How sweet the name of Jesus sounds In a believer’s ear! It soothes our sorrows, Heals our wounds, And drives away our fear.
This first verse speaks so beautifully of faith, that we hear the name of Jesus when we are baptized and when we hear the Word and when we pray and when we receive the Supper. Faith is not about what we see with our eyes, but what we hear with our ears. What is it that we hear? We hear comfort during our grief, and restoration after sickness, and peace in the midst of fearful times. What power the name of Jesus has!
It makes the wounded spirit whole And calms the heart’s unrest; ‘Tis manna to the hungry soul And to the weary, rest.
This verse refers to the manna that fell from heaven in the wilderness for the people of Israel. It connects us also to the story of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 by the Sea of Galilee. It certainly reminds us also of the Lord’s Supper that we eat in Jesus’ name and by His command and institution. This is the manna for our hungry soul, even the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear name! The rock on which I build, My shield and hiding place; My never-failing treasury filled With boundless stores of grace.
In this world there is shaky ground and wavering wind. But on Christ the solid Rock we stand. This name above all names is our firm foundation. In this world there are many attacks waged on souls from all corners. But Jesus is our shield and our hiding place. Here we have a Defender; we do not need to defend ourselves. Here we know we are safe; the enemy cannot find us!
O Jesus, shepherd, guardian, friend, My Prophet, Priest, and King, My Lord, my life, my way, my end, Accept the praise I bring.
This verse sings so many names of Jesus. These titles are found throughout the Bible to comfort those in need. Jesus is the Shepherd, guardian, and friend. What more could we need? He is the Prophet, Priest, and King. We know what He has done for us, and that He is the greatest prophet, the greatest priest, and the greatest king that ever was and ever will be. Jesus is the Lord who offers life eternal and is the way to heaven forever and ever.
How weak the effort of my heart, How cold my warmest thought! But when I see Thee as Thou art, I’ll praise Thee as I ought.
The hymnwriter understands his own weakness and so do we. We are sinners, unable to believe in God on our own. We cannot save ourselves or forgive ourselves. We certainly cannot pay the wages of sin, death. But when we see the Lord Jesus on the cross, suffering and dying for us, we see how the Lord is, who the Lord is, and what the Lord is doing for us.
Till then I would Thy love proclaim With ev’ry fleeting breath; And may the music of Thy name Refresh my soul in death!
This final verse is placed in the present time, as we sing it with him and all the church on earth. While we live we proclaim the name of Jesus. While we sing we know He soothes our soul. While we worship, we pray, praise, and give thanks for the name of Jesus who accomplished our own salvation. When our last hour comes, we have every confidence in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting, that even the name of Jesus that saves us will deliver us from this vale of tears to Himself forever. How refreshing is that thought!
Rev. James Peterson First Lutheran Church Phillipsburg, Kansas
O Word of God incarnate, O Wisdom from on high, O Truth unchanged, unchanging, O Light of our dark sky: We praise You for the radiance That from the hallowed page, A lantern to our footsteps, Shines on from age to age.
“The book becomes a boy” is the opening thought for this hymn today. We know that the Old Testament sought the Messiah in earnest for many centuries. But now, as Jesus is born, the Word of God becomes a person born into the world. What a blessing this is!
Proverbs especially speaks of the Messiah as Wisdom. Wisdom of the world offers no grace or mercy. But the Wisdom from on high is first and foremost the Lord Himself, who knows all things because He created all things. Wisdom for Christians is what we often call faith. This is wise, that we follow the Lord.
What is Truth? Pilate says to Jesus on the steps before His trial. And yet, the Truth was standing right in front of him. We live in a world full of lies and liars. But our Lord entered this world to show us the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This way is through His death on the cross. There is but one Truth, that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ, and that He died for the sins of all the world.
Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. We consider light these days to be an every day all day sort of thing. We do not understand the blessing of light. But in the time of Jesus, when there was no light at night, no electricity at all, there was only darkness and fear. Night was the time for sinfulness. But Jesus casts His Light over the world, exposing sin and bringing us to see Him clearly as the Savior for sin.
