Author: Bethlehem Lutheran

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St. Timothy, Pastor and Confessor

Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR

Readings: Acts 16:1–5 | 1 Timothy 6:11–16 | Matthew 24:42–47

Text: 1 Timothy 6:11-16

Today, we commemorate Timothy, a young man of a mixed Jewish-Greek marriage, whose believing grandmother Lois, and mother Eunice, nurtured in him a messianic faith that was kindled when St. Paul came to Lystra (2 Tim. 1:5, Acts 16:1-5).  He went with Paul on his journey, as an example of God’s mercy to Jews and Gentiles alike.  Later, he worked in Berea and Macedonia, and from the two letters written to him, we also know that he was formally ordained into the ministry of the Gospel (2 Tim. 1:6).  Today’s epistle reading comes from spiritual-fatherly advice of Paul.

Not everything that St. Paul was writing to Timothy was groundbreaking: “godliness with contentment is great gain…But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” (1 Timothy 6:6, 9)  Again, at the end of the reading, he says, “he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion.”  The importance of a temperate life and that God is exalted high above the world—these were not foreign ideas and even the greatest Greek minds like Plato and Aristotle would agree.

The incredible thing about the Blessed and Only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords is how He reaches us.  The immortal One, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see sends His Holy Spirit to reveal Himself in our midst.  We might expect Him to come in angelic visions or for awesome signs to occur when He reaches out to someone.  I mean, that’s how it happened for St. Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9).

But as we commemorate St. Timothy, it’s clear that the immortal, invisible, sovereign God comes through words on human lips.   The way He has made Himself known is incredible: in the flesh.  Not just the Incarnation, but also in human messengers.  For Timothy, it was his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice, and then the missionary Paul.  Through their nurture in the faith, Timothy came to know this God and Savior personally, not just as a rich tradition of his forebearers.

Now, who was it for you?  Who was it in your life who nurtured you in the faith?  It could have been several people.  But the example of Timothy reminds us that the evangelistic task is put into the hands of believing men and women.  How will your family, friends, and neighbors know of Christ unless someone who knows Christ tells them?  Without that light, all they will see is unapproachable light, and not the flesh and blood of the Savior who came that they might dwell with Him in glory and eternal peace.

Together with everyday believers, another part of the way the Sovereign and Incarnate God comes to us is through the ministry of the servants He calls.  He puts His sacred and saving word on the lips of a man.  Upon this man—who has no other worthiness except for Christ’s call and the Spirit He bestows for the task—He puts the words of eternal life (John 6:63).  Spoken by a man, He releases sinners from their bondage, consecrates bread and wine as His Body and Blood, teaches and builds up His beloved people, and more.

Yet, today, there are many distorted views of this part of how the Lord has ordered His Church.  Flash forward two centuries, and you’ll find that a lot of history influences how we understand this ministry.  We see a lot of human failings in it—the judgmental attitudes, abuses of trust, a teaching that nobody can come to God except by an approved priest.  So, among Christians, there’s a desire to avoid those human failings by avoiding what it means to have a pastor.

One of the places this is lived out is in the practice of the Lord’s Supper.  The pastoral ministry is the nexus of for a lot of misunderstandings and conflicts of conscience that sinners have with the Lord.

Some see the Sacrament as something that the pastor just serves a dispenser.  It is enough for me to have my private belief and of course I’m worthy to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus because I haven’t been that bad of a sinner. Don’t get in the way of me and Jesus.

And if it isn’t up to a pastor to determine my eligibility, then I’m in control of the way I live.  If it’s a shame to God’s Name, no matter. Jesus did for all my sins, right?  So if I live like the unbelievers around me, but call myself a Christian then that’s ok, right?  But no way will I let a pastor judge me and tell me what I should do.  What business does he have telling me what’s right?  “Only God can judge me!” we hear ourselves say.

Sometimes, we come to the Sacrament merely as a matter of doctrinal agreement.  If I personally know that it is Jesus’ Body and Blood, then that’s all I really need.  As long as I’m personally served, well and good.  I don’t really know what the Church body teaches, or what the person sitting next to me believes.  Just let me come to the Sacrament and go in peace without thought of others.

Pastors, for their part, also have their own misconceptions.  Young pastors might think their duty is fulfilled when they present to the congregation a steady diet of orthodox teaching.  No matter if people even know what that means, much less if they agree with it.  In the language of the Parable of the Sower, this is like strapping on a gas-powered seed broadcaster, and hoping you hit enough good soil.  As long as the pastor knows he’s giving them something more substantial than the box church down the street, then he’s done his job.

When it comes to the Lord’s Supper, pastors are tempted to oversimplify, and assume that anyone who bears the “Missouri Synod” stamp of approval should commune.  On the other hand, telling people no might make you feel uneasy, so you just put an explanation in the bulletin and call it a day.  That way, if anyone communes for whom it would be harmful, you can just place the blame on them for not listening.  Pastors will be tempted to tell people what satisfies their itching ears, or quiets a conscience that really should be nagging. And if you do, there will be gain in the world, but what happens to the hearers?

In all these examples, us fallen creatures set up an idea of God and how He dwells among His people that doesn’t really fit with the Words of our Lord.  As uncomfortable as it may be, He desires a much more from those who follow Him and those who serve Him.

