Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.  The text for the sermon this morning is the Epistle which was read earlier.

Just as I said it would, it happened.  The day after Christmas, Gwen and I were out doing some running around town.  As we were putting our dog in the kitchen, we turned on the radio for him.  Christmas music had been replaced with rock and roll again.  Even the Christian radio stations have put Christmas music back in the box and have started playing its contemporary Christian music.  Wal-Mart and K-Mart have taken what Christmas items they have and have reduced them to 50% off to get rid of all signs of Christmas.  Fortunately for us, Christmas doesn’t just last the one day.  We have 12 days of Christmas that we celebrate in the Church Year.  So to all those that have put Christmas out of their minds already, I tell you Merry Christmas, children.  I’m not speaking to just the little kids but to all of you because you are all children of God.  Believe it or not, Christmas is for children.  It’s all about children.  It was told to the shepherds, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  In our text for today, St. Paul records that God sent forth His Son, born of a woman.  That Son, that Baby, was more than any shepherds could ever imagine.  That Son, that Baby, is more than any of us could imagine.

This little Child would bring forth deliverance from sin and death.  Imagine if I told you that the next child you would have would save all of mankind from their sins.  What would you say?  What would you do?  I imagine that you would probably laugh.  I’m sure that I would too.  But when the angel told this to Mary, all she could respond with was, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

The few verses that we have before us today tell us much about Christ’s coming and what it means for us.

In the opening verse of our text, Paul reminds both the Church at Galatia and the church of today that it was God who sent Christ and not us who called for Him.  As far as we are concerned, we do not need Christ because He gets in the way of our Old Adam doing the backstroke.  Daily we must drown the Old Adam of our sin, yet we know that that is easier said than done.  The Old Adam is persistent in his ways, and therefore, God sent Christ to us.  We know about the distress, discomfort, and the destructiveness of death, but our natural reason does not recognize sin as its general cause.  God, in His love, sent the world the gift we needed the most.  But when the world rejected His gift, He even used the people’s cruel act of crucifying His Son to bring about our redemption.

Christ came “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”  To buy back what is rightfully ours in the first place strikes us as unfair.  But what does a father do when his children live contrary to the law and thus subject themselves to its punishments?  What our heavenly Father does is buys back His children.  The cost would be great – no less than the life of His Son.  But “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”  And so we cannot gaze upon the Babe at Bethlehem without realizing that His little hands would soon be “wounded for our transgressions.”  This little Child would be “crushed for our iniquities.”  We cannot gaze upon the Babe at Bethlehem without kneeling before Him and worshipping Him as our Redeemer. 

It is extremely important, therefore, to keep in view and always to consider this statement of Luther, so delightful and full of comfort, as well as others like it which define Christ properly and accurately; for then throughout our life, in every danger, in the confession of our faith in the presence of tyrants, and in the hour of death, we can declare with a sure and steady confidence: “Law, you have no jurisdiction over me; therefore you are accusing and condemning me in vain.  For I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whom the Father sent into the world to redeem us miserable sinners who are oppressed by the tyranny of the Law.  He poured out His life and spent it lavishly for me.  When I feel your terrors and threats, O Law, I immerse my conscience in the wounds, the blood, the death, the resurrection, and the victory of Christ.  Beyond Him I do not want to see or hear anything at all.”

All this our God does “so that we might receive adoption as sons.”  We were not God’s sons by birth so He placed us into that honored position.  This picturesque phrase refers back to the parable with which Paul began the chapter.  In the Israelite household, the child had no more rights than a slave until the time set by his father.  But now the time our heavenly Father set has come, and we are His sons.  What love the Father lavishes upon us, that we should be called the children of God.  That is what we are, children of God.

Isn’t it interesting that Paul says we might receive adoption as sons?  For what could be merited by men confined under sin, subjected to curse of the Law, and condemned to eternal death?  Therefore we have received all this freely and without deserving it, yet not without merit.  What merit was it, then?  Not ours, but that of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was born under the Law, not for Himself but for us as Paul said earlier, that He was made a curse for us, and who redeemed us who were under the Law.  Therefore we have received this sonship solely by the redemption of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is our most abundant and eternal merit.  Together with this gift of sonship, we have also received the Holy Spirit, whom God, through the Word, sends into our hearts.

Every day of the year, we know that the Spirit of God’s Son has come into our hearts.  If there is any day of the Church Year to reflect on how the Spirit of Christ has come into our hearts, now is it.  Christ is completely certain that in His Spirit He is pleasing to God.  Since we have the same Spirit of Christ, we, too, should be certain that we are in a state of grace, on account of Him who is the Son of God.  Christ, by redeeming us from the Law, makes it possible for us to live under His grace.  We are free from the no-win situation of trying to make ourselves acceptable to God.  We already are acceptable to Him in Christ, our Redeemer.  We are free from pretending to be God’s children by ignoring or excusing the guilt of our sins.  We are His perfect children in Christ our Redeemer.

All who “live by faith in the Son of God” enjoy this full right of sons.  When God’s Spirit enters our heart to bring us to faith in Christ, He enables us to call out to God, “Abba! Father!”  “Abba,” the Hebrew children called their fathers, as our children use the word “dad” or “daddy.”  “Abba, I want a drink of water,” the Hebrew child would say, fully confident that his loving father would satisfy his need.  “Abba, hold my hand,” the child might say when frightened.  Such confidence belongs to each and every believer, who no longer is a slave, but has received the full rights of a son.  We too call out, “Abba, thank You for Your Son.”  “Abba, thank You for the forgiveness of sins which You bring in Your Supper.”

