Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Readings: Isaiah 50:4–10 | James 3:1–12 | Mark 9:14-29

Text: Mark 9:14-29

covering points from the Formula of Concord, Article I – Original Sin

“To Shine on Those Who Sit in Darkness and the Shadow of Death”

Arguing, suffering from childhood, inability to help, exasperation, unbelief, convulsions, and near death—This is what the Lord Jesus walks into in today’s account from the Gospel.  And we will see how He comes to the aid of those who live in darkness and under the dark shadow of death. 

Jesus walks into this agonizing scene with a father grasping to find healing for his son, who is tortured by violent seizures or demonic origin.  The father is at his wit’s end and doesn’t have anywhere else to turn.  Now the disciples of Jesus, the good Teacher and worker of great signs, haven’t been able to help and he is forlorn.  On top of all that, an argument has arisen with the scribes, which puts relief for this man’s son even farther out of reach.

In the middle of this murky circumstance, filled with pain, Jesus—the One through Whom all things were created, Who has humbled Himself in order to deliver and redeem us from sin, death, and Satan—says, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”

We’re taken aback at this rebuke, because it’s not just directed at the crowd that day arguing this way and that; it’s aimed at all the generation after the Fall—all the sons of Adam and Eve.  We know it’s bad, but think we were bad enough to exasperate our Creator.  But Jesus brings light from above, unsullied by the darkness of this broken creation.

The people that day were closer than we are to seeing with the light of God’s Word.  After all, they had scribes there, who were well-acquainted with the Scriptures.  But if the darkness was bad on that occasion, imagine how much worse it is the further people go from their Creator.

You see that in many ways in our neighbors today.  Lacking the instruction and direction of their Creator, they are wrestling with basic questions about what it means to be a human.  Is gender a given or a choice?  What does it mean to be a parent?  Are we more than what our medical chart says?  What causes people to break out in such rash violence?

Right now, common wisdom is to understand and define human beings by what is, to try and discern what makes people work based on what’s normal.  Only when something is grossly out of balance, like a heinous crime, do we wonder what went wrong in that person?  That shooter, that terrorist, that mentally unstable person.

I think Christians are uniquely poised to understand and answer what’s broken about humanity because our Creator has revealed Himself to us through His Son.  As Christians, who have been gifted with God’s Word, we are taught to see humanity in terms of what ought to be

We learn about what humanity ought to be from the difference between what God created us to be and what happened when sin came into the world.  Understanding original sin is key to getting an understanding on what’s wrong with the world.  There are several theories people have come up with, which are misunderstandings about original sin, so let’s hear those first and see if you recognize them or have though them yourself.

“That’s just the way people are.” or “I can’t help myself.”  This is the belief that humans are irreparably evil and there’s nothing to be done about it.  It leads people to the “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die” attitude, or the self-loathing that thinks human beings are a scourge on the planet that must be eradicated.

Another approach is the belief that deep down nobody’s really a bad person.  Somehow, you just need to see past the thorny exterior.  Given enough opportunities, reeducation, time to reflect, or someone to love them, they could be reformed.  This idea is very popular in movie villains from the past few decades.  Nobody is really all evil.  It’s just nobody’s taken the time to get to know him and he’s just working out his unresolved issues.  But you see it in action stories about criminals, trying to arouse sympathy for the poor, misunderstood young man.  What this does, however, is—ever so subtly—to exonerate the person from the things they do.   

The last misunderstanding is to say that people at their core are good, but it was because some external influence corrupted them.  If only it hadn’t been for those violent video games, the young man wouldn’t have gone on a rampage.  If the suburban white boy hadn’t been radicalized by Al Qaeda, he wouldn’t have become a terrorist.  This pictures evil as some force that’s out there, and corrupts what would otherwise be a healthy, rational person.

All the explanations that people can offer bring up some good points, and they shouldn’t just be dismissed as if they have no idea what they’re talking about.  But the problem is that they don’t get the whole picture.  They don’t realize all that sin did to humanity.  When you talk about “sin,” usually what comes to mind is specific things people do.  That’s why people think of little children as innocent, and who would call a dear, little child a sinner?  But that’s not what God’s Word says: “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21) and “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5).  This is how God teaches us to think about sin.  In other words, “Christians must regard and recognize as sin not only the actual transgression of God’s commandments but also, and primarily, the abominable and dreadful inherited disease which has corrupted our entire nature. In fact, we must consider this as the chief sin, the root and fountain of all actual sin.” (Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Art. I, 5)

This “inherited disease” infects all people.  It’s worse than cancer, because it can’t be located in one part of the body and separated out from the healthy cells.  No surgery or treatment can be devised on earth to excise our sin, but no doubt people have tried, as St. Paul mentions in Colossians 2, “Why do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”… 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” (Col. 2:20-23)

But there is a distinction between what God created good—body, soul, eyes, ears, reason, emotions, senses—and original sin that corrupts all of those things.  It deforms bodies, blinds eyes, deafens ears, darkens reason, causes emotions like wrath and anxiety to break loose, and makes people dull and callous.  But still, in God’s sight, there is a difference between what He created, because He is not the author of any evil, “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.” (Ps. 5:4)  From our perspective, though, we can’t tell what’s what.

In fact, listen to the struggle in the boy’s father in the Gospel:

21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

For one, he can’t tell what’s the demon’s influence; all he can see is his son being thrown into fire or water.  But then look how he sees Jesus, “If you can do anything, have compassion and help us.”  It’s full of doubt, and as James later writes, “the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:6-7)  But when Jesus challenges him on the, “if,” he cries out, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

And that is the experience of every Christian.  Just because God exposes what sin has done to “the highest and foremost powers of the soul in mind, heart, and will” (FC SD I, 11), we still struggle with the powerful work of sin even in our faith.  We can scarcely tell the difference when our sinful flesh gets the upper hand, because it’s our mind, our hands, our tongue that are indulging in sin. Corrupt as we are, what hope can there be for us?  Like the father’s prayer, “Help my unbelief,” we also hear the words of St. Paul: 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:21-24)  

The only way that we can even begin to get a handle on the difference between our unbelief and our faith is by the power of God’s Word.  In mercy, He is able to separate between the fruit of sin and the work of God.  What’s more, He is also gracious to forgive us for not just individual sins, but He forgives the whole person, unclean, broken, doubting, and brings you to Himself, sinful though you are.  Our experience can preach very loud and convincingly, and might lead us to our own conclusions about sin and its remedy.

But God doesn’t leave us in our weakness.  He did not leave the poor father in his doubt, but gave what weak faith he had something to cling to: 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.’ 26 And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.”  The father had his son back, freed from the demon, brought down to the grave and raised up again.

This is the magnitude of what the Lord does for the sinners who follow Him today—you and I.  And the things He gives our faith to cling to are there to convince us over against the preaching of our sin.  That’s what the Sacraments He instituted are for.  Consider what is said about Baptism: “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, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:5-7)  This is a trustworthy saying, because in our Baptism, God assures us of His regenerative work, His work to renew us back to the image of our Creator (Col. 3:10).  That may not be what we see today, because today we might be seeming to lose the battle with sin.  But God helps our unbelief with His external promise: “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)

And that He confirms when you are absolved: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them” and “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (John 20:22, Matt. 18:18)  There it is: Even though you are sinful from conception, though your sin has broken out in minor or horrible ways, they are forgiven, nailed to the cross, died with Christ and you are raised with Him!

And He is still not done confirming His grace toward us poor, miserable sinners: “the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Cor. 11:23-26)  If we look to ourselves, our strength, our determination to live a godly life and to do better next time, we will be let down.  So, Jesus takes us out of the mire of our own frailty and sets our feet upon the Rock (Ps. 40:2).  Here, beloved by the Lord, trust not in your own flesh and blood, but receive His Body and Blood, given and shed for you.  He gives them to you to forgive you, to strengthen you, to assure you of peace in heaven and bringing all His saving work to remembrance in this moment.

And that enables us to know not only the depth of human depravity, but also the Lord’s mercy and grace toward our sinful generation.  It’s may be surprising the ways that the sinful flesh gains power over people, but remember the Lord’s power to save sinners from this darkness and certain death.  He sends you and I as ambassadors, ourselves having been saved from the tyranny of sin, to declare the wrath of God which comes against all ungodliness, and the perfect sacrifice which God gave to rescue and reconcile to Himself this world of lost souls.  Peace be with you in Jesus Christ! Amen

“Good Works are Necessary (not for Salvation)”

Readings: Isaiah 35:4–7a | James 2:1-26 | Mark 7:24–37

Text: James 2:1-26 (covering points from the Formula of Concord, Article IV – Good Works)

“Good Works Are Necessary for Salvation.

Ever since the time of the Reformation lead by Martin Luther, good works have been a point of contention.  The Reformers pointed out the gross error of the Roman church which was teaching that our works merited God’s favor.  In response, the Romanists accused the Reformers of encouraging an inactive and libertine Christianity by forbidding good works.

This carried on for the next fifty years in Evangelical churches (later called Lutheran), in arguments by Reformation teachers saying, on the one hand, “Good works are necessary for salvation” (Philip Melanchthon) and “No one has ever been saved without good works” (George Major), to on the other hand, “Good works are detrimental to salvation” (Nicholas von Amsdorf).  In the midst of all this reactionary madness, Christian charity was warped into this self-conscious act where nobody could just do good in response to God’s grace.  Then people would be asking themselves, “Am I doing this to get on God’s good side?” or “I’m saved by grace through faith, and it’s fine if I don’t do anything.”

