The Festival of the Reformation (observed)

(Audio)

Matthew 11:12-19; Romans 3:19-28; Revelation 14:6-7

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We celebrate the Festival of the Reformation, not because of the birth of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the translation of the Holy Scriptures into German, or even the great deeds and bold confession of Martin Luther and the other reformers. We celebrate because of the eternal Gospel, proclaimed by the angel “to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.” And what is this eternal Gospel? St. Paul declares: “The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law,” the righteousness of God “through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”

The reforms accomplished by Luther and the reformers before and after him stripped away the layers of man-made laws, traditions, and superstitions that had obscured this pure Gospel: that men are justified, not by their works or obedience to the Law, not by personal piety or devotion, but by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, “whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood.”

Yet the Gospel had become obscured long before indulgences became common practice. It was obscured long before the Pharisees and teachers of the Law imposed their traditions upon God’s Word. Indeed, it was obscured long before Moses, Abraham, or even the incarnation of our Lord. From the moment God first promised a Savior who would crush the serpent’s head and deliver us from sin and death, sinful man has sought to offer something of his own to God as payment for his sins. From Cain and Abel onward, we have been tempted to reject the grace God freely gives and devise our own way to earn His favor.

But the Gospel is eternal. It was God’s gracious purpose before the foundation of the world, and it remains unchanged forever. When God sent His only-begotten Son to fulfill the Law in our place and suffer and die for the sins of the world, He accomplished everything necessary for our salvation. From the cross, Jesus declared, “It is finished.” Nothing remains to be added to His perfect, once-for-all sacrifice.

This is the eternal Gospel proclaimed by God’s messengers: angels, prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors, and every Christian who confesses Christ before the world. “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

The eternal Gospel is extra nos, outside of us. That is precisely why it is Good News. Your justification does not depend upon you. Your standing before God does not depend upon your good works, obedience to the Law, personal piety, tithing, or church attendance. Your justification rests entirely upon Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, whom the Father put forward as the propitiation for your sins.

If your justification depended upon anything in you, you could never know true comfort or peace. You would always wonder whether you had done enough, given enough, or believed enough. There would be no certainty, no assurance, and no Good News. There would be only the rigid, inflexible, and condemning Law of God, which you cannot keep.

Yet sinful man insists upon finding some way to justify himself. We imagine that Christ has paid for our original sin but that we must somehow pay Him back for our actual sins. We may not purchase indulgences, but we can still imagine that our prayers, offerings, service, or personal devotion somehow make us more deserving of God’s forgiveness.

In effect, we say, “Thank You, God, for the gift of Your Son, but His sacrifice is not quite enough. Let me contribute something to make up the difference.” But any gift that must be earned, purchased, or deserved is no gift at all. If it is not a gift, it is not grace. And if it is not grace, we remain in our sins, condemned under the Law.

This is the conflict Jesus describes in our Gospel lesson: “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” God desires to give His kingdom freely, by grace. But sinful man wants to seize it on his own terms. We want a salvation that leaves room for our accomplishments, a righteousness to which we can claim some contribution.

Jesus compares His generation to children who refuse to respond to either joyful music or a funeral dirge. They rejected John the Baptist because of his austere life, and they rejected Jesus because He came eating and drinking with sinners. Nothing satisfied them because the problem was not the messengers or their message. The problem was the stubborn unbelief of those who refused to receive what God was giving.

And so the question confronts us today: What do you tell God you will or will not do? What do you tell Him He can or cannot do? What part of His Word do you reject because you think you know better? What part of His Gospel do you hear and answer, “That is all well and good, but it is not enough”? Have you not heard that the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men? God alone is God, and you are not.

The First Commandment teaches us to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. This commandment does not encourage us to find new ways to justify ourselves. Rather, it exposes our sin and condemns our efforts at self-justification. The Law must silence every mouth and hold the whole world accountable to God, as St. Paul declares in our Epistle.

Only when we confess that we cannot justify ourselves can we receive grace for what it truly is: a pure and perfect gift. And when we receive this gift through faith in Jesus Christ, God is glorified as both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

There is a Latin phrase often associated with the Reformation: Ecclesia semper reformanda, the Church is always being reformed. The Reformation we commemorate today began, symbolically, on October 31, 1517. But Luther’s confession was part of a much longer history in which God continually sent His messengers to call sinners to repentance and proclaim the one eternal Gospel of justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

The Church must always be reformed because sinful man is always tempted to obscure the Gospel. The Church of Christ needs reformation today just as surely as it did in 1517. God continues to raise up messengers to proclaim the Good News to every nation, tribe, language, and people. And He has called you to confess Christ before your neighbors, in your words and deeds, trusting His promise: “Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.”

There is no higher worship of God than to receive His gifts. And His most precious gift is the righteousness given to us in His Son, Jesus Christ. Do not strive to earn God’s favor through your works, words, or piety. Rather, hold fast to the Gospel, and do not allow anything or anyone to obscure the truth that Christ has done everything necessary for your salvation. God put Him forward as a propitiation by His blood, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Ecclesia semper reformanda. The Church is always being reformed, and so are all the members of Christ’s Church. Therefore, let every day of your God-given life be a Festival of the Reformation: a day of repentance, a day of faith, and a day of receiving God’s gifts. For here, in Christ Jesus, your sins are forgiven, your guilt is removed, and your righteousness before God is secure, not because of anything you have done, but solely because of what Christ has done for you.

This is the eternal Gospel. It was true before the Reformation, it was true in Luther’s day, and it remains true today and forever. You are justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And that is enough.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Twenty-Second Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 22)

(Audio)

Matthew 18:21-35; Philippians 1:3-11; Malachi 6:6-8

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Do you not find it ironic that your Lord tells Peter to forgive seventy times seven and then tells a parable about a king who forgives only once? What’s with that? You are to forgive endlessly, but God forgives only once? But then, this is a parable of the kingdom of heaven, which is not like the kingdoms of men.

In the kingdoms of men, you think you want justice, what is right, above all else. Therefore, you sympathize with Peter in his desire to limit forgiveness. A repeat offender deserves justice and punishment, you believe. However, when the king exacts such harsh punishment upon a servant who owes him an enormous debt, you sympathize with the servant. The punishment seems excessive, unjust. And when the king forgives the servant’s entire debt out of pity for him, don’t you feel that is unjust as well? No one is supposed to get something for nothing. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, after all. Do you see how twisted your thoughts about justice are? By what measure do you decide what is just, right, fair, and good?

