The Church's Message

Sermon Proper 17A

Matthew 16:21-28

Rev. Jeff Springer

Last week we heard Jesus establish His church on the confession that He Jesus is the Son of the Living God.  We also heard him give the keys of the kingdom to his church so that they be used to forgive or retain sins, continuing Jesus ministry here on earth until the final judgment.

In today’s gospel text we hear about How this can and will happen.  And it is revealed to us that this is the church’s message now until the return of Christ.  And so hear it is, “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”  Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  What does this mean for you?  You are forgiven in Christ!  That is the good news! that is the saving Gospel!  That is the church’s message to a dying world.

The problem is, is this the message the world wants to hear? I would suggest that there is a competing message being suggested to the church. It is a message that does not require sin, a message that does not require the cross, and a message that does not require Christ . The message is this “God is will take care of you.”  This message appeals to the providential care of God.  

According to one Church Growth advocate, the church is answering a question that the un-churched are not asking, “What must I do to be saved?” Rather they ask. ‘How can I make my life work?’ In effect, people in the church are providing an answer to a question that un-churched do not ask. So according to many church growth experts the church needs to respond to the needs people feel every day. The expression felt needs has become a watchword for the idea that God’s providential care is the dominant message (doctrine) of the church.  

Providence is complex, just as felt needs are complex. God’s providential care is achieved by God through means, just like salvation is. But the means in this case are people working and cooperating with God. God’s providential care is accomplished to some extent, by me picking myself up by my bootstraps and acting responsibly in the situation in which I have been placed. Providential care happens through the active faith of Christians as they care for themselves and others. When this providential care becomes the message of the church, then active faith becomes dominant over passive faith. Ultimately the need for Christ is lost in a flurry of good works and specialized ministries.

Love and service for those in need will always be in the form of God’s providential care. His care comes through your vocation. To the extent that the church defines her ministry as responding to felt needs, she will be ministering God’s providential care. The problem is that no one gets to heaven by providence.  We get there by grace.

I have one need, forgiveness. I’ve been a Christian my whole life, and forgiveness is still my greatest need. I’m so sinful I don’t even know how much I need the forgiveness of sins in Christ. I’m so sinful I don’t often feel my sin. Luther said somewhere that if he hadn’t read it in the Bible, he would simply not believe how sinful he was. Sin, particularly original sin, is not often felt.

My felt needs are different. They are almost impossible to know. They change every day. Some of them are rather benign. Some of them are not particularly godly. Some are sinful.

Should the church respond to my one great need whether I know it or not? That would be a ministry of grace. It would require Word and Sacraments. Or should the church determine the felt needs of its target audience and respond to these needs. That would be a ministry of providential care. It would require an incredibly complicated and ever changing marketing strategy. There are differences between felt needs and the one thing needful.

There is no problem with Christians responding to the felt needs of those around them. The fact is they will by nature. The problem arises when we define the ministry in terms of responding to felt needs, Here’s what happens.

Let’s say that Joe is very lonely. He has taken a job far away from home. He is single and has no friends or family nearby. So he goes to a church. The church advertizes a singles ministry meeting. People are having fun. There are plenty of young men and women – potential friends. He meets a girl. They fall in love and finally get married. Joe is happy,  His life is better. He is no longer lonely. It’s a happy story. 

But Joe has defined faith as confidence in the providential care of God.  He is unsure that God loves him when things go wrong. He is more certain that God loves him when things go right. Things are going pretty well, so Joe is pretty sure that God must love him. He goes to the services on Sunday and the messages tend to stress that God is taking care of us. The message again, focuses primarily on God’s ongoing daily care. He observes the many ministries of the church, all of which make life go better from AA to job searching from a Christian perspective to effective parenting to Christian time management. Through it all, Jesus has, to some extent, been relegated to “level one faith.”  He will believe that the church has solved his problems.

Then God’s providence turns unpleasant for Joe. His wife dies or, worse divorces him. His friends take her side in the sordid matter. Now what will Joe conclude of God’s love? Joe’s problem is that he has gone to church to have his felt needs solved. He went for self-centered reasons, and his church encouraged him, that will end in tragedy.

What is happening to the congregation while Joe is a member? Keep in mind that church practice affects church doctrine. The congregation reaches out to Joe with all sorts of ministries that are responsive to his felt needs. The need for forgiveness, unless it is acutely felt, recedes into the background. Ministries that emphasize God’s providential care begin to dominate. These seem to be more effective.  Joe and other new members prefer those ministries that respond to their need for friends, companionship, or answer the question “How can I make my life work?” When the congregation discovers those ministries that attract others, they accent them more, consequently, the church’s definition of her ministry changes. Ministry is no longer “bespeaking” people righteous in Christ. Providence has replaced grace. Practice has changed doctrine[1] and the church’s message. The result is what Luther calls a theology of glory. This is thinking the thoughts of men.

And this is not to dissimilar to the adversarial message Peter tempts Jesus with as he comes up beside him to stop him from talking about the cross.  Peter says, “have mercy!”  Far be it from you, Lord!This shall never happen to you.” In other words Peter explains to Jesus how the messiah should be establishing Jerusalem to its former King Solomon type glory on earth. It shall never be that way for you. You are not here to die. You are here to restore Israel.  Your kingdom will last forever. Who will want to kill you? Jesus knows what is behind this pious little lie.

