Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: October 2020

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Jude 3-7 video

Jude 3-7 Bible study

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Mark 2,23-28. 20. Trinity -- Reformation Sunday

Mark 2,23-28 5720

20. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 065

Dorcas (Tabitha), Lydia, and Phoebe. Faithful women

Chrysanthus and Daria, Martyrs at Rome 257

25. Oktober 2020

1. O Heavenly Father, our Providence; we yield ourselves to You and commit our souls into Your keeping, so You fill our hearts with your Holy Spirit and the good impulses He creates in us. Amen. (Starck 13 ¶ 1)

2. »One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, His disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him: „Behold, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?“ And He answered them: „Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?“ And He said to them: „The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.“«

3. Some of Martin Luther’s most memorable comments occurred at the dinner table. One time he told his guests in regards to Romans 1,17: „The words righteousness and righteousness of God struck my conscience like lightning. When I heard them I was exceedingly terrified. If God is righteous I thought, then He must punish. But when by God’s grace I pondered, in the tower and heated room of this building, over the words, he who through faith is righteous will live [Romans 1,17] and the righteousness of God [Romans 3,21], I soon came to the conclusion that if we, as righteous people, ought to live from faith and if the righteousness of God should contribute to the salvation of all who believe, then salvation won’t be our merit but God’s mercy. My spirit was thereby cheered. For it’s by the righteousness of God that we’re justified and saved through Christ. These words which had before terrified me now became more pleasing to me. The Holy Spirit unveiled the Scriptures for me in this tower“ (AE 54,193-4). The tower experience he is referring to here probably occurred in the Fall of 1518 as he was preparing for a second course of lectures at Wittenberg University on the Psalms.

4. In 1543 Luther wrote: „All of Scripture … is pure Christ.… Everything is focused on this Son.… To him who has the Son Scripture is an open book; and the stronger his faith in Christ becomes, the more brightly will the light of Scripture shine for him“ (AE 15,339). Luther went from despair of righteousness to the joy of righteousness. The Scriptures hadn’t changed, only the proper understanding of them had. We see this in Mark 2. The commandment is clear: no work on the Sabbath. The Pharisees interpreted that to mean, among other prohibitions, no pulling grain from the field to eat. Jesus however interpreted it to mean such work is allowed if there is necessity for it. Jesus then harvested grain or healed on the Sabbath if there was need for it. One of my seminary professors put it this way: necessity knows no law; if something needs to be done, then let the gospel.

5. »The Sabbath made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.« Likewise, the law was made for man, not man for the law. Earlier in his life Luther read Romans 1, 17 through the lens of the law. „If God is righteous, then He must punish“ is to interpret that text by the law. Of course Luther, and many in his day, was terrified of God because their sins needed to be paid for. That is what indulgences provided: Christ paid for the eternal punishment of your sins, but you must pay for the temporal punishment for them. Thus penance had become to be viewed this way: your good works, alms, prayers, etc. were done to pay off the temporal debt your sins have accrued. Purgatory was for anything you were still indebted to, so either pay down now or do so with thousands of years in purgatory. Either way you were paying off the temporal consequences of your sins, and that is to merit righteousness by the law. Luther saw this to be works righteousness already in 1517.

6. Thus he writes in his 76. thesis: papal pardons [indulgences] are not able to remove the very least of venial sins, so far as guilt is concerned. And again in the 78. thesis: any pope has greater graces at his disposal [than indulgences]; to wit, the gospel. Luther points to that gospel in his 93. and 94. theses: blessed be all those prophets who say to the people of Christ: Cross, Cross! Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following Christ. The gospel prevails in Christ who was crucified for us in our place as the full payment for all our sins. There is no doubt, for Christ has credited our account paid in full. We are righteous because of Christ.