Jesus knows this about you. He is a master storyteller, and He tells this parable to expose your hypocrisy and self-righteousness. The servant who has been mercifully forgiven his enormous debt then literally grabs another servant by the throat over a comparatively insignificant debt. Though the man pleads for more time, the unforgiving servant has him thrown into prison until he can repay every last cent. But in prison, he cannot earn the money to repay the debt. He will never get out.

How does this twist in the story affect your sense of justice? Are you not outraged that the servant who was forgiven so much refuses even to be merciful toward a servant who owes him so little? Do you not sympathize with the fellow servants who witness this wickedness and report it to their master? And from what high place do you stand in judgment? Did you not sympathize with this man before, and now you condemn him? Remember, this is a parable about the kingdom of heaven. What, then, is Jesus teaching you?

Consider what happened when the Prophet Nathan confronted King David over his murderous sin. Nathan told David a story about a rich man who took a poor man’s beloved ewe lamb and killed it. David burned with righteous indignation and declared that the man deserved to die. Then Nathan said to him, “You are the man!” When you hear Nathan’s story, when you hear Jesus’ parable, you are quick to judge, filled with self-righteous anger and ready to condemn. But what is truly exposed is the truth that you are the man.

You are the unforgiving servant. You have received the Lord’s mercy, yet you withhold mercy from others. You have been forgiven a debt you could never repay, yet you demand payment from those who sin against you. And you are also the fellow servants who want the wicked man exposed and punished. You want people to pay for the evil they do, not only in this life but eternally. You condemn them and want them to get what they deserve.

Then be careful what you ask for. If you demand a God who condemns others and exacts justice from them, you must also stand before that God yourself. If that is the sort of king you want, that is the sort of king you will have. You, too, will answer for your sins.

You are not unique. You, too, have sinned. You, too, have been forgiven much. You, too, have received God’s compassionate mercy. Therefore, humble yourself before the King, for He alone is righteous, and He alone is the greatest in the kingdom. Do not demand justice for everyone else while expecting mercy for yourself. Repent, and receive forgiveness. Then forgive as you have been forgiven. Give as you have been given to, and do not condemn, as you have not been condemned.

For Jesus’ sake, God has forgiven you. And here we must be clear: God’s forgiveness is once for all, not because He forgives you only once and then refuses to forgive you again, but because Jesus Christ has made the once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Nothing can be added to His finished work upon the cross. Your debt has been paid in full, not because you deserved it, not because you earned it, but solely because of God’s mercy in His Son. And this forgiveness is continually delivered to you through His Word and Sacraments, so that you might receive it by faith, again and again, throughout your life.

But Jesus’ parable also contains a serious warning. The servant who refuses to forgive reveals that he despises the mercy he has received. He wants the king’s forgiveness for himself but refuses to extend mercy to his neighbor. He wants forgiveness without repentance, mercy without mercy’s fruit, and the king’s generosity without living as one who has been forgiven.

So it is with you when you refuse to forgive. You cannot cling to Christ’s mercy for yourself while insisting that mercy be withheld from your neighbor. When you persist in an unforgiving heart, refusing to repent of your bitterness and your desire to condemn, you reject the very mercy upon which you depend. You turn away from the forgiveness Christ has won for you and place yourself under the judgment of the Law. This is no small matter, for faith that receives God’s mercy does not despise that mercy but bears its fruit in love toward the neighbor.

When you pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” you confess that the forgiveness you receive from God cannot be separated from the forgiveness you extend to others. Your refusal to forgive is not a small matter. It places your own faith and salvation in jeopardy, because it is a rejection of the mercy of God.

But understand this: it is only through Jesus’ forgiveness that you are able to forgive others. You have neither the righteousness nor the strength to do so on your own. You need His mercy, His Word, and His Spirit. That is why Jesus tells you to forgive seventy times seven. There is no limit to the forgiveness you are to extend to your neighbor, just as there is no limit to the mercy God pours out upon you in Christ.

God’s forgiveness came at great cost: the cost of His only-begotten Son. Yet that sacrifice was necessary so that you might be justified through faith in Him. His forgiveness is yours freely, without any merit or worthiness in you. And when you forgive your neighbor, you are not losing something that belongs to you. You are bearing witness to the mercy you have received.

Do not imagine that you can earn God’s favor by forgiving others. You are forgiven for Jesus’ sake alone. Rather, because you have been forgiven, you are called to forgive. Faith receives the mercy of Christ, and that mercy bears fruit in love toward your neighbor.

As St. Paul writes to the Philippians, he is confident “that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” The Lord who has called you to faith will continue His work in you through His Word and Sacraments. He will expose your sin, call you to repentance, renew your faith, and strengthen you to live in the mercy you have received.

Therefore, do not look to your own righteousness, your own sense of justice, or your own strength. Look to Jesus, whose wounds declare that your debt has been paid. Return continually to His Word and His gifts, where your forgiveness is proclaimed and your faith is sustained. There, the Holy Spirit works in you the mercy you cannot manufacture for yourself.

And so the words of the Prophet Micah are fulfilled in your life: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

May the Holy Spirit grant you such humility, such faith, and such mercy, that you forgive as you have been forgiven, for Jesus’ sake.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 21)

(Audio) 

John 4:46-54; Ephesians 6:10-17; Genesis 1:1 – 2:3 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

What does faith look like? What does faith sound like? What does faith do? St. James famously says, “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” Faith is something that can be seen and identified, primarily by our works. The problem, however, is that our judgment and evaluation of our own works, not to mention the works of others, are fallen, tainted, and corrupted by sin. We measure and evaluate according to our values, beliefs, and opinions rather than the truth and all-knowing wisdom of God. We value what God does not value, deem virtuous what has no virtue, and esteem as great what is nothing in His eyes.

Today’s Gospel reveals the nature and characteristics of faith: how it begins, grows, increases, and at last is perfected. Faith grows and matures throughout our lives. A seed does not ripen at once. It first springs up as a shoot, then grows into a stalk, and finally produces grain. So, too, the heavenly seed, God’s Word, is scattered. Received in faith, it brings forth fruit as we learn to trust God, love our neighbor, and discipline our bodies. We become a new creation in Christ, not all at once, but throughout our lives until the grave.

