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

Reformation 500 Sermon: If You Abide in My Words You Are Truly My Disciples

10/30/2017

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John 8:31-36 
Romans 3:19-28 
"If You Abide in My Words You Are Truly My Disciple"  
10/29/2017 

 
Five hundred years ago this Tuesday Martin Luther, a little-known monk and professor of theology at the University in Wittenberg posted his 95 Theses on the Castle Church door in Wittenberg Germany. He also sent his theses along with a letter to Albert, Bishop of Mainz and Magdeburg and to a few other theologians. Luther wanted to have a debate about indulgences. Indulgences, according to the Roman Catholic Church release people from some or all of their time in purgatory. Purgatory, according to the Roman Church is where Catholics go to suffer the remaining consequences of their sins before they can go to heaven.  

In order to pay for the reconstruction of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, Pope Leo X authorized the selling of indulgences for money. Unbeknownst to Martin Luther, half of the proceeds from the indulgences also went to pay back the debt of Albert, Bishop of Mainz, because the pope made Albert Bishop of Mainz in exchange for a large sum of money. In order to sell more indulgences preachers would give people the impression that if they bought an indulgence then all of their sins would be forgiven and they would go straight to heaven. You could even buy indulgences for your dead loved ones to get them out of purgatory. A catchy jingle went along with the selling of indulgences: "When the coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs." 

This greatly disturbed Martin Luther, because people gave up repenting of their sins and trusted in their purchased indulgences instead of Christ Jesus. Among Luther's 95 Theses were: (1)"When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent' [Matt. 4:17], he willed that the entire life of believers to be one of repentance."; (41) Papal indulgences must be preached with caution, lest people erroneously think that they are preferable to other good works of love."; (50) Christians are to be taught that if the pope knew the exactions of the indulgences preached, he would rather that the basilica of St. Peter were burned to ashes than built up with the skin, flesh, and bones of his sheep."; and (82) "Why doesn't the pope empty purgatory for the sake of holy love and the dire need of the souls that are there if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a church?"  

Luther wanted to have a debate. But he sparked a Reformation. By January 1521 Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Church and later that same year declared an outlaw by the emperor. Luther should have been killed. However, because of God's great mercy and through the courage of extraordinary men, Martin Luther lived for another twenty-five years, preaching the Gospel and teaching future generations of Christians. Luther and other faithful Christians wrote great confessions of faith, which we still read and learn today, including Luther's Small and Large Catechisms and the Augsburg Confession.  

So, was the Reformation a mistake? We confess in the Creed that we believe in "one, holy, Christian, and apostolic Church" yet today there are more churches than we can count, and every one teaches something different. No one seems to know which church is the true church. People seem to just go to the church that fits their own personal views and comforts. And it seems that everyone except the Catholics claim Martin Luther as their hero and celebrate the Reformation. Well, should we celebrate the Reformation? Is it a celebration of dividing the Church of Christ? What is the Church?  

Martin Luther wrote in our Lutheran Confessions, "Thank God, today a seven-year-old child knows what the Church is, namely, the holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd {John 10:11-16]." (Smalcald Article XII) The Church is not made of church buildings or constitutions or synods. The Church is made up of believers of Christ, who trust in God's Word. Jesus said in our Gospel lesson, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32) It is faith in the God's Word that builds the Church.  

This is why we can still confess one, holy, Christian, and apostolic Church, even if we lose count of how many different churches there are in our town. This is why we can sing, "Built on the Rock, the Church shall stand, even when steeples are falling." (LSB 645) Even if Trinity Lutheran Church in Ottumwa crumbles to the ground and loses all her members, Christ's holy Church will remain. Even if the Missouri Synod ceases to exist, the one, holy, Christian, and apostolic Church will endure. Because God's holy Word will never pass away and God has always kept his 7,000 from bending their knee to Baal.  

