Sermon for Holy Trinity

Romans 11:33-36
Holy Trinity—5/30/2010
Emmanuel Lutheran Church—Dwight, IL
River of Life Lutheran Church—Channahon, IL

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

“The rule of three,” according to wikipedia.org, “is a principle in English writing that suggests that things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying, or more effective than other numbers of things.”1  You just heard the rule of three in the definition itself: funnier, more satisfying, or more effective.  And so there are three little pigs, three blind mice, three musketeers, Goldilocks and the three bears, and my personal favorite, the Three Stooges. 

Holy Scripture has a rule of three as well, but it’s more than just a literary device.  Triplets are everywhere in Holy Writ.  In today’s Old Testament Reading, the angels cry out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts” (Is. 6:3).  In the Epistle, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!...For from him and through him and to him are all things” (vv 33a, 36a).

It’s a bit of a mystery why things that come in triplets are so inherently satisfying.  It’s an even greater mystery that our one God comes in three.   

THE TRINITARIAN MYSTERY IS UNSEARCHABLE AND INSCRUTABLE, YET IS REVEALED TO US IN HOLY BAPTISM

I.

The Trinitarian mystery is something that cannot be grasped by logic and reason.  St. Paul was well aware of this fact, so he didn’t even bother trying to explain it.  He simply extolled it.  “Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (v 33).

Recently, the motion picture Avatar became one of the highest grossing films of all time, aided in part by premium prices for its 3-D technology.  But for all of the hype surrounding its three-dimensional effects, the story and characters were surprisingly one-dimensional, as one reviewer put it. 

With our God it’s precisely the opposite.  All of our presuppositions about God are one-dimensional.  We think of Him as this all-powerful sovereign sitting somewhere in the sky.  But God has a height and a breadth and a depth to Him that we could never presuppose in our finite human mind.  God is a God of fullness, and to fill anything, you need three-dimensions.

Yet your nature would really prefer a one-dimensional God.  Because that kind of God is easy to get your mind around.  Your nature always desires to know the mind of God.  You are not content with rejoicing in what He reveals to you, but you lust after the secrets of His hidden mind.  When you suffer, you want to know why.  When you eat His body and blood, you want to know how.  When you pray for something, you want to know when. 

The nature of sin is to desire to dissect God and put Him under our microscopes, to deconstruct God and submit Him to our analyses.  All of this is an attempt to know His mind so that we can give Him counsel, to tell Him how He can do a better job at being God.

But St. Paul writes, “For who has known the minds of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?” (v 34).  The answer is none.

II.

 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” (v. 35).    The mystery of the Holy Trinity is really wrapped up in the mystery of grace.  The Holy Trinity is not a God to whom gifts must be given, but who gives gifts to you.  Even though you will never be able to search out the depth of the mystery of the nature of God, He gives the mystery to you through the gift of Holy Baptism. 

The economy of the Holy Trinity defies all human reason in that He gives gifts to us without any desire to be repaid.  Reason suggests that any benefit from God must be provoked by a gift sacrificed to Him.  But the Incarnation of Jesus Christ shatters this expectation. 

O love, how deep, how broad, how high,
Beyond all thought and fantasy,
That God, the Son of God, should take
Our mortal form for mortals’ sake! (LSB 544.1)

    There was nothing to gain for the Son of God to take on human flesh and its mortality.  There was nothing to gain for Him to die.  Except our salvation.  In the Man who hangs from the cross, you see the depth of the mystery of the Holy Trinity.  God dies to give us life.

This death is our gift in Holy Baptism, as is His life.  “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:5).   

Holy Baptism places the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit on you.  God’s name is washed over you.  You are born again as a child of God’s kingdom with an inheritance of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

In Holy Baptism, the depth of the person and nature of God is revealed.  Though His judgments remain unsearchable and His ways inscrutable, you are now an owner of this mystery.  And rather than try to understand Him, simply praise God for who He is. “For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be glory forever.  Amen.”

Holy Father, holy Son, Holy Spirit,
   Three we name Thee;
Though in essence only one,
    Undivided God we claim Thee
And, adoring, bend the knee
    While we own the mystery.

In the + name of the Holy and Blessed Trintiy.   Amen.


Rev. Jacob Ehrhard
VD+MA

Preaching sanctification.

Recently I've heard repeated the accusation that Lutherans don't do a good job at preaching sanctification.  At least Lutherans who follow a proper distinction between Law and Gospel.  The accusation implies that Lutherans who let the Gospel predominate don't preach how to do good works (e.g. 3 steps to a more godly marriage, etc.).  And they're right.

But listen to how Luther preaches sanctification.

It is for this reason that your preaching will be something altogether new and foreign to the world, namely, that apart from faith in me all else in sin, regardless how good and holy the deed may be in the eyes of the world. On the other hand, for those who believe in me, all sins, regardless of how great and grievous they may be, are covered up and forgiven; yes everything that believers do, whether they eat or drink, wake or sleep, and so on, all good works are acceptable and pleasing before God. But as far as the godless and unbelievers are concerned, regardless of how good and holy they appear, are all sins, so that even when they take a bite of bread they incur displeasure and commit sin, and on Judgment Day they will have to give account of each vain word they have spoken (Luther's House Postils, The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, vol. 6, p. 100).

Sanctification is vocational. It's when Jesus, through His imputed righteousness given to the sinner through the means of grace, sanctifies your works. Ordinary works.  Everyday works.  You don't have to be trained to do them.  They aren't special, apart from the fact that the sin which stains them is covered up with Christ's righteousness. 

