In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

In our Old Testament Reading from the Prophet Isaiah, King Ahaz and Judah are in need of a sign from God that He will be with them in their time of great crisis. To understand the context, I’ll read the verses from Isaiah that lead up to our reading:
“In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.” (Is 7:1-2)

The “days of Ahaz … king of Judah” were from 735-715 BC. Ahaz was not a godly king. 2 Kings describes him this way:
“[Ahaz] did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.” (2 Ki 16:2-4)

At the time of Isaiah’s prophcy, Rezin the king of Syria (also called Aram) and Pekah the king of Israel (the Northern Kingdom that’s also called Ephraim) teamed up to wage war on King Ahaz and Judah (the Southern Kingdom).

And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” (Is 7:3-6)
So, Isaiah and his son Shear-jashub (whose name, incidentally, means “a remnant shall return”), went out and spoke this promise from the Lord to Ahaz:
“thus says the Lord God: “‘It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.'” (Is 7:7-9)

Here, God promised the immediate deliverance of His people from the enemy coalition of Syria and Israel. He also promised that apostate Israel would come to an end sixty-five years later – something that came to pass during the reign of King Esar-Haddon of Assyria (not Syria … but Assyria).

To prove His promises, God said to Ahaz through the Prophet Isaiah: “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven” (Is 7:11). Ahaz is skeptical of all this and responds in a way that attempts to appear pious saying, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test” (Is 7:12), to which Isaiah responds, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign” (Is 7:13-14).

And oh, what a sign He gave …
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Is 7:15).

This sign that God promised and delivered is a sign that would reach far beyond the immediate context of Judah’s temporal enemies … down through the centuries … and into eternity. It’s the sign that continues to be our assurance that God is present to care for us and to save us. The Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the sign and proof of God’s love for His Old Testament people and for us.

Ahaz needed a sign. We also need a sign. Just as Judah was threatened by the “smoldering stumps of firebrands” that were Israel and Syria, so are we surrounded by so many enemies.
We have our own temporal enemies that cause us to worry and fret. We see violence and crime that seems to go increasingly unchecked. We’re anxious about an uncertain economy and its effects on our personal finances and ability to put food on the table. We struggle with health problems and the effects of aging.

And there’s the increasing attacks against Christians from our godless societies that are waging an all-out war against Christian truth and godly morality – even conscripting public educators to wage that war against Christian children and physicians to lay siege to Christian families … all under the leadership of the many government officials who pay homage to the ruler of this world instead of to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The temporal causes of our worry are many. We need a sign that God is with us … that God loves us … and that He’ll provide and care for us in our time of need.

We’re also assaulted by our spiritual enemies of sin and the devil. We know that we sin daily against God’s Holy Word. And even when we’ve confessed our sins, received Absolution, and should be confident that our sins are forgiven, it nonetheless seems like the devil is always there to throw those sins back in our face – constantly reminding us of all the ways we’ve rebelled against God … all the ways that we haven’t love Him … all the ways that we’ve failed to love and serve our neighbors.

Such satanic assault on our souls can cause us to worry that our sins have completely separated us from God’s love … that they’ve cut us off from His grace and mercy. And that’s the devil’s ploy. He wants us to wallow in our sin – to doubt our salvation – to doubt God’s promised deliverance – as did Ahaz.

We need a sign of God’s promise that, in spite of our sin, He loves us and is faithful to forgive repentant hearts that have been brought low by the knowledge of their brokenness and rebellion against God.

Think of the many promises God has made to us. He’s promised to be with us always (Mt. 28:20), to work all things for good (Rom 8:28), to provide for our needs (Phil 4:19), and to not give us more than we can bear (1 Cor 10:13). While we shouldn’t doubt God’s promises, our sinful flesh is weak and the deceptions of the evil one are legion.
But God has given us a sign of His love and favor … a sign to assure us that He is faithful to fulfill His promises.

God gave that sign to Ahaz even though he was wicked and faithless. In fact, God gave Ahaz free reign to choose whatever sign he wanted – a choice that Ahaz declined in a show of false piety. Ahaz had already come up with his own plan to try and save himself. He made an alliance with the horribly violent and wicked Assyrians … which did come to his aid – destroying both Israel and Syria … only to turn on Judah as well, ultimately.

But in spite of the foolishness and unbelief of Ahaz, God gave the sign … the sign of all signs that would be the comfort and assurance of God’s love throughout all the ages since: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [“God with us.]” (Is 7:15) … the sign that was fulfilled by the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary … Jesus is our Immanuel … God in human flesh come down from heaven to dwell among us.

The miraculous conception and birth of Christ is the sign of God’s love and favor for us par excellence … the sign that He would save us from our enemies of sin and death. And that’s because Jesus took on human flesh so that He could be nailed to the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Consider that. Since God didn’t withhold even His only-begotten Son from us, then we can be confident that there’s nothing good He’ll withhold from us. Jesus was born, suffered, and raised in His flesh so that as He lives, we also might live eternally.

Jesus is the Sign of God’s love, faithfulness, and forgiveness. And because Jesus is the fulfillment of all of God’s saving promises, our hearts can be at peace … knowing that our sins are forgiven in Christ. And until that day when we enter our heavenly rest, Jesus continues to be Immanuel, God With Us – with us by His Word and Spirit … with us in His Holy Sacraments … to care for us and provide for us in this difficult world of sin.

Next weekend, we will celebrate the long-anticipated Christmas Feast. And while we certainly enjoy the time off, the rest, the presents, and the family and friends, our greatest joy and the very purpose for our celebration is the Sign that God has given us: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Is 7:15) … Jesus … God With Us … for us and for our salvation.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Pr. Jon Holst

In the name of Jesus.

In Advent we reflect on the coming of Christ. We prepare to celebrate His first coming – His Holy Incarnation – when He took on human flesh and was laid in a manger. And we also look ahead with hopeful expectation for His second coming. So, in Advent, we not only prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth, but also His return on the Last Day. As God taught us through John the Baptist in the Holy Gospel last week, we prepare by Baptism and repentance. Today we consider our Epistle Reading where St. James reminds us of Christ’s impending return and teaches us how we’re to wait for that day to come. His divinely inspired instruction can be summarized with one word: patience. Of course, waiting patiently can be a challenge to our faith.

The Prophet Isaiah offers us some hopeful encouragement for this as we heard: “Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come … He will come and save you” (Is 35:3-4).

In his Epistle, St. James was writing to Christians who were struggling to be patient. They were suffering greatly at the hands of unrighteous people with lots of money. James speaks of them this way:
“You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts … You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.” (Jas 5:3-6)

We often become impatient for Christ’s return in times of such suffering and persecution. We long to know when the suffering of this world will come to an end – when we’ll enter into the glory of Christ’s heavenly kingdom. So, St. James exhorts us saying, “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord” (Jas 5:7).

It’s easy for our sin-weakened flesh to grow impatient. It’s easy for us to get distracted and wrapped-up in the busyness of our lives and all the things we do to try and hide the realities of sin and suffering and death from our eyes. We must be careful not to let the distractions of this world turn us away from Christ … causing us to neglect His Word, His Sacraments, the Christian assembly, and prayer.

Jesus warned us about this in the Parable of the Sower: “The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures” (Lk 8:14).

