Jacob Hercamp – Page 14 – What Does This Mean?

Abraham and His Fear

One day, when God came to visit, Abram appears to be having a crisis. The life of faith in this world is never mountaintop after mountaintop experience. After a time of great triumph and glorifying of God, Abraham is now low. He is worried that God had not given him a son. I do not why this is the case for God’s faithful, perhaps it happens to keep us from getting too puffed up in ourselves. The situation certainly happened to Abram and it still happens to us now.

In such times, we fear that God has abandoned us one way or another or when His promise has faded we should remember this prayer: “Lord I believe, help my unbelief!” Only when we are made free from this sinful world by our physical death and brought into the new heaven and new earth on the last day will we finally see the fullness of the things which we hope for in faith, just as Abraham. And so here we are with Abram being told now to fear not. Do not be anxious, but make known your petitions and supplications to the Lord in prayer.

The external word of God is spoken into Abraham’s ears, just as it spoken into your own when you hear your pastor proclaim God’s Word. By God’s grace Abraham had faith in God’s promise, just as you believe in the promises of God. Abraham knew how God had spoken and fulfilled what He promised in the past. The one who speaks is faithful to His Word.

Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abraham received the physical son, Isaac, but as the author of the book of Hebrews and Paul tell us Abraham trusted in the promise of the physical One seed who would come, that being Jesus Christ, who would save Abraham and the whole world from the wrath of sin and eternal death by his own sacrificial death on the cross. Jesus himself tells the Jews that Abraham rejoiced at Jesus’ day. For the city which Abraham desired to enter was not a physical city, but the Holy city of God — the heavenly Jerusalem.

Let’s not be anxious about the trials in our lives, for God does and will provide. He who has spoken is faithful to His Word. Like Abraham, who did not see all the promises fulfilled in his lifetime, let us not fear. Rather let us rejoice in the Lord for what He has done and continues to do for us that we might be considered His children.

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

The Rich Fool

How often do we hear that it is our God given right to have everything and more? How often are we told that over-abundance is a thing to strive for? We do not want to have to depend on anyone or anything. We want the American dream, the acres of land, the warm home, the children, and to be left the heck alone. We want to rest and be merry, eating and drinking without cares in the world. And so, we are told the lie that we need to fight and claw for everything we have and make sure that it can never be taken away. “Be on your guard,” says Jesus when he preaches the parable of the rich fool. Covetousness is idolatry. We become the gods we serve.

The rich man had won the game. He was the top dog in this dog eat dog world. Time to relax and be at peace. And we know the rest of the story. His soul would be required of him that very night. And what would become of all that he had collected on the earth?

And while possessions may not be something that gives you trouble, we covet the rest that we see others living in. We want strife to end in our families, etc. We want to eat drink, and be merry. However, more often than not, we find ourselves hungry, afraid, and alone. We covet peace.

Jesus says to be on our own guard. And we should take him to heart. But we should also take heart in his warning. In warning, Jesus shows how deeply he cares for us. He does not want anyone to forfeit the one thing that makes us rich towards God, namely Himself.

Jesus is the one thing that truly matters. He is the one who has won for you and then continues to give you the forgiveness of sins. He is the one who actually has procured rest for you. By His blessed passion and death, He is the one who has not only laid up for us treasure in heaven, but calls you to come to his feast to truly eat, drink, and be merry. So come to the feast thereby guarding yourself against all covetousness, valuing the richness of your Savior Jesus.

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

God’s Delight

We should know Who Wisdom is. God the Father did not create alone; this act of creation was Trinitarian in nature. We know the Spirit was there from Genesis, as the Spirit hovered over the waters. But Wisdom, the eternal Son of God was there and played a critical role. John says in his prologue.

Jesus is Wisdom, the master workman who is the with the Father before the world was created and in whom the Father delights. And Jesus rejoiced before the Father. It was in this joy that the world was created. Father, Son and Holy Spirit working together to bring all things into being and after working those 6 days, on the seventh God called his work very good and rested.

