Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: June 2014

Monday, June 30, 2014

1. Corinthians 9,16-23. 2. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

1. Corinthians 9,16-23 3614

2. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 047

Peter and Paul, Apostles, Martyrs in Rome 67 or 68

29. Juni 2014

1. O God, Creator of heaven and earth, You are the Breath of life. All that we are, and all that we have, we receive from Your hands. Keep us as Your own, protect, heal and bless us this day and every day (VELKD, Prayer for 2013’s 2. Sunday after Trinity § 1). Amen.

2. »For if I preach the gospel, then that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is placed upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, then I have a reward, but if not of my own will, then I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. For though I am free from all, I have made myself slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share with them in its blessings.

3. In our Gospel Lection for this morning, Jesus teaches that it is God’s will that His house be full of men and women celebrating His heavenly banquet with Him. In His parable, Jesus tells how a lord sent out invitations to people to enjoy the feast he was throwing. When the feast was ready, he sent out his servant to let the invited know that the feast was ready and to arrive at the house for the celebration. The preaching of the gospel is like sending out banquet invitations and alerting people when the feast is ready to be celebrated. The Apostle Paul wrote: »The gospel that is preached is not man’s gospel, for the gospel is received through the revelation of Jesus Christ« (Galatians 1,11-12).

4. So we must ask: What is the gospel? The gospel is the Triune God’s merciful, saving work in His creation. As such, the gospel is always an activity of Divine intervention into our history. The Holy Scriptures speak of many times when Yahweh has graciously intervened in the lives of people. He saved Noah and his family from the worldwide Flood by keeping them safe in the ark for over a year. Yahweh called Abraham and his family from their home in Mesopotamia and lead them to Palestine. Yahweh sent angels to rescue Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Yahweh rescued Joseph from jail, feed Judah and his family during a drought and rescued Israel from Egyptian slavery. Yahweh gave Israel the promised land, sent them prophets and leaders to save them from Canaanite oppression and liberated them Babylonian Captivity. All of these historical events of God’s loving intervention in our lives are examples of the gospel.

5. In John 3 Jesus tells Nicodemus that the gospel is that God the Father loves the world, and He had sent His Only-begotten Son to redeem the world from its sin through His suffering, death and resurrection. Jesus preached this gospel, and lived it, His apostles proclaimed it, the evangelists wrote it down for us to read and bishops and ministers proclaim it yet today from the pulpits. While all the events where God intervened in the lives of people to rescue them from some catastrophe or guide them to a better life are gospel actions performed by the Triune God, the ultimate gospel activity is sending of Jesus to redeem the world. We could call all of God’s gospel actions types of the gospel of Jesus the Lamb of God. Jesus is the antitype of the gospel, for He is the one that all the saving activities of God look forward to or back upon in the mighty acts of God’s salvation history (Heilsgeschichte) in the world. Since all theology is Christology (the study of Christ), therefore all history is about Christ. Although salvation history (Heilsgeschichte) specifically deals with salvation history that is centered on Christ, Christ’s history (Christusgeschichte) deals with the broad scope of history and how it pertains to Christ and salvation history (Heilsgechichte) as Yahweh works through history and historical events, persons and places to bring about mankind’s salvation. The mountain peak of Christ’s history (Christusgeschichte) and salvation history (Heilsgeschichte) is Christ crucified and risen.

6. This gospel enfleshed by Christ Jesus Himself has profound and world-changing implications for all men and women. „Sin brought the world into such a cursed mess that only the Son of God could rescue it. This He did by becoming part of our sin-cursed world, making Himself our brother and subject to the curse. Jesus stakes Himself with us. If He is crushed by the curse, there is no hope. If He overcomes the curse, then death cannot have its way with us. The fate of Christ and the fate of me are one. I can only be destroyed by death if Christ can be destroyed by death. Christ did die, but He rose again. His resurrection means my resurrection…. When I come to die, I can now die … quietly and without complaint“ (Nagel 216). This is simply the gospel, and since it is the gospel it is all God’s activity and none of ours.

7. Who would reject a gracious invitation to a splendid banquet? Who would reject the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ? Sadly, many people reject the gospel as Jesus soberly points out in His parable. The gospel has been preached around the world for nearly 2000 years, but only one-third of the earth’s population believes that gospel. Jesus plainly teaches that God desires that that all people hear the gospel, believe it and be saved, but many hear the gospel and make excuses why they can’t believe it.