We’re easily consumed by the things of this world – by our desire for immediate gratification – losing sight of things eternal. St. James recognized the growing signs of impatience among those he was writing to: Christians grumbling against each other, blaming each other, not offering encouragement to those who are struggling, and not wanting to be around each other.

Such impatience can even lead us to abandon the faith altogether. It starts with thinking that we can always repent later … that we’ve got plenty of time to confess our sins and receive Christ’s forgiveness. But it grows into a spiritual amnesia where one forgets that they need to be prepared for Christ’s return. And many end up simply embracing the sinful pursuits of this world. Those who do so face God’s judgment and eternity in hell.

But that’s not what God, nor St. James wants for us. So, James exhorts us to be patient. He uses the analogy of a farmer: “See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (Jas 5:7-8). Farmers must be patient as they await the harvest, so Christians also are to be patient. Farmers plant their seeds and wait. Christians know that God has planted His seed and will gather in the harvest when the time is right. As the Prophet Isaiah wrote:

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Is 55:10–11).

And the rains do come. As we wait patiently for Christ, we are given life-giving water and nourishment that is even more certain than that which the farmer waits for. We have God’s grace … given to us in His Means of Grace. We’re strengthened by His Word and Sacraments so that we’re able to be patient – remaining steadfast in the faith until the coming of the Day. Christ is our one and only Savior from sin and eternal condemnation … the only One who can give us eternal life. He gave Himself over to death as the atoning sacrifice for our sins so that we could have forgiveness of our sins and be restored to communion with God. Only Christ – true God and true Man by virtue of His Holy Incarnation – could do this for us. He took on human flesh: born to die for our salvation. So, we cling to His cross and to Him who alone is the way, the truth, and the life.

And, like the farmer’s seed, Jesus was planted in the earth and rose again to life as the firstfruits of those who die in Christian faith and who await the final harvest – the resurrection of the dead. St. James’ exhortation reminds us of that final harvest and keeps us focused on it.

“Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand … the Judge is standing at the door” (Jas 5:8-9). We don’t know when that harvest will be, but as we’ve been reminded several times in recent weeks, we should regard it as near … as coming soon.

When Christ does come at the final harvest – to judge both the living and the dead – He will gather His faithful people into His eternal Kingdom. And with that Great Day in view, the Lord strengthens us by His Word so that we might be obedient to His exhortations: living together as brothers and sisters in Christ who wait patiently for that day … as those who don’t live in selfishness, immorality, or lust for earthly riches … not grumbling against each other.

Christ lives in us by faith. And His Spirit works in us through His Word to guide our thoughts and actions. He works love and compassion in us so that we see our neighbor in a good light … that we might “defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way” (SC, 8th Comm.). Through Christ’s Word and Spirit, we are enabled to use the many blessings God has given us to be a blessing to others … as we wait patiently for the eternal riches that are ours in Christ.

And by being a blessing to others, we’re also given the opportunity to sow the seeds of those eternal riches. St. James put it this way: “As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord” (Jas 5:10). The prophets endured much suffering, and yet they proclaimed the mercies of God to a sinful and rebellious people. Such is our task as we wait patiently for Christ’s Second Advent.

We don’t know the day or the hour, but we do know that we wait patiently for all of God’s elect to be called by the Gospel.

So, we carry out our God-given vocations and “speak in the name of the Lord” – as did the prophets of old – so that others might be prepared for the coming harvest without any fear or trepidation. As Isaiah wrote: Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you” (Is 35:4). And save you He has – redeeming you from sin and death by His own death and resurrection. “And … [as the prophet continues] … the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Is 35:10). People loved by God, such is our hope, such is our joy, such is our patience … in Christ our Savior.

Amen.

Pr. Jon Holst

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Last week, as we began this new Church Year and set off on our journey to Jerusalem, St. Paul impressed upon us the need to be clothed with Christ. On this Second Sunday of Advent, we take a side road through the Jordan River where we learn that our lives are lives that require us to die and rise with Him every day. Because we’re in Christ, the way is difficult. It’s filled with attacks from the devil, the world, and our flesh. And there are many crosses to bear on that journey.

But we know our baptismal identity, so we also know where we’re going. Now – and always – it is time to walk in the way of the Lord.

We walk with Christ on the path that was made straight. We walk with Him by confessing our sins. We walk with Him by looking for Him to come again soon. And we walk with Him as those who are clothed with Him – having been baptized into His death and resurrection.

In the Holy Gospel appointed for today, St. Matthew records that “In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'” (Matt 3:1). John the Forerunner made the path straight for the Messiah by preaching and baptizing. Such was his calling.

And Jesus the Messiah was coming … on His way to the cross. I know we all have that growing anticipation and burgeoning joy that comes with preparing to celebrate Christmas – when we rejoice in our Lord’s birth in Bethlehem. But even on these first two Sundays of the Church Year, it is clear to us that the end of our journey isn’t Bethlehem. It isn’t a cattle stall with Mary and Joseph and the shepherds huddled about the manger with warm smiles and joy-filled hearts. There is a cross of redemption to be suffered. And that means that those who walk with Jesus mustn’t be unprepared or unaware.

So, John the Baptist – the Forerunner of Christ – began the ministry that God had appointed for him, and from that ministry God readies us for the road ahead … that we might know what to expect and how to be prepared.

“Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey” (Matt 3:4). John’s food and clothing teach us that – in walking with Jesus – we will have suffering and sacrifice along the way. Our relative wealth and freedom tend to lull us into a sense of comfort and ease.

And those who preach the false ‘prosperity gospel’ would have you believe that if you’re a Christian, you’ll simply be blessed with all the luxuries of this world, and every day will be sunshine and roses. But John prepares us for reality – our true journey with Christ – a journey that more closely resembles Israel’s wandering in the wilderness.

A little further on in Matthew’s Gospel – when Jesus went to John to be baptized by him – Jesus said, “thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt 3:15). The path that John was sent to prepare is the path of righteousness – a path in which “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed” (Is 40:4-5). In other words, nothing will stand in Christ’s way … not the false paths of pagan religions … not the earthly powers’ opposition to Christ (like the deceptively named ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ that paves the way for further persecution of Christians in our day) … and certainly not our own sins – our own unrighteousness. No, anything that stands in the way of Christ’s righteousness will be decimated. “He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins” (Is 11:4-5), as we heard from the Prophet Isaiah.

So, it’s time … time for us to walk in the way of the Lord … by confessing our sins as did the multitude who followed the Forerunner of Christ: “Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matt 3:5-6). They were baptized.

They repented. They confessed their sins. That is how we walk in the way of the Lord.

Now, there’s a question in this Gospel Reading that always comes up, so we’ll take an aside and answer it. What are all these baptisms? John’s baptism, Christian Baptism, and the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire? First, John’s baptism was not just symbolic. It was efficacious. It worked, as the text says: “I baptize you into repentance” (Mt 3:11). For some, repentance came before baptism – those who came to John repenting of their sins. Others came to hear John’s preaching out of curiosity “and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matt 3:6). The preached Word worked faith in them, and they repented at the same time they were baptized. But the most straightforward reading of the text – “I baptize you into repentance” – makes it clear that John’s baptism produced repentance in those who received it. Through the Word of God that preceded and that was connected to John’s baptism, the Holy Spirit was working … and kept working … working repentance in those who heard and received it.

