The Church of Jesus Christ Is Pure

"But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” – 1 John 1:7

The Augsburg Confession defines the Church as “the assembly of saints and those who truly believe (Augsburg Confession, Article VIII).” This means that the Church consists only of true believers who have been made to be holy in the innocent shed blood of Jesus Christ through holy baptism. However, the Confession acknowledges that, “in this life many hypocrites and evil people are mixed in with [the true believers]” in our congregations, and that, sometimes, even our pastor or priest may be a hypocrite or an evil person. Therefore, what are you to make of this? How are you to tell whether your fellow parishioners are true believers or hypocrites? How are you to know this about your pastor? How are you to know that you are a true believer yourself?

To put it plainly, that is not your concern. Jesus teaches that His people will be known by their fruits and by their love (John 13:35). Likewise, hypocrites and evil persons will also be known by their fruits that are contrary to the Word and the Commandments of God. However, beyond that, Jesus also teaches that you are not to judge anyone but yourself (Matthew 7:3). But, what about your own faith and holiness? How are you to know if you, yourself, are a true believer and a part of Jesus’ Church? I believe that St. John answers this question well in his first epistle saying, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).”

You see, you do not make yourself to be holy, but you are made to be holy, and you are kept holy, by the blood of Jesus, which cleanses you from all sin. You were made to be holy when you were baptized, but you must be restored to holiness again and again throughout your life as you confess your sins and are absolved. And, you must be kept holy as you hear God’s Word, and as you eat and drink the true body and blood of Jesus, the Word of God made flesh.

For, being holy, being a saint, being a member of the body of Christ that is the Church, is an ongoing sort of thing. It is not that you are baptized, and now you’re in, that’s all there is to it, but it is that you are baptized, you are born again of water and the Spirit into a new life, an ongoing life, a life that never ends, a life that is restored and sustained and kept in Jesus through confession and absolution, through regular hearing and eating of the Word of God, and through the faithful eating and drinking of the body and blood of Jesus, the Word of God made flesh.

Thus, to be holy, to be a saint, and to be a member of the body of Christ that is the Church is to do all of these things – or, rather, it is to have all of these things done to you throughout your earthly life. It is to have fellowship, koinonia, with one another and to be cleansed in an ongoing and lifelong way by the blood of Jesus.

In these dark and difficult days when the Christian faith, and those who practice it, have lost favor with the popular culture and with the powers that be, you may be tempted to despair and to lose hope. But, you must never lose hope, for your Lord Jesus reigns victorious over sin, death, and Satan in a kingdom that can never fail or fall. Therefore, take refuge in the sanctuary of the holy things of God – His holy Word and blessed Sacraments – within the body of the Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ, the Church. And, do not succumb to the temptation to believe that baptism is all that it means to be in fellowship with Christ, but ever more fervently hunger and thirst for the fullness and the richness of everything our Lord Jesus died to give you that you might enjoy the fullness of your life together with all the saints in Him who is our Life, Jesus Christ. And, let His life and love flow through you, for your life is His life and your love is His love. Then, they will know that you are His child, when you have love for your brothers and sisters in Christ, for your neighbor, and for all.

And, do not be surprised or perplexed or fearful that the world hates you, for so they hated our Lord Jesus Christ, and you are His: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him (1 John 3:1).” Rather, take comfort that you are the body of Him who has risen from the dead, defeating sin, death, and Satan. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).” That one is God the Father, and He alone.

“The Church of Jesus Christ is pure, and through His Word She shall endure; no other source of life She knows than Him by whom She lives and grows. His Gospel is the pow’r alone that joins Her to His flesh and bone; so, though the world and Satan rage, Christ’s body lives through ev’ry age (Text: Mark A. Preus).”

In the Peace that is Christ Jesus,

+ Pastor Ellingworth

Homily for The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 13)

(Audio)

Luke 10:23-37; Galatians 3:15-22; 2 Chronicles 28:8-15

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

There are many ways to understand and to speak about sin. Sin can be defined as disobedience or rebellion, the breaking of moral rules or “missing the mark,” or simply falling short of God’s commands and expectations for your behavior and life. However, there is another way to understand and to speak about sin that, I believe, gets straight to the heart of the matter: Sin is a failure of love. We love the wrong things, or we love the right things in the wrong way. Either way, sin is a failure of love.

