Christmas Eve Sermon

Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward me.”

That’s the way the heavenly host sang it.  It must have been quite a sound, quite a sight. The first reaction of the shepherds was fear. They were sore afraid. The heavenly glory of the Lord shone down on these earthy men and their flocks. And they were keenly aware of the great contrast there is between the things of heaven and the things of earth. In heaven there is the glory of God; on earth there is the sin and decay of humanity. In heaven there is only goodness and only joy; On earth there is evil and sadness. In heaven there is peace; on earth there is turmoil and fear. So we must pray for what little good we might get in this life, saying “on earth as it is in heaven”.

But on that holy night, the peace of heaven came into the midst of the turmoil and fear of earth. As we heard again the Christmas Gospel, couldn’t you just envision the scene, so many artists over the years have depicted the lowly manger, the Christ child with his mother, and with the righteous man Joseph and the shepherds and angels. It is the center of all that is comforting, traditional and truly joyful about Christmas. What a contrast from what things are usually like on earth. Jesus was born at a time when the only peace was that forced on the world by the tyrant emperor Caesar August and his great armies. It was at the time when Quirinius was governing Syria. Quirinius was one of Caesar’s generals. He gained his position in Syria by violence and bloodshed. Herod the Great was a puppet ruler. He was a mad king. And the population was scared about what he might do next. Such was the world then, not much better now.

But that Silent Night there was Peace on earth –heavenly peace. And for those of us who believe the angel’s message that there is a Savior born in Bethlehem, there is peace for us, too.

There is always that contrast between the things of heaven and the things of earth, especially when it comes to peace.  Earth is marked by violence and war. I’m not just talking about war with bullets and bombs, but also the spiritual war started by the devil when he rebelled against God and tempted others to join him his ongoing rebellion and hatred. That spiritual war continues whenever any man, woman or child chooses not to fear God, love God and trust in God above all things, but instead feared earthly things, loved earthly pleasures, and trusted in earthly things, including especially their own selves. There can be no real peace for sinners without a Savior. There’s no peace when we recognize that we are poor miserable sinners and we deserve God’s temporal punishment, here on earth and his eternal punishment forever in the world to come. That’s a shameful, uncomfortable thing to have to admit, and so we hang our heads in shame, until our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ pronounces His word of forgiveness and peace, and then makes it happen by his birth, his life, his death and resurrection.

“This will be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”  “Swaddling clothes”, not to specific, most babies were wrapped, swaddled back then. “lying in a manger” not that’s a sign that will stand out. That is different and noteworthy. Christ the Lord is born, and he’s placed in a manger, a food trough. He who lay in a food trough would be come food for His peoples souls. He says “I am the bread of life. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.”

A young woman has a baby in an out of the way part of town, not noticed by many, poor and lowly. And the worshippers of this Savior are shepherds. He who is visited by Shepherds is the very Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When He takes our sins away there is peace, peace on earth. 

I do wish each of you to have hearts full of peace and joy this Christmas Eve. It’s good to have a peaceful feeling. But it has to be more than just a feeling. it’s gotta be grounded in reality. If you’ve ever seen these horror movies where the main character, or victim, is very comfortable, feeling safe and secure, but the viewers can see that the monster is right behind them almost in reach. None of us want to go through life with a false sense of security and peace. The angels proclaimed the peace of Christ, grounded in the historical reality that the Savior, Christ the Lord, is born.

Your peace will come not from a warm feeling because those come and go. Your peace does not come from company of friends and family, because they won’t always be able to be there. Your peace comes from heaven, from where God said to His only begotten Son, go and put an end to their sins and the war that those sins have been bringing all these years. Go and fight like a man, even to the point of shedding your blood and giving up your life. Slay sin, and Satan and death. Then rise again for peace on earth, good will to men. Amen. 

Commandments 4 through 10

 

The Fourth Commandment

 

Honor your father and your mother.

 

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.

 

Self Examination Questions:

·         Have I honored my parents as gifts from God?

·         Have I honored, respected and obeyed other authorities God has placed over me?

·         Have I given reason to my parents or other authorities to be angry?

·         Have I faithfully fulfilled my vocation in my station in life?

 

The Fifth Commandment

 

You shall not murder.

 

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.

 

Self Examination Questions:

·         If someone is hurt, have I helped them?

·         Have I hated anyone?

·         Have I ever used violence to get what I want?

·         Have I spoken up to protect the life and well-being of helpless people?

 

The Sixth Commandment

 

You shall not commit adultery.

 

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other.

