OCTOBER 2024
OCTOBER 2024
6 October 2024 - Trinity 19 - Ephesians 4:17-5:2
Nobody likes conflict and warfare. When we hear news reports about the suffering of those who are caught in the middle of conflict in various parts of the world, or when we see images of the death and destruction brought about by war, we cringe. We desire peace - for ourselves, and for everyone else too.
But sometimes, conflict is better than the alternative - the lesser of two evils. Sometimes in human history, wars of annihilation have been launched against a certain group - not just to achieve some kind of territorial advantage or political control, but with the genocidal goal of the total destruction of a whole tribe or nation.
At such times, for the people under attack, warfare and conflict, and fighting back for one’s very survival, was the only choice to be made. In such a context, ceasing to struggle and fight would mean ceasing to exist.
Are you involved in a struggle like that? You may not realize it, or think of it in this way, but you are. In this life, such a war is being waged inside every baptized and believing Christian.
I’m not talking now about the struggle that takes place between the church and the forces of evil that surround the church in this world. I’m talking about something that is going on, on the inside of every Christian.
The “old man” or the “old sinful nature,” which has been with you since your natural conception and birth, is relentlessly attacking the “new man” or the “new righteous nature,” which God has placed within you through the new birth of water and the Spirit.
And this is a war of annihilation. There can be no truce, no negotiated cessation of hostilities. In the end, only one nature can survive.
In the next world, your identity will be either as a righteous and holy saint, who loves God and the things of God, and who enjoys fellowship with God forever; or as an unrighteous and rebellious servant of darkness, hating God, and destined for eternal destruction.
Which will it be? Which of the two natures will prevail in the struggle that is being waged within you, even now?
Will it be that aspect of your inner being than comes from our common ancestor Adam, through his fall into sin, by means of your natural generation? Or will it be that aspect of your inner being that comes from our common Savior Jesus Christ, the new Adam, through his work of redemption, by means of your supernatural regeneration?
In today’s lesson from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, we see descriptions of these two natures or “inner selfs,” as they compete with each other for dominance in your life.
First, Paul describes the life of the Gentiles - the unbelievers in this world. With them there is no inner struggle between the old nature and the new nature, because they have no new nature.
They are as they have always been: without faith, without hope, without the life of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Paul writes that they walk
“in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”
The fallen spiritual state of the Gentiles, and their corrupted moral condition, lead them to live in ways that are in harmony with their flawed inner character, but which are out of harmony with God’s loving will for humanity.
Lust and debauchery. Greed and envy. Laziness and exploitation of others.
These are all attitudes and actions that have the effect of isolating an individual from the human family, and from the larger human society; and that definitely do isolate an individual from God, and from his fellowship.
That’s what sin does. It turns us in on ourselves, and away from others: away from our obligations toward others, and away from the fulfillment and satisfaction that come through loving relationships with others.
Sin is powerful. But it is a consuming and degrading power, not an uplifting and enriching power.
There’s nothing good or desirable about what Paul says here, concerning the old sinful nature that indwells all people in their original fallen state. We are repulsed by this description.
People usually don’t admit that on the inside, they are as bad as they actually are. They often try to cover up and “plaster over” their shameful thoughts and desires with outward works of civil righteousness.
But these sinful impulses and thoughts cannot be defeated through external human works. The roots of our sin run too deeply.
And I say “our sin” deliberately, because the extent to which the old fallen nature still resides within each of us, is the extent to which there is, as it were, a Gentile also within each of us - always looking for opportunities to contend with God and to thwart his will.
But God, and the things that God has put into place and set in motion, do have the power to suppress these harmful thoughts and inclinations. The Spirit of God is able to push back and counteract the destructive influence of the sinful nature with which we are all born.
And if you are a Christian - if you, in repentance and faith, cling to the promises of Christ and embrace his Word - then you can be certain that the God who has this power, is indeed residing in you. His Spirit is working in you, specifically within the “new man” inside of you that he brought into existence when he called you to faith.
In this new nature, your will has been set free from its original bondage to rebellion and destruction, by the liberating power of the gospel. According to the “new man” - the new spiritual self that is now in you - you desire and want only what is good and pure and right.
These two natures - these two inner selfs - are locked in a constant struggle with each other. They are competing for your soul.
They are fighting to see which one will exercise the predominant influence on how you think and act, and to see which one will carry you into eternity.
In words of admonition and encouragement, St. Paul impresses upon us how important this struggle is, for the sake of our life of faith, and for the sake of our identity as the children of God. After his description of the self-centered and self-consuming impulses and actions of the old nature, St. Paul makes the following contrast:
“But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
By the power of Christ, through your faith in the truth of Jesus, the old sinful self is to be “put off” and suppressed. And by the power of Christ, through your faith in the truth of Jesus, the new self which God has created is to be “put on” and exalted.
The spirit of your mind is to be renewed by the grace of the Spirit of Christ. The truth of Christ, and the godly desires that his truth engenders, are to “push back” against the deceitful and wicked desires of the old nature, which formerly governed your life, and which are still trying to make a comeback in influencing you.
