"By Grace I'm Saved!"

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

By grace I’m saved, grace free and boundless;
My soul, believe and doubt it not.
Why stagger at this word of promise?
Has Scripture ever falsehood taught?
No! Then this word must true remain:
By grace you too will life obtain (LSB 566.1).

By grace you have been saved, freely and boundlessly. It is by grace alone that you are a child of God, an heir of the kingdom of heaven. “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” Believe this, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you are saved, apart from any boasting or merit of your own.

Believe this, because it is the central truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You have been justified – declared not guilty – by grace through faith for Christ's sake alone. This is the Gospel message. You are no longer under condemnation, no longer under the sentence of death, no longer in slavery to sin and the devil. All this has come about not by your own reason or strength, but because God loved you in this manner, that He sent His Son to bear your sins and be your savior.

"Then Who Can Be Saved?"

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

Last week, you heard about the rich young man who came to Jesus and asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus commanded him to obey the Law, and to give all he had to serve the poor. Mark records that the man went away sorrowful, because he had many possessions.

On the heels of that account, Jesus says, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of heaven!” Indeed, how difficult it is to enter God's kingdom. The way is long, the road is tough, and distractions and detours threaten on every side.

There is no short-cut to heaven. You only get there by traveling the road set before you through this world and life. And that road is very difficult, very narrow, and often fearsome. It truly is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a man to enter heaven. To enter heaven, you must pass through the valley of the shadow of death. You must pass by the riches and glitz and glamor that this world lays out before you. You must forsake home and work, family and friends, and all that you have. The devil and his forces will try very hard to distract you from the truth, to detour you from the road laid ahead.

"What Must I Do?"

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

As Jesus was going along the way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to Him, fell on his knees before the Lord, and asked Him, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus tells him to keep the Law, then give everything he has to the poor. And the man went away crestfallen, because he had many possessions.

From our perspective, taking this account in the context which Mark records it, the man's question is a bit ironic. “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus has just told His disciples twice, and is about to tell them a third time, that the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem, be handed over into death at the hands of the Jews, and on the third day rise again. Then this man comes up and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. It is easy to dismiss him as wrong-headed.

"Salted for Service"

“Salted for Service”¹

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

Jesus says, “Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” Salt is necessary to every living thing on this planet, and it serves very specific functions. But if it loses its character, it is of no value. But how can salt lose its saltiness?

You are Christians. You have been baptized into Christ's death and resurrection, and He has marked you as a redeemed child of God. In this way, you could say that Jesus has salted you. And what happens when salt is present? It flavors everything around it. Just a little bit in a recipe changes the whole composition of the dish. It only takes a little handful of salt to melt a whole sidewalk full of ice. And there is no way salt can be anything but salty. When Jesus asks how you can make salt salty again, He is indicating that salt cannot lose its flavor. Salt is by nature salty, and nothing can change that. Likewise, you are a child of God, and nothing can change that fact. You cannot become un-baptized. God will never un-love you.

"He Has A Short Time"

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

What are angels? Just the mention conjures up myriad images in the minds of Christians and unbelievers alike. A great deal of the time, angels are portrayed as some variation on the image of Shirley Temple with wings. Naked, winged babies are another popular image. In general, popular imagination sees angels as something cute, something beautiful, something peaceful and calm. But what are angels, really?

To begin with, angels are not Shirley Temple with wings. Angels have no gender – no male or female – and who knows if they have hair. Angels are spiritual beings, and the Scriptures make no representation that they look anything at all like human beings. Cupid is a fictional character, a product of the Roman mythological world, and he bears no connection to real angels. Angels have much better things to do than wander around and zap humans with love-arrows.

Life Together

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

The World War II-era German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his book, Life Together,

Without Christ we should not know God, we could not call upon Him, nor come to Him. But without Christ we also would not know our brother, nor could we come to him. The way is blocked by our own ego. Christ opened up the way to God and to our brother. Now Christians can live with one another in peace; they can love and serve one another; they can become one. But they can continue to do so only by way of Jesus Christ. Only in Jesus Christ are we one, only through Him are we bound together. To eternity He remains the one Mediator.¹

In this way, Bonhoeffer summarizes the two basic dimensions of Jesus' work for you. He died and rose to reconcile you to God in heaven. And He also died and rose to reconcile you to your brother here on earth. Jesus is, and ever shall remain, the one Mediator between God and man, and between man and his brother.

"Lord, I Believe; Help My Unbelief!"

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

What makes one worthy to be healed by Christ? Is this child, brought by his father before the disciples, who failed to heal him, truly worthy to have his evil spirit removed? Are you worthy to come before Christ our Lord and beg Him to remove the evil spirits which plague you daily and much? Only those who are truly worthy and well-prepared may approach God and hope to receive His blessings and favor.

However, we believe, teach, and confess that “worthiness does not depend upon great or small weakness or strength of faith, but upon the merit of Christ, which the distressed father of little faith enjoyed as well as Abraham, Paul, and others who have a joyful and strong faith.” (FC SD VII 71 Triglot). For, you see, the merits of Christ, His glorious omnipotence, and His all-availing sacrifice on the cross are sufficient to make worthy by faith to receive the mercy and the gifts of God.

The thing is, the healing which Jesus brings to body and soul is only for those who have put to death any hope of finding help elsewhere. And this is precisely the problem.