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)
The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Revelation 12:7-12
In Christ Jesus, who wore a crown of thorns and yet remained the King of heaven and earth, who carried His own cross and yet commands the angels, who felt the flames of hell and yet quenched the devil’s fire, who died, rose victorious, and lives forevermore, dear fellow redeemed:
The Old Testament book of Job describes Satan as being in a place we wouldn’t expect him. It says that when the holy angels presented themselves before the LORD at His heavenly throne, Satan came among them. The LORD did not immediately throw him out. He asked if Satan had considered His faithful servant Job, “who fears God and turns away from evil.” Satan replied that it is no surprise Job was so faithful since God blessed everything he did. “But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has,” said the devil, “and he will curse you to your face” (1:6-11).
God allowed Satan to destroy all that Job had. But even with this tremendous loss, Job did not curse God. So Satan came before the LORD again and said, “stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face” (2:5). God allowed the devil to do this as well, and the devil struck Job with terrible sores. Satan would not give up. He would stop at nothing to try to turn Job against his Creator.
This account reveals that Satan had surprising access to God even after rebelling against Him. We can picture it like a courtroom. God the Father sits in the Judge’s seat. Satan is the prosecuting attorney lobbing charge after charge at the accused. Ten jurors sit over on the side listening carefully and nodding their heads. And who is on the stand? The sinner.
That sinner is you; he is me. And how does the devil try to accuse us? This is how nasty the devil is. He tempts us to commit sins, and then he points an accusing finger at us when we sin. “How could God love you? You’re just a liar, just a cheat! You have loved yourself but hardly your neighbor! All you care about is being popular, influential, and rich! How can you expect to go to heaven? You have failed in every way! You are guilty! You deserve death!”
The ten jurors are the Ten Commandments, and they agree with the accusations. We have not loved the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves (Mat. 22:37-39). We will get no help from the Law. None of our works can get us off the hook because all of our works are imperfect.
It looks like an open and shut case. We bury our face in our hands. The devil looks confident. There is a smirk on his face. “Another one goes down,” he says to himself. “I’m still on top!” But the Judge hasn’t ruled yet. There is still more to be said for the accused sinner. There is more evidence to be logged in the public record. The smirk on the devil’s face begins to fade and then goes away. What has he missed?
The door to the courtroom opens. Who should enter but a Lamb looking “as though it had been slain” (Rev. 5:6)? The gallery erupts with cries of astonishment. The devil’s eyes get big. He looks at the same time like he wants to crawl under a rock and like he wants to destroy all living things. The Lamb comes forward slowly and purposefully and says, “State the charges again.” The devil gathers himself and launches into a tirade against the accused, listing wrong after wrong after wrong.
But after each accusation, the Lamb replies, “Objection! That sin was paid for… and that one… and that one.” The Judge does not overrule Him. What the Lamb says is true. He has the marks to prove it. This Lamb is the Sacrifice, the One once dead but now living. This is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Joh. 1:29). This Lamb—the Son of God incarnate—took away your sin. He canceled all the debt you owed to God. He made the vomit of accusations from the devil’s mouth stop cold by stomping on the devil’s ugly head.
The deflated and desperate devil had no leg to stand on, but he wasn’t about to go down quietly. This is where our sermon text picks up from the book of Revelation, chapter twelve, beginning at verse seven:
“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
“And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
The great dragon, the old evil foe, was thrown down, along with all the evil angels. These had rebelled against God shortly after they were created. They refused to obey His will. They refused to serve Him. And now they were cast out of heaven and away from His presence once and for all. Now the devil can no longer accuse God’s people “day and night” in the heavenly courtroom.
He was conquered “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” The blood of Jesus washes away all sin. Sin does not stick to you and me anymore because God the Father put all our sin on His Son. He was judged in our place. He took our punishment and was sentenced to eternal death in hell for us. This Gospel proclamation is the cause of the devil’s continued frustration. He cannot stand against the Gospel since the Gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16).
