the doctrine of the New Testament (Sasse III 86-87). Only the Word of God, the Word of the Gospel, the Word of the living proclamation of the apostolic message today—only this can be God’s Word (Sasse III 90). Whatever is attributed to the Spirit apart from such Word and Sacrament is of the Devil (Smalcald Articles III, VIII, 9-10). Apostolic succession is the conviction that in the beginning there was truth and that it was handed down in purity from generation to generation (Sasse III 94). It may be known by its identity with the witness of the apostles in the New Testament (Sasse III 94).

5. „Revelation does indeed have a chain of succession. The Father sends the Son, the Son the apostles. The apostles hand their commission (Auftrag) on to those who bear office (die Amtsträger) in the church. That is Biblical“ (Sasse III 96). The genuine succession of the apostles is that which lives by the pure proclamation of the Gospel and celebrates the Sacraments, and not by the myth of an unbroken chain of consecration going all the way back to the apostles (Sasse III 104). It is the task to preserve the pure Gospel of justification by faith alone and the pure administration of the Sacraments of those whose ordination to the Lutheran ministry gave them the authentic apostolic succession (Sasse III 107). It consists in the clear commission which our Lord gave to His whole Church, to proclaim the pure apostolic doctrine and administer the Sacraments according to the Gospel (Sasse III 107). „That is the great responsibility which today is given to the Lutheran pastor. It cannot be taken from him by any bishop, any church government, or any ecumenical organization“ (Sasse III 107).

6. Die ganzte Schrifft … alles Eitel Christus. All of Scripture is about Christ (WA 54,88.38; AE 15.339). The Prophets point forward to Christ, and the Apostles point back to Him. The ministry of Christ is to redeem and save fallen humanity, which He did through His suffering, crucifixion and resurrection. This is the gospel that is the foundation of prophetic and apostolic teaching. This gospel is what apostolic succession proclaims, preserves and passes down to the next generation of Christians.

7. Kύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς. Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2,11). The Father and the Holy Spirit confess this of the Son. The Prophets and the Apostles confess this, and we as Christians confess this. We speak back to the Triune God what He has spoken to us, and we then confess and proclaim this to the world (Sasse I 11). Paul assures us: »If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved« (Romans 10,9).

8. The world bristles at this confession. The postmodern world wants an equality of many truths and paths to God all of which are valid no matter which one you choose. But the Holy Spirit through the Church points to only one Truth and one Path to eternal life with God — that Truth and Path is Jesus Christ alone (solus Christus).

9. „Secundum haec enim, vicarium se Patris ostenderat, per quem Pater et videretur in factis, et audiretur in verbis. et cognosceretur in Filio, facta et verba Patris administrante;“ „For according to these things, He [Christ] had shown Himself to be the Vicar of the Father, through whom the Father was both seen in deeds and heard in words. And it should be known in the Son, administering the deeds and words of the Father“ (Tertullian Against Praxeas Chapter 24).

10. Speaking of the Church as apostolic does not begin until the first third of the 4. century and becomes popular in 381 with the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan Creed (Sasse Vol. 1,92). But the Church was apostolic from the beginning. The only authority for the unverifiable things the apostolic Church said was that Jesus Christ had sent them and that they were witnesses of His resurrection (Sasse Vol. 1 99). As the Church of the One who truly became man, was actually crucified and truly rose again, the Church is called apostolic (Sasse Vol. 1 99). She is the apostolic Church because she is the Church of Jesus Christ (Sasse Vol. 1 99). We are members of this Church and our foundation is Christ and His apostles and prophets. As we are built upon them in the teaching of pure doctrine, we are built upon a solid foundation. Jesus said: »Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock« (Matthew 7,24-25). We are built on the Rock, Jesus Christ, who makes His Church a mighty structure that withstands even the howling winds of hades. When we stand firm upon His apostolic foundation, we will weather every and all storms that surge against us.

11. Despondent sinners, draw near,

And cast your fears away,

Reconciled children, draw near,

On this path of love, do stay.

Receive the heavenly pleasure,

The holy food of God,

Which revives each heart

In a hidden measure. (Kommt her, ihr seid geladen Ernst Moritz Arndt 1819 elkg 243,2)

This is most certainly true.

14. Et pax Dei, quæ exuperat omnem sensum, custodiat corda vestra, et intelligentias vestras in Christo Jesu. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

15. Let us pray. O Father of lights, give us discernment to know the truth; O Father of spirits, give us courage to uphold what we know to be true; O Prince of Peace, grant us wisdom to labor for peace, to uproot evil, to worship Thee with one heart and one mouth and to pay Thee due reverence, to the glory of Thy Name, the good of Thy Church, the increase of piety and the salvation of our own souls; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen. (Trinity II, Vespers Collect 1b. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, June 9, 2024

Ephesians 2,17-22. Trinity II

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