This understanding of sin gets straight to the heart of the matter, because it gets straight to the heart of the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods.” Luther explains the First Commandment in his Small Catechism in this way: “You shall fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” Concerning fear and love, St. John writes in his first epistle, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” Likewise, concerning trust and love, St. Paul writes in his first epistle to the Corinthians, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Even Luther’s use of fear and trust in God in his explanation of the First Commandment directs you to love, the fulfilling of the Law.

That you love, what you love, and how you love is directly connected to what you believe about God, what you think about God, and whether you trust in God above all things. That you love, what you love, and how you love is what is at the heart of Jesus’ teaching today in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. For, what you fear, what you love, and what you trust in will permit, or prohibit, you from loving your neighbor. Fear, love, and trust in God above all things frees you to love in any, and all, situations, any, and all, of your neighbors, without fear.

Jesus had just sent out the seventy-two before Him to proclaim peace and that the kingdom of God was near. He sent them with this promise alone, “The one who hears you hears Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me, and the one who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” The seventy-two returned with joy at their success proclaiming, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your Name!” Jesus acknowledged this truth and rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, but He exhorted them to not to rejoice in the subjection of spirits, but to rejoice that their names were written in heaven. Then, Jesus prayed, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”

This prayer of Jesus leads you directly into today’s Gospel. Turning to His disciples, Jesus said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” But, what was it that Jesus’ disciples could see that the prophets and kings of old did not? Well, to put it plainly, they saw Jesus, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets and the covenant promises of God. More to the point, however, Jesus’ disciples saw that God was not their enemy, that they should fear Him, not as a cruel master, but as a loving Father, and that they were not slaves of legalism, but free to act in the same love they had freely received from their loving God.

Immediately, a lawyer, a student of God’s Law, stood up to put Jesus to the test. The lawyer asked Jesus, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The lawyer’s question exposed his misconceptions about God’s Law and of how men are saved. You cannot do anything to merit inheritance. An inheritance is something that you receive freely because of your relationship with the giver of the inheritance. However, the lawyer was not interested in a relationship with God. Instead, he desired to merit eternal life by his works. He did not fear, love, and trust in God above all things, but he feared, loved, and trusted in himself and in his works. Therefore, Jesus answered the lawyer’s Law question with a Law answer: He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” The lawyer answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus replied, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

However, the lawyer was not satisfied. Jesus had pricked his conscience by saying “Do this, and you will live.” The lawyer knew that he did not properly love God or his neighbor, and Jesus’ command to “Do this, and you will live” let him know the Jesus knew that he did not properly love God or his neighbor too. The lawyer’s sin was a failure of love – He did not love God above all things. Instead, the lawyer loved himself, and he trusted in his works. He despised God’s Law and saw Him as a cruel master instead of a loving Father. And, because he did not love God, he could not love his neighbor.

Thus, seeking to justify himself, the lawyer asked Jesus, “And, who is my neighbor.” Since he did not love God, but feared Him as a cruel master and despised His Law, the lawyer sought to find a loophole, a way around the Law’s demands so that he could justify himself. This is kind of like an employee doing only the minimal, perfunctory duties his job requires, and doing them spitefully and full of loathing for his vocation and his employer. Because he did not love God, the lawyer could not love his fellow man. However, knowing this, Jesus answered the lawyer’s question this time with a parable, the Parable of the Good Samaritan, so that seeing, he would not see, and hearing, he would not hear.

The parable goes like this: A man was attacked by robbers. They stripped him and beat him and left him for dead by the side of the road. First a priest, and then a Levite, a member of the priestly tribe, passed by. Neither man went to the aid of the man alongside the road. However, next, a Samaritan passed by. The Samaritan helped the man, pouring wine and oil upon his wounds and binding them. He placed him upon his own animal and took him to an inn, providing the innkeeper money to cover for the man’s care with the promise that he would return and pay whatever additional costs were incurred. When Jesus asked the lawyer, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” the lawyer had no choice but to answer, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

The parable is really quite simple. The priest and the Levite could not help the man who had fallen among robbers because they were in slavery to the Law. They, like the lawyer, were students of God’s Law, experts and teachers of the Law, and yet, they did not see the spirit of the Law, love, but they saw the Law as a cruel master and they obeyed it out of fear of punishment for breaking it and out of pride in what they deemed to be their own meritorious works. Like the lawyer, the sin of the priest and the Levite was a failure of love – they did not love God above all things, therefore they could not love their neighbor, the man who had fallen amongst thieves.