And as we heard in today’s Epistle reading, there are some practical effects of the influence of the new nature in the life of a Christian, when the new nature is having its proper influence.
When you think and live according to the impulses of the “new man,” you will show respect to others by speaking truthfully to them. You will not try to deceive and manipulate others for your own selfish advantage.
When you think and live according to the impulses of the “new man,” you will control your anger, remembering that you are not God, who alone has the ultimate right to judge and to punish. You are, instead, under his mercy, and therefore will show mercy.
The new nature in the Christian instills a new sense of responsibility in us. We know that we have the duty to work to support ourselves, and not to be a burden on others, or to impose on others unnecessarily.
The mutual help that Christian brothers and sisters do render to each other in times of genuine need, is not to be coerced, but is to be offered freely and in love, and to be received with thanksgiving.
Our general way of speaking, as it flows out of the thoughts and values of the new man, is a grace-filled way of speaking. When we don’t know exactly what to say, we should search for truthful words that build others up, and that express kindness and compassion toward them.
The new nature - created within us by the Spirit of Christ - is a Christ-like nature. According to this nature, we love those whom Christ loves. We are patient with those with whom Christ is patient. We forgive those whom Christ forgives.
It cannot be any other way - at least not when the new nature is alive and well, and is prevailing over the old nature.
But how often does the new nature actually have the upper hand in your life? My guess is: not as often as it should.
How consistent are any of us in thinking, speaking, and acting in accordance with the nature that the Holy Spirit has birthed within us, rather than in accordance with the rebellious and selfish nature that we inherited from Adam? If we are honest, we will all have to admit that we have been very inconsistent in this respect.
What people see in us, and hear from us, is not a pure and undiluted manifestation of the life of Christ in our inner being. Instead, what they get from us is a disappointing cocktail of mixed motives and half-hearted efforts.
Sometimes people do see some evidence of the love of Christ showing forth from us. Sometimes they do not.
Sometimes we are at peace in our conscience, resting in God’s grace and committed to his ways. Sometimes we are worn down and discouraged by guilt, and by feelings of inadequacy, because we know that we have not done as the children of light are to do, but have done instead what a child of darkness would naturally do.
Remember that the old nature within you is engaged, without rest, in a mortal struggle against the new nature. And it is a war of annihilation.
The old nature wants to destroy the new nature. And once God and his influence would be out of the way, the old nature would want to lead you back, in the chains of a re-enslaved will, into a hopeless captivity to the devil.
The old nature knows that this is the only way it can survive. And so the old nature stops at nothing in trying to reassert itself, and to scheme and lie itself back into a position of dominance in your life.
Its attacks against God, against the work and influence of God within you, and against your faith in God, are relentless.
It should not surprise you, therefore, that - in spite of the fact that you know better - you often stumble and fall back into the ways of that old nature. It should not surprise you. But it should alarm you.
Every time you sin - in thought, word, or deed - you are taking a step away from God, and away from the protection of his grace. Every time you sin - by the evil that you do, or by the good that you fail to do - you are threatening the continuation of your own spiritual life.
You are creating an environment within yourself that is just that much more inhospitable to God. You are, in effect, inviting him to leave, and to give up on you.
There’s a lot at stake in this struggle - this struggle between the old self and the new self. But as you experience that struggle, and endure that conflict, remember the words with which St. Paul concludes the section of his epistle from which we read today:
“And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”
Christ’s love for us does indeed set an example for how we should love others. But that’s not all his love for us accomplished.
Christ’s love for fallen humanity - for weak and struggling humanity - carried him to the cross of Calvary. And there, on the cross, he gave himself up for us, and sacrificed himself in our place to the justice of God.
The many times you have stumbled and fallen, and the many times you have allowed the old nature to have its way in your life, are all covered and paid for by the blood of the Lamb of God: who takes away the sin of the world, and who takes away your sin.
Because God’s Son did die, and because his death was accepted by his heavenly Father as a fragrant offering, God will never, ever stop forgiving the weaknesses and failures of those for whom Christ suffered. And that includes you.
In Christ, God will never, ever stop giving you a second chance. When you come to him in sorrow for your failures, and ask him for his help in the ongoing battle, he will always give it.
He will renew the spirit of your mind. He will advance and restore the “new man” that is still alive in you - that he created and preserves - to its proper place of prominence and influence.
He will be your Lord. On your behalf, and for your eternal good, he will prevail over the machinations and temptations of the devil, and over the machinations and temptations of your own sinful flesh.
The Lord Jehovah is the only true God, not Satan. He is in charge of your life, not the devil, because with the purchase price of his Son’s blood he has redeemed you, and has taken you back as his own precious possession. And so he will be God: for you, and in you.
The struggle between old and new, between the power of sin and the power of righteousness, will continue. Yet the old sinful nature will not prevail, but will ultimately perish: as you live every day in humility and dependence on Christ; and as you live every day with a joyful and confident faith in him as the victor over all the powers of darkness - in the universe, and in you.
The work that God has begun in you will be sustained, and will be brought to completion in the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who you are in Christ is the real you. That is what will survive, and live forever, by the grace of almighty God. Amen.
