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 Nativity of Our Lord 2011 – John 1:1-14

25. December 2011
The Nativity of Our Lord
John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word. Christmas is your opportunity to celebrate the eternal begotten-ness of the Son of God. All Christendom rejoices in the incarnation of Jesus in the womb of the virgin mary. The festival of light cuts through the darkness of the season, our lives, and our very soul.

How is it that our savior is begotten of the Father from eternity and is also born of the blessed Virgin Mary? How is it that the Word of God that made the heavens and earth is now made man? This is a great and wonderful mystery. It is real reason for the season. Christ, the eternal Word, is both God and man, begotten in eternity and born in time.

I was riding in the elevator to see our dear brother Henry Klopp who has been in ICU since Tuesday. Joining me was a staff person at the Franciscan-owned Hospital. Uncharacteristically, I was in the mood for chit-chat. I asked, “what are you doing for Christmas?” Thinking this was a Catholic hospital and all, I expected her to to say, “I’m going to mass to celebrate the birth of Christ.” The name for the holiday is fitting to its true purpose. But I digress. Instead she said, “I’m spending time with my family. And you?” I said, “Yeah, of course!” The elevator door promptly opened, to which she responded, “that’s what its all about.”

Huh? Is the celebration of our Lord’s nativity really all about family? I thought: no, its all about Jesus and His birth. Then again, she may be right. Christmas is about contemplating our brother Jesus who is born of Mary, His mother, begotten of God the Father, and conceived by the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from both the Son and the Father. Christmas is all about family, Christ’s family.

Jesus’ lineage makes the confused and riddled, mixed and blended families of our world look simple. His mother is about the only one who is normal and then again, she conceived a son while remaining a virgin mild. Perhaps then Joseph, who resolved to divorce her but changed his mind after receiving an angelic vision? That’s far from normal and most people these days ignore their dreams or interpret them ala Jung and Freud. Joseph suffers his betrothed and her seeming illegitimate son as Jesus’ earthly adoptive father.

St. Matthew links Jesus to Abraham and the beginning of the promise. St. Luke tells us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies of old and draws our eyes to Adam. He is the long-expected answer to Isaiah and Micah, to David and Samuel. Elizabeth and Zechariah have waited. Simeon has waited. The promise has come. Jesus’ lineage is not merely prophetic but it is in blood. He is of the house and lineage of David, all through not Mary but his adoptive father Joseph.

Adoption is weird but not too weird. Even if Jesus shared no DNA with Joseph, legally He is entitled to the birthright of the firstborn of Joseph, David, Abraham, and Adam. He is the inheritor of the great nation.

The mystery does not end there. Virgin conception is odd and utterly unrepeatable. No woman has conceived apart from man. While her cousin Elizabeth’s barrenness was healed by God, the conception was by their respective husband. Not so with Mary. She has had no relations with her husband. Her son was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The power of the Most High overshadowed her. Elizabeth is a sign that there is nothing God is not able to do. So, the Spirit conceived the Son of God in her womb, who is yet Mary’s son—True God and True Man.

If the one born of Mary is also conceived of God, then joined in Him are two impossible things. No one can be both God and be man. For man is finite, created, limited in power and knowledge, with beginning and with and end. God, on the other hand, is infinite, unlimited in power and knowledge, without beginning and without end. Two opposites cannot be joined, we think. Two utterly different things cannot be bound together. The mystery does not end.

In the midst of these things we cannot understand, the Angel speaks: For with God nothing will be impossible. The mystery is deep and wide in Matthew and Luke. St. John takes it to a higher level. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

With that opening foray, the great mystery of the incarnation is confessed. That simple but messed up family tree (virgin conception, adoptive father) became incomprehensible. Mystery is added upon mystery. Jesus, the Word, was in the beginning. He is with God and He is God. He is Son of the eternal Father from eternity. He and His Father are one God.

Not only that, Jesus, the Word, made all things, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. Jesus is the Word that spoke in the darkness and created the heavens and the earth. The Father spoke the Word and the Sun, moon, and stars were made. The Word separated the seas and dry ground. Jesus made the creatures of sea, of air, and of earth. The Father breathed Jesus by the Spirit and said: Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.

