Luke 2:15

Let's Go and See

4^th Sunday in Advent

December 18, 2016

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Here we are, one week away from our celebration of Christmas.  This time of the year is filled with fun, but also with the business of planning and travel, Christmas cards being sent out and parties to attend.  Invitations in the mail, email, over the phone to visit with family and friends. 

Some of our children and Sunday School children helped to deliver this invite to us this morning. It was sent out by the Holy Spirit, proclaimed by angels, and now received by us here today. There were no conditions by the angels, simply praise for the One who was coming. This invitation isn’t a request, it isn’t a suggestion, and it isn’t a question.  It is a simple statement.  It’s not required or forced upon someone.  “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  This morning we join in on a journey with the shepherds to go and see the Savior of whom the angels sing.

We can’t go back in time to see the baby Jesus in a manger. But that same Jesus, who remains fully God and fully man, comes to us. He comes and visits us, lowly as we are. He speaks to us in His Word. He gives us His body and His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. As we revisit one of the most important events in history each year.  We are reminded of the great love that God has for a fallen world that He would send His Son to become one of us and to be our Savior from sin, death and the devil.

We’ll hear on Christmas Eve and then on Christmas Day the promises of God to send HIs Son and the fulfillment of story of Jesus’ birth from the Gospel according to Luke, which includes the invitation by angels to the shepherds to come and see the newborn Savior.  We’ll hear how the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us.  But more importantly, this Jesus will be here, no longer a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger, but the resurrected and ascended Jesus will come and visit His people.

Yet how often do we overlook this invitation and the reality of what God does here.  There’s so much to do this time of the year and we are so easily distracted.  With good intentions, we place the invitation on the countertop and other things get piled up on top of it all.    

Repent for not placing this invite at the top of our list.  Repent of treating Jesus as an accessory to the season rather than the reason. We sometimes complain about not keeping Christ in Christmas, yet so often we fail on this part as well. The most faithful way of keeping Christ in Christmas is keeping the mass in Christmas.  It is responding to the invite to come and worship Him, to go and see where He has promised to be for His people – in His Word and Sacrament. Invited and gathered by His Spirit to His side, we find the good news of great joy for all people, of all places, and all time.  He is no longer in the manger, no longer on the cross, no longer in the tomb. He is here, giving His body and blood for us to eat and drink and speaking His Word to us.

After the shepherds had seen Jesus, they returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.  As the angels departed from the shepherds, and the shepherds didn’t tarry long at the manger’s side, we will shortly leave this place and head back into our lives. We do so forever changed because of our encounter with the promised Savior.  We leave here with the fulfillment of God’s promises, our sins forgiven, our life restored, and our salvation secured by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Similar to those shepherds and angels, and our own children today, we too get to pass along the invitation to go and see.  We have the chance to invite people to come and see Jesus at Christmas.  We have the chance to invite people to come and hear how Christ is the reason for Christmas.  We have the chance to watch God discard the dirty rags of people’s sin and clothe them with His righteousness.   As God invites us to Him through His Word, we get to pass along this invitation that Jesus extends to all people, regardless of who or where they are.  Regardless of their past.  Regardless of their sin, their lifestyle.  It’s been said that passing along such an invitation is just one beggar showing another beggar where to find food.

So come and feast on the goodness of the Lord and spread the invitation to any and all you can. Come today to receive His body and blood in the Sacrament.  Come this Wednesday to hear again how our salvation is in Christ alone. Come this weekend to sing our praises of joy to the world as we treasure up the mystery of incarnation as the Lord has made known to us – the Savior, who is Christ the Lord has come, still comes, and will come again in all glory.

Sola Scriptura

Third Midweek Advent Service

December 14, 2016

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

Scripture is the source and norm for the Christian faith.  To put it plainly, this is what Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone, means.  Scripture is the source and norm for the Christian faith.

Five blind men and the elephant.  Each one touches a different part of the elephant and tries to describe to the others what it looks like.   In the end, they all agree to disagree, but none of them know what the elephant actually looks like.  The only way to actually find out what the elephant looks like is for the elephant to speak.  To tell the blind men who he is, what he looks like, what he does and what that all means for them.

