Jesus

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St. Michael and All Angels 2012 – Matthew 18:1-11

30. September 2012
St. Michael and All Angels
Matthew 18:1-11

God has constituted His creation in a wonderful order for two reasons. One, that we would love our neighbor as much as ourselves and two, that we would love God with our entire being. This is why asking “who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” is a totally bone-headed question from the disciples. This is why asking “who is the greatest in the family?” is also stupid. This is why asking “who is the greatest at Grace Lutheran Church?” is the wrong question. All these questions seek to elevate yourself as greater than other.

God does not care for greater or lesser. He loves all equally, whether old or young, influential or peon, wealthy or poor, Indiana or Illinois native. The only-begotten Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, since all are sinners and all are in need of forgiveness, life, and salvation.

This does not mean that there is no distinctions in this world nor that our world is ordered by God. Not all are given to be civil leaders, politicians, or business owners. Some are called to be citizens and workers. This is God-ordained and this is for our good. It is also the same for the home. Being the head and father is not a matter of power but a matter of God-given authority for service. It does not mean that dad is more important or more saved by God. It simply means God has given to dad special duties and responsibilities for the blessing of the family.

But we sinners are always concerned about our identity. We jockey for the best position at work. We do what we can to outpace the Joneses. We always thank God we’re not like the other guy. We distinguish ourselves by age, economic status, race, and other worldly standards. We care what others think of us, especially if it makes us look better.

This is why gossip is on our tongues. We see to destroy our neighbor’s reputation not because we care about them. No, not at all. We ruin them so we look better in contrast. This is why we desire our neighbor’s stuff, his wife, or even his life. We desire what is theirs not to help them support and keep it but that we might have what they do not. And so it goes. We do not love our neighbor as much as we love how God has made us and supported us.

All your sins against your neighbor—whether greed, gossip, hatred, theft, civil disobedience, and adultery— are fundamentally sins against God. God gave you authorities including your parents not to belittle you but to protect you and care for you. God gives life as a blessing to care for family, church, and world. God institutes marriage as the locale for life-giving, for the raising of these children, and because it’s not good than man be alone. He orders the cosmos with rain and sun and all we need so that we may be equipped to love Him and the neighbor He has given us. He gives us the gift of speech to live together, support each other, and most importantly communicate the Gospel. God rejects greed because it is unbelief that God has given you exactly what you need in every way.

We do not like hearing that God actually gives to some more and to others less. We despise God for giving authority to some and not to others. We hate that we cannot be the final arbiter of life, both when it is given in the womb and when it becomes too difficult to manage. As the current political debates make evident, some would rather have a government that is the great leveler, making all equal. This is fundamentally disordered and chaotic. If life, the universe, and everything is all about you, then ultimately you care nothing for the neighbor and despise the station where God place you.

The church is not immune to struggles against order. Just as the world and the family, it is ordered for the giving of the Lord’s blessings. All receive justification through Jesus’ shed blood equally and fully. When it comes to salvation, there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free. All are children of God and inheritors of heaven. Yet, not all are given equal authority. The church is ordered for the giving of blessing. St. Paul says it this way:

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. (Eph 4:11–16)

According to St. Paul, the order of authority in the church is given that we would grow into mature faith through sound teaching for the work of service. The goal is the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. That is, all being joined to the head, who is Christ, would grow in Him to be like Him, full of grace and truth. “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Who is the greatest in the family? Who is the greatest in the church? All wrong questions.

For your sake, Jesus gives you an example: And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Dear Christians! Humble yourselves before your God and Father. Turn from your idolatry of self, your desire to get ahead or take what is your neighbors, and your hatred of authorities. Repent, that is, turn and become like children. Submit yourselves to God and His Word. Obey your parents and leaders. Love your neighbor. Use what God has given you for service. Submit to God’s ordering of things.

Christ Jesus did not leave us in the disordered state of sin but has redeemed us with his shed blood, purchased and won us from captivity to death and devil, and promised to us the blessings of eternal life. This is the greatest blessing and reorders our world. He has once again ordered you as children under the heavenly Father.

All approach the rail, kneeling like children, humbly receiving the life giving food of Christ’s body and blood. Knowing this eternal truth, we free not to quibble about whether we have or have not, are in charge or in submission, free to speak or bound to listen, and the like. Our reward is certain in Christ and we are free to live now in the station where God placed us.

Jesus says, “whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones to believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” 

Better for him! It is absolutely imperative, in Jesus’ own words, that we care for the unity of the faith in this place. It is disorderly and contrary to our calling to abide by false doctrine. When someone preaches, teaches, or lives contrary to God’s Word, they are not tolerated but called to repentance. If they refuse to repent, they are set apart, or excommunicated, from the congregation until they recognize by God’s Word and Holy Spirit and repent. In faithful repentance, this once gangrene limb of the body is restored to health and grafted again into Christ.

Jesus charges His pastors in John chapter 20: “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them,  “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (Jn 20:21–23)

In today’s Gospel, he described the retaining of sin in this way: “If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.”

We don’t like this teaching of Jesus. If someone is causing the children to sin, cut them off or pluck them out? Understand where Jesus is coming from. People who speak or live contrary to God’s word, who have no contrition and repentance are in open rejection of God’s Word. They are rejecting the wonderful ordering of all things. Therefore, we are duty bound by the Word to call sin to repentance for the sake of the children.

We teach our children to submit to us for their good. Then many advocate we ignore God’s Word when it doesn’t suit us or makes us uncomfortable or places us in a position of humility. What does this teach the children? God’s Word doesn’t matter. Be all you can (and want) to be.

This is what is often lost in the discussion of all the hot button errors in the church, whether it be open communion, women pastors, gay marriage, abortion, or the like. All these false teachings undermine the ordering of God and threaten to destroy the faith of the little ones. Consider gay marriage: in countries that have embraced this disorderly conduct, we now see that heterosexual couples stop marrying. What was given to us by God is rejected by the allowing of error.

Lies, every one of them, have their source the chief lier Satan. He wants nothing better than for us to despise the little ones by confusing God’s Word and its given order. Perhaps this is by confusing Law and Gospel, withholding forgiveness for the contrite but forgiving the sins of the unrepentant? Perhaps this is by withholding the Sacrament from those who confess the true faith but have not meet some magical age or expectation or tradition? Perhaps this is by living in open and unrepentant rejection of God’s Word or by failing to exercise the authority given to Father or pastor. This battle began in the garden of rejecting God’s order and Word still continues today.

So it began when the archangel Michael and his angels cast down the dragon and his angels from heaven. That ancient Serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. The devil continues to tempt us to sin, accusing us day and night before our God. There is no doubt, this is a time of trouble, such as never has been.

But we shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. For we have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! Despite the battle, the outcome is certain and Christ’s victory sure! Yes, Satan tempts you day and night. Yes, you struggle against evil and disorder.

Even in the midst of this struggle, we need not fear! Our Lord Jesus has given us a wonderful little promise: all his little ones are guarded by the angels. Part of the wonderful ordering of the cosmos includes the Archangels and angels and all the heavenly host. Despite the battles we fight, the lies of Satan and his accusations, and every chaotic evil of this fallen world, we are cared for. Our Lord Jesus loves us until the end. He will always be with us, giving us His own flesh to restore us and keep us in Him.

And to assist him in this work, he has set the angels with us in wonderful order. He sends His holy angel to watch over us. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. Yes, we walk in danger all the way. Life is full of temptation to sin, undermining God’s good order. But there is no need for fear, despite the chaos and disorder. You, children of God, are cared for by the holy angels who remind you and keep you in the truth forever. Christ’s victory is assured and you are children of God forever.

4. I walk with angels all the way,
They shield me and befriend me;
All Satan’s power is held at bay
When heavenly hosts attend me;
They are my sure defense,
All fear and sorrow, hence!
Unharmed by foes, do what they may,
I walk with angels all the way.

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

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

“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