The Lutheran Reformation did not divide the Church. That is impossible, because the Lutheran Reformation was centered on faithfulness to the Holy Scriptures, which are God's holy Word. God's Word cannot divide his Church. God's Word can only unite his lambs, because Christ's sheep hear his voice.  

Another one of our Lutheran Confessions, the Formula of Concord, says this concerning Scripture, "We believe, teach, and confess that the only rule and norm according to which all teachings, together with all teachers, should be evaluated and judged [2 Timothy 3:15-17] are the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testament alone." (Epitome: Summary) In other words, the Bible is the Word of God and everything we preach, teach, and confess must be solidly rooted in the Bible. This is what the Bible itself teaches. St. Paul writes in 2 Timothy chapter 3, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness..." And so, Lutherans subscribe to the principle: Sola Scriptura, that is, Scripture Alone! 

Because we Lutherans hold to Scripture alone as the source of all teachings concerning our faith, we also hold to Sola Gratia, that is, Grace Alone! We believe that we are saved by God's grace apart from our works. This is because Scripture clearly says in Romans chapter 3, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith." (Romans 3:21-25)  

The main issue during the Lutheran Reformation was, "How are we saved?" The Roman Catholic Church said (and still says) that a sinner is saved both by faith and by doing good works. The Lutherans looked at Scripture and saw that we are saved by grace apart from our works. You can't be saved by grace and your good works. Romans 11:6 states, " But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace." Grace is a free gift. If you add your works it is no longer a free gift. It is no longer grace.  

You must be saved by grace, because as Scripture says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." If you've sinned and fallen short of God's glory, then your works cannot save you. Scripture says everyone has sinned. Jesus says that everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. You are a slave unless you are set free by the Son. You're helpless. You need to be saved. God saves you as a free gift through his Son. This is the clear teaching of Scripture.  

To be saved by grace, you must be saved through faith. Lutheran's also hold to Sola Fide, that is, Faith alone. Faith alone saves. Faith does not save, because it is a great work. Faith saves, because it receives Jesus. All sinners are "justified by [God's] grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith." Faith simply receives the free gift from God. If you are given a present, you don't claim to have earned it, because you received it in your hand. So, you also have not earned God's grace because you received it through faith. In fact, you would not even be able to have faith in Jesus unless God granted faith by the Holy Spirit working through God's Word.  

To be justified means that God finds you innocent of all sins and you are in a right relationship with God. To be justified means to be righteous. You must be righteous to go to heaven. The opposite of being righteous is being a sinner. Sinners go to hell. You must be righteous to be saved. God declares you righteous despite your sins, not because of what you have done, but because of what Jesus has done. Jesus paid for your sins by dying on the cross in your stead. God brought forth Jesus to be the propitiation for your sins by his blood. Propitiation is what makes God no longer angry with you. Sin needs to be punished. That is why sinners go to hell. God sent Jesus to be punished in your place. Because Jesus is true man, a human just like you, he can suffer in your stead. Because he is true God his death is worth more than all the sins of the entire world. And because Jesus had no sins of his own, he was able to pay for the sins of the world. Scripture states in 1 John 2 that Jesus Christ "is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world."  

Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. The whole world is justified by God's grace for Christ's sake. Yet, you can only receive this justification and be saved through faith. Faith is not simply believing that Jesus existed or even that he died, rose, and ascended into heaven. Faith is incomplete if you only know the historical facts. Faith is also trusting that what Jesus did for you truly forgives your sins and saves you. Article IV of the Augsburg Confession, another one of our Lutheran Confessions from 1530, states, "Our churches also teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength merit or works, but are freely justified for Christ's sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, who, by his death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God credits for righteousness in His sight. Rom. 3 and 4."  

If you believe it, it is so. If you believe that God forgives you and is merciful to you for Christ's sake, then you are forgiven and God is merciful to you. Your faith makes it a reality, by receiving the reality. 

