Podcast Sermon for December 23, 2012: Jesus is Coming

A sermon preached by Seminarian Lewis Polzin on December 23, 2012 at King of Kings Lutheran Church in Mason, OH, on Micah 5:2-5a. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/12/sermon-for-december-23-2012-jesus-is.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for December 23, 2012: Jesus is Coming

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

The text for this fourth Sunday in Advent comes to us from the reading from the Prophet Micah, the fifth chapter:

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,
     It is a great joy for me to be here with you this morning. If you don’t know me, and even if you do, my name is Lewis Polzin. I’m a fourth-year seminarian at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and I am a son of this congregation, one whom you have graciously supported financially and prayerfully. Thank you. It is my privilege to have accepted an invitation from your pastors to preach the Word of God to you this morning.

     In the text this morning, we have this very nice, very comforting passage that predicts the Messiah, Jesus Christ. It’s certainly easy for us, isn’t it, to hear these words and remember the Christmas story, where Joseph takes Mary, his betrothed, to Bethlehem to go and get registered under the census of Caesar Augustus. We look at that and go, oh sure! Bethlehem! Yes, the Messiah. And then we shut our ears up.

     It’s not that we’re trying to be difficult. Not at all. We just feel like we’ve heard it all before. Jesus is going to come... He’s going to rule... He’ll be a cool kind of shepherd... something about peace. It’s all very Christmasy isn’t it?

     Yeah... NO!!!! You see, you’re already missing the point! It’s not Christmas! It’s not Christmas yet! The world thinks we’re already at Christmas, that we’re already in that season, and a lot of churches do, too! But we’re not. We’re in Advent!! We have not arrived at Christmas morning yet, man, we’re not even at Christmas Eve yet! And that’s the point of the text!

Podcast Sermon for December 16, 2012: Keep Christ in Christmas

A sermon preached by Seminarian Lewis Polzin on December 16, 2012 at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in O'Fallon, MO, on Luke 7:18-35. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/12/sermon-for-december-16-2012-keep-christ.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for December 16, 2012: Keep Christ in Christmas?

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

     The text for this morning’s sermon comes to us from the Gospel lesson, Luke Chapter 7, focusing in on the rejection of Jesus:

The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

... (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,

     Keep Christ in Christmas!  That is the cry we hear this time of year.  It’s usually coming from well-meaning Christians who are moved to shouts of protest when they get angry about the secularization of that most holy day, that day our Lord Jesus was born into this world, that day when the Virgin Mary looked down at the baby laying in her arms and saw that He is the God who created her and yet the baby that she created in her womb.

     What greater thing can there be?  Of course we all want to keep Christ in this Christ’s mass, this Christmas.  Is this a good cry?  Yes!  Keep Christ in Christmas!  But are we doing it?  Are we keeping Christ in Christmas?  Can we?

     In the text today, John the Baptizer, imprisoned by King Herod for decrying his marriage, the marriage that Herod began by seducing his sister-in-law away from her husband, his brother, sends his disciples to Jesus.  It’s funny, isn’t it?  We only really think about Jesus having disciples, followers learning at His feet, but John, the man that Jesus says is the greatest man who had ever lived, was a man who, by the very Word of God and the baptism he performed, was a dynamic preacher.  John was a man who told people exactly who they were, sinners against the Holy God of Israel who must repent and trust in this God.

Podcast Sermon for November 21, 2012: A Strange Kind of Gloriousness

A sermon preached by Seminarian Lewis Polzin on November 21, 2012 at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in O'Fallon, MO, on Psalm 67. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/11/sermon-for-november-21-2012-strange.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for November 21, 2012: A Strange Kind of Gloriousness

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

The text for this Thanksgiving sermon comes to us from the psalm of the day, Psalm 67:

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,
     I have noticed an interesting trend going on in social media like Facebook this November. People have been saying something for which they are thankful every day up in their posts. They are thankful for things like children and spouses, houses and jobs, fathers and mothers, material things and spiritual understandings. I say that this is interesting for this reason: these come out one side of their mouth, and out the other side is complaining and bitterness.

     We find it very easy to think of things to be thankful for, at least most of us. We can think of the tangible things that we have and they come easily to mind. But, sometimes, it's a bit of a stretch. I'm thankful for... um... beautiful sunsets. I'm thankful for... oh... well... being able to drive wherever I need to be. Sure, some things are tangible. Some things are easy. But sometimes we run out of things to be thankful for or we forget them and so we complain.

Podcast Sermon for September 23, 2012: A Word About Jesus

A sermon preached by Seminarian Lewis Polzin on September 23, 2012 at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in O'Fallon, MO, on Jeremiah 11:18-20. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/09/sermon-for-september-23-2012-word-about.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for September 23, 2012: A Word About Jesus

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

     The text for today’s message comes to us from the prophet Jeremiah, the 11th chapter:

The Lord made it known to me and I knew; then you showed me their deeds. But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.” But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,
     These words from our reading today of Jeremiah are AWESOME!!!! Did you read them? Did you pay attention? At our first glance, our FIRST glance, it’s SO easy to see Christ here. I love it! I was a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. They devised evil schemes. Let’s destroy His life, kill him, crucify Him, that no one will remember Him. But God will have His vengeance on them, He will judge them righteously.

     I love when the Old Testament is so clear, so easy, so prophetic. You gotta remember: the God who wrote the Old Testament knew everything that was going to happen to Himself. The God who met face to face with Moses, the God who preserved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, the God who promised a child to Abraham and Sarah, the God who walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, that very God is the God who died for us on the cross of Calvary. It’s easy for Him to prophesy through His prophets what will happen to Jesus. It’s His plan; it’s His will, His desire.

     So, for us to look at the Old Testament and see these words that so clearly predict even the very words that the Pharisees and Sadducees will whisper to themselves in the secret, dark time of the night, it’s AWESOME!! God is so cool, isn’t He? I love seeing God, I love seeing Jesus in the Old Testament. It’s like God knew what He was doing when He wrote the Old Testament… oh wait… He did.

Shane Claiborne doesn't seem to know what he's talking about

For some strange reason, Shane Claiborne's article from 2009 has been reposted by several of my social media buddies.  Has nothing better been written in the last three years that this is getting airplay again?

Let me ask a couple of questions: why are we giving so much attention to the writings of a heterodox, emergent liberal-Christian who discounts the Word of God as the very Word of God (as evidenced by quoting the dangerous paraphrase of the Bible, The Message)? What right does he have to interpret the Scriptures or speak on behalf of Jesus, the Logos who wrote the Old AND New Testaments through His Holy Spirit by His prophets?

Case in point, the parable of the good Samaritan is a standard that cannot be lived up to by us unholy people, and is instead, in fact, the very declaration of what the Prince of all Creation, Jesus Christ, the Son of God in human flesh, gave up for His bleeding, beat-up creation, not what we are to give up. Jesus gave up his throne in heaven for a cross and somehow it's comparative that I give up a little money?? Or some time?? Or a bed to sleep on?  Seriously?  Seriously.... There's NO comparison.

Jesus certainly says, "Go and do likewise," following the parable in the Lukan account, but, in context (one must ALWAYS put Jesus and all of Scripture into context, this follows Jesus' own statement: “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

We need to see and hear what Jesus then says in the parable, for we are given the keys to understanding it: that which Jesus hides from people who can't hear the keys to the Kingdom of God, that is Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus is ALWAYS the interpretive key. What is the referent to "likewise?" Find a beaten Samaritan? Pay for a guy's medican care? Love our neighbor? Ding ding ding! And can we? NO! That's Jesus' point!