8. The Apostle Paul declared: »For though I am free from all, I have made myself slave to all, so that I might win more of them.« The apostle spoke from experience. He preached to Jews and Greeks, rich and poor, men and women. Paul writes: »There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise« (Galatians 3,28-29). The gospel is about liberating people from the oppressive nature of the fallen world. In her best moments, the Church liberates with the gospel, but in her worst moments the Church keeps people oppressed by not giving them the gospel. Paul says: »To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share with them in its blessings.« The great temptation in the Church is to become set in her ways so that she cannot or will not use her freedom under the gospel to reach those outside the Church with the gospel. Paul was not afraid to reach out to both Jews and Greeks. Jesus was not afraid to eat with sinners, tax collectors and the other riffraff of society. He even taught in today’s parable that God calls the wealthy, the religious elite, the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame and people just standing around with nothing to do. He invites them all to the same banquet and seats them together at the table to enjoy His heavenly banquet. We need to recapture this liberating spirit of the gospel that reaches out to all people without fear of ridicule or being ostracized.

9. Jesus is the Great Liberator from sin, death and hell. He has become the Sinner of sinners and thereby saved all sinners. Jesus bore all the world’s sin and paid the price that sin demands. Jesus invited you to the heavenly banquet and He sends out His servants, His pastors, to tell you the banquet is ready. You hear the gospel, you believe the gospel and you will be welcomed through the heavenly gates. Jesus is for all people and the gospel is for everyone. May the Holy Spirit help us to become all things to all people, so that by all means some might be blessed and saved. For this to occur, the gospel must be preached and the gospel must be supported. May the Holy Spirit bless us as individuals and as a congregation offerings that are liberally and freely given so that as the offering plate overflows so the gospel may be preached to the edification for all people in our borough. The gospel that is preached in season and out of season, in times of plenty and in times of scarcity, is that Jesus Christ has redeemed all people from sin, death and hell. He has invited you to enjoy His banquet. Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Lord, You are our strength, our Rock, our Fortress and our Deliverer. Help us to gratefully receive Your gifts so that our faith is strengthened, our good works flourish and You, O Christ, are glorified throughout the world. 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, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Deuteronomy 6,4-6. 1. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Deuteronomy 6,4-9 3514

1. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 046

Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, Italy ✠ 431

22. Juni 2014

1. O God, the Strength of all them that put their trust in Thee, mercifully accept our prayers; and because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without Thee, grant us the help of Thy grace, so that in keeping of Thy commandments we may please Thee both in will and deed. (The Book of Common Prayer 156). Amen.

2. »Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one. You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.«

3. In Jesus’ Parable of the rich man and Lazarus, it is obvious that the rich man does not believe or follow the great commandment: »You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.« In the Holy Gospels, Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments with two: 1. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind, and 2. Love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets« (Matthew 22,37.39-40). Moses exhorted the people to keep these commandments before their eyes, practice them and teach them to the next generation. This does not seem like a difficult or burdensome task, and yet the rich man in this parable is proof that this simple exhortation remains unfulfilled. Based on his plea for his five brothers, it seems that the parents of these rich men treated the Law with contempt and failed to teach their sons to love Yahweh and their neighbors. The five brothers of the rich man were just like him and have treated their neighbors just as he had treated Lazarus.

4. We see the rotten fruit of the rich man’s callousness born out in our midst too. Have you noticed how young children kick and scream in a store or a restaurant? How often do their parents correct their behavior? It is more common to see parents placating the temper tantrums of their children rather than discipline them. In the schools it is often the case that parents side with their children rather than the teacher when their child has some disruptive behavior brought to their attention. O, no, my child doesn’t do that! Or consider the rash of seminars held at schools dealing with bullying. We have become a society content with passive behavior rather than dealing with the issue at hand. In many homes, simple discipline has broken down, and thus it should come as no surprise that children today grow up with no sense of respect for others. We have a whole generation of rich men in our society, and they will treat each other just as the rich man treated Lazarus in the parable. Even the Church is not immune to this. How many children are brought up to fear, love and trust God? How many are taught discipline, the Bible stories or basic teachings of the Christian faith? And what will we expect the outcome to be? We will have Christian people who do not know the Scriptures, and therefore cannot make and defend simple apologetic arguments against those who are not Christians. When trials and persecutions arrive, they will not be able to give an account or be a witness for the faith. And how about you and me? How often do we neglect to help our neighbor because we are too busy, do not want to be bothered or simply do not care about their well-being? Our very inaction is proof that we do not love God, nor our neighbor, but the only true love we consistently have is the love for me, myself and I.

5. Our Heavenly Father is not pleased with our narcissistic attitude and behavior. The Apostle Paul describes God’s reaction in his Epistle to the Romans: »For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men and women, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator! And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness and malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil and disobedient to parents. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them« (Romans 1,18.21.24-25.28-30.32).

