Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: July 2022

Sunday, July 31, 2022

Mark 8,1-9. 7. Trinity

Mark 8,1-9 3922

7. Sn. n. Trinitatis 53

Joseph of Arimathea

Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, France, ✠ 448

Volker George, selk pastor, 2011 31. Juli 2022

1. ℣ O clap, your hands, all ye people:

℟ Shout unto God with the voice of triumph. (Psalm 47,1)

In You, O God, we have all that we should need, for the fountain of Your grace is always full. Let us be eternally in You and You remain eternally in us. (Herr Jesu Christe, mein getreuer Hirte elkg 232,7 2021 Johann Heermann 1630)

2. »In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them: ²„I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. ³And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.“ ⁴And His disciples answered Him: „How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?“ ⁵And He asked them: „How many loaves do you have?“ They said: „Seven.“ ⁶And He directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, He broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. ⁷And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, He said that these also should be set before them. ⁸And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. ⁹And there were about four thousand people. And He sent them away.«

3. Jesus had 7 loaves of bread at His disposal to feed 4000. One person would normally eat 1/3 of a loaf at a meal, and 7 loaves would comfortably feed 21 people. To feed 4000 would require a little over 1333 loaves of bread. When the apostles gather the leftovers they fill up 7 baskets which suggests that Jesus miraculously multiplied more than 1300 loaves of bread. Jesus started with very little and abundantly provided for the needs of the people.

4. In the feeding of the 5000 we see God’s providence in all its glory. Such is the way of God’s grace: there is more than enough for what is needed. When Israel needed food in the wilderness, God abundantly provided for all of them; they had enough bread to eat. Millennia later when the crowd needed food in the wilderness, Jesus miraculously and abundantly provided for each of them.

5. Jesus teaches us to pray for our daily bread in the Lord’s Prayer. Luther explains this petition in his Small Catechism: God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving. Later in His Beatitudes Jesus taught: »Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Yes, you are of more value than the birds« (Matthew 6,25-26).

6. Jesus also provides food for our spiritual needs. He proclaims in John 6: »I am the Bread of Life; whoever draws near to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise you up on the last day« (John 6,35.40). In the Sacrament of the Altar Jesus gives us this Bread in his body to eat and His blood to drink. Luther says of this in his Small Catechism: These words, Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, show us that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.

7. Jesus is our Bread of Life that satisfies both our physical and spiritual hunger. The Apostle Paul says of this Living Bread from heaven: »Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread« (1. Corinthians 10,17). The holy apostle is speaking about the Holy Communion of the Lord’s Supper. The Church, he says, receives and eats the one bread that is offered to all at the communion table. Jesus’ discourse in John 6, while not specifically saying that it is the Lord’s Supper, certainly causes the Christian hearer to think about the eating and drinking of the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper. Jesus and His apostles are clear that the bread and wine in the Holy Sacrament are indeed also His true body and blood given to and received by the communicant. The Lord’s Supper gives us Jesus, the Living Bread from heaven, and when we are given Jesus, we are given eternal life.

8. Jesus meets us with hands fully outstretched to give. He does not allow us to leave Him begging or hungry. He gives so that we should take and receive with thanksgiving and and in receiving become happy about it to the praise of God, who fills everything with pleasure, who wants to see a happy crowd around Him and therefore does so well to all the world (Löhe ¶ 7).

9. May Your abundant, overflowing goodness, Lord Jesus, Your rich, gentle hand, Your pious heart always be admired and honored by me and by all Your people, and may You make all things good and have mercy on all Your works, this is my word in life and in death! (Löhe ¶ 8)

10. O Living Bread from heaven,

How well You feed Your guest!

The gifts that You have given

Have filled my heart with rest.

Oh, wondrous food of blessing,

Oh, cup that heals our woes!

My heart, this gift possessing,

With praises overflows (O Living Bread from Heaven lsb 642,1 Johann Rist 1607-67).

This is most certainly true.

11. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

12. Let us pray. O most, Loving Father, on whose bountiful providence we do wholly depend, give us daily at Thy pleasure whatsoever the necessity of this life requireth; but above all feed our souls with spiritual food, with the bread of life from heaven. Amen. (The Week of Trinity 7, Vespers Collect 1. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)

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.

Löhe, Wilhelm. Evangelien-Postille für die Sonn- und Festage des Kirchenjahres. Copyright © 1859 Samuel Gottlieb Liesching. A sermon preached on Mark 8,1-9 for The 7. Sunday after Trinity. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011.

