Blog Archives

Jesus Tends His Sheep

4/26/2020

Bernard Plockhorst, Good Shepherd, Public Domain

Good Shepherd Sunday (Easter 3)
John 10:11-18
April 26, 2020

Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd. What does this mean? First, it means that Jesus is the Lord God. In our Old Testament Lesson from Ezekiel 34, the LORD God said that it was He who would shepherd the sheep, seek the lost, bring back the strayed, bind up the injured, and strengthen the weak. The Lord God himself would be their shepherd and lead them to pasture to feed. And King David declared in probably the most well-known Psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” When Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd, he is claiming to be nothing less than the Lord God himself!
Second, that Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd means that he lays down his life for the sheep. This seems strange, because shepherds generally don’t lay down their lives for their sheep. Rather, they use their sheep for their own benefit. They sheer them, milk them, and butcher them for their meet. They don’t willingly die for the sake of the sheep. But when Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd, he is not likening himself to any shepherd on earth. Jesus does what no shepherd, good or bad by worldly standards, would ever do. He lays down his life for his sheep!
Indeed, this is what makes him the Good Shepherd! Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” This is what the Good Shepherd does. If your good shepherd doesn’t lay down his life for you, then he’s not the Good Shepherd. Jesus says, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, so that I may take it up again.” This shows how thoroughly Jesus’ will conforms to his heavenly Father’s. The Father and the Son are on the same page. They desire the salvation of mankind. They know what it takes to save us. The Father sends the Son. The Son goes willingly.
This means that as Jesus hung on the cross in anguish, bearing the sins of the whole world, he knew that what he was doing was pleasing to his Father. As the Father poured out his wrath against sin upon his Son, he was pleased with his Son’s work of redemption! The Father himself loves us! That is why he sent Jesus to die for us.
Jesus’ sheep are human sheep. They are precious in his eyes. This is why he took on our own flesh and blood, assumed a human soul, so that he might save everything we are. Jesus is forever one of us. He is a human being. He has joined his flock. And he has died for his flock. This is what it means that our Shepherd is Good.
Finally, that Jesus is the Good Shepherd means that he tends his sheep. He cares for us today. Jesus’ ministry continues today. It has not ceased since it began. It carries on through the ministry of the Word. Jesus has done the work. He has laid down his life for us. We receive his victory over death by believing in him. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen, yet, have believed.” But we can’t believe unless we hear. We need to hear Jesus’ voice.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. That means that we are sheep. What does this mean? Well, it means we have gone astray. “All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned, everyone, to his own way. And the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Sheep need a shepherd, or else they’ll go astray. They can’t be left to their own devises or they will get themselves into trouble. Each to his own way, eventually leads to death and damnation. We have gone astray. Jesus needed to find us. We didn’t seek him out. Jesus needed to save us. We couldn’t save ourselves. Jesus laid down his life for us to make atonement for our wayward ways. We need to be saved. Only the Good Shepherd saves.
We are sheep. This means that we listen to the voice of our Good Shepherd. Sheep are not trusting animals, and they shouldn’t be. They have no defense against predators and thieves, except to listen to the voice of their shepherd and stay close to him. Sheep will not follow the voice of a stranger. Jesus says, “A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus’ sheep flee from strangers. This is because, Jesus teaches them to. Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.” Jesus’ sheep know false prophets by what they teach.
Sheep don’t follow strangers, not because they recognize all the strangers’ voices. They don’t follow strangers, because they recognize the voice of their own shepherd. They know their shepherd’s voice so well, that even if someone tries to imitate it, they’ll recognize that it doesn’t match and they will not follow. This is how Christians are. Christians listen to the voice of their Shepherd Jesus. They learn his word, so that they recognize when he is speaking to him. This way, if a false prophet tries to lure them away with half-truths and empty promises, they recognize that it is not the voice of their shepherd.
This is why it is so important for us Christians to constantly learn the word of God. We forget easily. And it’s not simply like forgetting knowledge that you learned in high school. The devil is constantly attacking you with false teachings, so that you will not know the voice of your shepherd. Scripture warns, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4) And aren’t we seeing this happen before our eyes! How many churches today teach something unrecognizable from what they taught 100, 50, or even 20 years ago? People accumulate for themselves false teachers, that scratch where they itch.
