His Cross Brings God and Sinners Together

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

July 6, 2014

Romans 5

His Cross Brings God and Sinners Together

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I.

The Mississippi is dirty. When a famous comedian came to Davenport a few years ago, he donned a red, white, and blue wetsuit and dove into the water to catch cans of beer, all I could think about was the filthy water.

The Mississippi is flooding again. Its dirty water is overflowing onto our land and into our lives.

It's not too hard to picture ourselves as the mighty dirty Mississippi. Some days we're able to keep our filth to ourselves, but much more often, like the mighty Miss, we overflow our banks and splash others with our unholy water. And we . . .

disobey our parents.

act childish around our children.

hold hate in our hearts.

breathe out murder against others.

lust after anything that moves.

dress immodestly.

steal by not eating the food our parents provide.

steal by living beyond our means.

steal by being stingy with our church offerings.

refuse to tell our friends or family about Jesus' suffering and death on the cross because we don't want to hurt our own reputation.

We are dirty. More than any river can be polluted, we are thoroughly toxic. We are the ungodly.

II.

But here's the good news. Jesus came and died only for the ungodly.

For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5:6

Our ungodliness is not just running away from Jesus. We turn and fight against Jesus. We are His enemies. We actively fight Him. Our will is bound to disobey Him. We aren't simply mindlessly flowing along like the Mississippi, dirty and bad, but we are like a fire hydrant of filthy sludge shooting up into the sky.

We are His enemies. And He died for only for His enemies.

For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life!

Romans 5:10

III.

Jesus laid down His life for His enemies to bring us back together with His Father, Himself, and His Spirit―the one true God. This is what it took to reconcile God's enemies with Him: a cross of wood and flesh and blood where the King of all nations was crucified.

We are messy floods of filth. But through His cross that comes to us by the pouring of water, He declares us clean. We now are reconciled with the Water of Life—God and man are brought together by the water and blood of our Savior Jesus Christ.

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Paul Spoke the Truth in Love to Peter

The Feast of St. Peter & St. Paul

June 29, 2014

Galatians 2:11

Paul Spoke the Truth in Love to Peter

In the name of Jesus.

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.

Galatians 2:11

I.

Who is Cephas? Why was he condemned? And why did Paul oppose him?

First of all, Cephas is another name for Peter. Cephas means rock and referred to Peter's rock-solid confession of Christ, the Son of the living God, recorded in Matthew 16. Cephas is Peter.

Secondly, Peter stood condemned because he was giving into peer pressure.

That is why Paul opposed Peter. Because he cared about Peter and the Church, Paul wanted to help Peter see the truth. The truth is that Christ is enough for our salvation.

II.

Let's go back and find out why Peter had caved into peer pressure. In Acts 10 Jesus had told Peter in a vision that Christians of the New Testament were not tied to the rules of the Old Testament. Peter himself explained later,

“I was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a visionary state, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me. When I looked closely and considered it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky. Then I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat!’

‘No, Lord!’ I said. ‘For nothing common or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth!’ But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call common.’ Now this happened three times, and then everything was drawn up again into heaven.

Acts 11:5-10

At first Peter had courageously defended this message from Christ Jesus with boldness against those who were saying,

“Unless you are circumcised . . . you cannot be saved!”

Acts 15:1

Peter preached a beautiful sermon.

“Brothers, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe. And God, who knows the heart, testified to them by giving the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now then, why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples’ necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are.”

Acts 15:7-11

Peter smashed the thought that sinners can add to the grace of Jesus. He pointed out that no Jew had ever kept the Law; why double-down on our goodness that's never good enough?

But Peter gave into the powerful temptation to worry. At some later date Peter had quietly slide back into eating kosher. This reversal of behavior had gone public. Those who demanded circumcision for salvation were delighted by Peter's flip-flop and surely pointed out Peter's kosher table to weak Gentile believers, "If Peter eats kosher, shouldn't you?"

III.

Peter needed to be sorted out and Paul stepped up. He opposed Peter to his face not out of ego nor in anger, but out of love. He genuinely cared about Peter and for the truth. Paul loved it that Christ is enough for salvation. Getting circumcised doesn't add to God's grace nor does refusing to eat bacon.

But when [Peter] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party.

Galatians 2:11-12

Paul saw what was happening. Peter was going along to get along. Peter didn't want to rock the boat, so out of love Paul had to capsize his canoe.