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Romans 6,3-8. 6. Trinity

Romans 6,3-8 3822

6. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 52

Christina, Virgin, Martyr, beginning of the 3^rd c.

24. Juli 2022

1. ℣ Yahweh is the Strength of His people:

℟ He is the saving Strength of His anointed. (Psalm 28,8).

O God, Holy and Righteous, let us speak joyfully: for we are baptized Christians, who in human infirmities yet are Your children. No earthly treasures compare to the heavenly treasure we possess, which has brought us salvation and makes us eternally blessed. Amen. (Lasset mich voll Freuden sprechen Erdmann Neumeister 1718 elkg 214,1 2021).

2. »Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old selfwas crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set freefrom sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.«

3. Jesus taught in The Beatitudes: »For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven« (Matthew 5,20). But how do we become more righteous than the very people who boast to Jesus that they have kept the law and have earned their righteousness? How can we out-pharisee the Pharisee? A: we cannot exceed the Pharisees’ righteousness, and that is the vey point Jesus wants us to realize. Jesus teaches that righteousness is not a thing to be earned under the law but a gift of grace that is given; righteousness is thus received by faith.

4. Paul tells us in his Epistle to the Romans how this righteousness is given. Our Baptism gives us righteousness; our Baptism justifies us. Paul teaches that Holy Baptism connects us to Jesus, to His crucifixion and to His resurrection. Martin Luther said it this way: „God has placed the forgiveness of sins in the Holy Baptism, in the Lord’s Supper and in the Word. Yes, He has put it into the mouth of every Christian so that when they comfort you, and promise that you have God’s grace through the merits of Jesus Christ, then you should accept and believe it, as though Christ Himself, with His mouth, has promised it to you“ (Luther, St. L. XIII,2440). [1]

5. The Pharisees want to earn their righteousness under the law. Christ wants to give us His righteousness under the gospel. Paul succinctly points out the error of the Pharisees: since knowledge of sin comes through the law, no human being will be justified in God sight by works of the law (Romans 3,20). Paul argues that to attempt to justify oneself by the law is unbiblical. To follow the path of the Pharisees is to reject the promise God gave to Abraham and to misunderstand the intent of the Sinai covenant God made with Israel.

6. Paul proclaims: the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law … the righteousness of God is manifested through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe (Romans 3,21-22). This righteousness is given to us in Holy Baptism, for in our Baptism God unites us with Jesus Christ. Luther teaches in his Small Catechism: Baptism works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the Devil and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.

7. The Law and the Prophets bear witness to this righteousness given to us by God (Romans 3,21». Moses tells us: »Abraham believed Yahweh, and He counted it to him as righteousness« (Genesis 16,6). Yahweh told Habakkuk: »the righteous shall live by his faith« (Habakkuk 2,4). Paul comments on this and then declares: »For the death Christ died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace« (Romans 6,10-11.14). »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. But if Christ is in you, then 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. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.« (Romans 8,1-4.10-11.16-17).

8. Paul brings everything back full circle to Abraham. Yahweh promised Abraham that He would redeem all the nations through his Offspring (Genesis 12,2). Abraham believed Yahweh, and He counted it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15,6). That Offspring of Abraham is Jesus Christ, and we have been united to Him in our Baptism. That makes us sons and daughters of Abraham; we are the heirs of Abraham’s inheritance. God the Father counts us as righteous because we believe in Jesus, and Jesus is the Cornerstone of our salvation and righteousness. These blessings are given to us in our Baptism.

9. The God of Abraham praise,

Whose all sufficient grace

Shall guide me all my pilgrim days

In all my ways.

He deigns to call me friend;

He calls Himself my God

And He shall save me to the end

Through Jesus’ blood (The God of Abraham Praise, Thomas Olivers, 1725-99 lsb 798,3)

This is most certainly true.

10. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

11. Let us pray. We give thanks to Thee, Almighty God, that Thou wilt refresh us again this day with Thy salutary gift of the Lord’s Supper; and we beseech Thy mercy to strengthen us through the same in faith toward Thee, and in fervent love among us all. Amen. (Martin Luther; AE 53,138)

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

[1] Luther, St. L. XIII,2440: „Gott hat Vergebung der Sünden in die heilige Taufe gesteckt, in das Abendmahl und in das Wort. Ja, er hat sie einem jeden Christenmenschen in den Mund gelegt, wenn er dich tröstet, dir Gottes Gnaden durch das Verdienst Jesu Christi zusagt, daß du es nicht anders annehmen und glauben sollt, denn so es Christus selbst mit seinem Munde dir hätte zugesagt.“

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Genesis 12,1-4. 5. Trinity

Genesis 12,1-4 3722

5. Trinitatis 51

Marcellina, Virgin, ✠ 397

17. Juli 2022

1. ℣ Yahweh is my Light and my Salvation:

℟ Whom shall I fear? (Psalm 27,1).

