Grace Vs. Works

 Matthew 20:1-16 

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.  And when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.  And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and to those he said, ‘You too go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.'  And so they went.  Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing.  And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?'  They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.' He said to them, ‘You too go into the vineyard.'

"And when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said  to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.'  And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius.  And when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; and they also received each one a denarius.  And when they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.'

"But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?  Take what is yours and go your way, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.  Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?'

"Thus the last shall be first, and the first last."

Sermon for Septuagesima Sunday                                                       2/01/26

Grace Vs.  Works

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

As hard as it may be for you to imagine, some people would rather have God demand works of them than simply give them eternal life and salvation.  Maybe that isn't so difficult for some of you to imagine.  I don't know.  We were all raised by Depression-Era parents, or perhaps some of you grew up in the Depression.  Self-sufficiency was a virtue and strongly stressed, so that understanding the welfare mentality, the "give-me" mentality that some people have is just alien to you.  Well, this grace vs. works thing is the point of the parable in our Gospel lesson this morning.  So, let us consider the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard under the theme, Grace Vs. Works.

The Kingdom of heaven is something like this parable.  Jesus says so.  But what Jesus is describing is not what the experience of heaven is about as much as what getting there is all about.  Jesus is addressing this particularly to the Jews of His day.  They were historically the "Chosen People."  They had been chosen of God in Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and David, and so on through the ages.  They were the laborers in the parable who had been hired right away in the morning.  The others, hired later, were the proselytes – Gentile converts to Judaism.  Jesus was picturing in the parable the attitude of the Jews that they were something different, something special by virtue of their long association with God.  They were sure that they were better and deserved more than the "Johnny-come-lately's" of the proselytes.

Jesus was explaining to them that the relationship with Almighty God didn't work the way they thought it did.  To them it was all about earning and deserving.  With God it is about His generosity and giving.  They were thinking "works", and Jesus was saying "Grace."  They believed that the length of time in their relationship to God – which was pure purely legal for many of them – meant that they deserved something more than others.  It is an attitude which is still prevalent among Jews today.  They have done more, they have suffered more, they have earned more.  

But the truth which Jesus was trying to illustrate by means of this parable is that it is by grace, and if God chooses to include others in His goodness and generosity, He can and will.  With God, it is all gift.  Life is a gift.  His Word is a gift.  Our faith is a gift.  We were all standing about in the marketplace until He came and got us, and put us to work.  We have the agreed wage – we have the promises of God of forgiveness and life and salvation.  These are the same promises the Jews had, although they tended to interpret them in terms of worldly comfort and pomp and power.  The problem that Jesus confronted with the Jews was that they thought that God owed them something, that they deserved more, that they had God over a barrel, so to speak.

Christians often think the same way.  You've heard the slogans – Name it and claim it, Expect a Miracle, the Abundant Life for God's People.  Those slogans reflect a theology of glory which says that we deserve something more and something better because we are God's people, because we have done something, because of our time of service.  Jesus says that it is gift, not deserving – that it is grace, not works.

The Jews were in for a surprise.  The Christian Church was that surprise.  Suddenly, the all of those centuries of history did not count for much.  Those who had been there and had been faithful received what they had been promised.  The faithful were saved by faith.  God forgave them their sins in view of the coming sacrifice for sins, just as He now forgives us in view of the sacrifice once made for us by Jesus.  Those who thought that they had something more and better coming because of their national heritage have been disappointed.  God spoke through St.  Paul, saying, they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; neither are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants.

That is why we preach the Law.  The Law shows us our sins and teaches us that whatever we receive from God is not because we are such good people.  The Law tells us that we are sinners – and we do well to keep that clearly in mind.  God gives to us out of His generosity and love – grace.  We don't get what we deserve – nor should we want to.  We receive so much more and better than what we earn.  We earn death and hell.  We get life and salvation instead.

Part of this attitude to which the parable speaks is reflected in the idea that our religion is about us.  We want it to be fun.  We want it to be entertaining.  We want it to make us feel good, and we want it to fit neatly into a sixty-minute package.  But when we say those things, we are revealing that we think church is about US!  But it is not about us.  It is about Jesus and His great love, and His great gift to us.

It is actually good for us to have our flesh disappointed in the worship service, as long as it is disappointed by the Word of God and the faithful worship of God.  Then we are forced to place God and His will and His Word first, and humble ourselves before Him.  When we grumble about this or that in the face of God's Word, we are like those laborers in the vineyard who grumbled because they just naturally thought that they were going to get more, somehow.  We need to discipline our flesh to serve God and to hear His Word.

But we do not need to leave the service feeling good.  It would be nice, but it is not always possible, and to expect it is to have an unrealistic expectation.  We are sinners.  We should feel guilty.  We should be ashamed of our sins.  We need to repent.  Only when we genuinely repent can we actually understand, believe, or receive forgiveness.  Only in true sorrow over sin can we appreciate how much God does for us when he forgives us our sins.  Only in the shadow the mountain of our own sinfulness can we estimate how deep and great the suffering of Jesus was – how great it had to have been – for our sins.  Only the one who is forgiven much can love much.

And if we know our sins, it is impossible to always feel good.  When we then have faith in our Lord and believe that our sins are forgiven, we will usually feel thankful, and the knowledge of His goodness will bring us joy – but it is always a joy tempered by the humiliation of facing our corruption and sin.  Some days the sin part is overwhelming the joy part, and then we rest in a quiet joy in faith, knowing that Jesus died for us and took our punishment, guilt and death, even when we are not "feeling good" or bright and chipper.  The gospel is true no matter how I feel today.

If we require a certain feeling, we have a "work" which we have imposed on ourselves or others before we can have salvation.  If we demand that worship be entertaining, or that it meet some other criterion than faithfulness to the Word of God, we have made it about us.  The Gospel is for us, but it is not about us.  Our salvation is God's gift to us, but it is about His love, and Christ's substitution for us, and about the grace of God, freely given to all who believe.  It is about grace, not works.  It is about what God has done and give to us, not about us, except as the grateful recipients of His abundant generosity.

In the parable, the issue was deserving versus generosity.  For us, this morning, it is grace vs. works.  We want to keep grace clearly in our minds, for it is by grace that we have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves.  It is the gift of God, not at all on the basis of works, so that no one may boast – save in Jesus Christ alone!

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

(Let the people say Amen)

What Did They See?

 Matthew 17:1-9

And six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves.  And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.  And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.  And Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!"  And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were much afraid.  And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid."  And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus Himself alone.  And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead."

Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday                                1/25/26

What Did They See?

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

One of the reasons that the Christian faith is so unpopular these days is that it flies in the face of human wisdom.  When you discuss the faith with unbelievers -- and all too often with others who claim to be believers -- they respond with comments like, That just doesn't make sense.  They might say that they simply cannot believe this or that.  Then there is the cry that we should not become too religious, or let this "God-stuff" go to our heads.  I was once told that I should be careful not to become so heavenly minded that I was no earthly good.

I called the Christian faith unpopular because even so-called Christian churches are abandoning it.  There are congregations in our own Synod that have stopped using the Apostles' and the Nicene Creed.  Some have quit doing the confession of sins, saying it makes people feel "uncomfortable".  Many congregations, particularly mission congregations, don't want to identify themselves as Missouri Synod because they think that the name carries with it a connotation of being narrow-minded and rigid and strict.  I don't disagree with those judgments, except I choose to sum up all of those negative sounding attributes with the single word "faithful."

For decades churches have been running away from Biblical morality.  In recent years it became stylish in the Christian community to run away from doctrine.  There always have been some denominations that would not stand on the truth of the Word of God, but today almost no so-called Christian denomination considers sound doctrine to be vital.  Even the Missouri Synod, which does formally confess the truth of God's Word, regularly tolerates defections from the sound doctrine.  Today, many congregations are fleeing from sound and historic practice.  The result is that our Synod's public stance is a mere paper-confession with no consistent teaching or church-practice behind it.

Christianity is not popular -- and it has never been popular.  That is at least part of what Jesus was referring to when He said in Luke 10 that God had hidden things from the wise and the intelligent.  This morning, Transfiguration Sunday, we want to talk about What the disciples really saw on that mountain.  Our theme is What Did They See?

  In some ways, the Transfiguration is about God hiding things.  God tends to disguise much of what He is doing in this world.  That is because it is, as Jesus said, well-pleasing in the sight of God to hide certain things from the wise and the so-called clever people of the world.  It is a fact that except for works of nature, almost nothing that is commonly called a work of God in our society is.  Sadly, even the great and awesome work of God in nature is being described more and more frequently as nothing more than a natural phenomenon -- Evolution -- and as not requiring the presence of a deity whatsoever.

God is pleased to work on earth without being observed or credited.  It isn't that He doesn't want the credit -- the glory -- for His work, but He only wants it from people who honestly know Him as God and trust in Him.  God is pleased to hide what He does and where He is working and even His own presence from people, so that they might believe -- or not.  The glory of God was hidden in Jesus Christ, for example.  He did not look like God.  He was singularly unimpressive.  The prophets had said He would be.  He looked like a normal guy.  Not so pretty.  Not so powerful.  Not so much anything that the world would say, "Why, that man must be God."  Not even "That man must be special."  Jesus was God hidden in the disguise of human flesh, and for most people the disguise was perfect.

His power was hidden in weakness.  Jesus was at His best when He seemed to be at His worst.  He was actually working out our salvation when He appeared to be completely losing control, even of His own life.  The naked injustice of His conviction and sentencing by the legal standards of the Jews and of the Romans was clearly an outward reflection of the inward truth that this One was innocent, and that what He faced, and what He suffered, and the death He died on the cross, was not His . . . but ours.

His victory was hidden in defeat.  Just when it looked like Jesus' enemies had finally won, they actually suffered total defeat.  Just when it seemed that it was all over for Jesus and His followers, it was just beginning.  Jesus was not put to death on the cross helplessly.  He deliberately laid down His life at the time and in the way of His own choosing.  Jesus said,  "I lay down My life that I may take it again.  No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again."  He chose the moment of His own death and sacrificed His life for us.  

When Satan crowed in what he thought was victory, and when the Jewish leaders dusted their hands off and said, finally, the trouble-maker is silenced -- at that moment Jesus claimed total victory.  It is finished!.  That was what He said, and it was, at that very moment, for all men and for all women and for all time.  Our sins were paid for, forgiven.  Our death served up in His body and taken out of the way.  Our eternal salvation purchased and won.

But that is not what it looked like.  No one saw God at work.  No one recognized His glory -- except the Roman Centurion, and even that was belatedly.  The Transfiguration was about God, who hides things, peeking through the veil of the humanity of Jesus for just a moment, revealing His true Glory where no one was able to see it before.

Transfiguration Sunday is about God giving us a glimpse of what our sinful nature simply cannot see -- does not want to see.  God revealed Himself in Jesus, and in Jesus He demonstrated that God is not where we think, necessarily.  He is not necessarily doing what we think He is doing.  And He is often at work in situations we would never choose and frequently forget to look at to find His purposes.  He holds us to values we would many times sooner discard as old-fashioned and out of date.  He makes things necessary that some might consider expendable, like truth and confession, or trust in God in impossible seeming circumstances and faithfulness to what we know is true and right, or suffering for a time, and love for other people, especially for one another.

Here is an example: only through Jesus can we know God.  Who would know that?  Most people think that all religions lead to God.  Most people think that all Gods are really the same God under different labels.  Most Christians, so called, believe God and Jesus are separate and distinct for our religious purposes.  Jesus says NOT SO.  He tells us that you cannot actually worship God unless you are worshiping Jesus as well, and Peter says, in Acts 4:12, "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."  As John wrote in His Gospel, No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

It is pleasing to God that simple ‘faith' trumps worldly wisdom.  It pleases God to have us trust in Him, and that it is only through such faith that we stand as God's own people.  It pleases God that those who are too smart to be religious, or good, or faithful lose out, while us poor babes in the woods, us simple souls who are just foolish enough believe the Bible and to trust God have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life though Jesus Christ.

Why did Jesus take three men, Peter, James, and John, with Him into the Mountains?  Because of the Law of God and justice of Old Testament Israel required the eye-witness account of more than a single witness.  They required the witness of two or three.  Three was the ideal number - when you had three independent witnesses to an event, their report became fact before Law.  The New Testament also accepts this standard, when in 1 Timothy 5, Paul writes, "Do not accept an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses." In other words, the presence of Peter and James and John are your assurance that this event actually took place.  It is the legal witness required to establish this account as fact.

But, What did they see?

The word "transfiguration" literally means "being changed or transformed from one figure, body, shape, or appearance, into another."  What happened with Jesus was not a change of shape or body - those apparently remained the same.  It was a change of appearance, in that Jesus began to glow - or shine with an unearthly light.  What was actually occurring was that the glory of God was shining through the veil of flesh and human stuff of Jesus.  It was not obliterating it, or changing it substantially, but it was simply shining through.  That Glory was so powerful that it altered the appearance of the clothing that Jesus wore, for the moment.  His face was shining like the sun - I would imagine that it was too bright to stare directly at, and His clothing became as white as light - and we can imagine that much, even if you have not personally seen it.  It was spotless white.  It looked lit-up like a Christmas Santa's clothing - the white parts - when you place a bright light inside the figure.  They do this effect well in movies and on TV these days.  Jesus did it by mere glory - no technology assisting Him.

What was shining through was the purity and holiness of God, and His great love for mankind.  That is, after all, the glory of God.  God's glory is not in His power.  It isn't really in His sovereignty.  It isn't merely in the fact that He is God and Creator – as glorious as those things are.  His glory is chiefly in the fact that while He is God and above all in power and value and importance and such things, He loved us so richly and deeply that He sent His Son to live for us, to fulfill the never-before-fulfilled Law and will of God - for us - and then to die when He did not deserve it.  He earned life everlasting and then traded it for death.  He is God - but became man.  He earned life - and willingly tasted death.  God announced our condemnation before sin happened - and then He rescued us from what we have so richly deserved.  His love is so profound that He became sin, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him!  That love, and that grace, and those actions, and His profound self-sacrificing for our sakes and our benefit is the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus!

In other words, His glory is our salvation - and that was what was shining through on that mountain top.

Okay, then, ‘What did they see, when Moses and Elijah appeared, talking to Jesus?'  Moses is the great Law-giver.  Elijah the prophet among prophets in the mind of ancient Israel.  Each man represented their portion of Scripture.  Each one recognizes Jesus and points to Him as the Savior.  Luke even tells us that they were talking with Jesus about "His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem."  The Law and the prophets are summed up in Christ.  In this moment captured by the Evangelist here, we catch a glimpse of heaven.   Here are Moses and Elijah, and although no one introduced them, they were instantly recognized.  That is how it is in heaven; you are God's chosen child, and you are recognized as being who you are without introduction.  It is also interesting to note that the conversation, even in heaven, is about the Gospel.