6. Like the rich man, we cannot escape God’s punishment and condemnation upon those who are unrighteous, unloving and uncaring for the plight of their neighbors. The Law and the Prophets pronounce the judgment of God upon us. Again the Apostle Paul: »Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His Divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus« (Romans 3,19-26).

7. God the Father is just in His judgment upon us sinners. He punishes the sinner for His or her sin, but we do not bear that punishment because Jesus has taken our place as the Sinner who has been punished for the sinfulness of the world. Jesus became like Lazarus. He suffered the trials and tribulations of this fallen world. He was ridiculed, mocked, and rejected. Yet again the Apostle Paul: »It will be counted to us who believe in God the Father who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God« (Romans 4,24-25; 5,1,2). God is likewise gracious in His mercy upon us who are sinners.

8. The Law and the Prophets teach us that: Yahweh our God loves us with all His heart, with all His soul and with all His might. Jesus Christ is the manifestation of that love in our midst. Thus, we share in the glory of Lazarus. We will be in the presence of Abraham and the Divine fellowship of the Triune God, the angels and all people who believe on Jesus. Jesus’ resurrection is the guarantee of this eternal life of salvation. Moses and the Prophets, the Evangelists and the Epistles, proclaim the judgment of sinners has been born by Jesus, and that His judgment results in our justification. We have this grace now, it strengthens us throughout our life and leads us to everlasting life in the new heavens and earth. Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Your testimonies are righteous forever; give us the pure gospel so that we may live eternally. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Monday, June 16, 2014

2. Corinthians 13,11-14. Holy Trinity Sunday

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

2. Corinthians 13,11. [12] 13 [14] 3414
Tag der heiliger Dreifaltigkeit (Trinitatis) 045
Vitus, Modestus and Crescentia, Martyrs in Lucania, Italy 4. century
15. Juni 2014