We see this in the Galilean official who came to Jesus, pleading that He heal his son. The father believed Jesus could and would heal his boy. His faith was real, true, and salvific, created in him by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. Yet his faith was not fully mature. He insisted that Jesus come physically to his home and heal his son. He did not yet fully trust that Jesus needed only to speak His Word. Like the centurion, he should have confessed, “Only speak your Word and my son will be healed.” He wanted signs and wonders to support his faith.

Look how Jesus responds to this man of weak faith, but of faith nonetheless. Our Lord rebukes him: “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” I sense disappointment in our Lord’s words. Some Christians have difficulty imagining Jesus as frustrated or angry, but to deny such emotions is to deny His humanity. Jesus was truly human, in every way except sin, and truly God in the one person of Jesus Christ. He was sorrowful and wept real tears at the death of Lazarus. He expressed righteous anger against the Pharisees and the moneychangers. And He was disappointed when those who believed in Him struggled to trust His Word.

That is why one of my favorite confessions of faith in all of Scripture comes from another father seeking healing for his son: “Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief.” And that is precisely what Jesus does for the official. He rebukes his weakness of faith, but then He gives him a promise: “Go; your son will live.” This Word is both a challenge and an invitation to believe. The father believes Jesus, and as he makes his way home, his servants meet him with the news that his son is recovering. When he learns that the healing began at the very hour Jesus spoke, he and his entire household believe. The father wanted a sign when he did not need one. Jesus had given him something better: His Word. And through that Word, faith was strengthened.

The Word alone. Sola. The Word comes to us by grace alone, sola gratia. It is given to us in Holy Scripture, sola Scriptura. The Word became flesh in Jesus Christ, solus Christus. And this Word is received through faith alone, sola fide. Only by the gift of the Holy Spirit, working through the Word, can we believe in Christ and cling to Him for forgiveness, life, and salvation.

For who is this Jesus in whom we trust? He is the very Word of creation, through whom the Father spoke all things into existence: “Let there be light,” and there was light. He is the Word by whom all things were made, the Word made flesh who dwelt among us. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, upon whom He has built His Church, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. This confession is the mature fruit of faith, made evident in good works that serve our neighbor and glorify God.

So, what signs and wonders are you looking for, O you of little faith? Do you hope that political leaders will restore godly order and morality? That violence and crime will disappear and peace and security return? That this congregation will be filled to standing room only, with overflowing coffers and programs to meet every need? Or do you simply hope your spouse will love you, your children will respect you, and you will have enough money to retire without sacrificing your comforts?

Perhaps some of these things will come to pass. Perhaps they will not. Thanks be to God that your faith does not rest upon these things, but upon Jesus Christ and His Word. For the Word of creation, Jesus Christ, is present with you now through His Word and His Wounds. He does for you precisely what He promises: your sins are forgiven. Your faith is restored and strengthened. His life-giving blood cleanses you from all sin, and you are declared holy and righteous in Him. He gives you life that will never end and promises to raise your mortal body from death, to be reunited with your immortal soul in everlasting life.

So, what does faith look like? What does faith sound like? What does faith do? Faith believes in Jesus, trusts in Jesus, clings to Jesus, and receives Jesus. Yet faith is never alone. It produces good works, works counted as good in the eyes of the Lord because of the atoning blood of Jesus.

Faith in Christ and His Word clothes you in His righteousness, as with defensive armor, making you strong in the might of the Lord against the spiritual forces of evil. The shield of faith extinguishes the flaming darts of the evil one, and the Word of God, the Word made flesh, is the sword of the Spirit that fights for you, defends you, preserves you, and keeps you through every trial and tribulation, even through death, unto life everlasting.

Faith is a continually growing and maturing thing. And yet it remains true faith at every stage. May the Holy Spirit who created this faith within you continue to nourish, strengthen, preserve, and protect you throughout all your days. May Jesus Christ, whose blood has cleansed you from all sin, remain your strength, life, and salvation as you receive forgiveness and life through His Word and His Wounds. And may the Father who created you work through you to give life to others, using your hands, your heart, and your voice in loving service, that others may know His Son and live, and that His Name may be glorified to the ends of the earth.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 20)

(Audio)

Matthew 22:1-14; Ephesians 5:15-21; Isaiah 55:1-9

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

God is holy, and God commands that you must be holy as He is holy. But what does it mean to be holy?

For God to be holy means that He is not like you. God is wholly other. His holiness is the very state of His being. And for you to be holy is not what you might think. Holiness is not morality, and sanctification is not simply moral improvement or self-improvement. Holiness is a state of being in which you share in God’s holiness, for only God is holy.

And yet, your Holy God makes you holy in the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. The prerequisite for sharing in God’s holiness is purity, being cleansed from the stain and guilt of sin. It is to be justified before being sanctified.

Therefore, when God commands that you must be holy as He is holy, He is not merely commanding something for you to do. He is declaring something about you that is true: you are holy, because God has made you holy in the atoning death and resurrection of His Son. In Christ, you are clean and holy, justified and sanctified. And this is entirely God’s work, done for you and done to you in Jesus Christ your Lord.

Consider those familiar words of Jesus: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” These words do not merely describe God’s affection for you, though they certainly do that. They explain how God has loved you. God loved the world in this way: He gave His only Son unto suffering and death.

God did not give His Son only for His chosen people, the moral and upright, the faithful and good. God gave His Son for the world, so that the world and everyone in it might be holy as He is holy. This is the doctrine of objective justification. The reason you are pure and clean before God lies entirely outside of you, in the objective death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus, the Lamb of God, died for the sins of the entire world. This is universal atonement: Christ’s death and resurrection were for the entire world and for everyone in it. There is no one whom Christ did not atone for. His blood is sufficient for all. Therefore, there is reconciliation with God, forgiveness, cleanness from sin, purity, and holiness in Jesus Christ.

But do not misunderstand. The fact that Jesus died for all does not mean that all will join in the marriage feast of the Lamb and His Bride, the Church. As Jesus says, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” All are invited. All have been atoned for. Yet many refuse to come. Many refuse to receive God’s gifts.