However, the Samaritan came to the man’s aid. Now, the fact that the hero of Jesus’ parable was a Samaritan was not lost on the lawyer. Jews in Jesus’ day considered Samaritans to be corrupted in terms of ancestry from Abraham and, therefore, outside of God’s covenant with Israel. And yet, the Samaritan quite obviously loved his neighbor and had mercy upon him, even as the most respected and revered religious leaders of Israel passed by and did nothing. The Samaritan could love his neighbor because he rightly loved God. He believed God to be loving, gracious, and merciful. He himself had received such love from God. Therefore, he did not view God and His Law as a cruel master, but as a loving Father. The Samaritan was not enslaved to the Law of God, but he was free to love his neighbor and come to his aid.

You see, the Law of God, the moral law of the Ten Commandments and the ceremonial laws that guided the worship and day to day practices of the people of Israel, was given 430 years after the covenant that God made with Abraham. That covenant was not a covenant of Law, but of grace. And, though the Law was given later, it did not annul the covenant of grace. As God once looked upon Abraham with favor and blessed him because Abraham feared, loved, and trusted in Him, still you are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh, and not by your works of obedience under the Law.

And, as you have freely received, so must you freely give. Jesus’ command, “You go, and do likewise,” is not a command of the Law, but it is an exhortation, even a promise and an empowerment of the Gospel. Just as He sent out His seventy-two to preach the Gospel equipped only with His gift of the authority of His Word, so Jesus sends you out to love your neighbor with His love. However, like the Parable of the Good Samaritan, how you hear Jesus’ words – as a commandment of the Law, or as a promise of the Gospel – is directly related to how you view God and His Law: Do you fear, love, and trust in God above all things? Or, do you fear and despise God and His Law as a cruel master and tyrant? Jesus would have you see Him and His Father the way the disciples and the Good Samaritan did: “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!”

What do you have to do to inherit eternal life? You don’t have to do anything, but you do have to be something – You have to be a child of God, a recipient of His love, and a bearer of His love. You are His child, born again of water and the Spirit in Holy Baptism. You are the recipient of His love poured out for you in Jesus’ holy, innocent blood for the forgiveness of your sins. And you are a bearer of His love when you love others as He has loved you. Such love is not a work, but it is a fruit – Jesus’ fruit. Therefore, it is perfect and holy and pleasing to the Father. When you fear, love, and trust in God above all things, you need not fear God and His Law as cruel master, but receive Him as a loving Father who daily reaches down to you in your death to heal and to bind up the wounds inflicted upon you by sin and Satan. He has carried you here, to this inn, to this hospital, the Church, upon the burdens of His Son Jesus who has paid all that was necessary to heal you, to care for you, and to preserve you until He returns to save you and to take you to His Father’s home in heaven. Come, eat and drink His saving love that you may love God and neighbor and live.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Christian Funeral for Johann "Jack" Hermann Knuppel

(Audio)

John 5:24-30; 2 Timothy 4:6-8; Lamentations 3:22-33

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

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to remember and to celebrate the faith and life of our dear brother in Christ Johann Hermann Knuppel, affectionately known to us simply as Jack. God the Father has kept His promise to Jack, He has called Him home in His Son Jesus, by His Holy Spirit in and through His Word, Holy Baptism, and through the Blessed Sacrament of Jesus’ body and blood. The Good Shepherd Jesus has called His faithful sheep Jack home, to where His sheep may safely graze.

Jack was a gentleman’s gentleman, possessing a gentle disposition and good manners, and carrying himself with both dignity and humility, and not a small amount of humor. He was a faithful, Christian man, and a staunchly Lutheran one at that. He lived his Christian faith and life naturally and publically. That is to say that, you knew Jack was a Christian by His love, just like Jesus said you should. Jack taught Sunday School and was an administrator of the Luther League, a Lutheran youth organization. He enjoyed reading the Scriptures. He even enjoyed reading Luther! I’m not kidding, he had the entire collection, all seven volumes, of Luther’s sermons – and he read them. I very much enjoyed having Jack in Bible class. He asked really challenging questions, and he never accepted anything just because I said so. Next week, he’d have a hand written list of more questions and several passages he had looked up that were pertinent. Jack enjoyed coming to our men’s confessions study on Saturday morning. He and his friend Edgar would drive together. I can imagine the conversations they had on the way!