13 October 2024 - Trinity 20 - Matthew 21:33-44
Many of Jesus’ messages had an immediately positive and uplifting impact on his listeners. Today’s message, from St. Matthew’s Gospel, is not one of those.
There are some humbling and hard-to-accept truths associated with sinful humanity’s existence in this fallen world, and associated with sinful humanity’s alienation from a holy God, that Jesus wants people to grapple with, and face up to.
His words in today’s text are intended to get people to think about the seriousness of their spiritual problems - problems in their own hearts, and in their standing with God - and to get people to take God’s reactions and solutions to these problems seriously. Quoting from Psalm 118, Jesus says this to the priests and Pharisees:
“Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I say to you, ...whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”
There were no government OSHA regulations in those days, to guarantee the safety of construction workers at the workplace. In the ancient world, the labor force on a major construction project was often comprised of conscripted workers, or even slaves, who were forced to their jobs by the government.
The lives of these workers were generally not valued very highly. Measures to promote safety and prevent accidents were few. Injuries and deaths on the job were frequent.
The kind of tasks that are done today by one man operating a massive crane, were done in Jesus’ time by hundreds of men, pushing and pulling large blocks of quarried stone up improvised ramps. When it came time to drop one of those huge stone blocks into place, well, everyone had better make sure he was out of the way.
Because of the physical momentum of hundreds of men pushing and pulling, if you slipped and lost your footing at just the wrong moment, and ended up under the block that was in the process of being dropped, the descent of that block could not be halted to give you time to crawl out from under it before it fell.
Instead, you would be crushed. You would have no chance of escape.
The temple complex in Jerusalem was still under construction during the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Even though the main building was finished and in use, there were still some unfinished parts of the larger complex - especially the outer courts and outer walls.
Jesus was in Jerusalem when he spoke of himself as the stone that the builders - that is, the Jewish leaders - had rejected; and when he spoke of what would happen when this stone would fall on someone.
The temple was visible from almost anywhere in the city. The kind of construction accidents to which Jesus was alluding, and which he was using to illustrate his deeper point, had no doubt happened there. And some of his listeners may even have witnessed such accidents themselves.
For those who had seen them happen, and for those who had heard about them, a shiver would go down their spine whenever they thought about the poor man who had been crushed in such a way.
With his words, Jesus deliberately called forth such images and such thoughts. He wanted his listeners to be a bit unsettled, and to feel a bit frightened, when they thought about the deeper spiritual issues of human existence that his startling words were illustrating: namely, what it is like for an impenitent and unbelieving person to be crushed by the irreversible momentum of divine justice.
It is not a pretty picture. When a hardened unbeliever dies in his sins, angry at God and man, he will not be able to get out of the way of the massive cornerstone of divine judgment that will be dropped into place over him, for the construction of God’s kingdom of righteousness.
The weight of God’s wrath will come down on him in an instant, when God’s Son comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead. All of his excuses and self-justifications will be for nothing. They, and he, will be crushed. His destiny with be a destiny of eternal death.
That’s the kind of encounter a careless or unlucky construction worker may have with a heavy cornerstone. That’s the kind of encounter an impenitent and unbelieving person, at the end of his mortal life, will definitely have with Christ, the almighty Lord of the universe and the judge of all men.
“On whomever [this stone] falls, it will grind him to powder.”
That’s the real Jesus speaking, not the benign and unthreatening Jesus of popular imagination. And as the real Jesus would continue to guide our thoughts today, he calls upon us to consider yet another category of less deadly construction site accidents.
At a modern construction site you will usually see lots of sturdy metal scaffolding on which workers can safely stand and walk. You will also usually see an abundance of safety netting, to catch a hapless worker who might lose his balance and fall.
Not so at an ancient work site - such as the temple complex in Jerusalem. The scaffolding then was made of wood, and could often be quite rickety and unstable. And I don’t think the concept of safety netting had even been dreamt of yet.
And so, there were lots of falls at those old work sites. And when someone fell onto the stonework below, he would be hurt - severely so in many cases. Thoughts of such crippling injuries no doubt came to the minds of the Lord’s listeners when he said:
“Whoever falls on this stone will be broken.”
They knew that a worker who experienced such a fall would probably never be the same again. Broken bones often did not mend well in ancient times.
A crippled worker who had been injured in such a way would likely never again be able to support himself with his own labor. His sense of self-sufficiency, and his human pride, would be gone.
A man with such an injury, from such a fall, would be and remain a broken man: dependent on others, and unable to take care of himself.
These things are not pleasant for people to think about. But according to Christ, who used these exact images in his preaching, they are necessary for people to think about. They are necessary for you and me to think about.
We noted that in the case of a hardened unbeliever, God’s punishment crushes and pulverizes him when Christ, as the judge of the world, falls on him. But an encounter with God’s law will not leave you and other Christians unscathed, either.
If you sin against God and violate his will, you will end up being broken by the conviction of his law. When you in this way fall onto the hard, unyielding cornerstone of Christ and his holiness, it will break you.
Jesus breaks your pride when he impresses on you the full demands of God’s law - as he does through the Sermon on the Mount, for example. Here he says:
“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
This expectation is still in effect. God has not compromised his holiness, just because the human race is always rebelling against his holiness.