Jesus literally turns on Peter face to face and says, Get behind me.  Don’t think you are walking with me. Don’t think you are teaching me get behind me adversary Satan. You are a scandal a snare to me. A stumbling block is a thing to make one fall. Why is he a scandal?... because, you are not thinking the things of God but the things of man.

Common thoughts of man: a theology of glory, a desire for value, honor, power, strength and possession right now in this world. You do not want this world to be crucified in God’s flesh and raised cast into the lake of fire and brought down new out of heaven on the last day.

No, you want it now. You want your inheritance now. You want it today. You are content with this shoddy old tent. You don’t care about a mansion. You want to make this tent as good as it can be.    And that is missing the point it is short sighted seeing only this world and its mammon its false gods and its horrible sin, corruption and decay. Including your own hearts as if it could be redeemed simply by reforming it simply by saying  “Hey, be better” “do a good job.”

Rather what we truly need is to have and be what Jesus has just said it must have and be in himself sacrificed for the sake of life forever that is the thought of God. If anyone desires to come after me one must deny himself or disown himself. “What is the world to me with all its vaunted pleasures?”  Don’t take this as a law, whatever you do,  because if you start setting this up as a list of things you must do to please God  believe me you will fail You cannot disown yourself  You cannot hate your own life that much. 

But the promise of the word of God which preaches repentance through the law; is that law as it teaches you your sin will cause you to hate your life to disown yourself to carry the cross of your own flesh the suffering you face in your own vocations as sin wrecks what this world ought to be. You must take that up, embrace it, believe it, for what it is. Do not think you can fix it and follow Jesus where Jesus is going. Because whoever desires to save his own soul will lose it but whoever loses his own soul for the sake of me he will find it,

What s going on here? If you throw or give away your life you will earn salvation but if you have a life you will not have salvation. At first blush it sounds little like your own self justification and works righteousness but this is not what the text says. Listen to it again. From a more literal translation from the Greek

If anyone desires to get behind me he must disown himself and pick up his death believing in it and follow me to where I am going to take care of it. But the one who desires to save his own soul to save his life in this world he’s going to lose it because it can’t be done.   But the one who by faith alone grasps his own sinfulness and believes who he is according to his flesh and the inherited damnation that’s coming upon him that man will find his soul  Where? in Jesus.

And here ‘s the thing what does it profit a man to gain the entire world but to lose his own soul  or what could you possibly give in exchange for your own soul.  If you were to have everything, kingdoms, nations, powers, manifestations, What could you take to God and say here see, I have made it better now?  Nothing, “By my fault by my own most grievous fault.”

The next thing Jesus says seems as if he is switching topics. He is talking about going to the cross and now he jumps to the second coming? Well once again we look close at the text and the Greek word  (melle) is used. It means on the verge of so the way to read this is, the Son of Man is on the point of the verge of coming in all the glory of his Father with is his angels and then when he comes, as he comes, he will give to, he will repay, each one, each thing according to the practice of him according to works what has been done.

I suppose you could still argue this to be about the end of the world but then there is verse 28 Amen Truly I say to you there are some standing right here namely the 11 of you who will not taste death until you see the son of man coming in his kingdom.

So where is Jesus going to repay each one every evil deed?

Where how did he start this conversation in the first place. He took his 12 aside and begin to teach them that he must go up to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the chief priest scribes and Pharisees being murder and rise from the dead, leaving behind with that cross all the sins of the world including yours and mine.

So where’s the glory of the cross? Where is the power of the angels?  You might remember at the Garden Gethsemane where he is sweating blood drops. I believe there were angels there. I will tell you the glory of the Father was at that cross there pouring out his wrath on sin to destroy it once and for all. 

But the one who desires to save himself will be unable but the one who by faith grasps his sin to know what it is and repents of it.  Hating his own life. He will find in Jesus that Jesus has now already come and repaid him to the last dirty back thought in the depths of his head already paid, already atoned for, by the murder he did not deserve and the proof of this all is his resurrection on the third day.[i]

As you come to Him with your perceived felt needs, your delusions of earthly grandeur, your covetous fleshly temptations, Jesus turns on you and says get behind me pick up your cross, your sins, your deeds, your debts, your death come follow me to my death to my cross to my baptism where I will take care of them. Your sin debt I will repay. I will give you what you need my forgiveness my, righteousness.  Amen

 

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[1] Preus, Rev. Klemet Fire and the Staff Chapter 10 part 4 (CPH 2004 ISBN 0-7586-0404-1)

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[i] Fisk, Rev.Jon  Pay Back  youtube video www.worldvieweverlasting.org

Church Established

Sermon Proper 16A 

Sunday August 21, 2011

Matthew 16:13-20

Rev. Jeff Springer

In our Gospel text this morning we come to a very important milestone in Jesus ministry.  Jesus establishes His church.  We have heard stories over the last week about little faith and we have also heard about great faith, but today the focus of the reading is on the object of faith, Jesus, who is the Christ the Son of the Living God. 

