The Fourth Sunday in Advent/St. Thomas, Apostle – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. John 20:24-29
In Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who contrary to all reason was born in a Bethlehem stable, and who gave up His life on the cross in payment for sin before rising from the dead on the third day, dear fellow redeemed:
“Every football team is the same–whether in Iowa or Minnesota or Wisconsin or Illinois–so any one is just as good as another.” “It doesn’t matter which politician you vote for, as long as you vote for someone.” “Whether you work hard to buy what you have, or whether you beg, borrow, or steal to get it, we’re all just trying to get to the same place.” I don’t think you would accept any of these statements as true. In fact, they are ridiculous. Of course not all football teams are the same. Not all politicians will get our vote. And it certainly does matter how we acquire our money.
But as ridiculous as these statements are, they are the way that people commonly talk about religion. “Every religion is the same; they all lead to the same god–one is just as good as another.” “It doesn’t matter what church you go to, as long as you go to church.” “No matter what you believe, we are all trying to get to the same place. What’s important is that you just believe in something.”
Let’s apply this thinking to today’s reading. Jesus appeared alive to the disciples while Thomas was away on the third day after His death. He showed them the marks in His hands and side. He asked them to give Him something to eat. He breathed on them and blessed them. There was no doubt about it–Jesus had risen bodily from the dead just as He promised He would. Then Thomas came along. What did the disciples say? “Thomas, Jesus appeared to us in the flesh. But it doesn’t really matter if you believe it or not, as long as you hold Him in your heart. We’re not here to force our beliefs on you; you can decide for yourself, and that’s all right with God.”
Not quite. No matter how much Thomas denied what they were saying, either from pride or from hurt feelings, they did not stop proclaiming the resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection was a fact, even if Thomas or anyone else rejected it. Whether it agreed with their natural sensibilities or not, Jesus had risen. This proved that He was no regular man. He was the Son of God in the flesh, which means He is our Savior and the Savior of the whole world.
It matters what we believe about Jesus. One belief about Him is not just as good as another. The ten disciples believed that Jesus had risen; Thomas did not. That meant that Thomas actually followed a different Jesus. He followed a Jesus who taught many things and performed many miracles, but who unfortunately met an untimely death and was buried. That was Jesus for Thomas–no Jesus who could actually save.
But then Jesus appeared again to the disciples and called Thomas back from his unbelief. Jesus proved He had heard every word that Thomas had spoken by presenting His hands and side for Thomas to see and touch. He then spoke some pointed words to Thomas: “Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas had a wrong idea about faith. He thought that faith depended on his demands being met by God, on his being personally convinced by his own standards. Jesus showed him that faith means trusting what God says, whether or not there is any physical or tangible proof.
It is common to hear people say, “Seeing is believing.” But Jesus says the opposite. He says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” If you can see something, you don’t need to “take it on faith.” It is when you cannot see something, when you have not witnessed or experienced it for yourself, that faith is required. This is how Hebrews 11 defines faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (v. 1).
This does not mean that faith has nothing to go by. Faith stands on the inspired, powerful Word of God. We trust what He tells us. We trust what He tells us about ourselves, and what He tells us about Himself. He tells us that He created us to be perfect masters of His creation, but that Adam and Eve gave up their perfection by doing what He commanded them not to do. This plunged the whole world into sin, sin that is passed down from generation to generation. If God did not tell us how far we had fallen short of His glory, we would think we were not far from Him. He tells us that apart from Him, we are dead in our sins.
But He also tells us that He loves us and desires our salvation. God the Father sent His only-begotten Son to take on our flesh and redeem us from our sins. God could not just overlook sin. Sin required payment, and Jesus offered up His holy life on our behalf as that payment. On the third day, He rose from the dead to prove that His work to redeem sinners was complete. He tells us that “whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Joh. 3:16).
But where did this faith that brings you forgiveness and eternal life come from? How did you get it? Your faith is not a reflection of a better heart. It is not a decision you made to let Jesus into your life. Your faith is a gift from God by the power of the Holy Spirit. As the inspired Apostle writes, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17), and, “this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).
God gave this same gracious gift to doubting Thomas, and Thomas responded with the humble and clear confession: “My Lord and my God!” He acknowledged that Jesus is who He said He is and who the other disciples testified that He is–the eternal Son of God who had won the victory over sin, death, and the devil. Once Thomas believed, he spoke. If tradition is accurate, he took the Gospel message of Jesus’ atoning death and glorious resurrection as a missionary to India, and was later martyred for preaching Christ, receiving the crown of life given to all who are faithful unto death (Rev. 2:10).
Faith is not something for us to keep hidden. It is not a secret we have that we keep between us and God. Faith is active in what we say and how we live. John the Baptizer is a great example of this. He had the opportunity to get glory for himself. People crowded around him asking if he was the great prophet Elijah or even the Christ Himself. The evangelist John recorded his answer: “He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’… [B]ut among you stands One you do not know, even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie” (Joh. 1:20, 26-27).
This is what faith does: it grabs hold of the Lord’s promises and points to Him and wants to live for Him. We Christians show our faith by telling the whole world the hope we have. We tell others that “God sent His Son to save me and you! He died to pay for our sins. He rose in victory over death. He still comes through His Word to give us His blessings. And He is coming back in glory to take us to be with Him forever.” No religion has such a hopeful, joyful message as Christianity. But even within Christianity, not every church points to Jesus alone for salvation.
It does matter what church you go to. It matters what your church teaches. Do we teach that the Bible is a mixture of human and divine thoughts, and that we have to determine what is true and what isn’t? Or do we teach that the Bible is the Word of God, totally trustworthy, accurate in every detail, which has authority over every aspect of our lives? This is why we are compelled to speak. It is our duty like John to confess, and not deny, but confess the truth of God.
This matters! We don’t have permission from God to keep our mouths shut when the truth is being challenged or attacked. It is certainly intimidating when this happens. It is very hard to stand against the crowd. It is hard to open our mouths when we expect that people won’t want to hear it. But if we stop opening our mouths and sharing what God has done for us, who will ever believe? “Faith comes from hearing… the word of Christ.”
The best way to be prepared to speak, to confess the saving name of Jesus in every circumstance, is to keep hearing, learning, and studying the Word of God. The Holy Spirit works through the Word, strengthening us, comforting us, and giving us the conviction and courage to tell others what God has done for sinners. You can probably think, as I can, of opportunities to confess the truth that you missed, that you wish you could have back. You feel guilty that you stayed silent when you should have spoken.
Jesus forgives you that sin–your doubts, your weaknesses, and your fears. He died on the cross for you, and gave His holy blood to wash away every one of your sins. Your failures in the past do not disqualify you from the needs of the present. He gives you grace for today, grace to believe in Him, and grace to speak the glad tidings of salvation to the people around you who need to hear it. Believing and speaking go together like breathing in and breathing out. We breathe in the rich blessings of God through His Word, and we breathe out these blessings to others.
It is not our job to convert anyone; we can’t make someone believe. The disciples did not succeed in convincing Thomas of the truth in the seven days between Jesus’ appearances. Converting hearts is the work of the Holy Spirit. That takes the pressure off us. Our calling is faithfully to confess what God has done for us and all people. As He has freely given to us, we freely give to others. We Believe, and so We Speak.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(woodcut from “Doubting Thomas” by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
The First Sunday in Advent/St. Andrew, Apostle – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 4:18-22
In Christ Jesus, our King who sits on His throne dispensing the gifts of His grace, dear fellow redeemed:
If someone placed an ad in the paper before local elections, and all that the ad contained was their name, their picture, and the message, “Vote for me!” it would be fair to ask the question “Why?” “Why should I vote for you? What are your qualifications? What are your goals? How will you represent me and work for me? What makes you a better candidate than the others?” Without this information, it’s hard to imagine saying, “Yes, I will vote for you. I will follow your lead.”