What did they see, when the ‘bright cloud' overshadowed them?  Luke indicates that they entered the cloud.  It wasn't merely above them, as one might suspect, but it was all around them.  It "overshadowed them" according to Matthew, but Luke tells us what that means - it engulfed them.  They were permitted into intimate fellowship with God the Father, as they observed this transfiguration.  God tells us in the Psalms that He is shrouded in a dark cloud and heavy mists.  He appears on Sinai in the dark cloud with the lightning and thunder raging through it.  But here, He envelopes them in His cloud and speaks to them, sharing with them the mystery of Christ - true Son of God, and He who is perfectly pleasing to His Father.  The cloud, then is the symbol of the presence of God Almighty, El Shaddai.

Then they heard the voice.  What they heard meant not just that Jesus Christ is God's Son, but also that He is fit to take up the work of our salvation.  God spoke these words about Jesus at His Baptism.  At that time He was announcing who Jesus was and that He was fit to take up the holy work of His ministry.  Here, three years later, God spoke these words again, sealing the ministry of Jesus, as it were, and telling us that He is still perfect, fit to undertake the great work of the passion which lies before Him. So these words comfort us by reminding us that Jesus has that judgment of God on Him, that He may share it with us, and we may receive that Peace on Earth of which the angels sang.

Matthew tells us about what Peter said in response to these things. "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  Luke tells us that Peter did not know what he was saying.  I think Matthew and the other Evangelists tell us the whole story - Peter was so shaken by what He was witnessing that He began to speak with out thinking - a problem common in today's world.  What is true, however, is that it is good that the three were there to see it for us, and to report it for us.  And Peter's response is so natural, it demonstrates that this is an account of a real event, and not some fable made up later.  If it were a fiction, the Apostles would have sanitized their own mistakes out of it.

Why did Jesus instruct them not to tell anyone what they had seen or heard until after His death and resurrection?  Jesus did not want people chasing signs and miracles and following Him for the wrong reasons.  He wanted them to see this so that they could bear witness of it, and tell others who He was and what they and seen, but afterwards, when they faced the death and  resurrection of Jesus and wondered how it could be real, or why didn't they see it coming.  When people would ask, how can you believe such things?, the Apostles could point back to these events and say, how can you deny them?

Finally, What did the three disciples really see?

This is the point at which Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem and began to descend into the valley of the shadow of death on our behalf.  The Transfiguration shows us that He was ready.  It make is clear for us that He was fit for the job.  It teaches us that Jesus knew who He was and where He was going when He walked into Jerusalem to be crucified, that year.  And it reminds us that in Christ we are truly well-pleasing to God, for your sins have been forgiven; atoned for and punished already, and so forgiven. 

What did they see?  The glory of God.  The miracle of the Transfiguration.  The whole of the Gospel depicted in living pictures.  The proof we need to follow them in faith.  That is what they saw.

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

(Let the people say Amen)

Agnus Dei

 John 1:29-42 

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 "This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.' 31 "And I did not recognize Him, but in order that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water." 

32 And John bore witness saying, "I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33 "And I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.' 34 "And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

 35 Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" 37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and said to them, "What do you seek?" And they said to Him, "Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?" 39 He said to them, "Come, and you will see." They came therefore and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 

40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He found first his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah " (which translated means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which is translated Peter)."

Sermon for 2nd Sunday after Epiphany     1/18/26

"Agnus Dei"

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Some people will pronounce the title of our sermon Ahn-use Day. My five years of Latin instruction taught me that it should be pronounced "Agnus Dei."  Either way, it means "the Lamb of God."  

In out Gospel there are parallel phrases: That means they mean the same thing in this text.  The Lamb of God; The Son of God; The Messiah; the Christ.  

John said, My job was to prepare for him to be manifested to Israel.  He was, in modern jargon, the advance team for Jesus, setting up the stage for Jesus to show Himself to Israel. 

Jesus was attested by the working of the Holy Spirit, in speaking to John, and then making His appearance at the Baptism in the form of a Dove.  That appearance is why Christians have tended to use the dove as a symbol for the Holy Spirit.

