Sexigesima Sunday

Sexigesima Sunday

Sexagesima - 60 Days before Easter

February 4, 2017

Isaiah 55

Grace and mercy to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

It is written in Isaiah 55:

     10       “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

     and do not return there but water the earth,

                 making it bring forth and sprout,

     giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

     11       so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

     it shall not return to me empty,

                 but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

     and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.   Thus far the text.

Let us pray:  Creator Father, your Son promised the Holy Spirit who works through your word and does not return to you without giving life to the hearer, just as your rain and snow fall from the sky and do not return without giving bread to the eater.  Grant us your Holy Spirit through the your word this morning and grant us life; in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Our Isaiah text for this morning is the longest and clearest chapter from the Old Testament teaching you a unique glory that you have as Christians.  This unique glory is this: The Holy Spirit does the Father’s work through...Holy Scripture.

Holy Scripture is the promised tool the Holy Spirit uses to do the work of our Father.

Many professions have tools.  A plumber has a pipe wrench.  A doctor has a stethescope.  An accountant has the books.  An engineer has the calculations.  A teacher has a dry erase board.  A floor worker has the machine.  The Holy Spirit has the Holy Scripture.

Take away your tools?  You won’t work.  The broken pipe won’t be removed without a wrench.  The heart won’t be heard without a stethescope.  The accounts won’t be balanced without the books.  The project won’t work without the calculations.  The teacher won’t illustrate the lesson without the dry erase board.  The worker won’t produce without the machine.  The Holy Spirit won’t work without Holy Scripture.

The Holy Spirit taught this to the prophet comparing it to a garden or crop land, saying,  For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

The unique value of rainwater can be seen with special clarity when compared to man’s best effort to imitate God’s creation.

Many of you are gardeners or farmers.  You know the difference rainwater makes upon the plants.  The plants spring to life and grow.  In comparison, you can water your garden with tap water and keep the plants alive, but they don’t grow very well.  Your can irrigate the corn and bean fields during a drought and keep them alive, too.  But they won’t grow like they do from a rain shower.  

We can imitate creation.  But we cannot equal the power and beauty of God’s creation to give life that thrives.

We can also imitate God’s Word with our clever teachings.  But, there is no substitute for the Holy Scriptures to reign down on us the Holy Spirit for life and salvation.

The Holy Scriptures are more than inerrant.  They are the power of God unto salvation.  Let me say that again.  The Holy Scriptures are more than inerrant.  They are the power of God unto salvation.

By listening to Holy Scripture, your soul will revive.

• Old Testament Israel received the promise of God’s mercy

• Multitudes from outside Old Testament Israel will become believers in Christ.

• You are the New Testament Gentiles who believe in Jesus because the Holy Spirit brought you the Holy Scriptures to you and they have been effective.

Not everyone agrees with this scriptural teaching.

Today’s epistle lesson admonishes us to identify these false teachers in our midst.

How is that done?  In the Holy Scriptures and the Confessions, truth is emphasized by combining the positive teaching with the negative teaching.  This combination will identify the false teachers.

For example, the Mormons are false teachers.  They teach that they believe in the Holy Trinity.  That’s great.  That’s positive teaching.  But, they will never say, “We renounce the teaching of three separate gods.”  or to say it another way, We teach the father is one god, the son is another god, and the holy spirit is a third god - but these three person are not one God.

Two mormons missionaries visited a Christian I know.  They told the Christian that the Book of Mormon in now way teaches against the Holy Scriptures.  The Book of Mormon agrees with Isaiah, they said.  The Book of Mormon agrees with the teaching of the Holy Trinity, they said.  

Christian then quoted Deuteronomy 6:4, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God.  The Mormon missionaries became angry and left.  The Holy Scripture had its effect.

The apostle Peter preached combining the positive with the negative teaching of Holy Scripture.  In his sermon recorded in Acts 4:11, Peter proclaimed this: This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. (That’s the positive teaching.  Jesus is the cornerstone of salvation.) But then, 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Peter not only stated the positive that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of salvation, but Peter also denied that there is salvation apart from Jesus.  And the Holy Spirit, through this Word, accomplished the effect desired by our Father.  Those who did not believe in Jesus alone went away with hurt feelings or tremendous anger.  Those who did believe in Jesus more confidently trusted in Jesus alone for their salvation.