“And since you are a son,” Paul says, “God has made you also an heir.”  These words echo the same truth Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome.  “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.”  With these words, the Holy Spirit opens our eyes of faith to see everything from an eternal perspective.  He makes it possible for us to see in Jesus’ lowly stable His heavenly Jerusalem; possible for us to see in this nee life in the manger also the new eternal life He brings; possible to see through His suffering and cross His glory and the crown.

And this brings us back to where we began – the kindness of the Lord.  God sent His Son.  He does not want anyone to perish.  His Son prays, “Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory.”  The Holy Spirit through these inspired words of Paul helps us to see in Bethlehem’s stall all the Lord has done for us.

In these days after Christmas, let us not focus on the presents we received, the parties that we went to.  Let us focus on the gift of all gifts, the gift of Jesus Christ, born into this world of sin and death to bring us into the world of life everlasting.  It was through a Baby that life as given to us.  And through that life, we have been made sons and heirs through God.  So is Christmas really for children?  It is for the children of God.  In Jesus’ name, amen.  Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, amen.

Christmas 1A 2007

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning comes from the Gospel, which was read earlier.

The wait is almost over. Soon will be the big day. Everything is falling into place. Everything is going just as planned. Just a little more time of waiting and Mary and Joseph will be married. However, one problem just arose and it’s not a small problem either. Mary, Joseph’s wife-to-be is pregnant. What’s worse: it’s not Joseph’s Child! There is one thing and one thing only to do: divorce her quietly. While not married technically yet, they were married in the eyes of God because of their betrothal. For Mary to have sexual relations with another man before she had them with her husband-to-be was inconceivable. The only way to make this right would be to divorce her so that she can become betrothed to the father of her Child and then marry him. Joseph was a righteous and just man. This meant that Joseph was one who observed divine and human laws. Like everyone else, Joseph was far from perfect, but as a child of God he had used the law of God as a rule by which to live his life, to express his thankfulness for God’s blessings. Joseph knew what the law of God said about unfaithfulness on the part of a wife, but at the same time he was concerned about the welfare of Mary. He could have brought their situation before the proper authorities and demanded that the law take its course. According to Deuteronomy 22, the life of Mary, and ultimately Jesus, could have been in jeopardy if Joseph had wanted to press the issue; yet Joseph showed a deep concern for Mary. We see that concern for Mary in that Joseph thought long and hard about what to do, for both his sake and for Mary and the Child.

While considering his options, an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Here we see how an angel served the Lord while He was still in Mary’s womb. The angel redirected Joseph’s intended course of action. The angel reminded Joseph that he was a son of David. It was implied in those words that if the Savior were to come from David’s line as promised, Mary and he needed to remain together as husband and wife. Joseph was prevented from jumping to any more false conclusions about Mary by being informed about the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit within her. Joseph’s unbelief is overcomes by a dream, and he takes Mary as wife and assumes the paternity of Jesus. A discomforting account of what to do with an allegedly unfaithful wife concludes with the birth of the Christ Child, God Himself; Joseph’s claiming the Child as his own by naming Him Jesus; and the consummation of a marriage.

Joseph, who once thought about divorcing Mary because of her violation of the Sixth Commandment, now embraces her and the Child to which he is to become the earthly father of.

What was it that caused Joseph from divorcing Mary? It was well within his right to do so according to Old Testament law. But if Joseph had divorced her, something terrible could have happened to her and the Child; death.

The same thing happened to Joseph that happened to John while he sat in prison: doubt of his faith. Joseph knew the prophecies and that one day, the Messiah would be born from the line of David, his family line. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever think that it would be he who would be the progenitor of the Messiah. Because of that, he doubted. He was perplexed that Mary could have sexual relations with a man other than him. He was shocked to hear that she was now with child and it was his. But most of all, he was taken aback that this Child which Mary carried was indeed the promised Messiah.

This child which was given to Joseph and Mary is given to you and me also. It is Jesus, the One who will save us from our sins. It is Immanuel, God with us; here with us in the flesh as true God and true man, who lived an earthly life. Jesus is the New Testament counterpart of Joshua, “the Lord saves.” Just as Joshua led God’s Old Testament people into the promised land of Canaan, so Jesus came into the world to lead His followers to the heavenly Canaan.

This is the true meaning of Christmas. It is not about receiving lots and lots of presents. It is about receiving one gift: Jesus Christ. It is not about receiving Christmas cards. It is about the message which the angel proclaimed to Joseph: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Martin Luther, in his Christmas hymn From Heaven Above to Earth I Come (LSB 358:8), sums up what Jesus did for us: “You came to share my misery/That You might share Your joy with me.” He came into this world because of our misery. That misery is sin. He came to take away all sin from you and I and all people. Jesus became flesh to fulfill God’s Law and redeem you. He came to live a life of perfect obedience to all of God’s commands so that He might be the sinless sacrifice in your place.

Some will say that Christmas is all about receiving. It is more about giving than it is about receiving. It is about God giving to us His one and only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. It is about God giving to us the Savior of our race. It is about God giving to each and every one of us the right to be called sons and daughters of God and be seen through the eyes of God, sinless, because of what His Son has done for us.

But Christmas is also about receiving, though we continue to receive from God each and every day. It is about receiving the greatest gift, the only gift that we could ever need. It is about receiving all that God has to give to us: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. It is about receiving that gift of Holy Baptism which saves us as Peter says. It is about receiving the very body and blood of Jesus Christ, which strengthens our faith and keeps us in our faith. It is about receiving that Word of God, preached to us, where we hear that we are indeed sinners but that all of our sins have been forgiven.

