By pastorjuhl, on April 29th, 2010%
I am indebted to Rev. C.S. Esget for some of his thoughts on this text. Soli Deo Gloria!
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
What is the worst sin of all? The Lord Jesus says the worst sin of all is not murder or pedophilia or homosexuality. He says the worst sin of all is not to believe in Him. All the problems in the world, all of the sins people commit, have at their core this common cause: unbelief. Unbelief is failing to love God, to fear Him, and to trust Him above all things.
Jesus says the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. The Spirit convicts the world of sin, the sin of not believing in Jesus. Sinners are those who do not worship God the Father, confess Him as the Giver of every good and perfect gift, and those who do not trust in His Son. The sinner believes in himself. He looks to himself as his own master. Jesus becomes a teacher, a co-pilot, a back-up quarterback – but not the Savior. A Savior is only for someone who is lost, needs saving, helpless and ruined, and can do nothing for himself.
What do you seek? Do you seek a pep talk or salvation? Do you seek some good advice on stress management or deliverance from death? Are you looking for help in forgiving yourself or forgiveness from the God whom you offended? Do you expect tips for dealing with difficult people or defense from the assaults of the devil?
Do you not see your own unbelief? When you see food as something you earned instead of God’s gift, that is unbelief. When you breathe air and drink water that is considered part of a natural ecosystem while forgetting that air and water are gifts from the Creator Who lovingly sustains you, that is unbelief. When you see people as objects to be manipulated, enjoyed, or endured at best, instead of fellow creatures of God to be respected, that is unbelief.
When you look at God’s Word to see what you can get away with rather than what you get to do, that is unbelief. When you are overcome by fear of loss, when you squander all your time on self-destructive amusements that you know you should stop doing but do it anyway, when you are angry and sad over nothing and everything, don’t you see this all comes from unbelief? When you are obsessed with the sins of society, the failings of your pastor, and how everyone else is the cause of all your problems, do you not see your unbelief?
Do not be deluded by the diabolical trick that believing there is a God is the same thing as believing in God. Saint Augustine wrote “to believe Christ is not to believe in Christ.” The demons believe Christ. They know the Bible better than some who are Christians. This is not what Holy Scripture calls faith. Faith is having all your hope in Jesus Christ and loving Jesus above all things.
Jesus has taken away your sins. He bestows you with His righteousness in place of your sins. You need not look at yourself or the things of the world to give you pleasure. You look to Christ for every good thing, even everlasting life.
Jesus changes your tune. The first word of today’s Introit is “sing”. Jesus takes away your dirge of unbelief and gives you a new song. Consider Psalm 98: O sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things! His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him. The battle for life and death is over. Life is victorious. Jesus wins the battle in your place and gives you the spoils of His victory.
Jesus will soon ascend into heaven, but He will not leave you alone and forsaken. Jesus promises the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. The Spirit comes to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. This conviction happens in the application of God’s Holy Law and Holy Gospel through preaching and teaching. The Law preaches repentance. The Law has no mercy. God’s Law shows you how blind you are to God and His Word. The Law always accuses.
Once the Law has brought contrition and repentance, the Gospel is preached. The Gospel shows the Father’s grace toward you in Jesus. The Gospel is pure gift. The Gospel never accuses. The Gospel preaches the righteousness of God in the death of Jesus Christ. The Gospel delivers forgiveness and life in Word, in water, in bread and wine, Body and Blood. The Gospel brings Divine pardon. You shall not die, but live. This is the new song you sing through faith in Jesus Christ.
Where are you going? You are going to Christ. He alone cancels all the sins on your list of the worst sins. The Holy Spirit cannot come unless Jesus first ascends to His Father. Now that the Spirit has come, you are connected to the Word of life and the means of grace. The Spirit continually delivers the convicting Word of both repentance and forgiveness. You are also convicted of forgiveness. This conviction is one of being found “not guilty” because of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. His “not guilty” conviction shows itself in love toward one another through works of mercy where God puts you. Saint James puts it this way in today’s Epistle: lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. The implanted Word washes you clean from sin, saves you from eternal death, and guides your steps in this world toward the life of the world to come.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
By pastorjuhl, on April 28th, 2010%
A person who acts contrary to God’s Word is not justified because he has acted according to his conviction. He is condemned. The thoughts, the intentions, the principles which each person has by nature are the very things from which every person must be converted, if he wants to be saved. Not the convictions of our natural reason as to what is good and evil, and wherewith one can stand before God, avails before God, but the conviction which God gives through His Holy Spirit (Walther, “Old Standard Gospels”, p. 177).
The office and function of the Holy Spirit are that he makes clear to us Christ and his work in our hearts, that he makes alive for us everything that Christ has taught us, spoken to us, done and suffered for us, that he makes Christ, his person, his work alive in our hearts, that he renders Christ intelligible to our hearts. Indeed, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is an inner, divine thing. If the hand of the Holy Spirit does not enlighten our spirit, Christ is and remains a dead image, the Gospel of Christ for us [is] a bunch of dead letters. We need this Instructor. We need this pronouncement, this revelation which the Holy Spirit gives us.
The Holy Spirit reveals to us all the more the mystery of God, the mystery of Christ. By nature we have foolish, erroneous concepts of God. The Holy Spirit gives light through the Word. The Holy Spirit shows our spirit the Son and the Father whom Christ has proclaimed. The Holy Spirit puts a bright light into our hearts so that we in the countenance of this man Jesus Christ see the brightness of God, so that we see the Son and in him the Father. This same Spirit teaches us to call no one but Jesus Christ Lord, puts the name of Christ, the only-begotten Son, into our hearts, on our lips, so that we confess with our hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord, and wish such confession at the same time worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
The Holy Spirit alone reveals to us the mystery of the atonement and redemption which have come through Jesus Christ. By nature we have false, foolish concepts about the way of salvation. When we follow our own impulse, we always mix our own works into faith. We always want to add a little something to what Christ has done. The Holy Spirit teaches and assures that our every work is a matter vain, lost, and condemned, that Christ’s work, Christ’s death, Christ’s way to the Father is our only righteousness, that Christ stands in our stead, that Christ has without our aid accomplished all things for us. The Holy Spirit causes the comfort of redemption to sink into our heart and makes divinely sure that the prince of this world, that sin, death, hell are really judged and condemned. The Holy Spirit draws Christ, his work and merit, into our heart, that we confess from our hearts, each one for his own self: This Jesus is my Savior, who has borne all my sin. God is gracious to me through Christ, his Son (George Stoeckhardt, “Grace Upon Grace”, p. 203-204).
By pastorjuhl, on April 26th, 2010%
This from Rev. Dustin L. Anderson of Trinity Church, Marseilles, IL
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed. Alleluia!
We are at war. We have been drafted into a battle that has been raging for thousands of years. It’s a fight of Truth and lies, righteousness and sin, faith and unbelief, forgiveness and condemnation. We are in it over our heads. We try to stay in the fight. We frantically tread in the water to stay afloat. We want to storm the beach, to win the day, but we are weighed down and the flaming darts of the adversary bombard us from all sides. It’s a spiritual Normandy.
The casualties are insurmountable, the loss great. The pain, the blood, the loss of life and limb are unimaginable. No one is left standing. Death blankets the sandy shores. No one is left to fight. The enemy rejoices over those who weep and lament. He gloats over the dead and dying corpses. The enemy is victorious. Or is he?