And when Jesus speaks in this way - when he speaks in this way to you - your spiritual self-sufficiency, and your lack of reliance on God, are indeed exposed and broken. Your moral self-satisfaction, and your opinion that you are “good enough” as you are - without the need to change - are shattered.
And there are many circumstances in this world that God uses for the same purpose - that is, to humble you, and to awaken you from the slumbering deception that everything is okay in your life: even without God to protect you, and even without the authority of his Word to govern you.
The failures and disappointments that we experience in this world often have the effect of making it very clear to us that we cannot ultimately rely on ourselves: on our own labors, or on our own cleverness. The exhortation and encouragement of Proverbs 3 can then be appreciated with a new and vivid clarity:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.”
The reason why God breaks weak and wandering Christians in these ways, is not as a prelude to a final, damning judgment. It is a call to repentance, which is a prelude to their receiving God’s forgiveness, and to their being transformed into the image of God’s Son.
Remember, falling on the cornerstone is not the same as having the cornerstone fall on you. When the cornerstone falls on you, there is no survival, as far as life with God is concerned. But when you fall on the cornerstone, you will survive, and live on, with God: with a greater dependence on his saving grace, and with a greater appreciation for his healing gifts.
Those who are crushed under the weight of the cornerstone, are those who are condemned forever, in their unbelief and unrepentant wickedness. But those who are merely broken by their fall onto the cornerstone, are those whose lives are destined by God’s grace to be reshaped, and reconfigured, to become what they need to be, so that they can be a part of God’s kingdom forever.
God breaks us with his law, precisely so that he can heal us with his gospel. Jesus “disassembles” the self-centered lives that we construct, so that he can reassemble our lives in his own image - with himself at the center - and conform us to his pattern of love and truth.
When you, with your lingering pride and self-satisfaction, fall onto the cornerstone that is Christ, God does intend in this way to destroy your pride and self-satisfaction. But he doesn’t intend to destroy you.
He intends to destroy the sinful attitudes that infect you, for your own good, so that your relationship with him - in the end - will be what it is supposed to be.
And when we are broken in this way, and repent of our failures and transgressions, God’s restoring forgiveness in Christ is indeed then sought. That’s when we speak, as our own, the words of King David in Psalm 51:
“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.”
And such a prayer, spoken at such a time for such a reason, is always answered with an unqualified “Yes.” As St. James reminds us,
“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
He gives the grace of his forgiveness, through and because of the sacrificial death of his Son. He gives the grace of eternal life, through and because of the victorious resurrection of his Son.
God does not break us in our sinfulness because he enjoys breaking us. But he breaks us in our sinfulness, so that he can recreate us in his righteousness, justify us and be reconciled to us, and put his own life within us. St. Paul writes in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.”
The old must pass away, in order for the new to come: the new reality of our eternal hope in Christ, our eternal citizenship in his kingdom, and our eternal membership in his family. The old must be crushed down, in order for the new to be raised up.
We don’t want to be damned in an eternal separation from God. We don’t want the cornerstone of Christ as judge to fall upon us and destroy us.
But with God’s help, we are willing to fall on the cornerstone of Christ as Savior. We want God to change us and recreate us: in our faith and values, in our commitments and convictions, and in our character and inner constitution.
In the hindsight of faith, as we look back on a lifetime of trials and tribulations, we can often see how God used those trials and tribulations for his good purposes, and for our own spiritual and moral benefit.
In the clarity of this hindsight, we know that God is not to be blamed or accused for having broken us. He is to be thanked for letting us take those falls onto the hard cornerstone that is his Son.
And even now, we are still willing for God to let us fall upon Christ, and to be broken in that fall; so that we can then be forgiven in the mercy of Christ, and be reconstructed and renewed in the likeness of Christ.
When God tears apart those aspects of our life that are not what they are supposed to be, some human pain will result. And in the moment, our flesh will resist.
But a true joy and contentment will come when God then puts us back together again in the right way, by the power of his gospel in Word and Sacrament. And we will wonder why we had ever resisted or feared the gracious work that God, over the long term, was doing: for us, and in us.
We read in the First Book of Samuel:
“The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.”
And Jesus said:
“Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I say to you, ...whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” Amen.
20 October 2024 - Trinity 21 - Genesis 1:1–2:4
Today’s Old Testament reading presented us with the creation account from the Book of Genesis. It is real history, written in majestic prose, by divine inspiration. The Book of Genesis is not written in the vocabulary of modern science, because it is a story for the ages.
It was true and meaningful before the methods of modern science came into existence. And it will continue to be true and meaningful for as long as this world endures, long after the terminology and concepts of today’s scientists have become obsolete.
Even those who reject the claims that the Book of Genesis makes regarding how the world was created, would have to admit that it is a beautiful work of ancient literature. The Biblical creation narrative is a simple yet profound account of an almighty triune God - through his powerful Word, and accompanied by his life-giving Spirit - speaking all things into existence, and putting them into order.