As we anticipate the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we focus on the message of the angel to Joseph: “that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit…he will save his people from their sins.” The Lord speaks His saving truth, which remains true even when all appearances point to the contrary. His Word is sure. No matter the humble manger: the Infant born to Mary is your Savior. No matter the ordinary appearance of Word and Sacrament: they still deliver forgiveness, life and salvation. No matter the whispers of the devil, the world and your own sinful flesh: your Savior declares that you are forgiven for all of your sins. In the name of Jesus, amen. Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

Advent 4A 2007

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This is the message which I heard one summer in downtown Indianapolis. Some friends of mine and I spent the day taking in some free concerts put on by one of the local radio stations. As we were walking around the downtown Indy Circle, we came across a man who had a cross about 7 foot tall handing out end times pamphlets. His message, which he was shouting to any and all who were in earshot was the same message which John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness of Judea: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

How is one to repent? What is it that they are supposed to do? What does it mean to repent?

We normally think of repenting as being sorry for our sins. This is true enough, but there’s more depth to it than that. To “repent” in the Greek means literally to “change one’s mind.” You can see the obvious: when you repent of sin, you’re saying, “I thought it was a good thing, but now I know it’s not.” That’s a repentant mind-change that happens only by the grace of God. But again, there’s a greater depth to repentance because there’s a greater depth to sin. When John calls the people to repent, he is calling them to repent of all of their misconceptions and wrong ideas about the Savior. If they have the wrong idea of who the Savior is supposed to be, then they’re not going to like the Savior for who He truly is. If they’re looking for the wrong things in a Messiah, then they’re not going to recognize Him when He makes His appearance. Remember, John the Baptist is called by God to prepare the way of the Lord. He therefore prepares the people by teaching them the true nature of their sinfulness, so that they see the need for the Savior; and he prepares them by teaching them who the Savior is, and what He will do.

People from the region of Jerusalem and Judea and the Jordan were coming to John the Baptist to be baptized and confessing their sins. For the people who came to John the Baptist, they were contrite and believed. They desired to repent, to change their minds, but more importantly, they desired to hear the message of the coming Messiah.

John the Baptist is an important man with an important message. The prophet Isaiah saw that John the Baptist was to come and wrote what he saw John the Baptist preaching: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”

The setting, the clothing, everything is all for a reason, to prepare the way of the Lord. And as crowds gather to hear this prophet speak and prepare, here is the summary of his sermon: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

We hear that same message today, but are we eager to do as John the Baptist says, repent? It’s not something that comes easy to us. It’s not something that we like to admit, that we did something wrong and that we need to repent, to ask for forgiveness. However, that is exactly what we are supposed to do.

We tend to find ourselves like the Pharisees and Sadducees. Both the Pharisees and Sadducees were strict teachers of the law. The Pharisees put great stress on outward observance of the law. The Sadducees rejected much of the rabbinical tradition. They were freethinkers and skeptics. Both groups believed that they were right with God because of who they were and what they did. It did not occur to them that their teachings might be in error. They were confident of themselves. Because of that confidence, they could do no wrong. They were not sinners in their own eyes.

As far as some are concerned, we believe that we are right with God. We can do no wrong. We are not sinners. But where do we get that notion from? We don’t get it from Scripture because Scripture says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We can deceive ourselves into thinking that we are not sinful, but that is all that it is, a deception.

Like the Pharisees and Sadducees, we make excuses to our behavior. They make the claim, “We have Abraham as our father.” Abraham was a God-fearing man. He followed the law of God. But just because they descended from Abraham, did that make them any less of a sinner? No it did not. To be honest, the statement that the Pharisees and Sadducees and all of mankind should make is “We have Adam as our father.” We don’t want to make that statement because if we do, then we acknowledge “that we are sinful and unclean.” We acknowledge that we have sinned against God “in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone.” No one wants to admit that fact. We would much rather say that we have Abraham as our father because Abraham was “good.” If we say that we have Adam as our father, that’s a black mark because Adam was “bad.” Let’s face it: we would much rather be “good” than “bad.”

What we fail to understand, just as did the Pharisees and Sadducees, is that we are not “good” because of our sinful nature; we are like the tree that does not bear good fruit; it is cut down and thrown into the fire. We have all shared in Adam and Eve’s sampling of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As a result, our lives are unfruitful. We do not do the works that God requires; in fact, we cannot do them. God’s righteous judgment comes down upon Israel and it comes down also upon us.

Instead of leaving us with just judgment, doom and gloom, John the Baptist also promises something beyond our wildest imaginations: the coming of the Savior.

Remember the words of the prophet Isaiah: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” John the Baptist is the one crying in the wilderness of the coming Messiah. He is making the paths straight by preaching a message of repentance to the people, to prepare them for Christ’s arrival. John the Baptist comes to lead people to repentance, to baptize with water. When Jesus arrives, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” He is coming to do something far greater than John the Baptist, the Pharisees, Sadducees or we could ever do: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Repent, because there is still time. In other words, repent, because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. We look forward to Christmas in just a couple weeks’ time. The King is born in Bethlehem, which is why the shepherds will gather there, too. But the King is just as near to you as He is to Mary the day of His birth. He graces you with His presence in His Word and His Sacraments. He does not yet come with winnowing fork, to sweep the sinner into judgment. Still, now, He comes with grace – to forgive your sins, to strengthen your faith, to prepare you for everlasting life. Even now in Word and Sacrament we feast upon Christ as our tree of life. He is the vine and we are the branches. By Word and Sacrament, we bring forth the fruit of repentance and live in trust and obedience. He declares to you even now, “Repent, because I am at hand; and because I am here, you are forgiven for all of your sins.” In the name of Jesus, amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

Advent 2A 2007

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This is the message which I heard one summer in downtown Indianapolis. Some friends of mine and I spent the day taking in some free concerts put on by one of the local radio stations. As we were walking around the downtown Indy Circle, we came across a man who had a cross about 7 foot tall handing out end times pamphlets. His message, which he was shouting to any and all who were in earshot was the same message which John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness of Judea: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

How is one to repent? What is it that they are supposed to do? What does it mean to repent?

