tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90485754448594875072024-03-13T10:20:15.993-04:00thinking-out-loudRev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.comBlogger1451125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-12157268775537401322024-02-18T08:30:00.007-05:002024-02-18T22:36:47.290-05:00He's By Your Side Upon the Plain<p>The Kingdom of God is at hand in Christ Jesus, and His Baptism has become your Holy Baptism. Thus, you are a beloved son of God the Father, and you are well-pleasing to Him, because Christ has bound Himself to you, and you to Him, by and with His own Name. The Father has opened heaven to you in the Body of the incarnate Son, and He has poured out His Holy Spirit upon you.</p><p>Consequently, in this mortal life on earth you now find yourself in the arena between God and the devil, and you are driven into personal conflict with the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh. Day after day, you are tempted by these enemies of God to doubt, deny, and disobey His Word.</p><p>At the same time, your dear God and Father in heaven would test you, as He tested Abraham. He does not tempt you to sin, nor to any evil, but He does try your heart and mind in order to test, instruct, and strengthen your faith in His Word and in the promises of your Holy Baptism. So it is that you are daily being put to death, and daily being raised to newness of life in Christ Jesus.</p><p>Life is a battlefield when the Kingdom of God invades the devil’s stomping grounds. Which is why — because the Lord Jesus has been baptized to be your Champion and your Savior — He is immediately driven by the Spirit of God from the waters of His Baptism into the wilderness, there to be tempted by Satan, in order to engage that wicked foe in a strange and dreadful contest. Thus, the Son of David goes out to meet a bigger, badder Goliath than this world has ever dreamed of.</p><p>The wilderness is where Christ contends with Satan, because the wilderness is where you also are tested and trained. The wilderness is where the fallen children of Adam & Eve learn how to live in Paradise again, that is, by faith in the Word and works of God, to rest in His gracious promises. The wilderness is that long stretch of desert between Egypt and Canaan, wherein the children of God are catechized to enter the Good Land that He will give them according to His tender mercy. And it is where you are taught to live in the Kingdom of God by faith, and so also to work in love for God and for your neighbor, instead of trusting and loving only yourself. To that end, it is in the wilderness that you are called to repent and believe the Gospel. But, of course, it is especially at those points of repentance, faith, and love that you are under attack and assaulted by the devil.</p><p>The Lord your God tests you and tries you, in order to clarify and strengthen your faith and your confession. The devil tempts you into all kinds of evil, in order to rob you of life and bring you to death and condemnation. So it is that Satan wickedly entices you to disobey God’s Word; and then, in craftiness and spite, he is also the first in line to accuse you and bring charges against you.</p><p>At every point in your life on earth, this battle is waged: In your successes, and in your suffering and failures. In what you have, and in what you lack or lose. In what God has promised, and in what you covet for yourself that God has not given you. Always the devil is tempting you to question and contradict, to ignore and despise what God has spoken, both the Law and the Gospel.</p><p>But now, let God and His Word be true, and know that everything else is a lie and a deception.</p><p>Trust the Lord, your God and Father in Christ Jesus. Cling to His Word, come hell or high water against you. Do not despair of His goodness, nor despise His good gifts of body and soul.</p><p>Do not be deceived or misled into evil, which has merely the appearance of “good,” yet leads only to death. Beware the assaults and temptations of the enemy: the lies, the flattery, the questions, and the accusations of the devil; the enticements and attacks of the world; and the lusts and desires of your own mortal flesh, which are the rotting cesspool out of which all sin and death proceed.</p><p>Sometimes crass, sometimes subtle, the devil is always crafty, and every sin to which he tempts you is dangerous and deadly. Do not kid yourself. It is not true that “all sins are equal,” but all sin, by definition, is contrary to the Word of the Lord, and that is always to your detriment. Every denial, and every disobedience of what God the Lord has spoken, is a refusal and rejection of the Life that is found only in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is why the soul that sins shall die.</p><p>Where, then, shall you live? In the Kingdom of God by His grace? Or with the devil in his prison house of death and despair? That is what it comes down to, finally. You cannot have it both ways.</p><p>Repent of your sins and sacrifice your idols. Worship the Lord your God by faith in His Gospel. Not that He needs anything from you, but that you need Him for everything. Rest your hopes in Him and call upon His Name. Rejoice in His forgiveness, and know that He well provides for you. He saves you from every evil of body and soul. He raises you up, even from death and the grave.</p><p>Remember that you are baptized, and remember what God has said to you and done for you by that washing of water with His Word. As father Abraham clung to the Covenant of Circumcision and persevered in the promises of God — even when he was tried and tested so poignantly in the case of his beloved Isaac — so cling to the Word and promises of God in Christ Jesus, in whose Name you are baptized, whose Cross you bear, and whose Resurrection from the dead you also share.</p><p>Renounce the devil, all his works and all his ways. That’s not a one-time deal, it’s a lifelong battle and a deadly serious business. But your life and your allegiance belong to the Holy Triune God.</p><p>See here, you will not starve. The Lord your God will feed you according to His mercy. And you shall not go naked, for God the Lord will clothe and shelter you in peace. Nor shall you die alone. The Lord is with you, in death as in life, and in the Resurrection. He is your sure and certain hope.</p><p>There is no temptation with which you are tempted that He has not also endured and resisted on your behalf — in flesh and blood like your own — even in the wilderness of your sin and death. And there is no suffering that you suffer which He has not also suffered in your place, so that by His Cross and Passion He should overcome them. He has defeated your enemies. He has atoned for your sins. He has conquered your death. His Resurrection from the dead is God’s own pledge and promise to you, which stands fast and forever, as Christ Himself lives and reigns to all eternity.</p><p>He has set Himself to be your Champion. He’s by your side upon the plain! He has taken His stand against the roaring lion that threatens to devour you; He has smashed his teeth and broken his jaw. He has crushed the serpent’s shifting, hissing head beneath His own bruised and bloodied heel. He is faithful, and He does what He has promised. There is no shifting or turning with Him.</p><p>The devil is always shifting and turning. When one strategy fails, he simply switches to another. He’ll tell you one thing in the morning and another thing at night. From one day to the next, from one week to the next, the devil is full of nothing but constant lies and deceptions. He cares nothing for the truth, but only for your death and your damnation by whatever means he might employ.</p><p>Your own sinful heart is likewise full of guile, and the world is also deceitful and dishonest. But not so with your Father in heaven. He speaks from His heart in Christ Jesus, His beloved Son, and His Word is always the Truth. He will not change His mind concerning you. What God the Father says to you in Christ is and always shall be so. You are sheltered under the shadow of His wings.</p><p>Christ be praised, the Kingdom of God does not rest upon your faithfulness. It does not even rest upon your repentance or your faith. It does not depend on you at all. But the Kingdom of God is at hand for you in the Body of Christ Jesus. It is as sure and certain as His Nativity, His Baptism, His Life, His Death, and His bodily Resurrection from the dead. So it is that your repentance and your faith, your life and your salvation, rest firmly upon Him. And He shall not be moved.</p><p>Consider the example of your Lord Jesus Christ, therefore — though it is always much more than just an example — because everything He does, He does it all for you, that you might live in Him.</p><p>Amid the wild beasts and the wicked assaults of the devil, the Lord Jesus, in humility and faith, relies upon His Father and receives the ministry of His Father’s holy angels. So, too, He sends His ministering spirits to care for you, both His holy angels and His mortal preachers of the Gospel, in order to preserve your faith and life in both body and soul, unto the Life everlasting.</p><p>He provides the sustenance that you need in the midst of the wilderness. Not miraculous bread from desert stones, but the Living and Life-giving Bread of His own Body, which is given for you. And as He thus serves you with Himself, will He not also freely give you every good thing?</p><p>It is most certainly true. You are beloved of the Lord. You are a son or daughter of God the Father in Christ Jesus, and He is well pleased with you. That is the truth. Your sins are all forgiven, and God holds none of them against you. From the waters of your Holy Baptism He has clothed you in the righteousness and holiness, the innocence and blessedness of Jesus, the incarnate Son. He cleanses and restores you with His holy and precious Blood, which is poured out for you to drink.</p><p>By Himself He has sworn, He has bound Himself to you. He is yours, and you are His forever. The heavens stand open, and the Kingdom of God is here for you. Amen, Amen, it shall be so!</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. </p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-72601816018982516482024-01-14T16:00:00.001-05:002024-01-14T23:17:59.850-05:00Upon This Rock Christ Builds His Church<p>The Church’s one Foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord – the almighty and eternal Son of the Living God, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, put to death and buried, risen from the dead, ascended to the Right Hand of the Father, but given and poured out for us Christians to eat and to drink in His Holy Supper here on earth.</p><p>He is the Foundation, or, as the Scriptures say, the Cornerstone who gives shape and strength and stability to the Foundation of His Apostles and Prophets. And He is the Wise Man who establishes, builds, protects, and sustains His Church – His House – upon the Rock, as we have heard in this familiar Holy Gospel this afternoon.</p><p>Because He builds His House upon the Rock, it stands fast against the winds and waves and storms that rage against it; and according to His Word and promise, even the gates of hell (or Hades) are unable to prevail against His Church.</p><p>As to “the Rock,” a lot of ink has been spilled over the years debating what it is and how that works. It’s certainly not Simon Peter in and of himself as a fallen and fallible human being. Indeed, the Holy Gospels do not cover up or hide his human foibles and failings at various points along the way. Yet, the Lord chose Simon Barjona, called him to faith and discipleship, forgave his sins, restored him following his denials, and sent him to preach and administer the Gospel from Jerusalem to Rome (from Pentecost to Martyrdom). Thus do our Lutheran Confessions assert that our Lord addresses Simon Peter as an Apostle, a called and ordained minister of His Word, and says, “Upon this Rock,” that is, <i>upon this Ministry</i> – the Ministry of the Confession of Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God.</p><p>And that apostolic Ministry, upon which Christ Jesus builds His Church, continues around the world to this day, to the ends of the earth – and so also to this place – even to the close of the age.</p><p>It is to this same Ministry – of the Confession of Christ Jesus – that Pr. Hesse has been ordained, and for which he has now been called to St. John Lutheran Church here in Aurora, Indiana.</p><p>So has the Lord intended, from before the foundation of the world, that His servant Mark Hesse should become part of the foundation of His Church in this time and place. To that end, in all that he says and does Pr. Hesse is to be guided and governed by the Word of Christ Jesus, as recorded in the Holy Scriptures by the Holy Prophets, Apostles, and Evangelists.</p><p>Pr. Hesse has but one Name to proclaim and declare, one Name in which to Baptize and Absolve you, and one Name to rely upon, come hell or high water against him. That is the Name of the one Lord, Jesus Christ, given here in your midst from God the Father in heaven.</p><p>Pr. Hesse will have nothing else to offer you or give you than that, and there is really nothing else in heaven or on earth that you and your congregation need – nothing else that really matters. This is the point and purpose of it all, and it is more than sufficient, more than adequate.</p><p>It is revealed and given, first of all, in Holy Baptism, just as it was in the Baptism of our Lord that God the Father anointed Him with the Holy Spirit as the Christ and openly declared Him to be His beloved and well-pleasing Son. That is where Simon Peter learned to know and confess who Jesus is. And so, too, it is in your Holy Baptism that you have been named with His Name, anointed with His Spirit as a Christian, and adopted by God the Father as a beloved and well-pleasing son or daughter in Christ Jesus.</p><p>A pastor is given no greater or higher privilege than that of baptizing disciples of Jesus in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; for such baptizing with water and the Word works the forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal Life and Salvation to all who believe this, according to the sure and certain promises of God.</p><p>And of course, it is not to be forgotten or taken lightly that pastors also have this great blessing and benefit of Holy Baptism. That is not what makes a man a pastor, but it is the confidence and hope in which he is sustained in the Office of the Ministry and in all of his callings and stations in life. You are first and foremost a Christian, a child of God, before you are called, ordained, and sent to be a pastor of the Lord’s people, a shepherd of the Lord’s sheep under the Good Shepherd.</p><p>Forgiveness of sin does not begin and end with Holy Baptism. Indeed, forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ Name is at the very center of the Church and Ministry, the heart and soul of this Office and work to which you are called and ordained. You yourself depend upon the forgiveness of your own sins; and you, in turn, are given the tremendous privilege and responsibility to forgive the sins of others.