Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Ephesians 5,8b-14. Trinity VIII

Sunday, July 21, 2024

Ephesians 5,8b-14. Trinity VIII

Ephesians 5,8b-14 4224

8. Trinitatis. Trinity VIII 54

Ezekiel, Prophet and Priest, 593 bc start of ministry at 30 while in Babylonian exile

Praxedis, Virgin, ✠ 129

21. Juli 2024

1. ℣ O God we have received Your mercy:

℟ In the midst of Your temple (Psalm 47,10 vul lxx).

Susepimus Deus misericordiam tuam in medio templi tui (vul lxx).

Aestimavimus Deus misericordiam tuam in medio templi tui (vul mas).

O God , let Your goodness and faithfulness continue to be over us and guide us in this life. Let Your goodness lead us to repentance. Have mercy on us and let us relish Your grace here in time and hereafter in eternity. Amen. (Stark 153; English 147).

2. »Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says: Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. [Isaiah 26,19. 60,1]«

3. The Apostle Paul quotes and refers to the Prophet Isaiah several times in this chapter of his epistle. The Prophet cries out: »Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness« (Isaiah 5,28). »And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness« (Isaiah 8,22). »The prisoners who are seated in darkness« (Isaiah 42,7).

4. The Law and the Prophets declare that all men and women are sinners. Both Jews and Gentiles are lost in the darkness of sin. The human heart produces on its own only images of false gods (Bayer Martin Luther’s Theology 177). The desire for spirituality without religion is the idolatrous longing of the sinful heart for a god that is mute (Wolfmueller Has Christianity Failed? 621). And if God is mute, then my divine voice is all that I will hear. This is the goal of our hubris: I am a god; I determine what is true and moral.

5. Western 21^st century culture and philosophy are solidly built upon Friedrich Nietzsche’s nihilism. He put forth a view that the Christian God is no longer a credible source of absolute moral principles. To say God is dead is to say that human beings are no longer able to believe in any such cosmic order because they themselves no longer recognize it. The death of God will thus lead to the rejection of absolute values themselves. We are now living in a society and a culture that revels in this philosophical reality where the individual determines right and wrong. Sin is essentially not believing in God’s promise (Bayer Martin Luther’s Theology 178). This gives rise to believing our own promise, and from this pride flows all the sins we commit against God and our neighbor.

6. To only look within is to confine ourselves alone in the darkness of our hearts. A lonely heart separated from God eventually longs for Him. Corrupt though our nature may be, we still have a spark, an ember, that remembers the communion God had with the first human beings. The whisper of Gs promise is barely heard but we cannot discern what it is.

7. The Psalmist declares: »vitæ, et in lumine tuo videbimus lumen. O Yahweh, in Your Light do we see light« (Psalm 36,9b). »ק֥וּמִי א֖וֹרִי כִּ֣י בָ֣א אוֹרֵ֑ךְ וּכְב֥וֹד יְהוָ֖ה עָלַ֥יִךְ זָרָֽח׃ Arise, shine, for your Light has arrived, and the Glory of Yahweh has risen upon you.« (Isaiah 60,1). »ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. ὅτι ὁ νόμος διὰ Μωϋσέως ἐδόθη, ἡ χάρις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐγένετο. The True Light, which gives light to everyone, arriving for Himself/being arrived in the world. Grace and truth appeared for Himself through Jesus Christ« (John 1,9.17).

8. God’s Light pierces our darkness, and His Promise opens our deaf ears! God is categorically the one who gives (Bayer Martin Luther’s Theology 98). He gave His Only Son to die for us and to rise again for us. Gott ist gestorben und Gott ist auferstanden. God has died and risen to redeem you. This promise of redemption is given to us in Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, for we hear God proclaim: „I absolve you of your sins!“ In these Sacraments there is Christ for everyone and also for you (Nagel 291). Therefore, dear Christians, lift up your heads, for Christ is your Light. His gospel (promissio) brings you the assurance of your salvation (Bayer Martin Luther’s Theology 50).

9. Certum est ergo, remissa esse peccata si credis remissa, quia certa est Christi salvatoris promissio (pro veritate § 15). Therefore, it is certain that sins are forgiven if you believe, because the promise of Christ the Savior is certain. This is God’s promissio (promise) to you! Receive it. Believe it. God be praised!!

10. Awaken dead Christianity

From the sleep of security;

Make Your Glory confessed

Throughout the land blessed.

Have mercy, Lord.

(Sonne der Gerechtigkeit elkg 297,2 2021 Christian David (1728) 1741).

This is most certainly true.

11. Et pax Dei, quæ exuperat omnem sensum, custodiat corda vestra, et intelligentias vestras in Christo Jesu. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.

12. Let us pray. Bless, O Lord, this house and all who dwell in it, as Thou wast pleased to bless the house of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that within these walls may dwell an angel of light and that we who dwell together in it may receive the abundant dew of heavenly blessing and through Thy tenderness rejoice in peace and quiet. Amen. (Trinity VIII, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office.

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 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, July 21, 2024

Ephesians 5,8b-14. Trinity VIII

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