1. O Merciful, Blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Holy and Exalted Trinity, grant us Your grace to truly believe, to live righteously and to die happily, so that after this wearisome life we may enter the joyous fellowship of the holy angels and Your elect, see You face to face and love, praise and serve You forever and ever. (Löhe 148). Amen.
2. »Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.«
3. The Apostle Paul concludes his introduction in his Epistle to the Ephesians with a Trinitarian blessing: »The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.« In today’s Gospel Lection Jesus mentions both God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus also said to Nicodemus: »Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the reign of God.« Jesus teaches that one must be baptized to enter the reign of God, and this baptism involves water and the impartation of the Holy Spirit who creates faith in the Triune God. There are Christian denominations, like the Pentecostals and Charismatics, who argue that to be born under the water and in the Holy Spirit are two distinct events that are disconnected from each other. The historic and liturgical churches, like the Lutherans, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and other Protestants, all connect the water and the Holy Spirt as one birth event. If you are baptized with water in the Triune Name, then you are born under the Holy Spirit. If you are born under the Holy Spirit, then you must have been baptized. The two are always together and in close chronological proximity to each other in the New Testament.
4. In its verbosity, the Athanasian Creed teaches similarly about salvation. We confessed: „So the Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet they are not three Gods; but One God. So that in all things, as aforesaid; the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved, let him thus think of the Trinity. Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation; that he also believe faithfully the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess; that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man“ (Athanasian Creed 15-16.25-28). The Creed teaches that salvation consists in two confessions: 1. The God we worship is the Triune God comprised of One God made up of Three Persons, and 2. We worship Jesus who was incarnate of the virgin Mary, thus adoring Him as both God and man in one person.
5. For a Creed that has been confessed in the Divine Service of the Western Church since the 6. century, it is a Creed that is still relevant 1500 years later. A simple question „Do you believe in God?“ will elicit many different answers in our Western culture. Many will say this God is the Triune God. But half as many will say this God is Allah. Others will be referring to Mother Earth (Gaia), Science or one of the many pagan understandings of God or the gods and goddesses. Only one of these gods will save you, so you better make sure you have the right one. Many will counter-argue that it doesn’t matter which God or gods you believe in since all religions lead to an afterlife of bliss and blessing. One-half of the earth’s population officially disagrees with this, for Christians and Muslims teach that only the True God saves, but Christians and Muslims differ over how this salvation is achieved. One is a religion of faith, and the other a religion of works.
6. „Muslims believe two angels (the two kiraman katibin) record good and bad deeds, words, feelings and thoughts. Going to heaven instead of hell depends upon being a Muslim and upon God’s mercy in evaluating the record of one’s good and bad deeds and intentions“ (http://www.oprev.org/2013/02/what-do-muslims-and-christians-believe-differently-about-salvation/). If you follow the Five Pillars of Islam, then these are recorded as good deeds, but if you neglect those pillars then they are recorded as bad deeds. Islam, then, is like every other religion in the world: it is a religion of works-righteousness wherein salvation is based on whether your good works outweigh your evil works. Truth be told, many Christians and denominations hold some sort of works-righteousness tenet in their concept of salvation. Every religion of works-righteousness, no matter how sincere it may be, or how much it tries to sugar-coat it with a Merciful God, is ultimately a religion of uncertainty. We can never be certain if we have done enough to earn God’s good favor.
7. Christianity is unlike any other religion in the world. A person cannot earn salvation or Divine favor through works-righteousness. It is impossible, and in fact, God detests the thought that men and women think they can merit His favor with their good works. The Apostle Paul lays out the pure, Christian understanding of how salvation is achieved: you are saved by grace through faith in Jesus. This is a powerful, yet simple, tenet of the Christian faith. But listen to how Paul unpacks this glorious gospel in his Epistle to the Ephesians: »You were dead in trespasses and sins, but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, for by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Christ and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages God might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we should walk in them« (Ephesians 2,1.4-10).
8. Did you hear the grace and mercy of God cascading down like a waterfall? Paul does not describe an angry or stingy God, like a father who is sternly waiting for His child to walk through the front door after the curfew, but He describes a loving, forgiving God who welcomes us home. The True God is like the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son who waits day after day, looking and hoping, for his estranged son to return home. Christianity is about grace, faith and certainty of salvation. Salvation is not based on us and our works. Indeed, God simply tells us that we are trespassers and sinners incapable of earning His good favor. We cannot offer up our good works as a salvific barrier between God and us. There is only one who is righteous, and He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Only Jesus can make a legal, legitimate claim at works-righteousness, and in His mercy He credits His works-righteousness onto us. Jesus kept the law, obeyed His Heavenly Father, and merited forgiveness on the cross as the vicarious satisfaction for sin and sinners. Jesus freely gives us His righteousness! We don’t do anything to earn it. He gives it to us as a gift, and that is why it is called grace, for grace is a gift of mercy freely given by God with no strings attached. Faith receives that gift, appreciates it, is thankful for it and worships God for being a Loving, Merciful God who redeemed fallen mankind through Jesus. This salvation is given out by the Holy Spirit through Baptism, and so those who are baptized are saved for they have the faith in Christ given to them by the Holy Spirit.
9. But grace can be rejected. Like any gift, the recipient can put the gift aside and ignore it. The good news is that the Holy Spirit is not like a temperamental child who gets angry at such people and takes His toys with Him and goes home in a huff. The Holy Spirit is patient and kind. Many do reject His gift of salvation in Jesus, but the gift is always there. Baptized Christians can walk away from God, treat their Baptism as a worn-out, out-dated gift that is set aside in the corner to collect dust. But the gift is still there, and the Holy Spirit is still there working quietly, patiently and lovingly to nudge such Christians to take another look at the gift of grace they have in their Baptism. It is a gift that can be picked up and appreciated again, for it is a gift that never wears out or is out-dated.
9. Jesus pointed Nicodemus to salvation and grounded that salvation on Himself. It is as if Jesus told Nicodemus: »I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life. You come to the Father through Me, and Me alone.« The Holy Spirit grounds this salvation in Holy Baptism. Your Baptism is not a one time event, but it is a gift of grace and forgiveness that works in you and upon you each and every day. On those days when you realize you have failed both God and your neighbors, when the devil torments your conscience and tells you what a horrible sinner you are and no one, not even God, would want to be in your presence right now, at those times of dark depression, the Holy Spirit whispers in your ear: But you are baptized! And since you are baptized, you are a child of God who is saved, forgiven and loved. The comfort of Baptism is that it tells you that you are a child of God, and God receives His children, especially when they have gone astray as a prodigal. The Holy Spirit uses the Creed and reassures you that you are saved. You believe in the Triune God and that Jesus was born, died and rose again for your forgiveness. Since you believe these truths, you are certain of your salvation because your salvation rests solely on Jesus Christ who has done all that is necessary to redeem you. The Holy Spirit uses the Lord’s Supper to strengthen your faith. In this gift of bread and wine you receive the body and blood of Jesus that was crucified and shed for you and your forgiveness. God’s gift of salvation to you is like a multi-faceted jewel that shines forth in glory whichever way you turn it in the light, for that Light is Christ and He shines upon you and within you, and He illuminates the truth that you are saved by grace through faith in Jesus. Amen.
10. Let us pray. O Triune God, Your deeds are mighty and Your glory great, keep us steadfast in our confession of You so that we may glorify Your Holy Name. 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, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
Heliand. http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~bkessler/OS-Heliand/
Löhe, Wilhelm. Liturgy for Christian Congregations of the Lutheran Faith. Copyright © 1902 Frank Carroll Longaker.
VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Romans 8,1-2.10-11. The Feast of Pentecost

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Romans 8,1-2 [3-9] 10-11 3214

Pfingstsonntag 043

William, Archbishop of York, 1154

8. Juni 2014

1. O God, who upon this day has taught the hearts of Your faithful people, by sending to them the light of Your Holy Spirit; grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Savior (The Book of Common Prayer 147). Amen.