When I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told [Peter] in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Galatians 2:14

Paul was rebuking Peter for giving the impression that there's more to forgiveness than Jesus. There may have been those who called Paul a trouble-maker. Others might have been concerned that his rebuke of Peter would make the Church look bad.

But Paul spoke the truth in love. He wasn't a trouble-maker; he was a believer who was united in the pure Gospel of Christ alone. And he knew that a faithful Church with faithful pastors don't allow the tail to wag the dog―we must not allow concerns about our image to dictate our speaking.

We speak Jesus Christ. Others within and outside of the Church will try to add to Jesus and push Him aside. But by grace we stand firm and speak the true Christ in love.

Paul spoke and he was blessed and so was Peter. Thanks be to Jesus for using the apostles and us to bring peace to others by sometimes rocking the boat.

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Atonement Is Peace Received

Second Sunday after Pentecost

June 22, 2014

Romans 3:25

Atonement Is Peace Received

In the name of Jesus.

I.

Pagan unbelievers believe in atonement, too. Ancient and modern pagans all believe in gods and deep down they know they have to make them happy.

They needed to change the feelings of the gods toward them and appease their anger. Then and now unbelievers believe that if they do a good thing, the gods will reward them. They have lots of different names for this deeply held religion: karma, Rome, America.

But for them to continue in their religion, they must never give any space or sanction to the following Word of God:

There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away; all alike have become useless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. (Romans 3:10-12)

This is who we all are, lost wicked souls without peace with the true God.

II.

But our merciful Lord God desired to be at peace with us. To accomplish this, He did the following:

God presented Him as a propitiation—an atonement—through faith in His blood. (Romans 3:25)

God put Jesus out on public display for many eyes to see the place of atonement and the sacrifice laid there. Jesus, true God and Man, accomplished it on the cross. He, all by Himself, went to the place of sacrifice and there sacrificed Himself and only Himself.

III.

And that's the difference. Pagans, those who build their house on the sand, believe that they can please the gods. Maybe they can work a little harder or be kinder to their family or to get other people to be kinder, then the gods will reward them.

But true atonement that satisfies the wrath of God has been accomplished by Christ alone. Only His holy blood has put out the fire of God's anger at us and our sin, and through faith in His blood, we are no longer at war with God, but at peace in Christ.

And so being at peace with God is not a reward to be earned, but is instead a present received from God.

For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility . . . He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. (Ephesians 2:14,17)

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Drew Gets a New Name

The Holy Trinity

June 15, 2014

Matthew 28:19

Drew Gets a New Name

In the name of Jesus.

I.

How do you know when your kid is growing up? When he starts writing his name on his drawings and on his toys and on himself. That's Drew's car. That's Drew's painting. That's Drew. How do you know? His name is on it.

Drew Calvin Dollins. That's a good name. But today Drew is going to get a new name. Drew will be baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Being baptized into that holy name means that he will then belong to Christ. So he will be called a Christian. That's his new name.

II.

God loves to rename things. In Genesis He renamed Abram.

Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him: “As for Me, My covenant is with you: you will become the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations. (Genesis 17:3-5 HCSB)

He renamed Abram into Abraham. Instead of being simply called by a name that meant exalted father, Abram would become God's chosen father of many peoples. And of these many, the One sent by His Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, would come, born of a Virgin, to die for all people.

God renamed Jacob. Just before Jacob was reunited with his twin brother Esau, Jacob met a mysterious man, a man who was God. And they wrestled.

Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that He could not defeat him, He struck Jacob’s hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip. Then He said to Jacob, “Let Me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me.”

“What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied. “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” He said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” (Genesis 32:24-28 HCSB)

III.

Today Christ will rename Drew. And he will be Christian. Jesus will put His name on Drew and Drew will belong to Him. Every day Drew will belong to Jesus, not just on Sunday, but every day. And so Brian and Tina, take Jesus' words to heart and teach Drew Christian to follow the One whose name he carries. Begin each day with him using his new name: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

You have been speaking English to Drew from the moment of his birth. And now you will go on speaking Jesus to Drew from this moment on until death parts you. Speak to Drew about the great things that his Triune God has done for him. Speak of the Father who sent His Son into the world to die. Speak of the Son who willingly suffered and died for the sin of the world. Speak of the Spirit who proclaims Jesus' full cross and empty tomb that washes away Drew's sin through Baptism, Word, and one day, the Lord's Supper.

This is Drew. Great name. And Christ will write His new divine name onto Drew now.