We are acquitted and righteous before God. We are justified by His grace, declared “not guilty!” But that does not mean our troubles are over. That does not mean we have tangled with the devil for the last time. He was cast out of heaven, but he landed on his feet on earth. The voice from heaven that announced the devil’s defeat also said, “woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
The devil has been defeated, but that does not mean he has given up. He knows now that he can never knock God off His throne. What drives his evil heart is trying to pull more souls with him into eternal damnation. He does this by tempting each one of us in our own unique ways. He might tempt us with bitterness or anger or lust or greed or pride or selfishness or complacency. He has innumerable tools at his disposal. Like we see in the account of Job, the devil will never give up until he has utterly ruined us.
The Lord’s apostle Peter said, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith” (1Pe. 5:8-9). The devil is a formidable opponent. We cannot stand against him alone by relying on our own power or on the strength of our own will. But we can resist him by the power of God the Holy Spirit. As we listen to and study the Word of God and faithfully receive His Sacraments, the Holy Spirit fortifies us and strengthens us. He makes us sober-minded, alert, and watchful for the devil’s attacks. He increases our faith, so that our eyes are constantly fixed on our Champion Jesus who destroyed the works of the devil by His death (1Jo. 3:8) and who still fights for us.
Our faithful Lord also dispatches His holy angels to guard us and defend us. Psalm 91 says, “he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (v. 11). Psalm 103 describes God’s angels as “mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word” (v. 20). Today’s Gospel reading tells us that even the littlest among us have angels watching over them, angels constantly looking upon the face of God and taking His direction (Mat. 18:10).
We are well-protected against the devil’s attacks. As formidable as Satan is and as much as he still tries to accuse us, our Lord Jesus with His holy angels defends us. The Lamb with the marks of His crucifixion stands against the great dragon, and the dragon must slither away. The blood of the Lamb poured out for all people means that you and I are cleansed of all our sins. The devil and demons know it, the holy angels know it, and God wants you to know it and never forget it.
One of the things that the voice from heaven said about the saints, about the holy followers of Jesus, is that “they loved not their lives even unto death.” They did not love their life on the earth with all its treasures and pleasures. They did not place all their hope in what they could get here. That is just what the devil wants and how he so often succeeds. But no, they loved the Lamb who died and rose again for their salvation. And they loved His holy Word which testifies to His victory.
God grant each of us such an enduring faith, a faith that holds fast to the Lord Jesus and His saving blood, a faith that leads us confidently before God’s throne of grace, a faith that makes all the holy angels rejoice with exceeding joy.
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 by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
Mission Festival/Bethany Sunday – Prof. Mark DeGarmeaux sermon
Text: Psalm 118:15-17
“Dear Christians, one and all—Rejoice!” That hymn was written by Martin Luther 500 years ago and printed in the first Lutheran hymnbook, along with 7 others. It is based on the text of Psalm 118. Luther also wrote a little musical piece based on these verses: “I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord.”
The last part of that verse really tells us the purpose and mission of the church: to proclaim the wonderful works of God. The most wonderful work of God is forgiveness and salvation, purchased through the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, shed on the cross. The crowds of Pentecost heard the Apostles preaching in many languages. They said: “We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” John wrote in his Gospel: “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
Our text is from Psalm 118. The Jewish people sang this psalm as they travelled up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. Think of what that means. The first Passover happened when the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt. God was sending the Tenth Plague upon Egypt, killing every firstborn. — Imagine if we lost every firstborn animal in Iowa. It would be devastating. If we lost every firstborn human, it would be unthinkable. — Through faith, the Israelites were spared, when they sacrificed the Passover Lamb and painted its blood on the doorposts of their house.
This commemoration continued through the centuries. When Jesus was 12 years old, His family travelled to Jerusalem for this festival of Passover. Young Jesus stayed behind and discussed the Scriptures with the teachers of the synagogue. They were “astonished at His understanding and answers.” When Mary and Joseph found Him, three days later, He said: “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” Jesus’ business is the business of the Temple; it is the Word of God. Mary and Joseph taught Jesus the Word of God as He was growing up. Jesus knew these words of Scripture were about Him and His work of salvation. He is true God and has all knowledge and all authority in heaven and on earth, but as a child, He submits to His earthly parents to obey them and learn from them.
Each time they travelled to Jerusalem, they sang these words, and Jesus sang with them: “Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.” He knew that one day, He would be that Passover lamb slaughtered to redeem not only the firstborn of Israel, but the whole world. He would carry all our sins.
