Midweek Lent 2 – Pr. Faugstad homily
Text: St. John 18:33-38
In Christ Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, dear fellow redeemed:
As the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate had authority to administer justice on behalf of the Roman Caesar, or king. He typically did not live in Jerusalem, but he went there at the time of the Passover when many more people would be in the city than usual. Now early on Friday morning, the Jewish leaders brought him a so-called criminal, someone named “Jesus of Nazareth.” They would have preferred to execute Jesus on their own, but this was something the Roman officials did not allow. Any cases involving the death penalty had to come before the governor.
Pilate asked them a reasonable opening question: “What accusation do you bring against this man?” (Joh. 18:29). That was a difficult question because Jesus had done nothing deserving of death. The religious leaders initially refused to give Pilate a straight answer. But then they made their case: “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king” (Luk. 23:2).
The first part of their accusation was false. Jesus did not mislead the nation in any way, as if He were trying to overthrow the Roman authorities. That very week He had underscored their responsibility toward both God and government officials when He said, “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Luk. 20:25). The second part of their accusation was true. Jesus was the Christ, the King over all. But they wanted Pilate to think that Jesus was setting Himself up as an earthly king who would cause problems for both Governor Pilate and Caesar. Better, they said, to have Him eliminated.
Pilate must have heard something about Jesus before this. He was the governor in Judea the entire time that Jesus carried out His three-year public ministry. Jesus traveled all over the region teaching and performing miracles, even raising some people from the dead. King Herod was certainly aware of His activities, and “he sought to see him” (Luk. 9:9). Pilate must have known something about His work, too, though he made no reference to it when he questioned Jesus.
He cut right to the chase: “Are You the King of the Jews?” Pilate’s main interest was to find out if Jesus was someone who was a threat to Roman rule and the peace of the region. He hardly regarded Jesus as a king. Jesus hardly looked like one. What Pilate did not realize is that he was in the presence of the King of the universe from whom all earthly authority came. It was something like “Undercover Boss,” when a store manager has no idea he is talking to the one who has all the power.
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But My kingdom is not from the world.” So yes, He was a King, but not the kind that the Jews accused Him of being. Pilate agreed. “For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up” (Mar. 15:10).
Then Jesus stated His purpose for coming into the world, that He came “to bear witness to the truth.” He said, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” Pilate must have felt uncomfortable at these words of Jesus. The whole conversation had not gone as Pilate expected. We imagine how Jesus looked at him, like He could see right through him (because He could). Pilate may have thought to himself: “Does this Jesus think that I, Pilate, would want to listen to Him, to care what He had to say?” Pilate brushed it all aside: “What is truth?” he said.
But there is one thing about Jesus that Pilate was convinced was true. He was convinced that Jesus was innocent of any crime that would justify the death penalty. So he told the Jews, “I find no guilt in Him.” He had seen and heard enough to know that Jesus was not what the Jews made Him out to be. What Pilate did not know was that he was an unwitting part of God’s plan for the salvation of the world. Jesus had to die, and it had to be on a tree, a cross, cursed for the whole world’s sins (Gal. 3:13).
God had used a decree of Caesar Augustus to get Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem where the Christ had to be born. And now God utilized the authority of a pagan governor to have His Son, the Lamb of God, sacrificed for all people. This reminds us who is really in control. It is not the ruler-of-the-moment in local, state, or national government, no matter how powerful or influential they may seem. Everyone in these positions must answer to a power much higher than their own.
Jesus said as much to Pilate when Pilate wasn’t getting the answers from Jesus that he wanted. Pilate said, “Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” (Joh. 19:10). Jesus replied, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above” (v. 11). That applies not only to the authority of government, but also to authority in society, church, and home.
Whatever authority God gives you in any sphere of life, He wants it to be used in service to your neighbor. Husbands and fathers are to use their authority in the home not to manipulate or harm, but to give and guide. Ephesians 6:4 says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger [by misusing your authority], but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Regarding earthly masters, like employers and managers, God says that they should not mistreat those under them, knowing that they have a Master in heaven, and “there is no partiality with him” (Eph. 6:9).
God could have used His authority as the Creator of the world to punish Adam and Eve and we their descendants for all our sins. Instead, the Father used His authority to send His only-begotten Son to suffer and die for everyone. Jesus willingly and perfectly obeyed His Father’s will, never deviating from the path that led Him to the agony and torment of God’s eternal punishment.
As Jesus stood before Pilate, remaining silent while accusations and lies were hurled at Him, neither the Gentile Pilate nor the religious leaders of the Jews understood that Jesus was suffering for them, out of love for them. He was suffering for you, too, for your failure to acknowledge the authorities He has placed over you, and for the times that you used your authority to harm instead of help. His holy blood, the blood of the King of kings and Lord of lords, cleanses you from all those sins. This is most certainly true.
What punishment so strange is suffered yonder!
The Shepherd dies for sheep that loved to wander;
The Master pays the debt His servants owe Him,
Who would not know Him.
The sinless Son of God must die in sadness;
The sinful child of man may live in gladness;
Man forfeited his life and is acquitted—
God is committed. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #292, vv. 4-5)
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.
+ + +
(picture from “Christ before Pilate” by Mihály Munkácsy, 1881)
The Fourth Sunday in Advent/St. Thomas, Apostle – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. John 20:24-29
In Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who contrary to all reason was born in a Bethlehem stable, and who gave up His life on the cross in payment for sin before rising from the dead on the third day, dear fellow redeemed:
“Every football team is the same–whether in Iowa or Minnesota or Wisconsin or Illinois–so any one is just as good as another.” “It doesn’t matter which politician you vote for, as long as you vote for someone.” “Whether you work hard to buy what you have, or whether you beg, borrow, or steal to get it, we’re all just trying to get to the same place.” I don’t think you would accept any of these statements as true. In fact, they are ridiculous. Of course not all football teams are the same. Not all politicians will get our vote. And it certainly does matter how we acquire our money.
But as ridiculous as these statements are, they are the way that people commonly talk about religion. “Every religion is the same; they all lead to the same god–one is just as good as another.” “It doesn’t matter what church you go to, as long as you go to church.” “No matter what you believe, we are all trying to get to the same place. What’s important is that you just believe in something.”
Let’s apply this thinking to today’s reading. Jesus appeared alive to the disciples while Thomas was away on the third day after His death. He showed them the marks in His hands and side. He asked them to give Him something to eat. He breathed on them and blessed them. There was no doubt about it–Jesus had risen bodily from the dead just as He promised He would. Then Thomas came along. What did the disciples say? “Thomas, Jesus appeared to us in the flesh. But it doesn’t really matter if you believe it or not, as long as you hold Him in your heart. We’re not here to force our beliefs on you; you can decide for yourself, and that’s all right with God.”
Not quite. No matter how much Thomas denied what they were saying, either from pride or from hurt feelings, they did not stop proclaiming the resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection was a fact, even if Thomas or anyone else rejected it. Whether it agreed with their natural sensibilities or not, Jesus had risen. This proved that He was no regular man. He was the Son of God in the flesh, which means He is our Savior and the Savior of the whole world.
