Month: October 2020

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

If you recall last week’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus makes the bold statement to give to Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. The main point of it all boiled down to that you are made in the image of the God. You belong to Him, and by being redeemed from your sins by the Lord Jesus Christ who came in our flesh and in our likeness, we are made new in His image via Holy Baptism and thus are indeed able to our thanks and praise to Him by loving him and loving our neighbor as our stations in life bring our way.

So, brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, it should come to no surprise to you that God would speak such words as He spoke to his people in Leviticus 19. You shall be holy, just as I, the Lord your God, am holy. And that holiness is shown by how we love our neighbors and deal justly with them in all circumstances. I imagine some of you are humming the hymn: “They will know we are Christians by our love.”

But herein lies the problem. You are not holy like the Lord. At least your actions do not testify to your holiness. You are not kind and gentle with one another. You show partiality. You show hate towards one another and disdain. You hold grudges against one another for the way a farm deal went down years ago and can barely say one word to your own brother. You speak lies about one another behind one another’s back. We all have been part of the gossip chain. It’s not hard to do at all.

Like James said in his epistle we would rather associate ourselves with the better off families than with those who are poor. James accused the church of committing this sin of partiality. And we have our own sins of partiality to deal with today, perhaps it’s the same kind perhaps not. Perhaps we are partial to like minded individuals and would rather spend our time with them rather than try to walk a mile with someone who is different than us. Partiality comes in all shapes and sizes. And we all have fallen prey in some form or another. It is our human nature to do the very opposite of what God commands. We are sinners and it is our nature to fight against and to rebel against the Lord and His Law. You shall be Holy? It sounds more like a joke rather than an indicative statement concerning your state of being before God. Because we are all far from standard of God’s holiness.

God says that He is concerned about us incurring sin upon ourselves. This shows that He knows we will mess it all up. And He knows that we will not be able to live up to the demands He has made of His chosen.

Why else would the prophets of the Lord speak about the One who is to come. Hear the prophet Isaiah in the 11^th chapter of his book: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jess, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”

Did you hear that? The shoot from the stump of Jesse would do all these things. God knows we certainly couldn’t do it but the one who is called the Son of David but also David’s Lord would. Our Gospel lesson for the day gets to the heart of the confession of God and Man being in one person: Jesus Christ. Jesus is both God and Man at the same time. And He is perfect for you. And perfect for me.

He is the one that perfectly loved the Lord His God with all His heart and with all His soul and with all His mind. And also loved his neighbor as himself. It was the Father’s will for His Son to be born of the Virgin and to serve the world as the perfect example and substitute. Jesus the God Man stood up and did what you could not. He was indeed holy. He did not judge folks according to their standing, but in all things He dealt with all in righteousness and equity.

In fact, it was Jesus who had these done against Him. He had injustice done to him in court. The Late Maundy Thursday night court was a kangaroo court if there ever was one. False witnesses could not even make their lies fit together. And yet, the condemned Jesus to die. Pilate saw nothing in him deserving death, and yet the voices overran him, and the crucifixion occurred.

Jesus sought out the poor and lost, he called out the hypocrites like the Pharisees who were supposed to care for the widows and others but were only concerned about themselves and their standing in the eyes of others. And Jesus calling out their hypocrisy ultimately gets killed for speaking out. He was literally fulfilling Leviticus 19 and all the law of God not to gain himself glory but to give this righteousness and holiness to you.

You shall be holy. You are not holy because of what you have done. Absolutely not. But because of Christ, the Son of David yet David’s Lord, you have been made Holy. For He is the Lord and He has not only declared it to be so, but He has in fact acted to make it so.

A sinful human being cannot be made holy without atonement. Think of Isaiah when he sees the Lord in Isaiah 6. He realizes that he is a man of unclean lips from a people of unclean lips. The Seraph comes flying to him with a burning coal from the fire on the altar and touches Isaiah’s lips with it. The Seraph told him, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” As I told you last week to be atoned means to covered. To be made holy before the Lord is be atoned for by Jesus, literally to be covered by Jesus who died on the cross to take away your sins and give you everlasting life forever.

The question of how someone became holy was one of the most important questions of the Reformation. How is one deemed holy by God? What must one do? Luther was confused by this for many a year. He always had been taught that one must work and do in order to be saved, to be called holy by God. But for Luther all he saw was his wretchedness. He believed the word of God which said: “I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and forth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” And being a pious man, Luther was petrified because how could He love God enough? How could Luther keep the commandments perfectly? He was looking at himself and saw only failure. And the burden of the Law of God was great. And it should be because by it we realize that we cannot do enough by the Law to be called holy at least in the sight of God. We are filthy and unclean sinners in thought, word, and deed.

But the real Reformation for Luther came when he heard the words of Romans 1:16-17: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” The one who is righteous is also holy. Those words the righteous shall live by faith made all the difference in the world.

