The Flight Into Egypt

 Matthew 2:13-23 

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise and take the Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him."  And he arose and took the Child and His mother by night, and departed for Egypt; and was there until the death of Herod, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "OUT OF EGYPT DID I CALL MY SON."

Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its environs, from two years old and under, according to the time which h e had ascertained from the magi.  Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, "A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN; AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE."

But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Arise and take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child's life are dead."  And he arose and took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.  But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he departed for the regions of Galilee, and came and resided in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He shall be called a Nazarene."

Sermon for The Sunday after Christmas                               12/28/25

 The Flight into Egypt

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I've spoken in the last few sermons about repentance and forgiveness, about the joy and happiness of Christmas, about the blessings God poured out and pours out today, and about blessed Christmas is.  There is an opposing view, however.  There is a certain group who were none too pleased to see Christmas roll around.  I am speaking of Satan and his servants.  None of them were particularly pleased to see this promised arrival actually take place.  Satan had not lost track of the promise of God made to Adam and Eve in the garden.  It had been centuries, millennia, but he still remembered that promise; "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, He shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel."

Satan was confident that he could defeat God when he rebelled in heaven.   Satan was still confident in the garden.  It would stand to reason that Satan still  thought he could  beat God.  Now Satan was out to end the plan of salvation by killing the infant Jesus, and God had to protect His Son.

So we have our Gospel, the flight into Egypt.  In the middle of the right, Joseph is visited by an angel in a dream.  It is difficult to say how anyone could tell that it wasn't just another dream, but Joseph had no trouble.  God made him sure that he was to get up right way and flee to Egypt, and He  told Joseph that someone was planning to search for Jesus and kill him.  So, Joseph awakened the whole family, packed up, and left right then, in the middle of the night.  The next morning it caused quite a commotion to find that the wise men from the east had departed, and the young family, who had drawn such majestic attention were gone too.  One night the family was there, the next morning, they were gone.

Secular history and Scripture both record the temper tantrum of Herod, when he learned that the Wise men had left without telling him where the child was.  His spies in the city told him that the family in the house which the Wise Men visited were not there the next morning.  Herod seemed confident that they had only moved to escape his attention, so he ordered all of the male children two years old and younger to be killed.

But Satan had lost again, and the Christ-child was still safe.  God had protected his Son.  But God didn't use any special magic to do it.  There were no force fields, no mystical disappearances, no pillars of fire to rescue His Son. There was just a word given to one of God's willing servants, Joseph.  All of the actual work involved in saving Jesus was done by Joseph.  God gave him a job, and he did it to a Tee.

If Joseph had failed, I'm sure God would have worked something else out.  He cannot be frustrated in His plan of salvation – except by our unbelief.  We would never have heard of Joseph's dream, if he had just rolled over and drifted back off to sleep.  But he didn't.  He acted.  When there were easier, more direct, and probably more effective means to do the job at His disposal, God used a man.  He handed out the job assignment, and counted on Joseph to do what needed to be done.  That's quite an honor.  Lucky Joseph!  He lived in the day when God still spoke out loud to His people, albeit through angels (a word which means messenger)  but He still gave men specific tasks to do for Him.  

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have that same opportunity?  Wouldn't you jump at the chance to do a job, given directly to you from God?  Think of the honor it would be!  You, a servant of the Most High, with marching orders from God!  Talk about status!  That's the sort of thing that people just dream of!  Just like an Old Testament prophet!  God's messenger, God's tool!  Specially chosen to do His work for Him!  The thought is mind boggling!

Lucky Joseph should be as lucky as you!  God has important work for each one of you.  And he has sent it to you by means of an angel.  After all, "angel" means messenger – and I am God's messenger to you, speaking the Word of God to you.  God has a job He needs done, and he has assigned it to you.  Now, you can wrestle among yourselves for the honor of doing this part, or that part, for the glory of God, But it needs to be done.  It is an important job, and God has left it up to you to do it.

You see, your job is spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Well, it is actually bigger than just spreading it, it includes nurturing it, and doing public relations, and fertilizing it, and training others to do the same work, and running the business end of the operation.  There's a task in there for each one of you to do.  God has tailored a task to fit each of you somehow.  There are singing tasks, and janitor work.  There is talking, visiting, sharing, witnessing.  We have room for writers.  We need people good with math.  We need teachers -- and there is on-the-job training available.  We need motivators and we need students. There are several openings for examples – you know, people who model the Christian faith, or the Christian life, something every single one of is to be doing – and there are a number of positions open in the generous giver field.  We could use several willing workers, and followers of every kind are needed.  There are tasks for the young and the old.  There is no retirement age, and you are never too young to do some of the really important work.  We also have jobs for women and minorities.  We are truly and equal opportunity employer.

What??  You say that all of this is just regular church work?  You don't see anything special?  And you thought Joseph was lucky!  What's so special about running scared across the desert?  What is so unique about having a wife and a young child to care for – and that in the least favorable of conditions?  All Joseph had was a responsibility and everyday life – everyday life made considerably harder by that angel's message.  And he couldn't even talk back to the angel.  You ever tried talking back to a dream?  You could give me excuses.  You could even belt me one if you don't like what I say, but talk back to a dream?

Joseph had a special job.  He was the earthly step-father of the Son of God.  It was a very responsible position, and it was probably very difficult.  Joseph was called into retirement from that task sometime before Jesus was thirty years old.  But Joseph's oh-so-special job was just everyday to Joseph.  No one even realized he was doing any special job for God.  He didn't get special notice, and he didn't get extra money.  If I understand Satan's ways, Joseph probably got a lot of devilish harassment for his trouble.

Now God is giving you a job.  He is not offering it.  He never does.   He has the job and He expects you to fill it.  If you choose not to, He may work it out in some other way, perhaps taking some blessings from you,  or He may just allow it to go undone here - and bring great disaster to your children and grand children.  They may grow up without the Gospel.  You see, your job is to be the Church, the sanctuary and safekeeping place of the Word of God.  Others have had this job and failed to take it seriously, some have refused even to do it.  They had excuses, too, but their churches soon became social clubs, or places where the preachers talked about drunk-driving, or politics, or pretty, flowery poetry, or their churches have died out completely.  In any case their families have lost the Word of God and become caught up in the pseudo-religion of feeling happy for the moment, and taking the path of least resistance.

You have a job.  For some of you it is to actively proclaim Christ crucified, and Christ resurrected, and the marvelous salvation He brings.  It is telling people about the forgiveness of sins, purchased on the cross of calvary, or the free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus.  If you are able to do that.

But, some of you simply cannot.  Some of you can only speak to children, like in Sunday School.  And so, that is your job.  There are those who can sing but not talk.  There are some who can write but not sing, some who can help run the business part of the church, some who can help repair the church's physical plant.  There are those who are gifted at inviting people to worship, and others who can't do any of those things, but can visit the sick and the shut-in.  Maybe you can listen to a person's problems or give a cheerful greeting to others on Sunday.  It might be that you can't do any of that, either, but you can live a life so clearly given to the Lord that we can all admire you and draw strength from your example and praise God for men and women such as you!  Perhaps you have a faith that could move mountains.  But there is one job that you can all do, attend worship every Sunday, and pray for us and the church, and yourself.  After all, only a shut-in can't come to church, and only the dead cannot pray.

God is counting on you.  There are hundreds of people in our area who need the Word of God.  There are hundreds who unknowingly count on you to bring it to them.  Our entire congregation counts on your support to make this congregation loving, encouraging, strengthening.  All of these are common and unglamourous tasks, but they are tasks which God has given us to do, and they are jobs that give satisfaction, jobs with blessings attached.  And your part may just go undone if you don't do it.

Joseph had the flight to Egypt.  We have the great commission.  We each have our jobs to do, given to us by God.  Let us be like Joseph.  Let us do what God has called us and equipped us to do.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)

What Did You Come Here to See?