Does St. Peter get credit for answering Jesus’ question correctly?   Well no, Jesus says, “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”  Even though Peter says the words, Jesus gives the glory to the Heavenly Father. We do the same when we also confess, “I cannot believe by my own reason or strength in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”

We confess with Jesus that faith is not something we do, it is rather a teaching we receive. It is blasphemous for us to take credit for our faith.  In our case we receive the gift of faith from hearing the Gospel preached and taught. We also receive it through the visible gospel found in the washing of baptism, the absolution said by pastor and the consuming of Jesus body and blood. 

But I am a little ahead of myself.   At this point in Jesus life he has not yet instituted Christian Baptism or the Lord’s Supper. That is because He has not yet died on the cross and risen. However, Jesus does with establishment of His church, establish confession and absolution, the office of the keys.

Jesus ever since he asked the paralytic to get up and walk has had clashes with the Pharisees.  We find that these clashes will become more intense. Not because he cured the man but because He forgave His sins.  Forgiveness of sins is something only God can do.  For a man to do this would be assuming for himself a divine quality.  Jesus was accused of being a blasphemer and as you may recall from the passion that was the charge the Jewish leaders used to put Jesus to death.

The absolution, hearing the word’s your forgiven, that we may take for granted every Sunday was unheard of in the Old Testament Church.  Yes there were means and rituals used to gain forgiveness from God through the temple cult.  The sacrificing of animals staved off God’s wrath but it was never what God intended for the final solution. These sacrifices only pointed to the sacrifice that counted and that was Jesus on the cross.

Jesus is no mere man. God always intended to be the Savior of his people. He did not expect anyone else to do it.  Nor could anyone elses sacrifice suffice.  Jesus must be God for his work to count.  And so we come back to the confession of Peter.  “Jesus you are the Christ the Son of the living God!”  We are not talking about a man made idol but the living God, the God of the living who gives life.  Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

Jesus does not build his church on the person of Peter but on the confession the Father gave to Peter. A confession is saying the same thing as someone else or saying it together with someone.  This works when we sin where we confess or say along with the bible that we are sinners and when we confess that Jesus, Son of the Living God has bought me with His Holy and precious blood and innocent suffering and death and that he rose on the third day.

We on outset are a confessing church. We say what God’s Word says.  Jesus did not speak any more or any less what His Father gave him to say and through the work of the Holy Spirit those words have been preserved for us to hear , to pray and to tell others. 

So in summary the church is established on the inspired confession that Jesus of Nazareth born of Mary and conceived by the Holy Spirit is Son of the Living God and all that attends to it. This is what the church confesses.

What does the church do? It continues Jesus ministry of forgiveness.  It is in the church where we hear the absolution, the words, “I forgive you.” from Jesus through the voice of the Pastor.  We are reminded of our baptism and the promises that accompany it namely the forgiveness of sins , the gift of the Holy Spirit, Regeneration , faith to believe,  and robe of Christ’s righteousness.  Absolution forgives us are sins appealing to your baptism pointing you back to Jesus.

If we are to summarize the work of the church the bride of Christ, it is to confess Christ and give His forgiveness.

When critically looking at doctrines especially from non-Lutherans we need to ask. Is this about what I am doing or what Jesus is doing?  What does this have to do with Jesus? And what does this have to do with the forgiveness of sins?

We Lutherans seem to get confused when it comes to evangelism as if we are somehow inept when we are compared to our American Evangelical neighbors.  We hear news of Greg Laurie’s Harvest Crusade at Anaheim stadium with almost 40,000 participants and are almost envious of this perceived success. It makes us wonder why we cannot be as successful or popular or have the same level of financial support.

We want to be like them so in evangelism we adopt their methods and techniques as if Lutheran doctrine and practice contribute nothing.  Even this congregation has a history of looking over the fence.  Remember the D. James Kennedy  Evangelism Explosion? I found several copies in my office when I first came here.  I heard there was a Lutheranized version of the Evangelism Explosion but that is not what was used here.

American Evangelicalism leads with Christ dying for your sins but it ends with the focus on you and your works.  Listen to this quote describing Greg Laurie’s sermon on the prodigal son from the Anaheim Independent. “He related the Prodigal Son in the Bible; the son who wanted he inheritance “now” and wanted to sow his wild oats, which he did and then he saw the error of his ways and returned home to a loving Father who accepted him with open arms-likening that story to those in the audience whose lives were currently in despair- that a loving Father in Heaven-God would also accept them as they are, if they accept Christ into their lives and work to change their ways.”

Always beware when a preacher says “if” when he points you back to yourself and puts conditions on God’s forgiveness and your salvation.   

Will you hear confession and absolution in the spoken in the American Evangelical Church?  No, because if you are really a Christian you will stop sinning. Remember  God’s acceptance of you is conditional on you changing your ways, not sinning. If you sin then you have backslidden and you then need to recommit your life to Jesus by walking up to the altar and saying a recommitment prayer.  I guess because the first one didn’t take.