But the best way to handle misunderstandings and disagreements in the Church is by teaching.  This starts with defining terms, because, as we know from the emotionally-charged rhetoric of our day, a mere word can lead to heated arguments.  “Good works” was a freighted term, because it had meant whatever you did for God and the Church: “[observing] holy days, particular fasts, brotherhoods, pilgrimages, services in honor of the saints, the use of rosaries, monasticism, and such things” (Augsburg Confession, Article XX 3).  It’s gotten a little better, because now people associate good works with activities that actually help your neighbor.  But why are they called good?  As Jesus once said, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” (Mark 10:18)  If something is to be called ‘good,’ it’s because it comes from God.  So, a good work is work that God empowers.  Sure, anyone, regardless of where their heart is, can do outward good, but only a Christian can do good works, because only a Christian has God working in them by His Spirit.

The other part is the works themselves.  What works?  Does God limit works to only religious things?  That might sound kind of silly to us, since the Church isn’t an institution that wields social influence like it used to.  But it’s not some mysterious, higher act.  The Ten Commandments teach us works that God wants us to do (and not do): Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (#1-3), obey and honor your parents and authorities, protect other’s lives and safety, honor marriage and devote yourself to your spouse, protect people’s property and income, defend reputations, and keep yourself content with what God has given you (#4-10).  There’s enough there to keep someone busy in their daily life without ever having to leave their hometown!  After all, it’s things like this for which the Lord will commend His saints the Last Day: 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” (Matt. 25:35-36)

And as Christians, God has also given us the work of sharing the Gospel—“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16)  It’s also true that giving to the Church, which is supporting the Gospel ministry, is a work God commands (just don’t elevate so you neglect your daily duties, Mark 7:10-12).  St. Paul teaches, “the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:14).  Sometimes this also means giving to causes within the Church, like our Macedonian forefathers did, “For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.” (2 Cor. 8:3-4).  And even though it’s not flashy, the maintenance of the facilities at your church, or paying for the pastor’s health insurance, is part and parcel of the work God gives His people to do.

Now with an understanding of what’s good and what the works are, let’s see how St. James teaches us.  You see, James is writing to congregations of former Jews, who are well-acquainted with salvation-by-works.  Just picture the rich young man who comes to Jesus asking what he must do to inherit eternal life: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, 20 ‘You know the commandments…’ 21 And he said, ‘All these I have kept from my youth.’” (Luke 18:18-21)

1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.  Here’s the scene which is painted: The Christians have gathered in the good Name of God.  In walk two men—one who is well-dressed and opulent, and the other a poor man who is in tattered clothing.  They look favorably on the well-dressed man and give up their favorite pew to him, but the poor man is made to sit in the very front row so the pastor can keep an eye on him.  James says this favoritism is “becoming a judge with evil thoughts” because while they are busy schmoozing their well-to-do visitor and thinking of all that they could get done with a large donation, they have neglected the soul whom the world has despised and who is driven to set his hope on God.

James then brings them back to the Commandments: If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”

Love your neighbor as yourself means just that: Love every neighbor.  When we do that, we are doing well.  Yes! Go for that, and aspire to love your neighbor, no matter who they might be!  But, whenever you and I have failed to do that—and we all do—we are found to be sinners.  Our works are imperfect and inconsistent, so they can’t be what we base our salvation upon.  That’s why the Reformers gave the wise advice, “Good works must be completely excluded from any questions of salvation as well as from the article on our justification before God.” (Formula of Concord (FC), Epitome IV 7)

James continues, 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”  If we are to be judged and not be condemned, it can only be through the Lord’s mercy.  Those saints whose works the Lord commended, who I mentioned earlier (Matt. 25:31-46) were surprised by the commendation because they had not always obeyed the Law. There were people they had failed to feed, clothe, and visit.  But the Lord’s judgment was not based on their perfect righteousness—but His own which He covered them with. They inherited, not earned the Kingdom.  This is being judged under the law of liberty or freedom, and shows how mercy triumphs over judgment.  With a brilliant turn of phrase, those who lived showing no mercy and insisted on all their works—akin to those on the Judge’s left hand—are in turn shown no mercy.

That brings us to the next part, where James has stern words for those who believe they can have faith without it impacting the way they think and live.  This is a needed warning, especially to the Church today.  It was a very timely message to Christians who were recovering from confusion that our works were something that gained God’s favor.  There are many signs that the Church now has swung in the opposite direction, and that’s only further aggravated by the thinking of our day.  In a time when what you identify as can be distinguished from what objective reality says about you, it’s really no surprise that one can identify as a Christian, but live as an atheist.

James takes this disparity head on: 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Can that faith save him?  I thought that we are “justified by faith, apart from works” (Rom. 3:28)  Yes, we are, but what kind of faith is important to understand.  We could use the same to describe someone who says, “I love you.”  Those are just words, unless they are accompanied by fitting actions.  You know this if you’ve had a family member say, “I love you” but what they do is yell, hurt, and abandon you.  Even a child can tell that doesn’t add up. 

Now faith is much greater than human love because it is the gift of God, and where it is, it changes the heart.  It awakens new desires, new priorities, new ways to treat the treasures you’ve been given.

So James explains,

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Living faith gives birth to good works.  ”A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.” (Matt. 7:17) If you call yourself a Christian, you should be able to see a new heart.  That’s what we pray for, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10)  It’s that new heart and right spirit that desires the works God commands.   So it’s perfectly right to say it is necessary for Christians to do good works.  Necessary in the way that St. Paul so beautifully explains after one of our favorite passages: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)  God has forgiven our trespasses, our disobedience, our deadness in trespasses and sins, in order to rise from death and be His creatures.  As creatures of God listen to the voice of their Creator, that’s the relationship we Christians have to good works.  God commands it, so we do it.  The Lord Himself says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)

So when James says “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”  He’s not just talking about salvation, but that the faith the Christian claims is justified, vindicated, or confirmed by their works.  And this drives each Christian back to the Ten Commandments, to the command to shine as lights, to support the Gospel, to give to the needs of the saints, and to live in mercy.  And that makes each of us ask, “Is this what I’ve been doing? Have I been living in accord with the Lord who bought me with His own blood?  Have I shown mercy and poured myself out for the lost, the poor and hurting?”  Or have you been more interested in making sure you’re comfortable?  This disparity is not good.  It is sinful, and we must put off selfish and atheistic ways.

The Lord is gracious and merciful to forgive you your trespasses.  He does not judge you by your performance, but according to His mercy.  You are His, and an heir of eternal life.  Your sins are forgiven.  Let that new life be what moves you to love God, to love your spouse, family, all your neighbors.  This is the Christian life, not just holding to Jesus in word only, but also in deed.  Therefore, let us pray for the Lord to accomplish this in us with the Offertory (Psalm 51:10-12).  Amen.

The Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist

Readings: Revelation 6:9–11 | Romans 6:1–5 | Mark 6:14–29
Text: Mark 6:14-29

“Martyrs for Marriage”

“Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man. For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.” ~ Psalm 71:4-5 ~

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

John was the forerunner to the Christ.  He was born six months before, and He went before the Lord. He was a voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Mark 1:3, citing Isaiah 40:3)  And that he did for all Judea and Jerusalem, who came out to be baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  But the Mightier One came as John said, and has fulfilled all righteousness [Mark 1:4-8, Matt. 3:13-15], and indeed He is the righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption of all who believe [1 Cor. 1:30].

We are those who come after Christ. He tells us, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” and “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Mark 8:34; 10:29-30) But like John, we also sometimes must preach, one to another, God’s holy, unchangeable Law and then point repentant sinners to Christ.

John preached against so-called marriage which ran contrary to God’s Law.  No matter what gifts were exchanged, political favors given, or how much Herod and Herodias felt love or lust for each other, it was not really marriage, and John said as much.  Herod’s rank did not factor in.  He was a human being, and humans are subject to the Law given by their Creator.  This Law does not change depending on where you live, how much money you have, or what is socially acceptable, or even if you consider yourself a Christian.

Those who have the Word of God know what marriage is:

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”…21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:18, 21-25)

And like was shared during the Catechism lesson, anything apart from this institution is not God’s intent for marriage.  This holds true, even in the age of no-fault divorce, cohabitation, and pairings of all different kinds.

So, the people who have God’s Word believe that Word, and like John, we speak His truth to others.  And like John, we don’t give preferential treatment with whom we speak this truth, whether it’s to those in authority, or those in our family.  It may be to our children who put off marriage but not sleeping together, or to our parents who want to avoid the burdens of two becoming one financially and legally, or to our peers who want to divorce because they don’t feel fulfilled by their spouse anymore.

