What are you worried about?  What cares do you bring with you this morning?  Sometimes the world thinks of church as a place where we check our baggage at the door and pretend like we have no problems, but we know better.  We all have something that that we worry about. We know we shouldn’t. We tell others they shouldn’t. We don’t really like it when they tell us we shouldn’t. In fact the advice contained in the old song by the same title “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” rolls off the tongue smoothly, while it’s often like fingernails on a chalkboard to our own. In fact, we are here because of our baggage, because of our worries and struggles in life.  We are here to lay it all at the foot of a cross of Jesus, for He calls us to lay our burdens on Him and find rest in His grace.

We are reminded today of God’s Word to us concerning our worries in life. In fact, when we worry, we are essentially committing the sin of idolatry.  We end up treating our worries as though they are some kind of god.  We think that by worrying about our problems somehow we will feel more at peace and find a refuge in our time of need.  Our anxieties are the prayers we offer to the god of worry.

And make no mistake, those prayers are heard.  There is a god named Worry, but his other name is Satan.  The devil knows that if he can keep us preoccupied and filled with doubt, anxiety, and worry about God’s promise to provide for us, then he can keep us from looking to God to provide for us in all times. 

And isn’t that what worry really does?  If we are constantly concerned about what we will eat or drink or wear, constantly checking the bank account to make sure there’s enough money, staying up late mulling things over and over and over again, aren’t we trying to grab control over what belongs to the Lord or to shift it to something or someone else?  Ultimately, if that worrisome doubting is left unchecked, the devil continues to make it grow until we decide to give up on God and take matters into our own hands.  

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it does not have to be this way; actually it really is not this way.  The Lord does not sow worry and anxiety into your hearts, but sows faith by the Gospel.  It is as we are dealing with these worries and countless others that may be the common plight of mankind, or specific to each one of us, that our Father assures us that He knows what we need and has promised that as we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, all these things will be given to us as well (Matthew 6:33).

Consider this in our Gospel reading today.  Are we not more important than the birds of the air and the flowers of the field? Are we not more important than the stuff that we covet and desire that brings joy for the moment but wear off given time? The answer to that is “Yes! Yes, we are!  We have been bought with the blood of Christ!”

We might yet again respond to God: “OK, that all sounds wonderful in theory, and I know that this is where my strength and assurance should be, but when and where the rubber meets the road, how can my focus change from fear to faithfulness, from worry to faith, so that I don’t have to be anxious about anything from food, drink and clothes, to working for the Lord in His harvest field ever again?”

These are not just words meant to give some temporary comfort or to ease the mind.  This the Gospel that delivers what it says – forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.  You see, God did not just tell Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Elijah, along with Elisha, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Jonah and all the prophets; along with the apostles and evangelists of the New Testament, as well as with His own dear Son, Jesus Christ, and including you and me, to seek His kingdom and His righteousness first. No, God acts first, through His Son to fulfill all righteousness, to earn all righteousness through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son. And the righteousness of Christ is offered to you, freely, receiving by the simply faith and trust in Jesus as the Son of God.

The kingdom of God comes to us through the Word and the Sacrament.  This is where our attention, our aim, our goal is to be found – in Christ and in His means of grace.  This is where we are directed in our worries, and where God uses us to direct others. And since you and I are united with His Son in Baptism, in hearing the Word, in receiving His very body and blood, in His very death, being we have nothing to worry about as we seek first His kingdom, we are freed from worries and anxieties and doubt about our provisions in order to serve Him as we serve those places in our lives (Matthew 25:40) wherever and whenever He has need of us, carrying out the great task He gives to us of bringing the lost and the erring into eternal fellowship with Him.