 Matthew 11:2-10 

Now when John in prison heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples, and said to Him, "Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?"  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you hear and see: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me."

And as these were going away, Jesus began to speak to the multitudes about John, "What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?  But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' palaces.  But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one who is more than a prophet.  This is the one about whom it is written, ‘BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER BEFORE YOUR FACE, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.'"

Sermon for Third Sunday in Advent                    12/14/25

 What Did You Come Here to See?

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Our Gospel lesson this morning revolves around two questions – the question of John to Jesus – Are you the Coming One, or shall we look for someone else?, and the question of Jesus about John, What did you go out into the wilderness to look at?  What did you go out to see?  Both of them are questions that we could consider – one of them we must consider.  The question about John, though, is not so significant to us unless we translate it into our modern age, and place our congregation and its mission here in the place of the prophet John.  When we do that, we change the question of Jesus into the theme of our sermon this morning, What did you come here to see?

First, however, is the question John asked of Jesus.  Are you the Coming One or shall we look for someone else?  That is the question that rings through the ages in one form or another – What do you think of Jesus Christ?  Is He God, or simply a good man?  Is He really and fully human, or does it just seem that way?  Is Jesus Savior, or is He Judge?  Is He the Center of your existence, or simply an embellishment to it?  Do you believe in the Jesus of the Bible or the modern, politically correct, socially sensitive, humanistic Jesus?  Was Jesus the One, or are you still looking for someone else?

It sounds silly, doesn't it?  The question seems out of place here in a Lutheran Church.  Unfortunately, it is not.  It is never  out of place.  The devil is at work all of the time, trying to get us to imagine a "Jesus Christ" other than the One who existed and who died for us, and then to believe in that Jesus.  In the days of Jesus, the people who were waiting for the Messiah were often waiting for someone else.  When they met the Messiah, they didn't want to believe that this humble man was the One.  They wanted someone else.  

Their problem was just the same as ours.  They had come to look for the One they wanted, not the One actually promised or the One who came.  Today, many people want another Jesus.  They want the "Sweetheart of a Guy" Jesus who takes everyone just the way they are, and asks for nothing, expects no changes, overlooks anything and everything.  Or, perhaps, they want the Ecumenical Jesus, the one who doesn't care if we know Him, who measures us by our public niceness to others, and who is pleased if people simply learn to pay lip service to the existence of a deity of one sort or another.  Others have a Jesus in mind who changes His opinions as frequently as they do, and always agrees with them.  Doctrine, morality, history – these people believe that they are all in flux because these people are not willing to commit themselves to anything, and their Jesus is just like them.

Jesus gave John the answer: look at the Jesus who IS, and know Him.  Jesus told John's disciples to look at what they saw and hear in Him.  Jesus mentioned in specific the things which He had done, that the Messiah was going to do, according to the prophets.  Then Jesus said, And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me.  In other words, blessed is the one who believes in the Messiah who has come – who does not stumble over the real Jesus or who does not have another Jesus, a preferable Jesus, in mind.  Jesus told John to face the reality that was reported – for us, that is the Jesus of the Bible, with the values and morality and doctrines of the Bible.  We cannot have Jesus if we reject Him and what He taught just because it feels good, or because someone we love has already rejected Him, and we don't want to face an uncomfortable truth about their spiritual life.

Which leads quite naturally to the questions of Jesus for the crowd.  He asked them what they had come for – pointing to John rather than Himself, but asking them if they were about reality – the man that was out in the wilderness or about some unrealistic fantasy – something not real.  But when Jesus pointed to John, He was actually pointing to Himself.  John was His messenger.  The conclusions they drew about John would also form the conclusions they drew about Jesus.

So, what have you come here to see?  Did you come here to confront holy mysteries and deal with Jesus as He is, or did you come here for some other purpose, with another agenda in mind?  What do you see here?

If you see this congregation as just a social organization of wonderful people, you are not here for Jesus.  If you see a worship service as simply a place one can go to in order to feel good, you are not seeing reality.  If you see the messenger of Christ as simply opinionated and peculiar, and reject him out of hand, without examining what is taught and preached in the Word, you have not come to see Jesus.  If you have come expecting something like a fast-food place where you can get your religion served up hot and fresh and just the way you like it, you have not come to see Jesus.  You want the nearest Burger King .

This is an assembly of Christ's holy people.  He has gathered His holy priesthood together here.   We have come here by His invitation, to eat of His body and drink of His blood in this holy Meal before us, and to hear His holy Word, and He has called His servant to proclaim His Word and distribute His sacrament faithfully. 

 We expect to be refreshed and strengthened.  He has promised it to us, and we believe His promises.  He has promised that our sins will be forgiven and we will have eternal life on account of what He has accomplished on the cross.  He has promised that those who remain faithful will rise from their graves in glory unto everlasting life and joy.  

He has not promised, however, that it will feel good, or please our intellect, or appeal to any part of us that may be included in the description "our sinful flesh."  His doctrines may not appeal to you – but if they are His, drawn clearly from His holy Word, they are also ours to keep and to believe and to confess.  He has also called us to serve Him in good times and in difficult times.

God may ask you to stand firm in the face of persecution.  If you have come to see Jesus, then you will.  It won't be fun, but it will be what you will want to do, if it is what God lays before you.  Or enduring illness.  Or facing certain death.  Or patiently confessing Christ, or some truth about Him drawn from His Word, before those who will not accept it, and who will not accept you if you do not change – oftentimes people whom you respect and from whom you covet approval.  In each of these circumstances we can see the pain, the pressure, the difficulty, but we cannot imagine the blessings and we cannot see what God is at work accomplishing through our faithfulness.  But it doesn't matter.  He is God, and we are "poor miserable sinners" who have been redeemed and saved by Him.

We often cannot imagine what difference it would make if we did what we ought not to do, or if we surrendered some piece of the truth, seemingly inconsequential, in order to achieve some goal or maintain some imagined good.  Well, it isn't ours to imagine.  Not if you have come here to see the Jesus who is.  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.  We do it His way, and we trust His Word because it is His, and we are His.  He is God, after all, and we are not.

Jesus asked them what they went out to see when they went out after John.  Of course, the only thing they could see was what was there – the prophet of God.  Even if they denied the prophet, that is all that there was out there for them to see.  Even when people deny the truth, or want God and their religion on their own terms, there is still only one God, and one true faith – and only one salvation.  If we come with any other agenda than God's agenda, they come in vain, without purpose and without success.

God has called you to His Word, and to His Supper, and into His family.  He has forgiven you all of your sins for Jesus' sake, and set His great love on you.  He has called you to know Him and His Word.  He has called you to serve Him by loving one another, and by faithfully living in the light of His great love day by day, in whatever circumstance you find yourself right now.

He has not called you to understanding every detail or enjoying every moment.  He has not called you to feeling good or being happy.  It is okay if you do, it is wonderful if you can, but it is not part of the promise – at least not for life in this world.  He has promised us sorrow, and pain, and the hatred and persecution of the world in this life.  And He has given us His Word and the Sacraments  –  and each other  –  for strength and comfort and encouragement as we stand faithful by His power and though His grace.

What did you come here to see?  All there is to see is the mystery of God's love in Jesus Christ, the purity of the Word, the refreshment of the Sacrament, and the fellowship of the saints.  In it and through it all He gives us forgiveness and resurrection and eternal life for the sake of Jesus Christ.  If you have come here for anything else, you will be disappointed.  If you have come to find any other Jesus than the One the Bible teaches us about, you have come to the wrong place – but if you have come for the false, let us show you the true Jesus, and stick with us and let us show you the true mysteries – the wonders of God and of God's love for you.  You will be glad, and we will be glad, and the angels of God will rejoice that you did!