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Drinking the Good Wine

Day of Pentecost

June 8, 2014

Acts 2:15

Drinking the Good Wine

In the name of Jesus.

I.

There's a lot of wine in Bible. And it didn't always go down smoothly. The first recorded wine drinker in Holy Scripture is Noah (Genesis 9). The first recorded drunk is also Noah.

Getting drunk is not good, but wine is. After Abraham had rescued his nephew Lot from a gang of evil kings, wine was one of the good gifts that the mysterious Melchizedek brought out to the weary Abraham (Genesis 14).

On the day when the Holy Spirit filled up the followers of Jesus Christ with His good gifts, enemies of Christ tried to blame this gracious miracle on cheap new wine.

When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? . . . we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine. "

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.'” (Acts 2:6-8, 11-18)

II.

Now Peter mentioned the time. It was nine o'clock on a Sunday morning. Where are followers of Jesus at nine o'clock Sunday morning? What are they doing? The same thing these fellow saints were doing—they were praying together at church. Those first preachers may have celebrated the Lord's Supper on that Sunday of Pentecost or they might not have, but they were drinking that morning. Drinking the good wine that is Jesus, the very Word of God.

Jesus had once told someone that they needed to drink Him, because He is the water of life (John 4). He told His disciples that He was like the grape vine that sustains them.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.” (John 15:5)

We so often prune ourselves off of the vine that is Jesus. We do drink the watered down cheap new wine of our own hidden belief that we actually dictate the terms of our life with God. We secretly want to believe that we chose Jesus and go to church, He now owes us. Or maybe it's the cheap new wine that Satan saves for last that gets us drunkenly to believe that praying every day is good for pastors, but not for the rest of us. Or maybe it's the new wine that believes that we get to choose when and how often we receive the preaching of Christ crucified and His true body and blood.

Jesus wants us to drink Him because He is the water of life. We drink Him, like good refreshing wine, when we hear Him in His Word and taste and eat His Body and Blood. This is exactly what God's people did then and you now do.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the communion, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. (Acts 2:42)

III.

The prophet Samuel recorded the events leading up to his own birth. He wrote how Eli the priest assumed that Hannah, Samuel's future mother, was drunk at church.

While she continued praying in the Lord’s presence, Eli watched her lips. Hannah was praying silently, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk and scolded her, “How long are you going to be drunk? Get rid of your wine!”

        “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman with a broken heart. I haven’t had any wine or beer; I’ve been pouring out my heart before the Lord. Don’t think of me as a wicked woman; I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment.” Eli responded, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the petition you’ve requested from Him.” (1 Samuel 1:12-17)

Those who saw Hannah and the disciples on Pentecost assumed they were drunk, but they were wrong. Instead they were praying and proclaiming the great things God would do and had done for them. Like drinking good wine, but even better, they had received refreshment from Jesus.

Dear weary saints, Christ has died for you. Christ has risen for you. Christ sends His Spirit to you. Listen to His Word and taste and see that the Lord is good!

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

I'm Praying for You

Seventh Sunday of Easter

June 1, 2014

John 17:9

I'm Praying for You

In the name of Jesus.

I.

“I'm praying for you.” When you encourage someone else with this promise, you're saying to them that you know they are hurting and you are going to ask Jesus to be merciful to them.

The amazing thing about Jesus' mercy is that it doesn't depend on how many trains or chains or circles are praying. Jesus isn't hard of hearing—He hears the prayer of just one small voice that trusts His promise to be merciful to His people.

Look at Abraham's prayer for Sodom. There must have been many prayers against Sodom demanding that that wicked city be destroyed. There had to be many prayers in Sodom demanding that they be allowed to continue in their own wickedness. But the prayer God heard was Abraham's prayer for mercy for God's righteous people.

The [two angels] turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham approached Him and said: “Will You sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will You really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” (Genesis 16:22-26)

God doesn't act on the basis of the world's sense of its own rightness. The world around Sodom wanted the Sodomites dead—no more mercy. The Sodomites wanted to continue in their deadly perversion—no more truth.

Truthfully, our prayers often refuse to speak the truth in love.

They often veer into blasphemy. When we curse someone else to hell, wishing that God would damn them to hell, we are praying, but not according to His mercy.

When we pray for peace, love, and harmony for our lives and for our society, but refuse to confess our own sin and the sin around us, we aren't praying according to His mercy, either.