At each step of creation, what had been brought into existence up until that point is described as “good.” But when creation was finished, and when humanity as the capstone of creation had been brought into existence, it is all described as “very good.”
God’s creation was filled with order and harmony, balance and symmetry. The account of the creation of man especially shows this. We read:
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”
The story, as a well-crafted piece of literature, is very good. The account, as an accurate work of history, is very good. And the creation itself, as a tangible expression of God’s glory and love, was very good.
But the creation itself is no longer “very good.” The order and harmony have been disrupted. The balance and symmetry have been ruined.
Sin was inserted and infused into the good creation of God, at the suggestion of Satan and with the cooperation of Adam and Eve - the first human creatures. With sin came corruption. And with corruption came death.
I will be conducting two funerals in the coming week. The week following I will probably be conducting yet another. It might not be me, but someday a pastor will conduct a funeral for each of you. And someday a pastor will conduct my funeral.
Every time a physical death occurs, it is a stark reminder, which cannot be ignored, that the pristine physical world that God created is pristine no longer. The immortal man and woman whom God placed in the world, so that he could enjoy his fellowship with them even as they enjoyed their fruitful love for each other, are immortal no more.
Their descendants likewise, in each generation, taste the bitter reality of St. Paul’s words: “The wages of sin is death.”
And the relationships that their descendants have with one another are often not loving and fruitful, either, but instead are often conflicted and perverse, strained and broken. These relationships are marred and disfigured by sin, because the people who are in those relationships are marred and disfigured by sin.
The confusion and suffering that now reign in this world take many different forms. Those who yearn for companionship are often lonely. Those who have companions often mistreat them. God’s guidelines are often ignored. God’s boundaries are often flaunted.
People are often blind to what is actually obvious by any objective standard, regarding the complementary differences that God put in place between men and women, to show us how marital relationships and families are supposed to work. In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul writes:
“In the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.”
The moral voice of the conscience, which God planted in the human heart at creation, is frequently ignored and muted, even when Jesus reiterates that inner voice with his own plain and clear voice:
“Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Again, Jesus says:
“The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
But what happens instead? To a lesser or greater extent, we ignore God rather then loving, serving, and obeying him in all things. And to a lesser or greater extent, we love ourselves first and last, and use our neighbor for our own selfish purposes.
The world that God created, and the human race that God created in the world, were very good. But they are not very good now. In many ways they are very bad now. Will they ever be good again?
In his Epistle to the Colossians, St. Paul gives us a higher and deeper perspective on the goodness of God’s plans for us and for his world, in spite of the corruption and death that have infected it. He writes that God’s Son - the Lord Jesus Christ -
“is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”
So, ultimately, God is still in charge of his creation, and of our lives. And he makes good things happen for us through Jesus. In Colossians Paul also writes that God the Father
“has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
To be sure, there is much darkness in this world, and in the human heart. But Jesus says:
“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
And while “the wages of sin is death,” St. Paul is eager to announce also that “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus truly does give lost and confused people like us a way out, and a way forward. He does this in three ways.
First, by the power of his Word - as we hear it proclaimed and as it is sacramentally applied to us - Jesus instantly and fully transfers us, in God’s eyes and in our own hearts, from this realm and dominion of sin and death to a new realm and dominion of righteousness and life.
This happens when God’s Spirit brings us to conviction regarding our sins, so that what we used to be, without Christ, is now put behind us, and we die to those things; and this happens when God’s Spirit then draws us in faith to the wounds of Christ, by which we are redeemed, and to his empty tomb, by which we are raised up in hope.
By faith we are in Christ, as Christ is now also in us. And as St. Paul writes in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians,
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
Yes, we are still in this world. But as St. Paul explains in his Epistle to the Philippians, we do not set our minds on earthly things. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ...”
The second way in which Jesus gives lost and confused people a way out, and a way forward, is by opening their eyes, their minds, and their hearts, to see and know that the goodness of God can in many ways still be found even in this world, in spite of the corruptions.
Much beauty remains, if you know where and how to find it. And by his Word and Spirit God gives you the ability to find it. He changes how you think, and how you live.
St. Paul reminds the Corinthians that “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
But the things of the Spirit of God are not foolishness to us, because “we have the mind of Christ.” And God is making us to be like Christ in other ways, too.
Those who know Christ in time, were, by the incomprehensible mystery of God’s grace, known by God - in Christ - from eternity. St. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Romans that those “whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
A Christian, though bathed in God’s grace, nevertheless continues to struggle against the allurements of the world, the temptations of the flesh, and the deceptions of the devil. And a Christian is often weak in those struggles, needing God’s daily forgiveness for his failures, and yearning for God’s daily help.
In his weakness, it is often not easy for a child of God to find peace and contentment in this world, or to find the place to which God’s vocation would be calling him. This is especially so when the pain that was previously inflicted upon him ran very deep, and when his previous separation from God was very distant.
But St. Paul had some experience with human weakness. He told the Corinthians about his struggles, and about God’s way of helping him in the midst of those struggles. Paul wrote:
“[the Lord] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
God will help you in your weakness, too. You have been baptized into Christ and into the church of Christ. This is who you are now.