That is the picture Jesus gives us in the parable. A king gives a wedding feast for his son and sends his servants to call those who have been invited. But they refuse to come. Some are simply disinterested. Others are too preoccupied with work, possessions, and play. Others become angry and violent, mocking, abusing, and killing the king’s servants. They were invited by the king’s grace, but they despised the invitation. They counted their own affairs to be of greater value than the king’s gracious gift. And so they are judged according to their own works, merits, and worth.

Then the king sends his servants out again: “Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.” And they gather everyone they find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall is filled with guests.

But then Jesus tells us about one man who does not have a wedding garment. Remember, these people had not been preparing for a wedding. They had been going about their ordinary business. They were gathered from the highways and byways. Yet somehow this man is without the proper garment, a garment that was provided by the king! How is it possible that he did not have a wedding garment?

The man was invited. The king even addresses him as “friend.” He had been given everything necessary for the feast, including the proper clothing. But he refused the king’s gift. He rejected the garment that had been provided for him. And so he is cast into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is the warning of the parable: God provides everything. He provides the invitation. He provides the feast. He provides the garment. And the garment is Christ’s righteousness.

God is holy, and God commands that you must be holy as He is holy. And God has made you holy through the death and resurrection of His Son. You are invited to the wedding feast, and you have been clothed in Christ’s righteousness, which covers all your sins. You do not stand before God clothed in your own righteousness. You do not stand before Him clothed in your morality, your good intentions, your accomplishments, or your worthiness. You stand before Him clothed in Christ.

If you reject God’s gracious invitation and refuse His garment of righteousness, then you stand only with what you have to offer: your sin-tainted works and your sin-corrupted flesh and blood. But God has already provided what you need. His grace is not something you earn. His mercy is not something you accomplish. His righteousness is not something you produce. It is given to you in Christ.

God is holy, but He is not remote. God is wholly other, yet He has come to you. The Holy Spirit has called you by the Gospel, enlightened you with His gifts, sanctified you, and kept you in the true faith. He clothed you in the baptismal garment of Christ’s righteousness, and you are clean. And now He brings you to the wedding feast even now, giving you a foretaste of the feast to come. He feeds you with the choicest of meats and the finest of wines in the holy body and precious blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, your Savior.

The invitation is still being proclaimed: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

Come, then. Come to Christ. Come and receive what He gives. You are holy, not because you have made yourself holy, but because your Holy God has made you holy in Christ.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (observed)

(Audio)

Matthew 18:1-11; Revelation 12:7-12; Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

You’ve heard the saying, “Pride goeth before the fall.” It comes from Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” How many fables, moral lessons, and stories are built upon this proverb, which we all know to be true? Those who are puffed up with pride and full of themselves may rise to lofty heights, but too often they also experience a precipitous fall.

Lucifer’s great sin, and the cause of his fall, was pride. Though he was one of the highest of God’s angels, an angel of light, he begrudged the Lord to be a servant, particularly a servant to God’s most treasured creatures, mankind. Did Lucifer want to be a god himself? Quite likely. But this much is certain: he did not want to serve mankind, whom he deemed beneath him. Yet God loved mankind. He gave man dominion over all that He had made, even the heavenly ranks of holy angels. Lucifer’s pride could not tolerate this. His pride consumed him, filling him with anger, resentment, and hatred for God, and, even more, hatred for man whom God loved.

Lucifer’s pride caused him to fall from the highest ranks of God’s holy angels to the darkness of hellish separation from God. In his fall, Lucifer became Satan, the adversary, the enemy, the accuser of men. He knew that he could not defeat God, so he attacked mankind whom God loved. He cunningly tempted our First Parents by appealing to their pride. He promised them that by disobeying God they would become like God. But it was a lie. They were already made in God’s image. They were already the highest of all that God had made. Yet Adam and Eve gave in to their pride, and they fell, just as Satan had fallen.

But God’s love for mankind moved Him to redeem us. Though our First Parents rebelled and fell from grace, God had compassion and mercy upon them. He set in motion His great plan of redemption through the sacrificial offering of His Son. Before the foundation of the world, God had ordained that His Son would become man, fulfill the holy Law in perfect obedience and righteousness, and suffer and die in man’s place, redeeming us from sin and restoring us to God.

Satan likely knew part of God’s plan. Yet once again his pride blinded him. He believed that by destroying Jesus he could thwart God. But when Jesus died upon the cross, Satan had not won. The opposite was true. Jesus knew no sin, but God placed upon Him the sins of all mankind. He took our sins to the cross, and there they died with Him. He alone rose from the dead.

The cross of Jesus Christ is the sign of Satan’s defeat. The Seed of the Woman, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, crushed the ancient serpent’s head. He rose from the dead on the third day, living proof of Satan’s defeat and of the forgiveness of sins through faith in the victorious and atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The war in heaven described in Revelation 12 is the result of Jesus’ victory on the cross. Satan, the accuser of men, has been thrown out of the presence of God. No longer can he accuse you before the Father, for your sins are atoned for and forgiven in the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Satan cannot accuse you, judge you, or condemn you, for you have been justified wholly apart from yourself by the obedience, suffering, and death of Jesus for you. But Satan still prowls the earth in a violent rage, because he knows that his time is short. He cannot defeat God. He cannot defeat Jesus. But he does have a dangerous weapon: lies and deception. He tempts you to sin. He makes sin seem attractive, even righteous. And then, when you sin, he accuses you. He tells you that you are not forgiven, that you cannot be forgiven, that you have gone too far and are outside God’s grace. That is a lie.

But how often do you believe it? How often do you allow Satan to cause you to doubt God’s goodness, mercy, love, and forgiveness? Satan’s purpose is to separate and isolate you, from your brothers and sisters in Christ, from your neighbor, and ultimately from God. He hates God, and he hates you because God loves you. He wants to see you destroyed eternally. But there is no victory for him to win. Christ has already won. Therefore, Satan is your enemy. Indeed, it is true to say that no man is your enemy, but all men have the same enemy. Satan’s hatred of God and his hatred of you is what drives him.

And here we see the work of God’s holy angels. The word angel means messenger. The holy angels are servants of God, sent to serve and protect His children. They guard and watch over you, just as Luther teaches you to pray in the morning and evening. But remember: angels are servants. You do not pray to them or worship them. You thank God for them and honor and glorify Him for their service. And you may emulate the angels by serving your brothers and sisters in Christ and your neighbor in need. Put away your pride. Serve others in the faith and knowledge that when you serve the least of your brothers, you are serving Jesus. Bear with your brothers, sisters, and neighbors in patience and kindness, even those who do evil to you or hate you. God alone is judge, and He works all things, even the evil things men do, for the good of those whom He has called in Christ. God has ordained a wonderful order of service among angels and men by which His children are helped and defended.

So, do not be afraid. Whatever befalls you in this life, nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. That is the truth. Anything else is a lie of Satan. He will continue to tempt you toward pride, division, judgment, hatred, and isolation. He will try to turn your eyes away from the cross of Jesus Christ and cause you to forget the redemption He won for you there. Therefore, pray that God send His holy angels to protect and defend you. Pray that the Church of Jesus Christ would persevere.

And, more than anything else, continue to gather around the Word and the wounds of Jesus Christ. Receive again and again the forgiveness of your sins. Be strengthened and encouraged by His Word. Commune with your Lord and Redeemer, who laid down His life in selfless and sacrificial service for you, to purchase, win, and redeem you for eternal life.

And there, as now, in a foretaste of the great feast to come, you will worship with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, God and the Lamb upon His throne, Jesus Christ, to whom be blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might forever and ever!

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 6)

(Audio)

Luke 7:11-17; Ephesians 3:13-21; 1 Kings 17:17-24

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The scene is descriptive. You can picture it in your mind with supreme clarity. A funeral procession is winding down the hillside away from the walled city on a hill. Men are carrying the body of a young man upon a bier. A great crowd follows, wailing in grief and sorrow because a young man is dead and a mother is widowed and childless. No one can do anything to change the situation. No one can offer any real comfort. It is an utter tragedy, senseless and inexplicable. But it is real. It is all too real.

But, by chance, there was another procession that day, one approaching the walled city on a hill. In this procession, no one is wailing in grief and sorrow and no one is dead. In fact, the great crowd was rejoicing, and the one leading the procession is the Lord of Life Himself, Jesus. The crowd accompanying Jesus had heard His teaching and had followed Him through Galilee as He healed the sick and cast out evil spirits. They had witnessed His power and authority over sin, and all that sin had brought into the world. Now they would witness His authority over death itself.

Jesus saw the grieving mother from a distance and had compassion for her. He did not simply feel sorry for her. He was filled with gut-wrenching compassion for her in her grief and lostness, and for the terrible wages of sin that had been paid out in the death of her son and, before him, her husband. Jesus said to her, “Do not weep,” for the weeping, grief, and sorrow would be borne by Him. Then He reached out and touched the bier, for the uncleanness of sin and death would be borne by Him as well. But the real miracle was in His Word, as it always is: “Young man, I say to you, arise.” “And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.”

The scene is descriptive. You can picture it in your mind with supreme clarity. Martin Luther put it this way in his hymn Christ Lag in Todesbanden: It was a strange and dreadful strife when life and death contended; the victory remained with life, the reign of death was ended. Holy Scripture plainly saith that death is swallowed up by death, its sting is lost forever.

Death is all too real. In a sense, we are all part of that funeral procession winding down the hillside away from the Garden of Eden. There, the poisonous venom of sin first entered our First Parents’ veins. Now it flows through the veins of all who live and breathe and die. That day it was a young man who received his wage in death. Tomorrow it will be an old man. The day after, a wife and mother. The day after that, a newborn child. The young man represented the best of us: alive, healthy, vigorous, with the whole world seemingly open before him. And yet death took him. If he could not escape death, what hope is there for any of us?

On our own, left to our own devices, there is no hope. We are dead. Even while we live, we live each day knowing that death is coming, sooner or later, at a time we cannot know. There is no hope, until we set our eyes upon Jesus. When we lift our eyes from this world of death, from its idols and corruption, and admit that we are dead, or at least that we are living the life of the dead, then we see Jesus, who has come and who comes to us now as the Lord of Life, our Redeemer and Savior.

Jesus has compassion, gut-wrenching compassion, upon you in your grief and sorrow, your sin and death. And He does the unthinkable and unimaginable: He touches your bier. He takes your sin. He takes your uncleanness. He takes your death upon Himself. Jesus did not simply cast death away. He took death into Himself and swallowed it up, as Scripture plainly says. He drank your cup of poison to the bitter dregs so that you could live. He took the serpent’s venom into Himself so that you might become what He is: truly and eternally alive.

Just as that dead young man represented the best of us, doomed to die despite how alive we believe ourselves to be, so Jesus has become the living Man for all of us, so that in and through Him we are alive now and will live, even through death, forevermore. Jesus is our true Adam, in whom we are all one. He has defeated death by dying for you, His Eve, His Bride. When faced with the serpent’s temptation, the First Adam fell. But when Jesus, our Second Adam, faced the serpent and bore the serpent’s bite, He remained obedient to His Father. He laid down His life in love, unto death, for you. Life died that you might live. The Bridegroom died that His Bride might live. The victory remained with life; the reign of death was ended.

The funeral procession that day was heading toward the tomb, and nowhere else. There was no expectation of encountering Life. There was no hope that anything could change that hopeless situation. But then Jesus came. The Son of God became the Son of Man. He who was highest in God’s glory humbled Himself and became the lowest. He who was without sin was made to be sin for us. He who is Life became obedient to death, even death upon a cross.

The crowd following Jesus had witnessed His authority over disease and demons. Now they witnessed His authority over death. But Jesus’ authority was not merely the authority of divine might. It was the authority of perfect and obedient fear, love, and trust in His Father, and perfect and obedient love for His neighbor. And so, people began to turn from fear, hopelessness, and despair to faith in God’s promises fulfilled in Jesus. They followed Him. They listened to His teaching. They witnessed His miracles. They told others. They brought their sick and dying, their demon-possessed loved ones, and their children to Jesus, that He might touch them with His holy hands and speak His life-creating Word.

And in a similar way, most of you were brought to Jesus in Holy Baptism. There, beside the still waters, through the hands and voice of His undershepherd, Jesus touched you with His holy hands and spoke His life-creating Word of blessing upon you. In Holy Baptism, the procession of death was met head-on by the procession of Life in that strange and dreadful strife. And the victory remained with life; the reign of death was ended.