God doesn't act on the basis of the world's sense of its own rightness. Instead He acted according to His promises to be merciful. This mercy is shown to us by God acting through His Word to declare us right and good in His sight. And He has kept His promise.

II.

And this is the essence of every good prayer: holding God to His promises. Jesus Himself taught and catechesized us into this good way of prayer, as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Minutes before Judas betrayed Jesus to the Jewish mob, Jesus was insisting that His Father keep His promises.

Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. (John 17:1-4)

Jesus' Father in heaven would glorify Him by raising Him from the dead after He died on the cross. At the moment of His Son's death, the Father tore down the curtain in the Temple that had symbolized the apart-ness between God and man. And now that togetherness that we enjoy with God is mercy. Jesus prayed,

I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours (John 17:9)

III.

Nowhere is this togetherness between God and man more enjoyed than in prayer. When we pray to each other, “The Lord be with you, and also with you,” we are recognizing the reality of our togetherness in Christ our Lord. That's why we say it twice during His Service to us. Since His presence among us in His Word and in His Supper is so easy to overlook, we joyfully pray and confess the truth in love by speaking His words to us again and again. We got back to the beginning of Easter, where Jesus Himself repeats His mercy to us.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (John 20:19-23)

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Thy Kingdom Come

Festival of the Ascension

May 29, 2014

Ephesians 1:20-21

Thy Kingdom Come

In the name of Jesus.

I.

Jesus rising up into the heavens wasn't unprecedented. Others have had it happen to them. Moses recorded that Enoch walked with God and was taken into heaven alive and well (Genesis 5). The prophet Elijah was taken up into heaven alive and well in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2).

But completely unlike Jesus, they hadn't died first and come back to life.

Jesus had died to buy you back from death. Because of your wickedness—up to and including the stubborn idea that your wickedness isn't that bad—the only direction you were headed was down, not up. So He had to bleed to forgive unforgivable sinners like us.

In Him we have been redeemed [we have been bought back] through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace (Ephesians 1:7)

And His blood shed for us pleased His Father in heaven. And it was the Father's good pleasure to

[raise Christ] from the dead and [seat] Him at His right hand in the heavens—far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1:20-21)

Many saw Jesus' suffering under Pontius Pilate. Many saw His crucifixion, His death, and His burial. Many saw the humiliating and shameful death of God's Son.

On the other hand, no one saw His glorious resurrection. Only a relative few talked and ate with Him during His final 40 days on earth, and among even those few, some still doubted Him.

But did He let them see His glorious rising into the sky. And they looked intently upon this astonishing spectacle. They stared with unblinking eyes upon the One who returning to His Father's right hand to rule His kingdom.

II.

In heaven now Enoch and Elijah see God's glorious kingdom with their eyes.

But for us now His kingdom is hidden. Jesus rules the world and is over every kingdom and state and home, but He doesn't rule directly. He sends us lawmakers, governors, and parents to rule for Him. Naturally we wonder if this is true. The world is a mess, some of politicians are corrupt, many lawmakers believe that their constituents have the divine right to be happy, and all of them are tempted to do whatever takes to make the voters like them right away.

Many of our families are broken, our churches in disarray, our personal lives just hanging on, day to day. Our eyes fight against the promised Word, “Thy kingdom comes.”

But His Word gouges out our old eyes and pops in clean eyes that we can see the coming of His kingdom. Our new eyes grasp that our hidden Savior, who sits at the Father's right hand in heaven, is also standing over that new rebellious and wicked baby as she is brought up to His holy sink. And there in that holy sink Christ through His pastor kills that little rebel with the Word and water, and lifts up a new clean and holy baby.

Thy kingdom comes through the Word, which is brought to us by the Holy Spirit. Sainted Dr. Luther wrote in the Catechism,

God's kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead a godly life now on earth and forever in heaven.

Leading a godly life begins and ends with receiving His gifts of forgiveness. As you pray every day the words that Christ has given to His body, the Church, you are receiving His kingdom.

III.

Adam was still alive for almost 300 years after Enoch was born. What do you think Adam talked to his great-great-great-great grandson about? About the coming Savior from sin. Thy kingdom come and it came to Enoch.

Elijah lived by himself and even thought he was the only believer left. How did he survive? Through the promise of the coming Savior. Thy kingdom come and it came to Elijah.

Thy kingdom come and it has come to you. And because it has, when He descends in glory, it will be to take you home to join Enoch and Elijah and all the saints.

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.