It matters what we believe about Jesus. One belief about Him is not just as good as another. The ten disciples believed that Jesus had risen; Thomas did not. That meant that Thomas actually followed a different Jesus. He followed a Jesus who taught many things and performed many miracles, but who unfortunately met an untimely death and was buried. That was Jesus for Thomas–no Jesus who could actually save.
But then Jesus appeared again to the disciples and called Thomas back from his unbelief. Jesus proved He had heard every word that Thomas had spoken by presenting His hands and side for Thomas to see and touch. He then spoke some pointed words to Thomas: “Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas had a wrong idea about faith. He thought that faith depended on his demands being met by God, on his being personally convinced by his own standards. Jesus showed him that faith means trusting what God says, whether or not there is any physical or tangible proof.
It is common to hear people say, “Seeing is believing.” But Jesus says the opposite. He says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” If you can see something, you don’t need to “take it on faith.” It is when you cannot see something, when you have not witnessed or experienced it for yourself, that faith is required. This is how Hebrews 11 defines faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (v. 1).
This does not mean that faith has nothing to go by. Faith stands on the inspired, powerful Word of God. We trust what He tells us. We trust what He tells us about ourselves, and what He tells us about Himself. He tells us that He created us to be perfect masters of His creation, but that Adam and Eve gave up their perfection by doing what He commanded them not to do. This plunged the whole world into sin, sin that is passed down from generation to generation. If God did not tell us how far we had fallen short of His glory, we would think we were not far from Him. He tells us that apart from Him, we are dead in our sins.
But He also tells us that He loves us and desires our salvation. God the Father sent His only-begotten Son to take on our flesh and redeem us from our sins. God could not just overlook sin. Sin required payment, and Jesus offered up His holy life on our behalf as that payment. On the third day, He rose from the dead to prove that His work to redeem sinners was complete. He tells us that “whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Joh. 3:16).
But where did this faith that brings you forgiveness and eternal life come from? How did you get it? Your faith is not a reflection of a better heart. It is not a decision you made to let Jesus into your life. Your faith is a gift from God by the power of the Holy Spirit. As the inspired Apostle writes, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17), and, “this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).
God gave this same gracious gift to doubting Thomas, and Thomas responded with the humble and clear confession: “My Lord and my God!” He acknowledged that Jesus is who He said He is and who the other disciples testified that He is–the eternal Son of God who had won the victory over sin, death, and the devil. Once Thomas believed, he spoke. If tradition is accurate, he took the Gospel message of Jesus’ atoning death and glorious resurrection as a missionary to India, and was later martyred for preaching Christ, receiving the crown of life given to all who are faithful unto death (Rev. 2:10).
Faith is not something for us to keep hidden. It is not a secret we have that we keep between us and God. Faith is active in what we say and how we live. John the Baptizer is a great example of this. He had the opportunity to get glory for himself. People crowded around him asking if he was the great prophet Elijah or even the Christ Himself. The evangelist John recorded his answer: “He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’… [B]ut among you stands One you do not know, even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie” (Joh. 1:20, 26-27).
This is what faith does: it grabs hold of the Lord’s promises and points to Him and wants to live for Him. We Christians show our faith by telling the whole world the hope we have. We tell others that “God sent His Son to save me and you! He died to pay for our sins. He rose in victory over death. He still comes through His Word to give us His blessings. And He is coming back in glory to take us to be with Him forever.” No religion has such a hopeful, joyful message as Christianity. But even within Christianity, not every church points to Jesus alone for salvation.
It does matter what church you go to. It matters what your church teaches. Do we teach that the Bible is a mixture of human and divine thoughts, and that we have to determine what is true and what isn’t? Or do we teach that the Bible is the Word of God, totally trustworthy, accurate in every detail, which has authority over every aspect of our lives? This is why we are compelled to speak. It is our duty like John to confess, and not deny, but confess the truth of God.
This matters! We don’t have permission from God to keep our mouths shut when the truth is being challenged or attacked. It is certainly intimidating when this happens. It is very hard to stand against the crowd. It is hard to open our mouths when we expect that people won’t want to hear it. But if we stop opening our mouths and sharing what God has done for us, who will ever believe? “Faith comes from hearing… the word of Christ.”
The best way to be prepared to speak, to confess the saving name of Jesus in every circumstance, is to keep hearing, learning, and studying the Word of God. The Holy Spirit works through the Word, strengthening us, comforting us, and giving us the conviction and courage to tell others what God has done for sinners. You can probably think, as I can, of opportunities to confess the truth that you missed, that you wish you could have back. You feel guilty that you stayed silent when you should have spoken.
Jesus forgives you that sin–your doubts, your weaknesses, and your fears. He died on the cross for you, and gave His holy blood to wash away every one of your sins. Your failures in the past do not disqualify you from the needs of the present. He gives you grace for today, grace to believe in Him, and grace to speak the glad tidings of salvation to the people around you who need to hear it. Believing and speaking go together like breathing in and breathing out. We breathe in the rich blessings of God through His Word, and we breathe out these blessings to others.
It is not our job to convert anyone; we can’t make someone believe. The disciples did not succeed in convincing Thomas of the truth in the seven days between Jesus’ appearances. Converting hearts is the work of the Holy Spirit. That takes the pressure off us. Our calling is faithfully to confess what God has done for us and all people. As He has freely given to us, we freely give to others. We Believe, and so We Speak.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
+ + +
(woodcut from “Doubting Thomas” by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872)
The Tenth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Kings 18:16b-39
In Christ Jesus, who cannot be overwhelmed, outnumbered, or overcome, dear fellow redeemed:
Elijah said to the people of Israel, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.” Which one would it be? The people did not answer. What made them go silent? Wasn’t it a simple question?
The people knew there was something special about Elijah. They had almost certainly heard that he had told King Ahab there would be no rain in the land until Elijah gave the word. Now three and a half years had passed with no rain; the land was in a severe drought. Shouldn’t that have been enough to show them that Elijah was a prophet of the true God?
But Elijah was not the king. Ahab was the king, and Queen Jezebel stood right by his side. Jezebel was not an Israelite; she was from Sidon. And in Sidon, the people worshiped the god Baal and the goddess Asherah. Baal was the Canaanite god of rain, and Asherah was associated with fertility. Ahab and Jezebel were so committed to this religion, that they supported 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah.
So when Elijah told the people to choose one God or the other, the Lord or Baal, they did not want to go against Elijah, but they also didn’t want to face the wrath of Ahab (or rather Jezebel) by declaring that the Lord is God. It was safer, they thought, to keep their mouths shut. The prospect of following Elijah seemed much more dangerous than going along with the popular religion of the time. They weren’t interested in risking their lives or their place in society.
We can understand their hesitancy. It takes a special kind of courage to go against the status quo or to stand against the majority. When our beliefs or values are questioned by others, and they appeal to the fact that the vast majority believe differently than we do, this can cause us to have doubts. How can we be so sure we are right? How can so many others be wrong? Whether we are talking about the origin of the world, what is true or false, or what is good and bad, we hear many voices telling us that we don’t want to end up on the wrong side of history. Better to stick with the popular opinion, they say.
But evolution, for example, hardly entered people’s minds until Charles Darwin published The Origin of the Species in 1859. That’s not that long ago. This theory wasn’t taught in public schools until about a hundred years ago. It didn’t become the majority opinion until relatively recently, and now we are told that we should accept the theory of evolution because that’s what the majority thinks. So many people can’t be wrong, can they?