How many hours a week do you listen to the radio? Watch TV? Watch videos or read secular articles on the internet? Talk with friends and family, who listen to the radio, watch TV, and cruise the internet? Do these voices affect what you believe? How many hours a week do you read your Bible or Catechism? Listen to the Word of God at Church or Bible Study? Discuss the Word of God with your family and friends? Which voice affects you more?
And this shows us another thing that we need, because we are sheep. We need to be tended. Many people treat Jesus and the Church where his Word is proclaimed the way they would treat a financial advisor or a doctor. I’ll listen to him when I need him. But you need Jesus every day. You need him to guide you with his staff and rod, to lead you beside still waters and on the path of righteousness. This means that you need the Law to be preached to you, so that you repent of your sins, to listen to the Gospel, believe it, and conform your life to Christ. Only by listening to the words of Christ can you recognize the lies that come from the world, which whirl around in such cacophony orchestrated by Satan in order to drown out the voice of your Good Shepherd. Yet, if you know the voice of your Shepherd, no matter whole loudly the Devil and his wolves howl, you will hear the clear voice of Jesus pierce through the noise.
How does Jesus tend us today? Through his Word. When you hear Jesus’ word, you hear Jesus’ voice. It is through believing in Jesus’ promise of salvation that was earned when he laid down his life for you that you inherit eternal life, into those blessed pastures. After Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to his disciples a third time while they were fishing. As they sat on the shore after eating their breakfast of fish provided by Jesus, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him. Three-time, Peter assured Jesus that he did love him in stark contrast to the three times he denied Jesus the night of his betrayal. And three times Jesus commanded Peter to feed or to tend his sheep.
Jesus sends his ministers to tend his sheep by preaching and teaching his words to them; by baptizing, absolving, and distributing the Sacrament of the Altar. By rebuking sin, exhorting true Christian faith and living, and by comforting with the power of the Word of Christ. St. Paul said to the pastors in Ephesus when he took leave of them, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28) Even the word “pastor” simply means shepherd.
Now, there is only one Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. But he uses many under shepherds to care for his sheep, to feed them, keep them out of danger, and rescue them from the clutches of wolves. These under shepherds do this by proclaiming the words of Christ, which all of Jesus’ sheep gladly and willingly listen to.
Although there are many under shepherds, and many of you have had several pastors; and although there are many congregations, and many of you have been members at a number of churches, Jesus tells us there is only one flock and only one Shepherd. There is only one holy, Christian and Apostolic Church. And there is only one Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture says, “one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all.” Yet, this is not what we see. We see a divided Church; one scattered to the wind by wolves and false prophets. Not only are there numerous church buildings with different names and different customs within any town; there are numerous teachings. Under the same title of “Christian” you will hear countless different and contradictory teachings. And if you could look into the heart of many, who claim to be Christian, you would find even more false belief. How can Jesus say that there is only one flock?
Because, the Church is invisible. It is invisible, because you cannot see people’s faith. Jesus knows who his true sheep are. Yet, the Church is also visible, because it is where the voice of the true Shepherd is heard. Jesus’ flock is united through faith in the pure Gospel, which proclaims that Christ Jesus laid down his life for his sheep. This means that where the pure Gospel is preached and where the Sacraments are administered, there is Christ’s one true flock. Where the Gospel is not preached, there the Good Shepherd is not present and neither is his flock.
The voice of our Good Shepherd is the most pleasant voice we can possibly listen to. His voice gives us true peace. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” How can I fear no evil as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death? How can I not be afraid, when I’m told that death is around every corner? Because, Jesus our Good Shepherd has conquered death. He came to give us life abundantly. And he did it by laying down his life for us and taking it up again. Death cannot harm us. We have a Good Shepherd, who is victorious over death. “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin. And the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Our Good Shepherd has given us victory over death even as we walk through its valley. Any voice that tells you otherwise is a wolf. But the living and risen Lord Jesus is our Shepherd. Amen.

