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)

There are 257 posts filed in Sermons (this is page 23 of 86).

A Voter’s Guide to the Ten Commandments

The Curb of the Law:
A Voter’s Guide to the Ten Commandments.

via NewVotersGuide – Hope Lutheran Church, Aurora, CO.

Introduction
If we remember anything from our catechism, we remember the three functions of the law. “A curb to keep society in order, a mirror to show us our sin, and a guide for Christian service to our neighbor.” But what does it mean that the law is a curb for society?

We know well the second function, the law brings us to despair of our own goodness and pride. We know fairly well the third function, that the law shows us the contours of our vocation and directs our love for God and neighbor. But what about the first use? What does it mean that the law is a curb for society?

I used to understand the first use of the law very vaguely: that because the outlines of the law are ingrained in our consciences there is a shadow of the Ten Commandments in the legal structure of each civilized society. But there is more, much more, to be said. The law (and especially the second table regarding our love for our neighbor) has many specific things to say about government. Especially in a nation where the citizens are given a role in governance (for example, voting), it would be good for us to consider the Ten Commandments and the things they teach us about government.

The Ten Commandments Protects God’s Gifts
We remember, first of all, that the Ten Commandments are given to protect God’s gifts. He created all things good. The Lord want for us good things. We see in the commandments both the gifts that God gives as well as His desire to protect them.

  • The Fourth Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother”, protects God’s gift of family and authority.
  • The Fifth Commandment, “You shall not murder”, protects God’s gift of life.
  • The Sixth Commandment, “You shall not commit adultery”, protects the Lord’s gift of marriage and family.
  • The Seventh Commandment, “You shall not steal”, protects our possessions, or as we call them in our constitution, private property.
  • The Eighth Commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”, protects our reputation and our good name.

Understanding the gifts that God gives gives clarity to the role of government: law and the rule of law serves to protect the gifts of God. And, those serving in government love their neighbor by protecting these same gifts and making and enforcing laws that do the same.

What follows, then, is a discussion of the fourth through eighth commandments, of the gifts they protect, of the appropriate laws that protect them, and the practical conclusion that effect how we vote in the upcoming political cycle.

Remember that the Christian is called by God to love their neighbor. This is true when we vote as well. Our we vote, not to serve ourselves, but to love our neighbor.

The Fourth Commandment, Family and Government
The fourth commandment is the source of all human government. Before there was the state, and even before there was the church, there was the family: Adam and Eve. It is from the family, then, that authority comes.

In the Large Catechism, Martin Luther says, “For all authority flows and is propagated from the authority of parents.” (I.141) In this way we understand the commandment to honor our father and mother to include all the authorities in creation, including the government. On the other hand, this commandment all puts government in it’s proper place: serving and protecting families.

The Fifth Commandment and the Lord’s Gift of Life
The fifth commandment sets government to protect the Lord’s gift of life.

I often hear people talking about quality of life. The Bible knows of no such thing. The Lord has not given to mankind the authority to judge if life is worth living. Life is life, no matter how good or bad it is. Let me be clear, discussions about the quality of life are idolatrous, it assumes that life is here for us to take, measure, judge and even end.

The fruits of the quality of life idol are abortion and euthanasia. Regarding euthanasia, someone has made the decision that a persons life is not worth living. Lord save us from such dangerous arrogance. The Lord’s command says, “Do not commit murder.” Regarding abortion, the mother (or a person who has great influence over the mother, like the boyfriend or parents) have made the judgment that having a baby would wreck the mother’s quality of life. Lord, have mercy.

In the United States an estimated 3,700 babies are murdered in the womb each day. 1,370,000 times each year a child is sacrificed on the altar of convenience. This is “legal.” It should not be. The government is given to protect life.

(I know that this is a difficult and often emotional discussion. There are many women who have had abortions and are daily crushed by their guilt. The Lord has His church to give out the forgiveness of sins and to cover this guilt with His forgiving blood. The Lord’s mercy is found in the church, not the state. The state is given to protect life.

This is also the place were capital punishment and war should be discussed. The Lord has given the state the sword to protect, for example, His gift of life. In extreme cases, the state has the authority to kill in order to protect life [war and capital punishment], much like a doctor amputates a foot with gangrene to save the rest of the body. But this is slightly off the topic.)

The right to life is the most fundamental human right. Our blatant disregard for human life will mark this as one of the darkest ages of human history. The blood of millions of babies will certainly reach the ears of our heavenly Father. The Lord’s church continues to pray for an end to this mindless slaughter, and to use every opportunity she is given to help save the lives of babies in the womb. Voting is one of those opportunities to love our neighbor, especially our unborn neighbors.

The Sixth Commandment, Marriage and Family
The sixth commandment protects the Lord’s gift of family and marriage, and regulates human sexuality. This is where discussions regarding the laws of divorce, adultery and homosexuality belong.

Among other things, marriage is a legally binding contract with the state. In every wedding I’ve preformed I was there with the bride and groom and witnesses to sign the marriage license. While it is God who joins husband and wife on to another (Matthew 19:4), He uses the state to do this. So the state, the government, has a vested interest in marriages. Our own state laws have provision for supporting and protecting marriages, but these are often ignored and disregarded.

In fact, most people today would understand any laws regarding human sexuality to be old fashioned and unnecessary. “What I do in the bedroom is my own business.” Our sinful human flesh, in rebellion to God, wants to chase after its lusts in anyway it wants. But this often results in sorrow, end even in death.

In the Scripture we notice a pattern between the breaking of the sixth commandment that is followed by a breaking of the fifth. Remember the history of David and Bathsheba? First David commits adultery with Bathsheba who was married to another man. Then, when Bathsheba turns up pregnant, David tries to cover up his sin by calling Uriah (Bathsheba’s husband) back from battle. When Uriah, out of faithfulness to David and his fellow soldiers, refuses to go home, David sends him back to battle with his own death warrant. (2 Samuel 11) So murder follows adultery. This is often seen today with abortion. 75% of the women who have abortions are not married.

So we see that there is a public interest in strengthening and supporting the Lord’s gift of marriage. But what we see from our government is the exact opposite. In fact, the very fact of marriage is being challenged at its core.

Marriage is a gift of God, established and created by God. Government is set to protect marriage, not control or define it, but this is exactly what we see happening. Moved by pressure from homosexual lobbyists, many states are “re-defining” marriage to include the union of a man to a man, or a woman to a woman. Where this “re-defining” will end, who knows. We are in a strange time when polygamy is illegal, but “open marriages” are not. A man can live with as many women as he wants, unless he calls these women his wives. Strange.

But marriage cannot be redefined. The role of government is to protect marriage, not redefine or reshape or change it. We we go to the ballot, then, we have the opportunity to cast our vote out of love for our neighbor to protect the Lord’s gift of marriage and family.

…To be continued. Next month we will discuss the role of the 7th and 8th commandments, and make some conclusions about the up-coming election.

Part II
Part I of this article addressed the role of the law in society and made a few comments about the fourth, fifth and sixth commandments. In this article we will consider the Seventh and Eighth Commandments and conclude with a discussion of the voting Christian.

Government is a gift from God to protect His gifts of creation, and those gifts are outlined in the Ten Commandments: the gifts of life (Fifth Commandment), family (Sixth Commandment), property (Seventh Commandment) and reputation (Eighth Commandment).

The Seventh Commandment and the Gift of Possessions
There are a few very disturbing trends in American politics, not least of which is the delusion that these gifts (or rights, if you will) come from government. In the next few months we will not be able to escape political rhetoric. Listen for candidates promising to “give” things to the people, as if there is something that belongs to the state and in then given to the people. No. There are things that the Lord has given to individuals, to families, and the state has the vocation of protecting these gifts.

This is true of the Lord’s gifts of possessions, what our founding documents call private property. When the Lord commands, “You shall not steal,” He is giving us the gift of private property, the right to put our name on something. This means that the Ten Commandments protect us from socialism. Socialism is the political philosophy that possessions belong to the state and are distributed by the state, and the Lord’s Word “You shall not steal” stands against this philosophy and any other involuntary system of redistribution of wealth.