In Holy Baptism Jesus has touched you and spoken His life-creating Word: “Arise.” And, as it was in the beginning, so it is now: His Word brings into being what He says. And then Jesus returned you to your Mother, the Church. Yes, we have the same Mother. For there is one body and one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

We have the same Mother, the Bride of Christ, the Church, which is one body and of which Christ is the Head. As the Fathers have taught us, extra ecclesiam nulla salus: there is no salvation outside of the Church. There is no salvation outside of Christ because the Church is His Body. We are saved by His perfect life, death, and resurrection, not merely in some external and objective way, but by being grafted into Him, born again from His death into His life, living in Him and from Him in selfless, sacrificial love and service to our neighbor, especially those who belong to the one body of faith.

And if we would bring people to Jesus, that He might touch them with His holy hands and bless them with His life-creating Word, then we must bring them to where He is present with His Word and His Wounds. We bring them to Holy Baptism. We bring them to Confession and Absolution. We bring them to the Word of God preached and confessed. We bring them to the Word of God eaten and drunk, to Holy Communion with the Lord and Giver of Life. For the procession of death still winds its way through this world. But Christ has come into it. Life has met death, and Life has won.

So, lift up your eyes. See Jesus. He comes to you with His Words and His Wounds. He touches you with His holy hands. He speaks His life-creating Word. “Arise.” And because Jesus lives, you shall live.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 15)

(Audio)

Matthew 6:24-34; Galatians 5:25 – 6:10; 1 Kings 17:8-16

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

These past two Sundays the Word of the LORD has exhorted you to live in the freedom of the Gospel, in love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness toward your brother and sister in Christ, your friends and neighbors, and even your enemies. This is not a preaching of the Law, but the fruit of the Gospel, the fruit of faith that has set you free from the coercion and condemnation of the Law and cleansed you from guilt and fear.

When you are profoundly aware of the love, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness you have received from the LORD in Jesus Christ, you desire to show the same toward others. You no longer need to be coerced or guilted into loving action, but are encouraged and equipped to love in thought, word, and deed. This is the freedom your LORD created and redeemed you to have, not to live as a slave or prisoner in fear and resentment, but as a child of God, free to love, give, and share without fear.

Then why are you so anxious and afraid? Why do you worry about what you will eat and drink, what you will wear, or where you will live? Why are you terrified by wars and rumors of wars abroad and political wars at home? Why do you fear losing your so-called freedoms and rights? Your LORD and God has already set you free in Jesus Christ and given you true freedom, along with all that you need to support your body and life.

Some rights and freedoms are indeed God-given. The right to life, the responsibility to defend oneself and one's family, and the liberty to live and labor within God's created order are rooted in God's Word and His ordering of creation. Other rights and freedoms are established by men. They are written into constitutions and laws, interpreted and protected by lawyers and judges, and enforced by governments.

The distinction matters. The rights themselves may be good gifts, but the particular ways in which men define, protect, or exercise those rights are not God. And if your fear, love, and trust are placed in those rights and freedoms above and before God, if the thing you would die for is preserving them and the thing you fear most is losing them, then you just might have an idolatrous fear, love, and trust in them.

Especially today, when so many of the freedoms we cherish seem threatened, we are vulnerable to this temptation. We must therefore be on guard, repent, trust in the LORD and His Word, receive His gifts, and walk in His Spirit, Truth, and Light.

Jesus compares fear and anxiety to slavery, and rightly so. “No servant can serve two masters.” A slave has one master. When you give yourself over to fear and anxiety about earthly cares, possessions, and values, you have made yourself their slave. And if they are your master, the LORD cannot be your Master as well.

Your LORD's First Commandment is, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” The LORD is a jealous God. He will not share you with other gods, which are truly idols and demons. What is it that you need that your LORD does not graciously provide? Food, clothing, shelter? Your body and soul, your members, reason, and senses, which He still preserves? Husband, wife, and children? Jesus has taught you to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Does the LORD not answer that prayer, providing everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body? Food, drink, clothing, house and home, money and goods, family, faithful rulers and good government, good weather, peace, health, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like?

Look at the birds and the flowers, Jesus says. They neither reap nor sow nor worry about food or clothing, yet the LORD provides for them. How much more will He provide for you whom He created in His own image and redeemed through His Son, Jesus Christ, who became your brother and shared your flesh and blood and all your human needs? You were not created to live in anxiety and fear, but in faith and trust in the LORD.

Our First Parents' sin was also a matter of fear, love, and trust. They loved the gifts of God more than the Giver. They feared losing them more than they feared the LORD. Their trust was no longer in God but in themselves. They had become gods unto themselves. And that is what you do when you worry anxiously and fearfully about not having, losing what you have, or what might happen to you. You cast yourself into slavery to anxiety and fear, which is worship of a false god, another master.

But that is not the life to which the LORD has called you. He has created you, called you, and equipped you to work in His creation and care for its inhabitants. You cannot faithfully serve as a steward of God's creation while enslaved to anxiety and fear. No servant can serve two masters. You are called to be a light to the world dwelling in darkness. How can you be a light when you are turned in upon yourself in anxiety and fear? That is how the Gentiles, the unbelieving world, lives. But not you, children of God, children of the Light.

St. Paul likewise distinguishes between the way of the Spirit and the way of the flesh. The way of the Spirit is humility, peace, contentment, patience, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, gentleness, and charity. Paul warns, “God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” Whoever sows to the flesh will reap corruption; whoever sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life.

You are called and equipped to work in this world. Yet while your new man desires the things of God, your flesh remains weak, with its passions, desires, fears, and anxieties. When you serve them, you sow to your flesh. But when you live in the freedom of the Gospel and walk by the Spirit, you sow to the Spirit. This is not a one-and-done sort of thing. St. Paul exhorts you to “live by the Spirit” and to “walk by the Spirit.” Living and walking are ongoing, lifelong activities. Beware of anxiety and fear that tempt you to become proud, greedy, and selfish, robbing you of contentment, comfort, and peace. “Do not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

Elijah had every reason, according to the flesh, to give up. So did the widow of Zarephath. The land was stricken by drought and famine. Elijah could have feared starvation. The widow was preparing what she believed would be her final meal before she and her son died. Yet neither gave in to fear. The widow obeyed the Word of the LORD spoken through Elijah. She baked a cake first for him and then for herself and her son. Together, in fear, love, and trust in the LORD, they ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, and the jug of oil was not empty, until the LORD sent rain upon the earth.