 

Self Examination Questions:

·         Have I committed shameful or impure acts?  (Deed)

·         Have I told or enjoyed listening to “dirty” jokes or stories?  (Word)

·         Have I been preoccupied with sexual fantasies? (Thought)

·         Have I failed to respect marriage as a gift from God?

    The Seventh Commandment

 

You shall not steal.

 

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbor's money or possessions, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and income.

 

Self Examination Questions:

·         Have I taken something that does not belong to me?

·         Have I failed to give my employer my best work?

·         Have I wasted time?

·         Have I tried to benefit from someone else=s loss?  (Gambling)

·         Have I withheld what I owe others?

 

 

The Eighth Commandment

 

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

 

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.

 

Self Examination Questions:

 

·         Have I said things about someone which were hurtful to his or her reputation?

·         Have I enjoyed hearing gossip?

·         Have I neglected to speak up for someone when they were being gossiped about?

·         Have I jumped to unfair conclusions about someone?

·         Have I put up a front before others to make them think of me differently from what is true?

·         Have I neglected to tell the whole truth?

 

 

 

The Ninth Commandment

 

You shall not covet your neighbor's house.

 

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not scheme to get our neighbor's inheritance or house, or get it in a way which only appears right, but help and be of service to him in keeping it.

 

 

Self Examination Questions:

 

·         Have I been envious of someone because of his possessions?

·         Have I ever wished that I had more than my neighbor does?

·         Have I been unthankful for what God has blessed me with?

·         Have I been unwilling to help my neighbor to keep his property?

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tenth Commandment

 

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

 

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not entice or force away our neighbor's wife, workers, or animals, or turn them against him, but urge them to stay and do their duty.

 

Self Examination Questions:

·         Have I been jealous of my neighbor because of his family, friends or workers?

·         Have I tried to make someone’s associates to be disloyal?

Sermon on September 14

 Trinity 13

Grace, mercy and peace are yours from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

The Introit appointed for this Sunday is from Psalm 74 and contained these words from verse 21:   “let the poor and needy praise your name.” This is our text.

We pray this because we are poor and need, and are at the mercy of God to help us

            Pray

            To believe

            To think clearly.

You are poor and needy because of your sins, your fears, and your doubts. The mercy of God for our sins is His forgiveness because of Jesus Christ. The mercy of God for our fears of the future and your doubts that He is in control is that He inspires you to believe and trust Him.

So we pray, “Let the poor and needy praise your name.” In the Matins service we pray the Te Deum which starts out this way, “We praise You, O God; we acknowledge You to be the Lord.” A big component of Praise is to Acknowledge: to acknowledge that God is in control, that He is loving to forgive our doubts and relieve our fears.

Praise. It’s what God’s people do. In fact, it’s what all creatures do. Jesus tells how the birds of the air praise the Lord, by showing that they don’t have to worry about their lives, the Lord provides for them. And the lilies of the field praise the Lord -- they don’t have to worry what they will wear; the heavenly Father adorns them with an appearance greater than King Solomon’s splendor. Also, all creatures (all created beings) in heaven praise. The angels and believers who have gone before us into heaven live an eternal life of praise.

I’d like all Christians to find encouragement and hope, even in the midst of horrible times, in Songs of Praise. The songs of the Church have a content for our praise. They give a reason for our praise. And that reason is Jesus Christ  -- who He is and what He’s done.

The Te Deum is a Creed-like, sung praise. In it we sing to Jesus, “When You took upon Yourself to deliver man, You humbled Yourself to be born of a virgin. When You had overcome the sharpness of death, You opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.”

Dear friends, you have reason to Praise God:  in good days and bad days; In times of confidence and in times of doubts; in moments of suffering, as well as, moments of joy.

When we praise the Lord we are participating in the eternal life of praise in heaven. The Te Deum acknowledges this, mentioning the praise of the angels and the seraphim and cherubim (heavenly beings described in the Bible). The words of the Te Deum remind us while we praise the Lord, those in heaven are at this same moment, praising the Lord, it mentions the apostles and the prophets and also, “The noble army of martyrs praise You.”

The martyrs are those who were killed, murdered, because they believe in Jesus. Stephen was the first Christian martyr (Acts 7). He kept talking about Jesus Christ and truth. They couldn’t shut him up, so they killed him. Those first years of the Christian Church, there were so many talking about Jesus, they couldn’t shut them up, until they burned them to death or put a sword through their necks.

So it went through the ages. Some centuries there were few martyrs. Some centuries there were many. Ups and downs. Then even last Wednesday Charlie Kirk, a Christian, was murdered by evil.

If he’d just stopped talking, if he’d just stopped believing in Jesus and the principles Jesus led him to believe. . . But he didn’t, he wouldn’t, he couldn’t.