7. Righteousness is merited by Christ who gives it to us as a gift, thus righteousness is by the gospel and faith receives it. This is why Paul writes: »The righteous will live by faith« (Romans 1,17). Luther writes a wonderful paragraph about Christ in 1543: „Thanks and praise be to God in all eternity that we Christians know that Messiah is God’s one eternal Son, whom He sent into the world to take our sins upon Himself, to die for us and to vanquish death for us. Thus Isaiah 53,6.10 says very clearly: All we like sheep have gone astray … and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all … He made Himself an offering for sin, etc. Therefore we exult and rejoice that God’s Son, the one true God together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, became man, a servant, a sinner, a worm for us; that God died, and bore our sins on the cross in His own body; that God redeemed us through His own blood“ (AE 15,343).

8. Thus Luther preached in 1519: „Now there are three things in the holy sacrament of penance [confession]. The first is absolution. These are the words of the pastor which show, tell and proclaim to you that you are free and that your sins are forgiven you by God according to and by virtue of the words of Christ to Saint Peter [Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven Matthew 16,19]. The second is grace, the forgiveness of sins, the peace and comfort of the conscience, as the words declare. This is why it is called a sacrament, a holy sign, because in it one hears the words externally that signify spiritual gifts within, gifts by which the heart is comforted and set at peace. The third is faith, which firmly believes that the absolution and the words of the pastor are true, by the power of Christ’s words, whatever you loose … will be loosed, etc. Everything, then, depends on this faith, which alone makes the sacraments accomplish that which they signify, and everything that the pastor says come true. For as you believe, so it is done for you“ (AE 35,11). This is the gospel that Luther and the Reformers began to restore and proclaim. Amen.

9. Let us pray. O Lord, who pours out mercy; teach us the way of the gospel, so that we believe it to the end. 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.

20. Trinity video

20. Trinity Divine Service III

Saturday, October 24, 2020

Jude video

Jude 1-4 Bible study

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Ephesians 4,22-28. 19. Trinity

Ephesians 4,22-28 5620

19. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 064

Luke, physician, Evangelist, Colossians 4,14. Martyr 84

18. October 2020

1. O Great God, nothing is hidden from Your All-seeing eyes; as we use the medicines and means developed to make us well, direct our trust in You, our Hope, healing and restoration of health, so that we see Your healing hand in both the temporal and spiritual realms. Amen. (Starck 260-61 ¶ 3)

2. »Put off your old self,which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the Devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.«

3. Last week we heard why God is merciful. Today we hear Jesus forgive a man of his sins.

4. Martin Luther’s 1. of his 95 Theses is: Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said poenitentiam agite (repent), willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance (Matthew 4,17). He explains this in his commentary by saying: „We pray throughout our whole life and we pray forgive us our debts; [Matthew 6,12]; therefore, we repent throughout our whole life and are displeased with ourselves, unless anyone may be so foolish as to think that he must pretend to pray for the forgiveness of debts. For the debts for which we are commanded to pray are real and not to be treated lightly; and even if they were venial, we could not be saved unless they were remitted“ (Luther 64-85 #3). The Gospels begin with the ministries of John the Baptizer and Jesus, both of whom preached: »Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!« (Matthew 3,2; 4,17). John furthermore preached: »Bear fruit in keeping with repentance« (Matthew 3,8). Jesus likewise preached: »The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel« (Mark 1,5).

5. In the Augsburg Confession, Lutherans confess: „1] Concerning Repentance [our churches] teach that for those who have sinned after Baptism there is 2] forgiveness of sins each time they come to repentance and that the Church should not refuse 3] absolution to them. Now, true and proper repentance consists of these two parts: One is 4] contrition, that is, terrors over the sin; the other is to believe the gospel and absolution, that 5] through Christ’s grace the sins are forgiven and the conscience is comforted and delivered 6] from its terrors. Then improvement should also follow, which are the fruits of repentance, as John the Baptizer says in Matthew 3,8: Bear fruit worthy of repentance“ (AC 12,1-6). Faith apprehends the absolution and consoles the conscience (Apology 12,12). Repentance has 2 parts: contrition (sorrow for sin) and faith; we can also add a 3. part: fruits worthy of repentance (Apology 12,28). In our confession, we are firm that on account of original sin our fallen nature makes us poor miserable sinners. We confess that by nature we are sinful through and through and because of this total depravity we commit sins.