Praise, laud and thanks be to You, God the Lord, who delivers His people from their misery and gathers us unto Your Glory, making us members in Your eternal Church on earth, Your chosen City, that trusts completely in You and takes comfort in Your great grace. Amen. (Preis, Lob und Dank sei Gott dem Herren elkg 274,1 2021 Petrus Herbert 1566).

2. »Now Yahweh said to Abram: „Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.“ So Abram went, as Yahweh had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.«

3. Yahweh is a covenant-making God. He delights in making promises to mankind. He takes great joy in blessing His creation. By chapter 12, Yahweh had made 3 covenants: He promised Adam and Eve to send a Savior who would redeem them (Genesis 3,15); He promised Noah to never again destroy the earth with a flood (Genesis 9,11); and He promised Abraham to bless him and multiply his descendants.The first and third promises followed on the heels of a grievous sin. Adam and disobeyed Yahweh’s command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But what was Abraham’s great sins?

4. Abraham was an idolater. He was born and lived in Ur of the Chaldeans (Genesis 11,31). That made Abraham a Sumerian, and Sumer is on e of the oldest civilizations that we know of that grew from the descendants of Noah after the Flood. Ur was an important Sumerian city-state on the bank of the Euphrates River in what is now southeast Iraq, and its patron deity was Nanna/Sin/Suen, the moon god, and it was renowned for his temple, the Ziggurat of Ur. The other major center of Sumerian Suen worship was Haran/Harran, where Abraham was living at the beginning of chapter 12.

5. Before he died, Joshua reminded the Israelites: »Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: „Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.“« (Joshua 24,2). Suen is most likely the idol Abraham originally worshipped.

6. That Yahweh spoke and appeared to Abraham sets Him apart from all the idols. Suen and the other Sumerian idols were distant objects of worship, and they did not personally interact with men. Worship of Suen revolved around priestesses at the temple who were of the royal family. Abraham forsook Suen and worshipped Yahweh.

7. This God of Abraham is a God of action. He is not distant, but involved in the lives of men and women. The idols, by contrast, do not speak, do not answer and do not pay attention to the pleas of mankind (1. Kings 18,29).Hence, Ezekiel calls them poop idols (גּלּוּלי) (Ezekiel 6,4-6).

8. Yahweh blesses people. He blessed Abraham and promised that through Abraham all nations will be blessed (Genesis 22,18). Abraham was the great grandfather of the Tribes of Israel. Yahweh promised to make Israel as a light for the Gentiles, so that His salvation may reach to the end of the earth (Isaiah 49,6).

9. Jesus is the fulfillment of this promise. The Gospel according to Matthew tells us: »Jesus went and lived in Capernaum in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the Prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali … Galilee of the Gentiles — the people dwelling in the darkness have seen a great light, and for those who dwelling in the region and shadow of death; on them a light has dawned« (Matthew 4,13-16; Isaiah 9,1-2).

10. »From that time Jesus bean to preach, saying: „Repent, for the reign of heaven is in your midst“« (Matthew 4,17). We take advantage of Yahweh favor and blessing for granted. We mistreat our neighbor. We do not fear, love or trust Yahweh with all our heart. Jesus call for us to repent of these our sins!

11. The reign of heaven is the work of God in Jesus Christ on behalf of His people (Gibbs). In the eyes of the God of grace we sinful, imperfect people are called by Him to follow Him and worship Him (Gibbs). In the midst of conflict and oppression, trouble and uncertainty, we may rest secure in our identity in Jesus (Gibbs). Yahweh has blessed us through Abraham’s offspring who is Jesus Christ. This Jesus suffered, was crucified and resurrected for us to redeem us back to God the father! In His Light we see Light, for with Jesus is the Fountain of Life (Psalm 36,9).

12. 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 (If God Himself Be for Me Paul Gerhardt 1607-76 lsb 724,10)

This is most certainly true.

13. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippines 4,7). Amen.

14. Let us pray. O God, who has prepared for them that love You such good things as pass our understanding, pour into our hearts such love toward You so that we, loving You above all things, may obtain Your promises, which exceed all that we can desire. Amen. (Trinity V Vespers, 1. Collect The Daily Office 1965).