The Church from You, dear Master, Received the gift divine; And still that light is lifted O’er all the earth to shine. It is the chart and compass That, all life’s voyage through, Mid mists and rocks and quicksands Still guides, O Christ, to You.
What is it that the Church believes and receives? We received the forgiveness of our sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. These are gifts, and we do not deserve them. But our Lord and Master gave them, gave them freely and completely. These we do not receive in merely some spiritual sense that plays with our emotions. These gifts divine we receive in certain ways, namely through the Word and Sacraments.
O make Your Church, dear Savior, A lamp of burnished gold To bear before the nations Your true light as of old! O teach Your wand’ring pilgrims By this their path to trace Till, clouds and darkness ended, They see You face to face!
This final verse points us to the ongoing work in our congregation and to the future of the Church in this world. Like the book of Revelation says, the Church is a lamp in its various places to shine forth the love of Christ for the world. We bear before the nations the marks of the Lord upon us, both on our forehead and upon our heart, that we would shine the true light of the Gospel of Jesus into the darkest places on the earth.
The hymn ends with us considered as pilgrims, not living in the world as the final destination, but living for the sake of the Gospel in this world anticipating the world to come, where we shall see the Lord face to face forever and ever.
Rev. James Peterson First Lutheran Church Phillipsburg, Kansas
That question was heavy on the minds of the reformation Lutherans preceding adoption the Formula of Concord in 1580 AD too.
For our time, their diligence still gives wisdom to us. Our society also misunderstands what it is and how it works. There are no societal “original sins,” not racism, classism, nor colonialism. Original Sin only comes into us by the fall in the garden. It is forgiven only in Jesus Christ. And, it is only fully relieved from us in the resurrection. We cannot atone for it ourselves. There is no sin for which Jesus didn’t die. Here are some of points from The Formula of Concord, the Epitome.
Original sin comes to us from the fall. “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. [Romans 5:12]”
Original Sin is inherited by natural conception and birth. (In vitro fertilization and c-section birth are still natural. The virgin conception and birth of Jesus are divinely supernatural and outside of Original Sin). “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.“[Psalm 51:4-5]
Concupiscence, which is real sin, is broken by Baptism and the Holy Spirit. Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit“. [John 3:5-6]
Human nature is created perfect. “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” [Genesis 1:31]
It is still God who creates and preserves life. “You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you ,and you forgot the God who gave you birth.” [Deuteronomy 32:18]
The only human born in a supernatural way without Original Sin is Jesus. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” [John 1:14]
Jesus suffered all that human nature and life are including temptation by the Devil. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”[Hebrews 4:15]
Original Sin is an inward corruption of our Human Nature, that remains with us until the resurrection of all flesh on the last day. “As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”” [Romans 3:10-12 (citing: Ps. 14:1-3; 53:1-3)]
We are not able to fully describe or number our sins. “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.” [Psalm 19:12] In the resurrection, we will finally be from the corruption of Original Sin. “After my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart yearns within me!” [Job 19:26-27]
Jesus died to forgive your Original Sin and to free you from it on the last day.
Rev. Jason M. Kaspar Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool La Grange, TX
Norma Normans, Norma Normata. These two Latin phrases describe our understanding of the Word of God. They also tell us how the Lutheran Confessions fit into our understanding of the Christian faith.
Norma Normans, the norming norm, that’s a peculiar way of saying that the Word of God, the Bible, is chief over all Christians and Christianity. We read, mark, and inwardly digest the scriptures.
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that, by patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. [Collect for the Word, LSB 265]
Our hermeneutic (principle of interpretation) is that scripture interprets scripture. The clearer passages help to understand the less clear. And all of it is given to us for our good, to instruct the Christian life. And how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. [2 Timothy 3:15-17]
It is through this very Word that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, guides us in all truth. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. [Psalm 119:105]
Norma Normata, the norm which is normed, is the theology we draw from the scriptures. It must never conflict with the Word of God. The norm, the scriptures, stands above our doctrine and always stands to correct it. Similarly, we should not tolerate preaching or teaching that deviates from the Word of God, not even from an apparent vision from heaven. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. [Galatians 1:8]
Every teacher is subject to the plain teaching of scripture. There were false teachers at the time of the apostles too. They didn’t stand for false teaching within the Body of Christ. And the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. 33For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. [1 Corinthians 14:32-33]
Those doctrines which stand the test ought to be upheld. False teaching is to be rejected. But, right teaching edifies the church and protects us from sin and great harm. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. [1 Thessalonians 5:19-22]
It’s our duty to preserve and uphold right teaching, not just among us. But it is also our responsibility to retain the right teaching we have received, to discern the former errors and stand watch against them too.
