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 Ninth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Kings 17:7-24
In Christ Jesus, whose storehouse of grace and love is never exhausted, dear fellow redeemed:
The prophet Elijah was used to his food coming by unusual means. Before today’s account, we are told that God sent ravens to fly in with bread and meat each morning and evening as he lived in a remote place east of the Jordan River (1Ki. 17:6). But when his source of water there dried up, God commanded him to go to a town in the region of Sidon. This was a good 75 miles away from where he currently lived. When he arrived, God told him to expect food from a Gentile widow who lived in the town of Zarephath. So not only would Elijah be traveling out of Israelite territory, it would be a poor widow who would keep him alive!
The reason God sent Elijah all the way to the territory of Sidon for food is because the whole land of Israel suffered under a divinely-imposed drought. It was also to keep him safe from King Ahab who reigned over the kingdom of Israel at that time. He was one of Israel’s notoriously wicked kings who led the people to worship false gods. The drought at this time was symbolic of the spiritual condition of the people of Israel. Their hearts had dried up, and almost no one recognized the need for the living waters of the true God.
The spiritual situation was so bad that Jesus would comment many years later, “in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow” (Luk. 4:25-26). Elijah was sent to Gentile territory because of the Israelites’ lack of faith.
This was as surprising for the widow as it was for Elijah. How could she possibly be a good candidate to support an Israelite prophet? She was about to prepare the final meal for herself and her son. The last thing she expected in her desperate situation was for someone to ask her for food! What did she have to give? Couldn’t Elijah find someone else with greater means?
When we think about the topic of stewardship, similar thoughts may come to our minds. “What difference do I make? I can offer so little. Such significant needs require those who have more to spare and can afford to give a lot.” But that is not the way God talks about stewardship. He says that Christians should give offerings regularly in accord with their income (1Co. 16:2). He does not require a “tithe” today—or a tenth of all that one has—like He did in the Old Testament era. But He does want us to give eagerly and generously to support the work of the Gospel.
Some still find it useful to give a “tithe,” a tenth of whatever they earn, to the church. But we are free in this regard. We are free to give less than a tenth of what we have, and we are free to give more. St. Paul writes, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2Cor. 9:7). Did the widow of Zarephath give cheerfully? It’s hard to say. She only had enough flour and oil for one more meal for herself and her son.
But she did what Elijah asked. She prepared food first for him and then for her family. This is consistent with the LORD’s command in Old Testament times, that the people give their firstfruits for the work of the priests. First they should provide for the men who attended to their spiritual needs, and then they should take care of their other needs.
This is what the poor widow in the temple did when she gave her last two coins—“all she had to live on” (Luk. 21:4). She held nothing back. But we see the pile of bills—house payments, utilities, cell phone, internet—and perhaps a growing debt. We convince ourselves that we can’t get by without this or that. We like having nice things. We don’t want our kids to have less than their peers. So instead of our offerings coming as the firstfruits, we often give them as the leftovers.
But why should so much depend on our giving? It may seem to us that if God needs the money so bad, He could easily get it some other way. Couldn’t God fill the offering plate in the same miraculous way that He filled the widow’s jar of flour and jug of oil, with just the right amount appearing? He certainly could. But where would it end? God could preach, baptize, and give Communion without pastors. He could make food appear on tables without work. He could construct roads without highway crews. He could imprison people without the justice system. Instead God chooses to do His work through countless vocations. This includes the support of the preaching and teaching of the Word.
When we think we can’t afford to give offerings to God, it’s usually because we think of what we have as ours. The good things we have do belong to us in a certain respect, but ultimately they belong to God. He sends us abundant gifts—food and clothing, home and family, property and goods—and gives us the duty of managing those gifts. We faithfully give back in our offerings from what God has given us, just as the hymn says, “We give Thee but Thine own” (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #445).
Whenever we hand over what belongs to us, we expect to get something in return. Is that how offerings work? If we give generously to God, does God give greater gifts to us? The proverb seems to say this, “Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine” (3:9-10). But this is not a promise that only good things will come to those who are generous toward God. It is a promise that God will not forsake those who humbly put their trust in Him.
The widow of Zarephath learned this lesson. She faithfully fed Elijah, and the food kept coming. But then her son died. That doesn’t seem right at all. Hadn’t she proven herself? How could God do this to her? Was it because of her sins, the widow wondered? Thankfully, God does not operate by a payback system. He was not punishing the widow; He was teaching her to trust in Him.
The same goes for us. Our LORD does not give to us based on what we have given to Him. Even if we gave more offerings than everyone else, sharing what we have generously and regularly, God would still reject us on the basis of what we had done. We have not given the perfect amount with perfect motivations from a perfect heart. If the LORD gave according to what we have offered to Him, we would be absolutely, unquestionably doomed.
But God does not pay us back. He faithfully gives whether or not our giving back has been so faithful. The jar of His grace and the jug of His mercy are bottomless. There are times that we imagine we have exhausted the stores of His patience and goodness. We fear we will find His cupboards empty. But the Bread of Life and the living waters are there for our eating and drinking.
These gifts never run out or run dry because God rewards us on the basis of what Jesus has done. Jesus offered more than a tenth of Himself, more than half. He didn’t hold back even one percent of Himself. He offered His entire Person. The Son of God and Son of Man was crucified on the cross for all sinners. He made the full payment for our sin and covered our debt in full before His Father raised Him from the dead in glory.