But what about the much greater number of people throughout history who believed that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Don’t they count? Or what about the attempt to redefine marriage in our day? Should we go along with the current majority view and ignore the thousands of years of consensus about what marriage is and what it isn’t?
We will find ourselves on shaky ground if we chase after what is most popular, if we give in to the pressure of those in power, if we operate simply by saying or doing what seems best for us in the moment. Elijah’s question for the Israelites is still pertinent for us today: will we follow the Lord and His Word, or will we follow the path that is most advantageous for us in this world?
The answer should be simple: We will follow the God who created us, who sent His only Son to redeem us, who sent out the Holy Spirit to bring us to faith. But this is not always the answer we have given when our faith has been tested or when we have faced temptation to sin. Often we have taken the easy route, the path of least resistance, the way that would keep us from standing out too much or inviting the ridicule or wrath of our peers. When we were called to speak the truth, we went silent just like the people of Israel did.
I recently read a book about the Norwegian Lutherans in America, and at the time of the Norwegian church merger in 1917, the author said that nearly 95% of Norwegian Lutherans joined in the merger. The remaining 5% spread across the United States included the Saude and Jerico congregations. Members of our churches would not have done this unless they were certain they were standing on something more solid than popular opinion. They would not compromise the teaching of the Bible for the sake of unity. They stood firmly on the unchanging Word of God even when it affected their standing in the community.
Would we do the same today? Are we willing to say “no,” even when everyone else is saying “yes”? The courage to do this is built on the confidence that what God says in the Bible is the truth. Our beliefs are not based on our own private opinions; they are based entirely on the Word of God. The Bible is not my truth or your truth to take or leave as we please; it is God’s truth. Even when we find things in the Bible that challenge how we think and how we want to live, we stick with the Holy Bible.
Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal and Asherah was the Lord’s way of calling the people of Israel back to the Scriptures, back to the true faith. He is the One who established His chosen people from old father Abraham. He is the One who led His people Israel out of slavery in Egypt and brought them to the promised land of Canaan.
Elijah referred to the true God by the name He revealed to Moses at the burning bush, “I am who I am” (Exo. 3:14). In Hebrew, this name is Yahweh; and in English, the name is given as “Lord” in all capital letters. Elijah was saying that the Lord who made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and who led the people out of Egypt through Moses, is the Lord who even now would show His power through Elijah.
It was a bold statement. Elijah stood alone against the leaders of the land, 850 false prophets, and most of the people. One man against a mob. How could he alone be right? The prophets of Baal tried everything they could, but Baal didn’t answer. From morning to evening, they danced around their altar, cried out to their god, and cut themselves till the blood gushed out. But Baal sent no fire to burn up their sacrifice.
Now it was Elijah’s turn. He rebuilt the altar of the Lord, dug a trench around it, and placed the wood and the bull on it. Then he ordered the altar to be doused with water three times, so that everything was soaking wet. Then he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord sent fire from heaven that “consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” What else could the people say, but “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.”
We might wish that the Lord would do something like this today, prove to our skeptical society that He is who the Bible says He is. But remember that many of those who watched Jesus perform miracle after miracle still rejected Him. Faith does not come through powerful signs; “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). The Word of Christ is the message of what He has done to conquer our greatest enemies. What He did was more amazing than what God did through Elijah. Elijah seemed to be alone, but we will hear next week that God preserved 7,000 people who had not bowed their knees to Baal (1Ki. 19:18).
Jesus truly stood alone as He faced the sinfulness of the world, the dark powers of the devil, and the deep pit of death. Was Jesus really the one to follow? Many thought so for a while; they thought He could be their king. But by Good Friday, Jesus stood alone, with even His disciples forsaking Him. As the people saw Him condemned and crucified, they wondered about what could have been. What if Jesus had done things differently? What if He would have compromised somewhat? What if He had made political alliances with the right people? Then maybe He could have become the king they wanted. What a disappointment, they thought.
Jesus knew what the people wanted, but much more importantly, He knew what they needed. On Good Friday, He went forward in silence, not because He was afraid to speak the truth, and not because He had nothing to say. He went willingly to the cross—like a lamb that is led to the slaughter—to save you and me. He went to the cross to pay for our sins, for not speaking the truth when we should have, and for going against His Word by our words and actions. He did not take the easy path; He took the hardest one, the path of eternal punishment for all of our wrongs.
But how can we know that this was done for us? How can we know that Jesus made eternal satisfaction for all our sins? We know because on the third day, He rose from the dead. Only God could do that. Only God could win the victory over death itself. The prophets of Baal could neither make their false god burn up their offering nor save them from death. Only the true God can save. The true God is the God revealed on the pages of Holy Scripture.
He is not the God we expect. We expect a god who requires great things from us, who exacts payment from us before he will act—perhaps like the blood the prophets of Baal poured out. But the true God does not require the shedding of our blood; He saved us by the shedding of His blood. Jesus is the Lord of all heaven and earth, seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty and bringing His blessings to us still now, even today, through His powerful Word and Sacraments. And so we worship Him by faithfully confessing, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God!”
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.
+ + +
(picture from the outdoor service at the parsonage)
(sermon audio not available this week)
The Fifth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 1 Samuel 15:1-15
In Christ Jesus, no counterfeit ruler, no charlatan who deceives for personal gain, but a King who gave up His life for your salvation, dear fellow redeemed:
Everyone liked Absalom. For one thing, he was very good looking. The Scriptures say that “From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him” (2Sa. 14:25). Once a year, he cut his hair because it got so heavy, and what he cut off weighed about five pounds. There was no one like him.
The other reason Absalom was so well-liked was because he was very good at telling people what they wanted to hear. He was a master of flattery. He would sit each day at the city gate in Jerusalem, and he would warmly receive everyone who arrived there. He would pretend to care about their business, and he would act like his father, King David, had no real interest in their concerns. He would say, “Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.” And when anyone would honor him, he would return the honor in a show of humility. In this way, we are told, “Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.”
Absalom behaved in this manner for four years. What I haven’t mentioned yet, is that Absalom was a murderer. He took revenge against his brother Amnon and had Amnon killed. After doing this Absalom fled, and King David did not allow him to return to Jerusalem for three years. When Absalom did return, David refused to see him. Two years after this, Absalom manipulated one of David’s servants and gained access again to his father. And David forgave his son.
That interaction comes immediately before what we learn about today with Absalom actively working against his father. So all Israel was being drawn to the king’s son, a murderer, who had no respect for his father or his office as king. The main Commandment in view in today’s reading is the Fourth Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother, that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.”
You might recall the way David referred to King Saul while King Saul in his jealousy was trying to have David killed. David referred to him as “the Lord’s anointed” and as “my Lord” (1Sa. 24, 26). Even though Saul was not respectable, David showed respect for the office. In the same way, we are to show respect for the authorities starting in our own homes. Colossians 3:20 says, “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.”
Children are to honor, respect, and obey their parents at all times. If their parents tell them to clean their room, help around the house, or whatever they tell them to do, their children are to obey them as though the Lord Himself told them to do this. The only exception to this Commandment is if parents tell their children to do something that God says is wrong; for example, to do harm to someone or to take someone’s possessions.
This respect also applies to authority outside the home. We are to have respect for teachers, employers, pastors, and government officials, among others. We respect these individuals not because they are always respectable, and not because we like everything they do, but because God has established these authorities. If there were no authority, there would be no law and order. There would be chaos. God has given authority for our good, even if it doesn’t always seem good.
The people of Israel knew the Fourth Commandment. They knew they were to honor the king. They knew Absalom was honoring neither the king nor his father. That should have been a tremendous red flag. That should have told them that perhaps Absalom was not king material. But they let themselves be duped by him. He was an important person—a prince. He was good looking. He made them feel special.
He also told them what they wanted to hear. He told them that all their claims, their ideas, and their concerns, were good and right. That is a danger for us, too, in both civil and spiritual matters. We can be all too eager to listen to the politician who makes promises that he probably can’t keep, but that we love to hear. We like to be told that all our claims, our ideas, and our concerns, are good and right. And in being greedy to get what we want, it is only too easy to ignore the needs and concerns of our neighbors.
In spiritual matters, if we are only looking for a preacher or teacher who tells us what we want to hear, then we will be less and less willing to be corrected and challenged and taught by the Word of God. St. Paul says that in the last days people will have “itching ears.” “They will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2Ti. 4:3-4). We don’t need an echo chamber. We need the Holy Spirit through the powerful Word to change us and shape us and mold us into what God has called us to be.
This is what Jesus did for Peter and the other disciples. He gave them a tremendous catch of fish, when previously they had been unable to catch anything. When he saw this, Peter fell down before Jesus and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luk. 5:8). Now Jesus going away is the last thing that Peter needed, but he clearly saw that he was not worthy to be in the Lord’s presence which was certainly true. Instead of going away, Jesus said, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men” (v. 10).
Jesus authorized Peter and the other disciples to preach the powerful Word. They would not be selfishly trying to draw people away from Jesus; they would be pointing people to Jesus. Jesus was not going to steal the throne of any earthly king. He already was the King of all heaven and earth. So what was He doing down here in human flesh? What was His purpose? What was His plan?
Absalom commissioned fifty men to run in front of him, while he rode on a chariot to take his position at the city gate. He wanted everyone to think he was important. Then he told whatever lie he had to to please them. Jesus did the opposite of all this. The Son of God entered the world through a lowly woman named Mary, a descendant of King David, and His coming was heralded by none but the shepherds. Jesus gained followers for Himself not through flattery and deceit but through teaching the truth.
He did not sit at the city gate coaxing people away from the authorities. He did not come to put on a show of His greatness or to manipulate people to do what He wanted. He came in all humility as a servant to redeem the world of sinners. He went from place to place telling people the good news of the kingdom. He healed the sick and the hurting. He fed the hungry and spared the demon-possessed. He did not look out for His own interests but for the interests of others.
As a leader, He was nothing like Absalom. There were no red flags with Jesus. Everything He said was good and right. He upheld the Commandments perfectly, including God’s command to honor father and mother and every authority. He didn’t just talk the talk; He walked the walk.
And that is why you are presented righteous before God today. However you have disrespected and dishonored your parents, your teachers, your employers, law enforcement officials, or anyone else in governing positions, God forgives these sins. They were counted against Jesus who paid for every sin on the cross. By faith in Him, His righteousness is now credited to you, so that God sees you as having no sin, as having no blemish on your record that stands between you and the perfection of heaven.
This is what He tells you in His holy Word. This is what He continues to commission men to preach and teach to you. Like Simon Peter, your pastors are imperfect men, and they know it. But they point you to the perfect Savior. This Gospel message is how sinners are “caught” for the kingdom of God. It is not a message to work against the ruling authorities or destroy the institutions of government. It is a message of peace between God and man because Jesus the God-Man stepped in as our Substitute.
We want to fix our hope on this message. Popular, influential people like Absalom will keep coming along with their plots and plans. They will appeal to us with their smooth talk and flattering words. They will promise us great personal gain and prosperity. But almost as soon as they gain power, they are gone again. Psalm 146 says, “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish” (vv. 3-4).
We put our trust not in princes, but in the King of kings and Lord of lords. An earthly son of man cannot save us, but the Son of God and Son of Man can. He is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Joh. 14:6). His Word does not mislead us. His Word “is a lamp to [our] feet and a light to [our] path” (Psa. 119:105). He calls us to follow His Word in good times and in bad, in times of prosperity and times of trouble.
No matter how strange, outdated, or ineffective people think God’s Word is today, it remains powerful just as He is powerful. His Word is the source of our faith and the means by which He grants us eternal life. His strong Word will endure as rulers come and go and as kingdoms rise and fall. Everything in this world eventually fails and falls apart, but “the word of our God will stand forever” (Isa. 40:8).
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.
+ + +
(picture of the miraculous catch of fish by Raphael, 1515)
Midweek Lent 2 – Pr. Abraham Faugstad homily
Text: St. Matthew 26:1-2
William Miller predicted that Christ’s second coming would be on April 18, 1844. After that date passed, a disciple of Miller predicted October 22, 1844. Charles Russell, a Jehovah Witness, predicted that Christ would return in 1874. A Russian Mennonite, Claas Epp predicted that Christ would return on March 8, 1889. These are names of people that you have probably never heard of. Why? Because they join a long list of many other people who have predicted things about Christ and other events, which never came true.
These people are examples of modern-day false prophets. Yet, false prophets are nothing new to our times. The Lord even had to warn the people of Israel about false prophets who claimed to have revelations and prophecies from God. The Lord gave criterion to identify true and false prophets. A true prophet was someone who may be enabled by the Lord to perform great miracles. Also important, was that everything a prophet speaks would be in alignment with God’s Word (Deut. 13:1–5). Yet, one of the most obvious marks of a true prophet was that their prophecies came true. If a prophet’s words didn’t come true, clearly, they were not from God. Deuteronomy 18:22 states, “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”
Jesus was the greatest of all prophets. He is the one whom Moses foretold, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen” (Deut. 18:15). In our Lenten series this year, we are looking at some of the prophecies made by Christ during Holy Week. Tonight, our Savior foretells that he would be delivered for crucifixion.
During his earthly ministry Jesus was transparent to his disciples about his purpose and work. Yet, in the last year of his ministry, and especially the week before his crucifixion, we see his discussions with his disciples becoming more and more clear about how and where he would accomplish our salvation. In the Gospel of Matthew alone, Jesus had already foretold of his suffering and death to his disciples three times (Matthew 16:21–23,17:22–23, 20:17–19). He would go to Jerusalem to suffer and die, and on the third day he would rise. He would be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes who would condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified.
Jesus had foretold where and how he would die. In our lesson, Jesus foretells when he would be crucified, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Jesus is speaking fact. Jesus is saying to his disciples, “You know after two days the Passover is coming. Just as certainly as this, I will be handed over to be crucified.”
Here Jesus is indicating more than a prediction and more than supernatural knowledge. This was an act of determining, or fixing, the time of his death. Jesus is demonstrating his authority over all things. Regardless of any plans of the Jewish leaders, it would be as he directs—Thursday night and Friday, and no other time. Jesus’ words were making reality.