And so it is for Scripture.  God is above us and we cannot see Him in all His glory and live, much less understand completely.  We may know in part, but in this life we see through a glass dimly.  The only way for us to know God, and thus to know ourselves, is for God to speak. The Holy Spirit gave to His chosen writers the thoughts that they expressed and the words they wrote.  This is what God reveals to us about Himself: 2 Timothy 2:15b-17, “… the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” This is called the verbal inspiration of Scripture.  That also means that Scripture, as God’s own Word and truth, it is without error, or inerrant. 

Scripture, then, is the source of theology in an instrumental way.  In other words, it is the means by which God communicates who He is, who we are in relationship to Him, and what He wills for His creation.  We do not worship Scripture, but we recognize that Scripture is the Divine revelation of the One we do worship: the Triune God. 

Sola Scriptura is the basis for all doctrine and practice because it is God’s Word, and as the Creator, He gets to decide how things are.  What we know and say about God is known only by His revelation in Holy Scripture.  Although I cannot explain it all, we must not depart from what is expressly revealed in the Word. We humbly limit ourselves to the bounds of divine revelation. For we must not believe or say anything about God but what is expressly revealed in the Scriptures. While this may sometimes appear rude and crude and I do not deny it, it is the truest, surest, and safest way of all (Chemnitz, Two Natures, p 306). Scripture as the source of theology and as the true, inspired, and absolutely authoritative Word of God are two truths which compliment each other. If one falls, the other follows suit.

Sola Scriptura guards against falling into several ditches.  God does not speak to us outside of the use of His Word.  The author of Hebrews begins his letter in this way, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our Fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by HIs Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom He also created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2).  Whatever is promoted as the Spirit without the Word of God is never the Holy Spirit.

Liberal churches say that Scripture contains God’s Word, but it is not God’s Word. This is a main difference between the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and most other Lutherans, including us.  The ELCA says the Bible contains God’s Word, while we say it is God’s Word.  So for the ELCA, it is up to the Church to decide which part of Scripture is God’s word and which parts is man’s word. Yet, this is nothing else than elevating our words above God’s Word and using human reason as the guide for understanding Scripture. 

Now, many in the Reformed and Evangelical Churches believe that Scripture is subject to reason.  They believe that yes, it is God’s Word, and it is the only authority, but it is simply information about God.  It is just a guidebook on how God deals with us and what we are to do.  What makes sense, what is verifiable, helps to interpret what Scripture actually means and how it applies.  Scripture is not a textbook communicating information.  Faith is above reason. Christian truth is not contrary to reason, but above it.  Reason is a gift of God, but since the Fall it is tainted by sin and cannot comprehend spiritual things. It may perceive and retains what Scripture says, but left to itself, without faith, it will deny it all.  It is right to use reason as a servant of the text, but the guidance of the Holy Spirit is essential for its proper understanding. The Apostle Peter wrote, “You should know this: no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20).  In other words, Scripture interprets us, we do not interpret it, its meaning is determined by God and not by us.

This also crops up in a problem with Roman Catholicism, that believes revelation from God is the only source of theology, but they regard unwritten tradition and the decrees of Popes and councils as revelation along with, in addition to, Scripture. Lest we think this is limited to them, how many do we know that treat dreams, voices from deceased loved ones, feeling, and the like in a similar manner.  It’s even more of a problem when you consider the Book of Mormon and Watchtower publications and the like that claim to be a new, or different, revelation from God.

Sola Scriptura guards against the whims of sinful hearts and minds, the traditions of men, and the deceit of the devil. It binds us solely to where God has promised to be and to speak.  But it also guards against the idea that Scripture is the only thing that matters.  Yes, Scripture contains all that is needful for our salvation.  God’s Word is efficacious, it does what is says it does, bestowing faith, forgiveness of sins and life in Jesus’ name.  The Church is the product of Scripture, for by the means of Scripture, the Holy Spirit works to create and sustain faith in Jesus Christ. That life though is not lived in isolation to the world, nor of history.

Scripture alone doesn’t mean that we ignore history or tradition. It means that we put things in the right perspective.  Our Formula of Concord reads: “We believe, teach, and confess that the only rule and norm according to which all teachings, together with all teachers, should be evaluated and judged are the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and of the New Testament alone” (Ep, Summary, 1).

Because Scripture is “the only rule and norm” that we are to use to evaluate and judge all teachings. When we see the roles God has given to His Church and to His Scriptures, we see a divine balance.  The Church has a teaching and preaching role to be the foundation of the truth.  This prevents each person from inventing his own truth and interpretations from the Scriptures.   This also keeps a “me and Jesus” approach from dominating one’s own faith life at the expense of the Communion of the Saints. Things such as Creeds and confessions and the liturgy and tradition have an important place in the role of the Church when these things serve Scripture, are judged by God’s revealed Word to their truth and benefit of God’s people.  They are to point people to Jesus, to guard the truth of Scripture alone in the passing down of the Christian faith that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ.

And in the end, that is why sola Scriptura is so important.  It is about Jesus and faith in Him.  It is God’s story. He is the main character, you are the supporting characters, but as the holy bride of Christ, you are the damsel in distress, caught in sin facing certain death.  Jesus is the hero, from beginning to end.  We believe this because we believe that Jesus died upon the cross and three days later rose from the death.  The crucifixion and the resurrection stand at the heart of the matter – it validates all that God had promised and done throughout history.St. John records Jesus’ words in his Gospel account, “These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”

Isaiah 40:1-8

VDMA

Third Sunday in Advent (Gaudete)

December 11, 2016

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

“Comfort, comfort ye my people. Speak ye peace thus sayeth our God. Comfort those who sit in darkness, mourning ‘neath their sorrows load. Speak ye to Jerusalem of the peace that waits for them; tell her that her sins I cover, and her warfare now is over.”  So we just sang, and just heard in our Old Testament reading for this morning.  This historical context of this can be a little confusing.  At the time Isaiah speaks this there is no war, but peace in the land. Isaiah foretells that a war not yet begun with Babylon will end and that Judas’ iniquity will be pardoned. She will be brought back from captivity.

But while there was peace in the land, a spiritual war was being waged.  The prophets sent to proclaim God’s Word were not listened to. Wayward priests began preaching a different message, one that accommodated the culture, that didn’t offend, that identified all gods as equal.  And when the true Word of God came, it became to despised.  No one wanted to hear about sin, about the exclusivity of worshipping God, and so the message was changed or just flat out ignored. To be sure, a war was waging in the hearts of men, one that took its toll and one that led to being beaten down, morally-broken society with eternal causalities.

Fast forward in history to the 16^th century.  Circumstances were different, to be sure, but the war against the Gospel continued on. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Pope Leo X had declared an official statement in 1521 concerning Martin Luther and his followers called the Edict of Worms. , “For this reason we forbid anyone from this time forward to dare, either by words or by deeds, to receive, defend, sustain, or favor the said Martin Luther. On the contrary, we want him to be apprehended and punished as a notorious heretic, as he deserves, to be brought personally before us, or to be securely guarded until those who have captured him inform us, whereupon we will order the appropriate manner of proceeding against the said Luther. Those who will help in his capture will be rewarded generously for their good work.” Five years later, in 1526, the Diet of Speyer was called to enforce the Edict across Europe in an attempt to force political and religious unity.

The Lutherans, who were called “evangelicals” ready to meet this situation. To balance the political or military threats, Elector John of Saxony and Landgrave Philip of Hesse signed a defense alliance, and shortly afterward was joined by many others princes in the area and came to be known as the Magdeburg League.  In spite of harassment, the evangelical preachers who were attached to the individual delegations preached publicly, primarily on the fact that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And over the doors of their quarters and on the coatsleeves of their jackets the evangelicals displayed a symbol that had first appeared in the court of Frederick the Wise in 1522, the large letters: V.D.M.A. Verbum Domini manet in aeternum; the Word of the Lord remains forever, thus demonstrating their willingness to affirm the Word of God as the foundation for the Christian faith.^[1]

These words, taken from Isaiah 40 and quoted in 1 Peter 1:24-25, became the motto of the Reformation.  For this is where the comfort of the Lord comes to His people, though the proclamation of God’s eternal Word that brings peace in warfare and comfort to the afflicted. The Word of the Lord that endures forever is what redeems the lost, saves the dying, and rescues the sinner. These are the words of comfort are spoken to the people of God of all times, of all places.  As such, this is also the theme of Zion this coming year as we celebrate the 100^th anniversary of God’s grace in this place.   For 100 years, God has spoken comfort to His people here in this place, among this family, through our Church, into our school and daycare, and into the community. 