0 Comments

Jesus Continues His Ministry of Peace

4/19/2020

0 Comments

Caravagio, The Incredulity of St. Thomas, 1601-1602, Public Domain

Quasimodogeniti (Easter 2)

John 20:19-31
April 19, 2020

When Jesus said to his disciples, “Peace be with you.”, he communicated to them what his dying on the cross and his rising from the dead had accomplished. Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplished peace between God and sinful man. St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 4 that Jesus Christ was “delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” He continues on in chapter 5, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We have peace with God, because Jesus shed his blood in order to appease God’s wrath against our sins. St. Paul continues, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:9-11)
Jesus stands before his disciples with pierced hands and pierced feet. He has the mark of the spear in his side. Yet, he is alive! They saw him dead; now he is alive! What does this mean? Peace with God! That’s what it means! God the Father raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus died bearing the sins of all people. If God raised Jesus from the dead, that means that the sins of all people have been forgiven. Jesus goes to his disciples to relay to them the meaning of his resurrection from the dead. Peace between God and all people.
And because Jesus has accomplished every work that needs to be done in order to reconcile sinners to righteous God, there remains no work for us, only to believe. “We hold that one is justified by faith, apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:28) And, “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law.” (Galatians 2:16) This means that salvation belongs to anyone who believes! Again, St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 1, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” This is exactly what Jesus taught Nicodemus back in John chapter 3, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
It is through faith that we receive peace with God, forgiveness of all our sins, and yes, indeed, eternal salvation! This is why St. John wrote in our Epistle lesson for today, “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” Our Faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God gives us the victory that Jesus won in his death and resurrection; victory over sin, death, and hell itself.
Yet, “how are they to believe in him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!’ … So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:14-15, 17)
Faith needs words. It needs a message to believe in. This is why Jesus sent his apostles, saying to them, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” Jesus gave his disciples this command, so that people would believe through their words that their sins are indeed forgiven. It is Jesus’ fervent desire that you believe the words spoken by his ministers. In fact, when Jesus was in anguish in the garden on the night in which he was betrayed, he prayed for you and me and all people, who would believe this wonderful message through the words of his apostles. He prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.” (John 17:17-20)
When Jesus gives his ministers the command and authority to forgive sins, he does not give them a special character, whereby they forgive sins by their own special power or merit. Rather, he is commanding his ministers to give to his Church what he has earned for her. Ministers work not with their own property, but with the property of Christ. The power to forgive sins always comes from Christ, yet Jesus has given his ministers the authority to wield this power. St. Paul again writes in his second letter to the Corinthians, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God! For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-21)
St. Paul calls himself a minister of reconciliation. He is an ambassador of Christ. This means that he represents not himself, but someone else. This is how all pastors are. And Paul implores sinners on behalf of Christ to be reconciled with God, not by trying to earn their salvation, but by believing in the peace and forgiveness that Christ has won for them. This is the mission of every minister of Christ.
Many people get offended that pastors will forgive the sins of others. “How can a sinner forgive another person’s sins? How dare he!” Yet, their quarrel is not with the sinner standing in the stead and by the command of Christ, but with Christ himself, who sent out men to do this job. Jesus spoke in John chapter 13, “Truly, truly, I say to you whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” Pastors forgive sins on behalf of and by the command of Christ.
This special authority to forgive the sins of repentant sinners and to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent is called the Office of the Keys. It is called the Office of the Keys, because Jesus said to St. Peter, “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” What Jesus meant by this, is that by forgiving the sins of others, the gates of heaven are opened to them as if by a key. And when the sins of a person are not forgiven, but bound, then the gates of heaven are closed and locked to that person as if by a key. What is spoken on earth is true in heaven.