I’ve been praying the Holy Spirit of God will use this event for His purposes in many lives:  in your lives, you who have been hearing about this, and all over the world, the people are thinking about this, this Sunday morning.

That through this horrible thing, you would see clearly, two things:

1.      The reality – the evil world won’t take kindly to Christ. You see that at the cross where they killed the innocent Savior. And the evil world won’t take kindly to you, who believe in Jesus Christ, crucified, especially if you insist that there’s no other hope, no other life, no other name by which we may be saved (Acts 4:12).

2.      Remember your confirmation vows.

P          Do you intend to live according to the Word of God, and in faith, word, and deed to remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death?

R          I do, by the grace of God.

 

P          Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?

R          I do, by the grace of God.

We can talk this way with each other, we can say this things solemnly because we believe and confess that some things are worse than dying:  falling away from faith; apathy; false belief that leads to hell.

You have been redeemed, baptized, brought into this eternal life that swallows up death.

Dear God, let the poor and needy praise your name.

We can praise the Lord even in the most difficult situations.

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were in prison, waiting for what would come next, would they be killed for their faith? Their destiny was uncertain. The jailer comes to check on them and they are singing hymns.

If you have witnessed evil this past week, if you have seen evil rejoicing over the gruesome death of a Christian, praise the Lord. Live a life of Praise – as long as the Lord gives you life. Live a life of praise with your voice, and with your actions, what you do. Jesus tells a of a man who is robbed, beaten and left for dead. Will anyone care about this poor guy? We who live lives of praise do care for our neighbor.

Live a life of praise by what you don’t do, what you say “no” to – “No, I can’t do that and still praise the Lord.”

Learn the hymns of the church and use them. Learn the prayers of the church and pray them. Use the hymns and liturgy throughout the week to praise the Lord.

Use the reports of evil as a warning.

Use the noble examples of martyrs as encouragement.

Paul’s example in prison of singing hymns is followed up by his example in words in Philippians 4:8 “brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Many of you have taken too much time with media, mass media – the news, and social media – the addiction. Please remember to take time to think about what’s true, pure, noble, worthy of praise. Take time to sing your praise to the Lord.

I wish we’d sing more. Like in the days of Little House on the Prairie. Pa would take out his fiddle and play and the children would sing along. But I know that time has passed. We live in an individualized time when everyone has their own professionally produced music available electronically and no one has to make their own music. So I have provided for you on the church’s blog, playlists of hymns and liturgical songs.

We now rise to sing the  TE DEUM     LSB 223

We praise You, O God; we acknowledge You to be the Lord.

All the earth now worships You, the Father everlasting.

To You all angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the pow’rs therein.

To You cherubim and seraphim continually do cry:

 

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth;

heaven and earth are full of the majesty of Your glory.

The glorious company of the apostles praise You.

The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise You.

 

The noble army of martyrs praise You.

The holy Church throughout all the world does acknowledge You:

The Father of an infinite majesty; Your adorable, true, and only Son;

also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

 

You are the king of glory, O Christ;

You are the everlasting Son of the Father.

 

When You took upon Yourself to deliver man,

You humbled Yourself to be born of a virgin.

When You had overcome the sharpness of death,

You opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

 

You sit at the right hand of God

in the glory of the Father.

We believe that You will come

to be our judge.

 

We therefore pray You to help Your servants,

whom You have redeemed with Your precious blood.

Make them to be numbered with Your saints

in glory everlasting. 

O Lord, save Your people and bless Your heritage. 
Govern them and lift them up forever. 
Day by day we magnify You. 
And we worship Your name forever and ever. 

Grant, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin. 
O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us. 
O Lord, let Your mercy be upon us, as our trust is in You. 
O Lord, in You have I trusted; let me never be confounded.

 

 

Join with all of Heaven in Praise

 

 

Youtube playlist of music from our liturgies.

Youtube playlist of some of our favorite hymns.

Youtube playlist of the Small Catechism set to music.

 

Spotify album of the Small Catechism set to music.

Spotify album of some of our favorite hymns.

Spotify album of Matins and Vespers.

Sermon on Sept 7

 12^th Sunday after Trinity

Grace, mercy and peace are yours from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The antiphon of the Introit today had these words from Psalm 70:1: “Make haste, O God to deliver me! Make haste to help me, O Lord!” this is our text.

Hurry up, Lord. That’s what we are saying here.

David the Psalmist leads us in praying this way. Wasn’t it rude of him to talk to God that way? The Lord said of David, “He is a man after my own heart.” So, of course David would sing and pray properly to the Lord.