6. In the Gospels we hear a number of times that Jesus forgives people of their sin. In today’s Gospel pericope Jesus proclaims: »Take heart, My son, your sins are forgiven« (Matthew 9,2). As Jesus then tells the scribes, He has the authority to forgive sins (Matthew 9,6).

7. The law only accuses and terrifies consciences (Apology 12,34). Of faith in Christ, that in these terrors the gospel concerning Christ are to be set forth to conferences, in which gospel the remission of sins is freely promised concerning Christ. Therefore we ought to believe that for Christ’s sake our sins are freely remitted. This faith cheers, sustains and quickens the contrite (Apology 12,35-36). This faith obtains the remission of sins. This faith justifies before God (Apology 12,36). »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 5,1-2).

8. Thus Luther writes in his 95 Theses: 36. Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt. 37. Every true Christian, whether living or dead, participates in all the blessings of Christ and the Church; and this is granted us by God. Absolution, the proclamation that your sins are forgiven, is the true voice of the gospel (Apology 12,39). God truly makes alive through the gospel (Apology 12,40).

9. This gospel justifies and sanctifies us. Paul proclaims: »Put off your old self,which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.« Good works flow from faith like apples grow on an apple tree. Faith receives the full forgiveness that Christ has merited for us and then faith brings forth good works through the working of the Holy Spirit.

10. Thus Luther writes in his 95 Theses: 62. The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God. „Christ truly suffered, was crucified, died, and buried, so that He might reconcile the Father unto us, and be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of people. 4] He also descended into hell, and truly rose again the third day; afterward He ascended into heaven so that He might sit at the right hand of the Father, and forever reign and have dominion 5] over all creatures, and sanctify them who believe in Him, by sending the Holy Spirit into their hearts, to rule, comfort, and quicken them, and to defend them against the Devil and the power of sin (AC 3,3-5). In the Absolution and the Lord’s Supper we hear and eat the gospel and its forgiveness. Like the paralytic in Matthew 9, we hear and receive the exhortation of Jesus: »Take heart, your sins are forgiven« (Matthew 9,2). Next week we will hear Jesus proclaim that the reign of heaven is like a royal wedding feast. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Lord, Your steadfast love endures forever; pour out the Holy Spirit upon us, so that our faith is strengthened and our good works abound for Your glory and the welfare of our neighbor. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

19. Trinity Divine Service III

19. Trinity video

Saturday, October 17, 2020

Obadiah 19-21 Bible study

Obadiah 19-21 video

Deuteronomy 30,11-14. 18. Trinity

Deuteronomy 30,11-14 5520

18. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 063

Philip, Deacon

Burkhard, Bishop of Würzburg, Germany. ✠ 754

11. Oktober 2020

1. O God, rich grace; You give us this day Your Holy Word, and we ask that the Holy Spirit teach us through this Word, so that He enlightens, sanctifies, strengthens and confirms us in our faith in Christ. Amen. (Starck 13 ¶ 1)

2. »For this commandment that I give you today is not excessive for you nor is it far from you. It is not in heaven so that you say: „Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us so that hearing it we will do it?“ Nor is it across the sea so that you say: „Who will go cross over the sea for us and will take it for us? And hearing it we will do it.“ The word is very near you in your mouth, in your heart and in your hands to do it.«

3. Last week we heard that Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. Today we hear why God is merciful.

4. Just before the Israelites entered the Promised Land, Moses repeated to them the covenant Yahweh had made with them at Sinai. He reminds them: »The word is very near you in your mouth, in your heart and in your hands to do it«. He exhorts them: »Love Yahweh your God, by walking in His ways, and keeping His commandments« (Deuteronomy 30,16). And again: »Therefore choose life … loving Yahweh your God, obeying His Voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days« (Deuteronomy 30,19-20).