We see a picture of His resurrection in the widow’s son. After her son died, Elijah stretched himself over the boy three times before God brought him back to life. Jesus the Son of God died and was stretched out in graveclothes for three days until God the Father raised Him from the dead. The boy’s resurrection had significance for his life and his mother’s life. Jesus’ resurrection has significance for the lives of all people.
Because of His resurrection, the Scriptures call Jesus “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1Cor. 15:20). The offering of His own life to the Father on your behalf was no insignificant amount. It is the guarantee that you are going to rise one day also. God will faithfully give you eternal life, because Jesus faithfully gave up His life for you. Your failure to be a perfect steward does not disqualify you like the manager in our Holy Gospel who was fired for his unethical behavior (Lk. 16:1-9). God forgives your mismanagement of His good gifts. And He sends you right back out on the job with more.
He knows what type of people He is working with and through. There were times that Elijah’s faithfulness wavered. The widow questioned God’s care for her when her son died. We are willing to give, but we hold back because we want to make sure we will really have what we need. We don’t fully trust that God will provide. Or sometimes we feel as though God asks more of us than we can give.
Despite our reluctance and selfishness and doubt, our LORD does not stop giving good things to us. He is faithful. He makes sure that we receive our daily bread in abundance, and most importantly, He fills our cup to overflowing with His gifts of forgiveness and salvation. He faithfully gives these things to us as He comes to us personally through His Word and Sacraments. “In [His] presence,” as the Psalm says, “there is fullness of joy; at [His] right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16:11).
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 “Parable of the Unjust Steward” by Jan Luyken, 1649-1712)
The Second Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 2 Samuel 7:4-16
In Christ Jesus, who invites you to sit at His banquet in His house and receive His gifts, dear fellow redeemed:
You might enjoy watching the television shows about home renovation. Some shows even feature the total gutting and rebuilding of a home’s interior with only the essential structure of the house staying the same. Maybe you are already living in your “dream house,” but you probably have ideas how it could be updated and improved. And if someone offered to remodel your home at no cost to you, you would likely jump at the chance.
King David thought the LORD would appreciate a better “house,” so to speak. After all, David was living comfortably in a “house of cedar,” while the Ark of the LORD sat “in a tent” (2Sa. 7:2). He made his intention known to the prophet Nathan that he wanted to build the LORD a house, a great temple. It seemed like a good, right, and salutary idea.
But the LORD did not respond as David expected. First of all, the LORD said that He did not ask for a temple. If He wanted one, He would have commanded it done. Second, He reminded David that He took him from tending sheep in Bethlehem to ruling over all Israel. Whatever the all-powerful LORD wants to accomplish will happen. Third, He promised to make David’s name great and prosper the nation. Fourth, God said He would make David a house, but not one made out of cedar or stone. He said that David’s throne and kingdom would be established forever. This was a reference to the Savior Jesus who would come from David’s line.
So David had a wonderful gift planned for God, and God’s response was to direct David back to His gifts, particularly His gift of salvation through His only-begotten Son. It was a gentle lesson that was not meant for David only, but for us too. We can think so much of the gifts we give to God that we fail to honor Him in the best way, which is to believe what He says and to humbly receive what He offers.
Now this does not mean that the gifts we offer to the LORD and the sacrifices we make are meaningless to Him. God desires that we pray, praise, and give thanks to Him, that we live holy lives according to His Commandments, that we love one another out of love for Him, and that we give generously for the work of His kingdom. He loves all these gifts.
But it can happen that even these good things become sins. We can have a wonderful habit of Bible study and prayer each day, but then we find ourselves going through the motions or thinking that we are righteous because of what we are doing. We can watch carefully how we live and how we speak, but then we judge others for not being as good as we are. We can give generously toward the work of the church, but instead of giving humbly and quietly, we want to have our gifts be known and recognized.
When we think too much and make too much of our works, our view of God’s grace becomes clouded. We start to think that we are among the “good people,” who are nothing like the “bad people” who don’t do these nice and beneficial things. This self-righteous attitude ignores the fact that by nature we are no better than anyone else. Even as Christians, we still sin all the time, as Luther’s explanation of the Fifth Petition reminds us: “we daily sin much and deserve nothing but punishment.”
No matter how good and right our gifts to God may seem, they are always tainted by our sin. They are never perfectly holy. This is why the LORD’s message to David was so important for him and for us. God doesn’t need a magnificent temple. He doesn’t need beautiful, ornate church buildings. He doesn’t need us to save His kingdom. He brings His kingdom to us; He saves us; He meets us in our lowliness and sin; He gives His gifts to us. One of our hymnwriters puts it like this:
Surely in temples made with hands
God, the Most High, is not dwelling,
High above earth His temple stands,
All earthly temples excelling.
Yet He whom heav’ns cannot contain
Chose to abide on earth with men—
Built in our bodies His temple.
(Evangelical Lutheran Hynmary #211, v. 2)
The almighty God “chose to abide on earth with men.” The eternal Son of God was born of Mary, a descendant of King David. This was just what God had promised David. The LORD said to him, “I will raise up your Offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish His kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. I will be to Him a father, and He shall be to Me a Son.” Some of the Jews interpreted this and other prophecies to mean that the Messiah would reign over an earthly kingdom. This is why the crowds were so excited to welcome Jesus to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Their Messiah-King had finally arrived!
