What Does This Mean?

Eulogies Aren’t Just Bad

Many of us have been to that funeral. The one where the deceased is the center of the show. Maybe it was called a “celebration of life.” Or, the thing was intended to be the happy event because everybody’s always so sad at funerals. In the service, we heard a eulogizing message that made little or no mention of Jesus. It certainly didn’t speak of what wondrous things Jesus has done and is doing for Aunt Gertrude. There was no talk of Uncle Jurgen’s rest in Christ, or the promised resurrection on the last day.

To be clear, I’m not talking about reminiscing together. I’m not talking about a glowing obituary, or even a public reading of it. I’m talking about those quasi-hagiographies that elevate the deceased above the character of a sinner, saved for Jesus’s sake, by no merit of their own. These are on the doorstep of idolatry.

In talking about the funeral, you might hear something like, “The resurrection of all flesh?” What use is that to say? This is a celebration of life! We’re taking comfort in who Gertrude was.” Or, “How will people know who Jurgen was? Someone has to talk about him, so the people get to know him. They need to know what he was like.”

That is grief talking. In the resurrection, we will be with all the faithful, including Gertrude and Jurgen. They are at rest. They’re not gone forever. They are awaiting the resurrection, having been delivered from this tribulation. “I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’” (Revelation 7:14)

Eulogies can be bad, when they’re false. It’s one thing to dwell on the highlights of a person’s life in their obituary. It’s entirely another to glorify their character beyond reality. “Gertrude was the kindest person anyone ever met.” “Jurgen was so selfless, no one ever had a cross word to say about him.” We’re talking about a sinner like us, with warts and weaknesses aplenty. Today, unlike us, they are free from sin today. Yesterday, they were not.

Eulogies can be worse, when they distract from the person and work of Jesus. The hagiographic problem rears its head in its dominance over our dead loved one’s savior, Jesus. The Gospel should always have predominance. This means that the kind words and remembrances of Gertrude or Jurgen ought not be greater in number, longer in presentation, or bolder in proclamation than the work of their Lord, Jesus Christ.

Eulogies can be wicked, when they deny the current state of blissful rest. This falls into the land of in-a-better-place-ism. “Jesus called her home, because He needed another angel.” “He has gone to a better place.” Neither of these are true, as we’ve discussed before. The dead in Christ are at rest in Him. “Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.” (Revelation 6:11)

Eulogies are evil, when they deny the fleshly resurrection. We’ll hear about how Jurgen is freed from suffering. He’s done with his body now. The first statement is true and good. The latter is false and anti-Christian. The promise, given to us in baptism with the faith to trust in that promise, is salvation and resurrection. This isn’t an innovative teaching. Christianity has confessed the resurrection throughout the ages. Modern Christians are the ones returning to ancient heresies, like denying the resurrection. See also: Acts 6:6-8, 1 Corinthians 15:12-20, Job 19:23-27, and John 11:23-25.

Concerning the right use of Eulogies, “A eulogy is not the best Christian tradition. An obituary may be read that focuses on the gospel promise of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ our Lord and not on the good deeds of the deceased. It might be appropriate for family and friends to say a few words about the beloved in a more casual setting, such as a reception or family gathering after the service.” (Final Victory, p. 47, Bryan Wolfmueller, CPH, 2009).

Praise be to Jesus, the Firstborn of the Dead!

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX
and
Mission planting pastoral team:
Epiphany Lutheran Church
Bastrop, TX

Before Childbirth—Preparing the Parents

Am I ready to be a father? How can I possibly be a mother? Shortly after a man and a woman find out that they are pregnant, it is quite natural to be shocked and surprised, to be afraid and to feel unprepared. Certainly there are many things to do to prepare for the birth of a child, to figure out a name, to tell the grandparents and family, to buy supplies, to schedule appointments, and the list goes on. But the first thing we should do is read God’s Word and pray together. We should prepare our homes as Christian homes and the husband should pray for the wife, and the wife pray for her husband, and together they should pray for their unborn child. In an effort to prepare the parents before childbirth, let us consider God’s Word found in Psalm 139.

Psalm 139:1-6

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
²You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from afar.
³You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
⁵You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is high; I cannot attain it.

