Jacob Hercamp – Page 10 – What Does This Mean?

The Sign of Hope We Have Waited For

At this time last year, we were just being told of the impending lockdowns to stop the spread of Covid-19. We would not have celebrated the Annunciation last year as we were in the middle of a Lenten Midweek Sermon series where pastors from area congregations swapped pulpits. And the 25^th of March fell on Wednesday. While I was saddened to see what happened because of the lockdowns and such, I was glad to celebrate this blessed day of joy and hope. The long-awaited sign, prophesied by Isaiah, was coming into existence. The Angel Gabriel came to Mary and announced to her that God was becoming man, and she would be his mother. The Word of God was becoming flesh in order to dwell among us, that we might see his glory.

A day of hope is what we need as we have been walking in the world. Isaiah’s prophesy was spoken as a rebuke against Ahaz’s unbelief in the Lord. But for you who have been called to faith in the true God, it is a word of hope, which holds you captive. It is the sign we all long for, the word which first came Eve and Adam on the day of their fall into sin. That God would become Man. And this Man would defeat sin and death for us by offering his body and blood up for the sin all the world at the cross.

Mary is rightly called the Godbearer (Theotokos) because in the moment of the preaching Gabriel, God assumed human flesh, and the flesh of Word of God Himself was conceived in the incarnation. This is the sign of God working to bring about our salvation. This is confirmation of the Lord’s promise coming true. God had not forgotten.

But the incarnation and Christmas are just half of the story. This Son of the Most High, has to do the work of salvation in His flesh. He is to serve in humanity’s stead, standing in our place, taking upon himself our pains and our sufferings, our sin. He is to suffer what all men suffer, death. But the Lord Jesus does this because it is the will of his Father, whom sent Him.

Jesus will be born to the Virgin. The sign of God’s promise will shine forth, and then He will grow up and will save His people from their sins. He will take up the throne of his father David when he ascends to the throne that is his cross. And he shall become stand as a signal for all peoples. Isaiah prophesies later: He (The Lord) shall raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Christ will lift up the lowly. He will fill the hungry with good things, he will bring down the mighty from their thrones. He will bring the word of love and hope to you who have been sitting and waiting in the darkness of this sin filled and broken world. Be at peace in the word announced to you by the Lord’s messenger. Christ loves you, and He became flesh in order to save you from everlasting death. He has remembered his mercy and now shows you that mercy by his death on the cross, taking the place that all humanity deserves for their sins of unbelief and abandonment of His Word.

God has promised, so He has done. We are very close to Holy Week in the Church year. We will be gathering together to hear the passion accounts as written for us by the Evangelists. We will see our Lord do His Father’s will, offering himself for us at the cross. This is how sin is taken away, the body and blood of God is broken and poured out for you.

May this word of our Lord Jesus Christ, The God – Man for us and for our salvation, give you hope in the midst of the darkness. He has come and He has died and He has risen again. And He remains in His flesh even upon His ascension to the right hand of God the Father. Forevermore is Jesus the God–Man, who serves you as your great high priest having offered himself for your salvation, that you might have everlasting life with God forever. And He now comes to you to give you tangible hope, a sign. He gives you the means by which you are given His forgiveness. He gives you Baptism and His Supper. Look to the promises contained therein. You are made a child of God, receiving everlasting salvation. Then you receive the very body and blood of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. You receive the very body of God in His Supper and it is life giving. What hope and what peace we now have in promises of God. Hope in the One Who has Come Born of the Virgin to offer himself up for us all. And let us now hope in the promise of His return that He might take us to be with Him forever.

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

How Did We Get the Nicene Creed?

When the Church celebrates the Lord’s Supper in the Divine Service, the congregation will likely confess their faith using the words of the Nicene Creed. You might be thinking, “We don’t learn that one by heart in Confirmation.” This series will dive into the Creed we commonly call the Nicene Creed.

With this post I am merely introducing the Nicene Creed and a little bit of its history. The Nicene Creed, or at least the first two articles, come out of the events that transpired at the Council of Nicea, 325AD. Unfortunately, the Church was not immune to controversy, and the Council that convened at Nicea had to deal specifically with the question of who Jesus is. Is Jesus of the same substance of God the Father? Or is He something other and then less than God?

The major controversy arose over the saying of Arius, “There was a time when the Son was not” implying that Jesus was not begotten of the Father from all eternity. The great orthodox theologian Athanasius strongly opposed Arius and his teachings. The story also goes that St. Nicholas slapped Arius for his heretical teaching at the Council of Nicea. This had to be dealt with, and unfortunately, the Apostles’ Creed could be recited by both the orthodox Christian as well as a follower of Arius. It did not address the issues at hand. The Roman Emperor Constantine who had allowed Christianity to stand as a recognized religion in the Empire wanted to keep the peace between the factions. He called for a Council, the first of its kind since Acts 15. The Nicea formulation would take pains to articulate the biblical and orthodox view of Jesus in relationship to the Father. We will talk more about that as we get into the articles in later posts.

I said the first articles come from the Council of Nicea, the third article cae out of the controversies dealt with at the later council held at Constantinople, 381AD. There the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Father and Son was taken up. So the Nicene Creed is shorthand for the fuller name: The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. Historically speaking, this creed was the second ecumenical creed to be written down for all orthodox Christians to confess with one voice, and this creed is likely the most commonly confessed creed of the 3 creeds inside the Divine Service. Next time we will look at the First Article of the Creed and how it expands on the words of the Apostles’ Creed.

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

St. Matthias

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

When you confess your faith in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and when you confess that the Word of Scripture is God’s Word, do you realize you also then must confess the fact that Satan exists? That Hell and Evil exist?

They most assuredly do, otherwise why would have the Father sent the Son? Surely, the Son was sent for the purpose of saving you from the clutches of Satan, his evil devices, and Hell itself. That is what Scripture says after all. But do you really believe it, or are you one of those people like many people in American Christianity that speak of hell and Satan as imaginary. Or if its real, Hell is empty. It is much easier these days to talk about the presence of evil. But the source of that evil?

It was not hard for the apostles to speak about all of this. They saw evil up-close and personal. The story of Matthias is not necessarily a happy one. Matthias only becomes an apostle, because of the evil that Judas committed against the Lord Jesus Christ, betraying Him into the hands of sinners.

For St. Matthias Day, we find the eleven apostles along with other disciples in the upper room during the days between Christ’s ascension and the day of Pentecost. They were up there in the room awaiting the promise of Jesus, the power from on high, the Holy Spirit. But there’s a problem. There are only 11 apostles when there should be 12.

Evil is real, and the apostles knew it to be real. They had seen Satan and his evil plans go into action. Luke tells us on the night that Jesus was betrayed that Satan entered into Judas. And a little later Jesus was talking to the remaining disciples that Satan desired to sift them like wheat, of whom Peter would be the first. Peter would deny Christ three times that night. Satan would sift them all, as they ran away from Jesus when He was arrested.

And Peter, who was restored by the risen Christ, now stands up and speaks of the great evil deed of Judas. “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” Luke adds, “This man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.” This is not a pretty sight at all. Judas was so overcome by the evil that he committed that he had no hope of being forgiven, and he killed himself. Peter goes on interpreting the events in light of the Psalms of David, “May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it”; and “Let another take his office.”

Enter Matthias, a man who had accompanied Jesus and the other apostles during all the time that the Lord went in and out among them, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when He was taken up from them. There was another man also who fit this description, but the lot fell to Matthias. And He was numbered with the 11, making 12 apostles once again.

Satan and evil exist, this we know. And Matthias and the rest of the 11 now are to go out to preach the truth that evil has been overcome in the one Jesus Christ, who died and rose again from the dead, beating Satan at his own game. The apostles are to declare war on the old Satanic foe just like their Lord did when He came into hostile territory, becoming man, and then going out into the wilderness and ultimately all the way to the cross to defeat Satan for all humanity. Now Matthias and the apostles preach the victory of Christ over Satan and Evil. And one little word of Christ crucified makes Satan fall.

Matthias is barely mentioned (if ever) again in any of the books of the New Testament. The extra-biblical materials we have concerning Matthias are few, and what we do have are quite late. But isn’t that the way of many of the pastors placed into office of the Holy Ministry? Matthias was placed into the office not to make a name for himself but to proclaim Christ and Him crucified to the nations. He was placed into the Office to confront the very evil of Satan that he knew well with the triumphant word of Christ Jesus. That Christ Jesus has overcome Satan and thus has made us His own. That our own acts of evil have been forgiven for the sake of Christ Jesus. That Christ holds the keys of death and hades now and forevermore, and He gives eternal life to us.

Pastors now, are also called to confront the evils that are amongst us and even within us. They are called to preach the truth of God’s Word of the realities of hell and Satan, and evil. And they too are to confront evil with the truth of Christ Jesus. They are called to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, that we be saved from everlasting death.

Jesus when teaching, called many people evil. He even called his disciples evil because of their sinful hearts. We too have sinful hearts. It’s our natural heart’s state, another way to say it is it’s the Old Adam in us. We are by nature sinful and unclean. Jesus confronts evil head on and deals with it in a way only He could. He destroys evil by his death on the cross, whereby He swallows up death, sin, and Satan, the source of evil forever, and rises victorious over it all. And He forgives. All the evil of your own heart, Christ has covered with His Blood.

And while Judas spilled his own guts over his evil and wicked deeds, your Lord pours out his blood for you in love that you might be forgiven and be at peace in the forgiveness of sins. In effect being changed from inside out, your heart of evil removed, and a living heart in its place. A new creation for the sake of Christ.

This is what those men placed into the Office of the Holy Ministry are called to confess and to preach, that you might be saved, and not be overcome by the Evil One. Satan and his evil devices are real as Scripture says, but so is their Conqueror, our Savior Jesus Christ. Trust him in just as Matthias did, that you be numbered in great multitude that no one can number singing the praise of the Lamb forever and ever. Amen.

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

The Law is Eternal

The Law is God’s Word just as much as the Gospel is God’s Word. Both are eternal. And both are good. The Law of God is Good. God’s eternal law expresses His very being, and it is called “the unchanging will of God, according to which human beings are to conduct themselves in this life.” (Formula of Concord 6.15) In other words the Law of God is Good and Wise.