This is why we learn in our Small Catechism, “I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us himself.”
Now, it is the ministers of the word, who exercise the public office of the keys, but the office of the keys does not belong to the ministers. It belongs to the Church. Jesus said in another place, “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18:18-20) Where two or three are gathered, there the Office of the Keys is valid. That is because, wherever two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, there the Church is gathered. The Office of the Keys belongs to the Church. The Gospel of the forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake belongs to the Church, because it belongs to each and every believer in Christ, who make up the Church. When one Christians declares the forgiveness of sins from Christ to another Christian, it is valid in heaven.
Yet, the Church by the command of Christ continues to call ministers to carry out this office. And Jesus continues through the Church to send his ministers to speak in his name. Pastors, who are called by the church today have the same authority to forgive sins as the apostles, who were sent by Jesus on that first Easter evening.
Yet, Jesus also gives his Church the authority to withhold forgiveness. If a man telling someone that his sins are forgiven gets people upset, you can imagine how upset people get when a minister tells someone that his sins are not forgiven. How can this be? Why does Christ give this authority to his Church? How can someone’s sins not be forgiven, if Jesus died for the sins of the whole world and rises to say, “Peace.”?
Because, you can only receive forgiveness through faith. True saving faith cannot abide with continued impenitent sin. When a sinner refuses to repent, he may say he has faith, but he doesn’t. Faith always includes repenting from sin. Holy Scripture states in Hebrews 10, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” This is why St. Paul ordered the church in Corinth to deliver a man, who was practicing sexual immorality, over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his soul might be saved in the day of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 5:5)
Jesus commands that his church refuse to forgive the sins of unrepentant sinners, so that they see the seriousness of their sins and repent, so that they can receive the forgiveness of sins through faith.. This also warns other Christians to flee from such sins. Yes, we Christians are sinners and we sin every day. But Christians repent of their sins. When a sin is no longer a struggle, but what we continue to do without repenting, then it is no longer a sin of weakness, but a ruling sin. Faith is then dead. This is why Jesus gives the authority and the command to withhold forgiveness from those, who need to repent. When the minister of Christ withholds forgiveness from a sinner, it is Jesus himself withholding forgiveness, so that that person will repent of his sins and receive forgiveness.
God’s desire is for all to repent and believe in the Gospel. This is the mission of the Church. At the beginning of his earthly ministry, Jesus proclaimed, “Repent and believe in the Gospel!” (Mark 1:15) And when Jesus sent out his disciples, he commanded that they do the same thing, “that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed to all nations.” (Luke 24:47) And through this proclamation of the Gospel, Jesus continues his ministry among us even today (Mark 16:20).
This Sunday is called Quasimodogeniti, from the Latin translation of the first line in our Introit, “Like newborn babies.” It comes from 1 Peter chapter 2, “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” We are spiritual babies. We need that spiritual milk that gives us peace with God and sustains our faith. This milk comes to us through the ministry of the Gospel, which includes the Office of the Keys. This ministry belongs to the Church. That is why St. Paul calls the Church our mother. Christ Jesus continues his ministry among us through his Church!
Like newborn babies, we need this spiritual milk every day. Faith is not simply believing some tidbit you heard long ago. Faith is continually consuming God’s grace. We need God’s peace every day. We need to be reconciled with God every day. The disciples locked their doors for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and took away their fear by declaring God’s peace to them. The danger from the Jews remained (Jesus later told Peter the manner in which he would die for his sake!), but their fear did not remain. God’s peace took away their fear. Our doors are locked for fear of a virus. With the advancements of medicines and God willing a vaccine, the danger for of this virus will decrease. But it will likely not go away for a very long time. And other dangers will always remain. But our fear should not. We have peace with God. God knows how he will resolve this current crisis. But he has already revealed to us a much greater need. His peace.

