Reformation Day

One of my favorite hymns for Reformation Day is the "Built on the Rock the Church Shall Stand" (the text is below with two good renditions of the song). It points us to the fact that God is not found in a church building, though He is found there in Christ in His promised Word and Sacrament. It points out that God dwells in Heaven, but chose to dwell on earth in Christ and continues to dwell on earth through His most holy Sacraments.

It shows us hope that even when the whole world is falling apart (when I sing the song, I imagine large earthquakes shaking the foundation of the whole land, with everything around crumbling), Christ still protects and defends His people. He has promised to come to us in His grace with His holy meal and baptism. These contain and deliver to us the grace by which we're saved, won for us on the cross of Calvary by the vicarious, atoning death of Jesus Christ. These are the body and blood of our Lord, broken and shed on that same cross for the forgiveness of ALL your sins.

And this is what the Reformation sought to reclaim: God's free grace promised to His people for all time. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

How may we be assured of that grace? How may we be forgiven? And since we may not actively work to attain salvation, for that would be the very works righteousness of the Roman church which Luther and the other reformers fought against, and we continue to fight against it, how may we passively receive His salvation? Very simply: through Word and Sacrament.

This teaching of Word and Sacrament, the Church has had from its inception; 2000 years of Church history point us very clearly to this end. Anyone who stands in the way and says that the Sacraments are not efficacious are denying the very promise of God and stand against those years. Moreover, those who deny God's grace in this way are the very cause of the steeples crumbling, for the people who are convinced by this Satanic argument fall away with nothing to assure them of their salvation, save their own, sinful, damning works.

This Reformation Day, set free your doubts, not by your own work, but by the Holy Spirit's conviction of you in Truth. Cling to Christ. Cling to the Cross on which Christ won your salvation. Be free from your sin, not by your own works, but that the Son of the house has set the slave to sin free (John 8:25-26). Cling to the physical God, the physical Christ still in our presence in His Word and Sacrament.
The very Word of Christ is spoken to you and comes to you through your ears. The very body and blood of Christ is given for you and comes to you through your mouth. This allows us to see that the very communion of the body of Christ is among you and comes to you through your eyes. As well, the very Truth of Christ then comes to you in your mind and soul.

This is to what we cling, not because we have earned it or are holy, but that Christ is holy and these are His gifts, His continuing gifts to us.

Amen.

1 Built on the Rock the Church shall stand

Even when steeples are falling.

Crumbled have spires in ev'ry land;

Bells still are chiming and calling,

Calling the young and old to rest,

But above all the soul distressed,

Longing for rest everlasting.

2 Surely in temples made with hands

God, the Most High, is not dwelling;

High above earth His temple stands,

All earthly temples excelling.

Yet He who dwells in heav'n above

Chooses to live with us in love,

Making our bodies His temple.

3 We are God's house of living stones,

Built for His own habitation.

He through baptismal grace us owns

Heirs of His wondrous salvation.

Were we but two His name to tell,

Yet He would deign with us to dwell,

With all His grace and His favor.

4 Here stands the font before our eyes,

Telling how God has received us;

Th'altar recalls Christ's sacrifice

And what His Supper here gives us.

Here sound the Scriptures that proclaim

Christ yesterday, today, the same,

And evermore, our Redeemer.

5 Grant then, O God, Your will be done,

That, when the church bells are ringing,

Many in saving faith may come

Where Christ His message is bringing:

"I know mine own, My own know Me,

You, not the world, My face shall see.

My peace I leave with you. Amen."

Podcast Sermon for October 16, 2011: Trying to Trap God

Sermon for October 16, 2011: Trying to Trap God

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text this morning is from the Gospel lesson, from the Apostle Matthew, chapter 22:

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax." And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said, "Caesar’s." Then he said to them, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s." When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,

            We have for so long thought to ourselves that the Word of God is nothing more than simple stories.  Isn’t it so easy to distance ourselves from the text of the Bible?  The story of Adam and Eve is just a simple fable in which we discover some truth about how we find ourselves in trouble now and then.  The story of Abraham and Isaac makes for a beautiful painting, but we cannot believe that our Lord God would ever ask that one His followers sacrifice his son, so we see only that God provides His angels to take care of us.  The story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho makes for a great Veggie Tales video with vegetables marching incoherently around some city in the middle of nowhere.  The story of David and Bathsheba becomes yet one more story about how we should not commit adultery.

God's Wrath is Satisfied

My very good friend, Adam Buzard, tweeted a link that led to this video:





On Twitter, I would have had 140 characters. I had more to say than I wanted to just put there.

Driscoll didn't go far enough, in my opinion. God hates sinners, and I, even as a Christian, even as a man training to be a pastor, am chief of them. He must damn me because He is just. God hates all sinners, and there are no perfect people... save one.

And yet, God poured out His wrath on the only one who never deserved God's hatred, the perfect God-man, Jesus Christ, who takes God's wrath to Himself, accepts it's vengeful flow, and dies.

It's not fair, it's not right, it's not good that Jesus was judged as Sin itself, because you yourself deserved it. But He has granted His perfection to us so that God does not pour His wrath on us who deserve it. He has granted His righteousness to those who believe and are baptized into His death and raised to new life, not by their own power (since how can a dead man come back to life by his own power), but by God's own power and Holy Spirit.

Therefore, while we are sinners and deserve judgement, only those in Him may expect and even demand salvation since judgement has already been carried out for their sake on the person of Jesus Christ. God must hate me, since I am a sinner. But instead of hating me, He hated Christ for me.

That's more than 140 characters, too. But I needed to say it. =)

Podcast Sermon for October 2, 2011: The Wild Vineyard

Sermon for October 2, 2011: The Wild Vineyard

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Dear friends in Christ,
The text for this morning’s message is from the Old Testament reading, from book of Isaiah, chapter 5.

Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

Thus far the text.
At the outset, the text this morning seems fairly straightforward, doesn’t it? This is the prophet Isaiah, perhaps one of the best-known, most well-respected prophets with some of the greatest and most beautiful words concerning Christ. Isaiah here begins singing a song of His God, who is our God, the Lord. It is not Isaiah’s song, but a song that God has given Isaiah to sing. This is straight from the mouth of God Himself. And in this song, we see that God has a vineyard. It is on the choicest of hills. Already the soil is fertile and is ready for planting, but God is not yet satisfied.