The parable is there to help us realize that even by loving our neighbor, the most hated person to us we can think of, even that's not enough. Can you do what Jesus did? Become man and take on the whole sin of the world to save those you love?  No! Jesus is saying that we can't do righteousness; we can't fulfill the Law; only Jesus can and He has and He has given that benefit to you. You are forgiven of all your sins and declared righteous by the One who will judge all people, sending them to either heaven or hell; we do not do righteousness. We can't, because everything we do is tainted with sin and is therefore imperfect and unrighteous. In other words, WE can't DO the Gospel; the Gospel is already done by Jesus for us.

However, the beauty of forgiveness in Christ is that as we are declared righteous, as we are forgiven of our daily and consistent sins and sinning, it gives us the freedom to do good works to our neighbor because it does not merit anything good for us. This does get us closer to heaven. And contrary to Claiborne's declarations, this does not "fascinate" other people and gives them a spiritual example of Christianity, but instead gives Christ-like love to them through Christ's Word, which is always what is delivered through our works, for we do not do them, but Christ in us. They reject our motivations for Christ just as they have rejected Christ.

The Word ALONE is efficacious to bringing people into faith, not me or my works. When the Word is preached to me, when it tells me that I am an unrighteous sinner, this brings me to repentance. And then, when the Word tells me that Jesus has died for my sins and I am forgiven, this works faith in my heart, bringing me to delirious joy in the absolution of my sin. This is the motive and foundation for my Christian life, sinful as it consistently is.

Therefore, it is not my works that bring people to faith, but, as always, the very Word of God that Claiborne discounts completely. And when people don't come to faith, it's not because I've set a bad example (I'm a SINNER!! I'm ALWAYS setting a bad example!!), but because those people are conceived and born and live rejecting the Word of God in their own sinful flesh. It's not a nice message to hear. It won't make them all fuzzy inside, but it's true and it's necessary and it must be preached, in season and out of season, in Christendom and in secular America. I'm not saying street preachers are the best way to do it, nor am I saying that I like them or that they are effective, but let's be honest: despite the trend of pseudo-Christianity towards emphases in mission and community, the Scriptures make it clear, our works won't save ANYONE, Jesus will. And He died for the whole world. And the whole world has rejected Him.

[But] “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of 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 the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. - Romans 10:13-17

Why Christians need the Church Year, or doing it new is close to doing it wrong

I am genuinely jacking this post from another site. It's so good. I wish I had written, but I didn't. This is the whole reason why Lutherans have a different understanding of, well... seemingly everything as opposed to other Christians. We live in time, but out of time. We wait for the end, but the end is already here and has been for quite a while. Too philosophical? Read this post by Pastor Peters here, and then read everything else on his blog. You'll thank me later.

We call it the Church’s “year of grace” because, over the course of a year and through her liturgy, the Church makes present the saving events of the Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection and rehearses His teaching in the non-festival half. Like most cultures, Christianity has a calendar, a cycle of time that orders its life. Though distinct from kronos or civil time, sacred time is not separated from it. Like the Chrisitan in the world but not of it, the Church's "year of grace" is within the secular days and months of the year and yet apart from it. For the Christian and for the Church, this means we must be biligual -- speaking both in the language of earthly time and its calendar of months and days that flow from January 1 to December 31 each year and in the language of the church year as it flows from Advent through the Sundays after Pentecost (ordinary time).

Time is not incidental to Christian worship -- no, not the clockwatching that usually defines how we connect time to what happens in the Lord's House on the Lord's Day -- but a sense of time, unfolding time, fullness of time, and time fulfilled. In the context of the Sunday morning liturgy, time is held in suspension. Yesterday (the day of Christ's death and resurrection) are not past but present. Tomorrow (the day of His coming to bring all things to their culmination) is anticipated -- already here but not yet fully here. The present enfolds the past and contains the future (at least the fullness of the glimpse that we are allowed for now). Nowhere else does time live in its suspension except in the context of Christian liturgy with its proclamation in word and in sacrament. In the Word we are so very conscious of the the Hebrews verse: In many and various ways... but NOW. Now in the hearing of this living voice the past is made present with all its salvific effect. Ini the same way, the Eucharist, the foretaste of the feast to come, is also the witness and proclamation of the Lord's death until He comes again.

It is not simply a different calendar but a different understanding of time. Unlike the relentless clock that ticks away at the minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years of a life marked by death's boundary, the Church knows time differently. It is the arena of God's grace, the disclosure of His mercy, the redemption of the fallen, and the freedom of life from its captivity to decay. We do not beat to a different drummer when it comes to the measure of our days, we have a completely different measure of those days. Because God has unfolded in the past the ever present redemptive work of Christ (through the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments), we are free from the chains of our yesterdays and see that time as the domain of God's redemptive work as well as our fallenness. Because God has filled the present moment with His presence in the means of grace, we do not live on bondage to the moment. The present becomes God's domain as well and our refuge for grace, mercy, forgiveness, and redemption. Here the absolution is the key to the freedom for goodness and holiness and righteousness (that in which we were clothed in baptism). In addition, in the present moment, God has hidden the future. It is not fully revealed but glimpsed by faith and where the Word is rightly preached and taught and where the Sacraments administered according to Christ's institution.

The Church does not enter the world in competition with the time and calendar the world uses. We engage in no tug of war. It is gift and grace. In the midst of time with all of its fears, God unfolds the answer to those fears and ushers in the era of mercy while the days, weeks, and months peel away the pages of our earthly calendars. Christ was incarnate not only in our flesh and blood but also within this earthly realm of time, the ticking time bomb of death and amid all its fears and hastened pressure to complete our bucket lists, Chris stands as Lord of the day, the night, and all time. He does the unthinkable in reclaiming what sin stole by manifesting His Kingdom amid the precious seconds and minutes of our decaying lives and world. We come to the world not as those who have a different time but as those who know within time the eternal. That is why the Church Year is so important. It manifests the eternal amid the very temporal and temporary domain of our days. It is a gift to us and to the world, inherited from the Jews but fulfilled in Christ to extend past the markers of the ancient rhythm.

When we fail to bring new people into the domain of the Church Year, we leave them helplessly exposed to all that time lost in the fall with but an mental image of God's gift. The Church Year and its ordering of liturgical time points us to more than an idea but the experience of this gift in time but not of it, the blessing of the eternal within the temporal. The fight for the Church Year is not some battle for bragging rights, it is the opportunity to see in the midst of time the eternal that is Christ and His gifts. The loss of the Church Year is not a loss of externals but the surrender of the gift of time to its evil foes of the devil and death. The Church calls the faithful to make the year of grace their very own that the gift of time might be manifest within earthly days, the place where we are daily made new in Christ. The unfolding mystery of Christ heralds His life before us and the world, beginning with the expectation of his Advent to the days of Pentecost and then in the ordinary time when events give way to teaching (doctrine). And it all begins anew in Advent again. The repitiion of the liturgical year is itself part of the preaching of the Word, the sanctification of our lives, and the anchor of the eternal amid the ever changing experience of mortal life.

Podcast Sermon for August 12, 2012: Last Sermon of Vicarage: Take Away My Life

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on August 12, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on 1 Kings 19:1-8. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/08/sermon-for-august-12-2012-last-sermon.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for August 12, 2012: Last Sermon of Vicarage: Take Away My Life

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

The text for today's sermon comes to us from the book of 1 Kings, the nineteenth chapter:

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,
     We have arrived. The very last sermon of my vicarage year. I’m a little older now. I’m perhaps a little wiser. Thanks to some of the Dorcas cooking, even though I tried to stay away as much as I could, I’m a little heavier (gotta work on that back at Seminary). I have a few more gray hairs. Yeah, yeah, the bald guy has gray hairs. You can’t see them up top, but they’re in my beard. I blame you for all these things. Thank you.

