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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All Vocations are Saintly – St. John the Evangelist 2012 – John 21:20-25

27. December 2012
The Day of St. John the Evangelist
John 21:20-25

“You follow me!” Christian vocation does not take one from the home, or workplace, or world to a higher calling. As Luther helpfully taught us in the Small Catechism, we serve God by fulfilling His commands attached to the stations in life. Indeed, if you had to chose between feeding your child and coming to church who would choose church? Not even God. You love, honor, and worship Him in all things and with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Luther said: “There is no doubt it is Satan’s own doings that divine worship is confined only to churches, altars, masses, singing, reading, offerings and the like, as if all other works were vain or of no use whatever. How could Satan mislead us more completely from the right way than when he confines God’s worship within such narrow limits, only to the church and whatever is done in it?”

Sometimes we like to think of these saints as more beloved by God because of their great and noble deeds. St. John the Evangelist wrote a Gospel, Epistles, and even an Apocalypse. He autobiographically referred to himself as the “beloved disciple” and “the one whom Jesus loved.” He followed Jesus those three years. He even stayed with Christ at the cross. Surely this sets him apart from the gentle husband, lowly mother, diligent worker, or obedient child?

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them… [Peter] said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” It is as if Jesus were saying: “Why are you so worried about the one who will betray? What if this guy lives until I come again, what does that matter? Who should you be concerned about? Yourself! Be faithful to your vocation. I have called you to follow me, now do it!”

We’re always tempted to worry about the other guy. Is he Christian enough? Will he stay in the faith or fall from it? Do I measure up to the other guy’s impeccable Christian standard? Learn from St. Peter. Don’t do it. Be concerned with your faith and vocation. Follow Christ and live.

You can’t measure yourself without looking to your works and the works of your neighbor. Isaiah calls even our righteous works filthy menstrual rags (Isaiah 64:6). This applies even to St. John’s most noble works: the glorious Gospel, the fantastic Revelation, and the bold confession of his first Epistle. Filthy, bloody rags. We, like Peter, want to judge ourselves based on how “beloved” the next guy is. We’re always trying to live up to some impossibly high standard and thereby think we’re pleasing from God.

Listen to Jesus: “You follow me!” There you have it. What’s your purpose in life? Have trouble deciding what to do next? Debilitated by the fear of making a wrong choice? Don’t worry about it. Ask yourself, what has God called me to be? And then be who God has called you.

If a pastor, be a pastor. Hold fast to the trustworthy word. If a layperson, listen to preaching, receive instruction, support the ministry financially, and respect your pastors. If an authority, rule with justice and honor. If a citizen, submit to your authorities and pay them taxes. Husbands, love your wives. Wives, submit to your husbands. Parents, do not exasperate your children but train and instruct them of the Lord. Children, obey your parents. Workers, obey your masters. Masters, treat you workers with respect and fear. Youth, listen to the older. Widows, pray without ceasing. Everyone, love your neighbor as yourself and pray without ceasing.

It is often asked how one can be a good Christian. From Jesus, it’s easy “you follow me!” Your works are worthless before God but are loving service for your neighbor. Love your God by being who He has given you to be. This work will undoubtedly fall short of the glory of God. But these works are not for your benefit. You’re not trying to measure up to God’s perfect standard. Your works are for your neighbor and God well supplies them.

If you look to your God-given vocations you’ll find ample to keep you busy and your time will be too short. You’ll have neither the strength nor the resources to fulfill them. But do not look to your works. God does not deal with you according to them. Your reward is not attached to them. Stick to your duties. As it is written, “let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.” (1 Cor 7:17)

Notice St. John wants no credit in the Gospel he writes. He only refers to himself by the handle “the beloved disciple.” He’s not comparing himself to others but merely speaking of his place in the apostolic band. But notice too that he repeatedly states his purpose for writing. The beginning of the Apocalypse reads: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the thing that must soon take place.” St. John was called to the vocation of Revelator and his work on the book is the fulfillment of God’s calling. The purpose of all his work is to testify to Christ that your joy may be complete in Him.

Just as with St. John, we can learn to be humble in our boasting and in all things give God the glory. The mother changing the diaper, the father working the factory, the child obedient in his work all work to God’s glory. Even in suffering and death we can boldly give God the glory. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Or as Jesus said, “You follow me!”

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

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

Jesus’ Blood Calls for Faithful Christmas – St. Stephen’s Day 2012 – Matthew 23:34-39

26. December 2012
St. Stephen’s Day
Matthew 23:34-39

Most people hate Christmas. They don’t hate the sentimental Christmas of Bing Crosby, nor the commercialized Christmas of holiday jingles, and not even the cheesy Christmas of baby boomer TV specials. Most people love the Christmas that leads up to December 25th including its anticipation, feasting, and gifts. No, what they hate the Christmas of the Gospel.

Jesus doesn’t care about your feasting, your gifts, your hopefulness. His holy day is not about merriment, sweetness, or nostalgia. Jesus is the reason for the season the church sign reads. And what reason? As the hymn says, “born that man may no more die” or “born as God-man to die and rise that man may die and rise in Him.” If Jesus is the reason for Christmas, then Christmas is about receiving Jesus. If the world truly loved Jesus it would keep His Word sacred and gladly hear it on Jesus’s own feast day. If humankind loved Christmas they would come to His home and dwell with Him there.

It’s not all that difficult to grasp really. Christmas is Christ’s mass—a feast of Christ, given by Christ, and giving Christ. That is, Christmas is about receiving the Christ once wrapped in swaddling clothes, then crucified and buried, wrapped again this time in a burial shroud. When this gift was unwrapped on Easter morning, the good news went to the ends of the world. Salvation is yours in Christ. Forgiveness is yours in His body and His blood. New life is yours in the waters flowing from His side.

Contrary to this reality many have spent decades trying to recreate their idyllic Christmas vision largely inspired by Norman Rockwell. All their family and friends come ready, cheerful, and dressed for the occasion. Their churches are filled with the sound of Christmas favorites. The roast is well-prepared. All the exquisitely wrapped gifts surround the towering tree, glittering with lights abundant. No expense or craft is spared to make this Christmas “perfect.”

It all sounds quite nice. And then life pulls the rug out from under you. Last week a man under my pastoral care asked that we keep a former coworker’s family in our prayers. His wife had died a year ago and now He died, leaving behind two grown daughters. Of these two it was said: “now they are left all alone.” This sentiment rings especially true at Christmas where our celebrations often involve family and friends. For those two children, the death of both parents in a span of year will no doubt “ruin” their Christmas. There is now no hope for the Norman Rockwell vision to be realized. Two empty chairs will always be at the table.

You see how our hopes and aspirations are easily shattered when grounded on some unattainable Christmas perfection? No wonder that a 2010 report noted that “45% [of Americans] are having difficulty getting in the holiday spirit.” (http://witness.lcms.org/pages/wPage.asp?ContentID=1169&IssueID=61) Despite 96% of Americans celebrating at Christmas in some way, the real reason for Christmas often goes unnoticed or worse yet rejected. Unnoticed when overwhelmed by the Christmas schlock and rejected by unbeliever and marketeer alike.

Our own fanciful expectations for Christmas run contrary to what Christ expects. This is the reality of the Gospel. It is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentile. We obstinately prefer sappy carols to bold confession in Christmas hymns. We want a weak and passive Jesus even at Christmas. We’d rather sing songs that even Mormons can sing than let the Gospel ring out in its truth and purity.

The church is always fighting this battle for faithfulness. At times she slips into emotionalism or rationality. And then the LORD sends to her prophets, wise men, and scribes to call the church back to repentance. In effect, these men of God call the church celebrating Christmas to return to Christ. This never goes well for them. Some are killed and crucified. Others are flogged and sent packing (in the LCMS called “CRM status.”) And not too far away and perhaps in the not too distant future here in this land righteous blood is shed on the earth.

Our world is rapidly hurtling toward another non-Christian era. We will likely see and hear of more and more St. Stephens who will be martyred for their faith. Pastors and laypeople alike will be abused, slandered, and even murdered for their confession. These are dear Christians who celebrate Christmas in boldness and truth. They sing “Hark the Herald” and “Joy to the World” before unbelievers. They confess “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” to the secular Christmas world. How will they be received? Poorly.

The city of Jesus’s day understood this truth. The greatest prophet, Wisdom incarnate, and the Word Himself  arrived proclaiming forgiveness of sins and the kingdom of God. His church would have rather the sentimental Passover meal, the speculative songs of their synagogues, and the easy-once-a-year-visit to the temple of the LORD. He comes with a feast from heaven, songs of angels, and an eternal abiding presence. What did they do to Him for not meeting their expectations for a “perfect” Christmas?

They flogged him. Persecuted him from town to town. Killed and Crucified him. His blood was spilled and mixed with poor Abel’s blood. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate.”

What did they get for ignoring the real reason for their holy season? The same thing we do. A Christ-less Christmas. If we’d have Jesus meet our traditions, emotions, or fallen reason rather than He conform our expectations to His Word, He’s bound to leave this house desolate. There’s only one “perfect” Christmas and its receiving the perfect one Jesus as He has deigned to give Himself.

It is another miracle of Christmas that Jesus forgives even our misguided attempts to find hope, joy, and peace outside of Him rightly preached and received in liturgy and song. As children of God, we ought to be moved to seek and receive the Word in its fullness and purity. Why? Because the hopes and dreams of mankind always crumble under the weight of the world and shatter in life’s tragic moments. No, the hopes and fears of all the years are met in the perfect God-child, our dear Christ. He doesn’t do this with sentimentality but with bread from heaven and body and blood given and shed.

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

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

“A Fleshy Word” – Christmas Day 2012

25. December 2012
Christmas Day
Exodus 40:17-21,34-38; John 1:1-14

And the Word became Flesh. In the beginning God the Father spoke. Begotten from His lips was the Word that made all things. God and Word are separate and yet the Lord your God is one (Deut 6:4). Proceeding from both Father and Word is the Spirit. Together three persons and one God. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of the Word. The same Word that spoke into the darkness and made light is the Light of men.

Some think this doctrine is just empty speculation or spiritual mumbo-jumbo. They say, “Jesus is just another guy with nice things to say. Whether He was God, is God, or became God-like is irrelevant. What’s important is what He said.” Nothing could be more damaging to the faith. If Jesus is not God then just another nice guy died 2,000 years ago as nice guys have died since the dawn of time.

What was confessed by Moses and repeated throughout the Scriptures is now utterly revealed by the Evangelist John: “The same Word of which I declared that it was in the beginning, through which all things were made, which was the Life and Light of man, became flesh.” As we confess and do not deny but confess each week: “Who was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man.” Just as John lays this doctrine of as the foundation for his Gospel, so too we lay the incarnation (enfleshment) of Jesus at the center of our faith.

You’ll notice that during the confession of the Creed it is the practice of our churches to either bow or kneel at those words. Our bodies confess what we believe. Christmas is not simply the birthday of a 1st century Jew. It is the day of the birth of the Son of God. It is the festival of the Incarnation.

“The most precious treasure and the strongest consolation we Christians have is this: that the Word, the true and natural Son of God, became man, with flesh and blood like that of any other human; that He became incarnate for our sakes in order that we might enter into great glory, that our flesh and blood, skin and hair, hands and feet, stomach and back might reside in heaven as God does, and in order that we might boldly defy the devil and whatever else assails us.” (Luther, AE22:110)

“The same Word, which became man, Mary suckled and carried in her arms as any other mother does her child. He came to men, lived and dwelt among them.” (Luther, AE22:112) He did not avoid humanity. We are not above His social status. He dwelt among us, indeed ate and drank with not only saints but sinners and tax collectors. Jesus is not some ghost or figment of the Christian imagination. He was seen, heard, touched, and followed.

Jesus became a natural man like any other man of flesh and blood. He had eyes, ears, mouth, nose, chest, stomach, hands, and feet, just as you and I do. His mother nursed Him as any other child is nursed. He acted as any other human does. He was born as a true man from the Virgin Mary; the one difference, however, was that He was not born in sin as we are, that “He committed no sin, and no guile was found on His lips.” (1 Peter 2:22)

John could have said “The Word became man” but instead he said “flesh.” This is intentional. Jesus didn’t become some kind of Superman, showing us all that we could be. No, Christ took on human nature to show us its weakness and mortality. In His death we will see in Jesus’ flesh the terrible judgment of God because of the sins of humanity. All the anger and wrath of God was not justly given to us but rather heaped upon God’s own son as He suffered and died. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Galatians 3:13)

The sinless Lamb of God, born of Mary, would give His life as ransom for us. Thus, when the Evangelist says that we beheld His glory, he’s not referring to Christ’s spectacular appearance or miracles. We beheld His glory when He died our death and arose from the dead by His own divine power. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. (John 10:17).

St. John confesses in his Epistle: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.” (1 John 1:1-2)

That’s what Christmas is all about. God made flesh to redeem our flesh. We have seen redemption and receive it. Jesus said: “Where I am, there you shall be also” (John 14:3) and “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19). Thus, for all who have received Him (lowly child and crucified God), who have believed in His name, He gave the right to be children of God. We are sons of grace and mercy though not of our nature. God is gracious and merciful by nature and we receive it in the Christ-child.

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

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