He says in the Gospel reading today, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.” (Matt. 24:45-46) The Immortal, Invisible, Only Sovereign, sets up men as servants to watch over his household.  It’s their duty to give His household the portion they need at the proper time—sometimes the reproof of His Law, and other times the comfort and strengthening of His Gospel.  Yes, they’re ordinary men, who can err, but it’s the Lord’s wisdom and His promise of how He works that this ministry does incredible, eternal things.

He also says in John 21 to Peter the “chief” of the Apostles: “Feed my lambs…tend my sheep…feed my sheep.” (John 21:15-17)  The job of the pastor is to tend and feed, and the role of the sheep is to be tended.  That means it’s actually a good and necessary thing to be corrected and brought back into the fold when a sheep is wandering in dangerous territory.  Yes, of course, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who knows His own, but He does His tending with human hands.  So, neither should the pastor neglect the flock when he sees danger (John 10:12-13), nor should the Lord’s sheep think they’re doing fine out in the field by themselves.

Finally, Paul tells Timothy in his second letter, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” (2 Tim. 4:1-2) Almighty God reaches us not only through the comfort spoken by the Gospel, but sometimes it’s necessary that He reprove and correct us.  Yes, of course, the pastor could be off-base, but that really shouldn’t be our first thought.  Because we believe that the one who dwells in unapproachable light makes Himself known through human means, our first thought really ought to be that maybe the Lord is trying to get our attention and we should pay attention.  If we have doubt, we check His Word, because He will never lead us astray.

How amazing that the Holy One comes into our midst and doesn’t just inform us with sacred understanding, but He actually cares for us—through the love and words of Christians, and the faithful ministry of pastors like St. Timothy.  What a comfort it is to know that our Good Shepherd cares for us each day, not just by imagining Him to be with us, but in the flesh and blood of His people and the pastoral care of men who follow in the example of St. Timothy.  Amen.

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The Confession of St. Peter (observed)

Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR

Readings: Acts 4:8-13 | 2 Peter 1:1-15 | Mark 8:27-35

Text: Mark 8:27-35

Human opinions abound.  In politics, in reaction to the pandemic, in parenting, in education.  In each of these arenas, we each have strong convictions.  Sometimes our views are so firmly held that we have difficulty even interacting with someone of an opposing view.  We might have heard things like, “I can’t stand to be around him because he’s a Trump supporter” “The pandemic is just a ruse for a Marxist takeover of the country.”  “I just can’t see why anyone would or wouldn’t vaccinate their children.”  “Children ought to be in public school so they can learn with others.”  All of these are opinions, and they carry a lot of freight.  In fact, they may have gotten your blood pressure up just at the mention of some of them…

The trouble with human opinions, no matter what they are, is that they are fallible. They’re subject to change and subject to error.  We’d rather not admit that, but that is something that’s true.  In our quest for ultimate truth and permanence, we look to this ideology, that solution, this individual as the be-all-end-all, but we’re only deluding ourselves and on the road to disappointment.

On the other hand, there is God’s truth.  “Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.”  “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Ps. 119:105; Isa. 40:8; Rev. 1:8)  Who God is and His ways do not change with the morals or opinions of the day.  He is not a different God for the Midwest versus the Northwest.  Look outside and see that the same sun and moon still rise and set on dictatorships and democracies alike.  God is the same, despite the tumult in our hearts, or the battles we wage.

And that unchangeable truth of God has been revealed among men.  Jesus asked His disciples who men say that He is? “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” All of these were human opinions, based on observation and experience.   29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”  That’s the divine truth, shining in the midst of man’s darkened understanding! 

Today we commemorate the Confession of St. Peter because it stands out against the backdrop of differing opinions and earthly observations.  There’s unshakable truth in what God the Father in heaven reveals to Peter.[1]  But there’s also contrast within Peter himself, because like us, he is a man.  He’s liable to err and can be just as proud about his way as any of the rest of us:

31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

He made a true confession one minute, but as soon as Jesus started explaining the implications that He is the Christ, Peter started telling Jesus how it had to be.  This does not come from God, and especially when you’re dealing with who Jesus is and what He did to save us and bring us out of Satan’s kingdom and into His own.  Yet if Peter, the mighty spokesman for the Apostles, could so quickly be hoodwinked by Satan, then it shows that we are in like company.

This is the experience of every Christian: being both a fallen human being, flesh and blood, easily made a fool by Satan, and also one to whom the mighty, saving truth of God has been revealed.  Yet even though we’ve had God’s truth revealed to us, we still so often set our minds on the things of man rather than the things of God. 

So the Lord taught Peter and teaches us: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Any one of us who follow Jesus must do exactly that: follow Him. That means denying ourselves, including our most firmly held opinions and deeply engrained experiences and rather to learn from Him.  It means when we don’t agree or don’t like where we see Him taking us, denying our limited and fallible understanding, and trusting where He is leading us.

“Let him…take up his cross and follow me.”  With so much that is unsure in us and the world, how can we be sure of this word?  It’s because through the cross of the Christ—the suffering many things, being rejected and killed, and rising after three days—God has assured us that it doesn’t depend on us.  The Son of Man suffered on His cross for the sins of all people, especially you.  You, with your doubts, your opinions right and wrong, the words you’ve said which have hurt and driven away others, you with the false beliefs and the ways you’ve profaned God’s name by how you’ve lived.  The blood of Jesus’ cross covers it all.  So when He calls you to follow Him, it’s in that kind of guarantee. 