So how do you do good works?  Listen to a sermon, eat Jesus' body and drink His blood and believe that these are given for you.  Then go do something.  Anything.  As long as that something isn't returning to a life of sin, you're living the sanctified life.  You're doing good works. 

Sermon for Misericordias Domini (Easter 3)

John 10:11-16
Third Sunday of Easter—4/6/2008
Emmanuel Lutheran Church—Dwight, IL

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

“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so I will seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Ez 34:11-12).

It was also on a day of clouds and thick darkness that Jesus hung upon the cross. As the light of the sky failed on Good Friday, He who called Himself the Light of the world was drawing His last breaths. Yet at this same time, He was also fulfilling another name given to Him. For on that day of clouds and thick darkness, the Lord God made flesh was rescuing His people as a shepherd rescues his scattered sheep. This is no ordinary shepherd. And He seeks His sheep in no ordinary way. “I AM the Good Shepherd,” Jesus says. “The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” (v 11).

THIS SHEPHERD IS GOOD BECAUSE HE LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE ON THE CROSS

I.

Jesus makes a great distinction between what a shepherd does and what is done by a hired hand. “He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them” (v 12). He who is a hired hand cares more for his own life than for those of the sheep.

The reason why the hireling does what he does is because he is only on the job because of what he can get for himself. In contrast with the shepherd, the hireling doesn’t own the sheep; he has no vested interest in their well-being. The only thing the sheep are for him is a source of income.

The hired hand has only one interest in dealing with the sheep—payday. It’s no big deal if a sheep is injured or lost, as long as the dough keeps rolling in. He will still get paid if the sheep suffer—at the very worst he might lose his job. But he can always find another.

So when the wolf comes, the hired hand runs away and lives to be hired another day. “No need to put myself in harm’s way for the sake of these nasty animals.”

Shepherds are a recurring theme in Holy Scriptures. Another word used for shepherd is pastor. It’s also the name given to ministers of the Church, for they are given to shepherd God’s flock.

But often times Christians don’t like the idea of being sheep with a shepherd. In fact, many times they hate it. They would rather be employers who hire a ministry staff.

Christians find this prospect comfortable and attractive for the simple fact that, with a hireling, you can have control over him. You’re the boss and he’s your employee. You give him his job description, and he had better follow it (and you’ll make sure of it in his regular performance reviews). And if he does not meet your expectations, it’s simply a matter of firing him, because after all, you hired him.

This hire and fire mentality that’s found all too often in our churches is indicative of a deeper desire that’s found in each one of us. Because treating a pastor as a hireling isn’t just to have control over him—it’s to have control over God’s Word.

One very important aspect of the vocation of pastor and shepherd is to make you feel uncomfortable—uncomfortable with your sins, that is. A true servant of the Word is duty bound to preach the entirety of God’s Word, including His Law and repentance of sins.

But if you have a hireling—someone you’ve interviewed and screened—then you can be sure that he won’t ask you to change anything about your old, sinful life that you don’t want changed. And if he does, he’ll be looking for another job.

In my role as Circuit Counselor, I am called upon to help congregations through the call process. I remind them continually of the difference between calling a pastor and hiring an employee. You may have a hireling if you desire, I tell them. You may even choose to treat your called pastor as a hireling by demanding that he conduct the ministry according to your way. But, if you do, don’t be surprised if he’s nowhere to be found when the wolf comes.

When the devil besets you with serious temptations and sins, a hireling will refuse to deal with the sin, but instead try to make you feel better about yourself to mask the disease that lies underneath. When the world attacks your faith in Jesus, a hireling will answer with pious platitudes, but nothing of substance. When your own sinful flesh feels the ravages of its own sin through disease and illness as you lie in the hospital bed, a hireling will more likely be found on the golf course spending the paycheck you gave him, rather than at your side with Christ’s body and blood.

II.

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (vv 14-16). The Good Shepherd is the one who Shepherds the sheep by laying down His life for them in order to bring them back to His fold.

The Good Shepherd is not a hireling because He knows His own. And because He knows His own, He lays down His life for them.

The hireling does not own the sheep, but Jesus, the Good Shepherd, purchased and won you, along with the whole world, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death—so that you may be His own.

Jesus has a vested interest in you because He invested His whole life in you. You are the reason He became flesh. You are the reason that He healed the sick and raised the dead. You are the reason He suffered and died. Jesus’ payday was not the payday of a hireling, but when He paid for your sins by suffering and dying.

He now knows you just as He knows His own Father. You are His family. You are His beloved.

And so He placed Himself between you and the wolf by willingly laying down His life. This Jesus is no hired hand.

You are one of His beloved sheep, and you have been brought into His fold through His life laid down. But though He laid down His life for you, that was not the end, for He took it back up again. And He now lives to lay it down for you another day—but in a different way.

For Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep sends out undershepherds—His called and ordained pastors—to lay down for you, not their own lives, but the life of Jesus.

Through their preaching, you learn of Christ’s life—the life He lived, the life He laid down, the life He took back up, the life He now lives, risen from the dead in the flesh, seated at God’s Right Hand, delivering immeasurable gifts to His beloved flock.

Through the Holy Absolution spoken by His undershepherds, Christ the Good Shepherd takes the devils temptations and your sins head-on. No sin is beyond the Absolution spoken by the voice of the Good Shepherd. And though it is uncomfortable to confess your failings, the Good Shepherd offers surpassing comfort. The prophet writes, “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice” (Ez 34:15-16).