Lord, preserve us by Your Word.
Rev. Jason M. Kaspar Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool La Grange, TX
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
It is often the case that what Jesus preaches and teaches one day, He reinforces again not too many days later. In the parable from last week, Jesus spoke about the seed which is sown and how it grows. He took us back to the image of creation. We were reminded that He himself identified as the Seed of the Woman who would come and make things new, reconciling us back to God. He came into the world, becoming flesh, to save fallen humanity from eternal death and hell. He was making things new by sowing into our hearts and the hearts of all mankind His Word via the preaching of those He has sent to sow the Word abroad.
Jesus’ words have power. They God’s Word, for He is God. His Words are life giving. If the winds and the sea obey His Words, do you not think we should fear Him? If He can make the natural world listen to Him, do you not think He can also bring about disaster by one little word too? We are right to fear Him. Jesus does have power over wind and sea, but He has power over all things. And He as a man born of the blessed Virgin has been given power, dominion, and authority over all things, and will execute that power on the last day. And He do all this as a man.
The disciples and we too should really not receive the mercies that we do. We gripe about a lot of different things. We are bound to say something like this: “Life isn’t fair God. You took the love of my life from me via cancer. You gave me bad eyes. Can’t you see this congregation of yours is perishing? What are you doing? What did we do? Do you care, God, that your servants are languishing under this suffering?” Have many of those things reverberate in your mind? Have we done what Job did and say that we are pure and without transgression, that we are clean and there is no iniquity in me? Are we too good for all these bad things to happen to us? Are we just innocent victims of all this? Or are we getting something that we deserve. The truth is if we got what we truly deserved it would be a drowning in the boat, eternal death and hell for us all. For nothing in us is good, our hearts continually commit evil. There is none of us who are good, no not one. We are full of sin of one kind or another, deserving the full wrath of God.
When the disciples cry out, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Christ our Lord shows His compassion and mercy upon the poor disciples. So also, He shows us mercy when don’t deserve it. The Lord Jesus loves us, as He loved Job and His disciples. He brought them to repentance and faith by the preaching of His Word. You get a bit of that preaching from Him in Job, and you hear the disciples question who Jesus is because they were still filled with fear of what they had just witnessed. Both Job and the disciples saw Jesus doing what Jesus does. He has command over all creation. He is great, they are small and lowly. They fear, but He has mercy on those who fear Him. He speaks, creating in them repentance and faith. The disciples were learning to trust what Jesus said because when He speaks the thing which He speaks happens.
Jesus, who is the Word of God incarnate, has power over wind and sea. It is only fitting then that the Word which He speaks also has the power to create faith in His people. Think about the man who was paralyzed. Not only did Jesus forgive the man’s sins but also told him to rise and walk in order to show that the Son of Man had authority to forgive sins. All of it happened instantly. The seed is sown and faith grows in the heart. A new creation begins. This is a faith which clings to Christ’s Word, rightly fearing Him, but also loving Him because His Word is not just a word that rains down gloom and doom but rather the promise of the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life in Him because He poured out His blood at the cross for the world, for you.
Christ promises to build His church on earth, and by Him speaking it, so shall it be. And so, if we take this a step further, Jesus showers upon all the world his forgiveness by the preaching of his atoning sacrifice at the cross, His resurrection from the dead for our justification, as well as his Ascension to the right hand of the Father, from thence He now rules over His Church on Earth until He returns the same way He came into Heaven. You hear His Word, so you receive Him, and you grow in your faith in Him.