</p><p>To be sure, it is the duty of every Christian to forgive as we are freely forgiven by the Lord Jesus, to forgive those who trespass against us, and to be reconciled with those we have trespassed against. But as a pastor, you are also entrusted with the office and exercise of the Keys – the preaching and administration of the Gospel – unto repentance and faith in the forgiveness of sins. You are to hear the confessions of God’s people with the ears of Christ Jesus, and to absolve them with His Word, with His Voice, in His Name and stead. However odd that might seem, that is how our dear Lord Jesus chooses to deal with us on earth.</p><p>And that is why it is so fundamental and so necessary to the integrity of the Office, to the Church and Ministry of the Gospel, that you maintain the absolute confidentiality of those things that are confessed to you. As Christ forgives the sins of His people through the Word that He speaks with your lips, it is vital that your lips not speak of those sins to anyone else, anywhere, at any time. They are altogether swallowed up by the Gospel, removed as far as the East is from the West, and remembered no more before God in heaven. Whatever temporal consequences remain on earth are the concern and responsibility of other authorities.</p><p>By the same token, where you are given to confront and deal with those who refuse to repent of their sins but persist in them with hardness of heart, there you must exercise the binding key, as needs may be, that the Lord’s Church and Ministry not become agents of evil or a den of thieves. Our hope and prayer, even then, is that the Lord in His mercy would work repentance in their hearts, unto faith in His free and full forgiveness of sins. But His forgiveness is deliverance from sin and every evil, not a license to continue in sin.</p><p>To those who believe and are baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus, who live in the promise and significance of their Holy Baptism, and who by faith confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, you are also given the profound privilege – as already here this afternoon – of administering His Body and His Blood in remembrance of Him. That goes hand-in-hand with the proclamation of His death until He comes, the preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins in His Name. To celebrate the Lord’s Supper is an exercise of pastoral care, within a context of ongoing pastoral care. It is the Family Meal at the heart of the Lord’s House, and you are the housefather entrusted with the stewardship of this Mystery for the children of God under your care.</p><p>Are you up to the task? No, of course not! None of us are, not of ourselves. Consider again St. Peter and his faults and failings. As Luther confesses, if this Ministry depended on us, it would all fall apart and go to rack and ruin. Yet, this is how the Lord has determined to preserve, protect, and prosper His Church on earth, and so shall He be with you, strengthen and sustain you in this Office and work. Your labors are not in vain in Him! He rather delights to work by the way of His Cross, and He manifests His glorious power precisely in such weakness, in the frailty of flesh and blood.</p><p>There is salvation by no other way or means than the Ministry of the Confession of the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God. Though He is despised and rejected by the world, He is the Cornerstone upon whom everything rests and depends. And by the preaching of His Word and the Ministry of His Gospel, He has granted to you – to His pastors and to all His people – such exceedingly precious and very great promises, that you should become partakers of the divine nature in Him. For He became like you, that you should become like Him.</p><p>As He was crucified for your transgressions and has been raised for your justification, so are you raised from death to eternal Life, in both body and soul, in and with Him. This is what it means that the gates of hell (or Hades) shall not prevail against His Church. Death and the grave do not get to have the last word against you, because they are defeated, undone, and burst apart from the inside-out by the Lord Jesus Christ. Death no longer has any hold on Him, and neither shall it be able to hold onto you. For Christ is risen from the dead, and He has opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all who believe and are baptized in His Name.</p><p>Built on this Rock, the Church shall stand, even when steeples are falling. For here stands the Font before our eyes, declaring how God has received us. The Altar recalls Christ’s Sacrifice and what His Supper here gives us. And here sound the Scriptures that proclaim Christ Jesus, forever the same, our Savior and our Redeemer!</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-59677780728899197722024-01-07T21:00:00.001-05:002024-01-07T22:02:45.625-05:00United with Christ: in His Cross and in His Office<p>By a son’s reckoning, it will be twenty years ago this June; if memory serves me well, it was on the Nativity of St. John the Baptist — or, in any case, it was close enough — when you were ordained as a Minister of Christ and a Pastor of His Church. Even though you remained at Grace Lutheran, Wood River, Nebraska, where you had served as a Vicar in their vacancy, nevertheless, you were surely able to sense the profound difference that began with your Ordination: Not unlike the difference between engagement and holy marriage.</p><p>It was at that point, now almost twenty years ago, when you received the special gifts of the Holy Spirit which are known collectively as the Office of the Holy Ministry; when you yourself — your body and soul, your eyes, ears, reason and all your senses, and all that you are — were given as a gift of the Spirit to the Church on earth; when the yoke of Christ Himself — the mantle of His Holy Prophets and Apostles — was laid upon you, not as a burden, but a joyous vocation under the Cross; when, in addition to your other vocations as a child (and as a child of God), as a husband and father, you were also called to be a Shepherd of the flock under the Good Shepherd of us all, Jesus Christ.</p><p>From the first, there is a particularity to all of this. You became, and you have remained, a Minister of Christ in His Church; and, as such, you have served in a wide variety of ways and places. But you are (and you must be) also a Pastor of His Church in a particular place: At Grace, Wood River; at Peace, McCook, Nebraska; and now at Our Savior in Milford, Illinois.</p><p>This particularity — this “locatedness” of your pastoral Ministry — is a continuation and extension of the very Incarnation that we have so recently celebrated in the Holy Nativity of Christ our Lord. For it is the scandalous particularity of the Christian faith, that we can point to this Baby in this place at this time — and/or to this Man on this Cross at this time — born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate — and precisely (and only) here in Him, we confess, is the one true God in the Flesh, who for us and our salvation came down from heaven to earth.</p><p>Now, you are not God! You are not the Lord Jesus Christ! But we can point to you — and, as of today, we can point to you here in this place at this time — and we confess that you will speak with the Voice of Christ to these people, and you will administer for them the works of Christ Himself.</p><p>That is the very point and purpose for which we have been gathered today: that we might see with our eyes, and confess with our lips, that God has placed you here to speak and act for Him, and in your Ministry to be His active Gospel–presence among these dear people, for whom Christ died.</p><p>Today, you do not become what you were not, but what you have been, what God has given you to be in your Ordination, is now given to and for the Lutheran Church of Our Savior here in Milford, Illinois. In all of its particularities — even peculiarities, “warts and all,” as your dear wife might say — God is present and at work in this place, at this time, in and through you.</p><p>In this respect, it is so fitting and appropriate that the Lord has chosen this day — the First Sunday after the Epiphany: the Baptism of Our Lord — to install you in this new Office of responsibility. For just as our Lord Jesus did not receive the Holy Spirit for the first time at His Baptism (as though He were previously without the Spirit), but He was visibly and publicly anointed by the Spirit — when He descended bodily upon Him in the form of a dove — to “install” Him into His Office and Holy Ministry as the Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the world.</p><p>What He was from all eternity, He now becomes for us and our salvation, as He is baptized into the eventuality of His own Cross and Passion (unto death). Henceforth, all that He is, and all that He does, is for us. And so also for you: Henceforth, all that you are and all that you do, as a Minister of Christ and as a Pastor of His Church, is for Our Savior here in Milford.</p><p>Now, there are many who would say that your Ministry is an extension of your own Holy Baptism. But that is only indirectly true, and it is misleading to follow down that road of logic. By all means, there is no greater treasure in your life than Holy Baptism! But it is not by virtue of your Baptism that you speak the words and work the works of Christ as a Pastor of His Church. Rather, as the Liturgy of the Holy Communion has so well taught us, it is by virtue of your Office as a Called and Ordained Servant of the Word that you forgive sins, and preach the Gospel, and baptize, and distribute the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus to and for His people (and now also in this place), all in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.</p><p>To be sure, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism belongs to all of this; and the waters of your own Holy Baptism are also involved. For in the washing of those waters with the Word you were united with Christ in His Cross and Resurrection, anointed by His Spirit, and adopted as a son of God the Father. And, as such a child of God, you bear His Holy Name in all of your various vocations. So it is that your entire life, in all its aspects, is an ongoing confession of the Creed, including also your vocation as a Minister of Christ.</p><p>But this vocation was not given to you in your Baptism. There you were called to be and to live as a child of God. But you were called to be a child of your parents when you were born; you were called to be a husband when you were married; you were called to be a father when your children were born; and you were called to be a Pastor when you were ordained to this Office of the Holy Ministry. And you serve faithfully in this Office — as in all your other vocations — because you are a baptized child of God who lives in Christ, and Christ in you, by grace through faith in Him.</p><p>But whereas Holy Baptism united you with Christ in His Cross and Resurrection as a child of God, your Ordination united you with Christ in His Office of preaching and teaching and otherwise administering His Holy Gospel of forgiveness unto others. By your Holy Baptism, you became a disciple; by your Ordination, you have been sent to make disciples.</p><p>As a child of God, you stand in the waters of the Jordan with Christ Jesus, and you hear the Voice of your dear Father in heaven declaring, that you are His beloved son, with whom He is well pleased.</p><p>But as a Minister of Christ, you stand on the banks of the Jordan with St. John, preaching a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and baptizing other sons of God through Christ your Lord.</p><p>The nature of your Ministry is, in many ways, very much like that of St. John the Baptist, but more so. You do not prepare for a Christ who is yet to come in the first place, but you preach and bestow a Christ who has already come, and you proclaim His death until His comes again. And yet, it is still the preaching of repentance, which Jesus Himself describes (following His Resurrection) as being on par with the Cross and Resurrection in its divine necessity. Without such preaching, the forgiveness and life and salvation of the Cross would never be distributed and received.</p><p>Thus were the Holy Apostles sent to preach repentance in the Name of Jesus to all the nations. And so have you been sent to preach this same repentance, in the Name and stead of this same Jesus, for the forgiveness of these dear people who are now entrusted to your care.</p><p>This is the “Word and Sacrament Ministry” with which you are charged by Christ Himself. And this “Word and Sacrament” is no mere cliché. It must be understood and carried out quite specifically and concretely in your flesh-and-blood preaching, living, and embodiment of the Holy Gospel.</p><p>Which means that you will hear the confession of real sins by real sinners, and you will forgive those sins with the spoken Word of Holy Absolution. It means that you will visit those frail, hurting people who are hospitalized or homebound, that the Word of Christ might dwell among them and with them. It means that you will administer the Holy Communion, putting the true Body and Blood of Jesus into the mouths of His people. And it means, of course, that you will Baptize young and old into His very real and eternally-significant Cross and Resurrection.</p><p>In the footsteps of the Holy Apostles, you are sent by Christ with His own authority, who is with you in all that you say and do — to baptize, to teach, to pray, to feed the flock with the Word and Flesh of the One who sends you; to speak with His Voice, and to work His own works with His own hands, as it were, according to His Words and promises: He who receives you, receives Him who sent you; and He who hears you, hears Him who sent you, even Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior.</p><p>In this respect, both you — and these people of Our Savior — must realize that you are sent, not only to tell them “about” Jesus, “about” the Gospel, “about” the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation; but here among them you are given to embody the Gospel in your Office, to deal with them with the Law and Gospel, as the one through whom Christ, their dear Lord, deals with them Himself: to forgive their sins in fact, and to bestow His own divine life and eternal salvation in their ears, in their hands, in their mouths, and thereby into their hearts and lives.</p><p>How shall you rise to this occasion and live up to this Office and responsibility? You shall not. But Christ shall raise you up, even as He shall raise up His people in this place through you.