Only by Jesus is there life. Outside of Jesus, there is no knowledge of the Father nor of the Spirit. Without Jesus, the true nature of God is unknown. Yet, in the blessed incarnation we learn who God truly is. We learn that He is a loving and merciful Father who gives all good gifts to His children. We see the love of a Father in that child conceived in Mary’s womb, nursed at Mary’s breast, and carried in Mary’s arms.

Given to Mary is gift unlike any other. For no other child was given by the Holy Spirit, perfect and sinless. Even her sinful flesh has been redeemed by the child born of her. He is life and the light of men. This light shines in the midst of things we cannot understand and banishes all darkness.

Yet, who knew? All their neighbors saw was another illegitimate child. They saw another child born into darkness, ignored by most, and un-miraculous at best. Yet, the Evangelist John confesses that Jesus, true God and true Man, is the true light, which enlightens everyone… He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. Only a handful of shepherds and a few magi from the East thought anything of this child or His crazy, messed-up family.

The lady in the elevator is right. Christmas is all about family, Christ’s family. That includes God’s the Father, the Spirit of Father and Son, the blessed Virgin Mary, the noble adoptive father Joseph. But the mystery does not end there. This family includes you. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

You are members of this royal family. This family may be strange. It may even be a bit odd. No wonder His own did not receive Him. Yet, in Jesus, we see and become who we truly are. Children of God. Made in His image and likeness. Adopted coheirs of the heavenly kingdom. Conceived of the Spirit. Delivered miraculously through the church’s womb. Nurtured with pure Spiritual milk. Born of God and born of man.

God has begotten His Son, forever joining the Godhead to humanity. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. This is a great and wonderful mystery. It is real reason for the season. Christ, the eternal Word, is both God and man, begotten in eternity and born in time. And you too—born in time and now reborn into eternity.

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

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

Christmas Vigil 2011 – Luke 2:1-14

24. December 2011
Eve of the Nativity of Our Lord
Luke 2:1-14

We have arrived. The festival of our Lord’s nativity is here. For weeks the church has anxiously awaited this most joyous occasion. We have restrained ourselves from sumptuous meals. We have held back from singing the Gloria with the angels. We have contemplated the Lord as judge and king. We have heard his forerunner John the Baptist call us to repent for the kingdom of heaven is now at hand. Our eyes followed his scrawny finger towards the manger as he pointed and declared “He is the Christ!”

This brings us again to end of a long and exhausting journey. We have been traveling this road since that fateful day, when our mother and father ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree, we have longed for salvation. We have hoped for redemption. We have waited for the desire of nations. The serpent deceived us and we ate. The doors were barred to paradise. Yet, our merciful God promised a brother who would crush that miserable enemy’s head. He would open that door and enter. His train of witnesses will follow Him.

We knew what was needed. The Lord will provide for himself the lamb for the offering, my son. The only-begotten son of Abraham is spared. The only-begotten of God is given. The Lord will provide. He will sacrifice and be the sacrifice. The light of this burnt offering will pierce even the darkest recesses of the heart. The hike up that mountain was shrouded in darkness. The wandering the wilderness had only the twinkling stars and dim moon to guide. Even the so-called Promised Land shone only for a moment and then was eclipsed by our great wickedness. Yet, this was not forever. We have seen a great light. The darkness is overcome.

This great light has caused the nation of God to multiply. It is a kingdom of rejoicing and harvest. The bonds that once held us fast are broken. The yoke and staff destroyed. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. He is our king. This altar is his throne. He established his reign and upholds it with his righteousness. It is finished, from this time and forevermore.

He is the shoot that sprouted from this rocky soil. He is the tree and He is the fruit. Under the shelter of his boughs children play. Animals graze. Snakes and adders neither hurt nor destroy. All are fed with wisdom and understanding. Counsel and might. Knowledge and fear. Righteousness and faithfulness are the sap that nourishes His branches. His branches bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

This tree is ever glorious. Its shines like the sun, rising upon the hill. All nations have come to this light. Kings and princes have watched and followed its rising. Its radiant beams shine upon our faces, warm our dreary souls, and cause our heart to thrill and exult. Lift up your eyes and see, all around. Your Lord is the everlasting glory. Even the heavens are rent open. Angels and light stream forth. The way is clear. The light has come.

Those Angel hosts announce the birth. His name is Emmanuel. He is God with us. He is Jesus for He saves us from our sins. Born of Mary to redeem Mary. Adopted by Joseph to redeem to Joseph. Conceived of the Holy Spirit, just as all fellow brothers and sisters are born through Word, womb, water, and Spirit. He is born to redeem. We are born again with him, redeemed.

How can we know unless we hear? How can this good news be heard unless a messenger is sent? As we huddle outside, wondering, wandering, and waiting, we need to hear. We need to know. And the herald angel of the Lord calls out: Fear not! Why? I have for you good news, of great joy, for you and all people. For unto you is born a savior. It happened. We have arrived in the city of David. We have heard and we know where to find Him.

He is wrapped here in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. He is covered with linen and pall and lying on a wooden altar. This is a sign for you. God the Father has provided the lamb. God the Father has given you His only-begotten son. The name of this place is “the Lord will provide.”

Humble? Yes. Meek? Absolutely. Lowly? No question. Here are our Savior sits, enthroned on his manger, his mercy seat. Here angels break forth in song. Here the heavens are opened and light and glory of the only Lord shines around you. Our voices ring out “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among among those with whom he is pleased.”

Let us come, shepherds, angels, magi, and all to the stable and find salvation lying upon this manger. We come and worship Him, Christ the newborn king. We offer Him gifts rare, treasures of voice, of song, and lives. We have heard his voice, called by the shepherd, called to be His people Israel. His wayward sheep are gathered. His lost coin is found. His prodigal has returned. The feast is prepared. Let us eat and be satisfied.

Let us once again go to Bethlehem, the house of bread. Let us eat and be satisfied. This is love, sending His only Son into the world, so that we would live in Him and He in us. Love is not from us but from God. First God offered His son for you, to atone for you, to feed you with righteousness. First, the unblemished lamb is sacrificed and then we are redeemed.

We have seen Him face to face. We have received Him in the chalice upon our lips or the wafer upon our tongue. God abides in us and we in God. So, we have come to know and believe the love God has for us. We have arrived. The festival of our Lord’s nativity is here. Christ your redeemer is born. The feast has begun.

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

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

Advent IV 2011 – John 1:19-28

18. December 2011
Advent IV
John 1:19-28

Who is this John the Baptist? What is his testimony? Why should we listen to him? For the doubting world, John has an identity crisis. People just can’t figure him out. They know he is a Levite. They know his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth. But why is he “the Baptist?” Where does this message of repentance come from? By what authority does he institute this washing in the Jordan?

These are good questions. These are questions we should ask of every messenger. Who are you? Why have you come? Why should I listen to you? And so, the Jews sent priest and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” When it comes to religion, there can be nothing new under the sun. Either John is someone old or John is doing something new, and therefore, wrong.

And this is the testimony of John, when [they asked him] … “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” Testimony. Witness. Martyria. They want to know about John’s office. Is he in the office of Messiah, Christ? If so, then he has authority to preach new doctrine and to institute new holy things. No, John, confessed emphatically, “I am not the Christ.” I do not do a new thing but I am bringing an end to the old. I am pointing my finger at the Messiah was has come. I bear witness of him.

Undeterred, those delegates asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” They fully expected their Elijah to come again, in the flesh, just as Malachi prophesied: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse (Malachi 4:5).

And [John] said, “I am not.” Uh, really, John? You have turned the hearts of children back to the doctrine of their fathers. You have called them to repentance. He speaks as Elijah. Turn away from your idolatry. Return to faithfulness.

Jesus even calls him Elijah in Matthew’s Gospel: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. 

John is the Elijah who has come. John directs the way to Jesus. The angel confessed to Zechariah before the altar of incense: “… And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 

John is the Elijah to come but not the Elijah they expected. They expected the same Elijah that ascended to heaven in fiery horse and chariot to return again before the Messiah. Yet, here, as before, John’s identity is mistaken. Elijah’s identity is mistaken. Both are mere humble instruments of God. They have no power or authority of themselves but only in what they say and who they confess. They speak with power and authority because they speak the Word of God and in the Spirit of God.

Yet, there is the cult of personality. If not Elijah, then why should we listen to you? If not the Prophet, then why should we pay any attention? Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? This is an identity crisis. Not for John personally but for the whole doubting world. Why should we listen to you? Why do you do the things you do? Why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

All good questions. These are questions you ought to ask, too. For I stand in this pulpit tonight and declare to you: Repent—the kingdom of heaven is at hand. By what authority? How can I say such a thing? Why should you listen?

Its all about the office and about the calling. John is called by the Lord into the office of prophet. He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’…” I am sent, I am called, I stand in the office of prophet. But he is no ordinary prophet but THE Prophet, the last prophet, the one who points to Christ. Zechariah sang: And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins… (Luke 1:76-77).

His office is one of a voice. He speaks and points and then gets out of the way. There is no cult of personality around St. John. He speaks and we hear Jesus. He points and we see Jesus. He baptizes for repentance and we need Jesus.

John said: A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:29-30).

St. John is sent for the sole purpose of preparing the way for Christ. He is the herald trumpet to prepare for the King as He enters in. He is voice of the angel who points to Jesus in the voice of the prophet. His voice, with all the prophets, preaches repentance. Repentance, that is, turning away from your sins, is preparation for Jesus.

But St. John doesn’t want the credit. He is not the Messiah. He is not the Prophet. He is not Elijah. All the glory belongs to Christ. Christ is our one mediator. He is the Savior. He is the redeemer. No one comes to the Father except by Him. We have one Master to whose Word alone we are bound. We do not listen to voice of men, of saints, of angels, of prophets, or of kings. We only listen to the voice of Jesus, calling sinners to repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Maybe we’re a bit like those delegates from the Pharisees and Levites? Maybe we don’t know who to listen to or why to listen to them? Maybe we question their authority or their right to speak?

We run the same danger of putting our hope in that which is most brilliant in the eyes of the world. Maybe we’ll only listen if they claim to be Elijah or the Prophet, that is, with some special calling of the Spirit? Maybe we will only listen if it comes in bite sized nuggets of clever anecdotes? Maybe we’ll only listen if the messenger is old and wise or young and energetic?  Maybe we’ll only listen if they fit within our expectations?

Repent. … Among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of who sandal I am not worthy to untie. Repent. Hear the voice of the one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’… 

Christ has sent one to prepare the way for Him. He has placed one in His stead and given him His authority. Listen to Him. Confess your sins, make ready your heart, lift up your gates, that the king of glory may come in. He is not the Christ. He is not Elijah. He is not the Prophet. He is must decrease and Christ must increase.

John is the voice of a preacher and baptizes with water in the office and by the calling of God. So also, God the Lord has made available to you a preacher, whose voice and hands declares the Word of the Lord and administers the holy Sacraments.  It is God the Lord, however who is speaking through me, admonishing and administering. St. Paul says of the pastors of the church: We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 

But do not look to the person of the preacher. Do not look to person of John. He speaks only by calling and by another’s authority. The Holy Spirit calls faithful men to be stewards of the mysteries. He calls them to proclaim and prepare the way for Christ. Actually, the Spirit Himself proclaims and prepares, enlightening your hearts through the apostles’ doctrine and faithful preachers. Do not look to the preacher. Do not look to John. Look to God’s working and power.

This is a struggle for our flesh. We do not like to listen to men. We don’t want to see past their sinfulness and hear the voice of Christ. So was the same for the Apostles. St. Paul wrote to Corinth: Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase (1 Cor 3:6-7).

I must diminish but He must increase. I baptize with water, but the One stands among you whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. Know Him. Listen to Him. Be baptized by Him. Receive His flesh and blood. Rejoice in His voice that forgives. Be prepared by Christ for Christ as He comes.

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

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