If Jesus is indeed God, what is for Him to tell His Disciples that Baptism is the means by which a person enters into the Kingdom of God, and is cleansed from all sin? Jesus’ Word does what it says. The same for Holy Communion. What is it for Jesus to take up bread and say to His disciples, “Take and it, this is My body?” And taking a cup and saying, “Take and drink all of you, this cup is the New Testament in my Blood for the forgiveness of your sins?” If he has power over wind and sea, certainly He has power over bread and wine and they will be exactly what He says they are.
So why do we doubt what He says, when wind and sea obey Him? Why do we doubt that Christ has come to give us forgiveness of sins and everlasting life with Him, purchased and won by his sacrifice at the cross? Have we fallen into the lie of Satan that God does not really love us but rather would love to see us perish in anguish? If that be so, why did He not just let the boat perish? Why did God not just allow Satan to take Job at the beginning? Why did God take Israel out of Egypt? The Israelites believed that God was going to just kill them in the desert. But the Lord God is not sadistic. But He teaching us His way. Suffering comes before exaltation, even for the only begotten Son Jesus Christ. He is not exalted before His suffering and death on the cross. So, we trust in what our Lord is doing, because by these things we are being brought to a right and proper knowledge, fear, love and trust in our Lord that we may be saved from eternal torment.
The 2nd commandment, which we recited this morning, deals with the name of the Lord. In all times and situations, we are called to call upon Him. In times of suffering call upon Him. In times of temptation, call upon Him. In times of thanksgiving, call upon Him. You have that right, for you are his child and He your Father by the waters of Holy Baptism. He has placed His name upon you at Holy Baptism. He has marked you His own child by the sign of the cross, so talk to your Heavenly Father. In other words, pray to Him. It does not need to be anything polished. Most of the time it will be like the disciples in our reading calling out our gripes and our fears. But this is what our Lord desires because He loves granting you mercy and love. That is His nature. “Call upon me in your day of trouble, I will deliver you and you will honor me.” Our Lord desires to hear our prayers.
Our Lord especially loves to hear you tell Him what He has promised He will do. A prayer might be something like this, “Lord God, you have promised all things work for the good of those who love you. Grant me courage to trust your promise as I carry the heavy burden of cancer in my body. I do not know why you laid this upon me, but help me O Lord to put my trust in you to carry me through the trials and tribulations, as you have promised to do, for the sake of my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.” Or it might be even less, “God, you promised. Now help me in my sufferings!” Our Lord binds up those who are suffering and are hurting, and renews their strength. Now it may not be exactly what we expect. Healing may not come in this life time, but it will be done because He has spoken, and He will do it.
So come to Him, as children come to their dear Father, and receive from Him everything He has for you in Christ Jesus, who lived, died, and rose that you might know the fullness of God’s love for you. In Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The words of our Lord Jesus should make your ears perk up, as it most assuredly made the ears of His original hearers perk up. Seed, sower, and ground. A word picture of creation. That is what you see when a seed is scattered on the ground, it sprouts up and begins to produce its flower and fruit or grain. It just happens. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind (Gen 1:11-13). So also, in the beginning when God gave dominion to man and woman, He said to them, “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:26-28) They were to grow and scatter, filling the earth, living before the Lord God forever in gladness.
But the unthinkable happened, the serpent, the murderer from the beginning, came and brought upon Adam and Eve and the fruit of their union and every union since, death (Gen 3:1-19) You plant a seed, but you bury a body. A planted seed sprouts, a buried body is food for the worms. The children of Adam and Eve would be going back to the dust from which they came without any hope.
But in this moment of utter disaster, when all hope of living before God was lost, the Lord God came to the defense of Adam and Eve and spoke that beautiful promise you heard last week. A new Seed, the Seed of the woman who would come and defeat the serpent at his dirty game. This Seed would be planted into the earth and would bear the fruit which the Old Adam no longer could even dream of producing before God.
The Seed is none other than Jesus Christ. His father sent Him, and He was planted into the womb of the Virgin Mary by the preaching of the Angel Gabriel. He was born to the Virgin, in the town of Bethlehem. He came just like a tiny mustard seed in the eyes of the world. Hardly a soul paid a bit of attention to the babe in the stable. And this Seed would grow in wisdom and stature. He was becoming like the noble cedar prophesied by Ezekiel in our reading from his great prophetic book.