Nowhere else on earth will you be able to find such certainty than in unchangeable God revealing Himself in our midst.  It’s a good thing there actually is a place for absolute truth and certainty, especially for us poor, unclean men and women.  So thanks be to God who still reveals His perfect will among us!

This is what He is doing here in the Divine Service.  We come in, worn out from the previous week—mistakes, things cancelled, another week family didn’t call, worried about the country, scared that those you love might get deathly ill or lose their job, remembering sharp words you exchanged with family.  Into your many and various burdens, the Word of God speaks: “In the stead and by the command of my Lord, Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  You won’t find the grace you need in the opinions of others, but if God who knows your every fault still blesses you with peace by His nail-pierced hands, then you know it’s certain even in heaven.

And soon He will bid you come to His table.  Here a lot more denying of self takes place.  One could ask, as Jesus did, “What do men say that this is?”  There are several answers: It is our reenactment, simply a memory tool (Baptist).  It’s an unbloody sacrifice offered to God (Roman Catholic).  It’s a special time to reflect on what we all have in common (Methodist).  We don’t take our cues from human opinions or shared experience, but from the Lord’s own words, which He has revealed to us.

That’s one of the reasons we speak the words of His testament every time there’s the Lord’s Supper.  It’s not that we forget the words so much with our minds, as we’re slow to understand what Scripture has said [Luke 24:25].  In His Testament, He tells us to eat bread of which He says, “This is My Body given for you.”  He says drink the cup, “This is My Blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:26-28, Luke 22:19-20)  This is deep, and it’s a word that is true no matter what we think of it. The Apostle Paul told those who took it without examining themselves, that it’s given for sinners and without rectifying divisions among each other, ate and drank judgment upon themselves (1 Cor. 11:17-34) 

A disciple is one who learns from his teacher, not the other way around.  God doesn’t need to be taught by us, and there is no need to “improve” on what He says and does.  It is what He says it is, regardless of what we think of it, or the means He gives it, or the man he chooses to administer it.  It doesn’t need to be ratified by our vote, and it is not made holy by how much pomp we might add to it.  The certainty is in the Words of Jesus that He joins to these humble means, because God is able—with the “low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are”[2]—to give heavenly comfort and strength, union with Christ Himself through this meal He holds.

We confess here in this place those things which are true and eternal.  We hold to a salvation which God has revealed from heaven and put upon our lips.  He enables us to not only speak those words, but for them to transform our minds from the faulty things of man, to the perfect goodness and lovingkindness of God our Savior.  Amen.

[1] Matt. 16:16-17

[2] 1 Cor. 1:28

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Baptism of Our Lord

Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR

Readings: Genesis 1:1-5| Romans 6:1-11 | Mark 1:4-11

Text: Mark 1:4-11

Now, you may think this is ten days late, but today we’re going to talk about beginnings. 

In the Beginning – Genesis 1:1-5

The Old Testament reading is the very beginning of the Bible.  In fact, that’s the first Word written in the Torah—b’reshith bara Elohim,[1] In the beginning, God made.  This sets the scene as we creatures of God are growing in the grace and knowledge of our Creator.  God is there making.  The Father is creating, the Spirit is hovering over the unordered waters, and out of that primeval mass, God the Word goes to work: “Let there be light,” and there was light. As we heard from John on Christmas Day, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:3-4)

God creates through the Word, and the light is good.  Then God does something else: “And God separated the light from the darkness.”  Where God is creating, it is good, and where God is, there is light and life.

God speaks, and life results, so that by the end of 6 days, God looks at all His work and says, “Behold! It is very good!” (Gen. 1:31) He rests on the 7th day, stops speaking & creating.  What will become of this creation, so newly made?

We know – Another voice spoke, which set the creature against its Creator.  The first of many failed attempts to be like God, for that speaking brought death, and.  Their eyes looked upon evil and called it good.  Darkness enshrouded the sons of God, the sons of light.

The Lord hovered over the waters again in the flood, but that time he brought destruction and salvation.  He waited for the creatures to come back, but they would not.  He preached their destruction through Noah, but to no avail.  So the Spirit took away life, and everything that had the breath of life perished (Gen. 7:22)…but God saved Noah and his family.  But God was not done speaking…

In the Beginning of the Gospel – Mark 1:4-11

The Gospel of Mark begins much like the first Book of God’s Word: “The beginning…of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”  The beginning of the good news is a new creation account. 

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

God the Father is there.  God the Spirit hovers over the waters, the ordered creation—yet disordered and made chaotic by sin and the devil—the waters of the Jordan.  There is no more delay, no more silence.  The heavens are “torn open”—not for judging wicked man as in the Flood, not for prophetic visions (Ezek. 1:1)—but for creation and life:

God speaks again, but this time He speaks to a Man.  He does not say, “Let there be” because He is not creating from nothing.  He is recreating, restoring, returning life that the devil and sin stole away.

He indicates where this new creation is to be found: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  You are life.  You are very good.  You are Jesus, “who will save His people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21)  And as God first separated the light from the darkness, so He is doing again.