Some 20 years later, Jesus entered Jerusalem again on Palm Sunday. He heard the people singing these words from Psalm 118: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
The Psalm also includes these joyful words: “The voice of rejoicing and salvation Is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted; The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”
Dear Christians—one and all—rejoice! We come to church to rejoice in the work of God and to thank Him for His victory over sin, death, and Satan. “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.” That’s why we can rejoice. Jesus does the work of His Father. He lives a sinless and perfect life—because we cannot. He offers Himself as the sacrifice—to pay for our sins. This is “the work of the Lord, the wondrous work of God” which we hear in this Psalm, and at Pentecost, and whenever we gather together in church.
We sing: Lord have mercy — in thanks and adoration to God who is merciful. With the angels we sing “All glory be to God on high who hath our race befriended.” We praise the newborn Christ as our Savior. We say: I believe in God the Father, in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit. This Holy Triune God is our Maker, Redeemer, and Comforter. Without Him we cannot live or move or have our being.
What wondrous works He does! He created the whole world. We teach this to our children. We continue to learn it and confess it throughout our life. God is our Maker. We marvel at His creation, at seedtime and harvest.
What wondrous works God does! He washes away our sins in Holy Baptism. Each day we can remember that we are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Our children must learn that they too are redeemed children of God. Their sins are washed away. — But how easy for us to continue in our sin. We fail each day, every one of us. But God’s mercies are abundant and new every morning. He casts our sins into the depths of the sea so they can never come back to accuse us. He rebukes and restrains Satan so He cannot really attack and accuse us. God allows temptations, but only so far. Through these trials we are strengthened in our faith, our trust, and our reliance on God.
As we sing through Luther’s hymn, we sense with him our powerlessness: “My good works so imperfect were … To hell I fast was sinking.” The Catechism teaches us: “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ.” Faith itself is a gift from God. Salvation is by God’s free grace, “without any merit or worthiness in me.”
The hymn also directs us to the remedy of our sinfulness: “Then God beheld my wretched state, Sin brooded darkly o’er me.” “He spoke to His beloved Son: ’Tis time to have compassion … Bring to man salvation.”
It is because of these truths of Scripture that Luther chose words from this Psalm as a kind of motto for his life: “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” As children we learn to pray: “Into your hands I commend myself, my body and soul and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me that the wicked foe may have no power over me.”
When we hear these wondrous works of God in Holy Scripture, God the Holy Spirit Himself comes with them to create and strengthen faith in our hearts. This happens in preaching, in Baptism, in the Lord’s Supper, in the Absolution, and whenever the powerful and saving Word of God comes to us. That Word always points us to Christ our Savior. We cannot separate Christ from the Scriptures, or the Scriptures from Christ. They are one. Jesus Himself is the Word of God, as St John tells us. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
The Word of God is taught among us in our Sunday services, Bible classes, Catechism classes, and whenever we gather for devotions at church or at home. This also happens in our Lutheran schools and Lutheran home schools, wherever they may be. It also happens at our Bethany Lutheran College. The Word of God is the foundation of Bethany. Classes are taught with the understanding that God’s Word is true, that God created the world, that God gives us His commands for living, and God redeems us from our sin. The Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for our sins is the One Thing Needful that is the core of what Bethany Lutheran College stands for.
In science classes we learn about evolution, but we are taught the truth that God created the world in six days. In history classes we learn about many different worldviews, but we know that God is in control of the world. In theatre and music and art we learn about various styles of art, but we learn to value what is good, noble, true, and virtuous. In psychology and sociology we learn many theories of human behavior, but we know foundationally the Scriptural truth that all people are born sinful and corrupt, and also that God established traditional marriage and family as the foundation of human society. We learn to care about other people, as God cares for us. We learn forgive each other as God forgives us.
In the world, we hear so many different voices. The world declares its own works, its own ideas, its own powers. Today people think they can choose their own version of truth and reality. But in the church, it is God’s work and God’s power that is central to our faith and our salvation.