What’s hard for us to wrap our heads around is that Jesus was in control. He speaks as if it already happened, because what God determines will come to pass. Jesus showed his power by this prediction, a prediction in which he will be made powerless. He is showing his authority by fixing the time of his suffering, a time where he would submit himself under the authority of a kangaroo court and Pontius Pilate. With this prophecy Jesus is showing his power and authority over time. He is in control. Yet, it’s a paradox, what he causes to be, will make him look powerless, weak, and destroyed.
Jesus was not only a true prophet in the sense that his word came true. He showed his power and control over all things by fixing the exact time of his crucifixion. If you had the same power as Jesus, to not only know the future, but be in control of your future, how would you use it? I’m willing to wager that if we had the power over our future, we certainly would not be planning our own demise. We would not plan our own suffering and humiliation, and a horrible death which was saved for only the worst type of criminals. Instead, we would make a future where we would have peace, relaxation, and glory—where we wouldn’t face hardship, sorrow, or shame. We would want to avoid all pain. If we had this power, we would obviously want to make ourselves as happy as possible.
But not Jesus. He gave up his power and glory in heaven when he humbled himself to be born of a virgin. He gave up the peace of heaven to live an innocent life where he was rejected by his own people, wrongly convicted, beaten, mocked, and crucified. What could drive Jesus to do all this? If Jesus had the power to change his future, why on earth would he choose this path?
Because if he didn’t, it would be you convicted, beaten, mocked, and cast to hell for all eternity. We so often think very little about our sins. You don’t think your selfishness is that sinful, don’t I deserve better? You think your hatred of your neighbor is justified. You think your desire for more and more and more isn’t greed, but healthy ambition. You think your lust which you hold in your heart for someone who is not our spouse isn’t that bad. But any sin, no matter how small we might tell ourselves it is, deserves hell. Scripture says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (James 2:10).
Christ chose the path of the cross because he loves you. Because he wanted to save you from what you deserve. He gladly received what he did not deserve, so that you could receive forgiveness and his undeserved kindness. God is love and in Christ we see God’s love. Scripture says, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:9–10).
In our lesson, Jesus prophesied when he would be crucified. When we hear this prediction, we should realize Christ’s love for us. His death was no accident or coincidence. It was all part of his plan to save you. Not only did all of Jesus’ prophecies come to be, but Jesus also fulfilled all the prophecies about himself. “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed… And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53).
Jesus showed himself to be a true prophet because his word came to be, which means you can trust his word. His word which says, “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37); “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:28); “Be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9:2); “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (John 11:25); “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19).
Jesus is the greatest of all prophets. Even now as our resurrected Lord, he continues to carry out his prophetic office by sending preachers to preach his word. So that men, women, and children sitting in pews in Iowa 2,000 years later and over 6,000 miles from his empty tomb, might learn about their Savior. The names of false prophets come and go. But our Savior’s name will forever be. His name is Jesus, “because He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Amen.
(picture from “Jesus Discourses with His Disciples” by James Tissot, 1836-1902)
The Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Ephesians 6:10-17
In Christ Jesus, who rallies His soldiers around a manger, a cross, and an empty tomb and sends the terrible army of darkness scurrying away from His piercing light, dear fellow redeemed:
“It’s time to take a stand!” “Seize the moment!” “Stand up and be counted!” “Your future and your children’s future are at stake!” We have been hearing these messages a lot lately. They are attached to appeals for the citizens of this country to get active and go vote. People from both sides of the political aisle are calling this the most important presidential election in our lifetime. Each side says that if the other candidate wins, it will be the end of democracy as we know it.
It is not my job to tell you who to vote for. It is not even my job to tell you to vote. That is a right and privilege you have that you can choose to exercise or not. But it is my job to tell you not to get too caught up with the candidates you support or the candidates you oppose. God can use bad rulers as well as good rulers for His purposes. After this November 5th, our almighty Lord will still reign over all things in heaven and on earth just as He does now.
We are reminded of this in today’s reading, where our chief enemy is identified along with the battle plan for his defeat. Paul writes that we must take our stand “against the schemes of the devil.” Jesus described the devil as “a murderer from the beginning, [who] has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him…. he is a liar and the father of lies” (Joh. 8:44). The devil’s goal is that we join him in the eternal torments of hell. He is pure evil. He does not play fair. He will do whatever it takes to separate us from the forgiveness and salvation we have in Christ.
The devil is our number one opponent. We can never forget that he is on the march against us. Bad people—including bad politicians and government officials—come and go (Psa. 146:3-4). The devil has been carrying out his destructive work since the beginning (1Jo. 3:8). Our reading says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” When people pursue bad things and do bad things, we have to remember who is behind it—the great tempter and deceiver and his fellow demons.
He has his sights set on you, too, especially you. You confess Jesus to be your Savior and Lord, which puts you at odds with the devil. He hates you. He wants to destroy you. The unbelievers can go their merry way, but not you. You have to pay for your devotion to Jesus. He will attack wherever he thinks you are vulnerable, wherever he thinks he can cause the most pain and do the most damage to your faith. In Job’s case, he attacked his possessions and his family and then Job’s own health. But he did not prevail against Job, and it is not a foregone conclusion that he will prevail against you.
So how can you withstand his attacks? What is your battle strategy? If you knew someone was going to try to break into your home, you would stay awake and alert. Or if someone was going to physically attack you or take shots at you, you would wear protective body armor and carry weapons to defend yourself. But physical defenses and weapons don’t work against the devil. You need spiritual protection for this spiritual battle.
That is why Paul says, “Put on” and “take up the whole armor of God.” Only God’s armor can protect you against the devil. God knows the dark and imminent threats to your faith. He sees the dangers and pitfalls that are hidden from your eyes. He knows how to equip you, so that you “stand firm.”
The first piece of God’s armor is “the belt of truth.” This is not your truth or anyone else’s truth; this is God’s truth. His is the only truth that matters. His is the only truth that is most certainly true. We know the truth because He has delivered it to us in the Holy Scriptures. Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Joh. 8:31-32). And He said in prayer to His Father, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (Joh. 17:17). We learn the truth by listening to and studying God’s Word, and in this way we also learn to identify the devil’s lies.
The next piece of God’s armor is “the breastplate of righteousness.” A breastplate protects your vital organs. What is it that covers your heart, so you are safe from the devil’s attacks? Some think that their heart is protected by their own good works and good intentions. Their heart is pure because they work hard to keep it pure. But this kind of self-righteousness is not a strength; it is a terrible weakness. The only righteousness that can cover and protect your heart is Jesus’ righteousness. The devil cannot pierce through the armor of His righteousness because He has perfectly kept the holy Law, and He kept it on your behalf.
The next part of God’s armor is sturdy shoes that help you to stand firm. You are ready for battle when you stand on “the Gospel of peace.” Now that doesn’t sound very strong. What about “the Gospel of power” or “the Gospel of victory”? The Gospel is those things too. But “peace” is where you stand with God. Paul wrote about this to the Christians in Rome, “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). And, “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand” (v. 2). As long as you have peace with God and remain in His grace by faith, you have firm footing against the devil.