And also like John, the one who brings the Word of God may suffer personally for exposing that sin.  It might mean at the very least awkward silences at dinner, alienation, or ridicule.  For Christians in some positions it may mean losing your job, like Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran[1] or having your business boycotted, as Dan Cathy of Chick-Fil-A.  In recent years, it has also meant the presumably-legal attack on Christian businesses, such as Colorado cake artist Jack Phillips,[2] Washington florist Barronelle Stutzman,[3] and New Mexico photographer Elane Huguenin.[4] And this year, speaking this truth resulted in legal charges against the new Finnish Lutheran bishop Juhana Pohjola for a booklet he helped publish in 2004 which addressed legal and psychological effects of legalizing same-sex unions in Finland.[5]

With all that speaking the truth entails—even if it isn’t the shedding of your blood—Christians today are truly martyrs for marriage.  Martyrs are those who witness for God.  And those who are deluded in error want to silence the accusation which comes on our lips.  But it isn’t for any personal pride or battle for conservative values that we speak.  It is God’s love for wayward souls.  God loved Herod Antipas, and Herodias, and Salome her daughter enough to speak to them.[6]  God loves the homosexuals, the transexual, the spouses at odds with each other, the couples who move in together—enough to speak to them, and He is using His people to do that.  In all likelihood, they won’t be coming here to hear this sermon, so it is laid on you to share the warning of the Law, “It is not lawful, and I care about not just your happiness, but your eternal welfare, to tell you this is not good.”

19 And Herodias had a grudge against [John] and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, 20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. 21 But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.

And like Herod, the people we speak to will have a moment where they will have to respond to the truth of God’s Law and choose.  Herod’s time of choice came when his pretend wife and her daughter asked for the head of John the Baptist. We hope for nothing so extreme, but when the moment of truth comes, it is our prayer that they would repent of their evil ways and turn to Christ, the Savior of sinners. 

Even in John’s death, God’s will was done.  Perhaps as John had been preaching, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire,” he had hoped this would mean immediate, visible victory over those who oppose the coming Messiah.  But the Kingdom can still be resisted, and even if men and women reject its call to repent and believe, that doesn’t mean God’s Word has failed.   Sure, Herodias was pretty smug that she had gotten her way and gotten rid of that trouble-maker.  In the End, that is the Day of Judgement, God has the last word.

As we, the followers of Christ, are martyrs for marriage in our own time, it isn’t on us how people respond to the Word of God.  Instead, our responsibility is to proclaim and uphold the unchanging truth of marriage—to, as St. Paul says, “shine as lights in the world…in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation” and in Hebrews it is written, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled” (Phil. 3:15; Hebrews 13:4).

That brings its own challenges and pains, but amidst that, God’s blessing.  For husbands and wives, it means humbly living out what we heard in the Epistle lesson from last Sunday (Ephesians 5:22-33).  Wives are to submit to their own husbands, as the Church submits to Christ, her head.  Husbands are to love their wives sacrificially as Christ loves the Church, forgiving her flaws, and caring and nurturing them as they would their own bodies.  This is the will of God, even in difficult marriages, 10 To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband 11 (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.” (1 Cor. 7:10-11) and even if one spouse is not a believer, the life of the Christian is still a witness, as St. Peter says, “Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct.” (1 Pet. 3:1-2)

The burdens Christians face in marriage today are nothing new, but we are sorely tempted by human remedies.  It’s hard to slog through day-to-day, year after year, with your spouse—their sins and your sins colliding.  That’s why affairs look so appealing because you can have the “benefits” supposedly without the trouble.  When we lose our patience, maybe divorce sounds appealing (kind of like suicide sounds like new hope to a depressed person).  The thing that breaks marriages is not the world, but a selfishness that takes root in our hearts, that elevates our felt needs over that of the one whom God has given us as spouse.  God sees through our hardness of heart and excuses.  Infidelity and desertion are grounds for divorce, but through sharing the abundant grace of Christ, forgiveness and restoration may be possible.  When there’s abuse, even a believer should seek safety and protect themselves and their children.  Separation is often necessary (even retraining orders), but the advice of St. Paul is compelling: 12 To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him… 15 But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. 16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?” (1 Cor. 12-13, 15)  To God, the souls of both people are precious, even if sin has caused evil.

Widows and widowers, the Lord also shines through you as martyrs for marriage.  Bearing the daily loneliness because death has separated you from your spouse, you set your hope on your God, who raised Jesus from the dead.  St. Paul writes, “She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day,” and, “I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander.” (1 Timothy 5:5, 14)

Likewise, those who are single support the body of Christ.  St. Paul even commends this estate for those who are able to keep it chastely: “To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am… 26 I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is.” (1 Cor. 7:8, 26)  You are spared the worldly troubles of marriage, but with the gift God has given you and the added time and material resources, serve Him and serve your married and widowed brothers and sisters.

All of this shows the burden and pain of taking up our cross as martyrs for Christ.  We don’t ask for these crosses to bear, but we will not take the world’s answers—defining marriage according to lusts, casting it off when it doesn’t suit our fancy, and chasing after the carnal appetite rather than using our bodies to serve the Lord who bought us with the price of His blood.  Following Jesus, these pains drive us to the cross where the Lord lifts up and restores our crushed spirit [Psalm 34:18-19].  He calls us to where the Father adopted us in the water of Baptism, to confess our sins and believe the word of Absolution He puts on our pastor’s lips, to eat and drink Jesus’ Body and Blood for the forgiveness of our sins.

It’s nothing new that people hide from God’s Law, but He has been seeking out sinners since the first disobedience.  He has sought and found you and me, and by His grace may we not fall into temptation, so that we can live godly lives in the presence of God and our neighbors.

In light of the fact that for health concerns, we are refraining from Holy Communion today, let us turn to the order of Individual Confession and Absolution on page 292 in the hymnal.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.


[1] https://adflegal.org/case/cochran-v-city-atlanta

[2] https://adflegal.org/blog/after-8-years-legal-battles-and-2-wins-jack-phillips-still-being-sued

[3] https://adflegal.org/case/arlenes-flowers-v-state-washington

[4] https://adflegal.org/case/elane-photography-v-willock

[5] https://ilc-online.org/2021/04/30/finnish-bishop-elect-charged-over-historic-christian-teachings-on-human-sexuality/ and https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/aug/6/christian-member-finnish-parliament-faces-prison-q/

https://lhpk.fi/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Male-and-female-He-created-them.pdf

[6] We learn of Herodias’ daughter’s name from the 4th century church historian Eusebius.

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Readings: Isaiah 29:11–19 | Ephesians 5:22–33 | Mark 7:1–13

Text: Mark 7:1-13

In the time of Jesus, the Pharisees were the religious guard for the nation of Israel.  After the time of the Exile, and coming out as champions for righteousness after the Maccabean revolt, they held the Scriptures in the highest regard.  However, they also took it upon themselves to “make a fence around the Law” by adding rules and regulations that would curb the possible disobedience of God’s people Israel.  These were recorded in the Mishnah.  They called it “oral Law” and conveniently left out the part that they were not actually given to Moses, and therefore did not have divine authority.

Let’s hear again how Jesus responded to this:

“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

            “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

The problem wasn’t the traditions themselves.  After all, they encouraged piety and obedience to the Word of God.  The problems were: 1. They made obedience to these traditions binding, as in you would be guilty for not holding to these things; and 2. Some of them were actually in conflict with the Word of God, and they chose to obey the tradition!

This kind of use of binding tradition flourished in the Christian church before the Reformation.  Many such traditions had been handed down, such as the laity only receiving the Body of Christ when taking Communion; requiring celibacy for all priests and nuns; treating the Mass as something that could make peace with God or shorten a dead relative’s sentence in purgatory (another human tradition); or forcing people to go to private confession and list all their sins. (See a list in the Augsburg Confession Articles 22-28)

There are two helpful truths the Lord has for us in this account, which help keep the church on earth from error.  The first is that Christians are not bound to any practice which is not established by “Thus saith the Lord.”

What are the essentials?  I’ll let the Lord Himself tell us: “Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19-20); “Repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in [Christ’s] name to all nations” (Luke 24:47); “Truly, I say to you, whatever you [the Church] bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matt. 18:18); “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (John 13:34); “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:26-28)  Preaching the Gospel of Jesus, Baptism and discipleship, Confession, Christian love, the Lord’s Body and Blood—these are foundational.  But how those are carried out has been applied in many different ways.  What’s central to all of it is that the Word of God has the first and last say. 

It’s good for us to be reminded about the right role for human tradition, especially since we are Christians who observe many handed-down traditions: the use of creeds, candles, chanting, hymnals and orders of service, a church calendar, and vestments—just to name some.  Are we wrong for using them?  Are others wrong who do not use them?  We’re quick to say, Of course not!  But then sometimes, we find ourselves looking down on our brothers, and think “if only they really had knowledge, their worship would look like ours.”

Some 50 years after the Reformation began, there were similar disagreements over which and how many of the old traditions to keep.  Our forefathers wrote about this in what’s called the Formula of Concord (something I’ll be using as a preaching series soon).  About human traditions, they wrote, “We believe, teach, and confess that no church should condemn another because it has fewer or more external ceremonies not commanded by God, as long as there is mutual agreement in doctrine and in all its articles as well as in the right use of the holy sacraments”  Yes, there are the essentials, which God clearly spells out in His Word.  But anything of human origin is not something to judge each other about.  We can have fruitful discussions about the benefits of traditions or how clearly they magnify the Word of God. But never should traditions take the place of the Word of God and Christ who unites us.