But Jesus did not come to rule over an earthly kingdom like David’s. He came to redeem all sinners and to take His place as God and Man at the right hand of His Father. The way He would redeem sinners was also conveyed to David. God said regarding the Christ: “When He commits iniquity, I will discipline Him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but My steadfast love will not depart from Him.” Jesus never committed any sin of His own, but “For our sake [God] made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Co. 5:21). Jesus was punished as if He were the one who committed all sin—the sin of every human being in every time and place.
This punishment from God for sin was carried out on Jesus by the hands of sinners. Jesus was punished “with the rod of men” and “with the stripes of the sons of men.” This is exactly the way the prophet Isaiah described it after David: “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed” (53:5). When Jesus was being struck with the rod and whip and nailed to the cross, this was really God the Father meting out punishment on His Son for our sin.
The LORD did not require something from us before He would do something for us. He did not demand gifts before He would give gifts. The Son willingly went to the cross to save us, and the Father accepted His sacrifice on our behalf. It was a truly perfect offering that covers over the imperfections of our offerings, and it was the sufficient payment for all our sins. After His death and resurrection with His work complete, Jesus ascended into heaven in order to “[give] gifts to men” (Eph. 4:8).
In His position at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, Jesus invites you to partake of the banquet that today’s Holy Gospel describes (Luk. 14:16-24). This banquet is served wherever God’s powerful Word and Sacraments are found. Jesus warmly invites you here in this humble house to be His honored guest. You have been washed clean in the holy waters of your Baptism. You are clothed in the garments of His righteousness. By faith, you are prepared to receive His gifts.
“Everything is now ready,” He says. The rich food and drink He sets before you is the free forgiveness of all your sins. Whatever those sins may be, such as your inclination to trust in your own righteousness, your judgmental attitude toward others, or your pride because of what you have accomplished—all of these sins are blotted out by Jesus’ precious blood. He gives you to feast on His life, His salvation, His love, His peace, His joy. These are the gifts you receive at His banquet.
You Need the Gifts of God far more than He needs gifts from you. David said, “I will build you a house,” and the LORD replied, “No, I will build you a house!” Every good gift comes from God, as the Book of James says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (1:17). When you offer gifts to God, you are simply returning to Him a portion of what He has given you, whether it is your money, your strength, your intellect, or your time. It all comes from Him.
When you feel as though you have done something great for God, remember what He has done and continues to do for you. Like a house that needs work, your life on earth always needs renovating and improving, and your gifts to God will not be perfect. But His home and His gifts are. By the gifts He gives you through His Word and Sacraments here, He prepares you to enter His heavenly home where you will live with Him forever.
Now we may gather with our King
E’en in the lowliest dwelling;
Praises to Him we there may bring,
His wondrous mercy forth-telling;
Jesus His grace to us accords,
Spirit and life are all His words,
His truth doth hallow the temple.
(ELH #211, v. 4)
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 of the poor, the blind, and the lame being invited to the banquet from the 1880 edition of The Story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation)
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)
The Epiphany of Our Lord – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. Matthew 2:1-12
In Christ Jesus, who is the Light of the whole world, dear fellow redeemed:
There is always excitement when a child is born, whether it’s your own child or the child of someone you know. However, the excitement is usually limited to only the friends and family of the ones who had the child. Outside of them, the birth of a child doesn’t get much fanfare at all. But now imagine that, sometime after one of your own children was born and the excitement had died down, an airplane landed in the nearby airport, and a parade of important-looking vehicles drove through town and over to your house. Surely, there must be some mistake, right? After all, there’s no way such important-looking vehicles would stop by your house. Then, suddenly, the doors to the vehicles open, and who should exit them and approach your front door but the royal family from England? You must be imagining things at this point. Why would anyone important show up at your house, let alone the royal family? But you soon realize that you’re not imagining it as they enter your house, greet you, and then, after asking where your new child is, approach him, bow down to him, and present him with gifts. But these are not just any gifts; they are some of the crown jewels. Then, before you can even process what is going on, the royal family says their goodbyes, exits your house, gets back into their vehicles, returns to the airport, and flies back to England. No doubt there would be quite a lot going through your head after all that, and among those thoughts would probably be two questions: “How did the royal family find out about the birth of my child?” and “Why did they travel all the way here just to do this for my child?” The arrival of the wise men to worship Jesus and present him with expensive and valuable gifts raises similar questions.
Even though the birth of Jesus was a big deal, since it was when God, the Light of the world, came down in the flesh to begin his saving work of delivering us from our sins, it was an event that didn’t get widespread fanfare. True, there was a multitude of angels that appeared to a group of shepherds to announce his birth, which was certainly a spectacular event, but those angels didn’t appear to anyone else. Then, after the shepherds saw the Christ Child with their own eyes, they “made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child” (Luke 2:17). But even though “all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them” (Luke 2:18), the news doesn’t appear to have spread very far. When the wise men arrived in Jerusalem and asked the Jews who were in the city, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” (verse 2), they didn’t get an answer until King Herod assembled “all the chief priests and scribes of the people” (verse 4) and “inquired of them where the Christ was to be born” (verse 4).
So, if there weren’t even many Jews who knew that the promised Messiah had been born, how did the wise men, who were foreigners from a faraway country, find out that he had been born? We know they saw a special star in the sky, but they must have also heard the prophecies about the Christ, that he would come to save all people from their sins.
