Midweek of Lent 4
The Salutary Gift: Rest for the Weary
Exodus 31:12–18; Matthew 11:27–12:8
March 3, 2019
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
Midweek of Lent 4
The Salutary Gift: Rest for the Weary
Exodus 31:12–18; Matthew 11:27–12:8
March 3, 2019
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
The Annunciation of our Lord (Observed)
Luke 1:26-38
March 31, 2019
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
This morning we do something a little different. It is the 4th Sunday in Lent, yet we have white paraments instead of purple because today we are observing an important festival, that of the Annunciation, which falls on March 25, this last Monday. Normally, holidays during the week wouldn’t be transferred to a Sunday, especially during the season of Lent. But given some of the current issues within our culture, there is some benefit to take time and consider this important topic.
So first off, the Annunciation is the account of when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced to her that she would conceive in her womb and bear a son, and that she shall call His name Jesus. Luke records Mary’s response to the angel’s announcement that she had been chosen to bear the Son of the God, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” Before this moment of His conception, God the Son was not yet man; but from this moment onward He assumed humanity. By means of the Word of God proclaimed through the angel to this young woman, Jesus enters the womb of His mother, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Jesus’ first dwelling wasn’t in Bethlehem, but in the womb of Mary. This is why the Church has long affirmed in specific terms (at least since the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451), confessing that Mary is the Theotokos, the mother of God. This is not as much a confession about Mary as it is about Jesus. For the Son of God becomes flesh at the very moment of His conception by the Holy Spirit. From that moment, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity was both fully divine and fully human. When the Son of God took up temporary residence in the ark of his mother’s womb, the real divine nature and human personhood of Jesus is joined for eternity through the smallest of beginnings. Our early Christian counterparts prayed, sang, and remembered that Christ’s incarnation was immediate and complete at the moment of his conception. While most of the time we think and focus on the truth that God has become man at Christmas, the Annunciation is the beginning of that union – and on a side note, this is part of the reason for when we celebrate Christmas, for 9 months after the Annunciation is Dec 25.
This truth of the union of the two natures of Christ, fully God and fully man in one person, begotten of the Father before all ages, and born from the substance of His mother, perfect God and perfect man, has always been foundational for the Christian faith and holds a timeless message for us 21st century Christians in light of what it means to be human and when human life begins. Nine months before the shepherds heard the angelic song of the Gloria in excelsis, and years before the Magi travelled to Bethlehem, John the Baptist, 6 months old in his mother’s womb, leapt with joy in the presence of his Savior. The unborn Jesus, whom Elizabeth and John greet, was smaller than the point of a needle.
And Elizabeth responds with a loud cry calling Mary the mother of her Lord, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:42). The Son of the Most High sanctifies the womb of Mary, and in doing so, sanctifies the wombs of all women ad bestows an innate value on all unborn children. From the first children of Adam and Eve onward, all people are conceived body and soul, created and known by God and recipients of His providential love. The recognition of each human person known by God even from the moment of conception and called to eternity by the work of the Holy Spirit through the means of grace is a hallmark of Christianity.
The witness of the annunciation and the visitation of pregnant Mary and pregnant Elizabeth proclaim and demand that God’s people respect and protect human life. This truth has led the Christian Church throughout the millennia to have a high regard for human life from the moment of conception to natural death and to condemn the abuse, the disregard, the murder of those who are weakest and most vulnerable in society. Because all life is from His hand, He abhors the shedding of innocent blood.
The message of Scripture and of Christ’s Church is clear – abortion, euthanasia, both of which are murder - are sins against humanity and more importantly, against the Author of Life. Those within Christianity who brazenly support abortion or euthanasia, or who are fooled into thinking these are acceptable solutions to difficult problems, are deceived by the devil and the sinful world. These things are not compatible with the Christian faith, and God does not take kindly to the false prophets who proclaim otherwise and lead others into sin.
Yet this is not the only message of Scripture and Christ’s Church. While Satan whispers a double message into our ears, either, “This is no sin or at all,” or worse, “This sin is too big to be forgiven.” We are to proclaim the good news that we have received of forgiveness and hope that brings true healing. Jesus did not assume human body to condemn sinners, but to save sinners. He assumed a human life and body at His conception, a life that was not esteemed by the world nor considered worthy of affection, a body that would be nailed to the cross, buried in the tomb, raised on the third day, ascended into heaven forty days later, and still sits at the right hand of God the Father. He does this to redeem, to save, to sanctify, to heal, to reconcile sinful and broken and suffering humanity to Himself. Because Jesus came to bear the shame, the guilt, and the punishment of sin, anchored in Christ’s incarnation, there is hope for you, for those who suffer in this life, and for the sinful world. Confess your sin. Confess your indifference to sin. And trust in God’s promise of mercy that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
The Annunciation affirms the fullness of a human person upon conception in fresh ways in contemporary times. And we celebrate the fact that we are, as soon as we are conceived, unique, irreplaceable, and infinitely valuable in the sight of God. Today, that hope and that promise and benefits of the incarnation comes to you in the body and blood of Jesus. The Annunciation makes the Sacrament of the Altar possible. The annunciation of the Words of Institution spoken over the bread and wine communicate the real presence of Christ. The real life of Christ, the life that overcomes death itself, the very body and blood of the Son of God is offered here from the Lord’s altar for you. As the Blessed Virgin Mary confessed, so join in her words as you receive the Lord Himself, “Let it be to me according to your word.”