God also supplies you with “the shield of faith.” This part of His armor provides some insight into how active the devil is. Paul speaks about “all the flaming darts of the evil one.” Picture thousands after thousands of burning arrows flying at you through the darkness. Or if that isn’t scary enough, picture thousands upon thousands of missiles screaming your way. God provides a shield to protect you—the shield of faith. The devil’s unending accusations cannot land on you as long as your trust is in Jesus. Those flaming darts are quenched like matches flicked toward a waterfall.
By faith you wear “the helmet of salvation.” You put this on when the water was poured on your head while Jesus’ words were spoken at your Baptism. The sign of the cross was made over your forehead and heart that day, and the sign of the cross still starts at your forehead and ends over your heart. God does not let the devil hang your sins over your head or bury you under them. You are protected by the salvation Jesus secured through His death and resurrection.
So you have the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes standing on the Gospel of peace, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation. Finally you take in your hand “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” There is no more powerful defense than the Word. The Second Letter to Timothy says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (3:16-17). Everything you need in your battle against the devil is supplied by the Word. You also learn through God’s Word how to pray, speaking back to God in petitions and praises for what He has promised you (Eph. 6:18).
The inspired words of today’s reading make it very clear where we should stand and where our strength is found. We stand “in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” The parts of the armor of God that we have reviewed today are all gifts from Him. None of them depend on our own strength or our own abilities. In other words, the only way to stand firm against the devil’s attacks is to recognize our own weakness. The only way to win is to admit how poor and unprepared we are by ourselves.
Our powerful Lord must fight for us. This is exactly what Martin Luther wrote in “the Battle Hymn of the Reformation”:
Stood we alone in our own might,
Our striving would be losing;
For us the one true Man doth fight,
The Man of God’s own choosing.
Who is this chosen One?
’Tis Jesus Christ, the Son,
The Lord of hosts ’tis He
Who wins the victory
In ev’ry field of battle. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #251, v. 2)
Jesus fights for us in every field of battle. We stand with Him. Or better yet, He stands with us. He comes to strengthen and keep us in the faith through His Word and Sacraments. This is how He keeps us ready for the cosmic conflict against the devil. This is how He picks us up when are staggered by the devil’s blows and have fallen into sin. This is how He fortifies and tightens our armor, so there are no gaps and weak spots for the devil to exploit.
Today and every day is the Time to Take a Stand. Not on the shaky ground of a politician’s promises or an important person’s power because they will disappoint us. Not on the mushy ground of our own strength or our good intentions because they will fail us. We take our stand on the solid rock of Jesus Christ and His Word. Even the gates of hell cannot prevail against His Word (Mat. 16:18). “The word of our God will stand forever” (Isa. 40:8).
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.
+ + +
(picture from “The Temptation of Christ by the Devil” by Félix Joseph Barrias, 1822-1907)
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.
+ + +
(picture from “Entry of Christ into Jerusalem” by Pietro Lorenzetti, 1320)
The Festival of the Resurrection of Our Lord – Pr. Faugstad exordium & sermon
Festival exordium:
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! That was not the disciples’ reaction on Easter Sunday. “Christ is risen!” said the angel (Mar. 16:6). “Christ is risen!” said the women (Luk. 24:9). “Christ is risen!” said the Emmaus disciples (Mar. 16:13; Luk. 24:34). But this shocking message, this wonderful news, was met with questions and doubt. “Is Christ risen?” they wondered. “We won’t believe it until we see it with our own eyes.”
We know the truth that Jesus certainly died and certainly rose again on the third day. We know it, because the disciples did see Jesus after His resurrection, and they reported exactly what they saw and heard from Him. His resurrection is a fact. Christ is risen indeed!
But where our doubt comes in is here: “Is Christ risen for me? How can I be sure? How can I know that when I die, I will rise again? Or that my loved ones will rise again?” We can understand the disciples’ doubts—when had anyone ever risen from the dead? Our doubts seem reasonable too—when have we ever seen someone rise from the dead? But experience only goes so far.
The two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus on Easter afternoon were experiencing sadness. Jesus joined them on the road, but they didn’t know it was Him. They told Him everything they had witnessed and heard over the last few days, including the report of Jesus’ resurrection.
And Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Luk. 24:25-26). Then what did He do? “[B]eginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (v. 27).
We may not have seen anyone rise from the dead. But we do have the Scriptures, God’s own Word. Jesus’ life and works match perfectly with all the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. And everything that He told His disciples would happen during Holy Week, including His resurrection on the third day, did happen exactly as He predicted.
So we do not need to doubt His promise to return on the last day to raise up the dead, or His promise that He has gone to prepare a place for all believers in heaven, or His promise to be present with us now through His Word and Sacraments to strengthen our faith. His resurrection verifies that what He promises, He does.
We rejoice in these promises by rising to sing hymn #348, “He Is Arisen! Glorious Word!”
He is arisen! Glorious Word!
Now reconciled is God, my Lord;
The gates of heaven are open.
My Jesus died triumphantly,
And Satan’s arrows broken lie,
Destroyed hell’s direst weapon.
O hear
What cheer!
Christ victorious
Riseth glorious,
Life He giveth—
He was dead, but see, He liveth!
+ + +
Sermon text: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
In Christ Jesus, through whom you are a new creation, a new lump, filled no longer with the leaven of sin, but with the sincerity and truth that come from Him alone, dear fellow redeemed:
God sent nine terrible plagues on Egypt, but still Pharaoh would not let the enslaved people of Israel go into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD. God promised to send one more plague, after which Pharaoh would let the people go. In preparation for this plague, the LORD instructed each Israelite household to take a male lamb without blemish and kill it at twilight. Then they were to put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts and eat the flesh of the lamb roasted over fire.
They were also instructed to eat unleavened bread. All leaven had to be removed from their houses, and they would eat unleavened bread for seven days. The penalty for eating leavened bread during this time was severe. The LORD said, “if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel” (Exo. 12:15). He repeated the same warning a few verses later that anyone who disobeyed “will be cut off from the congregation of Israel” (v. 19).
In today’s Epistle lesson, the apostle Paul draws on this account of the Passover. He tells the Christian congregation in Corinth to “cleanse out the old leaven.” But he is not talking about their bread. He is talking about the congregation. The Christians there were puffed up. They were boasting, puffed up with pride, and they were not boasting about what their Savior Jesus had done for them. They were boasting about their open-mindedness and their willingness to tolerate what was clearly sinful. In this case, they were boasting about a clear violation of the Sixth Commandment—one of the members of the congregation living in open sin.
This is the kind of approach that is cheered by our culture today. The churches that are willing to compromise the Word of God, change their teachings with the times, and stop calling out sin are praised. These churches probably don’t say much about the Ten Commandments anymore, or they might explain them in such a way that no one in the congregation is really challenged or convicted by them. “Oh, the Ten Commandments are for the bad people,” they say, “and for the people who just want to judge others. But we are doing just fine.”
Paul writes, “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” Then he tells us what that leaven is, it is “the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil.” It is the sin that characterized us before we became unleavened, before we were born again in Christ through Holy Baptism. It is the sin that Jesus died to free us from, we who were formerly enslaved to sin and death.
We are freed from this sin, because “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.” Here, God’s stunning plan of salvation becomes clear, a plan that was illustrated by the Passover lamb. Right after Jesus’ public revealing as the Messiah at His Baptism, John pointed to Him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Joh. 1:29). He could take the world’s sin, because He had no sin of His own to carry. He was “a lamb without blemish or spot” (1Pe. 1:19).