The same question can be asked of Jesus: “Why should I follow Him? Why should I trust Him?” The unbelievers of the world don’t see enough in Jesus to want to follow Him. Some of them believe He was a good person who unfortunately met an untimely end, which makes Him no different than any other significant figure in history. Some say He is just a legend, made up by people who wanted to gain influence. Others say that if Jesus is who He said He was, the Son of God, then why didn’t He do more to address injustice and suffering in the world?
They would be surprised to read the account before us today of Jesus calling Peter, Andrew, James, and John away from their fishing nets to follow Him. And immediately, without hesitation, they left their nets and boats—and in James and John’s case, their father—and followed Him. What convinced them that Jesus was worth following?
Well this wasn’t the first time that Peter and Andrew, James and John, had seen or heard of Jesus. John tells us in his Holy Gospel that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptizer. He had been attracted to John the Baptizer’s preaching of repentance and must have been baptized by him. He believed John’s message, that the Savior was coming and was even now present. So when Andrew saw the Baptizer point to Jesus and say, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (Joh. 1:36), he and another disciple followed Jesus and spent the day with Him. Then Andrew went and got his brother Peter, telling him, “We have found the Messiah!” (v. 41).
So the brothers Andrew and Peter had met Jesus and listened to Him before He walked along the sea and called them away from their nets to follow Him. They believed that He was the great Prophet, Priest, and King foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures. They believed that He was God in the flesh, the promised Savior from sin, death, and the devil. Or did they? Sometimes they were unsure. Jesus did not say and do what they expected. They expected Him to set up an earthly kingdom. They could not imagine how His death could accomplish anything good.
An earthly kingdom with earthly glory is probably what was on their minds when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He was surrounded by adoring crowds who shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mat. 21:9). The people welcomed Him as their King. He would heal all their sicknesses! He would feed them! He could even keep them from dying or at least raise them from the dead—Lazarus from Bethany was proof of that! Who could stand against Jesus? His time to reign had come!
They were seeing what they wanted to see. But they were not looking at Jesus in the right way. Really they were thinking too small. He wanted them to see the big picture. Their most pressing problem was not sickness, food, or the rule of the Romans. Their most pressing problem was sin, death, and the rule of the devil. Jesus came to rescue them from these big things—and not just them, but the whole world, all people of all time.
You are not looking for Jesus to free you from the Romans. That kingdom collapsed long ago. But you might be looking for Him to work things so that the right leaders get elected who can fix all or most of the problems that trouble our society. You might be looking for Him to make your life more prosperous, your relationships more fulfilling, and your body more healthy. It is not wrong to want these things, but it is wrong to view these things as the most important things.
Jesus did not come especially to make your life better on earth. He does not promise that you will have a happy or carefree life, that everything you pray for will become yours, or that you will die with more wealth and honor than you were born with. Think of His closest disciples. After His resurrection, the chosen Twelve told the truth about what Jesus had done and said, that they themselves had witnessed. They took this message all over the known world. And for their hard labors, their preaching of salvation by grace, they suffered, were persecuted, and if tradition is accurate, they died violent, painful deaths, including Andrew who is said to have been crucified on an X-shaped cross.
Christ’s kingdom is not of this world (Joh. 18:36). We should not expect it to be established here. His kingdom is greater than this world. You are a member of it, a citizen in it, but you cannot see it yet. Now you “walk by faith, not by sight” (2Co. 5:7). “Walking by faith” means trusting that Jesus is who He says He is, and that He has done what He said He would. “Walking by faith” is what Andrew, Peter, James, and John did when they left behind the family business on the Sea of Galilee and followed Jesus.
When Jesus said, “Follow Me,” the word translated “follow” is literally, “Come! Come after Me!” He used the same word to call His disciples to rest with Him after He sent them out to preach His powerful Word. He said, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while” (Mar. 6:31). He called them to rest with Him again by the seashore following His resurrection, “Come and have breakfast” (Joh. 21:12).
He calls us to the same rest with Him using the same word, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat. 11:28). “Come away from your fruitless labor to get ahead in this world. Come away from the burden of trying to be the best, of trying to prove your worth, of always having to win. Come away from the sin and guilt that weigh you down. Come away from the devil and the darkness of this world. Come to Me and have rest.”
You come to Him when you open your ears to hear His Word, when you gladly hear and learn what He tells you. You come to Him when you repent of your sins and humbly listen to the absolution He speaks, “I forgive you all your sins.” You come to Him when you kneel at His table and receive His holy body and blood given and shed for you for the remission of your sins. You come to Him when you trust in Him, confidently pray to Him, and confess His saving name.
This is not so much an act of your will as it is an action of His grace. Yes, the disciples followed Him, but it was His Word that drew them away from their nets, “Come after Me!” So it is His call that brings you to Him. He takes the initiative. He says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (Joh. 10:27). And again, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit” (15:16).
His Word comforts us and compels us. His Word opens our eyes, so that we see Him. We see who He is, the eternal Son of God who took on flesh to save us. We see why He came, to keep God’s holy law for us and to suffer and die to save our souls. We see that He finished the work He set out to do in perfect obedience to the will of His Father. We see that He rose in victory over our sin, our death, and the devil.
Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (Mat. 16:13). He is not, as the unbelievers say, just a good person who lived and died and stayed dead. He is not some made up legend concocted from people’s imagination to gain worldly influence. He is not some flawed deity who failed to do anything significant for the world. Andrew’s brother, Simon Peter, had learned the right answer, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16).
That is who Jesus is, for the whole world and for you. He is the Christ, God in the flesh. He came to save you. He came to shed His blood to cleanse you from your sins. He came to share His heavenly inheritance with you. That is what He rode into Jerusalem to do, as the prophet had foretold, “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey” (Mat. 21:5).
This King, your King, still comes through His Word and Sacraments calling you to lay aside the sins that ensnare you and weigh you down, calling you to come and follow Him, calling you to find rest in Him. He never stops calling you to be and remain in His kingdom of grace.
And when He returns in glory on the last day, He will speak that word again, “Come.” He will say to you and all believers in Him, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mat. 25:34). Then like Andrew and Peter leaving their nets, immediately you will leave your labors and burdens here and will joyfully follow Him, singing with all the saints: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from “Entry of Christ into Jerusalem” by Pietro Lorenzetti, 1320)
Thanksgiving – Pr. Faugstad homily
Text: Malachi 3:6-18
In Christ Jesus, in whose name we give thanks to God the Father Almighty who made us and still preserves us, dear fellow redeemed:
We are getting reminders from all over that this is a season of giving. And it certainly is. Stores have stocked their shelves with Christmas specials, suggesting at every aisle what we might want to give our family members and friends. Various charitable organizations are busy sending out reminders about “Giving Tuesday” next week. And the event that brings us here this evening has this message in its name: Thanks-giving.
But who is the object for this giving of thanks? To whom is this giving directed? When people focus only on what they are thankful for, they might miss the thankful to. They are thankful for their “food and clothing, home and family, property and goods, and all that [they] need to support this body and life” (Explanation to First Article). But they fail to acknowledge that these things are richly and daily provided for them by our Father in heaven.
It is He who deserves our thanks. It is He who should receive our thanksgiving. For all of His gracious gifts, we are “in duty bound to thank and praise, to serve and obey Him.” Every good thing we have comes from Him. He gives us our daily bread, all that we need for this body and life. There is nothing that we own that doesn’t actually belong to Him. We enjoy the riches, fruits, and blessings of His creation.