You may even get rebaptized since in these circles, it is not a gift with no expiration date, but an act of obedience on your part to witness your commitment to God. You are placed front and center and Jesus is in the background waiting for you dead in your sins and trespasses to make a move.  And you are calling Jesus on the cross a liar when he says, “It is finished!”  And the Holy Spirit one when through St. Peter he says,  “Baptism now saves.”

You are accepted by the Father because Jesus forgives your sins and because He gave you the righteousness He earned on the cross through the washing and regeneration of baptism. This is what we confess and this is what the bible teaches. 

I am saddened to hear reports of Lutheran pastors putting their parishioners, the sheep they have been entrusted with on busses, to go to these revivalistic events whether it be Greg Laurie or Billy Graham where they are asked to come forward and exchange Christ’s garment of righteousness given in baptism for the filthy rags of their works.  With such neglect it is no wonder there very little denominational loyalty.

Another source of confusion lies in how we tell others about Christ.  We have the sign in our parking lot as we drive off. “Tell everyone what he has done.”  As royal priests in the priesthood of believers, we go back to our homes and to our places of work and we tell others about Jesus.  What He has done not what we have done.

However the confusion comes again from the American Evangelicals who as part of their acts of obedience as a Christian, is to give a testimony.  Once again it is your action centered on you. You may say but I am called to be a witness for Christ? No. We confess what the actual eye witnesses of Jesus His evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and other Apostles said about Him.

 

Typically testimonies are all about what God has done in the person or subject’s life.  They talk about what a rotten sinner they were until they went to a Harvest Crusade and gave their life to Jesus and everything changed. They became healthy, wealthy and wise and overall a much better person. Perhaps they may even claim that their addictions or a sickness was cured.  They may say out of obedience to Christ they can now forgive their neighbor.  The person giving the testimony is an eye witness to events of his or her own life.

Now it is good for Christians to acknowledge and to see God’s providential care, in their lives but telling someone this message never saves the hearer.  It is not evangelical in the biblical meaning because this message does not save them from their sins, especially at the end of the talk if they point you to your own commitment and surrender to Christ instead of to Christ himself in Baptism.     

Rather the key to authentic biblical evangelism is confessing Christ and His works of salvation. If you are really serious about evangelism then confess Christ and what He did on the Cross and how he connects you to the cross through the sacraments and preaching.  Go find and dust off your catechism, pray it yourself and confess it with your family.  You could talk about Jesus in your life or you could talk about your life in Jesus. 

Rather than giving a personal testimony, would it not be evangelical to say, “ I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, delivered me and freed me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with silver and gold but with his holy and precious blood and with his innocent sufferings and death, in order that I may be his, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as he is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.”

With this statement from the small catechism you are saying what scripture says about what Christ did to save you. You could follow this by saying to the hearer, “and Christ did this for you.”  Now you have said something that the Holy Spirit can use to convert and then you can point them to baptism where they receive this righteousness by saying that baptism effects forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and grants eternal salvation to all who believe, as the Word and promise of God declare. As recorded in Mark 16:16, our Lord Christ said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”  We confess in our creeds that we have one baptism for the remission of sins.

I know one pastor perhaps there are more that give out basic paper copies of the small catechism as missionary tracts.  The small catechism we confess is a correct exposition of the scriptures and a comprehensive summary of our faith. Evangelizing is confessing the faith.  In fact your tools for evangelism are the same tools you use in worship.  The scriptures which is the Word of God that norms our confession, our confessions as found in the Book of Concord of 1580 that are normed by the scriptures and our Hymn book where our confession is put into practice in Worship.  Another way of confessing the faith is through the singing of true Lutheran evangelical hymns. 

Still some hymns are better than others and use as priests need to learn to discern these things. Even though it made it into our hymnal, I would not use Amazing Grace.  Beside the fact that we had to remove the revivalistic verse with the dubious phrase, “the hour I first believed.” It does not talk about Jesus and it is more than a little ambiguous as to what grace means. The definition of grace changes if you are speaking to an American Evangelical or a Roman Catholic however between those two bodies the definition is closer than you think.  The ambiguity of confession makes it popular ecumenical hymn. Rather memorize a Paul Gerhardt hymn such as “All Christian Who Have Been Baptized”  for example that confesses original sin and points us to Christ and his work. The forgiveness of sins is central in this hymn. An act of evangelism may be to give your neighbor a copy of this service.

Jesus establishes his bride the church on the rock solid confession given by the Father to Simon Peter. He is the Son of the living God and that means He can give life to you and me.  He tells you that your sins are forgiven and this he does for you today through His bride the church. He gives to you certainty of salvation by His Word preached  and His sacraments received.  Now you are ready to “Go tell everyone what He has done!

Faith Triumphs Over Experience

Sermon Proper 15

Sunday, August 14, 2011 

Matthew 15:21-28

The consumer attitude of church goers has created the recent phenomena of church shopping.  As soon as someone frees themselves of a congregation, and they are still in the habit of going to church and supporting a church, they begin the seemingly acceptable practice of shopping for a church

Some of the criteria used to select a church may be its size, perhaps it is the programs it offers, do they have programs that match certain affinities such as a youth program or a seniors program.  How are the facilities? Are they maintained and well cared for?  Do the leadership and the finances seem stable? Also involved in the selection of church is how the church shoppers may feel about the Pastor.  Are they comfortable with his style?  Is he liberal or conservative in practice? But most of all they are looking for the overall experience and feel of the worship service. Some have made comments like, I really feel God’s presence here or perhaps the opposite I do not feel God’s presence here.  In any case to earn these experienced church goer’s patronage the decision ends up being based on a subjective experience.  It is all about preference.

Can we really blame them or even ourselves for acting this way? Everything else in life seems to be decided based upon our experience. If we have a bad experience at a restaurant they lose our business.  If we have a bad experience purchasing a car or a major appliance we will probably purchase these things somewhere else. If you have a good experience you will refer your friends. We have so many choices. It is still, even with the economies instability, a buyer’s market.

The power to choose give us the power to control. And this is something our flesh likes, is to be in control. This is the power to stay or to walk away.

How would you rate the Canaanite woman’s experience with Jesus and the Twelve?  Seriously.  If it is ok to judge the church based upon experience why not its founder, its builder, its foundation. Jesus.

When the women first approached Jesus, he ignored her. Jesus did not say a word.  Imagine if someone did this to you, if you are asking for help. I believe you would consider them to be rude. Not a good experience. That would be enough for most to feel insulted and leave.

The women persisted a second time and this time observing Jesus silence, the twelve advise Jesus to send her away for she is crying after them. These are Jesus followers who are now with presumption stand before Him. They are the ones chosen to spread the good news and yet they along with Jesus appear to show a lack of compassion for this women’s plight.  

Then Jesus gives his rationale, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  The Canaanite woman is the wrong ethnicity. She does not fall into the scope of Jesus mission or so it seems. If today’s were reporting this incident they would resolve that Jesus is a racist and the Christian religion exclusionary.

On the woman’s third attempt, she kneels before Jesus pleading for mercy.  Jesus responds in a way that could be considered sexist and even racist.  He says,” “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  Some theologians have tried to soften the blow of what they perceive as an insult in proposing that Jesus was not talking about the stray dogs but the little beloved family dog or puppy that stays under the table begging for scraps.  I believe that Jesus consistent with the other two attempts was furthering this woman’s discouraging experience to make a point to His disciples and to us sitting here today.  This is definitely a teaching moment.

And the main point of the lesson is this, that faith does not depend on our subjective experiences but the objective teaching that Jesus is the Christ the Savior of the World.  The woman demonstrates that faith triumphs over experience.

How did this women avoid the trap of consumerism  and entitlement in the church that is so rampant today?

First she knew and believed through the teaching of faith, that she had a need that only one person could satisfy.  This woman’s daughter was possessed by a demon. There was nothing she could do or no other place she could go to have this demon removed but the Son of David, the Christ Jesus who came to defeat Satan and His demonic minions.

Where else can you go to be excised of Satan’s power but to Christ through the waters of baptism.  Luther even wrote and considered baptism an exorcism since the spirit of the devil is being replaced with the Spirit of Christ.

There was no other place she could go or we can go to defeat death, sin and the devil. This is something to remember as we look for a church. Is this what they teach about Christ and His baptism? It is not a buyer’s market. It is not a choice you make to feel in control. There is no other place but Jesus to receive it and He gives it to you for free!

Second, she knew and believed that the Messiah was for her and her daughter who at this point had no control of herself or make a choice.  She was Canaanite woman. She was aware of God’s promises to the Israelites but there were also promises made to all peoples all ethnicities. She may have recalled Genesis 22:18, the Lords promise to Abraham that reads, “In your Seed, all the nations or ethnicities, of the earth shall be blessed.”  This is promise that includes not excludes. We also hear this promise repeated  into today’s reading from the Prophet Isaiah, The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,“ I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.” Despite her experience that says she is excluded the faith she has been taught and given says that she is included and so she continues her active pursuit of God’s promise.

Third, she knew she was a sinner who did not merit or deserve God’s mercy.  To Jesus response that the bread for the children should not be given to the dogs, She agrees with Jesus and makes the good confession, “You’re right, Lord! I am a half-breed dog. I am a sinner. I am not entitled to God’s help. But you have come into the world to be merciful and set all sinners free from Satan’s tyranny. You are the Christ, the Son of God, the merciful Redeemer, the Deliverer from sin death and the devil’s power.  I will not let go of You, for if I let go of You I have no hope, no life and no salvation.”[1]

Her whole posture of following after Jesus,  her crying out “Lord Have Mercy”, her kneeling before the Lord in prayer reflects the faith that she has received. She confesses her sinfulness but also the salvation that is in Christ. To this confession Jesus in front of the twelve commends her faith saying, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Jesus did answer the woman’s prayer. Jesus did fulfill His Father’s promise.  Satan’s kingdom suffered yet another loss. Our Father’s will was done on earth as it is in Heaven.   Jesus is the answer to the woman’s prayer to free her daughter from the power of Satan and He is the answer to our prayers.  Later on the cross where Jesus suffered the penalty for your sin He at the same time took away the power of Satan to accuse His people.  There is nothing left of the cup of God’s wrath to drink. He drank it down, every last dreg. When He said, “It is finished” and rose from the dead the binder Satan was now put into shackles and bonds.

Despite what we experience or feel it is God’s Word that makes the promise that we have salvation and eternal life in Christ and that He promises to preserve and sustain us in this body and life.  We may at times wonder we may get evidence or news to the contrary but it does not change God’s rock solid promise.

This why when we look for a church, if we move to a different geography or the congregation we are in falls to false practice and teaching, we look for a church that bears the marks of the church, where the Gospel is purely preached and the Sacraments are rightly administered and that the hymns, liturgies prayers and practices are consistent with this understanding. Through these humble means Christ delivers to us His forgiveness and the benefits of His forgiveness, eternal life and salvation.  Disciples are sheep not shoppers. Disciples are beggars not buyers and what we receive is richest treasure, the Bread of Life, Christ Jesus.  Amen  

[1] Bender, Rev. Peter  Lutheran Catechesis p.182

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Lord Save Me!

Sermon Proper 14 

Sunday, August 7^th, 2011

Matthew 14:22-33

Very few if any protestant churches will you find in their services,  the congregation admitting before God and each other that they are poor miserable sinners. Rather through beat driven music and the leading of a band the people seek to be spiritually and more likely emotionally lifted into the presence of God to thank and praise Him. Also churches that do not use liturgy are without the Kyrie “Lord have mercy” and they are without the “Hosanna” in the communion liturgy.  “Hosanna in the Highest blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”  Hosanna meaning “Lord Save Us,” which harkens us back to Jesus palm laden procession into Jerusalem, to Mt. Zion.

The question is why do we worship the way we do? Why does it matter?  Why do some churches use the liturgy and others do not?

You as a member of the priesthood of believers, a priesthood that was anointed by the waters of baptism, have spent your week dealing with your neighbor whether it be a family member, school mate, fellow worker,  a person who provides you services or the person who lives next door.

 As you review the Ten Commandments and its meanings, how did you do this week?  Did you truly love your neighbor as Christ commands?  Did you keep from be angry with or being jealous of your neighbor?  Did you provide substantial help to your neighbor if they were in need or did just say I pray the Lord blesses you as you move on.  How about your behavior and thoughts toward your neighbors as you drive our congested highways? Did you keep from fighting with your spouse or a brother or sister? 

It is no fun to be reminded of these things but unless we face this reality that we sin then we have no thought of being in trouble or that we need a Savior.  For Peter there was clear and present danger as he began to sink below the hostile wind and waves.

Perhaps it is not our sins that terrify us but the attacks of the devil.  Perhaps it is an illness or it is out right resistance by the world because you are a Christian.  Do you ever ask yourself what is wrong with this world? Why does it feel like the whole world is against me?  Perhaps this resistance comes from a place it shouldn’t such as a family member, or fellow congregation members or from church workers.   Such resistance is not unlike the demonic wind that was against the twelve disciples who struggled in the boat on the Sea of Galilee.

The church has been portrayed as a boat or an ark that rides upon the sea.  It is an instrument that God uses to save and preserve his people just as he saved eight on Noah’s ark from the evil of this world and certain death and destruction he brings us into His bride the church, through it we are joined to Him as one body. 

Many times the architecture and even the nautical terms such as the Nave help us to see that this place is a sanctuary from the sin ridden world.  Noah and his family were sinners but the difference from those who perished was that they knew it and they had faith that the Lord would deliver them from this evil. 

Going before the presence of God without the righteousness of Jesus puts us in a dire strait.  And to assume that we simply are entitled to and deserve God’s love because we are created by Him is a poor assumption. No it is by grace alone that God reaches out to sinners like you and me. We get from Jesus what we do not deserve, that is God’s forgiveness and love. 

So it is utterly appropriate that we come before God not assuming our salvation but crying out for His mercy and His salvation. We do this as we examine our sin ridden lives.  This is a reverent posture for you as a member of the royal priesthood.  This is not unlike the posture of the sinner who asked for forgiveness from the rear of the temple compared to the Pharisee who gave thanks that he was not like the sinner in the rear of the temple.

The Pharisee assumes his righteousness and believes he can stand before God “coram Deo” based upon his own merits.  The type of worship that attempts to spiritually lift through emotion driven music to give thanks and praise to Jesus who sits confined in heaven as John Calvin teaches is like the attitude of the Pharisee who assumes his righteousness. There is no thought given to their dire condition

Rather Jesus in worship in Divine Service comes to us sinners who are need of His salvation. He walks upon the sea, the place of danger and certain death and the demonic wind that blows against the church cannot stop His coming.  The pagans thought that there was a god in the sea. In this case it was called Yam.  The Greek word “thalasow”  means Yam.   This term points to the false god that Jesus easily walks upon and subdues.

Jesus in the midst of the storm gives the twelve courage saying “Take heart, it is I am. Do not be afraid.” Yes I know our translation says “I” but the Greek says ego aymi which is translated literally “I am.” Jesus is giving them courage and faith that He is God which is later confirmed by the twelve worshiping Him and there confession that He is truly the Son of God.

 Jesus came to earth to defeat the powers of Satan and, as God did in the Old Testament, demonstrate His dominance over false manmade gods. You may experience times when it feels that the whole world and culture is against you but remember Jesus has defeated Satan and your adversaries. He is still ultimately in control. When Jesus climbs into the boat with us the winds cease.  When Jesus is our midst in this Divine Service, in this church, then Satan must be silent or told to be silent and he must obey.

It is hard to know why Peter wanted to get out of the boat.  Perhaps he wanted to test his faith. Perhaps he wanted to tap into some of Christ’s divine power.  Either way  “If” is a test  or temptation word.  “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  Peter here is being tempted to test His faith. 

 Whatever the limitations of Peter’s faith he did get this part right, that we can do nothing apart from Christ’s command.   It is Christ’s command that makes the sacraments of baptism and the Lord Supper effective.  It is Christ’s command to forgive that makes it real.  I cannot go off and invent sacraments and rituals in the name of Jesus and be certain that they will work.  This type innovation borders on witch craft, trying to control God or His power by the use of His name. This certainly goes against taking the Lord’s name in vain.  But where Jesus does make a command such as making disciples by baptism and teaching, then we can be assured and certain that God’s will, will be done.  Peter was able to walk supernaturally the few steps he did because Christ said to him, “Come.”

This is why in our Divine Service we cling to what Christ institutes in baptism, confession and absolution, reading the Word, preaching for repentance and forgiveness and the Lord’s Supper.  Our liturgy and hymns contain and reinforce these gifts. Songs from other Christian traditions do not. The Divine Service is designed to worship God with reverence and awe as the writer of Hebrews teaches.

How we worship or practice worship does matter because it shows what we truly believe regarding our relationship with God.  We cannot divorce our faith from our practice but many do and when this occurs the practice changes the faith.  In this case, we work to make our preferred practice fit into the scriptures somehow. We force an interpretation on the scriptures that was never intended.  Rather our practice must be in service and subordinate to God’s Word. The Divine Service and what it contains is a witness to what we believe and it strives to eliminate ambiguity and bring clarity to our Lord’s saving proclamation.

Jesus comes to save those who are burdened by their sin and resistance to Christianity in the World.  You are in need of His saving word. He says to you this day, “Be courageous, it I am, do not be afraid.”  Do not be afraid because He forgives you this day and as a pledge to this promise He gives to you His very body and blood to eat and drink.  This is his New Testament to you which you received at His death which He incorporated you into through the gift of baptism. There is nothing more certain than that.

Our worship does not come from inside us through an emotional experience but it is rather spiritual. Actuated by God’s Word through the Holy Spirit and through Jesus our thanks and praise go to God. It is in the Spirit given confession that Jesus is truly the Son of God that He is worshiped.

You cry out Hosanna in the ancient hymn of the Sanctus and Jesus answers your prayer by coming to you in this place. He is in the boat with you. He is in the church with you.  Truly He is the Son of God. Truly He is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.    Amen

Feed Them!

Sermon Proper 13  

July 31, 2011

Matthew 14:13-21

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

Give us this day our daily bread is a petition that recognizes that we are a people in need. That in our sinful state we are in need of daily sustenance.  It is a cry of desperation in a fallen world. “Give to us Father our daily bread.”  That our needs may not be met, is a source of fear. 

I recently watched the movie “Black Hawk Down” which is a story about hunger and food.  The terroristic leaders in Mogadishu, Somali would steal UN and US shipments from the starving refugees and use the food as a weapon.

Those who show their allegiance to the leaders get to eat.  Even today in east Africa there are problems with shortages of basic essentials such as medicines and food things we take for granted in this country.

However we have our own fears. Do we have enough money or bread, as they use to say in the 60’s, to pay the bills and feed and provide proper health care for our children?

Will there be good jobs for our children so that they are able to provide for themselves, certainly the debate in our government over raising the debt ceiling and fearing default raise this specter for us today.

When the necessities of life are on short supply, then a sense of panic ensues this is why the government is trying to prevent this at all costs.

This fear also extends into the church.  As church membership declines there is a fear that it will be unable to sustain her ministry.  Church ministries do not get their operating funds though government welfare and taxes but through the generosity of Christians who are served by Christ through the church.

This fear is both relevant and real. It is a fear man has to contend with since the fall when his work was cursed.  Vocations meant to serve the Lord and your neighbor have turned into self serving exercises. It is a fear that causes to fear and love the created that which we see instead of the Creator that which we hope for.  This is idolatry of the first order because we are putting our fear, trust and hope into something other than God.

But let us look at our text this morning. Jesus is a poor man. He does not carry the purse the disciples do. He is poor because he lost his cousin and fellow kingdom worker John the Baptist. This was the word he heard and the impetus for His withdrawal. 

Can you imagine the disappointment and pain over the rejection of John by the people that he came to save?  It is amazing that Jesus would want anything to do with these ungrateful and betraying Israelites and Jews.  If anyone had reason to pull up stakes and leave this world prematurely it was Jesus. Why not just shake the dust off his sandals and ascend back into heaven but this is not Jesus’ response. 

The crowds follow Him and His disciples and Jesus has compassion on them. This is a word that our current LCMS president makes much ado about and has had plenty of experience in this area. The Greek word for compassion is “splakna.”  It is a word that sounds like its meaning. Splakna is the sound of the guts of an animal hitting the ground after it has been sacrificed or dressed out for eating.  Splakna is a powerful feeling that comes from deep down in the guts.  Jesus is motivated by compassion or splakna  to come ashore and to begin healing and teaching the people who have followed Him out into the wilderness.

For the people to follow Jesus out into the wilderness and bring their families shows how truly desperate they are.  And we are not just talking about a few, but 5000 men and their families. This crowd is upwards of 20,000. 

The wilderness is not a good place to find the necessities of life in fact it is quite the opposite. It is barren.  But it is the perfect place to show our dependence on God for there is nothing there that human effort can bring that would be sufficient.

This should sound in many ways like another story we know from the Old Testament where the tribes of Israel are brought out of Egyptian bondage into the Wilderness by the Lord God.  In the wilderness the necessities were provided for them.  They received manna in the morning and meat in the evening. They also had water from the rock that St. Paul calls the pre-incarnate Christ and their clothes did not wear out. 

It was certainly a miracle that these possibly millions of  people were sustained in the harshest of conditions. These hard necked people learned to trust in their providing God for daily bread. They had no other choice accept going back into slavery which some wanted to do.

Despite this understanding the twelve appear to have failed the test when Jesus asks them to feed the crowd.  They did not understand what Jesus meant showing a lack of faith.  This is very apparent when we compare and contrast the faith of Jesus mother Mary and that of the twelve. 

Mary at the wedding in Cana presses Jesus to supply the need for more wine and even after being rebuffed by Jesus she tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do.  The result was an over abundance of the finest wine. I sure would have liked to taste that.

The twelve forget that it is Jesus, it is God who provides. It is our Lord with a word who can create out of nothing or even a few things to bring abundance.  It is also good to note that in the case of Mary and Jesus’ twelve that they glow with Jesus’ compassion. They do care for the plight of the families who were getting hungry but Jesus was not ready to send them away. He intended to feed them where they sit.

At this point we see a precursor to the Christian church in action. Even though this is not the New Testament, the sacrament of the altar being enacted, there are still many comparisons that would influence later church practice.

One of these practices is of teaching preceding the meal.  Jesus both healed and taught most of the day. His healing was a demonstration of His forgiveness His work to reverse the curse, so there was both the pronouncing of forgiveness and His preaching about the Word or Himself and what He was planning to do for them in keeping the law and declaring them righteous before God just as you hear declared to you every time we meet for Divine Service.

Second, there is the act of bringing an offering forward.  Jesus could have created food for these people out of nothing  but instead He used and blessed already created things. Although one could argue that the extra fish and loaves were created out of nothing by His Word.  Our Lord takes the churches offerings, although we have not seen a physical multiplication of what was given, uses them to sustain this ministry which the Holy Spirit uses to draw others around the Altar.

Third, Jesus is still at the center of providing all good things. He is the one healing, forgiving and feeding today.  Today Jesus is hidden from our eyes but He still promises to be with His people when they gather. It is not the Pastor who baptizes. It is Jesus.

It is not the Pastor’s words that say, “I forgive you.” It is Jesus words.  It is not the Pastor’s words said over the bread and wine but Jesus’ words. Jesus uses the Pastor as an instrument as He used the called twelve to assist with the distribution and the teaching but it is really Jesus doing the giving, even in the sermon.

These are certainly humble means that he would use, simple elements such as water, bread, wine and your Pastor, but remember fish and loaves are not banquet food but necessary food just as Christ Word and His body and blood are necessary spiritual food for us sin ridden and dying Christians.

The teaching, preaching and the meal describe the churches pattern for the Divine Service today, a liturgy that does not put us in the center, but Jesus. 

Since it is not entirely seen, it does require faith in Jesus’ promises to benefit from it, to use it and to feed on it otherwise one will come to the conclusion they are not being fed.

This is the problem Jesus ran into later as the crowds were only interested in Jesus physical food and healing and they were not interested in repentance and hearing the Gospel. They treasured what they could see and not what they could not see and therefore did not recognize the Son of God in Jesus so they fell away.

This is the problem we have today when instead of disciples in the church we have consumers. Consumers who pick a church based on the programs it offers instead of its faithfulness to the Word and Sacraments.

Instead of church members we have church supporters.  Jesus does not need your support. You need His Word his food. And your neighbor who is suffering needs your support whether he is next door or overseas. And Jesus is the one who has made you a member of His Kingdom through the waters of baptism.

The fear that we have goes away when we know that we have a loving God who has created, sustains and redeems us. We then put our fear and trust in the right place, in a dependable place. It may be helpful when you get the feeling that things are getting sparse that you would pray the Apostles Creed and its meanings as found in the Small Catechism and then wait upon the Lord. Do not despair He will provide to you your daily bread. Amen.