But as the last of the Old Testament prophets, John’s baptism – while efficacious – was still preparing the way for the Messiah and for the lasting Baptism that Jesus would institute into His death and resurrection. But there are strong similarities. There are some who are brought to repentance by hearing God’s Word before they are baptized. There are some who have repentance and faith worked in them by the Word of God connected to the waters of Baptism (which, by the way, is why the Christian Church has always baptized infants – knowing that in Baptism God creates faith the way He always does …
by the Holy Spirit working through the Divine Word. And in all of us, Baptism is designed to work in us an ongoing repentance throughout our lives. We receive Baptism only once, but God intends it to continually renew repentance and faith in us.

Lastly, John says “He who is coming after me … will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matt 3:11). Here John points us to the Last Day when Christ will separate the wheat from the chaff … the believers from the unbelievers. He prepares us for Christ’s Second Advent when He will cast unbelievers into unquenchable fire and pour out His Spirit on His faithful people … perfecting us in repentance and faith and gathering us into His heavenly kingdom.

But returning to John and walking in the way of the Lord … Matthew tells us that “Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him” (Matt 3:5).

Many of them were confessing … repenting … and receiving John’s baptism to cleanse them of their sins and to prepare them for the coming Messianic Kingdom … for Christ’s First Advent.

But others came to see John who were unrepentant. The Pharisees and the Sadducees thought that they were already righteous before God because they were descendants of Abraham and because they were circumcised. John seems to have refused them baptism because they didn’t think they had any sins that needed to be cleansed.

John, like the prophets of old, tore through their hypocrisy and gave it to them straight: “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt 3:9-10). Hypocrites – those who refuse to acknowledge their sinfulness and need for forgiveness and cleansing – will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Beloved in Christ, John the Forerunner prepared the way saying: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 3:2). He made it clear that it’s time for us to join the faithful in confessing our sins: our pride … our ungratefulness … the faltering of our worship and prayers … our short tempers … our disobedience … our trust in earthly princes in whom there is no salvation (Ps 146) … whatever it is that makes us hypocrites like the Pharisees and Sadducees – thinking that our own righteousness is sufficient and that we have no need for forgiveness. For such as do not repent and walk in the way of the Lord by grace through faith, John’s warning to us is Christ’s “winnowing fork” and “unquenchable fire”.

So, it is most certainly time to walk in the way of the Lord. But we do so as those who are clothed in Baptism: the very ‘baptism’ that Jesus underwent for us. We are baptized into His suffering and death, so we walk the way of the Lord bearing the crosses of this life. And we are baptized into His resurrection so we walk with confidence that we’re among the wheat that will be gathered into the barn of our Lord’s eternal Kingdom.

So, we continue our pilgrimage to Jerusalem. We travel there along with those who came to John in repentance and faith. And we come before Christ who feeds us at His table … where He strengthens and forgives us along the way. You are clothed with Christ in Holy Baptism, and you receive Him again where He gives Himself to you …
in His Word and in His Supper. These true Christmas Gifts are given to you even now. Let us walk in the way of the Lord, confessing our sins and receiving Christ’s forgiveness and salvation where He has promised to be … for us, and for our salvation.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Pr. Jon Holst

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

When I was a boy, we didn’t have Google Maps to get us from point A to point B. When we were getting ready to travel during the summer, dad would go down to the Auto Club and get maps – actual paper maps – and then he’d sit down with a highlighter and highlight the route he wanted to take and the stops along the way so that we didn’t get lost or end up some place we’d rather not be. Of course, we now have technology that can do all that for us, but the point is that when you set off on a journey, you usually know where you’re going and how you’re going to get there so that you don’t get yourself into trouble.

On this First Sunday in Advent – the start of the Church Year – we begin our yearly journey with Christ. We know where we’re going, and we know how we’re going to get there. We’re traveling to Jerusalem, and we’re traveling there in Christ. We know this because we’ve been clothed with Christ. He’s gone before us on the journey to Jerusalem and He shows us the way. In our Baptism, we followed Him to His cross, rested with Him in the tomb and rose with Him to everlasting life as St. Paul said: “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4) … a blessed event that many of you rightly bring to remembrance by touching the waters of the baptismal font and invoking the Holy Trinity in whose name you’re baptized.

As we now enter another year of God’s grace, we know that Bethlehem – the Christmas feast we so eagerly anticipate – is only one stop on our journey to Jerusalem … one stop on our way to a cross and an empty tomb. Every year, as we await our Lord’s Second Advent, we set off on that journey because we’re in Christ. And since today is the beginning of a new church year, that journey begins anew for us. We heard St. Paul tell us to: “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 13:14). As we begin Advent and a new church year, it’s time for us to again clothe ourselves with Christ as we proclaim to the world that Jesus was born to die.

In Advent, we clothe ourselves with Christ because Advent tells us that Christ is near. Our Epistle puts it this way: “you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep” (Rom 13:11). Last Sunday, as we concluded our year in the historic one-year lectionary, the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins reminded us that Christ could come at any time. While we shouldn’t try to predict when that will be, we should always be prepared for it and regard it as being soon. Remember that it’s never further away from us than the time of our own death. So, we must always be ready for the Last Day when Christ will “come again in glory to judge both the living and the dead.”

We also clothe ourselves with Christ because “Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Rom 13:11). This is the great comfort of Advent. Christ is not just near … He’s near to save us! He drew near to us in the humility of His Incarnation to accomplish our salvation and to prepare us for His second Advent when He will gather His faithful people into the eternal joy of His heaven. And that salvation is nearer for us every day.

The first Christians lived in eager anticipation of Christ’s return … so much so at times that St. Paul had to put them at ease and reassure them that all was well. For example, he was inspired to write these words to the Christians in Thessalonica: “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come” (2 Thess 2:1-2). The Thessalonians were confused and afraid. They needed some correction and comfort, but no one could say that they weren’t eagerly anticipating Christ’s return!

We, on the other hand, are perhaps not eager enough. We’re more likely to live as if Christ were not coming back soon. We put off reconciling with those we’ve had fights and arguments with. We put off repenting and confessing those sins we have that are known only to us. We put off inviting others to church to hear the saving Gospel. We become careless in our Christian conduct: not guarding our thoughts, words, and deeds by the help of the Holy Spirit. We let our hearing of Christ’s life-giving Word and our receiving of Christ’s life-giving Sacraments become less of a priority and more and more infrequent … those very things that keep us attentive and prepared for Christ’s return … ready to enter into His eternal kingdom. It’s not that we should be frantic and fearful: trying to calculate the day and the hour and stressing out about it. But we should share the same eager anticipation of Christ’s return that the early Christians had and be prepared for it – clothed with Christ.

We should clothe ourselves with Christ because we’re preparing for an eternal feast … an eternal celebration. You wouldn’t wear ratty jeans and a stained t-shirt to a wedding reception. Likewise, it should be our earnest desire to celebrate Christ’s Second Advent wearing our best … clothed in Him who’s near to save us … clothed in Christ Himself.

Clothed with Christ, we’re able to look forward to His return as our eternal salvation rather than our eternal judgment. And being clothed with Christ is the only fitting attire for such a one-time celebration.