Since everything is His, and He freely provides what we need, why would God charge His people of robbing Him, like He does in today’s reading? “Will man rob God?” He asks. “Yet you are robbing Me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’” And He gives the answer: “In your tithes and contributions.”
A tithe was a tenth of a family’s income. God required this of each of the tribes of Israel for the support of the priests and Levites, so they could give attention to the sacrifices and prayers in the temple. The Levites had no territory of their own but were to be provided for by the other tribes. The LORD said that this command was “a perpetual statute throughout your generations”—it was to go on indefinitely (Num. 18:23).
But the people were not giving the tithe as God had commanded them to do. This meant that the priests and Levites were not adequately supported, and the temple sacrifices were not being done as God commanded. Why were the people holding back? Why were they not giving what He required? The LORD exposed the thoughts and intentions of their hearts. He knew why. The people were saying, “It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping His charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts?”
They were concerned about whether what they were commanded to give was really worth what they were getting. Were the imperfect priests and Levites really worth ten percent of their income? Was it really beneficial to keep the LORD’s laws and deny themselves and their desires? Nearly 2500 years have passed since these words were written, but nothing has really changed. We hear all around us (and sometimes think it ourselves) that what God requires of us is greater than what we receive from Him.
Do we really need a pastor and a church? We can read the Bible and pray to God on our own. Do we really need to follow God’s law so strictly? It should be enough to try to be nice to others and be a responsible citizen. But a life lived apart from God and against His will is no life of freedom and happiness. Galatians 6 says, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (vv. 7-8).
“Sowing to the flesh” means following our sinful desires and giving ourselves over to sin. “Sowing to the Spirit” means following the Word of God, living according to His will, trusting in Him for our life and salvation. When our primary concern is not desperately clinging to what we have on earth, hoarding our riches so we have enough for the future, but is rather relying on God, then we are ready to enjoy the abundant gifts that He gives.
He will provide for us. He has promised to do it. Jesus says, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Mat. 6:31-33). The LORD will not forsake or forget about His dear children who trust in Him.
He sent His Son to redeem your soul through His suffering and death. He brought you to the waters of Baptism to claim You as His own. He sets the Food of Heaven on the altar at church for your spiritual nourishment and food on your table at home for your physical nourishment. He will never run out of good things to give you because all things are His, on earth and in heaven.
And if He will never run out of good things, neither will you. “Give freely and generously from the heart,” says the LORD, “And thereby put Me to the test… if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” The gifts we give to God are not about amounts of money. A tithe is no longer required of God’s New Testament people. He wants our gifts to come from humble hearts that recognize and appreciate His gifts.
The highest thanks and praise we can give to God is believing what He promises, living according to His Commandments, and leaving all our needs in the present and the future in His hands. This is the thanksgiving that He desires from us, the thanksgiving that He loves to receive.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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The Festival of the Reformation – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 2 Chronicles 29:12-19
In Christ Jesus, who cleanses and consecrates His holy Church of all believers, so we are ready to carry out His work in His name to His glory, dear fellow redeemed:
Imagine if a church building was taken over by Satanists and defiled in every way, or it was turned into an establishment that catered to every vice that people were willing to pay for. What would need to be done to turn the building back into a Christian church? Every godless image and item would be need to thrown out. The interior would need to be scrubbed from top to bottom. None of the uncleanness that was there before could be left—not even a hint of it—if it was to serve as the place of God’s holy presence once again.
This is the task the Levites and priests faced when King Hezekiah opened up the temple doors that his wicked father had shut up. Hezekiah’s father had followed the pagan practices of the nations around Judah. He had built altars to false gods all over Jerusalem and in the high places surrounding it. He had sacrificed some of his sons as burnt offerings. He took the holy vessels from the temple of God and cut them in pieces. He put a stop to the daily sacrifices in the temple which God had commanded (2Chr. 28).
The first thing Hezekiah did when he began to reign was to call the priests and Levites together to cleanse the temple of the filth that had been brought into it. They started by consecrating themselves—preparing themselves for holy work—as the Law of God required. This is how every effort in the Church should begin, by a recognition of our own sinfulness. The priests and Levites acknowledged their past unfaithfulness, and they committed to doing what God had commanded.
Piece by piece, item by item, inch by inch, they cleansed the house of the LORD. They started with the innermost parts of the temple. The seven Levitical families worked seven days plus one until they reached the vestibule or porch of the temple. Then they worked another seven days plus one to finish the work of consecration.
The number seven is in view because that is the number for perfection or completeness. The use of seven indicates that the temple of the LORD was completely cleansed by the priests and Levites and prepared for His service. This is also why seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats were brought for a sin offering when the temple was ready. This was an offering for all the sins of all the Israelites (2Chr. 29:24).
But how could the people turn so quickly from their wicked ways? How could they so eagerly follow a bad king one day and a good king the next? The change was not exactly so immediate and all-inclusive. Some whose consciences had troubled them under the previous king were now ready to do what was right under King Hezekiah. Others might have preferred the former practices and pleasures that the worship of false gods offered.
But Hezekiah and the priests and Levites did not do their work arbitrarily. The religious system they sought to re-establish and follow was not a spirituality of their own making. They were doing what God had told His people to do in His Word, in the Holy Scriptures recorded by the prophets. This is what they would follow because this was the very voice of God which He had spoken and given for their life and salvation.
Martin Luther and the other reformers in the sixteenth century similarly had to deal with defilement in the house of God, in His holy Church. Over time, the Roman Catholic Church had adopted unbiblical teachings and practices that were leading the people away from the truth. The Roman Church taught that indulgences could be purchased to free souls from purgatory, that the human will is able to produce good works which make satisfaction for sin, that Mary and the saints could be invoked for spiritual help, and many other things that are not taught in the Bible.
Just as the priests and Levites threw some things out of the temple, but consecrated and kept others, so the Reformers did not throw out everything that “looked Catholic.” They kept everything that was faithful to the Word of God, such as the Baptism of infants, the real presence of Jesus in the Supper, the order of the historic liturgy, vestments, altars, pulpits, crucifixes, candles. This is why Roman Catholics often find that our buildings and services seem familiar, because we have retained these historic and beneficial Christian things.
The focus of the priests and Levites, just like the focus of the Lutheran Reformers, was to hold fast to the pure Word of God. Every teaching, every practice, every effort in the Church had to be examined in the light of God’s Word and to be cast out if it did not agree with God’s Word. They would humbly listen to His teaching, follow His guidance, and proclaim His truth.
This is still our focus today. We have been talking over the last couple weeks about how different we are than other Lutherans who do not believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Recently in the news we are hearing about a division in the Anglican Church between those who deny the clear Word of God and those who want to follow it. In fact, every major Christian church body has fractured over those who want to stand on the Scriptures as written and those who want to make accommodations for our culture and society.
The Christian Church on earth will always be tempted to water down its teachings in order to fit better with the world. We are personally tempted when we think to ourselves how many more people we could reach if we just loosened up on this teaching or that practice, such as the clear meaning of the Ten Commandments, the roles of men and women, and who can receive Holy Communion. But if we step off the foundation of the Bible, from what our Lord has taught us in His Word, we will find there is no firm ground to stand on.
Faithfulness here (in the church) has to start with faithfulness here (in the heart). If each of us individually cannot articulate and defend the faith we have, how can we make sure that the teachings of our church will stay pure? Like the priests and Levites working their way through the polluted temple starting with its inner parts, we need to closely examine our hearts to identify what is unclean and needs to be cast out.