It is He who came to crush the head of the serpent. Jesus reminded His disciples in what manner this would come about. In John 12 Jesus says, “Truly, Truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” There are those who would say Jesus is wrong, that the bible has an error here. A seed has to germinate to produce fruit say the scientists, and they are true. But this Seed, Jesus, He must die in order for you to have life again. He is speaking about the manner in which your redemption would come about. He must go to the cross and die and be buried and in three days rise from the dead. He gives up His life for you. Paul says in his first epistle to the Corinthians, “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20-28). Jesus went through death and rose from the dead that you, who confess faith in Him, would as well.
The cross of Jesus is the tree which is the refuge of all who are weak and heavy laden with sin and sorrow in this life. Come and take up refuge here in its shadow. The benefits of Christ’s cross comes to you in the Sacraments which Christ our Lord instituted. Through them you are given the fruits of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. Your sins are forgiven. They are washed away by His cleansing blood. You are made new in Christ Jesus in the waters of Holy Baptism. You are made in the image of a new seed, the kind that no longer dies. You will live forever with Christ in the Kingdom that has no end. Your faith is sustained in the eating and drinking of his body and blood.
This is the message which we have received by the preaching of God’s Ministers of the Gospel. This is the promise of Christ Jesus by which you have been called to faith in Him. That yes, while still live in our sinful flesh and still sin much because we fall into many temptations, we have a Lord who has come and has saved us from the wages of sin. Death no longer has dominion over Him, and by faith in Him it no longer has dominion over us. This is our confession. Indeed, we deserve punishment and eternal death for our sins, but for the sake of Jesus our Lord who died for us, we have the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation in His Name. Thanks be to God. We have found shade and refuge in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The world does not look favorably upon our Lord, His cross, our His sowers of the blessed Gospel. But the Word of our Lord is powerful, and will sustain you unto the time that the Lord deems the harvest ready. His Word speaks to you, you literally have the seed planted into you by the preaching of it, and it sprouts and faith grows in the fertile heart. God sends His Word, and it will not return to Him void. Therefore do not stop being edified by the word of God and the preaching thereof. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. Joyfully hear Christ’s Words for you in order that you be sustained in this faith delivered to you in the waters of Holy Baptism as you traverse this life. Remember you are not alone as you walk in this world. He promises He is with you and never will leave you nor forsake you.
He promises He will create something new. And He has by His Son’s death and resurrection. We may not look like much right now in the world — nothing more than the tree from Charlie Brown’s Christmas — but we appear glorious in the eyes of our heavenly Father. John the beloved disciples says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
And you are sustained by the hearing of His Word and the reception of His Sacrament, His Body and His Blood. You are being kept safe in His love, the love poured out for you at His cross. And being seed of His kind by the waters of Baptism, you will bear the same fruit. You are called to a life faith in the Lord as well as a live of service and love to one another. As Paul said last week, “so we believe, so we speak.” So, speak about the new creation you are because of Christ Jesus because He has come to save you. You are of good seed, seed that is imperishable. We are called to talk about what has happened to us in Christ Jesus. It might not look like much with earthly eyes, but the message is true. Let hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
The Sower of Christ’s Word is called to simply sow the Word abroad. God, Himself, gives the growth. And the seed will grow where it will in the time that God has appointed. We will likely not see the fruits of such scattering, but rejoice and be glad that you are called to the labor of proclaiming Christ to those who surround you in this life. And rejoice all the more if the Lord lets you see the fruits of faith come to maturity in those you have spoken the good news of Christ. The Kingdom might look tiny, just like the baby in a manger, or man naked on a cross, but what we are is known to God, and I hope it known also in your conscience. You are of good seed, you are Christ’s. Therefore, you are a new creation and will be numbered with the fruit following the firstfruits of Christ.
Why are we the loneliest generation? With ever-present devices designed for communication, we can be instantly in contact with every friend we ever had. Social media allows us to do this easily and effortlessly not only by phone, but by computer or by simply speaking to devices we’ve installed throughout our homes. These were lifelines for us during the pandemic of 2020-21, allowing us even to watch worship services and sermons while barred from gathering in person. These blessings tempt us to think we do not need to get together with others or even go to church in person.
