September 26, 2021 (Using Trinity 17, Historic)
The liturgy needs to be taught, or else it will eventually become ignored. So this commentary that we’re using today was designed for you to take home with you and study the Bible passages that relate to each part of the Divine Service, which has two parts: both Service of the Word and Service of the Sacrament of Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper.
All the Scriptures and prayers, even the Catechism portions that we read together—that all looks forward to this, the Divine Service, the primary way our God comes among us to grant us forgiveness and unity with Him at this altar, united in one pure and correct confession of the faith.
As was just mentioned, the sermon fits into the order of the Service not simply for the pastor to share some opinions with you!
Rather, pastors prepare their weekly sermon to carry the ball further on to the goal, which is the Sacrament. The theme that each of the readings contributed to help us understand what these gifts are that our risen Lord Jesus is handing out to you today.
The pastor’s sermon preparation time is very important. I read and study the Scriptures, preparing to read them aloud in church and apply them to me and you. I pray for Christ to be laid out for you plainly and accurately. I ask for the Holy Spirit to guide me—not in the same way those fanatical preachers think, because here are my notes, for one thing—but He does guide me and my words as they reach your heart. The Holy Spirit preaches the Word especially for you and to give you the hunger and thirst for righteousness that you receive at this altar.
I shouldn’t normally be lecturing you about forgiveness (like I’m doing now) but handing it out to you in my sermon—you actually receive Christ and His gifts because He has promised to come to you in a unique way here and now.
That’s what the liturgy really is at its very center, the liturgy’s not a book or a bulletin or even an organ, Liturgy actually is God coming to you and you believe in Him for the forgiveness of your sins.
Why anyone would want to tinker with that is completely beyond me! Possibly our sinful nature tempts us not to trust that Christ will give us His gifts this way, or that we don’t like the way that He chose, or we let ourselves get distracted and we blame someone else for why we don’t get anything out of the service. As we heard from the Apostle Paul in the second reading, the Epistle, God gave pastors to preach sermons that would equip you, His saints, build you up as the body of Christ, and help you attain to fuller knowledge of Jesus, all of which happens right here in the Liturgy.
So what I propose to you as you prepare to hear a sermon in the Divine Service is to pray…
When I get up as the hymn is concluding, I kneel here and pray these words from Psalm 19: May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
You could perhaps pray one of the prayers in the hymnal to bless your hearing of the Word,
Or simply say, Lord, please teach me, guide me, forgive me, and give me new life today as I hear your Word proclaimed.
You could also say “Amen” out loud when I give you the blessing of the Apostles just like now…here’s practice: Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God the Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Now, as you listen to a sermon, you’re looking, of course, for information, teaching, doctrine, application to daily life—all of those.
But there’s more, Jesus is right here, right now, ready to give you all His precious gifts—starting with forgiveness. When He teaches about humility, for example, in the Old Testament and Gospel readings, He is in that teaching giving you Himself and His gifts in a special way, rather than just telling you how you should act.
It’s one thing to just understand how forgiveness works.
Quite another to then have it happen right then and there—a Lutheran sermon should excel at both, explaining forgiveness and delivering it to you.
The way a sermon does that is for you to listen to two key themes that are proclaimed throughout the Scriptures—Law and Gospel, and we can take a look at the reading from Luke that our lectionary assigned to today:
LAW– That is, what do we find in the reading that tells us what God wants us to do to fulfill His will? Of what does He hold us guilty of sin against Him or against our neighbor? Today’s Gospel reading from Luke 14 has two sections, in the first of which Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath in the presence of those who want to catch Him breaking a ceremonial commandment. The second part is a parable that Jesus tells, presumably about table manners. But there’s more to this reading that both joins together these two parts, and applies it more directly to us today. The man with a debilitating and disfiguring disease holding him down illustrates for us our helplessness before God who has been wronged by our every sin. But Jesus turns the focus from the healed man to the experts in Jewish law watching His every move. These men, out of their zeal for keeping minor points of the written code, rejected the Sabbath as God’s gift and made out of it a pathetic method of earning righteousness for oneself, which is doomed to fail.
GOSPEL– The Gospel, that is to say, the specific Words of forgiveness, life and salvation that form the main theme of the Divine Service, is found in the Words Jesus Himself spoke in both portions of our reading. We who were bound down and overburdened with sin have been released and set free by our gracious Lord. The Creator of the Universe made all that exists, and then blessed the day of rest not to give us yet another impossible rule to keep, but rather to assure us of His loving presence with us for life everlasting. As for the advice to take the lower place at the table, we note how Jesus Himself, although as the very Son of God He deserved ultimate honor, He made Himself take the lowest place among us for our salvation, so that He, and we along with Him, joined to Him by our Baptism, would be exalted to the eternal honor of God our heavenly Father.
This humble faith that acknowledges our wretchedness and clings to Jesus Christ is yours as a gift as you hear the words of your Savior Jesus speak forgiveness to you today in the sermon, as well as in all the rest of the Divine Service.
In fact, I would not want you to leave here today if all you heard in the sermon was just an inspirational message calling for you to rely on your own strength or worthiness inside you. Nor is it my intention for you to use this reading to compare your religious life with anyone else.
The goal today, as with any Divine Service, is that you would have actually received real forgiveness and Christ’s true gifts. The liturgy that we’re examining in detail in today’s service helps ensure that for all generations.
From that source of forgiveness may you receive a courageous as well as humble faith for your life this coming week, and for the rest of your life into eternity! I close the sermon with the Baptismal words that seal that forgiveness upon your forehead and on your heart as signified in the sign of the cross. Feel free to trace that cross upon yourself as you receive the blessing with faith in your heart:
In the name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
And quoting the Apostle Paul’s blessing found in Philippians chapter 4: The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Stirdivant