Today, we celebrate two exciting things: Lutheran Women’s Missionary League Sunday is one. Here, we honor the effort of Lutheran Women all over the world who seek and spread the kingdom of God through the sharing the Gospel, through Bible studies, through mites, through love.  The National LWML has a goal to raise $2 million dollars by 2017 to support these efforts.  That sounds like a lot, and it is.  Will they get that much, I don’t know.  But what we do know is that all that is needed is given in Christ who brings His kingdom and His blessings to His people.

Which leads us to the second thing we celebrate today: Sunday School.  Here we are, heading the words of Jesus last week from Mark 9 to bring our children to Him to receive the kingdom.   I’m sure there is plenty of worry and anxiety to go around.  Without a doubt, the time is now for us as Christians to use our God-given gifts and abilities to meet the challenge of sharing the Gospel message of Jesus Christ with those around us, and into all the world. To be perfectly honest that is a huge responsibility and it causes us concern, worry, and moments of trembling. Will children come? Will the teachers be ready? Will our efforts produce any fruit? Will our children have faith in Christ, will they keep their faith, will they proclaim their faith?

Are these valid concerns?  Yes, they are.  But they are concerns for God and not for you.  Your concern, your worry, your attention is Jesus and His kingdom. When it is on Jesus, there is no cause for worry, no time for worry, no place for worry. For Jesus has taken it all upon Himself on the cross.

There will be days when the lilies get mowed over and the birds are cat food.  We all have those days where life is upside down, crazy, and out of control.  However, do not fear when those dark days come. Do not fear and do not worry for the Lord is with you.  He will never leave you nor forsake you.  His grace, His mercy, and His peace are with you. In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

* This sermon has been adapted from one provided by the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League and various other sermons prepared by other pastors on this text.

Today we have a celebration.  60 years of marriage for the Stanley’s!  What a blessing that they have been married for so many years, through the good and bad, the hard times and the times of joy!  Blessed with a loving family. 

Did you know that Idaho has the highest marriage rate in the nation?  Almost 60% of people in Idaho are married.  At the same time, Idaho is at a 60 year low in its marriage rate.  And even worse,  Idaho has the 5^th highest divorce rate in the country. It’s been said that 50% of marriages end in divorce, which is a little misleading because if someone is divorced once, it is more likely they will be divorced again.  Fewer divorces, but also fewer marriages, and more people living together outside of marriage. 

All of these show a startling comparison to a Pharisee-like way of thinking.  Our Gospel reading is usually thought of as Jesus’ discussion on marriage and divorce, but there is more to it than that.  The Pharisees try to trap Jesus in a catch-22, so that no matter what He says He will be wrong.  So they bring up an issue of marriage and divorce, hot topic issues that are still being discussed and debated over today.  They point out Scripture verses to back up their claims, invoking the commands of Moses.

Jesus basically says “you’re reading the wrong Bible verse.”  Jesus knows what the Pharisees are trying to do, and He knows their underlying motive.  They are not only asking about marriage, but even more seriously, they are seeking to justify their sin.  They were trying to search out how to bend the rules just far enough not to break them. The Pharisees, just like many today, look for the loopholes in God’s Law. “That marriage was doomed from the start. Our marriage doesn’t have a chance any more.  Too many things have been said.  Too much has happened for us to ever go back to the way it was now.  Marriage is just a piece of paper anyway.”

The real issue isn’t the rights and wrongs of divorce and remarriage, but what is the will of the Lord.  The right question isn’t “when is divorce ok”, but “what is God’s will in marriage?”  Jesus responds to the Pharisees by basically saying that they asking the wrong question.  He speaks clearly and directly on what marriage is, instituted by God on day 6 of creation before mankind’s fall into sin – the lifelong, one flesh union of one man and one woman. Anything apart from this is not marriage, despite how the world might want to redefine it.  Jesus points to the higher law of creation, the divine constitution of marriage as a lifelong union of one man and one woman. 