5. In today’s Gospel pericope, Jesus answered the lawyer’s question: which is the great commandment of the law?, saying: »You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets« (Matthew 22,37-40).

6. God first loves us and we reciprocate by loving Him in return. God promised the land to Abraham, gave it to him as a gift, because of His love for Abraham. Centuries later, when the Israelites entered that land, they entered because God in His love gave it to them, the heirs of Abraham. He gave them the commandments to live a holy life, the sacrifices and the temple all out of love for them. Jesus tells us that all the Law and the Prophets depend on the love of God and neighbor.

7. We normally refer to the Law and the Prophets as the Holy Scriptures – the 39 books we call the Old Testament. The Law informs us about God’s covenant with Israel and the Prophets exhort the people to live by the covenant. Yahweh Himself speaks to His people through the Law and Prophets, and in doing so unfolds His Heilsgeschichte (salvation history) to the world.

8. Jesus taught the following: »Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them« (Matthew 5,17). »For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John the Baptizer, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come« (Matthew 11,13-14). When Jesus began His ministry, the Apostle John tells us in his Gospel: »Philip found Nathanael and said to him: „We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph« (John 1,45). Luke tells us that in Rome: »Paul called together the local leaders of the Jews, and from morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets« (Acts 28,17.23). From the Scriptures Luther would write: „Thus all of Scripture … is pure Christ, God’s and Mary’s Son. Everything is focused on this Son, so that we might know Him distinctively and in that way see the Father and the Holy Spirit eternally as one God. To him who has the Son Scripture is an open book; and the stronger his faith in Christ becomes, the more brightly will the light of Scripture shine for him“ [1] (WA 54,88-89; AE 15,339). Otto Procksch, a 20. century German Evangelical-Lutheran theologian, likewise begins his book, Theologie des Alten Testaments, by writing: „All theology is Christology .... Jesus Christ is the only form in our world of experience, in whom God’s revelation is complete. God is in Christ and Christ is in God“ [2] (Procksch 1).

9. We are God’s neighbors. God loves His neighbors and thus shows that love by being merciful to us. God’s mercy is manifested in His Son, Jesus Christ. As all of Scripture is about Christ, all of Scripture is about God’s mercy. Moses reminds the Israelites on the eve of entering the Promised Land that God’s Word is very near them. The tabernacle was a visible and physical presence that Yahweh was in their midst. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh who dwelt among us; He is very near to us, and God’s mercy is very near to us.

10. One of the themes that winds its way throughout the pages of Scripture is that Yahweh keeps His covenant with us even though we constantly violate it. Christ Himself is God’s covenant with us. The Epistle to the Hebrews reminds us that »When God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us« (Hebrews 6,17-18). That hope is Christ who was crucified for us and risen from the dead. In Christ we have God’s love, mercy and salvation. Next week we will hear Jesus pour out this mercy when He forgives the sins of a man. Amen.

10. Let us pray. O Lord, our neighbor and friend; you have made known to us Your covenant in Christ Jesus, so that we are assured and certain of our redemption. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

1 Also ist nu die gantze Schrifft, [39] wie gesagt, alles Eitel Christus, Gottes und Marien Son, Alles ists zu thun [1] umb den selben Son, das wir jn unterschiedlich erkennen, und also den Vater [2] und den Heiligengeist, Einen Gott ewiglich sehen muegen, Wer den Son hat, [3] dem stehet die Schrifft offen, und je grosser und grosser sein glaube an Christum [4] wird, je heller die schrifft jm scheinet (WA 54,88.38 - 89.1).

2 Alle Theologie ist Christologie .... Jesus Christus ist die einzige Gestalt unserer Erfahrungswert, in der Gottes Offenbarung vollständig ist. Gott ist in Christus und Christus in Gott.