Psalm 139 reminds us first of who God is. God knows everything about us. He knows about our relationship with our spouse, and he knows about our unborn child. He knows the hairs on our head and He knows each of His sheep by name. If you are feeling uncertain or fearful about a child born into your family, the Lord knows this and He knows what you need before you ask Him. Ask Him, pray to the Lord! Prepare your home for this child and start the preparations with prayer.

Psalm 139:7-12

⁷Where shall I go from your Spirit?
    Or where shall I flee from your presence?
⁸If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
    If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
⁹If I take the wings of the morning
    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light about me be night,”
¹²even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light with you.

Perhaps one of the first reactions for the husband is the thought to run away. Responsibility is knocking at the door, to take care of wife and child, to make sacrifices for others. The first reaction for the wife? I can’t do this! I am not ready for this! This wasn’t part of my plan. But this child was part of God’s plan. And this child depends on you both, not just one of you, to take care of him and raise him.

We ought not to play hide-and-seek with our Savior. For wherever we go and whatever we do, He is there. He can find us. He has searched for us after all! But this is not to say that God is scary, but rather that God is merciful. Whatever your thoughts and whatever your worries, the Lord is with you. The Lord will be with you through it all. North and South and East and West, the Lord will never leave you nor forsake you.

Psalm 139:13-16

¹³For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.^[a]
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

In this passage, we recognize that we were all born by God’s hand, both husband and wife, and the unborn child. God is our Creator, and when He brings life into the world through the union of a man and a woman, He will surely protect that life, He will surely strengthen you to care for this child, He will certainly provide for you now, like He did when you were being born. Parents, remember this, your child is fearfully and wonderfully made by God the Creator. And so are you!

As you prepare for this child, continue in the Word of God and prayer. Continue going to church. Continue making sacrifices of time, talents, and treasures for your spouse, and never forget that the Lord will never leave you nor forsake you. He will strengthen you and preserve you both, and the life of the unborn child in the womb.

Rev. James Peterson
St. John Lutheran Church
Curtis, Nebraska

The Advent of our King

The advent of our King
Our prayers must now employ,
And we must hymns of welcome sing
In strains of holy joy.

“Advent” means “to come toward.” When we use the word Advent, we speak about Jesus’ First coming toward earth and His Second Coming on the Last Day. In this verse and during this season, we recall when Jesus first came to earth as a baby in Bethlehem.

The everlasting Son
Incarnate deigns to be,
Himself a servant’s form puts on
To set His servants free.

Jesus is the Son of God. This verse reminds us that Jesus is “everlasting,” both before the creation of the world and after He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. The Son became flesh as a servant, the opposite of King, to set His servants, all of us, free from sin, death, and the devil.

O Zion’s daughter, rise
To meet your lowly King,
Nor let your faithless heart despise
The peace He comes to bring.

“Zion’s daughter” is an Old Testament phrase for the Church. And here there are two meanings for the word “rise.” The obvious meaning is to stand up while we sing for “the King is coming.” But here also, the hymn means for us to consider the resurrection, that the Church shall rise from the graves on the Last Day and see the King, our Lord Most High.

As judge, on clouds of light,
He soon will come again
And His true members all unite
With Him in heaven to reign.

Suddenly the hymn shifts from the First Coming to the Second Coming of our Lord. Now the Lord Jesus the Judge of the living and the dead comes on the clouds as the Scriptures testify. This verse puts the hymn in our own context, for we await the Last Day with patience and joy in the midst of suffering.

Before the dawning day
Let sin’s dark deeds be gone,
The sinful self be put away,
The new self now put on.

What can we do while we wait for the Last Day? We put the new self on. While we worship we ask for God’s forgiveness of our sins, and He forgives them. This He has promised to us. Then we hear the Word of God, which works faith in us. Finally, we receive the Sacrament, the foretaste of the feast to come.

All glory to the Son,
Who comes to set us free,
With Father, Spirit, ever one
Through all eternity.

This final verse is a doxology. “Dox” means “glory.” These final verses of some hymns give glory to God. In this particular hymn, the doxology serves as a profound conclusion, that our lives in heaven on the Last Day will be endless refrains of giving glory to God forever and ever.

Rev. James Peterson
First Lutheran Church
Phillipsburg, Kansas

Sunday School: Tabitha

In Jewish custom, when someone dies, they are washed and laid out for mourning only a short time. They had to be buried as soon as possible, no longer than three days after death. Peter came to the room while they were grieving Tabitha.

