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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The Festival of the Reformation 2012 – Matthew 11:12-19

28. October 2012
The Festival of the Reformation
Matthew 11:12-19

“We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.”

The problem with expectations is that they are easily shattered. Politicians rely upon expectations of the people to be elected. When re-elections roll around they rarely meet your previous expectations. Hope and change? Not really. The entertainment industry thrives on giving you exactly what you expect with perhaps a little twist of creativity. Your first consumption is enjoyable but their products don’t live up to repeat listens, views, or experiences. The sales person plays your expectations to sell you just what you want. They know that once you get home, chances are good you’ll keep the product even if it fails to meet your expectations.

This is an important reminder for us on this festival of the Reformation. Why had the Christian church of Luther’s day departed from the Apostolic truth? Why had they stopped listening to the Word alone? Why did they believe that there was salvation not alone but by some other means? Why had faith and trust in God alone been replaced with trust in rulers and works? Why had Christ taken the backseat while the cult of the saints drove the car?

Their expectations of God were driven not by the Holy Scriptures, not by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not by His grace, and not even by faith. Their expectations were driven by their own fallen desires. The holy message given by Moses, the Prophets, and Christ himself, delivered to us by angel-apostles was sidelined in favor of the thoughts and intentions of our sinful heart. Rather than be subject to Christ, the church subjected herself to the desire for self-worked salvation, big bank accounts, and earthly kingdoms. She gauged her hopes and dreams on the ways of the world and not the intents of God.

Luther needed a true set of expectations. When he asked, “How can I stand before an angry God?” the church of  his day answered, “through works of penance, prayer, and fear.” The polluted God demanded righteousness by the Law contrary to the Holy Scriptures. The blood of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world was mixed with the bile of man’s own merit. Luther’s conscience could not bear the the torment and despair. In an act of divine providence, his confessor Staupitz directed Luther back to the Scriptures.

There Luther rediscovered what had long been hidden under a dark cloud of false piety: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

Our yearly festival commemorating the Reformation is not a day to go “rah-rah–Lutheranism!” or “Boo! Catholicism!” Most of us don’t even know what the church of Rome believes today, wrongly thinking that Lutherans abandoned all the ancient practices. No, today we celebrate the recovery of the Gospel by the Holy Sprit through Martin Luther His angel. The good news is that Jesus Christ alone has saved you. He has done this through His Holy Scriptures alone which grant you faith alone to receive salvation through grace alone. Not three alone-s but one alone in Jesus Christ.

Luther’s false expectations needed reforming as do ours and as did our fathers’ of old. For example, Jesus sent His messenger John to prepare the way. But what did they go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken in the wind, that is, a false prophet who will capitulate to their itching ears and will gladly blow over if it suits them? What did they expect of John? A man dressed in the latest GQ fashion, hip, and utterly approachable? Ah, yes, they went for a prophet and Jesus gave them one. Not what they wanted nor expected but exactly what they needed.

John came preaching a hard, unlikeable message: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The sinner scum came to John from all Judea and the region of the Jordan came to be baptized by him, confessing their sins. Meanwhile the Abrahamic bourgeois come to him trusting in birthright and personal piety and he runs them off: “You brood of vipers! Even now the axe is laid to the fruit of your legalistic tree. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” No one expected a prophet quite like John the Baptizer. Yet he is precisely what God foretold: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness.”

Expectations are everything. John came neither eating nor drinking and they said, “He has a demon.” Jesus came eating and drinking and they said, “Look, a glutton and drunkard.” It’s not that John failed the expectation of their fathers. It’s not as if Jesus was something other than the Messiah promised of old. They had long since stopped listening and no longer had ears to hear.

As their hopes for the new wilderness Elijah were off-base, the expectations for the Messiah-Christ were worse. John the Baptist’s disciples came to Jesus asking, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” The people of Israel’s hope for change was nothing like what God had in store for them. Jesus is not the earthly Enemy Slayer but the Lamb of God who is slain by the enemy. He is not the Great Yes Man but the Great Judge with winnowing fork and fire. He is not the Bread King but the Bread from heaven. He is not the king of this world but the King of heaven. He is not the friend of elites and a rock star pop icon but the humble friend of sinners and tax collectors. He does affirm the Pharisaical law in the temple but preaches the Gospel to the poor.

Sinner’s expectations are never God’s. God is not forced to conform to our hopes but rather we conform to His. Blessed is he who is not offended by God’s expectation fulfilled in Jesus. Most expect a different kind of prophet. Most do not expect such a hard call to repent or such a sweet message of release. Most want a slick pastor with a wishy-washy message that tugs at the heart strings and addresses the felt needs. They care nothing for God’s way nor His thoughts. This is why from the days of John the Baptist, through the life and death of Christ Jesus, and even now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. Jesus will not dance to our song nor lament when we whine.

The hopes and dreams of fallen men do not coincide with God’s hopes and dreams for them. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. The Jesus campaign promises would never get Him elected. The sweet voice of Christ chanting the Psalms doesn’t fit our fancy. The show Jesus puts on is a gruesome and horrible display that lacks the entertainment value of a DVD in the discount bin. And the product he procures for us we neither desire nor will receive.

God sends his messengers to reform our false expectations. His holy prophets come with confession and absolution. These prophets’ sons expose your sin and preach the good news to you. They’re not impressive and don’t submit to your strong gusts for change. The pastor-angels have received their marching orders from the Good Commander. They are clothed with the rough garments of salvation and are ready to give you the very thing you need whether you expected it or not. They are preparing and preserving the way for the Lord to dwell in you His redeemed.

Jesus reforms our sinful expectations. We think we’re worthy of salvation and he humbles us by the law redeems us by His shed blood in His body and His blood. We think we can contribute to grace and He gives us his abundant mercy and complete grace as a free gift in Holy Baptism. We think there is wisdom unto salvation in earthly gurus and He gives us everything our faith needs in the Holy Scriptures. Our sinful expectations are reformed to His, all though the giving of the gifts.

Wisdom proceeding from the mouth of the Most High reorders and governs the Christian expectation. This work of God was given by the Scriptures and through violent suffering. This work will continue until our dying day or Christ comes again. Martin Luther was without hope and true desire for God. In God’s mercy he revealed the truth of to our church’s namesake. Today, you may not have wanted Him as He has promised but now you know we need Him and you know right where to find Him. Our hopes and dreams are restored by forgiveness, life, and salvation. Jesus who dances to his own flute and sings a new song of salvation for you.

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

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

Pastoral Letter on Christian Citizenship & Voting

Pastoral Letter on Christian Citizenship & Voting
Since political elections normally deal with matters of policy, I do not normally make them the subject of pastoral concern. This year, however, the national elections in our country are not concerned simply with policies but with principles.

My first comment, I suppose, should address that difference.
About policies—most questions of political concern—we may expect some legitimate disagreements among Christians. Among these we should include questions about the application of civil punishments, the funding of public education, the tax code, the authority of federal agencies, this or that social program, and so forth. These matters, properly governed by prudence, leave much room for legitimate disagreements among Christians.

My reference to “principles,” however, pertains to matters on which there can be no legitimate disagreement among Christians. Let me mention three subjects of this sort, which are at issue in this year’s national elections. I do not believe there can be legitimate disagreement among Christians with respect to:
First, the origin of human rights. These, since they come directly from the hand of God, are determined by the moral law. That is to say, no political institution can give citizens a right to do something wrong—not the Constitution, not the Congress, not the Supreme Court.

For example, even though the original Constitution, as well as acts of the Congress and decisions of the Supreme Court, denied full legal equality to Americans held in bondage, no American has ever had a “right” to own slaves. Slavery in our country was always a violation of God-given human rights, and those responsible for that violation have all answered for it at the throne of God.

Second, the unborn child in the womb has an absolute right to be born. This right, which comes from God, is subject to no qualifying circumstances, including the conditions of the child’s conception and the health of the mother. One may not murder an unborn baby. A baby in the womb has the same right to life as its mother and her doctor.

Third, marriage is the union of a man and woman. This principle, rooted in God’s creating act, can be altered by no decision of any institution or agency of government. No one can be given a right to do a wrong. Whatever name is conferred upon it, state-sponsored sodomy is an abomination to the created order. It is a radical offense against the divine Logos.

Inasmuch as these three principles are manifestly at risk in this year’s elections, it is incumbent on all Christian pastors to bring them to the attention of the flock of God.

This year’s elections involve an attempt to usurp an authority that belongs properly to God. Centuries ago, Tertullian warned that political idolatry—the effort to confer on the State an authority that belongs only to God—is the worst and most dangerous sort. Vote wisely, therefore, and in the fear of God. This year—more than any time in my memory—our votes in the election are going to be recorded in eternity.
via Pastoral Letter on Christian Citizenship & Voting – Mere Comments.

“Forgiveness x490” – Matthew 18:21-35

22. October 2012
Sunday of the Unmerciful Servant
Matthew 18:21-35

We have a forgiveness problem. We don’t know what it is nor why we practice it. We say “it’s okay” and look the other way. We turn the other cheek while secretly holding the grudge. We hold our neighbor’s debts against us over his head. We overlook our sins and the sins of others when they should be confessed and forgiven. This whole messy situation is supposed to be cleaned up with Christ’s own blood but we’d rather wallow in it.

We’re just like St. Peter. Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. No doubt. Forgiveness is tough. They are hard works to say. When someone hurts you repeatedly with what they say and do, do you keep forgiving them? Maybe you forget about it once or twice… perhaps even three times. But seven times? We’d rather tell our neighbor to buzz off than keep suffering their repeat offenses. Forgiveness? That only goes so far.

Not with Jesus. Seven times? No, seventy times seven. That’s 490 for all you math wizards. What’s Jesus saying. Christians suffer. They suffer others sins. They keep suffering when their neighbor and even brother keeps sinning against them. 490 times? That’s a lifetime of sin to suffer. Jesus is saying we suffer with our spouses’s sins against us until the death parts us. We suffer our children’s offenses until Christ comes again. We suffer our neighbor’s curses and threats forever. 490 times is an eternity of sin to suffer.

Ah, but notice one thing is still missing. Jesus isn’t just telling us to suffer. He’s telling us to do the harder thing: forgive them. Not just in your heart but verbally—out loud. Forgiveness is humiliating. It requires you to move from the position of power to weakness. It requires us to repent and become like a child. Our righteous outrage at our neighbor’s sin has to be set aside and instead forgive them. Say it: “I forgive you.” Let’s practice. Say it after me: “I forgive you.” Sounds different than “it’s okay,” right? It doesn’t just sound different but it feels different. It requires the hatred, resentment, and despising of your neighbor to be crucified and die.

It is sin that keeps us from saying those hard words. Sin is our fleshly condition and inescapable. We are sinner, watch us sin. There’s no human way to overcome our disease. We can only treat the symptoms and then pretty ineffectively. We need is a cure that’s permanent and lasting not little bandaids for all our little problems. Jesus told Nicodemus we must be born again of water and the Spirit. This is God’s solution to our problem. He’s not content simply putting patches on trespasses or debts. He wants to cure us, once and for all. He has in Holy Baptism. He drowned your old Adam to death and gave to you new life in Jesus’s blood.

That’s what forgiveness is all about. Being washed clean in Christ. Your sins no longer cling to you. They are forgiven! Even death is destroyed and there is new life for you in Jesus! A washing of rebirth and regeneration began this work in you. Christ’s own body and blood nourishes you as He keeps you in this truth. The words “I forgive you your sins” keep you clean by the same Word that made you.

The life of the Baptized is in Christ and Christ in him. Therefore, if you brother sins against you do not hold this sin against them. Go and tell them their fault. If they will not listen, take another brother. If he still will not listen, bring the church. If he will not hear of his fault then this sin is bound to him until he repents.

Ever tried to do this? Its hard stuff for the old Adam. No one wants to reveal another’s sin. It usually exposes our own faults, abuses, and wickedness. Plus, we think nothing good will come of it. It’d be much better to look the other way, to all just get along, to pat them on the back and say “it’s okay.” It’s far easier to let them remain in their sin than to tell them about it. That’s the same thing we’d want. Sinners love their sin and why should it be any different for them?

No, not for those in Christ Jesus! The Christian has come to hate their sin and their sinful disease. They hate it because they have come to love their savior. Jesus gave them new life in His life and are made holy and righteous by His blood. They now hate sin and love forgiveness in Jesus.

Therefore you do not only tell their brother their sin (the Law) but they all the more tell them of Christ’s forgiveness (Gospel). Without speaking the Word of forgiveness, the sinner cannot leave his sinful ways. There is now power in exposing your brother’s faults unless you also bring them into the glorious light of Christ’s forgiveness.

Remember, we’re just like St. Peter. Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Why should we forgive our neighbor to the 490th degree? By the Word of forgiveness in Jesus they are given the only remedy to their sin. When you forgive your brother, they are getting Jesus. And where there is Jesus forgiving, there is life and there is eternal salvation.

Saying those words: “I forgive you” to your children, your spouse, your parents, your pastor, your co-worker, your boss, your legislator, indeed all your neighbors is the most evangelical thing you can do. It’s the kind of thing only a Christian can do. It’s the best way to confess who you are in Jesus and what He has done for you. It’s one sinner administering the cure to another sinner just as Christ forgave them.

We are the servants of our Lord and God in the kingdom of heaven. By our sin, we owe our heavenly Father a great debt beyond what we could ever pay, Jesus describes laughably as something like 10,000 x 20 years wages. Yet, in his loving mercy for the sake of His Son Jesus, all this debt is paid. He placed our debts upon Jesus. Christ suffered and died in place of us, as our substitute. This is God the Father’s great compassion! And by this mercy we are released, freed, and forgiven of it all. We are forgiven to live with Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

The servant in Jesus’ comparison is wicked. He received mercy beyond comparison yet cannot forgive his fellow servant a small debt. This forgiven servant comes to his fellow servant who owes him a mere three months labor not 10,000 times 20 years. Having received great mercy, what does he show to his fellow servant? He throttles him and demands repayment. The fellow servant pleads for mercy with the exact same words as before. But the forgiven servant refuses to forgive. He takes the blessings he received from his king and hordes them for himself.

What he received as a blessing becomes a curse. His debt was forgiven but having refused to forgiven, it is once again imputed to him. So also for us. The forgiveness so freely given to us in Jesus is turned to a curse if we refuse to forgive others.

Thus, we pray each day “…forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We forgive our brothers because we have been forgiven our every sin. We forgive them to give them Jesus. In the forgiveness given by each of you, your fellow servant and neighbor learns of Christ’s forgiveness. O Lord, how great is your compassion! Give to us hearts that so forgive others. Let us have compassion on each other, showing mercy, and saying “I forgive you” until the end.

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

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