Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: September 2018

Saturday, September 29, 2018

Isaiah 49,1-6. 17. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Isaiah 49,1-6 4718

17. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 062

Linus, disciple of St. Paul, Bishop of Rome in 67. ✠ 79.

Thecla, disciple of St. Paul, Virgin, Martyr, 1^st c. mentioned in the Acts of Paul and Thecla

23. September 2018

1. О All-loving God, Your mercy has no end and Your kindness is new each morning, pour out Your grace upon us, so that our griefs turn to goodness, our sorrows turn to serenity and our distress turns to deliverance. Amen. (Starck 185)

2. »Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother He named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand He hid me; He made me a polished arrow; in His quiver He hid me away. And He said to me: „You are My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.“ But I said: „I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.“ And now the Lord says, He who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him; and that Israel might be gathered to Him— for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— He says: „It is too light a thing that you should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.“«

3. The Prophet Isaiah was called by the Lord who declared of him: »You are My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.« The Lord then spoke to Isaiah’s contemporary the Prophet Hosea: »I love Israel, and out of Egypt I called My Son« (Hosea 11,1); the Apostle Matthew writes in his Gospel that Joseph took Mary and the newborn Jesus to Egypt to flee from Herod the Great’s murderous decree and that this action fulfilled what the Prophet Hosea had written 7 centuries earlier when they returned to Nazareth (Matthew 2,15). Matthew reports in his Gospel how Jesus fulfilled key parts of Israel’s history; Jesus is Israel’s Messiah, and He is also Israel reduced to one (Hummel 17). Jesus is Israel, for He is true man, yet He is also radically distinct from Israel, for He is also True God (Hummel 224). Jesus is »the Deliverer from Zion who banished ungodliness from Jacob« (Isaiah 59,20; 45,17). Jesus is »His Father’s covenant with Israel for He will take away their sins« (Isaiah 27,9). Jesus is His Father’s servant, Israel, in whom He is glorified. This Jesus tells the Canaanite woman in today’s Gospel pericope: »I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel« (Matthew 15,24).

4. Does this mean Jesus is only the Messiah of Israel? What about the Gentiles? Does Jesus care about them at all? A: The Holy Scriptures say, yes, Jesus does indeed care about the Gentiles too. The Prophet Isaiah is very emphatic about this: »I will make You as a Light for the Gentiles, so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth« (Isaiah 49,6). »I will bring to My holy mountain, all the Gentiles who joined themselves to Me and hold fast My covenant« (Isaiah 56,7.6). The Prophet Isaiah promises 12 separate times that Israel’s Messiah will be the Gentiles’ Christ. Thus, we confess with Simeon each communion Sunday: Lord, mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of Thy people Israel (Nunc Dimittus). Before He ascended into heaven, Jesus told His disciples: »Thus it is written … that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in My Name to all the Gentile nations, beginning from Jerusalem« (Luke 24,47; Genesis 12,3; Psalm 22,27; Isaiah 2,2; Hosea 2,23; Malachi 1,11). The Apostle Paul affirms this in his Epistle to the Romans: »the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek« (Romans 1,16).

5. Both the Old and New Testaments affirm and confess that Jesus is the Messiah and the Christ who is for both the Jews and Gentiles. Jesus teaches the Jews that He is their Messiah; He also heals a Gentile girl and proudly proclaims that Canaanites can and will have faith in Him as the Christ. Jesus told the Canaanite mother: »Great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire« (Matthew 15,28). Also Paul: »Faith is created through hearing the word of Christ« (Romans 10,17). Christian faith is the medium lepticon (the means of reception), that is, faith is a special creation and the gift of God whose only purpose is to receive God’s gifts. This faith is simple trust in Christ’s words. He says He forgives us, and we believe Him; you don’t need to comprehend all the particulars of this forgiveness. We simply believe what Christ says, and we have what He promises.

6. Those promises were at His conception when an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and said: »Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins« (Matthew 1,20-21). The name Jesus is derived from the word yeshu’ah, which is Hebrew for salvation. Thus Jesus stood in Israel’s place because Israel had failed the testing the Lord subjected them to in the Sinai Desert. Jesus stood in the place of all the nations because all the nations have failed to trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for their deliverance. Jesus stood in our place because we were born in bondage to sin and Satan, and He desires to save us from such captivity.

