Synergy vs. Workmanship?

So I am reading the book "The Power of the Word" by John Breck - which is an Eastern Orthodox look at the Word of God - not just in terms of "the Bible" but in terms we Lutherans would recognize as "Word and Sacrament" - knowing that a Sacrament is the Word attached to something that is physical.

It is an interesting book - and there is much that I like about it (there is a strong focus on the Word at work in Worship - which is an excellent emphasis). However, what is interesting is that Breck defends Higher Criticism - although he tries to limit the extent to which it is rightly used as a "science" as opposed to flawed interpretations based upon it. These two ideas seemed contradictory to me - that God is truly active in His Word, but then, well, when reading Scripture you might be just getting some wrong junk because of the human author's problems.

He writes something interesting along these lines that gave me pause to think. "The Nicene Creed affirms that the Spirit 'spoke by the prophets,' and Christian faith accepts without question His inspirational activity in shaping both the prophetic word and the written text of Scripture (This does not imply, however, a doctrine of literal or verbal inspiration. The Spirit acts by 'synergy,' i.e. by cooperating with the human agent in such a way that the inspired word remains a human word, subject to the historical, cultural and linguistic conditions of its time)."

This demonstrates what I think is the fundamental flaw I end up seeing in Eastern approaches - synergism. Now, that a Lutheran would be death on synergism isn't surprising. However, this isn't synergism in terms of salvation, it's synergism in terms of action - and I think it denigrates God a bit.

Why do I say this? How do I suddenly become a limitor on God? If there is "synergy" I can only put in what I can put in - I can only pull so much. What of "I can do all things through God who strengthens me" (except escape cultural limitations)? What of worry not what you will say in that hour?

Here's the problem - it's Ephesians 2. . . not verses 8 and 9, but 1 and 10. We were dead in trespasses but now we are God's Workmanship. God's. He makes us into who we are - He makes us beyond what we in and of ourselves by sinful nature are. The Christian life is not a simple matter of synergism - not just we work with God. It's a matter of no longer being us who live, but Christ who lives in us - Christ who uses us to ends and in works which we are not even aware of.

This does not mean that we lose our individual characteristics, for we are workmanship, pots are still separate pots even though their Maker is One and the Same - but the functionality and the value all derive from the working of the Creator. But the focus has to be upon what God does - not just in Scripture or the service but in every moment of our lives.

The Pause before the plunge

In many ways, I would love having service every day of Holy Week. For me as a person I think it would be beneficial (corporate worship is just different from personal devotion) and for me as a Pastor I think it would be a wonderful time of preparation - it's amazing how conducting services prepares you for later services. This year I decided to forgo the Tre Ore' simply because I didn't know where my stamina would be at (discretion and valor and all that) - and I know I am going to miss it.

Last week I was running on adrenaline - and so I was incredibly productive. I got Holy Week sermon drafts done. I had a funeral on my day off, so nerves before service had me doing bulletins. Same thing with another meeting on Saturday. And I got stuff done. Yesterday I got the RD for Easter's sermon done. That means this year there is nothing on my schedule until Thursday evening. Bulletins are mostly set up, rough drafts of sermons are set up - and so what I have is time for study and revision. There will be a different benefit this year. Instead of the immersion in Holy Week that I am used to - today and tomorrow - and even Thursday day will be the pause before the plunge.

It will be interesting to spend time in reflective (unrushed) study - study with plenty of time. For Holy Week. This is what I am used to in the summer - it will be interesting to get to approach the passion with the same time frame as one of the Trinity Season. It will be. . . interesting.

Palm Sunday Confirmation Sermon

This past Sunday we had six young adults confirmed. In my previous 3 years (this is my fourth) we had 4 (and also one who studied under me for his family's congregation 30 miles away). We also have had 2 adult confirmations in the past month, 2 baptisms, and we have two transfers in adult instruction, and after easter we will have two adults start instruction.

This Sunday was also the highest attendence on a Sunday since I've been here. The Church was almost full - it was strange to have a sermon of Sunday length (as opposed to a funeral sermon) with that many people to try to keep eye contact with.

Here is the sermon

Palm Sunday/Confirmation 2008 – John 12 and Philippians 2

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

That first Palm Sunday, it would have been a sight to see, wouldn’t it? The crowds all singing and hailing Jesus, the roadway covered with cloaks and coats so that even the donkey Christ was on wouldn’t have to get her feet dirty. The Palm Branches waving, the cheers, the acclamation – it would have been something to see. But what would we have been looking at? What would we be marveling at? The massive crowds? Would we have been glorying in the throng of voices raised high – or seeing the waving palm branches and caught up in that? John records for us “His disciples did not understand these things at first.” Chances are we might have gotten caught up in the moment, not recognized what we were seeing either. The triumphal entry was a time of excitement and joy – but what so few of those people there knew, in fact, what perhaps only Jesus realized, is that the procession of Palm Sunday leads directly to our Lord’s Passion, which we just heard. The road into Jerusalem is the road unto the cross – and as He enters Jerusalem, that is where Christ’s focus is – upon the Cross and the salvation He will win there.

The crowds, they didn’t see the cross. They saw a miracle worker – who knew what else Jesus might do when He was in Jerusalem! The miracle worker who had been working the small towns was making his way to the big time! This fellow can even raise the dead – let’s make Him feel welcome and see what He can do. The Pharisees, their thoughts were on their own authority and pull. “Look, the whole world has gone after Him.” We’re finished – no one is going to listen to us anymore! We won’t be the high and mighty of Israelite society anymore, what are we going to do? Roman soldiers, they probably got a little nervous about a riot, things like that happen in Jerusalem. And the Disciples – they still don’t get it. Maybe they think that it’s just about time that their Lord gets the recognition that He deserves.

All of these, all these people focused on worldly things. What cool trick is Jesus going to pull out of His hat? What is this going to do to the social order? We’ll it’s about time that people get a clue and start praising this Jesus that WE’VE been following all along. Miracles, power, respect – but none of these are what’s on Jesus’ mind as He enters Jerusalem. He sees not a throng that boosts His ego, He sees not conspirators or even clueless followers. He sees sinful men, lost sheep, people trapped and bound in sin – people who will be lost to Him for all eternity unless He strides to the Cross and pays the penalty for sin in their place. And so He does. Christ strides to the Cross, ready to win salvation for His people. His thoughts are not on Himself, but rather He desires to show love to others, show love to us, whatever the cost.