The second lesson is a reminder that it is never right to set aside the Word of God and replace it with human constructions.  Our problem (and I speak collectively as a human race) is that we tend to be fundamentalists.  I mean, tell me what the bare minimum is and that’s what I’ll shoot for.  Just memorize the Six Chief Parts of Luther’s Small Catechism, but nevermind if you ever read the Bible for yourself.  And on that point I think we’ve fallen into error, even as the heirs of the Scripture-alone Reformation.  It’s much more appealing to just go to tradition because that’s what we’ve always done, and we don’t have to think really hard about it.  Confirmation, marriage, funerals, and church membership are all things that have been abused.  We’ve given these rites a life of their own, sometimes apart from or opposed to the Word of God.  Confirmation isn’t commanded by God, but woe to the pastor who doesn’t “graduate” the 13-year-olds of his congregation.  Marriage belongs more to the state than the church, but often the symbolism that was meant to magnify Christ becomes about the poor sinner who is the bride.  Funerals are rarely times to meditate on the preaching of the Law and the joy of Christ’s resurrection.  Instead they are occasions to eulogize the deceased and bask in sentimentality.  Church membership from the early church was about confessing what is taught at this church and received at this altar, but for as long as many of us can remember, many have treated it as membership in a social club with doctrine being a far second.

We need the wisdom of Jesus, and for His Word to set us straight again. From the Old Testament lesson:

You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest? In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.  (Isa. 29:16-19)

The Lord does an amazing thing…for the misguided Pharisees and for Christians of every age, and even us.  He came and did an amazing thing.  What people had wickedly turned upside down, He set right.  To people, deaf and lost in the gloom of their own religion creations, the words of God’s Book are revealed.  He opens the Scriptures, and in them Christ is revealed.

People crave rules to know if they’re on the right road.  But God craves people’s heart.  He doesn’t want our heart far from Him, because if it that’s the case, no matter how many motions we go through, they’re meaningless.  It’s this phony excuse for Christianity that troubles so many who just get fed up with religion.  But the Lord abounds in steadfast love: “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him” (Psalm 103:11) He is gracious to forgive our errors and guide the people of His Church to act faithfully.

When Christ’s Church clings to Him by faith, then the traditions are not empty or contrary.  They actually exalt Christ—they teach, give voice to our praise, convey the reverence and beauty of the Lord, and guide our children.  Tradition simply means to hand down, and this is the faith which we have received from our forefathers and we want to pass down to our children.  May the Lord help us to always hear Him, repent of our errors, and do all things to glorify Him in our lives, and within the community of His Church. Amen.

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Readings: Proverbs 9:1–10 & Joshua 24:1-2(a), 14-18 | Ephesians 5:6–21 | John 6:51–69

Text: Ephesians 5:6-21

“Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’”
~ John 6:68-69 ~

Yesterday at the men’s breakfast, we learned about the thread in American Christianity of revivalism, which says that the Christian life begins with your personal decision.  And if you listen to the Old Testament lesson and Gospel today with the glasses on of personal decision, that’s certainly what it sounds like Joshua and Peter are saying: “Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15) And, “Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ 68 Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’” (John 6:67-69)

But does one’s eternal destiny really hang on their own choice?  That’s a ton of pressure!  In fact, we need more than our flimsy decision as the foundation for our life today and for eternity.  But, it’s also clear in the verses right before that the things Joshua and Peter said were not just their own personal sentiment: “And [Jesus] said, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.’”  God was at work in and through their pledge of faithfulness to Jesus over the alternatives.  God gave Joshua the conviction to say, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”…even if all the other people should choose to serve manmade gods.  God gave Peter the wisdom to believe, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”…even though such a large number of disciples were ditching Jesus.  Their examples are written down for our learning.  They had a conviction that there was only one God who could save, and only one God worthy of fear, love, and trust.

There’s something to that conviction and power to confess which is behind what St. Paul writes in Ephesians 5:

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them;

There is an opposite to one serving the Lord and these words of eternal life.  It is the world of idolatry and lies, darkness and death.  Without God helping us, it’s not just that a person becomes sort of neutral and unaffiliated.  They actually go the way of the enemies of God, in danger of falling under the wrath of God.  That is to say, if we are left to ourselves, a human being will always drift toward evil.

The empty words Paul warns us about are always there, appealing to that part of us that wants to rise above the place God has placed us.  “You will be like God” it promises, if only you would be free of those shackles of the God of the Bible [Ps. 2:3].  All you need is to unlock the person within, and just imagine what potential is inside you! 

Over the last century, the Church has been engaged in many spiritual battles.  Even while many of us have fond childhood memories of crowded Sunday Schools and packed worship services, there was serious contention between what the Church believes and what the world was trying to sell to Christians—the kind of “You will be like God, knowing good and evil,” and an invitation to give up simple faith in God’s Word.  Take for instance, the battle over creation versus evolution.  God’s Word teaches that He made everything by His Word, while the evolution understands everything happening according to mutations and survival of the fittest.  But the Church persevered in battle, insisting that we are creations of God not descendants of apes.  Little by little, even non-Christian scientists have had to admit the faults of their theory. Now, the only reason it persists in schools is because they don’t have a God-free alternative. Even intelligent design suggests there might be a personal force out there.

Another major conflict has been the battle for the Bible itself against Higher Criticism, and that has dragged on for more than a century.  Higher critics are eager to find human fault in the Bible and reduce it to precepts of men and their prejudices. That way, they’re free to rise above those parts of which they disapprove. Yet, because of the conviction which God puts in His people, pastors and professors rose to the occasion and laypeople took up the mantle.  They persevered even when the majority of professors walked out of Concordia Seminary in 1974.  Those who held to the defense of God’s Word actively engaged against world-creep.

They studied and prayed, exhorted and did their best to convince, and their labors bore fruit.  Today, there is a wealth of scholarship and resources available about the evidence for a young earth and the geological processes caused by the Flood.  Today, biblical scholarship is remarkably gifted, with a treasure of in-depth study of biblical manuscripts and critical study of the texts as the Word of God.

The generation now living has its own battle, and it’s one which rears its head within the Church, and that is indifference and resignation.  That’s just your opinion.  Well, whatever works for you.  Listen again to verse 6: “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of apathy.”  Apeitheia is translated as disobedience because it pictures someone who is unpersuaded and will not be convinced.   Something is true because it works for me, or I feel it in my heart, and forget the outside, objective truth of a matter. 

And isn’t that what we face today?  COVID has helped people become apathetic about the necessity of coming together to worship.  Couples are apathetic about the institution of marriage.  More Christians, especially youth are apathetic about the biblical view of sexuality as they are force-fed the LGBT agenda.  It seems little to matter what argument you can come up with, because they don’t care.  Their mind is made up already because they’ve decided what’s right for them.  This is also what God calls hardness of heart.

That’s a scary thing to consider, that baptized Christians could be found with hard hearts and suffer the fate of the ungodly!  Lord, have mercy upon us!  We have sinned against Him when we have let this dark world set our priorities and gone after what appeals to our sinful nature and the easy road that is.  We have also seen our family and friends embrace the lies and we’ve comforted ourselves by taking the tack, “Well, I guess that works for them.”

Christ your Lord was not impassive and apathetic.  For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross and rejection you have deserved.  When He saw you in darkness, He had compassion which moved Him to come down and take on flesh.  He persevered in the cause, so that you would have forgiveness, peace with God, and eternal life!  He has made you not a son of disobedience or of apathy, but a child of light.

This is why Paul warns us not to become partners with sons of apathy, with those who have hardened their heart to God’s Word, which He sent to save us.  We continually need the reminder of what we truly are and what is really important:

for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light.

Walking in the darkness without God doesn’t lead anywhere good.  Even if you were at one time darkness, now you are light in the Lord.  If at one time you followed your heart and followed the example of unbelievers around you, if you were wise in your own eyes and didn’t want anyone to tell you otherwise—you are now light in the Lord.  Separate your heart from the ways of those in darkness.  You cannot join with them in celebrating the evil they do.  By living as children of light, expose what is darkness in this world—no matter how socially accepted it is, no matter how you may be slandered because you refuse.

Rather, love all people the way that God does.  He doesn’t want even His enemies to stay lost in darkness and error, of apathy and judgment.  So, He shines the light of His Word to you, to them.  Through you, He calls out to them:

“Awake, O sleeper,

and arise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.”

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

It was significantly less challenging to walk as a Christian in years gone by, when social norms and ethics agreed with the Christian worldview—things like modesty, speech, and standards for decency.  If Paul said the days were evil, we can see how true that is more and more each year.  And Christians living in 21st century America certainly need help knowing what the will of our Lord is.  It’s easy to find out the will of other people—watch a movie, turn on the TV, talk to non-Christian friends.  You will get their view, the things they value and what’s acceptable to them.  But for us, it takes purposeful study to know the will of the Lord.  It takes reading His Word regularly.  It’s nothing elaborate, and we are truly blessed with easy access to God’s holy Word.  Just start reading through the New Testament, the Gospels or the Epistles, or both.  Save Revelation for later, because it will likely cause more confusion than clarity.

There in the Scriptures, you will see what God has created and redeemed you for, and how He is at work to sanctify you as His own child.  Don’t delight in alcohol the way the world does. Rather, be filled with the Holy Spirit, who fills your mouth not with words that need recalling, but with true godly words.  Open your lips with Psalms instead of cursing, sing hymns and spiritual songs instead of whatever drivel pop singers do.  And be filled with thanksgiving instead of fear, anger, or posturing.  Those things are the way of the world and your sinful flesh, which has no patience to wait for God to answer. 