Without this promise and the faith that God the Holy Spirit worked in their hearts, the wise men would have remained in the darkness of their sin. But, through his Word, God revealed to the wise men that there was hope for them. One day, a Savior would be born, who would be God in the flesh, and that Savior would be a light that dispels their darkness and saves them from their sins. The promise of that Savior gave the wise men hope that, when they died, they were not doomed to enter into the eternal darkness of hell, but would instead be welcomed into the eternal light radiating from the Savior in heaven.
If the wise men did not believe this, then they would have had no reason to follow the star when it appeared in the sky. If the star was leading them to someone who was just a man, or to someone who would just be a king for the Jews, what reason would they have to make that long journey, carrying expensive and valuable gifts with them, and worship that person? The wise men knew that the light of the star was leading them to the true Light, and they knew that he was not just a light to the Jews, but a light to the whole world. As Jesus says, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).
Your situation was similar to that of the wise men. You were conceived in the darkness of sin, just like they were. And that sin only becomes more apparent to you the older you get. You know that there is no way for you to escape from the darkness of your sin, and that you rightfully deserve to enter into the eternal darkness of hell when you die to be punished for your sin. But you also know that there is hope for you, and unlike the wise men, who did not yet know everything that Jesus would do for them, God has revealed to you in his Word how the light of Jesus dispels the darkness of your sin and saved you from it, opening the doors of eternal life to you.
Jesus was born, just like all of you were born, yet he was born without sin. He grew up like all children do, yet he did not give in to the temptations that you all face even once. He healed the sick and raised the dead during his earthly ministry, showing his power over death. Then, though he was without sin, he became sin for you by taking all your sin on himself and putting your sin to death with him on the cross. And, just when it looked like death had won by swallowing him up in its darkness, Jesus’ light shone again when he rose from the dead, putting an end to the power that death had over you and ensuring that everyone who believes in him would one day also rise from the dead to be with him, in his glorious light, forever.
Jesus, the Light of the world, now lives in each of you, but the darkness of sin wants you back. It is always there, trying to work its way back into your heart so that it can swallow you up once again. And, if you do not take sin seriously and live in your sin without repentance, the darkness of sin would prevail against you. But Jesus continues to work in you through his Word to move you to repentance and to dispel your darkness. As Jesus says, “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). With Jesus continually at work in your hearts, the darkness of sin can never prevail against you. This good news causes you to rejoice “exceedingly with great joy” (verse 10) and to worship Jesus, just like the wise men did.
You make a journey to worship Jesus whenever you gather around his Word and Sacraments. Your journey may not look like that of the wise men, who followed the light of the star over a vast distance so that they could worship Jesus, the true Light, and offer him gifts. But it is a journey that is just as significant as theirs. For when you do gather together to worship our Savior and offer him your gifts, you are bathed in his glorious light. This light comes through the preaching of his Word and the administering of his Sacraments and dispels the darkness of sin that constantly tries to swallow you up again. You may not offer up the same gifts that the wise men did, nor may they have the same material value, but the gifts that you do offer Jesus show your faith in him and your love for him just as much as the gifts of the wise men did.
Try as it might, the darkness of sin cannot have us, because the light of Jesus lives within us. As the apostle John says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). This is good news for us, but the darkness of sin still has its hold on most of the world. They are without hope, but they are continually searching for hope and meaning in everything except for God’s Word. But we do have God’s Word, and we know that God’s Word is not just for a select few, but for the whole world. That is why we want to tell others the good news that Jesus, the Light of the world, has saved them from the darkness of their sin. As the apostle Peter says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Proclaiming God’s Word is an honor that God has given to all Christians, including you. Now, some of you may think that you are not qualified to proclaim the good news to others because you aren’t properly trained, like pastors are. But, while pastors do get special training, that doesn’t mean that they are the only ones who are qualified to tell the good news about Jesus, nor does it mean that they have learned how to convince someone to come to faith in Jesus. Only God can create faith. All we can do is point others to the Light.
We are like the star that led the wise men to Jesus, the true Light. When we proclaim the good news about Jesus to others, the light of his grace shines into their darkened hearts, and we pray that the Holy Spirit works saving faith in their hearts. God truly can use any Christian to accomplish this, no matter how unqualified they may feel they are. And often, the people who have the most success sharing the good news and getting others engaged with the Word are not pastors, but Christians like you, who reach out to their friends and family.
One of the reasons why it can be hard to spread the good news of Jesus to others is because we may not always be sure if the light of Jesus’ grace and forgiveness is for us. This is especially something we can wonder when we are faced with the true darkness of some of our sins. But Jesus tells us that he is not just the Light of a select few, but the Light of the whole world. No matter how bad our sin is, he shines through the darkness of our sin and gives us hope that the eternal life in heaven that he won on the cross is for all of us. And, until we enter the gates of heaven, where we will be bathed in his glorious light for all eternity, his light will continue to live in us and cut through our darkness so that we don’t need to fear it ever again.
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 “Adoration of the Magi,” a late 1800s mural in Conception, Missouri basilica)
The Festival of Pentecost – Pr. Faugstad exordium & sermon
Festival exordium:
Wings. Water. Wind.
The first time we hear about God the Holy Spirit in the Bible is at the beginning of Genesis 1: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (vv. 1-2). “The Spirit of God was hovering.” That makes us think of the way a bird hovers in the sky. Fly forward.