2. »There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His Own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.«

3. There is an old Medieval belief that the hands of the king are the hands of a healer, but „The world is changed. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it. And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth“ (LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001). Who today would ascribe to Queen Elizabeth II the power to heal by the grace of God? The belief in regal healing hands has a long history that goes back to the Medieval Era, the reigns of the Roman emperors, Egyptian pharaohs and Babylonian kings. In fact, one of the oldest sources of kingly healing is found in the Book of Job: »For God wounds, but He binds up; He shatters, but His hands heal« (Job 5,18). It comes as no surprise, then, that Jesus’ hands touched and healed numerous afflicted people in the Gospels.

4. We normally think of healing in terms of physical maladies and afflictions, but there is a spiritual and mental aspect to healing, too. Our Gospel Lection for Pentecost touches on this where Jesus promised: »Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give peace to you as the world gives it. Let not your hearts be troubled or afraid« (John 14,27). Life in this world is fraught with hardships, disappointments and tribulations. Such is life on a world that is cursed on account of our sinfulness. It would be easy to accuse God of abandoning us in our time of need, ignoring our pleas for help or right out blame Him for all the evil things that befall us. Such approaches actually reveal how little we fear, love and trust our Heavenly Father. Such accusations fail to take God and His Providence seriously.

5. So it comes as a shock when the Apostle Peter lumps us all together with the 1. century Jews as those who are responsible for the death of Jesus. Surely, not we, who love Jesus! How can we be accountable for His death? We weren’t even there! Ah, but we are sinners whom Christ came to save, and therefore our sinfulness is responsible for His death. The Apostle Paul prosecutes our sinful crimes before the heavenly court: »None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God« (Romans 3,10-12.22-23).

6. Into this mass of sinful humanity appeared Jesus. He is the Son of God and the Son of the king. His kingly rule is not one of armies, swords and horses, but one of healing the mind, body and soul. Jesus’ hands are the hands of the king, and therefore He has the hands of a healer. The Apostle Paul tells us that: »There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Since Christ is in you, although your body is dead because of sin, the Holy Spirit is life because of righteousness.« Fifty days after His resurrection, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit upon His apostles at Pentecost, and the world was changed forever. The Holy Spirit inspired and empowered the apostles to preach the gospel in diverse languages to the nations, and they proclaimed: »Everyone who calls upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself« (Acts 2,21.38-39).

7. This apostolic proclamation at Pentecost continues even 2000 years later. You were separated from God the Father. You were cut to the heart as the law revealed your sinfulness. You were downtrodden and broken by the world, and may still be trampled underfoot by this wicked world. But the King has arrived, and He has healing hands. Your debt has been paid. Your sins have been forgiven. Your sinfulness has been covered. Jesus’ healing hands became the crucified hands, and thus they became the healing hands par excellence. These are the hands that sent forth the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit speaks through His chosen ministers to preach the gospel, to absolve sinners and to tell of all the great deeds of Christ Jesus.

8. Thus Jesus promises us peace. This does not mean we will be immune from suffering, sickness and tribulation; yea, we may have more of such things because we bear the Name of Christ, but Christ has overcome this wicked world, sin, death, hell and the grave. His victory is your victory. His peace reigns in your life even when all hell is raging around you. Pentecost shows that the Holy Spirit creates order out of chaos, brings peace where there is division and plants the gospel, waters it and nurtures it in the hearts and minds of people. He does this for you even yet today. He will not stop, but He will work within you, and upon you, with the Holy Scriptures and the Sacraments until you stand in the very presence of the Triune God in Paradise. Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Holy Spirit, Creator of faith, fill the hearts of Your faithful and ignite in them the fire of Your Divine love so that we trust on Christ for our salvation. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Cofield,David. The Hands of a King. http://www.grijalvo.com/Hfz000/hfz000_2002_J_D_Cofield_Hands_of_a_King.htm

Monday, June 2, 2014

Ephesians 1,20b-23. Christ's Ascension, transferred

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Ephesians 1,20b-23 3114

Christi Himmelfahrt 041

Justin Martyr, Martyr 165

Pamphilus, Pastor, Martyr 309

1. Juni 2014

1. Grant we beseech You, Almighty God, that like as we do believe Your only-begotten Son our Lord to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind there ascend, and with him continually dwell. (The Book of Common Prayer 144). Amen.