</p><p>As a Minister of Christ, as a Pastor of His Church, you must also live from that same Word that you preach, from that same Body and Blood that you administer, in those same holy waters with which you baptize. In this respect, you shall find your best example in St. John the Baptist when he is languishing in prison, waiting for his head to be removed, and suffering the doubts and fears of his own sinful heart. What, then, does he do? He seeks out a Word from Jesus, the Voice of the Gospel, which is the one and only thing that will sustain you in the Office of the Holy Ministry.</p><p>The Lord will seek you out, because He loves you, and He will not let you go beyond the sound of His Voice. But you must also seek out His Voice for yourself, and give ear to it — from your Brothers and Fathers in Christ, through Individual Confession and Holy Absolution, as well as through the mutual conversation and consolation of the brethren.</p><p>And dear people of Our Savior, as you also must live from the Word and Voice of Jesus, which you will now hear from this Pastor in this place (under the Cross, amidst all the hurts and frailties of life), remember, too, that as you have heard, so ought you to speak a Word of the Gospel — a Word from Jesus — to your family and friends, to your neighbors and acquaintances, and to your Pastor, who lives by grace and mercy and forgiveness no less than you.</p><p>And now, to all of you, a beautiful example of how to live such a life in such a way. Martin Luther used to get out of bed each morning and begin his day with a reminder to himself: “I Am Baptized!”</p><p>That simple confession of faith sustained his confidence and hope in Christ, even in the middle of all sorts of personal doubts, ongoing challenges, and numerous threats from all around him. Whenever he was tempted or afraid, he likewise recalled his Baptism by making the sign of the Cross (as he did in all his prayers and at meals), marking him as one redeemed by Christ the Crucified. He took comfort in the fact that he was baptized into the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus, that he had thereby received forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit, and that he was thus a beloved child of God the Father.</p><p>You have that same comfort in the waters of your own Holy Baptism — consecrated and set apart by Christ Himself today in His Baptism. To the human eye and senses, according to the wisdom of this world, it is nothing but a splash of ordinary water (an empty symbol). But to the eyes of faith, according to the gracious Will and Wisdom of God, it is a gracious water of life, a rich and full washing of regeneration; it works the forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the Words and promises of God declare: “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” Grant this Lord, unto us all, for Jesus’ sake!</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-30744190131386454462024-01-06T09:00:00.001-05:002024-01-06T14:45:25.408-05:00To Worship the Lord Jesus in Faith and Love<p>The Magi were probably from Babylon or Persia, that part of the world, east of the Promised Land. They were not magicians or alchemists, but scientists and scholars, astronomers. We know that Babylon already had such people in the days of Daniel, and it is surely no coincidence that Daniel, after interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, was made the chief of all the magi in Babylon. He also continued to serve in that capacity when the Medes and Persians took over.</p><p>So, it is no wonder that Magi from the East had some awareness of what was going on among the people of Israel. For the faithful Prophet Daniel, who lived according to the Word of the Lord, would also have confessed and taught the Wisdom of that Word, including the Prophecies of the Christ who was to come: The Scepter of Judah and the Star of Jacob.</p><p>When the Magi observed a bright new light in the sky, in the area assigned to Judah, they would have known from the Word of the Lord what this meant. The King had come who would reign over the nations with a scepter of righteousness. It was His star that had risen.</p><p>It is important to understand that, while the star was the sign of Christ’s birth, it was the Scriptures that actually guided the Magi to Him. The Scriptures pointed them, first of all, to the land of Israel, to Judah. And the Scriptures also then directed them to Bethlehem, to the City of David.</p><p>But why did they go? Why did they bother? Why did the Magi travel that great distance? Why did they search so diligently? And why did they rejoice so greatly when they found the Child?</p><p>They could have been saved by faith in the Word of God without making the long trip to see Him in person. They could have rejoiced in the Savior from afar. But they did not. They undertook the journey. They were compelled by faith and love to seek Him out. And they tell us plainly why they went. It was to worship Him. That’s why they made the journey: To worship the Christ.</p><p>So, when they entered the house and saw the Child with His Mother, they fell down and prostrated themselves before Him. They worshiped Him with their bodies, with their treasures, and with their very lives. They entrusted themselves to Him. They worshiped Him in the beauty of His holiness, even in the frailty of His human flesh and blood, an Infant in His Mother’s lap.</p><p>They saw the same thing anyone else would have seen. But the Word told them what to believe about this little Boy. That He is God. That He is the King. That He is the Savior, the Christ, the Ruler who has come. So they prostrated themselves before Him. They humbled themselves in His presence. And they gave Him their costly treasures. As their lives belong to Him, so with body and life they worshiped Him who is manifest God in the Flesh, and who has come to save them.</p><p>They came and worshiped Him, not as though to grovel and beg to get something from Him, but because they knew and believed that He had come freely, in love, to give them everything by grace. There was nothing else they needed any longer. In this Child they found and received everything that matters. And that made all the difference in the world.</p><p>The same God and Savior has also revealed Himself to you. He has also spoken His Word to you. And He has given His Word to you, as well — His Word-made-Flesh — in outward, visible, external Means of Grace, in the preaching and Ministry of the Gospel. That is where and how you find the Christ, your Savior! That is where and how you find the Lord your God.</p><p>Heaven and earth stand up and take notice, because in the simple preaching of the Word of God by ministers all over the world, from pulpits just like this one — and from this very pulpit — divine Mysteries are revealed, which even the angels know only by this preaching of the Gospel.</p><p>This Word tells you where God is for you. And the Light of the Revelation of the Glory of God is revealed to you in the face of Jesus Christ, the Babe, the Son of Mary, the Crucified One who suffered under Pontius Pilate. In Him, in His Flesh, God Himself is with you.</p><p>The Gospel of Christ reveals Him to you by forgiving your sins in His Name. It gives you His Life and Salvation, because it gives you Jesus Himself. And in doing so, it calls you to faith in Him.</p><p>That faith to which the Gospel calls you is not a dead or dormant thing. It is rather a living and active thing, and before it has even been told what to do, it is already busy doing it.</p><p>And what is it that faith does? First of all, it listens to the Word of God. There is nothing more vital to faith than that. Faith gives attention to God’s Word and the preaching of it, because it is by His Word that God does and gives all things. It is by His Word that He gives life.</p><p>Faith hears and believes what the Word of God declares. And according to that Word, it receives the Gifts of God within His Church on earth in the Ministry of His Gospel. It knows that Christ is here at hand to save and to give life. Faith is willing to stake everything on that. Indeed, it will suffer and die a thousand deaths before it would ever give that up.</p><p>Faith will likewise travel a thousand miles, it will go even to the ends of the earth, in order to find the Christ Child, to worship and adore Him. Faith spares no expense. There is no treasure on earth that it would not freely give up, because Jesus has come, the Treasure of heaven. The riches of God are here in Him. Everything else is rubbish by comparison (and nothing at all without Him).</p><p>So faith seeks out the Christ where His Word has determined and directed you to go. It looks to the Signs that He has designated. Not to stars in the sky, not for you; that was for the Magi then. For you the Signs are here on earth, within the Lord’s House, in water, bread, and wine. That is where Christ Jesus is for you, the Lord your God in the Flesh. That is where you find Him.</p><p>And that is where you go to worship Him in faith and love, with heart and mind, with body, soul, and spirit. To serve Him, not because you “have to,” although He is your Lord and God, and you are His creature and His servant; but you serve Him, as you love Him, because He serves you.</p><p>You love Him and serve Him because He has given Himself entirely for you and to you, and because your life is found entirely in Him. Thus do you worship Him with all that you are and have. In and with your heart, to be sure. It is in and with your heart that you cling to Him by faith, come hell or high water against you, no matter what may happen to your body.</p><p>But as your heart loves and worships Christ Jesus, so does your body also, as it can. You prostrate yourself before Him. You bend your knees and bow your head. You humble yourself before Him. And you worship Him with your hands and feet, your mouth and lips and tongue, and with your whole life. Your flesh is put into His service. You’ll bleed and die if necessary, for the sake of this King who has saved you by the voluntary shedding of His Blood for you upon the Cross.</p><p>You will spare no expense to love Him, to serve Him, and to worship Him. For whatever you have is from Him in the first place, and He will not fail to supply whatever is needed for your body and life, here in time and hereafter in eternity. So you will do whatever. You will open your treasures, be they great or small, and give Him whatever you have, because He has given you everything.</p><p>You worship Him with heart, soul, mind, and strength, with your body and life, your flesh and blood, and with your time, treasures, and talents. You worship Him with all that you are and have. Not to purchase His blessing (which is not for sale, in any case), but to thank and praise Him for all His grace and every blessing, for all that He is, and for all that He has done for you in love.</p><p>Thus, you live a very different life than the world does. And you live in a completely different way than the Herods of the world. You live in a different way because you have a new and different King in Christ Jesus. And in Him you have found a new and different house and home with God. You have a new Fatherland. So you walk by a new and different way, just as the Magi did.</p><p>You love and serve the Lord Jesus, and for His sake you love and serve His people. As the Magi served Mary and Joseph with their gifts — which paid for their flight into Egypt — so do you love and serve Christ by loving and serving His people, providing for their needs in this body and life with whatever means the Lord has placed into your stewardship. You look for ways to love and serve Him by faith, by loving and serving those around you who are hungry, who need shelter and protection, mercy and care. You do it for Jesus’ sake. And in this way, too, you worship Him.</p><p>His Word tells you what to do and how. He has not left you without guidance. His Word warns you against all harm and danger. As He warned the Magi against Herod, so does He warn you. His Law warns you against the ways that would destroy your faith and life in Christ. And His Law guides you, as well, in the way that you should go. It guides your footsteps in the way of peace.</p><p>His Word teaches you how to live as a Christian. How to live under Christ and serve Him in His Kingdom in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.</p><p>And by faith you do. Because it is not only His Law that guides and warns you, but His Gospel lights your way. His Gospel forgives every misstep, every wrong turn, every false direction. His Gospel shines the Light of His grace, mercy, and peace upon you. His Gospel forgives your sins.</p><p>He does not ask you to fight His battles, but He fights for you. He is not a king like the rulers of this world. He is God Himself, who reigns in love over His creation, the work of His own hands.</p><p>The kings of this earth and their subjects live in fear. They are terrified of death, and so they fear the judgment of God against their sins. They do not understand that He comes with forgiveness and salvation. They tremble and shake at the coming of Christ Jesus. And in response, they avoid Him, or else they seek to “worship” Him with a sword and violent bloodshed, because He threatens their existence, their self-chosen place and purpose in the world, and their idolatrous lifestyle.</p><p>Be on guard against that violence of unbelief in your own sinful heart and soul. For it is not only those tyrants in high places who seek to be rid of the Lord Jesus. It is whatever would dethrone Him from reigning over you as your King. It is whatever would take His place in your body and life. When you set Him aside in favor of your own passions and pursuits, you follow the lead of those who sought to end His life then, and the lead of those who refuse and reject Him to this day.</p><p>They suppose that He has come to take away what they love. And to that extent they are right! He has come to take away what they love, but so also to give them that which is actually worth loving, that which is necessary for life and salvation. He has come to replace their false gods and idols with Himself, the true God in the Flesh. He has come to give them real life instead of death.</p><p>Now, by the grace of God, by His Word and Holy Spirit, you have been called from the darkness into the Light, into the Kingdom of His beloved Son, Christ Jesus. Baptized in His Name, you live no longer for yourself but for Him who for your sake died and was raised. No longer terrified by death, you fear, love, and trust in Him above all things. You serve and worship Him by faith</p><p>Your King has set you free from the bondage of sin and the fear of death, so you may proceed in peace with exceedingly great joy. You live according to His Word, because you are free to do so. You are a free citizen of His Kingdom. Wherever in the world you live, you are His very own.