The blood of this spotless Lamb was poured out for you on Good Friday just before the Passover was celebrated in Jerusalem. This holy blood cleanses you from all sin (1Jo. 1:7). We just sang a verse about this in Martin Luther’s great Easter hymn: “Here the true Paschal Lamb we see, / Whom God so freely gave us; / He died on the accursed tree— / So strong His love— to save us. / See, His blood doth mark our door [the door of our heart!]; / Faith points to it [to His blood], death passes o’er, / And Satan cannot harm us. / Alleluia!” (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #343, v. 5).
Jesus’ resurrection on the third day is the irrefutable proof that all sin was atoned for by His sacrifice. Now is the time to “celebrate the festival,” writes Paul. Now is the time to celebrate the Lamb’s victory. Now is the time to celebrate the forgiveness of sins. Now is the time to celebrate the eternal life that is ours because Jesus rose triumphant over death.
But how are we to “celebrate the festival”? Today’s reading says, “not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil”—not by returning to the sin that Jesus has freed us from, not by confirming others in their sin and boasting about how charitable and accommodating we are of them. Remember that the Israelites were told to get rid of every trace of leaven from their homes. In the same way, we are called to get rid of every trace of sin in our own hearts and to recognize that our sins not only affect us—they affect the congregation to which we belong and the whole body of Christ. “A little leaven” in just one area of a batch of dough “leavens the whole lump.”
The way we “cleanse out the old leaven,” both individually and as a congregation is through repentance. We own up to our weaknesses. We admit our sinful actions, words, and thoughts that we have tried to justify or pass off as being “not so bad.” We even pry the lid off old sins that we have done our best to cover up but that continue to trouble our conscience.
We repent of our sins, because they have already been paid for. Jesus carried them to the cross, and when He came out of the tomb, our sins were left buried for now and forever. The payment of His death and the triumph of His resurrection are applied to us in Holy Baptism. Romans 6 tells us that just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so through Baptism “we too might walk in newness of life” (v. 4). “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him” (v. 9). Because that is true for Jesus, “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (v. 11). His victory over sin and death is your victory.
You are not dead in your sins; you are alive in Jesus. You are no longer a slave to sin; you are free from it. You are free from the “leaven of malice and evil” that used to permeate you and rule you. You are free to “celebrate the festival” of Jesus’ victory “with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Paul explained more in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians what this “sincerity” means. He wrote, “we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God” (2Co. 1:12). And again, “we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God (2:17, NASB).
“[T]he unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” is the faithful confession of God’s Word, no matter what cultural winds are blowing, and no matter what pressure is applied against the church. We have nothing to be ashamed of before God, when we believe and teach the Word of God with “sincerity and truth.”
But what if you haven’t spoken His Word faithfully, but instead compromised what He says? Or what if you haven’t done such a good job of “[cleansing] out the old leaven,” so that you are often still puffed up with sin and pride, or you are full of bitterness or anger toward others? Then repent of these sins and listen to these words: “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed” for you. God the Father sent His Son to atone for all your sins.
And He has called me to proclaim it to you. I can stand here today and tell you with no hesitation that your sins are forgiven, because Jesus won your freedom from them through His death and resurrection. Because He lives, you will live also (Joh. 14:19). That is what He promises all people who put their trust in Him. They are no longer full of “the old leaven,” they “really are unleavened.”
“You Really Are Unleavened.” That is how you are in Jesus. You are baptized into Him. You trust in Him. You know that He will return again on the last day to raise up and glorify you and all believers. He really has risen! He has risen for you, indeed! Alleluia!
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.
+ + +
(picture of Easter morning sunrise taken by Redeemer member, 3/31/24)
The Eighth Sunday after Trinity – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. Matthew 7:15-23
In Christ Jesus, in whom we can always put our trust, dear fellow redeemed:
The last few years of my life were spent in the classroom learning how to be a pastor. Throughout those years, there were many times when the professors would have me, along with my fellow classmates, read commentaries on the books of the Bible. Because the people who wrote these commentaries were much smarter than me, I tended to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that what they said in their commentaries was accurate. However, when it came time for us to discuss in class what we learned from the commentaries, there were times when I felt like I was the only one who assumed that the writers were right, as my classmates seemed to be much more willing to question the writers on points that they made than I was. It was then that I realized that, going forward, I should be more critical when reading commentaries on the books of the Bible and should not assume that they are right just because they are smarter than me.
There are times when all of us can assume that someone knows more than us in a particular field because they studied in that field more than us. We trust plumbers who come to fix the pipes in our houses. We trust doctors who tell us if we are sick and what we should do to get better. We trust pastors who tell us what the Bible says and how we should apply what the Bible says to our daily lives. However, while there can certainly be consequences in this life if the plumbers and doctors we trust are wrong, our eternal life can be at risk if the pastors we trust are wrong. So, when it comes to pastors and preachers, who can you trust? (1) Trusting solely in people leads to destruction, while (2) trusting in Jesus leads to heaven.
In our text for today, Jesus warns us to not trust every preacher who comes to us. After all, just because a preacher comes to us does not mean that he was sent to us by God. Jesus called these preachers “false prophets” and says in verse 15 that they “come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” They look like true prophets on the outside, but in reality, they are false prophets who, if followed, will lead us off of the path to eternal life and down the path to eternal destruction. And it’s no mistake that they appear to be like a fellow sheep either. It’s important to false prophets that they appear to be innocent and harmless, because if they let their true nature show, then the true sheep who follow the true Shepherd would recognize that these so called “prophets” are trying to lead them astray and would turn from them.
These false prophets come in many different forms. Some false prophets rely on miraculous signs and wonders to win people over to them. They have no intention of actually preaching the gospel. They just want to make better lives for themselves by using their lying wonders.
Sometimes they don’t have any miraculous powers at all and only stage their miracles in order to fool us, kind of like a magician doing magic tricks. It may seem real, but there is actually some really clever slight of hand that very few people recognize. Sometimes they actually are using real powers. However, these powers do not come from God. In reality, they are demonic powers. The devil and his angels do have limited powers, and they use those powers to lead people astray.
In our text for today, we do not see Jesus deny that the false prophets were performing miraculous signs. When he says in verse 22 that many false prophets will say to him on the Last Day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?”, he says in verse 23 that he will respond to them by saying, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” These false prophets may be able to fool people, but they aren’t able to fool God. God did not give them these powers, and even if they are claiming to do these miracles in his name, they actually had no intention of honoring anyone but themselves.
Another form that false prophets come in is one that distorts God’s Word, intentionally lying about what the Bible says. These false prophets will often try to win us over by using kernels of truth, such as saying that Jesus preached that we should love one another, as he told his disciples on Maundy Thursday in John 13:34–35. However, they will then preach a lie to go along with it, such as saying that, because Jesus told us to love one another, therefore we should never judge anyone for living a different way than we do, and we should support every kind of lifestyle that exists out there, even though the Bible condemns some of those lifestyles.