It is no different with you, O you of little faith. Even now your LORD takes your meager offerings of bread and wine and presses them into holy use, feeding you with the sin-forgiving, faith-sustaining, life-giving body and blood of Jesus. He hears your prayer for daily bread and provides all that you need for your body and life, and more, so that you may share with those less fortunate.

Do not be afraid. The LORD is for you. The LORD is with you. The LORD will never leave you or forsake you, and nothing can separate you from His love for you in Jesus Christ. He has led you out of slavery to anxiety, worry, and fear, and out of slavery to sin, death, and the grave, through the waters of Holy Baptism.

Come, eat His body. Come, drink His blood. The jar of flour will not be spent and the jug of oil will not be empty until He returns for you and takes you home. Until then, your true Master has work for you to do: love one another, show mercy to one another, be humble and not proud, and readily forgive, even your enemies, as you have been forgiven in the mercy of the LORD shown to you in Jesus Christ.

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Christian Funeral for Scott Daniel Hamerlinck

(Audio)

John 14:1-6; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; Isaiah 61:1-3, 10; Psalm 23

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Scott Hamerlinck was a man of many interests, a multitude of skills, and intense drive and passion. He did everything at once, all the time, with intentionality, intensity, and dedication.

Henry David Thoreau wrote that most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them. That was not Scott. Scott lived brightly. He embraced life, people, experiences, and the gifts God had given him.

Scott brought that intensity to everything he did and everyone with whom he interacted: to his hobbies, his family, his work, his military service, his music, and his faith. Hunting required stillness, silence, focus, and a connection with nature. Riding his motorcycle required command, handling, and speed. Scott loved life, learning, experiencing, and serving.

Life is a gift from God: creation, nature, music, family, friends. These gifts are meant to be appreciated, used, and enjoyed, not put on a shelf for some later time. Today is the gift of life and love. Do not put off until tomorrow what you have today.

Scott brought that same intensity and drive to his battle with cancer, overcoming it with confidence, renewed determination, and not a small amount of humor. He brought it to helping others, his neighbors, his friends, and his church. Got a new ceiling fan? There was Scott at your door with his tools ready to help you install it!

For Scott, a stranger was just a best friend he hadn’t met yet. He made friends easily and with everyone. Amanda said it was best to go places with others because Scott was always off talking to someone new. He had an infectious, gregarious, and hilarious personality that drew people to him. It is no surprise that his neighbors became best friends. They would get together to play cards, make music, and enjoy a beer. And the breakfast block parties were legendary, with the Blackstones rolled out and eggs, bacon, and pancakes enjoyed by all.

Music was also a huge part of Scott’s life and personality. He was a great singer and rhythm guitarist, and he played in many different bands. Music is a powerful gift of God for bringing people together, and Scott used it to bring together family and friends and to build camaraderie and community. Scott and Amanda performed here at St. John one Christmas in a quartet with Drew and Laurie Rogers. And sharing that musical bond with his son Julian was one of Scott’s greatest joys.

Scott was not perfect. His intensity, drive, and high expectations could sometimes be difficult for those closest to him. He loved his family deeply and wanted the very best for them. He pushed them as hard as he pushed himself and expected much from them. He could be critical at times, not out of cruelty or meanness, but out of passion, love, and a desire for them to do their best and be their best.

And while Scott could drive himself to the point of recklessness, he was very conservative and protective of those he loved. He was known to many as “The Safety Nazi,” even though he had already used up eight and a half of his nine lives.

Scott was passionate about his faith, too. He wanted his family in church. He wanted them to have a Christian upbringing. He regularly read and listened to the Scriptures and Christian podcasts. He cared about the spiritual health and welfare of his family, and he believed in volunteering and giving back.

Amanda, Hannah, Julian, family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ: we grieve today. Of course we do. Death is not natural. We were not created to die, but to live with God forever. There is no human perspective from which we can understand Scott’s death without shock, horror, bitter loss, grief, and sorrow. By all human reckoning, Scott died much, much too soon.

But our Lord Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. I have gone there to prepare a place for you. And I will come again, and I will take you to myself, that where I am, you will be also.” That is why Jesus came. That is why God became man.

Jesus came into this broken and dying world to restore what sin had destroyed: our relationship with our God and Creator, and the holiness, righteousness, and life that we were created to have. In His hometown synagogue, Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted... to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor... to comfort all who mourn.” Then Jesus rolled up the scroll and said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

It was fulfilled in Jesus because He came to do precisely what Isaiah proclaimed. He came to bind up the brokenhearted. He came to comfort those who mourn. He came to bear our sin and suffer our death. It took nothing less than the death of Jesus, the death of God Himself, to accomplish it. But death could not hold Him. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! And because He lives, we shall live also.

Scott’s hope was not in the intensity with which he lived. It was not in his good works, his service, his accomplishments, his personality, or his strength. His hope was in Jesus Christ. Scott was baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection. His sins are forgiven in Jesus’ blood. His trust for forgiveness and salvation was not in himself but in Jesus.

And so we have a sure and certain hope. Death has been swallowed up in victory. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We grieve, but we do not grieve without hope. We commend our brother Scott to the Lord, trusting His promise that those who die in Christ live with Him even now, and that on the day of Jesus’ return, Scott’s body will be raised from the dead. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable.

That is the Christian hope: not merely that Scott will be remembered, not merely that his influence will continue in the lives of those who loved him, but that Jesus Christ will raise Scott from the dead. And on that day, all who trust in Christ will join him in paradise, in the New Eden, the New Jerusalem, where tears and sorrow, pain, suffering, and death are no more. There will be life, real life, abundant life, eternal life.

Scott lived intensely. He lived passionately. He embraced the gifts God gave him and the people God placed in his life. But the life Christ gives is greater still. The candle of Scott’s earthly life may have burned brightly and far too briefly. But the life Christ gives in the resurrection will never burn out.