     I spent a lot of hours on this sermon, not just in study, but in what I was going to say. I had different styles of preaching in mind. I had different topics in mind. I was thinking that I could even preach the title of this sermon, like, "I have to go BACK to school? Oh, Lord, take away my life!!!" I could continue to say how great vicarage was, I could say how much I learned, I could say how wonderful it has been serving you all this year. I could say these things. And they’re true.

    But, that’s not my job. You see, this morning, I’m still working. I’m STILL doing my job. Yes, I’m hired by you, Trinity Lutheran Church, during this vicarage year, and you have taken care of me generously. And my supervisor is Pastor McCracken, but he's not the one in charge. Not really. You see, my Boss, my Master, my Lord, He has other ideas. He tells me I can't preach about myself. I can't preach about how sad I am to leave vicarage. I can't preach about the desires of my heart and the fancies of my mind, like so many other pastors. My Boss has told me that I am to do something this last morning of my vicarage, and that is to preach His Word, my Boss' Word, the Word of God. Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, and yours as well, has called me this morning to preach to you. So, while I could certainly make this sermon all about me (after all, I’m very good at talking about me), I want you to know that this sermon isn’t really about me, it’s about us and Jesus Christ in us.

Great Commission, Great Confusion, or Great Confession? (Hint: it's usually the middle one)

Everyone, every Christian, if they want to understand the true calling and work of the Christian, MUST NEEDS read the book "Great Commission, Great Confusion, or Great Confession?" by Lucas V. Woodford (Wipf and Stock Publsihers, Eugene, OR). This book is quite probably the best book I have EVER read regarding the Great Commission. It is almost certainly one of the best practical books I've ever read when it comes to ministry. And it is an excellent answer to the deficiencies (a discussion for another time and another post) that are inherent in Reggie McNeal's mostly-okay and mostly-interesting book "The Present Future," a book where, after reading it for the first time in five years, made me more mad and upset than it ever had, due to its lack of Sacramental influence (which, incidentally, I have always felt would be fixed by such an influence) and my growth in understanding true theology and practice by practicing theology.

There is really nothing bad at all about or in this book. Proving the point, after previously quoting an excellent passage from Tulian Tchividjan's mostly-excellent book, "Jesus + Nothing = Everything," which helps to put the Law into its proper place (only guiding, never giving, only accusing, never forgiving), Woodford sums everything up with a definition of the Gospel from the late, great C.F.W Walther on pg. 158: "[T]he Gospel, or the Creed [of the Church], is any doctrine or word of God that does not require works from us and does not command us to do something but bids us simply to accept as a gift the gracious forgiveness of sins and the everlasting bliss offered to us." The definition of the Gospel is one that is sorely lacking in the Church today, and most churches in America think (and some have plainly said), "Yes, we know Christ has died for our sins. Fine. Now let's get on to living." The Church is sick, and it always is, always has been, and always will be because of one simple problem which is daily compounded: sin.

Thus, Woodford's book is a clarion call to repentance and forgiveness as well as a true understanding of the remedy: Christ for us, Christ in us, Christ with us. For context, prior to the coming quote, Woodford has a short, but important, passage on the importance of vocation, something to which readers and listeners to my sermons and good theologians, especially in the Lutheran tradition, are no strangers. Vocation is the life and living of the Christian, the call to do work which is given to us, e.g., father, mother, friend, neighbor, daughter, pastor, servant. All Christians have vocations, gifts from God, that we live out and we have many and varied, even at the same time. From there, he addresses the inherent problems, demanding efforts, and ultimate promotion of the Law of the current efforts of some (read: most) churches emphasis on mission and missiology.

Simply, mission and missiology on its own is something to be avoided. The Church proclaims the mission and it does this by Word (written, read, and proclaimed) AND Sacrament (Baptism and the Lord's Supper). When a church or an individual misses or is denied either one of these two gifts of God, they are denied the gift to the church's people and the church does exactly the opposite of what the Great Commission is about. A Christian needs Word AND Sacrament, and continually so. From here, I'll let Woodford speak for himself in this most excellent, and book-summarizing, quote.

Unfortunately, this profound understanding of vocation is often undermined when the church service and church programs are elevated as the primary modes of outreach. This is also the case when the organizational structure of the church is geared toward "making disciples who make disciples" rather than proclaiming the Word and administering the Sacraments to the disciples so that sinners can be forgiven and freed, renewed and refreshed, discipled and dispersed back out into their vocations.

Harold Senkbeil provides a good reminder: "[T]he key to Christian living is the real presence of Christ with His church through His holy Word and Sacrament. The best way to tell you what to do as a Christian is to tell you who you are in Christ. He will do the rest." In short, when the value of the mundane estates of everyday life are trivialized and dismissed as unimportant by the church in the name of what is claimed to be a more important missional way of life – whatever that means – a great loss is suffered and an undue burden begins to afflict the believer.

For example, a Christian mother and her four young children go to the grocery store and meet a fellow shopper, but because she needs to tend to her children and do the grocery shopping for her family, she do not evangelize to the fellow shopper. Does this mean that she is not a missional person or, worse, that she is sinning? What about the college student who is tending to his studies instead of formally evangelizing the students of campus? Does he lack a missional attitude? Is he sinning? Or is he simply living his vocation as a student?

I am by no means saying they cannot or should not share the faith. Rather, my point is that demands to be missional can often evoke guilt or even the illegitimate abandonment of a God-given vocation. And again, to be clear, this is by no means meant to discourage witnessing to others. It is simply meant to celebrate and intentionally recognize, as Wingren demonstrated, that the mission of God encompasses the greater whole of life. Tree reform, if we are being honest, perhaps we should consider whether or not a missional pressure to abandon one's vocation is not actually a disservice to the church.

Yes, there is always a balancing act. But I believe we need to be careful. Demands to be missional flow out of the Law. They have a tendency to make the Gospel into a burden. And when this happens, joy is lost, Good News is gne, and love becomes an obligation rather than a genuine manifestation of the Gospel.

Lucas V. Woodford, "Great Commission, Great Confusion, or Great Confession?," pg. 165.

Podcast Sermon for July 29, 2012: The Loaves

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on July 29, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on Mark 6:45-56. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/07/sermon-for-july-29-2012-loaves.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for July 29, 2012: The Loaves

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

The text for this morning’s message comes from the Gospel of Mark, the sixth chapter:

Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side… And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

Thus far the text.

Dear Friends in Christ,
     “For they didn’t understand about the loaves???” Did you hear that? “For they didn’t understand about the loaves?” What in the world does that have to do with anything? It’s such an odd statement. What does Mark mean? Why does he include this? It doesn’t make much sense! Or does it?

     First, we have to ask, what loaves is Mark talking about? Anyone? Did no one pay attention to the Gospel lesson of last week? What did we read? What is that lesson usually called? The Feeding of the Five Thousand. You see, Mark includes this, he includes this little tidbit of information, that the disciples of Christ didn’t understand about the loaves, because it’s important. But Mark wants YOU to understand this. The disciples, they eventually came to understand just what EVERYTHING meant, everything that Jesus did in their presence, everything He said, everything He taught.