To be saved by faith alone means to be saved by Jesus alone. Faith receives Jesus and trusts in nothing else. That is why you trust in your Baptism. Jesus baptized you. He promised you that Baptism saves (Mark 16:16). So you have faith in Jesus by trusting in your baptism. You trust that the Lord's Supper of Christ's body and blood forgives your sins, because Jesus said so (Matthew 26:28). Saving faith is all about Jesus.  

Faith excludes good works, because you must trust in Jesus to be saved, not in your own efforts. But saving faith does not forbid you from doing good works. On the contrary, good works are the natural fruit produced by faith. Christians love God, honor authorities, and serve their neighbor, not to be saved, but because their faith compels them. Good works serve your neighbor and supply the proof that faith is living.  

The Lutheran Reformation was centered on the fact that Scripture alone is the source of our faith. Trusting in Scripture is nothing less than abiding in Jesus' word. Because Lutherans abide in Jesus' Word, they believe they are saved by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone. The Lutheran Reformation is about abiding in Jesus' word and truly being his disciples. It is about being a member of the one, holy, Christian and apostolic Church. We are members of that Church by grace through faith in Jesus alone. And by God's grace we will remain in this Church even after the resurrection of the dead as we enter into the life of the world to come. Amen.  
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Trinity 17: God Exalts the Humble

10/9/2017

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Luke 14:1-11

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." It is certainly good advice to be humble. It does no one any good to boast. Rather, let your actions speak for themselves. If you are invited to a wedding and you sit in the best man's seat you will with red face have to walk through the hall of wedding guests to your own seat when the true best man arrives. And if a young lad boasts to a pretty lady that he can dunk a 
basketball, he'll lose every chance of dating her when he fails to swipe the net.  

But humility isn't just good advice, it is a Christian virtue, indeed, it is the God given second nature given to a Christian through faith in Christ. St. Paul urges you in our epistle lesson to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love..." Why is humility a manner worthy of your calling? Because you have been called to follow Christ Jesus. No one has humbled himself so greatly as our dear Jesus did. St. Paul writes to the Philippians in chapter two:  
 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:3-11) 

We Christians want to imitate Jesus. He is our Brother, our Master, our Friend, and our Savior. If such humility is not beneath him, then none of us can claim to be too good to humble ourselves to serve our neighbor in any way we can.  

Our Lord's humility is the source of our salvation. Had not Jesus humbled himself to the point of death then we all would be damned for eternity. Jesus, who is the eternal Son of God lowered himself lower than any sinner, even those in the depths of hell. He suffered the greatest wrath any being has ever suffered. And he did this to save us from the punishment of our sins. And now our Lord is exalted above every name, he is to be worshipped by all for all time. And our Lord did not ascend to heaven alone. He leads a train of captives now freed from sin. He exalts us with him, having freed us from the depths of hell. All glory be to Jesus forever! 

Yet, we do not humble ourselves only to imitate Christ and behave as Christians, although we certainly do that. But being humble is how you become a Christian. You must be humble to receive salvation by grace. Many have this mistaken view that you become a Christian by being a good person. If you're honest, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and read your Bible then you become a Christian. They think that if God is impressed enough by your good works then he'll call you one of his Christians. But this is not the way you become a Christian. St. Paul writes, "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in God's sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." (Rom. 3:20) In fact, St. Paul, whose good works would put all of ours to shame, said this about his good works, "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith." (Philippians 3:8-9) 

This is why our hymn of the month is so fantastic! No other hymn articulates the Christian faith so concisely! Just listen:  
Salvation unto us has come 
By God's free grace and favor; 
Good works cannot avert our doom, 
They help and save us never.  
Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone, 
Who did for all the world atone; 
He is our one Redeemer. (Paul Speratus, LSB 555) 

This hymn articulates the biblical truth that our salvation is a free gift from God and it does not depend on our works at all. "Good works cannot avert our doom." What does that mean? It means that there is nothing you can do, no matter how fabulous you think it might be, that can prevent your damnation. When you come before God asking to enter heaven, God doesn't want you to offer him anything. He wants you to come to him completely empty handed, humble, and lowly, so that he can give you eternal life purely as his gift to you. If you do not come empty handed, then you will put your trust in something other than Christ Jesus, and that is idolatry. God wants you to trust in Jesus Christ alone, and not in your own works.  