Peter had been with Jesus all three times he raised people from the dead. Just as Jesus and the prophet Elijah did, he took the mourners out of the room and then prayed. This is very different than the healers of that day — and now — who make the event into a big show and who take all the credit. Very simply, he told her to get up, and she did. Peter then brought the woman to her friends, who spread the word throughout Joppa.

As with the miracles of Jesus, there are two messages for us in this story. One is that God cares about His people and grieves with them. Tabitha would once again die – and will rise again on the last day. Here God turned grief into joy for those He loves.

The more important message, however, is that the Gospel which Peter preached is true and from God. It creates faith in the hearts of those who become believers. The focus is on what God is doing and not what we do.

This story also calls are attention to a faithful servant of God — Tabitha. She has been an example for the church throughout the ages of those who give their lives to care for others. This we have in common with her. Our calling is to care for others
and honor those who care.

Blog Post Series

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Sunday School: Paul Shipwrecked

As a Roman citizen, Paul had the right to be tried by the emperor himself. Since the High Priests had decided to kill him, Paul exercised that right. Traveling by ship was still the quickest way to get to Rome, although it was risky, especially in the fall, when Paul’s ship set sail. Having arrived at a small port in Crete, the group had to decide if they would want to try for a larger port to their west. Paul had a vision of danger, and warned the party without success.

When a ship in this circumstance runs too close to shore, sailors would throw all unnecessary cargo overboard. St. Paul’s crew did this and put down the anchors as well. Since this left the boat at the mercy of the winds, sailors would always look for other options. Normally it is not wise to attempt to land in an unfamiliar place without aid. St. Paul’s crew had no better option and ran the ship into a sandbar attempting it.

Throughout this ordeal, God kept Paul and his companions safe as He promised He would. Paul’s calm in peril impressed all the pagans who traveled with him. These events are remembered to this day in Malta, where they were stranded over the winter.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

For All the Saints, Who From Their Labors Rest

Sermon on Revelation 7:13-17
All Saint’s Sunday
October 30, 2022
Saint Paul Lutheran Church
And Trinity Lutheran Church
McGregor and Guttenberg, Iowa

Text: “Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Prayer: For all the saints who from their labors rest, Who Thee by faith before the world confessed, Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Amen.

Christ is Risen!

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who by his death has destroy death and by his rising again opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

Introduction: On this All Saints 2022, a flood of thoughts and emotions occupy my thoughts. Three years ago on Reformation Day, Evangeline Charissa Keller was baptized into the name of the Triune God by her father in the NICU in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Her entrance into the world was dramatic and the shadow in the back of my thoughts as we drove there was the remote possibility that she, her mother — my daughter Hanne — and her father could be at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb by that day. The Lord had mercy and blessed the work of doctors, nurses and many others to perform near perfect procedures. They all came through well and thrived as I preached for my son-in-law that year’s All Saints divine service. It was as if the Holy Spirit whispered “not yet, not yet.” In the years since, all is very well with them and a very bright three-year-old joined her six-year-old sister in delighting and challenging her mother and father.

Our text this morning opens the curtain of heaven for us to see the throne of God. There gathered before the Father and the Lamb of God are the children of God from every time – Adam and Noah, Joseph and Moses, David and Elijah, and all those trusting in the coming Messiah. There are also the Apostles and Evangelists, Christians from every time and place, language and nation, and people much more familiar to me.

I remember my own grandparents and grandparents-in-law, who lived and prospered through incredibly hard times, kept the faith in their own … unique … ways, who were often living examples of saints and sinners at the same time. I remember my grandmother Smith reading from the big, KJV family Bible to me as a child on her lap. I remember my grandmother Schneider and her aunt who gave me my first Greek New Testament as a confirmation gift. There are my parents and parents-in-law, troubled in troubled times, yet who still kept their faith. Also present is my father, that bruised reed the Lord did not break. And now in 2022, my beloved wife, Kris, has joined them. She loved me, her children and grandchildren through constant pain all of her life, produced endless beautiful and practical crafts that blessed many. Her straightforward, rock-hard faith was an inspiration to me and to many. All are at rest with their Savior, along with two grandchildren whom the Good Shepherd folded in his arms while still in the womb. Many others are there, too. My Fathers and brothers in the faith that taught me and many others and laid the same stole of ministry on me as I have now laid on my son-in-law and spiritual sons. I am thankful for them and for their confessions, praying to be as faithful to the Lord as they were.