After Jesus was baptized, “the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him” (Mat. 3:16). Once again, the Spirit was hovering over the waters. Fly forward.
Jesus spoke with a man named Nicodemus and said to him, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Joh. 3:5). He spoke about the wind blowing where it wishes, flying wherever it flies, and declared, “So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (v. 8). Fly forward.
Ten days after Jesus’ ascension, His disciples heard a sound from heaven “like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting” (Act. 2:2). The Holy Spirit did not appear in the form of a dove, but He revealed His presence by the tongues of fire resting on each disciple. They began boldly to preach God’s truth in Jerusalem, and by the end of the day, three thousand souls believed the truth and were baptized. Fly forward.
When you were brought to the baptismal font, the Spirit of God was hovering over those waters. No one could see Him, but He was there with power. “[B]y the washing of regeneration and renewal” (Ti. 3:5), He caused you to be born again. He made you alive in Christ.
He still comes through the powerful Word and Sacraments, not bound by the laws of nature, not confined to space and time. He flies to you with the grace, forgiveness, and peace that are yours through the death and resurrection of Jesus. And He flies forward on His soul-saving, life-changing mission, adding more members to the church of God.
In praise of His magnificent work, we sing our festival hymn—hymn #399, “O Light of God’s Most Wondrous Love”:
O Light of God’s most wondrous love,
Who dost our darkness brighten,
Shed on Thy Church from heav’n above,
Our eye of faith enlighten!
As in Thy light we gather here,
Show us that Christ’s own promise clear
Is Yea and Amen ever.
O risen and ascended Lord,
We wait fulfillment of Thy Word;
O bless us with Thy favor!
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Sermon text: St. John 14:23-31
In Christ Jesus, whose ascension was the crowning moment of His saving work on earth, and who then sent out the Holy Spirit to distribute this salvation to sinners until the end of time, dear fellow redeemed:
It is very clear to all of you here why you needed God the Son to take on human flesh. You know that you are a sinner, and that you could not satisfy your debt to God. You needed Jesus to take your place, keep the holy Law for you, and die on the cross for your sins. But why was it so crucial that Jesus return to His Father? And why did the Father and the Son need to send out the Holy Spirit?
Jesus said to His disciples, “If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said ‘I am going to the Father.’” That does not seem like cause for rejoicing. Why would they rejoice when their great Teacher left them? He left them to suffer and die on the cross to make atonement for all sin. He had to go alone, because no one but Him could endure the wrath of God against sin. No one but Him could make peace between God and mankind.
When that work on the cross was complete, Jesus cried out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luk. 23:46). And the Father received the spirit of His Son. He accepted His Son’s sacrifice. We know He accepted it, because He raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. Jesus’ state of humiliation and suffering had ended. Now all authority in heaven and on earth were given to Him (Mat. 28:18), and He ascended to the right hand of His Father in the flesh.
Since salvation had been won, it was time for these glad tidings to be distributed. Ten days after His ascension, Jesus made good on His promise to send the Holy Spirit. Suddenly the disciples, common men from Galilee, could speak in languages they had never known before. They now stood up and spoke, not to draw attention to themselves, but to draw attention to Jesus and what He had done for all sinners.
And the Holy Spirit did more than give the disciples the gift of multiple languages. Through the Word they preached, the Holy Spirit was also giving the gift of faith to those who listened. We are told that the people “were cut to the heart” when they heard what was said. They did not realize that Jesus was more than a prophet. Now they knew they had crucified the Son of God, and that death could not keep Him in the grave. After what they had done to Him, how could they expect Him to be merciful toward them? “Brothers, what shall we do?” they cried.
And Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” That sounds simple. All they had to do was say they were sorry for their sins and claim to have faith in Jesus, and the gift of the Holy Spirit would be theirs. But that’s not really what happened. It was not a cause and effect. It was not, “They do their part, and God does His part.” God did it all.
I guarantee that none of the people who were baptized on Pentecost Sunday woke up that day thinking, “It’s about time I admitted that I was wrong about Jesus. I should just believe that He is the eternal Son of the Father who died and rose again, and I should be baptized in the name of the Triune God.” It was the Holy Spirit who led them to repentance and faith and who prompted them to be baptized. All of it was gift; none of it was earned.
The same is true for you. You did not choose to be a believer in Jesus. Your parents or others brought you to the baptismal font and to church where the Holy Spirit worked faith in you. God had to do this work for you, because you were dead in your sins. An unholy person cannot make himself holy. Martin Luther put it this way, “If you yourself were holy, then you would not need the Holy Spirit at all; but since we are sinful and unclean in ourselves, the Holy Spirit must perform His work in us” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 24, p. 169).
That’s why Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” The world says the kind of peace you want to aim for is peace among nations and communities or an inner peace and calmness. But these kinds of peace are not permanent. The peace that Jesus left with us is the peace of His atoning death which reconciled us with our perfect heavenly Father. This is the peace the Holy Spirit imparts to us through the Word and Sacraments—the peace of sins forgiven, of eternal life secured, of a temporary rest in the grave before the resurrection of the body on the last day.
The Holy Spirit brings you what you cannot get anywhere else. He brings you the gifts of God. But He doesn’t send these gifts directly from heaven to your heart like a bolt of lightning, or through a feeling you have that He is near. He brings you the gifts of God through the Word of God. Jesus says, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” That is why we come to church and have devotions at home, because it is through the Word that God comes to dwell with us.