Some of these lies can be more convincing than others, and often times the lies are slowly introduced, so that we don’t realize that we are being lied to until it’s too late. This is why we have to be on alert and not trust everyone who claims to be from God. But if false prophets can be so convincing at times that we aren’t aware that they are lying to us, then who can we trust? While trusting solely in people leads to destruction, there is one man in whom we can put our trust: the God-man Jesus. Trusting in Jesus leads to heaven.
Unlike false prophets, who lie in order to win us over and lead us astray, Jesus never lied. Everything that he said during his time on Earth came true. When a centurion demonstrated the great faith that he had after asking Jesus to heal his servant, Jesus said, “Go, let it be done for you as you have believed” (Matthew 8:13). After Jesus said this, the verse continues by saying, “And the servant was healed at that very moment.” After Peter told Jesus that he would never fall away, even if everyone else did, Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times” (Mark 14:30), which ended up happening exactly as Jesus had said. And after Jesus cleansed the temple when it was being used as a house of trade, the Jews asked him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things” (John 2:18)? And Jesus responded, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). The Jews thought that Jesus was talking about the temple that they were currently standing in, but Jesus was actually talking about his body. So, the account continued by saying, “When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken” (John 2:22).
Therefore, when Jesus says things such as, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25–26), and “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32), we know that we can trust that he is speaking the truth and can confess, as Peter did, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
But while we would certainly like to think that we will always believe what Jesus says, in reality, we go through doubts all throughout our lives. We often find ourselves turning to what false prophets say, because what they say sounds better to our sinful nature than what Jesus says. There are times when we don’t think that the Bible makes sense the way that the true prophets of God explain it, so we turn to the false prophets that explain the Bible in a way that does make sense to our rational but sinful minds. There are times when we don’t like to be told that we are wrong or that we need to change, so when we hear false prophets telling us that we are perfect the way we are and that we don’t need to change, we want to listen to them.
We may not sit and listen to a false prophet each week like we listen to our pastor in church, but our sinful nature is always whispering in our ears, urging us to do the things we know are wrong and to neglect the loving things we know we should do. In a way, our sinful nature is the biggest false prophet of them all, and we follow it all the time.
While these false prophets often tell us what we want to hear, Jesus tells us what we need to hear, and what we need to hear is not only that we are poor and wretched sinners who deserve God’s wrath and punishment for turning away from him, but also that Jesus has paid the price for all of our sins so that eternal life is ours. Jesus accomplished this for us by his perfect life and innocent death. During his life, Jesus did not turn away from the Father, like the devil kept tempting him to do, but perfectly followed his Father’s will, which led him all the way to the cross to die for our sins of turning from the Father and following false prophets. And because Jesus perfectly listened to his Father in heaven, that perfect listening is credited to us as righteousness.
The salvation that Jesus won for you is a free gift. This is another way that he sets himself apart from the false prophets. You don’t have to give money in order to receive blessings from God, like some false prophets tell you to do. You don’t have to follow a program that false prophets plan out for you. Salvation is already yours, freely given to you by God through his Word and Sacraments.
Therefore, knowing that Jesus speaks to you truthfully though his Word, you can use his Word to test your pastors. Jesus says in verse 16 that “[y]ou will recognize [false prophets] by their fruits.” Your pastors are called to preach God’s Word. Therefore, follow the example of the Bereans, who “examin[ed] the Scriptures daily to see if these things [that Paul and Silas were saying in the synagogue] were so” (Acts 17:11). If your pastors are not preaching the sound doctrine that is found in God’s Word, you will know that they are false prophets, but if they are preaching the sound doctrine that is found in God’s Word, you will know that they are true prophets who have been sent by God.
While you may at times not know who you can trust, you know that you can always trust Jesus. He became flesh to live a perfect life and die an innocent death on the cross in order to save you from your sins. He never failed to keep his promises, and he still comes to you to bless you through his holy Word. He truly is the one you can trust.
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.
+ + +
(picture from “The Sermon on the Mount” by Carl Bloch, 1877)
The Presentation of the Augsburg Confession – Pr. Faugstad homily
Text: Psalm 119:46
493 years ago on June 25, 1530, the Lutheran princes of Germany stood before Emperor Charles V and publicly read their confession of faith to all who were gathered there. They stated that they would rather die than compromise the truth of God’s Word.
+ + +
In Christ Jesus, who in His testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession (1Ti. 6:13), and who calls us to do the same when we are asked for a reason for the hope that is in us (1Pe. 3:15), dear fellow redeemed:
The men who read the words of the Augsburg Confession before Emperor Charles V were not pastors or theological professors. They were laymen. And they understood and believed every word they spoke. They were powerful men in Germany—dukes, princes, and wealthy landowners—, which meant that they had a lot to lose. They were willing to risk it all because of the Gospel message of salvation they had heard and believed.
By speaking the truth of God’s Word, you also could face the possible loss of your job, your standing in the community, or your favor with friends. Telling God’s truth is the most courageous thing you can do, and it is also the most difficult. The world does not welcome the truth. It actively opposes it and wants the clear teaching of God to be silenced.
But while the unbelieving world may succeed in intimidating us and winning some battles against us, it cannot conquer the Church of God in Christ. He assures us, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (Joh. 16:33). He also reminds us how important our confession of the truth is. Not only is it a matter of eternal life or death for us, it is also a matter of eternal life or death for those we associate with. Jesus says, “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Mat. 10:32-33).
The laymen at Augsburg confessed the pure Gospel of Jesus in the presence of some of the most powerful people of their day. We still stand on this confession. We believe what they believed. We teach what they taught. By the grace of God, we have the received His treasures of forgiveness, righteousness, and peace through the preaching of His Word. We have been made members of the body of Christ through faith in Him who died for all our sins and rose from the dead in victory. There is no hope apart from Him, and every confidence in Him.
But we have not always been confident, and we have not always been hopeful. At various times in our lives, we have lost sight of this most important thing. We have listened to the promises of the world. We have sometimes chosen sin over salvation, friendships over faithfulness, peace and security in the world instead of the peace that surpasses all understanding. We think back on these things, and we feel ashamed.
Shame is always waiting for those who walk the way of the world and not the way of God’s Word. You and I find plenty to be ashamed of when we look at our own hearts and minds. But we find nothing to be ashamed of when we look to Jesus. He also stood before powerful authorities. Though they attacked Him and told lies about Him, He did not give in, and He did not retaliate. They sentenced Him unjustly to death by crucifixion, and He endured this suffering willingly.
He did all of it for you, so that His blood would cleanse you of all your sins of weakness and unfaithfulness, and so that His holy life would cover you like a royal robe. You do not face the threats of the world alone. You stand in Him, who has overcome the world, the devil, and death for you. Whether you speak His testimony before kings or before your boss or co-workers or anyone else around you, you have nothing to be ashamed of, because Jesus Christ is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Joh. 14:6).
The Word of God has not changed and will not change. Every power and influence in this world will pass away, but the Word of our God will endure forever. The men at Augsburg spoke timeless truths, which is why we still speak them today. The Lutheran Church which confesses this truth is not a new church or even a 500-year-old church. It is the continuation of the one holy Christian and Apostolic Church from its New Testament origin to the present day.
We pray that God keeps us faithful to this saving truth, and that He gives us the courage to speak His truth to all who need to hear it.
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.
+ + +
(picture of Emperor Charles V receiving the Augsburg Confession)