We normally think of repenting as being sorry for our sins. This is true enough, but there’s more depth to it than that. To “repent” in the Greek means literally to “change one’s mind.” You can see the obvious: when you repent of sin, you’re saying, “I thought it was a good thing, but now I know it’s not.” That’s a repentant mind-change that happens only by the grace of God. But again, there’s a greater depth to repentance because there’s a greater depth to sin. When John calls the people to repent, he is calling them to repent of all of their misconceptions and wrong ideas about the Savior. If they have the wrong idea of who the Savior is supposed to be, then they’re not going to like the Savior for who He truly is. If they’re looking for the wrong things in a Messiah, then they’re not going to recognize Him when He makes His appearance. Remember, John the Baptist is called by God to prepare the way of the Lord. He therefore prepares the people by teaching them the true nature of their sinfulness, so that they see the need for the Savior; and he prepares them by teaching them who the Savior is, and what He will do.

People from the region of Jerusalem and Judea and the Jordan were coming to John the Baptist to be baptized and confessing their sins. For the people who came to John the Baptist, they were contrite and believed. They desired to repent, to change their minds, but more importantly, they desired to hear the message of the coming Messiah.

John the Baptist is an important man with an important message. The prophet Isaiah saw that John the Baptist was to come and wrote what he saw John the Baptist preaching: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”

The setting, the clothing, everything is all for a reason, to prepare the way of the Lord. And as crowds gather to hear this prophet speak and prepare, here is the summary of his sermon: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

We hear that same message today, but are we eager to do as John the Baptist says, repent? It’s not something that comes easy to us. It’s not something that we like to admit, that we did something wrong and that we need to repent, to ask for forgiveness. However, that is exactly what we are supposed to do.

We tend to find ourselves like the Pharisees and Sadducees. Both the Pharisees and Sadducees were strict teachers of the law. The Pharisees put great stress on outward observance of the law. The Sadducees rejected much of the rabbinical tradition. They were freethinkers and skeptics. Both groups believed that they were right with God because of who they were and what they did. It did not occur to them that their teachings might be in error. They were confident of themselves. Because of that confidence, they could do no wrong. They were not sinners in their own eyes.

As far as some are concerned, we believe that we are right with God. We can do no wrong. We are not sinners. But where do we get that notion from? We don’t get it from Scripture because Scripture says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We can deceive ourselves into thinking that we are not sinful, but that is all that it is, a deception.

Like the Pharisees and Sadducees, we make excuses to our behavior. They make the claim, “We have Abraham as our father.” Abraham was a God-fearing man. He followed the law of God. But just because they descended from Abraham, did that make them any less of a sinner? No it did not. To be honest, the statement that the Pharisees and Sadducees and all of mankind should make is “We have Adam as our father.” We don’t want to make that statement because if we do, then we acknowledge “that we are sinful and unclean.” We acknowledge that we have sinned against God “in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone.” No one wants to admit that fact. We would much rather say that we have Abraham as our father because Abraham was “good.” If we say that we have Adam as our father, that’s a black mark because Adam was “bad.” Let’s face it: we would much rather be “good” than “bad.”

What we fail to understand, just as did the Pharisees and Sadducees, is that we are not “good” because of our sinful nature; we are like the tree that does not bear good fruit; it is cut down and thrown into the fire. We have all shared in Adam and Eve’s sampling of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As a result, our lives are unfruitful. We do not do the works that God requires; in fact, we cannot do them. God’s righteous judgment comes down upon Israel and it comes down also upon us.

Instead of leaving us with just judgment, doom and gloom, John the Baptist also promises something beyond our wildest imaginations: the coming of the Savior.

Remember the words of the prophet Isaiah: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” John the Baptist is the one crying in the wilderness of the coming Messiah. He is making the paths straight by preaching a message of repentance to the people, to prepare them for Christ’s arrival. John the Baptist comes to lead people to repentance, to baptize with water. When Jesus arrives, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” He is coming to do something far greater than John the Baptist, the Pharisees, Sadducees or we could ever do: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Repent, because there is still time. In other words, repent, because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. We look forward to Christmas in just a couple weeks’ time. The King is born in Bethlehem, which is why the shepherds will gather there, too. But the King is just as near to you as He is to Mary the day of His birth. He graces you with His presence in His Word and His Sacraments. He does not yet come with winnowing fork, to sweep the sinner into judgment. Still, now, He comes with grace – to forgive your sins, to strengthen your faith, to prepare you for everlasting life. Even now in Word and Sacrament we feast upon Christ as our tree of life. He is the vine and we are the branches. By Word and Sacrament, we bring forth the fruit of repentance and live in trust and obedience. He declares to you even now, “Repent, because I am at hand; and because I am here, you are forgiven for all of your sins.” In the name of Jesus, amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

Advent 2A 2007

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning comes from the Gospel, which was read earlier.