Wisdom is seen rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of men. They are his inheritance after all. Jesus delighted in the children of men prior to the fall. And even in that great fall into sin, joy would be a driving force for God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to bring about man’s redemption and his salvation.

It is sad to consider how many people think God is a momentary fix for a horrifically bad moment in life. A divorce, a flood, whatever it may be. God is only needed when things get extremely bad. That makes God into a very small God. In so doing we make God in our own image, breaking that first commandment, making God fit our own fleeting needs. That is not who God is at all. He is the one who created, redeemed and keeps holy. And you now wish to form Him?

God the Father delights in his Son. Even after the creation fell into sin and was cursed to die for our sins, the Father still loved the Son, because Jesus chose to come, to die for you many sins, and rise for your justification. The author to the Hebrews talks about Jesus this way: “the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Joy was driving force. Jesus delights in saving you, that you might be reconciled to His Father in Heaven.

Now, Wisdom has built the Church, calling us to table. Delight in what our Lord delights to give to us: Salvation.

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

The Highlight Reel

One of my favorite shows used to be Baseball Tonight because they showed all the highlights of the baseball games. It was a way to get the great plays of all the games.

In a similar way, we have our own highlight reel, though it probably is not a reel that we want others to see. It is the highlight reel of our sins. You see Satan just loves to drudge up our past offenses, our past faults, the things we have done or left undone. And more often than not he also gives a pretty colorful commentary on them as well. He plagues our conscience with it all the time. And the highlights continue to be added to because we continue to fall into sin some way or another.

As I was reading and studying for John 21, I ran across the idea that it gives some pretty neat highlights of the Ministry of Jesus, recalling the calling of the disciples away from their fishing nets, Peter’s confession, the feeding of the 5,000 with bread and fish, etc. But these events in John 21 are more than replays of the highlights.

Jesus is risen from dead! Jesus as we learned from his first appearance to the disciples in the locked room, does not come to his disciples with vengeance on his mind. He comes to bring peace. He comes to bring forgiveness.

Though we have been given His peace, we still are bombarded with the assaults of the devil. Satan still comes in with our highlights of sins and replays them over and over, accusing us. And we tend to forget about the peace which Jesus gives. Instead we tend to be afraid and begin to fear interacting with God. But we need not be afraid.

But every time we gather in the place where Jesus promises to be for us and for our salvation, the highlights of Jesus’ death and resurrection for us gets put into our mind. We get to say to Satan, “I am baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. I am saved by Christ.” And with Paul we get to say, “As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” These are the Jesus’ highlights but He makes them yours every time you receive His Word and Sacraments. May we be ever mindful of what our Lord has done for us, that we may always believe it.

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

The House that Wisdom Built

The book of Proverbs has a unique role in the history of doctrine in the Church, especially the Greek word for Wisdom (σοφός). The Greek word is feminine in the rules of language, and so when Wisdom is personified throughout the book of Proverbs such as Proverbs 8 and 9, people are sometimes uneasy to ascribe this to Jesus. But Jesus is the Wisdom or Torah of God in the flesh, and He has built the house, and he is the one who calls out for all to come to his feast.

We have our reading from Proverbs matched up with our final reading from John 6, the great discourse where Jesus calls himself “the bread of life.” In our reading from John 6 we see Jesus tell all who would hear, “whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Wisdom in Proverbs 9, effectively says the same thing. “Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”

Wisdom speaks like Jesus speaks. We are called to walk in His ways. Jesus Himself says He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him. That is where true life is, and we get that life through the bread that Jesus/Wisdom feeds us.

Following His his call we go to His House, the Church, which he has built and onward to the table which He has prepared and eat of the bread he has made, and drink of the wine he has mixed in our presence that we might have life and walk in His way to the glory of the Lord’s name forevermore.

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

Being Gathered Around the Bread of Heaven

Faith is not something that is our own initiative. Jesus tells us that much on a number of occasions but in John 6, Jesus is explicit about how the Father draws us. It is the Lord’s doing. And that is a message of wonderful comfort to us who can fall into despair.