You have been adopted into the family of Christ, and have become an heir of eternal life. This is who you are now.
You have been naturalized as a citizen of the kingdom of Christ, and you have been designated as a member of his royal priesthood. This is who you are now.
As a child or as a parent - whatever your calling may be - this is who you are now, in God’s new creation. Whether you are single or married - whatever your life circumstance may be - this is who you are now, in the new beginning that Jesus gives you every day: according to God’s unbreakable promises and unchanging truth.
Live in this truth. And when your earthly life comes to an end, die in this truth.
And that brings us to the third way in which Jesus gives lost and confused people a way out, and a way forward. It is the way of resurrection.
The corruptions of this earth will finally be brought to an end, and God’s creation will be purged of all sin and death, when we - on the last day - are called forth from our graves, and by the mercy of Christ are vindicated through his justification in the final judgment.
And then something magnificent will happen. St. Peter tells us in his Second Epistle that
“the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
In the new heavens and the new earth, there will be no more giving and taking in marriage in the conventional sense. But the holy church of Jesus Christ will be his beloved bride for eternity.
The order and harmony of God’s creation will not only be restored, but will be elevated beyond anything we can imagine now. The balance and symmetry of human existence as God always wanted it to be, will not only be put back into place, but will be made more beautiful and elegant than anything we have ever experienced.
God’s creation - his new creation - will be, once again, “very good.”
In the First Epistle to the Corinthians, we read:
“‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.”
So, someday this will come. And we know that it will come. Therefore, with a patience that God gives and work in us, we wait, certain that we will not be disappointed. Indeed, as the Epistle to the Romans reminds us,
“We know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope...” Amen.
22 October 2024 - Dorothy Persson Funeral
In the 14th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, Jesus says this to his disciples:
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
No normal person enjoys conflict. But in this world, conflict between individuals, between businesses and organizations, and between nations, is very common.
The world, according to worldly wisdom, does offer some methods for resolving outward conflict and for achieving outward peace. Conflict resolution counseling at an interpersonal level, legal arbitration at a corporate level, and diplomacy at an international level, are often employed.
And sometimes those methods do work to reduce conflict, and to bring about a certain degree of peace.
No normal person enjoys the emotional distress of an unsettled mind or of a troubled conscience. But this kind of distress, and these kinds of upheavals, are also very common.
The world, according to worldly wisdom, does offer some methods for dealing with these personal problems, and for helping people to achieve at least some inner peace. Professional therapy, or self-help “positive thinking” techniques, are often employed to address these things.
And sometimes those methods do work to reduce the distress, and to bring about a certain level of peace of mind.
Jesus acknowledges that the world can, and sometimes does, give some measure of this kind of peace, in these ways. But Jesus also tells us that the kind of peace he establishes between God and man, and within man, are very different from this, and are much more important than this.
Dorothy would certainly want to be at peace with other people. If there was ever a circumstance where she owed someone an apology, she offered it. And if an apology was ever owed to her, and was offered, she accepted it.
We should all be that way, to the extent that we can contribute toward the restoration or preservation of harmony and peace between ourselves and other people. St. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Romans:
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
Christians in particular are exhorted by St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Colossians:
“Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
With God’s help, Dorothy tried to live by these apostolic teachings.
Like all of us, Dorothy also wanted a conscience that was at peace. She did not want to be haunted by mistakes of the past - whether distant or recent - even as none of us wants to be burdened by guilt for the mistakes that we all have made.
But in our own mental strength, we cannot easily make ourselves forget the things we regret and wish we had done differently.
What was so precious to Dorothy, therefore, was the great comfort that she found, as a Christian, in the knowledge that God was at peace with her, and that she was at peace with him, through the redemption and reconciliation won by Christ for her and for all people on the cross.
And Dorothy greatly valued the gift of inner peace that Jesus had also bestowed upon her through his gospel, and that he continued to renew and strengthen within her whenever she heard and believed the Biblical message of forgiveness in Christ, and acceptance by Christ.
Human sin, going back to the Garden of Eden, alienated humanity from its creator, and caused Adam’s descendants, in their fallen condition, to be hostile to God and his ways. And since Eden, within humanity’s old sinful nature there are impulses and inclinations that would prompt us to be disturbers of the peace, and to turn on each other.
We blame. We accuse. We ignore the needs of others and assert our will over others. What a mess!
But God didn’t give up on the human race. And God doesn’t give up on us now. God has always wanted to re-establish peace with the people he had made in his image, and to set them at peace within themselves. And so he sent his Son into the world, and into human flesh, to turn all of this around.
Jesus - God’s Son - took all human sin upon himself and carried it to the cross, where he died for us. And as the risen Christ, he offers to a lost humanity the forgiveness from God, and the justification before God, that he achieved for us through dying in our place.
All of this is received by faith. When God in his gospel tells you that in Jesus he no longer counts your sins against you, you can believe him.
When God tells you that in Jesus he now sees you as if you were as righteous as Jesus is, you can believe him. And when God tells you that in Jesus he is now at peace with you, you can believe him then, too, and in that faith you are at peace with him.