But what does it mean to be clothed with Christ? St. Paul explains this by reminding us of what we wouldn’t want Christ to see us wearing when He returns: “So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Rom 13:12-14). So, we’re reminded to clothe ourselves with Christ – this and every Advent – because Christ is truly near.

But Advent also reminds us that, even as we await His return, Christ is also here. He is God in the flesh who shares in all of the divine attributes … like omniscience and omnipresence. He see’s all that we do and knows all that we think. He knows what we’re wearing. So, in our Epistle, we’re given the urgent warning: “The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Rom 13:12). So much of who we are by nature is shrouded in darkness … things that we’d never want anyone to see … certainly not Christ. All those ways in which we make “provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Our coming Savior sees clearly all those things that we’ve clothed ourselves in … trying to hide them under cover of darkness. But we know the sin-stained garment that’s been our shame since our conception. The Christians in Thessalonica knew it as well. And St. Paul knew that they, like us, didn’t want God to see them that way.

We who’ve been called by the Gospel to a true and living faith want to clothe ourselves with Christ because we want Him to see us as He is, and not how we are by nature. We want to conduct ourselves decently as in the day … to honor Christ in thought, word and deed – drinking deeply of His Spirit from the Holy Scriptures and at His table. We want to honor Him with our bodies and walk in peace with all people – taking Him with us wherever we go to lead us into all righteousness.

Christ Himself is all of this for us. He is the Holy One of God … the name that is above every name … and the Word that is always merciful, loving, and saving. He is the Holy One who laid down His own life … shedding His blood for our eternal good and never for any selfish gain. He is the Prince of Peace who reconciled us to God and to each other by His atoning sacrifice on the cross. That is what it looks like to be clothed with Christ.

This and every Advent, we’re reminded that it’s time to clothe ourselves with Christ. But this exhortation from St. Paul isn’t just an imperative … nor is it just in the future. As St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Galatia: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27). As a baptized child of God, you “have put on Christ.” Everything that Christ accomplished by His First Advent – His perfect life … His sacrificial death … His glorious resurrection – has been given to you in your Baptism. Baptized into Christ, you are clothed with Christ’s righteousness. You are dressed in the most glorious of garments for the eternal feast. By your Baptism, Christ is both in you and is seen in you. So, St. Paul’s Advent admonition for us to wake up means simply that we’re to live as the people we are by Christ’s imputed righteousness … traveling the path we’ve been given to follow.

In Christ, we know where we’re going, and we know how we’re going to get there. Our yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem has begun and Jesus our Savior is here with us because we are clothed with Him and we feast at His table. “Jesus Christ is the light of the world, the light no darkness can overcome,” so let us cast off the works of darkness as those who’ve been clothed with His saving light.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Pr. Jon Holst

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people” (1 Tim 2:1). St. Paul strongly urges Timothy and the 1st century Christians to pray and by doing so, he also encourages 21st century Christians to pray.

You should pray for your personal needs. You should intercede for others who need God’s help. And … you should give thanks!

In fact, part of the reason we’re here now is to pray, praise, and give thanks. In addition to being the Rock of our salvation, Christ is also the foundation of our lives of prayer. This means that our thanksgiving goes far beyond our Thanksgiving Day remembrances. Some families have the custom of going around the table on Thanksgiving so that everyone can have a turn naming something that they’re thankful for. But because Christ is our life and the source of all our blessings, we Christians can give thanks in a very distinctive and specific way. In fact, we could say that we’re compelled to give thanks … because of Christ’s mercy toward us.

Without Christ, our reason and ability to give thanks is significantly impaired. We might have family gatherings and good food. And we might express some general thanksgiving for certain aspects of our lives. But Jesus changes all of this for us. He was willing to give Himself into death in our place, so that we would have cause to give thanks. By nature, we’re separated from God and without hope. By nature, we have nowhere to go and nothing really to be thankful for because we’re lost and destined for an eternity apart from God in the torments of hell … and nothing could be worse than that!

But Christ came into our sin-darkened world as the true light. St. John describes our Lord’s coming in this way: “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world” (Jn 1:9). We receive forgiveness on account of Christ’s redeeming work of dying on the cross.

And Christ’s resurrection is the guarantee of our eternal life. In Holy Baptism, you became a child of God: marked with the sign of the cross. You’ve been joined to God’s kingdom by water and the Word. And now you now live in Christ and have a profound love in your hearts for Him. He is the foundation of your life … the foundation of your thanksgiving.

Because we’ve been set free from the powers of sin, Satan, and death, we Christians have a new and better way of life. We joyfully give thanks to God for all that He’s done for us. All the things we have in life are gifts of God. Our very life is God’s gift to us. And in Christ, we’re now free to pray for the needs of others which is what St. Paul urges us to do. He tells us to pray for all people.

For example, he tells us to pray “for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim 2:2).

Now think about this for minute. When Paul wrote this by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Nero was the emperor of Rome. He was an exceedingly evil man and a terrible ruler. He had a habit of murdering people and was especially active in his persecution of Christians because the Christians wouldn’t participate in emperor worship. Yet St. Paul still admonishes us, as God’s people, to pray for kings and those in high positions, that they may lead well … so that our lives might be blessed and the work of the Church might continue without hindrance.

This is good in God’s eyes. He wants the truth of His saving Gospel to be proclaimed to all nations and confessed by all people. So, throughout the year … in the Prayers of the Church … we’ve prayed for our nation and for others. We’ve prayed for God’s wisdom to guide all those who are in high position … that our leaders and our people might join together in giving thanks to God for the freedoms that we enjoy: especially the freedom we have to gather for worship and for giving thanks to God, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We pray for our nation and her leaders that we might freely confess Christ as Savior. We pray that we might be set apart by God as the Communion of His Saints rather than having fellowship with the darkness of this world. We pray for those in authority “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life” (1 Tim 2:2) so that the Church can freely carry out the Lord’s work and nourish her people by Word and Sacrament with great thanksgiving.

The idea of ‘thanksgiving’ is profound for us Christians. When we think of the word ‘thanksgiving’, we should think of gratefully acknowledging the past mercies of God … leading us to make our requests to God in faith and humility. We have so very much to thank God for. He gives us the living voice of our Savior in Holy Scripture. He’s brought us into His kingdom through the water and the Word of Holy Baptism. He’s nourished and given us renewed strength for the responsibilities and challenges of life in the Sacrament of the Altar, where we receive the very body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And God continues to care for our earthly needs as well. He provides us “with all that [we] need to support this body and life”. Our Lord makes sure that we have just what we need for our bodies and souls.

What more can we do than receive His gifts with grateful hearts and offer to Him our prayers of thanksgiving where we remember what God has done for us individually, beginning with Baptism and continuing with everything else since we became His children.

Such prayer is always connected to the Word of God, by which we are enriched and strengthened. As we gather for the Divine Service, we join together with our congregation and with Christians throughout the world in prayer. We ask God to continue to bestow His grace on us, as we pray for our church, for the world, and for our nation. We lift up the needs of God’s people before His throne of grace. That’s what the pastor means when he invites the congregations to pray saying: “Let us pray for the whole people of God and for all people according to their needs.”