0 Comments

Christ, the First Fruits from the Dead

4/11/2020

0 Comments

James Tissot, The Resurrection, 1886-94, Brooklynmuseum.org, Public Domain

Easter 2020
1 Corinthians 15:12-25
Trinity Lutheran Church
April 12, 2020

I watched a YouTube video recently where an interviewer walked the streets of Berlin, Germany asking people what they thought would happen to them after they died. You could divide the answers in roughly three groups. The young adults believed in some sort of reincarnation, where a person would live on some way, either as a different being or creature, like a tree, or simply as energy. Middle-aged adults were more likely to believe that nothing comes after death. You’re simply dead and cease to exist. And a few of the elderly actually believed in some sort of heaven and a heavenly Father, and hoped that this heavenly Father would be kind and let you live in heaven if you were good enough.
Not one of them confessed that those who trusted in Jesus would enter paradise and await the resurrection of the dead. Not a single one made any mention of a bodily resurrection at all! It was one of the most depressing things I’ve ever seen. The land of Luther and the Lutheran Reformation, where the pure Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone was proclaimed to the whole world, and not a single one of these Germans confessed the Gospel. Although, this isn’t really surprising. It has been a long time since Germany could be considered a Christian land, let alone Lutheran. Yes, Germany was the birthplace of the Lutheran Reformation, where the pure Gospel was proclaimed against the false teaching of works righteousness from the Papacy. Yet, Germany is also the birth place of higher criticism, an academic discipline which has attacked the Holy Scriptures relentlessly for the past three centuries denying that the Holy Spirit caused the Bible to be written.
Higher criticism, which began by claiming to treat the Bible like any other book, so ruthlessly attacked the Bible unlike any other book, denying that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote the Gospels, that Paul wrote his epistles, denying that anyone who wrote the New Testament knew Jesus or actually witnessed any of his miracles, and coming up with new outrageous, unsubstantiated theories to discredit the Bible after all their old theories were discredited, so that now it is quite common for “Lutheran” ministers in the state churches in Germany to deny the virgin birth of Christ, the divinity of Christ, and the resurrection of Jesus! So, even if these pedestrians in Berlin were to darken the door of a church in Germany, they would be very unlikely to hear the proclamation that Jesus rose from the dead!
St. Paul in his frustration that many of the Corinthians didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead, declared, “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” Well, in these Germans’ case, Christ has not been proclaimed as raised from the dead. How could they believe that he is risen, if it is not preached to them or if they will not listen? And this is the same problem we have here in America, where higher criticism has spread in our churches quicker than any virus. People do not hear the proclamation of Christ’s resurrection from the dead, either by refusing to go to church and listen or because their churches refuse to proclaim it. And so, they do not confess the resurrection of their own bodies. They don’t know what happens to them when they die.
We Christians are forced today to say with the Prophet Isaiah, “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom as the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Jesus lived long ago. How could we possibly know what actually happened? Yet, for St. Paul, this was not the case. Listen to what he writes to the Corinthians and to us,
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)
St. Paul isn’t repeating some myth that has no historical basis, like that of Hercules or the Book of Mormon. St. Paul himself saw Jesus in person after his resurrection from the dead. He spoke with the disciples, who saw, touched, and ate with Jesus after his resurrection. A majority of five hundred people who saw the risen Christ together at one time were still alive when Paul wrote this letter. And we still have the written report of four Evangelists of eye witness accounts of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! And all the apostles suffered loss of home, family, friends, and income, and all but one suffered the loss of his life for the sake of this confession. This is why St. Paul is so frustrated that the Corinthians would deny the resurrection of the body. Why then has he been proclaiming Christ’s resurrection at such personal loss?
Still, despite all this historical evidence and despite the clear proclamation of the Holy Scriptures, most still deny the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of all flesh. Many believe that you can even still be a Christian if you deny that Jesus rose from the dead. Yet, what does St. Paul write, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