Podcast Sermon for July 15, 2012: Life in the Guillotine

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on July 15, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on Ephesians 1:3-14. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/07/sermon-for-july-15-2012-life-in.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for July 15, 2012: Life in the Guillotine

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

The text for this morning is from Paul’s letter to the Church at Ephesus, the first chapter:

In Christ we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,
     Objectively, at the beginning of today’s Gospel narrative in Mark 6, things seemed to be going well for John the Baptizer. He is preaching repentance and the forgiveness of sins. He has baptized the Lord of all Creation in the person of Jesus Christ. He is drawing crowds from far and near, returning the hearts of sons to their fathers and daughters to their mothers. He is able to put down the rhetoric of the Pharisees without any theological training, because as a prophet of God, the Holy Spirit is giving him the words to speak, the ears to hear, the mind to think, the ability to say his good words. He is living out his vocation well. He is even obeying the vow that he has made to his God, that he would not cut his hair, that he would drink no alcohol, that he would touch no dead thing.

     But the problem is, the Naziritic vow John the Baptizer is under, it will always come to an end. A vow to obey is always broken; it will always be broken. Even you, you will always disobey your vows. The wages of sin, the wages of breaking vows, is death. And you, like John the Baptizer, will die. John the Baptizer, at the end of the Gospel lesson, did die. He died with his head unceremoniously being lopped off, a sword coming down right on his neck, head bouncing to the ground, and being served up on a silver platter to the evil queen, Herodias, because of her daughter, Salome, and a stupid promise made by a drunken and lecherous King Herod.

Podcast Sermon for July 8, 2012: Stand and Deliver

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on July 8, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on Ezekiel 2:1-5. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/07/sermon-for-july-8-2012-stand-and.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for July 8, 2012: Stand and Deliver

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

The text this morning is from the prophet Ezekiel, the second chapter:

And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,
     For many of you, you may be wondering why I chose the name of a 24-year-old movie for the title of this sermon: ‘Stand and Deliver.’ Or perhaps many of you have no idea what I’m talking about. To be honest with you, I had already chosen the title from the Biblical text, even before I remembered that there was a movie of the same name. You see, the movie was so good, it made such a difference in our culture, that the name is now ubiquitous. It’s everywhere. It’s so deep in our psyches that we don’t even know where it comes from.

     But hopefully, you remember the movie. Edward James Olmos played the teacher, James Escalante, who wants to teach computers to a struggling, inner-city, Latino-based high school. The only problem: they have no computers. Instead, Escalante ends up teaching math to them. And he does it well. After struggling for a while, fighting them at almost every turn, he gets through to these kids. They take the state test. They pass. They have Escalante to thank. But their fight isn’t done. The state doesn’t believe them. The state thinks Escalante and the kids cheated. The state fights them and fights them, and ends up testing them again. The kids pass.
   
It’s a glorious story; it’s the way stories should be told. The underdogs fight against the man. They win. It’s why the story has lasted so long. It’s why its name, ‘Stand and Deliver,’ has lasted in our culture, even though most of you today still probably haven’t seen. Rent it. It’s worth it. It’s how stories should be told. But the ending, well, the ending… it doesn’t always happen that way.

Podcast Sermon for June 24, 2012: Preparing the Way

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on June 24, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on Luke 1:57-80. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/06/sermon-for-june-24-2012-preparing-way.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for June 24, 2012: Preparing the Way

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

The text for this morning is from the Luke’s Gospel, the first chapter:

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,
     It’s almost kind of strange celebrating a nativity in the middle of one of the hottest years on record, isn’t it? Nativity. It’s one of those words that propels us directly to Christmas. Visions of donkeys and stables and angels and shepherds crowd in our heads. But today’s nativity, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, it doesn’t involve any of that. There was no need for John’s parents to find room in the inn. There was no need for John’s parents to look upon him and see all the gifts and the people that came to see him and treasure them up in their hearts. There was no need for John to be visited by kings and princes and shepherds.

     No, John’s nativity is celebrated with little pomp and circumstance. John, the cousin of Jesus, was about 6 months older than Christ, which is why we celebrate his birth today. Just a quick reminder, only 6 months of shopping days until Christmas!

     John’s nativity is of a different sort of celebration. It is the celebration, in fact, before we celebrate Christ. That’s John’s lot in life. John the Baptist, John the Baptizer, his job, his only role in life is to precede the Son of God.

Podcast Sermon for June 10, 2012: An Unforgivable Sin and a Forgiving God

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on June 10, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on Mark 3:20-35. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/06/sermon-for-june-10-2012-unforgivable.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for June 10, 2012: An Unforgivable Sin and a Forgiving God

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

The text for this morning’s message comes to us from the Gospel of Mark, the third chapter:

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” And Jesus called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Thus far the text.

Dear Friends in Christ,
     Imagine you are on your deathbed. The pastor comes to visit you. He asks how you are feeling. He inquires of the doctors’ news. He asks if your family has come to see you yet. He then tells you of Jesus. He tells you of the forgiveness found in Him. He proclaims to you that all your sins are forgiven.

     But you just roll your eyes. You may even tear up as you say, “No, Pastor. Not all my sins. Not this one. I can’t confess it. It’s too big. I can never be forgiven THAT sin.”

     It’s not an uncommon occurrence. I know it’s happened to Pastor. It’s even happened to me. The person we’re speaking seems to truly believe that their sin can’t be forgiven. It’s too big. Jesus would never forgive that sin. Jesus would be disgusted if He knew we did that. Jesus would hate us, turn away from us, send us to Hell. After all, after we sinned so badly, we deserve to go to Hell. It’s true, we say, Jesus can’t save us. Jesus can’t forgive us. Jesus can’t forgive you. Or at least, that’s what we tell ourselves.

Podcast Sermon for May 13, 2012: A Baptism of the Holy Spirit

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on May 13, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on Acts 10:34-48. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/05/sermon-for-may-13-2012-baptism-of-holy.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for May 13, 2012: A Baptism of the Holy Spirit

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

     The text for this morning’s message comes to us from Luke’s Letter of the Acts of the Apostles, the 10th chapter:

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “…They put [Jesus of Nazareth] to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day… And [Jesus] commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ…

Thus far the text.

Dear Friends in Christ, He is Risen!
     It doesn’t take much, does it? One little word from Peter, and half of the Christian Church goes up in arms, taking his whole speech, his whole message out of context and focusing on the one little point of doctrine that seems weird: people received the Holy Spirit and THEN were baptized. Pentecostals and the like use this passage out of context to say that to be saved you must be baptized with the Holy Spirit! That’s the baptism that matters, they say, not our silly little baptism in which we baptize all who come to the font, infants, children, adults. That’s just silly. Rather, salvation will be made evident by speaking in tongues, which they interpret as sounding very much like gibberish, it will be made evident in casting out spirits, it will be made evident when someone says, “I choose to follow you, Jesus!”

     But… we Lutherans, we who are orthodox in our faith and doctrine and practice, we don’t confess that the Holy Spirit is promised to us in order to do these things. We confess that the Holy Spirit is promised to us in order to convict and forgive us. We don’t confess that all gifts are given to all people. We confess that the Holy Spirit did these amazing miracles to prove to the Church that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that His Gospel is true. We absolutely don’t confess that we can, by our own ability, choose to follow after Jesus any more than we ourselves can choose to be born. Instead, we confess that the Holy Spirit comes to us through the Word and Jesus has promised that His Word attached to water is the sacrament of baptism in which the Holy Spirit also comes. For even Paul states in 1 Corinthians: "...no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit." And as Jesus says in the Gospel of John: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit," and that fruit specifically is found in the love for one another as we engage in the furthering of the Word of God.