In Your Beginning – Romans 6:1-11

The reason we celebrate this Baptism of the Lord God is because He has also made that new creation ours.  The Epistle from Romans 6 says,

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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. 5 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 are brought into those new-creation waters when we are baptized into Jesus Christ, in the Name of the God the Father who creates, God the Son who redeems, and God the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies.  St. Paul writes about Baptism in Titus 3, and says, “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5) There, it says very clearly that these waters are a washing of re-genesis and newness-from-above.  All that belongs to the old creation is made new—or at least it is the beginning for us.

The beginning of your good news of Jesus Christ is that God has saved you by giving you a new birth by water and the Spirit, and heirs of a new creation that is to be complete when the Lord Jesus comes again on the clouds of heaven.

But we ask, can’t He come any quicker?  Why does He leave us in this old creation?  This sin-rotten flesh?  It is His mercy that He does shorten our time in this life, because He hears our groaning, and He sees our weakness.

St. Paul urges us about the weakness of our flesh, because our flesh is drawn toward the darkness: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”  How can we, who are a new creation through Christ, go on living as if something monumental and eternity-changing didn’t happen in the baptismal font?  That would be to despise the restoration for which the creation has been longing for millennia!  That would be to reject the revelation of God’s mighty work in the Jordan, on the cross, in the empty tomb, and as He now stands interceding for the saints at the right hand of God!  How can we, the children of light, dwell in the darkness of fallen man, reveling in blasphemy, astrology, choosing partners after our own lusts, and every manner of evil we see embraced around us?  “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Cor. 6:11)  This is the beginning to which He daily brings you, so that you may die to the darkness and live in the light.

Likewise, He hears our groans under the weight of darkness, as we cry to Him day and night.  “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:15-16) 

Fear not, and be of good courage, children of God, children of light, brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ.  God has called you out of darkness into His marvelous, eternal light (1 Pet. 2:9). Your sinful flesh will pass away. The devil will surely be cast out. “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matt. 13:41-43)

This is your beginning, but you will rise with Christ so that there will be no end.  Thanks be to God! Amen.

[1] The Hebrew name for the Book of Genesis is Bereshith, the first word. Interestingly, Genesis, which means to bring forth, would be an accurate translation of the second word, bara, which is uniquely used of God’s creation out of nothing (ex nihilo).

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Second Sunday after Christmas

Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR

Readings: 1 Kings 3:4–15 | Ephesians 1:3–14 | Luke 2:40–52

Text: Psalm 119:97-104

When we see the boy Jesus in the Temple at 12 years of age, it’s clear he had an acuity for Scripture.  After all, He was “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.”  We might be quick to chalk this up to Jesus’ divine nature.  Of course He had insight into the Word of God and it came easy for Him to answer questions because He was true God.  But I would argue that his ability has little to do with His divine nature, because the reading ends with Jesus submitting to His human parents and “52 And [He] increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”

What we see in this 12-year-old boy isn’t just a prodigy who is gifted with a religious aptitude.  Rather, what we see in this sinless boy is a picture of what man is meant to be, were it not for our sin.

Why does this Boy stand out so much?  While you may know some people who are particularly gifted in understanding Scripture, none of them can hold a candle to this Child, because He is the example of how each and every person is made to receive the Word of God.

This is what we see in the Psalm reading for today from 119:97-104:

    97          Oh how I love your law!

It is my meditation all the day.

    98          Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,

for it is ever with me.

    99          I have more understanding than all my teachers,

for your testimonies are my meditation.

    100        I understand more than the aged,

for I keep your precepts.

    101        I hold back my feet from every evil way,

in order to keep your word.

    102        I do not turn aside from your rules,

for you have taught me.

    103        How sweet are your words to my taste,

therefore I hate every false way.

sweeter than honey to my mouth!

    104        Through your precepts I get understanding;

King David wrote Psalm 119 under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and all 176 verses express the desire of the regenerate man to dwell on the words of His God.

We find this difficult to accept…both in the boy Jesus and in the inspired words of David.  How could someone find so much delight in God’s Law?  Is this some kind of religious ego trip that he is wiser than his enemies and the aged?  What kind of goodie-two-shoes does this guy think he is that he treasures the Bible more than the finest cuisine earth can offer?

But if we notice a difference between us and the Boy Jesus, or us and David, then what we’re actually seeing is what sin has done to our affections, our hunger, our will.

Man is made to meditate on God’s Word.  Our picture of meditation is clouded by eastern mystics chanting “om” and rendered difficult by our fast-paced lives where it’s increasingly difficult to just be present in the moment.  These things in the present are more appealing to us.  They’re the things we can accomplish, the items we can check off.  Buying something gives a boost, as opposed to God’s Word which can make us wiser, but our flesh would rather have immediate gratification. 

Man is given understanding from God’s Word.  While men run after answers of the origin of life, and fight over what gives our existence meaning and purpose, God has already spoken to us, not only in commandments but through His Son.  The Commandments tell us how to love God rightly and truly love our neighbor in the proper way.  If someone is looking for how to order their life, what to do with their day or their stimulus payment, God’s Word gives the clearest instruction: Love God above everything else, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Man is made to walk in what his God commands.  My dad always used to tell me as a child how important it was to use the tool the way it was intended.  Sure, a pair of channel locks can be used to drive a nail, but a hammer is what’s really made for the job.  The same goes for human beings: we are made to walk in God’s commands: You shall have no other Gods, keep the Sabbath holy, honor your father and mother, help and support your neighbor in every physical need, do not commit adultery, and so on.  These are what we are made to do, and it just works when we do it this way.  Yeah, there are some creative substitutions, but ultimately they aren’t following our Maker’s instructions.