And because this Shepherd is superabundantly gracious, He also lays His life down on your tongue with the bread and wine of the Sacrament. And where Christ’s life is, there is also forgiveness and salvation.

Through these, as through instruments, Jesus calls His wayward sheep. Those who hear His voice in the Church’s preaching and in the Sacraments know that He calls to them. In the one flock of the holy Christian Church, the sheep hear the voice of the one great Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Heb 13:20-21).

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.


Rev. Jacob Ehrhard
VD+MA

More than just contemporary v. traditional

At our Northern Illinois District General Pastoral Conference in February of this year, a comment was made by one of the presenters that I think slipped by about 98% of the attendees.  It needed to be heard by more.

It went something along the lines of:

The great divide in the Church over the next 100 years is not going to be along the lines of contemporary and traditional, but along the lines of incarnational, sacramental, and liturgical churches, and gnosticizing churches.

The former are churches whose worship and piety are shaped and formed by the One who was Incarnate, the God who became flesh.  He is the One who comes to us in sacramental means, attaching Himself to tangible substances like water, bread, wine, and words.  Because He visits His people in earthy ways, the worship is arranged liturgically, that is, worship arranged in such a way as to best deliver the gifts that are washed, eaten, drunk, and heard.

Gnosticizing* churches, on the other hand, seek to encounter God outside of His Incarnation, through "spiritual" means that are apart from the divinely ordained sacraments.  It may even be that Christ's Incarnation is denied--either explicitly or implicitly.  For an example of the gnosticizing tendencies found even within the LCMS, look here. 

Look at the worship and piety of your church.  Does it confess that God is a God of flesh in Jesus Christ?  Does it confess that the enfleshed One is also the One who comes to His people in earthy means?  Does the liturgy convey Christ to you through His divinely established means? 

Or does it look at the Incarnation of Jesus Christ as an interesting historical footnote, looking past the God made flesh for some sort of spiritual revelation?  Does it search for revelation through experience, emotion, or feelings?  Does the liturgy of your church point you back toward yourself to find spiritual fulfillment?

JWE
VD+MA

*Gnosticism is an ancient philosophy/theology that became influential in the Christian Church even at the time of the Apostles.  Some believe that John's Gospel is a treatise against gnosticizing movements in the Church.  The name comes from the Greek, gnosis, which means knowledge.  A gnostic is one who searches for a secret spiritual knowledge that is unobtainable through fleshly, earthly means.  For more information, see the article on Gnosticism from the Lutheran Cyclopedia.

Proposal #18

Warning: LCMS politics are found herein.

I'm a delegate to this summer's 2010 LCMS convention.  As such, I have been given the duty to review the proposals of Synod President Kieschnick's Blue Ribbon Task Force on Synod Structure and Governance (BRTFSSG).  There are a total of 21 proposals of varying length and depth of suggested change.  Buried toward the end of the proposals is the one that I've come to refer to as the bread and butter of the BRTFSSG, proposal #18.  This particular proposal is what will be the real change in structure and governance, and, in my opinion, the reason why this task force was first appointed.

From the Summary of BRTFSSG Recommendations:

Recommendation #18: Realign the National Synod Ministries around Two Mission Commissions

The national Synod shall be realigned around two mission commissions:

• Commission on International Mission
• Commission on National Mission

Under this realignment, several areas of responsibility that currently are managed from the national office shall be transferred to the Synod’s districts and/or other entities.

In short, this recommendation is to undo the entire structure of elected and appointed boards of the synod and in its place establish two commissions.  These commissions would be placed in charge of all international activities of the synod in the former commission and all domestic activities for the latter commission.  These two commissions would be headed by an executive director who would report to an individual above them, the Chief Mission Officer (CMO) who would report to the synod president.  Additionally the CMO would be appointed by the synod president.

While the proposal gives much lip service to preserving the congregational principle, i.e. encouraging congregations to be the driving force behind the mission activities of our synod, it is clear to anyone who reads this proposal that it is designed to do precisely the opposite.  Instead of giving the congregations the freedom and authority to be the driving force of the missions of the LCMS, it creates a centralized, top-down governance that will function fairly independently from the congregations of the synod for three to four years.  The congregations' only job, then, is to hire or fire the synod president every convention cycle.

Why should this proposal not be adopted?

There are many reasons why this proposal should not be adopted, and many of those reasons have been written about by others.  But I'll offer a reason that I don't think I've heard before.

This article, found in the synod-run newspaper, The Reporter, makes the case that the next generation has little love for institutional forms.  In fact, the article says,

Cook said that many emerging Christians have "a lot of apathy for institution and hierarchy" and regard institutional forms of the church to be ineffective and unworkable.

The irony is that, while the institution of the national synod is telling congregations that they need to become less institutional and hierarchical (read: pastor-led ministry) for the sake of reaching the lost, the national synod is planning to make itself an even more rigid institution and also to install a hierarchy that has never been found before in the LCMS. 

The national synod and proposal #18 have it exactly backwards.  The national synod needs to become less centralized and return the task of the mission to the congregations--both international and domestic.  If proposal #18 passes, I can almost guarantee that it will be obsolete in 10 years, as the current generation passes away to a new generation.

Instead, the national synod should be what it was intended to be: an advisory body.  Pay for our seminaries and our church work college students, publish books, and show the congregations where missions need to be done.

Then let the congregations and individual Christians get together to get things done.  For an example, see the Haiti Mission Project.  My sister and some friends got together and decided that they wanted to do some good for orphans in Haiti.  They formed a not-for-profit organization and have done a variety of things for the people and churches of Haiti.  And they didn't have to funnel resources through a national office. 

