Monday, January 27, 2014

Under Orders from His Father

St. Titus
Pastor and Confessor
January 26, 2014

The Epistle to Titus
Under Orders from His Father

In the name of Jesus.

Titus was a pastor. He was trained by one of the original batch of pastors, the Apostle Paul. Titus was sent out under orders from his father Paul. Paul addressed his letter to Titus like this:

To Titus, my true son in our common faith. (Titus 1:4)

This father-son relationship was a spiritual relationship in Christ Jesus, their common Savior. Father and son both trusted in the promises of the heavenly Father and Son and Spirit. And our one true God sent Pastor Titus out under orders from Paul, his father in the faith. He was under orders

I. to rebuke rebels
II. to care for souls in their life's work
III. to preach Christ crucified.

I.
Paul left his fellow pastor in Crete, an island in the Mediterranean Sea to deal with some unfinished business within this Christian congregation.

The reason I [Paul] left you in Crete was to set right what was left undone (Titus 1:5)

And it started with Pastor Titus rebuking rebellious souls within the church. They were rebels because they were posing as authorities within the church. They were under orders from themselves, not from Christ. They came with a message that was interested in earthly things rather than in things above (Colossians 3:2).

They overthrow whole households by teaching what they shouldn't in order to get money dishonestly. (Titus 1:11)

There are lots of preachers who are interested in being a pastor because it is an easy way for them to steal. Against the Second Commandment, they use the name of Jesus to pump money into their own pockets.

Noisy television preachers are easy to spot as they fleece their flocks by check and money order. But there is also the danger, on the other hand, of the preacher who repeatedly refuses to speak the truth in love to his flock for fear of rocking the boat and upsetting souls that actually need to be called to repentance.

Let all congregations and pastors listen carefully to Paul's command to Titus to be courageous in his dealings and in his preaching, so that the Word of God might visit souls in the congregation who want to listen.

So, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith and may not pay attention to . . . the commands of men who reject the truth. (Titus 1:13-14)

Titus and all pastors are under orders to rebuke rebels, without allowing the earthly consequences to compromise the truth. Titus and all pastors are also under orders to guide the souls under their care in Christian living.

II.
Living as little Christs begins with submission. This submission begins in your Baptism, as you die to your selfish desires and live with the crosses that Jesus had laid on you.

Old men grow bitter and cranky; Titus is under orders to call them to be level headed. Old women talk, sometimes carelessly; Titus is under orders to call them to speak with care and reverence.

Young women can resent the burden of husbands and children; Titus is under orders to call them to sacrifice for their families. Young men act like fools to impress their peers; Titus is under orders to call them to control themselves.

Paul summed up his orders for Titus like this.

For the grace of God has appeared with salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:11-13)

III.
Above all Titus is under orders to preach Christ and the foolishness of the cross and of the baptismal font.

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love
for mankind appeared,
He saved us—
not by works of righteousness that we had done,
but according to His mercy,
through the washing of regeneration
and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
He poured out this Spirit on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior,
so that having been justified by His grace,
we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.
(Titus 3:4-7)

Jesus saved us, not according to how merciful we've been, but according to His mercy. And this mercy is seen most clearly in Titus' preaching of the cross and every time he baptized a sinner at the baptismal font and offered the Body and Blood of Christ to a sinner at the altar.

IV.
Paul spoke highly of Titus on several occasions in his other letters. His joy in his son in the faith came from Titus' faithfulness to his Savior and to the saved.

Thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. (2 Corinthians 8:16)

Titus cared about the souls his Savior came to save and who had been placed under his care. So he followed his orders and rebuked the stubborn, guided his flcok in Christian living, and above all preached and washed the mercy of Christ into dying souls, so that they might live into eternal life.

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

Amen.

Go Ahead and Stare

Second Sunday after the Epiphany
January 19, 2014

John 1:36
Go Ahead and Stare—It's Him, the Lamb of God

In the name of Jesus.

I.
At most ordinations of pastors that I've attended, one of the pastors will always bless the new pastor with these words of John the Baptist,

A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:27-30)

Jesus must become greater and greater; the preacher must become less and less. What a beautiful promise for a new preacher of Christ, especially when he considers how Pastor John the Baptist practiced what he preached.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the One I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who has surpassed me, because He existed before me.’ I didn’t know Him, but I came baptizing with water so He might be revealed to Israel.” (John 1:29-31)

II.
To all the sinners gathered around John, he pointed them to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who is taking away the sin of the world. The whole big disgusting lump.