And hearing the truth of God’s Word, we’re made confident in our prayers. We have God’s promise that He will hear and answer our prayers. Whether the place we gather as the people of God is humble or grand, when we gather to receive Christ’s gifts it is God’s house, from which the prayers of God’s people go forth … a holy place, set apart for worship and prayer, so that we’re able to pray, praise, and give thanks together. And we’re strengthened in our faith as we pray for – and receive – Christ’s gifts: holy things for His holy people.

We gather this evening in this house of God for a special purpose. Yes, it’s a national holiday. But as Christians, we carry our thanksgiving so much further. We confess Christ as Lord and Savior … and as the Giver of all good gifts: both spiritual and temporal.

So on this national day of Thanksgiving, let us give thanks in our worship, in our prayers, and in renewed lives of service to our neighbors … renewed lives that we have only on account of Christ who redeemed us by His blood and enlightened us with His gifts.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Pr. Jon Holst

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

This Last Sunday in the Church Year focuses on Christ’s second Advent: His return for the second and final time. In accord with that focus, our Gospel reading is one of our Lord’s parables reminding us to be prepared for that event.

Five of the virgins were aware of the fact that they didn’t know the hour when the Bridegroom would come. They were prepared for whenever that might be. They were wise.

The other five virgins thought that they knew when the Bridegroom would come. They were unprepared and were locked out of the marriage feast that they’d been invited to. They were foolish and had only themselves to blame.

The virgins in our text who were wise acted as if there was nothing more important in their lives than being prepared for the marriage feast that they’d been invited to. Nothing else mattered except to be ready and prepared for the Bridegroom’s arrival. They gave their undivided attention to the Bridegroom and His marriage feast as they made sure they had an abundant supply of oil … so much oil that it would have appeared foolish to those who thought they didn’t need any additional preparation.

The foolish virgins, on the other hand, appear much wiser – much more secure: at least to human reason. They act as if they have all the time in the world. For them, the marriage feast was just another item on a list of things to do. They already had lamps with enough oil for a short wedding procession and didn’t see the need for going to the trouble of getting more. They thought they could get by with what they had.

To the world, we Christians appear to be foolish. We spend an entire morning every week, if not more often: hearing God’s Word when we could be relaxing or doing something else on our list. We come together to confess our sins in the presence of one other and to hear the voice of another proclaiming the forgiveness of our sins in Christ’s name.

Even more foolish to the world is the idea that in eating bread and drinking wine, we are eating and drinking the very body and blood of Christ which He offered up on the cross as the once-for-all sacrifice for our sins: something else we do every Sunday or even more often.

By the world’s standards Christians appear very foolish. We’re more intently focused on the Last Day than we are on the passing trends of the world. We’re more interested in studying Holy Scripture … praying together as the people of God … and catechizing our children in faith, purity of life, and Godly service toward others than in coveting the idols of this world: those frivolous things that numb us to the reality of our sinfulness without actually curing the disease of sin that infects us.

Christians trust what we hear instead of what we see. We live by faith in Christ and not by sight. We appear just as out of touch as those virgins who were carrying their lamps in one hand and extra oil in the other: eagerly waiting for the Bridegroom to appear and the marriage feast to begin. But in the end, when the Bridegroom makes his sudden appearance, those who looked foolish are shown to be wise … and those who appeared wise are shown to be foolish.

The foolish virgins thought they knew when the Bridegroom would come. They thought they had more than enough oil to last through evening. They thought they had plenty of time to get more oil if they needed to. But what they didn’t plan on was that the Bridegroom would be delayed and that the oil in their lamps would run out when they needed it most. They never thought that the Bridegroom would come at midnight, of all times … that he would appear so suddenly, and that the doors to the marriage feast would close so fast that there would be no time to buy more oil.

Because of their foolish thinking – relying on their human reason – they found themselves locked out of the marriage feast to which they’d been invited, and all they had left to hear was the judgment of the Bridegroom: “I do not know you.”

In our day there have been many who’ve foolishly attempted to calculate the day and the hour of Jesus’ coming. Such predictions are unhelpful. They create uncertainty and anxiety for some and harden the disbelief of others. As Christians, we should simply be waiting in patient preparedness for Christ’s return.

Jesus said, “You do not know the day or the hour.” We’re not told the specifics of the times or seasons that are fixed by God’s authority. God, in His wisdom and mercy, has hidden these things from us. They’re simply not for us to know.
St. Peter wrote by divine inspiration that in the last days people would ridicule the wise who patiently wait for Christ’s return.

They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:4)

Owing to the weakness of our sinful flesh, the Bridegroom’s delay can lull the foolish into a false sense of security … thinking that there will be plenty of time for repentance, hearing God’s Word, receiving Holy Communion and praying. Even Christ’s disciples struggled with this: falling asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane instead of watching and praying.

God’s way of keeping time isn’t the same as ours with respect to the last things. Christ isn’t slow … He’s patient. He takes His time because of His great mercy. God desires that everyone would be turned from themselves and their sinful pursuits to Christ: the Savior who died and rose for all. He’s willing to wait, but we don’t know how long. What we do know is that “now is the favorable time … [and] now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2) … for there might not be a tomorrow.

The truly wise know that the Bridegroom will appear when we least expect Him: “like a thief in the night”, as Scripture says. At midnight, while everyone sleeps, the call will ring out. And the wise will awake to meet the Bridegroom with lamps filled with the oil of gladness.

The foolish presume they have enough oil to last until the Bridegroom appears. They mistakenly thought that they had no need for extra oil … that what was in their lamps would be enough. Sadly, in the end, their oil burned out. They weren’t prepared and missed out on the marriage feast. But the wise had plenty of oil to keep their lamps burning brightly even while they slept.

Brothers and sister in Christ, God is rich in mercy. He lavishes on us the forgiveness and life that He won for us by His crucifixion and resurrection in Baptism, in Absolution, in the Lord’s Supper, and in His Word as it is preached and read. Christ has won for us more forgiveness and life than we could ever imagine. There’s more of His forgiveness and life in His Means of Grace than we even think that we need: more than enough to keep our lamps burning until the Last Day, whenever that may be. And it would be foolish … perhaps even to our eternal detriment … for us to think that we’ve had enough and don’t need any more.

All the virgins were invited. All went to sleep and were awakened. The wise virgins got up to greet the Bridegroom with joy and joined the procession into the marriage feast with oil aplenty and lamps burning bright. The foolish rose to greet the Bridegroom in a panic. They scrounged for oil they didn’t have, and found out too late that there wasn’t any oil to share.

Like the ten virgins, we too will arise on the day of Christ’s appearing. The wise will rise and enter the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which has no end. That is God’s gift. The foolish will rise and find out that they’ve been shut out forever. That’s their own doing.

The wise knew who they were waiting for … they were prepared … they were confident of the Bridegroom’s coming. In the same way, we know who we’re waiting for: Christ the Bridegroom.

He’s the One who baptized us … He’s the One who forgives us … He’s the One who feeds us with His very body and blood and gives us His Spirit. In other words, He gives us more oil than we can possibly burn in a lifetime. Trusting Him and having our lamps filled by the oil of His Means of Grace regularly and frequently … we will be prepared for His return on the Last Day.

To live in faith, as did the wise virgins, is to live in the confidence of the Last Day, whether it’s today, tomorrow, or many years from now. We can live and sleep and die in the confidence of Him who once came for us in the manger and on the cross … who comes to us now by Word and Supper … and who will come in glory on the Last Day to raise us from the dead and give us eternal life.