However, in our present sinful condition we always hear the Law’s accusations. We have not done good enough. We have failed to honor mother and father. We have not always helped someone when they were in bodily need. We have failed to tell people about Jesus. We have not always paid attention when in the Divine Service. The list goes on and on. Our confessions state, “The law always accuses” ( Lex Semper Accusat), but it does not only accuse. Think of the beginning. Adam knew God by the Law. It was only understood to be a good thing. Only when Adam transgressed did the accusations begin.

The same Law that now accuses continues to point us to the deeds which our Lord delights in. The Law shows us the way of righteousness. That is a good thing. While we are shown to fall short of God’s holiness due to our sins, God’s Law prepares us for the good news that Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Law for us, and by in Christ Jesus, we are able to do those which are deemed good and right. In Christ fulfilling the Law, the Law is returned to its original positive position.

Christ has fulfilled the Law. It is to Him that we flee for refuge because the Law still accuses as live this life. The threats of the Law still persist. But know the good news! Christ has set us free from the curse of the Law. By faith, we no longer see the Law in its accusatory function, but rather as it was in the beginning, leading us to live in righteousness. It is then a life that reflects the holiness of our Heavenly Father.

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

A Sermon for the Purification of Mary and Presentation of our Lord

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

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, “If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. As at the of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Then shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed … And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove … and if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean. (Various verses from Leviticus 12)

These words come straight out of the Law of the Lord preached to the people of Israel by Moses. This is why we find Mary, Joseph, and Jesus at the temple forty days after our Lord’s birth. It was to be in accordance of the Law. Also, as part of this day Jesus was being presented back to the Lord as the Lord had spoken in Exodus 13 that every firstborn belongs to the Lord. Mary is following in the train of Hannah, giving back to God the gift He had given to her. While Mary might have been at the Temple for her own purification, the events surrounding Jesus take a bit more of a center stage. With this day we see the faithfulness of both the Lord and his people. The Lord was and remains faithful to His promise of sending the world’s redemption, and in thanksgiving His people happily keep the Law. And they rejoice over the redemption so given. And in the words of our Epistle lesson, we see Jesus begin His service as a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God by the act of Mary presenting Him to the Lord, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Being the firstborn son of Mary, he is holy to the Lord, and at the same time He is the only begotten Son of God ready to be the perfect and once for all sacrifice for the sins of the world, saving the offspring of Abraham from everlasting death.

No one is happier or more joyful to see His redemption face to face than Simeon who was a righteous and devout man, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And He had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before He had seen the Lord’s Christ. This promise affirms the Incarnation of the Son of God. Salvation only comes from the Lord, and in Jesus, Simeon sees salvation in that little child. It’s Christmas all over again!

The very tangible peace of God is shown to Simeon. He sees Jesus and in Him He has peace, the very peace for all the earth which was proclaimed at Jesus birth is made Simeon’s. It was a promise worth waiting for, worth being in the temple, the very image which testifies to the greater reality that God would dwell in the midst of His people forever, only now the temple of God is the body of Jesus Christ, which is why Simeon takes the child into his own arms and probably didn’t take his eyes off of the child when he began blessing God singing his song. God was there as a Man, a 40 day old baby. Simeon saw his salvation with his own eyes. And in that child, the very Son of God in the flesh, he has his peace.

We should note that the mission of Jesus to be the redeemer of the world is not something placed upon him at his baptism or some other time. No, this mission of the Son of God to be the redeemer of the world was given to him from the very beginning. Jesus does not assume this position or take it up, but He always had it. The angels confess Jesus to be the Savior just minutes after his birth, and here Simeon confesses Him to be His redemption 40 days out of the womb.

Something else that we should praise God over is the fact that Simeon explicitly confesses the mystery that the gentiles also are made a part of God’s redemption. We are brought and welcomed to the table! God’s salvation will be made known to us Gentiles. For you and I have heard the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He came to save from sin, to bring consolation to us poor, miserable sinners who were sitting in the darkness of sin and death. He, himself likewise partook of the same things (flesh and blood), that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

So on the day of his mother’s own atonement offering, that she might be cleansed and re-enter the temple and join in the worship of the Lord God, Jesus is given back to God that he might enter into His Father’s service and be the atoning sacrifice for all the world. Jesus still is working in service to His Father for your salvation now. He has gone to the cross for you. He dies for your rebellion against the Laws of God. He consoles you with His words of forgiveness, speaking kindly to you in gentleness and love, showing his great mercy and love for you, calling you to believe in this Gospel. He has pulled you out of the great slavery, has cut the shackles of sin around your ankles and gives you freedom in Him. You are free from sin, rejoice and live in Christ Jesus. Be at peace in your salvation just as Simeon was.

May we be at peace even when temptations come because they will come as we still are in our sinful flesh and sinful world. May we not lose our heads and our way but call out to Him who is able to help us who are being tempted for He Himself suffered when tempted. Only when we are in Christ Jesus do we prevail over temptation, otherwise we will fall back into sinful shame, and vice. May our Lord keep us from entering back into the shackles he has broken us out of by his bitter sufferings and death! And if we have done just that, repent, confess your sins to God. For the Lord is gracious and merciful and does indeed forgive our sins for He has died for them and has atoned for them by his own blood.