So we could examine ourselves with questions like these: What lies have I been telling myself or others that need to be acknowledged? What sins have I committed with my eyes, my ears, or my mouth that need to be stopped? What anger, hatred, and bitterness have I let grow in my heart toward another person? What jealousy, judgment, or unkindness do I find when I think about certain people? What sins have I tried to bury or ignore that are eating me up? How have I failed to honor God in my daily pursuits and efforts?
The Levites carried the unclean items from the temple out to the brook Kidron. We bring all our sins to the waters of Holy Baptism. It was at Baptism that we were first cleansed of our sins and made members of Christ’s holy Church. We return to that Baptism and receive cleansing again when we confess our sins and receive forgiveness through Christ’s Word of absolution, like we do at the beginning of the divine service.
Every time you hear your Savior’s comforting words of forgiveness, He is telling you that He is not angry with you for your sins. He joined you to Him in Baptism, so that you would be covered in His righteousness and consecrated, or set apart, to do His holy work. No matter how the temple of your body has been defiled in the past from your sins, He prepares it for fruitful work now.
After listing all sorts of serious sins that the Christians in Corinth had committed, St. Paul wrote, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1Co. 6:11). He wrote to them again in his second letter, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2Co. 5:17).
You are washed in the waters of Holy Baptism—cleansed of your sins. In Christ, you are a new creation, which means your sinful past is history. But then why do we find it so challenging to do what is right? It is because the old Adam clings to us and wants to re-conquer our hearts. Our sin is the reason that the Church on earth is always struggling—in Hezekiah’s time, in Luther’s time, and in our time. We can’t take for granted that we will always be faithful, because we are no less sinful and weak than anyone else.
But you know where Christ’s power and strength for faithfulness is found. It is found in His pure Word and Sacraments. The preaching and studying of His Word and the administration of His Sacraments may seem like weak fortifications for the attacks of the devil, the world, and your own flesh. But nothing could be more effective against these attacks. Jesus says: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life,” and, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Joh. 6:33, 8:31-32).
Christ Cleanses the Church by His Pure Word. Through His Word, He reveals the uncleanness in our hearts and the errors of our ways. Through His Word, He declares the forgiveness and righteousness we have by faith in Him. Through His Word, He changes us, prepares us, and equips us for the good work He has given us to do as members of His holy Church. So we joyfully confess and sing the words of Luther’s hymn:
Stood we alone in our own might,
Our striving would be losing;
For us the one true Man doth fight,
The Man of God’s own choosing.
Who is this chosen One?
’Tis Jesus Christ, the Son,
The Lord of hosts, ’tis He
Who wins the victory
In ev’ry field of battle. (ELH #251, v. 2)
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from Wittenberg altarpiece painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder and Younger, 1547)
The Festival of Our Lord’s Ascension – Pr. Faugstad exordium & sermon
Festival exordium:
Beginning forty days before Easter, we recall the intense suffering our Lord Jesus endured for our salvation. Forty days after Easter, we celebrate His glorious ascension. This was His enthronement at the right hand of God the Father, not only as the Son of God but also as the Son of Man. He was welcomed by all the host of heaven as the victorious King, the Conqueror of sin, death, and devil, the Savior of the world.
Jesus ascended visibly into heaven, but He also continues to be with us and bless us here on earth. Just before His ascension, He said to His disciples, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Mat. 28:18-20, NKJV). He commissioned the Church to take His powerful Word and Sacraments to every nation, land, and people.
Then He added words that give us great comfort and courage, “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (v. 20, NKJV). Jesus did not abandon us when He ascended into heaven. He has not left us to fend for ourselves. “I am with you always,” He says. As true God, He is present everywhere. And He is specially present when His message of salvation is proclaimed, when the Baptism He instituted is administered, and when His body and blood are distributed in His Holy Supper.
You know just where to find Jesus. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty right here and right now. God’s right hand touches this pulpit, this font, this altar. His right hand touches our homes, “where two or three are gathered in [Jesus’] name” (Mat. 18:20), hearing and learning His Word. Jesus, the victorious Son of God, is present and active here, just as He has promised He would be.
And on the last day, He will return visibly in glory to judge both the living and the dead. Then you and all trust in Him will also ascend. You will join Him in His heavenly kingdom. You will be gathered with all the host of heaven around the throne of God, where rejoicing and gladness never come to an end.
We now stand to sing our festival hymn printed in the service folder, “O Wondrous Conqueror and Great”:
O wondrous Conqueror and great,
Scorned by the world You did create,
Your work is all completed!
Your toilsome course is at an end;
You to the Father do ascend,
In royal glory seated.
Lowly,
Holy,
Now victorious,
High and glorious:
Earth and heaven
To Your rule, O Christ, are given.
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Sermon text: 1 Samuel 8:1-22
In Christ Jesus, whose kingdom of power, grace, and glory will never end, dear fellow redeemed:
Over the last couple of weeks, we heard how God sent judges to deliver the Israelites from their enemies, judges like Gideon and Samson. After Samson’s death, the LORD raised up one of the great leaders of the Israelites, a prophet named Samuel. He judged Israel all the days of his life and faithfully called the wayward Israelites back to the worship of the true God. But Samuel’s sons were not like him. He wanted them to continue after him and serve the LORD like he had. They were more interested in using their positions for personal gain.
So the elders of Israel came to Samuel and made a fateful request: “We want to have a king like all the other nations.” It was not wrong for them to want a strong leader. It was wrong for them to speak as though they had no king. The LORD God was their king. He had led them out of Egypt to the Promised Land and had given them victory over their enemies. Samuel was troubled by their request. But the LORD told him, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.”
God would give the people what they asked for, but He warned them that having a king was not as great as they imagined. The people would not listen. They could only see the positives: our king will “judge us,” they said, “and go out before us and fight our battles.” It’s the sort of thinking that touches every generation. We are always looking for the next great leader who will fix all the problems in our society—and perhaps even the world—and make us more prosperous and happy than ever before. But as soon as we think we’ve found people like that, they inevitably disappoint us. They aren’t as perfect as we thought they were.
The people of Israel were dreaming about what their new king would give them. Samuel informed them about what their king would take from them: he would take their sons to fight for him, farm for him, and build for him; he would take their daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers; he would take their fields, vineyards, and olive orchards; he would take their servants, their grain, and their livestock. They would be his slaves.
That does not sound like a good deal. Why would the Israelites want this? Samuel revealed later that they made this request because they were afraid of their enemies (1Sa. 12:12). They did not trust the LORD to protect them. For the next number of weeks, we will learn about the kings of Israel. Some of them served well for a time. But what God warned the people about through Samuel did come true. It wasn’t long before the kings required more than they delivered; they took more than they gave. Having a king wasn’t as great as the people expected.
We in the United States have no king of our country. The crown was offered to George Washington after the American colonies won the Revolutionary War, but in humility, Washington rejected it. He served as president for two terms and then peacefully stepped aside. We have no king of our country, but we do have a King in the church. This is not the pope. He may be the head of the Roman Church, but he has no divine authority in the holy Christian Church.
The King of our church is no mortal man whose reign is temporary. The King of our church is the crucified and risen Christ, who reigns over all things at the right hand of His Father in heaven. He left the glories of heaven to take on our human flesh and humbly suffer and die in our place. He hardly looked like a king, except to those who looked upon Him with faith. The thief hanging next to Jesus on the cross was one of these. When He looked at the anguished, bleeding Christ with a crown of thorns on His head, He saw a King who even had power over death. He said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luk. 23:42).