Yet study after study tells us what we know deep down. Disembodied communications will do in a pinch, but we really do need each other and not a ghost of each other on a computer screen. The shut down of society resulted in record numbers of suicides, drug overdose deaths and domestic violence. The heart-breaking images on TV news of spouses and children, separated from loved ones as they died haunt us.
None of this should surprise us. God made human beings to be with him and with each other. In the Garden of Eden, God observed “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make a helper fit for him.” (Genesis 2:18) So he made a woman to be with him. He then commanded our first parents to have children and fill the world with their descendents. Because God made humanity in his image, we are made to live with each other, much like the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are not alone, but live together eternally.
When sin separated God from people and people from each other, God did not leave it that way. God’s Son was sent by the Father to become a flesh-and-blood man, conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Through his sufferings and death, he paid the price for our salvation and destroyed the separation between God and his people and the wall of hostility between us all. He calls us together to live with him and each other. When we gather together, he is with us all. When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, the Lord Jesus himself is with us literally to give us his body to eat and his blood to drink. When we do this, he is really present with us and we are really present with each other.
Since God made us to be with each other, we need to gather together. Each of us brings a different set of gifts and talents to the mix. The truth is that we need each other, no matter how unimportant we might think of ourselves. (1 Corinthian 12:12-30) When we get together, God is present to give us his gifts of the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. We rejoice together in these gifts, share each other’s sufferings and each other’s blessings. We encourage each other to love God and our neighbors. We support each other in doing the good works God calls us to do.(Hebrews 10:19-25)
This is why we gather together, being really present with each other, really present as Christ’s Church and really present with our Lord with whom we will live forever.
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Adam and Eve were in great shape. They had been blessed by the Lord, commanded to have dominion over the earth, to be fruitful and multiply. They were living a good life in the garden, the home prepared for them by the Lord their God. But it wasn’t very long before the serpent came tempting. Eve was simply outmatched; the serpent was stronger than Eve who tried to put somewhat of a defense. Adam on the other hand was less than impressive not saying a single word against the assault of the serpent upon Eve. He was there the entire time at her side, but Adam, who should have been protecting Eve from the serpent, did nothing. Adam failed his wife that day. With their fall, no longer listening to and doing the will of God, they were cast out of the house and family of God. Adam and Eve were strong but the serpent was stronger, and so he bound them and took them as his bounty. He took them into his house of death.
Adam and Eve were now slaves in a strong man’s house. Stuck in sin, slaves to it and their passions, they and their children would meet their eternal deaths. They would be under the burden of their sin, and would face the temporal consequences. The earth would no longer give up its bountiful harvests. Children would not come easily for husband and wife, and if they were to have one or two, rearing children would be its own difficult task. And wife’s desire would be to supplant husband as head of household, and man would then seek to rule over her, neither of which lead to a happy and successful marriage. Rather, strife ensues. Stuck in the strong man’s house, the house of the serpent, to whom they had hooked their wagons when taking the fruit, desiring to be wise, they now were being led to eternal death.
You are the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. Do you do your own will? Or do you listen to and do God’s will? Do you know His Will? The strong man, Satan, makes you wonder just like he made Eve. And we without the calling of the Holy Spirit in Gospel are bound to believe Satan. Is God’s will actually good for me? He would also lie and say no.
But yet, what if I told you, God’s will is right under your nose, and that it is really good for you? If you answered you did not know God’s will, you are welcome to open your bible and read. Our Lord’s will is made known to you, because God’s Word is His will. It is plain and simple right in front of you. He had given Adam and Eve His will by speaking to them the words concerning this tree. “Let us make man in our image” the Lord said. Creating Adam and Eve and every single of you was His Will. “You shall not eat of the tree in the middle of the garden, for the moment you do, you shall surely die.” More of God’s will was made known to Adam and Eve. Every tree is given you for food, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was God’s will.
After our mother and father fell – and plunging all of humanity with them into the depths of death and sin – God’s will is for redemption to take place. He does not utterly destroy His creation in those tense moments after the first sin, but He shows His intense love for it. He makes the promise to save Adam and Eve and all their children who would follow in their sinful ways. Our Lord’s love for His creation never changes. The Lord would save it via the seed of the woman.