God desires to speak tenderly to us. He knows that our hearts are broken, that we have been brutalized by Satan, by the world and our sinful hearts.  He knows that we are not safe, that we are lonely. So He tells His messengers, both His prophets of old culminating the John the Baptist preparing the way of the Lord, and His pastors today, to bring His Word to His people. What is that word?  All flesh is grass.  It will wither and die.  It is a word condemning sin, and calling all to repent and turn in faith to Christ. Afflict those comfortable in their sins with the Word of the Law. Comfort the afflicted because of their sins with the Word of the Gospel, to comfort His people, to hush her cries of despair, to tell her not to be afraid, that her warfare is ended, iniquity pardoned and she has received double for her sins.

As John the Baptist lay imprisoned for speaking the harsh and condemning word of God’s Law over the sin of king Herod and his family, it seemed as though the kingdom of God had failed, that it would not endure forever. And so He sends his disciples for a word from Jesus, asking in no uncertain terms if Jesus is the coming one, or if they should wait for another.  Typical of Jesus, He doesn’t answer directly and doesn’t tell John that everything would be ok. Rather, Jesus directs John to Scripture, to the promises of God, to the enduring Word in a crumbling existence in prison. 

And in that Word, John finds that his ministry is to prepare not for another martyred prophet, but for the Lord Himself, for our God.  He prepares the hearts of men to receive the enduring Word of God made flesh with the news proclaimed through Isaiah 700 years earlier – Comfort, comfort says Your God.  Your warfare with God, your sinful rebellion and self-destruction is ended. Your guilt is pardoned.  Your sin is forgiven.  The Lord of all comfort has come to take upon Himself the sin of the world, to endure the righteous punishment in order to welcome you back to Himself.

Not too unlike John, we languish in a prison, more often than not of our own making, subject to our Herod, we are given ourselves over to our passions: indulging in sinful desires, engaging in petty squabbles and fights and gossip and jealousy, warring against God in our hearts.  Everyone who sins is a slave and prisoner of his lust and rebellion. Repent and hear the Word of Lord that endures forever: this Son of God, our Savior, joins Himself to us and deals with us not with His bare divinity, but in, with, and through the nature that He has assumed in His humanity.  This is what we celebrate as we approach Christmas, not just that Jesus was born, but that the Son of God was made man for our salvation.  What comfort the incarnation of Christ brings to us, for how could His members be left in misery when our Head, by the very same nature is now in the glory of the Father. And this incarnate Word of God that endures forever has joined us to Himself, united with Him in His death, and in His life. The Word of the Lord endures forever, for Christ is risen, He is risen indeed, alleluia!

Sola Fide

Midweek Advent 2

December 7, 2016

Zion Lutheran Church T Nampa, ID

Last week we discussed how we are saved by grace alone.  Which is all fine and good, but grace of God freely given doesn’t do anyone any good unless it is received.  How does God get His grace, His forgiveness, His life and salvation to people?  He delivers to us by His means of grace – Word and Sacrament – and it is received by a person, then, by faith and faith alone.

Only faith apprehends the promise of, believes the assurance God gives, and extends the hands to accept what God is offering. Faith is unceasing and constant looking which turns the eyes upon nothing but Christ alone, the victor over sin and death and the giver of righteousness, salvation, and life eternal.

