Sermons

What is preaching? St. Paul writes in Romans: “Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14-15)

Therefore our Lutheran Confessions state: “It is also taught among us that one holy Christian church will be and remain forever. This is the assembly of all believers among whom the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel.” (Augsburg Confession VII:1-3)

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“Climb Every Mountain” – Transfiguration 2013 – Exodus 34:29-35; Matthew 17:1-9

20. January 2013
Transfiguration
Exodus 34:29-35; Matthew 17:1-9

Everyone wants a mountaintop experience. Maybe you have had such an experience figuratively or literally. Would you describe any events in your life this way? Or if you considered the general contour of your life’s topography would it be more valleys and shadows than mountains and brilliance? No wonder then that when we are trudging through those ravines of life we look forward to the small peaks with the joy, hope, and clear vision they bring. We want those experiences that thrill and delight.

This desire applies not only to our daily lives but to spiritual lives, too. We desire to see the glory of God, to receive the exhilaration of His presence, to see clearly the landscape and the path of our life, and to delight in all His many gifts. We want from God a mountaintop experience to remember.

This is, of course, why we see some people in church only infrequently like on Christmas and Easter. They know those days will be filled with joy and comfort. They’re not so sure that the weekly grind of the Divine Service will provide the same. And if we’re honest, we’ll say they’re right. The weekly service often seems more of a valley with each of us more slouching than leaping towards the promised land. Our prayers are drudgery, our voices lackluster, and our attention waning.

The problem is that we are wrong to judge the value of our life experiences based on whether they make us happy or not. Anyone with the wisdom of age will tell you they learned as much or more from the rotten experiences of life as they did from the moments of joy, peace, or hope. The war-torn scars of the soldier, the withered hands of the worker, or the stretch marks of the mother all tell of an experience that was difficult yet incredibly valuable. Those experiences may have glimpses of glory but were often difficult drudgery.

God never promises your life will be easy nor every moment a mountaintop experience. Your heavenly Father “disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Heb 12:6; cf. Prov. 3:11). God works this way in your life, both body and soul. He allows you to experience pain, grief, and disease to strengthen your trust in Him. You will suffer even death because of your sin. You are dust and to dust you shall return. This discipline of your body is not His final work. God promises healing and will give it. Ultimately this is the gift of Jesus in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.  Just as Christ died and rose so also you who are in Him will die and rise.

God the Father is also attentive to your soul. He gives you His commands that confess His perfect will. Given your sinful condition these accuse you and terrify your conscience. You are tempted to sin but never more than you can handle. This holy Law is a guardian or taskmaster. It restrains evil in you, shows you your sin, and shows you what God expects of you. This word is humbling for no one keeps it. It’s discipline scares our soul, frightened to death of the prospect of hell. As with bodily discipline this is not God’s proper work. His Law always gives way to the gift of the Holy Gospel. For there is forgiveness in God the Son. His death and resurrection gives you forgiveness. There is no more condemnation for you have been freed by His blood.

Our physical and spiritual experiences with God are not always what we would call a mountaintop experiences, if by the expression we mean that they are comfortable and happy. When Moses brought the God’s holy Law to the people from Mt. Sinai, did they receive him joyfully? No, this “mountaintop experience” scared them. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.

Moses came as the messenger of the almighty God and a little bit of that glory wore off onto Moses. But remember that this was after Moses’s second trip up Sinai. After the first trip he returned to discover the people worshipping a golden calf. Moses showed God’s displeasure by melting the calf and forcing the people to drink it mixed with water and God himself sent a plague upon them. In His mercy God heard Moses’s intercession and forgave the people. God called Moses to once again travel to Sinai and there cut new tablets for the Law. When Moses returned to the people they were rightly frightened. Would God again be displeased with them?

This righteous fear continued. Every time Moses went in to speak before the LORD, he would return with his face shining. The people knew that He had spoken with the LORD. When Moses lifted the veil they would hear the God’s Word. They would have a “mountaintop experience” in God’s way. The words Moses spoke did not always lift their spirits but they were always for their good. The people hated the reflected glory in Moses’s face and were terrified when the veil was lifted. For Moses’s ministry was of the Law and thus of accusation, condemnation, and death.

This is not the mountaintop experience our bodies long for nor the one that is our soul’s hope. Perhaps that is why St. Peter acted the way He did on Mt. Tabor? perhaps he thought he was finally having the mountaintop experience that everyone hoped for. After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.

One has to wonder if Peter had not paid attention in his sabbath lessons.  Jesus and Moses shining in glory shouldn’t make happy or comfortable. He should be frightened out of his wits. When anyone goes up on a mountain and ends up with shining flesh it is a moment of terror. But not Peter. He said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. Peter wants to continue to dwell on the mountain, to be accused by the Law, and to know only God’s  terrifying glory. He wants to live under the Law and not the greater and proper work of Jesus to die for their sins.

Jesus converses with Moses and Elijah and is speaking of His exodus (according to St. Luke.) From the mountain of Transfiguration Jesus turns His face toward Jerusalem where He will climb another mountain. On Mt. Calvary the true glory of God will be revealed, the glory of the only-begotten of the Father. On that mountain Moses’s ministry of condemnation will cease. Jesus will die for the sins of the world, ushering in a new ministry of righteousness. The glory of Jesus (and Moses and Elijah) that Peter wanted to package in tents on Tabor will be shown to have no glory at all. As St. Paul said, “What once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it” (2 Cor 3:11).

Peter was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. Now Peter, James, and John make the connection. Now they know that the glory in Jesus they see is truly the glory of God. Now they are rightly terrified, fearing God’s judgment and His holy presence.

But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. Already at this mountain a new mountaintop experience begins. God’s holy Law is surpassed by the gift of Jesus. The Father’s voice that terrifies is followed by the Son’s voice of comfort. Brilliant glory is shrouded so that we would bask in the cross of Christ.

This is a different sort of mountaintop experience. It begins when Jesus comes to you. After you are terrified by the Father’s discipline, the Son comes with the touch of forgiveness. He speaks to you tenderly and says “Rise, and have no fear.” These words are greater than Moses. Their glory more brilliant than even the sun.

Jesus tells death “It is finished” and he transfigures it into eternal life. He says to water, “save” and it is transfigured into a saving flood. He says to bread and wine, “body and blood” and He is transigured for your forgiveness. He calls sinners “forgiven” and you are transfigured into the redeemed. He says to His church “shine” and we are transfigured into cities shining on hills. From that little mountain of Calvary now a greater mountain is rising up in you. For Christ has gathered you together to Mount Zion to give you the best experience of all—forgiveness in Him.

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

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
Grace Lutheran Church
Dyer, Indiana

Baptism of Christ 2013 – Matthew 3:13-17

13. January 2012
Baptism of Christ
Matthew 3:13-17

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand…” Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

Water is important. Waters were gathered at creation. The Spirit hovered over the waters. Waters brought forth living creatures. Water also fell from the sky. Those waters rose up and destroyed the earth and all living creatures (apart from those in the ark.) Red Sea waters protected those in Exodus and destroyed Pharoah and his host. Waters came forth from the rock (and the rock was Christ.) Waters are prescribed for purification in the tabernacle. Joshua passes through Jordan’s waters into the promised land.

In the days of John, baptism and repentance go together. He preached repentance and the people received baptism, confessing their sins. His preaching was like the beginning of the service: “let us first consider our unworthiness and confess before God and one another that we have sinned in thought, word, and deed, and that we cannot free ourselves from our sinful condition.” Sin is a serious illness with symptoms in our every action, with all we say, and even in what we think. Repentance confesses this truth. And in John’s day, repentance was shown by baptism.

In our day repentance is shown by speaking. You confess repentance when you say: “Almighty God, have mercy upon us, forgive us our sins, and lead us to everlasting life.” But wait! There’s more than repentance (have mercy) in those words. You also asked for forgiveness and everlasting life. Your confession is more than the repentance of the multitudes who flocked to John. There is no need for nostalgia for the man in camel hair and locusts stuck in his teeth. The muddy Jordan holds no promise anymore. For you were washed already by Jesus himself and in waters rich in His blood. Thus your confession is not merely for mercy but also to receive the kingdom of God in Jesus.

John said, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” St. John the Baptizer knew that he prepared the way but he was not the Way. He baptized in repentance but the greater One would baptize with the Holy Spirit. The Jordan River was used now but soon waters even among Gentiles would be used along with God’s Word to bring far greater gifts.

A marvelous event was recorded today for your hearing by St. Matthew. Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. For thirty years Jesus has kept to the background, living the life of any ordinary Jew. Now the Christ takes up the mantle of His office and joins St. John and the ranks of sinners who are repenting and yearning for forgiveness. But surely the Christ, the sinless one, needs no baptism? He has no sins to confess and no absolution to receive. St. John wondered the same thing: “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then [John] consented. He consented because he understood. Jesus was saying, “you must now baptize me in order that poor sinners come to righteousness and be saved. For the sake of sinners I now become a sinner, in order that they would become righteousness through me.” God’s only son let himself be baptized—though he was without sin. Thereby He takes on the sin of the baptized while we are absolved of our every sin. Our baptismal waters and His are bound together. Christ’s baptism is bound to Christ’s death and resurrection. Thus our baptism is bound to our death and resurrection.

St. Paul writes in Romans chapters 6: “Do you not know that as many of us were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” So, yes, Christians suffer just as Christ suffered. Christians die just as Christ died. By Holy Baptism we will endure these things with Christ and receive a greater gift. “For we were buried therefore 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.”

For you, dear Christian, have received something far better than what John gave. For you, Holy Baptism and salvation go together. It should not surprise us that God continues to use water to work in us—and not just plain water but “water included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word” (SC IV.1). Baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit now “makes disciples of all nations.” God the Father adopts you as His child for the sake of His Son Jesus and gives to you His Holy Spirit to keep you in this faith.

Some people think of Baptism as this once in a lifetime deal. Others think Baptism is unimportant. The general population think Baptism is an empty religious rite—nothing more than a dedication or blessing. Not so for Jesus and not so for you. Baptism is the fulfilling of all righteousness in you. God the Father has added His promise to the waters and thus they have great benefit. Look at Jesus!

When [He] was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heaves were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” 

There is tremendous grace for you in Holy Baptism. Before Christ’s baptism, the heavens were closed but now they gates stand open and we can see clear through to everlasting life. Once there was a barrier between God and us but now God himself is revealed in those saving waters. No longer do people cower in fear at the voice of God but now the Father’s voice is heard. You are no longer sinner but made holy by the washing of Christ’s own blood. You are no longer orphans but the Holy Spirit descends upon us and dwells with us.

Water is important but the Word of God in and with the water does these great things. And the Word does not stop giving His promises. Thus each day each day we begin in the same name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. God once again drowns in us the same old Adam. Each day he raises us in us the same new Adam given to us Holy Baptism, to serve Him in holiness and fear all the days of our life. Each day we begin with confidence knowing that by water and Word we are God’s children—forgiven, restored, and inheritors of eternal life. Dear Christians, may we learn to say not “I was…” but “I am baptized!”

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

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
Grace Lutheran Church
Dyer, Indiana