I believe that this example is the way that missions will be done in the coming years, not by feeding and growing the bureaucracy. 

Sermon for Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday
Words of Institution; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32
1 April, 2010
Emmanuel Lutheran Church—Dwight, IL


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

     Maundy Thursday is so named because of the new commandment (mandate) that Jesus gives His disciples: “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (Jn 13:34). Yet the new commandment also comes with a new covenant, or a new testament--a new promise. It is the testament of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, which He gives to His disciples on the same night when He was betrayed, in order that they may know just how He loves them, and to enable them to love one another in the same way.

     So Maundy Thursday is also Holy Thursday, the Thursday when our Lord gives us a command and a promise by which we keep it holy.

3.

     It is no coincidence that Jesus instituted the New Testament of His body and blood on the night in which the Passover was celebrated. The Passover was that ancient Jewish ceremony celebrated in the Old Testament that commemorated their deliverance from bondage in Egypt. Yet at the same time, the meal was much more, for it also pointed forward to the ultimate Passover, when all mankind is delivered from bondage to sin.

     There are relatively few instructions found in Scripture as to how the Passover is to be celebrated. Most of the instructions have to do with the choosing and preparation of the lamb—one year old, without blemish, cooked whole with no broken bones, roasted over a fire, leftovers were to be burned. The Passover dinner recalled the sacrificial lamb whose blood marked them as God’s own when the Lord passed over their houses with His final plague.

     The other instructions for the meal—unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and eating fully dressed—recalled the haste with which they were called to leave the bitterness of their slavery.

     But in addition to being a meal of remembrance, recalling Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, the Passover was also a meal of preparation for Christ’s Passover.

     The Passover is what we call a type of Christ. The meal and ceremonies in each Passover celebration foreshadow the things that will happen to Christ, the Lamb of God.

     In every way, Jesus is the fulfillment and completion of the Passover. He is the Lamb who was chosen by God, without the blemish of sin. He is the one whose whole body was roasted on the cross as He suffered the torments of hell. His blood marked the posts of the cross, signaling that He has died in place of everyone else who deserved to be there. The bitter tears of our slavery to sin are wiped dry by His suffering. And from the cross begins the journey of all who would be His disciples.

     So St. Paul calls Christ our pascha. “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:7). Jesus is the end of the Passover.

     With Christ’s death also dies the Old Covenant (or the Old Testament) of the Jewish rituals and feasts, for there can be no greater Passover Lamb than the One who hung upon the cross. But Jesus doesn’t leave a void in the place of the Old Covenant, but He institutes a New Covenant in its place.

2.

     “Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them and said: ‘Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.’


     “In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me’” (Words of Institution).

     With these words, Jesus institutes a New Testament. It is not, however, a new Passover. Remember that the Passover is fulfilled and completed in Christ’s death. The Lord’s Supper is exactly as He says it is: something new. It is, as the Small Catechism teaches, the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, given under bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to each and to drink (SC: Sacrament of the Altar).

     It has been a recent innovation among certain Protestant churches around this time of year to celebrate a Jewish Seder to more fully understand the Sacrament. But this goal cannot be accomplished by a so-called “Christian Seder” for a variety of reasons.

     First, as I said, Seders in the Christian Church are recent innovations dating back to only about 30 years ago. If it took the Christian Church over 1,900 years to incorporate Seders into its piety, then they probably don’t offer too much in the way of learning more about the Sacrament.

     Second, we really know very little about how Passovers were celebrated at the time of Jesus. We have the basic requirements that are outlined in Exodus 12—the lamb and its preparation, bitter herbs, unleavened bread, and eating fully dressed. The rest of the ceremony—which is imbued with Christian meaning—comes not from biblical sources, but from rabbinical tradition. And rabbinical tradition is the tradition of the Pharisees—the same who wanted Jesus silenced and put to death.

     Lastly, many of the ceremonies that purportedly help to understand how Jesus celebrated Passover are from the last 500 years, and not from the time of Christ at all.

     To try to more fully appreciate Christ and His Supper by returning to the Old Covenant of the Passover is a bit like meeting your wife at the door and bending down to kiss her shadow. Why fixate on the representation when you have the real thing right in front of you?

     The better way to more fully appreciate the Sacrament Christ institutes on this night is to meditate on His words, just as we are taught to do in the Small Catechism. (LSB, p. 326; begin with third question)

     What is the benefit of this eating and drinking? These words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” show us that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there also is life and salvation.

     How can bodily eating and drinking do such great things? Certainly not just eating and drinking do these things, but the words written here: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” These words, along with the bodily eating and drinking, are the main thing in the Sacrament. Whoever believes these words has exactly what they say: “forgiveness of sins.”

    Who receives this Sacrament worthily? Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training. But that person is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” But anyone who does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared, for the words “for you” require all hearts to believe.

     Notice how every question about the Lord’s Supper returns to the Words of Christ. These words promise that the reality to which the Passover pointed—Jesus Christ on the cross—are given to us in the Sacrament.

1.

     Finally, as the Small Catechism teaches, the person who is worthy and well prepared is the person who has faith in the words, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” How do you know if you’re worthy and well prepared? By examination.

     Examination happens in two ways. First there is examination by the pastor. Each year our young catechumens are confirmed and admitted to the Sacrament, but before that happens, each one is examined. Even now our catechumens are preparing for their examinations. In a few weeks, they will individually be asked what they believe concerning sin and forgiveness, the Holy Trinity, prayer, and the Sacraments of Baptism, Absolution, and the Supper. Only after they have confessed their faith are they admitted to the Sacrament.