Come. Hear, and see your salvation. See your Savior at the font where He made you God’s own. There He cleansed you with Water and His Word. And at the Altar he now feeds you His own body and blood. You see your salvation just as Simeon did. And that is why we sing His song right after the distribution of the Sacrament. We have beheld with our own eyes our salvation. We have received the very body and blood that paid our ransom at the cross into our very mouths that we might have the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. And where those things are there is peace for us. This is no peace which the world can give, but a peace which surpasses all understanding. A peace which only God can give. A peace which is confessed by the faithful: “Yes, Lord, I am ready to go. Ready to go and sleep unto the day of the resurrection knowing that I have seen your salvation, salvation which you have made mine for the sake your Son my brother, Jesus Christ, my faithful high priest.”

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

St. Titus: An Under-Shepherd and Baptized Child of God

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

On this day, the church celebrates and remembers another of St. Paul’s companions: St. Titus. As a matter of fact, had I been home we would have had 3 consecutive days of special services. The first would have been the commemoration of St. Timothy. But since I was away we will get to his day another time. But today we remember St. Titus.

Unlike some of the other saints associated with Paul, Titus is relatively unknown. His name does not appear in the pages of the book of Acts, but Paul must have met him along on his first missionary journeys before the council that we have recorded for us in Acts 15. For if you recall, that council had to answer the question: What do we do with Gentile believers? Must they become Jews via circumcision before they can become Christians? Titus was a test case. Titus came from a Gentile family, and was not circumcised. Paul would not circumcise him and the council of Acts 15 agreed that believers Jews and Greeks were not saved via works of the ceremonial law (circumcision) but were in fact saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And it is very likely that Titus journeyed with Paul from that time forth, or he was sent to one of the various seminaries being formed to educate the next generation of church leaders. We don’t know for sure as his name is not spoken of again until Paul’s crisis with the church at Corinth that occurred during Paul’s third missionary journey. The Corinthian church were bucking at Paul’s apostolic authority. After failed reconciliation attempts, Paul sent Titus there in person. Some time later, when Paul was in Macedonia Titus caught up to him and gave him the news that the Corinthian Church had changed their course, Paul sent Titus back with the letter we know as 2^nd Corinthians. He was also sent to complete the collection project for the poor Christians in Jerusalem.

After that we lose track of Titus. But under the assumption that Paul was released from prison after his first Roman imprisonment which we have recorded for us in the final chapters of Acts, it seems that Titus met up again with Paul to do a trip to Crete, which is what we hear about in Paul’s letter to Titus, leaving him there to serve as the overseer or Bishop of the Churches there and appointing elders/pastors of those Christians congregations, putting things into order.

This is where Acts 20 comes in because those words from St. Paul were not just for the men to serve the churches in Ephesus, but for all pastors and churches. Crete had wolves in their midst, and Gospel that had been preached by Paul and others had begun to be twisted in one way or another. Paul is not the only apostle to warn of such things happening. St. John and Peter in their own epistles also warn of such things. And Titus was now the man appointed to bring the churches of Crete into proper and good order, by teaching the doctrine of truth which is Christ. And it was Titus’ duty to teach and instruct now the new pastors that would lead these congregations. What had been entrusted to St. Paul, he was now entrusting to his other spiritual son Titus. And Titus entrusting to the men he was preparing. Handing down the goods of Christ. So, it is now in our day.

The Church has been entrusted with the Words of Christ, as preached, taught, and written down by the apostles. And it is the Church that now calls Pastors into the office of overseer, and gives them the call to publicly proclaim the Word of Truth. And it can be a daunting task as wolves are still around. There are many voices who call themselves teachers of the Word but are not properly called, nor do they speak the Word of God but rather twist it for their own shameful gain. Titus had the Judaizers to contend with and other factions attempting to subvert the sweetness of Christ’s Gospel. Today’s Church, well let’s just say there is nothing new under the sun. All the old heresies still show up from time to time.

Titus also was called to the Cretan people, who by their own prophet some time before called them liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. Paul exhorted him to rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith. They were a people who professed to know God, but they denied him by their works. We still have those kinds of people around now. Sometimes even I can be called lazy. We all must confess that we have failed to live according to the life we have been given by Christ.

The pastor is to serve as Christ’s under shepherd. Pastors are called to serve in the stead of Christ to you the little lambs. And true under shepherds speak the Good Shepherd’s word and you, His lambs, hear his voice. The pastor is to speak in mercy, like Jesus did. Paul gives Titus and now us this advice in the 3^rd chapter. For he recognizes that he and Titus were both at one time on the outside. They received mercy from Christ, so it is only right that the pastor shows mercy of Christ to his flock. “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 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 though Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.” In other words, we were all in the darkness of our own sin. But by grace, God called us to faith in His Son. Even Pastors are sheep in need of being fed this blessed Gospel. It is the Gospel and not the law that motivates us to do good works and remain faithful to our callings. We are all called to follow the One Good Shepherd, who laid His life for His Sheep. And we all have a similar identity in Christ. We have been baptized into Christ. That is where we go back to. We remember our baptism and rejoice in that. Pastors and the faithful hearers rejoice in their baptisms and the forgiveness of sins Christ freely offers to them in the Divine Service.