It is no wonder therefore why the very first commandment deals with faith: You shall have no other gods before Me.  Faith is the basis of God’s Law, and the reception of God’s Gospel.  The basic and fundamental article of doctrine that we are justified before God by faith alone apart from works of the Law. And this is the way it has always been from the very beginning of time.  God has always only saved men by declaring them righteous through faith alone. So it was with Adam and Eve.  And so it was with Abraham, “And he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

When talking about faith, we talk about two different things: the faith that is believed, and the faith that believes.  The faith that is believed is the Christian doctrine, the revelation of God to His creation through Scripture.  This is expressed most clearly through the Creeds, “I believe in God the Father…. God the Son… God the Holy Spirit…” 

The next thing is the faith that believes. Faith is simply this, to fear, love and trust in God above all things.  One who has faith in Christ is simply one who hears and knows the voice of the Good Shepherd.  Faith is not mere knowledge. This is the hiccup for so many.  A common complaint against infant baptism is that a baby can’t believe because he can’t make a decision, one based on knowledge of Christ.  The answer to that is, “You’re right, a baby can’t make a cognitive decision to follow Jesus.  Faith is not knowledge, and it is not a work that a person does.  It doesn’t do anything but receive, take hold of, what is delivered to it. Faith itself is a gift of God, it is the work of God.  It is not something that you do, but it a divine work in us that changes us and regenerates us of God.  This is how we can say that faith alone justifies, because faith is a work of God, not of man.  Faith alone justifies because it receives the grace of God shown in Christ on the cross.

Now, the question inevitably arises then, what about those who don’t know of Jesus, who never hears the Gospel?  St Paul informs us in Romans 10 that faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ.  That faith itself is a gift that God delivers to people by the means of His grace, through the proclamation of the Word.  All that God tells us is this: “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”  If you’re worried that someone may not have heard about the Gospel, may not have had the chance to receive faith through the proclamation of God’s Word, then go tell them about Jesus.

Which brings me to my next point about faith.  We are saved by faith alone, but faith is never alone.  All too often Lutherans get criticized for being heavy on justification, being declared righteous before God for the sake of Christ, and weak on sanctification, the living out of the justified life.  And sometimes this is so, but it should not be. Because faith, by definition, produces good works, as the Holy Spirit works sanctification in us, working through faith as His instrument.

The issue here is not whether we should do good works as Christians.  Good works are necessary, though not necessary to earn salvation. Good works then are always a result of faith, a product of faith.  It is never the other way around.  When the person is justified, he is also renewed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. From this renewal and sanctification the fruit of good works then follow.  The Gospel is the source of Good Works in us, faith taking those things that God has to give and then using them in cooperation with the Holy Spirit to the glory of God for the benefit of our neighbor.  But the Law of God also plays a role here.  For it instructs us in what those good works ought to look like. The motivation comes from the Gospel, but the instruction comes from the Law.  Faith, then, is the mother and source of works that are good and pleasing to God, which God will reward in this world and in the world to come.

So in summary, when we say we are saved by faith alone, we mean that there is no salvation outside of the reception of God’s grace for the sake of Christ.  A person does not draw near to God on his own, but is and remains a blind, dead, enemy of God until he is converted, becomes a believer, is endowed with faith, and is regenerated and renewed.  This happens by the Holy Spirit’s power through the Word when it is preached and heard, out of pure grace, without any cooperation by us.

Luke 21:25-36

The Son of David Comes, Part II

Advent 2 Populus Zion

December 4, 2016

Zion Lutheran Church T Nampa, ID

If there’s one thing about this time of year that bugs me the most is the ignorance of the world concerning Advent.  Sure, many might have heard of it, or use an Advent calendar with a bottle of booze behind each day’s window, but the whole idea of preparation and waiting for Christmas is completely lost in our culture.  For many, the Christmas celebration ends after opening gifts on Christmas day, but for we in the Church, whose holiday Christmas belongs to, this is just the beginning of our celebration. In fact, we hold that Christmas is so important, that we spend 12 days celebrating it afterward and 4 weeks beforehand getting ready.   Advent teaches us to wait, but more importantly, to wait for the right things and wait in the right way – the rescue from the sin, death, and the devil by the coming Christ.

We must remember that Advent is concerned as much with the future as with the past. Christ has already been born and all of creation was changed when Jesus was born of Mary 2000 years ago. If our waiting is only about looking forward to a celebration of Jesus’ “birthday” on December 25, then both Advent and even Christmas itself have little purpose, beyond being just another anniversary on the calendar. But, because Advent is a time of repentance and hope and expectation, and recognizing those places within us and in our world where the darkness of sin, fear, hopelessness, and grief still reign, we need these blessed days to pray and watch for the coming of the dawn when the Sun of Righteousness will shall rise with healing in its wings.