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)

God is at Work In You and Through You

 Philippians 1:6, 9-11

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Sermon for TSLSITCY     Final sermon here         11/16/25

God is at Work In and Through You

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Well, here we are. This is the day we have all been looking forward to.  Suddenly, Immanuel will be without a pastor. Pastor Rickbeil will try to do his best, and we all know that it will be very good.  

I have looked forward to this day with a sense of dread and excitement and nervousness, with a complex of emotions that only the pastors and perhaps their wives among us can imagine.  They have been here before.  Really, the only thing I can say is the first line of our text: "I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."  

If you are despairing, remember that God is in charge, and He loves you.  In other words, good thing or bad, God is at work, so we may have hope.  And sinful human beings are at work so we know how messed up things can get - but we always have hope in God.

God is at work in the Church - and He has always been.  He often has different goals than we do, and often different ways of accomplishing what He wills, so we must always walk by faith - not by our perceptions or understandings.  Our text this morning underlines that fact for us.  It tells us plainly that God is at work in us – and through us.  And that is our theme - God is at work in and through you.

First is the work - Paul calls it "the good work", which God is doing in you.  It is the work of faith.  He has begun that good work in you.  Paul reminds us that our faith is not our doing or our choosing, but the creation of God in us.  He began the good work in us, not we ourselves.  But Paul is saying more here.  He is also saying that God will continue that good work - Paul uses the Greek expression "He will perfect it."  That doesn't mean that He will make it flawless, but that He will bring it to completion or to the goal which He has for it - which is your salvation.

Paul is confident in God for this.  He is confident that God can do it, and that God wants to do it, and that God will do it.  Your persistence in the faith is God's doing - just as we confess in the Catechism - "I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him."  We confess that we cannot come to Jesus, nor remain in faith without God at work in us.  He will continue to do so until Jesus comes again.

The second point is that God is also at work through you.  It is by His working that your love will abound more and more.  That love is the love which you have for God - part and parcel of faith.  It is knowing and believing the love which God has for us that causes our love.  John writes in his first Epistle that "we love because He first loved us."

Paul speaks about his prayer that your love abounds in real knowledge and all discernment.  This is God working in you.  He works real knowledge in you as opposed to the so-called knowledge of the world around us.  We have that debate in our society all of the time.  The so-called knowledge is what everyone "knows" but simply isn't true.  It is about all of the lies of our culture.  Homosexuality being a normal "affectational preference," is an example of the so-called knowledge.  The right of a woman to choose to abort her baby is another example.  So-called knowledge hates Christ and Christianity and loves the pagan, or the eastern mysticism and "spirituality".  I received an email quoting an article from Time Magazine a while back - I mean, email, right? - which offered a quiz purporting to help you discover you how spiritual you are.  My responses rated me as "highly skeptical, resistant to developing spiritual awareness".  The thrust of the article was that Jews and Muslims were people who could use both science and religion, but Christians were just religious and superstitious.  So-called knowledge.

The real knowledge is what the Bible reveals to us, namely the truth, and He who is the Truth.  The world is frightened by the capriciousness of luck and life, but the Christian knows that God is with him or her, and loves them, so they have nothing to fear.  The world is confused about what is right and what is wrong and why – the Christian has God's Word to guide him.  The world is unsure of why we are here, and how intelligent life came to be – in fact a real evolutionist, like Behavioral Psychologist B.F. Skinner, will tell you that genuine intelligence doesn't exist, and can't exist.  We Christians know our origin, and we know also our purpose, and we understand the will of God for us.  And, again, what is the will of God?

The unbelievers have to wrestle with guilt and a gnawing fear about the possibility of a final accounting - a judgment day.  We have eternal life and salvation as God's people, and the full and free forgiveness of all of our sins.  We know about Jesus, about His death in our place on the cross, and about His resurrection, which proclaims and proves the forgiveness He proclaims to us is real and true, and valid.  Your sins are forgiven.  "Whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."

God also works in you all discernment.  He guides your mind and helps you discern true from false, holy from profane, and right from wrong.  Without the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, people tend to be stupid.  "Professing to be wise they became fools," so says Romans 1:22.  You have probably witnessed it when people cannot figure out whether stealing little things is still stealing, or cheating on their taxes is still wrong, and they think they have a right to act out their twisted fantasies even though they would agree that someone else doing those things would be sick or evil, or both.  Faith enables you to see the black and white where your reason would tell you there are all sorts of subtle shades of grey.

The result is God working through you to love others, and to approve the things that are excellent, and be filled with the fruit of righteousness.  God keeps speaking to us through His Holy Word, but no one has to tell a Christian the importance of worship, or of prayer, or of compassion for someone else.  Those things just make sense to one who can see the shape of reality.  We need worship and the Word of God, and we know that our brothers and sisters in Christ need us there as much as we need them there, bearing witness to their faith, encouraging us, and supporting us in this fight against the devil, the world, and our own flesh.

God works concern for our fellow man because God loved the world.  He loved the world by sending His Son to live for them, too, and die in their place and redeem them.  We, as His children, share that love-agape love.

Of course, the selfish and the self-centered make sense to us too - we all carry the traitorous flesh which still serves sin.  But the Holy Ghost works that good work in us and teaches us to discipline ourselves and do what is holy and righteous in Jesus Christ by His power.  Paul says that we have been filled with the fruits of righteousness.  Even our good deeds and our holy lives, though they call for discipline and deliberation from us, are not our own.  They have been poured out in us by Jesus.  When we do what is holy, we do what God placed within us to do.  This echoes what Paul says in another place "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself for me."

Naturally, then, everything we do is to the glory and praise of God, as Paul says in our text.  It all flows out of the good work which God has begun in us, and continues to do in us–– and it flows through us to others.  That is why Christians are good neighbors and good citizens of their country.  What God works in us also works through us, benefiting our neighbors and our society.  Recent history shows us what happens when those who call themselves Christian abandon the Word of God by and large and begin to live their lives for themselves, rather than living for God and the neighbor, as God works in the hearts of those who are truly His.  See Antifa and BLM as recent illustrations of this truth.

Let's think for a moment; to whose glory is Oral Roberts University?  Who is glorified by the Crystal Cathedral?  Where does the praise seem to be focused when you consider a ministry (so-called) like the Bennie Hinn ministry?  Who makes all the money?  Then look at what standing faithful brings to the child of God.  There is little worldly glory, and it is not often immediately evident what God is doing through the humble circumstances of His faithful people.

But we know.  We know that He is working our salvation by bringing that good work of faith to its ultimate goal, which is our salvation.  He is perfecting it, in the sense of using that good work to accomplish His good and gracious will for us, and when we don't stubbornly resist Him, through us in the lives of others around us, and in the life of our community.

So, we come to the end of the ministry of Pastor Fish among the good, godly people of Immanuel of Bartlett Township.  I will leave behind friends, associations with my fellow pastors, and the congregation of people that I love, and for whom I pray every day, and will continue to pray for as I head to Montana. You think you have the difficult part, and I am skipping off happily into another life. You have no idea how difficult this is just to keep my voice under control. We each need one another's prayers. 

And it is my prayer along with the Apostle, this morning, that "that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."  Then we will know that we have God at work in us and through us.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)

How Great a Love

 1 John 3:1-3

 See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.  And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

 All Saints Day (Observed)            11/02/25

How Great a Love

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

If someone were to ask you what is the greatest love is, what would you tell them? Jesus once said, "A greater love has no Man than that he lay his life down for a friend."  

I find it hard to argue with Jesus. But Jesus was speaking about the love of one man for another. The love He was describing is also the love which God had for us in sending His Son to die for us. And that is the Gospel.  

Nevertheless, there is another love, one that is almost as great, if not as great, pouring out of the heart of God. That love is the love which our text this morning speaks about. Our theme this morning is, How great a love. 