With this in mind, dear friends, and especially you, Lauren, Erick, David, Zach, Trenton, and Emily, with your confirmation and profession of the Christian faith just a few minutes away, listen again to what our Epistle lesson says. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. This dear friends, is to be our minds, this is to be how we are to think, how we are to strive to think, who we are to try to be. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. In the waters of Holy Baptism God claimed as His own, washed away all your sins. We know that, but not only that, He claimed you as His own, made you His own dwelling place, made you the temple of His Holy Spirit. Christ dwells in you, and because of this, He desires to train you and teach you to be more like He is. And what is Jesus like, what is this mind that we are to have, how are we to approach things?

Though He was in the form of God, [He] did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped. Jesus didn’t try and take all that was by rights His. Jesus wasn’t concerned first and foremost about getting His due. He’s God, He created the World, by Him all things were made. And He’s suppose to suffer and die? Yet Jesus never protests, never says “I’m God, after all, why should this happen to Me?” He doesn’t grasp on to rights or power or control. Likewise with us – as Christians our first concern is not to be what we can get, not what is in it for us. Our rights aren’t things to be grasped either – we turn the cheek, if 1 is demanded of us, we freely give 2 – because like Christ we don’t cling to what we think we deserve. No, like Christ our focus is to be elsewhere.

But [He] made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. Jesus didn’t seek to be a big deal – but rather He made Himself nothing – He served. He was content to have His focus be on the other guy. What can I do to serve, what can I do to show love? This too is what our mind is to be like – this is what it means to be an adult, mature Christian – to seek not to please yourself, but to show love and care to your neighbor. Think on Christ’s entry into Jerusalem – even as the crowds were lauding Him – on He goes, right to the Cross for the sake of those very people. And it is hard for us to do this. Our minds like to be self centered – we like to put ourselves first.

Confirmands – in a few moments you will publicly confess the Christian faith. The other adult members of this Congregation, they’ve done the same. When you do so, you are swearing that you will strive to be like Jesus, that you will seek to put your neighbor first, that your first priority will be to show love to your neighbor. That you will try to be the person God made you to be in the waters of Baptism when He claimed you as His own. That, dear friends, is what we all swore at our own Confirmation. We promised to strive and struggle, to always try to show love, to hold on to the Christian faith as we learned it from Scripture and the Small Catechism. And yet we do know what happens. You have learned the Ten Commandments, you know what they say about you – that you have failed. That’s what we come here, why we start our service Confessing our sin, admitting to God “We haven’t done like we ought.” But we also know what God has done for us. And being found in Human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a Cross. That which we struggle to do, Christ does perfectly for us. And indeed, He goes to the Cross for us, pays the penalty for our sin – even shouts from the Cross “Father, forgive them.”

And so, that is why we gather here. We know that God will forgive us, that He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God will with His forgiveness preserve and nurture the life He gave you at your Baptism. His focus is upon serving you, giving you what you need for life. In fact, as we will see and study especially this upcoming Thursday night, He does so through His Holy Supper, where He not only gives you forgiveness for what you have done wrong, but He blesses you with His own strength and life so that you can be more like Him, that your mind can conform and be more and more like His mind – so that you can look and be more and more like Jesus. This is what He desires for you, this is what He began in you at your Baptism, and this is what He will bring about in you with His Word and with His Supper.

Paul tells us in Philippians what our reaction to this is. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name that is above every Name, so that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We just confessed this a few moments ago in the Nicene Creed. It’s what the Church does – we receive God’s gifts of forgiveness and salvation, and then we confess, we proclaim what Christ has done. Lauren, Erick, David, Zach, Trenton, Emily – when are confirmed, you are publicly adding your voice to this congregation’s – you are saying that what we confess here about Christ is your confession, what you believe as well. And that is good and God pleasing – and know that God will support and sustain you in that confession through the Word of life and forgiveness that He brings to you. May God keep you steadfast in His Word, and may God keep all of us who like have made this confession as well, may God keep us all steadfast and united and forgiven in His Word – so that in all things and trials, we see Christ the Crucified as our Lord, and learn to show love to our neighbor. Amen.

The intensity of Lent

I love the intensity of Lent. I love the rush of getting sermons ready, one after another. I love having multiple services to prepare, the fact that confirmands buckle down because they realize 2 years of work is coming to fruition. It's the time of the Church Year that feels like the Gospel of Mark - where we are thrown into our next task instead of leisurely strolling.

There are times when intensity is a good thing. You can't have it all the time, otherwise you break down - but so much happens, so much comes together in Lent, that if you dive in yourself, you see the connections. Palm Sunday leads to Maundy Thursday which leads to Good Friday - it's all interconnected, it's all the same thing. The steps in Jerusalem are the same steps that lead to Gethsemane, the same steps upon the Via Delarosa, the same steps of Joseph and Nicodemus carrying the lifeless Body of our Lord to a tomb.

Lent, especially Holy Week gets rushed - but when you are in it, things slow down - because all that you point to, all the separate things that much be hurriedly addressed - they all are nothing but Christ and Him crucified. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord - The Son obeys the Father's will. He kneels to wash the feet of the disciples - A servant's form like mine He wore/ to lead the devil captive. He institutes the Supper - as oft as ye break this bread and drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lord's Death 'til He do come. He prays in Gethsemane - Learn of Jesus Christ to die. He is mocked and scourged - All this I suffer for your good. God Himself hangs upon the Cross and does not come down -He has for us the Law obeyed and thus the Father's vengeance stayed.

At Lent, like no other time, do we see so clearly Christ Crucified. The intensity, the pressure collapses everything down to this singular point - Christ Crucified. God grant that this is where our focus would always be, in times of intensity or in times of relaxation!

Lent 4 Sermon

Lent 4 – March 2^nd, 2008 – John 6:1-15

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

My sermons are short. I don’t expect that any one of you here thinks that there is the slightest possibility that I am going to still be in this pulpit, say, 20 minutes from now. 15 minutes is a long one from me. And as for the Church service, if we go over an hour, that’s a long one. You all expect to be well out of here by 12:30. This is how we think, this is what we are used to, and because of this, we don’t get the full setting of what is going on in our Gospel. After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberius. And a large crowd was following Him, because they saw the signs that He was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. We aren’t referring to a short little period of time, no longer than a tv show, but hours upon hours – that’s what these people have spent listening to and following Jesus. They didn’t drive to Church, rather they walked miles following Jesus. They didn’t sit on padded pews, but sat on a rocky hillside to hear what He would preach.

And then, Jesus pauses, and He looks at His disciples and ask, “Okay, how are we going to feed all these folks, since they’ve followed Me out here into the middle of nowhere?” Jesus knows what He’s going to do, but He wants to see what the disciples are thinking. And they are stumped. Well, we’ve got a kid here with 5 rolls and a couple of small fish – but that won’t do much good. And we know what comes next – Jesus feeds the 5000. Has them sit down, blesses the food, and it just doesn’t run out. In fact, there are leftovers, 12 baskets full of leftovers, each disciple gets to lug one around. And the people know what they’ve just seen. When the people saw the sign that He had done, they said, “This is the Prophet who is to come into the world!” **THE** Prophet – the Messiah, the promised one. That must be who this Jesus is. And then Jesus just slinks away – Perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself. Jesus slides away. I’m not here to get into politics – I’m not here to overthrow the Romans or give you a national health care plan – and so Jesus slides away.

Dear friends, this text is instructive. Do you see how Jesus chooses to care for these people? He cares for them in two vital ways. The first way is that He cares for them Spiritually. Jesus has been preaching, Jesus has been teaching – He has been expounding the Word of God for them – a great and wonderful thing. And they can’t get enough. He goes to the other side of a lake and they follow Him there – give us more, preach more, teach more. A good and wonderful gift. Jesus provides for these people Spiritually. However, our Lord does more than just provide Spiritually. He provides for their physical needs as well. Jesus looks out upon them, sees the crowd that has gathered, and He sees that they are hungry, that their bodies are tired and sore, that stomachs are starting to rumble. And so He provides for them. And He does so without a lot of hoopla. Just has them sit down, blesses the food, and hands it out. Sort of simple and straight forward – I will provide for them. And when suddenly the crowd gets fixated on what He provides physically – this Jesus can mean free food for life – Jesus slides away. I’ve provided, you are taken care of, and that is good enough.

The fourth Sunday in Lent is a pause, a break in the season of Lent. The last three Sundays have seen intense Gospel lessons with Law that comes and smacks us right upside the head. What we see today, what we remember today, is that God indeed understands the difficulties we face in life, understands the intensity with which we struggle against sin and Satan, the hardships we struggle against in this life. We look at this Gospel lesson today with this in mind. Our focus could be on how this is a fantastic demonstration of the truth that Jesus is True God. Our focus could be on how much those people wanted to hear God’s Word – do we? Our focus could be on the disciples’ confusion, and how often we don’t understand what God is doing. Each of those could make a fine sermon, but here, in the midst of Lent, we hear this text for another purpose. Just as God cared for those people in the midst of their hardships, we learn and know and understand that God cares for us in the midst of our hardships, in the midst of our trials. Let’s compare – how does God care for you in the exact same ways in which He cared for those 5000 there?

First, God cares for your Spiritual needs. Lent is a season of spiritual trial. Lent is that long look in the mirror, that time of self-examination knowing that you aren’t going to like what you see all time. The simple fact is that there is struggle against sin – people that you have to love, that are sort of hard to love. Sacrifices you have to make for the sake of your neighbor that you don’t look forward to. As Christ will put it in the Garden of Gethsame, bitter cups yet to be drank. And that’s the way life always is, and sin has spilled out aplenty, and we can see it in our lives easily – families hurting and seemingly broken, friendships that have fallen on hard times, neighbors that scorn and mock. It’s not easy. But know this. Christ Jesus your Lord sees your struggle, knows what you are facing, for He Himself faced Satan’s temptations, He Himself was mocked and scorned, in fact, His brothers thought He was an embarrassment to the family. Jesus understands. And Jesus provides for you what you need to endure, to conquer. He provides you with His Word. And He does always. Has there ever been a time where Jesus has refused to come to You in His Word? Ever tried to open your bible and found out that God glued shut? I didn’t think so. Has there been a time where Christ’s death and resurrection for your forgiveness hasn’t been trumpeted from this pulpit and thousands like it all over the country, where the message of God’s salvation hasn’t resounded? Shoot, we can turn on our radios and hear Lutheran preaching on it. Has there been a time where God has ever said, “Eh, I’m going to ignore your baptism, your on your own again”? No – God continually offers you spiritual care in His Word and Sacraments. That’s what He does. We see this from our Epistle, Acts 2, the day of Pentecost, birth of the New Testament Church. And what do people do? And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Same thing we are doing right now. John was an apostle, and oh look, a sermon, teaching from what John taught us about Christ in His Gospel. Check. Fellowship and the breaking of bread – On the night when He was betrayed, our Lord took bread, and when He had given thanks He broke it! Check. The prayers. We’ve done the collect, those words are probably 1200 years old or so, and then we will do the Lord’s Prayer, we know they were saying that one, we end with the Aaronic Benediction, they’ve been doing that since the time of our Old Testament lesson. Check. Same thing, same ways, God is consistent. God provides and will continue to provide for the Spiritual needs of His people. And this He does for you, this is His love for you.

And there is more. God not only provides for you Spiritually, but we see and remember that God provides for you Physically as well. Now if you followed the old tradition of giving up something for lent, of fasting, you’d be noticing it by now – so this point that God provides physically would stand out all the greater. But it is true – has God ever stopped providing for your physical needs? No, He cares for you, and until the day that He calls you to heaven, you can be sure that He always will. Doesn’t mean that there aren’t times where we cease to be satisfied – the 5000 wanted to grab Jesus, make Him King and say to Him, “We want more bread.” There are times where we want to grab on to Jesus and see if He’ll give us more stuff – where we think clinging to Jesus means turning Him upside down and shaking to see if any more loose change falls out of His pockets. When we get caught up in the cares of this life, when we are worried and frantic and nervous – which I know can happen this time of year – crops are in the field and what is going to happen to them, calves are popping out, doing all the taxes for last year, spring and storms are on their way – it can be a mighty anxious time. And we can fret, and we can worry. But when we pause, when we relax, we see and remember that in all times and in all places God has indeed provided for us. Like the 5000 we follow Him and hear His Word – and then we look up and behold, He has provided for us. This is why in Acts the believers could day by day attend the temple together and receive their food with gladness – because they understood that God provides for them. Is this not true in your life? Pause for moment – Has not God seen to it that you are provided for, even in the times when you had no clue how things were going to work out. This is His love for you – this is what He reminds us of in this Gospel text.

With this in mind, we have confidence, even in the face of trials in this life. We follow our Lord’s footsteps as He strides towards Holy Week, and it’s culmination on Good Friday. We follow our Lord to Gethsemane, we too have our trials from Satan and our struggles and our hard times – but all of these, all of these we face knowing God’s love for us – indeed we have seen it all of our days, and we know that come what may, in whatever difficulty we find ourselves in, Christ Jesus is still our Lord, still our God who never fails to show us His love, who never fails to provide us the forgiveness and strength which we need for matters both spiritual and physical. This is His love for you, which endures forever. Amen.

Using the Liturgy

"The present state of liturigics in the LCMS today is like a teen-aged girl who has just discovered mascara." - David Scaer, Spring of 2004.

I love the liturgy - I freely admit it. I'd love to do all the services in the LSB - they all are wonderful. But the question becomes, why is the liturgy wonderful. I think sometimes even we who are liturgical can fall into the Contemporary trap - we do things because we think they are pretty or beautiful, or dare I say, make us "feel like we are at Church."

Perhaps this is because we confuse the "conduct" of the liturgy and the liturgy itself. The liturgy is the Word of God - it is confession and absolution - it is forgiveness given over and over again. And that's what it is whether it is spoken or chanted, whether it is with a choir or just a few people singing some hymns off key. The conduct of the liturgy doesn't define it - it is defined by the Word of God.

The conduct should point to the beauty of that Word - just like makeup should highlight the beauty of the wearer. If you notice the makeup, it's been poorly applied. Same thing with the conduct of the liturgy - does it serve the Word or does it serve itself?

This is not a post against a high liturgical approach. I actually prefer it (there's nothing wrong with Church sounding different - Church should be obviously different from the world) - but I'm not compelled to start chanting here. It would be a distraction here. At least for the near future. At other places, I'm certain that if the pastor didn't chant, it would be a horrid distraction.

Maybe this is the wisdom of the Lutheran Fathers - rites and ceremonies need not be the same in all places - for not all places are the same. What remains the same is the Word - let everything point to the Word.

Lent 3 Sermon

Lent 3 – Feb 24^th, 2007 – Luke 11:14-28

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

And they were no longer impressed. That’s what we see to start our Gospel lesson. Christ casts out a demon, and while some marveled, others were no longer impressed. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons,” while others, to test Him, kept seeking a sign from heaven. Here we have Christ cast out a demon, a fantastic miracle, shows His power, helps the poor guy who had been possessed – and it doesn’t ring as very impressive. Eh, He’s probably just working with Satan. Eh, that’s just a demon, let’s see a sign from heaven. They were no longer impressed – what Christ did and does no longer satisfies them.

In response to this, there is a long discussion on the casting out of demons, and there is the famous “a house divided” phrase, also the warning that wickedness will return stronger than ever if we don’t keep on guard. But Jesus puts all these ideas into perspective by what He says at the very end. As He said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But He said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!” There becomes the focus, the key to understanding everything that goes on in our Gospel lesson this morning. The Word is to be heard, and the Word of God is to be kept.

Dear friends, we know the importance of God’s Word. We know Genesis – how does God create? He speaks – the Word goes forth and all things are made. We know the power of God’s Word – I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel. Called. Spoke out the Gospel to me. Attached the Word of God to water and brought me into the Kingdom of God in Baptism, spoke the Law and Gospel into my ears so that I might grow in wisdom and faith. The Word is even attached to simple bread and wine – and then we are given a feast of forgiveness and life in our Lord’s Body and Blood in the Supper. We here of all people know that our focus is to be on God’s Word – and that those who are opposed to God are those who as Luther writes in A Mighty Fortress “let the Word remain nor any thanks have for it”. We know, we celebrate, we rejoice in the power of the Word.

But are we always content with it? Here is the danger. We know that we ought to respect God’s Word, it’s ingrained – and sometimes, we can just sort of assume that we keep it, that we respect it and do it like we ought. We can become complacent, and it’s in that moment that Satan attacks us – and we aren’t even aware of it, because we “just know” that we respect the Word, and Satan sneaks past our guard. How often is it easy not to remember God’s Word, how often do little parts slink on by? To minimize or even water the Word down some? Love your neighbor. . . always? Support your neighbor in every physical need. . . every? Speak well of him, defend him, put the best construction on everything. . . everything? This is the danger, this is the subtlety of Satan our old foe – he doesn’t try to blow up your faith in a huge, dramatic display – but to undercut it, weaken it, slowly wash away the foundations, to where the Word isn’t given the importance it ought to be given, where we don’t strive to keep it like we ought. Instead of being experts at showing love, we become experts at making excuses, instead of speaking God’s Word of encouragement, we speak words of blame. . . and we fall, flat on our faces.

No, the Word of God is to be heard and to be kept – for we as Christian are to strive not just to hear the Word and the let it go in one ear and out the other, to think about it for an hour on Sunday and then be done with it, but we are to strive to keep it – to shape our lives according to the Word – to strive to be like Christ in all things, to be imitators of God, as our Epistle lesson said. And this is terrible hard. Being a Christian is a hard, hard thing, and whenever we start to think otherwise, whenever we forget this, we wander and open ourselves up to all sorts of assaults and attacks from Satan.

This is part of what Christ is referring to when He speaks of the return of an unclean spirit. When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, “I will return to the house from which I came.” And when it comes it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of the person is worse than the first. Rather than tying this directly to demon possession, let’s think about it for a moment in terms of demon oppression, of being oppressed, of being tempted by Satan and his ilk. How many times in your life has there been something that you’ve struggled against, a temptation you’ve had to fight – and by the help of God it gets knocked down. And then you start to feel smug and good – and little by little some new bad, wicked habit comes in that ends up being worse than what you had been doing? Our struggle against sin is a constant one, dear friends. But in this struggle, what we are to always remember is that Truth that we focus on and yet often over look. God’s Word is Powerful. Listen to how Christ describes this.

When a strong man, fully armed, guard his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. That is the picture of Christ – for He is the Stronger Man who overcomes Satan. That is the picture of what God’s Word does to us – for by the Word of God is temptation overcome. When we rightly use the Word of God – when it is applied to us – it is God’s own power for salvation.

This, dear friends, is the point of our observation of the season of Lent. The time of Lent is a time of repentance, a time of reflection – a time where we pause and examine ourselves to find places where we have been lax, where we have wandered off from the Word of God. Where we examine whether or not we have kept the Word of God as we ought to have. Yet in the midst of this time of reflection what do we see – we hear Gospel lesson after Gospel lesson of Christ using His power for our benefit against Satan and all his demons, against all the workers of the devil. In the midst of our repentance our eyes are drawn to Christ Jesus, who sees that we are sorely pressed by Satan, who sees that we are tempted – and so, for us men and for our salvation, came down heaven – and took the battle to Satan – came busting into the world full of sin and showed Himself to be the Stronger Man who can defeat and overcome Satan. Christ goes to the Cross, He suffers and dies – Satan unleashes his worst at our Lord, but ultimately our Lord is not conquered. Christ rises victorious and Satan is defeated. That is our hope, that is what we are to see at all times and in all places – that Christ defeats Satan through His death and resurrection.

This is not just an event of the past dear friends, for this is what Christ does whenever He comes to you by the power of His Word. Christ’s death and resurrection is the central reality of your life. Hear again the Word of the Lord about this truth from Romans chapter 6 – Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore, with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. You are Baptized, and so the Cross, what happened there is the reality of your life. You, as a Christian, are defined by, are attached to the death and resurrection of Christ – that is who you are, that is whom God has made you to be by the power of His Word. Now sometimes we stray from this, we wander away from this life He gave us at Baptism – and so Christ the Crucified comes to us in His Word calling out Repent and be forgiven – repent and wander no more, rather simply delight in My forgiveness! All preaching, all teaching, is nothing less than a crying out from God for you to remember who you were made to be in your baptism and to return to your baptism – to remember and live in the newness of life that is yours in the forgiveness that comes from Christ Jesus. This is the power of God’s Word. This is the power that He uses to give us His own Body and Blood in the Supper. Again, listen to 1 Corinthians 10 – The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the Body of Christ? Did you hear that? A participation – a present reality. God is present for us through His Word and Sacraments – He takes all that is His and He gives it unto us – the Stronger Man comes and claims us as His own whenever we hear His Word and receive His Sacraments. Through these gifts given to us, the same Victory that Christ won over Satan upon the Cross is made real in our lives.

Blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it. This is what Christ gives to you – for he continually and always comes to you, again and again with His Word – so that you might learn to keep it, that you might learn ever more to fend off Satan and hold on to that Word – but in that same Word He comes to you as the Stronger Man who wins you away from the temptations of Satan, who breaks the chains of sin that held you captive by the power of His forgiveness – and indeed, He gives you His own strength and trains you to be more and more like Him. Christ constantly holds the Word before our eyes, so that we might not stray, but that we might be kept close to Him, for Christ our Lord has the victory over sin and death, and this He gives to us. Amen.

Lent 2 Sermon

Lent 2 – Matthew 15:21-28 – February 17^th, 2008

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

And his disciples came and begged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” Chilling, chilling words. Here we have a Canaanite woman, a foreigner, a stranger who has heard of Christ, calling out to Jesus for mercy. Her daughter is demon possessed, Satan is sorely and directly attacking her family. She is in dire need of help – and at first Jesus is silent – He waits, Jesus looks to see how the disciples are going to handle this one. What will you do, oh disciples, when one comes to you who is different, who is a stranger, whom you have prejudices against? What will you do? Send her away, for she is crying out after us. The disciples fail miserably, they show no love, no compassion. Their hearts are hard. Tell this woman to go suffer and quit bothering us. I have a hard time thinking of anything more cruel.

So what of in your own life? Do you, dear friends, often feel as though you are in the position of the Canaanite woman – where you cries for help are met with – indifference, disdain? I’d wager so. In fact, it’s a common saying, “Oh, I don’t want to be a burden.” We give people an excuse not to help before we even ask them for it. We are so conditioned, so used to being scorned, that we are oftentimes even afraid to ask for help, even when we need it. The words die on our lips, they go unsaid. We can’t be bold and ask for help – we think we should rather be timid, that we should just suffer in silence and not bother anyone. How often do we ourselves feel isolated and alone, as though there is no help, no support available for us – and we struggle along in silence? But there is the other side of this coin as well. How often, dear friends, do you yourself end up behaving like the disciples? How often when someone needs help, needs something of you, would you rather they just go away. Again? Why now? Can’t they get it together? How easy it is for us to become frustrated when there are demands made of our time – when people want more and more from us And the amazing thing is that there’s probably been times where you’ve felt both of these ideas – I need help, why doesn’t any help me – right along side of why does everyone keep asking me for help.

This is part of the struggle of the sinful life. As Christians, we know what God has commanded. Love God, love your Neighbor. We know that we are to love our neighbor – yet we live in a sinful world – and this has consequences. We know that our neighbor should love us – but we can be afraid to ask, afraid to talk, afraid of rejection. We know that we are to love our neighbor, but we can be afraid of burdens, afraid of difficulty, afraid of the struggles and the commitments that will be asked of us. And we become isolated and alone. In this sinful world, the fact is that we are sinners as well. We receive cruelness and we can dish it out – and all the while in all things sinking deeper and deeper into the mire. That is no way to live.

The Canaanite woman, though, she lives by faith. Christ commends her faith – calls it great. And so we should learn from her. Note how persistent she is. She keeps crying out, she keeps calling out to God for mercy. Dear friends, that the picture of faith. I like the words of the old hymn – Faith clings to Jesus Christ alone. That’s what this woman does. Even when it doesn’t appear that Christ is focused on her – even when Jesus is testing the disciples – she still cries to Jesus for mercy. And note something – even while the disciples give their wicked request – Jesus doesn’t send her away. He doesn’t answer her right away – that He will do in His own time and His own way – but Jesus doesn’t say “Get out of here.” The rejection that we can fear so often, the rejection that we can dish out to our neighbor – we never get that from Christ. God always hears, and God always answers in His own way.

And He answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. It seems as though Jesus is harsh, is cruel, is mean to her. That can be our first reaction when we hear this. That’s just mean. But the woman, in faith – she doesn’t think it’s cruel. She doesn’t get indignant – she doesn’t say, “I didn’t come all this way just to have you throw this in my face.” The woman doesn’t stomp off – rather, most amazingly – she agrees. Yes, I am a dog. Yes, I indeed am unworthy of any of these things which I ask of you. Yet I know that You will provide for me, even though I am lowly.” That, dear friends, is faith. To approach God in faith is not to approach God confident of your own strength. To approach God in faith is not to be sure that your plans are the best and the right way. To approach God in faith is to admit that you are a sinner struggling in a sinful world – and to be confident not in yourself but in God – to be confident that He will have mercy upon you and do what is best for you – that He will give you rich and free forgiveness of your sins and support you through all trials you face. That is the Gospel – that while I am weak, He is strong, He is strong for me, He desires my salvation and will stop at nothing, that He will suffer even death upon the Cross to win me forgiveness. That is where our confidence lies. That is the Gospel – that Christ Jesus has died for us and gives us forgiveness. Christ does not send you away – rather He yearns to come to you, to give you His forgiveness, to strengthen your faith through His Word, to give you His own life giving Body and Blood in His Supper. You know that your cries for help to God never fall on deaf ears – and that He is always quick to save.

But what we must remember is that Christ’s salvation – it isn’t always what we might want. Well, what do you mean by that, Pastor? You know, if I were that Canaanite woman, and the disciples had told Jesus to send me away – I might have wanted a little direct vindication – maybe Jesus turning and saying, “How dare you disciples be so wicked – bad disciples, bad!” Maybe even a good wag of the finger for good measure. In fact, maybe I’d even hope that I’d get more respect. Women, and especially Canaanite women were looked down upon – maybe this will give me more respect. But this isn’t what Jesus does – instead He gives healing to her daughter. He shows mercy.

Sometimes I think we can misunderstand the Gospel – what it is supposed to do. The Gospel doesn’t mean that everything in life will be perfect. It doesn’t mean that everything will go your way. Things won’t go any more smoothly for you in this life because you are a Christian – other than to the extent where by listening to God’s Word you don’t go and cause trouble for yourself. In this life, we are wounded. Every one of us here in this room has heartaches – some that other people know about – some that are hidden. For our days here, the Gospel doesn’t mean those instantaneously disappear. Rather this – how do we approach them, how do we deal with them – how do we deal with the very people that give us more and more heartache? Listen to our epistle lesson again. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith [that is forgiven, we know that Christ has forgiven us and we have received over and over again His forgiveness] we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand [we have access to forgiveness – because of Christ we know that God will never turn His back upon us] and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. [And now the profound part that we can overlook and shoot right on by. Listen to this.] More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and that endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Did you catch the wonder of that? The Gospel doesn’t mean that life will always be wonderful – but it shapes our lives and sees us through our days here in this sinful world. Yes – we suffer, we have horrid days and heartaches – but by the strength of God and His mercy – we endure. We endure and learn to focus more and more upon Christ’s love, to rely on Him. This is what a Christian Character is – to rely upon God. And when we rely upon God, when we look to Him – we have hope – in the face of any trial or terror we have hope - for we know that God is faithful and just and cleanses us from all unrighteousness, that He supports us all our days.

Dear friends in Christ. Life in this world is rough. We are hounded by the assaults of the Devil – we can feel isolated and alone – and even we ourselves can become tired and cruel and indifferent. But behold Christ Jesus – He is tireless for you, and He always works for you – always gives you the forgiveness He won for you upon the cross. With this forgiveness you have life, you have strength and endurance and hope – and by faith you live in Christ’s forgiveness until that day when you join Him in heaven and need never worry about sin again. This is the victory He wins for you by going to the cross. Amen.

Lent 1 Sermon

Lent 1 – February 10^th, 2008. Matthew 4:1-11

In the Name of Christ the Crucified +

For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Those are the words of Satan the tempter to Eve in the Garden. There it is, the first temptation, the first time Satan flicked out his forked tongue. Oftentimes we’ll focus on the “apple” – or whatever fruit that they ate – they ate the forbidden fruit. And we skip over what the real temptation was. “You will be like God.” That is what the Serpent says. Do you hear what he is really saying? “Why, O Eve, are you content to be a lowly human being? Why should you be something as lowly as that, a creation placed in a garden to tend it? You can be more – you can be like God Himself – you can be the master of your own destiny. You can be a God yourself – and you will know what is good and what is evil – you will say what is right and what is wrong – not listen to what God says. No more being simple humans, no more being just a woman and just a man, but you could be gods! What about it Eve, what about it Adam, how would you two like to be in charge?” That was the temptation – why should mankind settle for just being men – why shouldn’t we be in charge? Why should we be content to serve God, serve in this garden, when we could make things the way we want them to be?

And so Adam and Eve fall. The temptation they give into should be a familiar one. We love force, we love imposing our wills upon others, we love being the masters of our own destiny and I’ll do what I want and who is to gain say me. What war isn’t a result of someone trying to rule over someone else, to bring terror and force them to one’s will? That’s the temptation of the garden. Indeed, we see the wicked fruit of this sin all over culture. Satan promised that we would set for ourselves right and wrong, that we wouldn’t need God’s Word to say “Thou Shall Not” anymore. We live in a culture today where the focus is upon our desires, how we would like things to be. It doesn’t matter what the Word says, but what do I think is right. It is the same as what the Scripture says, “And each did what was right in his own eyes” – not what was right according to God, but in his own eyes. And death is the result. Death, and war, and chaos, brother versus brother, child against parent and parent against child, all in this never-ending desire to be the ruler, to be in control, to have things done my way. . . or in other words – to be like God! All starts at the garden.

But we missed the point. We like to think of God in terms of power, in terms of might, look at all God can do, He can make everything the way He wants it to be, how awesome is that. We miss what God actually is like. Let us go and look at our Gospel and see and understand Who God is, what He really is like. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The very first thing to note – and it should be obvious, as we’ve been celebrating it since Christmas – is that God becomes Man. Jesus Christ is both God and Man. Adam and Eve weren’t content to be human beings – they looked down on it. We want to be gods! Yet God becomes Man. Jesus doesn’t think it is anything beneath Him to take on human flesh – and He does, He becomes Man. What we spurn, our simple lives of service that we think aren’t much, our lives that we so often are unsatisfied with – Christ willingly takes up. It is no small thing to be a human being, and we often forget that.

And after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, He was hungry. Christ even has His own lent. This is why Lent lasts 40 days, this is why we too fast, give something up, reign in our desires – in preparation for the celebration of passion week– when Christ will once again tangle with Satan. And to Christ, in this weakened, tired, hungry state, comes Satan. And the Tempter came and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Now, Satan isn’t questioning whether or not Jesus is God here – that’s not the point. Satan simply points out the confusion. Jesus – You are the Son of God – You can do anything. Why do You sit here hungry – turn these stones to bread and eat something, satisfy Your wants. But [Jesus] answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.’ “ Where we missed the point, Jesus shows it. We live by our stomachs, we live by our desires, our first thought is often what do we want. That’s how sinful folk work. Jesus’ first concern isn’t His desire – rather, what is it? The Word of God. As humans we live by the Word of God. Literally. Why are we here – because God created us by His Word. Why did Adam and Eve still exist after the Garden – because God chose not to speak a Word of destruction and blot them, and all of us out. And even more than just physical life – how do we live? By God’s Word of forgiveness – because God says, “I forgive you, you shall live.” That is the Word we live by. The Word of God is no harsh tyrant, but it is the very source of life – and Christ not only resists temptation, but draws our eyes to the very goodness of God.

Satan tries again. The then devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.” Well, what’s so tempting about that? After all, Scripture is quoted – must be all right. Christ’s response shows us what is wrong. Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Don’t put God to the test. Think about the approach Satan is taking. “You better help me God, even though I’m going to do something incredibly stupid – You promised.” Satan is trying to make God jump through hoops – have the angels do tricks. Satan is trying to use God’s own Word against Him, Satan is wanting Jesus to try and boss the Father around. Even we can fall into this – how often do we not ask God, but make demands of Him? How often can our prayers be orders to God, rather than requests. I love the Lord’s Prayer – Thy Will Be Done. This is what I would like, but do what is best for me, for You know better than I do, O God. This is what Christ teaches us, points us to here. God does know what is best – He does love and protects us – and so we are to trust in Him, not test Him. Would that we simply trusted in God – would that we believed that God would give us our daily bread – and a lot of angst and worry would go away. Learn of Christ to trust God.

One final shot by Satan. Again, the Devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these I will give to You, if You will fall down and worship me.” This one strikes us as odd. How can Satan give away the kingdoms of the world? Because of Adam and Eve. In the Garden, Adam and Eve jumped ship – they rejected God and allied themselves with Satan in rebellion – became Satan’s. Tied their lot to him. That’s where we are by nature – that’s what it means when Scripture says that we are born sinful – we are born not on God’s side – but on Satan’s side. And so Satan tries to bargain with Jesus. I know Jesus, that you want these people back – but I tell you what. Instead of obeying the Father’s will and winning them however He wants You to, let’s do my plan. Side up with me – obey me instead of the Father, and I’ll let you take them all. They will be Yours – just be my number 2. Worship me. There’s the temptation – Christ, You can have it all without the Cross. Why hang upon the Cross, why suffer, why be mocked and spit upon, why die? Satan offers a Christianity without the Cross – but Jesus doesn’t bite.

Then Jesus said to Him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord Your God and Him only shall you serve.” Jesus avoids the very mistake, the very temptation that felled Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve wanted things done their way – but Christ obeys the Father’s will, and will not take short cuts in your salvation. He will bear the scorn of the Cross for your sake. That is why Paul is determined to know nothing but Christ and Him. . . Crucified. Because it is on Good Friday, it is upon the Cross that we see and understand what God is truly like. We do not have a God who enjoys tossing around power and might like we do. We have a God who, when He sees us fall, sees us suffer and die – takes up Human Flesh of His own, and joins us in our suffering surpasses our own suffering. He even joins us in death – He will be the servant who in love tastes of our death – and why? So that He can give us life – so that He can redeem us, buy us back from Satan on God’s terms. We deserved death – but Christ doesn’t. When Satan gives Christ death, Satan oversteps his bounds – and the blessed exchange takes place. Since death took Christ, God says, “Nope death, you don’t get to keep My people, to take them, for they have been redeemed, bought back from death.” This is what God is like. God would, indeed, God has suffered in your place, in your stead. What is God like? He willingly and gladly, out of His love for you, takes your punishment – so that you might be restored to Him, that you might be with Him forever.

We see this, we get a taste of this all the time when we hear God’s Word of forgiveness spoken to us – we know, we receive God’s love. In the Supper, we get a taste of what Heaven will be like – gathered together in the presence of God for the eternal feast of joy and life. God grants us forgiveness – and while we still struggle against our sin – let’s face it, each one of us is going to go out those doors, and this week we will struggle, we will struggle against sinful desires – but we face those struggles no longer on our own – but as the forgiven. We face them knowing that Christ Jesus is at our side – and you heard the text – Christ conquered those same temptations we will face. So we know that we have victory in Christ. Oh yes, we will see setbacks, indeed, it will always be fitting for us to confess our sins here in God’s House, to receive His forgiveness again, to be have our weak, sinful flesh strengthened by His Holy, Precious Body and Blood in the Supper – but we know what God has accomplished – we know that at the end we will be raised to perfect, incorruptible bodies like His, and we will rejoice in the joys of heaven. Struggle against your sins, cling to Christ’s forgiveness, and await patiently the joys of heaven. Amen.

Tomorrow's sermon

February 3^rd – Matthew 18:31-43 – Quiquagesima Sunday

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

And so, the disciples are walking with Jesus – and Jesus is approaching Jerusalem, approaching His own crucifixion – and Jesus turns to the disciples and says, “See”. See. Be aware, pay attention, look – see what is going to happen, for I am going to tell you what will happen. See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For He will be delivered over to the gentles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging Him, they will kill Him, and on the third day He will rise. Seems pretty straightforward. Clear cut. Not only does Jesus tell them what is about to occur, but He even points out, hey, this is what Scripture prophesies – that whole suffering servant, that whole crush Satan’s head but getting a bruised heel thing. It’s all pointing to this – Crucifixion and resurrection.

And then comes what seems to be a completely confusing verse. But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. What do you mean they didn’t grasp what was said? Didn’t Jesus just spell it out for them all nice and blunt? How more clear could it be? How more plain and blunt could Christ’s Words be? We can’t even ask Him to spell it out for them because He just did. And yet, we are told that the disciples didn’t get it – went right over their heads.

Why? We hear this verse, and we are shocked and perplexed – we don’t get how the disciples could have not gotten it. Let’s look at why they don’t get it. Let’s figure out where they were, what they were thinking – and that might give us a clue to why they are so clueless. Now, who are these disciples? They are people who have dedicated their lives to following Jesus – they are with Him all the time, they are learning at His feet. They have seen His miracles, His might, His power. They have seen the crowds become angry at His teaching, pick up stones to stone Him – and yet He walks through unscathed. They have seen Him halt an angry mob about ready to stone an adultress. They have seen all that Jesus can do – His power, His Might, His Strength.

For He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. Delivered? Handed over like a captive? Not our Jesus! Who is going to bind Him? And will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. What? You mean Jesus, who with ease turns aside every taunting, mocking question asked Him by the Pharisees and Scribes, He’s going to be mocked and spit upon? What are you talking about? And after flogging Him, they will kill Him. No, no, not this Jesus, He isn’t the type to be captured, to be put to death. He’ll be able to escape – no earthly power can stop Him! That part about that third day rising – eh, who cares about that – it’s not even going to get to that because there’s no way Jesus would be so soundly defeated like that!

The disciples had their eyes fixed solely upon Christ’s power and might – they love their own idea of whom Jesus was supposed to be. They liked Him as a Superhero – as someone who could leap tall buildings in a single bound. And they didn’t like anything that said otherwise. Okay, that’s all very well and nice pastor, but Jesus told them these things were going to happen – why didn’t they believe Him?

Let me ask you a question. How often have you refused to believe something was true? How often have you gone into denial? How often when someone has spoken the hard, harsh truth to you, have you stopped up your ears and not listened? How many of you know how to run so quickly and easily to dreams of better days, and ignore the cold hard reality – ignore the writing on the wall? I’m sure if we sat down, had a group discussion, every one of us could give dozens of examples where we were just sure that something was going to happen – although with distance and hindsight, we know we were just fooling our selves. That’s what the disciples were doing here. But note something very, very important. This text is not a warning about false hopes concerning elections or sporting events or work or romance – what were the disciples’ false hopes on?

The disciples had false hopes of earthly glory, glory spilling out into public view – where all would see and say, “Wow, these guys are following the right Guy, look at all they have.” In reality, they sought their own glory – they saw Christ primarily as the person who would make their lives great and wonderful – and so they miss the point. Now, oh member of Zion – what of you? Does this desire for earthly glory sometimes impact you? Is it a way Satan seeks to move your eyes off of Christ? Yes it is, isn’t it? We can be more worried that we have a good reputation so that people will think we are great – more than we worry about a poor reputation driving people away. And this is no new thing, this is nothing uncommon to the Church. Hear now the Words of Martin Luther from his commentary on Galatians, which is apt to this whole discussion. “No one is so firm in repelling the most deadly vice of vainglory that he does not need constant prayer in order to be able to do so. For who, even when he is pious [that is good, decent], does not delight in the praise people accord him? The Holy Spirit alone is able to keep us from being infected with this pest.” This is why every Sunday before I step in this pulpit, I myself pray a prayer Luther writes, which asks God that I myself not seek glory or praise for my preaching – but rather that it point solely to Christ and that I too would learn. The sinful human heart loves nothing more than receiving glory and praise – and this takes our eyes off of Christ – indeed, turns Christ into nothing but tool, a source of glory for us.

All too often, just like the disciples, we too don’t see, we too don’t understand. And so it is fitting for us that right after the disciples are unable to see – they come across a man who is blind. And what does this blind man do once he hears that Jesus of Nazareth is coming? He cries out – “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He calls out rightly – not give me glory, not give me stuff – have mercy on me. I am afflicted, relieve my afflictions. Have mercy on me – the very same cry we utter over and over here in our worship – if in our vain glory we don’t decide to cut that out, decide that it’s too much of a downer. It is also interesting to note, dear friends, what people’s reaction to this is. And those who were in front of him rebuked him, telling him to be silent. Be quiet with this mercy thing! You are annoying. You aren’t what we want – we want glory, we want power! Away with you, you blind beggar – shut up and suffer in silence – we want nothing to do with you. And the one in need is scorned. Yet the same thing could easily happen here, couldn’t it? Someone dirty and crusty walks through those doors – shock and horror, what is he doing here? The sinner seeking mercy shunned.

The blind man, though, is persistent. He continues to cry out – have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped, and commanded him to be brought to Him. Bring him to me – don’t let this person grope darkly – bring him. And when he came near, He asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight, your faith has made you well.” The man is healed – and he gives thanks to God, gives praise and glorifies, not himself, but God. The blind man, though He couldn’t see physically – he saw rightly, he understood who Jesus was – not the giver of glory – but the one who has mercy, the one who has compassion, the one who shows love and care, no matter what the cost – even at the cost of His own suffering and death.

Dear friends – this Wednesday we begin another Lenten season. Services on Wednesday at 7. What we do in Lent is we pause, we focus, we stop behaving like the clueless, glory seeking disciples here – and we see Christ for who He is – the One who gives mercy. We see ourselves for who we are – the ones in need of mercy, always in need of mercy, always having sin to struggle against, always having sins in need of forgiveness. We need Lent, for we, especially we in America, have been filled with vain hopes and glory – we view God through our pocketbooks and our stomachs and from our nice comfy chairs. The old German word for Lent – what this season was referred to right here in this place not a century ago – is “fastenzeit” – Fasting time. The time where we fast to remember that God isn’t about our stomach, our wants, our passions, our glory. Rather, we remember that He is the God who suffers and dies for us – who lives not to have a rich life Himself, a God who doesn’t seek His best life now – but a God who willingly endures the shame of the Cross, who allows His Body to be beaten and broken and given to death, that we might have life.

Dear friends, be not blind – but see that God is merciful – that He desires, that His greatest joy is to give you mercy and forgiveness. Take and Eat, take and drink – do this often. God desires you to be forgiven, to receive His forgiveness – He delights in giving you mercy whenever you cry for it. For the next seven weeks as we progress towards Good Friday – let our eyes no longer be focused on the vain pleasures of the world, but rather let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith – that faith by which we receive and hold onto forgiveness and life everlasting. This is my constant prayer for you – that you would more and more seek God’s mercy and delight in His forgiveness – and I would that it be your prayer for me and for each other in this Lenten season as well. The Lord be with you in the weeks to come. Amen.