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Gibbs, Jeffrey A. Parables of Atonement and Assurance: Matthew 13:44-46. https://www.issuesetcarchive.org/articles/bissar54.htm

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Psalm 9,1-2.4.8; Psalm 22,22. 4. Trinity

Psalm 9,1-2.4.8; Psalm 22,22 3622

4. Trinitatis 50

9. Juli 2022

1. O Jesus Christ, Thou Anointed One of God, hear our prayer and be our Shield, so that You protect us from all things earthly and spiritual. Amen. (Gradual).

2. I will tell of Your Name to my brothers, in the midst of the congregation I will praise You. I give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart and recount all of Your wonderful deeds. I am glad and exult in You and I sing praise to Your Name, O Most High. For You have maintained my just cause and You have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.

He will judge the world with righteousness and judge the peoples with uprightness.

3. We can sum up the Nature of God with Psalm 9: »For You, O Lord, have maintained my just cause and You have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.« Jesus applies this righteous Nature of God to us in His Beatitudes, saying: »Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven« (Matthew 5,8.10).

4. Psalm 9 then reminds us that righteousness does not infer that God will not punish those who are wrong. »O Lord, You have rebuked the nations; You have made the wicked perish; You have blotted out their name forever and ever. The Lord judges the world with righteousness; He judges the peoples with uprightness.« The Holy Scriptures are filled with accounts of God punishing sinners: Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden, Cain was sent away, the Flood in Noah’s day, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed during Abraham’s lifetime and Babylon fell to God’s judgment.

5. Psalm 30,5 assures us that: »The Lord’s anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime;« and Psalm 103,8 tells us: »The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.« Abraham learned this several times throughout his life, most powerfully when God had told him to sacrifice his only Son, Isaac (Genesis 22,2). The Lord will provide (Genesis 22,14), for He provided a ram to take the place of Isaac (Genesis 22,13). Thousands of years later God the Father would send another son as a sacrifice, His Only Son, Jesus, who Himself is the Lamb of God whom God provided for the sin of the world (John 1,29). The Apostle Paul proclaims in Romans 8,1,3 and 4: »There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, God condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us.«

6. »The Lord is a Stronghold for the oppressed, a Stronghold in times of trouble.« This promise is seen in its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, and Martin Luther was inspired by Holy Scripture to write in his hymn: „A Mighty Fortress is our God …. He helps us free from every need. For us fights the Valiant One whom God Himself elected …. Jesus Christ it is … He holds the field forever“ (Luther 656,1.2). Luther pictures Jesus in this hymn as the lord of a castle who rides forth to the field of battle to engage the Devil; Jesus is a mightier lord and He has won a great victory over the Devil by dying and rising again. The Apostle John portrayed Jesus similarly in his Revelation: »I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one seated on him is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems. And the armies of heaven were following Him« (Revelation 19,11-12 and 14). Jesus is the Rider of this white horse who at the end of the Revelation leads His angelic host forth to capture and judge the beast, the false prophet and finally the ancient serpent and dragon that is Satan himself (Revelation 19,20; 20,2).

7. The trials and temptations we face as the people of God are temporary. Jesus promises to see us through to the end where all suffering ceases and all sin is removed in the blessed realm of heaven. Jesus has won the victory. He has declared us righteous. We receive this righteousness by faith in Him. Trust in Jesus and put all your cares upon Him for He will see you through it to the end. Amen.

8. Let us pray. O God, whose Name alone is worthy of praise, give us peaceful days so that we may give thanks to You without fear of persecution. Amen.

Ezekiel 18,1-4.21-24.30-32. 3. Trinity

Ezekiel 18,1-4.21-24.30-32 3522

3. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 49

Cornelius, centurion, Acts 10

3. Juli 2022

1. ℣ Turn unto me and have mercy upon me:

℟ Forgive me all my sins. (Psalm 25,16a.18b).

O Jesus, who receives sinners; receive us and open heaven unto us, so that we enter in and receive blessing and comfort. Amen. (Jesus minnt die Sünder an Erdmann Neumeister 1718 elkg 569,7 2021).

2. »The word of Yahweh came to me, Ezekiel: „The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. … Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone; so turn, and live, declares the Lord who is Yahweh.“«

3. Yahweh has sent His prophet, Ezekiel, to call Israel to repentance. This Israel is not the 10 tribes of the north, for any Ezekiel’s day that Israel had ceased to be a nation 120 years earlier when a Assyria conquered them in 722 bc (the Israelite remnant eventually becomes the Samaritans). Now only the 2 tribes of Judah and Benjamin remain, and the nation is referred to interchangeably from this point on as Judah or as Israel.