Give thanks to God continually, because He has brought you out of darkness and death to light and life through His Son.  Christians have faced this and worse before, and the Lord has brought them through.  He will preserve us, so let us seek His counsel and pray for His help:

Almighty and most merciful God, in this earthly life we endure sufferings and death before we enter into eternal glory. Grant us grace at all times to subject ourselves to Your holy will and to continue steadfast in the true faith to the end of our lives that we may know the peace and joy of the blessed hope of the resurrection of the dead and of the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Baptism of Inara Fae Means

Readings: 1 Kings 19:1-8 | Ephesians 4:17-5:2 | John 6:35–51

Text: Ephesians 4:17—5:2

Everyone has desires and needs, ideals for which they strive, a sense of how it should be.  But do we stop and think where that comes from?

While humanity was originally created the image and likeness of God, sin has come into the world and deformed what began as a good creation.  And this is what we experience in our lives.  We have an idea of good versus bad, but there’s also a sense that something is missing. 

          26 Then God said, “Let us

         make man in our image, after

         our likeness. And let them have

          dominion over the fish of the

          sea and over the birds of the

          heavens and over the livestock

          and over all the earth and over

          every creeping thing that

          creeps on the earth.”

         27 So God created man in his

         own image, in the image of God

         he created him; male and female

         he created them.

                  (Genesis 1:26-27)

But then sin entered the world, and something was fundamentally changed about humanity. In biblical terms, we lost the image of God. Now, as descendants of the first man and woman, we bear the image of Adam (Genesis 5:3).  You could think of it like copies from a corrupted original, or forming something out of polluted material.

What God created as good is broken.  Got breathed life into man, but now that life is stolen away by death (sometimes quite prematurely).  He meticulously created the body with all the parts working together, but now there’s deformities and disease.

What God created as good is also corrupted: religion, the spiritual life before God, is used as a means for men to aggrandize themselves, exercise social control, and make themselves seem pleasing before God.  Rulership is abused to control and deprive others rather than serve them.  Both of these we see in Ahab and Jezebel seeking to kill Elijah because he called out their false worship (1 Kings 19:1-3).

Our ability to detect good is also skewed. The sensors have lost their calibration.  They can’t accurately detect where the plumb line should be.  The human conscience, which was made to tell right from wrong, is able to excuse what is contrary to nature, like when we justify slaughtering innocent lives and call it women’s healthcare, or construct artificial distinctions between biological and identity.  With these broken senses, objective truth is rejected in favor of what “feels right” or “makes the most sense to us.”  And finally, our appetites are for things that do not satisfy like when we look for all good in another person only to have our hopes dashed, and when we find more delight in our favorite TV shows than in pouring over the very words of our Creator.  In the Lord’s words of John 6, we “work for food which perishes, [not for] the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man gives to us.” (John 6:27)

This is what sin has done to humanity, and if we were left to our own devices, we would never discover the root cause.  We know people have tried to put their finger on it (just to name a few): the real problem is that we have unfulfilled desires so we must purge ourselves of all desire (Buddhist), cure this or that disease so that people live longer; eliminate racism by eliminating privilege of all kinds.  While these scratch the surface of the problem, all people are able to see is fogged by warped minds, wills, and emotions.  Remember those broken sensors.

But there is good news. There is rescue.  Our Creator has not just handed us over to our own groping in the dark.  The One who made heaven and earth and us in it, has come to our aid.  This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that He has done what humanity, what you and I, so desperately needed!  He came to reverse all that is wrong with us, and with the world.  But unlike our solutions that only treat the symptoms, He goes to the root cause.  “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 6:40)  And this He does by putting Himself in our place: He answered for our guilt, the evils we think, say, and do, with His own holy, innocent life.  God, who has been teaching atonement by a substitute from the get-go gives His Son as the truly innocent and all-sufficient substitute for the sins of all people.

God the Son takes death head-on by enduring it Himself.  He died so that He would save us from futile birth and his beautiful creation left in decay.  The Son rose because death had no claim on Him, and Jesus came the firstborn among many brothers (Romans 8:29).  This is the hope of all hope which the Gospel gives to all who believe: “the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting.” (Apostles’ Creed)

But contrary to popular belief, being a Christian isn’t about “dying and going to heaven.”  God delivers this good news in a concrete way to us each day as we both live under the curse of sin and death, and in the hope of the resurrection and everlasting life.  The hope begins here on earth, today in our lives. 

It began today for Inara, where God gave her the rescue which she never could have found for herself.  Her Creator wants for her to be saved from the futility of life apart from Him, of living with the sin she inherited, and the sins has committed since.  He does not want her to be left to bandaid, rationalizing human fixes for her sin.  This is what people do when they feel the disparity between what their God-given conscience says and see something bad they’ve done.  But God, in His love, does not want us to drown in our guilt or sugar-coat it or drown out the nagging voice.

In love for Inara—and, really, for every person—He gives a new birth in Baptism.  Jesus Himself explains, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3-5)  We all recognize our natural birthday, but in Baptism, building on that natural birth to our parents, God gives a birth which is full of eternal blessings.  God promises something incredible: “He saved us…by 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)  A washing with the power to recreate and renew, to be the start of God’s restoration of humanity and the world with us.

The best way to see the difference the Gospel makes is in comparing it to the absence of hope.  After describing the ignorance, futility, and callousness of men and women without God, the Apostle Paul instructs us not by experience or what is popular, or even what is most traditional.  He points us to Christ:

         20 But that is not the way you

         learned Christ!— 21 assuming

         that you have heard about him

         and were taught in him, as the

         truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off

         your old self, which belongs to

         your former manner of life and

         is corrupt through deceitful

         desires, 23 and to be renewed in

          the spirit of your minds, 24 and

          to put on the new self, created

          after the likeness of God in true

          righteousness and holiness.

God begins that work of a restored human race in His Christians.  No doubt, we still have many vestiges of first birth, but living in the new birth we have from God, we depart from the ways of corrupt humanity, and put on the new self, the renewed version of you who God is busy restoring and pressing toward the new creation.

This is what humanity is meant to look like!  We might be tempted to tune that out, because we’ve heard so many human ideas of what this ought to be, but they’ve either been false hopes or incomplete.  So listen to this, with an ear open to your Creator:

         25 Therefore, having put away

         falsehood, let each one of you

         speak the truth with his

         neighbor, for we are members

         one of another. 26 Be angry and

         do not sin; do not let the sun go

         down on your anger, 27 and give

         no opportunity to the devil.

         28 Let the thief no longer steal,

         but rather let him labor, doing

         honest work with his own hands,

         so that he may have something

         to share with anyone in need.

         29 Let no corrupting talk come

         out of your mouths, but only

         such as is good for building up,

         as fits the occasion, that it may

         give grace to those who hear.

         30 And do not grieve the Holy

         Spirit of God, by whom you were

         sealed for the day of

         redemption.

         31 Let all bitterness and wrath

         and anger and clamor and

         slander be put away from you,

         along with all malice. 32 Be kind

         to one another, tenderhearted,

         forgiving one another, as God in

         Christ forgave You.

Do you hear all those ways God is restoring you and me?  You are not an island, but a member of one another so treat others with love and nipping resentment in the bud before it has time to stink and fester inside you.  Rather than grabbing for whatever you can get your hands on, as a renewed human being and child of God, you see property as something as something which comes from God who gives good gifts for our use and for us to share in times of need.  Your tongue is for building up others, not a weapon to curse and destroy.  And you see other people the way God sees them and you—as lives worth the precious blood of Jesus.  Remember, He died even for His enemies.

This is what God works in His children, working through the new birth He has given to Inara, and to you in Baptism.  Now, we won’t see this fully realized until the Resurrection, but it’s in progress.  And of course God forces no one into this, but He actually does give us a new heart to want these things, to delight in being what He has created us to be, and to hate what sin has done to us and the world.  So, with the gift of the Holy Spirit, Paul summarizes in today’s reading, saying: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  And our prayer is that this is what each of our lives would be: dying to the old way inherited from our natural birth, being forgiven for our failures, and living in the start of an eternal life before God, which is ours through Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Readings: Exodus 16:2–15 | Ephesians 4:1–16 | John 6:22–35

Text: Psalm 145:10-21; Ephesians 4:1-16

God always provides.  This is something we acknowledge (most of the time) in our lives.  We prayed earlier in Psalm 145,

            15    The eyes of all look to you,

                        and you give them their

                        food in due season.

            16    You open your hand;

                        you satisfy the desire of

                        every living thing.

And these are fitting words before sitting down for a meal, acknowledging that what we have, even if we bought it at Safeway, Winco, Walmart, is truly from God’s gracious hand, just as our Lord says, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” (Matt. 6:31-32)

God always provides.  It isn’t just a platitude, even if sometimes it’s used as a flippant way to brush off concern about how.  This is a truth, and it is the antidote to anxiety about our needs in this world.  As the Psalm continues:

          18     The Lord is near to all who

                call on him,

                     to all who call on him in

                     truth.