So we teach our children, and we teach each other, what the Word of God says. “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” It is also what our Lord Jesus says in His words to the disciples before His Ascension: “Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
We do this also in our seminary, in our mission fields, and with sister churches around the world. Some of our pastors are helping a seminary in Kenya to train pastors to serve our brothers and sisters there. We have sent missionaries and seminary graduates to Peru, Chile, Latvia, Czech Republic, Norway, Korea, and Australia. Their work is our work together: to declare the works of the Lord, to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament the people were instructed to teach their children the truths of God’s Word: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”
Jesus Himself said: “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” The Word of God is a treasure in our life. We use the Word of God when we pray, when we have devotions and Bible reading at home, when we come to church and Bible class and Catechism class. It is a treasure because by God’s power and authority it forgives our sins. This saving Gospel of Jesus Christ who lived a holy life for us, died an innocent death for us, and rose from the dead for us—this Gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.
This is the work and mission of the church and of all Christian schools: to declare the works of God, to proclaim forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Savior. In this we have joy, as the Psalmist says: “The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous.” And this is because “the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.” And so we say with the Psalmist and with Martin Luther: “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.”
Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice! Proclaim the wonders God hath done. Rejoice in God’s promise of salvation and eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
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)
Presentation of the Augsburg Confession – Pr. Faugstad homily
On June 25, 1530, the Lutheran princes of Germany stood before Emperor Charles V in the German town of Augsburg and publicly read their confession of faith. They stated that they would rather die than compromise the truth of God’s Word.
Text: Romans 10:5-17
In Christ Jesus, whose perfect confession of the truth covers over our times of doubt, weakness, and faithlessness, dear fellow redeemed:
In the parts of the Augsburg Confession we have heard so far, there are two major themes that are brought up again and again. Those themes are righteousness and faith. In the Bible, “righteousness” is what it takes to be right with God. We don’t have to guess about the standard, because God has given us His standard for righteousness. He has given us ten statements—Commandments—which outline a life of righteousness.
Just ten commands—if you can live by them and keep them, you are right with God. But if you cannot keep them, then you cannot make yourself right with God. Already in the second article of the Augsburg Confession, the Reformers said this: We condemn those who “argue that a person can be justified before God by his own strength and reason” (ELH p. 9). In article four, they repeated the same thing, “We teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works” (ELH p. 9).
This teaching that there is nothing we can do to make ourselves right with God does not shock us, but it certainly shocked the people in Germany and beyond in 1530. Many believed that their good works, their merits, did contribute to their righteousness before God. The Roman theologians who responded to the Augsburg Confession put it like this, “All Catholics admit that our works of themselves have no merit but God’s grace makes them worthy to earn eternal life” (“The Confutation of the Augsburg Confession” in Sources and Contexts of The Book of Concord, p. 109). So is it ultimately God’s power or our power? Is it His work or our work?
St. Paul does not leave this ambiguous or unclear in today’s reading. He writes about “the righteousness that is based on the law” and “the righteousness based on faith.” The righteousness based on the law is our attempts to do what God tells us. If we kept His Commandments perfectly, He would let us into heaven because of our own good work. But if we have not kept them perfectly, we stand condemned in our sin. It’s all or nothing. Either you are perfect according to God’s standard, or you are not.
Now “the righteousness based on faith” is not a different kind of righteousness. It is still the perfect keeping of God’s Commandments, but this righteousness comes to us apart from our works. We do not earn this righteousness; we are given this righteousness. It is the righteousness of Jesus, who did perfectly keep the Commandments. He is the only human being to accomplish this. We were all conceived and born in sin, and we continued sinning. But He was conceived in the virgin Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy Spirit, and therefore He entered the world without sin.
Though in every respect He was tempted as we are, He never sinned (Heb. 4:15). He perfectly feared, loved, and trusted His heavenly Father. He perfectly loved everyone around Him. And that perfect keeping of God’s law is counted to each one of you by faith, and faith alone. Again from the Augsburg Confession, article four: “We teach that men… are freely justified for Christ’s sake through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who by His death has made satisfaction for our sins” (ELH p. 9).
For this faithful confession before one of the most powerful rulers in the world, the Reformers were risking their very necks! They were willing to die for this truth. They were fully convinced that what St. Paul wrote is true: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Paul says nothing about God’s grace making us worthy to earn salvation, or about faith working through love that somehow earns us heaven. He speaks of the righteousness of Jesus becoming ours by faith in Him.