The rain and snow come down from heaven, just as the Word comes down to us.  No one with any knowledge of plants would argue that snow and rain fall without effect.  The effect is unmistakable and inevitable.  The Word condemns sin and unbelief.  The Word brings about contrition in the heart of the sinner.  The Word showers comfort and peace upon those who believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Even as the Word also damns unbelief and hardens the hearts of those who persistently reject the Gospel freely offered.

So it is even within the gathering of Christians.  

How can we be confident that the Holy Spirit is active among us to accomplish the effect desired by our creator Father among us?  The closer Christians teach in accordance with the Holy Scripture, the greater the effect of God upon us by the Holy Spirit.  Parents, do you teach your children in accordance to the positive and negative of what is written.  Or do you only crush your child’s soul with the negative teaching (Honor your father and mother or you’re grounded).  Or do you puff up your child’s soul with only the positive teaching (As long as you’re happy, we love you).  Rather, let us conform all that we say to all that is written.  Your teaching will have the effect of a gentle rain upon your children and revive them and grow them in trust toward Jesus; in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Septuagesima Sunday

   Septuagesima Sunday

Septuagesima Sunday

70 Days Before Easter Sunday

January 28-29, 2018

Grace and mercy to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

It is written in 1 Corinthians 9: 24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.  10 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased.  Thus far the text.

Let us pray: Creator Father, who saves us not because of what we have done for you but rather because you give us faith through your Holy Spirited Word by grace through Jesus Christ our Savior; in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Vince Lombardi coached the Green Bay Packers to several Super Bowl victories in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.  Mr. Lombardi had two sayings that stand out in light of today’s sermon text.  

He said, “Practice does not make perfect.  Perfect practice makes perfect.  Lombardi’s practices ruthlessly practiced the fundamentals.  How to block.  How to tackle.  How to throw a ball.  How to catch a ball.  They had some fancy plays, but they only perfected the sweep and a few others.

A second saying by Coach Lombardi is that ‘Winning isn’t everything. Winning is the only thing’.  The two-minute warning was played as if it were the beginning of a new game.  Vince Lombardi demanded his players play 110% until the game ending whistle was blown.

Perfect practice makes perfect.  And...Winning is the only thing.

The apostle Paul is not a football coach.  However, the apostle Paul does use sports illustrations encouraging us to stick with the fundamentals of the Christian faith.  You do this as you continue to hear the Lord’s Word proclaimed.  You continue to do this as you receive the Lord’s sacraments.  24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.  Which means don’t give up.  Your Christian life will have obstacles.  You are promised by the Lord that you have a cross to bear.  Just as runners get tired and want to quit the race so also Christians get tired of the cross and want to quit the faith.  So Paul reminds us how even the great St. Paul runs in this Christian race writing, 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty.  

The apostle Paul also uses boxing illustration encouraging us to endure in this Christian faith until death.  As it is written in Hebrews, 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.  The outcome of your Christian race is guaranteed as long as you continue to practice the fundamentals which is believe in Jesus.  And this faith in Jesus comes by hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).  

Continuing with the boxing illustration, Paul reminds us as to how he fights the Christian fight, saying: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

Many have been disqualified.

Paul points out a few disturbing facts about our own spiritual fathers.

What is to follow are historical facts about how good, Old Testament Christians gave up the faith.

The apostle Paul writes, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink.

Let me step back a moment.  It is easy to convince you that you are saved by Word and Sacrament.  Another way to say that more broadly is that you are saved by faith through a promise and a sign.  The Word is the promise.  Bread and Wine are the sign but more than a sign when the promise is added.  Now, whether you lived in the Old Testament or the New Testament, the Lord saves His people with the combination of a promise and a unique sign.

Adam had a promise from God for a Savior, written in Genesis 3:15:

   15And I will put enmity

   Between you and the woman,

   And between your seed and her Seed;

   He shall bruise your head,

   And you shall bruise His heel.”

One of Adam’s descendants will be the Savior who defeats sin, death, and the devil.

Adam also had a sign to go along with the promise, written in Genesis 4,

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.”

A child is the sign.

Until Noah, this promise and sign was all the people had to be saved by grace through faith in THE Child.  That Child was not born until about 4,000 years later.

Jump to Noah for another promise and sign.  God promised the end of all flesh and the ark was the sign by which Noah and his family will be saved by grace through faith in the Savior, written in Genesis 6:17,

17 And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark.

Noah was saved by this promise of grace through faith.  The accompanying sign is the ark.

So what is Paul saying in 1 Corinthians 10,

10 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink.

God promised to deliver His people from Egyptian slavery to be His people at Mt. Sinai.  And the sign was the Lord who went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way.  And it is written,

19 And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. 20 So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

And you know the rest of the story.  All the 600,000+ Israelites crossed the Red Sea safely.  All the Egyptian army was destroyed when they tried to cross.

These are our spiritual fathers.  They had the promise and the sign.  And yet, they did not continue in the Christian faith.  When times got tough, they turned to unbelief.  The Lord was not pleased.  That whole generation that experienced the Exodus died in the desert.  They had the promise and the sign just as you have the Word and Sacrament as the Lord has given to you.  Yet our spiritual fathers died in unbelief.

Paul is warning us not to be like them.  Let us not give up the promise and sign of the Lord to us.  Let us believe in Jesus and continue to hear the promise of salvation by grace.  Let us to believe in Jesus and continue to eat and drink His sacrament for the forgiveness of our sins.  This is how we practice the faith.  Let us abide in Jesus the way He now promises through the means of grace; in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The peace of God, which passes understanding, guard and keep you in Jesus Christ, our Savior.  Amen.

The Transfiguration of Our Lord

Second Sunday after Epiphany

Second Sunday after Epiphany

The Second Sunday after Epiphany

Romans 12:6-16

Grace and mercy to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

It is written:  6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.  (Romans 12:6-8)

Let us pray: Creator Father, grant us Your Holy Spirit, so that we may believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.

There is only one Christian faith.  The Christian faith is to receive Jesus the Christ.  The Jesus spoken of in the Holy Bible.  The Jesus dead and bloodied on the cross.    You are Christians because you are baptized and believe in Jesus.  

The verses immediately before our text speaks to our equality in Christ.  It is written:  4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office (Rom. 12:4 KJV).

This word picture of the body is helpful.

First, a body is born.  All the members of the body are born with the body.  And no member of the body gets its place with the body by it own efforts or intentions.  The eyes did not decide to be eyes.  They were born eyes to the body.  Same with the nose.  The nose was born a nose to the body.   The eyes and the nose receive their existence and their powers from the body.  The body, however, only exercises its eyes or nose when it want to see or smell.  So, the body is born and all the members of the body are born with it.  So also, the church is born from Jesus.  Jesus gives all of you the birth from above by Holy Baptism.  Just as Jesus is the first born of the dead on Easter morning, so also you the members of His body will all equally be raised from the dead on Resurrection Day.

Second, going back to the illustration of the body, each member of the body is content with the other members of the body.  The eyes are not envious that the nose has the better sense of smell.  Likewise, the nose doesn’t secretly wish it had sight like the eyes.  The eyes and the nose are thankful to be part of the body.  Christians are also thankful to be part of the body of Christ.  

Third, again with the body illustration, each member serves the other members of the body.  The eyes prepare the way for the feet.  The feet keep the body from falling and thus protecting the eye.  The same is true for the Lord’s church, the body of Christ.  The congregation has the ears to hear the Lord’s Word preparing the way for a pastor. The pastor is the mouth and hands of the congregation to speak the Lord’s Word and distribute the Lord’s Sacraments.   Each members serves the other members of the body.

Finally, fourth, each member suffers and rejoices with all.

As the Lord says: 4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office (Rom. 12:4 KJV).  The head of the body and the most honorable part of the body is the head.  Jesus is the head of His body.  Jesus is always the head of His church.

And yet, you, the members of Christ’s body, are not all the same.  You have gifts that differ according to the grace given to you as our Lord says in Romans 12.

The Lord lists several of those gifts that distributes among us, but gifts that we don’t receive in the same proportion.

For example, prophecy.  All Christians could be given the gift of prophecy but the Lord only gives it to some.  And even to those who receive the gift not all have it in the same measure.