2. »The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things under Christ’s feet and gave Him as head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.«

3. St. Luke the Evangelist describes Christ’s Ascension this way: »While Jesus blessed His disciples at Bethany, [1] He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.« (Luke 24,50-51). Blessed Luke’s description is brief and devoid of specific details that pique our inquiring minds to wonder about the words spoken, but „We are not told what words Jesus spoke in blessing. We do not need them because we have only to look and we shall know. In the hands that He raised in blessing we can read the meaning and blessing of Jesus. These are the hands that pushed at Mary’s breast in all our human littleness and frailty. These hands learned to hold a pen and write the words of Scripture that Jesus knew so well by the time He was 12 years old. These hands worked with hammer and saw, sharing and blessing our work with us. These are the hands that touched the eyes of the blind and the tongue of the dumb, the hands that had taken hold of the pale cold hand of the little girl and given her back alive to her wondering father and mother. We read so often of these hands that Jesus stretched them out, touched, or grasped with that personal, individual love and help that marks the healings of Jesus. He did not heal people by the dozens lumped together, but was there for each one that needed Him as His hands took hold of each one“ (Nagel 144,2).

4. In our fallen, human frailty, we are prone to ask: „Where is that hands-on Jesus now?“ Our minds cannot grasp the greatness of Jesus, and so we ponder sadly how the ascension more often than not means that Jesus has gone away and left us alone. We pine for the glory days: those years when Jesus was here on earth, in our midst, speaking, teaching, laughing and in the company of His apostles and disciples. We want that kind of present Jesus, a Jesus we can speak to face to face and grab ahold of.

5. The post-ascension life of the Church does not have that sort of Jesus in her midst anymore. Jesus does not show Himself anymore the way He did during His thirty-plus years on earth 2000 years ago. In our desire to be in Jesus’ presence, we would confine Him to our midst at a particular place and at a specific time. With our limited understanding of space and time, such a desire on our part would be to confine Jesus here with us (and no where else!) at the expense of everyone else who has need of Him and His presence. We limit Jesus with a physical body that is bound to the same laws of physics that we are bound to. We cannot occupy more than one place at one time, for this is the physical limit in which Yahweh created us to exist. We would bind Jesus to the same limitation, too.

6. The resurrected Jesus has a resurrected physical body that no longer confines itself to the physics of space and time. The Jesus who is God and man can be in multiple locations at the same time. We cannot comprehend this feat, but the fact that He can do this is born out in His ascension. The resurrected Jesus is carried up to heaven, can enter a locked room by surpassing the physical obstructions of door and walls, can be at point A one minute and appear at point B, dozens of miles away, in a mere second of time. This is the Jesus who ascended up to heaven at Bethany. „But because Jesus has ascended, His people [all around the world] and in this room know that He is with them. He has promised it. How Jesus can manage it we cannot figure out“ (Nagel 145,5).

7. Is it any wonder that His disciples worshipped Him at that moment? Here was flesh and blood defying the God-made laws of physics! The Apostle Paul describes this in his Epistle to the Ephesians: »The God of our Lord Jesus Christ worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. He put all things under Christ’s feet and gave Him as head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.«

8. If there is one thing we can say about the Apostle Paul, it is that he brings every thing back to the cross and empty tomb (1. Corinthians 2,1; 15,3-5). Even the ascension is grounded upon the crucified and risen Christ. The hands that blessed the disciples as He ascended are the same hands „that gathered the little children into His arms to hug them and bless them. They are the hands that griped Peter when he looked away from Jesus and began to sink. Here are the hands that broke the blessed bread and gave them His body to eat. These are the hands that Thomas held and conquered all his doubt. All this the ascension hands of Jesus say, and we have not yet mentioned the biggest thing of all, for in those hands we see the print of the nails. That jagged scar tells us the full size of the blessing and how it was won for us. ... It is a big blessing indeed that cost that (Nagel 144,3).

9. Although we do not know what words Jesus said to His disciples at His ascension, we do know what the blessing imparted to them. The outstretched hands of Jesus blessed His disciples with the promise and peace of salvation. They knew that their crucified and ascended Lord had redeemed them and had paid in full the price for their sins. The ascending hands of Jesus are hands assuring them, and us, that all our sins are forgiven and that He now ascends to His throne on high to rule and intercede as the Redeemer of the world.

10. What does Jesus’ ascension at Bethany mean for us 2000 years removed from when it occurred? It means:

„There He lifted up His hands | and hallowed all of them,

and consecrated them with His words. | He then set off from there, upward,

and went to the high heavenly kingdom | and His holy throne:

He is seated there | on the right side of God,

the Almighty Father | and from there the Ruling Christ

observes everything | that happens in the whole world“ (Heliand 5973-78).

It means: Jesus has made us righteous and holy, and He is now seated in power and glory, watching over us, providing for us and in our midst. He is never far from us, for as we gather in His Name, even if it is only two or three, Jesus is there with us. And where Jesus is, there He is with His love, providence and forgiveness. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Your right hand exalts and does valiantly, pour out upon us the Holy Spirit so that in the days ahead when we struggle as Your Church militant we may be comforted with Your promise that we will inherit Your heavenly reign on account of Your righteous merit. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Heliand. http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~bkessler/OS-Heliand/

[1] Bethany is 1.5 miles east of Jerusalem.

[2] 5973 thar hôf he is hendi up | endi hêlegoda sie alle,

5974 uuîhida sie mid is uuordun. | Giuuêt imo up thanan,

5975 sôhta imo that hôha himilo rîki | endi thena is hêlagon stôl:

5976 sitit imo thar | an thea suîðron half godes,

5977 alomahtiges fader | endi thanan all gesihit

5978 uualdandeo Crist, | sô huat sô thius uuerold behab=et.

Summer Divine Service time

Please note our new Divine Service worship time. During the summer, we worship each Sunday at 9:30 am. We will be on this schedule until Labor Day.

Exodus 32,7-14. Rogate Sunday

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Exodus 32,7-14 3014

Rogate 040 pray

Urban, Bishop of Rome, Martyr 231

25. Mai 2014

1. O Lord, from whom all good things do come; Grant us, Your humble servants, that by Your holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by Your merciful guiding may perform the same (The Book of Common Prayer 142). Amen.

2. »And Yahweh said to Moses: „Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said: ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let Me alone, so that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.“ But Moses implored Yahweh his God and said: „O Yahweh, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people, whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say: ‘With evil intent did He bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and relent from this disaster against Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own Self, and said to them: ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’“ And Yahweh relented from the disaster that He had spoken of bringing on His people.«

3. Jesus teaches in our Gospel Lection for this morning: »I tell you the absolute truth:, whatever you ask of the Father in My Name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in My Name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be full« (John 16,23b-24). This teaching gives us the theme of the day, for rogate means to „ask“ or „pray“.

4. Our First Lection from Exodus 32 relates the peril of praying to false gods and idols. Yahweh had redeemed Israel from Egyptian slavery (Exodus 20,3). They had journeyed to Mt. Sinai where they received the Mosaic covenant and the Ten Commandments. The 1. Commandment states: »You shall have no other gods except Me« (Exodus 20,4), but, while Moses was on Sinai for forty days to receive the testament carved upon stone tablets, the people of God had broken the testament by violating that 1. Commandment. Yahweh tells Moses: »Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly from the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said: ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’« Instead of praying to Yahweh in His Name, they substituted the Canaanite idol known as Baal, made a golden image of him and prayed to him as their redeemer.

5. Israel was just as pluralistic and multicultural as any 21. century American. They reasoned: If Yahweh leaves us stuck here at Sinai with Moses missing-in-action, then we will turn our prayers to Baal and see what he can do for us. Such is the nature of religious pluralism: we line up our gods along our wall and start praying. If god A doesn’t do our bidding, then we can just go down the line of our idols, one by one, until one of our idols answers our prayer. By our sinful nature, we are polytheists and idolaters. Only the Triune God turns us into monotheistic children of the One True God.

6. Israel, however, was loathe to leave behind the idols they had collected unto themselves during their long sojourn in Egypt. Now they were not Yahweh’s people, and to cease being His people negates the testament God had made with them. They risked losing everything: their freedom, their inheritance, the promised land and redemption. Yahweh wanted to start over and start fresh with Moses and raise up a new people from the stump of Abraham, but Moses reminded Him of His promise, and God does not go back on His word. Moses stood in the breach, interceded unto Yahweh on behalf of idolatrous Israel, and God relented from the disaster that He had spoken of bringing upon His people.