But where does faith come from? Is that a work you do? Paul writes, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” The power to save you and to work faith in you is in the Gospel, the good news of Jesus’ perfect life and atoning death on behalf of sinners. That is why you can be certain of your righteousness and salvation. They are gifts from God to you, received through the faith the Holy Spirit worked in you through the Word.
God has saved you. He justifies you. He caused you to believe this soul-saving truth. You Are Righteous before God by Faith. This is what the Lutheran laymen and pastors confessed 494 years ago, and by God’s enduring grace, we still confess it today to His glory alone. Amen.
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(picture of Emperor Charles V receiving the Augsburg Confession)
The Festival of Our Lord’s Ascension – Vicar Lehne exordium & sermon
Festival exordium:
“It is finished.” These are the words that Jesus spoke on the cross after he had completed everything that was necessary to save us from our sins. But just because Jesus’ work to save us was finished didn’t mean that he was done with us. There is still so much that he does for us from the position of authority that he has in heaven. He ascended to the right hand of his Father in order to be our Prophet, High Priest, and King. As our Prophet, Jesus sends out believers to spread the good news about what he has done for us and works through the good news of Scripture to bring the unbelieving world to faith. As our High Priest, Jesus intercedes for us on our behalf to the Father. And as our King, Jesus rules over not just heaven, which is his kingdom of glory, and earth, which is his kingdom of power, but also over his Holy Church, which is his kingdom of grace.
This is what Jesus ascended on high to do for you. He was seated at the right hand of the Father in glory in order to share the finished work of redemption with you. He is not done with you. He continues to give you these gifts. As your Prophet, he tells you the good news that he has finished the work to save you. As your High Priest, he reminds the Father of his sacrifice that he made on your behalf, and the Father sees your sins no more. And as your King, he rules over all things for your good so that you can be safely led by him to heaven to be with him forever. For these wonderful gifts, we praise and glorify his name by rising to sing “O Wondrous Conqueror and Great,” as it is printed in your service folders.
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: Acts 1:1-11
In Christ Jesus, who did not leave us but continues to be with us always, dear fellow redeemed:
The disciples didn’t want Jesus to leave them. They had spent three years of their lives following Jesus and getting to know him well. During that time, they heard his words and saw his miraculous power. Because of these things that they saw and heard, they were hoping that Jesus would use his power to establish a kingdom on earth. But then, Jesus “began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21). This was not what the disciples wanted. Peter even “took [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you’” (Matthew 16:22). But, even though it wasn’t what the disciples wanted, Jesus did suffer and die, just as he said he would, and his disciples were left alone and afraid.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the end. Jesus had also told his disciples that he would rise again on the third day, and that’s just what he did. When the disciples heard that he had risen, they didn’t believe it at first, but when Jesus appeared before them, they could no longer deny it. Jesus had risen, just as he said! He hadn’t left them after all. Now, the disciples were sure that Jesus would establish a kingdom on earth, and they would get to be with him as he ruled. But that’s not what happened. Instead, Jesus told them to “[g]o into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). As they did, they were to baptize all nations “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit [and teach] them to observe all that [Jesus had] commanded [them]” (Matthew 28:19–20). Then, after telling them this, Jesus was taken up into the sky before their very eyes, until he was hidden from their sight by a cloud. Jesus had just told his disciples, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20), but now, the disciples appeared to be alone once again, this time for good.
Do we ever feel like Jesus has left us? While we would certainly love to say that we’ve never felt this way, all we have to do is look at the sinful world around us, and it becomes extremely difficult not to feel alone. Sinful lifestyles that we know are wrong are regularly practiced and encouraged by those around us. Even though the world claims to be a tolerant one, it seems to be tolerant of everything except Christianity, making it harder and harder for us to live as Christians. Like the disciples, we want Jesus to be visible and establish a kingdom on earth that is free from trouble, but we look around for him and can’t seem to find him anywhere. During times like these, it can be very easy for us to say, “Jesus, where are you? Why have you left us all alone?”