The pastor is to emulate the Good Shepherd. He is to speak The Good Shepherd’s Word to the Sheep. It was to this Office that Titus was placed into, so also the pastors of the Church now. He was called to serve under the Good Shepherd, and Feed the Lord’s Sheep. And by that we are called to teach and preach the Word in season and out of season. We called to encourage, exhort, rebuke. We are to call to repentance, and forgive sins for the sake of Christ Jesus who died and rose again. We are to be stewards of the mysteries of God, the ones keeping watch over souls, and we pastors will give an account at the last. Pastors like, Titus, are called to teach what accords with sound doctrine. In other words, we are called to teach Christ’s Word. And in the midst of all this we are called to continually rejoice in the identity given to us by Christ in Holy Baptism. We are Christ’s and so are you!

And it is by Baptism and Christ’s Word that pastors are kept faithful not only in their vocation and office but in their own faith and life as Christians; they should be above reproach, hospitable, lovers of what is good and right and true. And it’s by this same Word that you also are kept in the one, true faith. Gladly hear and learn it do not despise it. By His Word and Sacraments, our Lord Jesus gives you everything that is His—His Father, Spirit, Resurrection, Name, Sonship, and Kingdom, together with St. Titus and all the saints. Amen.

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

The Spectacular Call to Faith: Conversion of St. Paul

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

Saul was a zealot for the Jewish religion, so much so He was the ring leader of those trying to snuff out the preaching of Christ by overseeing the death of His saints (St. Stephen) and the imprisonment of others. He appeared to be the least likely person to ever convert to the Way. But that is exactly how God works. He turns everything on its head. And He used Paul in a very special way. You might call Paul’s conversion the most important event for Christendom outside of Christ’s birth, death, resurrection and ascension. Saul was the Lord’s chosen instrument to proclaim the mystery that the Gentiles were part of the family of God and would be saved in the same manner that Abraham was saved: by grace through faith.

Our Sunday morning bible study has been reading Acts and if you join us you could say Acts is a bit of a page turner because of all the events that Luke packs in successive order. The Lord’s Word is going forth via the preaching and teaching of the Apostles and the church is growing rapidly. And You might say it’s a spectacular thing right after another. And Saul, whose name is changed to Paul later, He is one of those spectacular guys, who seems to always be in the thick of the action in the Church. Always part of the spectacular accounts. I mean in a spectacular fashion, Saul was converted. Jesus, after He rose and ascended to the right hand of the Father, revealed Himself to Saul while Saul was off to persecute, imprison, and possibly kill more members of the Church of Christ. Spectacular stuff. And we desire that. We want the spectacular to occur. We want to participate in the spectacular, especially when it comes to God acting in the world. If God would do that, more people would believe. But are made believers by seeing? Or by hearing the preached word?

And we are certainly not the first ones to have those kinds of thoughts come into our minds. When Jesus walked the earth during his ministry prior to his crucifixion, the crowds wanted a spectacular sign. Herod the king wanted Jesus to perform for him. The only sign they got was the sign of Jonah. The Son of Man was swallowed up by earth in death and remained there for a time before rising from the dead. The Cross was His sign. The Cross does not seem all that spectacular to human eyes. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. It is grotesque. Cicero the Roman Orator describes crucifixion as a most cruel and disgusting punishment. It was indeed a humiliating way to die.

But you know it really was great, not because of the cross itself, but because of Him who ascended upon the cross to pay for the sins of the world by pouring out His blood. Christ dying there to us hope and life. Christ dying there so that when we are dying, we know that we are not alone and that we have a God who is greater than death for He rose from the dead. And because He rose from the dead we too shall arise. This was preached by the apostles of Christ, who gave them the command to be His witnesses. And their proclamation went forth in order the world to believe and be saved.

This is all spectacular to our ears! But it doesn’t look all that spectacular now. Oh, in the end it will be, but now we see death knocking on the doors of our loved ones and even our own. We see turmoil and strife. We feel our bodies breaking down and our hearts wearing out. We see suffering of both body and soul all around us. It’s as if death has won and we have lost. If we are only waiting for the spectacular to come along. Have we lost sight to the blessings our God gives to us in the ordinary things of this world?

Do we see what promises and blessings God give us in Holy Baptism? What is Baptism? Baptism is not just plain water but it is the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word. Water and Word, ordinary things. But for us who believe we have these benefits by Baptism: Forgiveness of sins, rescues from death, and the devil and Baptism gives eternal salvation. For we have the promise from Christ: Whoever Believes and is baptized will be saved. Ordinary stuff, Water and Word. And what else is ordinary? The elements which Christ says are his body and blood. Bread and wine. But it is not just any ordinary bread and wine, but when Christ’s words are spoken “This is my Body, this is blood” shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, they give exactly what they say to those who believe in those words: The forgiveness of sins. Ordinary things made to be spectacular by God’s Word.

We might look around and see things that look bleak and pretty hopeless in this world. But when we live the life which in Christ Jesus, we cannot help but have hope. We have a spectacular life in Christ! For Christ is risen! And He has promised life everlasting with Him. And as we learn from the account of Saul’s conversion, Christ also knows the sufferings His church experiences. For he is the one being persecuted when the church is under duress. We are not alone. But spectacularly we are gathered into His body. And then He gives his body and blood to us to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening our faith.