You all know this scene. You live it day in and day out. It is the fight of the Christian. It is the ever-raging battle against the unholy trinity of the devil, the world and your own sinful flesh. It is everyone’s fight. It is your fight. And you’re losing it. In fact you’ve lost it. You try to fight, (at least you should), but to no avail. You fall into the lusts and desires of your hearts. Idolatry of the self leads the way. In the end you litter the soil with your remains. It is a disheartening endeavor – this life, which lead to death. You might as well give up. If only you had a Champion to fight for you, someone to be a David to your Goliath. But woe to you, God seems to be nowhere you look. He never shows up when, where and the way you want Him. He seems to have forgotten you. You are hidden from Him. Or are you?
To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up you eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out the host by number, calling them all by name, but the greatness of His might, and because He is strong in power not one is missing.
You do have your David, but He’s not much to look at, just like David wasn’t much to look at in terms of a warrior. He was a lowly shepherd boy. Yours is not the Champion you want, He’s the Champion you need. He fights for you with power, but it is hidden power. It cannot be seen or measured with any instrument. His power is found in His Word. When He speaks it happens, even if you cannot see or feel it.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable…”
It is easy to judge God by your own devises. With your God-given senses you measure up God. Can you see Him? Can you feel Him? Can you think of Him? You fall into the same trap as your first mother when she measured up the fruit with her senses. It was pleasing to the eye, good for food and desirable to make one wise. When this method of evaluation is used in the midst of the battle against your three unholy foes, God will not suffice. He will not look good, desirable or wise. When loved ones betray you, when your body rots away from age and disease, when your heart is weighed down with guilt and shame, you will not see God as you want to see Him. He will be hidden to you. He will seem to have forgotten you.
God wants you weak. He wants you dead, because that’s the way of God. Your problem is the idea that you have life in and of yourself. With this mindset you will do anything to hold onto what you perceive to already possess. You believe that you have a right to life, but you don’t. You’ve lost that. Think about it this way, before you were born did you walk up to God and demand the right to life? It would have been difficult being that you didn’t exist until God said you did. When our first parents ate that fruit they returned to a place were they didn’t have anything once again. They were dead. “The day you eat of it you will surely die.”
Your Champion fixes this dilemma once and for all. He willingly, out of unimaginable love, leaves pure life and descends into your midst, into death. The Life of God became one of the walking dead. By His coming into you midst He became the Way out of death to life. His way was the path never before traveled. His way was through death.
This way through death is not without pain or sorrow. Dying was never to be the way. We were created for life, but death became us. That death had to be destroyed. The only way was for one who was without sin to die for those with sin. There is only One such man – Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary. His way was one of great pain and sorrow, but it was not because of Himself that He endured such misfortune. It was for you that He went to battle and He went for the joy of it. He is your David. He stood in your place and fought the insurmountable foe. All He had was the five smooth stones of the Torah, His word and your flesh and bone. But unlike that valiant shepherd son of Jesse, the Good Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep. He, the Word made flesh, threw Himself at the foe. And the three evil foes ignorantly rejoice in victory, not knowing or understanding what they had done. They had brought a swift and final end to the war, but it would not go in their favor.
Jesus had to die. He had to die the gruesome death of the cross in His sinless self to once and for all destroy death and the evil foes. You, too, must die with Him. You must be drowned to death, before your place in the battle can be taken. You do not swim to the shore but float there embracing your Savior and His blood soaked cross. In the battle the combat is tense, but you may lose sight of Jesus and fall away in fear hiding anywhere you can find comfort, but He is always there. And He can always be found. He has promised and sealed it with His blood to be where His Word is spoken and where His crucified body and blood are found. This place is your MASH unit. This is where you are healed so you can stand in the fight behind Jesus, who fights for you.
