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 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

Fathers’ Faith Visited to the Children

A 1994 statistical report from Switzerland (“The demographic characteristics of the linguistic and religious groups in Switzerland” by Werner Haug and Phillipe Warner) shows the crucial impact of church attendance by fathers.

* If both father and mother attended church regularly then 33 per cent of their children became regular churchgoers, a further 41 per cent irregular attenders and about a quarter not practicing at all.

* If the mother was a regular church attender but the father irregular then only 3 per cent of their children became regular church attenders, 59 per cent irregular attenders and 38 per cent non-attenders.

* If the father was non-practicing and the mother regular only 2 per cent of children were regular and 37 per cent irregular church attenders. 61 per cent did not attend church at all.

* Surprisingly, if the father is a regular church attender the children’s religious practice varied in an inverse relationship to their mothers’ practice. If the mother was regular 33 per cent of children were regular. If she was an irregular attender then 38 per cent of children were regular. If the mother was non-practicing then 44 per cent of children became regular attenders.

* Even when the father is an irregular attender and the mother non- practicing 25 per cent of the children were regular attenders and 23 per cent irregular attenders.

In summary, if a father does not go to church, no matter how regular the mother is in her religious practice, only one child in 50 becomes a regular church attender. But if a father attends regularly then regardless of the practice of the mother at least one child in three will become a regular church attender.

It may seem strange that it appears better to have a father who is a regular church goer but a mother who is not. I attribute this to the fact that within the group of both parents being regular church goers, there are some where the mother is the spiritual head and the father is simply tagging along. When the father is the only church going parent he is more likely the spiritual head of the family as well. What matters most is fathers fulfilling their God-given role of being the spiritual head of the family and raising their children in the faith. That shouldn’t seem strange, given Ephesians 6:4.


The Sunday of Fatherly Mercy ’12 – Luke 6:36-42

01. July 2012
The Sunday of Fatherly Mercy (Trinity 4)
Romans 8:18-23; Luke 6:36-42

Our prayer this day is that God would order the world by His governance according to His peace. This is asking for a lot and a lot more than we could ever manage. Our world is a chaotic and messy place. Order is the last word we’d use to describe politics. Backbiting, slander, and deceit are the marks of the government.

The reason for the chaos is simply this: this is a world of corrupt sinners, utterly unable to serve their neighbor with his best interests in mind. Even when we try to aid those without health insurance through a health care law, we can’t do it without trampling on individual rights of the free exercise of religion and unjust taxation.

This does not mean that government is evil. Far from it. There is good government and bad government. And as long as we live in this flesh, in this unjust country, on this corrupt planet, we will always see both the good and the bad. Nothing we do can be done without sin. Everything, even the most good natured attempt to care for the sick among us, will be done in sin.

Yet, you prayed that in the midst of this corrupt and fallen world, governed by unjust and wicked men (yourselves included), that God would bring peace and order. Every week you pray for our government, especially that they would rule justly and according to God’s peace.

The hope for peace on earth is not a bad thing. The desire for good government is something we ask for each day when ask for daily bread (in the Lord’s Prayer) and confess God as creator of the heavens and the earth (in the Apostles’ Creed). Yet, this is a hope that we know will always be more or less and never perfect the last day when the Prince of Peace rules in His kingdom that never ends.

It is the height of man’s hubris to think we can bring perfect peace though rule of law or anarchic lawlessness. Some advocate socialistic legislation with more and more laws to bring about peace. John Lennon’s solution of “giving peace a chance” doesn’t work either. “All we need is love” by his definition is freedom to do whatever one wants as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody. Unfortunately, liberty without law results in anarchy.

In the end, you can’t make perfect peace here. Creation groans in pain, all subjected to futility. You can try to make peace but it will always be corrupt, imperfect, and unjust. Everything is in bondage to decay. Don’t believe me? I’m not surprised. Most people don’t think of themselves as sinners to the core. It is your fallen nature to think of yourselves higher than you ought.

For example, you are apt to complain to the me about how I always talk about sin, death, and hell. Why? Because you don’t actually believe it. Well, you believe these things exist but that either they are not that important to consider or they don’t apply to you. Sin? That’s talking about the next guy. Death? Nah, that’s a long way down the line. Hell? It might not even exist.

It’s true. Most people, and probably you included, act as if this world and your lives are how they should be. You act as if you are immortal. You naively hope that God will not punish the evildoers like yourself as He promised. You live as if there is a tomorrow. You live like there’s nothing gone horribly wrong with the world and you. You think there’s no need for God to regularly give you His Word and the blessed Sacrament.

Ah, but pastor, you’re judging us. Didn’t Jesus say, “Judge not, and you will not be judged. Condemn not, and you will not be condemned?” Doesn’t that mean you’re supposed to just tell us how good God is, how high and mighty He is, how we have such an awesome God, and leave all that talk of sin, and death, and especially hell at the door?

This would be true if Jesus were speaking to the preaching office. But not so. Preachers speak God’s Word faithfully, completely, and rightly distinguishing the Word for the hearer. Preachers are commanded to speak the Word that always judges, condemns, and even kills. But they also must and even more so speak a Word of forgiveness, mercy, and new life. Preachers speak in the stead and by the command of Christ, declaring God’s own judgment and condemnations but all the more proclaiming His forgiveness, His grace, and His mercy for the sake of the blood of Christ crucified.

Today, Jesus is speaking directly to you, His church, in this Holy Gospel. He is telling you how to joyfully serve Him in godly quietness. You serve God by serving your neighbor. Today’s Gospel tells you precisely how you are to relate to your neighbor, whether spouse, child, and fellow pew-sitter. Do not judge him for his faults. Do not condemn him for his errors. Forgive him even his worst and most terrible sins against you. Give to him even when you seem to have nothing. In a word, love him to a fault. That’s the Christian life.

Who has joyfully held back a word of judgment? Who has served their neighbor by loving them even when they are in error? Who has forgiven the one who has grievously harmed you? Who has shown mercy when utterly undeserved? Be honest. Not one of you. Not me.

There is yet a problem. The thing we ought to do, we don’t. The things we shouldn’t, we do. The Christian life is more than not judging, not condemning, forgiving, and giving. The Christian life is more than simply being merciful. The answer is that the Christian life begins outside of us. It begins in the freedom of the glory given to the children of God. It begins with God the Father. It begins, continues, and ends by receiving the Father’s mercy.

Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Understand Jesus. Your Father is merciful to you first. Your Father is merciful. Your life is a testament to His mercy. You do not love God completely and He has still spared you the death you deserve. You fail to pray in time of joy and in time of need and he mercifully has not forgotten you. You are unwilling to hear His Word preached and taught and to receive His body and blood often, and yet he still mercifully speaks and gives when you finally show up.

God the Father is merciful for He has not punished you as you as you deserve. He has spared you from judgment, condemnation, and sin. He has given to you Jesus. Not a little Jesus. Not just enough Jesus. More Jesus than you could possibly imagine. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.

In the trial of Jesus Christ under Pontius Pilate, your judgment is declared upon another. In Christ crucified, dead, and buried, your condemnation is suffered by another. In the shed blood of the Lamb of God, atonement is made for you and your sins are forgiven. For the sake of His Son Jesus, God the Father mercifully gives you to great spiritual and earthly blessings.

This mercy in Jesus is the source of every good and gracious gift of God. Every blessing of body and soul is given to you by your gracious Father. His chief gift is Jesus and everything else is given to support you in the faith until He comes again. You are fed and clothed to wait eagerly for the adoption of sons. You have house and family to order your days in His peace though preaching and study of the Word of God. You are given society and government so that you may serve your neighbor in godly quietness and thus testify to the mercy of the Father.

The world is a chaotic and messy place. Government is full of lies and deceit. Our families and our own lives are as corrupt and tainted as the world and the our government. But for the sake of Jesus Christ crucified, the Father is merciful. He does not judge us according to our sin, condemn us according to the just verdict, but instead forgives and gives every good blessing.

Not just a little Jesus. Not even just “enough” Jesus. Jesus in good measure. Jesus proclaiming. Jesus teaching. Jesus baptizing. Jesus hearing confession and absolving. Jesus giving us his own body and blood for our forgiveness. Jesus in good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, and put in your lap.

He is given abundantly not just for you but for your neighbor. Be merciful because you have received mercy in Jesus. Judge not for you have been freed from judgment in Christ. Condemn not for you are not condemned to death but will receive eternal life. Forgive as you are forgiven. Give because you have received.

This is not like anything in this world. This is the sort of ordering for church, family, and community you will never see apart from the Father’s mercy. This is a life received and given. We pray that the course of the world be ordered according to his governance and that we, His church, would receive mercy and show mercy in all godly quietness. May God grant it. Amen.

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

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