Now, beginning with His victory march through hell and His resurrection from the dead, Jesus is exalted. Now He always and fully uses His divine power as God and Man. As our King, Jesus rules over a three-fold kingdom. He rules with power over the whole universe. He rules with grace in His holy Church. And He rules with glory in heaven. Ephesians 1 tells us that God the Father “raised [Christ] from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places…. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (vv. 20,22-23).
This passage describes our connection to Christ in the closest terms: He is our Head, and we are members of His body. We live in Him, move in Him, and have our being in Him (Act. 17:28). There is no life apart from Him. He gives us our spiritual health and strength. He makes us fruitful members that desire to do good to the glory of God. He also prepares us to follow Him to heaven, to go where He has gone. One of today’s hymns says, “For where the Head is, there full well / I know His members are to dwell / When Christ shall come and call them” (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #392, v. 1).
Our King does not use His power and authority to boss us around or take things from us. He was not like the Israelite kings that Samuel warned the people about. Jesus does the opposite. He uses His power and authority to bless us by His grace. Ephesians 4 says, “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men’” (vv. 7-8).
The “host of captives” includes you and me. We were captive to sin and death by nature. The devil, the prince of demons and darkness, ruled over us. But Jesus broke us out of this prison. The devil, the unbelieving world, and death tried to stop Him, but there was nothing they could do. Our King was too powerful for them. His victory was complete.
He shares this victory with all who trust in Him. “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” The gifts He gives to us are the gifts of eternal salvation. He forgives our sins; He covers us in His righteousness; He has prepared a place for us in His kingdom. We couldn’t have it better than we have it with our King.
But like the Israelites who wanted to be like the nations around them, we often look for more than what Jesus gives us. We want to have power and success and prosperity now. We want to enjoy the good things of here. These things seem real to us, unlike the invisible gifts from an invisible King, who promises us a place in a heavenly kingdom we have never seen. And yet we never get as much from the world as we hope we might. We find that despite its promises and seeming advantages, the world takes more from us than it gives.
Only the grace of God prevails. Only the grace of God gives us what cannot be taken away. Jesus’ ascension into heaven was the crowning moment of His saving work. It was the ultimate recognition that He had accomplished everything His Father sent Him to do. No sin was left unpaid for. No accusation of the devil left unaddressed. No chain of death left unbroken. Everything for salvation was carried out, completed, finished—for you and every sinner.
Our King now sits at the right hand of God the Father dispensing these gifts of His grace. Every day, He hands them out to you, to me, and to all His people all over the world. He never runs out. In fact, He always has grace for more, more who will join Him in His kingdom. This grace comes through the means or channels He has established for giving His gifts. He calls pastors to speak His Word, baptize, and administer His Supper. The pastor is not the King; he is just the courier or the messenger. He only passes on what Jesus has given to His Church.
The Church receives these gifts with joy. We know who our King is, we know what He has done for us, and we know He is preparing us for even greater things when He returns in glory.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from painting by John Singleton Copley, 1775)
Good Friday – Pr. Faugstad homily
Text: St. Luke 23:39-43
At first, both the criminals crucified with Jesus reviled Him (Mat. 27:44, Mar. 15:32). They joined their voices with the chief priests, scribes, elders, soldiers, and passers-by in attacking Jesus with ugly, blasphemous words. The verbal assault came from all around Him. “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Mat. 27:40). “He saved others,” they said mockingly; “he cannot save himself…. [L]et him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him” (v. 42).
These piercing, biting words had a common source. The devil was behind them. When Jesus began His public work, the devil was there tempting Him, attacking Him. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, over and over again (Mat. 4:3,6). And why shouldn’t Jesus make bread out of stones and jump down safely from the top of the temple? Why shouldn’t He come down from the cross and show all those scoffers who He really was?
Because then He would have become something He wasn’t. Then He would have chosen the world’s way instead of God’s way. If He had come down from the cross, He might have gained the world’s glory, but He would have forfeited our souls. He had to be on that cross, He had to stay on that cross, so that His blood would ransom us from our slavery to sin, so that His death would satisfy the holy wrath of God.
“Are You not the Christ?” said one of the criminals, “Save Yourself and us!” He said, “save us,” but he wasn’t talking about his soul. He just wanted to escape death. He wanted to escape the consequences for his wrongdoing without actually changing his behavior. He expressed no remorse for his sins. He probably blamed everyone else for his bad situation because that is what unbelievers do. They refuse to listen to the holy Law of God which condemns every one of us equally.
But the Law did its work on the heart of the other criminal. Hanging there on the cross, knowing death was fast approaching, he thought about his many sins. He deserved this torment, just as the other criminal did. But not Jesus. So when he heard his fellow criminal yelling at Jesus and treating Jesus as though He were like them, he had to respond. “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”
Those are faithful and true words, “this Man has done nothing wrong.” Jesus was perfectly innocent. He was the only innocent man at the scene—the only innocent man in the whole world. He was entirely holy, not a bad bone in His body. So why was He nailed to a cross to die? The criminal next to Him knew: Jesus was suffering for him. The innocent Man had taken on the sin of the guilty. The world’s Savior was hanging next to him.
In all humility this criminal said to Him, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” But why should He? Why should Jesus remember this man whose sins He was currently suffering for? Why should He remember any of us who have broken God’s holy Law again and again? The answer is because He loves us. This is what the Son of God took on human flesh to do. He knew it would culminate in the cross. He knew what terrible torments and agonies were coming to Him. And He still went forward.
He went forward for the criminals hanging next to Him on their crosses, for the passers-by, soldiers, elders, scribes, and chief priests who mocked Him. He went forward for you and me and every sinner. He willingly accepted the wrath of God and the fires of hell for all your sins. He took your place, so you would be clothed in His righteousness and made an heir of His kingdom. The criminal, in faith, expected nothing less, and Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
The promise could not have been more at odds with the present reality. The three men gasped for breath on blood-stained crosses with smug spectators gathered around them. “Truly,” Jesus said to him, “today with Me… today in Paradise.” And even as the criminal’s suffering intensified, even as his breathing became shallower, even as he perhaps watched the soldiers break the legs of his companion and then come his way, the criminal repeated those words, “Today with Jesus… today in Paradise.”
What happened next? You, dear fellow redeemed, will experience it yourself. When your breathing becomes shallow, and your death approaches, you will cling to the same promise: “Today with Jesus… today in Paradise.” Jesus’ death in your place secured that for you. He forgives you all your selfish choices, all your unfaithfulness, all your attempts to deflect the blame for your sins. His holy blood cleanses you of all your sin (1Jo. 1:7).
One day, you will get to meet that criminal. You will get to see him pain-free and at peace. You will get to hear how his ugly words of reviling were exchanged for a beautiful song of praise, and you will join him in that song to the living Lord Jesus—in Paradise.
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(picture from “The Crucifixion” by Giambattista Tiepolo [1696-1770] at the Saint Louis Art Museum)
Maundy Thursday – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Numbers 9:1-14
In Christ Jesus, the perfect Passover Lamb, whose holy blood cleanses us from all sin, dear fellow redeemed:
When the LORD was about to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, He gave Moses instructions for the Passover meal—the male lamb without blemish, killed at twilight, roasted whole over the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs on the side. Because they had put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their homes, the angel of God passed over their homes, and their firstborn sons were spared. The same was not true for the homes without blood as death came to every Egyptian home.
The Israelites quickly gathered their belongings and marched out of Egypt, no longer enslaved. The Passover was the defining event in their deliverance. It ushered in a new era for the people. The LORD told the people, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you” (Exo. 12:2). And every year on the fourteenth day of the first month, the people were to remember the Passover and “keep it as a feast to the LORD” (v. 14). When they observed it, they were to tell and teach their children, “It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses” (v. 27).