So hopefully it makes sense and speaks to your heart that “man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Dt. 8:3)  Yet, as Christians, this isn’t our only experience.  We’ve got two narratives running at the same time.  On the one hand, we delight in the Law of God. We know it’s right.  We know we should read our Bible every day.  We know we should pray without ceasing.   On the other hand, we’re too tired and too busy.  We’re apathetic because our prayers never get answered the way we think they should.

This is the conflict between our sinful nature and the new us, the regenerated person who the Holy Spirit has made.  “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Gal. 5:17)  This is the weakness we have, and it is our sinfulness that keeps us from being what we see in the Boy Jesus.  But what we see in the Boy Jesus also gives us hope, because that Boy also grew up to be our Savior, to offer His life and a ransom for us, to do what the Law demands, to shed His blood for all the ways that we fall short of the glory of God. Yet, not only is He our substitute, who did love the Law flawlessly, but He encourages us by showing what God is capable of accomplishing in a human being—if even in glimpses this side of the Resurrection.

The first hymn we sung this morning is a prayer for the Christian who longs for God’s regenerative work which He began in Baptism—“the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:5-6).  Turn back to the hymn and follow along:

589 Speak, O Lord, Your Servant Listens[1]

1          Speak, O Lord, Your servant listens,
    Let Your Word to me come near;
Newborn life and spirit give me,
    Let each promise still my fear.
Death’s dread pow’r, its inward strife,
Wars against Your Word of life;
    Fill me, Lord, with love’s strong fervor
    That I cling to You forever!

Here, we acknowledge our need for God’s Word, because without it, we can’t survive: “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” (Ps. 63:1)  But what can we do when our weak flesh, the world around us, and the devil all challenge us saying, “Where is your God?” (Ps. 42:3)  So we pray the God, by His Holy Spirit, would fill us up, strengthen us in faith and keep us steadfast against all that would tear us from our Lord and Savior, Jesus!

2          Oh, what blessing to be near You
    And to listen to Your voice;
Let me ever love and hear You,
    Let Your Word be now my choice!
Many hardened sinners, Lord,
Flee in terror at Your Word;
    But to all who feel sin’s burden
    You give words of peace and pardon.

Mary, Martha’s sister gives us a beautiful illustration of that, on the day when she sat at Jesus’ feet simply desiring to listen to Him teach.  Nothing else mattered, even the immediate work of receiving the Lord to their house.  It all had to be set aside in order for the Sabbath rest to be truly holy.  What made it holy wasn’t the mandate to stop work, but the opportunity to solely delight in the Word of God.

3          Lord, Your words are waters living
    When my thirsting spirit pleads.
Lord, Your words are bread life-giving;
    On Your words my spirit feeds.
Lord, Your words will be my light
Through death’s cold and dreary night;
    Yes, they are my sword prevailing
    And my cup of joy unfailing!

When God says that we do not live on bread alone, it flies in the face of experience and science.  Experience tells us those specific things which sustain day-to-day life, and biology tells us what’s needed to preserve life.  We’ve got this covered, God—whoever you are.  If you drop out of the scene, we can get by somehow. I mean, don’t millions live that way, and what can be so wrong about how they live?

But what our Creator says is true: There is no life apart from His Word.  From the moment He creative all there is by speaking, “Let there be…” He continues to be our source, our ground of being.  And if that’s what our existence is built upon, then what is death?  What are the dark times we witness?  “Darkness is as light with you,” says our soul (Ps. 139:12)

4          As I pray, dear Jesus, hear me;
    Let Your words in me take root.
May Your Spirit e’er be near me
    That I bear abundant fruit.
May I daily sing Your praise,
From my heart glad anthems raise,
    Till my highest praise is given
    In the endless joy of heaven.

Given the treasure that God gives men and women in His Word—the defense against darkness, life for our death, an understanding heart—this drives us to pray to God to make us more like the boy Jesus.  But know when you and I pray for this, our heavenly Father gladly answers this prayer, because this is what He is bringing us to in the world to come.  But don’t use the here and now, how you’ve always done it, as an excuse.  No matter how young or old you are, you are blessed by the time you spend in God’s Word.  Let us pray:

Eternal God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, grant us Your Holy Spirit who writes the preached Word into our hearts so that we may receive and believe it, and be gladdened and comforted by it [for] eternity.  Glorify Your Word in our hearts. Make it so bright and warm that we may find pleasure in it, and through Your inspiration think what is right. By Your power fulfill the Word, for the sake of Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen.

[1] A compilation of the hymn, “Wohl dem, der Jesum liebet” by Anna Sophia von Hessen-Darmstadt

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First Sunday in Advent (Series B)

Text: Isaiah 64:1-8

“Enough is enough!” When things get so bad, you’ve tried again and again, yet you can’t see any way through, you might throw up your hands and say, “Enough is enough!”  Maybe you’ve been feeling that way lately?  It could be the many maddening topics in the news—election fallout, coronavirus scare and hope, the stress and pain the holidays bring up.  It seems to be one thing after another…

On top of that, there’s been the general apathy toward God that results in churches being sparsely populated (except for the feel-good ones).  When we tell others about the hope within us, often they reject it with a smug pride and say it’s none of our business what beliefs they hold.  This especially hits home for pastors, when they labor constantly, and end up with people isolating themselves from the congregation and they see kids hardly ever coming back once they reach confirmation.