Great resources to help Christians regarding homosexuality

Okay, this post is going to take you some time to get through. Sorry about that. But, if you're a Christian, you may be well-served by spending time with it.

A big 'ol hat tip to Paul McCain for bringing these two articles to my attention regarding President Obama's "historic" acceptance of gay marriage.

The first, from Pastor Philip Hoppe, talks about the process the President used to find himself in the pro-gay-marriage camp, specifically relational ministry, as opposed to actually reading and studying the Bible, of which President Obama, on one hand, says he believes but, on the other hand, completely nullifies when he pushes Jesus to the side (read or listen to the President's words - he does exactly that). A taste:

Obama become Pro-Gay marriage relationally. And he is not alone. I would suggest that everyone who does not come to this position by virtue of personally embracing homosexuality as their own sexual identity comes to this position relationally. They know someone who claims homosexuality as their identity and cannot bear to stand in opposition to them.

And I do not wish to minimize this struggle for a moment. It is a dark and torturous place for anyone to be. I have experienced it personally though not as closely as many of you may have. But the fact that it is hard to stand in opposition to those we love does not make it okay to not do so.

The second article is from Pastor Ed Stetzer who speaks on how Christians can respond to what is going on in America, especially after President Obama's public stance. Attitude matters, but truth matters as well. A taste:

The culture sees this as a "justice" issue-- Christians discriminating on the basis of immutable characteristics.
Christians have always believed and taught that God's standard and intent is a man, a woman, a marriage, and a lifetime. To us, that just makes sense, and it seems clear in the scriptures. But to an increasing number in our culture, this is simply discrimination. President Obama clearly justifies his reason for supporting gay marriage because of the Golden Rule-- the idea that we should treat others justly, as we would want to be treated. So, we should not be shocked at their response. Many people believe that we are discriminating against other people by restricting marriage from gay couples-- much like keeping black people out of a certain section of a restaurant. They see that as unjust and see us as bigots.

Also, a timely and poignant video from Rev. Fisk on why the Bible is totally wrong about everything, or why we can claim that homosexuality is a sin but wearing clothing with multiple types of threads is okay (ad hominem attacks also confuse the issue). Give it the full 20 minutes if you can:




Christians need to begin to respond better to the issue of homosexuality as well as all sins (e.g. divorce, premarital sex, pornography, hatred, murder, blasphemy, gluttony, etc.), not because we want to force our beliefs down other people's throats, not because we want to force them to believe what we do, but because God's Word demands we do take a stand for what He says is true and right and salutary, whether Truth offends people or not.

As we Lutherans preach, teach, and confess, there is no sin Jesus didn't die for, and there is no sin that isn't forgiven in Jesus Christ. But our duty as God's people is to call out repentance, and not only repentance but the forgiveness of sins with it. To everyone. To the whole world. To gay people. To straight people. To Christian people. To President Obama. To. All. People. For the glory of God the Father in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Podcast Sermon for May 6, 2012: Good Working

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on May 6, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on John 15:1-8. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/05/sermon-for-may-6-2012-good-working.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for May 6, 2012: Good Working

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

The text this 5th Sunday of Easter is from the Gospel of John, the 15th chapter, from selected verses:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser… As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing… By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ, He is Risen!
     Still in the Easter season, we have upon us what seems a very strange reading in the Gospels. After all, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has risen from the dead! Shouldn’t we be talking about the Resurrection still? Why should the Gospel of John all of the sudden thrust us back into the Passion narrative, back into the Upper Room?

     Because John in his Gospel is giving meat, giving flesh to what he is saying in his epistle. Love one another! Show love! Serve! Know God! Test the spirits! Confess Christ! And how is this done?

     Jesus tells us in the Gospel that He is the true vine and we are the branches. He is the source of all fruit, He is the source of all good things, He is the source of all life-giving and nourishing. Jesus Christ is the one from whom all things flow.

     This is very good news for two very simple reasons. We’ll get to the second eventually, but the first reason this is good news is that YOU will bear fruit! You have no choice! A branch is no more responsible for bearing fruit than a cat is for sleeping; it’s just what you do! Good fruit is good! It will come to you in your faith!

Podcast Sermon for April 22, 2012: Talking About Jesus

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on April 22, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on Luke 24:36-49. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/04/sermon-for-april-22-2012-talking-about.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for April 22, 2012: Talking About Jesus

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

The text for this morning’s message comes to us from the Gospel of Luke, the 24th chapter:

As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures…

Thus far the text.

Dear Friends in Christ, He is Risen!
     Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. He is the firstborn of the risen, the firstfruits of the dead, never to die again, never to pass away, always living, always standing, always interceding on our behalf before the Father. This should give you great comfort! Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is risen!

     Our Gospel lesson here picks up in the middle of the story. Let me fill it in for you. Jesus is missing from the grave. The women had been told by the angels that He had been raised from the dead, and that He would be visiting them soon. They ran, ran, ran, as fast as their legs could carry them to tell the Apostles. But they weren’t sure though. They knew Jesus wasn’t in the tomb, but really, anything could have happened, right? Might not they have just imagined the angels out of their grief? They were talking about Jesus, but they did not yet completely believe in Jesus and certainly not yet in the Resurrection.

Podcast Sermon for April 15, 2012: My Little Children

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on April 15, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on 1 John 1:1-2:2. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/04/sermon-for-april-15-2012-my-little.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for April 15, 2012: My Little Children

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

The text for this morning’s message comes from the first Epistle of John, focusing in on the second chapter:

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Thus far the text.

Dear Friends in Christ, He is Risen!
     You know the truth of what I’m about to tell you. If you tell a child not to do something, like, let’s say, don’t hit your sister, what’s the first thing that child is going to want to do? Hit their sister. If you tell a child, don’t take a third cookie, what are they going to want to do? Take a third cookie. If you tell a child, don’t run at the pool, inevitably, what is that child going to want to do? Run at the pool!

     Doesn’t it just seem to you that there is something inherently wired within us that just seems to ALWAYS want to do exactly the opposite of what we’re told. Let’s, for the sake of argument, call this “childishness.” For this reason, I know that I would not have made a very good military man. I know this. I can just see the drill instructor yelling in my face, telling me, “Drop and give me 20!” And I’d be all, “Your mom will drop and give you twenty.” Or, “I want that floor so clean I can eat off of it!” And I’d be like, “Plates really are more sanitary and you can take them really anywhere you go.” Just for the record, I want to say I absolutely respect those men and women who serve in the military; it’s just that I’ve known since I was a child that I was a stubborn-hearted little boy and I kind of seem that I will always be that.

Podcast Speech for the LWML Rally: Vocation and Shining Like Stars - Philippians 2:14-15

I had so much fun with this. The Lutheran Women's Missionary League asked me to speak at their circuit Spring Rally this morning. They also asked me to speak for 20 minutes. I went 40. So much for not messing with the LWML. =) I had fun. Great group of women who have passionate hearts for Christ, serving through their vocations. This is a speech given by Vicar Lewis Polzin on April 14, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, for the LWML Spring Rally hosted by Trinity and Child of God. There is no text available for the speech. The recording of the speech may be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Podcast Sermon for April 5, 2012: A Word from the Upper Room

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on April 5, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on Matthew 26:28. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/04/sermon-for-april-5-2012-word-from-upper.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for April 5, 2012: A Word from the Upper Room

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

The text for this Maundy Thursday comes to us from the Gospel of Matthew, the 26th chapter:

…For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Thus far the text.