But Jesus has not left us all alone, just as he hadn’t left his disciples alone. As our gospel reading for today says, “[the disciples] went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs” (Mark 16:20). Jesus wasn’t visibly with his disciples, but he was still with them. He was with his disciples as they carried out the mission he had given them by preaching the Word and administering the Sacraments. In the same way, Jesus is with us as the Word is preached to us and the Sacraments are administered to us.
When Jesus’ Word is preached to you, or when you read his Word on your own, Jesus is present as he tells you everything that he did to save you from your sins. You were unable to follow God’s command to live a perfect life, but Jesus says through his Word, “I lived a perfect life for you, and that perfect life is now yours.” Your sins needed to be paid for with blood, and Jesus says through his Word, “My blood was shed on the cross for you. I have paid the price for your sins.” There are times when you may fear death, not wanting to leave your loved ones behind, but Jesus says through his Word, “I have risen from the dead, which means that you too will one day rise from the dead when I return in the same way that I was taken up into heaven.” You may wonder if the work to save you has truly been finished, but Jesus says through his Word, “My ascension into heaven is proof that everything that was necessary to save you was completed by me.”
How comforting it is to know that you can see Jesus whenever you want by simply opening up and reading your Bible. And because Jesus is present in his Word, that means that he is also present in the Sacraments, since they get their power from the Word. One of those Sacraments is baptism. When the water was applied in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit at your baptism, all of your sins were washed away. At that moment, Jesus gave you the forgiveness of sins that he won for you by his death on the cross. He clothed you in the white garments of his perfect life, the perfect life that he lived for you. And he sent his Holy Spirit into your heart to create faith, a faith that trusts in him.
So, Jesus is with us in the preaching of his Word and in the waters of baptism, which are connected with his Word, even though we can’t see him, but he isn’t bodily present with us, right? After all, at his ascension, he was bodily taken up into heaven, which means that his body must be stuck in heaven. But this simply isn’t true. Jesus’s body and blood are present in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Whenever we come to his table to receive the bread and the wine, which have been connected with his Word, we are receiving Jesus’ true body and blood. Even though we can’t see him, Jesus is with us in his meal to personally give us the forgiveness of sins that he won for us with the shedding of his blood.
You may not feel worthy of receiving the forgiveness of sins from Jesus in his supper. When you look at your sins, you are burdened with guilt. You don’t feel like Jesus is with you, and so, you think that he must have left you because your sins are too great to be forgiven. But Jesus didn’t come to save the worthy. He came to save the unworthy. He invites you to join him at his table so that he can freely offer you the forgiveness of sins. He freely forgives your sins not because you deserve it, but because he loves you. And you can leave his table knowing that the forgiveness that he just personally gave to you through his true body and blood was for you.
From his throne in heaven, our ascended Lord works through these means of grace, which he has promised to be present in, for our good, for the good of his church. This may not be how we expect Jesus to work things for our good. Like the disciples, who asked Jesus if he was going to restore the kingdom of Israel, we may want Jesus to give us a heaven on earth. But Jesus didn’t come to establish an earthly kingdom, nor does he rule over all things from his position of authority to make our lives a heaven on earth. He came to give us something far better: a perfect life of endless joy in heaven. The doors to heaven were opened to us when Jesus died on the cross, and then, he ascended into heaven after his resurrection to “prepare a place” for us (John 14:3). Until that time comes when Jesus returns “in the same way as [his disciples] saw him go into heaven” (verse 11), he comes to us in his means of grace, his Word and Sacraments, to prepare us for the day when we will leave this world and enter heaven to be with him forever. We are only strangers here. “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). And everything that our ascended Lord is doing for us here on earth is preparing us to come home to heaven.
When Jesus was taken up into heaven and hidden from the disciples, they were no longer able to see him. But that didn’t mean that Jesus had left them. He continued to be with them throughout the rest of their earthly lives, and when their time on earth was over, Jesus led them safely to his side in heaven. In the same way, even if you can’t see him or feel him, you know that Jesus is with you, because he gives you the same promise that he gave to his disciples “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). He speaks to you through his Word. He washes you in the waters of baptism. And he personally feeds you at his supper. Your ascended Lord may not be present in the ways that you want him to be, but he is present in the ways that he promised to be and in the ways that you need him to be. Jesus hasn’t left you. He is with you always and will continue to be with you throughout your life, until he takes you up into heaven to be with him forever.
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)