Enough is enough!  Or as the Psalmist said, “O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?” (Ps. 94:3)

Isaiah, too, was saying enough is enough!  He had preached to Israel and her kings for over 60 years, but no one seemed to listen.  He had rebuked them for being a vineyard of wild grapes, of calling evil good and good evil, preaching impending judgment but the kings and people stubbornly putting the Lord to the test.

Besides this, Isaiah had been given to foresee the future blessings of God: the Servant of God (Isa. 42:1-9, 49:1-13, 50:4-11, 52:13–53:12), the redemption (Isa. 44), deliverance from death (25:6-9), victory over enemies (37-38).  God would provide deliverance and restoration from what His people were living under, and Isaiah saw it in such clear terms that his prophecies are written like it’s already happened.

But put that all together—the frustration and the promised blessing, and out comes this prayer in chapter 64:

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,

that the mountains might quake at your presence—

      2           as when fire kindles brushwood

and the fire causes water to boil—

                  to make your name known to your adversaries,

and that the nations might tremble at your presence!

      3           When you did awesome things that we did not look for,

you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

What’s it going to take to get past the bad and into the promised future good?  Why does God allow His people to be so hardened toward Him?  Why does He let His enemies trample on His people and profane His Name?  This is the contradiction God’s prophet sees: On the one hand is the everlasting covenant between God and His people, where He promises us every  blessing and says that His Word goes out and accomplishes every purpose for which He sends it (55:9-12).  On the other hand is the daily experience of foolishness, weakness, stubborn hearts, and the victory of the grave.

      6           We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

                  We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

      7           There is no one who calls upon your name,

who rouses himself to take hold of you;

                  for you have hidden your face from us,

and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.

The only remedy is a direct and powerful intervention from God, which would make arrogant tremble and would turn this broken and rebellious world on its head.  And isn’t that what we pray for to?  The world is getting worse and worse, our sinful flesh keeps doing those things which are against the Spirit, and we are sick of burying our dead and talking about the resurrection while the world snickers and we can’t fill the hole left by those who’re gone.

4     From of old no one has heard

or perceived by the ear,

                  no eye has seen a God besides you,

who acts for those who wait for him.

      5           You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,

those who remember you in your ways.

                  Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;

in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?

God is the only one who can answer prayer, much more a prayer like this!  And He did indeed answer Isaiah’s prayer, though not exactly in the way expected.  It was much less violent than that, yet no less mighty.  He came down from heaven, but was born of a humble virgin.  He appeared, but first to shepherds. Nations gathered to Him, but they were foreigners and they worshipped Him even as a Child.  He came in covenant faithfulness and also answered for the rank apostasy.  God’s answer was not in another Flood, but in being lifted up from the earth, crucified, death, and buried, and rising again on the third day.  In Jesus Christ, very God and fully man, all the judgments and blessings of God culminated.

In this one born of a virgin, the transgressions of the wandering sheep were smitten and healed. In Him, the covering cast over all peoples, death, is taken away.  In Him, the bruised reed and the faintly burning wick is not snuffed out, but is called in His perfect righteousness.

And He continues to come down from heaven in ways which only faith knows to look for: God does not boom from heaven with condemnation and judgment, but with salvation in His Son’s life-giving Gospel.  His Word is preached in congregations big and small, and there the very gates of heaven are opened, sinners are released, and the One with whom the Father is pleased speaks, and we listen to Him (Matt. 17:5).  His Kingdom comes quietly, but powerfully as parents pray for their wayward children, people come back to their childhood faith with a truer appreciation for the pure Gospel, and friends share the blessed hope of knowing Jesus and invite them to church.  The Lord comes down from heaven and strengthens us in every season, but especially when it all seems too much to bear, and the tangible assurance of Jesus Body and Blood delivers His peace.

Isaiah prayed for the Lord to intervene for Israel, and He did at that time.  Although they were dragged into exile, they were restored until God’s promise for every nation was fulfilled in Immanuel, God with us.

Today, we feel like enough is enough, but we also have seen how God acted in times before.  In His wisdom, He acts for good and does not delay except that more people repent and be saved.  Scripture does assure us that the second coming of Christ is at hand, and when He comes again it will be to judge His foes and set all things right.  But most of all we rejoice that this coming builds on His first, where He remembered His mercy toward us.  Because of Jesus, we are able to confess,

But now, O Lord, you are our Father;

we are the clay, and you are our potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

      9           Be not so terribly angry, O Lord,

and remember not iniquity forever.

Behold, please look, we are all your people.

Amen.

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Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 27A)

Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR

Text: Matthew 25:1-13

What a mess the world is.  Thank God that we have the Church.  Thank God that we can confess, “I believe…in the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.”  Thank God for that sanctuary in the everlasting Word of God and the assurance of eternal rest and joy!

