Category Archives: Sermons

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Candlelight – “Glory to God in the Highest” (Luke 2:1-14)

C-12 Christmas Midnight (Lu 2.1-14)It’s time, but it’s not time for what you think. It’s time for a registration, or a tax census. The government wants its money and that means that it requires people to return to their home city to pay up. And so Luke records for us, “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.” This seems like such an ordinary, boring way to start a story. After years of waiting, the dramatic story planned long before is revealed, and it begins with, of all things, taxes. Why would God begin this most wondrous, heaven-shattering story this way?

First of all, He does so to show that His Christ was born in ordinary history. This is no mythical god born in never-never land, once upon a time, long long ago. No, this is the real God invading and inserting Himself into what we thought was our history. Humans thought that the way it works is that God stays in heaven while we live our lives on earth, and He leaves us alone to go about our business. But that is not the God of the Bible. History is His, under His control, accomplishing His purposes. The purpose was hidden, but on Christmas we see the secret purpose revealed: God came into human flesh to be born as one of us, our Brother.

But let us move on to something more heavenly, more Christmassy, so to speak. We may not be thrilled with the report of taxes, but we love the news that the angels bring. They tell us, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.” We love these words, because they are straight from God, announcing the new age dawning with the birth of the Christ Child. Here pure light and life are announced, that shall never fade for us in an eternal kingdom of blessedness.

If you grew up with the King James Version or have ever seen Charlie Brown Christmas, we are more familiar with this wording: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Which one is right? Is it that God on Christmas was bringing peace and goodwill to all people? Or was He saying through the angels that His peace would rest on those with whom He is pleased? There is truth in both. Christ came as Man for all men. He took human flesh in such a way that He is the perfect representative of all people – whether male or female, young or old, of whatever race imaginable.

For all men, He became incarnate. To pay the price to atone for all sins, He took flesh that could be pierced, and blood that could be shed, so that every man of every place can say, “Jesus, the Son of God, became my Brother.”

That is the meaning behind this night, that God would be born among us in order to die for us. Luther, in one of his sermons for Christmas, writes the following: “This Gospel is so clear that it requires very little explanation, but it should be well considered and taken deeply to heart; and no one will receive more benefit from it than those who, with a calm, quiet heart, banish everything else from their mind, and diligently look into it.” Just what does Luther mean? Everyone has heard the Christmas Gospel time and time again, and yet it is hard for us to accept this for what it is. It is simply the promise of salvation fulfilled for mankind.

This is the reassurance of the Gospel, that no one has to wonder, “Was He born for me? Did He die for me?” The answer is always yes. For all, He came. For all, He died. On some, God’s chosen elect, He will create faith through His Word. These will receive the gracious gift. They will enjoy eternity, not because of anything they have done, but because God’s favor rests upon them. Again, Luther writes, “He does not simply say, Christ is born, but to you he is born, neither does he say, I bring glad tidings, but to you glad tidings of great joy. Furthermore, this joy was not to remain in Christ, but it shall be to all people.”

Just what takes place in the manger is nothing short of a miracle. We see here how Christ, as it were, takes our birth from us and absorbs it in His birth, and grants us His, that in it we might become pure and holy as if it were our own, so that every Christian may rejoice and glory in Christ’s birth.

This is indeed great joy that the angel speaks of to the shepherds. This is the comfort and exceeding goodness of God that, if a man believes this, receives the peace that the angel declares, a peace among those with whom God is pleased. In this case, that is us. We, the chosen ones, have God’s peace. This is a peace beyond understanding, a peace that is always with you. It is the peace that Christ purchased for you, the peace of knowing that your Brother is God’s own Son, and therefore all will be well with you. Christ takes care of His family, so He will take care of you. He has already purchased forgiveness and eternal life for you. He will not forget about you or let you slip through the cracks. You are His own.

For us, we should do as the angel says: “Fear not.” God became incarnate of the Virgin Mary and accomplished our entire salvation. He sent His Son into our world and won salvation for it. He sent and continues to send messengers to proclaim the marvelous news of salvation in Christ: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” In Jesus’ name, amen. And now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Christmas Eve – “The Promise” (Matthew 1:18-25)

C-11 Christmas Eve Early (Mt 1.18-25)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

The time has finally come. The birth of our Savior is upon us. We have the promised Messiah come to the virgin as foretold by the prophets: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Everything is in line with the prophecy of the Messiah: line of David? Check. Virgin birth? Check. But one thing doesn’t add up: just how did Mary get pregnant if she is a virgin?

Sometime after the engagement, Joseph discovers that Mary is pregnant. The angel Gabriel had visited Mary and told her that she would bear the Christ Child, but Joseph hasn’t yet been visited by the angel and knows nothing of what has taken place. So when Joseph learns that Mary is pregnant, he is torn.

Apparently, Mary has chosen to be unfaithful, or that’s how it appears to Joseph. Per the law, Mary was to be put to death, along with the man who impregnated her. If there was ever a godly man who kept his promise, it was Joseph. He was a devout Jew intent on obeying God’s laws but whose obedience was tempered by compassion. He was not just a law-abiding man, but also a man of compassion, and so he was torn as to what he should do. Instead of having Mary put to death, he decides to divorce Mary privately. That way, she can slip away to live with relatives or whomever else she desires.

Mary does go away with relatives. After she becomes pregnant, she goes to stay with her relative Elizabeth. Meanwhile, Joseph is left to figure out how to proceed, but he doesn’t get far.

From all outward appearances, it would seem as if Mary had committed adultery and became pregnant by some unknown man. But that’s not the case at all. The angel’s words set the story for who this child is: “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 is people from their sins.”

Without missing a beat, Joseph does all that the angel tells him. He takes Mary as his wife. He accepts this Child born to Mary as his own and names Him Jesus, a name that means “the Lord saves.”

Not only did Mary not sin in conceiving this Child, not only did Joseph not sin by disobeying the Old Testament law concerning adultery, this Child that is to be born is both sinless and the solution to man’s problem of sin. In Jesus, God has kept His promise to His people. Because of Jesus, we have the salvation that is promised.