To all those who last night had shoved a blade into another man's back, John preached, “Take a close look at the Lamb of God!”

To all the unwed couples who conceived a child last night, John preached, “Take a close look at the Lamb of God!”

To all the parents that ignored their babies' cries, John preached, “Take a close look at the Lamb of God!”

To all the wretched husbands who beat their wives with fists and words last night, John preached, “Take a close look at the Lamb of God!”

Last night, much evil was accomplished. You and I accomplished much of it. And Jesus, the Lamb of God is taking it away from you.

The Lamb, our Lamb,
takes the trespasses away from the trespasser and
takes comfort to those who have been trespassed against.

III.
So go ahead and stare. John the Baptist, who considered himself the worst trespasser of them all, stared.

Again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” (John 1:35-36)

It's easy to miss in English, but in Greek John didn't just see Jesus passing by. He was looking in at Him, looking intently at Him, staring at Him, his eyes were boring in on Him. How natural. When Jesus is known to you, and He walks by, you can't not look. You stare for as long as can at the Man Who Saves walking by.

IV.
This Saving Man saves us by spilling blood. Every human being who has lived, including us, assumes that the blood required must come from us. The Man Who Surpasses all men must be a great hero of renown who kills our enemies and asks us to sacrifice our blood on behalf of the great struggle for Salvation. We messed it up; the Hero that God sends must naturally ask us to pitch in to clean up the mess. Surely the Great Man would demand that man up and shed their own blood to save their own skins.

But instead He lambs up. Instead of power, He chooses pain. Instead of our blood, He sheds His own. In the centuries that passed by before Jesus passed by John, thousands of lambs had been slaughtered for their blood. All that blood was a sermon as loud as John's and served the same purpose: “Look ahead and stare at Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who is taking away the sin of the world!” Your sins, whatever they are, aren't yours anymore; they're His and you can't have them back! Come and see; stare, even, because He's the Lamb of God.

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

Amen.

To Fulfill All Righteousness

First Sunday after the Epiphany
January 12, 2014

Matthew 3:15
To Fulfill All Righteousness

In the name of Jesus.

I.
Like everything in Jesus' life, His baptism was an exchange with sinners. This perfectly clean Son of Man was baptized to get dirty, so that He could wash dirty people clean.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

God the Father made His Son, Jesus, who is sinless and clean to be our sin and filth for us. And Jesus revealed the truth of this in His baptism at the River Jordan.

II.
When homes didn't have faucets and indoor plumbing, taking a bath was a real chore. The water had to pumped or scooped and then carried to the tub. If you wanted hot water, you'd have to build a fire and boil the water. Then you could take a bath.

I remember reading that in pioneer days after the bath had been prepared, there was a pecking order to bathtime. The grown-ups would each take their turn, then the older kids, and finally the little kids would wash. These days we think that drinking out of the same cup is gross, so my skin crawls thinking about the state of that water when the last little kid jumps in. Ugh.

III.
This disgusting water might give you an idea of the kind of water Jesus was stepping into when He stood in the water of the Jordan River on that momentous day. Remember what John the Baptist had been doing for hundreds, if not thousands, of dirty sinners.

People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. (Matthew 3:5-6)

The water in that river was filthy, and now Jesus was standing in that same dirty sin-drenched water, that congealed black pool of our hatred and envy, our lust and pride.

But He wasn't simply the last man in the water; He is the Anointed One who stepped—purposely—under the gushing faucet of our sin. He was completely covered in sin and evil and wickedness that is not His own, but that is just as Jesus wants it. He desires that His Father look down on His sin-covered Person and punish Him in our place. And so it came to pass.

IV.
This inaugural event in Jesus' life marked the start of His public teaching and travel. It served to connect His birth in Bethlehem with His death outside Jerusalem. In His birth, in His baptism, and in His death, He exchanged Himself for us. In His birth, the Giver of the Ten Commandments placed Himself under the authority of right and wrong to fulfill all righteousness.

When the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. (Galatians 4:4-5)

Then at His baptism He stepped into our filth and in His mercy exchanged His status as the Righteous One of God for a declaration of guilty. Again: “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us.”