This is what the Parable of the Ten Virgins is about: Promised rest for the faithful of God in being separated from the multitude of unbelievers.  It’s comfort and assurance that the Lord knows those who are His through faith, and that the faithful will enjoy the fulness of God’s salvation.

Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.

Five were foolish and five were wise, but it wasn’t totally apparent until the Bridegroom’s final summons.  Here God is giving His people assurance from above, because who the foolish and who the wise are isn’t clear on earth.  All you can find on earth is doubt.  The church appears to be a mess.  False teachers are successful, true teachers are scorned. Despite ample Bibles, hardly anyone endeavors to learn God’s Word.  Immorality is flaunted under the banner of grace and acceptance.  The big churches are those which feed people a diet of inch-deep Gospel and lots of sanctified law, while those that teach the Word of God purely are in small and struggle. 

Another problem is when we look for assurance that we’re wise virgins, the faithful children of God, in the wrong place.  This is the danger of self-absolution and self-assurance.  It’s ultimately self-delusion.  I feel comfortable, one might say, no pangs of conscience, so I must be good with God.  That’s the error of looking for God’s judgment in your feelings or circumstances.  Another person might say, I trust that God is merciful. I believe [vaguely] in Him…isn’t that enough for Him to be pleased with me? This is the delusion of doing good will get you in God’s favor. It’s companion is, I haven’t done anything too awful…I mean not like other people have done to me.  God doesn’t judge by comparing one to another, as if the wise virgins are let in because of their prudence.  Lastly, there’s the delusion that because I belong to and am active in church, I am therefore a Christian and heir of eternal life.  The very thing this Parable exposes is the foolish idea that outward membership or participation with the Church saves.

What kind of surprise would it be to get to the Day of the Lord, and find out you had it all wrong?  You had not been truly repentant, just frustrated, angry at God for not helping you more.  Your faith was not in a merciful God who has compassion on helpless people, but in a deep-seated desire that one way or another you deserve God’s rest after all you’ve endured and done.  God forbid that this should happen to any of us!

Our Lord teaches in this Parable that a genuine, living faith is what makes the difference:

6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

In those days, the wedding day stared with the bridegroom leaving his house to pick up his bride from her family’s place. Then they took the longest possible route around town to see everyone they could. Only when that was finished did everyone go to the wedding feast. However, no one knew how long it would take. The ten virgins, part of the wedding party, waited along the route. They all knew it would likely be after dark when the bride and groom arrived, so they had brought lamps. But only five were prepared for it to be very late indeed. They brought just enough extra oil to finish the circuit. The other five did not.

The foolish were so because they imagined that waiting for the Bridegroom was a quick, easy task, well within their own ability.  They may have even started out with plenty of zeal.  But faith is not conjured up from inside us; “it is the gift of God,” Paul says, “not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:9).  But then the years drag on, you’re tempted and hurt.  Life brings you low, and you flounder because you’re God’s child and shouldn’t it be easier if you’re doing the right thing?

But their faith flickers out. They still go to church regularly next to the wise virgins.  Yet, something has happened in their soul—a hardening of heart.  Their purpose consists in walking the walk of a virgin, hoping that will save them.

The words of Amos hit home to those who are without oil when the Lord returns: “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?” (Amos 5:18-20)

If this describes you or has described you, repent and flee from a Christianity that is strained by idolatry.  Do not let your devotion, knowledge, attendance record or anything else but Jesus Christ be your Savior.  Only trust in His holy life, His innocent suffering and death, and His glorious resurrection can assure you of entering the marriage feast.  And only trust that He is able to keep you steadfast and ready for His return and the time in between!

Every time we pray, “Thy Kingdom come,” we are praying for the steadfastness of the wise virgins and the rousing of the foolish before that Day.  We pray for hearts that hear the whole counsel of God with faith.  Our Lord tells us in the last days that love will grow cold and we will become so absorbed with our own problems we are oblivious to the cries of others, that our itching ears will want teachers who tell us what we want to hear rather than need, that we will be deceived by the fearmongering and divisions in which worldly people delight.  That is to say, we will all like Peter, James, and John, fall asleep when they ought to be watching.  The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Yet even in your weakness, the Lord does not fail you.  “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out…40 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 him up on the last day.” (John 6:37-40)

His final message in this Parable is, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”  Keep watch by resting in Him, not in self-security and self-delusion, but by being on guard for your weakness, for temptations, and the devil’s lies.  We do not know the day nor the hour of His return, but we’re not running on our own steam.  He daily supports His own through His Word and the consolation and power of Absolution and His Supper.  We know neither the day nor the hour, but for as long as it is, with Him upholding us, we will wait with faithful hearts for our summons from this life and the call into His marriage feast which has no end.

Where Amos warned the unprepared, Paul’s message in 1 Thessalonians encourages us in our wait for Christ’s coming: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thess. 4:16-18)

Even today, He gives us who wait for Him, a foretaste of that Day and that Feast.  He invites us to a foretaste of that supper as we kneel at table with Him.  And in His Supper, He renews our watch and strengthens our hands.  We do not wait for Him alone, because we are already united in His one Body, the Church.  Therefore as we come to the Feast He has prepared for us, we join “with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify His glorious Name.” (LSB 194, Proper Preface)

Behold, beloved of the Lord, the Bridegroom has come and earnestly desires [Luke 22:15] to eat this feast with you here, and for all eternity.  Amen.