Dear Friends in Christ,
     This evening we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper together, rejoicing and reveling in the gift that our Lord gave to us this Maundy Thursday nearly 2,000 years ago. We do this in remembrance of Jesus, not that we are merely remembering Him, but that we remember He told us to do this as He Himself has instructed and for the reason He Himself gave us: that it IS His blood and it DOES forgive our sins.

     And no instruction is more incredible, and no instruction is more misunderstood than what Jesus Christ states for us in this short reading: “For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”


     If we move too fast, we miss what Jesus is saying. We miss the context. We miss the setting. We miss the history. We miss all that our Lord has fulfilled and promised. You see, God has been making covenants with His creation since the fall of man into sin, but this one, this one is special.

Podcast Sermon for March 28, 2012: Words from the Cross… About the Cross: It is Finished

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on March 28, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on John 19:30. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/03/sermon-for-march-28-2012-words-from.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for March 28, 2012: Words from the Cross... About the Cross: Itis Finished

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

     The text this evening for our sermon series, Words from the Cross… About the Cross, comes from St. John’s Gospel, the nineteenth chapter:

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,
     Here we are, nearing the end of Lent, and leading into Holy Week, we arrive at the crux of the whole Passion narrative, the last of Christ’s words, the most important declaration ever made: It is finished.
And what is it that is finished? Christ’s life? Assuredly. The crucifixion? Absolutely. But is there something more? Yes. When Christ says, “It is finished,” He’s not just talking about Himself. He’s talking about everything.

     What do I mean? Remember that Christ, the man who is dying and dead on the cross of Calvary, is God, the very same God that has been willing and active in His creation from the very beginning. From before time, God had a plan in action to redeem His sinful creation. You see, it wasn’t very long that man was on the planet and we fell into sin. Did God create mankind as a personal, sinless creation? Of course He did. But to think that God did not know that His own creation would disown Him, forget His own words that He spoke, is to limit the power of God. God knows everything!

Podcast Sermon for March 21, 2012: Words from the Cross… About the Cross: I Thirst

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on March 21, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on John 19:28-29. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/03/sermon-for-march-21-2012-words-from.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for March 21, 2012: Words from the Cross… About the Cross: I Thirst

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

     The text for today’s message for the sermon series “Words from the Cross, About the Cross…” comes from the Gospel of St. John, the nineteenth chapter:

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.

Thus far the text.

Dear Friends in Christ,
     “I thirst.” Two very simple words. Perhaps even words you yourself have said in some fashion or another.

     I remember once when I was about 14 years old. I was in the Boy Scouts and we were camping somewhere in the hills of Northern Kentucky. Now it’s not a very mountainous area down there, but the hills, when you’re climbing them, they seem somewhat daunting, especially when you’re an overweight little kid like I was.

     We were about 10 miles into a 14-mile hike, and all of the sudden, my strength was sapped, gone. I couldn’t go on. My back was sweaty and had soaked the contents of the framed backpack I was carrying (which as you may know, is a hard thing to do). My legs were cramping and giving out. My lungs were heaving, trying to take in any oxygen I could find. My head was spinning. I had finished all the water I had brought with me 2 miles back. I had left the rest of my supplies back at the camp. I was the antithesis of the Boy Scout motto. I was not prepared.

The Catholic, and Nicene Creed

This is a beautiful reminder of the catholicity of the Christian faith. The original video comes from YouTube (link here), but I have included it for you to download as well by clicking the link in the blog post title. This reading of the Nicene Creed, which dates back over a 1,000 years in the the Christian church, was recorded at Trinity Lutheran Church, Klein, TX during the March 4, 2012 church services by three members of Trinity as part of Lutheran Schools week.

These three members, and students (former and present) are: Mr. Erich Klenk, 97 years old, confirmed in 1928, past Chairman of the congregation, charter member of the Men’s Club in 1946, and Trinity’s oldest member; Lyle Lovett, great grandson of Trinity founding father Adam Klein, confirmed in 1971, singer/songwriter, and winner of four Grammys; Erin Pali, class of 2016 and current 4th grade student of  Trinity.

This faith, this ancient faith, this faith that will continue to the future, is true and catholic. It is beyond you. It is centered on Jesus Christ and the considerable, all-consuming love He has for His creation. May this bless you as much as it blessed me.

Podcast Sermon for March 11, 2012: What is Wise?

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on March 11, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on 1 Corinthians 1:18-31. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/03/sermon-for-march-11-2012-what-is-wise.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for March 11, 2012: What is Wise?

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

The text for this morning’s message comes from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, the first chapter:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men…

Thus far the text.

Dear Friends in Christ,
     Oxymorons: Jumbo shrimp. Active retirement. Blind eye. Forward lateral. Business ethics. Agree to disagree. Congressional ethics. Civil War. Even odds. Government intelligence. Icy Hot. Liquid smoke. New tradition. Dry ice. Pure evil. Sound of silence. Grateful Dead. My favorite: Microsoft Works.

     These are some of the better oxymorons. What’s an oxymoron? An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms. Jumbo shrimp. Microsoft Works, get it? I’m an Apple kind of guy anyway.

     In Paul’s letter, we see a similar type of contradiction going on. God chooses what is foolish to the world to be wisdom. God takes what is wise in the world and makes it foolish. Wise foolish. Foolish wise. Ah, yes, this sounds very good to our ears, doesn’t it? This is a good Word from the Lord. Now, let’s move on. Get on to something interesting, Vicar.

     But wait! Do you get it? Do you understand it? Do you know what Paul is saying here? Do you see what he’s saying? If you don’t get the whole idea behind Paul’s writing, you’ll miss what he’s saying entirely.

Podcast Sermon for March 4, 2012: No Longer Enemies

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on March 4, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on Romans 5:1-11. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/03/sermon-for-march-4-2012-no-longer.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for March 4, 2012: No Longer Enemies

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

The text for this morning’s message comes from Paul’s Letter to the Romans, the fifth chapter, of selected verses:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly… but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 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.
Thus far the text.

Dear Friends in Christ,
     A Jewish man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.

     All of the sudden, the robbers came back. They had decided they didn’t have enough fun with the Jewish man and so they wanted to beat him still. Instead, they saw the Good Samaritan leaning over the man and so they started bashing the Samaritan over the head instead of the Jewish man. The Samaritan begged them to cease for only a moment, and said to them, “Hold on. I know you are violent men and intend to do me harm. Please know that I am the most powerful man in the country. I have been trained in every martial art and no one can stand up when I wield my sword. But, I will allow you to rob me, I will allow you to beat me, I will allow you to murder me, I will allow you to mock me. Only give me your word that you will let the other traveler go. Let me take the burden of what you intend to do to him. Give me a double beating for his sake.”

     The robbers accepted the Samaritan’s plea, and crushed all the bones in his body, bashed in his face, cut his skin all over so his blood flowed freely, all this they did as he laid passively on the ground allowing them to do with him what they will. They left the other man on the side of the road, bloody and suffering, but healed by the Good Samaritan’s efforts. When he awoke, he was confused by the body of a bloodied and dead man sitting by him. After sitting there for a little while, he was approached by a witness who explained everything that had happened, and explaining the situation to him, let him know that he had been spared because of the punishment the Samaritan took for the man. He nudged the man with his foot, saw he was truly dead, and went on his way.