And so, Advent is the season that reminds us that we are still waiting for the fulfillment of what was begun in the Incarnation and continued in Jesus’ Death and Resurrection. Unfortunately, this sense of waiting for the “not yet fully realized end” of all God’s promises is crowded out by our by the worldly pre-Christmas decorations and festivities.  Our impatient world has forgotten this art of waiting for the good things. It runs toward Christmas before it’s even arrived, only to miss the message that for us men and for our salvation, the Son of God became flesh, and He lives and reigns to all eternity, and He will advent again.

As winter comes quickly, the days cool and night get longer, Jesus teaches us in this parable of the fig tree that we are to look forward to and take comfort in Jesus’ coming on the Last Day with as much joy as all creation looks forward to spring and summer.  The time approaches when we are to be redeemed from sin and evil. And that time is quickly approaching, it is coming near. We look into the world and we see the signs of the coming end of the age.  And we cry out to God along with the saints through the ages, How long, O Lord?  How long are you going to make us wait?

And it is hard!  It is hard to wait in Advent for Christmas. It is hard to wait not knowing how long we will wait. We live in a world of self-gratification, of wanting something and getting it right away, or throwing a fit if we’re not satisfied with it. Another pastor explained it nicely when he said that often want to harvest the crop before its fully ripened and then are disappointed when what looks like sweet fruit is sour because of our impatience and greed to have it right away.  And so we throw it away, what was full of promise left to rot, discarded by unthankful hearts and hands. Or worse, we don’t throw it out, living with the sour fruit and becoming sour ourselves.

Advent pulls us out of this and focusing our attention, our faith, our lives on the coming Christ and the great and awesome day of the Lord. Jesus says, “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:27).  Here power signifies the hosts of angels, saints, and all creatures that will come with Christ to judgment. He says not only that He will come but also that they shall see Him come.  At His birth He came also, but was seen by no one. He comes now daily through the Gospel, spiritually, to believing hearts; no one sees that either. But this coming will be public, so that all must see Him, as Revelation 1:7 says, “And every eye will see Him.”  And they shall see that He is none other than the bodily man Christ, in bodily form, as He was born from Mary and walked on earth.  With all power and great glory. Last Sunday, we heard the account of Palm Sunday, but now we focus upon Jesus’ future coming on the last day.  This time there will be no humility, no lowly manger, no riding in on a donkey, no suffering and dying upon the cross. There will be the return of Christ in all His glory. 

There is no one better prepared for that day than the one who desires to be without sin. If you have such a desire, what is there to fear? That day comes to set free from sin all who desire it.  Christ says His coming is for our redemption.  If the heart does not rejoice in that day, there is no true desire to be set free from sin.

This godly desires comes in the faith that Christ continues to be God with us.  Christ is present among His Church through the Word and Sacraments, teaching us to wait for the finality of His promises, of the great and awesome day of the Lord’s coming.  He visits us in this painful, broken, impatient, and self-absorbed world to declare you righteous and holy now so that there is nothing to fear at the Lord’s coming, but rejoicing over our coming salvation.  What we wait for shapes who we are, so waiting for the right things will shape us and prepare us to receive them when they come. It will mold us into those who wait and watch for Christ: the One who came, who comes, and will come again in glory.

The world may not like to wait, and may not know what to wait for as we approach our yearly celebration of Christmas.  It will focus on the wrong things, celebrating greed and envy and pride.  It will panic at the signs and wonders of the coming fruit of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, or dismiss them out of hand, disbelieving because of their rejection of Christ.  But Jesus is faithful. He has not abandoned His people, He comes to visit us, now, with mercy in His wings, with a promise and with hope and comfort.   “Let the unbeliever doubt and despise God’s signs and say they are only natural; you hold onto the Gospel.” Luther

Some info for this sermon was adapted from http://aleteia.org/2016/11/26/preparing-for-the-light-of-christmas-in-the-darkness-of-advent/#sthash.Hs1q7B23.dpuf

Jeremiah 23:5-8; Matthew 21

Raising Up a Righteous Branch

Advent 1 Ad Te Levavi

November 27, 2016

Zion Lutheran Church  Nampa, ID

Here we are again.  Another Sunday. Another Advent season. Another church year.  And we greet Jesus who comes to us.  During Advent, we look forward to looking back, and to the future when Christ comes again.  With it comes all the excitement and anticipation of another upcoming Christmas.  At first glance it seems a little strange at times that we would read the Palm Sunday story as we begin Advent and prepare for Christmas, yet the point is very striking.  Our church year, while not always perfect, seeks to shape our lives, year to year, around the life and work of Christ.  And so it begins with our Lord coming to His people and a renewed call for the world to receive Him in faith and rejoicing.

How does Jesus come? Humble, and mounted on a donkey.  Not in glorious splendor, but in lowly pomp.  The way He comes shows that He is not coming to frighten or force or oppress people, but to help them, to carry their burdens, and to take responsibility for them. 

So it still is today.  Christ our King comes among us, bringing the reign of God into our ordinary lives; not in dazzling spectacle but in the ordinary things He has commanded and in which He promised to be present to forgive, save, and give life: water, word, bread, and wine.

And we respond in the same way as the crowds in Jerusalem.  Hosanna to the Son of David.  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. We sing this practically every time we have communion in the words of the Sanctus, for the Lord still comes to us today in the lowly forms of bread and wine as He delivers to us His very body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins.  We are invited today as we start our new church year, as we get ready for Christmas, to see the coming Lord, to be awoken from sleep and unbelief that we might receive in faith Him who comes in name of the Lord.

What kind of kind do we really want?  We live in a culture were the individual is king, we have the “right” to choose everything.  We elect our leaders, we grab power for ourselves.  Are we looking for a king who will just agree with whatever we think and feel?  For one who will just make my life easier, or happier, or more successful?  Or do we realize our deeper need-the need for righteousness and salvation?

That is what it means when Your king 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.

This is part of what the prophet Jeremiah communicates to us in our Old Testament reading today.  God denounced the kings and priests of Judah as “shepherds” who had scattered God’s sheep.  But God also promised to “raise up for David a righteous Branch,” who “shall reign as king and deal wisely.” God will not let the wickedness of bad shepherds mess with His plan and purpose of gathering and saving a people for Himself.  Just as in the days of the exile in Babylon, God will preserve a remnant, gathering them to Himself to be fruitful and multiply. 

From the root of David, that is, a descendent of King David, who will reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.   If there’s one thing we need in this world, this is it!  We are surrounded by leaders and countries that reject Christ and His Word. We struggle living in our country where our Christian values and heritage and not accepted as they once were. And in the midst of a culture that tries to highjack Christmas and turn it into some winter festival, and flat out ignores Advent, we are reminded that “Christ alone is our righteousness, who is true God and man, because in Him the divine and human natures are personally united with each other” (FC Ep III 1). The subjects of the king will share in a unique benefit from His reign, claiming His merits before the throne of God, though they are unrighteous, they will be righteous in God’s sight.

This is why the world, including us, is in need of Advent.  Not just Christmas, but Advent.  It is to help build the excitement as our Savior comes to His people, in the past in the present and in the future.  It is to prepare yourself as the Holy One of God, the King of Creation, the One who comes in the name of the Lord, graciously rides into your life. To hear again the reason why Jesus comes into the world, the extent of God’s love by sending His Son to enter into this sinful and fallen world, the reason why we celebrate Christmas, and to prepare. To prepare yourself for Jesus to come to you.  To repent of your sinfulness. To repent of your lack of attention on Jesus in your life. To repent of getting carried away with the crowds of the world who shout for the blood of the Christ rather than for His salvation.

St. Paul reminds us today in Romans 13 that the hour of God’s salvation has come, that salvation is nearer to us now than we when first believed.  We have a message to share to the world about the meaning of Advent and Christmas, not just historically, but the meaning right now – that our Lord still comes through His Word and Sacraments. That He still comes to save us.  That He is our righteousness, who lives and reigns with Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, now and forever.

