✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
The Word of the Lord Endures Forever
se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ
1. John 4,16b-21 3216
1. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 046
Cyrillus, boy, Martyr 250/60
Fall of Constantinople 1543
29. Mai 2016
1. О Lord God, Heavenly Father, we beseech You so to rule and govern our hearts by Your Holy Spirit, so that we may not, like the rich man, hear Your word in vain, and become so devoted to things temporal as to forget things eternal; but that we readily and according to our ability minister to such as are in need, and not defile ourselves with greed and pride; in trial and misfortune keep us from despair, and grant us to put our trust wholly in Your Fatherly help and grace, so that in faith and Christian patience we may overcome all things, through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One True God, world without end. Amen. (Veit Dietrich for the 1. Sn. n. Trinitatis)
2. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us. If anyone says: „I love God,“ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
3. God is love. Ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν. His love is unconditional, and He desires that our love be unconditional to others. Earlier, the Apostle John wrote in his epistle: »In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His Only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins« (1. John 4,9-10).
4. We celebrate and honor sacrificial love this weekend with our annual Memorial Day. This celebration originated as Decoration Day in 1868 when the Union veterans decorated the tombstones of fallen comrades with flowers. Later Union and Confederate traditions merged together to commemorate Memorial Day in 1882, became more common in 1918, but the holiday did not gain Federal recognition until 1967. Memorial Day honors all those who have died while serving in our armed forces.
5. The New Testament tells us about another person who died to save others. We remember Him each Sunday. We honor His death on Good Friday, and we celebrate His resurrection on Easter. Jesus is God’s love manifested in the flesh for us. The Apostle John tells us: »God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.« And the Psalmist sings: »The Lord redeems the life of His servants; none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned« (Psalm 34,32).
6. This is good news for us. By our fallen human nature, we are more prone to hate rather than to love and more apt to fear rather than to believe. When the apostle exhorts us to love our brothers and sisters of the human race our hearts may become terror-stricken because we know our hearts are often filled with disdain for our fellow men and women. His exhortation to believe likewise may cause angst for it is far easier to fear than to trust God. Moses tells us: »You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might« (Deuteronomy 6,5). Who can do that satisfactory enough to fulfill God’s law and please Him?
7. Jesus told the crowds: »What is impossible with man is possible with God« (Luke 18,27). The Lord 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, and in this love He poured out His life on the cross and took it up again from the grave to redeem us and restore us back to His Heavenly Father. 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. The Holy Scriptures proclaim that 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. What is impossible with man is possible with Jesus. He is the Perfect Love of His Father, and by grace the Holy Spirit perfects this same love in us who bear the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.
8. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Your testimonies are righteous forever; give us understanding of Your grace so that we may live on this earth with the love You have shown us. Amen.
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 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.
VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.
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