So we grieve. We mourn. We feel the terrible absence of a husband, a father, a friend, a neighbor, a brother in Christ. But we grieve with hope. For Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. And because Christ lives, Scott will live. And because Christ lives, all who belong to Him will live also.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 14)

(Audio)

Luke 17:11-19; Galatians 5:16-24; Proverbs 4:10-23

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” That was the question a lawyer asked Jesus in last Sunday’s Gospel. The lawyer wanted a quick fix to his problem, just like you. He didn’t want some open-ended, ongoing regimen or discipline for the rest of his life. He wanted something he could do, check off his list, and then get on with his life, just like you.

Because of this, many Christians think that once they’re baptized, that’s it. There’s nothing more to do. They’re in like flint. Others rationalize a “once saved, always saved” doctrine in which, once they’ve “given their heart to Jesus,” He’ll never let them fall away. Then they go on their merry way, placing their trust in “eternal security” rather than in a lifelong, ongoing relationship with Jesus.

And so, there were ten lepers who pleaded with Jesus, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” And Jesus had mercy on them. He told them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

They each got what they wanted. They got a quick fix and were healed. All they had to do was show themselves to the priests. Check! Done! Fini! Then they were off on their merry way, having nary a thought about Jesus, save one.

One leper turned back. He returned to Jesus to give thanks. This thankful leper knew that Jesus had done something precious and miraculous for him. He knew that Jesus didn’t have to do it, but that it was an act of mercy, just as he and the others had pleaded. But the thankful leper did more than thank Jesus. He fell down at Jesus’ feet and worshipped Him. And to place the thankful leper in even starker contrast to the others, St. Luke tells us that he was not a Jew like the others, but a Samaritan.

The thankful Samaritan leper was a changed man. No longer was he a leper, and no longer was he a foreigner. He had been restored to life, to family, to community, and to fellowship. More importantly, he had returned to the source of his healing and life: Jesus.

For no one has an encounter with the Lord Jesus and walks away unchanged. You either receive Him in faith to your great blessing, or you reject Him in unbelief to your judgment and condemnation. There is no gray area, no fence-straddling, and no lukewarm faith when it comes to Jesus. He who is not with Him is against Him, and he who does not gather with Him scatters.

You see, the Christian faith and life is not a “one and done” sort of thing. It is an ongoing relationship with Jesus and with His body, the Church. It is a walking together in Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Your Holy Baptism was not merely a deed; it was a birth. You were born again of water and the Spirit to a new life that will never die. And your new life must be fed and nourished, protected and kept in Jesus and in His body, the Church.

If God will be your Father, then the Church, the Bride of Christ, must be your mother. For in the Church is found the womb of the font from which you were born, the breasts of the Word and Supper from which you are fed and nourished, and the Holy Spirit of God working through these means, joining you together as a family of faith in koinonia, in fellowship, with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and with one another.

So where does your “eternal security” lie? It lies in koinonia, in fellowship with Jesus and with His Bride, the Church. To boast in your salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ while neglecting His Church, Confession and Absolution, His Word, and His Supper is, at the very least, to cut yourself off from the spiritual food and life and divine protection your faith and new spiritual life require in order to survive.

And if prolonged, that neglect of koinonia and fellowship with Jesus and His body, the Church, will lead to apathy and disdain, not only for the Holy Things, but also for the Holy One Himself. And then there will be no hope for you. The thankful Samaritan leper understood this. So he returned to the source of his healing, his life, and his salvation. He gave thanks, and he worshipped Jesus.

Leprosy was a disease of the flesh that made you unclean and cut you off from koinonia, from fellowship with God and the temple, the family of faith, the Church. You and I and all people suffer from a spiritual leprosy of the flesh: sin and sinful rebellion, which cuts us off from koinonia with God and with one another. But merciful Jesus has washed you clean in His holy, innocent, shed blood. You have been born again of water and the Spirit to a new life that cannot die.

Will you live that life with Jesus, the giver and source of your new life? Or will you go your own way, the way of your flesh and the world, which leads only to life apart from koinonia, fellowship, with God and His Church? It is in this regard that St. Paul exhorts you today: “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” For “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh.”

Just as the leprous man could not free himself from the effects of his diseased flesh, so you cannot free yourself from the temptations and weakness of your sinful and rebellious flesh. While you have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus in Holy Baptism, your sinful flesh remains. It cannot be reformed or rehabilitated. It must die and be raised anew. And the only way you will resist the corruption of the flesh is by remaining in the Way, the Truth, and the Life of Jesus, in koinonia with Him and with His body, the Church.

St. Paul warns you to beware of the sins of the flesh: “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these,” with the warning that “those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” This means that you cannot willfully pursue and practice such things and presume that you will be saved simply because you are baptized or receive the Sacraments every now and then. Yes, by confessing your sins and being absolved, and by receiving the Sacraments faithfully and regularly, Jesus’ blood cleanses you from all sin. But to willfully pursue and practice the sins of the flesh is to break koinonia with Jesus and His Church. It is to despise the Lord and His grace and mercy and to go your own way, the way of sin and death apart from God.

In contrast, St. Paul proclaims, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” You see, there’s no going back. The way of the forgiven is the way of the Spirit. The way of the cleansed leper is the way of Jesus, the way of humility, peace, and thanksgiving. The way of forgiveness is not a quick fix or a “one-and-done,” “once saved, always saved” proposition. It is a new life and a new way of living. It is a life lived in and upon Jesus Christ and His gifts. It is a life that is first and foremost receiving, then giving thanks, and then giving to others as you have received.

Now rinse and repeat, every day, every Lord’s Day, and every Feast and Festival day for the rest of your earthly life, with your brothers and sisters in Christ, your new family of faith, enjoying koinonia, fellowship, in the Word and water, body and blood of Jesus, in His body and Bride, the Church. For just as you were born into a family and a community, having a father and mother, grandparents, siblings, uncles, aunts, and cousins, so you were born again into a family, a community, a body, and a koinonia, a fellowship.

You are not an island, and you are not alone. You are a member of the body of Christ, the Church, and you draw your life in her from Christ through Word and Sacrament. Your life is His life lived in and through you. Apart from Him you cannot live. But with Christ, in Christ, and through Christ, you are alive with a life that cannot die.

So come. Eat and be strengthened. Come. Drink and be forgiven. Come, with your brothers and sisters, in holy koinonia with Jesus, and be His holy, spotless, sinless, and beloved Bride. Receive and believe. Give thanks and live, not as you once lived, but live in Christ, in humility and service to your neighbor, bearing the fruits of His life in your life to the glory of God.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.