If Christ has not been raised from the dead, there is no sense in being a Christian! Sure, the Christian experiences joys in this life and by living according to God’s Word we learn to enjoy God’s blessings here on earth. But Christians are called to bear their cross! Christians must suffer on account of Christ; lose family and friends, possessions and income. We are mocked and ridiculed for our faith. And like the rest of mankind, we die! If Christ is not raised, then we also will not be raised, and our faith is stupid.
But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead! So, what does this mean? St. Paul tells us that Jesus Christ is the firstfruits! That is, Jesus is the source of the resurrection for all others. St. Paul says, “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” In Adam all die, because Adam sinned. Sin entered our human race and caused us all to die. Death is God’s judgment against us. But Jesus’ resurrection undoes that judgment! Jesus’ resurrection gives us certainty that we will rise from the dead.
Now, everyone will rise from the dead. Both good and bad as Jesus says in John chapter 5, “For an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” Yet, as you hear, not all who rise will enter eternal life. Rather, those who have done evil will be judged for their sins. Here Jesus’ warns of damnation. Yet, in this same chapter Jesus says, “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.”
We will not come into judgment, because we believe in Christ! How can this be? Because Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. The bad deeds that we have done that would have earned us the resurrection into judgment and eternal hell were borne by Jesus when he was crucified. All our sins were nailed to the cross. In Jesus resurrection he proved that all our sins have been washed away in his blood. He has accomplished what he set out to do. He reconciled the world to God!
St. Paul, after declaring that righteousness was counted to Abraham by his faith apart from his work says, “But the words ‘it was counted to him’ were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
To be justified means to have peace with God. This peace can only be received through faith, apart from our works. The reason why it can only be received through faith, is because it is a gift. Justification, which means that God is not angry with us, but forgives us and considers us righteous, was earned by Jesus’ death on the cross. When Jesus was raised, our justification was completed. We do not earn our justification. We do not earn our forgiveness. We receive it through faith.
Since it is by believing that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead that saves us and not our works, some might think that we can continue to sin without repenting. It doesn’t matter whether you fornicate, steal, lie, cheat, gossip, view pornography, get drunk, go to church or not, hate, or covet. If you only have to believe, then you can continue doing all these things without fear! Wrong! St. Paul writes, “I die every day!” and “Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning.” (1 Corinthians 15:31, 34) Again, to the question, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” St. Paul answers, “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”
Faith in Christ’s resurrection from the dead means that we have faith in his death for our sins. We confess our faith in Christ by dying to sin every day! Meaning, we repent of our sins, place them on Christ, and rise to walk in newness of life. Again, St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 6, “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” (Romans 6:9-13)
Through faith in Christ’s victory over sin and death, we put to death sin in our bodies every day and rise as servants of righteousness. This is because we believe that sin will finally die with our bodies and our bodies will be raised to live after the image of Christ, in righteousness and purity forever. As St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, “As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”
There have been about 19,000 reported deaths due to the coronavirus in the United States so far. If we could have a vaccine tomorrow, approved by the FDA, proven effective, and in ample supply, people would be rushing to get vaccinated. It would be a miracle. We would all be talking about it, rejoicing. It would be the only thing we would hear on the news. Well, billions of people have died due to sin. And billions more will die on account of sin. And we do have a treatment that is 100% effective: the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who gives forgiveness of sins, justification, peace with God, and certainty of the resurrection to eternal life to all who believe in him. If Christ is proclaimed as risen from the dead, how dare anyone believe that they too will not be raised. We are not ignorant, brothers and sisters. We know what will happen when we die. We believe that we will rise from the dead and live eternally with Jesus. We believe this, because Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

0 Comments

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!

4/11/2020

0 Comments

James Tissot, The Death of Jesus, 1886-94, Public Domain

Good Friday
Luke 23:46
April 10, 2020

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Luke 23:46

Jesus’ last words from the cross are a paraphrase of Psalm 31, where King David says, “Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.” The Psalter is a prayer book. Faithful Jews had been praying Psalm 31 for a thousand years by the time Jesus prayed this verse from the cross. David wrote this Psalm as he was pursued by one of his many enemies throughout his life. Those of us who have put to memory Luther’s morning and evening prayers may find this verse familiar, because it is the basis for this sentence in both prayers, “For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things.” Indeed, we should commend our spirit, body, and all we have into the hand of the Lord as long as we live. If our life is in God’s hand, what harm can come to us? Yet, Jesus teaches us from the cross to commend our spirit into God’s hand not only throughout life, but in death.
This is a profound statement. It is common for those who believe in God to entrust their life to God. Many more of us have been doing this the past few weeks. We don’t know what is going to happen. We do not know how great the danger is or when it will pass. But we commend our souls to God, knowing that he who rules the wind and waves can certainly guide us through this storm.
Yet, Jesus teaches us to commend our souls in death, not just in life! And indeed, unless we learn to commend our souls to the Lord in death, we dare not die! For death is a terrible thing if your soul is not in God’s hand! And make no mistake about it; we are all going to die! So, we better learn from our Lord Jesus how to die, as we sing in the hymn:
Teach me to live that I may dread/ The grave as little as my bed.
Teach me to die that so I may/ Rise glorious at the awe-full day. (All Praise to Thee My God, This Night, Thomas Ken, LSB 883:3).
Again, this is what St. Paul teaches us in Romans 14, “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
Jesus had such faith in God, that he felt confident to lay his soul in his hand even in death as if he were placing a precious treasure securely in a safe and locking it for safe keeping. Even as he felt the torment of hell on the cross, the guilt for the sins of all people, the pains of body and soul, even just moments after he cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!”, Jesus has the confidence to commend his soul to the Father.
Jesus displayed this confidence before his crucifixion. He declared, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (John 10:17-18) He told his disciples repeatedly that he would be betrayed into the hands of evil men, be beaten, flogged, and crucified, and on the third day rise.
Yes, we know that Jesus said these things. We confess Christ too. Yet, how did Jesus continue to confess these things, so that his last words on the cross were a confession of this truth? First, Jesus is God. He prayed in the olive grove the night he was betrayed, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” (John 17:5) Jesus knew that it was impossible for death to hold him, because he is the author of life.
Secondly, because Jesus was perfectly obedient to God. He never sinned. God the Father said to Jesus both at his Baptism and at his Transfiguration, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” As Jesus was crucified, he knew that he never transgressed God’s commandment, even once. He was innocent of all sin. The sins he died for were not his own, but ours.
Thirdly, Jesus believed the words of the Prophets, who declared God’s plan. Isaiah prophesied, “Surely he has born our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:4-7) And the Prophet continues, “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he should prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied.” (vss. 10-11) Jesus knew that he was that lamb led to the slaughter to bear the iniquities of the people. Yet, he knew that though he would suffer, he would be raised from the dead and would see his offspring with prolonged days. This is why Jesus didn’t resist those who arrested him, even though he could bring them to the ground with a word. This is why Jesus committed his spirit into the hand of him who willed to crush him. He had confidence in the promise of Scripture.
Jesus’ confidence to commit his spirit in death to his heavenly Father should give us confidence to commit our spirits to God in death. Not, because we have confidence in ourselves, but because we have confidence in Jesus. We are not God, but Jesus is most certainly God. He proved it with mighty works, by fulfilling the Scriptures, by the testimony of the Father and the Holy Spirit, and of course, through his resurrection and ascension to glory. We are not without sin. We have been disobedient to God. We deserve this plague which is upon us. We deserve to die. Every death reported during the pandemic is a proclamation to each of us that we deserve to die for our sins. We can all recognize with the thief on the cross, “We indeed suffer justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.”
So, we look to him who did no wrong, yet suffered for our sake. We see that Jesus indeed suffered not for his own sins, but for ours. And being God, Jesus is able to pay for the sins of all people. Indeed, his blood is an infinite source of salvation!
We look to Scripture to see in Jesus our confidence to commit our spirits to God. Scripture states, “‘Death is 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.” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)
Death is a reality to us all. We’re all going to die. Death is God’s punishment against sin. And eternal damnation is the punishment after that. God’s wrath against sin is real. We see that in the crucifixion of Christ. Not knowing whether you are on good terms with God before you die is the most terrifying thing you can imagine. And many live that terror. They don’t know whether they have been good enough. They hope. They hope they will pass the test. But Scripture clearly says that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. Except for Jesus. And it is through Jesus alone that we are justified and redeemed. Jesus committed his spirit into the hands of his heavenly Father in death, so that we sinners might commit our souls to the hand of God without fear. We are reconciled through the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is certainly a good example. We should walk with him. Yet, trying to follow Jesus’ example in life will do you no good unless you first follow his example in death. Trust in Christ’s death. Commit your spirit to him, who raised Christ Jesus from the dead. Amen.

0 Comments

A New Command I Give to You

4/9/2020

0 Comments

Ford Madox Brown, Jesus Washing Peter's Feet, 1852-6, Commons.wikipedia.org

Maundy Thursday
John 13:1-15, 34-35
April 9, 2020

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
There is a TV show called Shark Tank, where entrepreneurs get just a few minutes to pitch their idea to a group of rich investors. The investors may reject them or make an offer for a share of their company or profits. If the entrepreneur has a good idea, the investors will compete with each other with better and better offers to get a piece of the company. One of the investors, known for his shrewdness, is a rich Canadian businessman named Kevin O’Leary. When he presents an offer to one of the contestants and gets rejected, he says a dark humorous line, “You’re dead to me.” Whether O’Leary himself is so ruthless in real life, or whether this is just his television personality, I don’t know. Yet, this line does a good job of showing the ruthlessness of the business world. O’Leary is only interested in the contestant as long as he has something to gain from him, namely, money. Yet, the moment he loses the opportunity to gain money, the person he was previously courting is dead to him. He has no use for him. He might as well not exist.
This is ruthless, yet it is not limited to the world of business. This is how people behave everyday with their acquaintances, friends, and yes, even their family. They’ll be friendly and helpful to them, just so long as they have something to gain by it. Yet, once a person proves to be unprofitable as a friend or acquaintance, they’re cut off from further help and friendship. Very often, maybe not in words, but in deeds, people say to one another, “You’re dead to me.”
Not so with Jesus’ Christians. Jesus commands us to love one another and to do good to those who are incapable of paying us back! We must love not only in word, but in deed; helping those who cannot help themselves and cannot help us in return.
Yet, Christians quickly forget this. We help those we like. We are friendly toward those who make us feel good about ourselves. We forgive those who do us no wrong, but we hold grudges against those who bother us. We Christians need this reminder from Jesus. He commands us to love one another even as he loved his disciples; to do good to others as Jesus does good to us.
St. John writes in his first Epistle, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (1 John 3:15) This is an important reminder that true saving faith produces good fruit. We do not become Christians by loving our neighbor. We must not put the cart before the ox. Rather, love is the fruit of saving faith, as St. John also writes, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:10-11)
And here, God has given us a perfect opportunity to practice this love; to give evidence that we are actually Christians! Listen to the words of St. Paul from Philippians chapter 2, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each person look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Most of us are cooped up. There are very limited places we are able to go. And some of us can’t leave our homes at all. Kids are spending their days in the same house where parents are trying to get work done. Here is your opportunity to help! Kids, instead of using this extra time to play video games and mindlessly cruise the internet, help your parents out with household chores! Be considerate to your father or mother who must work from home by giving them peace and quiet. Husbands, consider the needs of your wives and wives, consider the needs of your husbands. Do acts of kindness to each other. Do not get irritated with one another, rather be quick to forgive and slow to anger. Consider those who are in need and find ways to help them!
When we express love toward one another, we should be careful that we do not mistake the world’s perverted version of love with the love Christ mandates to us. St. John warns again, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)
The world loves praise. The world loves pleasure. The world loves independence from God. That is not what love is. My father used to quote a poem from a Norwegian play called Brand, which articulates well what true love really means:
Of what the paltering world calls love,
I will not know, I cannot speak;
I know but His who reigns above,
And His is neither mild nor weak;
Hard even unto death is this,
And smiting with its awful kiss.
What was the answer of God’s love
Of old, when in the olive-grove
In anguish-sweat His own Son lay;
And prayed, O, take this cup away?
Did God take from Him then the cup?
No, child; His Son must drink it up! (Brand, By Henrik Ibsen. 75).
The love Jesus teaches us is the love that causes the Father to sacrifice his Son for our sins; the love that led Jesus to go as a lamb to slaughter without protest. When Jesus, their Lord and teacher, washed his disciples’ feet, he demonstrated that he did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. That is God’s love. And that is the love that Christians must imitate. A love that serves others, not a love that seeks pleasure.
I’ve said several times before that God is humbling us right now with this coronavirus pandemic. And it is good for us to be humbled, so that we can meet Christ in humiliation, so that we can be saved from this sinful world and enjoy the love of Christ forever. St. Peter at first refused to let Jesus wash his feet. At first, you might think that Peter was being humble. He didn’t want his Lord and Master to humble himself before him and wash his feet like a common servant. Yet, it wasn’t humility that caused Peter to protest, but pride. He didn’t want a master who served. He wanted a master who led. And he wanted to follow after a glorious leader. But Jesus will not meet us in our pride. He will not meet us exalted on our self-made pedestals. Jesus will only meet us in humility. “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”, Jesus says to Peter. Indeed, he says this to every one of us. Unless Jesus clears the muck accumulated by our wicked thoughts, words, and actions, we will remain unclean and unfit for heaven.
We must come before God as sinners in need of redemption; as persons soiled, who need to be clean. When we come to Christ in such humility, he cleans us and makes us whole. And only then are we equipped to share the love of Christ with others. Then we are not afraid to humble ourselves before father, mother, husband, wife, child, or neighbor locked in his house. We have no fear to humble ourselves, because we know with Christ, we can lose nothing.
By loving one another you show that you have received Christ’s love through faith. And by receiving Christ’s love, which he offers to you through the proclamation of the Gospel, through the eating and drinking of his body and blood, which he died in love to give you, and through the mutual conversation and consolation of the brethren, whereby you confess Christ to one another in your homes, then God’s love overflows from you to one another.
The command to love is not a new command. It is the oldest command we have from God. Yet, it is a new command, because Christ has perfected it by dying for our sins and giving us all that we need for eternal life. This command is given anew to Jesus’ Christians, who are enabled by his love to love one another. Dear Christians, rejoice in the love of God which Christ has shown you. And may this love flow through you to those who need it. In Jesus name. Amen.

0 Comments

<<Previous

"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

Jesus Tends His Sheep

Jesus Continues His Ministry of Peace

Christ, the First Fruits from the Dead

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!

A New Command I Give to You

Rev. James Preus

Archives

Categories