18.Trinity video

18. Trinity Divine Service

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Obadiah video

Obadiah 15-18 Bible study

Matthew 15,21. 17. Trinity

Matthew 15,21-28 5420

17. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 062

Francis of Assisi, France. Founder of a monastic order, ✠ 1226

4. October 2020

1. O All-Loving God, Your mercy has no end and Your kindness is new each morning; often we come before You with great grief and a heavy heart seeking comfort from You; be merciful to us and show us compassion, so that our hearts are eased and our joy restored. Amen. (Starck 185-86 ¶ 3)

2. »And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region went out and was crying: „Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.“ But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples went and begged Him, saying: „Send her away, for she is crying out after us.“ He answered: „I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.“ But she went and knelt before Him, saying: „Lord, help me.“ And He answered: „It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.“ She said: „Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.“ Then Jesus answered her: „O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.“ And her daughter was healed instantly.«

3. Last week we heard how Jesus raised a dead man back to life. Today we hear how Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath.

4. In Matthew 15, the evangelist gives us another example of Jesus’ healing ability. A young girl is severely oppressed with a demon, and Jesus heals her and relieves her of that spiritual affliction. What is strikingly apparent is that this woman and her daughter are Canaanites: they are not Jewish and they do not live in Jewish territory. They were Gentiles living in a Roman city, for Rome had exercised rulership over Tyre and the province of Syria (since 64 bc) for nearly 100 years before the events of Matthew 15. Jesus Himself notes in their discussion that He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.

5. Yet the mother persists in her plea. She calls Jesus: 1. Lord, and asks for mercy, 2. Son of David, 3. kneels before Him, calls Him Lord again and asks for His help and 4. calls Him Lord a third time and counters Jesus’ statement that even the Gentiles receive crumbs from the table of the Jews. This Gentile mother speaks and acts as one worshiping God: she invokes a Divine title, pleads for mercy and kneels in a position of prayer and worship; she directs these words and acts to Jesus. She essentially prays Psalm 30: Hear, O Yahweh, and be merciful to me! O Yahweh be my Helper« (Psalm 30,10).

6. There is some precedent here as well. 1000 years earlier when David and Solomon were gathering the materials for the construction of the temple, Tyre supported supplied cedar wood and skilled workers. During their reigns, David and Solomon maintained friendly relations and with King Hiram I of Tyre. Whereas Hiram offered help to David in building the temple, now the Son of David, the temple made flesh, gives help to a citizen of Tyre.

7. The Prophet Micah, who ministered to Judah and Samaria, was probably still remembered for his words and deeds by the people of Tyre just miles north of the Galilean border. Micah proclaims that God loves mercy and humbleness (Micah 6,8). This Gentile woman exhibits both humbleness to God and desires His mercy. Yahweh said to the Prophet Isaiah: »Yahweh waits to be gracious to you, and therefore He exalts Himself to show mercy to you. For Yahweh is a God of justice; blessed are those who wait for Him (Isaiah 30,18).

8. Whenever we are weighed down with despair, trials, tribulations or ailments, seek Jesus and His mercy. God promises us His grace. »You are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake Israel.« (Nehemiah 9,17). »For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more« (Jeremiah 31,34; Hebrews 8,12). »Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful« (James 5,11). „The bread of the Messiah is so abundant and so overflowing that parts of it fall from the table onto the floor.“ (Gibbs 787). And the crumbs are enough for this Gentile woman and her daughter (Gibbs 787). She believes in both Jesus’ mission to Israel’s lost sheep and in Jesus’ abundance (Gibbs 787); even the Gentiles are blessed by the bread that Jesus provides.

9. Christ has shown us mercy. He has redeemed us from sin, death and the devils. His mercy is for all people, both Jews and Gentiles. May our faith in Jesus be as great as that of the Gentile mother from Tyre. Next week we will hear why God is merciful. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Lord, Your steadfast love endures forever; help us to make known Your mercy to our generations, so that they seek You and Your grace. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

17. Trinity video

17. Sunday Divine Service III

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Saturday, October 24, 2020

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Saturday, October 17, 2020

Wednesday, October 7, 2020