Podcast Sermon for February 29, 2012: Words from the Cross… About the Cross: With Me… in Paradise

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on February 29, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on Luke 23:39-43. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/02/sermon-for-february-29-2012-words-from.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for February 29, 2012: Words from the Cross… About the Cross: With Me… in Paradise

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

The text for this evening’s message comes from the Gospel of Luke, the twenty-third chapter:

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Thus far the text.

Dear Friends in Christ,
     Today with me you will hear about Jesus. Today with me you will hear about the cross. Today with me you will hear about repentance and forgiveness and the eternal life that Jesus Himself gives. Today, today, you will be with me, and today you will be with Jesus, in paradise.

     Jesus says an amazing thing on the cross. It’s easily missed and easily misunderstood. That’s because we often miss the importance of the cross. Now, certainly, the cross is important to us Christians. For sure. we often say that we Lutherans are Christ-centered and cross-focused. That means that we look to Christ and Him alone as the atoner, the revealer of God, the propitiation of our sins, and we do that by seeing exactly what God intended, from the foundation of the earth, for His Son to do, which is to die on a cross.
But, why the cross? Why did Jesus have to die in such a way? Many people say that it could be another way, another manner. But I, and so many others, say that the cross is the only way that Jesus could die. Let’s explore that.

Podcast Sermon for February 26, 2012: 40 Days of Fulfillment

A sermon preached by Vicar Lewis Polzin on February 26, 2012 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Troy, MO, on Mark 1:9:15. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/02/sermon-for-february-26-2012-40-days-of.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for February 26, 2012: 40 Days of Fulfillment

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

The text for this morning’s message comes from the Gospel of Mark, the first chapter:

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Thus far the text.

Dear Friends in Christ,
     Today is the first Sunday of Lent. This is a season that began last Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, and will continue for the next 6 weeks, and ends in that ultimate culmination of joy, that ultimate time of God’s care and provision, that celebration and feasting time of Easter, that day when Jesus Christ, God in flesh Himself, was raised from the dead, up from the grave that He entered on that very Good Friday. It’s a time of reflection. It’s a time of meditation. It’s a time of pondering. It’s a time of sorrow. It’s a time of fulfillment.

     Lent, which is a festival time that the early Church began to celebrate goes for 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter, minus Sundays, which are seen as mini-Easters. After all, during this time of great sadness, we still have joy in Christ, we still are forgiven of all our sins, the Church still will celebrate the Lord’s Supper, the Church will continue to baptize and teach and preach. That ultimate act of Jesus Christ which is fulfilled on Easter Sunday is foreshadowed in each of these Sundays that we meet during this time.

HHS Mandate and Pastor Matt Harrison: "We are studiously non-partisan, so much so that we’re often criticized for being quietistic. I’d rather not be here, frankly."

Thursday, February 16, 2012, may go down in history as a day that changed how American churches interact, accept, and honor the American government.  Pastor Matt Harrison, President of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, was asked to appear before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and speak on the issue of "Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience?"

He was not the only speaker there (between the two panels, there was a Catholic bishop, a rabbi, two university professors, 3 university presidents, 1 university administrator, 1 medical director, and a denominational president) and he spoke, not on the issue of the morality or immorality of contraception, but on the government overstepping its bounds and forcing its own principles on church-directed institutions and agencies.

The transcript of President Harrison's message follows and can be heard by clicking the title of this post. It is poignant, pithy, succinct, and incredibly smart (when he refers to the bed being too short, please turn to Isaiah 28:20 and read the context of it by reading verses 14-22). The LCMS is blessed to be lead by this man who is faithful to God's Word. If you would like more resources or articles on this subject, please contact me and I'll be happy to help you. God bless His Church and its resolve to obey God rather than men.

Mr. Chairman, it’s a pleasure to be here. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is a body of some 6,200 congregations and 2.3 million members across the U.S. We don’t distribute voters’ lists. We don’t have a Washington office. We are studiously non-partisan, so much so that we’re often criticized for being quietistic.

“I’d rather not be here, frankly. Our task is to proclaim, in the words of the blessed apostle St. John, the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all our sin. And we care for the needy. We haven’t the slightest intent to Christianize the government. Martin Luther famously quipped one time, ‘I’d rather have a smart Turk than a stupid Christian governing me.’

“We confess that there are two realms, the church and the state. They shouldn’t be mixed – the church is governed by the Word of God, the state by natural law and reason, the Constitution. We have 1,000 grade schools and high schools, 1,300 early childhood centers, 10 colleges and universities. We are a machine which produces good citizens for this country, and at tremendous personal cost.

“We have the nation’s only historic black Lutheran college in Concordia, Selma. Many of our people [who are alive today] walked with Dr. King 50 years ago on the march from Selma to Montgomery. We put up the first million dollars and have continued to provide finance for the Nehemiah Project in New York as it has continued over the years, to provide home ownership for thousands of families, many of them headed by single women. Our agency in New Orleans, Camp Restore, rebuilt over 4,000 homes after Katrina, through the blood, sweat and tears of our volunteers. Our Lutheran Malaria Initiative, barely begun, has touched the lives of 1.6 million people in East Africa, especially those affected by disease, women and children. And this is just the tip, the very tip, of the charitable iceberg.

“I’m here to express our deepest distress over the HHS provisions. We are religiously opposed to supporting abortion-causing drugs. That is, in part, why we maintain our own health plan. While we are grandfathered under the very narrow provisions of the HHS policy, we are deeply concerned that our consciences may soon be martyred by a few strokes on the keyboard as this administration moves us all into a single-payer … system. Our direct experience in the Hosanna-Tabor case with one of our congregations gives us no comfort that this administration will be concerned to guard our free-exercise rights.

“We self-insure 50,000 people. We do it well. Our workers make an average of $43,000 a year, 17,000 teachers make much less, on average. Our health plan was preparing to take significant cost-saving measures, to be passed on to our workers, just as this health-care legislation was passed. We elected not to make those changes, incur great cost, lest we fall out of the narrow provisions required under the grandfather clause. While we are opposed in principle, not to all forms of birth control, but only abortion-causing drugs, we stand with our friends in the Catholic Church and all others, Christians and non-Christians, under the free exercise and conscience provisions of the U.S. Constitution.

“Religious people determine what violates their consciences, not the federal government. The conscience is a sacred thing. Our church exists because overzealous governments in northern Europe made decisions which trampled the religious convictions of our forebearers. I have ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War. I have ancestors who were on the Lewis and Clark expedition. I have ancestors who served in the War of 1812, who fought for the North in the Civil War – my 88-year-old father-in-law has recounted to me, in tears many times, the horrors of the Battle of the Bulge. In fact, Bud Day, the most highly decorated veteran alive, is a member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

“We fought for a free conscience in this country, and we won’t give it up without a fight. To paraphrase Martin Luther, the heart and conscience has room only for God, not for God and the federal government. The bed is too narrow, the blanket is too short. We must obey God rather than men, and we will. Please get the federal government, Mr. Chairman, out of our consciences. Thank you.”

Podcast Sermon for February 12, 2012: A Disobedient Leper

Sermon for February 12, 2012: A Disobedient Leper

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

     The text this morning is from the Gospel of Mark, the first chapter:

And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, [Jesus] stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

     Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,
     The text today shows us a loving God who takes pity on His servants, on those who ask Him for healing, on those who ask Him for mercy and compassion and for Him to do His will. And in this story, it’s easy for us to focus on what happened after Jesus had mercy. We like to dwell on the hidden things of God. We want to figure out, “Why did Jesus tell the leper not to tell anyone? Why did the leper disobey God Himself and spread the news regardless of Jesus’ stern charge?” And these are good to talk about. In fact, when I began to look at this text, that’s what I wanted to talk about: the disobedient leper. But as I went, as I translated, as I thought, as I prayed, it became clear that there is something more to this text than just the ending. Let’s talk about the miracle.