It looks pretty ordinary to the naked eye, but for you it is a spectacular thing indeed. For by Baptism, you are made God’s Child, a new creation, granted new life. And this life is nourished by the hearing of Christ’s word and receiving into your very mouth his life blood.

Paul’s story is spectacular. The manner in which he is converted is one for the ages, but what took place next? He was baptized just like you were. And Luke’s account is interesting because of how he adds the final bit, taking food, he was strengthened. Why does Luke add this immediately after acknowledging Saul being baptized? It could be to lead us to consider Saul not only was baptized but then also give the Supper of our Lord. Baptism leads one to the Supper of our Lord. Baptism initiates you into the body of Christ, and the His Supper sustains you and strengthens you in that faith which you have been baptized.

He lived the new life of Christ just like you. He received forgiveness by the preaching of Christ’s death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins just like you. Was Paul’s life spectacular, was He a so-called super Christian, without any problems? Absolutely not. He was chased along by those who opposed him. Because of his conversion the Jews wanted to kill him because He switched sides. He was perhaps the church’s greatest missionary but it is difficult for me to believe that people who met Paul would have picked up on that. Paul was thrown in prison multiple times, stones, thrown out of cities. Paul suffered. He suffered for the name of His Lord.

Suffering is the name of this life. At least at this time. It is the way of the Cross. For Christ, his apostle Paul and now you.

The Holy Gospel has words for you: And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Those are some tall orders if we desire to receive the inheritance. Give up your parents? How hard a saying. In other words, it is like when Jesus says that “if you love father and mother more than Me you are not worthy of Me.” What is your heart clinging to? To earthly things or to the heavenly promises of Christ? It is hard isn’t to truly let go of sins and the things of this world.

But what you cannot do in your own strength, Jesus has done for you. He is the one who did leave everything for you and has given you everything. You have it in your baptism. You have the most spectacular gift of everlasting life delivered to you in ordinary means. But when you know what you have in your Baptism, you are able to let go of yourself, and cling to Christ and Him crucified for your life. And in Christ, even the very ordinary things, like doing the laundry for the family, bathing your children, making the Sunday evening meal, balancing the family check book – All these things are called spectacular in your Father’s sight. For you are serving and loving your neighbor fulfilling your vocations. And you also have the opportunity to forgive those who have hurt you and sinned against you, because Christ has forgiven you for your own sins.

This day we heard the spectacular call of Saul into the faith and service of Christ. Just as spectacular was the call of the Holy Spirit to you bringing you into faith in Jesus Christ who has saved you from sin and grants you everlasting life. What appears to be a quite ordinary thing is pretty spectacular because of the Words and Promises of God attached to them.

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

The Thread of God’s Love

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

I love the service of Lessons and Carols because of how many readings we are able to hear. The story of God’s love for his fallen creation is evident all the way through the readings. I would recommend you to read your Bible with this in the back of your mind. Because really, that is what this is all about: How God loves His fallen sinful creation so much that He would dare to send His Son into the world to save it.

What joy and peace one has when that is known and believed! Adam and Eve had fallen from paradise. They had been kicked out. Yet, God’s love for them did not change. His demeanor did not change. They were the ones who changed. They were the ones who tried to hide and cover their shame with fig leaves. It was God who called out to them, found them, and had them come clean about what took place. Yes, they sinned against God and had fallen into and under the curse of the Law, yet God promised that He would act by giving the woman an offspring who would vanquish the serpent by crushing his head. And in this promise did Adam and Eve hope. They hoped and longed for that child to come.

Even in the midst of sin, God was loving his fallen creation, working to bring it back to Himself. But it was not going to come to right away. He was going to show throughout the rest of the Old Testament how He was going to work to bring about His people’s redemption. We learn from Abraham and Isaac that the Lord God would send the Son to be a substitute, like the ram was for Isaac in the end.

When the Son would come, He would show love to those sitting in the darkness of their own sins and sufferings, by shining His light upon them that they be saved. And this for all peoples. And the zeal of the Lord of hosts would make this occur. And his rule would bring peace which only the Lord could bring. This child would bring about peace only known in Eden. Why does God do this? Because He loves us, and desires us to be reconciled to Him. His Son would be the one through whom they would come. So, he sends His Son for you and your salvation.

And with Matthew 1 and Luke 2, we learn who this child is, and how God will continue to show us His Love for us. For He is none other than God in the Flesh, Emmanuel, God with Us. And the God who is us is also the God who saves from sins: Jesus. And we with the Heavenly Host should rejoice and sing Glory to God in the Highest! For by sending us His Son, God and man are reconciled. Sins of all kinds will be taken care by Him because of His great love for his creation.

God is love says John the apostle in his 1^st letter. It is His nature to love. And We know his love in this way: He did what He promised! The love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The birth of Christ is indeed joyful, God is with us! But that is not the end of God’s love in action. No, not by a long shot. God’s love comes to full manifestation a few decades later on a cross outside the city of Jerusalem where the Son given would give himself up for you and for the world. There He would die, and speak words of love: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

And what His love still shines. For Christ overcame death by his resurrection. And we live in His Resurrection. You have been brought into the resurrected life by the waters of Holy Baptism, where you are an heir of everlasting. You now live by the light of Christ! So, live in that light. This is the light that is the true life of men. The Light has come and the darkness cannot overcome it. Live in Christ, who loves you to death, and love one another just as Christ has loved you.