     The same is true of visitors to this congregation. If that person is a member of another Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod congregation, we assume in good faith that another pastor in agreement with our confession has made that examination. But in the case of those who are outside of our confession, we ask nothing more than we ask of all our catechumens before they are admitted to the Altar—examination by the pastor and, if needed, a time of teaching.

     Pastoral examination usually happens only when someone is newly admitted to the Altar, and perhaps from time to time, but the second way of examination should take place each time you go to the Sacrament—self-examination.

     St. Paul writes, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself” (1 Cor 11:28-29).

     One very simple way to examine yourself is by reading through the Christian Questions with Their Answers in the Small Catechism. This evening, we’ll examine ourselves together.

(Read Christian Questions with Their Answers responsively; LSB p. 329-330)

IN THIS SACRAMENT, JESUS SHOWS YOU WITH WHAT KIND OF LOVE HE HAS LOVED YOU—A LOVE THAT CAUSED HIM TO GIVE UP HIS BODY AND POUR OUT HIS BLOOD  IN YOUR PLACE

This is the love that forgives sins, given to you so that you might give it to others.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.


Rev. Jacob Ehrhard
VD+MA

Coffee: the neo-mission of the LCMS?

*Update*

Another of My Facebook friends pointed me to the website of the congregation referenced in the article.  It seems as though this particular effort is different from this one or even this one.  First, their website, unlike the article, makes it clear that they are a church first.  The Sacrament and Divine Service are clearly given a priority on the site, so I assume the same is true in their practice.  The coffee and lounge area are set up at other times, perhaps like any other congregation.  So for my implicit accusation that the Sacraments of Christ are diminished in favor of coffee, I repent.

The second difference I noticed on their website, for which I commend Holy Cross, is the offering of real Lutheran reference materials in their bookstore.  They even promote Issues, Etc. 

My perplexity remains, however, at why coffee is the new method to hook people onto the Church.  Is it because it's mildly addictive? 

The original post is below.

++++++++


It's almost like a bad joke.  I've heard in Lutheran circles on several occasions that little riff that coffee is the third sacrament (or fourth or fifth, depending on how you number them).  Lutherans love their coffee, and they love their coffee hour.*  So, in a caffeine-crazed zeal for mission, the thought has permeated our churches that putting in a coffee shop is the premier way to reach out to those who so desperately need to hear the Gospel, with a side of mocha.

This trend came to my attention again in an article recently posted by one of my Facebook friends. "Storefront church: Holy Cross Lutheran offers coffee shop atmosphere."  The article could be in reference to any number of Ablaze! (TM) funded shots at hooking an unsuspecting public on our particular brand of caffeine, then our particular brand of church, then our particular brand of Gospel.  It seems as though if you want to do mission, coffee must be included.

Besides blatantly showing that the targeted demographic is suburban, white, upper-middle class, Gen-X (or Y) hipsters (the ones who hang out in these kind of places and who, coincidentally, stand the best chance of giving significant amounts of their money that they don't spend on coffee to a congregation who will spend it on coffee), the article itself reveals one of the particular problems about such a set-up.

The only restriction the church has, because of limited parking, is no weddings or funerals; those would be held at one of the other LCMS churches, he said.

I'm sure it's only because of parking that no one wants to have their wedding or funeral in a place where the abrasive sound of steaming milk is heard more often than the singing of the Psalms.  Coffee houses are for coffee, eating, reading, relaxing, surfing the web, reading this blog, and meeting with friends.  They aren't for weddings and funerals.

So, tell me, what makes a coffee house appropriate for celebrating the wedding Feast of the Lamb and His Bride?  What proclaims His death better, sipping on a latte or on His blood in the Supper?  If this is truly contextual ministry, what kind of context is established by elevating your love of coffee not even to the level of sacrament, but above it?  After all, you probably drink your daily cup of java, but daily (or even weekly) communion seems excessive.

Let's get back to Jesus' way of doing missions.  It's not hard to figure out or to do.  He tells us Himself in the plainest language: preach the Gospel, Baptize, Absolve, and feed the Lord's Supper.  We only have to be prepared that most people will want nothing to do with that.  Just like most people wanted nothing to do with Jesus while He walked the earth. 

*Except my congregation.  Coffee is seldom found at our functions.  We actually just started a coffee hour this year, but it's not attended too heavily.  They use pre-ground Maxwell house and our water is so hard that it comes out of the tap more like dampened limestone pebbles than anything resembling a liquid.  That may have something to do with it.

Sermon for Judica (Lent 5)

John 8:46-59
Lent 5—3/21/10
Emmanuel Lutheran Church—Dwight, IL
River of Life Lutheran Church—Channahon, IL

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

A.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus’ story follows a pattern of Jewish feasts. In most every story, Jesus is either going to, coming from, or in the midst of a feast of the Jews. Today’s Gospel finds Jesus in Jerusalem following the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Booths, which commemorated Israel’s wandering for forty years in the wilderness.

Thus, the Jews Jesus encounters in today’s Gospel were most likely the temple Jews—Sadducees and priests. These Jews were different from others (like the fundamentalist Pharisees) in that they were the liberal elite of their day. The Sadducees were functionally atheist, or at best agnostic, because they did not believe that God—if He existed—was involved with His creation at all.[1] One of the chief characteristics of their system of beliefs arose because of the influences of earlier Greek philosophy—they completely rejected the resurrection of the body.