“Once upon a time…and they lived happily ever after. The End.” These are words which we all grew up on, words which we enjoyed to hear because of the happiness which it would bring to us. You always knew that if a story started as “Once upon a time,” it would always end with “and they lived happily ever after. The End.”

There was another story that we enjoy to hear because of the happiness which it brings to us. However, it doesn’t begin with “Once upon a time.” It begins with “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” This particular chapter, entitled “Jesus” begins with the following: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

This is a familiar story to all of us. We know the happy ending of this story: God’s promises are fulfilled on that day of final resurrection. One day, Jesus will come back. On the Last Day, everything will come to an end. Those who had died will have their physical bodies rise up and live again. On this Judgment Day, those who have believed in Jesus Christ enter into the final glorious heavenly life forever, with body and soul reunited.

When we read this story, we see it is not a fairy-tell story. The story is very real. It has real people with real lives and real consequences. It involves criminals, bad guys. It involves a story which we don’t like to hear, one that involves a man who was crucified for the message which He preached. People did all they could to get Him to stay quiet: finding His errors in the Law, showing how He violated it. In the end, the only way to quiet His message was to kill Him. Right now, it doesn’t seem that this will end happily ever after.

It wasn’t easy quieting the message of Jesus Christ. They tried and tried and could not quiet Him. The only way was through His death. During Christ’s crucifixion, others were crucified along with Him, two criminals. They were placed on either side of Jesus. Though these men are criminals, though Jesus is surrounded by those who would persecute Him, He still preaches until His dying breath: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Regardless that His life is coming to an end, He still prays a prayer for them. Why does He pray for them? They didn’t ask Him to pray. If you ask some of them, they would tell you that they don’t need His prayers. The answer to why He prays for them: because they are sinners and are in need of forgiveness.

That same prayer which Jesus prayed on the cross for the people of His time, He continues to pray that same prayer for us today. He continues to pray to God, our Father, for forgiveness. We continue to sin. We revel in sin. We adore sin! However, we were not meant to sin at all. We were not meant to revel in sin. We were not meant to adore sin. Due to the Fall, we became sinful human beings. We need forgiveness, whether we want to admit it or not. Jesus recognized the fact that those standing before Him at His crucifixion needed forgiveness. He recognized the fact that all people need forgiveness. That is why Jesus prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Because of the sin they commit, they do not know what they are doing. They are ignorant in their actions, crucifying the Son of God. Even Jesus’ own followers were ignorant, not truly understanding the identity of their Lord until after His resurrection. In ignorance of what true paradise was in the Garden of Eden, they sin. In ignorance of who Jesus Christ is, they crucify Him. Through all of this, Jesus prays for forgiveness.

Forgiveness was not the only thing which occurred on the cross. Mockery occurred also.

Jesus was mocked. The soldiers mock Jesus, having fun at His expense. They ridicule Him as the King of the Jews who can’t even save Himself. The Jewish leaders also mock Jesus. They see Him as weak and pathetic, a fraud who claimed to be the Christ. Even one of the criminals mocked Jesus. If that weren’t enough, even the sign above Christ’s head mocks Him. They deride Him for being the King who couldn’t save Himself.

We too are mocked. We are mocked for our beliefs and our faith. We are mocked for going to church rather than sleeping in. We are mocked for attending a Bible study, studying and meditating upon God’s Word rather than go out for a night on the town. Death continues to make a mockery of us and our faith. The body stops breathing, the hearts stops beating. Death mocks us. Death tells us that that’s all there is. However, we know that death is not all that there is.

When the criminals mocked Jesus, one of the criminals told the other, “And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” The one criminal recognized that Jesus was innocent of any accusations brought against Him. If anyone was to be tried for their crimes, it would be the criminals hanging on either side of Jesus. The criminal makes one request of Jesus: “And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’” The criminal is broken and beaten. He sees himself as he truly is, lost and condemned. Honest admission of his guilt leaves him with only one hope. He turns to Jesus and sees more than a dying man, more than the blood and agony. Others see a failed and fallen false messiah, but he sees the true Messiah! His eyes look at Jesus in moments of complete humiliation and utter torment. In an act of faith, he places himself into the outstretched arms of the Christ. He sees Jesus as innocent, as the One who can save him. He confesses Jesus as the King, someone who has a kingdom he wants to live in. In that moment, he receives more than he could ever imagine – paradise.

Jesus answers the criminal’s request, giving him paradise by turning the mockery of the sign above his head in a sign of truth for all believers. The criminal’s request is granted. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” His happy ending is assured. On the cross, the criminal sees the sign above Christ’s head and believes. The One who doesn’t save Himself saves others by His death. It’s not that Christ couldn’t save Himself as the mockers claimed, but that He wouldn’t. He needed to take our punishment on the cross, so that on the Last Day we would be judged innocent, free to enter into His presence with body and soul rejoined together forever. The sign is not a sign of ridicule but a sign of truth: Jesus is the King who saves us because He did not save Himself. Jesus gives paradise from the cross by saving others instead of Himself and because of that, we look forward to that day of fulfillment when He restores all of creation with the resurrection from the dead.

Jesus granted that same request of the criminal to each of us through the waters of Holy Baptism, just as He did for Caleb (early) / Adam (late) this morning. When we received water with the Word of God, “I baptise you…”, that is a promise. That is a promise that we have died. We have died to sin and are reborn in Christ. We live these days as both sinner and saint until the day we die. When we die, we receive the ultimate promise: paradise from God the Father, through His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

For our life story, it begins with “Once upon a time.” There are good parts and there are bad parts, but we know the end of the story. The story ends with “and they lived happily ever after” because of the words which Jesus gave to each and every one of us: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” In the name of Jesus, amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

Last Sunday of the Church Year

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for our sermon this morning comes from our First Reading, which was read earlier.

Today we observe All Saints’ Day. This doesn’t honor saints like one would think of in the Roman Catholic Church. Today, we remember those who have died in the faith. Saints are all those who are “knit together as one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of Jesus Christ.” The saints are blessed in Christ, who is the Blessed One. They serve as an example of faith and “virtuous and godly living” to those who still struggle in this world.

While all believers in Christ in heaven and on earth are His saints, on this day the Church remembers all of God’s saints who have died and now participate in the “unspeakable joys” of heaven. These saints, who trusted in the Lord in their earthly life, as members of the Church Militant, live now in His eternal peace, the Church Triumphant. They exalt and magnify His Name, look to Him, and are radiant, reflecting His glory.

Once upon a time, this world was sinless, without death and all that is harmful and takes away from the goodness that God made. Things could not have been better. Adam and Eve had an entire garden at their fingertips. Everything that they could ever need was theirs. God even walked alongside with them and they could see God and talk to Him face to face. But as we all know, paradise didn’t last for long. Satan managed to get himself into the garden and tempted Adam and Eve, causing them to fall into sin.

However, prior to this, we were perfect, without sin.

As John writes in his Revelation, 144,000 Israelites were sealed, 12,000 each from every tribe of the sons of Israel. Upon seeing all these people, John says that, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”” The people whom St. John saw were indeed saints.

We need to ask ourselves this one question: what makes a saint a saint? For the Roman Catholic Church, it is a detailed process. First, the person has to be dead for at least five years; that counts any of us out! Then, once the person has been dead for the requisite period, the bishop can begin an investigation to see just how virtuous the hoped-to-be saint actually was. If the investigation turns out favorably, the documentation is turned over to Rome, where, after investigation by select theologians, the cardinals and bishops specifically assigned to handle saints take a vote on whether to proceed or not. Finally, there must be at least one miracle performed by the dead saint-to-be before the examination is completed, and one miracle performed after. As you can see, it takes quite a bit of effort to become a saint according to Rome. You can’t stop working at it even after you’re dead!

That is too much work. A saint is one called by the Spirit to faith in Jesus Christ, forgiven, and made holy in the sight of God. Thus each Christian, whether on earth or in heaven, is a saint. The Church is a communion of saints – a group of diverse people united by what they share in common: Jesus Christ and His heavenward calling.

If you are like many, you may wonder whether or not the Gospel is indeed working. While the effects of the Gospel may not always be visible to us, as it wasn’t to John’s readers during persecution, Jesus’ revelation assures us it is still God’s power to save. We trust in the words of God, recorded by the prophet Isaiah, who says, “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” We do not always see the Gospel’s work. As a pastor, that is the most apparent. We want to see the Gospel working, doing something in a person’s life, but we don’t always see it. It may not happen during our ministry. It may not even happen during our lifetime, but the Word of God will accomplish what it was intended for.

The Word of God did accomplish what it was intended for. The Word of God caused Jesus Christ to come to this earth, to be born, to live a sinless life and to die, so that you and I may have eternal life. While we have eternal life, we still die a physical death here on earth. We focus on the words which the choir sang earlier: “For You have won the battle That they might wear the crown; And now they shine in glory Reflected from Your throne.”

The saints, who are clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, are those who have already departed this life to be with the Lord forever and ever. They are our sainted dead today, our loved ones and all others who have gone before us, who have fallen asleep in the faith. But we also think of ourselves and other members of the body of Christ on this earth as the “saints alive.” We remember the saints now, at the end of the Church Year, as an anticipation of the coming kingdom.

Jesus Christ, our Bridegroom, has given His life for us and called us His own. Our sinful name is washed away in the waters of Holy Baptism. Being baptized into Christ, we have received the Father’s family name, given to us by the Holy Spirit. Now our names and the names of all God’s saints are written in the Lamb’s book of life. When we are brought into Christ through Baptism, nothing can keep us separated from Him because He has bridged the gap of separation with His own body and blood. Because of what Christ has done, “they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” The fact that the saints are wearing white robes shows that this righteousness is not their doing but is imputed to them for Christ’s sake.

As St. John writes, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore…” This is because they are in the saving, protecting arms of Christ Jesus. They no longer suffer from sin in this life because they have been made perfect. All of their needs have been provided for, because “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.”

As John ends our text, he paints for us a picture of the complete joy of believers in eternal glory. Verse 15 indicates that part of their joy is being in God’s presence. Verse 16 describes the freedom of God’s people from the effects of sin, while verse 17 again points to the source of the believers’ joy in God’s personal presence.

When we are brought into Christ, we receive the gifts that are given to those who are in Christ, the gifts that belong to the sons and daughters of God. We are given the waters of new life, Holy Baptism which gives new life to those who come to it. The tree of life is Christ Himself who provides the food which nourishes us, His own body and blood. We will once again be able to see God face to face like we were meant to before, to be able to walk and talk with God and to be His own. Those in Christ will live forever with Him.

Today we remember those who have gone on before us, who continue to worship with us, just on the other side of heaven. We know this because it is in our liturgy that we speak: “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven…” They are the ones who confessed the name of Jesus Christ. We too who confess the name of Jesus Christ will one day be reunited with those saints who have gone on before, but more importantly, we will be reunited with the One who allowed us to enter heaven by His sacrificial death, Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, amen.

All Saints’ Day

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for our sermon this morning comes from our First Reading, which was read earlier.

Today we observe All Saints’ Day. This doesn’t honor saints like one would think of in the Roman Catholic Church. Today, we remember those who have died in the faith. Saints are all those who are “knit together as one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of Jesus Christ.” The saints are blessed in Christ, who is the Blessed One. They serve as an example of faith and “virtuous and godly living” to those who still struggle in this world.

While all believers in Christ in heaven and on earth are His saints, on this day the Church remembers all of God’s saints who have died and now participate in the “unspeakable joys” of heaven. These saints, who trusted in the Lord in their earthly life, as members of the Church Militant, live now in His eternal peace, the Church Triumphant. They exalt and magnify His Name, look to Him, and are radiant, reflecting His glory.

Once upon a time, this world was sinless, without death and all that is harmful and takes away from the goodness that God made. Things could not have been better. Adam and Eve had an entire garden at their fingertips. Everything that they could ever need was theirs. God even walked alongside with them and they could see God and talk to Him face to face. But as we all know, paradise didn’t last for long. Satan managed to get himself into the garden and tempted Adam and Eve, causing them to fall into sin.

However, prior to this, we were perfect, without sin.

As John writes in his Revelation, 144,000 Israelites were sealed, 12,000 each from every tribe of the sons of Israel. Upon seeing all these people, John says that, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”” The people whom St. John saw were indeed saints.

We need to ask ourselves this one question: what makes a saint a saint? For the Roman Catholic Church, it is a detailed process. First, the person has to be dead for at least five years; that counts any of us out! Then, once the person has been dead for the requisite period, the bishop can begin an investigation to see just how virtuous the hoped-to-be saint actually was. If the investigation turns out favorably, the documentation is turned over to Rome, where, after investigation by select theologians, the cardinals and bishops specifically assigned to handle saints take a vote on whether to proceed or not. Finally, there must be at least one miracle performed by the dead saint-to-be before the examination is completed, and one miracle performed after. As you can see, it takes quite a bit of effort to become a saint according to Rome. You can’t stop working at it even after you’re dead!

That is too much work. A saint is one called by the Spirit to faith in Jesus Christ, forgiven, and made holy in the sight of God. Thus each Christian, whether on earth or in heaven, is a saint. The Church is a communion of saints – a group of diverse people united by what they share in common: Jesus Christ and His heavenward calling.

If you are like many, you may wonder whether or not the Gospel is indeed working. While the effects of the Gospel may not always be visible to us, as it wasn’t to John’s readers during persecution, Jesus’ revelation assures us it is still God’s power to save. We trust in the words of God, recorded by the prophet Isaiah, who says, “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” We do not always see the Gospel’s work. As a pastor, that is the most apparent. We want to see the Gospel working, doing something in a person’s life, but we don’t always see it. It may not happen during our ministry. It may not even happen during our lifetime, but the Word of God will accomplish what it was intended for.

The Word of God did accomplish what it was intended for. The Word of God caused Jesus Christ to come to this earth, to be born, to live a sinless life and to die, so that you and I may have eternal life. While we have eternal life, we still die a physical death here on earth. We focus on the words which the choir sang earlier: “For You have won the battle That they might wear the crown; And now they shine in glory Reflected from Your throne.”

The saints, who are clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, are those who have already departed this life to be with the Lord forever and ever. They are our sainted dead today, our loved ones and all others who have gone before us, who have fallen asleep in the faith. But we also think of ourselves and other members of the body of Christ on this earth as the “saints alive.” We remember the saints now, at the end of the Church Year, as an anticipation of the coming kingdom.

Jesus Christ, our Bridegroom, has given His life for us and called us His own. Our sinful name is washed away in the waters of Holy Baptism. Being baptized into Christ, we have received the Father’s family name, given to us by the Holy Spirit. Now our names and the names of all God’s saints are written in the Lamb’s book of life. When we are brought into Christ through Baptism, nothing can keep us separated from Him because He has bridged the gap of separation with His own body and blood. Because of what Christ has done, “they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” The fact that the saints are wearing white robes shows that this righteousness is not their doing but is imputed to them for Christ’s sake.

As St. John writes, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore…” This is because they are in the saving, protecting arms of Christ Jesus. They no longer suffer from sin in this life because they have been made perfect. All of their needs have been provided for, because “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.”

As John ends our text, he paints for us a picture of the complete joy of believers in eternal glory. Verse 15 indicates that part of their joy is being in God’s presence. Verse 16 describes the freedom of God’s people from the effects of sin, while verse 17 again points to the source of the believers’ joy in God’s personal presence.

When we are brought into Christ, we receive the gifts that are given to those who are in Christ, the gifts that belong to the sons and daughters of God. We are given the waters of new life, Holy Baptism which gives new life to those who come to it. The tree of life is Christ Himself who provides the food which nourishes us, His own body and blood. We will once again be able to see God face to face like we were meant to before, to be able to walk and talk with God and to be His own. Those in Christ will live forever with Him.

Today we remember those who have gone on before us, who continue to worship with us, just on the other side of heaven. We know this because it is in our liturgy that we speak: “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven…” They are the ones who confessed the name of Jesus Christ. We too who confess the name of Jesus Christ will one day be reunited with those saints who have gone on before, but more importantly, we will be reunited with the One who allowed us to enter heaven by His sacrificial death, Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, amen.

All Saints’ Day

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning comes from the Epistle, which was read earlier.