It had been an eventful year since the Israelites left Egypt. They had been saved from Pharaoh’s army by passing through the Red Sea. They had received God’s holy Law at Mount Sinai. The tabernacle had been constructed, where God made His presence known through a cloud. And now it was time to partake of the Passover meal again—on the fourteenth day of the first month.
But some of the men brought a problem to Moses. They told him they were unclean according to God’s Law because they had to take care of a dead body. So they were unable to observe the Passover even though they wanted to. They asked Moses what they should do. Moses asked the LORD, and the LORD gave a special provision for the Passover. He said that if any were unclean from touching a dead body, or if they were on a long journey at the time of the Passover, they could observe the Passover exactly one month later, on the fourteenth day of the second month.
But this only applied in special cases; it was not to be done for convenience’ sake or because a person preferred to wait. Such disregard for the LORD’s Passover required that the offending individual be “cut off from his people”; in other words, that he be cast out or excommunicated from the Israelite congregation. The Passover observance was not optional. It had to be done in remembrance of what the LORD had done for them.
There was also a forward-looking aspect of the Passover. Every year that the people observed it, they were reminded that the LORD had delivered them from slavery and death in Egypt by the blood of the lamb. But in the future, He would deliver them from something much greater. That lamb without blemish was a type or picture of the sinless Son of God, who would take on human flesh to deliver all people from our slavery to sin and death.
This is the week that the Lamb of God made His way toward the altar of sacrifice, toward His crucifixion on Calvary. The night of His betrayal and arrest, He reclined at table with His disciples to partake of the Passover. He said, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (Luk. 22:15-16). Jesus was the Passover’s fulfillment. He was the spotless Lamb that took away the sin of the world on the cross.
Since He was its fulfillment, the observance of the Passover was no longer required. Now Jesus instituted a “new testament” to replace the old. He took unleavened bread from the Passover meal, “and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’” Then He took the cup of blessing filled with wine and said, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood” (vv. 19,20).
Just as the LORD directed the people of Israel to observe the Passover “in remembrance” of what He had done for them, so now Jesus tells His followers to eat His body and drink His blood “in remembrance” of Him. But is the Lord’s Supper required in the same way as the Passover was? In other words, can we as Christians choose not to partake of the Supper? And if so, how long can we go without it?
It is true that Jesus did not mandate how often to receive Holy Communion. He just said, “do this.” So perhaps we should ask what might keep a Christian from not doing this. Like the Israelite men who were unclean from working with a dead body, the death of a loved one or a personal illness or injury could keep us from attending the Divine Service for a time. Or if we were “on a long journey” like the LORD spoke of with the Passover, perhaps we would not be able to receive the Lord’s body and blood for a while.
But if we are in fair health, and we are able to attend church, or we are able to receive a pastoral visit in our home, then why would we not want to receive Jesus’ body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins? Our Catechism asks the question, “Do those who neglect the Lord’s Supper commit a sin?” The answer is “yes” with this explanation. They sin first of all against “the Lord, whom they insult by treating His gifts as unimportant,” second of all against “themselves, whom they deprive of great blessings,” and finally against “the believers, whose fellowship they neglect” (ELS Explanation, 2023 edition, p. 252). Whether or not we partake of the Lord’s Supper is no unimportant matter.
It can happen, though, that a child of God is struggling. He carries a burden of guilt because of a sin done long ago or not so long ago. Perhaps he is still stuck in the sin. He wants to stop, he is sorry for it, but he doesn’t have the strength. Or maybe someone is hurting from harm done to her by another. She knows she should forgive, but she can’t get rid of the anger. Sometimes people in these situations stay away from the Lord’s Supper because they don’t feel worthy enough to receive it.
To such as these, Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat. 11:28). “But Jesus, I have sinned!” we say, “I’m not worthy to come to Your table!” And Jesus replies, “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (Joh. 6:37). His Supper is for sinners. If you recognize your sin and are sorry for it, His Supper is for you. He gave His body on the cross and shed His blood in payment for your sins, and now gives you the same holy body and cleansing blood for your comfort and strength.
Partaking of the Lord’s Supper is not a time for going through the motions. The Israelites were to observe the Passover each year remembering what the LORD had done and continued to do for them. We also partake of the Sacrament remembering what Jesus has done and continues to do for us. This is no place for our unrepentance, our sinful smugness and stubbornness, our pride, our self-righteousness. This is the place for broken and contrite hearts, for humble faith, for thankfulness.
We come forward remembering who Jesus is, the true Son of God and Son of Man. We remember what He has done, given Himself and shed His blood to redeem us from our sin and death. We remember our ongoing need for His forgiveness because of our many sins. And we remember His promise to be with us always here and to return again on the last day to take us to be with Him.
Just as the Israelites observed the Passover to God’s glory, so we observe the Lord’s Supper to His glory. “For as often as [we] eat this bread and drink the cup, [we] proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1Co. 11:26). Amen.
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(painting of the Last Supper by Simon Ushakov, 1685)
The Presentation of Our Lord – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Genesis 37:17-36
In Christ Jesus, who was sold for a small sum of money and returned the deposit with the payment of His holy, precious blood, dear fellow redeemed:
When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem at forty days old, He looked like any other baby. In fact, with so many coming and going from the temple, I expect that hardly anyone noticed or paid attention to this family. But what a monumental moment this was! The God who descended on the most holy place of the temple in a cloud, was now carried through the temple courtyard as a little baby in His mother’s arms. He whom the sea and wind obey had come to serve us sinners in great meekness (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, #161, v. 2).
Only those to whom this mystery was revealed could see this baby for who He was. Simeon was one of these. The Holy Spirit led him to the temple just before Mary, Joseph, and Jesus arrived. While everyone else just saw a baby, Simeon saw salvation. Praising God, he declared, here is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (Luk. 2:32). Here is the Savior of the whole world!
But it would be a while before His identity as the Savior would become widely known. For the vast majority of His earthly life, Jesus toiled away in Nazareth, serving His earthly parents, living a mostly unremarkable life—at least in the view of the people around Him. This changed when He was about thirty years old. At that time, He was anointed as the Christ at His Baptism in the Jordan River and began teaching and performing miracles.
Even then, many had their doubts about Him. Jesus heard it all: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (Joh. 1:46). “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” (Joh. 8:48). “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Mat. 27:40). None of it stopped Jesus from doing the work His heavenly Father gave Him to do—fulfilling all righteousness according to the Law, paying for all sin on the cross, and rising in victory over death.
Joseph, the son of Jacob, had a similar journey from obscurity and hardship to victory and glory. Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob because he was born from Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel. Jacob showed this favor by giving Joseph a special garment, “a robe of many colors” (Gen. 37:3). This caused Joseph’s brothers to be jealous of him and hateful towards him. Joseph was the twelfth child of Jacob and his eleventh son, so why should he be favored? Joseph didn’t help his cause when he tattled on his brothers and got them in trouble with their father.
They hated him still more when he told them some strange dreams he had. In the first dream, he and his brothers were binding sheaves in the field, and their sheaves bowed down to his. “Are you indeed to rule over us?” they said (Gen. 37:8). He dreamed again, and this time, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to him. When his father heard this, he rebuked Joseph, “Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” (v. 10).
This is why his brothers plotted evil against him when they saw him coming at a distance. “Here comes this dreamer,” they said. “Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” As terrible as this is, I think each one of us here can relate to wanting harm to come on someone. Maybe you were in a physical fight with a family member, and in your anger, you wanted to hurt them badly. Or you had a verbal altercation with someone, and you wanted to wound them deeply with words. Or you wished in your heart that someone you hated would die.