“You do not know the day or the hour” of His coming. We don’t need to know. We only need to know that it is Christ the Bridegroom who is coming and in His gifts of Word and Sacrament He fills our lamps with all the oil we could ever need so that when He does come, we will be prepared to join the festal procession into the heavenly banquet.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Hoy Spirit.
Pr. Jon Holst

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Today’s Gospel Reading all about forgiveness. And face it … we are bad at forgiveness. We’re bad at giving it … and we’re bad at asking for it.

Think about a time when you made an unjust accusation … when you failed to explain everything in the kindest possible way … when you tarnished someone’s reputation … when you got impatient or lost your temper. Your first inclination was likely not to ask for forgiveness. More likely than not, your inclination was to blame someone else for your own sinful anger and slander … perhaps even blaming God.

Our fallen human nature is prone to all sorts of anger, impatience, and unlovingness. And we’d much rather blame someone or something instead of repenting and asking for forgiveness. Deep down, we really don’t want to confess our sins. Nor do we naturally seek forgiveness: from God or our neighbor.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

For over seventeen hundred years, Christians have set aside a day to give thanks to God for those people that the Lord has translated from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant in heaven. In our First Reading, we heard part of St. John’s vision of heaven with God on His throne. Before His throne were the twenty-four elders – representing the Church of all times and places – who fell down and worshiped Him who sits upon the throne. In the midst of that throne room, St. John saw the Lamb who took the book of the seven seals and opened six of them. But before the Lamb opened the 7th seal of final judgment, the Blessed Apostle saw four angels at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds from destroying the earth until the servants of God were sealed and the elect of God were gathered in … that group of 144,000 which symbolizes perfection and completeness … from every nation, tribe, people, and language. And that vast multitude that was standing before the throne and the Lamb were clothed in white robes … symbolizing righteousness and purity … with palm branches in their hands. And they cried out. It’s so glorious that I have to read it again:
“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Then one of the elders said to John: “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” The answer is already known. “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” These are the saints in heaven who, on account of Jesus Christ – the very Lamb of God – stand before the throne and the Lamb in worship and adoration without hunger or thirst or suffering: having been guided to springs of living water and having had God Himself wipe away every tear from their eyes.

This, dear children of God, is a glimpse of those who’ve departed this life in the faith.

They’re still awaiting Christ’s second coming and the resurrection of their glorified bodies on the Last Day. But they’ve reached the rest that God has promised for His people, and we can be confident of their eternal safety and perfect joy. Their troubles are truly over. They’re done with the temptations of the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. And we give thanks to God for their salvation and for their example of steadfast faith to us.

But our Gospel Reading from St. Matthew focuses on a different group of saints: the saints on earth – the Church Militant – all of us who continue to struggle with temptation, sin, and suffering.

The text is familiar to us. It’s the Beatitudes – the first part of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount – and it applies to us Christians who still bear witness to Christ’s saving truth as salt and light in a sin-darkened world.

Every one of the Beatitudes begins with the word ‘blessed’. When we hear this word, many think that it’s referring to happiness or pleasure or good fortune. But ‘blessed’ here means much more than that. Its root is the Greek work that means ‘great’ – as in, wealthy, powerful, and highly honored. And when Jesus uses that word to refer to His disciples – to us – He is saying that we are great not because we are somehow good and perfect (for we know our many transgressions and our sin is ever before us) … but He’s calling us great because we’ve been restored by His grace and mercy to the relationship we were intended to have with Him who is the very Author of Creation.

Jesus says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” We are poor in spirit when we realize that we’re all beggars.

We’re not self-sufficient but rely on God for every spiritual and material blessing. We’ve all experienced the inadequacy of our attempts at self-sufficiency … those times when the storms of life sweep over us, and we frantically try to keep our heads above water: only to realize that we’re drowning in sin and strife, and the brokenness of our flesh. But blessed are we indeed who, by God’s grace, do not depend on ourselves … receiving counsel and strength from God who alone is able to provide for our every need of body and soul. To such poor in spirit God gives the Kingdom of Heaven – the promise that in Christ we will triumphantly endure the enemies of this world until we join the victory celebration of the Church Triumphant of St. John’s vision.

Jesus says: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” This mourning isn’t the sorrow that everyone experiences over the pain and heartache of this world, but the sorrow we have over our sins and how we so easily succumb to the temptations of the flesh: sins for which the Son of God was crucified.

We truly and rightly mourn when we stand at the foot of the cross and see the bloody love of Christ poured out for us who know the true sorrow of having sinned against Christ’s love by our ingratitude and our coldness of heart. Yet Jesus says that we who mourn our sins will be comforted. He says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28). At the foot of the cross we receive the comfort of knowing that Christ has taken away the burden of our sin, cleared out everything that stands between us and God, and comforted with the lasting comfort of Christ’s mercy and forgiveness.

Jesus says: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The natural reaction of our sinful nature is to fight and argue with God when He deals with us according to His will and our rebellious nature is really the source all our unhappiness. God wants us to perfectly love and serve Him and to perfectly love and serve our neighbor, but we want to do things our way … and for our own creature comforts. If we are meek, then we do not think too much of ourselves or our positions in life. We don’t allow or tempers to flare up when we’re provoked. And we don’t expect to always be treated with respect by the people around us. The meek simply strive to fulfill their God-given vocations in love – not seeking honor from men but seeking that which is pleasing to God. But this meekness isn’t natural to us as I’m sure you recognize. It’s a virtue. And, like all virtues, God Himself must work it in us by His Word and Spirit.

Christ’s perfect meekness won the victory over our enemies of sin and death. He patiently bore the insults and unjust punishments that we rightly deserve to put our sins of pride to death in His body. And as a follower of Christ the meek, He makes you an heir of His Kingdom.

Jesus says: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Do you hunger and thirst for that right relationship with God that you lack by nature? Then the Word of God has aroused this desire in you and God is faithful to fulfill His promise. “For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in [Christ] we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).

Jesus says: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” If we are merciful, then we actively show mercy toward others. That’s God’s will for us. We should be reflecting the undeserved mercy of God toward us by showing mercy toward others. Not to somehow earn God’s mercy for ourselves, but because God first showed His mercy to us in Christ. As St. Paul writes: “you were dead in trespasses and sins … But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ … For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God …” (Eph 2:1-9).

Jesus says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” In the way Holy Scripture speaks, the heart represents our whole moral nature: our understanding, our emotions, our conscience, our will, indeed, our whole inner life. The saints in heaven can certainly say that their hearts are pure, but can we? Jesus said that “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, [and] slander” (Matt 15:19). That’s a much better description of what comes naturally to our hearts. We see this clearly in the world around us – also within ourselves. So many folks seem to be unconscious to sin: unaware of the reality that their transgression of God’s moral code has eternally deadly consequences. But you’re here because you know the natural impurity of your heart. And, having confessed your sins, Jesus says to you, “take heart, your sins are forgiven” – absolving you and purifying your heart so that you might be a godly influence for the good of your fellow man in this life and ultimately stand among the great multitude of saints in heaven who see God with their own eyes.