It is for this reason that no matter how bad the fight gets, no matter how much suffering and pain you endure, no matter how lonely you may feel Jesus Christ is with you and for you. This gives you joy that knows no limit. It is a joy that breaks out into praise and thanksgiving in the midst of life, a life you share with countless other Christians who join in the same song:
Christians, to the Paschal Victim Offer your thankful praises! The Lamb the sheep has ransomed: Christ, who only is sinless, Reconciling sinners the Father. Death and life have contended In that combat stupendous: The Prince of life, who died, Reigns immortal. Christ is arisen From the grave’s dark prison. So let our song exulting rise: Christi with comfort lights our eyes. Alleluia! Speak, Mary, declaring What you say when wayfaring.” “The tomb of Christ, who is living, the glory of Jesus’ resurrection; Bright angels attesting, The shroud and napkin resting. Lord Christ, my hope, is arisen; To Galilee He goes before you.” All our hopes were ended Had Jesus not ascended From the grave triumphantly Our never-ending life to be. Alleluia! Christ indeed from death is risen, Our new life obtaining. Have mercy, victor King, every reigning! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! So let our song exulting rise: Christ, our comfort, fills the skies. Alleluia! + In Jesus’ Name + Amen.
Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed. Alleluia. Amen.
By pastorjuhl, on April 22nd, 2010%
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
What does it mean to have resurrection joy? Resurrection joy is resting in the true presence of God. Joy is not a feeling. Joy is a state of being. Joy is who you are as a Christian. Joy is being grafted into the Vine of Righteousness that is Jesus Christ.
Now that you have completed the journey to Jerusalem to witness the death and resurrection of Jesus, you’ve rested in His presence for a couple of weeks. The breath of God takes away your sins. The Good Shepherd leads you and protects you in good pasture. Today’s Holy Gospel brings a note of sadness and joy. Jesus says so. Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy. It can’t be possible! You just got comfortable resting in resurrection joy and now it’s time to say so long for a little while!
That’s what Jack Buck used to say at the end of a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. Though I’m a Chicago Cub fan, I had to sit through countless Cardinals baseball games on KMOX radio. Following the game, Jack Buck would review the highlights of the game. Then for those radio stations who weren’t sticking around for the post-game show, Jack would say “So long for just a while.” Some listeners would come right back in a couple of minutes. Others wouldn’t hear Jack’s voice until the next game.
Jack Buck is dead. His voice lives on. Jesus Christ lives. His voice lives on. Contrary to Jack Buck, Jesus Christ’s voice brings joy in the midst of sorrow. There’s plenty of sorrow to go around. So many people are out of jobs. So many businesses are closing. So many people we know are dying. Some we will see in a little while. Others we will never see again.
Those whom we will never see again put themselves in a bad position. The Word of Christ does not dwell in them. Either they have not heard the Word or they have heard His Word and rejected it. Some reject God’s Word because they want to live as those who are of the world rather than those in the world. Saint Peter begs to differ. He says in today’s Epistle: I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
You are a sojourner and pilgrim in this world. You have no continuing city. Living in the world rather than of the world makes a powerful confession to an unbeliever. Some unbelievers are convinced that God rewards certain people and despises others merely by chance or some twist of fate. Some Christians may believe this way also. No wonder some Christians have no joy. They live as if they are compelled to sorrow. Yes, you should be penitent of the sin you commit. Nevertheless, as a Christian you live in the joy of Jesus Christ’s all-sufficient death and resurrection. When the disciples first heard Jesus say they would see Him in a little while, they had no idea what He meant by a little while.
There are two facets to our Lord’s Words. The first facet is what would happen to our Lord immediately after this discourse. Jesus would suffer and die for the sins of the world. Most of the Twelve fled the scene. It’s best not to be seen next to the most wanted Man in the Holy Land. A couple of disciples were there nearly to the end. Saint John was there to see Jesus hanging on the cross. While everyone around Christ rejoiced to see the so-called King of the Jews die, those who loved the Lord sorrowed. However, their sorrow was turned to joy when the Lord returned to life.
The second facet of a little while is where you and I are right now. The Church Militant is the little while of John chapter 16. It’s odd that nearly 2,000 years have passed since Jesus ascended to heaven, yet the Scriptures say this time is a little while. Consider that time and space to the Creator of the universe is much different than it is to you and me. Time to the everlasting God Who is, was, and is to come, is a four-letter word. He is the Master of time. When time is full, our Father in heaven will send His Son back to this earth to recapitulate creation. As it was in the beginning is how it will be in the end. Only then will time be meaningless.
When our Lord rose from the dead, He opened the minds of His apostles so they could understand what He taught. This is why Jesus says, in that day you will ask Me nothing. The Holy Spirit’s descent at Pentecost delivers the Holy Spirit Who gives them breath to proclaim the everlasting Gospel to the ends of the earth. In the midst of earthly life, when sorrow seems to have you in a headlock, there is joy in Jesus Christ. Jeremiah writes in Lamentations, there may yet be hope…. For the Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitudes of His mercies. For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
It’s hard to be joyful in the Lord when there isn’t much joy to go around. Remember those five words from Jeremiah’s pen: there may yet be hope. There is hope in Jesus Christ. His hope is certain. Your sorrow will be turned into joy. This little while that is here and now will be destroyed. When you see the Lord, you will be glad because everything He promises you will be fulfilled. This mortal body will put on immortality. The dead in Christ shall rise. We will be forever with the Lord. No one, not even the devil, can take this joy from you.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
By pastorjuhl, on April 20th, 2010%
“A little while” is, in other words, the time until Jesus’ second coming. It might seem strange to call it “a little while” since it’s now been two thousand years. But it’s a question of measuring time by God’s own standard as it fits into his plans for the whole course of the world. It is a little time in comparison with the time that has passed since creation. it’s an infinitely small amount of time in comparison with everything that awaits us in eternity. It will also be a little while for every individual – a few short years until we meet Jesus face-to-face as heirs to His kingdom.
It’s a common and disastrous mistake to think that Jesus’ return is a long time off, that we have plenty of time to fix all “that stuff about God” later. It’s human and understandable to feel that times of difficulty and suffering last a long time. Time goes very slowly when we suffer. Yet the apostle Paul says that our affliction is momentary and weighs little. He can say this because he sees suffering in the big picture. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). that’s the correct perspective. It shows us that it really is only a little while.
- “To Live With Christ“, pages 318-319
By pastorjuhl, on April 15th, 2010%
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
Twice Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd in the six verses of today’s Holy Gospel. After He calls Himself the Good Shepherd, Jesus gives two examples of what makes Him the Good Shepherd.
First, the good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. Jesus contrasts what the Good Shepherd does to a hireling who flees the sheep when the wolf comes to prey on the sheep. The hireling is neither the shepherd nor does he own the sheep. He watches them in place of another.
The distinction between the Good Shepherd and the hireling takes on a new dimension when you learn whom Jesus is speaking these words. Jesus healed a blind man in John chapter nine. Some of the Pharisees who were with Jesus heard Him saying to the formerly blind man for judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind. Those Pharisees ask Jesus a simple question: Are we blind also? Jesus replies if you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
Jesus then begins the so-called “Good Shepherd chapter”, explaining what makes Him the Good Shepherd in contrast with those who had spiritual authority over the Jews. You could draw comparisons from then to now. Though pastors are called to serve as shepherds of the Good Shepherd’s flock, some pastors do not deserve the title of pastor, the Latin word for “shepherd”. You’ve seen the television reports of certain pastors who have a television ministry making millions of dollars a year. They drive the best cars, live in the best houses, own the finest clothes, and live the high life. Some of these pastors believe they have to live this way to show how their faith in God brings them earthly wealth.
It’s a shame that many people are taken in by these pastors. Not all pastors with a television ministry live this way, just as not every Pharisee was set against Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, when the fall from grace comes, as it does often, television news has a field day covering these hirelings. Not all televangelists are crooks, but it seems as if most are. If the pleas for money don’t take you in, the false doctrine they preach just might take you in. Please don’t doubt many of these men and women are pious people with a message to proclaim. What you should question is what comes out of their mouths when they preach. What you should watch is what happens when the wolf strikes the sheep.
Perhaps you’ve seen the wolf attack the sheep in other congregation, or even in this congregation. Perhaps you have been the wolf, attacking the shepherd or the sheep through gossip or through rude behavior. Pastors are sinful human beings, just like you. Pastors make mistakes. They put their foot in their mouth. Pastors crave the absolving Word of Christ, just like you. However, they are charged to preach the whole counsel of God in season and out of season to those who like it or don’t like it. A shepherd of the Good Shepherd’s flock who follows the pattern of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry will suffer. He will not be liked by every person in a congregation. Saint Paul tells Saint Timothy; all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. As go the sheep, so goes the shepherd.
Jesus also says in today’s Gospel, I know my sheep, and am known by My own. The Good Shepherd knows every one of His sheep. As you’ll sing in a little while, He loves you every day the same. He even calls you by your name. His Name is on you in Holy Baptism. Your name is in His book of life. No matter how many times you try to run away from the Good Shepherd, Jesus will seek you out. You cannot run from the all-knowing God Who made heaven and earth.
The prophet Ezekiel writes, I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment. The shepherds of the Good Shepherd’s flock who grow fat and strong on the back of Jesus’ little lambs will be destroyed. The sheep, and even shepherds, who were driven away, broken, and made weak will be brought back, bound up, and made strong by the Good Shepherd.
That’s what the Good Shepherd does every week in the Divine Service. He brings you back here to His house. Jesus binds up your wounds and stripes in His wounds and stripes. Jesus forgives your sins, covering them in His atoning blood. Jesus strengthens your faith in preaching and the Supper, preparing you for battle against the old evil foe.
Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, fought a much more difficult battle than you and I will ever face. Saint Peter writes, when Jesus was reviled, [He] did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Jesus Christ returned you to the fold when you went astray. Jesus Christ returns both Jew and Gentile when they go astray from the fold. The Gentiles are those Jesus says are not of this fold. Both Jew and Gentile will safely graze in green pastures. Both Jew and Gentile hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, especially when He will call forth the living and the dead on Judgment Day. It is then, and only then, when there will be one flock and one shepherd.
The Church of here and now is a militant Church. It suffers under the burden of the gods who want equal time with the One True God. When the Good Shepherd returns to draw His flock together, there will finally be one flock and one shepherd. This doesn’t mean that Christians should strive for true unity in the Word of God in the Church Militant. What Jesus means is that there is no such thing as a perfect church on earth living in absolute peace and harmony. That day is yet to come, but not in this world as you know it. While you wait for the Good Shepherd’s return, live in His mercy that brings perpetual gladness and eternal joys. Jesus knows you. He can’t wait to call your name when He comes again.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
By pastorjuhl, on April 15th, 2010%
The opinion that Christians and the Christian Church will triumph in the last times, and that the Church, finally free of all strife and oppression, will become glorious and even here enter into her rest disagrees with all of Holy Scripture. It disagrees with those passages dealing with the nature of Christ’s kingdom on earth, the hope of Christians in this world, the last times, and judgment day. According to Holy Scripture the kingdom of Christ on earth is a kingdom of the cross, His Church a militant Church; it teaches that all who wish to live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution and must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God; it teaches that the flock of Christ is a small flock, that the majority go the broad way, and that few find the narrow way of Christ; it teaches that the life of the Christian here is hidden in God and that it will first be revealed in the glory of heaven.
The hope of a Christian should not be directed to this world but to heaven; Christians should not be comforted by the hope that things will sometime become better on earth but in heaven; they do not have the promised rest on t his world but in the world to come; the righteousness for which Christians should wait will not be on the old world and under the old heavens, but on the new earth and under the new heavens. Nor will the last times be a time of glory but of the greatest distress and universal apostasy; if the last days would not be shortened, no person would be saved; the last days will be like the days before the flood and Sodom and Gomorrah. Scripture says, “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on earth” (Luke 18:8)? Whenever the Scriptures speak of that which is still to be expected before the end of the world, it does not comfort us by saying that the Church must first appear in her glory but it points out the opposite. St. Paul does not say: The day of Christ shall not come except the thousand year kingdom first come, but, “except there come a falling away first” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Nor dare a Christian ever be secure because judgment day could come any second.
In our times especially some cherish the delusion that there are many true churches; the different sects are only different divisions of the same Church; each has the truth only in a different way. Yes, today many go so far as to maintain that even the Christian religion is not the only saving faith; or, that faith is of no value as long as a person acts according to his conscience, loves his fellow man, and is upright and fair to all. He will then be saved no matter what he believes. Many preachers go so far as to misuse Bible passages to extenuate such terrible religious indifference. All these ruinous thoughts which undermine and overthrow religion and piety are judged and rejected through Christ’s Word, “There shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” We see that Christ has only one fold and He is the only Shepherd of the souls of men; if a person does not belong to the one fold and is not under the one Shepherd, there is no second flock in which his soul can find pasture. His soul is still like a poor lamb which disappeared from the flock, wandered about without the shepherd, without pasture, without water, and finally dies. He who has not entered the Church is still not on the way to heaven, is still without hope, yes, without God in this world.
You, whoever you may be, are invited by Christ to go this way. Know that you have erred from God’s fold through sin and are lost. Hear Christ, the Good Shepherd, calling to you in His Word, “I am the Good Shepherd,” come to Me; and he who comes to Me, I will not cast out. If you know that hitherto you have gone the wrong way; that of yourself you cannot seek and find the way to God and heaven, though you may be old or young, rich or poor, wise or simple, one who has merely made a false step or a deeply fallen sinner; yes, even if you were the greatest of all sinners, listen to the friendly gracious voice of Christ, the Good Shepherd, and in faith come to Him; you will then belong to the one fold under the one Shepherd. Let the others go another way. You remain on the way which your Shepherd leads you. You will be saved. Let the others pin their hopes on other things, on their works, on their sanctification, on their pious practices, struggles, improvements, feelings, experiences, and the like; you pin your hope on your Lord Christ. Doing this you will never be ashamed. Whoever is with Christ is in the true flock and the true Church; his salvation is unshakably firm.
Oh, my dear hearers, recognize your holy calling in doing your part so that ever more may be called to Christ’s flock. Diligently consider the unspeakable misery of the poor heathen in your prayers; do not forget to support the great work through your generous gifts. Let the misery of all Christendom touch your hearts. She should be a flock which rests peacefully about Christ, the Good Shepherd, but look at her fold! Ah, it is a battlefield! What lack of union! What divisions and separations! How the majority of Christ’s sheep today groan partly under mercenaries who do not pasture them but only live opulently off them, partly under proud priests who rule harshly and sternly over them! Partly under heretics and false prophets, who have come to them in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves! Do not think that any sacrifice which you must bring is too great. You must contribute something that the light which has been given us be placed on a candlestick to enlighten others; perhaps many of our sincere brothers will then be rescued from the bonds in which they not groan, perhaps unknowingly; we must see to it that ever greater peace be in Christ’s Israel, that as it pleases the Lord a friendly evening star will arise in this midnight hour until finally the great Shepherd of the sheep comes and will lead His triumphant flock into the heavenly fold.
By pastorjuhl, on April 9th, 2010%
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
God commands Ezekiel to breathe on dry bones. These dry bones covered with skin and muscles need something to live. They need air. God says to Ezekiel Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.’” It’s strange how God considers those who have not heard the Word of the Lord as slain. They are dead. They haven’t lived until they receive the Breath of Life.
You are dead if the Breath of Life is not in you. This Sunday is sometimes called “Low Sunday” because church attendance is so low compared to last Sunday. The joy of new leaven returns to the bland taste of old leaven. Some have made their last appearance in God’s House for a while. They won’t breathe the air of grace until December 25th or later.
Consider another illustration that perhaps hits a little closer to home. When you fly an airplane, the flight attendants always go over the emergency instructions in case of the unthinkable. Should the cabin lose pressure, oxygen masks drop from above your head. What are you supposed to do should those masks drop? The polite thing to do is to help your neighbor with his mask, then put on your mask. Unbelievably, preserving your own life comes before your neighbor’s life. You put on your oxygen mask first, then help your neighbor. You must breathe good air before you help your neighbor breathe good air.
Let’s take the flight attendant’s instructions into this congregation. You and I want those who are slain because they do not breathe the air of grace to live. How can you help them live in Christ Jesus if you do not live in Him first? How can you give an answer for the hope in you if you know very little about that hope except what you learned in Sunday School or youth confirmation instruction or adult instruction? A Christian congregation without people who study God’s Word diligently should perhaps be considered a social club rather than a Christian congregation. If you have not attended Bible Study recently, or if you have never attended Bible Study, now is a perfect time to breathe in the air of God’s Word with us on either Sunday morning or on Tuesday evening.
What if you stopped breathing right now and decided to breathe again in six months. You will die before six months pass. The same thing happens when you neglect the Divine Service for “better things to do” on the weekend. The church doors are open, the church bells ring, but you pass by holding your breath. You think you can make it a little while longer before taking another breath.
Sin robs you of your breath every time you fall short of our heavenly Father’s mark of perfect excellence. The Law punches you in the gut, robbing your lungs of air. The blows take their toll. One day soon, sin will rob you of your breath. You will die.
Yet Psalm 130 proclaims, if You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared. The Eleven standing in that locked room had a different kind of fear than the Psalmist describes. They were genuinely afraid of what they heard. An empty tomb. Reports of Jesus appearing to different people. The Eleven feared for their lives thinking the Jews would perhaps hand them over to die or make them answer for Jesus’ missing body. Then Christ enters the locked room. He is not a ghost. They touch His hands and side. He lives. He breathes on them. His breath is peace and life. His breath on them brings the dead back to life in Christ.
Jesus’ wounds bring forgiveness. This is why Jesus bids them to touch Him. Jesus is not a ghost. They do not see an apparition. This is not a shared hallucination. This is the resurrected body of God’s only Son standing in their midst in the flesh. Unbelieving Thomas becomes believing Thomas one week after our Lord’s first appearance to the Eleven. Seeing is believing for Thomas. For you who weren’t there that night Jesus has comforting words: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
Christ’s presence is often bothersome. Christ’s crucified body hanging on a cross makes some recoil. A statue of Christ with wounded hands and side make others uncomfortable. Do not be afraid of these images. It is good to see Jesus with fresh wounds. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Where there is blood, there is life. Where there is life, there is the Holy Spirit bringing forgiveness and life. The Holy Spirit brings the gifts of God to the people of God. That’s what He does. He doesn’t bring magic tricks from a supernatural illusion. He brings the Father’s joy to His children in things you see, hear, smell, touch, and taste.
The Holy Spirit brings you to the font, where your sins were washed away and you were united with Jesus Christ. The Spirit brings you to the altar, where Christ’s Body and Blood go in your mouth to bestow you with His forgiveness and life. The Spirit brings you to the pulpit, where Christ’s Word of victory over sin and death go in your ears and plant home the Good News of eternal life.
Where the breath of God blows, there is life. His breath in you gives you breath to speak the confidence of your salvation to those who are slain in their sins. His breath forgives you. His breath brings you life. His breath will call out your name on Judgment Day as one pardoned by the blood of Jesus Christ. Blessed are you who have not seen, but believe the breath of God that blows when and where it wills.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
|
|