7. In John 16, Jesus encourages, yea, commands, His disciples to pray to Him. To pray to Jesus would be idolatry on par with the events of Exodus 32, unless Jesus Himself is God. The question needs to be answered: Is Jesus God, or is he merely a man? If Jesus is not God, then he is a man on par with the likes of Moses, a great man indeed, but certainly not worthy of worship and prayer. But if Jesus is God, then He is something new, God and man in one person and body. This question of Jesus’ Divinity was the source of great discussion among the Jewish people of His day and the decades following in various Church circles. The Holy Scriptures clearly teach that Jesus is the 2. Person of the Holy Trinity, the Only-begotten Son of God the Father, who is to be prayed to and worshipped. Thus the Church formulated creeds that confess that Jesus Christ is the Only Son of God. Like Moses, Jesus brings a testament from on high. This new testament is manifested in Jesus Himself who fulfills and brings to an end the old Sinai testament. In Jesus, all mankind is redeemed and forgiven through the merit of His perfect life lived in complete obedience to the 10 Commandments and the Sinai testament, through His suffering, death on the cross and resurrection from the grave three days later.

8. King David the Psalmist writes: »Hear my prayer, O Yahweh; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In Your faithfulness answer me, in Your righteousness! Enter not into judgment with Your servant, for no one living is righteous before You« (Psalm 143,1-2). David prays to Yahweh for mercy, salvation and righteousness. David’s own son, descending from his lineage, fulfilled this very prayer, and that son is Jesus the son of David. Jesus satisfied the wrath of God the Father that threatened to descend upon idolatrous sinners such as you and me. We threaten to sever ourselves from our Father’s love and providence, turning to other idols or our own strength in times of need, but Jesus stood in the breach, hung on the cross and interceded for us. His meritorious action has mediated a new testament with our Heavenly Father that cannot be broken by our sinful disobedience, for Jesus has sealed that testament with His perfect obedience.

9. Rogate. Pray. Ask. God the Father will answer your prayer for He is a kind, loving Father. You can be certain of this on account of Jesus, who like His Father, shows us kindness and love. There is much in this world to pray for. We live at a time when Godliness and virtue are shunned, turned on their heads and ungodly philosophies and vices are lauded and praised as good, tolerant ideals and practices. Our culture remains comfortable with murdering the unborn, accepting unnatural unions and turns a blind eye when good Christian men and women are tortured, imprisoned and persecuted around the world. Pray for the Holy Spirit to change the hearts of our corrupt culture and return our culture to Godly virtues and standards of living. Many faithful churches suffer from laziness, financial hardship and apathy as they accommodate to the cultural vices pressing upon them. Pray for the Holy Spirit to raise up and strengthen faithful bishops and ministers to preach the gospel of Christ crucified and risen for salvation and redemption. Pray that He would turn the hearts of those who bear the Name of Christ, but have forsaken their church with their worship and their offerings, and restore them in good fellowship and stewardship so that our church, and all churches, would be bountifully blessed. Pray that He would raise up the voices of pastors and lay people to stand in the breach, draw a line in the sand and say „No further! We will not tolerate the killing of our infants, the persecution of our brothers and sisters around the world on account of their faith in Jesus nor any unnatural unions among people that violate God’s good and created order of creation.“ Let us pray for God to work in our lives and our nation to hold the line, and then to put to flight those who have advanced such ungodly and idolatrous ideals and practices. God created this world and set us as good stewards of this earth, so let us who bear the Name of Christ be good stewards, find our courage and our voice so that we stop being dictated to by idolatrous and pagan people and put forward the love, mercy and joy of Christ who redeems all from sin and slavery, sets those free from addictions and base lives and live as people who truly are redeemed and liberated by the gospel.

10. Our Heavenly Father is looking for someone to stand in the breach before Him for the land, so that He should not destroy it (Ezekiel 22,30). You and me, yea, all Christians, are those who are to stand in the breach and intercede for our church, our nation and our world. Pray to Jesus with confidence, for He promises us: »Ask, and My Father will give it to you. In Me you have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart for I have overcome the world.« (John 16,23b.27-28.33). Amen.

11. Let us pray. Come now, O Christ Jesus, Thou King of men, and tarry not too long. We need Thy gentle grace, deliver Thou us and grant us verily Thy healing gift, so that from now henceforth we may forevermore while in this world, attempt the better things, and work Thy will [1] (Cynewulf 372-377). Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Cynewulf, Crist.

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.

]1] 372 hwearfiað heanlice. Cym nu, hæleþa cyning,

ne lata to lange. Us is lissa þearf,

þæt þu us ahredde ond us hælogiefe

375 soðfæst sylle, þæt we siþþan forð

þa sellan þing symle moten

geþeon on þeode, þinne willan.

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Monday, June 30, 2014

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Monday, June 16, 2014

Monday, June 9, 2014

Monday, June 2, 2014