          19   He fulfills the desire of

                those who fear him;

                     he also hears their cry

                     and saves them.

          20   The Lord preserves all

                who love him

When we feel like the Lord is distant from our circumstances, He is truly near.  If we worry that He will fall short on what we need, He fulfills our needs, hears their cry and saves them from all danger.  When we are ready to throw up our hands, it is the Lord who preserves His people who love Him.

So all this we believe about God providing for all His creatures, and protecting us against anxiety and fear.  And while this is an area we’re particularly vulnerable to worry, there is also another big blind spot for Christians.  St. Paul writes to the Church in Ephesians 4:

            I therefore, a prisoner for the

            Lord, urge you to walk in a

            manner worthy of the calling

            to which you have been called,

            with all humility and

            gentleness, with patience,

            bearing with one another in

            love, eager to maintain the

            unity of the Spirit in the bond

            of peace. There is one body

            and one Spirit—just as you

            were called to the one hope

            that belongs to your call—

            one Lord, one faith, one

            baptism, one God and Father

            of all, who is over all and

            through all and in all.

Even though he was bound in prison because of preaching that Jesus is the Christ, Paul’s own eyes had seen the mighty power of God at work in the Church.  He had heard the Spirit’s voice and witnessed His power to call through the Gospel of Jesus.  By the power of God, Paul had been thrown down on the road to Damascus and had his whole life’s work turned around (Acts 9).  The Churches had seen, that “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy” (Gal. 1:23)  He was the instrument of bringing scores of Gentile unbelievers to know the One True God—from those visiting synagogues to even the jailer at Philippi (Acts 16).

Suffice to say, St. Paul knows something about the calling of God to belong to Him as beloved children, and the gathering of His children into one Church.  This is what befits those who are called by the Gospel: that we “walk in humility and meekness, with patience and bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (vv. 2-3)  This begins with realizing how gracious God is to call us into His Church, that there is no resume which made us rise above others.  Rather, there was a record of debt that stood against us, but God took this and nailed it to the cross (Col. 2:14). We walk in humility or meekness, because we are not looking to draw attention to us or brag about our accomplishments, realizing there is nothing for us to boast about except in Jesus Christ crucified for us.  And we are patient, trusting that all things happen as part of God’s eternal purpose.  Just as He numbers all the hairs of our head, not one soul will enter into judgment apart from His knowledge and desire to save them.

We recognize that one thing we all have in common is we are all sinners in need of mercy and each with our own weaknesses and needs.  So, we band together in mutual support, having compassion, praying for our brothers and sisters.  Together, we also rejoice in the other thing we all have in common: Our merciful God whose Holy Spirit has knit the Church together, and it’s a joy when we can share this common bond with other Christians, no matter by what path they came to this bond of peace.  Here is the truth that there are no denominations after this broken earth passes away, because “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”  And even though there are edifying reasons to be called Evangelical Lutheran, this is what we confess together, when we believe in “one holy, Christian [catholic], and apostolic Church” (Nicene Creed)

But this isn’t always what the Church looks like on earth, and that comes from the way we look at the Church.  The time it’s hardest to see this in the Church is when we doubt that the Church is truly God’s creation.  We think that it’s the work of our hands—our skillful manipulation, the pastor’s golden-mouthed sermons, having fun and engaging youth programs, what good stewards we are and how proud we are of holding no debt.  But what this leads to is the very opposite of what St. Paul describes.  Out of the church of our own hands comes a panoply of adulterations of Christ’s Church: We practice pride at what we have done or might do.  We are arrogant to think we can improve upon the Means of Grace God has appointed. We are impatient with the fruit of the preached Word, which leads us to think He’s failing in our time and place (or self-flagellation that we’re doing it wrong).  The church of our hands also finds more and more reasons to divide and ascertain who are “in” or “out” or who’s “doing church” the best.

Repent, all of us, for we have made an idol of God’s Church!  “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” (Joel 2:13).   And in returning to our mighty and loving God, we see again that the Church and our place in it is 100% His work, even if it should be carried out by human hands:

          But grace was given to each

          one of us according to the

          measure of Christ’s gift.

          Therefore it says, “When he

          ascended on high he led a host

          of captives, and he gave gifts to

          men.”

          (In saying, “He ascended,”

          what does it mean but that he

          had also descended into the

          lower regions, the earth? 10 He

          who descended is the one who

          also ascended far above all the

          heavens, that he might fill all

          things.) 11 And he gave the

          apostles, the prophets, the

          evangelists, the shepherds and

          teachers, 12 to equip the saints

          for the work of ministry, for

          building up the body of Christ,

God always provides for His Church from beginning to end.  And because this is God’s Church, we marvel at how He does this.  Just as we thank God for what He provides through government and grocery store, we also thank God for how He provides for His Church through human hands.  He ascended on high and gave gifts to men: the gifts which are needed for growing His Church: the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures (remember, these are the foundation, Christ Jesus being the cornerstone, Eph. 2:20).  He provides evangelists who preach this Word here and all over the world—some whose lives are devoted as missionaries (Paul, in addition to be an apostle was one), and others who share the faith in a number of ways in their daily interactions.  But the Lord isn’t done.  He also gives shepherd-teachers:[1] pastors who keep watch over people’s soul’s, study the Word, and teach all the saints (young and old).

Through these human workers, the Church is equipped, the work of ministry is accomplished, and the Body of Christ is built up.

          13 until we all attain to the

          unity of the faith and of the

          knowledge of the Son of God,

          to mature manhood, to the

          measure of the stature of the

          fullness of Christ, 14 so that we

          may no longer be children,

          tossed to and fro by the waves

          and carried about by every

          wind of doctrine, by human

          cunning, by craftiness in

          deceitful schemes. 15 Rather,

          speaking the truth in love, we

          are to grow up in every way

          into him who is the head, into

          Christ, 16 from whom the

          whole body, joined and held

          together by every joint with

          which it is equipped, when

          each part is working properly,

          makes the body grow so that it

          builds itself up in love.

Yes, it’s human hands which He uses, but it is the same Almighty Lord who is working in His Church.  When we read about the Acts of the Apostles, we shouldn’t wish for the glory days of years past, wringing our hands like old men who dream about what we used to be able to do.  With faith in the very same God, we believe that He is working in His Church in 2021 with the same powerful Word and Spirit as He did in generations before us.

In fact, we need to cling to this even more because we see the world gaining popularity and acceptance in its own wickedness.  With each passing generation, it takes more intentionality and perseverance to belong to this Christian Church.  If we look for the strength to do this in ourselves, there would be little to hope for.  One time several pastors were subjected to a presentation where the Lutheran church was compared to the Titanic sinking.  But this is not the fate of God’s Church, because even the gates of hell shall not prevail against God’s calling people to believe that Jesus is the Christ (Matt. 16:18).

But just as we have to work our jobs to have income, participate as citizens to have good government, and take care of our bodies to have good health, we also need to work in the Church.  In order for the Church to be strong, it is our duty to take hold of the treasures God gives us, to read His precious Word, be ready to share the reason for the hope with us, and support the shepherd-teachers in our midst.  So, this doesn’t exonerate us from work, but it does free us from worry.

So, to paraphrase the Lord Jesus, Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘How shall we be relevant?’ or ‘What can we do to make this old-fashioned religion last?’32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

In conclusion, let’s return to Psalm 145, and apply it to the Bread of Life, which our God gives to the world, and in which His Church delights:

            10    All your works shall give

                     thanks to You, O Lord,

                        and Your saints shall bless

                      you!

            11    They shall speak of the glory

                     of Your kingdom

                        and tell of your power.

            12    to make known the children

                     of man your mighty deeds,

                        and the glorious splendor

                        of Your kingdom.

            13    Your kingdom is an

                     everlasting kingdom,

                        and your dominion endures

                        throughout all generations

            14    The Lord upholds all who are

                     falling

                        and raises up all who are

                       bowed down.

            21    My mouth will speak the

                     praises of the Lord,

                        and let all flesh bless His

                       holy name forever and ever.

Amen!


[1] See ESV footnote after “teachers”

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (also Feast of St. James)

Readings: Genesis 9:8-17 | Ephesians 3:14-21 | Mark 6:45-56

Text: Genesis 9:8-17

When people hear about the Flood, people in our culture might picture a boat with animals sticking out windows, and several people aboard.  Other cultures record the same event: The Chinese have the story of the family of Fuhi, who lived during the time when the whole land was flooded to the tops of the mountains, and how only his family survived and whose three sons repopulated the earth.  The Babylonian stories recorded by Gilgamesh include a man named Untapishtim, who was instructed to build a large ship and instructed to take a male and female of each type of animal.  The Aztecs record the story of Tapi, a pious man, who was told to take his wife and a pair of each animal. The people laughed at him, but when the waters came, they climbed the mountains but could not escape. After the water had dried, Tapi released a dove which did not return.

The account of the Flood is universal, recorded by ancient people from all over the earth.  In the same way, what happened afterward is universally known: God set the bow in the clouds.  Rainbows are known the world over, a beautiful meteorological phenomenon which display the whole spectrum of visible light.  Even though this wasn’t articulated until the 13th and 17th centuries by Roger Bacon and Isaac Newton, the rainbow is something all people can see and appreciate.