But, Jack didn’t just show his faith and love for the Lord by attending church and Bible studies, he also lived it in loving service to others. His beloved neighbor, friend, and, in his later years, caregiver Mary Stops told me how Jack and Kay had promised to care for her sister Kelly who had Down’s Syndrome if anything should happen to her. And, Mary knew that they would have done it, too! For, Jack and Kay took care of each of their mothers, living right there in their own home, for many years. Since one of them had to be home to care for their mothers at all times, Jack and Kay took turns going to church every other week. Kay’s mother died peacefully in the Lord right there at home, but it became necessary for Jack’s mother to stay at the Kent nursing home in her last months. Still, Jack visited her daily and brought her cookies and, after her death, he continued to visit the Kent and brought cookies to the residents there.

Jack and Kay were married over 50 years. When Kay died in 2000, Jack was heartbroken. He spoke of her often, always with a sad and wistful tenor in his voice. When I visited his home, nearly every time he pointed out a picture of Kay. For his career, Jack was a court stenographer. Mary related to me a story of a time when Jack served as court stenographer and none other than Albert Einstein was on the stand! After the day’s proceedings, Einstein complimented Jack saying that he was good at his vocation and that he could never do that! However, Jack was also an artist. He painted watercolors, oil based, and tempera paintings of flowers, landscapes, and even neighbor’s houses! Once Jack donated a painting of Santa Claus landing against a neighbor’s house in a wintry landscape to our Oktoberfest Dinner and Auction. One of our parishioners purchased it because it looked so much like their home! On one visit to Jack’s home, he showed me some of his works in progress. He was working on watercolors of flowers at the time. What he often would do was to make a light pencil tracing of a beautiful flower out of a book or magazine and then paint it and bring it to life. Now, some might call that cheating, but I know that my painted flowers would look nothing like the beautiful works Jack produced, tracing or not!

And, this is all just scratching the surface. There is so much more to say and to remember and to give thanks for about Jack. Truly, his was a life well-lived, because he lived it in faith and love for his Lord and God, and in love and service to his brothers and sisters and neighbors to the glory of God. And, that is what we are all called to do. Therefore, we give thanks to God this day for the gift of Johann Hermann Knuppel, affectionately known as Jack, for, Jack was a gift to us and to many, and he was an example of how our Lord would have us live and serve.

I know that Jack’s last years did not go the way he had thought and hoped they would. All he wanted was to remain in his own home, and, thanks to money he’d saved over the years, and his loving neighbor and friend Mary, unlike so many others, he was able to do just that. However, as his strength left him and he couldn’t get out and about like he used to, and even moving around the house became challenging, he became lonely, and bored, and even a little depressed. Inevitably he began to ask, again, like so many others, “Why does the Lord keep me here?” That is a very human question, and there is no sin in asking it.

But, the LORD has words of comfort and hope for those who seem to be experiencing the LORD’s grief: “The Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.” Likewise, Jesus Himself taught that those who hear His Word and believe, even in life, already have eternal life: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” Thus, Jack, and you, and all believers in Christ can face the good times and the bad times with the bold confidence and confession of St. Paul: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

That is the faith that our brother in Christ Johnann Hermann Knuppel had. That is the faith that sustained Jack all his many years, through good times and bad times, through Kay’s death, and through his own physical decline unto death. And now, we take comfort and find hope in the promise our LORD made to Jack, and the promise our LORD has made to you as well: “I will never leave you or forsake you.” “I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” And, “nothing can separate you from my love, which is in Jesus Christ, your Lord.” If the LORD’s eye is upon the sparrow, then you may know that He watches over you too.

The LORD has kept His promise to Jack. Jack has died, but He is alive with the LORD, and with Kay, and with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven. Still, he awaits with the saints in glory that yet more brighter day when the saints, triumphant, rise in bright array, and the King of glory will lead them on His way singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: Alleluia! Alleluia! Take heart. We are not like those without hope. Jack is with the Lord, and you will see him again. On that day, you will stand with him and all the saints in flesh and blood bodies and see with your eyes, touch with your hands, and hear with your ears those you love who have gone before you, and together we will sing “Holy, Holy, Holy! Glory to God and to the Lamb and to the Holy Spirit evermore.”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Christian Funeral for Norman Westin

John 14:1-6; Romans 8: 31-39; Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

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

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to remember, to celebrate, and to give thanks to God for the life and faith of our departed brother in Christ Norman Westin. We give thanks to God for Norman’s life because all life is God’s gift, and Norman’s life was a unique and special gift to us. Truly, each of your lives would have been something different and something less without Norman, for he touched each of you in a special way, and that is why you are here today in his remembrance.