God commands that you come before him empty and humble, not because he gets some strange satisfaction in humiliating those to whom he gives gifts. Rather, God intends to rescue you from your sinful condition. God isn't trying to get you to accept a fake reality. God wants you to grasp on to the true reality of your situation. You are a lost and condemned sinner, who can offer nothing to God to earn your salvation. Our hymn puts it perfectly, "From sin our flesh could not abstain, Sin held its sway unceasing; The task was useless and in vain, Our guilt was e'er increasing. None can remove sin's poisoned dart Or purify our guileful heart— So deep is our corruption." (Ibid, Stz. 4) God wants you to realize the gravity of this situation, so that he can save you by grace and rescue you from your sinful condition.  

On Monday in the wake of Sunday night's horrific mass murder, many of us were glued to the news waiting new information. After the murderer was identified I saw a headline that stated, "The Face of Evil." But when I looked at the first pictures released of the evil man, who wreaked such havoc in Las Vegas, I saw an ordinary man, whom you wouldn't be surprised to see in the grocery store or even in one of these pews. "The Face of Evil" looks just like you and me.  

Of course, you can't actually see evil. Evil is on the inside. But the fact remains, evil is within every one of you and me. Jesus says, "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander," (Matthew 15:19). These are what defile a person and they are all within us. The evil that grew and festered within last Sunday's murderer is the same evil that originates within our hearts. It is only by God's grace that we are kept from committing such heinous crimes. This is why these things keep happening. Atrocities like the Nazi's genocide of Europe's Jews to the murder and displacement of millions of Christians in the Middle East will continue to happen, because the evil which causes it is deeply rooted in the human heart.  

This is why we bring our babies to be baptized. As cute as they are, we know that they are born sinners. They cannot choose to come to Christ. God must come to them. So, we bring them to Baptism, so that God may give them a new heart and wash away their sins in the blood of Christ.  

And even after we are baptized our sinful flesh still fights against our new man to keep us from doing what we want to do. And so, we confess our sins every Sunday. The words, "I, a poor, miserable sinner," are not pandering to God. We are confessing a dark truth that dwells within us. And we come to our merciful God for him to wash it out and raise us out of our darkness.  

You see now how obscene it is to present your good works to God as payment for your sins. That would be to boast in your sin and to offer God filth. But rather, aware of our sins we offer God nothing and claim nothing, but the blood of Jesus, which has washed away our sins. And with that humble faith our God lifts us up, not to a false security, but upon the certain foundation of Christ. And when your faith is founded on Christ you have certainty that God will exalt you to heaven.  

Do not seek the glory of people. Sure, you can impress them and it might feel good for a while, but it will end. Seek rather the glory of God. And you can't fool him. God glorifies those of a humble and contrite heart.  

The world despises humility. And when you are humble it is easy for others to abuse you. But do not be embarrassed by your humility or weakness. St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12, "But the Lord said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (12:9-10) When I am weak, then I am strong. Wouldn't you exchange all your strength for Jesus' strength? Wouldn't you exchange all of your boasting, so that you could boast in Christ? Yes, this is what it means to be a Christian. The Christian says, "Far be it from me to boast in anything, except in our Lord Jesus Christ." (Gal. 6:14)  
​

The humble shall follow their Lord, who humbled himself on the cross and is exalted to the right hand of the Father. They too shall be exalted. Amen.  ​
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Trinity 16: Jesus Conquers Death and Gives Us The Victory

10/1/2017

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Luke 7:11-17 
 
"I believe... in the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting." We confess this every time we pray the Apostles' Creed. Yet the resurrection of the dead is one of the most neglected articles of our faith. Most people, even Christians, don't ever think of it. People think that when they die their soul goes to heaven and their body just wastes away never to be used again. People even get romantic ideas about having their ashes and ground up bones scattered to the wind, because they won't need them anymore. It's like that Cat Stevens song from 1970, "Miles from Nowhere" where he sings, "Lord, my body has been a good friend, but I won't need it when I reach the end."  
But God's Son did not take on human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, suffer the scourging of Pilate and the nails of the cross in his very flesh to save only our souls. Neither did Jesus rise from the dead merely as a spirit, but Jesus rose flesh, blood, bone, and all. He ate with his disciples after his resurrection even bidding Thomas to put his hands in the marks of the nails and spear. The eternal Son of the Father took on a human body and soul, so that he could save both your soul and your body from death. Jesus did not discard his body at death and neither will he discard your body.  
Jesus came to earth to defeat our last and greatest enemy: death. Death is a fearsome enemy and although he is pretty much ubiquitous, he is widely ignored. People don't recognize death as a great enemy to be feared. Young people hardly ever fear death. They think they are invincible. Probably because, statistically speaking, they are rather hard to kill. Yet young people still die. Death pursues them all the way. And the elderly, as the pains and burdens of old age increase, often look at death as peaceful release from the pains of the body, which is true for the Christian, but many ignore faith in Christ even as death approaches.  
But we need to recognize death as a fierce enemy, so that we will recognize the great work our Lord Jesus has done for us in defeating death. We need to recognize death for who he is: the wages of sin and the enemy of God's good creation. When God created the world, he created it good. He did not create us to die, because he is the God of the living. But through one man sin entered the world and death through sin. So now death rules through all for all have sinned. Death is the fruit of our sin. It is evil. Death must be defeated.  
When Jesus saw the widow of Nain weeping behind the casket of her dead son, her only child, he had compassion on her. And so, we see a glimpse of our God's great compassion. You can also see why people loved Jesus so much even before they realized who he was. Jesus is moved by human suffering. We see a similar episode as Jesus is hanging on the cross, enduring not only immense physical pain, the likes none of us will ever see, but also great spiritual turmoil in his soul as he bears the weight of all our sins, and even there under such incredible personal pain Jesus shows compassion on his own mother and gives his disciple John to be her son and caretaker for the rest of her life. So, in this lesson we see that God is compassionate.  
Then Jesus tells the husbandless mother of the dead man to stop weeping (which is not what you should say to a woman at her son's funeral, unless you can raise the dead). Of course, Jesus can and does raise the dead. He commands the dead man, and the dead man listens to him. He becomes alive! And Jesus gives the man back to his mother alive. And so, we see in this lesson that Jesus is God and that he has power over death. It is as the Psalmist says in Psalm 68, "Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belongs deliverances from death." (vs. 20)  
Yet, this is just one man. Countless billions of people have died and likely will die. Can Jesus raise them as well? Is it a bit premature to celebrate when the score between Jesus and death is one to one hundred billion? But this isn't Jesus' big event. This is only a foreshadow of what is to come. Jesus shows here his power over death, but he is yet to administer his victorious blow. When will this great victorious event take place? On the cross. The sting of death is sin. Without sin there is no death. For Jesus to defeat death once and for all and finally restore God's good creation he must eradicate sin. Jesus does this by becoming sin for us. He bears the guilt and shame of all mankind. The iniquity of us all is placed upon him and by his stripes we are healed; healed from our sin, healed from death. It is as St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, "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." (vss. 56-57) 
Jesus has a knack for ruining funerals. This was a perfect funeral. People were crying. There was a procession to the grave. There were pallbearers in front. And there was a dead guy! And then Jesus shows up uninvited. He raises the young man from the dead. The funeral comes to an abrupt end. You need a dead person to have a funeral. The funeral was ruined. I don't think anyone complained.  