That means speaking to one another and asking for forgiveness and given forgiveness to one another because that is the living in the Light of Christ. Act as children of God, for that is what you are, you are his baptized children. Show mercy to one another for you have been shown mercy and love by God.

The Christ Candle is aptly called the Christ candle for it is lit and prominently displayed during the Christmas season and then again in the season of Easter. You would not be celebrating Christmas if Easter didn’t happen. For why would we celebrate and remember the birth of a God-Man who died but did not rise triumphantly over the grave? And also, we would not be celebrating Easter if the miracle of God becoming Man did not happen, for only the blood of God would suffice to pay our ransom from sin and death. There would be no salvation given to all humanity without the death and resurrection of the Word made flesh.

Remember the loving work of Christ as you look at the Christ candle. Know the Lord’s great love for you, promising to come and save you, and fulfilling His promise by being born of the virgin. And remember that this day is just the beginning of the acts of love that our Lord does for us in His flesh. For He goes to the cross for you. He rises for you in His flesh. He ascends in His Flesh to the right hand of God, and still in love for you now gives you His body and blood in the blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Look at the Christ Candle and know Christ is here in love for you and for your salvation from sin and death. Rejoice with the angels of the heavenly host. Glory to God in the Highest and Peace to His People on Earth! For the Light has shined on us who were in darkness. The very light of the only begotten. And by Him we have everlasting life!

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

The Lord Kept and Continues to Keep His Promise

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and the Lord and Savior born to you this night Jesus Christ. Amen.

The People who walked in darkness have seen a great light. The first people to see that light were the people to ever live: Adam and Eve. With their sin, they had plunged both themselves into the darkness of sin and death. But God came to them with a light of hope. A promise. He would fix what they had done. He would restore creation. He would restore them. He would give them a Savior.

How was this to be done? The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this.

And tonight, we rejoice that the Lord has done it. Promise kept. In the city of David, the sleepy little Bethlehem, the child Isaiah prophesied would be born, the Wonderful, the Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. That child was born.

And then it was the shepherds turn to see the light. Go to Bethlehem and see, the angel told them, for there is the Christ, the Lord. Don’t let the swaddling clothese or the manger fool you. It really is Him, the prince of peace. Your savior.

For God always keeps his promises. Always.

I don’t. You don’t. Sometimes because I am a sinner and I fail. Sometimes because something happens and I no longer want to keep my promise, so I take it back instead. Sometimes I promise something I can’t do. But even when I want to keep a promise, and try mightily to do so, sometimes I just can’t. Maybe you got promised that someone would be here for Christmas, but they got stuck in bad weather. The Friends Song, I’ll be there for you, is a perfect example of how we wish we could be there for someone but really can’t always fulfill the promise.

But God… He always delivers. Because if He kept this promise, this promise of all promises, which other one would He not keep?

To us a child is born, to us a son is given because of his great zeal and love for you.

God sends His son into our sinful world, our world of sin and death, a world of broken promises. And He sends Him here to take our sin and our shames upon himself and He suffers our sins penalty. This babe which we adore this night, will be rejected by the very ones He is saving as He is condemned and crucified, and then even forsake by His Father. Doing it all for you out of his zeal and love for you and your salvation.

Many years before this God tested Abraham, we heard a little bit of that story in the Lessons and Carols service tonight, where God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice His Son Isaac. God eventually did not make Abraham go through the actual process of slaughtering his son. But the Son of God? That Son would not be spared. He died to save you. Just as the heavenly Father promised. And the Son did it willingly out of his love and zeal for you.

And if God did that and kept that promise for you, everything is else is easy, don’t you think? That’s how much God loves you. A love He doesn’t just speak, but a love that He acts upon. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. Or in other words if you ever doubt whether God loves you, swaddling clothes a manger shows just how much he truly does. And it shows what He will do for you. He humbled Himself when He was born of a Virgin. And He humbled himself to the point of suffering death, death on a cross.

God had done a lot through the many years of waiting for this night. Wonderful works, great miracles, awesome power on display. Splitting seas apart, sending the bread from heaven for 40 years, defeating all kinds of armies. But nothing so great this; as a baby lying is swaddling cloths in a manger. This is his greatest work. His greatest miracle for you.

Sometimes He gets overshadowed by the lights of the world, or by the darkness in our hearts and lives – the struggles, the pains, cares, worries, broken promises that seem to come rolling in one after another.

And so it is exactly to us that Isaiah speaks tonight. Whether you’re in the darkness of the world’s lights, or the darkness of sin and sorrow and death, the people walking in darkness have seen a great light. Or as Paul puts it, the grace of God has appeared.

God has continued to give a lot. To people of old and to even to us. But no gift greater than this Son. The gift of a promise kept. The promise of life and salvation in this Son, Jesus our Lord.

Some gifts we receive get broken and thrown away. Some change the present and some change the future. But this gift of the Son born to the Virgin, changes us. It changes us from rebels to Sons, from sinners to saints, from being dead to being alive. For when the forgiveness of sins and love of God come to you and abides in you, how can that not change you?

Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. As do we.

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God. As do we.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. And the Lord of hosts has. His zeal for you, His strong desire to love you and save you.