Because marriage is rooted in creation and God’s intent for mankind, divorce is never God’s will because it is ripping apart the one flesh union.  God’s intent is never divorce, but always a lifelong relationship.  “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”  God has joined two together into one.  Think about this miracle.  Just as Adam and Eve were originally one flesh then God made Eve out of Adam’s rib.  Out of one flesh came two people, and in marriage God is creating one flesh out of two people.  And God does not create things with the intention that they will fail.  He didn’t cause the two to become one with the intention that someday soon the one would become two again.

But Jesus gives only one reason for divorce: adultery.  This is hard to hear for our world, given that divorce has become almost the norm rather than the exception. God isn’t trying to be mean.  He isn’t trying to prevent someone from getting out of a bad relationship, an abusive relationship, a sinful relationship.  St. Paul also speaks of abandonment.  It happens all the time.  In fact, the emotional abandonment takes place long before the physical abandonment ever does.  Many a couple lives more like aloof roommates than loving husband and wife.  Many a spouse spiritually splits and abandons the faithful one, leaving them to go to church and live their life of faith on their own.  God allows for divorce because of the devastating sinful effects of adultery, all the while revealing that this great mystery of holy marriage signifies Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, and His Bride, the Church. Divorce and all manner of adultery contradict and undermine this sign, and in doing so, they confess a false Christ and a false gospel.  This is why sexual immorality is especially highlighted in Scripture a specific evil and sin, not only because of the harm it does to ourselves and our society, but because of what it says about Jesus, our groom, and the Church, His bride. 

And make no mistakes: This reality of marriage is for all believers—every man, woman, and child; married or single. In His sermon on the mount, Jesus proclaims, "I tell you the truth, if you've ever even looked at a woman with lust in your heart, you've committed adultery.” Lustful thoughts, lustful actions, sex outside of marriage is adultery.  Plain and simple. The Christian is called to live a life of purity, chastity.  Luther’s explanation of the 6^th Commandment explains it so well, “We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other.” 

But it’s even more serious than that. Not only is this a sin against the 6^th Commandment, but adultery equals idolatry.  Putting yourself and your lusts in the place of God.  By looking for the loopholes in God’s law, by willing and knowingly committing sin, we all are adulators deserving nothing else than a divorce from God Himself. Many have been the times that God would have had every reason to file for divorce, to claim that this marriage could never work.  How did Christ react to His bride, the Church, us, when we acted in those ways?  Did He claim that we were holding him back as God?  Did He shout that our incompatibility, our leaving Him alone in the house while we go out with the world, was grounds for a divorce?  Did He complain to others about us in hopes of gaining a sympathetic ear?  Did He file for divorce?  

No.  He filed for forgiveness.  God sent His one and only Son to pay the price for our sins--our sins of laughing at His blessing of marriage, our sins of disobeying His commands for marriage, our sins of unfaithfulness to our spouse, of sexual immorality, of lust, of chasing after our bodily passions--whether in thoughts or also in actions, our sins of unfaithfulness to Him. He sent Jesus to suffer the punishment for the heartache that we had caused by our lives.  He sent Jesus to once again join us together with Him.  That as a man and women are joined together by God into one flesh, we are joined together by God in Christ.

God is faithful, even when we are not. Through the waters of Baptism we are united to Christ.  Through faith in Christ our sins are forgiven, our perverted hearts cleansed, our lust purified by the blood of Jesus. Christ Jesus has atoned for all such sins, and He has perfected marriage in Himself “through suffering,” that He might bring “many sons to glory” in His resurrection (Heb. 2:8–10).

Whether you’ve been divorced, are going through divorce, or you’ve been unfaithful in your marriage God offers His grace, forgiveness, and comfort in difficult times.  Today we ought to individually consider our sins against God’s wonderful gift of marriage, and we ought to confess them in sorrow.  Repent of our unfaithfulness, of our lack of purity, of our cheating on God and one another.  But then we ought to take those sins and lay them at the foot of the cross that they may be washed away forever by the blood of Jesus.  For Jesus is the foundation of marriage, that it is only by God’s grace we make it through each day.  This is the Gospel message for us today: that forgiveness is offered and given in repentant faith for any unfaithfulness to our spouse, to our family, to our God.  Our groom will not forsake His bride, but gives His life for her; gives His life for you.  In the name of T Jesus. Amen.

Some of you might not remember this, but there used to be a hair care product called Brylcreem. Seeing that it has been many years since I’ve had any use for hair products, I don’t know if it is still made or not.  The slogan is probably more well known nowadays than the cream, “A little dab’ll do ya.”  Just a little dab.  That's all you need.  No more, no less.

For so many of us as Christians, that slogan might apply to the way we view our faith.  A little dab’ll do you.  Our Lutheran fascination with "moderation in all things" has become a justification for not overdoing the business of Church, faith, prayer, Bible study, or good works. Nobody wants to be viewed as extremist, except for maybe sports or fun hobbies, but especially not a religious extremist.  It’s too weird, too foreign, too serious. 

The service goes longer than an hour and we rather watch the clock and rush away from God’s house as soon as possible so we can get to lunch or be home in time to watch the football game. When our identity as people should be shaped by the baptismal gift, instead we honor the event of baptism, only to moderate our view of it thereafter by mostly forgetting about it.  When we think of the Lord's Supper, instead of being overwhelmed by the gift and blessing of that table, we caution against having too much of God’s good thing.  We hear from the world and sometimes feel ourselves that it’s too extreme to be sexually pure outside of marriage, that’s it’s too much to display our faith in public, that it’s radical to think that sin – any sin – means the sinner deserves eternal damnation.

Consider Jesus’ words in our Gospel reading today.  Jesus says cut off that which causes sin, but really?  We hear the words, but we think to ourselves that this is just an overstatement. Nobody would really, seriously consider gouging out an eye because it wandered lustfully or cut off a hand that strikes out in sinful anger.  Sin can’t really be “that” bad and we shouldn’t go to any extreme because of it.

We do have a radical and extreme faith. It is so extreme that God would give up the life of His only begotten Son.  Where we discount even the possibility of cutting off a hand, Jesus would undergo beating and crucifixion, His blood pouring out of the nail holes in His hands to cover all our sin.  Where we whine and complain about the extreme difficulties living in a first world country, things like road construction, smart phones, TV, like a lamb to the slaughter, Jesus went silently and willing to the cross.  While the sinful eyes of the world watched, He closed His eyes in death as He breathed His last and gave us His spirit. Jesus doesn’t care about modern sensibilities, changing cultural norms, or whatever might be politically correct. He cares about you, about your life, about your sin, about your faith, about your eternal destination. 

Where we often try to navigate the shades of gray in life, Jesus makes things black and white – He who believes shall be saved, but he who does not believe is condemned already. Some will comment that differences in religions, or doctrine, or good works, don’t really matter, or don’t matter all that much.  There’s no such things as spiritual ambivalence, of sitting on the fence, of moderation in faith, not in our families, not in our schools, not in our politics, not in our society or world.  A person is either for Jesus or against Him. Our words either confess Christ or they confess something different. Our actions either reflect faith in Christ or reflect unbelief in Him.   

The down side of a little dab of religion, faith, Church, and piety is that get just enough to feel guilty about not doing more and yet not enough to make a real impact upon our daily lives.  When sin becomes a small matter, so does grace. For whenever we treat sin lightly, we treat Jesus’ death for that sin lightly well. 