The Sacraments ARE Important

It begins with taking words away from Christ and then is followed by putting words in Christ's mouth that aren't there. This is the denial of the sacraments. This is sin.

Look, this may be hard to hear, but if you are a Christian and you deny the efficacy of the sacraments, either the Lord's Supper or baptism (and, of course, by extension, confession and absolution), then you are sinning against the very Christ you claim to hold dear.

The sacraments are real. The sacraments are effectual. The sacraments are not ritual. The sacraments are the forgiveness of Christ coming through a physical element and His Word. It's His promise. If you deny this promise and take yourself and other people away from it, it's sin and grievous sin at that (see Matthew 18:5-6).

Below is the best explanation of this I have ever found of why we should trust Christ's promise to us in the instituting of His sacraments. Of course, it's only a part of the whole conversation. More can be said, but this brief passage from the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord explains the sacrament easily. I know that this looks long, but the time it will take you to read it is incomparable to the benefit of the forgiveness found in the very sacrament most of evangelical Christianity now rejects.

If you reject Christ's teaching, if you reject His Word, you are rejecting Christ. If you reject Christ, that is sin.

Quit sinning, Christian. Christ loves you (so do I). Christ lived, died, and was resurrected for you. Cling to Christ. He forgives you.

Concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as our only Teacher, this solemn command has been given from heaven to all people, "listen to Him" [Matthew 17:5]. He is not a mere man or angel, neither is He just true, wise, and mighty, but He is the eternal Truth and Wisdom itself and Almighty God. [Jesus] knows very well what and how He is to speak. He can also powerfully effect and do everything that He says and promises. He says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away" (Luke 21:33); "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me" (Matthew 28:18). 

Consider this true, almighty Lord, our Creator and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, after the Last Supper. He is just beginning His bitter suffering and death for our sins. In those sad last moments, with great consideration and solemnity, He institutes this most venerable Sacrament. It was to be used until the end of the world with great reverence and obedience. It was to be an abiding memorial of His bitter suffering and death and all His benefits. It was a sealing and confirmation of the New Testament, a consolation of all distressed hears, and a firm bond of unity for Christians with Christ, their Head, and with one another. In ordaining and instituting the Holy Supper He spoke these words about the bread, which He blessed and gave: "Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you," and about the cup, or wine: "This is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins." 

We are certainly duty-bound not to interpret and explain these words in a different way. For these are the words of the eternal, true, and almighty Son of God, our Lord, Creator and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. We cannot interpret them as allegorical, figurative, turns of phrases, in a way that seems agreeable with our reason. With simple faith and due obedience, we receive the words as they read, in their proper and plain sense. We do not allow ourselves to be diverted from Christ's express words by any objections or human contradictions spun from human reason, however appealing they may appear to reason. 

When Abraham heard God's Word about offering his son [Genesis 22], he had reason enough to debate whether the words should be understood literally or with a tolerable or mild interpretation. They conflicted openly not only with all reason and with the divine and natural law, but also with the chief article of faith about the promised Seed, Christ, who was to be born of Isaac. Nevertheless, when the promise of the blessed Seed from Isaac was given to him, Abraham honored God's truthfulness. He confidently concluded ad believed that what God promised He could also do, although it appeared impossible to his reason [Hebrews 11:17-19]. So also about Isaac's sacrifice he understood and believed God's Word and command plainly and simply, as they read according to the letter. He committed the matter to God's almighty power and wisdom, which, he knew has many more modes and ways to fulfill the promise of the Seed from Isaac than he could comprehend with blind reason. 

We, too, are simply to believe with all humility and obedience our Creator and Redeemer's plain, firm, clear, solemn words and command, without any doubt and dispute about how it agrees with our reason or is possible. For these words were spoken by that Lord who is infinite Wisdom and Truth itself. He can do and accomplish everything He promises. 

All the circumstances of the Holy Supper's institution testify that these words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (which in themselves are simple, plain, clear, firm, and beyond doubt), cannot and must not be understood other than in their usual, proper, and common meaning. For Christ gives this command at the table and at supper. There is certainly no doubt that He speaks of real, natural bread and of natural wine. Also, He speaks of oral eating and drinking, so there can be no metaphor (i.e., a change of meaning) in the words bread, as thoughChrist's body were a spiritual bread or a spiritual food of souls. Christ is careful not to use metonymy either. In other words, there is no change of meaning in the word body. He does not speak about a sign for His body, or about a symbol or figurative body, or about the power of His body and benefits that He has earned by the sacrifice of His body for us. Instead, He speaks about His true, essential body (which He delivered into death for us) and about His true, essential blood (which He shed for us on the tree of the cross for the forgiveness of sins).

~Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, VII.43-49 (Emphases mine) 

Podcast Sermon for January 22, 2012: What Did He Say?

Sermon for January 22, 2012: What Did He Say?

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
     The text this morning is from the book of the prophet Jonah, the third chapter:

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
… When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,
     The story of Jonah is one that can easily pass our understanding, and not in the way that God’s peace passes all understanding. No, we have tendency to miss the story for the whale. Yes, indeed, you heard me right. We miss the story for the whale.

Podcast Sermon for January 15, 2012: Behind the Scenes

Sermon for January 15, 2012: Behind the Scenes

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

     The text this morning is from the Gospel of John, the 1st chapter, especially starting at verse 47:

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”

Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,
     When I was in high school, and this is something you may not know about me yet, I was a major choir geek. A major choir geek. By the time I reached my senior year of high school, I was regularly performing in three choirs, one of which was an a capella group that I helped to found, another was the show choir, where I did my dancing and singing pop songs, and the other was the chamber choir, where I got to sing with 80 talented other people in 4-part or better harmony, and was also part of a couple of rated performance groups, singing for judges. I was a major choir geek. In some ways, I still wish I was…

The beauty (and unintended pain) of the Lord's Supper

A fantastic statement from Luther, not on the efficacy of the Lord's Supper, though it is that, but on the beauty of the Lord's Supper to be held between communicants, neighbors, in order to build each other up and help in every need. This is why Witness, Mercy, and Life Together matters. All the time. This is why theology matters. This is why the eighth commandment matters. This is why communion matters. All the time. And this is why we often fail. All the time. We sin. But God is good and forgives all our sin. All the time.

"There behold how unbelievably great a thing it is regarding that sacrament when one uses it in the right way, that a man must therein be delivered from death when he correctly perceives it for the great thing that it is.  Reason cannot conceive of it.  Is it not great that the high majesty steps forth for me and gives Himself to me for mine own, thereupon that all saints step forth for me and stand, take upon themselves what is mine and have concern for me, serve and help me?  Thus God places us in the fellowship of Christ and all His chosen; there we have a great consolation where we forsake ourselves.  If I am a sinner, thus Christ stands there and says, "The sinner is mine whom I grab hold of with My holy fingers.  Who will grumble about that?"  Thus my sin falls away and I partake of His righteousness.  Thus we Christians also do with each other, take upon ourselves that of another, so that one person bears the sin and failings of another and serves the other with his piety.  This we don't understand, and if we likewise often hear and understand it, we don't believe it.  And so we retreat ever more and experience no fruit or improvement."

~Martin Luther, "A Sermon on the Lord's Supper," Maundy Thursday, 1523