So, here's the question. Will Jesus be at your funeral? It is quite common these days for Jesus to be almost or entirely absent from funerals. Instead survivors give flattering eulogies for the deceased. Aunt Betty baked the best pies and knit a sweater for each of her grandkids every Christmas. Great uncle Fred was great with kids and everyone loved him, even if he hated kids and was a miserable person to be around. And they'll talk about what their dead loved one loved, animals, baking, hunting, NAS Car, the Hawkeyes, and maybe they'll mention a generic faith without going into details. But who will be noticeably absent from these funerals is Jesus. There won't be any talk of his death and resurrection or what Jesus has done for the deceased in Baptism and through the daily forgiveness of sins, nor any talk of the promise of the resurrection.  
But it is important for Jesus to be at your funeral, because only Jesus has defeated sin and death and only Jesus can raise you from the dead. It is important for your body to be put to rest with Jesus' word and promise. And it is important for everyone at your funeral to hear what Jesus has done for you and that he will raise your dead remains from the ground and give you eternal life.  
Of course, you need Jesus to be present with you before your funeral and the reason why many have Jesus absent from their funerals or the funerals of their loved ones is because Jesus has been absent from their life. They haven't heard his word or paid any attention to the wonderful victory he has won for them.  
So, it is important for you to have Jesus with you today. Jesus told St. Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die." (John 11:25-26) And so we need to believe in Jesus now, because we don't know when we will die. Believing in Jesus is not simply knowing that Jesus lived, died, and rose again. Believing in Jesus is grabbing hold of him in faith. Faith hears God's Word gladly and trusts in God's promises therein. Faith runs to be with Jesus, taking comfort in Baptism, the Lord's Supper, Absolution, and the preaching of the Word, because there is where Jesus promises to be. Faith in Jesus teaches you to find comfort as you face your own impending death. And this is comfort that the world cannot possibly give. This is comfort greater than any eulogy could give to those attending a funeral. Can Jesus raise this dead body from the dead? He most certainly can! And he most certainly will. Jesus will raise your dead body from the dead with less effort than you rouse a sleeping child in the morning.  
At the end of Wednesday night Vespers we often sing, "All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night" and one of the verses is so beautiful and fitting for today's lesson. "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 awful day." (LSB 883:3) And how are we taught to die with such courage? By learning to trust in Jesus. Jesus defeated death, so we want Jesus to be with us at all times. St. Paul prays in our Epistle lesson, "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." (Eph. 3:17) If Jesus dwells in you, death cannot hold you down.  
In your Small Catechism you learned, "on the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true." Everyone will rise from the dead on the Last Day. Everyone will rise, but not everyone will enter eternal life. Those who believed in Christ to the end will enter into eternal life. Those who did not believe will be condemned. And so, we pray that Jesus abide with us always, especially when we face our own death. Another beautiful hymn we sing on Wednesday nights is "Abide with me." In the last verse we pray, "Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes; Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies. Heav'n's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me." (LSB 878:6) 
We need Jesus as we face death. And we are always facing death. Jesus completely defeats death, so that you do not need to fear its bite. If Jesus dwells in you, death is nothing but falling asleep. So, let us continue to hear God's Word, receive Christ's body and blood, and pray to Jesus for needed forgiveness, so that on that great day we will recognize our Savior's voice when he calls each of us by name and says, "I say to you, arise."  
Let us pray.  
Thanks to Thee, O Christ, victorious! Thanks to Thee, O Lord of Life! Death hath now no power o'er us, Thou hast conquered in the strife. Thanks because Thou didst arise And hast opened paradise! None can fully sing the glory Of the resurrection story. Amen. (LSB 548:1) ​
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    Rev. James Preus

    Rev. Preus is the pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ottumwa, IA. These are audio and text of the sermons he preaches at Trinity according to the Historical Lectionary. 

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