And it is through the Word that God teaches us the truth and comforts us. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit “will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” Unless you have learned “all things” that God has to teach you, you still need to be a student in the school of the Holy Spirit. Unless you are perfectly holy, you still need the Holy Spirit to sanctify you through the Word.
And the Holy Spirit is glad to do this work. He is glad to take the forgiveness and life won for you by God the Son and apply it to you. He is glad to bring you comfort in your distress. He is glad to strengthen your faith in trials. He is glad to guide you on the path of righteousness. He is glad to prepare you for eternal life in heaven.
You can see how important the work of the Holy Spirit is. Without His work, we would have no faith. We would be without hope and without God in the world (Eph. 2:12). We would live for a short time and die and be dead forever. God the Father and God the Son sent out God the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, so that everything Jesus accomplished according to the gracious will of His Father would be applied to sinners.
You and I are some of those sinners, sinners who deserve God’s wrath for our sins, who deserve eternal punishment in hell. But what we have received instead is the cleansing blood of Jesus that washed away all our sins. We have received His righteousness that makes us acceptable to the Father. We have received His mercy and peace and goodwill. By the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word, we have received all the fullness of Christ’s redemptive work, grace upon grace (Joh. 1:16).
This is why we rejoice today. This is why Pentecost is such a pivotal day for the church. This is the day that all the gifts Jesus won for sinners came pouring out of heaven like stores of grain for the hungry, like waterfalls for the thirsty, like rain on parched earth. “Come, Holy Spirit, and fill the hearts of Your faithful people, and kindle in them the fire of Your love.”
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 Sunday after the Ascension & Saude Confirmation – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. John 15:26-16:4
In Christ Jesus, who is constantly interceding for us at the right hand of God and pouring out His blessings on the Church, dear fellow redeemed:
This past Thursday marks the day of our Lord’s ascension, forty days after He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 4 that “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men” (v. 8). Everybody likes to receive gifts, so what gifts come to us from Jesus’ ascension?
Some people teach that the gifts we receive from Jesus are all about our life in this world. “If you give your life to Jesus,” they say, “you will receive great blessings. You will be more successful at your job and become more secure financially. Your family life will improve. You will have a more positive outlook, and your life will be happier.” Those are all wonderful things, but Jesus never promised to give them. Many people have been misled and frustrated by these false promises.
The gifts that Jesus did promise to give are tied directly to the work of God the Holy Spirit. Just before He ascended, Jesus said to His disciples, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Act. 1:8). And what would they do with this power? Jesus told them, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (v. 8). The Holy Spirit would be poured out on them, and they would boldly proclaim the truth about what Jesus had done for all sinners.
In today’s reading, Jesus called the Holy Spirit the “Paraclete,” which is often translated as “Helper” or “Comforter.” The Holy Spirit would come to guide them along the way and give them strength to do what they never could on their own. He would teach them the truth which He received from God the Son and God the Father. He would bear witness about who Jesus was and what He had accomplished. It is obvious that the disciples of Jesus received these gifts, because they went from huddling together in locked rooms to openly preaching about Jesus in Jerusalem from the day of Pentecost onward. Their attitude changed from fear and doubt to confidently and eagerly speaking the truth.
And what reward did they receive for their faithful work? They were put out of the synagogues—excommunicated from the church. They were often beaten for preaching the truth. And of the apostles who were sent out to preach the Gospel after Jesus’ ascension, church tradition indicates that all but one of them were martyred for what they taught.
That seems like a questionable bargain. If I were to start a club, and I told people that membership in the club would not benefit them in any obvious external way, how many would want to be part of it? It would not bring them more respect in the community. It would not make them more likely to be chosen for important positions. It would not make them more popular, and in fact, it would probably bring them trouble and hardship. That wouldn’t be a very popular club. But this is something like membership in the Christian Church.
Now you could find a church that would not compromise your standing in society at all, because many churches have changed their teachings to fit the trends in society. The biblical and historic teaching of the Church, for example, is that no one should receive Holy Communion unless he has been properly examined, but many churches open Communion to everyone regardless of what they understand and believe. The biblical and historic teaching of the Church is that only qualified men should be pastors, but many churches allow unqualified men and women to preach and administer the Sacraments. The biblical and historic teaching of the Church is that all sex outside of traditional marriage is sinful, but many churches say that God supports whatever personal choices anyone makes about when and with whom to have sex.
If you do hold to the biblical and historic teaching of the Church, you will find that society and a significant part of the church in the world is not very friendly toward you. You may have heard disparaging comments from people in the community or even from your own friends about how the church you attend is too judgmental, too strict, or too old-fashioned. “That’s why your church is so small,” they say. “Why don’t you just attend one of the larger churches around?”
It all comes back to what we are expecting to receive from the ascended Lord Jesus. We can’t expect to receive approval both from Him and from the world, because Jesus said that the world hated Him and persecuted Him (Joh. 15:18,20). Ultimately Jesus was nailed to a cross, even though He had committed no crime and had healed and helped many who were sick and hurting. The people who crucified Him thought they were doing it in service to God, and Jesus said this same belief would also motivate those who would persecute and kill His followers.
So why would any of us want to follow Jesus if we know it will cause us pain and trouble in the world? We follow Jesus, because He has the words of eternal life (Joh. 6:68). The world cannot give eternal life. All the world can offer is temporary wealth, temporary fame, temporary pleasure, temporary peace. But as soon as we die, everything we built up, everything we enjoyed in this life, goes away. It would be one thing if we just ceased to exist when we die. If that were the case, then why not live it up now? But God says that all who die in unbelief, rejecting the salvation Jesus won for them, are consigned to eternal punishment in hell.
That is not the case for believers. You and I will not be punished eternally, because we are justified in Christ. To be justified does not mean that all the things we have done and said are reasonable and right—far from it. We have sinned just as greatly as everyone else in the world and deserve damnation just like they do. But by faith in Jesus, we are declared right with God, innocent of any wrongdoing. That’s what justification means. It means that through Jesus’ atoning death and victorious resurrection, we are counted righteous before God, forgiven of all our sins, heirs of eternal life.
Because Jesus gave Himself for you, you can expect to receive tremendous spiritual gifts through the means He has established. Through Holy Baptism, you were washed clean of all your sins and made a child of God. Your life and your future were tied to Jesus, who “is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” Because He lives, you live. Because He reigns, you reign. And He promises to come back again in glory to take you and all believers with Him to His heavenly kingdom.
Jesus has also promised to bring you His gifts through the preaching of His Word and the administration of His Holy Supper. Even though He visibly departed from this world, He is very much present in all His power and glory. After Jesus ascended, the evangelist Mark wrote that the apostles “went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs” (16:20). Jesus is still at work among us. He imparts His righteousness, forgiveness, and life as we listen to His Word, and as we eat His body and drink His blood with the bread and wine of Holy Communion.
Here we are, so often weak, faithless, stubborn, and lacking in love toward one another, and Jesus comes to us with mercy and grace. “Peace be with you,” He says. “I forgive you all your sins. I am not angry with you. All that is Mine is still yours.” And the Holy Spirit works through these powerful promises to comfort us and strengthen our faith.
The Holy Spirit convinces us that what Jesus has won for us and what He has stored up for us are greater treasures than we could find anywhere else. No one else has atoned for sin. No one else has conquered death. We proclaim what Jesus has done, not to cause trouble in the world, but to save the world. Our merciful God wants “all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Ti. 2:4), and so do we. That won’t happen if we water down God’s truth and compromise our teachings with the times.
But we know that boldly speaking the truth will cause friction, just as Jesus and His disciples met opposition and persecution. We can expect to have trouble in the world, because we are not of the world. Jesus chose us out of the world (Joh. 15:19). He wanted to give us so much more than the world ever could.
As we follow Jesus by faith, we know exactly what to expect. He has told us clearly about the gifts that are coming our way. He gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth and to comfort us through His saving work. He also warned us to expect hostility and trials in the world. These things do not come to us as punishment from God, but as signs of His faithfulness.
We are not meant to stay in this world any more than Jesus was. After completing His work to save us, He ascended to the throne of His Father, where He rules over all things and continuously blesses His Church. With Him as our Lord and King, we cannot lose, even if everything we have in this life is taken from us. With the psalmist we say, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psa. 118:6). Soon the sufferings of this present time will come to an end, and we will join our Savior in the glories of heaven.
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)
The Feast of the Holy Nativity of Our Lord – Pr. Faugstad exordium & sermon
Festival exordium:
“Merry Christmas!” It rolls easily off the tongue this time of year. We might not use the word “merry” in any other month, but it seems perfectly fitting in December. In this otherwise dark time of year, we want people to find joy and happiness in Christmas. The word “Christmas” was first recorded in an old English source from A. D. 1038 as “Crīstesmæsse.” It is the combination of two words: “Christ” and “mass.”
“Christ” is the special title given to the Savior of the world. It means, “anointed one.” So when we say, “Jesus Christ,” we are saying, “Jesus, the anointed one.” Jesus was officially anointed as the Savior at His baptism in the Jordan River. The heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove while the Father spoke from above, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Mat. 3:17). The incarnate Son of God was anointed “to seek and to save the lost” (Luk. 19:10), to give Himself as the atoning sacrifice for all sin.
But what about the word “mass”? That comes from the Latin term “missa” which has long been associated with the Service of Holy Communion. “Christmas”—“Christ-mass”—means the coming of the Christ to us in His Supper. In Holy Communion, we receive more than bread and wine. We receive the life-giving body and blood of the incarnate Son of God.
The eternal God took on flesh in the virgin Mary’s womb and came to win our salvation by the sacrifice of His body and the shedding of His blood. He gives this same body and blood to us now for our forgiveness, our comfort, and our strength. Jesus’ coming to save us and His continued presence with us is the reason we can be joyful today, even as we carry various burdens and sorrows.
So I say again, “Merry Christmas!”—“Merry Christ-mass!” The Christ was born for you, and He still comes to bless you. For these wonderful gifts, let us rise and sing our festival hymn, #142 (“Rejoice, Rejoice This Happy Morn!”):
Rejoice, rejoice this happy morn!
A Savior unto us is born,
The Christ, the Lord of glory.
His lowly birth in Bethlehem
The angels from on high proclaim
And sing redemption’s story.
My soul,
Extol
God’s great favor;
Bless Him ever
For salvation.
Give Him praise and adoration!