This is what confused John the Baptist. Why would the Perfect Eternal Son of God need to be baptized? Baptizing washes away the stubborn black of sin—and Jesus had none! So naturally John spoke up and tried to stop Jesus. But Jesus had the answer,

Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15)

God's righteous plan to save us was all about righteousness and justice. And Justice demands blood for blood. Our sins cry out for our blood, but Jesus stepped into to become the Blood that satisfied Justice on our behalf.

So finally on the cross He took on Himself the wages of sin that were not His own. And He died to fulfill all righteousness.

V.
John the Baptist recognized how filthy he was and how much blood he had on his hands. Let us stand with John and marvel at our loving Savior Jesus as He walked into that filthy water, our sin.

With John, we ask in amazement, “Why?” And listen to Jesus' answer, “To fulfill all righteousness.” He is baptized into our sin and baptized into our death, so that He may baptize sinners—above all you—into His righteousness and into His life and resurrection.

Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life. For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection. (Romans 6:3-5)

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

Amen.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Saint Boaz Sees His Unseen God

Second Sunday of Christmas
January 5, 2014

John 1:18
Seeing the Unseen God

In the name of Jesus.

I.
They didn't have due dates in Bible times. No Hebrew midwife told the blessed Virgin Mary, “Well, based on the ultrasound, He's going to be born on December 25.” You didn't know; you just waited.

We do have due dates today, but really, you still don't know. You can plan to induce on such-and-such a day, but the best-made plans don't always go to plan.

I sometimes fall under the spell of an imagined romantic Christmas, where everything goes to human plan. That specific Virgin Mary is supposed to get pregnant; Mary and Joseph were supposed to get married; they were supposed to undertake a major trip to a far-away village near the end of the pregnancy; they were supposed to find the perfect setting for having the Baby surrounded by cute and cuddly animals. As believers who hear the Story after it has happened, it has to happen that way. That was the plan. How romantic.

But Christmas was anything but planned by man. Virgins aren't supposed to have babies; Jospeh planned on ending the marriage before it really started; going to Bethlehem wasn't something that ancient or modern parents would plan to do when the mother is great with child; no one plans to have their baby in their third cousin's guest room surrounded by goats and sheep.

The joy of Christmas isn't in a series of unexpected events or a charming tableau of a baby on a land-based Noah's ark. It is a delightful story, but its central delight comes from God's eternal Son becoming the Son of Man born into the world.

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

This Divine Flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and then when the time had fully come, this Divine Flesh cradled in Mary's arms, is what saves little Boaz from his sinful human flesh, recently of his mother's womb, and now cradled in Sarah's arms.

II.
There were many plans around Boaz's birth. Most of these plans were changed. Pregnancy is not really very romantic; childbirth is not cute. The only predictable part of Boaz's arrival is that he is a poor miserable helpless little creature.

Without the heavenly Father's daily bread, provided by his mother, Boaz couldn't survive.

And without the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, provided by His pastor, Boaz couldn't survive.

Christ is always with us. This is an everlasting promise to us, His children. But His presence is undetectable to us and we cannot see Him in our midst. But He reveals Himself to us in specific ways.

And today He shows Himself to us through His Word, His Water, and His Body and Blood. This is how our unseen God chooses to let us see Him. First, the Word of God become flesh and blood. Second, the Word of God comes to us in His acts of forgiveness to us.

And for Boaz, who arrived later, then sooner, than later, and then finally a bit sooner than expected, this Savior of his will change him as planned and promised from a helpless sinner into a forgiven saint.

In the name of the Father
and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Josephs in Egypt

First Sunday of Christmas
December 29, 2013

Matthew 2:13-15
Josephs in Egypt

In the name of Jesus.

I.
Sometimes when one of God's people or even God Himself gets into a tight spot, He sends them to Egypt.

Egypt is a bad place where the Pharoahs mistreated the Hebrew slaves. But it is also served as a place of refuge for Abraham and some of his children.

The first Joseph to find safety in Egypt was the Joseph of the coat of many colors. God told him some things about the future in a dream and when Joseph told his family about how they would all bow down to him one day, a bad case of jealousy turned into a murder plot.