We learn from this pericope that Andrew followed Christ first . Andrew led Peter to Jesus. Jesus knew Peter on sight. His name was actually "Simon, son of John." The Greek text tells us Jesus named him Cephas, which is Aramaic for Peter. About half the translations say Cephas means rock, and the other half say it means Peter. Greek for Rock is Petros ,  Greek for Peter is Petros. It is like Jesus was nicknaming Simon "Rocky," although Cephas is also Aramaic for rock. 

John shot himself in the foot, so to speak, By correctly identifying Jesus as the Lamb of God. He was sending his own disciples to follow Jesus.  So far the interesting trivia from the text.  

There is not a lot of law in this text.  What there is is illustrated by the activities in the text. First, John recognized Jesus for who he was, the Lamb of God, The Son of God. And having seen Jesus for who He was John announced what he saw.  He proclaimed the Gospel.  

The followers of John, having heard the Word of God, that is, who Jesus was, followed Jesus . Probably not all of them who heard John speak followed Jesus, but two of them did . One of them, Andrew, became the first disciple of Jesus in actuality. He heard the good news that the Messiah was among them, and he not only followed the Messiah but he couldn't resist running off and telling his brother, Peter .  

The example of John the Baptist and of Andrew illustrates that when we know the truth, the precious gospel truth, we should go and tell. We should tell everyone we see, or at least someone, that what we see here is the Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting. 

The image of the Lamb, here, points us back to the sacrificial system of Israel. It was the blood of lamb painted on door posts and lentils in Egypt that rescued the children of Israel from the Angel of Death. We could go back to the Garden of Eden and speculate that it was a lamb that was slain to provide the loincloths for Adam and Eve after they had fallen into sin, but that would be mere speculation, and not the Word of God. We know that the appropriate offering at the temple and in the Tabernacle was a lamb unblemished. 

The lamb was the sacrifice. In our gospel lesson, the lamb was also identified as the Son of God by John the Baptist. Just as the Lamb and the sacrifice in the temple demonstrated the forgiveness of sins, illustrated the forgiveness of sins, the true lamb of God takes away the sins of the world, as John the Baptist said. 

The Old Testament sacrifice of the lamb did not pay for sins. It simply illustrated the propitiation and pointed forward to the day when God would send his Lamb. The book of Hebrews even comments about that, that the priests always had to come back and sacrifice again and again, because of the sacrifice of the temple was inadequate. It carried no actual power to forgive, but it pointed forward to the coming sacrifice. Jesus was that coming sacrifice. And, John said, Jesus was the son of God. That sacrifice, that lamb, was sufficient to take away the sins of the world. He didn't point forward to something else, he was that something else. He still is that something else. 

 The purpose of pointing back and my speaking in the past tense is to remind you that a sacrifice for your sins has already been made. Your sins have been covered , Jesus has "taken them away." 

Do you understand what that means? 

 It means that there is now nothing more that you can do to win your salvation. You cannot do enough good works or any single great good work to improve your situation. You cannot say a prayer or any number of prayers to win your way into heaven. You do not need to ask Jesus into your heart or invite Him to be Lord of Your life.  The Bible even says explicitly that an unbeliever cannot; 1 Corinthians 2:14  But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. – and a believer does not need to because Jesus already is there.  You cannot have good intentions or intentions strong enough or any other thing to add to your salvation. 

It also means that you cannot do anything to mess it up . There is no action, no sin nothing that can take your salvation away . Jesus, the Lamb of God, has taken away the sins of the whole world. Your sins are included. Your behavior does not count in the equation of salvation. Only Jesus. Only the Agnes Dei. When Jesus cried out from the cross, "It is finished," your salvation was absolutely complete.  "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved."  Only unbelief will spoil  that equation.  Only the failure and unwillingness to trust God will reject that forgiveness already purchased and won for you. 

If you don't take God at His word and believe, you call him a liar.  Jesus said it Himself, "Thy word is truth."   "For by grace you have been saved, through faith, It is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one shall boast. For we are his workmanship , created in Christ Jesus." 

 Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

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

(Let the people say Amen)

What Does This Mean?

 Matthew 3:13-17

Then Jesus arrived  from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.  But John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?"  But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."  Then he permitted Him.

And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."

Sermon for Baptism of Our Lord                                         1/11/26

What Does This Mean?

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

It is the most Lutheran of questions.  We grow up with it in the Catechism.  "What does this mean?"  It doesn't always mean that we don't know what something means, when we ask the question.  It is simply the Socratic method of teaching – asking questions.  We see the method at use in the Christian Questions and Answers in our Catechism, building the understanding by means of questions that direct one to think clearly about an issue.  It is also the nature of a Catechism to ask questions and then to answer them.

But this morning, it is not a Catechism question, not is it intended to be the Socratic method of inductive learning.  It is simply a question aimed at getting into the meaning of a very familiar account.  We all know about Jesus' Baptism.  It is the Gospel for this Sunday.  What we want to do today is think about what it teaches us, as we consider the baptism of Jesus.  Our theme is, What Does This Mean?

John was preaching repentance and was baptizing those who confessed their sins with a baptism of forgiveness.  He did it at the Jordan River - because there was plenty of water there, which is where all our Baptist friends get the idea that Baptism is supposed to be by immersion.  They picture John baptizing in waist-deep water, dunking people under to symbolize their new birth and washing clean from sin.  And it is a wonderful symbol.

It just doesn't happen to be what John was doing, in all likelihood.  These were people who believed that the water – bodies of water – was the domain of demons.  They did not know how to swim - not even fishermen, generally.  They were terrified of water, particularly deep water.  That is why the parting of the Sea and the parting of the Jordan by Joshua was so significant.  It demonstrated God's power over the devil's domain.  That is what the "walking on water" of Jesus mean to those who saw it.  He was treading on the domain of the devil.  It wasn't simply mastery of the surface tension of water, or some ability to float on the soles of His feet.  It was that demons were believed to live in the water, that was a common superstition of the time.  Jesus was demonstrating His mastery over the demonic kingdom by walking above it - on it, not allowing those devils to grab Him and drag Him under and slay Him as they had so many for so long!

So these people were not likely to want to walk out into deep water and be plunged under.  It would have suggested precisely the opposite to them from the symbol we imagine today.  Instead of representing a cleansing and new birth, it would have pictured being plunged into the domain of Satan.  And my grandmother on my mother's side was from Kansas.  She grew up in a dry land, without lots of lakes.  She was terrified of water in lakes and rivers.  Knee-deep was as good as she could get.  I am sure not every person was terrified of water, but I would guess that most of those who gathered to hear John were.

So John was standing in the shallows, pouring water over their heads in a ritual washing – as most of their washing were – to picture for them the forgiveness which God was working through their repentance and Baptism at the hands of John.  His Baptism was very much like ours.  And Jesus came to be baptized.

John took one look at Jesus, and He knew who He was.  I don't know if John recognized his cousin, or not.  Probably did.  But John was filled with the Holy Spirit, as the great prophetic forerunner of the Messiah, and he saw, and he knew instantly, that this One was the Son of God, the Savior, and without sin.  So John said, "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?"  What does this mean?

It means that John understood who Jesus was, and asked Jesus to Baptize Him instead.  And, let's face it, Jesus did not need forgiveness.

Then Jesus replied, , "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."  Scholars have been debating the meaning of those words ever since.  Jesus asked John to baptize Him, even though Jesus did not need forgiveness.  He did not argue with John about His assessment.  He simply asked John to let it be, and do the baptism.  He said it was "fitting for [them] to fulfill all righteousness."  What does this mean?

It means that it was the right thing to do.  Jesus was righteous already, no sin.  So what He did was not for forgiveness, but for us.  In part, this was Jesus taking over for John.  He received from John what John was doing.  He didn't need to in an absolute sense, but it was important for people to see that Jesus was "coming after" John.  He was John's successor – the one John was preparing the way for.

Jesus was also showing that He had assumed everything that is part of us, in order to save us.  He humbled Himself and stepped through the waters of Baptism, just as each of us who hope in Him must also come to Him through the waters of Baptism.  In a sense, He prepared the waters of Baptism for us by His baptism – placing His righteousness into baptism, so that it would have the power to cleanse us from our sins.

He also recapitulated the history of Israel with His life, and, just as Israel had passed through the waters – which Scriptures call a "baptism" into Moses – so, Jesus passed through the waters – and then went into the wilderness for 40 days, instead of the 40 years.  He is the better Israel, for He did all things well, and did not sin, and did not fail to be and to do all that God called Him to be and to do.

It was fitting, for God wanted Him to do it.  It connects Jesus to the Old Testament people walking with Moses, and it connects Him with us, Baptized as He was, and cleansed by Him.

Then Jesus came up out of the water – He walked to shore and stepped out of the river – and the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove, and the voice of the heavenly Father spoke, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."  It is interesting to note that God's Word sounds different to different people, sometimes.  Mark and Luke report Jesus' hearing of the words, "Thou art My beloved Son, . . ."  John, and anyone else who may heard and understood the words, heard "This is My beloved Son, . . ."  God's Word comes to us, always fitting us as we hear it.  We dare never assume that the Word we hear is aimed at anyone but us!

What does this mean?

First we see the Trinity.  Jesus is standing in the water, the Holy Spirit is perched on His shoulder - or head - in visible form of a dove, and the Father is speaking out of the sky.  All three persons may be observed, if not seen.  Father in heaven, Son on earth by the river-bank, and Holy Spirit descending upon and resting on Jesus.

Secondly, we hear that Jesus is "well-pleasing" to the Father, as He begins His public ministry.  This is the judgment of God that Jesus is holy and without sin.  He is fit to begin the great work of our salvation.  We will hear the same judgment of God spoken from the mount of Transfiguration on January 25th, as Jesus sets His face to descend into Jerusalem to die for us.  This is God the Father acknowledging His Son, and declaring that He is fit and holy and righteous as He begins His great work in His public ministry!

I want to take this opportunity to focus your minds on the song of the Angels to the Shepherds outside of Bethlehem.  "Peace on earth, good will to men" is better translated "Peace on earth among men with whom He is well-pleased."  This "Well-pleased" spoken over Jesus here, at the beginning, is what is accounted our own in connection with Jesus Christ, by grace through faith.  These words here mean He is ready to be our Savior, and He has what we need, as He begins.  Right here, right at the beginning of His public work, Jesus has what we need from Him to have peace with God and to end the wrath of God against our sins.

Jesus is beginning His great work prepared, equipped, and worthy.  His ministry will next step into the wilderness for forty days and nights of fasting and temptations by the devil - temptations that Eve surrendered to, but which Jesus resisted and triumphed over for us.

Are you ready to walk with Jesus?  Are you prepared with faith, equipped with the gifts of the holy Spirit, and worthy by virtue of repentance and forgiveness, and confidence in God?  Sure you are.  This little sermon is just a reminder.  You begin this walk with God, Jesus is your constant companion – He did say, "Behold I am always with you."  The Holy Spirit has been poured out on you, too, in your baptism.  He is given to you as a pledge and a guarantee of God's presence, power, and blessings – and your salvation, too.  You share, by the grace of God, in the "in whom I am well-pleased" spoken about Jesus on the day our Gospel records.

What does this mean?

It means we begin this walk in faith, with hope and trust in God, confident of His mercy, blessing and presence with us and among us!  Our sins are forgiven, and we are beloved of God in Jesus Christ.  That's what it means!

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

(Let the people say Amen)

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)