Memorial Day 2014

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, it belongs not to my care
Whether I die or live;
To love and serve Thee is my share,
And this Thy grace must give (LSB 757.1).

Each year, Americans gather on this day to remember the fallen warriors of our nation's history. We remember those who have paid the fullest price for the freedoms which we now enjoy. We give thanks for the gifts they have given, which continue to give to far-removed generations. We honor the memory of those we have lost, and we entreat the Lord of Hosts that no more may be slain.

When a soldier goes off to war, it is a somber moment.

What Did Jesus Do?

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Fast bound in Satan's chains I lay;
Death brooded darkly o'er me.
Sin was my torment night and day;
In sin my mother bore me.
But daily deeper still I fell;
My life became a living hell,
So firmly sin possessed me (LSB 556.2).

Recently, I watched a television show where science fiction crashed right into the realm of religion. In the show, the main characters crash-land onto a forlorn planet hovering precariously on the edge of a black hole, but mysteriously not being sucked in and destroyed. Some scientists had discovered this planet, and scans found that there was a massive, unexplainable energy source in the middle of it, so they set about drilling down to reach it. What they found was mind-bending: they found the Abyss, the prison of Satan, the great Beast.

A Stick or A Cross?

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Gospel Reading for this Sunday has one of the most beautiful Gospel proclamations ever spoken by Jesus, our Redeemer. Sadly, this same part of God's Word is also one of the verses most misused.

Please listen to John 14:6 with the following question in mind: "What Kind of Stick is This?" “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'”

In order that this sermon may be one that is memorable, consider the fact that, on May 1, 1885, Rev. Dr. C. F. W. Walther, in his 26th evening lecture, stated in Thesis XV: "In the eleventh place, the Word of God is not rightly divided when the Gospel is turned into a preaching of repentance." Now it should be noted that this thesis rightly follows Thesis V which was part of his 9th evening lecture of November 21, 1884 during which Dr. Walther stated that the grossest confounding of Law and Gospel occurs when Christ is represented as a new Lawgiver and the Gospel is turned into a doctrine of meritorious works. Got it?

But, wait a minute.

Shepherd of Souls

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Many people struggle with taking what you hear on Sunday in the sermon and connecting it to the rest of your daily lives. This is one of those things that pastors spend time and effort trying to do, to give you something that will stay with you through the week. Of course, the hope is that the Gospel – that Christ has borne your sin to the Cross, suffered and died taking on the punishment and paying the price for your sins there upon the cross, and is raised for your justification that you may be his own and have eternal life – that this Gospel is the thing that stays with you throughout the week.

But if we were to be honest, it is quite easy to forget just what the sermon was about. How often have you sat here, listened to some preacher hold forth for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes, sometimes eloquently and persuasively, sometimes not, and then forgotten what he said by the first distribution hymn? How many of you, if quizzed on Wednesday, would remember today's sermon?

What Is Faith?

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Father. Amen.

What is faith? What is the purpose of believing? An awful lot of talk happens in Christian circles about faith – growing in faith, the power of faith, faith moving mountains, and so on. But why? What is the big deal about faith?

 

Is faith an intellectual assent to a set of propositions? “Strong belief” or “complete trust”, as some dictionaries define it? Or perhaps faith is an emotional connection to something? Many religious sorts would posit that faith is defined by a burning in the bosom, some sort of internal and immediate flush of feeling and conviction that serves some sort of devotional purpose. To such as this, faith is not about intellectual matters so much as a matter of the heart simply hearing the call of God and experiencing the nearness of Christ, or some such business.