The Eighth Commandment and the Gift of Reputation
There is justice in our legal system’s assumption of innocence until proven guilty. Our good name and good reputation is a gift of God, and in some way the government has a role to protect this. We have these protections in our courts and judicial system.

In the up coming election there are many offices to be filled, and we have the opportunity to elect honorable people in law enforcement. As we petition the Lord in the prayer of the church that those in government would “punish wickedness and reward righteousness.” With the Eighth Commandment in mind, we pay attention to the judges and law enforcement.

Voting and the Vocation of Citizen
In Biblical times, as well as in the Reformation, there were the rulers and the ruled. You were one or another. In modern America it is not so simple. Our government is a system of self rule. Each citizen is the ruled and the ruler. Our voting is the clearest example of exercising this authority. So Christians, as citizens of the United States, have the very important responsibility of voting. So vote.

Conclusion
The Commandments protect the Lord’s gifts. That is obvious by now. Governments if given by God to protect these gifts in numerous way. But you might ask, “Pastor, what is the most important of these gifts? What if one candidate is a pro-life socialist and the other is a pro-choice capitalist?” For the Church this is a simple question. The most important issue is life. This is the most fundamental gift of creation, and it is especially the weak and defenseless that the state ought to protect. Babies at risk in the womb are the neighbors most at risk, the neighbors that most need our prayer and love and service.

In everything the Christian family and the Christian church does in the world, we are always asking how we might serve and love the neighbors that the Lord has given us. Having an election is no different. We go to the ballot box with the Ten Commandments in mind. We vote to love and serve our neighbor and protect the gifts that the Lord has given them. This November we will have the opportunity to do just this.

May the Lord hear our prayers for good and faithful rulers, and grant such to us and all the people of the world. And may we continue to serve our neighbors as we rejoice in the gifts that the Lord gives.

Your’s in Christ,
Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller

“The Jesus Christ Evangelism Explosion” – Luke 7:11-17

23. September 2012
The Sunday of the Widow’s Son
Luke 7:11-17

And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

Back in the 60’s (and for the LCMS the 80’s—always late to the party) Coral Ridge Presbyterian Pastor D. James Kennedy made popular an outline or technique for evangelism. Everything revolved around two questions: 1) Have you reached the point in your spiritual life where you know for certain that if you were to die tonight you would go to heaven? and 2) If you were to die tonight and God were to ask you, “Why should I let you into heaven,” how would you answer?

The point of these questions were to expose any thought that works could gain your entry into heaven. Rightly, this provided the opportunity for the interrogator to confess Jesus Christ’s blood as our merit and our entry into heaven for His sake. After the baby boom explosion of the 50’s, Pastor Kennedy was looking for a technique to continue the rapid expansion of Christianity. Unfortunately, the already decreasing birthrate and the rise of generic easy-believing Evangelicalism yielded no such growth.

There is no such thing as a magic bullet for sustainable church growth, despite what the multitude of gurus will tell you. True Christianity is marked by confession, discipline, faithfulness, persecution, and cross-bearing. It is sustained through unremarkable gifts of Word, preaching, forgiveness, water and Word washing, and body and blood under bread and wine. From a business or pragmatic perspective, we’re nuts. We’re committed to a cult that has little benefit and costs more than it seems to put out. Without a multitude of programs and other busyness, the cost of keeping these doors open is outrageous.

Yet, here we are, gathered at the feet of Jesus, listening with baited breath to His every Word, hungering and thirsting for righteousness or at least the crumbs of which fall from His table and into our mouths. It is outrageous that this would be enough and or would be worth the effort. That’s what your neighbors think. Why bother with the effort of Sunday morning when you can watch somebody more “uplifting” or at least with a better light show? Why put money into the plate when the whole enterprise is doomed to fail? Why commit your time and energy in service to the church and her ministry? What’s the point in the end?

That’s where Dr. Kennedy’s questions fail today. People don’t seem to care that much about heaven or dying. At best, they’re mildly curious. If there is even a god, why would he even ask if you’ve been bad or good in this life? Your friends and family are more concerned about their best life now and don’t even care if there is a life to come. In religious parlance, this theology is called annihilationism. They think: when you die, you go into the great abyss or are absorbed back into the one life force. No one has any personal value and is utterly disposable in the end.

The Holy Gospel gives us a glimpse draws our eyes away from magic bullets, programs, strategies, and revitalization onto the real work of Jesus’ own ministry and therefore the ministry here at Grace. First, from Jesus perspective everyone matters. No one is immaterial or unnecessary. He gives life purposely and generously. Soon afterward [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow,  and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

Jesus goes to Nain in Galilee. Can anything good come out of Nazareth (of Galilee)? Nain, which means green pastures, never looked so from the Jerusalem side of the fence. Jesus had already healed the most unlikely of people, the Centurion’s servant. What’s he doing with Gentiles? Now, Here’s Jesus in Nain of all places visiting a widow with her dead son. Jesus fulfills the Psalmists word: The Lord protects foreigners and helps the fatherless and the widow, but He frustrates the ways of the wicked. (Psalm 146:9)

Nain, full of heathens, is without likelihood of conversion, we think. They are ill-prepared, having a lack of moral compass, the right worldview, nor any of the Old Testament foundation. They are hardened by centuries of unbelief and are lazy slobs. Better to go into faithful Judea and enter her synagogues. They’re a hard-working bunch, with fat wallets and warm bodies.

No, not Jesus. He goes to the widow, cold in her sorrow with no one to support her in those final hours. Her husband has died and now her only son is lost to the abyss. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” The Lord did not think: “This is sooo typical for Nain. Deadbeat dads and grieving widows. When are they going to get their act together and take care of themselves? Why should I bother with this woman? She can’t financially support my mission trip and I bet she’ll take off the moment I give her a bit of good news. Better not waste my time on her.”

No, not Jesus. Compassion is that sinking feeling in the gut that compels us in love to mercy, care, and sympathy. Do not weep. The most unlikely of people in the most unlikely of places during the most unlikely of events, a widow in Nain walking in funeral procession, is the recipient of Jesus’ compassion. Jesus ignores the demographics and the chances of success and does His Messiah thing.

Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Earlier Jesus said to Levi after He called him to be a disciple: Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. (Luke 5:31-32) Here Dr. Kennedy was right. People are sick and they don’t know it. They need to learn how sick they are to appreciate the healing remedy Jesus has in mind.

The problem is that the people Jesus evangelizes aren’t merely sick. They’re dead. Like the young man in coffin dead. Being processed to the tomb, to be buried six feet under. Not just the man, but his mother is next to dead. Even the procession, the crowds following Jesus, and his very disciples. All walking dead. And thus, Jesus is always about forgiveness of sins leading to the resurrection of the body.

St. Paul says it this way: And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. (Colossians 2:13) And also: God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4)

The problem with evangelism programs, schemes, techniques, marketing, and the like is that it doesn’t take the state of people seriously. Everyone has intrinsic worth, for whom Jesus died (John 3:16). Jesus is relentless in His pursuit of you. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9). So, Jesus died for all. He does not consider any demographic, status, or even hardness of heart to stop evangelizing all.

Jesus evangelizes all relentlessly but recognize that he doesn’t approach them like a salesman would the potential customer. He’s not on a mission to convince you to believe in Him. Why not? Because you’re dead in trespasses. Dead people don’t listen. Dead people aren’t interested in a savior. Dead stay dead. Unless they’re called from the tomb by Jesus. Unless they hear Jesus’ voice calling out “Young man, I say to you, arise!”

Death and resurrection is what its all about. Knowing this frees us in the call to be evangelists. We can talk about the content, share in strategies, learn how to defend the Christian faith, and the like. In the end, we have not the ability to convince anyone to believe. Not through Dr. Kennedy’s two questions. Not with clever preaching. Not with generous charity. Not through works of mercy. Dead people don’t care.

Conversion requires is a miracle which comes only by the Holy Spirit. This isn’t just true for our efforts to witness to Jesus Christ crucified in our community and world, this is true for even our children and for you. Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:3-4)

Holy Baptism is the time that Jesus said to you “Young man or woman, I say to you, arise!” Out of the grave of the font you arose to new life in Christ. That’s why all this Jesus stuff makes sense to you and not to the unbaptized multitude. They’re still dead, unable to love God or neighbor. How can you convince a dead person to believe? It’s not happening unless the Lord himself grants new life.

Therefore, you see that Jesus cares not about the who or the where of His evangelism program. Everyone is loved by him even while dead in their trespasses. God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) Even while we were dead, Christ loved us and sought to save us. And when? That’s immaterial, too. No one is innocent. All are equally condemned and need the full atonement of Christ’s blood. Jesus comes and touches the young child newly born and says “arise!” He touches the teenager’s bier and says “arise!” He calls out the middle-aged yuppie “arise!” He even says to the elderly man whose doubts overwhelm him “arise!” We cannot by our own reason or strength come out of the tomb or call Jesus Lord.

The beautiful thing about the death and resurrection methodology of Jesus is its all on Him from start to finish. When the Holy Spirit calls by the Gospel, enlightens hearts through preaching, absolution, baptism, and supper, Jesus works as promised. His Spirit calls, gathers, sanctifies by what seems most outrageous and too simple to ever work. He works through His means of salvation. Everything else is nice fluff.

You can package the Gospel anyway you like. You can learn the helpful techniques of the Christian apologist. You can learn about the worldview of the other religions. You can try being more casual or more formal with your church services.  You can play music that sounds more appealing and less German. You can give hugs, shake hands, and be a friend. Its all been tried before.

In the end, nothing makes a dead-in-trespasses person become an alive-in-Christ person without Jesus himself preaching, forgiving, and calling out “Young man, I say to you, arise!” Its just what we confess: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. I believe that Jesus has done it all for me, has given me life and salvation by the Holy Spirit in baptism, and keeps me in this faith and communion through the Holy Christian church, which is Christ’s own body.

So here’s the Jesus Christ Evangelism Program: go and disciple all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them of all things Jesus, forgiving their sins and eating together. That’s how dead people become alive people. That’s evangelism, the Jesus way.

Oh, and it does work, as outrageous as it might seem. When a dead man rises to life, here’s what happens: Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen up among us”; and, “God has visited His people.” And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region. May the same report of your own resurrection travel from your lips throughout the whole region of Dyer and to the ends of the earth. God truly has visited and redeemed His people.

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

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

“The Birds and Lilies Don’t Worship Idols” – Matthew 6:24-34

16. September 2012
The Sunday of the Birds and the Lilies
Matthew 6:24-34

The source of every anxiety is idolatry. Your fear, panic, and every trembling comes from trusting something or someone other than your heavenly Father. As long as you are sinner, you cannot avoid anxieties nor the idols that drive them. So it was from the beginning with Adam, Eve, and you, their children.

To the woman [God] said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:16-19)

From the first act of idolatry, trusting our own word about a tree and its fruit over the Lord’s own Word, our lives are full of anxious labor. Children are come into the world with pain. Then we wait anxiously for the heartbreak they often inflict. Wives impatiently overrule their husbands, while husbands refuse to love their wives. Each sit on a pins and needles, anxious to avoid the next blow-up. Our toil does not always yield enough money to pay the rent, feed the flock, or keep the lights on. We struggle with what tomorrow may bring.

Is our anxiety manageable? Can we get a grip on the panic over what hardships the next presidency might bring, the changes at corporate, the ignorant choices of our children, the retirement benefits running out, the tanked portfolio, or the rising cost of fuel and corn? What about the fear that tomorrow may be our last day, through accident or tragedy or heart attack, we breathe our last breath? Idolatries. We have placed our hopes and confidence in our stuff—the mammon of this life. We’re okay if we’re safe, employed, loved by our obedient children, well fed, comfortable, and our future is certain. If the rug is pulled out from any one of these, what then?

Anxiety. The idol fails and we panic. Such it will always be in this body of flesh, just as it was for our cursed parents. Sorrow, pain, domineering, toil, and sweat mark everyone who trusts in their pantheon of idols. It’s not that we don’t love God. We certainly call on his name at least a couple times a month, maybe weekly, or even daily. It’s that we do not love and trust in Him above all things. We do not call upon Him in every trouble. We do not listen attentively to Him when He speaks. We have mammon that we trust. We call out to others for help. We listen to advice of world and demon.

We’ve created a soup of mixed loyalties. We turn to our heavenly Father only for churchy stuff and then infrequently. In the next breath, we turn to government for protection and economic welfare, friends for comfort, children for love, spouses for companionship, doctors for health, capitalism for employment, and the like. Once you taste this soup, all the bitter idols overwhelm the sweetness of the Father. Only when we’ve got a taste for God, then we fish Him out of the soup. The rest of the time we swallow Him without a thought of even needing His providence.

Thus we are utterly captive to our anxiety. God is not some extra aid, a tasty frosting for the cupcake of life. He’s not the spoonful of sugar that will help the bitter medicine go down. He isn’t the emergency service you call when life’s toilet won’t drain. When your doctors and specialist throw up their hands, is that when you start praying? Every anxiety of body and life is the ugly child of our trust in something other than our heavenly Father.

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. It’s all or nothing. If God is not our God alone, will be anxious about everything: money, conflicts with family and others, our work, and even the laundry. We go to bed worried about the morning and forget to even take the God-given rest the darkness grants us.

And so Jesus says emphatically: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Jesus is the stubborn pastor who allows no excuse for forgetting to pray, failing to teach the children the faith, using the Sabbath as a vacation day from God, or ignoring the church in her need. Jesus doesn’t care if your friend is leaving town, you’ve got work to do, plans to make, packing to do, or the like. His friend Martha was scolded for busing herself with the idol of chores when she should have let Jesus be her God. If God is to be our only God, then the old man that loves his idols must be put to death. Every idol trashed, burned, or eviscerated.

O you of little faith… do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Right now, Jesus is here, God in the flesh, to give you every good gift of His kingdom. Every idol is cast down from its throne. He suffers, dies, and rises on the third day so that you may never die, sins forgiven, and eternal life inherited.  Jesus sits enthroned between the cherubim. He sits upon His mercy seat. He speaks and forgives. He sheds His blood. He gives to you bread from heaven. He washes you of every spot and blemish. He claims you as His own. He is your refuge and strength. He is your hope in every struggle. He is the provider of every good thing for the life to come and even now.

We work because God gave us work. We carry each others burdens. We share with the one who teaches. We do not grow weary of doing good. Especially for those of the household of faith, we never grow weary. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. For he lives in us and we walk by Him. So also, the Spirit has crucified the flesh in us, along with its nagging restlessness and painful worry. Can we do our part? What will tomorrow bring? God only knows. Cast your burdens on the Lord and He will sustain you.

Your are children of the heavenly Father, safely in His bosom gathered. There within the arms of the Father, you rest as beloved children. His rod and His staff guide you. He knows your needs and well provides for them. Our hope is not founded on today or tomorrow. Our days are full of toil and trouble, sorrow and heartache. Our hope is grounded in the eternal future of heaven. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Your anxiety is cleared when your walk is heavenward all the way. There is no need to worry about today or tomorrow. In Jesus Christ you are forgiven. By His death and resurrection, death is destroyed and the gates of heaven are opened to all believers. Our eternal fate is assured in Christ’s righteousness, washed over us in our Baptism, declared over us in Holy Absolution, and given to us to eat and drink in the Holy Communion. We share together in this hope.

Not only that, look at the birds and the lilies! Look how your heavenly Father takes care of them and they work without anxiety, fear, or panic. They serve God and God clothes and feeds them. So our Lord thinks of us, we who are of more value than they. He knows our needs and well provides for them. No need to worry. No need to rely on idols like a crutch. He will provide in part now and completely in eternity. On that day, we will be clothed in His righteousness, feast in His heavenly mansion, and be restored to vitality forever.

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

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