The bloody and awful sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for us and in our place is truly a great love. Nonetheless, the love of which our text speaks is both prior and consequent to the cross It is the love of God for us. He calls us His children. I know it seems like it ought to be bigger when someone dies. Simply calling us his children is, in human estimation, merely words. But they are the Words of God.  

Keep in mind that God spoke, and everything that exists came into being. The world was framed by the Word of God. All the creatures of this world, both animal and vegetable, were created at the mere Word of God. Only humans were created by the direct work of God, more than words, but being formed by God in some fashion which we cannot put into clearer language because the Bible doesn't give us anything more direct than "He formed man of the dust of the ground." It sounds like pottery work, sort of. 

When God said let birds appear in the heavens, they appeared. He created the sun and the moon and the stars by saying they should be, and they were. So when our text tells us in no uncertain terms that God has called us children of God, He wasn't merely describing; He was making it so. We who believe, his children, are in fact children of God. 

That is something more, significantly more, than merely being "called" children of God, as humans might do it. That's one of the reasons we who believe do not like or easily tolerate unbelievers and hypocrites being called "Christians."  Our frustration with such things shows up in what we call "church discipline," which finally results in excommunication, sometimes. It is a process of addressing sin that God's Word prescribes. Of course, our judgment does not make it so. At least not every time. Jesus does give us the authority to retain sins, and Excommunication is certainly a retaining of sins. Our judgment is not final, however, God's is. Should the Church err in its judgment and excommunicate those who ought not to be excommunicated, the judgment of the Church does not stand.  That is not common, however.   

Church discipline exists to warn our brothers and sisters against sin and against what appears to be happening – leading them away from the faith. Excommunication itself is rare, as it should be. The steps of discipline before excommunication ought not to be rare, but sadly, they are.  

But enough about church discipline. We, the children of God, fight in this world to keep clear what God has called the children of God. Our text says that when Jesus appears again, all of those who are genuinely His children will appear with Him, and they will be just like Him. We will be just like him. The only thing we will not be that Jesus is, is divine. Other than that, we shall appear just like Him. The reason we will appear just like Him is that we shall see him just as He is. The reason we don't look that way now is that we look just like He was. We look just like He was, because He took on our nature and appearance, and became man, fully and truly human, to be just like us. So the promise of the text is, just as Jesus became true man for our salvation, we shall just like He is with everything except divinity. He is God, and we are not, but we will be something more than merely human by the grace of God.  

 That God calls us His children means that even in this life we are more. We simply cannot define that more, or feel that more, we are simply more, God's children. Our text takes two verses to say God called us His children, and so we are. And the next verse says , We are now "the children of God." It is frustrating for a preacher not to be able to describe what those words mean precisely, because the Bible doesn't say, but it is something wonderful that we we shall discover in the "Parousia," the return of Christ. 

All of those that we have wept for as they passed from this life, who clung to Christ with their heart and trusted in Him alone, are already more; they just don't have to carry around the sinful flesh any longer. The Saints who have passed from this life are in glory with Christ. Again, I cannot describe with too much detail what they are like or how they are doing, or where exactly they are geographically, because the Bible doesn't say. God wants us to look forward to something by faith, and tells us it is wonderful, No sin, no sorrow, no sickness, no more death, and that we shall be just like Jesus because we are going to see Him as He is. And just like He became one of us we shall become whatever He is – except, of course, He is God and we will not be.  

The result of this knowledge is that we should seek to purify ourselves. Our text says, "And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. "OK, that means put sin behind you, at least as much as you are able. You should call upon God to strengthen you and help you. It's not a long-distance call; the Holy Spirit dwells in each believer. John says we seek to purify ourselves Just as Jesus is pure. We are children of God. We seek to be like God as much as possible in this life. 

We rejoice in the hope of everlasting life. The word "hope" Does not refer to that weak and powerless thing that we use the word to describe so often in this life. The Christian hope is an absolute certainty of which we are fully confident – but we haven't seen it yet. We do not hold it in our hands - we trust God and take Him at His Word and His promises.   

Saints are something special. You are Saints. That's not my opinion, God said so. So great a love God has for us, that He not only sent His Son to die for us, He named us and claimed us as His children, to be just like Jesus. 

Let us give thanks to God today and every day, and every Sunday especially, as the children of God, the people of God, people who are just like Jesus except we are still wearing this sinful flesh. But those who have gone before us in what we erroneously call "death" are no longer burdened by the flesh, but they are still alive, more alive than we who sit here inhaling and exhaling and dreaming about how alive we are. How great a love! 

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)

Is the Reformation Over?

 Revelation 14:6-7

 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; and he said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters."

Sermon for Reformation Day 2025                                      10/26/25

Is the Reformation Over?

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

The Epistle lesson we have as our text has long been widely understood to be a clear reference to the Reformation and to Martin Luther.  He opened the eyes of the world to the Gospel once again.  The Reformation was the work of God, to be sure, but it was worked by God through Martin Luther.

Luther himself did not see himself as the reformer.  Christ is the Reformer of His Church.  Luther was merely a teacher, given to teaching very unpopular truths.  And teach them he did.  The teachings of the Lutheran Church which are the sweetest to us are the ones that drew the heaviest fire in Luther's time – and still draws the antipathy of the world, both religious and secular, today.

One of the topics that Luther spoke and wrote about on several occasions was the idea that the Gospel would not long endure in one place.  He likened it to a shower of rain which would be here for a time, and then move on to somewhere else.  The cause of this change, according to Luther, is the hostility of the world in the place where the Word is taught – the hostility of the world within the church, not merely outside of it.  Let me read you a couple of quotes of Luther on this topic.

This first quote is Luther writing about John 7, verses 34 & 35.  Jesus says He will not be among the Jews much longer.  Luther writes:

These words are terrible enough; but the wickedness, the impiety, and the ingratitude of these knaves are even worse. They must be told: "I shall be with you a little longer, etc." Christ says, as it were: "You need not be in such a hurry to kill and destroy Me. As it is, I shall be with you just a little while longer." We have a similar message for the pope: "It is unnecessary for you to fuss and fume so against the doctrine of the Gospel. Even without your ranting the Gospel will tarry in your midst but a short time, especially after we who are now proclaiming it have closed our eyes in death. It will not remain after our departure." The Gospel has its day and takes its course from one city to another. Today it is here; tomorrow, there. It is like a heavy shower which passes from place to place, soaking and enriching the soil. Christ says (Matt. 10:23): "If they drive you from one city, go to another. When all the cities have been visited, then I shall come with the Day of Judgment."  Even if a certain place accepts the Gospel today, it will not stay there long. People hate it; they view it with envy; they curse it; yes, they starve it out. Therefore Christ declares: "I will not remain with you long. You need not persecute and condemn the Gospel so. I shall soon quit the field and make room for you. As it is, a darkness will soon descend upon you, leaving you in utter ignorance." There, Luther was warning the Pope.  In another place, Luther is encouraging his people - Lutherans - to be diligent in holding fast to the Gospel.  He wrote:

Let us remember our former misery, and the darkness in which we dwelt.  Germany, I am sure, has never before heard so much of God's word as it is hearing today; certainly we read nothing of it in history.  If we let it just slip by without thanks and honor, I fear we shall suffer a still more dreadful darkness and plague.  O my beloved Germans, buy while the market is at your door; gather in the harvest while there is sunshine and fair weather; make use of God's grace and word while it is there!  For you should know that God's word and grace is like a passing shower of rain which does not return where it has once been.  It has been with the Jews, but when it's gone it's gone, and now they have nothing.  Paul brought it to the Greeks; but again when it's gone it's gone, and now they have the Turk.   Rome and the Latins also had it; but when it's gone it's gone, and now they have the pope.  And you Germans need not think that you will have it forever, for ingratitude and contempt will not make it stay.  Therefore, seize it and hold it fast, whoever can; for lazy hands are bound to have a lean year.

We have begun to see this ingratitude and contempt that Luther wrote about today.  We would expect nothing else from the Roman Church who never delighted in the Gospel.  The Protestants, too, were never on board with Luther in His prizing of the Gospel, preferring decisions and holiness of conduct to trusting God and believing that we have forgiveness as His free and unmerited gift.  What is troubling is how Lutheran Churches – so called, and once quite Lutheran in fact – are walking away from the Gospel.   Even the so-called conservative Lutheran Churches are not reliably Lutheran any more.  The situation leads one to ask, "Is the Reformation Over?".

The answer is that for many, it is.  Just weeks ago the ELCA announced that they were formally abandoning the filioque of the Nicene Creed, for example. Those for whom the Reformation is over have rejected the truth in favor of something that feels good.  We all have that temptation.  Even when we delight in the old hymns and find comfort in the familiar shape of the liturgy, our flesh is seeking its comfort in how things feel - warm and familiar - rather than finding our comfort and hope in Jesus and the salvation which He accomplished for us and gives to us.  It is good when the truth is familiar and comfortable and comforting – but we must guard against letting the beauty of the service or the nostalgic hymns, and what-not, be comforting simply because they are familiar and nostalgic.  You want the truth to be familiar and comfortable, and it is good that it is such an old friend that it brings you joy just to hear it.  But it is the faith and the doctrine that should bring the joy, not merely the sense that we have been here before.

Many others in our society have given up the truth in favor of other teachings.  Perhaps they have been deceived, and perhaps they have been distracted by something new.  Some have put away the uncomfortable truths of the law and about sin in order to be more appealing to the unbelieving world around us.  The new emphasis on outreach and "missions" often covers a flight from the difficult things about our sins and our sinfulness.  There are those that want to pretend that people are basically decent and good by nature.  It is an alluring thought, and the world around us likes that form of doctrine.  It just doesn't happen to be true.

But if you throw away the doctrine of sin, and stop telling people about their need for salvation, they won't understand the Gospel, and they will invent something much more to their liking for their religion - like Scientology which re-affirms the individual and tells you that you are wholesome and capable and if you just focus all that positive energy, you can achieve great things!  They call such teaching "New Age", but there is nothing new about them.  This heresy is as old as the Serpent in Eden.  In addition, the old errors of works righteousness are always around, and many people find scoring high on their own goodness standard is easier to trust in than the gift of God in connection with Christ Jesus.  Trusting God has not been a human strength since the time of Adam and Eve.

For those who have turned away from the truth, or who have chosen to reach for the delightful spiritual experience, instead of church and faith, or for those have opted out to take full advantage of all that the world has to offer, the Reformation is probably over.  We are being invited to join that happy throng all the time.  The invitation is present in the temptation to think we know better than the Bible.  It is found in  the desire to take back that hour or two a week that seems so hard to devote to worship and fellowship.  It is what you are wrestling with when you feel like you can stop learning and stop doing devotions and focus a little bit more on everyday life.  You are being tempted to join the world when it doesn't seem so bad to miss church and you have a right to do those things that keep you away from the fellowship of the people of God around Word and Sacrament.  If you give in to such things, the Reformation is over for you.

t is over for most people in America.  Today Christians, so-called, feel somehow authorized to be arrogant, independent, competent in themselves, and safe.  Bumper sticker witnessing takes the place of actually speaking about your faith to another, and your faith becomes something just between you and God.  When your religion makes you feel a step ahead and a stroke better than someone else, you have moved beyond the Reformation.  The truth is that we Christians are never done with the Reformation, if we are true to the faith of our fathers.

We need to be constantly reminded that we are worthless and evil people.  Our holiness is not something we do, it is something that we have been given, and if we lose sight of that truth, it will slide off our backs and reveal again that we are just like the worst of those around us in society – you know, those that we point to and wrinkle up our noses at.  We are sinners even as Christians.  Our holiness and our salvation is by Grace alone.  We need to continually be reminding ourselves of that wonderful truth.

No, it is not wonderful that we are wretched and miserable sinners, just true – but it is wonderful that Jesus has died for us, and pours out on us His righteousness on us and makes us holy and gives us eternal life, and guarantees that we shall rise from our graves and live forever – no matter what happens to us before then.  We cannot lose sight of what we are by nature - and so pride and arrogance is out of the question.  We dare not lose sight of what Christ has done in us and to us, for that is the Gospel - and so despair and self-loathing are not appropriate either.  We can have a quiet joy, and a sense that those awful people around us need some of what God has given to us - salvation.  

We don't pity other people, we simply recognize their need, and sorrow over their lost condition, and try to do what we can to help them.  And all that we can do is tell them the good news of forgiveness, life, and salvation, and pray that they will also believe and receive and become just like us in Christ.  And we can invite them to church, too.  Christ alone is our righteousness and hope – and He is all they have to hope in, too. 

We need to continue the Reformation, daily in our own lives, and in our church, and in the world around us.  We need to live out what it is that we believe so that there is a hope that they - whoever they are - may see something of Christ in us, and ask us the questions, so that we can give that good defense for the hope that is in us, just as Peter wrote in 1 Peter 3:15.  We need to do what we can – not to earn anything, because we cannot, but to spread the faith - because it is Faith Alone that receives the forgiveness Christ won on the cross for us.  And it is faith alone that finds comfort and hope and joy in the Gospel - and in the fellowship of believers.

 suspect that the "little shower" of the Gospel among us may be moving.  It doesn't seem long for America.  Too many of those who have heard it have become bored with it.  Too many who knew it once have abandoned it.  We tend to get bored with the familiar – even the good familiar.  When it is God's stuff, our nature simply rebels.  We need to pray daily that God would continue to maintain the blessings of the Gospel and His church among us.  We need to plead with Him to keep the Reformation alive in our hearts and in our homes and in our church.  Wherever God's people are, there the Reformation is alive and on-going.   We must be in the Word - for it is Scripture alone that works in us and strengthens us, and teaches us.  It was in the Word that Luther found the Reformation, and it is only when we are in the Word that it will continue among us.

Is the Reformation over?  For some, yes.  For some, it never started.  For me - and I think also for you - the answer is, ‘No'.  Or at least I hope and pray that it is not - and that it will never be over.  May God grant us this prayer, for Jesus sake.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)

You Are In God's Hands

1 Corinthians 1:4-9

I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity          10/19/25

You Are In God's Hands

y Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

When I went to college, it was fashionable to sing the song, "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands," in Christian gatherings.  It is a nice song.  It is useful in a mixed group of so-called Christians because everyone can insert their own theology into it and think that the song means something real.  As I consider it today, I am not so certain that it does.  Sure, it means that God has everything in His hands and under His care.  It just doesn't actually say anything about who God is, or what He thinks of us, or why that should be comforting.

Actually, the song is a little deceptive.  We think it is a song of faith, but it is merely a statement that someone is in control, and it is not us.  Everyone and everything is in His hands equally and without distinction.  There appears to be no grace in Jesus Christ, no church, no distinction between Jew and Moslem and Christian.  "He's got everybody here in His hands" without regard for who is there, or what He has us in His hands to do.  Christians simply imbue the "He" of the song with their own faith-ideas and go happily on without thinking what the song is saying – or what it is not saying. 

I only bring that up because our text says something similar.  It indicates that God has you in His hands, but it also indicates who He is and what we might expect "in His hands".  Our theme, this morning, is You Are In God's Hands.

In the last verse of our Epistle, Paul writes that "God is faithful".  In the light of my critique of the familiar campfire song, you might be asking – in fact, you should be asking – what does that mean?  My answer would be: this text doesn't say, but when we consider the rest of what Scriptures has taught us, it tells us that God will do what God has promised to do.  The rest of the Epistle lessons tells us what God has promised to do, toward which the Apostle was pointing.  Basically, in this context, "God is faithful" means that you are in God's hands.

Paul tells us that we have everything we need.  "In everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift."  Among the Corinthians, this meant that God had provided them with people who understood the Gospel and the Scriptures, and were able to teach them clearly what God's Word said.  For you, today, it means the same thing, although God has arranged the provision of these gifts in a different way.  They had people who were possibly gifted by God with special knowledge and understanding – directly.  Paul was one such person.  He had knowledge when God called him.  God merely gave Paul understanding about all that he knew that was from a different, divine perspective.  Then Saul of Tarsus became the great Apostle Paul.

You have everything you need, by God's gift, too.  God simply used The Bible - which didn't exist in its present form back then - and schools and church bodies to prepare men to teach you, and preach to you.  Then He gave you His Holy Spirit, that you might believe.  Every blessing of your life is God-given, so that you will be prepared to live in the Gospel and serve Him with your life and your possessions, whatever they may be.

Now Paul says that the Corinthians were eagerly awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.  That should be our posture too.  We should be eagerly awaiting His return.  I suspect, however, that most of us are quite content to wait.  We want to see our grandchildren grow up, or we have travel plans we would just as soon fulfill.  I suspect that we may be waiting, but somewhat less than eagerly.  Salvation seems to be our fallback position rather than our goal.

Mind you, I know that it is easy to get comfortable in a world of wealth and privilege, with excellent medical resources abounding for our health, and food of every sort available for our appetites, and transportation so easy that we can contemplate travel to almost anywhere on the earth that we might desire, and comfortable homes, and abundant clothing.  God has so richly blessed us that we cannot imagine why anyone would want to leave this and go to heaven.

But, leave it all we must.  Sooner or later, death will come a'calling.  More to the point, we assume that what we want is what God wants for us.  Our Synod does that when it touts every program as being blessed by God and assures us that if we only follow their plans, we will see unbridled success.  But what if God doesn't want us to have that kind of success?  What if His will for us is something more sublime and less agreeable to our flesh for a time?  Do you, then, want what God wants?

God has given us everything that we need, so that we are not lacking in any gift.  First of all, that means Jesus, and the Gospel.  He has given us life everlasting, forgiveness of sins, and salvation.  He has rescued us from dangers about which we are barely conscious and not often terrified.  The warning signs of the consequences of sin have been muted and pushed to the edges of our awareness by modern technology and medical science, and the abundant comforts of our country.  God has given us everything we need, but we often don't pay much attention to needing those things because life is so good, and we tend to take God's gifts for granted.

But if we cannot see the need or sense the needs which Christ has fulfilled, we are simply being blinded by the world around us.  Temptation still tempts us, and sin still threatens us, and death is still coming.  Perhaps the disturbing news on the daily news programs is not the fault of the Republicans, or the Democrats, Antifa, or even the crazy Islamists, but is the finger of God tapping on our shoulders, trying to awaken us to the imminent dangers which gather round us to threaten us, that we might find our peace and shelter in His salvation.  Sometimes, what we need is not another bit of comfort to lull us into sleep about spiritual things, but a sharp jolt to awaken us to the dangers of the world around us which have been masked by wealth and comfort.  After all, God says that we are not lacking in any gift.

We have everything we need.  We simply may not understand our need, or be willing to use what God has given us to meet our needs for His purposes instead of our own.  We don't need another amusement, more time for frivolity, or another escape from the pressures of reality.  We want those things, and we may want the next piece of technology that titillates us, or another visit with the kids or grandchildren.  We want those things, and who can blame us?  But what is it that we need?

We need to give thanks - heartfelt and honestly recognized thanks for the abundance with which God has filled our lives.  We eat regularly.  We dress well.  We enjoy the finest health system in the world.  Our families are large and generally healthy.  We have time enough to get bored now and then.  We need to find our connections with one another so that we don't feel so alone at times.  We need to learn to share our faith with confidence so that we can confess Christ to God's glory and to the blessing of those around us.  We need to discover the truth of our corruption in sin so that we can be conscious of the honest value of the forgiveness which is ours in Christ.

Note that we have what we need to answer those needs in each of those situations I have mentioned.  We have one another to be connected to.  We have faith, and we have the knowledge of that faith to practice putting into our words with one another, so that it doesn't seem so strange when the opportunity comes to speak our faith to someone outside of the family.  We have God's Word to read, and we can listen to our own consciences and see what we do that we ought not, and what we fail to do or say that we should - to be fully conscious of who we are and how precious the forgiveness of sins is.  We even have the aches and pains of aging to remind us of the swift approach of death, and the delightful promise of resurrection to a life without pain or sorrow, sickness or death, forever!

We simply need to put the things we have been given to use.  Paul tells us that God will confirm us to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  As long as we depend on God, and trust Him to do what He has promised to do, He will confirm us - that is, cause us to stand firm in the faith and salvation which we have been given.  He will cause you to stand forgiven - blameless - because that is the heart of the promise of the Gospel: forgiveness of sins.  The secret is to keep your attention fixed on Him.

That's the problem with the comforts of modern life; they distract us.  The flashing colors of the world around us draw our attention.  The pleasures offered entice us.  The comforts try to confuse us and convince us that there is no urgency to the faith, and no real dangers to be rescued from.  Our eyes are drawn to what we can do and what we can have, and away from God as the Provider and God as the Savior.  We need to shake off the haze and wipe the cobwebs away and see reality for what it is, and focus once again on God as the author and giver of life and every good thing, and the Savior from sin and death and hell.

The thing is, we often don't know what we need - and we are not aware at all times of what God has given us to meet those needs.  But St. Paul assures us that we have been provided with all that we need.

God knows the temptations and distractions we will face.  He gives us His Word to remind us - and sends people like me to preach to you that you don't forget.  God is faithful.  He provides you with the heavenly food of the Sacrament to cleanse you and to say to you that He has not forgotten you.  He has filled you with His Spirit so that you might know the right things to do to cultivate faith and thanksgiving and a forward-looking hope in you.  He places people around you for you to share the Gospel with so that, by all means, some may come to the faith and be saved.

Paul describes these realities by saying that you have fellowship with Jesus because God called you.  That fellowship is in His body by means of the Word and Sacrament, and joined with those who are seated around you.  They are the ones who give you His greeting each time we gather, and to whom you can give your greeting for Him.  It is in this fellowship and with the gifts He pours out on you here by means of His Word that God means to care for you in this life, and encourage you toward all that is blessed and salutary for faith and life in Him.   Here and now, especially in the congregation and in His grace, you are in God's hands for blessing and strengthening and everything good which God has planned for you.  You are in God's hands while we, too, eagerly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)

A Manner Worthy of Your Calling

 Ephesians 4:1-6

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Sermon for the 17th Sunday after Trinity                                     10/12/25

A Manner Worthy of Your Calling

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Who are you?  What are you?  Those are the questions you need to ask yourselves.  The answers will determine the course of your life and the values you support and live by.  I have often said that people actually live out what they believe.  And they do, although they don't always live out what they say that they believe.  Such people don't, evidently, know who they are.

Now, I'm sure you think you know who you are.  If you want to be sure, look at the decisions you make - decisions about your time.  Decisions about your behavior.  Decisions about your stewardship of all of that which God has entrusted you for a time.  What you do and how you decide will show you just who you are.  If you look at yourself honestly, and have the courage to face the truth about what you see, you will discover that you are not who you think you are - or at least who you think you want to be - or want others to think you are!

That is because of the flesh, the part of you that is still under the sway of sin.  For some people, that is their entire being, but since you are here, this morning, I am going to assume that you are genuinely Christian, and that what you see is a reflection of that part of you that is still awaiting the resurrection.  I said ‘that part of you' that is awaiting the resurrection because when you were baptized, part of you - your spirit - died and was born again to a new and everlasting life in connection with Christ Jesus.  We don't actually see the baptized person die or be raised to new life, we merely witnessed the means by which God accomplishes this miracle, Holy Baptism.  Because God says that this is what He is doing in Baptism, we know that we witness it happening, although we cannot point to a moment when the individual's spirit dies to sin or is raised to new and everlasting life in Jesus Christ.

We don't actually see it because the flesh does not die.  It is still alive and well, and infected with sin, just as are we all!  It is that sinful flesh that leads us astray.  It is the flesh that leads us to say things we know we ought not to say, and to do things we know we should not do, and to fail to do those things we know we just should do, as God's people.  Things like prayer, forgiving one another, gathering for worship with all God's holy people on a regular basis, and the like.

The Apostle Paul wrote that we should walk - that is to say we should conduct ouirselves - in a manner worthy of our calling - the calling with which you have been called.  That is the same as saying that you should live out what you confess - or what you believe.  As we look at our text this morning, our theme is "A Manner Worthy of Your Calling."

You act on what you believe because what you believe makes you what you are.  Think about it.  Pagans act like pagans.  They live without a consistent moral center, because their gods, if they profess having one in today's world, are of their own making and imagination, and they are shaped according to their own desires.  They do what they want to do, and they justify their actions by reference to their god - as Muslims do - or by explaining that they have no god, and they are free to do whatever they are strong enough or clever enough to get away with.

Sensualists live for the pleasure of it - however they may define pleasure.  The Connoisseur lives for the pleasure of food, or wine, or whatever he or she claims is their speciality.  The practitioner of the extreme sports lives for the thrill of being on the edge.   Some live for the more erotic sensual pleasures.  They do so because that is where they believe the meaning of their lives exists.

People who believe that this life is all there is live for the moment, and when life is no longer fun or profitable, they throw it away.  The Hemlock Society, for example, lobbies for the legal right to exit this life at the time of one's own choosing, before it is no longer worth living, in their estimation.

Christians live out what they believe – or, to put it as Paul does, they live in a manner worthy of the calling with which they have been called in Christ Jesus.  They have been called to faith in God and the forgiveness of sins, and the hope of salvation.  Please note that they are not called to live in such a manner as would make them worthy of their calling.  They are called, rather, to live in a way that is appropriate for one who has such a calling.

Judging by our Epistle lesson this morning, to "walk in a manner worthy" means to live deliberately as a member of the church, as a member of the body of Christ, living out our forgiveness, and our unity with one another and with everyone who places their hope completely on the grace of God in Jesus Christ. 

The question is, how do you do that?  What is the worthy manner?

We turn to the text again.  Paul indicates that the worthy manner includes humility.  That makes sense, since we live by the grace of God, which is the  undeserved choice of God to bless and save us, through Jesus Christ.  We did not merit Christ's gift.  The fact that we needed to be saved says that much.  We are just like everyone else, deserving God's wrath and destruction, without the work of Jesus on our behalf.  So we have no particular reason for ego and pride that we are Christians or that we will be going to heaven.  We have reason for joy, but it is a gift, not something we have earned.

The worthy manner also includes gentleness.  The manner worthy of our calling is ‘like Christ.'  Jesus did not come with violence or aggressiveness.  He had good cause for violence and aggressive behavior, but He came humble and gentle for our sakes.  He didn't demand His rights or pushing people into the pattern in which He wanted them to live.  He came teaching and preaching and setting and example, and enduring the sin of those around Him even when it was focused on Him.  He chose to lead the flock, not drive the herd.

Paul also included patience in that worthy manner.  It just goes with humility and gentleness.  Patience doesn't demand its own way or its own time schedule.  The manner worthy of our calling is a manner that recognizes that we have been called to represent Christ on earth - not as employees, but as members of the family who share the same focus, that through Jesus Christ men and women might find salvation.  This humility is linked to forbearance, which Paul also lists.  We bear with the weakness and folly of one another, knowing that we, too are weak and foolish, but that in spite of our weakness Christ has chosen us and rescued us from sin and death and hell.

Finally, the worthy manner is to be diligent to preserve unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  Basically that means living in the reality of the oneness we have been given in Jesus Christ — one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God (who is Father) and one body and one Spirit.  The body is the Church and the Spirit is the Holy Spirit who dwells in each one that believes.

Jesus said, "By this will all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." We are to love each other first. We are to "preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." This love is not about doing good deeds, although it certainly doesn't exclude them.  This love is about peace and harmony and patience and humility and such with one another.  In other words, the love which we are to have for one another is another way of expressing the worthy manner to live out the calling of Jesus Christ to eternal life and salvation.

Our unity is first that we are part of that "one body" that Paul writes about.  He means "the body of Christ", which is the Church.  We share that one Spirit.  And we all partake of that one hope - the promise of resurrection from our graves, and eternal life in glory with Him and with all those who have loved the Lord and shared in this unity.  This is the truth of God, revealed to us, but not the truth of our senses or of our feelings, or of our earthly experience, necessarily.  

Naturally, all those who believe have the same Lord - the Lord Jesus Christ.  

We confess one faith.  Denominational labels do not matter in this.  Everyone who goes to heaven believes what we believe, that is to say we share the same fundamental doctrines.  One way I have stated that before is to say that everyone who goes to heaven is a Lutheran, whether they know it or not, because they believe the same Gospel.  They hold to the same salvation.  They repent.  They trust in Jesus alone for their salvation by grace alone through faith alone - or they are not Christians.  It isn't enough just to know how to pronounce the name, Jesus.  A false faith hopes in that which is not saving and trusts in those things which are not promised.  So one might say that the Baptist, or the Catholic, or the Methodist that trusts in Jesus for salvation is a Lutheran under the skin and unawares, for they share that one faith of which Paul has written to us.  That is a big part of our true unity.

Each of us shares in the one baptism.  It is the Baptism of Jesus, commanded in Matthew 28:19 and Mark 16:16, in Acts 2:38 and Acts 22:16.  It is a baptism which clothes us with Christ, washes away our sins, causes us to be born again to a living hope, and makes us members of Christ's body, the Church.  Without that baptism, we are not a part of this thing called the Christian Church.  It is the same baptism no matter where it is done or what method we may us - immersion, pouring the water, or sprinkling.  It is all the same, and it is all by Christ's command and by Christ's hand - for He calls the hands of those that baptize into His service, and gives them the command - "Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost."

The church is our true unity.  We all worship the same God and have but one heavenly Father who is over all, and in us all, and works through all of us to accomplish His gracious will here on earth.  Living deliberately within this unity, and deliberately seeking to preserve it in peace and concord, is part of what we are called by in this text to live in, the manner worthy of your calling.  

Each of us is in the same delicate condition, clinging to a hope which is beyond our power to choose to believe in the first place.  We earnestly want nothing to shake us, and, if we are true Christians, we want nothing to shake each other.  God has given us to one another to help us stand fast and firm in this evil world.  

The American dream of independence is strong in our culture, and strong in our flesh, but it is not a part of the Christian faith.  We are united, walking together in the manner worthy of our calling, deliberate in love because the Holy Spirit in us works love in us for one another - by this will all men know that you are disciples of mine, if you have love for one another.  

So, when all is said and done, we answer the question "Who are You?" by walking in the manner worthy of your calling because it is who we are as God's holy people.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)

Comprehending the Love of Christ

 Ephesians 3:13-21

Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.  For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.  Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

Sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity                                     10/05/25

Comprehending the Love of Christ

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

People often struggle with the idea of a loving God.  They see the troubles of the world around them, and ask, "How can a loving God permit this to happen?"  People respond to war, to human tragedy, to illness, and to sorrow in this way.  They act as though they believe that God should be responsible for these sorts of things.

Now, if the problem is a hurricane, for example, it is somewhat reasonable to lay the responsibility on God, although the modern controversy about anthropogenic global warming makes even that a little inconsistent.  After all, if we have the power to control the environment to the point that we can cause warming or cooling of the planet, which we don't, we probably also have the power and responsibility for the factors that regulate the appearance and severity of hurricanes, even if we don't understand how quite yet.

When we confront human tragedy and sorrow in general terms, however, we rarely if ever consider the sort of control that God would need to exercise in order to prevent or control the things which cause such trouble and sorrow in our world - such as war, crime, and abuse of one another.  Much of the freedom of decision and action which we enjoy would need to be taken from us, if God were to prevent every difficult experience from confronting us.

Also, when we ask how a loving God can permit such things, we also have to ask how we can permit them, or what are we willing to do to prevent or ameliorate such difficulties.  Are you willing to surrender your freedoms?  Are you willing to give up your free time and work to solve these problems?  Are you willing to divest yourself of your treasures and your wealth to eliminate human sorrow and suffering from this cause or that?  Of course, the answer is that if you were willing to do so, you would already be doing it.  If we are not willing to expend our resources to eliminate our troubles, how is it that we can hold God accountable?  It is only when we can seriously ask these sorts of questions that we can begin to ask the right sorts of questions that might help us understand God and His love.  Our text addresses that issue briefly, and our theme, this morning, is "Comprehending the Love of Christ."

The love of Christ is far more complex and thorough-going than we are accustomed to think.  We tend to love far more simply and shallow.  Our love often is a love of pure emotion, and very little intellect is applied.  Many parents have trouble doing the things that are wise, in regards to their children, simply because they are difficult or painful to endure.  So we have an entire generation of parents who say, "My child is not going to have to do this - or do without that," simply because they had to do or endure it, and did not find it delightful, or understand it well.  They never stop to think of how their experiences – whether they thought them good or bad – schooled them and made them the people that they are today.  They just know that they did not like it (or them) and they resent it, and they will not allow their children to experience it.  And that is that!

The love of Christ is far wiser and deeper and more compelling.  God permits us to do the difficult and even painful things that we need to do in order to achieve the good that He has planned for us.  Take for example the opening words of our Epistle lesson by Paul, Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.

Paul realizes, undoubtedly by God's inspiration, that the troubles he is enduring are going to work out for the better for him and for those Christians to whom he is ministering.  He doesn't necessarily know exactly how, nor does he need to.  He simply trusts God - and accepts that what God has said is so.  The tribulations he is enduring will work out for their glory.  In fact, he says that his own tribulations are their glory.  We also have the Word of God which tells us that our difficulties will work out on our behalf.  So all we really need is to take God at His Word, and trust that He will do what He has promised.  That is the nature of the Love of Christ for us.

Paul then writes this prayer, For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  Paul never met any of you, and yet this prayer is also for you.  Such is the love of Christ.  Paul is praying that you might have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you with His mighty power so that you might believe - and so that Christ would dwell in your hearts through faith.  The purpose for this is simple, that you may comprehend the love of Christ.

Paul writes, "and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God."  This isn't simply a prayer that you will realize that Christ loves you, but that you will begin to understand in some measure the nature and enormity of the love of Christ.

Don't feel bad if you have trouble capturing it all in your mind - Paul writes to us that it surpasses knowledge.  You simply cannot think that big, or in such complexity and detail.  The Gospel is a good place to start, if you want to understand the love of God, but it just isn't clear enough for us to get an accurate fix on that love.  Because I am talking about things beyond my comprehension, I may sound like I am babbling at times as I try to impress you with the love of God, but bear with me.

The Gospel tells us that God the Father loved us enough to send His Son to live for us and die in our place, innocent of any guilt, and not deserving to die at all.  I have read examples of people trying to draw an analogy which would make the staggering depth of the love of God for us clear, such as comparing us to ants, and one of us being willing to step down to the existence of an ant for their benefit.  It is a nice story, but it fails as an accurate analogy because we have more in common with ants than God has with us, by nature.  We are created things, with bodies and such.  Besides, ants never did anything to really offend us.  We may find them inconvenient or want them out of our houses, but they have never sinned against us.  They are not even capable of doing so.

We have to grasp the nature of sin and its offense against God to understand what He chose to do for us.  We would probably need to compare it to a stinging slap of insult and rejection - although it is far more.  It is also destructive and evil and caustic and contrary to God in every way.  Yet His love fervently desired to rescue us from sin - even though we are willing participants.

Then try to imagine the love of Christ, who took on human nature and came to live among us, offensive sinners.  He did not walk about holding His nose, mincing through the crowd as though He feared touching the pollution, as we might if we were working with foul, smelly, and contagious people - especially if they were flinging their feces on us and calling us names and spitting on us as we worked to help them.  The love of Jesus was enormous.  He came among sinners to save sinners, and endured the wickedness and the hypocrisy and the hostility of sinners toward Him while He did good and healed them and prepared to suffer and die hideously for them.

Then, He took your sins, that foul stench, on Himself and them paid the penalty for it as though it was His own - so you could have life everlasting, and joy and peace and freedom.  That was His love.  And yet the love of Christ is more, and larger.  It is not that we can take those few words and clearly imagine how it was for Jesus or what that love must be like.  We cannot!  But that love is just part of it!

Another aspect of that love is how He blesses and protects and guides you each day.  He takes you sometimes where you don't want to go, and where you only go kicking and screaming and doubting His love or His presence and power.  He takes you where you need to go, and blesses you with all sorts of blessings - the soft and wonderful kind, and the rough and prickly sort that we hate to experience.  He walks with you and watches over you and strengthens you so that you can endure, and that you can accomplish what He has set before you to do, and you receive the glory - whatever it is here and now, and all that it shall be in His heaven, there and then.

He has promised to feed you - and in all the years of your life, He has kept that promise.  He has promised to clothe you, and none of you have stumbled in here naked this morning.  He has promised to guide and protect you, and here, in the fellowship of His people, He does through Word and Sacrament.  He provides everything you need, but it may not always be in a way you expect or coming to you as you would prefer.  But unlike your typical parent, Jesus takes us where we need to go even when it is painful and difficult for us to experience, because His ultimate goal is our ultimate good and salvation.  He is not so much worried about being our friend as He is being our Savior.

Wrapping your mind around that, comprehending the love of Christ, is not easy.  Our culture and our natural tendencies work in a different direction.  And Jesus has perfect vision when it comes to what is right and good for us.  He is not limited by our sense of things – or our reactions to them.  Jesus is willing to bear our frustrations and confusion when we don't understand the paths our lives take.  He can take even our sins and turn them to our blessing, at times, although I would not suggest sinning in order to provide Him with opportunities of that sort.  But I would recommend trusting God – and that is aided by diligently applying yourself to comprehending the love of Christ, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.  These words make a fine way to end a sermon, but you want to listen to them carefully, as well.  We confess in these words that Christ is able to do "exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think."  He can do far more than you can imagine, or ask of Him.  And He does it all by the very power which dwells in us through the Holy Spirit.  It would be nice, according to the way we think, if we could access that power and do what we desire to be done, but He loves us too much for that.  We would make mistakes, and probably would do the things that benefit the flesh but hurt the Spirit.  We have the power in us, but He is using it for us and for our good.  But when you are facing the difficult, threatening, and challenging things of life, it is a great comfort to know that the power you need is not a long way off, or hidden somewhere.  It is in you.

All you need is to remember the love which Christ has for you, and trust Him, and His love.  This moment, this problem, this illness, this situation is going to work out for blessing and good.  That is the promise of God, who loves you.  Even if it works out for death, in the end, it is a blessing, for death is but the door to eternal life.  To see the blessing, however, you must take God at His Word and trust Him – but the blessings is there, and, when you comprehend the length and breadth and height and depth and know the love of Christ, you can have peace even in the midst of turmoil, and look forward to the blessing of God in any and every situation.

To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. 

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say Amen)