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Sermon text: St. John 1:1-14
In Christ Jesus, who came down from His exalted throne in heaven with gifts for you and me and all people, dear fellow redeemed:
The artistic depictions of the nativity often show the baby Jesus as the source of light. The faces of Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds shine as they look down on Jesus in the manger. One of our favorite Christmas hymns puts this idea into words: “Son of God, love’s pure light / Radiant beams from Thy holy face” (ELH #140, v. 3). But in reality, Jesus did not glow with an inner light. He looked just like any other baby. What set Him apart for the witnesses of His birth was the word of the angels.
The angel Gabriel told Mary, “the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God” (Luk. 1:35). An angel of the Lord told Joseph, “do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” (Mat. 1:20). And then the angel told the shepherds the night of Jesus’ birth, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luk. 2:11, KJV). They would find Him in Bethlehem not by looking for a shining baby, but for a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a humble manger.
So as they worshiped Him that day, they worshiped Him not because of what their eyes saw, but because of what their ears heard. And that is why we worship Him today. We worship Him because of what has been revealed to us about Him in God’s holy Word. The Christian religion is not based on what we can see. It is a religion of faith—believing what we do not see.
That does not satisfy the people of the world. They demand proof of God’s existence, proof of the virgin birth, proof of Christ’s resurrection, proof that He still comes among us today. The proof that the Bible provides won’t do—it has to be proof on their terms. But if we’re talking about Santa Claus, then it’s all about faith. “Don’t ask questions; just believe!” I suppose in their minds, faith is fine when we’re talking fantasy, but it isn’t fine when we’re talking fact.
So why is it that we are so confident that Jesus is who the Bible says He is? Why do we believe in Him? We believe because God the Holy Spirit has worked faith in our hearts through the powerful Word. We didn’t decide to believe in Jesus; God decided to pull us out of the darkness of our sin and death and into the light of His grace.
But our faith is not a “blind faith” that has no evidence to go by. We have the evidence of eyewitnesses who saw what Jesus did and heard what He said. The evangelist John in today’s reading says, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory.” “The Word” is a special term that John uses to describe the Son of God. He writes that “the Word” was in the beginning, “the Word” was with God, and here’s the part that makes it clear who He is: “the Word was God.”
Once I was talking to a Jehovah’s Witness about who Jesus was. She would not agree with me that the Bible calls Jesus God. I asked her to look up John 1 in her Bible. There her translation (a total mistranslation) said that “the Word was a god,” in the sense of being “divine” or “holy.” But that is not what John wrote. He said, “the Word was God.” God the Son has always existed with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. All things that were made in the beginning were made through the Son. All life and all light came through Him.
This Lord of life and light is the One the Father sent to be clothed in our flesh. He looked like a regular human being, but He was much more. The apostle Paul wrote about the Christ that “in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2:9). That means that the Son of God was not just partially present in Jesus, but His entire person was now found in a human body.
Why not let His glory be seen by everyone around Him? Why not let His eternal light beam through His skin? It was because no sinner could have endured His bright presence. When Moses wanted to see God’s glory, the LORD said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exo. 33:20). The Son of God incarnate kept His glory hidden for our sake. He “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant” (Phi. 2:7). He came to humble Himself, to put Himself below us in order to save us.
And that is hard to believe. Why would God do this for us? What is in it for Him? We think there always has to be an angle. For us there often is, but not for God. God sent His Son to take on our flesh out of love for us. He sent His Son to do for us what we are incapable of doing. The Son of God did not put Himself above the Law; He put Himself beneath it, so that He could fulfill God’s commands for us. And He willingly went the way of suffering and the cross, so that full payment would be made for our sins.
If Jesus were just a man, nothing He did could count for you. But because He is God incarnate, “the Word made flesh,” everything He accomplished counts for you. His perfect keeping of the Law is for your righteousness. His innocent death on the cross is for your salvation. These gifts were intended for you long before you were born and long before Jesus was born. Right after the fall into sin, God revealed His plan to send a Savior, the woman’s Seed, the devil’s Destroyer.
That promised Savior was the infant baby Jesus lying in a manger in a little town with a bunch of poor people gathered around Him. “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him.” No one knew except those who had received a special invitation. They were not rich or famous or influential. They were people like us, sinful people, whose eyes of faith looked in awe upon the Promise fulfilled, Hope incarnate.
We are invited to join them in beholding this great mystery. Jesus was not born for them alone, but for all people of all time. You are hearing the good news today, because God wants you to hear it. He wants you to know that a Savior was born for you to save you from your sins—that there is a solution for the darkness in your heart and mind which has caused you to do dark things.
“The Word became flesh” not to bring God’s righteous wrath down on your head, the punishment you deserve for your sins. The Son of God came down to earth “full of grace and truth.” That’s far better than presents spilling out from under your Christmas tree or brightly-colored boxes stacked in your living room. Jesus came to reconcile you with God the Father through His death in your place. He came to bring peace on earth by the shedding of His blood.
That is why when we hear again the account of our Savior’s birth today, we see more than a baby in a manger. We see “the breadth and length and height and depth” of God’s love for us (Eph. 3:18). We see “the true Light, which enlightens everyone… coming into the world.” We see His glory, “glory as of the only Son from the Father.” It is beyond our human comprehension, but it has been granted us to know it and to understand it by faith.
By His grace, through His Word of truth, Jesus has given us “the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” Because you were baptized into Him, all of His life and light and glory and grace are now yours. You couldn’t ask for better gifts at Christmas, and these gifts last 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 “Adoration of the Shepherds” by Gerard van Honthorst, 1592-1656)