We celebrate Norman’s life and his faith because he was a kind, caring, and compassionate man, and because he gave life to so many others – his dear children Richard and Claudia, his precious six grandchildren Gregory, Diana, Emily, Katherine, Julia, and Amos, and his beloved helpmate in life, through good times and bad times, through richer and poorer, until death parted them, his love, his wife Margaret – Norman gave life to you in so many ways, even as he gave life to so many more in service, in charity, in kindness, and by inspiration. Therefore, we celebrate a life that was well-lived. Norman’s life was well-lived because it was not lived in selfish pursuits or in meanness, but in humility, in love, and in selfless service to others, just as the Lord called him to live and to do.

And, lastly, we celebrate, remember, and give thanks this day because we know that Norman, even though he has died physically, is more than alive spiritually with his creator, God the Father, and with his redeemer, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and that he is now among that multitude of hosts in white robes standing before the throne of the Lamb of God in heaven praising the one who has defeated death and has secured real, lasting, even eternal life for all who call upon the Name of Jesus and trust in Him. Now he waits in peace and joy until that day when you will join him there, that day when you will see Norman again, not as a memory or a photograph, but face to face, when you will put your real flesh and blood arms around him again, hear his true voice again, see his true face again, and feel his true heart beat again, healthy and strong, full of life that can never die.

Yes, that is what we are truly gathered here today to remember, to celebrate, and to give thanks to God for. And, that will surely bring tears – tears of sorrow comingled with tears of joy – for, we are not like those who are without hope. For, we worship a God who has passed through the valley of the shadow of death and has destroyed the door of the grave that would keep us in, who, even now walks with us as we make our pilgrimage through that dark valley and will lead us safely into His Father’s house where He has prepared a place for each one of you who will believe.

I only met Norman a couple of times, so, I cannot say that I really knew him. Nevertheless, I found him to be kind and peaceful, welcoming, and attentive. From speaking with his family and learning about Norman’s life and accomplishments, I am all the more confirmed that my positive first impressions were accurate and true. Norman was a man who made plans, set goals, and strove to achieve them. He didn’t just play baseball and football in high school, but he lettered in those sports and he captained the football team. He wasn’t just an architect, but he served on the Mt. Kisco Architectural Review Board and was Chairman of the Mt. Kisco Planning Board. And, when he did a crossword puzzle, he did it quickly and correctly the first time, with a pen! Margaret related to me that Norman liked to tell a funny story about his commutes on the train. As it was, there was a group of businessmen who used to have a contest to see who could finish the crossword puzzle in the newspaper the quickest. One man would frequently shout out “I’m done!” Amazed that this guy could finish first again and again, the men asked to see his puzzle. It turns out that it was filled, not with the correct answers, but with nonsensical gibberish! The man confessed that he didn’t really care about the puzzle, but that he simply enjoyed the camaraderie and friendship and sense of belonging. I suspect that Norman liked that story because he valued those things too. Norman loved his family and adored his grandchildren, and they adored him too. He had a wonderful sense of humor, an easy laugh, and an ability to make friends wherever he went. He will be dearly missed by many.

Sorrow is a part of our lives since the Fall. Truly, there is “a time to be born, and a time to die” as much as there is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” But, all time is the LORD’s, and He gives, and He takes away as He knows to be best – Blessed be the Name of the LORD always. And, despite our times of sorrow and mourning, despite times of suffering and pain, despite times when it appears that God is not in control, or that He is vindictive, or that there is no God at all – despite all that, “God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” Truly, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ – not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword, and not even death. Therefore, if not even death can hold us, then what have we to fear? Nothing. For, our Good Shepherd Jesus shares our sorrows and pain, our grief, and even our death, and He lives victorious over sin, death, Satan, and the grave. And now He accompanies and leads you to His Father’s house where He has prepared a place for Norman, and for you, and for all His children who believe and trust in Him and who follow Him.

“Let not your hearts be troubled.” You believe in the LORD? Believe also in His Son, Jesus. For, He has prepared all things for you, and He will come again to take you to be with Him in His Father’s house forevermore. There you will be reunited with Norman, and with your mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, friends, neighbors, and with all the saints before the glorious throne of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, where there will be no sorrow, no weeping, no pain, no suffering, and no death, but only peace and joy in the presence of God.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.