But God tells us more about the rainbow than we can learn from observation:

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

The rainbow is more than a natural phenomenon; it’s God’s sign.  His signs are those things where He joins something physical to His promise.  In this case, the rainbow in the sky is tied to a covenant He makes with every creature of the earth, and especially with every human being who descended from the three families that came out of the Ark.  Even if you don’t know a lick about God, or make it your mission to destroy all things spiritual in the name of reason, you can still see the rainbow in the sky.

But today we will focus on what God says about the rainbow, and the covenant which He makes which every creature, even with every single human being.  Just as the rainbow is universally familiar, God speaks to every single creature: Never again will the Flood happen to destroy the earth.  And why would God need to say that?  Because the Flood happened because, “the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” (Gen. 6:11-12)  This is far from what God created the earth and human beings on it for.  Corruption from man’s wicked heart, violence in destroying the beauty of this world and the lives of people precious in God’s sight.  It would be unjust for this to go unanswered.  How could God remain silent?  So, He sent the Flood, and only righteous Noah and his family heeded the warning.  Noah, his wife, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives—eight souls, were the only ones who saved their lives on the ark [1 Pet. 3:20].

And after this great act of judgment, God left the rainbow as a reminder.  It’s a twofold reminder, actually.  First, He says, “When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.”  When the eyes of men see the bow in the clouds, God will remember the covenant He made that day after Noah and his family left the ark: Never again will He destroy all flesh with water, even though, “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen 8:21).

The other side of the reminder is for God: “When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”  When God sees the bow in the clouds, after every time it rains, He remembers this covenant with the earth.  It’s a covenant that assures the all people of the earth that rain will not lead to complete destruction, even though it once did.  It’s a reminder to God to be gracious to a sinful and corrupt earth.

What this teaches us is that a rainbow is far more than a simple, accidental interaction between sunlight and water droplets.  It is actually a personal promise which God makes between Himself and every living creature on earth.  It has personal meaning for every person, because it is God’s sign to every generation which follows the Flood until the Day Christ returns.

By the rainbow, God is preaching to every person: I will be gracious to you, even though you are corrupt from your youth, even though your heart is thoroughly filled with evil.  What people use this for is to put the Lord to the test.  Like teenagers who revel in what they can “get away with” without getting punished, people take the patience of God as license to do what they please.  That’s the dullness of the human heart, and the shamelessness from which we all suffer.  But God tells us about His patience in Romans 2: “Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4) 

And it’s not that people don’t recognize how dangerous a worldwide flood can be.  Otherwise, those many cultures wouldn’t have shared the account of destruction from above, and the fact that it was in response to the wickedness on the earth.  Every person can identify the danger of a flood, but the greater peril that the Flood tells us about is the peril of unbelief and the danger of unrepentance—the danger of hardness of heart.  If we think we’re safe because we “believe in God” or Jesus whatever we take Him to be, we’re gravely mistaken. St. James, whom the Church commemorates today, reminds us: “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19)  No, a person actually needs to listen to what the One, True God says.  Our sinful flesh wants God to be there, but be silent.  We’d rather have a God who doesn’t speak, because then He cannot call us out for the evil of our hearts and actions.

But the God of heaven does speak, and He calls every single person not just to acknowledge He exists, but to repent of the evil of our hearts, our words, and our deeds.  This is the true peril, not of death by water, but eternal death in the fires of hell. 

What God means by His covenant, signified by the rainbow, is that He desires to all to repent and believe in the culmination of His riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience—His Son Jesus Christ who came as the universal Savior.  God makes no distinction between people, and just like the rainbow, His gracious work goes out for all people, speaking to them while they live and calling them back to fellowship with Him.  When He sees His bow in the clouds, He remembers not only the covenant He made with every person, but the covenant He made in the blood of His Son, and this is the new covenant which He has makes with you.

In Holy Baptism, He also delivers you through the waters: 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” (1 Peter 3:18-22)

His patience and kindness do remain until the Last Day, so that what He wants for all people would come about: that all who hear His voice and fear His judgment also believe that on account of Jesus Christ, He has put away your sin.  This is what His covenant with the earth is meant to lead all people of the earth to: To see His patience as a call to the waters of Baptism.  There, the water is judgment for our sin, putting it to death, and salvation for the Christian.

This is God’s meaning for the rainbow, which supersedes any meaning man can apply to it.  If man should say the rainbow is merely a random process that just happened to come out of chaos, God has taught us better to see Him actually active in His creation and speaking to every person.  If man should use the rainbow as a political and ethical symbol, what God does with it is better: He desires the salvation of all people, regardless of the way their sinful heart bears fruit.  He is patient and kind toward people, no matter how much evil they delight in, because it’s His desire and His power to work to call them away from destruction and to eternal life through His Son.  When you see the rainbow, remember the God who made the rainbow and gave it meaning for Himself, for you, and for every person.  Never write someone else off as a lost cause, because God hasn’t.  Let His Word be on your lips, so that the wicked person sees that there actually is a God in heaven who judges.  And when God works terror in their conscience, be ready to share the mercy God in Christ.  But even if that shouldn’t come immediately, pray for divine patience with them, just as God is patient toward them.  Remember this, when we see the world continuing on its evil course, that despite it, God is still speaking to them[1] with His unchanging Word.  He will continue speaking until the very Last Day, when it’s not the door of the Ark that will be shut, but the door of heaven.  Until then, we pray for God to deliver us from the works of our flesh, the deceit of the devil, and the wickedness in the world.  He truly will.  Amen.


[1] Another irony is that the United Church of Christ, a very progressive nominal Christian group, has the slogan “God is still speaking” which undermines the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture.  But even more true is that God is still speaking, with His authoritative and unchanging Word to call sinners to repentance and faith in His Son.

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Readings: Jeremiah 23:1–6 | Ephesians 2:11–22 | Mark 6:30–44

Text: Ephesians 2:11-22

Tick, tick, tick, tick goes the rollercoaster as it climbs its way to the sky.  For a moment, there’s the feeling of exhilaration and weightlessness at the top.  But you know that in just a split second, you will be hurtling down—maybe even lower than where you started!

In chapter 1 of Ephesians, we were privileged to receive a glimpse into the heavenly counsel.  From the heights of the highest heaven, we heard, “[The Father] chose us in [His Son] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:4)  But like the Transfiguration, none of us is able to stay for long without being yanked back into our present reality.  Chapter 2 gives such a whiplash to the depths of each person’s earth-born condition: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

It would be no wonder if you screamed at such a drop!  But God does not leave us in the depths of our depravity.  Two words signal us being lifted up out of grave: “But God,” as in, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6)

All of this is apparent from a heavenly perspective, and made known to us by the Holy Spirit speaking in the Word.  It isn’t clear from our experience.  When we go out from this place, we live in the same world as the “rest of mankind,” suffering all the same troubles and mortality.

God’s action to raise sinful people up from the depths of spiritual death also has another effect: Reconciliation and reunion among all who call upon the Name of the Lord:

(From today’s reading): 12 Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Not only was there a drop into the grave, but in sin, we are also separated, far off, alienated, even from God in the world. And this is what our experience is: Blinded by sin, people find reasons to separate from one another.  Whether it’s divisions of class, skin color, or nationality, mankind has shown itself to be an expert at xenophobia, or even xenocide (killing the alien).  But, in fact, the root of it all is that we were strangers from God (the root xeno means alien or stranger).  Without God, we were without hope because we could only look to this broken mess of a world for salvation.

Yet, just as God reached down into the grave to raise us up, He also reached out to us who were far away and alienated from Him to bring us near by the blood of Jesus Christ. 

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

And this division was expressed in the peculiarity of God’s people Israel.  God Himself was the One who set them apart, distinguished by the commandments and ordinances given through Moses.  They were set apart from all the other nations, not to intermix and keenly aware of the foreignness of the rest of the human race.

All of this, however, was an illustration of the divide between a holy God and the corrupt human race.  Our alienation from God resulted in enmity with each other, but God put an end to this with His own kind of violence.  Notice the words used here: “He has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments”…”killing the hostility.”  It was by the violence of sin and rebellion against God that He worked peace with His rebellious human creatures.  God broke down the dividing wall of enmity by fulfilling the promise made against Satan on behalf of our parents, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between her Offspring and your offspring.” (Genesis 3:15)  The Lord abolished the condemnation of the Law by putting Himself under its judgment on our behalf: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21).  By being killed under the judgment of a sinner, He destroyed that enmity for us who in fact deserve the title, “sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). 

In the wake of God’s violence (His Son nailed to the cross), alienation (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?” Matt. 27:46), and killing the hostility (“It is finished” John 19:30), the rollercoaster ride is finished because heaven and earth are united, Jews and Gentiles are part of one redeemed human family.  The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. (LSB 644, st. 1)

Now this passage also addresses a concern some have about a topic called “Replacement Theology,” which says that the Christian Church has replaced Israel in God’s plan, so that after Pentecost, anything referring to Israel is allegorized and actually refers to the New Testament Church.  Lutherans are accused of subscribing to this.