Now a woman does not have a seed. She has an egg. This is no ordinary child promised to be born of the woman. He can’t be born the natural way otherwise he would carry the sin of Adam and Eve. But God the Holy Spirit would overshadow Mary and she would give birth to Jesus the very Son of God, and He would live, fight and die for our redemption against the strong man, Satan. For when He looks at us, He sees his mother, sisters, and brothers. Jesus, our Lord came into the world, the devil’s playground, or as others call it, enemy occupied territory, to take for Himself that which was His from the beginning. He, the stronger man, came to bind the strong man, Satan, that He might have His inheritance. His inheritance is you and all the faithful of God. It is you in whom our Lord Jesus Christ delights. And He delighted in you from the moment of creation and even after the fall. His delight in us is made known to us in and through our Lord’s incarnation, life, and ultimately his death on the cross. He did the will of His Father that you might be welcomed back into the family and household of God for the sake of Christ who died and rose for you.
You then, are no longer a slave in the house of Satan; death has no dominion over you because your Lord Jesus has come and has bound Satan by defeating Him at the cross. Death had no hold on Him, and because you have been brought to the waters of Holy Baptism and have been washed in the Water and Word, you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. He, who bound himself to our flesh by His incarnation, now binds you to Himself in the waters of Holy Baptism forever. Rejoice and be glad for He has redeemed you. You are made new and the new man stands and lives before God, ready to do His will, joyfully hearing His Word and trusting in it for everlasting life.
We are led to believe that God’s will for us is something that is extremely personal. I have heard many a prayer asking for God to show His will for a certain person’s life. A question might be posed this way: What is God’s will for me in this life? Maybe it is a prayer in the imperative command, “Lord, show me your will!” We might think we don’t know it, but its most likely we have failed to pay attention to His Word, which is His Will. They are one and the same. The will of your Father in heaven is for you listen to the words of His Son and believe Him that you might be saved from everlasting death and hell. That is God’s will for you and all humanity. Christ says, “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” Ultimately it comes down to the first commandment, do you believe in the God who says, “You shall have no other gods before me” or do you not? Do you believe the words of the Incarnate Son of God, who in His pre-incarnate state spoke the Ten commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai, or do you not? Are you going to trust in what Jesus says or are you going to put your trust and your hope in something else?
To whose house do you belong? The house of death? Or the house of life? “Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” These words should make us at least look at our lives and ask if we are really doing God’s will. Are we listening to His Word and believing it as He has spoken? Have we tried to lessen some of the burdens of God’s Word because we don’t like what it says because it may be hard to hear and pierces the heart? When we try to form God or Jesus into something other than what He has said about Himself in His Word we are creating an idol, who is really not God at all.
Repent, and confess your sins and believe in the one who has redeemed you and forgives your sins against God’s will, Jesus Christ. That is is the will of God the Father, for your to believe in His Son and be raised to everlasting life on the last day.
While we wait for that day, we live here and now. Strive in this life to do better in keeping your Lord’s Word front and center in your lives. Fight against your sinful and lazy flesh. Do not roll over on your pillow and attend St. Snooze away on Sunday mornings. Go to your pastor’s bible studies, be in God’s Word so that God’s Word is active in your life, come to the rail and receive all of Christ’s gracious gifts for you. Do not put your faith in a box only to be opened on Sunday mornings, but rather what you hear on Sunday mornings concerning your Lord Jesus and what He has done for you by his death and resurrection should affect every aspect of your life.
Do not just shrug your shoulders when you get the urge to write a note of encouragement to a friend. Do not lie to your mom about having cleaned your room, but rather do the job in the manner she desires and expects. Parents, do not sit idly by when you see your children doing something that will undoubtedly create lasting damage to their faith. In other words, fight against the one who tempts you, for the One who lives in you by Holy Baptism is stronger than the tempter. Confess your sins, but also confess your faith in the stronger man Jesus, who came to die that you might be saved from the house of death. And you now, being bound to Christ by Holy Baptism, have the victory over Satan. Just as Jesus crushed the head of the serpent, so you now are able to tread upon Him because of being bound to Christ. The stronger man has come and bound him who had you bound. You are free. And you’re made a child of household of God. Do not forget whose family you now belong. Trust in our Lord’s abundant promises. Sins are forgiven because of Christ’s bitter sufferings and death in your place at the cross.