7. Jesus is our salvation, for He hung in our place on the cross. Jesus bore our guilt, received our punishment and died as our vicarious substitute. The road to salvation leads to the cross, and upon the cross Jesus saved the entire world from its sin. As the gospel is preached throughout the world, people hear the gospel, believe it and salvation spreads to individuals. Jesus is God the Father’s Servant, and in Him God the Father is glorified. Jesus is also our Servant, and therefore we are glorified. Jesus’ Glory is our Glory. Jesus’ Light is our Light. Jesus’ Life is our Life, yes eternal and everlasting Life. Jesus is our Israel who fulfilled the Mosaic covenant for us. The new covenant that God established is a covenant of faith in Jesus the Christ. Faith in Jesus is belief that we are redeemed and forgiven, for He has merited our justification and salvation. Jesus is the only path that leads to salvation, and this path reaches every corner of the world. Jesus is Israel reduced to one, and only Jesus makes us righteous in His Father’s sight. Amen.

8. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, You are faithful to all generations; help us to sing of Your steadfast love so that our hearts and minds may be at peace in this tumultuous life. 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 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

All quotations from the Book of Concord are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using Die Bekenntnisschriften der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, 12. Edition © 1998 by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

Friday, September 21, 2018

Acts 12,1-11. 16. Trinity

Acts 12,1-11 4618

16. Trinitatis 061

Euphemia, Virgin, Martyr at Chalcedon, Turkey. ✠ 307

Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Tunisia. Martyr 258

16. September 2018

1. О Christ Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life, help us to seek our rest and joy in You, so that we may endure the trials and tribulations of this temporal world and look forward to the glories of the heavenly realm of Your Kingdom (Starck 271-2). Amen.

2. »About that time King Herod laid violent hands on some who belonged to the Church. He killed James bar-Zebedee, the brother of John, with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread (of Passover). And when he had seized Peter, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the Church. Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying: „Get up quickly.“ And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him: „Dress yourself and put on your sandals.“ And he did so. And he said to him: „Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.“ And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said: „Now I am sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.“«

3. The events in Acts 12 occurred around ad 41-44, about 8-11 years after Jesus had been crucified, resurrected and ascended (James was martyred in 41; Herod died in 44). The King Herod referenced here is Herod Agrippa I (10 bc - ad 44; reigned from 37-44), and he was a grandson of the infamous King Herod the Great and son of Aristobulus IV and Berenice. His territory comprised most of traditional Israel, including Iudaea, Galilee, Batanaea and Perea. From Galilee his territory extended east to Trachonitis. Emperor Claudius (10 bc - ad 54; emperor from 41-54) named him king and extended his kingdom to match that ruled by his grandfather. He was the first Jewish king since his grandfather, Herod the Great, whose kingship ended a couple of years after the birth of Jesus.

4. Herod Agrippa’s zeal for Judaism is recorded by Josephus, Philo of Alexandria and numerous contemporary rabbis. This zeal led to the martyrdom of the first apostle, James bar-Zebedee who, with his brother John and Peter, was one of Jesus’ closest and earliest disciples. Herod ordered James to be beheaded by the sword and imprisoned Peter, who presumably was up next for execution and martyrdom. Herod’s zeal reveals his political and religious agenda: kill the apostolic leaders of the Christian sect and it will soon scatter and die out.

5. The Acts of the Apostles tell us that within a decade of Christ’s ascension the Church was facing persecution and martyrdom on account of her faith in Christ. Jesus had told His disciples this very thing, saying: »You will be hated for My Name’s sake and they will persecute you. Do not fear those who hate and persecute you; I will confess before My Father everyone who confesses Me« (Matthew 10,22-23.26.32). Thus St. John Chrysostom comments on the martyrdom of James: „that even when slain the apostles prevail“ (The Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily 27). Chrysostom built upon Tertullian who had written in the 2. century: „The more you mow us down, the thicker we rise: the seed is the blood of Christians“ [1] (Tertullian 50,13). For it as St. Luke tells us at the end of Acts 12: »But the Word of God grew and multiplied« (Acts 12,24).

6. These are words of comfort and grace, for fear and uncertainty often grip the Church when trials, persecutions and martyrdoms begin to increase. The world and its tyrants still rage and Christians often bear the brunt of their wrath. 1 in 12 Christians worldwide are persecuted (Jerusalem Post 11. January 2018). In Beijing, government officials have recently destroyed crosses, burned Bibles, closed churches and are attempting to force Chinese Christians to sign papers renouncing the faith; it is part of a national campaign to Sinicize Christianity by demanding loyalty to the atheist Communist Party of China (BobFu4China; Fox News). The European Centre for Law and Justice recently spoke at the UN urging help as ISIS continues to persecute Christians in Syria and Iraq.

7. The Apostle Paul encourages us with these words: »God has not given us a spirit of fear, for He gives us a spirit of power, love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling on account of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel« (2. Timothy 1,7-10).

8. The apostles and the Church point us to Christ Jesus, for by the Providence of Jesus the Church and Christians have overcome persecution throughout the ages. That Providence flows from His death and resurrection. We have suffered, been persecuted and martyred with Jesus; we have been baptized into His death (Romans 6,3). We have been buried with Him by Baptism into death in order that just as Christ has been raised from the dead we also will be raised from the dead (Romans 6,4). We have been baptized into His resurrection (Romans 6,5). Christ has justified us, forgiven us and saved us. The world cannot change this. Persecution and martyrdom cannot take it from us. Jesus has secured our eternal life with Him in heaven, therefore we can and shall endure everything the world and her tyrants throws at us in this temporal life so as to distract us, discourage us and tempt us to reject Jesus. The Holy Spirit will strengthen us and secure us to trust in Jesus and His promises.

9. Hymnist Paul Gerhard wrote of this victory in his hymn If God Himself be for me:

My heart with joy is springing;

I am no longer sad.

My soul is filled with singing;

Your sunshine makes me glad.

The sun that cheers my spirit

Is Jesus Christ, my King;

The heav’n I shall inherit

Makes me rejoice and sing (LSB 724,10).

And to this we simply say: „Amen and amen. Make it so at your return, Lord Jesus.“ Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Your Name is Holy and Awesome; keep our faith always and only on You so that we cling to the redemption You give to Your people and look forward to the resurrection of our bodies and souls for You truly are the Resurrection and the Life, the very Mighty Fortress who shields us from our evil foes. Amen.

[1] Plures efficimur, quotiens metimur a vobis: semen est sanguis Christianorum.

Tertullian. Apologeticus pro Christianis.

Saturday, September 15, 2018

11 a.m. Divine Service

We return to our 11 a.m. Divine Service on Sunday September 16.

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Galatians 5,25-26; 6,1-3.7-10. 15. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Galatians 5,25-26; 6,1-3.7-10 4518

15. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 060

Gorgonius, Dorotheus and Peter, Martyrs at Rome 304 (Emperor Diocletian)

9. September 2018

1. О Triune God, blessed be Your Name, increase and preserve in us the fruits of faith, so that they are of benefit to our neighbor and sweeter to us from day to day. Amen. (Starck 210)

2. »If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Brothers and sisters, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him or her in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

3. In His Beatitudes, Jesus teaches us: »Seek first the reign of God and His righteousness, and all these temporal needs will be added to you« (Matthew 6,33). With this teaching Jesus sets our priorities: we should be concerned first and foremost with our salvation. Therefore, when Jesus exhorts us to seek first the reign of God and His righteousness, He is exhorting us to seek Him who is the world’s righteousness and ours; He is the pathway to the reign of God.

4. To say „Jesus is our righteousness“ is to say that His righteousness makes us righteous and justified in God’s sight. Jesus has forgiven, redeemed and saved us through His vicarious sacrifice on the cross. We call this justification, and sanctification flows forth from it. Our trust in Jesus for salvation then frees us to love and serve our neighbors.

5. The Apostle Paul list some ways to love and serve our neighbor, particularly that we bear their burdens and do good to them. He lists some open general admonitions and exhorts us to fill in the specific good work as the need arises. One day it may be helping them get to the grocery store; another day it may be raking their leaves. Sanctification flows from justification and looks for ways to be of help to our neighbor. Thus Paul exhorts us: »Do not grow weary of doing good, as we have opportunity, but do good to everyone, especially to those who are fellow Christians.«

6. One’s vocation is also an opportunity to do good. If you teach, then teach well. If you are a parent, then raise your children in the faith and teach them to be good citizens. If you are simply a paper pusher, then push those papers with joyfully efficiency as you help the larger cogs in the corporation turn smoothly. If you have a trade skill, then craft the best product you can. When we put our best foot forward in our vocation, then we ultimately help our neighbor to be blessed.

7. »We live by the Spirit, and we walk by the Spirit.« Jesus promises that those who seek Him first and His righteousness will thus be blessed with receiving the temporal needs of this life. We walk in the faith and good works bear fruit in our lives. Only Christians can bear good works that are pleasing to God the Father, and that is solely by the merit of Christ and the faith that trusts in Him as one’s Savior. Amen.