A zeal which now also lives in you, as we are the people of which Paul speaks, a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Because this Son now lives in you. His love and forgiveness live in you. And so too his zeal and good works.

So tonight we see again this great light. The grace of God, the glory of God, the Son of God, wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. Fear not; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. The promise kept.

Amen.

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

Advent and Love

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

You have been hearing sermons about words that surround Advent. In our first week, you heard a sermon based around the word hope. We have hope in the same Lord who came born of the Virgin Mary, who comes now in Word and Sacrament, to come again at the last to take us to be with Him in the New Heavens and New Earth. In our second sermon we discussed the word peace. Peace that comes from knowing Christ has come to reconcile us to His Father. Last week we turned to the word joy and its verbal form Rejoice! And even the midst of our present sufferings we can rejoice in the Lord, knowing that Christ our Savior has come and has saved us from sin and everlasting death and will take away our sufferings at the end. Today we turn our attention to the fourth candle: the candle that has been attached to the word love.

The love of a father for a son is strong. Especially when the father has only one. Abraham and Isaac foreshadow the blessed giving of the only begotten Son of God to be the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. I could have used John 3 as the gospel lesson for this day, as it fits extremely nicely too. God the Father loved the world in this way that He gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish by have eternal life. Love. The giving of the Son to be your Savior is a display of the loving character of your God.

In the testing of Abraham, we also see the first commandment come into play. Are you willing to give up the thing which you hold most dear to be in conformity with the Word of the Lord? How far are you willing to go? Offering up your son is not something that God demands very often, but as the author to the Hebrews puts it: “By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” It was done in faith of God keeping his promise that through Isaac the nations of the world be blessed.

Abraham shows his fear, love, and trust in God, in other words his faith by following the word of the Lord. Yes, Abraham loves his son, but He loves the heavenly Father more, trusting in the promise made to him about Isaac and future offspring.

But back to the main point of the event. It was picture of what God the heavenly Father and his Son would do. We have no record of Isaac fighting his father before being bound and put on the altar. Neither do we see the only begotten arguing with His Father about coming down to earth to save His creation from eternal death and hell. But rather we see the Son in lock step with His Father’s will. The great Lenten hymn A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth written by Paul Gerhardt puts words to Christ’s actions:

Yes, Father, yes most willingly I’ll bear what You command Me.
My will conforms to Your decree, I’ll do what You have asked Me.
O wondrous Love, what have You done!
The Father offers up His Son,
Desiring our Salvation.
O Love, how strong You are to save!
You lay the One into the grave,
Who built the earth’s foundation. (LSB 438, Stanza 3)

And that conversation began all the way back at the fall of Adam and Eve. That you might be saved. God spared Abraham from offering up his son, His son’s blood was not spilled, but rather God gave Abraham a substitute in the ram stuck in the thicket behind him. A ram in a thicket, which if you look at the way it has been artistically rendered in the early centuries, even by the Jews in their synagogues, the ram was effectively hanging vertically from a tree.

A ram took the place of Isaac. The Lamb of God, His only begotten Son, took your place. Christ conformed to the will of Father, and made His Father’s will His own, and willingly laid down His life for you, becoming man being born of the Virgin Mary. This is love. This is the Love of God on display for you.

See this love in the incarnation and birth of the Son of God, coming to earth to be your substitute at the cross. To be the once and for all perfect sacrifice for sin. But do not lose sight of the purpose of Christ’s birth. He came to be with you, that is true, but He died on the cross and rose, that you might be saved and be with Him forevermore.

Our hymn for today 360, “All My Heart Again Rejoices,” also tells us to remember that we are at a loss if we do not see Christmas in light of Easter, and Easter in light of Christmas. You need God becoming man for Easter to matter. And you need Christ making full atonement for sin for Christmas to matter. This is Christ, your Savior showing you the fullness of his love for you. He gives up his body and pours out his blood for you at the cross. The very God-Man, does this solely out of love for you and love for His Father.

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought love one another.” You are loved by God. Your sins have been taken away from you. You are forgiven. Be at peace in God your Savior, knowing that Christ shed his blood for you. You are welcomed into the presence your heavenly Father for Christ’s sake. Know then also that you are not the only one. But rather Christ also loves your neighbor, even the people you can’t get along with. You cannot and must not see them other than someone for whom Christ died.

This love is more than words but includes actions. Be kind to one another. Speak well of each other. Build one another up by encouraging one another in the faith of Christ. Pray for your enemies. Rejoice in the blessings that God has granted to your neighbor, and do not covet what has been given to them but not to you. Rejoice in the salvation given to you and your neighbor, and see the salvation Christ has given you in love as the source for the love you show to one another.

Be filled with the love of Christ. It is interesting that when Jesus was born, he was placed into a manger, a feeding box for animals. Now, the Lord Christ bids you come to him to feed on Him, eating and drinking His body and blood, which He, out of His love for you, gives to you to eat and to drink for your salvation and strengthening of faith. Gather to where you are fed, come you, His saints, that you might love one another. The Love of God is poured out for you here.

The fourth candle of the Advent wreath is associated with the word love. God’s love for you is made manifest by making good on the promise of your salvation. His only begotten Son became a man and willingly laid down his life for you, his friend, at the cross. In this you know love. And by this love, let us then love one another.

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