It was this particular teaching of Jesus, along with His identification with the Father, that made the Jews thirst for blood. The reason why is that the resurrection of the body offended their common spiritual assumptions.

As I said, these Jews were influenced by Greek philosophy, which taught that reality is divided into two realms—a lower and a higher; a physical and a spiritual. Of these two realms, the spiritual is the ideal, the good, the blessed. Things that are physical, things that are carnal are bad. When Jesus reveals that the physical bodies of those who keep His Word will not see death (v 51), the false faith of the Jews causes murderous thoughts to darken their souls.

It’s just a few chapters later when Jesus gives a sign of the general resurrection by raising His dear friend Lazarus after he had been dead four days. But the Pharisees who saw this sign brought word to the chief priests and the Council (the temple Jews) and from that point on they began to plot together about how to kill Jesus. Jesus’ death was because He taught the resurrection.

There is also quite a bit of Sadducaism in the Christian Church today. The heirs of the Sadducees in today’s Church are the liberalizing mainline Protestant denominations, functionally atheist, or at best agnostic Christians, who reject more and more of the Lord’s Word each year. Yet, the error of the Sadducees is not found strictly in those churches.  In fact, it's a trait that's shared with the morally conservative, fundamentalist Christian right.  It’s found also in ours. For many Christians, like those Jewish elite, tend to spiritualize Christianity, and in so doing, effectually deny the resurrection of the body.

Evidence of this “Sadducaical” spiritualization of Christianity is found most clearly in two places: beliefs regarding the Lord’s Supper and about what happens after death.

One of the most malicious works of the devil in the Church today is the attack on Christ’s Word that the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper only represent a spiritual body and blood. So the Supper is only a meal of remembrance and nothing more. Yet such a belief is a failure to keep our Lord’s Word, which most clearly says more than once, “this is My body; this is My blood.”

Another common misconception found among Christians that we must do our best to battle against is that after death, we will spend eternity in a spiritual heaven, floating around in some sort of a-physical bliss. But our Lord Jesus Christ rose in His body and He promises to raise each one of us in our bodies. It is as St. Paul writes, if there is no resurrection, then “your faith is in vain.”

B.

So when Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death” (v 51), it the Jews listening to him are quite irritated. Now, unfortunately, the English translation isn’t quite accurate and doesn't show why the Jews were so worked up. A better translation of what Jesus says is, “If anyone keeps My Word, he will certainly not see death for eternity."  

These Jews, however, who deny the resurrection of the dead, misunderstand Jesus to say, “If anyone keeps My Word, He will certainly not taste death forever” (v 52, translation mine). They scoffed at the thought that Jesus could insulate His hearers from death’s bitter tang.

In a way, the Jews are right to be shocked. After all, one does not have to live for long before the taste of death sours the soul. Every time an illness strikes, every time an injury afflicts the body, you get just a little taste of death. Even bitterer is the taste of death that comes when a loved one is laid to rest. And as surely as the sun sets each day, each of us will taste death when our bodies are lowered into the grave.

The curse of sin is that all will taste death. But Jesus doesn’t promise that we will not taste death. In fact, to taste death is precisely why He came into the flesh.

JESUS CAME INTO OUR FLESH TO TASTE DEATH SO THAT WE MIGHT NOT SEE DEATH FOR ETERNITY

B'.

The taste of death was with Jesus often. Especially in the years of His public ministry, He was almost always found among the sick, the suffering, and the distressed. He was found among the dead. Jesus did not flee the dregs of society to set up a holy commune removed from the sufferings of the common man to live a victorious life. He touched the sick, spoke peace to the suffering, and raised the dead. He left life in His wake, and took death into Himself. “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,” the prophet writes (Is 53:4).
And then our Lord fully tasted death by allowing Himself to be taken into the hands of ruthless men, beaten, mocked, and hung upon a cross. The bitterness of death echoes in our Lord’s dying words, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mk 15:34). For Jesus didn’t just suffer the pain of physical death on the cross— which is the separation of the soul from the body—but He also suffered the pain of eternal death—which is the separation of both soul and body from God.

This is the glorification of which Jesus speaks to the Jews. “Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge,” “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’” (vv 50, 54). In a short time, Jesus will also speak to some Gentiles, and when He does, He says, “‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified’…‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die” (Jn 12:23, 32-33).

Jesus crucifixion is His glorification by the Father, for it is in His crucifixion that we see His true nature of love. He loved us all to the point of tasting our death, joining us in our curse, and accepting the punishment that God does not desire that anyone receive. So He gave it to His only-begotten Son on behalf of all. Behold the glory of God in a dying man.

A'.

The Jews misunderstood Jesus and so they failed to grasp the promise He offered to them. Jesus says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, if ever anyone keeps My Word, he will most certainly not see death for eternity” (v 51, translation mine). Here in Jesus’ Word is a promise of resurrection for those who would believe. And He seals His Word by allowing us to taste His death through the blessed Sacraments.

In the waters of Holy Baptism, we are baptized into His death (Rom 6:3). Just as Jesus was buried in the tomb, so also are we, with all our sins and evil lusts, buried in the waters of Baptism.

And in the Holy Sacrament of His body and blood, our tongues taste bread and wine, but our faith tastes His flesh and blood which were given over into death and poured out for the forgiveness our sins.

Thus if you are searching for the glory of God, look no farther than the Sacraments, for they are where Christ delivers His crucifixion.