4. Yahweh had already sent Israel numerous prophets who exhorted the people to put aside their idols and return solely to Yahweh. They had ignored these prophets and were in the midst of exile in Babylon that began in 597 bc when Nebuchadnezzar exiled King Jehoiachin as punishment for his father’s rebellion against Babylon. A number of prominent Jews joined him in exile, Ezekiel, as a young priest, was one of them. Yahweh called Ezekiel to be a prophet 5 years later in 602 bc. Ezekiel is a contemporary of Daniel who had also been among this deportation. (586 bc destruction of Jerusalem and the temple; 582 bc another deportation to Babylon.)

5. Ezekiel draws attention to the popular proverb of his day: fathers eat sour grapes, and the teeth of their sons are set on edge. „The Israelites do not question the principle that sin deserves punishment and that it is in fact punished. Rather, their complaint is that God is punishing the wrong people. The immediate plea is perhaps not so much the people’s innocence as it is an expansion of a certain cosmic determinism or fatalism by which they are being victimized. Allegedly, God does not care who suffers so long as the balance of sin and punishment is kept“ (Hummel 536).

6. Essentially, what Ezekiel is hearing from the Jews in exile in Babylon is: we are suffering for sins we didn’t commit, therefore why is Yahweh treating us unjustly (Hummel 536)? Why are we as individual exiles suffering the punishment of those who are actually guilty of idolatry, and why are we, as individuals, suffering for the sake of our idolatrous nation? People today utter the same protest in regards to their suffering: why is God unfairly punishing me?

7. Chapter 18, then, is the cornerstone of the book, for here Yahweh emphasizes individual justification or condemnation, and furthermore Yahweh has no delight in anyone’s death; He wants everyone to repent and live. Sin has to be recognized, exposed and repented of. This is often an uncomfortable process because no one enjoys being told they are wrong and have sinned against God and man. Yet God’s mercy and grace is quickly given. The Apostle John zeros in on this in his epistle where he exhorts us: »“If we say we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, then He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, then we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, then we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world« (1. John1,8-10; 2,1-2).

8. Ezekiel likewise focuses on the true issue: the real problem is the heart and spirit. Humanity is a fallen race who can do nothing but sin. Ultimately, everyone is guilty before Yahweh and deserves punishment. In His mercy, Yahweh does not hold the individual accountable but the sacrificial lamb. In the old covenant the lamb bore the sins of the individual, and in the new covenant the Lamb of God bore the sin of the individual. The old, idolatrous heart and spirit needs to be renewed, as the Psalmist proclaims: »Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. O Yahweh, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise« (Psalm 51,10-13.15.17).

9. Under the old testament, Yahweh restored repentant Israel. »Therefore thus says the Lord who is Yahweh: „Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for My Holy Name. They shall forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against Me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid, when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands, and through them have vindicated My holiness in the sight of many nations. Then they shall know that I am Yahweh their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore. And I will not hide My face anymore from them, when I pour out My Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord who is Yahweh.« (Ezekiel 39,25-29). The Prophet Jeremiah, another contemporary of Ezekiel, prophesied of a new testament: »Behold, the days are coming, declares Yahweh, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put My תּֽוֹרָת (torah) within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.« (Jeremiah 31,31-33). That new testament was inaugurated by Jesus, and in Him we are redeemed back to Yahweh, all our sin is forgiven and the Holy Spirit works to create our faith in Christ and to create a new spirit in us.

10. Lord, ’tis not that I did choose Thee;

That, I know, could never be;

For this hard would refuse Thee

Had Thy grace not chosen me.

Thou hast from the sin that stained me

Washed and cleansed and set me free

And unto this end ordained me,

That I ever live to Thee (Lord, ’tis not that I did Choose Thee, Josiah Conder, 1789-1855 lsb 573,1)

This is most certainly true.

11. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

12. Let us pray. Praise be to God the Father who made us. Praise be to God the Son who redeemed us. Praise be to God the Holy Spirit who sanctified us. Praise to the Holy and Glorious Trinity, now and forever. Amen. (Johann Jakob Rambach 1693-1723, Rambachs Handbüchlein, Gebetbuch, ethaltend … #48; Stratman 51).

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, July 31, 2022

Mark 8,1-9. 7. Trinity

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Romans 6,3-8. 6. Trinity

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Genesis 12,1-4. 5. Trinity

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Psalm 9,1-2.4.8; Psalm 22,22. 4. Trinity

Ezekiel 18,1-4.21-24.30-32. 3. Trinity