Is it rude of us to talk to God this way? “Make haste!” which is just a slightly fancier way of saying, “Hurry up!” It’s the same thing.

Let me warn you, that you not pray differently. Here’s the opposite of praying, “Make haste”: You’d say something like, “Dear God, no hurry, but whenever you get a around to it, can you help me out a little.”

“Come to think of it, Let’s not even bother with it right now. You and I, Lord, we’re both busy. Let’s get back to this later.

No. Let’s have your prayers be like this one. “Make haste, O God to deliver me!”

This is urgent.

Later in the Introit, there is this line. “You are my help and my deliverer. O Lord, do not delay.” This attitude of urgency shows what’s important, what’s of highest importance in your mind and on your heart. Your greatest desires and greatest need is for help and deliverance from your Lord.

“Make haste, O God to deliver me!” That’s our urgent thought and prayer. Life will distract you from this urgent concern. It’ll throw unimportant things at you, making you think that the distractions of life are urgent and most needed. But we have here a prayer of wone who has a child-like faith. You just can’t wait. You’re like that child who can’t be distracted (no matter how hard the grownups try) from the one thing they want and need right now.

“Make haste, O God to deliver me!” That’s the prayer you need to pray when you have temptations. When you’re tempted to worry, When you’re tempted to doubt, When you’re tempted to lust, When you’re tempted to go where you don’t belong, When you’re tempted to take what you aren’t to have, stop and pray. Pray urgently. Your Lord Jesus has taught you to pray like this: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

 

“Make haste, O God to deliver me!” That’s the prayer of one who fears death. “Deliver me from all pain and evil that lead up to death.” In the Gospel reading today, some friends brought a deaf man to Jesus, with urgency. They begged Jesus to do this one thing needful for him, to heal and restore his life (Mark 7:31–37).

“Make haste, O God to deliver me!” This is your prayer when you repent. When the consequences of sin have begun to catch up with you, consequences like: Regrets – because there are people you have hurt; Shame – because people have noticed that you are flawed; Guilt – because God knows you have done wrong; the first step to clearing a guilty conscience is to plead urgently for help to Him who judges every soul. Sinners must plead for forgiveness right away. Do not delay.

“Make haste, O God to deliver us!” This can be our prayer when we start to get cynical and discouraged, saying, “What’s the world coming to?”

Sin increases. Righteousness is more and more hidden. “What’s the world coming to?”

Those who should be leading the Church in the years ahead have stopped coming to Church, have stopped praying; stopped giving offerings; their children aren’t hearing and learning of Jesus. “What’s the world coming to?”

We are going to study the Biblical teaching of marriage in our Bible class this morning. So many young people aren’t getting married. Instead they take all the physical pleasures that should be kept in the sanctity of marriage, but don’t provide the stability and the commitment of a healthy home and a nurturing family. “What’s the world coming to?”

Instead of just wringing our hands and fretting, we should pray, urgently pray, “Make haste, O God to deliver us!”

So David sang and prayed. 1000 years later His prayer was answered. Jesus Christ, David’s Son and David’s Lord came from heaven, lived and suffered and died to deliver sinners. Our Lord Jesus took it upon himself to deliver man, that is, to deliver David, and each of you.

“Make haste”, said David, but it took 1000 years. But all the while David believed. The Lord wants you to pray and believe. In Galatians, it says, “When the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son. . . to redeem those” under the weight of sin and guilt, fear and death.

Often when you pray, “Make haste” the answer will be patience and endurance. For God knows the right time for all things. He is not slow to keep His promises. But He wants you to wait, and believe and pray urgently. Amen.

Sermon on August 24

 Trinity 10 

it is written,“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” Romans 9:33

 

This section of Romans starts with a question, a rhetorical question: “What shall we say, then?” Paul has been talking about the differences between Jews and Gentiles. Why are so few Jews believing in Jesus Christ? While others are coming into the faith and into the Christian Church, but the Jews have rejected Christ and his Church. Paul notes that the Jews have a zeal for God. They were religious, devout, righteous in the sight of everyone. But instead of believing in Jesus, they took offense.

        Jesus taught righteousness. That’s a big word that comes up again and again in Romans, meaning, to be right, alright, not wrong, especially with respect to God. We are righteous by faith. There is another couple of words that comes up often in Romans “by faith”. Paul says it a couple times in these verses here before us, especially comparing “by faith” with “by works”. The Jews were pursuing righteousness, by works, by their own merits, saying righteousness is my merit, what I deserve. Righteousness by faith was a stumbling block to their ego.