The promise Jesus gives us is not that we will not taste death in our lives, if we keep His Word. In fact, quite the contrary. He promises that there will be suffering and trials in this life—even death of the flesh. But St. Paul explains that sufferings are where we daily taste Christ’s death. “For I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Gal 6:17b). Suffering become for the Christian, God’s sign that you are in Christ.

And what awaits the one who suffers is the fulfillment of Jesus’ Word and promise. Though we will all taste death in this life, we will most certainly not see death forever. “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Rom 6:5). This means both that we are given new, righteous life here on earth, and also that there is life for eternity awaiting us in God’s kingdom which is yet to come.

So rejoice with Abraham that you have seen the day of the Lord, the day when His glory has been revealed on Calvary. And be glad that you are also given a foretaste of the feast to come in the Holy Supper of our Lord, where you sit at table with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. O taste and see that the Lord is good.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.


Rev. Jacob Ehrhard
VD+MA

-------------------
[1] TDNT, VII:46.

Unity in fundamentals or fundamental unity?

My friend Pr. Juhl has a wonderful post at Uneasy Priest on the distinction between unity in fundamentals and fundamental unity .

Sermon for Reminiscere (Lent 2)

Matthew 15:21-28

Lent 2—2/28/10

Emmanuel Lutheran Church—Dwight, IL

River of Life Lutheran Church—Channahon, IL

In the name of the Father, and of the T Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

1.

            The Canaanite woman from today’s Gospel had no ordinary problem.  “And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon’” (vv 21-22).

            The trouble that this woman faced was a spiritual one.  The malady afflicting this woman’s family was not something that could be fixed by a visit to her primary care physician, nor by a letter to her local elected officials.  Hers was a spiritual battle.

            So she turned to prayer.  Prayer is a spiritual battle, because it’s the primary target of—and weapon against—Satan and his evil host.  Apart from God’s Word and His precious Sacraments, there is nothing that Satan attacks so vehemently as the prayers of God’s people.  From the simple prayers of children as they lay themselves down to sleep, praying for the Lord their souls to keep, to the most fervent litanies prayed in great discipline and fasting during Lent, the adversary wants nothing more than for such praying to cease, for he knows what harm it brings to him.

2.

            In our spiritual battle of prayer, we are often met with struggles and trials that will cause our weak flesh to cease praying. 

            This Canaanite woman serves as our example of the struggles that come with prayer.  Three times she approached Jesus begging Him for relief and mercy, and three times she is met with unfavorable responses.

            First, she is met with silence.  “But he did not answer her a word” (v 23a).  Though the text does not tell us explicitly, we can identify with the feelings this woman undoubtedly was experiencing.  “He doesn’t care.  He probably isn’t even able to help me.  Who does this man think He is?”  These are the subtle, subconscious suggestions of the spiritual enemy.

            The disciples now weigh in and this time Jesus answers, but He is cold and unfriendly.  “And his disciples came and begged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she is crying out after us.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel’” (vv 23b-24).

            Now Jesus suggests that she, being Canaanite and not of the same blood as Jesus and the rest of the Israelites, is not entitled to help from this Jewish Messiah.  “The promise isn’t for you.  You’re an outsider.  Why don’t you ask your own gods?  Go away!”  More temptations from the devil.

            Again she comes to Jesus, this time throwing herself at His feet.  “But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ And he answered, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs’” (vv 25-26).

            Now Jesus adds insult to injury.  Not only does He refuse to give her what she wants, but He also adds an ethnic slur, for the unclean Gentiles were like dogs to the Jews.  “I deserve to have my daughter healed—look at the lengths I’ve gone to!  How dare this man ignore me, then call me a dog!  I shouldn’t have even come.  This is certainly not the Son of God I expected to find.” 

            Often times Jesus seems like a hard man, even cruel.  His handling of the Canaanite woman is not exactly what we would expect from our Lord.  He puts her off again and again.  He doesn’t answer favorably.  He even speaks a bit rudely to her.

            Have you ever met this Jesus in your prayers?  Have your prayers seemed like they are falling on deaf ears?  Have you felt as though Christ were sending you away, as if He didn’t have time?  Have you even felt that God is insulting you by heaping more trials upon the already crushing load for which you’re praying for relief?

            These are the battles that are fought in spiritual warfare.  The Lord’s responses are often less than what we expect from Him—or demand from Him—and our weak flesh is always too ready to give up and seek its own solutions, or, even worse, to raise the white flag of surrender and join the camp of the enemy.

            Part of the nature with which we are all born is to expect God to answer and act on our terms.  In our prayers, we lay out what we expect from God, and if He doesn’t follow to the letter, we’re not satisfied.  We pray for healing from cancer, but God offers two years of struggle that end in death.  He obviously didn’t listen to our prayers, or refused to answer them.  We pray that we might find a job in this poor economy after three months of unemployment, and God answers with another three months with no salary, and you have to cut your summer vacation plans and stay home.  So God doesn’t care about my livelihood. 

            If we give up prayer because the Lord’s response does not suit our expectations, or when we face struggles and trials, Satan has won the victory.  And his spoils may very well be your eternal soul.

3.

            Yet, when viewed through the lens of faith, one sees that it is precisely in those struggles that the Lord is revealing just how comforting His Word is, for it is the only thing that can gain victory over Satan and his lies. 

Faith Clings to the Word of God No Matter How Difficult the Struggle

4.

            While Jesus’ three responses to the Canaanite woman outwardly appeared cruel, they were meant to bring her to a great faith in Christ by holding fast to His Word.