Then Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and they agreed. When Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt. (Genesis 37:26-28)

Joe's brothers faked his death and sold him into slavery. God used the jealous brothers' plot to keep Joseph safe in Egypt, so that one day they would be kept safe in Egypt themselves. While they lived their lives after selling Joseph away, Joseph was rising in power in Egypt until he ran the country by himself. Years later, when Joseph's family was starving during a famine, Joseph saved them with the tons of food he had stored up in Egypt.

II.
The second Joseph that God sent down to Egypt was the guardian of Jesus, our Savior. Like the first Joseph, he was told in a dream things that would forever change his life. As directed by God, he took Mary as his wife and named her baby Jesus.

But then things got dangerous.

After they were gone, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy Him.” So he got up, took the child and His mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt. (Matthew 2:13-14)

Jesus forced Joseph down to Egypt; in a similar way, Jesus' ancestor Judah was the one who forced the first Joseph into Egypt. But they were sent there for safe-keeping. And one day they would return to the promised land, one carried by his grandchildren in his casket and the second carrying a little Boy in his arms.

That little Boy is the reason the bones of that first Joseph will come back to life! Those old bones will run again, and this time never again in fear, running away from Potiphar's wife. Instead those old bones will be made new, and in joy they will run toward their Savior on the Day of Judgment. They will run and leap like new calves let out of their pens. All because of Jesus.

III.
Where does God send us when we are in danger? Not to Egypt, but to the Cross. We face evil and death every day, but the evil and death we see and hear in the news is not the worst evil we will face. The worst evil we face is the face we see in the mirror. So often we look in the mirror and see helpless misery. When you face your Self in daily confession, don't close your eyes. Don't tilt the mirror towards somebody else's sin, so that you can ignore your own.

Instead, lift up your eyes to the cross, upon which that helpless little Boy of Bethlehem, called out of Egypt, is helpless again. He is helpless by His choice and His Father's will. The name He chose for Himself is Jesus and it means the one who saves. He has to save us for His name's sake, praise be to God!

Jesus saves His people
from their helplessness by becoming helpless.
He saves us from our sin by becoming sin.
He saves us from death by dying.

The first Joseph's bones have turned to dust. So have the bones of Mary's Joseph. But Jesus' bones are strong and mighty. They lie in no grave. No tomb can hold them. His living bones, His nail-marked body, His life-giving blood are our greatest and safest refuge. So instead of running to Egypt, you run to church, where you find His mighty fortress.

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging. . . .
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
(Psalm 46:1-3,7)

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


And the Government Shall Be Upon His Shoulders

Christmas Eve
December 24, 2013

Luke 2:1
And the Government Shall Be Upon His Shoulders

In the name of Jesus.

I.
The Romans have nothing to do with Jesus, except for two things: His death and His birth.

The Romans pushed our Savior out of Jerusalem and crucified Him on a hill called Calvary.

But this was nothing new. The Romans had pushed Jesus around even before He was born. Jesus should have been born in Nazareth. That's where His mother and His guardian were living. But

Caesar Augustus issued a decree that census should be taken of the entire Roman world (Luke 2:1)

and that was that. They were going to have move to Bethlehem to be counted. Take about having the government be upon your shoulders.

But this was just as Jesus wanted it. He willingly placed Himself under human government for His own purpose. He was

born of a woman, born under law (Galatians 4:4)

and He lived His life under authority.

Above all things, His will is always in perfect harmony with the authority of His Father. Jesus Himself tells us,

I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing. (John 5:19)

But He also places Himself under the authority of His parents, Mary and Joseph. After the twelve-year old Jesus is finally found at the Temple, Luke tells us

Then He went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. (Luke 2:51)

Throughout His years of preaching, He went to church and placed Himself under the authority of the Old Testament church. When He was asked to read at the synagogue, He read the appointed text for that Sabbath day.

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:16-19)

And then in the end, He placed Himself once again under the authority of the Roman governement.

[Pilate] was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do You come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do You refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t You realize I have power either to free You or to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over Me if it were not given to you from above.” (John 19:8-11)

And the rest is history. At the beginning of His Incarnation when God's eternal Son wrapped Himself up in human flesh to the moment when Roman legionaries guarded a tomb that tried and failed to wrap up His body, He was under law. And He placed Himself under this authority for you.

By perfectly and actively living under the Law, He dotted the all I's and crossed all the T's for you. Through the work of Holy Spirit in His Church, you have been gifted His righteousness lawful life. Merry Christmas!

In the name of the Father
and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.