You have the same spirit of faith within you as did St. Paul. We then with him should believe and thus speak. We should be speaking this good news that Jesus has bound the strong man, Satan, that all the world might live in peace before our Lord and God forever doing His Will. Things do not look all that good if you look around the world, our own bodies are showing their wear and tear, yet we have the promise to which we have been called, a promise which God our Lord has called all people to believe. And He who has redeemed us now comes to us with His mercy and grace, bestowing to us His body and blood as a pledge and token of the marriage feast that has no end. And He says to you, welcome home my children. Welcome home.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Jacob Hercamp St. Peter’s Lutheran Church La Grange, MO
You may have noticed throughout your own life, your travels, and even here at Mt. Calvary, La Grange, Texas, that some people make the sign of the cross on themselves at various points in the divine service.
Now, that crotchety old German uncle who resides in back of every American Lutheran’s head may currently be screaming, “daß ist Katholisch!” (That’s Catholic). And, he was likely even more incensed last Sunday as we confessed the Athanasian Creed. That’s the one that identifies us and the Christian faith as “catholic” several times.
We do differ with the church of Rome on several key points of Christian doctrine. But, the use of words like mass or catholic are not among our differences. Those terms are not dirty words. We should not recoil from them like a vampire from sunlight.
Ignoring Uncle Helmut for a moment, let’s first talk about when we do the things we do. Making the sign of the cross has a broad range of occurrences in the divine service. If you have one handy, open your Lutheran Service Book to page 184, and follow along.
The service opens with the invocation. You’ll notice a rubric cross in the middle of “the Son.” The pastor makes to sign of the cross there. Some pastors will do it towards the congregation. More frequently, you’ll see him cross himself, facing the altar.
The next cross rubric is in the Absolution. The pastor will face the congregation to deliver the goods. He is doing the deed of forgiving sins as he is commanded to do. Again, the rubric cross stands right in the middle of “the Son.”
Even disquieted Uncle Albrecht may have noticed by now that this crossing is somehow Trinitarian. Every time the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are uttered, someone is prob’ly making the sign. But why in the world would they do that?
Baptism, it’s all about baptism. When God marked you as His own in Holy Baptism, you received the sign of the cross upon your forehead and upon your heart. He delivered the forgiveness of sins and faith to trust in His promise to you by His name, in that water, by His word, and through the Hand of the Christian who baptized you.
We will also see folks crossing at spots like: “the life of the world to come/everlasting” in the Creeds, “but deliver us from evil” in the Lord’s Prayer, “this is My Body, this is My Blood” at the consecration, and at the pax domini. These too are part of that same promise of our baptism. The promise of life everlasting and deliverance from evil are brought in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Through those means of grace we receive the forgiveness of sins by Jesus’ death on the cross.
Uncle Rudolph may not be keen on the idea, but it changes nothing. The sign of the cross marks our understanding and teaches us to be attentive to Jesus’ work and His gifts to us. So, please grant your Christian friends a kind opinion of their baptismal remembrances. Perhaps even consider it as part of your own piety.
Remember your baptism with the sign of Jesus’ cross.
Rev. Jason M. Kaspar Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool La Grange, TX
It is Spring cleaning time at our blog and so, like a good librarian, I’ve moved things around a bit. We used to use URLs (link addresses) that contained the date a post was last made public. We have removed the date from the URL. So, if you have a link to one of our posts and want to re-read it, just delete the date from it and you are good to go.
If you can’t find a post in the near future, this is likely the problem. To find one if you don’t have the link for some reason or another, you can search for it from our home page (whatdoesthismean.blog to from google or another search engine. Just search for this address in th search engine alone with a few of the words from the post title.
Thanks for understanding.
Rev. Robert E. Smith Electronic Resources Librarian Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana and Editor What Does This Mean? Blog