That’s how peace with God comes about. In forgiveness, God washes away our sins with the blood of Christ. In justification, God clothes us with a garment of righteousness from Christ.
This is what Dorothy believed as a Christian. And she really did believe it.
Whenever I would visit her, and after a little chit-chat would ask if she would like to receive the Lord’s Supper, she would say “Yes” before I even got the question completely out of my mouth!
Her eagerness to be renewed in her faith through that sacrament, and to be renewed in her peace with God by receiving the body and blood of God’s Son - given and shed for her - was palpable.
As the messenger and servant of God who delivered these great blessings to her, I’ve never felt more appreciated.
She was always glad when I came, because she knew why I was there. Whenever she saw me coming in, a huge smile filled her face.
The little ritual that we used began with a confession of sins, and an absolution, or a declaration of God’s pardon. This soothed and comforted her, as it soothes and comforts all who know their need for this spiritual cleansing.
What followed would be a reading from Scripture and a brief unfolding of the meaning of what had been read. She always listened with rapt and devout attention.
And then, after the Lord’s Prayer, the sacramental Words of Jesus were spoken over bread and wine, so that they would be for her the true body and blood of Jesus.
Usually the words of a well-known canticle were then recited, calling upon Jesus as the Lamb of God to have mercy upon us and to grant us his peace. And when his body and blood were then received by Dorothy, this peace - once again - was indeed granted and received, and rested deep down in her heart.
This divine peace lived in Dorothy. And Dorothy lived out this divine peace: as she was able to enjoy the friendship of the many people whom God had brought into her life, and as she was able to bring joy into their lives.
This contagious optimism was birthed from her own inner peace, and from her contentment in knowing how she stood with God because of her Savior Jesus. And it didn’t wane even in the last years of her life.
At the Elim facility, where she lived for the past couple years, not only was she not in conflict with people, but she was always looking for ways to befriend people. And visits from beloved family members and from beloved old friends were always greatly cherished.
She lived in the peace that Christ gave. And then, at the end of her pilgrimage on earth, she died in the peace that Christ gave. The song of Simeon became her song:
“Lord, now You let Your servant depart in peace according to Your word. For my eyes have seen Your salvation...”
This peace is offered to you, during this time of mourning and sadness, and at all other times as well.
If we follow the example of Dorothy, and in humility believe God when he tells us that he forgives us and justifies us in Jesus Christ, then we can also claim as our own these words from the Epistle to the Romans:
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand...”
Dorothy, by her faith in Jesus, had that peace, and that access to God and to God’s grace. In death, she had and has access into the presence of Christ, with whom she rests peacefully even now, awaiting the final resurrection.
Again, Jesus says:
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Amen.
27 October 2024 - Reformation Sunday - John 8:31-36
During the middle ages, in the centuries before the Reformation, the institutions of the church slipped more and more into a theology that was largely oriented around the status and presumed power of the ordained clergy.
So, for example, the marks of the church were, basically, the clergy. A medieval Christian was expected to have a sense that he was in the church that Jesus instituted because he lived and prayed under the supervision of a priest, who in turn was under the supervision of his bishop, who in turn was under the supervision of the pope.
Also, when people would receive the Lord’s Supper - which unfortunately was not very often back then - they were told that the reason why they could be sure that it was the true body of Christ that was offered to them, was because the officiating priest had been properly ordained by a bonafide bishop. They were taught that the power to cause the body and blood of Jesus to be united to the earthly elements, came from the officiating minister’s ordination.
There were actually seven sacraments, all of which were administered by the clergy. But in most churches sermons were rare.
And when sermons were preached, they often involved stories about the miracles of the saints, the power of relics, and other legends. They seldom had very much to do with the teaching of Holy Scripture.
The Reformation changed this, and reoriented the church away from a theology of the clergy, and toward a theology of the Word of God. This was not a new theology, however, but was the original Christian theology as found in Scripture.
The life and thinking of the church were re-calibrated according to the teaching of Jesus and his apostles. In today’s Gospel from St. John, Jesus says:
“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
St. Peter, in his First Epistle, says this about the saving and regenerating power of the Word of the Lord:
“Love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because ‘All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.”
And St. Paul declares to the Romans:
“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes...”
The Reformers put God’s Word at the center of everything, and as much as possible brought people into contact with God’s Word, so that the blessings of forgiveness, life, and salvation could flow from that Word into their hearts and souls.
In places that had come under the influence of the Reformation, the people now believed that they were in the church that Jesus instituted because the marks of the church that Jesus established for his disciples were present: the preaching of the gospel of Christ crucified for sinners, and the administration of the sacraments in accord with the Lord’s institution.
And when people communed - which was now much more often - they were certain that they were receiving the true body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, because the words of Christ which he spoke in the original institution were being recited; and because the command of Christ - to distribute the blessed bread and wine to communicants - was being followed.
Indeed, one of the more noticeable reforms that the Lutherans introduced was to have the officiating pastor sing the Words of Institution out loud from the altar, so that everyone could hear them, and in that hearing to be blessed, and to be prepared for their reception of the sacrament.