By faith – that is, what you believe, and what is it we have to believe? Christ saves sinners, He picks up the one who stumbles. He makes right the one who was dead wrong.

In the Gospel reading today, Jewish leaders in Jerusalem were seeking to destroy Jesus, But others were hanging on his words.

That rhetorical question at the start is asked because of this glaring irony. Those who should believe, who should be all about “by faith”, don’t have faith in Jesus, but faith in themselves. They believe in themselves, in their merits, their works and think their good qualities make them righteous.

When a person thinks that all you need is your own self, your own strength, and your own remarkable goodness you come to the Stone laid in Zion and you stumble on it. The Stone was meant to be the foundation. Now it becomes a tripping hazard if you are so preoccupied looking at your own abilities and amazing qualities.

God wants all to be saved. God’s people pray such. Paul says, “my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved”.  The irony is God (who wants all people to be saved) lays down a stumbling block for those who don’t believe. The hear that Jesus, the Son of God, died to redeem sinners, and they are offended at that, “Ach, I’m no sinner. You don’t need to redeem me.”

For all of us sinners who at any time love and trust ourselves above all things, God lays “in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.”  In our reading today, those words are in quotation marks. Paul’s quoting from Isaiah. There’s this promise in Isaiah of what God is doing in Zion. Zion is the place of the temple in ancient Jerusalem. It’s the house of God, the throne of His Kingdom. And there God lays a foundation stone, His Holy Son, Jesus sacrificed on the cross, to forgive all unrighteousness. And it’s offensive to those who take offense.

You ever heard it said, “Don’t take offense”? Now of course, there are often times when the sinners you are surrounded with, that you have relationships with, offend you. They offend you by what they say, what they do, what they don’t bother to do. When you take offense, think about what happens in your head, the annoyance, the pain, caused by those who trespassed against you, just repeats on a loop. Proverbs 17:9 – “Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.” When it’s possible, and it’s almost always possible, cover an offense with love and forgiveness. Don’t keep it playing in your head. Don’t let it be your narrative. Colossians 3:15 “bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you”.

Consider this, you probably don’t have a clue what that so and so is going through. They have burdens on their shoulders, torments in their souls that you don’t understand. They’re busy with their own responsibilities and problems. They just can’t provide you with the care and the service you expect. They are suffering in ways that prevent them from being all things to you.

You ever take offense because so-and-so didn’t treat you like you deserved? They didn’t respect you as they should. They don’t give you what you’ve got coming. Instead they say things that are unfair, even disrespectful to you. And you deserve better because you’re righteous, you’re in the right. And this keeps playing in your head.

Do you ever take offense because so-and- so didn’t treat you like you deserve? When you do, then you can understand: That’s what the Jews of old, and many today, do with Jesus. They say, “He doesn’t treat us like we feel we deserve. He’s not going to give us what we feel we have coming. He doesn’t respect our righteousness.” As soon as you start glorying in your own righteousness, you will hear offensive things from the Lord. He will tell you are a sinner. You are falling short of righteousness by what you think, say and do. You are failing to do what you should do in life. You aren’t believing in Jesus Christ the rock and foundation of life and eternity. The Lord Jesus Christ, dying on the cross, seems offensive. Your self-righteousness will lead you to look away from it saying, I don’t need that. It’s a scandal, an offense.

And He lays before you “in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense”.  This tripping hazard makes a violent action. It’s not like tripping over a stone out of place on your path, the kind you hit on unexpectedly, but can quickly recover from and keep walking, looking around to see if anyone notices your clumsiness. This “stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense” will give you a bruising. The fall can break and even kill.

It's kinda comical when people trip and fall, their first instinct is to look around and see if anyone noticed. Before they think about what’s broken or where they might be bleeding, they think “I hope nobody saw what I just did. I hope they don’t laugh at me for being foolish and clumsy.” Embarrassment and shame hurt the mind more than the breaks and bruises hurt the body.

Well, what’s even more shameful is to be standing in the judgement hall of heaven with all people and all angels watching you and Jesus Christ comes to judge the living and the dead and He lays out the charges against you of all your sins and your unbelief.

Then the Lord says this: “whoever believes in him will not be put to shame”.

Your self-made righteousness has to get knocked down, bruised and broken. And then Zion’s stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, which is Jesus,  becomes the foundation of your faith and life and your eternity.

Jesus who died for the shameful, the clumsy, the bruised and broken, takes away your shame. On the last day, He will remove all your shame, all your embarrassment, all your regret, and replace them with glory, righteousness and eternal joys. Amen.

Services at 9:00 am

 Starting in July, our Sunday services begin at 9:00 am.