Jesus says: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” If you want to be a peacemaker – and you should – you have to have peace yourself. And the greatest and most necessary peace is the peace that the angels sang about on that very first Christmas Eve: the peace with God that the infant Christ brought to earth. God is a God of peace and Christ is the Prince of Peace. As such, Christians are called to love and work for peace within our vocations: in our homes, in our families, in our churches, in our workplaces, in our neighborhoods and abroad. The world is a stranger to peace because it doesn’t know the peace of reconciliation with God that He effected while we were still His enemies. You are baptized … you are cleansed … you’ve been washed in the blood of the Lamb … reconciled to God and at peace … knowing that your sins are forgiven on account of the saving work of Jesus the Prince of Peace.

And Jesus says: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” This is especially pertinent to us Christians these days on account of the growing hatred toward God and toward His people so listen up. You’ve had the Gospel preached to you. By the life-giving Word of God, you’ve been given the gift of faith and your sins have been forgiven. Christ’s righteousness is now your righteousness: imputed to you through Word and Sacrament. So, when you live as a Christian, striving with the help of the Holy Spirit to live according to God’s will, you will be persecuted … you will be reviled … you will be mocked … you will be defamed just as your Lord and Savior was. But in spite of that, you are called to take up your cross and follow Christ.

In fact, the proof of your status as a child of God and a citizen of Christ’s kingdom is that you will suffer and be persecuted. But “rejoice and be glad” because you suffer in good company as we’re reminded on this Feast of All Saints’. The Holy Prophets, the glorious company of the Apostles, the noble army of Martyrs, and a great host of your brothers and sisters in the Holy Church throughout the world have walked that path – called by the Gospel to saving faith and strengthened by Christ’s Word and Spirit. The kingdom of heaven is theirs, and the kingdom of heaven is yours.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Pr. Jon Holst

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

In our Gospel reading for this Reformation Sunday, we heard Jesus say, “everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (Jn 8:34). Martin Luther knew what it meant to be a slave to sin. He knew that every day he committed sins and that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t free himself from those sins. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t stop sinning. And it was a great burden to him because he knew that since God is holy, his own sin deserved God’s righteous wrath and punishment.

Luther wanted to escape his slavery to sin so much that he became a monk: thinking – as was typical in the Middle Ages – that the monastic life was somehow holier than our everyday vocations and that a life devoted to work, prayer, and self-denial would somehow get rid of his sinfulness.

Now, even though doing our God-given work in the world, praying regularly, and denying ourselves the creature comforts we covet to help to keep our sinful flesh in check to some degree and are good spiritual disciplines if rightly understood, the truth is that things didn’t get better for Luther.

In the monastery, being constantly reminded of the demands of a righteous God only caused him to feel the burden of his slavery to sin even more. Owing to the false teaching about how man is justified before God that the Medieval Church had taught him, his attempts to be righteous before God by his own works and merits became torture for him. “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”

In our time, we tend to experience the exact opposite of Luther’s struggle. We’ve become so de-sensitized to sin that we often don’t give much consideration at all to God’s holiness … to our personal sins … and to the wrath of God that we truly deserve on account of those sins.

Our lack of consideration for God’s infinite holiness, and our dismissiveness of the fact that God has given us moral absolutes – that is, the 10 Commandments … to show us what we should and shouldn’t do – has led our generation into a spiritual permissiveness that thinks we’re free to do whatever we want. And it’s this supposed “freedom” that actually ends up making us slaves.

The daily sins that each of us have promise us freedom and happiness, but in reality, they only trap us, bind us, and enslave us. It’s very easy for our desires and our passions to end up ruling over us because it’s our nature to rebel against our heavenly Father when He says ‘yes- do this’ or ‘no- don’t do that.

Greed enslaves us to our possessions. Gluttony enslaves us to food and drink. Lust enslaves us to pornography and fornication. Laziness enslaves us to pessimism and excuse-making. Pride enslaves us to the façade of our self-image. And our lack of love enslaves us to impatience and anger.

“Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”

No matter how hard we attempt to be a “good person”, it will never be sufficient to make us right before God. God says, “I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44). Yet, it’s clear from the slavery we have to our personal sins that we’re woefully far from this standard.

So, if we can’t live up to the standards of God’s moral Law, then why did He give it to us? Today’s Epistle Reading answers that question: “whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” In other words, God’s Law shows us our sins and our desperate need for God’s forgiveness.

And God doesn’t leave us in the knowledge of our sins without hope. Luther re-discovered that hope and proclaimed it far and wide to troubled consciences. And that hope is this:
“[we] are justified by [God’s] grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”

That’s what grace is: an undeserved gift of love. Even though we don’t deserve it on account of our sins, God justifies us, declares us righteous, and sets us right with Him based solely and completely on the work of Christ.

And what is that work of Christ? He redeemed you. He bought you back. He paid your ransom. He came to you who were enslaved to sin, death, and the devil, and purchased you out of your bondage to sin with His holy precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.

By His death and resurrection, Christ was victorious over our masters of sin, death, and devil. In Christ you are truly free, forgiven, and given newness of life. “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”, as we heard in the Holy Gospel.

By the grace of God, Martin Luther and the other Lutheran Reformers restored the centrality of this Gospel truth to Christ’s Church. As Luther wrote in his Large Catechism:
“[Christ] has redeemed me from sin, from the devil, from death, and from all evil. For before, I did not have a Lord or King, but was captive under the devil’s power, condemned to death, stuck in sin and blindness. For when we had been created by God the Father and had received from Him all kinds of good, the devil came and led us into disobedience, sin, death, and all evil. So we fell under God’s wrath and displeasure and were doomed to eternal damnation, just as we had merited and deserved.
There was no counsel, help, or comfort until this only and eternal Son of God – in His immeasurable goodness – had compassion upon our misery and wretchedness. He came from heaven to help us. So those tyrants and jailers are all expelled now. In their place has come Jesus Christ, Lord of life, righteousness, every blessing, and salvation. He has delivered us poor, lost people from hell’s jaws, has won us, has made us free, and has brought us again into the Father’s favor and grace. He has taken us as His own property under His shelter and protection so that He may govern us by His righteousness, wisdom, power, life, and blessedness.” (LC II.2)

In God’s Holy Word, Luther found the freedom from our slavery to sin in the person and work of Jesus. Because of the errors of the Medieval Church, Luther thought that the righteousness of God meant God’s righteous demands on us – what we must do to get into God’s good graces. But in God’s Word to us in the Epistle to the Romans, Luther learned the truth of the Gospel where St. Paul wrote: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes … For in it the righteousness of God is revealed” (Rom 1:16-17). God gives us the gift of His righteousness so that through faith in Christ we are made clean and guiltless in God’s sight.

That pure Gospel of our free salvation in Jesus Christ changed everything for Luther and the Reformers and they worked tirelessly to restore the Gospel to its rightful place in the Church: a blessed heritage which we should likewise hold fast to … and strive to preserve and proclaim.

We often summarize Christian faith with the four “solas” of the Reformation: Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Scripture Alone, and Christ Alone. Our salvation is a pure gift of God’s grace alone, apart from anything we have done. We receive that grace by the gift of faith alone, and our God-given faith is in Christ alone.

And God brings us to faith and keeps us in the faith through His life-giving Word alone and not by any decision or spiritual effort that comes from within us. The glory for our salvation belongs not to us, but to God and His abundant mercy as Scripture declares: “we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Rom 3:28).