But what Lutherans actually subscribe to is what Scripture teaches, and it’s clear from Paul’s explanation that while Israel may have come first in time, the Gentiles who were far off were brought in and made part of God’s holy people.  It’s too simple to say that the Church replaced Israel, as if God didn’t really mean it when He spoke of an everlasting covenant.  Rather, in calling non-Jews by faith, God was fulfilling the promise of the covenant He made with Abraham, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen. 12:3)  Israel is also called Abraham’s offspring, and Paul makes it very clear—when false teachers were confusing covenants—27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Gal. 3:27-29) God gave the commandments to show His holy will for humanity, but that by itself saves no one; Israel of all people showed just how much the Law couldn’t justify much less fix our sinful condition.  They showed how much they needed the Christ to be the Lamb of God!  They, along with all the families of the earth, are blessed because God has united His original covenant people in the covenant-now-fulfilled in Christ, and people of every nation through the new covenant in the blood of Jesus.

For all who benefit from the covenant in Jesus’ blood, the blessings prove true, so that we can rejoice as the “daughter of Zion” (Matt. 21:5) and citizens of the “Jerusalem from above” (Gal. 4:26).  God has always wanted, and still desires the descendants of Israel to repent of their idolatry and see the Messiah He has sent, but He won’t save them apart from the Way, the Truth, and the Life [Jn. 14:6]—who is Jesus Christ.  So Paul continues,

17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

This is the true reality for the Church: Peace with God, united together as fellow citizen with the saints and members of God’s household.  God preaches peace to us, and assures us of this truth.

While that rollercoaster ride is finished, our experience preaches another story.  For each of us, we struggled against the passions of our flesh which rear their ugly head in addiction, enmity, fits of anger, sexual sins, dissension, and rebellion against authority (to name a few).  Sometimes we are able to restrain our flesh, and other times we utterly fail.

The experience of the Christian Church on earth is similarly fraught with failure.  As one of four churches in town who bear the name Lutheran, it’s pretty clear how much we fail to live in that unity for which our Lord prays in John 17:11: “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”

If the future of our faith and the future of the Christian Church in the world depended on us, we would all be doomed.  But it is forever God who, out of His great love, saves us from destruction.  “Though with a scornful wonder, the world sees her oppressed/ By schism rent asunder, by heresy distressed/ Yet, saints their watch are keeping/ Their cry goes up, ‘How long?’”  The saints, and fellow members of the household of God rely on God’s faithful work.  His Church is:

20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

We can take comfort in God’s work alone.  It’s Him who pulled us up out from spiritual death and on the road to hell.  By grace we are saved through faith…”and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:9)  Why should we think that once He’s brought us near, that He’s going to leave it up to you to stay?  He has made you alive in Christ so that you know the heavenly perspective, the eternal view, and most of all that He brought you near and made peace by the blood of Christ.  You are baptized into Him.  Your sins are forgiven.  You have peace with God.  We have peace with God, and union with all the saints in Christ who believe this blessed Gospel. This is what God is bringing to pass, but will only be seen on the Last Day.  Until then, we hope in God, who alone is able to achieve this.  Remember, that it is only He who is able to bring people out of unbelief, up from the grave, and set them in the heavenly places to praise Him for eternity.  All glory and thanks be to God forever! Amen.

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Readings: Amos 7:7-15 | Ephesians 1:3-14 | Mark 6:14-29

Text: Ephesians 1:3-14

What does God want to happen?  Well, get comfortable, because this is going to take a while.

 In all seriousness, God’s will is not an easy topic for us to consider because it’s so much greater than we can comprehend.  The Creator of Heaven and Earth rarely ever tells us what He’s doing in any given moment (He doesn’t post photos on Instagram).  There’s a lot that He does without involving or consulting us.  In response to that, we might say, “Well, God’s going to do what He’s going to do, so our part is just to deal with it.”  But that’s missing what God does make known about His heart and what He’s doing.

This first part of Ephesians is an ideal example of this.  Even though God is “the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God” (1 Tim. 1:17), He reveals some tremendous good news to you and me.

The Holy Spirit moved St. Paul to open this letter with this prayer, which is neatly organized around the Holy Trinity: What God the Father does, what God the Son does, and what God the Holy Spirit does (vv. 3-6, 7-12, 13-14).  Each portion concludes with a statement of praise: “To the praise of His glorious grace…to the praise of His glory…to the praise of His glory.”

And in these more manageable chunks, you and I are able to see the tremendous plan and work of God to reach His goal:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

For us, we’re used to thinking about planning and preparation in terms of years. An Olympic gymnast has been practicing since she was 3 years old.   A successful businessman has been building his resume and reputation since his teenage years.  It depends on personal aptitude, decisions our parents made, resources we had or scholarships we received.

But how long has God been working toward achieving the goal of someone’s salvation? “He chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world.”  Literally from time immemorial, before God even said, “Let there be light,” (Gen. 1:3) His decision was to save you in body and soul through His Son, and that you would be counted as holy and blameless before Him.  Out of His magnificent love, He actually foreordained it all to take place—ancestry, events in world history, your place of birth, forming you in your mother’s womb, decisions of your parents, pastors and others who have shared the faith with you, experiences you’ve had including even some of your mistakes[1]—all of it, behind any scenes men are aware of, God worked it all so that you would be adopted by His grace.  Incredible to think that that and more was all orchestrated by the Almighty, for you to have the right to call Him “Father!”

This incredible accomplishment of God was achieved through the Beloved, His Son, Jesus Christ.  This is the name the Father declared at the Jordan River when all Three Persons of the Trinity announced the mighty divine work: 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’” (Matt. 3:16-17)

In the Father’s Beloved Son, Paul continues:

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

If the first part of the prayer about the Father’s work blew us away, the awe only intensifies here.  It would be a fine, reasonable thing if God worked to save the right kind of people.  You know, the “diamond in the rough,” those gems who people say restore their hope in humanity.  But that’s not how it really was.  “Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8)  And Christ Himself said to the upstanding chief priests, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.” (Matt. 21:31) and after He had called a ruthless thief named Zacchaeus to salvation, He said, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)

So where do you measure up?  There have been those who said that God elected people in view (technical term: intuitu fidei) of the faith they would have in the future.  The trouble with that logic is that either God saves people because of their own merit, or He could be accused of stacking the deck and rigging the whole game.  But the truth is more incredible than that: We are all natural-born slaves to sin, the Devil, and death (John 8:31-36).  None of us could work off our debt or escape from sin which ruled over us.

And this is where we need to realize that this isn’t just a measure of our morals.  Here, the sober person has no advantage over the drunk; the faithfully married over the sexual deviant; the nurse over the abortion doctor.  God’s Word makes it clear: “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14:2-3)  Sin has permeated all of us from the heart outward.  It may flare up more in some than others, but it’s “out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:21-22)  It doesn’t matter how right you feel, or how you compare to the next guy: You and I and every person is liable to the righteous judgment of God.

But God, seeing that, paid the price of your debt, and purchased your release: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”  Completely undeserved, without even the thought of repayment, God in His love, has done this for you.  This He pours out upon you “in all wisdom and insight” because He also knows your heart and when you need to hear it, and how this good news will get through to you.  All of this together is the mystery of His will that He makes known to the Christian.  It was hinted at before, in types and shadows like the Flood, the Exodus, and the Temple, but the real deal when one knows and believes what God has done for him or her in Christ.  This is your treasure today.

But there is so much more to come!

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

Zooming back out to the wide shot of God’s eternal purpose, you learn that God’s children also have an inheritance to look forward to.  It takes our mind away from the present worries and discouragement we feel, and the temptation and weakness we know all too well.  This inheritance gives us the confidence of Psalm 46:2-3: “Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.”

But at this point, you might say, What beautiful words these are, but how can we be sure of this?  These “spiritual blessings in the heavenly places” seem far less concrete than the world in which we live, putting food on the table and meeting the needs of those around us.

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

When you make a big purchase, like a house or a car, you’re asked to put a significant amount of money down. It gives assurance that you will make good on paying for the rest of it.  Well, far greater than even the purchase of real estate (which can burn up) or a car (which can break) is the inheritance of eternal life which God has secured for you.  In order to give you surety about His intention to complete your redemption on the Last Day, He gave you a “guarantee” or more accurately, a “down payment.”[2]  The Holy Spirit is the down payment which a Christian has from God.  Even though the Spirit is compared to a down payment, this is far more than a business transaction.  He seals the Christian with the Holy Spirit.  Seal marks authority and ownership, as it’s described in Revelation 7:3: “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”  Your salvation is far too important to God—who created, redeemed, and sanctifies you—to leave up to your own ability.  So He commands His angels concerning you; He preaches His saving Word into your ears; He hold back the Last Day Judgment until all who would believe do. 

Through His work, the Holy Spirit both assures us of the truth of all the Father has promised in Christ (John 15:26), and keeps us in that one, true faith, because “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1:8)

All that brings us back to where we started: What is God’s will?  There are many details we’re not sure of.  Yet, from this portion of His Word, He tells us that in every generation, every circumstance, for every person, it is our God’s will that every sinner heed His call to repent and believe, and that He whose eternal plans are fulfilled in your life, will also bring those to completion at last and for all eternity.  Consider this every time you ask the Lord, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” because hopefully now you can better appreciate what He does in answer to our prayer.

With all this our view, hear the benediction from St. Jude: “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24)


[1] Consider the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:1-17, including the twists and turns in the lives of those through whom God preserved and brought forth His Son according to the flesh.

[2] Also could be translated as pledge or earnest money (ἀρραβών, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon)