Jesus

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Advent I 2011 – Matthew 21:1-9

27. November 2011
Advent I
Matthew 21:1-9

The beginning of a new year is an occasion to contemplate the past, consider the moment, and look forward to the future. The church’s new year began last night at sundown with Advent. With Advent we shift our focus from the coming of Christ is judgment of the end of the church year to the perennial and future coming of Christ is grace in the year to come. No matter how Christ comes, we prepare.

Most of skip preparing with Advent and go directly to Christ’s nativity. You may have noticed the chancel decorations are more restrained that the narthex or even your own home. This is intentional. Before we commemorate our Lord’s birth, we prepare for another year of Christ’s coming in grace but not for Christmas. This is a recent misunderstanding that we Christians have readily accepted from Macy’s and the rest of the Christmas martketeers.

To further aggravate the church year of grace,  new holidays have been added that miss the whole spirit of Advent. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the whole shopping season are contrary to the intent of our spiritual fathers. They intended Advent as time of penitent preparation with fasting, acts of charity, and more frequent devotion. About the only thing preserved in our midst is increased devotion through midweek advent services.

Contrary to the original intent of Advent as a time of fasting is the gluttony of Thanksgiving and frequent “holiday” banquets. Contrary to the acts of charity is the greed and materialism of shop-‘til-you-drop. Contrary to Advent as a time of increased devotion to the Word, families instead gathering around the TV for football and holiday specials having little or nothing to do with Christ’s coming again in grace. At best, nativity scenes cut through the darkness of the sinful world, although even they are used to sell car washes, holiday fashions, and animated talking vegetables.

All the pagan idolatry of stuff, the greed and envy of the self, nor even the utter devotion to TV are not Advent. Food, gifts, and families aren’t bad if cherished not worshipped. To worship them is the way of our flesh. We love our stuff. We love ourselves. We love our entertainment.

Anything we love more than God is our god. Any god other than the true God is an idol. Idolatry takes our eyes away from the cross of Christ. Idolatry steals our heart from love of God. Idolatry distracts us from truth. Idolatry feeds us with the mammon of unrighteousness.

Advent is chiefly about penitent preparation for Christ’s comings in the flesh and blood of the Sacrament, the Word incarnate preached, and the visible King of Glory on the last day. It is about fleeing idolatry and preparing for this Christ. Preparation requires acknowledgment of weakness, deficiency, and error. Preparation requires God-given strength, knowledge, and correction.

Christ’s birth needs little preparation. We know the story by heart, straight out of the King James Version of Luke chapter two. Babies are born every day and its generally uneventful for everyone but the family. We know the carols, the hymns, and even when to bring out the candles.

You really don’t need Advent to prepare for Christmas. You need Advent to prepare for what Christmas began. Or rather, what was begun when our God spoke the word of promise to Eve, the seed that would crush the serpent’s head. The nativity of our Lord is a milestone in your journey to heaven.

Your savior was born of Mary. He was born in meekness and humility. He wasn’t born as simply a model son. He was born to die at the hands of wicked men, to die for your rescue. He was born to enter into Jerusalem as the Son of David. He was born to hear all the elect cry out “Hosanna… blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

This is the message of the first sunday of Advent. This is Palm Sunday. This is every Sunday. Every Sunday Jesus rides in meekness and humility just as He was born and just as He died. Every Sunday Jesus rides in with forgiveness. Every Sunday Jesus rides in with the fruits of forgiveness.

You are baptized. You were assured of this forgiveness in the name of the Triune God and by His authority in the preparatory rite. All your sins are forgiven and forgotten. Now, our Lord speaks to you and you respond as his redeemed and forgiven. By eating and drinking you are about to proclaim that you firmly believe that Jesus died for you. You are remembering every good gift from Jesus.

We remember the birth of the Son of Man. We remember this boy preaching in the temple. We remember this man turning water into wine. We remember healing and teaching. We remember all He did, all He is, and all He has promised to do.

Remembering is the first step of preparation. We prepare by remembering that He came and still comes. He came in the manger. He comes in Word and Sacrament. These are one and the same. In the beginning is the Word and the Word was God and the Word is God. Jesus is the Word. Jesus is the Word of the Sacrament.

The second step of preparation is acknowledging our need, acknowledging who Jesus is, and acknowledging what He brings. We need forgiveness and He brings it. We need a savior, born of God and born of woman, and He is the one. We need heaven and He will come again to bring us to this heavenly home.

Forgiveness and its fruits of life and salvation are not a one-off gift. They are the gift that keeps on giving. They are the gift that needs to keep on giving. Our redemption is accomplished in His blood, but our salvation is a continuing process. Every day we need to be prepared for our final hour. Every day we need to be saved again from some besetting sin, from some weakness or doubt or unbelief, from some selfishness, self-love, or lovelessness.

He comes and saves us. He comes in humility of bread and wine. He comes with His body and blood that we would be strengthened in faith toward Him and fervent love toward one another. He comes to prepare us so that when He comes again, we enter through those gates singing “Hosanna!”

Salvation is near to us. The night is gone. We have donned the armor of light, having put off the works of darkness. We have our cloaks ready and palm branches in hand. Our king comes and we rejoice! Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory! (Psalm 24:7-8)

He comes with salvation. He comes with rescue. He comes with deliverance. He shows us the hill, the gates, the path, and the way unto eternal life with Him. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

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

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

Thanksgiving Eve 2011 – Deuteronomy 26:1-11

23. November 2011
Thanksgiving Eve
Deuteronomy 26:1-11

I admit to being a curmudgeon when it comes to the church year. We follow a calendar that developed over centuries of Christian teaching and preaching. It was honored and practiced by our spiritual fathers. The Lutheran reformation saw its wisdom and retained its use.

The church year respects the times and the seasons. It provides a yearly pattern for the Christian life and discipline. But most importantly, it keeps our eyes fixed upon Jesus. Not just any Jesus, mind you, but the Jesus whose incarnation, teaching, healing, death, and resurrection are our the sum of our teaching.

Thanksgiving is an odd holiday for us to celebrate. It was instituted not by God, by Moses, by Jesus, or even an Apostle. Instead, we remember a national day of thanksgiving because our President instituted it. Now, that’s weird. Why would a church celebrate such a holiday when it does not inherently commemorate or remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus?

Ironically, Thanksgiving is one of the purest and least secular of holidays. We gather as families, sharing in a meal, and rejoicing in our Lord’s gifts with thanksgiving. Even the pagans see fit to do the same. Who they thank, I have no idea. Yet, even they recognize that life is precious. Food is a blessing. Family is to be cherished. Even, rest and leisure are gifts.

In a real way, every day is thanksgiving. Every day we wake and say to our Father in heaven, “I thank you…for keeping me this night from all harm and danger.” In the evening we ay, “I thank you… that you have graciously kept me this day.”

Our Sabbath mass is chock full of hymns and prayers of thanksgiving. Every time we acknowledge the giver of every good gift, that is, Jesus, we are giving thanks. After receiving the life-giving body and blood of Christ, the pastor sings, “O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, and his steadfast mercy endures forever! Amen.” Indeed, some of us end every mealtime this way.

Thus, thanksgiving is characteristic of Christians. Thanksgiving has two parts—one, that we acknowledge that we have been given all that we need for body and life, salvation and eternity, and two, that it is our duty to thank and praise, serve and obey the giver of this gift. It is not about giving thanks but about thanking for God’s giving. It is our dutiful response to the tremendous blessings we have.

Moses told us about this duty. After 15+ chapters of laws for obedience, Moses speaks of the beautiful inheritance of Zion. “When you come into the land that Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it…” When, not if. The Lord promises and he delivers. Inheritance, not earned. A new land for living. A blessing and a gift.

Such a blessing is easily forgotten. One day in bondage in Egypt, then delivered by the hand of God, and the next day you’re already making an idolatrous calf. God gives you everything and then you turn around and forget it. You act as if you earned your life. You squander God’s gifts recklessly. You horde your paycheck for creature comforts. Repent. No good comes from you but only from the hand of your beneficent heavenly Father.   Receive and give thanks.

That’s why Moses repeats over and over “that the Lord your God is giving you.” The children of God forget. We forget. We want to take all the credit for everything we have. We forget it was our Father who delivered us from our mortal enemies. That’s why we’re here this evening. We need to hear again. We need to know that God loves us, that He has promised to take care of us, and that He has defeated everything that stands in the way to our Palm Sunday entrance into heaven.

We were once wandering Aramens like our father, people without a home. The Lord gave us a fertile land in Goshen, a little Eden He brought us to the knowledge of His goodness. But it did not take long for us to accept the slavery of Pharaoh. His word is false and his rule complete.

Yet, our Father had better things in store for us. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders.  He drowned our hard-hearted Pharaoh in the Red Sea. He cast out this Satan when He baptized us in those waters.

That mighty hand carried us to font and often into his holy sanctuary, where he speaks and works with great signs and wonders. He says, “your sins are forgiven,” and it is done. He says, “you are my beloved child,” and we receive adoption as sons. He says, “Lo, I am with you always, even until the ages of ages,” and He keeps it.

Not only that, he promises us to us a paradise, a promised land. It is true that this promise is yet to come. We are but strangers, wandering pilgrims. We won’t cross the Jordan until our death, only then to enter into the new Jerusalem, our heavenly home. But, lest we forget this is coming, he gives us a taste of this heavenly feast even now. Bread come down from heaven, manna for our wilderness walking, is given. Blood of the once-for-all sacrifice freely given, the price having been paid at the holy hill.

So, while we yet long for Zion, we already are part of it. The holy catholic church is the new Israel, redeemed by Christ and taken into the new land, a land flowing with milk and honey. The Word dwells richly here, admonishing us for our weakness, redeeming us from all evil, and encouraging us in our walk with God. The pure Spiritual milk sustains us as it sustains all newborn children. When we eat of this scroll, it is sweet as honey.

God has already given you what is needful, the eternal Zion. Thus, when… you shall take some of the fruit of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. What a waste, we might think—to take of the abundance and to give it back to the giver.

Ah, but you are wrong! For everything you have is a gift that came at great price. The only reason God takes care of you or anyone is for the sake of His Son’s death. The redemption from Satan? Only in Jesus. The forgiveness of your many faults? Only in Jesus. The destruction of death? Only in Jesus.

Not only that, the food on the table? Only for the sake of Jesus. The blessing of family? Only for the sake of Jesus. The rest and leisure of the people? Only for the sake of Jesus. You see, God has blessed us greatly. Indeed, we have everything we need and more. To give of the first fruits of the ground, demonstrates our thankfulness and trust that He will continue to provide.

With such great blessings, we say with the whole people of God: “Behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.” And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.

O, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, and His steadfast love endures forever.

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

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

Trinity 27 2011 – 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:1-13

20. November 2011
Trinity 27
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:1-13

“Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” The cry rang out in our Lord’s parable of judgment. The virgin companions trimmed their wicks, rose, and went to meet the bridegroom.

It used to be that weddings were held at night. The party was the wedding. From the bride’s house, she and her companions were escorted by the bridegroom to the wedding hall, for singing, joyous celebration, gladness, and great food. You never knew quite when the bridegroom would come but you had a pretty good idea.

Oil is stored, wicks are trimmed, and all wait. The kingdom of heaven though is likened to the night of prayer in Gethsemene. Three times Jesus left His disciples to pray and three times they fell asleep. Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Like the blessed disciples who lost track of their prayers, ignored their Lord’s word, and fell asleep, so also is the case for these ten virgins.

Some think you can’t fall asleep on the Christianity job and go into the kingdom. If that’s the case, then the disciples are outside the kingdom. All ten virgins are excluded. None of them stayed awake. None of them watched and prayed as they ought to have.

Instead, they got bored, drowsy, and drunk with sleep. They got tried of waiting. Things were too quiet. Nothing to do but go about watching and praying, trimming wicks and waiting.

Thus the Christian life is about passively waiting. It is also true that Christianity is about actively working. I should not have to tell you to love one another, whether friend or foe, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.

Loving one another is difficult business. We sin against God and each other daily. We let the stupid insult slip across our lips. We do not help each other in our need. We dislike the idea of cherishing only what God has given us. We greedily seek what is not ours.

The worst is inactivity. We sit on our bums, twiddling our thumbs, acting as if its all been taken care of. Truly, your salvation has been taken care of. Jesus died for you and your trespasses. He has redeemed you from death and hell by his bloody death.

This great love is a living and active love. Given to you, it does not die but brings to new life love for neighbor. Because you are justified in Christ, you are being made holy, or sanctified, to love both God and neighbor.

I urge you, brethren, that you increase in love more and more; that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing. 

Knowing the day is coming, we do not sit idly, simply waiting for the bridegroom. Instead, we wait in active and hopefully expectation. Each day we cry our “Come, Lord Jesus,” not knowing if today is the day. Each day, we go about the work our Lord has given us to do, singing and giving thanks.

You have heard it said and know it to be true that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman.

Nothing good can come of idleness. Let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. What is sober watchfulness? How do we not fall into temptation, sleeping as those disciples or the ten virgins pure? Simply this: be equipped with faith, hope and love. These are freely given to you. God is a gracious God. He loves you, cares for you, and wants you to inherit heaven for the sake of His Son. Receive His gifts of love.

You know Jesus is the only hope you have. This you know and believe is true and trust is for you. You hope and watch, all the while encouraging each other, warning those who are unruly, comforting the fainthearted, upholding the weak, and being patient with all. You see that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. 

You do this because He first loved us. It is love to watch over the little ones. It is love to warn those who err. It is love to comfort the faith and uphold the weak. It is love to be patient and kind. Thus, we labor while the day is still upon us, before the night when no one can work.

From the parable, we know that some Christians miss the boat altogether. They are like the five foolish virgins, hypocrites to the core. They go through all the right motions but fail to receive and cherish the one thing needful. They receive the robes of righteousness, fit and tied for the wedding feast. They frequently listen to the voice of instruction and promise. They show up to the party, lamp and oil. But in the end, they are not prepared.

This was their fault only. For God has not destined [them] for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him. If five do not enter the wedding hall, finding only later the door shut, no one is to blame but them.

Jesus is teaching us that tomorrow may be the end. Don’t think you’ve got it all together because you have a baptism certificate, you went graduated from confirmation, and you pay your dues to the church regularly. The kingdom of heaven is not about a piece of paper, an eighth grade rite-of-initiation, or an annual giving statement.

That’s the difference between the five wise and the five foolish. The foolish do not wait in faith, hope, and love. They take our Lord’s promises, receive them, but do not cherish them. That is, they know Jesus died for their sin. They know it is true. But they do not trust that in Jesus only will they enter the kingdom of heaven.

True and saving faith is the oil needed for the journey. It is living and active, just like love. It keeps the fire burning until we enter the wedding hall. It shows the way to the feast. Without this oil, our way would falter, our hope lost, and our love die.

Faith gives hope and hope produces love. All three go together. It is faith in the Word that gives knowledge, truth, and trust in God. Yet, too many Christians think like those five foolish virgins, saying: I have my lamp, I have my wick, I have the festal garment, and I’m in the right place at the right time. That surely will be my ticket when Jesus comes again. Wrong. Going through the church motions doesn’t save you.

For example, we have rightly emphasized the necessity of Holy Baptism, the reception of the Sacrament at First Communion, and the Rite of Confirmation of Holy Baptism in our practice. But we have also done a great disservice to them by giving some the impression that they save merely by doing them.

Dear Christian, it is true—baptism now saves you, that is, the washing of rebirth with Word and Spirit that creates faith to know, assent, and trust in this Word.  Yet, a mere washing of water with family and friends present, before joyous congregation, with all the right fixings does not make baptism. No, it is the Word of God that promises and grants faith to believe this Word.

Or another example—the Holy Communion is Christ’s living body and blood, giving you forgiveness, life, and salvation. But, it is not merely a special meal with friends, dining on special wafers of unleavened bread, sweet wine, at the altar rail that makes a holy communion. There is only Holy Communion with these words, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” and faith that knows, agrees, and trusts that these words are for you.

So it is in the church. Going through the motions isn’t a ticket to heaven. Receive the Lord’s gifts, yes, but receive them in faith, knowing that they are true and for you. Receive God’s means of grace that your faith may increase and you love and cherish them more and more. Fill your lamps and your extra vessels with faith.

Trust in your baptism because the Father said by that water: you are my beloved child. Trust in the Holy Supper because Jesus said of the bread and wine: this is my body and blood for you for your forgiveness. Trust in Holy Absolution, knowing our Lord’s forgiveness is declared when that pastor, as instrument of God, lays his hands on your head and says: “by the stead and in command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins…”

That’s how the church rolls. That’s how the bridegroom and her virgin companions prepare to be led to the king. They take up the gifts of God and accept them fully. These gifts of Sacrament are bound to faith. Both are received and are grown. This faith does not sit by idly, only to mold and decay from disuse. Faith does not receive thinking the mere act of doing saves. Faith breaths and lives trust, bringing hope for your tomorrow and love for all.

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Christians, be sober and vigilant. Watch yourselves, lest you forget the faith necessary for the journey. Watch each other, lest any fall into temptation. Watch family, knowing that simply going through the motions isn’t good enough. Love and hope, encouraging one another to receive these gifts in living faith and for the upbuilding of faith until the end.

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

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