Elijah was such a man who needed comfort. He was in despair so it appears even after that wonderful event at Mount Carmel. Jezebel wants him dead. Elijah flees and heads out to the wilderness. The wilderness is not a place to go alone. In the Old Testament, the wilderness is considered a place of testing, you might like to think of as spiritual testing. Elijah’s own feelings lead him to cry out to the Lord, effectively begging the Lord to take his life because he was no better than his fathers (other prophets). Elijah is not seeing the Word of the Lord converting the hearts of his hearers. So he is tired and worn out.

Elijah receives comfort from the very Angel of the LORD. I like to think this is the 2nd Person of the Trinity, in his Pre-Incarnate state. We also need to remember the blessing of this food. The cake (or bread) is not made by man. Man was supposed to eat bread by the sweat of his brow. This bread is made by the Son, for the strengthening of Elijah’s faith and also his body. For later at Horeb, the Lord is gracious to him telling him that Elijah’s preaching is not in vain. 7000 were kept safe from bowing down to Baal.

The Sacrament of the Altar is for the weak and despairing needing to be strengthened by the Words of Jesus, specifically “for you”. We are indeed weak, and the christian walk under the cross is too great for us to go it alone. Jesus tells us that much too in our reading from John 6. We don’t initiate or activate our faith. We don’t initiate our coming to Jesus. And we don’t initiate the strengthening of our faith either, rather we are drawn and gathered around the living bread of heaven which came down from heaven being sent by the Father. And who the Father gives to his Son the Son will never cast out. What peace and comfort we have in the coming of this Jesus, our bread of life.

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

The Rainbow and God’s Promise

The story of Noah, is one that most people know, even those who do not believe in the One True God. One only needs to look at a recent movie to see that the story of Noah is one people have etched in their minds. Yes, we remember the rainbow but we don’t teach our children what it means. The world has commandeered it for their own sinful purposes.

The rainbow is a sign with a word of promise attached. This is not the first time that the Lord worked like this. We have a particular word to describe these things. We have narrowed the definition a bit, but the idea remains the same. We call these things sacraments. A sacrament is a rite commanded by God, which the promise of grace (forgiveness of sins) is attached. The rainbow is one such instance in the Old Testament that the Lord shows us how He deals graciously with his people. God’s grace is attached to the sign of the rainbow. Today with Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, He is working the same way as He worked back in the days of Noah and even earlier in the days of Adam and Eve.

The rainbow teaches us the first commandment and its meaning well. You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, trust, and love God above all things. We fear the Lord because of what He can do, we trust the Lord because of the promise He has given, and we love the Lord because he has had compassion on us poor miserable sinners, whose hearts are still inclined to evil rather than good. His “bow” of wrath against humanity has been “retired” and hung in the clouds.

The rainbow points to Jesus and His cross. The greatest act of wrath and judgment against sin took place at the cross. Jesus took on the full righteous judgment and wrath of His Father for us. Jesus suffered and died on account of on our sins. But in Christ’s atoning death we have the promise of everlasting life with God in His Kingdom. And God deals graciously with us establishing with us an even greater eternal covenant in the blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.

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

The Lord Takes All Kinds

If you could not tell already, I love the Old Testament Prophets. Amos is no exception, and our Old Testament reading gives us a little insight into the Lord’s call to Amos.

Amos was not looking to be a prophet. He makes that explicitly clear, saying that he was a herdsman and a dresser of figs (or mullberries if you follow Luther in his discussion on the passage).

But rather than question the Lord, when he was called to preach to the people of Israel (the northern kingdom), Amos goes without much complaint. Amos knows that he is not going this ministry alone. It is not his word that he will be speaking to Israel. It is solely the Lord’s Word.

That is what makes any man qualified to be the mouthpiece of the Lord. The Lord takes all kind to be his preachers, even those who are content to do what they have always done.

Think of our Lord’s call to his 12 disciples. Some were fishermen, one was a tax collector, and others were professions we have little knowledge. But what is clear is that in these men we see them hear the call and follow Jesus. Amos does the same thing even defending himself and the message, saying that the sermon he preaches is not his own. It is the Lord’s.

The Lord takes all kinds of men to be his servants of Word and Sacrament, so that means all of men ought to at least consider the call to serve as the mouthpiece of the Lord, that faith in Jesus Christ may be obtained. We should encourage our young men in our church body to learn more about the call and vocation of the Office of the Holy Ministry. Because even if they don’t go into the public ministry, they certainly will be the “preacher” to their own family as being the head of the household. And again the promise is true, that the Lord goes with his preachers. They do not preach themselves but ought to preach Law and Gospel, those magnificent Words of the Lord which bring about life and salvation for sinful men.

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

That Rebellious House

I have thoroughly been enjoying preaching on the Old Testament Lessons these past few weeks. The hits just keep coming with Ezekiel 2. Ezekiel is quite a prophet, and his task from the Lord is a mighty tall task. He is to preach to that rebellious house of Israel.

Ezekiel was sent into hostile territory. He was sent to a people who was in the middle of divine judgment, slowly being brought to repentance. Judah was being thrown out of the promised land. They are mad and upset with God. And to make matters worse for Ezekiel, God tells him, that the people would not want to listen to what Ezekiel was sent to say.

The rebellious house of Israel would not like it because they still had punishment and discipline to endure. The Lord’s message through Ezekiel would fall on mostly deaf ears, and these are ears of the Lord’s chosen people Israel, the people through whom the Messiah was to come.

The message of Ezekiel was one of repentance. And that is a great message to hear when it is not directed at you. For repentance requires you to acknowledge that you have done something wrong, that you have sinned before God. And we certainly don’t like having to admit that we are sinful and unclean in the sight of God and deserve nothing but punishment from God.

But with the message of repentance comes also the promise of forgiveness. The message of the prophets is the same of Jesus himself. And like Ezekiel, Jesus came to the rebellious house of the world. Jesus accused the world of its rampant sin and its rebellious ways, straying from the ways of the Lord. His Law accuses and kills, but His all atoning death on the cross brings with it life and salvation to the one who believes. What a beautiful gospel He brings. And he brings it to us, that rebellious house who needs to be brought to repentance and faith daily.

And we are as the 4th question concerning Baptism indicates. By daily contrition and repentance our sinful adam is drowned and the new man daily emerges, to live the gracious presence of God forever.

Thank the Lord that He sends his preachers and His only Son to that rebellious house preach His Law and Gospel to us in need of repentance and faith!

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

Great is Thy Faithfulness

I really enjoy the Old Testament, and if you have been paying attention, the Old Testament lessons during this season after Pentecost have not disappointed. This Sunday, we get Lamentations 3:22-33.

Lamentations is not the first book people want to read in the Old Testament because it deals with communal suffering. In Lamentations we know exactly why God brings this suffering on the people of Jerusalem. They did not turn from their wickedness and sins. They did not seek God, but rather ran after other gods. God warned them this would happen through the many prophets He sent, but they would not listen. This is written for our learning.

Another question you might be asking is this: “So what’s God’s plan with this suffering?” Or another way to say it, “What’s God’s desired outcome?” It’s simple: Be brought to repentance and faith.

Jerusalem was in utter ruins. King Zedekiah watched his sons be killed at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. God’s judgement against Jerusalem was on full display. Tears filled the streets. But in our readings from Lamentations 3, Jeremiah remains confident in the compassion of God. The Lord does not destroy and kill to all eternity. This discipline Jerusalem receives is actually all about compassion. God shows His compassion through discipline on His people because He loves them and us. He does not want any to die, and this discipline will humble some and bring them to repentance and faith in Him. The Lord’s Law and discipline has this effect. The Lord disciplines those he loves. This is why we too discipline our children, because we love them.

The Lord’s wrath is not forever, but was actually poured out for us all on Jesus at the cross. Christ suffered the full weight of God’s righteous judgment and wrath once for all. Even in wrath the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. Jesus takes our suffering on out of love. He turns his cheek and receives the insults. He drinks the bitterness of God’s wrath for us. This is the mercy of God for you in action, and you get to receive this mercy anew every time you hear that your sins are forgiven on account of Christ. So do not be grieved by your sin, but receive the Love of God for you in Christ.

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