These are Fifth Commandment sins, “You shall not murder.” This Commandment includes all bodily harm done to others. It also includes our thoughts of anger and hatred, as the Apostle John writes, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1Jo. 3:15). For Joseph’s brothers, it was just a short step from the hatred they felt toward him to the desire to kill him, which shows how important it is to address our sinful thoughts before they turn into sinful actions. James 1:15 outlines this progression, “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
Joseph did not know what he was walking into. He had gone at the direction of his father to visit his brothers as they pastured the flocks. Maybe he hoped this could be a time to patch things up with his brothers and become friends. Instead they grabbed him and tossed him into an empty pit. Reuben, the oldest, had plans to return and set him free. But before he could do this, the others saw a caravan of traders coming by. They decided it was better to sell their brother as a slave than kill him and receive nothing.
So that’s what they did. They sold him to the Ishmaelites, who were relatives of theirs through Abraham’s son Ishmael. Today’s reading doesn’t provide the details of Joseph’s reaction to their terrible deeds. But later the brothers recounted seeing the distress of Joseph’s soul, when he begged them to have mercy, and they did not listen (Gen. 42:21). Those were some hard hearts. Can you imagine selling your sibling or your child as a slave?
Joseph’s brothers sold him for twenty shekels of silver. This was the price of their betrayal as brothers. This was how little they thought of their father and the crushing grief this would bring on him. Twenty shekels to be rid of “this dreamer.” Twenty shekels to move him out of the way and increase their own inheritance from their father. This is one example of the harm that the love of money does. St. Paul wrote in his First Letter to Timothy, “those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction” (1Ti. 6:9).
Many years after Joseph’s brothers sold him for money, Judas Iscariot did the same to his Lord Jesus. The Gospel of John lets us in on a secret about Judas that “he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it” (Joh. 12:6). When Jesus’ enemies were looking for an opportunity to arrest Him, Judas saw an opportunity for more money. “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” he asked. “And they paid him thirty pieces of silver” (Mat. 26:15).
We can see many parallels between Joseph and Jesus:
- Joseph was the beloved son of his father; Jesus was the beloved Son of God.
- Joseph was faithful to God’s Law and obedient to his father; Jesus perfectly kept the Law in obedience to His Father’s will.
- Joseph was hated by his brothers; Jesus was hated by His fellow Jews.
- Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver; Jesus was sold for thirty.
- Joseph was handed over to Gentiles who mistreated him; Jesus was mocked, beaten, and crucified by Gentile soldiers.
- Joseph was seventeen years old when he was sold as a slave and was not elevated to the throne until he was about thirty; Jesus died on the cross and rose in victory around the same age.
The Egyptians did not know what they were getting when a young Hebrew slave was brought to their land. They did not know that this man would save them when great troubles fell on the land. So it was with Jesus. Only the faithful recognized Him for who He was as a baby and later as a man. He did not look like the Savior of the world. He did not look like the Conqueror of sin, death, and devil. Still today, many think that Jesus was nothing more than a good teacher or perhaps a social activist.
You have been taught otherwise by the Holy Spirit. You see not as the world sees. You know who Jesus is. He is the perfect Son of God who took on flesh to save you. He did not hate those who hated Him, including you and me in our unbelief. He loved us. He came to offer the full payment for all sin, not with anything perishable like silver or gold. He offered His own precious blood (1Pe. 1:18-19). His blood washes away the stain of sin that others have put on us and that we have put on others, so that we don’t need to hold on to our anger and hatred any longer. We forgive as He has forgiven us.
We also see how God works all things for good. He even used the wicked thoughts and actions of Joseph’s brothers to make it so that Joseph would be in a position later on to save them, and with them, the promise of the Savior from their line. God sent Joseph to be A Light for Gentiles and Israelites, so that Jesus would be an even greater light some 2,000 years down the road.
The light of Christ’s salvation still shines upon us now through His Word and Sacraments. That is why in our liturgy we still join Simeon in singing, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (Luk. 2:29-32).
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture of the Presentation of Jesus from St. Michael Cathedral, Toronto)
Thanksgiving – Pr. Faugstad homily
Text: Genesis 1:26-31
In Christ Jesus, who is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, [who] upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3), dear fellow redeemed:
The book of Genesis does not start like we might expect. It does not begin with an explanation of who God is or why He decided to make things. It just tells us in a very concise way how God created time, space, and matter. “In the beginning [time], God created the heavens [space] and the earth [matter].” Then we see how God ordered the universe and everything in it. Every detail led up to the crowning moment, the greatest part, of His creation which we hear about in today’s reading—the creation of man.
Can you see how marvelous and exalted this creation is? In the council within the Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in perfect communion—God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.” The pronouns are plural because God is triune, three Persons in one. God did not say about the water, the trees, or the planets, “Let us make them in Our image.” And He did not say it about the fish, the birds, the land animals, or even the angels. He said it about mankind, and only mankind.
Man is made in the image of God. That does not refer to physical characteristics because God is spirit. We do not look like God, though God made Himself look like us when the Son took on our flesh to save us. The image of God is the special imprint of holiness from God, true knowledge, goodness, love, wisdom, peace. Adam and Eve had these things perfectly. They had everything that is good. They lacked nothing. They enjoyed every second of their existence.
Their existence in the beginning is like nothing we can comprehend. The light was brighter, the food more delicious. They were surrounded by beauty and harmony and sound like our eyes have never seen and our ears have never heard. They had “dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” This was not an authority to harm; it was authority to care for and keep and enjoy all the wonderful parts of God’s creation.
It was a creation full of life, and that life would only increase. “Be fruitful and multiply,” God said, “and fill the earth and subdue it.” No creature knew what death was because nothing died. All animals ate plants. God gave the produce of every plant and tree to man, including the most special tree in all creation, the tree of life. We don’t know what life tastes like, but Adam and Eve did. They smelled and saw and tasted life to the full because life is all there was.
But then they decided that they wanted more. They knew good perfectly, but what if there was somehow a higher good? “Eat this fruit,” said the serpent, and “your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). They did what he said. They chose the words of the deceiver over the holy words of their Creator. This horrible, disobedient act plunged all creation into the sadness and suffering of sin.
It does us no good to be mad at them. There is no going back in this life. What they did, we inherited, which makes us just as guilty as they are. We cannot go back and undo what has been done, either by Adam and Eve or by us in our sin. The power of salvation is not in us, but it is in God. And the LORD says to us, “Come now, let us reason together… though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isa. 1:18).
Our sins are blotted out because the Son of God became man and shed holy blood to take them all away. We can’t go back to atone for our sins, but Jesus could. God reached back to the beginning of time and gathered up the sin of Adam and Eve, their children, and their children’s children. He swept up all the sin from the past up to the present. And then He reached forward and gathered up all sins that hadn’t even been committed yet, including our sins.
All the sins of the world, past, present, and future, God imputed to His perfect Son. He did it for our sake. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Co. 5:21). What the first Adam lost, the second Adam, Jesus, restored. The wrath of God that we deserved, Jesus satisfied. The image of God that we gave up was placed on us again when the Holy Spirit brought us to faith. “Therefore,” writes St. Paul, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2Co. 5:17).
A new creation in Christ. And that means we focus not so much on what we lost in the fall, but on the blessings that are ours right now, and the joys we will have with God in heaven. Even though everything in the world is tainted by sin, there is so much beauty to enjoy in God’s creation. We can look at one tiny piece of what He made and never understand the full scope of its wonder and complexity. So much of His majesty still shines through.