So what are we to do with our inconstancy and our hypocrisy? And no, cutting off a hand is not the answer, for it will not solve the root problem. There is only one way to deal with the deeper issue. And it is just as radical, just as extreme, and just as likely to be dismissed, because it is so ordinary.  Repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. A little dab of water and the Word makes you a forgiven child of God. A little dab of bread and wine forgives sin and strengthens faith. A little dab of absolution forgives all those extreme and those moderate and those light sins. These things are too ordinary, too plain, too common.  They don’t seem extreme enough! Extreme it is to think that in big and in small, all glory is given to God in Christ. Even a little dab is more than enough to cover all of your sin. But that little dab of Jesus will always make you want more. For faith in Christ can never say, “No thank you God, I’ve had enough Jesus.”  We can never get enough Jesus. Jesus doesn’t give you just a dab of Himself, but over and over and over again your faith receives the full, majestic, holy God gives you complete forgiveness of your sins and a life that not even death can kill.

You have been called to an extreme faith, a radical faith. This will look different from the world, for different you are.  As Christ is holy, so you too are called to holy, separated from the world of unbelievers in your stance with God and with one another. Our faith and piety should be extreme, not in the sense of us going overboard on what we are doing, but in the wonderful sense of Him who has bestowed upon us great and lavish gifts of grace.  It will look extreme to the world when we teach God’s ways to our children above the world’s ways; when we stand firm upon God’s Word and not upon theories or felt needs; when we fight for the right to life for people of all ages and abilities from conception to natural death, when we stand up and say “no” to soccer games on Sunday and yes to being in the presence of God with His people, regularly and joyfully receiving all of Jesus in the dabs of Word and Sacrament. Nothing is more important than retaining faith unto eternal life through Jesus. The solution to our sin and to our apathy isn’t just to try harder, the solution is simply Jesus! There is nothing more extreme than that. 

Audio only this week.

Last Sunday we heard in our Gospel reading how Jesus healed a man who was deaf and mute, and we hear a very similar healing by Jesus in today’s Gospel reading.  We focused on how God opens up our ears to hear His Word, and then opens up our mouths to declare His praise. 

Let me ask you this: Because your ears are open to the Gospel, how have your used your words this last week?  Have you declared His praise from your lips? Have you blessed the Lord?  Have you told other what Christ has done for you and invited them to come have their ears and mouths opened as well?  I sincerely hope and pray that you have. 

But I have another question for you as well: Do St. James’ words describe you from our Epistle?  “With our tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.”  I would venture to guess that it describes us all too well.  Our words, once spoken, take on a life of their own and continue to cause damage. Words cannot be called back or unsaid. Like a lit match in a dry forest, a hurtful word quickly ignites a chain reaction of offense, anger, pain, guilt, rumor, slander, deception, and hostility.

Our words are so important that there are two commandments that deal specifically with them.  The Second Commandment, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” And the Eighth Commandment, “You shall not bear testimony against your neighbor.” s Luther explains the commandment, Christians are absolutely forbidden to speak evil of other people—even if what they say is technically “true.” The only exceptions are those who are commanded, in their God-given vocations, to judge others so that evil does not go unpunished. But the commandment also enjoins a number of positive good works of love and service to others. “We should use our tongue,” says Luther, “to speak only the best of all people, to cover the sins and infirmities of our neighbors, to justify their actions, and to cloak and veil them with our own honor.” The right use of words is so difficult (and rare!), and the abuse and perversion so pervasive, that Luther concludes, “There is nothing around us or in us that can do greater good or greater harm in temporal or spiritual matters than the tongue, although it is the smallest and weakest member.”

It is not hard to multiply examples of this destructive power unleashed so often through our words and speech. Simple lies are everywhere; they mask our selfishness, cover our sins, and corrode our relationships. We lie to other people and we even lie to ourselves. But the evil of the tongue is not limited to lies: we often enough turn even the truth (at least partial truth) into a weapon and an untamed fire. And then we excuse the loveless damage and the cascading pain we cause by saying, “It’s just the truth!” Spiritually, we lie even when we tell the truth, and the tendency is at least as conspicuous in the way we talk about each other in the church as it is “out there” in the unbelieving world. If anything, we might be tempted more strongly to excuse and justify our slander and backbiting and lies by claiming that we are defending the Truth.