In just a few weeks, we will come to the close of another Church Year. In these last weeks, we begin to look forward to the return of Christ. Paul, in his second letter to the church in Thessalonica. He begins by saying, “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathering together to him…” He makes two very distinctive points in his opening line. The first is that Christ will come again. This was a very important point for Paul to make because there were those who were preaching that Christ had come the first time and He died; because He’s dead, He won’t be coming a second time. Paul makes it clear that Christ will come a second time and we will be gathered together to Him, which is His second point. We will be gathered to Christ. We will not be gathered to an earthly king. We will not be gathered to earthly things. Instead, we will be gathered to Christ and Him alone.

How easy must it have been for those in Thessalonica to just ditch the message of Jesus and adopt whatever message someone else was preaching in the synagogue or on a hill or in the marketplace. One could hear a pro-Christ and an anti-Christ message all in the same afternoon. The choices which one had at their fingertips with regard to Christianity were numerous.Paul tells us that Christ will come again. But for that event to happen, another event must happen first: rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed.

The word “rebellion” here is not translated the best way. The Greek word is ἀποστασία, apostasy. It goes beyond rebellion. It means an abandonment of the faith, a falling away. When you look around at Christianity today, it’s not a stretch to see that people have rebelled, have abandoned the faith or has fallen away from the faith. We don’t need to go to church because we can watch church on television, or we don’t need to go to church at all, just as long as I read the Bible. Well, if I don’t read the Bible, then if I pick up The Purpose-Driven Life or Become a Better You, then I’m okay. We can find excuse after excuse why we don’t go to church to hear the Word of God or to receive Christ’s body and blood. We don’t need it because we don’t need it! We’re good people, God is for bad people. Fortunately, we are not that bad, but we are deceiving ourselves into thinking that things other than the Word of God will reveal Christ to us and that the things of this world will sustain our souls like the Lord’s Supper can.

Besides rebellion, the man of lawlessness will be revealed. The man of lawlessness does not merely come as does the apostasy. While he at first remains hidden, he at last is revealed, to show what he really is. Both of these revelations are undoubtedly opposites, for which reason we may speak of an Antichrist, although Paul does not use that term in his letter. Regardless of whether or not the man of lawlessness is the Antichrist, what is his purpose? His purpose is oppose and exalt himself “against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”

Lawlessness such as this has never existed in the world. Men such as Pharaoh, with all of his evil and ungodly ways, was never like this man. Pharaohs and Roman emperors were deified and claimed divine honors, but never for one moment did they do this “against” any of their pagan gods, temples, altars, etc. Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the Jewish Temple, but he did it by erecting an altar to Zeus. Caligula, the Roman emperor, did the same by trying to have his own statue erected in the Jewish Temple, but even he was in no way opposing and exalting himself against the Roman gods and objects of worship. The very nature of polytheism permitted the addition of new gods and of deified human rulers. But the Antichrist shall be worse, must worse, than these deified rulers.

The Antichrist reveals himself as the Antichrist by this pagan act of seating himself in the true God’s own sanctuary. He does not deny the true God, he is neither atheist nor agnostic; in face, he worships the true God. But he does it by this pagan act, the climax of all anti-Christianity. He sits in God’s own place as if he, too, were God and shows and exhibits himself to all Christendom with the claim that he is God, that no less than deity belongs also to him. The very idea of extending deity in this way is utterly pagan. The great apostasy accepts this claim and honors this Antichrist with divine honor. That is what constitutes this apostasy. When Paul wrote, the people of God had never seen an apostasy and an Antichrist like this.

Paul tells the Church that an Antichrist is coming, but he doesn’t stop there. He tells them to stand firm in the faith which they have been given. They are the chosen ones of God. God chose them “as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” They may be misguided, but they are still sheep, loved by the Lord and therefore to be loved and cared for by Paul, a servant of the Lord. Paul thanks God for them because they are “brothers” in the one true faith. Paul thanks God for them because God chose them before time began, elected them to be his adopted children, blessed them with the gift of his Spirit, and by the sanctifying work of that same Spirit set them apart from the rest of an unbelieving world to believe the truth of the Gospel and be saved. If they are so precious to the Lord, then they should be just as precious to his apostle. Paul clearly understood this, and so he thanked God for them. He was also setting an example for all of them to follow, for if he could thank God for them, they should be willing to thank God for one another and work to heal any hurts that may have developed in their church because of the false ideas that were spreading.

All of this is important for one reason and one reason only: “To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” They were called through the Gospel. They didn’t make themselves believe. They couldn’t. They were “dead in transgressions.” No, God worked this miracle through the good news of a Savior from sin which the Apostle Paul, Silas, Timothy and others had been privileged to bring to them. The Gospel originates with God himself, but it becomes our own when we take hold of it through faith, given to us by the Holy Spirit. When that happens we also “share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” His resurrection victory becomes our resurrection victory, and we have life to the full, just as He promised.

This is “our gospel” as well. It is ours because God has given it to us time and time again. He gave it to us when He removed us from that Garden. He gave it to us in a Baby. He gave it to us on the cross. He gave it to us at our Baptism. He gives it to us in the Lord’s Supper. He has given to us the Gospel of His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ “so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He has given us the Gospel so that we may believe and not be led astray by Satan and all of his temptuous ways. He has given us that Gospel so that we may remain steadfast in His Word until the second coming of His Son, who will gather all Christians to be with God forever. Until then, we remain steadfast in His Word, trusting in the promises which He has given to us, never doubting that His Word will do what it says it will: give to all believers forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

Pentecost 24C