Sunday, December 31, 2017
Monday, December 25, 2017
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Advent Midweek 3, 2017 - The Means of Grace - Sacrament of the Altar
1 Corinthians 11 - For I received from the Lord what I also
delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed
took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he
broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance
of me.” 25 In
the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the
new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of
me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and
drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
27 Whoever,
therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy
manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let
a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the
cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without
discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That
is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But
if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be
judged. 32 But when we are judged by the
Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not
be condemned along with the world.
Luke 14 - When one of those who reclined at
table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone
who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 But
he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited
many. 17 And at the time for the banquet
he sent his servant to say to those who
had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’18 But
they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a
field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’19 And
another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them.
Please have me excused.’ 20 And another
said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So
the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of
the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets
and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and
lame.’22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded
has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the
master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel
people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For
I tell you, none of those men who
were invited shall taste my banquet.’”
Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear friends in
Christ, it is Advent. The time of the
church year when we focus on the fact that Christ comes to us. He is coming, his advent is near. And for our midweek advent services this
year, we will be focusing on the way that Christ comes to us, specifically in
the means of grace. We’ll be learning
each week about one of the ways that God comes to create faith with us.
There are three
ways that this takes place. Through
God’s Word, proclaimed into our ear.
Through baptismal waters poured upon us.
And through participating in the very body and blood of Jesus in the
Lord’s Supper. In these three things,
the Holy Spirit works to create faith in us, so that we receive the
forgiveness, life and salvation that Christ so freely gives.
This week we
hear about the Lord’s Supper. And its
appropriate that we are only a few days from Christmas itself as we hear about
this great gift of God. Because at
Christmas we celebrate God coming to us, in the flesh. The eternal God who created all that we
understand and know entered the creation, born of a woman, laid in a manger,
for the very purpose of dying for our sin.
And in the Lord’s Supper, he enters our world in the flesh again. Only this time, for us to eat and to
drink.
Its true, the
fulness of the eternal God comes in the flesh for you, in a tiny morsel of
bread. The fulness of the blood that
coursed through his veins and poured from his wounds comes for you to drink in
with and under a taste of wine. You
participate in God and in His salvation whenever you eat or drink. As Christ’s own words say, “This is my body,
this is my blood,” and as he says in Matthew’s gospel, “poured out for
forgiveness of sins.”
Yes, in the
Lord’s Supper, you receive forgiveness for your sins. What a great benefit in that simple eating
and drinking. For you have sinned much,
and justly deserve God’s eternal wrath and punishment, but he has decided to
let you feast on his flesh and drink his blood so that you may be forgiven of
your sin. Which sins? All of them.
How can that
be? Because Christ is the sacrifice that
paid for your sins. His work on the
cross earned forgiveness life and salvation for you. Since his flesh died and rose again, when you
eat and drink, you participate in the saving action of the cross. And he personally brings that forgiveness to
you in the bread and the wine become body and blood.
And he is truly
present as well. For his own words say
so. It isn’t a figure of speech, it is a
truth, written in clear language. Every
word is recorded for us, “This” “is” “my” Body”, This is My Blood. He really is there. That’s why we kneel at the altar rail, in
reverence to Christ’s holy presence, knowing that we are partaking in the God
who saved us by his cross. We ought not
take it for granted that we are in the very presence of God when we come to the
rail to partake.
And our Lord
bids us to take it often. As Paul says, “For
as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's
death until he comes.” He doesn’t
say, “As seldom,” or “When you feel like it.”
He says as often. You should
partake in the Lord’s supper often.
Luther says if you don’t participate at minimum 4 times a year, than you
aren’t even a Christian, though partaking every week is even better as many
churches are beginning to do again in our own church body. Why?
Because you sin every single day, and thus you ought to partake in the
food that delivers forgiveness for that sin as often as you can. It is good to eat and drink often, as the
Lord himself says, “Do this.”
And yes, we do
practice closed communion, as Paul teaches about to the Corinthians in our text
for tonight, saying that those who come with a wrong confession of faith have
eaten and drank to their own damnation – even saying that’s why some have died
among them. For that reason, we do seek
to have a united confession of faith for all who partake, not because we are
better than other, but only so that we don’t distribute judgment upon those who
know no better. (the same reason a pharmacist doesn't just hand out drugs willy nilly - they might hurt the one who takes them wrongly.)
Dear Christians,
the Lord’s Supper is a gift. It bring
forgiveness, life and salvation to Christians who partake. It ought to be taken as often as possible. It publicly declares our unity in the
faith. And it truly, really, absolutely
brings Christ into our very presence.
Just as God was truly present in swaddling clothes laying in a manger,
so too is he truly present in bread and wine for the forgiveness of our
sins. Thanks be to God for this great
gift. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Sunday, December 10, 2017
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Advent Midweek 1, 2017 - The Means of Grace - God's Word
Luke 1:26-38 - In
the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee
named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin
betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And
the virgin's name was Mary.28 And he came to her and
said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she
was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting
this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do
not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And
behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall
call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will
be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him
the throne of his father David, 33 and he will
reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no
end.”
34 And
Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 And
the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power
of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be
born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And
behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and
this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing
will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said,
“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your
word.” And the angel departed from her.
Grace, mercy
and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. Amen.
Dear friends
in Christ, it is Advent. The time of the
church year when we focus on the fact that Christ comes to us. He is coming, his advent is near. And for our midweek advent services this
year, we will be focusing on the way that Christ comes to us, specifically in
the means of grace. We’ll be learning
each week about one of the ways that God comes to create faith with us.
There are
three ways that this takes place.
Through God’s Word, proclaimed into our ear. Through baptismal waters poured upon us. And through participating in the very body
and blood of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper.
In these three things, the Holy Spirit works to create faith in us, so
that we receive the forgiveness, life and salvation that Christ so freely
gives.
This week we
hear about God’s Word, and the tremendous power that it has to accomplish God’s
will. We see that first in our Gospel
lesson, where an angel visits Mary to announce to her the birth of Jesus. The Word declares to her that God will take
on human flesh with in her own womb, that the almighty, all powerful,
omnipresent God will grow within human flesh, and that she will give birth to
God. And how will it happen? Not through the will of man, not though the
natural way babies come about. Instead,
when the Word of God is spoken into her ear, the power of the most high comes
upon her and Christ is conceived.
IN other words,
God’s word does what it says it will do for her. The word says let the God become man to save
humanity from sin, and behold Mary becomes pregnant. It is not unlike when God’s word said, Let
there be light, and there was.
Dear
Christian, God’s Word works for you what it says for you as well. What I mean is, when you hear God’s Word,
purely preached in full truth, it creates faith in you. Paul writes this, “Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God.” Jesus
says the same thing in John chapter 17, that after his death Christians would
believe through the word of God. Yes,
the Word creates faith in Christian hearts.
The reason it
does so, is because wherever the Word is, there the Holy Spirit is also. SO when you hear the Word, it is as the angel
Gabriel says, “The Holy Spirit comes upon you” to create and sustain and build
faith with in you. God’s word teaches
this very idea throughout all its pages.
So why, then
O Christians, if God’s Word works such wonders, if it is one of the precious
means of grace, if it is where the Holy Spirit promises to be at work in us for
our salvation, why then do we so despise the word? Why are we so unconcerned with it? Why are we fine to take the time to watch How
the Grinch stole Christmas this December, but won’t open to read the Nativity
account in Luke’s Gospel? Why do we have
people who time to go to Christmas concerts, but not to Church? Why do we struggle to read, learn and
inwardly digest God’s pure word each and every day, instead thinking that since
we read the bible during Sunday School decades ago, that’s enough? Why do we think its ok to skip Bible study
for football games, lunch, work, or really for any reason? Why are the countless bibles sitting on our
shelves so difficult to open and read?
Because we
are sinners.
Sinners who
deserve death as just punishment for sin.
We are
unholy, unrighteous, we are guilty before God, especially for despising his
blessed word.
So Repent
this Advent. Know that God is coming to
you in his Word. Confess your loathing
of his word, confess your laziness is studying it, confess and repent, and hear
God’s Word come to you in this absolution.
Your sin is forgiven.
It is
forgiven by the very word of God himself, made flesh to dwell among us. The Word that entered Mary’s ear, grew in her
womb was born, and laid in a manger for you.
It was an invasion of this sinful world by the Lord God himself. It began his travel to Jerusalem, to the
cross, to death itself – all for your sin.
The Word made flesh shed his blood to forgive you your sin. The Word allowed that flesh to be nailed to a
cross for you. The Word died so that you
might be forgiven, and now forgive you are.
And that Word rose again, into eternal life, the same thing that awaits
you, Dear Christian.
And now, in
that forgiveness, gladly hear God’s Word.
Or as Paul says it, “16 Let the word of
Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all
wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with
thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Have peace in Christ. Dust off
that bible from the shelf. Fathers, read
the Nativity account to your kids this Christmas. Mothers, sing the Word to your children as
they go to sleep. Church members, encourage
one another to be in the word, and talk about what the Word teaches each
week. And know that in that word, the
Holy Spirit is creating faith in you, he is saving you, he is giving you
eternal life freely.
The Word
brings you comfort dear friends, It brings you peace, thus saith the Word of
God. That word is always there, always
crying out to you, always delivering the cross of Jesus to you. It washes you with water, as we’ll hear next
week. It feeds you with the bread and
wine of heaven as we’ll hear in two week.
It creates faith in you. And so
we pray along with Mary in our Gospel lesson, Lord, let it be to me according
to your word. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Sunday, December 3, 2017
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