* Some of the sermon is gleaned from various devotionals put out by Lutherans for Life, Grounded in God's Love, which is highly recommended.
Over the last 20 years, the country of Iceland has worked to decrease Down Syndrome in their country. In the 21st century, almost 100% of those who received even the potential of a positive test result for Down Syndrome are aborted. The plan to eliminate Down Syndrome is genocide. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/down-syndrome-iceland/ This is plain evil.
Midweek of Lent 3 2019
1 Corinthians 10:14–22; Acts 2:42–47
The Salutary Gift: Blest Communion
March 20, 2019
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
Lent 3 2019 Oculi
Ephesians 5:1-9
What is Proper among the Saints
March 24, 2019
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
Beloved children. This is our place in God’s church, children, who are really loved, really forgiven and accepted, through the sacrifice of Christ. This position makes a high calling. We are to be imitators of God the Father. Children often imitate admire and imitate their fathers, for good and sometimes for bad. This is only natural. Children learn by what they see and what they hear. They learn what it is to love by being loved. So as God’s children, we are to imitate our Father especially in His love, but also in His purity, generosity, wisdom, and greatness.
One of the greatest tragedies in our culture today is the absence of fathers in home, the absence of role model who models himself after God the Father. Recent surveys by the Barna Research group indicated that children are 60% more likely to remain faithful in church attendance, prayer, and identifying as Christians when their father is regularly involved in church and their formation of faith in the home. The role of the father in bringing up of children in society in general, and church in particular, is extremely important. And our culture’s current war on men and masculinity makes things even worse.
The answer to this is that we are also to be imitators of God the Son. We are to walk in love, as Christ has loved us. Imitate His love in a very real, practical, self-sacrificing way. Christ’s love is our example, and even more, our motive, to follow that example. Christ is our calling. And while the world may be full of hatred, the children of God are to breathe an atmosphere of love as defined by and exhibited in Jesus. This love fills our hearts, our words and actions; and it is a holy thing, not mere sentiment or emotion, or good ethical behavior.
There is more here than just morality. Paul is concerned with our holiness, which is not just a matter of morality and behavior, but of closeness to a holy God. God’s holiness is a consuming fire burning up unholiness and uncleanliness, which separates people from God. This is why Paul states that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. (Eph 5:5). Sin, as well as the out of place talking about these things which tempt and lead us astray, separates people from God.
What’s the answer? It’s more than just be good and avoid sinful living, though these are important. Again, the answer lies in Christ and who you are in Christ. You are a saint, a holy one, made clean by the blood of Jesus, and you are light in the Lord. You were darkness, not you were in darkness, but you were darkness. But now you are light. You have been made saints, people set apart and consecrated by God Himself through the death and resurrection of Christ. Christ has set you apart from this wicked generation. In Baptism, you have been stripped of the old Adam. Its old ways are not yours anymore. You have been clothed in Christ, in His holiness and righteousness, holy ones washed in the blood of the Lamb, justified before God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. You are to walk as children of light because that’s who you are as saints. Do what is proper among the saints.
The deeper we enter Lent, the more intense we see our struggle between sin and righteousness, between sinner and saint. We see it in the life of Christ as He approaches the cross, and we see it in our lives evermore clearly.
The point is this: the world and the devil and your sinful flesh will rage against you. As saints we are to avoid the sins of the flesh, the sins of the tongue, the sins of covetousness. These are all related. It’s a very interesting thing that in the New Testament letters when sexuality is mentioned, it is always directed toward the behavior of the saints. There’s a great danger in sexual immorality beyond the sin against the body. For the Ephesians, who were steeped in Roman religious practices, it was a path back to idolatry. We may not have Roman god and goddess worship, but we do have idolatry of the body with its passions. Sex and sexuality contrary to God’s design and will have become an idol and our world covets and craves this idol. The devil doesn’t want you married, nor chaste. The enemy is relentless, a strong man, the prince of this world. He has been dethroned by Christ, who is stronger than the devil. The world revels in perversion and tries to make you think it is normal, or good. But don’t fall for it. Don’t be so gullible. Do not partner with them in your attention, your words, or in your actions. Remain chaste, devoted to your husband and wife, to your children and family. Your call to be holy means that you are extraordinary. As someone once said, “The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman with their ordinary children” (G. K. Chesterton). Whether you are married or single, guard your body against sexual immorality, guard your soul. These sins are deadly, eternally deadly, for those who are sexual immoral or impure, those who are idolatrous through coveting, those who have no repentance over their sin and therefore deny Christ and His forgiveness have no place in His kingdom.
Children of God, we must shake off our indifference, a destructive tolerance of evil. Since the fall into sin, we all have a disordered heart, a heart that desires the wrong things; sexual immortality, impurity, covetousness, filthiness and foolish talk and crude joking. These are sins that we are to avoid. These are inconsistent with our calling. We must learn again and again to have what St. Augustine so aptly coined, “A well ordered heart is to love the right thing to the right degree in the right way with the right kind of love.” We must be willing to focus upon, to speak, and to love what it good, what is right, and what is true. This begins and ends with hearing the Word of God and keep it. You were not made to fit in. You were born again to stand with Christ. He is the stronger man, who has invaded this sinful world in His incarnation to snatch you out of the grasp of the devil and your own sin, to gather you to Himself. The grace of God keep you steadfast in that true faith in Christ.
Midweek Lent 2 2019
Isaiah 52:13–53:5; Luke 10:25–37
The Salutary Gift: Healing Medicine
March 20, 2019
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
Lent 2 2019 Reminiscere
Romans 5:1-5
March 17, 2019
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
From our epistle reading for this morning, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Whenever you come across a sentence that begins with “therefore” you should always ask what it is there for. The first four chapters of Romans spent a lot of time confessing the reality that all have sinned, that no one is righteous not even one, that everyone stands equally guilty before a holy and righteous God. No human will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
It’s a bleak picture really. We have no righteousness of our own, no goodness that deserves anything except the wrath of God revealed from heaven against ungodliness and unrighteousness. We cannot boast about ourselves, even in the least. For no one can be justified, declared righteous, in the sight of God based on their own works. Yet, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteous. Likewise, “[Faith] will be counted to us who believe in Him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
Therefore, after being declared righteous by God, this declaration, this justification we receive from, out of, due to faith in Christ brings us peace. This peace is not some kind of subjective feeling that is based on emotion. Much more profoundly, it is the objective state of being at peace instead of being enemies. It’s not the absence of war or conflict, like we normally use the word, but it is the presence of what is good. Peace, then, is a good relationship we have toward or with God. The first several chapters of Romans makes it abundantly clear that this does not come about in any way, shape or form from us to God but this is always and ever and only a relationship of peace with God based on His declaring us righteousness, which is always and ever and only through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Even more, through Christ, we obtain and retain access by faith into this grace, into God’s undeserved kindness and favor. We stand on this grace, not as a one time gift, but a daily reality, a daily foundation. By faith, we not only gain entry into grace, but also our present state of grace and our hope of sharing in the glory of God. Faith alone is the beginning, middle, and end of everything (FC SD IV 34).
This leads to our rejoicing, but it’s actually quite a shame that many modern English translations use “rejoicing.” It’s more than “rejoice”. The word here really means, “boast”. We boast in the hope of the glory of God. This too is more than just a confident expectation of the future, but a present tense bragging. Boasting in the Law or in our works certainly excluded. But boasting in the things of God is proper and in fact a natural reaction to our peace with God. This is how St. Paul can also say in both of his letters to the Corinthian Christians referencing Jeremiah 9:23, “let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor 1:31, 2 Cor 10:17).
And even more, we rejoice, we boast in our sufferings. It’s not that suffering is good. In fact it is bad and will be done away with at the resurrection. But hope enables us to continue boasting even in the midst of sufferings. Why? Because we have peace with God, both in the future and in the present!
And this then leads to endurance, a patient endurance, to stay standing on the firm foundation of our hope in Christ in the middle of pressure and suffering that tries to knock us down. This then leads to character, to a tested character, an approved character. This is character that comes like the testing of metals refined by fire, a process of enduring something, enduring suffering with patience that promotes and validates the character of the one undergoing it – a character formed by Christ.
This isn’t a list of virtues we have to work on going through, one step at a time, but these are effects of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of God’s people. God leads us through suffering. He teaches patient endurance, He develops character, then we end up right back where we started, with hope. There’s a progression here of maturing in the Christian faith, but not distinguishable stages of faith, since the end point is no different than the beginning. These words reassure us of God’s intention for His people when we are afflicted by any pressure or hardship or temptation: Patient endurance leading to approved character which then works its way right back to hope, and because this hope is in Christ, is as certain and sure as Christ’s resurrection from the dead.
Whatever it is that you are going through, whatever temptations and hardships and trials and suffering, hope survives and thrives because God’s love has been poured into, and remains in, your hearts through the Holy Spirit. His love is not without a continuous effect. It continues to dwell within our hearts through the Holy Spirit and point you to Christ. The foundation that you are justified in the sight of God, declared righteous through faith in Christ, who ransomed you by His precious blood and raised on the third day. Because of this, you have peace with God, a peace that passes all understanding. Focused on Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection we know that suffering is not the whole story. God will use afflictions and for your good and to bless others. He will keep His promises and by faith, there Christ suffered for you, and when you must suffer, He leads you in faith, justified, in the hope of the peace you have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Much of this sermon is based off the exegetical insights and meaning of the Greek words used in the text. See BDAG and Concordia Commentary: Romans 1-8 by Middendorf
Lent Midweek 1
This Salutary Gift: The Bread of Life
March 13, 2019
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID