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 256 posts filed in Sermons (this is page 27 of 86).

The Sunday of Brotherly Love ’12 – Matthew 5:20-26

15. July 2012
The Sunday of Brotherly Love
Exodus 20:1-17; Romans 6:3-11; Matthew 5:20-26

You are tempted to believe that your many violations of God’s holy law are excusable because they were mostly harmless. Sin is not just between you and God. Sin affects your neighbor. There are those that sin and those that are sinned against. There is no excuse to sin, not in mind, by the tongue, or in deed. Sin corrupts you and corrupts your neighbor.

The Fifth Commandment is no exception. No one here is a murderer in deed, at least that I know of. Yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone of us holds some deep-seated anger, resentment, or hatred. Jesus says: I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, “You fool!” will be liable to the hell of fire. From Jesus’ perspective, we’re all murderers.

That doesn’t stop us from trying to get off the hook. We’re pretty good at excusing ourselves with every kind of rationalization. We’ve convinced ourselves that we can hold a grudge without sin. We think that secret hatred won’t affect anyone else. We tell ourselves that we were right and thus there’s no cause for repentance.

Perhaps you only were angry in your mind and thus think it affected no one. Perhaps this anger resulted in only a flippant word, a casual dig against the neighbor, or a bit of unpleasantness that could be glossed over later, smoothed out, or paid off. Surely, you never took the sword and sought to slay your neighbor, to murder him, right?

No, all have sinned, all have murdered. You sin because your flesh is sinner, just as natural in this fallen world as the eating and excreting. It is what your corrupted and wicked flesh does and has no choice but to do. You are captive to this flesh, utterly unable to overcome its every evil desire, intent, and action.

Holy Scripture refers to the life of the sinner as  self-made slavery. Life in this Egypt of our making ain’t bad? Bondage to Pharaoh has its perks. At least we sit by our fleshpots, engorging ourselves on the meat of idolatry, adultery, and greed; at least we are comfortable and secure in ourselves, right?

God’s Holy Word tells another story. He tells us how this life of the flesh, bound to sin and Satan, hurtling towards death, is not good. He tells how our flesh is truly captive to sin, to death, and to the evil one. Slaves do as slaves are told. There is no overcoming this bondage. The chains are too heavy, the shackles too tight. The evil taskmaster is to strong.

Not only that, our perverse flesh enjoys bondage. We actually like living in sin. We’re so twisted that we like hating, degrading, and enraging our neighbor. We like how it makes us feel. We like murdering their flesh by ignoring their physical need. We like how it makes us feel and in a warped way, how it ruins our neighbor.

Some part of us still knows such sin is wrong. Yet, our flesh is especially good at dealing with this problem. We’re all Pharisees at heart. We say to Jesus, “All these commands I have kept from my youth.” I have not murdered. I’ve never taken the sword. I’ve never killed unjustly. So, your internal scribe and Pharisee says to Jesus. Nothing to confess here, move along. Off the hook, no problems. Fifth Commandment, check!

Jesus says: Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribe and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. The scribes and Pharisees are legalists. They have understood God’s holy Law in such a way that they think they have kept it. Their strict legal code is perfectly attainable, even by sinners. In other words, they understand the Law so that they keep it.

Pharisees and scribes like Egypt. They like bondage in sin. They delight in their wickedness. But as it is said: “Scratch a legalist and underneath you’ll find an antinomian.” Scratch the lover of the Law and underneath you’ll find they really hate it. It is true: Pharisees and scribes hate the Law while putting on pretense of keeping it. They can’t stand the truth and so have relaxed the Law so as to keep up appearances. In reality, they love themselves more than God. Their standard is better than God’s standard. They love the life of sin and will not allow the Law to ruin their unholy and profane party.

How is your keeping of the Law of God going? Have you kept it perfectly or relaxed it to think you have?Let’s examine ourselves according to the Fifth Commandment, LSB p. 321.

The Fifth Commandment. You shall not murder. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.

So, how have you done? Surely, you have not murdered. Have you hurt or harmed your neighbor? The Pharisee (legalist) in you is probably saying “no.” Have you helped and supported your neighbor? Have you provided for the sick, the needy, the homeless in our community and world?

“Scratch the legalist and underneath you’ll find an antinomian.” You love the Law only until it convicts you of hating your neighbor. Make no mistake, you have not loved your neighbor as you ought. You love your own flesh and hate him. Worst yet, you are hopeless to overcome this hatred. No amount of me exhorting your flesh to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison, or shelter the homeless is going to do a lick of good.

Your flesh will either relax the Law to keep it or hate the Law and ignore it. The truth is we’re all murderers. It begins with anger in the heart, that secret place where we let our hatred stew. Eventually it always comes to a boil and our anger spews forth its sickening signs. We’re skilled to do so while keeping up appearances, with smiling facade, all the while with knife prepped to stab the neighbor in the back. Our tongues lash out and we insult each other. While we may never take up the sword, it is true that such deep-seating anger and hatred, when allowed to fester, grows and can bring about ruin of life even amongst Christians.

There’s no hope for you within you. You need is a Divine smack-down. That’s what the holy Law does to the sinner, when it is preached and taught. It doesn’t just level the playing field, it obliterates it. There’s no playing the Law gamble. The odds are never in your favor. Pharisees and scribes alike will fail at the righteousness game. All are equally bound to trespasses and doomed to failure. All are in Egypt with no hope and no future apart from corruption, the grave, and eternal fires.

Horrible news, to be true, if that was the final word. Why does God destroy your false righteousness, your legalism, your hated of the Law, your hypocrisy? Why does He put the sinner to death? The Law is given to show you your sin and curb you from doing it. If you want it to be a list of moral precepts for the flesh to keep, you’re no better than the Pharisee or Scribe. The Law is the bright mirror that brings the inbred sin to light. By its threats, we fear judgment. This is good and God’s Holy Will. Why? Because it prepares us for the Gospel.

Knowing that we are murderers to the core is good and even loving. This knowledge is rightly given to us by our God to rebuke us and discipline us. This knowledge condemns the sinner to judgment, council, and the hell of fire. In other words, because we’re all murderers, we’re all dead according to the flesh. We’re dead in our trespasses. Dead people don’t keep the Law, not one jot or tittle.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? … We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For the one who has died has been set free from sin. (Romans 6:3ff)

Baptism is the daily drowning of the sinner in waters made holy by the Word. Baptism is the death of the sinner and the new life of the Christian. While the Holy Law crucifies the sinner, placing its just penalty for sin upon Jesus Christ. Our sin was granted to our Savior when we were baptized into Him. So also, our dead body, enslaved to sin and devil, was buried with Christ. Why? In order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life. 

The slavery is over. The self-justification is brought to end. All hatred, anger, and murder is crucified, died, and buried with Christ by your baptism. Baptism lifts the condemnation for our Fifth Commandment breaking and places it upon the perfect one, from whom no murderous thought, word, or deed was ever conceived. For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Through daily contrition and repentance, the baptized saint of God has all anger, malice, and murder drowned to death. By the forgiveness of sins that is in Christ Jesus, baptized believers rise to new life again, a life dead to sin and alive to God. This is not your own doing. It is a gift of God, received in faith, and lived out in the life of the church.

This is why you ought to examine yourselves according to the Ten Commandments before the Divine Service. You will come to know by the Law schoolmaster the bondage of your flesh and your need for forgiveness. Then, as we prepare for worship through Confession and Absolution, the old flesh is crucified and by the Holy Absolution in the stead and by the command of Christ, the new man rises forth with love of God and love for neighbor.

If you there remember that your brother has something against you, that is, you have sinned against them, first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift, that is, offer your sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving in the liturgy of the Word and Holy Sacrament. So also, if you have been sinned against, forgive the fellow brother in Christ, both in your heart and also with your tongue and in deed. Even if he will not hear or admit his fault, your forgiveness will be like burning coals upon his head.

We don’t need to relax the Commandments to think we have kept them. Nor should the new man in the Christian hate the Law of God because it is so severe. We now love the Law because it crucifies in us all evil passions and prepares us to receive the blessed Gospel of the forgiveness of sins. This is the love of God, to discipline and heal.

Love includes correction, sometimes in righteous anger such as with parents or government, and always with forgiveness. We forgive because He first forgave us at the cross, crucifying our flesh’s desires, and granted new life in Him. We love because Christ first loved us and gave His life as a ransom for many. We live because He lives. Create in us clean hearts, O God, hearts that forgive as we have been forgiven.

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

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

The Sunday of the Miraculous Catch of Fish ’12 – Luke 5:1-11

07. July 2012
The Sunday of the Miraculous Catch of Fish
Luke 5:1-11

Sometimes Christians fall into error and think of their body and soul as independent, one lesser or greater than the other. Yet, no one is given a body who is not also given a soul. And all the dead and departed will have flesh restored at the resurrection of the dead. It is good to be created with a body. The body is good and given inseparably with the soul. What God has joined together, let man not separate.

Why do we distinguish between body and soul (or sometimes body and mind)? Not because they are separable but because they are distinct. God the Father addresses, provides, sustains, strengthens, and preserves body and soul together and sometimes distinctly for our benefit. He cares for both not because one is better than the other but because both are his making and together you are his loved creature.

Consider today’s Gospel where Jesus shows this sort of care for both body and soul. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on Him to hear the word of God. St. Luke doesn’t record what word Jesus spoke, only that He spoke and the people listened. What comes next is more curious. He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret (also known as Galilee and Tiberius), and He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, He asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people from the boat.

Jesus isn’t just interested in the people who are pressing in on Him. His call is bigger than the curious multitudes. He’s also distinctly interested in those who let work keep them from listening. He wants them to stop cleaning their nets, stop mending their masts, to stop the days busy work, and to listen to Him. He wants them to take  Sabbath rest, and hold His Word sacred, gladly hearing and learning it.

What is going through those fishermen’s minds? “Yeah, my soul is important, but right now, I need to work to provide for my body.” Or perhaps “God will take care of my soul by some other means than His Word. Right now I have to work if there is hope for food and the needs of the body.” Sometimes we are tempted to think in a similar way about our work. Yet, from the example of today’s Gospel, Jesus is teaching us about godly priorities.

Is not God your maker and preserver? Does He not cause the rain to fall and the sun to shine, the seed to sprout and the fruit to ripen? Does He not give you clothing, shoes, house and family, and still take care of them? Do not be anxious about your body. God will grant you every bodily need and well provide them.

Notice how these fishermen are men of faith. When the call rings out, Simon follows the Word of Jesus. He dropped everything for the sake of gladly hearing and learning the Word. Simon acknowledged the need for the Sabbath and kept the Third Commandment by sitting down and listening when Jesus spoke. He did not let His bodily need get in the way of the Word that nourishes the soul.

I hope it is the same for you. While our body tells us to work, our faith compels us to pause, rest, and listen to Jesus. Our faith compels us to lay anxiety aside and keep God’s Word filling our ears, close to our heart, and always upon our lips in praise, thanks, and prayer. We keep the Sabbath not just by obligatory trips to church once a week or twice a year. We keep the Sabbath giving this Word priority day in and day out.

So it was for St. Peter. And when [Jesus] had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” Even Simon Peter, despite having interrupted a busy day of work to Sabbath with Jesus, now wonders if Jesus will truly provide. Jesus is asking him to fish in the worst waters and at the worst time of the day. Deep waters will not bear fish nor will the heat of the day.

There is another commandment at work here. In the Seventh Commandment, God tells us not to steal; that is, we are to be content with what we have and work for what we need. Yet, doesn’t this command mitigate against the Third? Which is it? Go to church or work? Pray or busy yourself with the nets? No, they are both God-given and obedience to one is bound to the other.

God does not give you your faith at the expense of providing for you body. He cares for both and nourishes your whole being. He cannot give you work, family, or play that would hinder fear of him and godly piety. While He interrupted Simon’s work for a time, in the next, He called Simon to return to His work. And here’s the brilliant thing: Jesus confirmed His Word with providing for Simon, and his partners James and John. Even in the midst of work, Jesus confirms His Word. Simon answered… “But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink.”

Keeping the Sabbath and providing for your needs are bound together. We serve God in the midst of our vocations with faith, reverence, and love. We love God by showing love to our neighbor. It is true, we interrupt our work at special times of Sabbath to hear His Word and receive His Supper. But that is not the only way we are to serve Him. Even in the midst of our work we can live a life of Sabbath, holy rest in the Word. As we go about working, we should lift our hearts in thanks, sings hymn of praise, and begin and end each day in prayer. By the Word of God and prayer all our deeds are sanctified (1 Timothy 4:5).

There is the temptation to keep the needs of the body and soul separate when they are, in fact, inseparable. The work of our hands for the body is blessed by the Word of God that nourishes our soul. St. Peter first loaned his boat to hear the Word and then was blessed with a great catch of fish, even when before he had caught none. Both kinds of food are necessary but there is a priority.

We ought to be like St. Peter. First, care for the soul, hearing Christ from the boat, where He teaches and works in you faith and love, and then, second, your work will be blessed. The Third Commandment comes first, and then the Seventh follows. If we keep the Third Commandment, then we will be able to keep the Seventh. Contentment and satisfying labor is a result of the Word of God.

Think of it this way: why do we pray for daily bread if we can achieve it? Jesus says: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33) Our first priority is the righteousness of God, received by the Word of God unto faith. The righteous man is content with what He has. The unrighteous man will not hear the Word of God, gladly, and thus will never be content even if he has much. To be rich in God is to received the Word. Without this Word, everything is soured by the constant, nagging conscience of sin.

It is the custom of our churches to dismiss the congregation from the Lord’s Supper with this Word: “The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen and preserve you in body and soul to life everlasting. Depart + in peace. Amen.” This is a Word of promise, utterly independent of what your own body and soul may be telling you at that moment. It is a Word of nourishment and sustenance for your entire being.

Jesus will strengthen and preserve you by the gracious gift of His body and blood. He is ever working by this most precious food to sustain you until He comes again. He will not see you fall into the pit of despair or Sheol but is constantly working to lift you up and bring you home to life everlasting. Knowing that Christ Jesus is working to strengthen and preserve you to life everlasting is a great word of comfort. It is a word that brings peace. In the Lord’s Supper, peace with God once more is made as He mercifully gives you to eat of His flesh and drink of His blood.

Yet, as we hear each week, the heavenly gift of Jesus Christ’s own body and blood preserves and strengthens body and soul to life everlasting. Generations of Lutherans have seen fit to acknowledge that the Lord’s Supper addresses both body and soul uniquely. How does the Sacrament strengthen and preserve our bodies? It is only a trifle of stale bread and only a sip of portly wine. This food is no sufficient as a meal replacement. How does the Sacrament  strengthen and preserve our souls? This food pales in comparison to our Christmas and Easter feasts. Its nothing like a one-star three course meal and certainly doesn’t life the spirit like a seven-course feast complete with three courses of wine. It seems like a silly thing to say, really, not really helping body or lifting the soul.

The answer lies in the Word of God. How does the Sacrament strengthen and preserve both our bodies and souls? First, by forgiving our sins, clearing our conscience, and granting us Christ’s righteousness. That is, first, by receiving the Word of the Sabbath strengthens and preserves the soul. And then, second, we are granted a right understanding of work, vocation, and temporal goods, content and satisfied with everything from the Father’s hand. That is, second, the Word received is also the Word that sustains and preserves the body.

It is not the bodily eating and drinking that does such great things but the Word written: Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Like Simon Peter, upon seeing the great things Jesus had done, so also, we fall down our knees before the throne of grace and confess, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken. We are rightly astonished with how richly God has and continues to provide for our every need of body and soul. We approach God’s altar to be fed in humility and the poverty of sin. And He feeds us richly with the Bread of Heaven. So also, He feeds us with bread from the earth. First, we are fed with the feast of the Sabbath and then, with a feast for the body and every need well provided.

For all this, it is our duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him. Let us hear and learn, receive and pray, with thankful hearts and a willing spirit. Let us receive and be fed both in body and soul to life everlasting. Do not be afraid. Keep the Sabbath and you will be content. Depart in peace. Amen.

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