God has kept His promise; giving us confidence to meet His Son as He comes to us in the manger, for tonight, God put Himself into a box. God had promised long ago to our first parents that He would provide the means of salvation and that promise is fulfilled tonight in the Christ Child born to two lowly parents.

This promise was made in the Old Testament many centuries before it ever happened. Isaiah, one of the prophets who recorded many prophecies of the coming Messiah writes, “The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

The writers of Scripture have a gift that we do not have and that is the divine inspiration. Through that divine inspiration, they are able to communicate the promise of God to a people in desperate need of salvation. We come here to receive that promise for ourselves, a promise made in our Baptism, a promise reinforced in Christ’s body and blood and ultimately finished on Calvary’s cross.

God comes to us, despite our being unworthy of His coming. When we had most certainly committed many shameful acts, the Lord could have simply abandoned us. That is what we deserved. We were supposed to be faithful only to Him. Yet we went running after every false idol that could entice our fickle hearts. We deserved the public disgrace of falling under God’s judgment and being cast away forever. He could have simply acted out of His justice, and given us what we deserve. He could have let His anger break forth against us. He would have been perfectly justified in doing so.

But instead God had compassion on us. Out of love, He did not want to treat us as our sins deserve. He made a plan to rescue us from the disgrace of our sins. It was a secret plan, a mystery hidden for long ages until He revealed it in the Virgin’s Son. God became flesh. God became one of us. God became Man for our sake.

Although becoming a Man was not humiliation in itself, Christ had to go through all kinds of things that were humiliating. He had to endure the indignities of being a helpless infant. He had to bear the pains inflicted by the sinfulness of people around Him, many hurtful words and malicious actions. He had to suffer sickness and sorrow, hunger and thirst, growth and loss, and everything else that goes along with being one of us. He subjected Himself to the life of sinners, even though He was not a sinner.

Even that was not enough. He had to fulfill every last Word of promise that He had made for the sake of His beloved people. He exposed Himself to the public shame we deserved. He made Himself a spectacle, a scandal, and a sign of foolishness as He hung upon a Cross. He let all the guilt and disgrace of all sin fall upon Him, so that it would not fall on us.

For this reason He became a Baby. This was the plan all along. To save us, shameful sinners, He took our flesh and lived our life. For this reason, a Virgin was pregnant with a little Boy.

This is the miracle of Christmas, that God would come down to us, that He would take on the form of man and be laid in a box. This is Jesus, the one whom we embrace by faith and trust, the one who makes holy so God declares us holy for Christ’s sake.

This day is truly all about promises kept: God keeping His promise – the promise made to Adam and Eve, the promise renewed to God’s people through millennia of Old Testament time, the promise voiced by the Isaiah and the prophets of old – the promise that God would send His Son. This promise gives us the confidence to know that God will indeed keep His promise of bringing us to be with Him for eternity. All of that and more, accomplished tonight as God comes to us through the Babe of Bethlehem. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Advent 4C – “Blessed” (Luke 1:39-56)

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

Have you heard the phrase, “Count your blessings” before? I’m sure you have. The idea behind it is to be grateful for all you have, all that God has given you. This isn’t bad advice, but this also presents a problem. How many individually identified blessings count as being highly blessed? Think about this: are wealthy people more blessed than poor people? What do we count as a blessing? Counting one’s blessings may actually miss the point of what it means to be blessed by God. In our Gospel today, Mary and Elizabeth help us see the true nature of blessedness: we are blessed by God through the presence of Christ.

To be blessed by God comes from the presence of the incarnate Christ. To be blessed by God does not come from ourselves. The angel Gabriel had visited Mary and what took place was nothing short of a miracle. He came to her to tell her that she had found favor with God. What exactly does that mean to find favor with God? It means that God shows His grace upon us. In Mary’s case, Gabriel shares with her great news: “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” She will conceive and bear the Son of God.

No sooner had Gabriel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Savior world, she hurried off to visit a woman she knew who would understand and share her joy: her relative Elizabeth. What made Mary think that Elizabeth would know what she’s going through? It comes from what Gabriel shared: “And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.” A miracle was happening to Elizabeth just as it was for Mary.

As Mary arrives at the house of Elizabeth, upon being greeted, the baby who would be known as John the Baptist leaped in the womb because he was in the presence of his Savior. Elizabeth declares something to Mary, something that is not to be glanced over by any means: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!… And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

What a feeling to be called blessed by God! It should be noted that Mary is blessed not because of what she has done, but rather what God has done for her. She acknowledges that she is indeed blessed moments later in her song, the Magnificat, but she is not blessed, however, because of who she is. In her hymn, she notes the humble estate of God’s servant. She calls God her Savior because she is a sinful human being like everyone else is, and she knows she is in need of saving. She makes it abundantly clear that it is God who has done great things for her, and so she gives all glory to Him.

Unlike some teachings, Mary wasn’t blessed because she was sinless. Mary wasn’t blessed because she was somehow better than another young girl her age. Mary is blessed, as Elizabeth tells us, because of the blessedness of the “fruit” of her womb. What made Mary blessed is the presence of Christ within her womb. And because of the Child that Mary bears in her womb, we, the Church, are blessed as well.

What we have to understand is that we as the Church are not blessed because of who we are. Who are we? We are dead in our trespasses and sins. We deserve God’s eternal punishment and death. And yet given who we are, we are blessed. Our blessedness consists in the presence of the incarnate Christ who is the ultimate source of every true blessing. Jesus entered the womb of Mary so that He could be born, live a sinless life and ultimately die on the cross for our sins, only to rise again triumphantly three days later. It is through the death of Christ that takes away our sins that separate us from God and now brings us back into God’s presence now and forevermore.

That happens in our Baptism where we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, forever replacing our sinfulness in the Father’s eyes so that all He sees is the perfection of His Son. That same presence is realized also in the true body and blood of Jesus Christ in His Holy Supper where our Lord comes to us with His gifts of forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

Being blessed by God is received through faith in the promise of the Child whom Mary bears in her womb. Being blessed by God is received through what God does for us in Christ and not through what we do for ourselves. That is the whole theme behind Mary’s song and it is the whole theme for Christianity with regards to our salvation. There is no chance of salvation by ourselves. Adam and Eve failed to keep God’s Word as do we. Only by keeping God’s Word perfectly can we achieve salvation. That is not something that we can do, no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we think we can. Our sole means of salvation comes from the Child that Mary carries. Mary understands God’s grace and finds her peace in the promise of Gabriel’s message.

Listen to these words from the Magnificat: “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” What Mary says is a direct fulfillment of God’s prophetic promises made long ago. She believed in the promise made by God so long ago and now she sees it being fulfilled in her own life and it comes through the fruit of her womb.

Just as Mary accepted this message of the Savior through faith, so do we in the Church accept this by faith, faith that comes from the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, we understand and respond in faith to the continued proclamation that our Lord Jesus Christ, who took on human flesh and dwelt among us, is our promised redemption and salvation.

And so here we are. Mary will give birth to her first-born Son. He will grow and become a man, a man who had an appointment with a cross. As God stepped down from heaven into the womb of the Virgin, He took His first step to the cross. The cross is the reason He took up human flesh in the first place. He came to be Mary’s Savior, and not only her Savior, but also the Savior of all mankind. For as He took up human flesh He also humbled Himself under the Law in order to fulfill the Law in our place. Then as He suffered on the cross, He took up the wrath of God that we all earned with our sin. This is the way in which He is Mary’s Savior and the Savior of us all.

We are, on account of Christ, exactly what is attributed to Mary: blessed; blessed for Christ’s sake, blessed for we are in Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Advent 3C – “Rejoice” (Zephaniah 3:14-20)

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

Are you depressed, feeling blue, stressed out or frustrated? Those are not words we use to describe a joyful time such as Christmas, yet some people feel this way at this time of year. Part of it comes from unrealistic expectations. Part of it comes from a misunderstanding of what this season is all about. Part of it comes from cramming too much activity into too little time.

Still, we come to church and hear God calling us to rejoice and be glad. That’s easy for Him to say! He’s up there in heaven, where everything’s safe and bright, unhurried, unhassled. Let Him come down here and see how it feels in this world. Then we’ll see who’s rejoicing and celebrating!

As we see in our text this morning, the prophet Zephaniah gives us God’s answer: God did come down here and God does celebrate and because of that, we can surely celebrate because the Lord came here and celebrates over us.

Today is the Third Sunday in Advent, what in Latin is called Gaudete, which means, “rejoice.” And that is what we do today and always, rejoice! But it would seem we have many reasons not to rejoice. We have sinned, and that is definitely not a reason to celebrate and rejoice. The people of Zephaniah’s time stood under the threat of judgment for their sinful rebellion. He begins this chapter by saying to the people, “Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city! She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the LORD; she does not draw near to her God.” Zephaniah warns Jerusalem of God’s wrath and calls her to repent, that same warning we have received.

Heeding Zephaniah’s warning, we realize our own sinfulness and our ongoing failure to live up to the standards of God’s holy expectations. We are reminded of Jesus’ words: “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” That is something we cannot be and so we are reminded that we are much like God’s rebellious people of old, able to do nothing to save ourselves.

We live in a sin-stained and sin-infested world, a fact that is not worth rejoicing over. Because of sin, we suffer physically, mentally, and spiritually. We face the effects of sin in the form of death, a death that manifests itself both physically and spiritually. We fight daily against evil. All one has to do is look at the world around them and see that Satan is still alive and well seeking to destroy God’s kingdom. There is no worth in rejoicing because all we are left to rejoice in is our sin.

God came here and causes us to celebrate. God does not treat us as our sins deserve. Rather, He cares for us as His own. Zephaniah writes, “Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!” God calls the Israelites the “daughter of Zion” and “daughter of Jerusalem.” They are the dear ones to Him, for they are His beloved children. That trickles down the ages to us as well. We are the beloved children of God, and for that reason, we are able to rejoice and be glad.

The reason why is because He came here and took away the judgment against our sins. In love, God came in the flesh in the birth of His Son to live among us, to live “in your midst” to save us from sin and death. That happened as Christ grew in stature of man and became our sacrifice upon the cross. And for that fact, we are forgiven all our sins, and that fact alone is cause for us to rejoice this day and always.

Zephaniah makes a point that Jerusalem failed to understand because of their limited thinking: “The LORD has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies.” Jerusalem was surround by enemies throughout her history, and because of that, they did not think that what Zephaniah declared was true. How has God cleared away Jerusalem’s enemies if they continued to attack Jerusalem time and time again? But what Zephaniah speaks of is beyond the temporal world. God defeats our enemies of sin, death, and the devil through the gift that He gives through His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus knows our world’s enemies because He has been there and fought against them on our behalf. Therefore, we need fear no evil that would befall us because Christ has proven to be the Victor once and for all, causing us to rejoice.

Everything that Zephaniah writes of in our text is fulfilled in Christ, for Christ is the cause for us to rejoice. He gathers us unto Himself through His Word and Sacraments to forgive you your sins. He takes away all that keeps us separated from God and unites us to God the way God had intended from the beginning. That assurance is made for us by God through the words of His servant Zephaniah: “At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes.”

This is what the long-promised Messiah has done for us. He has gathered us unto Himself by the blood He pours out upon Calvary’s cross. He has gathered us unto Himself in the saving act of His death and resurrection.

We rejoice now for what Christ has come to do, just as we rejoice for what Christ has already done for us. We celebrate in anticipation of what we know is ours, a life that transcends this veil of tears in which we live in and grants to us a new life, a life united with Christ that grants forgiveness of sins and unites us to our heavenly Father once again.

What God promised through the prophet Zephaniah has been made ours. It is not something that requires our doing, but rather requires God to do all the work, and He does through Jesus.

He has come to do what Zephaniah and all the prophets of old foretold: be the Savior that God has promised. He has come to do for us what we could not do. He comes to forgive and make new what was once destroyed. He causes us to rejoice in all that He has done, just as today is meant to be: Gaudete, that is, rejoice. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Advent 2C – “Make Ready” (Luke 3:1-14)

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

Imagine for a moment that your life is not your own. Whatever you do is not meant for you; rather, it’s meant for someone else. What would that life look like? Would it be a life worth living or is your life pointless, as you receive no gain in your life? We should ask John the Baptist about that, because his life was not his own – his being was to point to a promise God made ages and ages ago.

John the Baptist is a strange man in a strange time. He has one foot in the Old Testament while the other foot is ushering in the New Testament. He looks out of place because he is out of place. John is a man on a mission from God, literally. The question is: what is that mission?

John’s mission is not about living a life that’s all about him. His mission is not to make a mark in the pages of history because of what he did, though he does leave a mark. His mission is to step back, to take the back seat, all in order to tell people about a promise God made. That promise comes in Jesus, his cousin. That promise comes in Jesus, his Savior.

To teach people about this promise, John has to lay the ground work. His message is one of repentance. He proclaims a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. What a message John has to proclaim!

Unfortunately, John the Baptist has a problem. The problem is that no one wants to hear what he has to say. No one wants to hear about repentance. No one wants to hear of the promised Messiah. The people want things to be the way they are, to stay the status quo. But the status quo is not good enough for John, especially when the message he is proclaiming is a message that speaks of mankind’s salvation.

Quoted in our Gospel today is some prophecy about John the Baptist and what he will say and what will come about: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

John is the voice in the wilderness proclaiming, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” And John is going to make sure that everyone hears that message. He doesn’t want to leave anyone out. He wants to ensure that all hear of the coming of God’s promised Messiah. And why wouldn’t he? First, that’s his job as the herald of Jesus Christ. Second, who would not want to hear of God’s promise of salvation coming to the people in such a short amount of time? Everyone would want to hear that, unless you are a Pharisee. God’s Word and Pharisees don’t often tend to play well together. But John’s message was especially for the Pharisees, as they had determined there was a different way to earn salvation – through their own works and keeping of the Law.

John the Baptist comes in preaching very harsh words, words that the people didn’t want to hear then and words that we probably don’t want to hear now: “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” The sad truth is that more often than not, you and I don’t produce the good fruit that our Lord expects. We simply don’t love God with all our heart and soul and strength, much less love our neighbor as ourselves. Despite our best efforts, there are those we have hurt and those we have failed to help. Our thoughts and desires are soiled with sin and there is nothing good within us due to our sinful nature.

That’s where John’s message is so important. We hear the Law. We hear about our sinful nature and what that means for us. It means death and damnation. It means eternal separation from God. But that message that John is preaching about is the sweet sound of the Gospel that we need to hear: that there is One who is coming to save us from our sins. There is One who is coming to give us everlasting life. There is One coming who is forever bridging the gap between God and man, One who will trade His life so that we can have life. It is in John’s message of the Gospel of God’s grace in Christ Jesus that we are lifted up and comforted.

John’s warning was indeed sharp. When the message of love and grace fails to touch the heart, then the Law’s message of judgment upon sin must be proclaimed. And so John comes proclaiming a baptism of repentance, that the people would turn from their sinful ways and prepare for the arrival of The Messiah that was quickly approaching. And who heard that message but those troubled by their sins.

That’s the message of our text today. Our sin has separated us from God. That’s not a message we want to hear, and neither did those to whom John was preaching to. They had an answer for everything: “We have Abraham as our father.” What does that mean? Who cares if you have Abraham as your father. The bigger question is do you recognize your sin? Are you repentant of your sin? Will claiming Abraham as your father make your sins go away?

If you are sinful, then you need to hear this message. If you are repentant of your sins, then you need to hear this message. There is nothing you can do about your sins, but there is someone who can, and that someone is on His way. He is on His way to the manger to be born. He is on His way to Jerusalem to stand before Pilate to be judged. He is on His way to Golgotha to lay down His life for your sinful life. He’s going to give you all that He is so you may be declared righteous and holy before God. And in doing so, He is going to take all your sins upon Himself so that He may be judged sinful and die, all that you may live.

Even with all of that, that’s not enough for Jesus. He promises to come to you in His holy Word, a word that declares you forgiven for His sake. He comes to you in water so that God’s name may be placed upon you, marking you as God’s beloved and redeemed child. He comes to you in bread and wine, that you may feast upon His body and blood and receive His forgiveness, that you may be strengthened until life everlasting in heaven is yours.

All of this is at the heart of John the Baptist’s message. The message is not his own, but it is God’s message of a promise made a long time ago. John’s presence is to prepare for Christ’s arrival as the Messiah, the promised Savior of long ago. And with that message of John, we look not to ourselves but to only-begotten Son of God, as He comes in a manger, as He comes in Word and Sacrament…as He comes to forgive us our sins and lead us unto Himself. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Advent 1C – “Promised Peace” (Jeremiah 33:14-16)

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

What shakes up your world? What makes you uneasy and anxious? Is it an unstable stock market? Is it world events or natural disasters? What about a warning or report from your doctor? Each of us is no doubt shaken in different ways by different developments in our lives. For some, it’s the loss of a loved one at Christmas. It might be the possibility of losing ones job or mountains of debt that you never think you’ll get out from underneath. Whatever your anxieties, Jeremiah would understanding your condition. He was shaken by a number of things in his world.

First, God had called him to be a prophet and to speak God’s Word in a time when people refused and resented God’s messengers. (Not much has changed today with regards to that sentiment by the world). At least twice there were attempts on his life. The refusal and violent reactions to his messages caused him great anguish. Jeremiah shares his frustration as he prays to God: “O LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me. For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” Everything around Jeremiah was falling apart. The Babylonians were about to conquer Jerusalem and enslave its population. Jeremiah was at a crossroads: he was called to announce that this would all happen because the people had so completely rejected the God who had given them the land, the temple, Zion, and Jerusalem.

Regardless of all that was going on in Jeremiah’s life, no matter the fear of what tomorrow would bring, Jeremiah has words for God’s people: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’”

Here is a calming and healing word for God’s people. Here is a restoring and refreshing word for a people a people who had rejected God. This is a reiteration of the promise made to Adam and Eve. This is the promise of a Savior. This is the promise of Jesus. Jeremiah describes the coming of one who would reverse the curse of the people’s rejection of their faith and their idolatrous ways. The Jerusalem that would experience violence, bloodshed, anguish, and enslavement would once again dwell in security and enjoy wonderful prosperity. God’s blessings would be lavished upon her once again.

This great reversal would be brought about by the presence of the one who would bring justice and righteousness. David’s seed, Jesus of Nazareth, fulfills this wonderful word precisely as Jeremiah promised.

And so we see in our Gospel reading the same account as we do for Palm Sunday – the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. And what do the people shout: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” That is what we proclaim today, preparing for the arrival of the infant Jesus in the manger. Listen to what Luther writes when speaking of Christ’s triumphant entry: “This is what is meant by ‘Thy king cometh.’ You do not seek him, but he seeks you. You do not find him, he finds you. For preachers come from him, not from you; their sermons come from him, not from you; your faith comes from him, not from you; and where he does not come, you remain outside; and where there is no Gospel there is no God, but only sin and damnation, free will may do, suffer, work, and live as it may and can. Therefore you should not ask, where to begin to be godly; there is no beginning, except where the king enters and is proclaimed.”

You see, everything centers on the coming of Christ into our sinful and fallen world. You want to be sinless? You can’t. You want to be righteous? You can’t. You want to save yourself? You can’t. You want to be godly, as Luther says? You can’t. But with the coming of Christ, you are made sinless. With the coming of Christ you are declared righteous. With the coming of Christ, you have been saved. Everything centers on Christ and what He does.

Here in this House, the Branch of Righteousness also springs forth today. He comes to speak salvation from Satan and death. He comes to give out His righteousness through His mighty Word. All mankind needs this coming of the Branch. All men are sinful, and therefore need this Savior to come into their midst to give out His forgiveness. But many have given up hope. Many have stopped believing in the coming of Messiah among men through Word and Sacrament. Many think that Christ is far distant in heaven, and does not come among men. We forget that He is here, the King of the universe, the Son of David, in our midst. Our spirits are slow and cold too often, as if He does not come.

But He comes here indeed, since He has prophesied and promised it. He has said He would be here, and He does not break His promises, made some two thousand years ago. Here He is in His Body and Blood. Here He is speaking, since He who hears His servants is hearing Him. Here He is in the midst of us, where two or three gather together. He shall come in this way to be with us always, until the very end of the age. Although our sinful souls are not worthy of His coming, He comes anyway, to give us grace.

Jeremiah spoke that message to his contemporaries. He faithfully spoke God’s Holy Word. The majority rejected his message, but a significant minority listened and believed. They saw reality for what it was. They saw the beauty and wonder of the God who made a promise and reinforced that promise. They confessed their sins and rejoice in God’s forgiveness for the sake of David’s Seed, Jesus.

So today we rejoice with Jeremiah. Beyond the disappointment and challenges of this world, the Seed of David brings a peace that the world cannot replicate, for this peace is the peace that knows on account of Christ, our sins have been forgiven and we have life everlasting in the promised Messiah. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Funeral for + John E. Lavrenz +

LSB Icon_040The text that was chosen for John’s funeral was Psalm 139.

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

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

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

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

19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! 20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain. 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Here ends our text.

To the untrained eye, the scene today looks disturbing. Instead of gathering together for a joyful occasion, we gather today to mourn. Death has won again and taken a husband, father, brother, and friend. Or at least, that’s what the untrained eye sees. For the trained eye, we see something completely different.

Some of the facts remain the same: we gather today not just to mourn, but to also rejoice. Death has indeed taken a husband, father, brother and friend, but death has not won. As the hymn says, “Jesus lives! The vict’ry’s won! Death no longer can appall me; Jesus lives! Death’s reign is done! From the grave will Christ recall me. Brighter scenes will then commence; This shall be my confidence.”

I can’t take credit for selecting our text today; John did that, along with everything else. I can see why this psalm was such a favorite of his. This psalm is a psalm of thanks that praises God that He has provided for David so wonderfully and still reigns in all of His works, words, and thought. Whether David stands, walks, sleeps, or wakes – yes, even in his mother’s womb, before he was made – God has been with him as he was being formed and will be with him as long as he lives. John did as any of us should be able to do – substitute our name in the place of David, for God indeed watches over and provides for us from before we are born to our death and after. That fact held true for John as well. From the moment of his conception, God was watching over him. When he was brought to the waters of Holy Baptism, God was there. Throughout all the days of John’s life, God was there with him. And Friday, when John breathed his last breath, there stood God with open arms to receive His beloved child. The words John heard are words that all believers will hear on the day that God calls us home: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

If John were here right now, he would make the point himself that he wasn’t good. He might have been a good person to know, he might have done good things throughout his earthly life, but none of that mattered. All the good that John did in this life didn’t score him any brownie points with God. He never did anything “good” for personal gain, but rather to benefit his neighbor, whether he knew who his neighbor was or not. He knew that nothing he could ever do would get him brownie points with God. He knew that none of his good works would earn him an ounce of salvation and he would be the first to tell you that. In order for John to receive salvation, in order for any of us to receive salvation, it doesn’t depend a single bit on what we do. It depends solely on what Jesus Christ has done for us.

How fitting it is for John to have fallen asleep in Christ when he did. Right now, the Church observes the season of Lent, a penitential time where we reflect and prepare for what Christ does for us. In just a couple of weeks, we will see Jesus ride triumphantly into Jerusalem, with the people shouting praises as He enters. We will see Jesus give to His disciples, and in turn the entire Church, His very body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. And in just hours after that, we will see Jesus go to the cross. And while we cringe when we hear of His Passion and what Christ endured before His death, we look forward to what happened just three days later, when Christ burst from death’s tomb as the Victor over sin and death. With His death, He took with Him John’s sins, and there were many, as he would recount week after week in the Church’s confession. But he knew that he had forgiveness, not because of what he did, but because Christ had washed those sins away in Baptism, because Christ had taken any and all sins of John to the cross and gave to him the crown of eternal life.

David writes in his psalm, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your work; my soul knows it very well.” Those are words which meant something to John, words that were wonderful to hear, because by Jesus’ work was what saved John. He could be content in knowing that God sent His Son Jesus to save him from all his sins.

From some of the stories John told me and from the years that I knew John, he had a way of getting himself into trouble. Sometimes it meant receiving some sort of punishment from his father or running to his mother to avoid said punishment. He knew when he got in trouble and though he tried to avoid the punishment, it often caught up to him. So it was with his death. Death is inevitable for each and every one of us. St. Paul makes that clear when he says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” John knew that when he got in trouble with his sin, which was everyday of his life, he knew whom he needed to run to. He would run to Jesus, for he knew that only in the arms of Jesus would he be able to get out of his sinful trouble. He knew that the only thing he could do was sin and sin and sin some more. But through the blood of Jesus Christ that washed his sins away, He could emerge the victor.

Reflecting on St. Paul’s words, they ring ever true for John. He writes, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” Though John has died an earthly death, he enjoys a new life in Christ Jesus, one free from sin, one free from cancer. He has been transferred to the Church Triumphant, where he rests from his labors.

During the last few days of John’s life, he was plagued with worry, even doubt at times. He asked on more than one occasion why God hated him because he was still here. I told John that God did not hate him, but I didn’t know why he was still here, other than the fact that it was not time for God to call John home to heaven yet. David answers John’s question. He says, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.” John’s days were numbered, just as are each of ours. While God created us to live with Him forever in the Garden, through sin we now have death, cutting short those days of forever. But though we live a certain number of days on earth, through Christ will live with God forever in heaven.

David has a perfect ending for his psalm, an ending that asks for something from God. David could have asked for anything from God, and yet he doesn’t; he asks for something not of this life. He writes, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” For David, just as for John, and just as for you and me, there is a grievous way in us. That grievous way is called sin. Sin, as we see this morning, leads to death. But God did not leave David in that state, nor did He leave John in that state, nor does He leave us in that state. He leads us in the way of everlasting life.

For you, Lee and family, while you mourn today, there is cause for rejoicing, for John now rests in eternal glory, waiting for us all to join him and all who die in the faith. Amen.

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Lent 3 – Commandments Broken, Commandments Kept (Exodus 20:1-17)

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

Many times, it appears that God is silent, that He doesn’t have much to say, or least that He doesn’t have much to say to an individual personally. We want to hear God speak to us, but often times He remains silent. Or what is even worse, when God does speak to us, it isn’t how we want Him to speak. However, when God does speak, He has a lot to say. His words carry great importance, but we often fail to heed what He has to say. That changes in our Old Testament reading today, for God speaks words that cut deep to the individual.

We are all familiar to our text. We know it to be the Ten Commandments. God had called Abraham, promising to make out of him a people set apart. God gave him no rules, no guidance; He just asked Abraham to follow. What that people, now nearly one million in number, found itself delivered from Egyptian bondage, God made His radical will known.

What God sets forth is an excellent summary of His will for His people. They were intended not as threatening commands, but rather ten easy steps to follow for the smooth running of God’s people. At least, that’s what it seems like on the surface.

As God’s chosen people, they were often seen departing from God. They had turned to their own ways, they had turned to other gods time and time again, only to return to God when they realized that they were too far gone and they could not do anything to save themselves. And so God issues to them His First Commandment, one that would set the stage for the remaining Commandments: “You shall have no other gods before me.” God then goes on to expand just what that means: not having any idols or graven images, not bowing down to created things and worshipping only Him. Luther, in his Large Catechism writes this about the First Commandment: “A god is that to which one should look for all good things and to which one should take refuge in all needs.” It didn’t take long for the Israelites to break this commandment. In fact, before Moses had even descended the mountain, there were the Israelites at the foot of the mountain worshipping a golden calf.

As God continued to give His Commandments, it became clearer and clearer that Israel would not be able to keep them. Misusing the name of God? Broken. Sabbath day violations? Check. Honoring father and mother? Broken in the Garden, as Adam and Eve failed to honor their Father. Murder? Check. As God continued to give Moses His Law, it didn’t take long to see that the Israelites had already broken most, if not all, of these Commandments. And if they hadn’t, it wouldn’t take them long to do so.

What you have laid out before you is pure Law, God’s perfect and all-demanding Law. Its purpose was to make God’s people holy, keeping them faithful to God. God had continued to give to Moses instructions for worship and building of the Tabernacle, further laws for the governing of His people, and finally ending with details for the Sabbath. But once Moses made his way to the foot of the mountain, there was God’s people, worshipping an idol. They had erected for themselves a god, one they had fashioned out of gold. Aaron had declared to the people, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” And then, ironically, he declared, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” Even before receiving God’s Commandments, they had broken the very first. God sent Moses back to the people, threatening to consume them with His burning wrath.

So here’s a question: why make these Ten Commandments for the people of Israel to follow if they’re only going to break them? This was God’s people. He had seen them through thick and thin and promised that He would remain their God. In return, He asked that they would remain His people. God had asked the same thing to Adam and Eve. He created them; He was their loving Father. All they had to do was keep a single command of God – eat from all trees in the Garden except one. That single command of God proved to be too much for them and they were forever cast out of the Garden. Obviously if Adam and Eve couldn’t keep a single command of God, then there would be no hope for all of Israel to keep the Ten Commandments, let alone the total of 613 commandments every Jew should follow and keep. If you can’t keep one, you surely can’t keep ten and definitely you won’t be able to keep 613.

So with the Ten Commandments given to the people of Israel and their failure to keep the very First Commandment, let alone the remaining nine, all is doom and gloom for Israel. They will be forever lost to their failure of keeping God’s Law; they will be forever lost to their sin. It would easily appear that way, and at times for Israel, it seems as if God had completely abandoned them. If God had forsaken Israel, then that means there is no hope for you and I. And if that’s what you think, then you would be wrong. There is indeed hope for you and I; there is salvation for us. God did not completely abandon Israel to their sin. God has not abandoned you to your sin. He has sent to Israel and to the entirety of His creation a Deliverer, One that would keep the First Commandment in its entirety. And not only the First Commandment but also the other nine. And not only the Ten Commandments, but also the 613 commandments. And not only those, but One who has kept the entirety of God’s Word and His Law. There is for Israel and for you a Savior, one who goes to the extreme to atone for your sins, for each and every one of them, for every single time that you have broken God’s Law, for every time that you have not done as His Word has declared.

This Savior, this Jesus, is the One who has done for you all that you could never do yourself. In keeping every iota of God’s Law, He has done all that the Father desired of His creation. He has achieved for all those who trust and believe in Him full salvation. For all who have faith and call upon the name of the Lord, all those sins that would make you stand before God as a condemned sinner have been removed and God only sees that the holiness and righteousness that has been achieved by Jesus’ all-atoning sacrifice on the cross. God has promised salvation and that salvation comes through Jesus Christ, the One promised of long ago. As Jesus says in our Gospel for today, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Through His bodily temple, the Son of God lays down His life, only to take it up again three days later. In doing so, He proclaims eternal victory over sin and death for the sinner.

All of this is in keeping with what God speaks to Moses, “I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” We know these words as the Close of the Commandments. In short, for all who fail to call upon the name of the Lord, God will condemn. For those who believe, for those whom God has made His beloved child, God will show His steadfast love. And what greater steadfast love is there than granting to a person the forgiveness of sins, whereby eternal life is awarded to them?

With the giving of the Ten Commandments, it was not meant to punish or tie the hands of Israel. They were given as a response to whom God was, their creator, provider and protector. He had promised to be with them all the days of their life. In line with man’s breaking of God’s Word and commandments, One is sent for us who keeps these Commandments in order to grant to us everlasting life. We have failed time and time to keep these Commandments. Fortunately for us, there is One who has kept them, One who would give His life so that we would live. Christ has come, keeping these Commandments and more, to grant to you life and salvation. Steadfast love from God has been shown to you, all because Christ has kept these Commandments in your place. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Lent 2 – “Justified by Faith” (Romans 5:1-11)

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

Say the word enemy and what image comes to mind? Secret agents, robbers, master criminals? We all know what an enemy is, but I’m sure there is one person whom we have not considered adding to that list. That person is… you! That person is… me. That person is all of creation, because we are enemies, enemies of God.

None of us would be considered an evil mastermind. None of us would be considered being put on the wanted posters that used to hang in post offices in the days of yesteryear. But for us to be considered God’s enemies, maybe that is a point that you would argue. However, arguing the point will not change the fact that we are indeed God’s enemies.

In today’s Epistle, Paul’s words follow on the previous chapters, where he laid the case that we were among the dead – the dead in our trespasses and sins. Twice, Paul states that apart from Jesus, we have no hope and can expect only death. In chapter 2, Paul announces: “For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.” And again, Paul teaches us that “there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The result of both of these verses is the same: death.

Now here in our text, Paul continues to describe how desperate we were: weak. There is never a good time to be weak. Weak in sin, weak in moral fortitude, weak in faith. In other words, an apt description of you and me. Paul goes on to say that “we were still sinners.” We know this to be true, don’t we? We know this to still be true, that we still sin daily. Turn on the news, read the newspaper, what will you find? You will find stories of man’s sin, over and over and over again. Yes, we know we are still weak, we know that we are still sinners.

But for us, it gets even worse, for we are called enemies of God. Surely that doesn’t mean all of us, especially not me. Surely there has to be someone who is good, right? Not according to Paul, for he writes, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Paul is very clear, that no one is righteous, not even a single soul, that is, aside from Jesus. And so if we do not stand before God as righteous, then we stand before him as enemies.

The entirety of creation has been turned into enemies of God because of sin and there isn’t a single thing that we can do about it except keep on sinning, keep on being enemies of God. But fortunately for us, it isn’t up to us to do something about it. It is up to God to do something about it, and He does. He sends the only One who is righteous. He sends the only One who is not His enemy. He sends His Son, Jesus Christ. His sole purpose is to restore what was destroyed due to sin. The only way to do that is to live a life that is perfect, that conforms to God’s Word and upholds every single iota of it. But that isn’t enough. After He has led a perfect life, then He has to die so that His blood may be poured out on creation in order to redeem it, to buy it back from Satan. And even then, that isn’t enough. After He has died, He needs to be raised from the dead, for by His life, death, and resurrection do we have life. Because of the actions of Jesus Christ do we go from being declared enemies of God to being righteous, for everything is done just as Paul declares: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Christ died for the ungodly, for all people of all times. Jesus shed His holy Blood on the cross to pay the price for the sins of everyone from Adam to the last man standing at the end of the Day. Eternal freedom is not free. This is the Sacrifice and this Sacrifice is Love Incarnate. His eternal Life takes away our eternal death. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us and rose again for us. Those who have been given the gift of faith through this Good News of God are now recipients of the reconciliation.

Look at what the Incarnate Son of God accomplished. He saved not only for a day, but for all eternity. In order that no one might have to endure the wrath of God against sin in eternity, Jesus sacrificed Himself in time when He put Himself in harm’s way, placed Himself in the breech and mounted mankind’s leafless, lifeless, cursed cross. His Easter Resurrection is unto all eternity and His Ascension is for all time. Those who are His, that is, those who believe, teach and confess that He has died for them will be with Him both at the end of the Day and forever.

Listen again to what St. Paul says: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” You’ve been justified by faith. Rather than declare you guilty and punish you for your sin, God has declared Jesus guilty and punished Him on the cross for your sin. Because the judgment has already been carried out, God will not judge you for your sin. His wrath is gone, and all He has left for you is peace for Jesus’ sake. All He has left for you is forgiveness and comfort and help. Being justified by Jesus means the Law has been completely fulfilled by Him for you. Peace with God means the Lord Jesus Christ has taken away the discord of our sin.

God demonstrates His own love toward you in this: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God didn’t wait for us to make an effort before He gave His Son to redeem us. In your case, He gave His Son to die for you long before you were born, long before you even existed. He gave His Son to die for you long before you became His child through Holy Baptism—while you were still His enemy. And if God loved you so much then, how will He not love you now? Or, as the text goes on to say: if God loved you so much that He would save you by His only Son’s death, how much more will He love you now that His only Son lives again and intercedes for you?

The season of Lent presses on toward the cross of Jesus, where we see His death take place. There, His reconciliation of the world, of you and me, between the Father and you, takes place through the Son, with the result of justification, rejoicing, suffering, endurance, character, and hope. Through Jesus’ rest in a borrowed grace, you can find comfort in knowing that Jesus rested in perfect peace for you. As we confess, there is “the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” These words are an ever gentle reminder of what Jesus has done for us. You have been justified by the blood of Christ. You are no longer an enemy, but His beloved child. You’re no longer unholy and impure, but cleansed and holy in His sight for Jesus’ sake. The cross is your assurance that your hope will not fail: for if you have been redeemed at the price of the Son’s blood, the Father will not forsake you now. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Lent 1 – “Defeating Temptation” (Mark 1:9-15)

B-30 Lent 1 (Mk 1.9-15)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

The season of Lent is designated in the church as a season of preparation. How better to begin the journey on which we now embark than by pondering the beginning of the ministry of our Lord on earth. Mark leads us by the hand from scene to scene as Jesus heals people, casts out demons, forgives sins, and raises the dead. For Mark, things are done “immediately.” That word “immediately” is at the forefront of our text today, as He begins with the Baptism of Jesus. We hear the Father’s Words, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” As soon as His Baptism is concluded, we hear from Mark, “The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.” Why did the Spirit do this? What is the point? Jesus was driven into the wilderness to be tempted, and for good reason – because we are tempted. Jesus, who Himself was tempted, helps us when we are tempted.

Immediately, Jesus goes from water to wilderness. The Holy Spirit, who descended upon Jesus in His Baptism, now drives Him into the desert with the same urgency with which God took the children of Israel from the Egypt side of the Red Sea to the wilderness side of the Sinai Peninsula.

As we look at Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, Mark gives very few details, other than Jesus was tempted all forty days of His time there. The writer of Hebrews gives us this insight: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Just what kinds of temptations did Jesus face during those forty days? Mark doesn’t give us any details of the temptations, while Matthew and Luke give us three temptations that Jesus faced: turn stones into bread, bow down and worship Satan, and throw Himself off the pinnacle of the temple. Aside from those three, we don’t have a list of temptations that Jesus faced on each day in the wilderness. Suffice to say, the fact still stands that Jesus was tempted in every respect during the forty days and throughout His ministry.

The temptations that Jesus faced did not end in the wilderness. As I said, our Lord faced temptations throughout His life, all the way up to and including His crucifixion. For all the traps and snares the Pharisees put into place for Jesus, one couldn’t blame Jesus if He had a cursing thought towards them. Some would say that they deserved it. And while they might have deserved it, Jesus does nothing that would constitute revenge towards them. He has no cursing thought or word directed towards them, He doesn’t do anything that would be considered vengeful on His part. No, Jesus took every trap and snare placed before Him and sidestepped them with great ease. He prayed to His Father; He prayed for His enemies; He gave comfort to the repentant thief while the other tempted Jesus to remove Himself from the cross. By His complete and full temptation, without sin, without giving in a single time, Jesus has credited you righteous.

What good news it is for us that Christ has triumphed over temptation! We know that because Christ has triumphed over temptation, we too will triumph, for we have Christ with us, alongside us as we face each and every temptation to sin. Jesus has been and will continue to be by your tempted side until you are finally at peace and rest eternally with Him. Because of Christ’s victory over the devil, you have won. Christ’s victory over sin, death, and the devil is your victory over sin, death, and the devil. God sent His Son into the world to deal with all three of these. In the luscious, fruitful Garden of Eden, the serpent tempted the first man; in the bleak, barren wilderness he tried the same with the stronger Man. Jesus, the second Adam, would dispatch the devil, defeating Satan who had caused the fall of the first Adam. As a result of the first man’s sin, Adam could only lead his wife out from Paradise and into this land of disease, decay and death. As a result of Jesus’ victory over Satan in the desert, the Lord journeyed out from the desert in order to lead His bride, the Church, from this world and into Paradise. Jesus overcame all of Satan’s temptations so that He could pronounce you righteous and holy before His Father.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who carries away the sin of the world. Even though He carried the sin of the entire world into the desert, He Himself never sinned. He endured and triumphed over every temptation of the devil. Hebrews says, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus endured the temptations of the devil and triumphed. He not only endured the temptation in the wilderness, but He also endured all the other temptations that the devil threw at Him as He journeyed to the cross.

You see, if the devil could have gotten Jesus to sin just once, He would no longer be able to carry our sins. He would have sins of His own to carry. Never the less, Jesus did not sin. He continued to carry our sin. He carried it all the way to the cross.

It is important for us to know that Jesus endured all the hardships that we endure. He is our substitute. He doesn’t just know our lives academically, but He has experienced life as we know it. He was tempted just as we are tempted. He also experienced our pain, our sorrow, and our frustrations. He experienced it all except that He never sinned.

In spite of the fact that He never sinned, He was full of sin. St. Paul writes, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Just as the High Priest placed the sin of Israel on the scapegoat, God has placed the sin of the world on Jesus. He became full of our sin – your sin, my sin, the sin of the entire world. Jesus has carried that sin to the cross. As we remember the cross, we will remember that our sin filled Him as He suffered and died to pay the penalty that God’s justice demanded – a payment that freed us from our slavery to sin.

For us during this Lententide, our focus is this: Christ has defeated Satan, once and for all, and because of that, salvation has been won for you and for me, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.