Still, mankind is the crown of God’s creation, though the image of God is not perfectly restored to us in this life. Still, we have dominion over all creation and receive blessings from it every day. Still, God gives the gift of procreation, so that we enjoy family and home. Still, God causes plants to grow, so all creation is sustained and fed. God’s creation is still “very good” because God is very good.
And He has far more in store for us than the blessings we have in this life. A place for us has been prepared in His Paradise above. There we will enjoy the image of God just as Adam and Eve had it. There we will eat from “the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit” (Rev. 22:2). There we will see and hear and taste and experience what cannot even be imagined here.
Why does God give you all these good things? We just confessed it in the First Article: “purely out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.” And how do we respond to His gifts? “For all which I am in duty bound to thank and praise, to serve and obey Him.” What a blessing and a privilege to be able “to thank and praise, to serve and obey” our mighty God, the Maker of heaven and earth, and our merciful Savior.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from Saude Lutheran Church stained glass)
The Festival of the Reformation – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Romans 3:19-28
In Christ Jesus, who promises that everyone who acknowledges Him before men, He also will acknowledge before His Father in heaven (Mat. 10:32), dear fellow redeemed:
We have all had the experience of trying to get ourselves out of trouble, but the more we say, the worse it gets. Maybe you broke something in the house, but instead of apologizing to your parents, you tried to pin the blame on a sibling. Or maybe you got pulled over, and your excuses for why you were speeding just made the situation worse. We are not always good at knowing when to speak and when to keep our mouths shut.
The same can be true in our spiritual life. We sometimes speak when we should be silent, and we are sometimes silent when we should speak. Today’s reading addresses both of these things. Just before our reading, St. Paul quoted from the Book of Psalms where it says, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God…. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive…. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness” (3:10-11,13,14). Paul is citing God’s Law which applies to all sinners, to every single one of us.
When we hear God’s Law, we have nothing to say in response because we have failed to do what God commands us. But that doesn’t stop us from trying to sidestep responsibility for our sins. One of the hardest things for us to do is acknowledge that we have done wrong. We always want to make an excuse for why we did what we did or said what we said, excuses like:
- “He started it!”
- “If she had done what she said she would, this wouldn’t have happened!”
- “I didn’t mean to cause any harm—they’re just too sensitive!”
- “This is just how I am; I can’t help it!”
These are all statements of self-righteousness. Instead of admitting our sin and asking for forgiveness, we argue and try to pass the blame. But God’s Law does not budge. No matter how much we try to justify our actions or words, sin is sin. James 4 says, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (v. 17). God’s Law does not change with the times. Misusing God’s name was a sin from the beginning, and it is still a sin. Sexual immorality is still a sin. Lying is still a sin.
We can’t talk ourselves out of the judgment of the Law. One of our hymns says it like this: “What God doth in His law demand / No man to Him could render. / Before this Judge all guilty stand; / His law speaks curse in thunder. / The law demands a perfect heart; / We were defiled in ev’ry part, / And lost was our condition” (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #227, v. 2). This is what today’s reading teaches us. Paul writes, “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.”
He says that before the Law, every mouth is stopped. We must go silent—“zip the lip!” We have no argument to make for our righteousness. God commanded us to be perfect, and we have sinned again and again, falling far short of the glory of God. There is nothing we can do to earn our way or work our way back into God’s favor. “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight.” The verdict is clear. No matter how hard we try, we have failed. We cannot save ourselves.
Then why is it that so many Christians today think that salvation depends somehow on what they do? Though most Christians admit they are sinful, Lutherans stand mostly alone in our teaching that there is nothing we can do to make ourselves right with God or get ourselves connected to Him. This has been the consistent teaching of the Lutheran Church since the time of the Reformation, and we believe it to be the historic teaching of Christ’s Church from the time of the apostles as today’s reading shows.
Martin Luther took criticism from all sides for his teaching that we are saved not by our works but only by God’s grace in Christ who perfectly kept the law for us and died to pay for our sins. The Roman Catholic theologians said that if our works are not part of salvation, then what’s to stop Christians from embracing sin if they are saved by grace alone? It must be that our works contribute in some way toward our salvation. Luther replied that good works are fruits of faith that every Christian does and should do, but it is faith in Jesus alone that saves.
The Reformed theologians told Luther that he wasn’t going far enough. He had to get rid of the empty, outward trappings of the Roman Church, such as the Sacraments. What matters, they said, is that we dedicate ourselves to God from the heart and strive to live for Him. Luther replied that if we remove the means that God has given for the formation and strengthening of our faith, we will become self-righteous Pharisees, or we will despair because we are unable to do what we have promised.
Luther’s opponents wanted him to say that we are responsible—at least in some way—for our salvation. It sounded very reasonable. Many in previous generations had taught exactly this. Luther was in a difficult spot. He could have opened his mouth and worked up some kind of compromise to try to keep everyone together. He could have aimed for personal glory and a prominent position in the church.
But he would not go against God’s Word. Standing before one of the most powerful rulers of his time, Luther refused to take back what he had written and taught. “My conscience is captive to the Word of God,” he said. “Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me.” Luther knew when to be silent. He had to answer to God. He would not compromise the Word of God for the sake of peace in the Church.
This is what we celebrate on Reformation Day—not so much the man since Luther was a sinner like we are. But we celebrate his faithful confession of the truth and his faithful teaching of salvation by grace alone. On the back of your bulletin, I have included a picture from the altarpiece in Wittenberg, Germany, where Luther lived. This altar painting was dedicated in 1547, one year after Luther died. It shows him preaching to the parishioners of Wittenberg. But if the picture were bigger, you could see that Luther’s mouth is closed. He is preaching by pointing.
This painting emphasizes that Luther’s work was not about him or any unique message he came up with. He preached Christ crucified like Paul and the other apostles did. It’s all about Jesus. We do not open our mouths to boast about our own good works. We do these good things quietly, for the benefit of our neighbor and for the glory of God. When we are tempted to boast or when people encourage us to be prideful, we do what the tax collector in the temple did. We humbly bow our heads and pray, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luk. 18:13). That kind of silence about our own good works speaks volumes.
We have nothing to boast about in ourselves. But we do boast about Jesus. We boast about the salvation He won for us, not because we deserve it but because He is merciful and gracious. We deserve eternal punishment in hell. The Law condemns us. We have sinned. But God sent His Son to save us. He put Him forward “as a propitiation by His blood,” as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. The holy blood that Jesus shed washes all our sin away. It washes away the sins that make us feel guilty and the imperfect works that make us feel prideful. His blood cleanses us from the many ways we have broken the perfect Law of God.
His blood was the price He paid to redeem us, to purchase us so that we might be His own. His Father accepted this payment which is why we are justified before God, declared innocent, “not guilty.” We are “justified by His grace as a gift.” The righteousness we need to stand before God does not come from us. It comes to us as a gift from God, a gift received by faith. Even our faith is a gift, worked inside us by the Holy Spirit through the Word and Sacraments.
This is why it is right for Paul to say in the same place that we are “justified by His grace” and “justified by faith.” It all points to Jesus. We are saved by what He did, what He accomplished, what He set out to do and finished. We will be silent about our own works which could never save us. But we will not be silent about His works which He offered as a perfect sacrifice to the Father for our redemption.
This is what Paul taught in his inspired Epistles. This is what Luther taught at the time of the Reformation. This is what we still teach by the grace of God and what we pray will be taught to generations to come. Where God calls us through His Word to be silent, we will be silent, and where He calls us to speak, we will speak—all to His glory alone.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from Wittenberg altarpiece painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder and Younger, 1547)