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Third to Last Sunday of the Church Year (Exodus 32:1-20)

Lucas Cranach - The Law and the Gospel

Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Lebanon, OR

Third to Last Sunday of the Church Year (Trinity 25) + November 10, 2018

Text: Exodus 32:1-20

The congregation got impatient when Moses was gone for 40 days and nights.  We are coming on 2000 years since our Lord’s ascension. It doesn’t take long to find some of the foolish things people have done hoping for or trying to hasten the Lord’s return.  

We’re more impatient than we’ve ever been as a race.  Two or one-day shipping, broadband Internet, text messaging, Skype calls to the International Space Station—it’s amazing what can be done and how small it’s made the world.  But the side effect is that we get impatient even waiting at a 40-second-long traffic light or balk when our first-world comforts are out-of-stock.

But this isn’t a new problem.  Impatience is borne in the heart, and it was just as much a problem for people thousands of years ago.  The lesson is the Lord says, “Wait on Me” and we do stupid stuff thinking we can help God along. We get impatient and want our own solutions to help the time pass.  In that delusion, it’s easy enough to sweep God’s will under the rug and turn “the Bible says” into a stamp of approval on whatever we want to do.

The people pressured Aaron into doing something which made them feel better about the wait.  Make us gods like the rest of the nations. Come on, Aaron, that’s what will let people know we’re really the chosen people of Abraham.  And the people we all behind this plan, so much so that they let go of the wealth which hung around their necks and on their ears (which God had given them as a gift in Egypt) and poured money into this project.

There’s much to learn from the parallels between this story of Moses going up the mountain and leaving Aaron to lead the people.  Several times, the Lord compares the Kingdom of God to a man going away and returning after a long time. He leaves stewards in charge who are to keep things running.

I mentioned earlier that it’s been far more than 40 days, nearly 2,000 years actually.  But where the Spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. When our Lord gives us the account of Moses on Sinai and tells us parables about a long journey, He’s helping us to understand our own place as the people of God.

Forty days after His resurrection (hey, there’s a significant number), Jesus ascended—not just a mountain—but into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.  Before He left, He gave instructions, appointed stewards of the mysteries, and promised, “Lo! I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20)

It is our place, as the children of God on earth, to live by faith in and through faith in His Word.  There’s a distinction: 

  • We live by faith in His Word, meaning we hold to it and trust it as the living Word of God which He inspired to be written for our learning (2 Tim. 3:16).  Whenever the children of God add to or subtract from this Holy Word, they fall into grave errors. If we add to it and try to bolster it with talk of history, church councils, and precedent, we minimize the sufficiency of the Word alone to sustain the Church until Christ’s return.  If we take away from it, to gloss over the parts which offend people who are proud of their self-made religion, then we let people go merrily to perdition. We live by faith in His Word.
  • We also live through faith in His Word.  As cute as the acronym is, “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth,” the Bible is not like other instruction books, like assembling a chair from Ikea.  One of the ways sin has infected our hearts is with the idea that we can do something that can get us in good with God. We see God’s command to jump (so-to-speak) and we say, “How high?”  When in fact our legs are broken and our muscles have atrophied on account of sin. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength.” And after all that we can do, the judgment is still “By works of the law shall no human being be justified in His sight. For through the Law comes knowledge of sin.” (Rom. 3:20)  Instead, our life is given to us as complete gift.  “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Rom. 1:17) The reason we are able to sit here today having peace with God is because of the life of faith that continually comes from God.

And this is possible because Jesus far exceeds what Moses could ever do. 

Moses went up on the mountain and was no longer with the people.  As a man, he could only be in one place at a time, and God had called up to Sinai to receive the Law.  Jesus, on the other hand, ascends into heaven, and by personal union of God and Man, He can truly say that He is with us until His return (Eph. 4:9).  He is with us through His Word being spoken, through forgiveness being shared (“where two or three are gathered, there I am among them” Matt. 18:20), in His very Body and Blood given for us to eat and drink, and with His Spirit who comforts and preserves us.

Like Moses, our Lord appoints men to keep watch over His congregation.  It’s true they can err and fall. But that’s no reason to write off all clergy as if they were a manmade after-thought.  Think of it this way: The Lord has also preserved faithful preachers and members of His flock through the millennia. You don’t have to look anywhere further than where the pure Gospel is preached and the Sacraments are administered according to the Lord’s command.  Where you see that, you can be confident that you have found His chosen people.

There are times when His people make a mess of His Church on earth and profane His holy Name.  Sometimes we may wish that God would open the earth or strike down all false teachers. He doesn’t squelch Korah’s rebellion, or kill Uzzah for mishandling the holy things (Numbers 16, 2 Samuel 6:5-9).  Instead of destroying heretics, what He does is pray for them, that they turn from their error and save both themselves and whoever listens to them. And this is what we should to, because it could just as quickly be one of us who is deluded and has a corrupt view of the Word.

The day is coming when our Jesus will come down out of heaven.  He will not come down with tablets of stone that will be smashed in anger.  That’s because all the wrath against our disobedience has already been poured out on Calvary.  He—the Son of God Himself—was forsaken, not you or me (Matt. 27:46). He will come again to gather the faithful—those who waited for Him and live in and through His Word.