It should be obvious that what is called a sin of the “tongue” by James is now performed and extended on a shocking scale with the help of technology, even if we don’t utter a word out loud. Text messages, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, email, and who knows what else all serve as powerful amplifiers for our flaming, poisonous tongues—or rather, our flaming, poisonous hearts. In fact, technology seems to give us license to fling nasty words out into the world that we might be ashamed or embarrassed to say aloud, to someone’s face. Every day we are invited to slander people and spread lies and filth by simply clicking “like” or “share.”

For the “tongue” itself is not the real root of the problem. Our words are a vicious, contagious symptom, but the disease is one of the heart. Jesus says in Mark 7:21-23, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

“From the same mouth”—our mouth—“come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” Indeed, they should not, but they are. Your words matter.  They matter because they reflect your faith, and what and who your faith is in.  The words you say and the way you say them bear witness to the Word of God

Our God has words for us as well, that reflect what is in His heart. The same Word of God that created all things, speaks from the tongue of Jesus, condemns our sinfulness. But the Word does not stop there. For where there is repentance and where the heart believes and the tongue confesses that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, God’s Word for you is “forgiven.”

In spite of the restless evil of our tongues (and hearts), we have been harnessed by a new Master and turned to a different kind of speech: “blessing our Lord and Father.” That, in fact, is the miracle of faith and salvation in Christ. The evil power of our words is common human experience; but our Creator has done something new and wonderfully surprising: He has “worded our mouths” with praise and prayers and blessing. God’s Word to you today – the Word become flesh, the Word who died and was raised again – the Word to you today is, “Forgiven” for the sake of Christ. Amen.

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In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Whenever God gathers His Church together for worship, it is that they might receive and celebrate His love. It is never that they might scold and condemn those who are not present. Nor is it ever that they might wring their hands in despair or heap guilt upon those who have sinned, even those who have sinned in the most horrible way. The Lord gathers His church to receive sinners, to bestow His gifts, to be reconciled to those who hunger for righteousness.

The Lord makes no exceptions. Under compulsion of the Holy Spirit, St. Paul writes: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Phil. 4:4). Brothers and sisters in Christ: this is a time to rejoice. This is a good time, a blessed time to be alive, to be a child, to have children and to raise children. This is a good time and a good place to be a Christian husband or wife, father or mother, a good time to confess and praise God as we rejoice in His gifts. Our sins are forgiven! Jesus lives. He is coming back to bring us home.

The world is very evil and has been so since Adam and Eve first sinned. It should not be difficult in the least to figure out that killing babies is wrong, that Pharaoh is evil and the midwives are good, and it should not be that hard to figure out that buying and selling people is wrong, that breaking treaties with the Native Americans is wrong, that lynching is wrong. Sin blinds us. Satan deceives us. No-fault divorce and legalized abortion and sex change operations didn’t come about as a sophisticated response to a difficult situation. They came about because sinful men wanted an excuse to do what their fallen flesh craved. In our fallen flesh, we are always looking for an easy escape from responsibility and duty.

To be sure, there are godless people in this world under Satanic influence who are possessed by demons, who murder and mutilate babies and pretend they are providing a medical service. But mostly, the people involved are deluded and confused. They have been horribly deceived and misled. They have been fooled by the false veneer of the Hippocratic Oath and high-sounding words. They are like sheep without a shepherd. They do not know what they are doing. They think children are a burden, a disease, or even a form of slavery for their mothers. Where are the midwives of Israel?

We must seek to help these people. Not only are the lives of babies at risk, but so also the mothers and fathers and the nurses and even the doctors. You cannot engage in evil like this and not be affected by it. Abortion not only kills a baby and does terrible, dangerous violence to women’s bodies, but it also harms the souls and the minds of everyone involved.

This is hard to face. We all want to look away, but we must not. God has exposed this evil for us in mercy. He would not have us be deluded into thinking that these are victimless crimes or that there is no cost to those involved or that it is simply a matter of political opinion. He would not have us become complacent or lackadaisical while babies are murdered and women are violated and souls are deeply harmed. He is calling us to action, to mercy, to compassion for the lost sheep whom He deeply loves and whom we have been called to love as well.

Not only does evil change a person, so does grace. We have been saved by the grace of Christ, baptized into His Name, and His redeeming Body and Blood is given and shed for us the Sacrament of the Altar. We have the forgiveness of sins and the promise of heaven. We cannot despair. We cannot give ourselves over to hatred and rage. We, who have gained so much by grace, who have been changed into God’s own beloved, cannot hold those who are suffering from abortion or other sins in contempt. If we love God, we must love our neighbors, because He loves them. We must recognize in them the very souls for whom God gave the life of His Son and be unashamed to receive and eat with them, even as He has been unashamed to receive and eat with us. We must hold out to them the hope and acceptance, the forgiveness and peace, the healing that Christ has won also for them.

We must obey God rather than men. We must speak for those who cannot speak. We must pray for those who don’t know they need prayers. We must tell the truth, no matter how uncomfortable or the cost, to those who are caught in a deadly lie, and we must be ready at all times to give an answer for the hope that is in us even when the world is crashing down around us. Because we are called to rejoice and Jesus lives and He is coming back to bring us home.

So we confess our sins. We confess that we have sometimes kept silent out of fear of retribution or the opinions of others. We confess that we have held a desire for the pleasures of sex without consequences; we sought the benefits and advantages of holy marriage without the work or cost of children. We confess, and we repent. We ask God to give us the strength and courage to do better, that He change us by His grace and allow us to serve our neighbors as His voice among men. For we not only confess our sins, we also confess Christ our Light and our Hope and the Life of the whole world.

That is why and how we rejoice. We rejoice that God is good, that He knows what He is doing, and that He works through us despite us and often even unknown by us. He didn’t abandon His people in Egypt or in Bethlehem. He answered their prayers in the concentration camps, the slave houses, and the bloody arenas of the past. He brought them to the reward He had won for them by the cross and empty tomb. Neither has He, nor will He ever, abandon us. He hears our prayers. He is working all things together for good. We rejoice because we know the end, that He has died for us and risen for us, and He is coming back to bring us home. He won’t require us to stay in this evil place forever.

We also rejoice for the babies who live. They are gifts to us, a blessing. We rejoice in their lives, their laughter and their future. We rejoice in their Baptisms, in their prayers, in their hope. We rejoice in the midwives and doctors and mothers and fathers who love and serve life and for the courage that God gives them. We rejoice in His generosity and beauty which He shows to us even in this evil place and time. The world is evil, but God is good. Our sins are black as tar, but in Christ they are as white as snow. We are loved. We are saved. Pharaoh, Herod, and Satan cannot have us or our children.

So it is that God has gathered us here today to feed us, to forgive and sanctify us in this joy. He is not yet done with us. Our hardships have not yet ended. While we have not always been faithful to Him and our neighbors, He remains ever faithful and merciful to us. We have prayers to say, protests to attend, letters to write, and we have people to love, babies to care for, and hope for the future. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.  In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.

Adapted from a sermon provided by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod 1333 S. Kirkwood Road | St. Louis, MO 63122 | 888-THE LCMS | lcms.org

“O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare Your praise.”  These words from Psalm 51:15 are the opening words to Matins and Vespers service.  Each Friday in our chapel service at Zion Christian School, we start with these words. And powerful words they are, a prayer that God would open up our mouths.  The Lord must open up our mouths in order for us to declare His praise.  But before we can speak of God’s praise, we must first know it, experience it, hear it.

Consider our Gospel reading for this morning from Mark 7.  Here is recorded the account of Jesus healing a deaf and mute man.   This account is one of the most stunning of all Jesus’ miracles, fulfilling the promises of God over 700 years earlier through the prophet Isaiah.  This isn’t just any miracle, but this is a sign from God that this Jesus is the one who comes to restore a broken creation.  Jesus took the man aside, He put His fingers in the man’s ears, and after spitting touched His tongue.  And looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”  Here was a man who could not hear Jesus’ Word and could not confess His name, so Jesus made the man receptive to His Word and able to bear witness.

Many people are a thousand times worse off than this poor deaf and mute man.  They have ears that are really stopped up.  They hear God's Word and yet really do not hear it, nor do they want to.  Spiritually, we have no sight, hearing, speech or other abilities. We are dead in our sins. However, like the deaf-mute, we do not have to be lost for Jesus still does all things well.

For those who hear God's Word gladly and to whom Christ says, as to the deaf man, "Ephphatha (Be opened)," are helped by the Son of God against the devil himself.  God has shown us no other way by which we can come into heaven than through His precious Word, the Holy Gospel. Whoever gladly and diligently hears and receives it and who loves and delights in it will be helped.  This is what God taught at the time He spoke from heaven at Jesus’ baptism and His transfiguration, "This is My beloved Son; listen to Him." 

And this is how Jesus continues to bring about restoration for a sin broken world and lives. The Holy Spirit through the means of grace in the church, administered by the pastor, upon an individual.  Our tongues will not be loosed, our ears opened, faith in our hearts begun without the outward, oral preaching of the Word and external Sacraments.  Everyone should take care to be found on this path and gladly hear God's Word.  Without the Word, God does not reveal Himself.  But not only do we have the words of our lord, but also His actions in front of our very eyes.  Through water combined with the Word, God acts to save from the sin in our Baptism. Through bread and wine combined with the Word, we may taste and see the goodness of our Lord in His very body and blood. To see and know Him can happen only through the external Word and Sacraments.  The Holy Spirit works in no other way.

And once He does, His work continues throughout our lives.  God does not just open us up to His Word and Sacraments and then leave us to our own devices. He continues to work through those same means to preserve us in the faith, to lead us in truth, and to stand steadfast upon Christ through this life and into eternity.

When Jesus commanded “be opened” He was not just talking about his ears, but also his mouth.  Again, this is nothing other than what we pray in Psalm 51, “O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare Your praise.” After Jesus healed the deaf and mute man, He charges the man to tell no one.  The time wasn’t right yet.  But this man cannot help but use the gifts and the grace that Jesus has given him and proclaims what Jesus did for him.  Today, Jesus gives us the same grace and mercy and healing, but without the restrictions.  In fact, He now commands us to open our mouths.  Christ commands His disciples to go into all the world, baptizing and teaching.  When the apostles Peter and John were arrested for preaching the Word, they said, "We cannot stop talking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20). For as Jeuss says, "Whoever hears you, hears Me."  How much more zealously can we tell others about what He has done for us!

The deaf-mute had friends who brought him to Jesus.  And Jesus, knowing that this man could not hear Him, touched him, gestured for Him, so that he might know that Jesus was the Son of God who was promised to come and to save.  Just as we were brought to the faith by others with faith, whether it be our parents, grandparents, friends, or whomever, we have that joy and privilege to do the same.  Often times, as the pastor, I hear people talking about the need for the church, and for our congregation to grow in numbers.  And there is a need, so go out and open your mouth. Invite your neighbors, your friends, your family, to meet Jesus.  Bring them to church. Bring them to one of the several Bible studies we hold throughout the week.  Take them out for a cup of coffee and tell them how Jesus has opened up your ears and your mouth.  Telling others about Christ often begins with telling others what Christ has personally done for me, just like the formerly deaf and mute man did.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our ears have been opened by the Gospel.  And so too your mouths, to declare the praise of Jesus the Christ. Let us thank God, then, for His Word and the sacraments, by which God transforms us from deaf-mutes to those who hear the Word and respond with praise. Amen.