We are made holy not on account of our works but because of faith in the one was born of the Virgin Mary and suffered and died under Pontius Pilate, descended into hell and on the third day rose from the dead, and thus ascended to the right hand of God the Father to judge both the living and the dead. That is how one is made holy. Becoming holy is not something you do to yourself. No, you are acted upon by the Holy Spirit via the preaching of God’s Word of Christ Jesus.

Those who have ears and hear are declared holy for the sake of Christ, for He has died, was buried, rose and ascended to the right hand of the Father for them. He declares that they are holy just He is holy. You have been declared holy and righteous for the sake of Christ. Because you have been made in His image in your Holy Baptism.

Remember from last week, you are regenerated in Christ’s image. You are the spitting image of Him who has created you, redeemed you, and now says to you, “You are holy.” You are holy not for the sake of your own works but deemed holy by the works of Christ for you. That was what the Reformation was all about. Christ and Him Crucified that is what makes you holy in the sight of God the Father.

Being deemed righteous and holy for the sake of your Lord Jesus Christ transforms you.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners, not sits in the seat of scoffers: but his delight is in the Law, that is the Torah, or Word of the Lord, and on his Torah, he meditates day and night. For by this Word, in which Jesus declares you Holy for His Sake, you are like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding the fruit that is good, and your leaves do not wither. What a thing. Jesus calls himself the vine in John 15 and you are his branches. You are being fed by His Word and Sacraments. By them, you are being made holy so that the works that you do towards your neighbors – as imperfect as they may be due to still living in our sinful flesh and world – are seen as good by the Lord, not because they are perfect works but because you called holy for the sake of Jesus Christ. You are living the life of faith in Christ Jesus, and you will do good works toward your neighbor because that is what the One in whose image you are regenerated did. Should we not walk in His ways? We are called to walk in manner worthy of the Lord for He has called us holy. Just as He is Holy. Let us live with one another and encourage one another in this life to which we all have been called by His Word.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp 
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church 
La Grange, MO  

©2020 Jacob Hercamp. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Sunday is our annual observation of Reformation Day. In this post, I wanted to look for a few moments at the Hymn of the Day, “A Mighty Fortress.”

A lot was happening between the years 1527 and 1529: A plague came upon Wittenberg. Luther contracted a serious illness. The threat of the Turk was lurking nearby. Catholic armies threatened the Lutheran areas. Catholic and the more radical Reformers were lobbing theological attacks, too. There was danger at every turn. And though the hymn is often known as “The Battle Hymn of the Reformation,” perhaps it is better seen how a 1529 printing characterized it: “A Hymn of Comfort.”

And a hymn of comfort it is!

The 46^th Psalm begins, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” It is a comforting phrase. The psalm boasts of the confidence we have in God. But why have that confidence? Because he is with us: “The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” With this confidence in the God who is with us, we know that what he says and does settle any matter: “He makes wars cease to the end of the earth….”

Luther’s hymn, however, is not a simple translation of the psalm. Instead, we have an expansion of the Psalm with New Testament themes. For example, nowhere in the 46^th Psalm is the devil mentioned. But when we look at “A Mighty Fortress,” he is mentioned in the first stanza. As we declare that our God is a mighty fortress who frees us from every need, we also immediately set our sights on the one who would direct us away from our God. That Old Evil Foe who desires to shipwreck our faith and see us abandon that mighty fortress.

We also note the power of this foe: Deep guile and great might are he dread arms in fight; On earth is not his equal. The devil is abundantly clever and is extraordinarily strong. He can deceive the brightest among us. Jesus even calls him the strong man. Indeed, on earth, there is no matching him. At the end of the first verse of this hymn of comfort, it seems that the devil might just be winning this battle.

No matter how hard we try and how focused we are, there is nothing we can do to defeat the devil. This is the point of the second verse. We cannot win. In fact, we are already defeated. Think of a battlefield where you are outnumbered, outflanked, out skilled, and overmatched. You are considering the pros and cons of running away or surrendering. Neither solution is a good one.

But then, just before you enter full despair, you see something just over the crest of a hill. A rescuer! The one who can defeat your enemy and preserve you. This is the imagery of the second stanza. Realizing we are helpless and will soon be defeated by the devil, our valiant One, the One whom God Himself elected, arrives. Ask ye, Who is this? Jesus Christ it is, Of Sabaoth Lord, And there’s none other God; He holds the field forever.

he third stanza comes with some stunning imagery: Devils fill the world. They are hungry to grab and devour. And yet, despite their fierceness “We tremble not, we fear no ill; They shall not overpow’r us. Yes, the devil may be the prince of this world, but over our souls, he is utterly powerless. As our Lord says in Matthew, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” The fact is the devil is judged, condemned, and defeated. One little word, Jesus, sends him a flight and fleeing.

The final stanza’s first part is the most difficult to understand. Essentially, the enemies of God must let the Word remain. They have no choice; they are powerless to overcome it. Even if, even when they wish it were not true and would go away, there it is.

ut even though that may mean strife for us, it is still good news for us. He’s by our side upon the plain With His good gifts and Spirit. Those good gifts are the Word and Sacraments. We can literally lose everything, Goods, fame, child, and wife, these spiritual enemies of ours do not gain what they truly desire. They do not obtain our souls. The kingdom of God remains outside their grasp. Even if all we have is stripped away, Though these all be gone, Our vict’ty has been won; The Kingdom ours remaineth.

Here we are, nearly 500 years after A Mighty Fortress is penned, and we face uncertain times. Our nation is in distress. The culture is more and more intolerant of Christians and our beliefs. There is a pandemic that has frightened many to their core. But what the world has lost, we have: hope and comfort.

Whatever Satan throws our way, the worst he can do is harm our bodies. You are bought with the shed blood of Christ. You are redeemed by him. Washed clean in Holy Baptism. He feeds you his very Body and Blood. He promises to always be with you and never forsake you. What is there to truly fear?

Rev. Brent Keller 
Peace Lutheran Church 
Alcester, SD  

©2020 Brent Keller. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com.

Encore Post: Soon after the death and resurrection of Jesus, as the gospel spread throughout the Roman world, the Gentiles Christians met had no problem with the truth that Jesus was God. They were accustomed to thinking of great leaders, like the Caesars, as sons of the gods. The chief obstacle was the belief that the spiritual world was good, but the physical world bad. No god worth his deity would want to be a man and no man in his right mind would want to rise from the dead bodily.

In fact, a popular religious movement, known as Gnosticism, was very popular during the early years of the church. Gnostics liked to adapt existing religious systems to their own worldview. To them, the spiritual world is good, perfect, ideal and pure. The physical world is bad, evil, imperfect changing and polluted. The body, they believed, was a prison, in which pieces of the true God are trapped. These pieces, known as immortal souls are deceived and ignorant of their true identity. Unless someone gives them the secret knowledge (the word Gnosis, from which the movement is named, means knowledge) that they are one with God. That is where gnostic teachers came in — to give new Gnostics the knowledge they need to escape the physical world. Το Gnostics, the desires of the body were either evil, because they convinced you this world was real, or didn’t matter, because they are an illusion.

When Gnostics decided to make Christianity their own, they saw Jesus as the λόγος — Logos — The Word, who pretended to be a man or adopted the man Jesus as a vehicle, to give us this secret knowledge. To them, there was nothing more offensive than the incarnation or that God would suffer and die. So they found ways to explain them away. The church rejected this movement very vigorously. Yet in the process of trying to make the faith attractive to Gnostics, they adopted the philosophy that the body and its passions were bad.

Yet there is nothing further than the truth. God made us, body and soul. He made us male and female. He created the emotions and drives that bring a man and woman together in marriage. He called it all very good. Sin and death corrupt these drives, seasoning them with self-interest. Yet, in their place, these things are great blessings. One day, spirit and body will be severed violently and unnaturally. They were never meant to be a part.

That is why God the Son became a man, suffered and died for us on the cross and rose from the dead. The seal of the grave broken, he will call us back from our graves, restore our bodies and bring us — body and soul together again to the marriage feast of the Lamb. So, it’s not Body vs. Spirit. It is Body and Soul together in Christ forever.

©2019 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Encore Post: Our body matters. At first, that might seem to be obvious. Especially in America, we see endless advertisements calling attention to our bodies. We sell products with beautiful people, barely dressed, trying to convince us to buy a car or other products. We are told we need to lose weight, grow hair — or remove it, have surgery to improve our looks or make us look forever young.

Yet increasingly, we are urged to follow our feelings wherever they lead. If we are male, but feel female, we should use modern medicine to change that. If we are female, but feel male, we should change that too. If we feel attracted to someone not of our own sex, we should remain true to that too.

It seems that our body really matters to our society, but, in fact, it is the opposite. We our told what matters is what is inside of us — we should be true to our feelings, wherever they lead. If our body disagrees — no problem! We just change that, ironically, claiming we are born that way. We are, in effect, told to ignore our body and follow our souls. The result is we never seem to be satisfied and the pursuit of happiness ends in loneliness. Except for brief moments, happiness is beyond our reach. If anything, the quest for fulfillment ends with us empty and alone.

King Solomon discovered these things to his sorrow. At the end of his life, filled with every conceivable blessing, after following his passions, he discovered that the pursuit of happiness was an empty exercise. It was “chasing the wind.” What he did discover, however, was the secret of happiness. He explains it all in his book, Ecclesiastes. “Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20)

Our bodies and souls are gifts from God. Instead of focusing on feelings and what they desire, we do better to enjoy what he has given us. So precious are we — body and soul — that he became one of us in his Son Jesus Christ. He lived, suffered, died and rose again to redeem us. On the last day, he will raise our body from the dust, restore us to the image of his Son and remove sin and death forever. So, yes, our body matters.

©2019 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com