8. Let us pray. O Lord, our Good and Gracious God, today we taste and see that You are good; we have heard it preached into our hearts; through Your means of grace comfort and assure us that the person is blessed who takes refuge in You, so that we may be confident to cast all our anxieties and cares upon You alone, and in doing so receive rest, peace and joy. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

1. Thessalonians 1,2-10. 14. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

1. Thessalonians 1,2-10 4418

14. Trinitatis 059

Hannah

Stephan, King of Hungary, ✠ 1038

Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig, Pastor and Danish Hymn writer. ✠ 1872

2. September 2018

1. О Triune God, plenteous in mercy, kindle in us the light of faith, so that we can rightly confess You as the One True God who has revealed Himself in the Word to be our Savior and Deliverer. (Starck 209). Amen.

2. »We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our gospel arrived to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the Living and True God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to arrive.

3. The Apostle Paul tells the Thessalonians Christians that he and his missionary companions pray for them and give thanks to God for all their work of faith, their labor of love, the steadfastness of hope they have in Jesus and the proclamation of His gospel. Paul also exhorts Christians to pray in his Epistle to Timothy: »I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people, for rulers and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, Godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior« (1. Timothy 2,1-3). Paul also exhorts us to pray for people to hear the gospel and believe in Jesus for salvation (1. Timothy 2,4).

4. In exhorting us to pray for people, St. Paul is simply exhorting us to follow the 8. Commandment, as Luther explains it: we should not tell lies about our neighbor, betray them, slander them or hurt their reputation, but we should defend them, speak well of them and explain everything in the kindest way (Luther). Praying for others is a great way to defend and speak well of our neighbors before God.

5. Jesus’ healing of the lepers in today’s Gospel pericope exemplifies caring for and speaking well of the neighbor. He showed them mercy, healed them merely by the power of His words and one returned to offer thanks and praise to Jesus for His gracious gift.

6. The Psalmist likens this thanksgiving to sacrifice, where he writes: »The one who offers thanksgiving as a sacrifice to Me, the Lord; I will show the salvation of God to the one who orders his way rightly!« (Psalm 50,23). To order one’s way rightly is to walk in faith that trusts in Jesus. »The righteous will live by their faith« (Habakkuk 2,4; Romans 1,17; Galatians 3,11; Hebrews 10,38). And the Apostle Paul tells us that the Thessalonians live by and walk in their Christian faith and that their faith has gone forth everywhere. This gospel preached by Paul and believed by the Thessalonians is the same gospel preached today and believed by us. The true path of righteousness and salvation runs through Christ. He has paid the ransom price of sin for us; He has done it all for us. Believe the gospel, for Jesus freely gives us forgiveness and salvation.

7. Paul continues to unpack the blessings of this gospel, for it has real world consequences. We may and can live our lives without fear. Nothing in the world can undo Jesus’ vicarious sacrifice; no one can snatch us out of His hand. If you believe in Jesus, then you have eternal life, for Satan, the accuser of mankind before the Heavenly Father, has been judged, condemned and defeated by the crucified and risen Christ. The gospel will triumph over the rebellion waged against it. When the Last Judgment arrives, the wicked will be castaway and the believers will be welcomed into heavenly fellowship. Christians do not fear the day of judgment for before Christ will be our Judge He was first our Mediator. He has borne our judgment upon His own body and in doing so He has redeemed us and He declared us righteous by His own merit. Those who were scheduled to be judged have instead been justified.

8. Such blessings go forth as we receive the gospel and accept it not as the word of men but accept it as what the gospel really is: the Word of God which is at work in us, believers in Christ and His gospel (1. Timothy 2,13). The Word of God is a Lamp to our feet and a Light to our path (Psalm 119,105). The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of God endures forever (Isaiah 40,8). For Jesus says: »If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, then ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you« (John 15,7). Thus we give thanks to Jesus for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we daily remember them in prayer as we await for Jesus to return from heaven. Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Heavenly Father, who shows compassion to His children; help us to show compassion to our neighbors, so that they see in us Your great compassion in Christ Jesus, that they turn from their sins, that they believe in Your Son and rejoice in the last day when Jesus returns to bring all His believers into heaven. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Saturday, September 29, 2018

Isaiah 49,1-6. 17. Trinity

Friday, September 21, 2018

Acts 12,1-11. 16. Trinity

Saturday, September 15, 2018

11 a.m. Divine Service

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Galatians 5,25-26; 6,1-3.7-10. 15. Trinity

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

1. Thessalonians 1,2-10. 14. Trinity