            First, His silence.  His silence is to show the woman that He is not answering her prayer simply to get rid of her, like the disciples suggested.  He earnestly wants to do what she asks, but He also wants her to know that He does so by grace, not because of the quality of her prayer.

            When He says that He was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, He was not saying that she was excluded from the promise.  But He wanted to show her that there was no worthiness in her to receive an answer, but that He gladly invites her into His household of grace to be an heir of the promise.

            And what appears to be an insult is really no insult at all, but a word of promise that she—although a Canaanite and outside the household of Israel—still has a place in the Lord’s house and is entitled to the benefits of being at the Lord’s feet.  “She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table’” (v 27).

            All along, Jesus is providing His Word to the woman and leading her to a great faith.  Martin Luther says regarding this woman, “She catches Christ, the Lord, in his own words and with that wins not only the right of a dog, but also that of the children.  Now then where will he go, our dear Jesus?  He let himself be made captive, and must comply.  Be sure of this: that’s what he most deeply desires.”

            There is a mighty lesson of prayer taught here.  It is not the power of prayer that accomplishes anything, but the Word and promise of God, to which faith holds fast.  With the woman’s initial petition, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David;” Jesus sees the faith in this woman, but He wants her to struggle with His Word so that she learns to not let go of it.

            Our Lord desires our prayer, then, not for His benefit, but for ours, that we might realize that all good things come from Him without any merit or worthiness in me.  There is no right—no entitlement—in the Church apart from what His Word promises and offers.  Our prayers are a confession of faith that the Lord is the source of all our benefits.

5.

            Luther taught that prayer makes a theologian, but that it must also be accompanied by meditation on God’s Word, and what he called tentatio, or Anfechtung.  Prayer and meditation on the Word of God are met with struggles and trials. 

            We see all three exhibited in the Canaanite woman.  Her prayers were answered with Christ’s promise, though it was hidden under what appeared to be cruelty.  But by her struggle she is commended and her desire accomplished.  “Then Jesus answered her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed instantly” (v 29). 

            Learn to love these three things; prayer, meditation on God’s Word, and struggling with trials, and you will also see the comfort that is found in the Word of Christ.  And then you will hear for yourself, “O Christian, great is your faith!”

In T Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Rev. Jacob Ehrhard

VDTMA

 

The Beers of Martin Luther

There's a great little paper on the interweb that explores the beers of Martin Luther's day.  Here's an excerpt:

If you do wish to drink beers similar to the beers Luther drank, the closest you will come are probably today's Belgian Abbey Ales. Their top fermentation, complex flavors, full attenuation, and highly individual character are all in keeping with the beers of the monasteries that Luther knew as a young man, and with many more of the beers of Luther's time.

 and,

Luther much preferred homebrew. After Luther married, his wife Katie brewed beer as the lay brothers had brewed it in days gone by. Luther Peterson notes that Martin often began his written invitations to friends with the note that Katie had made him another barrel of beer. Once in 1535, while away from home, he wrote to her about some bad beer he had drunk 'which did not agree with me... I said to myself what good wine and beer I have at home, and also what a pretty lady, or lord.' Here's an endorsement of homebrew, and very diplomatically put as well.

For those who know me, I have a special distaste for Belgian Abbey Ales.  It's the yeast.  I, along with Luther much prefer homebrew.  There's something about holding a moderately chilled pint of liquid goodness made by your own two hands that makes a beer taste especially good. 

What's in a name?

What does Drinkin' Wittenberg Beer mean?  Martin Luther wrote:

I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached and wrote God's Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it.

Luther, along with Philip (Melancththon) and (Nicolaus von) Amsdorf, exhibited a faith in God's Word that's not often seen among Lutherans today.  They lived in a time when the papacy had so obscured the Gospel though false righteousness offered in indulgences, the unholy sacrifice of the mass, and penance prescribed to complete Holy Absolution, that the grace of God was not easily found. 

The mission field of the German reformers was their own backyard.  Surrounding them were masses that called themselves Christian in name, but their faith lie in their own works of righteousness instead of He who is the Righteousness of God.  So how did these missionaries go about bringing the Good News in all its purity to their neighbors?

Luther says,  I simply taught, preached and wrote God's Word; otherwise I did nothing.  They didn't hire a church consulting firm to tell them how to package their product.  They didn't commission the Wittenberg Extension Fund to do a demographic study to determine if a new Lutheran mission start was viable in their province.  They didn't survey the people in their churches to see if they preferred the old church hymns or the drinking songs of the pub.  They simply occupied themselves with God's Word.  Teaching.  Preaching.  Writing.  And while they enjoyed their Wittenberg beer, God's Word took care of the mission. 

Here you will find God's Word.  Some teaching.  Some preaching.  Hopefully a lot of writing.  And while we're at it, we'll drink some Wittenberg beer, that is, we'll take some deep draughts of Wittenberg theology. 

And if metaphorical beer isn't enough to quench your thirst, there will be links and discussion of that wonderful combination of water, malt, yeast, and hops. 

Back to blogs

I'm giving the blogging scene another go.  I tried to start a blog a while back and kept it up for a while, but eventually I let it go.  Perhaps I got lazy.  More likely, I didn't find what I had to say interesting, so I didn't expect the rest of the interweb to.

But I'm trying it out again, this time on the Blogger site.  I expect to post some of my sermons, newsletters, and thoughts here.

As far as the name, see the quotation on the upper left.  I'll reserve further comment for a future post.  Suffice to say, there will also be a few links to beer on this blog as well.  

Prost!