Prior to the Reformation, the priest would whisper the words of Jesus, so that no one else could hear them. The hearing of the Word of God by the people was not seen back then as being very important. What was seen as important was that there was a properly-ordained priest at the altar.
The theology of the Reformation, in contrast, was and is a theology of the Word of God. To be sure, the Lutheran Church did not get rid of clergy, and the Lutherans still believed in the doctrine of the divine call. They remembered what St. Paul wrote in his Epistle to the Romans:
“For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?”
But the nature and character of the pastoral office was now understood in a different way. A minister of the gospel was “a called and ordained servant of the Word.”
He was not a master of the Word, causing the words that he spoke to be powerful and effective through his having been ordained. The Word of God is powerful and effective in itself.
The pastor’s ordination did not bestow upon him a special supernatural ability to confect sacraments that unordained people did not have. His ordination was, rather, his public authorization to make public use of God’s Word in and for the church - in a ministry of spiritual oversight through preaching, teaching, and sacramental administration.
This would be done according to his training in the Scriptures and in Christian theology, and with a proper division and application of law and gospel.
The Lutheran Reformation showcased the Word of God also in other aspects of the worship life of the church.
Scripture lessons were now chanted or read in a language that the people could understand. Sermons based on the appointed readings, which explained their meaning and applied them to the lives of the listeners, were now preached.
Not only was preaching done more often in Lutheran churches than had previously been the case, but Luther went so far as to say:
“A Christian congregation should never gather together without the preaching of God’s Word and prayer, no matter how briefly, as Psalm 102 says, ‘When the kings and the people assemble to serve the Lord, they shall declare the name and the praise of God.’”
Regarding the regular administration of the Lord’s Supper, Luther also said:
“You should celebrate one or two Masses...on Sundays or holy days, depending on whether there are few or many communicants. ...you might celebrate Mass during the week on whichever days it would be needful, that is, if any communicants would be present and would ask for and request the Sacrament. This way we should compel no one to receive the Sacrament, and yet everyone would be adequately served in an orderly manner.”
Another noticeable change, was the singing of hymns by the congregation. This had been done in the ancient church, but it was a new thing for the people of the sixteenth century, who had gotten used to choirs doing all the singing, while they watched and listened.
Among the Lutherans, however, hymns for everyone to sing were written, in the language of the people. These Reformation-era hymns were in most cases like sung sermons: drawn from the Word of God, and in their poetry teaching the faith of Scripture to the people.
Some hymns were sung prayers, which taught the people how to pray to the Lord, and what to ask for, as the Scriptures guided the compositions of those hymns as well.
And that’s still the way it is today: in churches that perpetuate the legacy of the Reformation, fully and consistently; and that therefore embrace, fully and consistently, a theology of the Word of God.
You don’t come to church to hear my opinions, but to hear the Word of God: unfolded and applied to your conscience and to your life. You don’t come to church to sing about your own feelings and emotions, but to sing the truth and promises of God into the ears and hearts of your fellow worshipers - as they simultaneously sing the truth and promises of God into your ears and heart.
You don’t come to church to make demands on God, but to learn from God, and to pray with reverence and humility for the kind of things his Word tells you should be prayed for.
It is a wonderful blessing to be heirs of the Reformation, and especially to be heirs of the theology of the Word of God which the Reformation restored to the church. This is a blessing to us, because this is what we so desperately need in the struggles and uncertainties of life in this world.
The ancient prayers of Psalm 119 speak for all believers throughout the centuries, and for us today: as they and we, with penitent hearts, yearn to know God’s truth and promises; and as they and we, in faith, cling to what God reveals to us in Holy Scripture:
“Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments. ... I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. I pray, let Your merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to Your word to Your servant. Let Your tender mercies come to me, that I may live...”
“How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes.”
“Let Your mercies come also to me, O Lord - Your salvation according to Your word. So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in Your word.”
“How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
We truly do need the Word of God in all the many ways in which it comes to us: as warnings and judgments from God in his law; and as mercy and pardon from God in his gospel.
And we have the Word of God in all the many ways in which it comes to us: so that we are brought to conviction regarding our transgressions; and so that our hope and confidence is then directed to Jesus, whose saving work for humanity is made known to us in this Word, and is impressed upon us by this Word.
We hear again from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans:
“‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’”
We are indeed able to believe without shame on Jesus - as our Savior from sin and death, and as the righteous Lord who gives us his righteousness - because God, in his mercy, has allowed us to have and to hear his Word.
We are indeed able to believe with confidence on Jesus - as our teacher and guide, and as our protector and companion - because God, in his grace, has allowed us to partake of the means of grace that carry his Word to us, and plant it deeply within us: as that Word is read and proclaimed, and as that Word is sacramentally united to water, and to bread and wine.
We are indeed able to believe with an unswerving hope on Jesus - as the Redeemer who will someday bring us to our eternal home - because God, in his eternal love for us, has assured us in his Word that we belong to him, and will live with him in his kingdom forever.
God's Word is our great heritage, and shall be ours forever;
To spread its light from age to age shall be our chief endeavor.
Through life it guides our way; in death it is our stay.
Lord, grant, while worlds endure, we keep its teachings pure,
Throughout all generations. Amen.