So, how did they get there before the throne? Born sinners they struggled with the Old Adam and Old Eve until the day they died. Yet when they were baptized, Jesus united them with his death. When he rose from the dead, he opened the way for them – and us – to be with him forever. He, the Lamb of God took away the sins of the world – their sin, our sin. At their deaths, his angels came, gave them the white robes of his righteousness and the palms of victory they wave before the throne.

In life, he was their Rock, their Fortress, and their Might; he was their Captain in the well-fought fight. Now they rest from their labors and God has dried every tear from their eyes. Yet to me, and to you, the Holy Spirit still seems to whisper, “Not yet, Not yet!” We feebly struggle, they in glory shine!

Eight years ago, I struggled with a massive infection in my heel. Several times I told my pastor that I still believed what I taught and confessed these thirty-seven years as I went to surgery. Later I was told that I was on the threshold of attending the Marriage Feast. It was as if the Holy Spirit had said, “not yet, not yet.” In the years since, I have continued to preach, to teach, cared for my home congregation when our pastor was on the threshold himself, presided at the weddings of two of my children, seen all my grandchildren save one baptized with the same baptismal shell with which their parents and others were baptized, began to pass the baton on to four of my spiritual sons, welcomed a brand new pastor to our home congregation, and, with him, mentor vicars. God has blessed me more than I deserve.

And now I reflect that I was blessed to celebrate All Saints Day with my wife thirty-four times, thankful for each day we were together, praying to thank the Lord for those safely home. Now I pray after receiving the Lord’s Supper to thank God for my late wife, an ever-growing list of grandchildren, my children and their spouses. I will rejoice that this year I can still hold their hands, speak with them through the ether and see them all once in a while. Soon, all too soon, the angels will come for me or one of them, to join those at the Feast as the Holy Spirit no longer says, “not yet” but the Lord Jesus says to one of us, “welcome to the joy of your Father.”

And yet there breaks a more glorious day. The saints triumphant will rise in bright array; The King of glory passes on His way. Sin and death will die. The world renewed, restored and be transformed, fit for eternity. God will pitch his tent with us and live with us forever. And he will dry every tear from our eyes.

Christ is Risen! Amen, come Lord Jesus, come!

Prayer:

Oh, may Thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold, Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old And win with them the victor’s crown of gold! Amen.

Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, set watch over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

As the head of my household, can I commune my family?

No, you should not. And the why matters here. The notion of community enjoyed by Christians in fellowship together is governed by the Law of Christian love for my neighbor. Yes, love is a function of God’s Law. God’s love for you is purely the Gospel of undeserved forgiveness through the blood of Jesus. But, His command for you to love your neighbor and your compliance with it is purely a function of God’s Law.

Fourth commandment – “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12 ESV) “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” (Deuteronomy 5:16)

“What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.” (Luther’s Small Catechism, section 1:4)

Luther’s expansion of the commandments in the small catechism is taken directly from Jesus’s teaching of the commandments in Matt 5. Jesus condemns lust just as adultery and hatred just as murder. We are right to understand all of the commandments in a similar way.

As the head of a household, you bring your family into a church. By joining fellowship with that church, you are submitting yourself to her authority. You may only resist or reject, if that church operates in a way that is contrary to God’s Word. If your conscience so compels you, you ought also to leave that church and find a faithful one.

However, under the authority of that church, you are bound to her governance. This is not different than children, who are bound to the governance of their parents. The voluntary nature of our submission is the only unique feature here. If we are Christians in a particular place, then we are bound by God’s law to that body unless or until we sever ourselves from it.

This is also true of a congregation’s relationship to District and Synod. We do not have the moral authority to disregard synodical doctrine and practice. In our voluntary association with a synod, we are bound by the 4th Commandment to submit ourselves to that governance. If we are to deviate from it, we are also bound to separate ourselves from that synod.

Now, getting back home, my household is a member of a local congregation. This congregation is a member congregation of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. We believe teach and confess that the institution of the Lord’s Supper belongs to the church as a whole and ought to be governed and conducted in good order.

Our teaching springs from Jesus’s institution of the Lord’s Supper among the twelve disciples (Matthew 26, Mark 16, Luke 22). It’s important to recognize that there were other groupings of followers throughout Jesus’s ministry. Jesus sent out seventy-two to proclaim the nearness of the Kingdom of God (Luke 10). St. Paul also reports that there were over 500 witnesses to the resurrection in the 40 days Jesus walked the earth before the Ascension (1 Corinthians 15).