Thanksgiving Day Sermon

November 24, 2016

Home is where the heart is.  So the saying goes, and why so many people travel during Thanksgiving and the holiday seasons.  There’s the feeling of “home” that people are searching for, that they are going towards. Usually it revolves around either family, or a certain place.  This becomes very important for us. People with Alzheimer’s, memory problems often complain they want to go home. Sometimes they describe a home from many years ago, other times they can’t really describe it at all. They know where they are, isn’t home.  Home is the place of comfort, of familiarity, of peace and they don’t feel that at the time.  This adds such greater meaning to the idea that as Christians we pilgrims on our way to an eternal home, and as St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, “we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

Today, on a National Day of Thanksgiving, we often remember the history of pilgrims and Indians, and well we should.  As Christians, we also recognize that we too are pilgrims here on earth headed toward an eternal destination.  This is foreshadowed in our Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy 26 “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it…” We give thanks to God for His gracious invitation into a home, for His deliverance to that home, and for the provision He gives on our way and when we arrive home.

That’s why one of the lepers, after being healing by Jesus, turns around on his way to the Temple, God’s home.  Since the time of Moses and the Exodus, God had located Himself in His mercy in the tabernacle, then in the temple.  If you wanted to know where God was, that’s where He had promised to meet His people.  So it often was called the “Lord’s house” because that is where the glory of the Lord dwelt among His people.  The one leper returns to Jesus because he believes, as St. John would later describe so clearly in his Gospel account, that the Word of God has become flesh and dwells, tabernacles/temples/is present with us. Where Jesus is, there is the true Temple, the place where God dwells.  This is also the meaning of Psalm 26:8, “Lord, I love the habitation of Your house and the place where Your glory dwells.”  In other words, Lord, I love Jesus and wherever Jesus is.

The Lord calls us home today. In other words, He calls us to Himself for this is where were we have our comfort, our familiarity, our peace.  It is with Christ.  And where has Christ promised to be, where has He promised to visit His people?  In His Word and in His Sacraments.  This is our home, this is our comfort and our peace. That is what we pilgrims are thankful for today, as we press on to the heavenly city, an eternal home with Christ. Scripture tells us that Jesus is the Thank Offering to God on behalf of the whole world, which the Greek-speaking Jews called “Eucharist.” That same word – “Eucharist,” thank-offering – has been handed down to us as a term for our Lord’s Supper. Here, eating God’s sacrifice, we give our thanks for the one Gift that surpasses all others: the gift of Christ Himself to us in His body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins.  And where there is forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation.  So this is how we give thanks today: by receiving more of what we are thankful for.

There was a man named Martin Rinkart, and he was a pastor in a town called Eilenberg, Germany during mid-1600s. There was a terrible war going on called The Thirty Years War, which was one of the worst that Europe faced.  The war caused a great shortage of food, and people were starving to death. And those that didn’t starve to death were dying from a terrible disease called the Great Pestilence, that started around the year 1637. Martin was one of four pastors in the town, but pretty soon he was the only one left, for one of the pastors ran away to try and save himself, and the other two died. Pastor Rinkart was the pastor who conducted their funerals, and things got so bad that he was conducting about forty or fifty funeral services every day. In that year, 1637, it is estimated that he conducted more than 4000 funerals, including one for his wife.  And in the middle of all this terrible death, Martin wrote a song for his children to sing. It’s a song you know and one will sing at the end of the service today: Now Thank We All Our God.

Isn’t that amazing? In the midst of all this war, famine, disease and death, he teaches his children and the Church to sing, “Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices.” They can do this because they know where their home is, they know that Christ walks alongside them on the pilgrimage of this life no matter how bad it may become. This Jesus who takes His atoning merits of His death, His resurrection, His life, and traces it on our heads in the shape of the cross when we are baptized, and then pours it over our heads as the water splashes and the name of God becomes yours, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.  That cross, that Name, that water to which God attaches His promises, delivers to you an eternal home and says to you, none of the bad things can harm you, none of the death can touch you. So if the world crumbles, if you find yourself suffering or in want, still, still, “Now thank we all our God.” Because not even death can steal your home away. Christ has trampled down death by His death. For those who are in Christ, even though you die, yet shall you live. That is what we give thanks for. And this is the comfort of “home.”

So yes, home is where the heart is – the heart of God, who loved the world and sent His Son to die for you earning you a place in this home, and sent the Holy Spirit to gather you to Himself for eternity.