God’s promise to you is that you’re set free in Christ. This is the first and chief article of the Christian faith: justification by grace through faith for Christ’s sake.

But also remember what you have been freed for: You’re freed from slavery to sin so that you might have new life – a Christ-centered life in the household of God. As Jesus says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples” (Jn 8:31).

The way we ‘abide’ in Christ’s Word is to continue to receive it in all the ways that Jesus has instituted for that purpose: living in the gift of our baptism, where the Word of God was applied to us with simple water, drowning our old sinful selves and raising us to newness of life. We abide in Christ’s Word when hear faithful preaching and teaching that proclaims the saving truth of His Gospel. We abide in Christ’s Word by receiving absolution, by which the Word is applied to us personally and its gifts of life and salvation are given to us according to Jesus’ own Word of promise.

And we abide in Christ’s Word when we receive the Holy Supper of Christ’s body and blood for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of our faith as He promised on the night when He was betrayed.

Our freedom from slavery to sin is freedom for life in communion with God and a life of love and service to God and neighbor: a freedom won for us by the all-availing sacrifice of Christ as the ransom for us all.

Abide in this … continue in this … trust in this – by God’s grace – and you are indeed Christ’s disciple. “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”– free children of God who will abide in His house forever.

And the truth is this: you are “justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

In our Epistle Reading, St. Paul is addressing those of us who’ve been called by the Gospel to a true and living faith by the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. He exhorts us to: “put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self”. That’s something that can only be done by the power of the Holy Spirit working within you through the Word of God.

Are you Baptized? Have you rejoiced in the absolving Word of the Gospel?

If so, then you have the Holy Spirit working withing you to lay aside your old self and put on the new man. You don’t create that new man. That renewal is God’s work. But Paul exhorts us – by divine inspiration – to be renewed, that is, to live in that renewal, and safeguard ourselves against the desires of the flesh. We are God’s holy people who’ve been “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” What fellowship should such light have with the darkness of this world?

Let’s be clear. Christ has done all the work of redeeming us and creating that new self in us. But we’re still called to walk in the holiness, righteousness, and truth of the new man that He’s created in us. It’s just that we’re not always so good at that to say the least! Even St. Paul said: “the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Rom 7:19). That’s exactly why he’s encouraging and exhorting us. He knows that sin is still natural to our flesh on this side of heaven, so He tells us straight out to lay aside the old self and put on the new self.

That happens when, by God’s grace, we don’t let our old selves get in the way of the Holy Spirit, but instead let the Word of God shape our thoughts, words, and deeds. Our Lutheran Confessions put it this way:
“as soon as the Holy Spirit has begun his work of rebirth and renewal in us through the Word and the holy sacraments, it is certain that on the basis of his power we can and should be cooperating with him, though still in great weakness … This should be understood in no other way than that the converted do good to the extent that God rules, leads, and guides them with his Holy Spirit. If God would withdraw his gracious hand from such people, they could not for one moment remain obedient to God.” (FC SD II, 65-66)

St. Paul specifically addresses three things in today’s Epistle that our old selves struggle with in this regard. There are many more – some may even be coming to mind for you already – but Paul only mentions three. “Having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another”. The new man in Christ should embrace truth, just as Christ who is the Truth has chosen us and made us members of His own family.

As Christians, we’re members of one another in the body of Christ. So, we put on the new self when we speak the truth in love, bear with each other’s burdens, forgive those who ask for our forgiveness, seek out the forgiveness of those that we have wronged, and help to support the temporal needs of the body of Christ.

St. Paul also writes, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil”. As the children of God, we should deal with everything honestly, including our anger. We should confront our anger, and deal with the cause or source of our anger in a God-pleasing way. Sometimes that means recognizing that our anger is unjustified. Other times it means addressing the cause of our anger and seeking out a Godly solution which almost always involves confession and repentance by someone, and forgiveness from someone else.

“Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.” Don’t let your anger grow worse and worse, but lovingly speak to your brother or sister in Christ about what’s troubling you.

And have the humility to listen to your fellow Christian’s perspective. And on the other side, show Christian compassion to one who comes to you with what’s troubling them. The old self can’t do this: only the man who’s been made new by God’s Word and Spirit can do this.

And St. Paul also addresses stealing by giving the example of a thief who’s been converted. The converted thief stops taking from others and starts working so that he has something to give to others. That’s all part of being the people of God, and the result of being the people of God. But ultimately, it’s a change that God alone works by His Word and Spirit. By God’s grace, we agree with it and do our best to live in it … but only in great weakness … guided by the Holy Spirit. God has to come to us.

So, consider our Old Testament Reading: the familiar account of Jacob’s ladder. In Jacob’s dream, there’s a ladder between earth and heaven. It’s not a ladder we can climb up because sin prevents us from approaching God. Jacob, for example, was running from his brother Esau because of his own lies and deceptions. Dreams and visions like this in Holy Scripture are filled with symbols and imagery. Here’s what Martin Luther had to say about Jacob’s ladder: “this dream signified that infinite, inexpressible, and wondrous mystery of the incarnation of Christ” (Lectures on Genesis AE: 5:217).

In other words, that ladder in Jacob’s dream is Christ who, by His incarnation, came down from heaven to be our only access to the Father. Christ Himself is the ladder that unites heaven and earth because He’s the only one who is fully God and fully man.

And He brings God and man back together by bearing our sins … satisfying the Law’s demand that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23).

Forgiveness of our sins … reconciliation with the Father … and access to eternal life in heaven is found only in Christ.

In our Gospel reading, we heard Christ give this access to one such sinner who was suffering from paralysis and who couldn’t do anything for himself – either physically or spiritually.

“Jesus said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven‘.” By the life-giving Word of Christ, the sins of the paralytic man were taken away. At Christ’s Word, he was declared to be innocent before God: absolved by the Son of God Himself. And in that absolution, the man received comfort and peace.

Hold on to that most glorious detail. Only Jesus has the authority to free sinners like us from the weight of our sins – having borne our sins and the judgment we deserved: covering our sins with His atoning, life-giving blood … earning the right to free people like us who are spiritually paralyzed by our sin through His suffering and death on the cross.

The eyewitnesses saw Him do it. By the power of His life-giving Word He forgave this man’s sins and proved the power of His Word by restoring him to health. And Jesus still forgives sins today through the ministry of the Word that He Himself instituted and authorized.

Jesus forgives sins in the preaching of the Gospel: which is why He called men to preach the Gospel. He forgives sins and gives newness of life in Holy Baptism: which is why He called men to Baptize.

He forgives sins and comforts our troubled consciences in Absolution: which is why He gave His apostolic ministry the authority to Absolve in His name. And He forgives sins and strengthens faith in Holy Communion which is why He gave it to His Church as His last will and testament.

We all struggle to put off our old selves – selves that are painfully weak when the opportunity to sin is right there in front of us and so easily indulged. But take heart, Christ has given us the Office of the Holy Ministry to give out what Christ has won for us. And when we receive these Means of Grace by faith, we are restored from the paralysis of our sin to “the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness”. So, rejoice and be glad, dear Christian, because Christ our Ladder has “opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers” (Te Deum).

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Pr. Jon Holst