Yet, none of these received the institution of the Lord’s Supper or the command to go and make disciples of all nations. That work, the governance of it, and passing of it to others was left for the disciples to manage. That’s the work of the church. We are to conduct ourselves in good order and submit ourselves to faithful governance within the church.

The particular articles governing us as members of member congregations of the LC–MS are these. “Our churches teach that the one holy Christian Church is to remain forever. The church is the congregation of Saints in which the Gospel is purely taught and the sacraments are correctly administered…” (Augsburg Confession, Article: VII). “Our churches teach that no one should publicly teach in the church, or administer the sacraments, without a rightly ordered call” (AC XIV).

In voluntary Fourth Commandment submission to the authority of our congregations and their synodical governance, we cannot practice the Lord’s Supper apart from the administration of those pastors, who are rightly called to do so. We are certainly free to leave the fellowship in search of a faithful one, if we are so driven by our conscience. But, we cannot pretend to submit to the church’s authority publicly, and privately rebel against her.

That would be unfaithful to God’s commands for us. God’s Word requires that we hear and obey. That includes submitting to those authorities He has given us. As we each confessed in our confirmations, I will suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from this faith.

As we confess, so let us do.

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX
and
Mission planting pastoral team:
Epiphany Lutheran Church
Bastrop, TX

Sunday School: Parables of Salt and Light

In ancient times, salt was precious. People would pay a lot of money for it because it kept food from spoiling. If meat was not salted, a family would have to throw it out in a day or two. When meat was salted, it might last a few months. Even in the early days of America, salt was necessary to have meat to eat in the winter. If salt isn’t pure, it could lose its taste and the ability to preserve food. Then salt has very few uses. At best it could be used to keep plants from growing on the paths they
need to walk on.

Lamps were made of clay and shaped like a bowl. Olive oil was poured in the lamp and a wick stuck in it to soak up the oil. Someone in the family would light it. Tall stands were put around the house. The person who lit the lamp would place it on a stand so that the room would be bright.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Sunday School: Parable of the Lost Sheep

Sheep are not the cuddly, fluffy, pure white creatures we see in paintings
and picture books. They are dirty, smelly, noisy and interested in only one thing –
food. They wander wherever they want to go and do not pay attention to the
dangers of world around them. They often walk off cliffs, in the path of wolves and
other predators and are easily separated from the flock.

For this reason, shepherds often took their flocks out together. If one got
lost, then, helpers would watch those that did not wander while the shepherd.
Shepherds often loved their sheep the way we love our pets. If a sheep or a lamb
was too weak to walk, they would carry the sheep on their shoulders. If a lost
sheep was found, everyone would rejoice.

Shepherds and sheep appear often in the pages of the Bible. Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and David were shepherds. The Bible calls God our
shepherd. He feeds us, guides us safely through the wilderness, finds us when we
are lost, binds up our wounds and carries us home. Jesus calls Himself the Good
Shepherd. We hear His voice, we follow Him and He lays down His life for us. The
Christian Church from the very beginning called its leaders pastors, which comes
from the Latin word for shepherd. God calls pastors to care for His people – His
sheep – the way He cares for them.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Sunday School: The Parable of the Lost Son

The Parable of the Lost Son is one the most loved of the stories Jesus told. Everyone can relate to it. We see a very strong love shown by the Father to both His sons – the responsible one as much as the wasteful one. In the time of Jesus’ ministry, a father normally did not divide his property while he was alive. In the story, when the younger son asked for his inheritance, he was saying “I wish you were dead.” Still the father did what his son wanted. The father so loved his son that he kept looking for him to return.

When the younger son came back, the father saw him and did what men at that time did not do – he ran to meet his son. He would have to pull up his robes to do so and would be embarrassing. He did not wait for the younger son to apologize. Instead, he dressed his son as one of his own heirs and threw a very big party to celebrate his return.

When the older son was so angry that he did not come to the party, he was insulting his father. Yet his father came out to plead with him. The older son continued to show disrespect when he lectured his father. Yet the father still speaks to him tenderly. “All I have is yours,” he said, “but we have to rejoice, for your brother who was dead is now alive, was lost has now been found.”

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana