Praying in the Evening: Luther’s Evening Prayer

Good Friday Tenebrae Vespers

April 14, 2017

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

It has always struck me, and others I’m sure, how after praying Luther’s evening prayer we have those words, “Then to sleep at once and in good cheer.”  Many nights we can probably do so, but on “cheer” isn’t something most people feel on the night of Good Friday. It is a dark day, more mournful than cheerful.  But as Christians, we do not mourn as others who have no hope. We gather tonight, in the evening and in the dark, not to funeralize Jesus, but to hear God’s Word of His great sacrifice in sending His Son to die, and in recognition of God’s love for us.

And hear it we did. From the Gospel according to St. John, we heard of Jesus’ suffering, death, and burial once again. His arrest and phony trial, his beatings and nailing to the cross. The great humiliation of the very Son of God ought to leave us ashamed. We are the ones who deserve God’s wrath, not Him.  We are the ones who deserve death, not Him.

May we, with a deep sense of our sinfulness, humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, before who we are dust and to dust we shall return. For death has no respect for persons, nor even of God. We die the common death of all men, for the wages of sin is death. Though sinless, upon the cross, Christ took death upon Himself. He died to deliver us from this great enemy, to deliver us from our offenses, and was raised again for our justification bringing life and immortality to light.  Christ has been raised from the dead, He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen sleep (1 Corinthians 15:20).  Because of this, we can go to sleep this evening in good cheer.

Luther’s Evening Prayer serve as a liturgical pattern for how the Christian may pray and how we ought to live, ordering our days and our night in His grace. We begin by giving thanks to God the Father through Jesus Christ His Son that He has graciously kept us this day. We pray for the forgiveness of sins committed throughout the day, protection from evil throughout the night, and we commit ourselves, our body and soul and all things, into the hands of God. We defy the devil, the sinful world, and our own sinful flesh by keeping God’s holy name upon our lips. Awake or asleep, at work or at rest, we live within God’s merciful care as children who are wrapped in the holy hands of Jesus.

Luther has the cross in mind in this prayer. All of things for which we pray are only possible because of Good Friday.  At Jesus’ crucifixion, forgiveness is won. At Jesus’ crucifixion, the evil one is defeated. At Jesus’ crucifixion, as the night is about to fall, and Jesus sleep the sleep of death, He utters these words from Psalm 31:5, “Into Your hands I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” And then He breathes His last breathe.  This is how we can echo Jesus’ words, “Into Your hands, O Lord, we commend ourselves.” This is a prayer of comfort and peace in knowing that because of Christ, our lives are secure. And that we can rest in peace in life, and in death.

There’s an ancient phrase, dormit in pace, or in English "he sleeps in peace,” found in the catacombs of the early Christians.  It indicated that they died in the peace of the Church, that is, united in Christ. By the eighth century, it had been modified a little into Requiescat in pace, or in English, “rest in peace.” This is where we get the acronym R.I.P., which in many places continues to be engraved on the gravestones of Christians. It is a confession of Christ, and of Good Friday, and of Easter.

For example, there’s a prayer often said to bless a grave. It goes like this, “O Lord Jesus Christ, by Your three-day rest in the tomb You hallowed the graves of all who believe in You, promising resurrection to our mortal bodies. Bless this grave that the body of our [brother/sister] may sleep here in peace until You awaken [him/her] to glory, when [he/she] will see You face to face and know the splendor of the eternal God, for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.” Your rest has been sanctified by Jesus.

You have been incorporated into the body of Christ by your baptism. What is yours is His and what is His is now yours. Your sins belong to Him. But His suffering is your suffering. His death will be your death. And His resurrection will be your resurrection as well. Save the Lord appear first, rest in a tomb awaits you. But so does your awakening to eternal life, as St. Paul says in Ephesians 5:14, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Tonight, go to sleep in good cheer. The Lord has kept you this day by His grace, He has forgiven your sins for the sake of Christ, and watches over your body and soul this night. Jesus went to the cross for you, and peace between you and God has been restored. Jesus has consumed your suffering and death. Now, as suffering comes upon you in life, you are brought to the suffering of Christ. When you sleep the sleep of your death, you are brought into the death of Christ. But never forget what lies after suffering and death: glory, life, and the resurrection. Your rest has been sanctified by Jesus, in your bed and in your grave. Rest in peace, in that faith that our sins are forgiven, and where there is forgiveness, there is life and salvation. Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace. Amen.

Praying the Sacrament of the Altar

Holy/Maundy Thursday

April 13, 2017

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Tonight as we observe Maundy Thursday and Jesus’ institution of His Sacrament of the Altar, we do well to recognize that this Holy Supper is not a common meal, but it the most holy mystery of the body and blood of Christ offered to us as we celebrate it. In light of our theme for this Lenten season of “Praying the Small Catechism”, the Sacrament of the Altar is Christ’s gift and testament to His Church, and so it is not to be confused with our prayers.

The Lord has sprinkled blood and made you clean. By His wounds you have been healed, and the food and drink He gives you at this heavenly feast is His body broken in death, His blood poured out for the forgiveness of your sins. In this Holy Meal, heaven comes down to earth in Jesus. And you are invited to enter heaven now, here, for Jesus brings His kingdom to you. Luther once said, “If you want your sins forgiven, don’t go to Calvary, for there, forgiveness was won for you, but not given out. If you want your sins forgiven, go to the Lord’s Supper, because there it is delivered to you.”  It is offered to those who desire this gift from God. To not offer it is to deny this precious gift to those who need it and yearn for God’s forgiveness. We dare never take this gift lightly, nor neglect the use of it.

In praying the Sacrament of the Altar, then, what we refer to is heeding the admonition by St. Paul, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” A worthy preparation is therefore required lest we come upon death instead of life, receiving judgment instead of mercy.

No human work, neither fasting nor bodily preparation nor prayer, can make one worthy for the feast that Christ has prepared. Only faith in Jesus word and promise, in His real presence, delivered in, with and under the bread and wine given to eat and drink for the forgiveness of sins makes one worthy to receive this gift to our benefit.

When you examine yourself before receiving Communion, refresh yourself with the teaching you received through the Lord’s Word. A devotional aid to such prayerful preparation is the “Christian Questions with Their Answers” often included in the Small Catechism and in our hymnal on page 329.   Probably not written by Luther, this has been appended to the Catechism since 1551.  I would encourage you this evening to look through that in your preparation to receive the body and blood of our Lord.

In doing so, you will first be faced first and foremost with your need. For what is man but dust and ashes. We are born from the earth, we live from the earth, and we will return to the earth. Our sins have offended our Creator beyond our comprehension. God is righteous by nature, and so what are we but kindling for the consuming fire of His holy wrath? Will He who did not spare His own Son then spare His fallen creation or His rebellious people?

 Yet, we prayerfully consider not only ourselves in this examination, but the love of God in Christ. Your Lord invites you to His table tonight, however burdened by sins and guilt and shame. God did not spare Him so that all who believe may be spared. His body and blood proclaim that He is for you, and not against you as He grants forgiveness to all who trust in this promise. This divine feast is given that we be partakers of the divine life. This most holy medicine heals all the wounds of sin. This life giving body and blood overwhelms every mortal sin. It is a deliverance of the divine promises of God, a pledge of eternal life. As we come to eat and drink our Lord’s body and blood, we pray God would deliver what He has promised, deepen in us true faith in Him, and our love for others.

Our Lord wishes us to do this for our benefit because there is danger in treating this gift wrongly, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged [if we discerned], ourselves, we would not be judged.”  A person is unworthy and unprepared when he or she does not believe or doubts Christ’s words, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” for the words “for you” require all hearts to believe. Forgiveness, life, and salvation are truly offered to all who eat and drink, but only through faith do we receive the blessings offered there.

If there is no faith, if there is no trust in God’s Word that this is the true body and blood of Christ, one receives it to their harm rather than their benefit. All who come to eat and drink in the Lord’s Supper eat and drink Christ’s true body and blood, but only those who come in faith in Christ’s words receive the blessing of forgiveness of sins. For those who come in unbelief, or a denial that Christ is truly present in His body and blood, or in refusal to repent and therefore without a desire for forgiveness, their eating and drinking is not harmless or neutral. They too receive the true body and blood of Christ, but to their harm. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11 that Christ’s body and blood is actually poison and death if eaten without faith and the Word. It is life giving to those who have faith, it is deadly to those with unbelief.  This is why those who have not yet been instructed, who hold to their sin and refuse to repent and therefore desire God’s forgiveness, who hold a different belief, or who worship at a church with a different belief, are asked to refrain. It is out of love. We do not want someone to receive this gift as a curse. Rather, we wish all who have the faith in Jesus’ words, receving His gifts to their benefit, and in turn give thanks to God for what He has done.

This is partly why one of the names for this Holy Meal is “Eucharist”, which is from the Greek word to give thanks.  But we must not be confused here. It is not our thanksgiving, nor our prayers, that make the Lord’s Supper what it is. Thanksgiving must be distinguished from God’s giving. Jesus gives thanks to the Father just before He delivers the goods. After receiving then, we give thanks to God. In the Lord’s Supper we are not offering anything to God, rather He is offering Himself to us.  Christ’s word bestow what they promise. Bread and wine are not symbols for an absent body and blood. Yet the bread and wine do not stop being bread and wine. Under these plain and ordinary elements, the Lord gives us His crucified and risen body and blood.  Not to do with as we please, but to eat and drink, and to do so with the specific purpose of receiving the forgiveness of our sins through this means.

Then we give thanks. A Eucharistic prayer comes after we are all dismissed, in the Post-Communion Collect.  It is focused not just on giving thanks for what the Lord has done, but for guiding us now outward in service toward God and others. Forgiven, we are freed from the bondage of the Law to now love another as the Lord has loved us.  This Sacrament spurs us outward into our communities, to our families, to serve them with the Gospel. 

For St. Paul also writes, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”  The “you” here is plural, indicating the celebration and proclamation of the unity in faith we share created by Christ.  This is an act of proclaiming among ourselves and every generation that in the Sacrament we share in the new covenant. In this way, this Sacrament, what we do here tonight and so often on Sunday morning, does not merely look back to what Jesus did, but it looks forward to the feast in the presence of the Lord on the Last Day. It has in view the benefits of the cross, both for our present need and our future certainty. To that we turn out attention this Good Friday and Easter.

John 12:12-19

Palm Sunday

April 9, 2017

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

The beginning of Holy Week. This is the most important week in the life of the Church. This is what it is all about.

Many palm trees grew around Jerusalem in Jesus’ day. Palm branches represented an oasis, water and food, shade and shelter present in an area commonly devoid of such things. Palms had become a Jewish national symbol, even appearing on their coins. Palms decorated the temple and Hebrew poets counted the palm as a symbol of beauty and prosperity. 

It is no wonder then why the crowds picked up palm branches as they greeted Jesus as the King of Israel. A national symbol of prosperity and victory for a king. And here Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, an animal of peace and humility. He does not ride into town as a conquering hero, but rather as a peaceful servant. And He is greeted as such by the crowds waving their palm branches in joy and triumph

It wasn’t just the crowds that day.  St. John tells us in his Revelation how he sees palms in the hands of those how have come through the great tribulation and have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. They take up palms to identify with our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem as a sacrifice and the victory over sin and death.

It wasn’t just the saints in heaven either.  Today, Christians around the world pick up palm branches. We are yet through the great tribulation, but we are still one with those heavenly saints: the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us in the faith.  And along the way we echo the shouts of the crowd: Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

Now, “Hosanna” is the Hebrew word that means ‘Help, save us.” It is a plea for divine help and deliverance. So here is the crowd, gathered around Jesus because they have heard that He had raised Lazarus from the dead, wanting to see what He was going to do next, and crying out to Him for help. “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”  They believe, though maybe not completely understanding, they believe that Jesus comes to them in the Lord’s name and He comes to save.

We sing the same in the Sanctus this morning, in recognition of the Lord coming to us in the Sacrament of the Altar. He comes not in all His glory and majesty, but in the lowly forms in, with, and under the bread and wine. He comes to save us in this holy meal. And so we will sing a little later this morning: “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Sabaoth adored. Heaven and earth will full acclaim shout the glory of Your name. Sing Hosanna in the highest, sing Hosanna to the Lord. Truly blest is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Here’s the big twist. Notice that He comes! You do not seek Him, He seeks you.  You do not find Him, He finds you.  The preachers come from Him, not from you.  The preaching comes from Him, not from you.  Your faith comes from Him, not from you. And everything that faith works in you comes from Him, not from you.  Where He does not come, you remain outside. And where there is no Gospel, there is no God there, but only sin and damnation.  No greater wrath of God exists than where He does not send the Gospel. There can be only sin, error, and darkness there no matter what they do.  No greater grace than where He sends His Gospel, for there fruit and grace must follow together, even if not all, or very few, believe it.

And because He comes to us, He calls us now to follow Him.  “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.  If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” The Pharisees grumbled that the world has gone after Jesus, and may their words ever be true for us! This week, we follow Christ to the upper room with His disciples as they celebrate the Passover; we follow Jesus to the cross and to His death, and we follow Him as He meets the women and disciples away from an empty tomb. We follow Him to where He has promised to be for us: in His Word and Sacraments.

Yet, the Pharisees are wrong in that those who follow Jesus gain nothing.  This is the same charge that many in the world bring against Christians: Your faith, your devotion to Jesus, means nothing. Going to Church, praying, reading the Bible, gains you nothing.  You’re not necessarily better people than the heathens out there. You’re not necessarily more successful in the eyes of the world, not any more rich or famous. Look, you gain nothing. But that is wrong. We do gain something.  We gain the same as Christ: the cross and then an empty tomb.

Just as Jesus was ready to face death, so too must we be.  We do not live in a culture or a world that accommodates a resurrected Christ nor His followers.  We are not welcomed with Palm branches and shouts of joy.  Christianity does not share a favored status in our country as it was did. Why are we surprised at this?  Within a week, the city of Jerusalem turned their back on the Christ and were calling out for His blood. If our culture keeps going the way it is, we will be met with a similar angry mob who wants nothing of Jesus save to bury Him, and come after His followers.  

As we begin this holiest of weeks, we do so knowing how it all ends as well.  We have the promises of the Risen Christ that all who believe in Him, who follow Him, will be with Him.  For the sake of Christ, we will be honored by the Father.  May God’s Spirit keep us faithful to receive that crown of eternal life. This is why the saints above and the saints here rejoice this week and hold their palms. Let us do the same, joining our praise with theirs.

Come to the church services this week. Hear again the story of salvation, the depth of God’s love for you in Christ, the agony of the cross, the joy of the Resurrection.  Receive His forgiveness, life, and salvation through His Word and Sacrament. Give witness to the world of Christ and Him crucified by centering your own life, your activities, your relationships upon the life of God’s Church, which is to say, the life of Christ that He gives to His Church. While the world goes after the Easter bunnies and eggs and things that will be here today and gone tomorrow, let us go after Jesus, gaining nothing but His cross and resurrection.

Praying Confession

Lenten Midweek Vespers

April 5, 2017

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Audio Player

Last week, we considered how to pray the Sacrament of Baptism and the significance of living and praying in those waters of baptism on a daily basis.  Tonight, we consider Confession and Absolution which flows directly from the font into the lives of God’s children. This is the point where the significance of Baptism is made specific, the daily drowning of the old man and the new man daily emerge and rise to live before God and righteousness and purity forever. What does this look like? Confession and Absolution. 

While the practice of private confession and absolution has fallen out of use in many Lutheran congregations, it was never the intention of the Reformers that it would be abandoned.  Various factors led to its widespread decline in the 18^th century.  In its place many parts of Lutheranism established the practice of corporate confession and absolution, lest this godly practice be lost. With the decline of weekly communion, these rites were commonly used as preparations for receiving the Sacrament, either as separate service the prior evening or immediately before the Divine Service, which is our current practice.   What the reformers sought to correct was not the practice of Confessing one’s sins to their pastor, but the teaching every sin be recalled and confessed in order for it to be forgiven, and that satisfactions must be made in order to be forgiven to be applied.

In Luther’s day, a person had to confess every sin they committed in order to be forgiven that sin.  No confession to the priest, no forgiveness by Christ. Luther and the reformers rightly freed Christianity from this abuse, based upon Scriptural basis that no one can remember all their sins and that Christ is the only mediator between God and man. Sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ and received by faith in His promise, not because you say you are sorry. Our churches teach that naming every sin is not necessary and that consciences should not be burdened with worry about naming every sin. It is impossible to recount all sins, as Psalm 19:12 testifies: “Who can discern his errors?” ⁸ Also Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” ⁹ If only sins that can be named are forgiven, consciences could never find peace. For many sins cannot be seen or remembered.^[1]  

This is the key. Luther did not want to throw out the practice of private confession and absolution, but filter it through the justification by faith alone, so that purified from its Roman abuses, it may bring consolation to terrified consciences. Private confession is the individual application of the Word of God to a believer and the most effective way of preaching the Gospel to troubled souls.  Face to face, God’s voice pronounced by God’s command (AC XXV) that sins are forgiven freely for the sake of Christ.

This teaching is based off Jesus’ institution of the Office of the Keys, from John 20, Matthew 16, and Matthew 18. This is the power He gives to the whole Church to forgive the sins of the repentant and to bind the sins of the unrepentant, and publicly exercised by His called and ordained servants to deal with His children by His divine command.  The office of the Keys is a special God given way of applying the Gospel to the individual. Luther writes about this in his Smalcald Articles, “God is superabundantly generous with His grace: First, through the spoken Word, by which the forgiveness of sins is preached in the whole world. This is the particular office of the Gospel. Second, through Baptism. Third, through the holy Sacrament of the Altar. Fourth, through the power of the Keys. Also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren” (SA III IV).

This is simply an exercise in Law and Gospel. Through the Law one is brought to know and repent of sin. Confession is made on the basis of praying the Ten Commandments.  It makes us beggars before God, offering to Him only a broken and contrite heart. To make confession is to pray for God’s mercy in Christ. It is to cease the futile attempts to self justify.  It offers no excuses to God. But it agrees with Him, that He is right. We are guilty.  It embraces the recognition and naming of sins, and the word of God’s forgiveness for the sake of Christ.

This is where we see the radical nature of the Gospel. The emphasis is on the absolution as opposed to the confession.  At the beginning of DS I, we speak these words from 1 John 1:8-9, “But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The purpose is to disclose sin so that it may be forgiven, not to exalt confession.  To disclose sin out loud brings it to light, depriving it of power. Left unconfessed, sin festers, promoting denial, suppression, and even acceptance.  But when we confess our transgression unto the Lord, He forgives the iniquity of our sin.  Before God we should plead guilty of all sins, even those we are not aware of; before our neighbor we should confess all sins we have committed against him or her; and before the pastor or confessor we should confess those sins which we know and feel in our hearts, especially those that trouble us.

This should not be set aside in name of Christian freedom.  This would be an abuse of the liberty that separates the Christian from the very word that brings freedom from sin, that is, the absolution. The divine forgiveness is not locked away in secret in heaven, and it is not to be sought there. Rather, God locates it here. It is incarnational, in the flesh. In 1536, Luther preached on this saying, “It is true that God alone forgives sins, but how will I get to heaven? There is no need. Go to the pastor; in case of need, tell your neighbor to recite the Absolution in the name of Jesus Christ. Then you have the Word; when they do it, Christ has done it” (LW 69:416).  Because it is Christ’s word, the absolution is sure and certain. 

 It exists for the sake of certainty of salvation.  From the pastor as from God Himself. There is nothing conditional, nothing hypothetical. The pastor does not hold the office of judge or executioner, but is instead called to be Christ’s voice of reconciliation to bestow the Lord’s verdict of mercy in the forgiveness of sins to those who repent and receive this by faith in Christ.  His ears are present to hear confession, his mouth present to speak Christ’s forgiveness.

It is only in the assurance that our sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ that we can call upon God in prayer as our Father. Praying confession of sins speaks the truth to God and one another about who we are and what we have done. Silence is broken, the heart laid bare, and the Word that created all things speaks to you personally.  It does not leave the sinner to deal with things the best he or she can, it isn’t therapy or working through problems. It isn’t left with the blasphemy of pop psychology that one must learn to forgive himself. Self-forgiveness is simply an exercise that leads to despair or pride and causes the sinner to pretend that he or she is God. God alone has the power to forgive sins. This He has done by His own suffering and death to forgive the sins of the world. The forgiveness accomplished upon the cross, announced at Easter, is now contained in the words spoken by the Lord’s servant, “In the stead and by the command of the Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” It is that words which opens hearts and lips for prayer, praise, and thanksgiving,

John 6:1-15

Refreshment for the Journey

Fourth Sunday in Lent (Laetere)

March 26, 2017

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Jesus takes His disciples to the other side of the Sea of Galilee after an encounter with the Pharisees concerning Jesus' claims of divinity. While the religious leaders of the day reject Him and plot ways to get rid of Him, the crowds who have heard Him speak and perform miracles follow Him around. Five thousand men, not counting the women and children who were there, floceked around to see and hear what He would do next.  And while the day had worn on, Jesus did not disappoint.

  He looks around at the crowd, noticing their hunger and their need, and He meets it. As God had provided manna for His people during the Exodus when they were hungry, so Jesus provides food for those who follow Him into the wilderness so that they may rest and be refreshed in their journey with Him.  From five barley loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus multiplies the food to feed them all, and that they would be left with more than what they started with. The Lord never gives just bread, never just the bare minimum.  When the Lord gives, He gives in abundance.

This is not simply a record of a miracle.  Our Lord makes the needs of the crowd, their weariness and their hunger, His own. He does even more. He relieves it, provides for it, He teaches us that He is the promised Messiah, and how we are to respond to His goodness and provision.

 Zion, the Lord has met our needs of body and of soul in an abundance.  Week after week, year after year, decade after decade, the Lord has delivered the goods. We had a $35k budget deficit at the beginning of our fiscal year, which has been met and surpassed by means of the church and the school.  We have a beautiful building in which to gather to hear God's Word and receive His Sacraments. We have 5 generations of Christians in our congregation who worship side by side. We have musicians and singers. We have 100 years of history, of family history in this place as Zion Lutheran Church.  Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is nothing short of a miracle! 100 years is a big deal! It is only by the grace of God that we are here.  It is only because God took a handful of people in Nampa in 1914, He sent them a pastor from New Plymouth, Pastor Kahle, to feed them.  And He did. He the Lord caused growth so that they might become a congregation in 1917, and then outgrow their church building, and having to build our currently church in 1948. 

There's been ups and down here. Sin has run amok by both pastors and lay members.  And by the grace of God in Christ, that sin has been forgiven. We have sometimes doubted and worried if we would have enough, just as the Disciples. We can sometimes feel as though all we have to offer is a small amount that wouldn't feed but a family, much less a congregation or a community.

In the wilderness of the world, we need refreshment. We need food for the journey of this life. We listen to our Lord and we follow Him where He goes. We try to keep up with our devotions and prayers. And it wears us out.  It’s exhausting. The Christian life can take everything out of us, bringing us to the point where we don't know how we can continue on. In this, Jesus teaches us to rely on Him, to look to our Lord for the food that will gives life and energy and nourishment to continue on.  Jesus would have us feel our hunger and our weakness in order that we might be driven to turn to Him for refreshment.

The Lord provides for us. 100 years we’ve been here, by God’s grace may be here 100 more.  This will only happen if we’re fed by Him.  It may not always look grand and filled with pomp and circumstance, but neither did 5 barley loaves of bread and 2 fish.  But our Lord will continue to feed us for the journey to eternal life.

What is the food for eternal life? Word and Sacrament.  The pastor is simply like one of the disciples, receiving what the Lord has to give so he can then distribute it to others. The Lord loves, welcomes, feeds, and eats with sinners.  As He did it then, so He still does it now, and so He will throughout eternity. Fellowship with Christ as His table, on His terms, He feeds us the bread of life, His very body and His blood for the forgiveness of sins.  It never runs out, indeed it leaves us without an abundance.  We can never have too much of this life giving food. We can never receive it too often for our nourishment. Historically in Christianity, and Lutheranism, the Lord’s Supper was offered at every Sunday morning service.  Because this is the food of immortality.  The body and blood of Jesus provides nourishment for our pilgrimage here on earth.

He who supplied the bodily needs of the five thousand in the wilderness offers us an abundance of food to sustain the new life given in Christ. The faithful eating of the One who is the Bread of Life refreshes, strengthens faith, and gives new confidence and courage. For it gives life that not even death can steal. John 6:35, 51 “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst… I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.

This miracle teaches us that the Lord alone has the power to provide and satisfy the hungry heart. Nothing else can do this, not money or possessions, not knowledge and learning, not power and prestige and fame. Our Lord alone multiplies the bread of life to give to His hungry people. See the bread multiplying in His hands. He goes on breaking it and distributing it as long as the hearts yearn for Him. We shall find in Christ more than we ever expected to want, than we ever expected to find. If Christ blesses the meal, the supply will never run short. We have a foretaste of the feast to come and are refreshed for our journey through this wilderness and life into eternity with Christ.

Luke 11:14-28

No Middle Ground

Third Sunday in Lent/Oculi

March 19, 2017

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Jesus had been charged with many things throughout His earthly ministry. Some people loved Him, and others hated Him.  Some approved of what He did, others were not so welcoming of His words or actions.  In our Gospel reading today, we hear more of the latter. Jesus was casting out a demon that we mute. I would venture to guess that most people would view that as a good thing.  But not so.  Some who witnessed this miracle brought up one of the nastiest things against Jesus, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.”  Basically, they are saying Jesus is in league with the devil.

Amidst this and testing from others, Jesus gives a fairly straightforward and logical answer.  He says that a house cannot be divided against itself.  It would make no sense for a demon to be cast out by a demon. Satan could not be allied with Jesus without being divided against himself. Neither can the Church ally herself with anything that is evil without being separated from Christ, her head. We are tempted to do evil so that good may come. The end justifies the means, is a cry of the world, and the whisper of the devil.  We cannot use the devil’s weapons in the cause of God. It will leave a divided church, a divided people, separated from God Himself. Our divisions prevent the Church from exerting its true moral and spiritual force in the world.  If Satan will not have a divided kingdom, how can a divided Christianity be for the advantage of Christ?

So Jesus is setting up a contrast here between two kingdoms, one of the devil and one of God.  And there is no middle ground between the two, for as Jesus says, “Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters.”  “To be ‘with Christ’ means to have the same mind and view as Christ that is, to believe that Christ’s works and not our works help us, for this what Christ holds and teaches. But ‘gather with Christ’ means to do good through love and to become rich n good works. Whoever does not believe is by himself through his own works; he is not with Christ but against Christ, for he denies Christ by building on his own works. So also, whoever does not love does not gather with Christ, but does useless works through which he only becomes worse and goes further away from faith” (LW 76 396). From God’s perspective, there cannot be a divided heart, or unpossessed heart, contrasting kingdoms.

Which also means there is no middle ground. One of the greatest lies we face today is one of neutrality, one of indifference. There’s an attitude among many, even some within our own church, who feel like this really isn’t a big deal. As if sin is just a minor thing, and whatever I do is ok if it feels ok.  Indifference toward the kingdom of God places one in a very precarious situation. Such indifference does not realize the evil of evil nor the good of good.  Like the Laodicians in Revelation, Jesus’ speaks to us, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16). In such a contest, indifference counts for opposition, and he who does not gather with Christ scatters. 

Jesus even goes as far to say that just to cast out evil is not good enough. It must be displaced by good. Negligence of this only leads to greater bondage. It is not good enough to sweep out the house but leave it empty.  When he comes and finds the house empty, he brings back worse. Sin loses none of its danger by losing its repulsiveness. The only thing that can keep Satan out is to keep Christ in.

This is why Jesus says that it is by the finger of God that He casts out this demon.  St. Matthew explains the finger of God as the Holy Spirit. “The result is that wherever God’s finger does not cast out the devil, the devil’s kingdom is still there, and wherever the devil’s kingdom is, God’s kingdom is not. The unavoidable conclusion, then, is that as long as the Holy Spirit does not come to us, we are not only incapable of any good, but also are, of necessity, in the devil’s kingdom… These are extremely dreadful words! Christ here grants to the devil a kingdom which cannot be avoided without the Spirit of God, and God’s kingdom cannot come unless his kingdom is cast out of us with divine, heavenly power” (LW 76, 395).

There is a story of Christian converts in Southern Asia who were once Buddhist.  Before their conversion, there had never been a murder in the village for as long as anyone could remember.  There was never any theft or fights.  But after their conversion, people began to act “evil” and crime started to happen.  Years after the missionary who converted them had left, he ran into one of the people from the village.  The person told him about what had happened.  What do you think his reaction to this was?  I would think the former Buddhist would be angry blaming Christianity on the rise of crime in his village.  But instead, he said that it was proof of God working in their lives and the truth of Jesus Christ. 

Before their conversion, Satan left them alone because they were already damned.  But afterward, Satan began to work hard in their village to try to steal them back. As long as the devil is served, he keeps his peace. When he his dethroned, he goes on the offensive. As a Christian, hell will be loosed upon you and the devil will fight to get you back. “One stronger than he” must ascend the throne. His victory must become a reality for you. The stronger one who overcomes the devil is Christ.

The need and process of release from the devil’s kingdom, the power of victory in the cross and resurrection, then entrance into the Kingdom of God through the waters of Holy Baptism, and the requirements of this allegiance to God are brought home throughout the Scripture readings today.  Today we hear the call again for unswerving allegiance, for tried and true loyalty, motivated by pure patriotism for the heavenly kingdom. Great sacrifices will be demanded of you.  You must be ready to give up everything to follow Christ, the world, honor, possessions, enjoyment, pleasure. In a day and age where Christianity is not favored in our country, where politics do more harm than help to our faith, we must stand firm with Christ or the devil will return with greater ferocity.

By Your baptism, Christ has snatched you ought of the hands of the devil and delivered you into the very kingdom of God. Do no despise the Word of God or the preaching of it by which God’s kingdom comes, but hold is sacred and gladly hear and learn it. Come, now, receive the body and blood of Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, the strengthening of your faith, and the assurance of your place in eternal life.

Isaiah 25:6-9; Luke 2:25-38

Funeral for Pauline Miller

March 17, 2017

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

(Pauline was the longest standing member that Zion Lutheran Church has ever had. She had been a member here for 92 years)