</p><p>He seeks you out, and He finds you. And now, as then, it is God Himself who gives the greatest Treasure. You worship Him, not because He needs your gifts, but because He has given you every good and perfect Gift already. It’s all yours in Jesus Christ! He places it into your hand, into your mouth, and into your body, that you may have life in both body and soul, both now and forever. Oh, come, let us worship Him! Let us kneel and bow down at the Altar of the Lord, our Savior.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-81224183555277305982023-12-25T09:00:00.001-05:002023-12-25T09:00:00.176-05:00Perfected in the Flesh of God the Word<p>A man does not hate his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes his body. It’s not a matter of pride or personal affection, but of need and survival. There may be all sorts of things that you really don’t like about your body, and yet you are constrained to care for yourself. Your aches and pains are bothersome, but you give attention to them rather than ignoring them because they are your own. Your flaws and weaknesses may frustrate you, and your blemishes and scars may embarrass you, but you deal with all of those things because you cannot separate your body from your self.</p><p>There is an immediacy to the demands of your flesh, which you simply can’t ignore. So you do the best you can to protect and provide for yourself, even though you are not able to preserve your body and life beyond a limited point. You’re driven to nurture and care for yourself for as long as you are able, all the while you are constantly confronted with the basic fact of your mortality. </p><p>You do not hate your own flesh, but neither can you trust it. You know that, sooner or later, it’s going to let you down, fall apart, or otherwise betray you. You serve it every day, because you have to — it eagerly and greedily becomes your god — but your body cannot save you. Instead, it makes you anxious, angry, and afraid. Your own flesh discourages and disappoints you.</p><p>The whole of creation presents a similar challenge and temptation. Though the rest of the world is not so personal as your own body of flesh and blood, there is still an immediacy to all the stuff that you can see and touch and taste and smell, surrounding you on all sides and pressing upon you. It is so tangible, so present, and so solid, as though it were definitive and decisive, whether for good or ill. Creation promises and threatens, seemingly without any recognition of the Creator. Thus, faith and fear are misdirected from God to the world. You either idolize or demonize it.</p><p>A case in point is the sun, which God created as a great light to govern the day. It is surely an impressive and valuable gift, and, oh, how we miss it when it goes down at night or hides behind the clouds. Of course, we also curse the sun when it beats down too hotly upon us and burns us. But mostly we rely on it, so much so that we often express our hope for the future with reference to the sun coming up tomorrow. That may be a confession of confidence in the Lord, who causes the sun to shine on both the evil and the good; or it may be yet another case of pagan idolatry.</p><p>You have probably heard, at some point or another, that the Feast of Christmas competed for a time with the pagan festival of sol invictus, the “unconquered sun,” which followed the winter solstice in late December. The lengthening of the days appeared to be a triumph of creation over death.</p><p>Modern conceit is no better than ancient paganism in supposing that, with gadgets and electricity, we are now able to provide and control the light for ourselves, and to keep the darkness at bay.</p><p>Christians know and confess that Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, is the true Light, and that by His coming into the world He enlightens every man. He is the true Sun of Righteousness, who has risen upon us with healing in His wings. He is neither a creature nor within anyone’s control; He is the divine Word by whom all things are made, and without whom there is nothing at all. The sun, moon, and stars, the earth and the sea and all that is in them, all of these are His own creation, and He is the One who still preserves them and provides for them in His mercy and by His might.</p><p>The Light of this Son, Jesus, is the Life that is His by nature with the Father and the Holy Spirit, from all eternity to all eternity. It is the holiness of His Life and His freedom as the one true God. For He is neither constrained by anything nor in need of anything, but He is who He is: He was, He is, and He is to come. So He remains, always the same, and all of Creation depends on Him.</p><p>But why, then, has He created the heavens and the earth? Not out of boredom or need, but for the sake of holy Love! Because the divine eternal Life of the Holy Triune God is Love, the Father for His Son, the Son for His Father, in the Holy Spirit, forever and always. It is in this Love that He always remains, always the same. And it is solely for the sake of this Love that He creates all things ex nihilo, “out of nothing,” in order to share Himself — His Life, His Light, and His Love — His Glory and His Holiness — with others outside of Himself, that is, with His own creatures.</p><p>That is the Grace of God, of which we so often speak, and for which we glorify His holy Name.</p><p>By this Grace, through His almighty and eternal Word, the Father created man in His Image; which is already to speak of the incarnate Son, Christ Jesus — the Word-made-Flesh — from the very beginning, from the foundation of the world. This is a great Mystery, indeed, that man is made in the form and the likeness of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Son. The first Adam is created to be like the Second. For the Lord Jesus Christ is the Image of God, the exact representation of His Being.</p><p>The Incarnation of our Lord is not an afterthought. His conception and birth of St. Mary are not a “plan B,” they are the original creative purpose and gracious intention of the Holy Trinity, that God should become Man in this way, in order that man might receive and share the Life of God in Him. Indeed, that is the very foundation upon which the entire Creation has been established.</p><p>From the beginning, it is this Word of God — the only-begotten of the Father — who fills Creation with divine Life and Light and Love. Not only does He bring all things which have been made into existence, but He undergirds them and sustains them. Neither man, nor the sun in the sky, nor any creature under heaven is self-existing or self-sufficient. That is why the fall into sin is so deadly and destructive. In turning away from the Word of God, man plunges everything into darkness.</p><p>Despite all that, we rejoice and give thanks on this holy day because divine Love has moved to rescue and redeem, to sanctify and save His fallen creation. Not only does He restore man to the starting point, but He fulfills and perfects mankind, as He intended, in His Image and Likeness, in holiness and righteousness. That is what God the Word begins to do in His becoming Flesh.</p><p>By His conception in the womb of St. Mary, and by His holy Nativity, He makes Himself one with His Creation. He enters into it, and by doing so He becomes the definitive part of it.</p><p>He comes to His own, to the work of His own hands, and although He is neither comprehended nor received by those whom He has come to save, He accomplishes and brings about a New Creation in Himself. He does not scrap it all and start over, but He restores all of Creation by the forgiveness of man’s sin, by the sacrificing of His own Flesh and the shedding of His own Blood.</p><p>In doing so, in laying down His body and life in this way, He does not hate His own Flesh, but in Love He gives Himself for you, so that you might become a member of His Body and His Bride.</p><p>Although this may seem self-defeating and tragic, namely, that the Son of God should suffer and die for sinners, it is precisely in this way that He brings about the fulfillment and perfection of His Creation. It’s not as though sin and death were ever by the Lord’s design or doing, but they are utterly unable to thwart His purposes; they rather become the occasion for His great Salvation.</p><p>As God in the Flesh, He saves you from sin and death, and He gives you Life and Light and Love. This, too, is a creatio ex nihilo, a “creation out of nothing,” for there was nothing and no one else who could have done this thing. It is God Himself, and He alone, who saves you. But being also the true and perfect Man, He does so in perfect faith, in perfect love for His own God and Father, and in holy love for you and for all people. Grace and truth are thus realized in Jesus Christ. The faith and love required by the Law are accomplished and established in Him, in His crucified and risen Body of flesh and blood. And so the “government” of the whole world is upon His shoulders. The “economy” of the whole Creation rests on Him, and resides in Him, and shall not be shaken.</p><p>It is for this purpose that He became Flesh and was made Man, so that, by His Cross — and in His Resurrection from the dead — you who were dead in your trespasses and sin should be given the New Birth of the children of God by the washing of water with His Word and Holy Spirit. Your Baptism into Christ Jesus is the New Creation by which you have become the man or the woman that God intended you to be, a beloved son or daughter after His own heart, in whom He delights.</p><p>No longer do you live and die in the darkness, because the Light of Christ has risen upon you and shines in your heart through His Gospel. No longer are you driven by desperation to take care of yourself at the expense of others, since the Life of Christ now fills you and sustains you through His Word and Spirit. No longer are you cast off and distant from God, because He has drawn near to you in Love, and you now live and abide in Him by faith in the Word of Christ, your Savior. </p><p>The same living Word of God is with you, because God the Father speaks to you by His Son in the preaching of the Gospel. And He is no empty or futile word. He is not white noise or meaningless chatter. No, the very One who speaks and is spoken to you is the creative and life-giving Word by whom all things are made. By Him you are named with the excellent Name of God Himself, and sanctified by His Holy Spirit, and glorified with the radiance of His own divine Glory.</p><p>By the preaching of this Word, the Lord God Almighty bares His holy arm — the arm of Christ the Crucified He bares — to all the nations of the world, even to the ends of the earth. And not only does He make known His Salvation, but His Gospel actually saves you and grants you His peace, because it does exactly what it says, which is to forgive you by the Cross of Christ Jesus.</p><p>That same Word of the Gospel becomes Flesh for you in this Sacrament. The One who has become like you, now feeds you with Himself, so that you might become like Him. The One who shed His Blood for you, now pours out His Blood for you to drink from His Chalice with the mouth of your own body of flesh, that you should thus be cleansed and refreshed with the Life and Love of God.</p><p>See, then, how solid, how present, how immediate and tangible this Word is for you. See here how the true Sun of Righteousness now shines upon you. See here the perfection of Creation in His Body and His Blood, given and poured out for you. And know that in this eating and drinking you are granted to become flesh of His Flesh and blood of His Blood; that you are thereby wed to Him as a member of His holy Bride; and that all of you are knit together as one holy Body of Christ.</p><p>This true and perfect Man surely does not hate you or any of the members of His Body. He loves you dearly, and He nourishes and cherishes you with all that He is and has. Not by any constraint, and not with any selfish desperation, but in the perfect freedom of His holiness and divine grace.</p><p>Nowhere is the heart of God more open to you than here at His Altar in His Body and Blood.</p><p>The Eucharist is the New Song that you sing to the Lord, the Good News that you shout joyfully to all the world; because the incarnate God, the Word-made-Flesh, here opens your mouth, your lips, and your tongue, to feed you in body and soul with Himself to the glory of His holy Name.</p><p>All the holy angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven worship Him who is your Savior, and all of Creation rejoices in His mighty works and great Salvation. And of His fulness you receive, His grace upon grace everlasting, in His Word and in His Flesh which are for you.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. </p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-77607032048531223852023-11-05T09:00:00.001-05:002023-11-05T09:00:00.156-05:00Christ Jesus Is the Life and Light and Salvation of Body and Soul<p>It is evident that Jairus has been catechized by the Word of the Lord, for he comes to Jesus in the hope of His mercy. He worships Him by faith with his prayers and petitions, and with his body, too, prostrate before his Lord in humility. The posture of his body confesses the faith in his heart.</p><p>It is evident that he, a ruler of the synagogue, has not only cared for others with God’s Word and prayer, but has catechized his own little daughter, as well; else she would not only be sleeping. The Christian fears the grave as little as her bed, but those who die apart from Christ are swallowed up, body and soul, by eternal death.</p><p>Such death is the legacy and inheritance of all the daughters and sons of Adam & Eve. All of you will die — and must die — because all of you sin and fall short of the Glory of God. Indeed, it is necessary that you die to your sin, to yourself, and to the world, in order that you be set free and raised up to newness of life in the Body of Christ Jesus.</p><p>But so it is, in Him, that death does not have the last word, final though it seems. Even death cannot end your gladness when you have become a child, not only of man, but of God. By faith in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, you live, even though you die. That is our bold confession, on this day as throughout the year, as we remember with thanksgiving the faithful departed who have gone before us over this past year. They are not “dead and gone,” but alive forever with the Lord.</p><p>For the very Son of God has come in the flesh, with a Body and Blood like your own, conceived and born of the Woman, St. Mary, herself a daughter of Adam. He has entered into the house of sin and death where you are. He has crossed over to the other side of the sea in the new and greater Exodus of His Cross and Resurrection, even as He was baptized for you and for all righteousness in the waters of the Jordan River. He made the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to cross over; and, as you are baptized into Him, you pass through death into Life everlasting with Him.</p><p>To that end, He now comes with His Ministers of the Gospel, who follow Him and bear His Name, who preach His Word and give His good gifts to the children of men. With His Word and the touch of His hand, He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies you and His whole Christian Church with the Holy Spirit of His God and Father. So does His Word go out into all the world, His Voice to the ends of the earth. And His Word declares that Life and Light and Salvation are found in Him.</p><p>Jairus is prompted to seek Him out by his desperate need for the sake of his dear daughter, and by his faith in the Word and Flesh of Christ Jesus he prays and intercedes for his girl, for the life and health and strength of her body. He prostrates himself and worships Jesus with his heart and mind, with his words and actions, and with his whole body, as well. And his prayer is that Jesus would come in the flesh to lay His hands on the little girl, in order to raise her up from death to life again.</p><p>You hear the attention that is given here to the body. And at the same time, you know that your own body is afflicted by the curse of sin and death. Your flesh suffers and decays, it perishes and fades like the grass and its flower. There is no lasting life but only sickness and death in your body.</p><p>That poor woman with the twelve-year hemorrhage certainly knew and experienced that frailty of her flesh and the weight of her mortality.</p><p>For all of that, the truth remains that Christ Jesus has come in His own Body of flesh and blood. He has suffered and died for all your sins and transgressions, and He is risen from the dead in His glorified Body for your justification, in order to rescue and raise you in both body and soul. For all that He has accomplished for you in His Body, He has also given to you in Holy Baptism, and He continues to bestow upon you in the Holy Communion of His Body and His Blood. Already in the Gospel He delivers your soul from death — as He will your body in the Resurrection.</p><p>Therefore, do not weep and wail and mourn like those who have no hope. Rather, pray, praise, and give thanks in the hope and confidence of Christ. Call upon the Name of the Lord, trusting that He hears and answers your prayers and supplications, and that He saves you from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Do not be afraid, but seek Him where He may be found, and so lay hold of Him by the “hem of His garment,” which is to say, by availing yourself of His Word and Sacrament.</p><p>Not what your senses, your intellect, or your emotions tell you, no matter how convincingly, but what Jesus says and does for you and gives to you determines what is true and what is real. The world will mock and scorn, it will laugh and ridicule the hope that is in you. But never mind that.</p><p>The Lord your God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live by and from Him. And by His grace, by His Ministry of the Gospel, He has delivered you from the domain of darkness, death, and damnation, and brought you into the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom you have redemption through His Blood, the free and full forgiveness of all your sins in Christ Jesus.</p><p>He raises you up and gives you life, already here and now in your body on earth. As surely as He has purified your heart and cleansed your conscience by the washing of your body with the water and His Word in Holy Baptism, so surely does He enliven your body with His Holy Spirit; so that you rise up and live and walk in His Way — from your childhood into your teens and adulthood.</p><p>He stretches out His hand to lay hold of you in love, to strengthen and sustain your faith and life in Him through the blessing of His Word and Holy Spirit. And it is your faith in Him that saves you, not as any kind of work or merit on your part, but as receiving and relying on His good Gifts.</p><p>The Synagogue and Sabbath Rest of Christ Jesus are where He catechizes you with His Word and calls you daily to repentance. Thus He returns you, again and again, to the significance of your Holy Baptism, to your dying and rising with Him. And He feeds you with Himself for the Life everlasting of your body and soul. He comes to abide with you, that you should abide in Him.</p><p>So now, in turn, confess the faith to your neighbors, and catechize your daughters and sons with the Word of Christ Jesus. Be as earnest and eager to do so as Jairus was to seek out Jesus for the sake of his dear little daughter; for it is by the catechesis of the Word of Christ Jesus that you give true and lasting Life to your children and preserve them in body and soul for now and forever.</p><p>And little girl, or little boy — young woman, or young man — child of God, whatever your age, do not continue to sin with your body, nor give yourself over to the laziness of apathy and despair, but worship the Lord your God — and love your neighbor as yourself — in and with your body.</p><p>As a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, follow Him on the Way that leads to Life even in the midst of death. Enter with Him into the House of your true Father and Mother, in which your weeping is turned into joy and your sorrow gives way to feasting. For your heavenly Bridegroom is here with you, feeding you with the Meat and Drink indeed of His holy Body and precious Blood, that you should not die but live, now and forever. He abides with you, and you abide in Him, both body and soul, waking, sleeping, in life, in death, and in the Resurrection to the Life everlasting</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-85189484429111399882023-10-08T09:00:00.001-04:002023-10-09T17:08:31.172-04:00The Marriage Feast of the King's Son<p>The Kingdom of Heaven is all about the Father and His Son and the great Marriage Feast of Christ Jesus and His Bride, the Holy Christian Church.</p><p>From the Foundation of the World, from the Fall into Sin, through all the ages of the Patriarchs and Prophets, to the coming of our Lord in the Flesh, His Cross and Resurrection, even to the close of the age, the Lord provides for His people (and all His creatures); He feeds them in body and soul, for this life and the Life everlasting, and He promises a great Feast indeed.</p><p>Now, as we have depicted in our Lord’s Parable this morning, what He promised and provided for His people in the Old Testament was frequently despised, neglected, and rejected; and in response, He disciplined His people and called them to repentance — to receive the food with which He fed them, to rely upon His providential care, and to rejoice in His gracious gifts.</p><p>And in His tender mercies, long-suffering patience, and steadfast loving-kindness, He continued to preserve His people, to provide for them and feed them.</p><p>And when the time was fully come, the Father sent forth His dearly-beloved only-begotten Son into our Flesh, to call and claim His Bride and bring her Home rejoicing.</p><p>Thus did St. John the Baptist go before Him, to preach and prepare His Way, as the Best Man for the Bridegroom. He pointed the people to Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world — in whom all the promises and all the sacrifices of fattened calves, goats and bulls, sheep and oxen have found their fulfillment, their meaning and significance.</p><p>To that end, the Lord Jesus Himself, the incarnate Son of God, was sacrificed once-for-all upon His Cross, in order to atone for the sins of the world, to redeem the world for God, to justify all of us poor sinners and reconcile us to His God and Father — no longer as strangers and aliens, but as His own dear Bride, a Princess indeed, a daughter of the King.</p><p>This is truly a cause for great rejoicing, now and forever — in the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom, which has no end. For not only is the Lamb of God sacrificed, but His own Flesh and Blood are the Meal of Salvation for His Bride and all her dear children.</p><p>But we know how lukewarm the world is — and even our own mortal flesh — how readily we forego the things of Christ and the Kingdom of God for our earthly enterprises, our farms and our business dealings, so that we ignore His summons and decline His invitation.</p><p>So, too, St. John the Baptist, Christ Jesus Himself, and almost all of His holy Apostles were not simply ignored but persecuted and put to death for their preaching of the precious Holy Gospel.</p><p>The Lord’s own chosen people, by and large, refused and rejected Him — for which reason God sent the Roman armies as the instruments of His judgment to tear down, burn, and destroy the once holy city of Jerusalem — a sobering indication that the external walls and trappings of the Church on earth will not preserve a rebellious and hard-hearted people from the Lord’s just judgment.</p><p>The King’s Feast is prepared and ready, nevertheless. The promised Christ has come, His Cross and Resurrection have been accomplished, and His Body and His Blood are given and poured out as Meat and Drink indeed for His disciples to eat and to drink in faith and with thanksgiving.</p><p>The Lord’s Supper is, indeed, already the true and real Foretaste of the Feast that is hosted and celebrated forever in Paradise. And this Holy Supper, with all that it gives and does, is the Heart and Center of the Church — on earth as it is in heaven. Not a means to some other end, it is the Kingdom of Heaven among us, the Banquet of the King’s own dear Son and His Royal Bride.</p><p>Thus, in the sending of His Apostles to make disciples of all the nations — by the preaching and catechesis of His Word and by Holy Baptism in His Name — the Lord Jesus calls and invites all people to come and enter into His Wedding Feast in the Kingdom of His God and Father.</p><p>That is the very invitation that each of you has received through the Ministry of the Word. And that is why you are here this morning, in anticipation of the Final Judgment, the Resurrection of all flesh, and the Life everlasting of body and soul in and with Christ Jesus, the heavenly Bridegroom.</p><p>So, it is good and right that you are here. And for those who are baptized and catechized in the Name of the Lord, who confess His holy Name, it is good and right that you should feast upon the Lamb of God here at His Table in His Home, in His Supper. Truly, forgiveness, life, and salvation are here freely given and bestowed upon you in the Word and Flesh of Christ Jesus.</p><p>But take heed to His warning in this Parable, that you not presume upon your gracious Host by entering upon His Feast without the wedding garment.</p><p>The ending of the Parable at hand is a call to repentance and the fear of the Lord. Not that you should rely upon yourself and your own righteousness (which is nothing), but that you should be clothed in Christ Jesus and His righteousness and holiness by grace through faith in His Word.</p><p>Just as the City and Temple of Jerusalem were no protection against the judgment of God for those who refused and rejected His beloved Son, so it is that simply being in church, sitting in the pew, hearing the Word with your ears, and receiving the Sacrament into your body will not save you apart from faith in Christ Jesus, by which alone you are justified and holy in the presence of God.</p><p>What then? Where faith and love are lacking in your heart, soul, body, mind, and spirit, what shall you do about that? If you have soiled, forgotten, or misplaced your wedding garment, how then shall you be dressed for the King’s Banquet?</p><p>Repent of your sins and avail yourself of His Word, whereby He does and accomplishes all things. Return to the significance of your Holy Baptism by contrition and repentance, confession and Absolution. The Lord who adorned you with His righteousness in those waters to be a member of His Bride, likewise cleanses you and covers you again by and with His Word of forgiveness.</p><p>It is His Word of the Gospel that renews, strengthens, and sustains your faith and life in Him, whereby He also bears good fruits in you after His own kind. Thus do you hallow His Name and honor your Bridegroom with the good works of your calling and stations, leading a good life in holy faith and holy love by His Word and Holy Spirit.</p><p>To be sure, your sins persist in this body and life, and your works are never perfect in themselves. But where you recognize your sins and weaknesses, failures and shortcomings, take to heart the grace and mercy and forgiveness of your Lord, who loves you. Fear, love, and trust in Him, not by your own reason or strength, but by faith in His Word and promises. His judgment does not fall upon those who trust in Him and partake of His Feast in the hope and confidence of His Gospel, no matter how frail and faulty your life has been. He has called you to come, that He should feed you with Himself and all the fruits and benefits of His Cross and Resurrection.</p><p>Therefore, look to Him and wait upon His mercy. And see here how He opens wide His generous hand to give you His Meat and Drink indeed. Truly does He satisfy your body and soul with His own divine Life, with His own holy Body and precious Blood. And so does He also adorn you as His own Bride with His own Righteousness, unto the Resurrection and the Life everlasting.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-91250737801116524162023-04-02T09:00:00.001-04:002023-04-02T14:19:32.875-04:00Enter into the Holy City with Your Priestly King<p>It is truly an amazing and remarkable thing, that your King, the Lord Himself, the Son of God in His own human Flesh, comes to you and makes His dwelling here with you.</p><p>But what does this mean for you? It’s a bit frightening, really. I mean, does He come to provide for you or punish you? To promote you, or to pull rank on you? After all, a visit from the powers that be and the governing authorities often means discipline or consequences for wrongdoing.</p><p>There is a certain ambiguity and tension to the coming of your King. Is He coming to put you in your place, or to remove you from your place and your position? Wondering and worrying about when and where and how the axe is going to fall is nerve-wracking and scary. And if, on the other hand, you get your hopes up that your King is coming to set things right and make everything better in your life on earth, you’re likely going to be surprised and disappointed by what He does.</p><p>It’s true enough, as the Holy Scriptures testify, that things are pretty messed up, not only in your own personal life, but on a national and global scale. And even if you’re not a ruler or a boss — perhaps you’re one of the little guys, or you’re still making your way to wherever it is that you’re going — you’ve done your part to mess things up in your own little corner of the world.</p><p>There is no one who is righteous; no, not one — no one but Christ Jesus, the King who comes to His own people in righteousness and peace. But then, consider how this one Lord Jesus Christ is regarded and received. He’s hailed on Palm Sunday, yes, but mocked and ridiculed, condemned and crucified by the end of the week. Falsely accused, brutally beaten, and spit upon. His closest companions betray Him, deny Him, and abandon Him. How should a King respond to all of that?</p><p>Even now, as He enters the Holy City on the cusp of His Passion, it is primarily due to His miracles that the crowds throng to see Him and welcome Him. His own disciples don’t yet understand what’s going on. Everyone is eager for a “Bread King,” a great big “Sugar Daddy,” a Miracle Worker who will build a glorious Kingdom on earth and take on all the nations of the world.</p><p>To be sure, the raising of Lazarus from the dead has been an impressive Sign, as even the skeptics must admit and the enemies of Jesus grudgingly concede. But, as a Sign, it points beyond itself to something else, that is, to the dying and rising of the Lord Jesus Himself. The way that He approached that situation, as you heard last week, has indicated that the Glory of God in Christ is to be found, first of all, in His suffering and death, and only then in His Resurrection and His Life.</p><p>That is the pattern, too, of Christian faith and life, as your Baptism signifies and testifies, if you think about the dying and rising of that Holy Sacrament. It is also your experience of life in the world, with all its ups and downs, with all its hopes and disappointments, frustrations and fears.</p><p>It is frankly confusing and difficult to navigate. Just when you think you’ve finally got it figured out, and gotten your bearings, and found your footing in the world, then everything suddenly shifts and changes, and you’re left not knowing what’s up and what’s down, or which way to turn.</p><p>Think of how it must have been for the disciples in the course of that first Holy Week, from Palm Sunday, through Maundy Thursday, to Good Friday and Easter. The Passion of Christ Jesus is a profound and powerful story, even to consider it. But it is also the life into which you are baptized, by which the Lord recreates you from the dust of death and conforms you to His own Image.</p><p>It is impossible to understand any of this superficially, nor at all apart from the accomplished fact of the Cross and Passion — manifested in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead, and now realized for you in His Sacrament of the Altar. The Lord’s Supper is the interpretive key to the Lord’s Passion, both beforehand and afterwards. It not only explains what happens to Him, and why, but it now delivers and bestows the Fruits and Benefits of His Cross and Resurrection.</p><p>Only in the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus — crucified and risen from the dead, given and poured out for you and for the many — only there do you see and know and believe what is the Truth of God in Christ, your King: That He has indeed come to “take your place,” and to “put you in your place,” but in such a way that you could never have guessed or imagined or invented for yourself.</p><p>Do not be afraid, dear child of God! For the Lord has made you a beloved son or daughter of His Church on earth, and therefore a son or daughter of the Father in Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son. Rejoice in His mercy, and give all thanks and praise to this one Lord Jesus Christ, your King, who comes to you in Love, not to punish you for your sins, but to bear your punishment and grant you His Peace. He comes to save you from your enemies; to give you rest from your weariness, relief from your fears, and safety in place of uncertainty; and to reign over you in love with His Word.</p><p>He has not come to “lord it over you” in the way of earthly monarchs, but, as your Lord, as your Savior and your King, He calls you by His Cross and Resurrection to become and be like Him.</p><p>To that end, He has first of all become like you in every way, save only without sin. He has been tempted in every way that you are; He has suffered every burden of your mortal flesh and every dire consequence of your sin. He truly has taken your place, your sin and death and every ill, and He has made it all His own, in order to bring you into His place with God the Father in Paradise.</p><p>By His Self-Sacrifice He opens up the Way through suffering and death into the Resurrection of the Body and the Life everlasting; for He is a priestly King, a royal High Priest, who enters the Most Holy Place by His own Blood and brings you into the presence of God in His own Body.</p><p>He humbles Himself, even unto His death upon the Cross, in order to be exalted and glorified on your behalf by His God and Father. He becomes a disciple, Himself, in order to make a disciple of you by the catechesis of His Word and by your Holy Baptism in His Name.</p><p>So it is that your salvation is accomplished, established, and secure in the Person of Christ Jesus, in His own crucified and risen Body of flesh and blood.</p><p>Now, then, He testifies to the Sign of His own Cross and Resurrection by preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His Name. His dying and rising are the fulfillment of all things, and they are also then the Sign of your own dying and rising with Him, by which you are saved from sin and death unto Life and Salvation forever. All that He has suffered and received in your place, in order to rescue and redeem you, to justify and save you, He preaches and gives to you by His Word.</p><p>His preaching to you is not simply information to be processed and stored; it actually calls you to follow after Him. Accordingly, as you hear the testimony of His Cross and Passion, come out to meet Him as He comes in Peace to meet you here at His Altar within His Church on earth.</p><p>His preaching of repentance does put you to death, it crucifies and buries you with Him. So, you do lose “your place,” the place that you have made for yourself, the place of sin and death which Christ has taken from you and made His own. But so does He also then bring you to Life and put you in His place. He gives to you His Sonship, His Spirit, and His Glory in and with the Father.</p><p>In calling you to follow after Him, His preaching calls you and brings you into the New Covenant of His Flesh and Blood, the Promise of His eternal Inheritance which He has established forever.</p><p>Beloved of the Lord, as He entered the Holy City on Palm Sunday for His Cross and Passion, so do you enter the heavenly City, New Jerusalem, by the way and means of His Cross and Passion.</p><p>And as He entered the Most Holy Place once for all with His own Blood, by His innocent suffering and death and in His bodily Resurrection and Ascension, so do you now enter with Him into that same Holy of Holies, eternal in the heavens, by His Flesh and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. </p><p>That is why the Liturgy has taught you to cry out in prayer and praise, to rejoice, give thanks, and sing, as the Lord comes to His Altar: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest, and the Peace of the Lord on earth. For here, indeed, He comes to save you now in this Divine Service, to sustain you with His Word and Holy Spirit, and to sanctify you for the Life everlasting in body and soul with His own holy Body and His holy and precious Blood.</p><p>As He thus remembers you in mercy, forgives you all your sins, and gives you His own Life and Salvation in body and soul, so remember Him by faith, repent of all your sins, and rejoice in His Resurrection and His Righteousness. As surely as He comes to be with you here and now, so shall you surely follow after Him, to be with Him where He is forever and ever.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-30592397643053436142023-03-12T09:00:00.001-04:002023-03-12T09:00:00.219-04:00The Living Water of the Spirit from the Body of Christ Jesus<p>He knows her, as He knows the hearts and minds of all people. He knows her before she has spoken a single word, as He has known her from before the foundation of the world in His Love.</p><p>Oh, yes, He knows her sin, her sordid past, her scandalous life. He knows her serial adultery and present fornication, that she is living in sin with a man who is not her husband. He knows, too, that she is thirsty, not only for water, but for love, for acceptance and companionship, for meaning and purpose in her life, for self-worth and value. And He knows that she will not find it on her own.</p><p>But He is the Gift of God, who has come down from the Father in heaven to save sinners like her: To rescue them from sin and death. To pour out the Living Water of the Holy Spirit generously upon them, into their hearts and minds, and into their flesh and bones, to give them eternal Life.</p><p>He, too, is thirsty — and hungry, as well — not only for the food and drink that perish, though His body on earth needs both, just as you do. But He hungers and thirsts to do the Will of His Father, to seek and to save the lost to the glory of His holy Name, to become the true worshipers of God.</p><p>Therefore, as He has known this Samaritan woman all along, so does He also come to wait for her, to meet her at the well, to give her what she really needs and what she’s looking for unknowingly.</p><p>In love for her, with tender mercy and compassion, He catechizes her with the Wisdom of God. He leads her by His Word — from guilt and shame, from doubt and fear — first of all to curiosity and interest — then to the dawning of new hope within her troubled heart, which has for so long ached with disappointment — finally to repentance, and to faith in the One who speaks to her.</p><p>He declares to her all things. Not only those things that she has been doing wrong, but the things concerning Himself; that she might learn to know Him, and the power of His Resurrection, and the fellowship of His Cross and Passion; and being conformed to His death by the Gift of His Spirit, that she might also attain to the resurrection of her body and the Life everlasting of body and soul.</p><p>He quenches her thirst with the free Gift of His Word and Spirit. And in doing so, He leads her and He brings her to the worship of the Father in the Spirit and the Truth, for which she was created.</p><p>He does the same for you. For He is the Gift of God. Ask of Him, and He will quench your thirst, your burning, desperate thirst for something more than what you’ve got, for something to satisfy your aching, empty heart. Indeed, He pours out the Love of God into your heart, and He fills you up with the Living Waters of His Spirit, which freely flow in you and well up as a fountain in you, unto eternal Life, to the worship of the Father in the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord.</p><p>What is it that you’ve been chasing after and trying to find, instead of this Gift of God in Christ? What are you trying to do and achieve and to get for yourself? And whose well do you run to, in the heat of the day, in order to fill up your bucket? How many men have you had? Or how many women? Or how do you compete and keep the score? What is it that you worship with your body and your soul, with the investment of your heart and the exercise of all your strength and spirit?</p><p>The Lord knows your heart and mind, your thoughts and words and actions. There are no secrets hidden from Him. He knows your sins and all that you have ever done or failed to do. He knows your guilt and shame, your doubts and fears, your ignorance and confusion. He knows your frailty and weaknesses. He knows that you have tried to quench your thirst with all the wrong liquids.</p><p>Yet, even knowing all of that, He has come to you in mercy and compassion, in tenderness and loving care, in order to bestow the Gift of His Spirit upon you, and to bring you to the Father in Himself, in perfect peace and genuine hope and real joy, which shall remain and not be used up.</p><p>So it is that, even in the desert, He pours out Living Waters to quench your thirst, to cleanse you and refresh you inside and out, in both body and soul — to shatter your rocks and wear down your mountains, but also to float your boat on the ocean waves and preserve your life in the rapids. Tribulation, therefore, does not shipwreck your body and life; it brings forth perseverance, and it builds up your faith, hope, and love in Christ Jesus, in whom you shall not be put to shame.</p><p>Consider how He does so, how it is that your Hope in Him is not disappointed, and that you are not put to shame or disgrace, but vindicated and exalted in His own crucified and risen Body.</p><p>He is the Rock on the Mountain of God; and He is the One who is struck by the Staff of Moses, by the command and judgment of the Law of the Lord. Thus do the cleansing Rivers of the Water and the Blood flow from His sacrificed Body — and times of refreshment in His Atonement.</p><p>By His Holy Cross and Passion, at about the Sixth Hour, He has grown weary and thirsted, in order to strengthen and preserve you in the one true faith, and so to provide you with His Sabbath Rest.</p><p>In the completion of His good work He gives to you His Holy Spirit through His Word of Holy Absolution, the free and full forgiveness of all your sins — those you know and regret, and those you don’t even realize or remember — He removes them all, and He remembers them no more.</p><p>As He is thus lifted up in death upon the Cross for your salvation, and as He thus returns to the Father in His Resurrection and Ascension, so does His own Holy Body become the true Temple of God. So the Mountain of God is now wherever He is with His preaching and catechesis, with His Body given and His Blood poured out: from Jerusalem to Samaria and the ends of the earth.</p><p>Here, then, is the Gift of God for you: Living Water from the Rock of Ages, the Spirit of the Father in the Word and Sacrament of Christ Jesus, His Son. And right here and now — by His grace, through faith in Him — you worship the Father in the Spirit and the Truth. Such is your Life and your Salvation forever.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-42218813451990970022023-02-19T08:00:00.001-05:002023-02-19T08:00:00.250-05:00To Eat and Drink in the Fellowship of God<p>It is for this purpose that God the Lord has brought you out of Egypt, for this purpose that He has written and revealed His Word to you — that you should have Life and Fellowship with Him, that you should eat and drink in His presence, in peace and without fear. Indeed, this is your Life, both now and forever — to be and abide with God in harmony, in holy faith and holy love, in Christ.</p><p>In view of that divine Life to which He calls you, do all that He has commanded you. Fear, love and trust in Him above all things. Hear and heed His Word. Call upon His holy Name. Follow the Cloud of His Glory by day, His Pillar of Fire by night, and dwell with Him in His Tabernacle.</p><p>Eat and drink the Food that He provides — the Living Bread from heaven, the Living Water from the Rock — for these are your Meat and Drink indeed, even here and now in the wilderness.</p><p>So, also, love one another; for love is of God, and you and your brothers and sisters in Christ are His own people, the beloved sheep of His green pasture. Love is the fulfillment of the whole Law; for love does no harm to the neighbor, but helps him and supports him in all things, at all times.</p><p>Do not yearn for the feasting and fashions of Egypt, from which the Lord has set you free. Do not return to your sins, like a dog to its vomit, nor indulge in the lusts of your flesh, like a pig in its wallow. Rather, stay the course and trust the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and spirit.</p><p>Do not grow restless in the desert, nor suppose that the Lord has forgotten you or failed to keep His promises. Tremble in fear of the Lord, to be sure, for He is the Holy One before whom all creation bows in reverence. But do not quail in terror and deathly despair, as though His desire were to destroy you. It is not. His desire is to save you and give you Life, because He loves you.</p><p>Repent of your false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. And do not attempt to fathom the heart and Spirit of God apart from His incarnate Son, Jesus the Christ, the beloved and well-pleasing One, the new and greater Joshua who serves you in love. Not even Moses enters the glorious presence of the Lord God Almighty apart from this Joshua, Christ Jesus, the Word-made-Flesh who tabernacles among His own with grace, mercy, and peace.</p><p>The Law of God is good and wise. It instructs you in the way that leads to Life in fellowship and harmony with the Holy Trinity. Yet, apart from Christ Jesus it is a consuming Fire, which accuses and condemns you and threatens to destroy you utterly and forever. It exposes the darkness in your heart and mind, the self-idolatry and lack of love in your thoughts, words, and deeds. It uncovers the nakedness of your sin and the stench of death that already clings to the carcass of your flesh.</p><p>Apart from Christ Jesus, you are an animated corpse, merely biding your time on the way to your grave (and far worse) — separated from the Living God and devoid of His Life-giving Holy Spirit.</p><p>Who, then, shall save you from this body of death and the darkness and damnation of your sin?</p><p>It is Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus, the beloved Son of the Living God. He is the Holy One of Israel. He is the Christ, your Savior. He is the Glory of God — in Person — in the Flesh. He is the Sacrifice of Atonement, and His Blood is the New Covenant of peace and reconciliation with God. You are anointed with the Holy Spirit unto Life, and you have Fellowship with the Father, only in Jesus.</p><p>So, listen to Him. Hear what He says to you, take it to heart and believe it, and live by His Word.</p><p>Consider also the touch of His hand — His Body given for you — and be raised up from the death of doubt and fear to Life and Hope and Peace and Joy in His holy Flesh and precious Blood.</p><p>He has brought you through the waters out of Egypt. He has baptized you in the Cloud and in the Sea of His own Exodus, His Cross and Resurrection. And so shall He bring you through the Jordan into Canaan, the Promised Land, flowing with Milk and Honey and every Good Thing.</p><p>Not Moses the Lawgiver, but this new and greater Joshua does it, who is the fulfillment of the Law. By the Gospel of His Cross and His forgiveness of your sins, He brings you in with Himself.</p><p>So shall He bring you at last up to the high and holy Mountain of God in and with Himself. That is, not to Sinai, but to the true Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, His Holy Hill — not consumed with fire and brimstone, lightning and thunder and billowing smoke, but bathed in the beauty of His divine holiness and cloaked with the radiance of His righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.</p><p>The time is not yet. But do not fret, do not be afraid, do not hide yourself away. Do not withdraw from the world and curl up inside yourself. Do not lie there frozen, nor sit there dumbfounded.</p><p>See, here is Jesus. Stand up, and follow Him. He is your Pillar of Cloud by day and Fire by night.</p><p>He leads you forward by the way of His Cross. That is hard to understand, more difficult to bear, but it will not defeat you. It is by the wood of His Cross that He parts the sea and opens the Rock and pours down Manna from heaven, by the wood of His Cross that He defeats all your enemies, sin, death, the devil, and hell, the world with its wickedness, and the treachery of your own flesh.</p><p>Cease your grumbling and complaining. The Lord has heard the cries and lamentations of your heart, and He has already acted to save you by His mighty arm and His outstretched hands.</p><p>So, then, close your mouth altogether, and first of all open your ears to hear what Christ Jesus the Lord shall say to you; for you have nothing worth saying until He has spoken and you have listened. Then open your mouth and be fed. Eat from His hand, drink from His Cup. And after He has filled you with Himself, confess what He has said, what He has done, what He has given.</p><p>Yes, you’re in the wilderness — and Jesus is right there with you all the way. You’ll not starve, for He is feeding you. Your shoes will not wear out, your feet will not blister or swell, so long as you follow Him. Though an army encamp against you, do not be afraid. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is with you; the Lord God of Sabaoth is for you.</p><p>Lift up your eyes roundabout and see. You are surrounded by the Glory of the Lord, already in His Ministry of the Gospel here within His Church on earth, and so also in that great Cloud of His witnesses, His saints, who have gone before you in the faith and live forever in His presence: Moses and Elijah, Aaron and his sons, Samuel and David, Peter, James, and John, Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, Stephen and Paul, Timothy and Titus — a multitude of disciples from every nation, tribe, and tongue, which no man could ever count, but God Himself has numbered.</p><p>All of them have been transfigured by the Cross of Christ Jesus to share His Resurrection and His Life everlasting. And you are likewise being transfigured by His Cross. Not yet outwardly — for your mortal flesh is still wasting away — but inwardly you are being renewed, day by day, in hope and expectation of the Glory that shall be revealed in you, both body and soul, in the Resurrection.</p><p>Here and now the surety of that exceedingly great and precious Promise is being given to you — the Word of Christ Jesus in your ears, in your heart, and in your mouth (for He is not far away but near to you with His Word); and the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus, given and poured out for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins. See, He stretches out His hand, not to harm you, but to save.</p><p>To eat and drink in His presence — to feast upon Him, who is the Lord your God in the Flesh — this is already a sweet Foretaste of the neverending Feast to come. It is the endless Sabbath Rest that remains for the people of God. It is your Life and your Salvation in Fellowship with God.</p><p>Arise, therefore, and do not fear, but live.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-19939736250700240112023-02-16T21:00:00.002-05:002023-02-17T16:34:09.948-05:00With Great Freedom Comes Great Responsibility<p><b>Theses on the Salutary Use of Adiaphora in the Conduct of the Liturgy</b></p><p>I first began developing these theses back in the fall of 2009, largely because I was frustrated with the way that our doctrine of adiaphora was often misunderstood and misapplied. <a href="http://four-and-twenty-something.blogspot.com/2009/09/thirty-five-theses-on-liturgy-and.html" target="_blank">I published the original version on another blog</a>, and then also had the opportunity to work through them with local colleagues over a series of winkels. Based upon feedback, discussion and debate, and further reflection, I revised the theses in 2014 for <a href="https://sword-in-hat.blogspot.com/2014/08/presentation-audio-from-liturgy.html" target="_blank">presentation at the Synod's Institute on Liturgy, Preaching, and Church Music</a>. Since that time, I have referred to them on occasion and shared them with others, because they have been helpful in navigating some of the landmines that remain from the still unresolved "worship wars" of the 1990s. And I was very pleased by the opportunity to present them for discussion at a recent "day of theological reflection" with some of my brother pastors from the Columbus, Aurora, and Seymour Circuits of the Indiana District. As a number of people have asked to see the theses, I promised to make them available for wider consideration and discussion; and to that end, I offer them here, as follows:</p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>Defining and Identifying Freedom in Worship</i></b></p><p>The freedom of faith in worship, as in all of Christian life, is the freedom of the Gospel. It is the freedom of divine righteousness, holiness, life and love in Christ Jesus, by grace through faith in Him, and not by human works. It stands in contrast to the bondage of legalism, by which one attempts to justify himself before God and to acquire divine life by the keeping of the Law.</p><p>There is also the freedom of <i>adiaphora</i>, that is, the freedom of rites and ceremonies and other practices that are neither commanded nor forbidden by God. In themselves, they are free, either to be taken up and used or set aside and let go. What is more, as man is not justified by keeping the Law of God, far less is he justified by the performance or rejection of <i>adiaphora</i>.</p><p>There are those things that God has commanded, and those things that He has forbidden, both in life and in worship, which are therefore not <i>adiaphora</i>. According to these commands, genuine good works are done, not for justification, but in obedience to God and in love for the neighbor. For though we are free from the condemnation of the Law, we are not free to disregard it.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>The Right and Responsible Use of Freedom in Worship</i></b></p><p>The teaching and confession of <i>adiaphora</i> should not be abused (in the service of self-interest); instead, true Christian freedom is rightly used in love (in the self-sacrificing service of others). In faith toward God the Christian is free, but in love he is bound to serve his neighbor.</p><p>Love will be ready and willing to sacrifice anything and everything that is truly free (<i>adiaphora</i>), but love will never sacrifice anything of the Gospel; nor will love willingly contradict or disobey the Law of God. That is to say, love will readily give up whatever may be given up, but love will tenaciously insist upon that which is necessary, as determined by the Word of the Lord.</p><p>All things are lawful in Christ, but not all things are meet, right and salutary (1 Cor. 10:23). Even that which is free and clear can be measured and evaluated according to its service and support of the Word of God, and thus determined to be more or less helpful to faith and love.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>Pastoral Care and Oversight in the Use of Freedom</i></b></p><p>The freedom of <i>adiaphora</i> allows for a flexibility in caring for the Church under a wide variety of circumstances, and across broad differences of time and place. Such practices are thus to be used with pastoral care, and as a means of pastoral care. Therefore, pastors should exercise discretion and discernment in their use of <i>adiaphora</i>, and they must discipline themselves in doing so, for the sake of faith and love.</p><p>In a similar way, bishops (overseers) ought to care for the pastors in their necessary exercise of discretion and discernment, and so also assist them in their fellowship with one another.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>Criteria for the Right Use of Freedom in Worship</i></b></p><p>Freedom in worship is used rightly, in faith toward God and in love toward the neighbor, when it is used to serve the catechesis and confession of the Word of God.</p><p>The boundaries and parameters of freedom in worship are established and contoured, not only by explicit commands and prohibitions, but also implicitly by the constitutive rites and ceremonies of Holy Baptism, the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and the administration of the Holy Communion in remembrance of Jesus. These divinely given means of grace are the foundation, the beating heart, and the central high point of the Church’s faith and life in Christ. Whatever else may be done in worship is determined in relation to these constitutive means.</p><p>Along similar lines, but more practically speaking, the use of rubrics, rites and ceremonies is fundamental to the pastoral ministry. <i>Rubrics</i> are the instructions for the conduct of the Liturgy, mutually agreed upon within the fellowship of the Church. <i>Rites</i> are the words that are spoken in the administration of the Liturgy. <i>Ceremonies</i> are the bodily actions, movements, furnishing, and adornments of the Liturgy. <i>Rubrics</i> are needed for an orderly conduct of corporate communal life. <i>Rites</i> belong to the fact that God does everything by His Word. <i>Ceremonies</i> belong to the fact that human life is lived in the body, occupying space and time.</p><p>It is not possible to administer and receive the means of grace without ceremonies. However, not all ceremonies are created equal. Some ceremonies are better, and some are worse than others; and some ceremonies have no place in the Church, even if they would otherwise be "free."</p><p>Ceremonies powerfully support (or contradict) the confession and catechesis of the Word. One may compare the role and purpose and positive benefit of ceremonies in human relationships.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>Ceremony as Beautiful Adornment of the Gospel</i></b></p><p>The measure of a ceremony’s worth and benefit requires more than the avoidance of overtly false doctrine. The best ceremonies are not only true (as opposed to false) but are positively helpful in confessing the Word of God, and they are beautiful in adorning His Liturgy. Whatever is true, lovely and of good repute, excellent and worthy of praise, dwell on those things (Philippians 4:8).</p><p>It is appropriate and salutary to adorn the Ministry of the Gospel with beauty, as a confession of faith in the Word and work of Christ, and as a catechesis in the hidden truth of the Gospel. One may consider such examples as chanting, the sign of the cross, chasubles, the elevation of the Sacrament, genuflecting at various points in the Liturgy, and the use of incense.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>The Basic Rubrics of Reverence and Courtesy</i></b></p><p><i>Reverence</i> toward God and <i>courtesy</i> toward the neighbor summarize the criteria of faith and love and so provide a foundational response to all questions pertaining to the proper use of adiaphora.</p><p>That which is harmful to faith and love is not free but forbidden. That which is irreverent or rude is likewise not free but forbidden (Formula SD X.1, 7, 9). The Second Commandment requires that God’s Name be kept holy, and that God must be sanctified by His priests and His people.</p><p>Pastors and congregations, and individual members of a congregation, should set aside their personal proclivities and preferences for the sake of faith and love (1 Cor. 10:23–33; Rom. 14). Love will care for the entire body of Christ, for the minority as much or more than the majority, not allowing either the few or the many to lord it over the Holy Communion of the Church.</p><p>Making changes in ceremony, including the introduction of new ceremonies, requires a special measure of pastoral care. It also requires the patience of pastors and parishioners for one another.</p><p>Likewise, love for the body of Christ — for the Church in all times and places, past, present, and future — calls for circumspection and great caution when it comes to changes in practice.</p><p>Here, again, the pastoral oversight of godly bishops would be of particularly salutary benefit.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>Tradition and Catholicity Give Shape to the Church’s Exercise of Freedom in Worship</i></b></p><p><i>Tradition</i> is generally more conducive to the Gospel than novelty (1 Corinthians 11:1–2, 16–26), because it is received as a gift from the past, rather than fabricated in the present.</p><p>In contrast to the legalism of Rome on the right and of the Reformed on the left, Lutherans have been evangelically conservative with respect to tradition.</p><p>There is always a reason for any practice in the Church, even if this reason is no longer readily apparent. These reasons need to be evaluated in order to judge the merits of the practice.</p><p>Lutherans have also recognized that traditions are interpreted and understood, at any given time, within a theological context, which adds to their significance either positively or negatively.</p><p><i>Catholicity</i> in practice is generally more conducive to love than personal innovation, because it belongs to the entire body of the Church, to the household and family of God, rather than being the invention or property of any isolated individual or small group.</p><p>The collective wisdom of the Church is usually wiser than the personal insights of an individual. True, the nature and needs of pastoral care require the free exercise of pastoral discernment and discretion, just as the Church in each time and place is free with respect to human customs. Yet, the starting point should be what has been given and received within the life of the Church, rather than the novelty of personal ingenuity. Consider, for example, the tremendous value and benefit of the Church Year and the Lectionary, the Ordinary and Propers of the Divine Service, and the use of customary vestments and furnishings.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>Consistency and Continuity Serve the Church’s Catechesis and Confession of Christ</i></b></p><p>Consistency and continuity of practice are beneficial to peace and rest in the Liturgy of Christ; they permit a ready participation of the entire congregation in the Church’s worship of Christ.</p><p>Frequent fluctuations and diversity in practice are unsettling to the people and easily distract from the Liturgy of Christ; they require a level of literacy, attention, energy, and effort that tends to frustrate or prevent the participation of many members in the Church’s worship of Christ.</p><p>Neither is it an appropriate use of freedom when hymns, or any other practices, are used simply to fill up space and pass the time, or when they are used to entertain emotions instead of edifying the people and glorifying God by the confession of His Word (Formula SD X.1, 7, 9). Whatever is done is to honor and adorn, serve and support the Divine Liturgy of the Word and Sacrament.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>The Benefit of Good Church Order for the Responsible Use of Freedom in Worship</i></b></p><p>The unity of a common confession of the faith is both embodied and substantiated by a unity of practice. Church fellowship does not depend upon a uniformity in <i>adiaphora</i>, but the fellowship of the Church gravitates toward a common and consistent usage of <i>adiaphora</i> wherever possible. And the beauty of it is, the Church is free to do so.</p><p>It is not a violation of faith or freedom when the fellowship of the Church mutually agrees, in love, to order and conduct its liturgical life according to common rubrics, rites and ceremonies. The example of the 16th-century Church Orders is a significant case in point. Good order, polity, and the legislation, exercise, and jurisdiction of good church government should not be equated with the bondage of legalism; it rather belongs to the responsible use of freedom in love.</p><p>Especially in gatherings of the Church’s fellowship beyond that of a local congregation, the use of commonly agreed-upon rites and ceremonies is most appropriate and beneficial. In general, the same principle pertains to the practices of each congregation as a fellowship of the one Church.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-52846668111175035642023-02-05T11:30:00.001-05:002023-02-05T23:55:47.251-05:00Your Righteousness Goes Before You<p>It is because of who you are in Christ Jesus that you now live as God has called you to live. That is to live in the way of righteousness for which you have been created, redeemed, and sanctified by His Word and Holy Spirit; for the great salvation that your dear Lord Jesus has accomplished for you and for all people is not the abolishment of the Law, but its fulfillment. Not only does He keep all of the Commandments of God, but in doing so He also teaches you to do the same.</p><p>His teaching and His righteousness are not like those of the scribes and Pharisees. But it’s not that He dismisses the Law, which is the Word of God and the revelation of His good and acceptable Will. Jesus does not trade legalism for anarchy, debauchery, or licentiousness, as though sin and disobedience were now “okay.” He has not come to set you free from the righteousness of God, but to bring you into the glorious liberty and genuine righteousness of God’s beloved children.</p><p>The righteousness of which your Lord speaks — and for which He sets you free — is not some quantity of stuff to be purchased or sold, earned, or traded on the stock exchange. Nor is it a self-contained interior aptitude or disposition within you. There is no genuine righteousness that exists or happens in isolation from the Lord your God and the neighbors He sets alongside of you.</p><p>The righteousness of Christ Jesus is the right relationship of sonship with His God and Father in heaven. It is a relationship of faith and love, that is, to fear, love, and trust in God above all things, and, for His sake, to love your neighbor as yourself. Such living and loving proceed from within the relationship of sonship. Because you are a son of God in Christ by His grace, so do you live as a son of God by faith in Christ Jesus, sanctifying His Name in your words and actions.</p><p>This is the righteousness that the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished and fulfilled for you and for all people — from His Baptism to His Cross and Passion, and in His Resurrection from the dead, even forevermore. His dying and His rising are the way and the means whereby you enter the Kingdom of heaven, and whereby you now also live with Him in His Kingdom in righteousness.</p><p>That means dying to yourself and your own self-righteousness, and rising to newness of life in Christ Jesus. And that is to speak of repentance and faith in the forgiveness of sins, which is not a mental exercise or a do-it-yourself program; it is to give attention to God’s Word, to make use of the Means of Grace, to remember and return to your Baptism by contrition and repentance, by confessing your sins and receiving Holy Absolution, and to receive and remember the Lord with thanksgiving in the Holy Communion of His holy Body and precious Blood. And all of that is not the end, but the beginning — the daily new beginning — which emerges in a new way of life.</p><p>To affirm that your righteousness before God is by His grace alone in Christ Jesus — by faith in His Gospel — is not to say that it may be kept hidden away in your heart. Indeed, it cannot be. No, the righteousness of faith before God is manifest in love before your neighbor. It is foolish to suppose that a Christian disciple of Jesus could be or live otherwise.</p><p>To refrain from love, to neglect your duties, to ignore or disobey the Commandments of God, is to deny and disavow your very identity as a child of God — like salt that is not salty, or water that is not wet. It is to disown your Father and His Family, to run away from His Home, and to set yourself outside of His Kingdom and His righteousness in Christ Jesus. It is to lose everything.</p><p>Where you have disregarded the Commandments of God, as though He had no authority over you; where you have hidden yourself away from your neighbors and their needs; where you have been concerned with lighting only your own path and progress, rather than enlightening your neighbor and glorifying your God and Father in Christ — I tell you now: Repent. Return to the Lord your God, and live before Him by faith in Christ Jesus, to the praise and glory of His Holy Name.</p><p>If you are a Christian, live as a Christian. As you are baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ — baptized into His Cross and Resurrection — die to yourself, to your sins, and to the passions of your fallen flesh, and rise with Him to live unto righteousness as a child of God. And where you have not lived as a Christian, repent of your sins, return to the significance of your Baptism, and believe the Holy Gospel, that for Jesus’ sake you are fully forgiven and righteous before God.</p><p>It is by the mercies of God in Christ Jesus that you are His own dear child, named with His Name, anointed with His Spirit, a member of His household, and a royal citizen of His Kingdom. That is who and what you are, by the grace of God, through faith in the Lord Jesus. And the simple fact is that who you are and how you live belong together, hand in glove. The righteousness of your life is an exercise and expression of the righteousness of your relationship with God in Jesus.</p><p>This is how and why it is that repentance and righteousness both result in new behavior, in keeping with the Commandments of God. In Christ Jesus you are a new creation, a new person, a new man, woman, or child — not in isolation, not independent of other people, but within your relationship with God, and so also in a brand new relationship with all of your neighbors. You think and speak and act differently, because, by the Word and Spirit of your God and Father, you have the heart and mind of Christ Jesus. It is no longer you who live, but Christ lives in you.</p><p>This is truly an amazing new reality, which you could not accomplish or achieve for yourself. It is given to you by the gracious adoption of God. You do not storm the gates of heaven with your good works, but you do good works of faith and love because the one true God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has called you to be His own, has brought you into His Home, and has established you within His Kingdom of grace. Indeed, not only do you live with Him, but in Him; and He now lives and moves in you.</p><p>The Commandments of God, from the greatest to the least, describe this Life of God in human flesh. It is the Life of His children, of His people, of His family, on earth as it is in heaven, because it is the Life of Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son, for you and for all. It is the Life that is lived in His Kingdom, in which you now live by His grace through faith in His Gospel. It is a Life that can be seen, which fills the whole House with the Light of Christ to the glory of the Father.</p><p>What shall your new Life in Christ look like? Instead of using and manipulating your neighbor, set her free and serve her. Instead of hoarding what you have and contriving to get more and more from your neighbor for yourself, share what you have, and use whatever God has given you to care for the people around you. Instead of entertainment and personal pleasure, invest yourself in your relationships and in your actual callings, where God has stationed you. Befriend and benefit your neighbor, rather than avoiding her. Provide for both body and soul, with tangible gifts of money, food, and clothing, and with forgiveness for those who trespass against you, rather than holding grudges and harboring bitterness. Be at peace with all people. Let your gentleness and kindness be evident to all. In the confidence of Christ Jesus, sacrifice yourself in order to serve others.</p><p>The great Mystery of His own Cross and Sacrifice is the culmination of His divine righteousness, the fulfillment of all the Law and the Prophets. It is the righteousness of God Himself, acting entirely in Love, in accordance with His own divine nature and the very Being of the Holy Trinity. It is the righteousness of perfect faith and love on the part of the Son for His Father — not hidden away within the inner Life of the Godhead, but manifested in His own Body on the Cross.</p><p>In this way He keeps the Commandments of God and brings them to completion, and He catechizes you to live in the same way: Not that you become the Savior of the world, but that you are crucified and raised with Jesus, and that you live now in righteousness and purity, in faith toward God, and in love for your neighbor. His teaching and catechesis are by instruction and example, to be sure, but more than that, they are the living and active Word of His Cross, whereby He puts you to death and brings you to life in Himself. His Cross, therefore, is not only your crucifixion, but also your Atonement and Redemption, your Reconciliation with God and neighbor, and your Righteousness forever in His bodily Resurrection from the dead. You live, because He lives.</p><p>This same Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, is your Righteousness and Sanctification, who goes before you through death into life; indeed, He goes with you all the way. He has opened up the way for you to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Not only that, but He has become the Way, by which you have access even now to the Holy of Holies, to the Mercy Seat, and to God the Father. So do you live as a child of God by faith in His forgiveness, by His Word and Holy Spirit. And the same Lord Jesus Christ, who goes before you into Glory, also guards and keeps you on your right and on your left, and as your rear guard, to preserve you steadfast in His Righteousness and Peace, unto the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of your body and soul in Him.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-50808227338920792152023-01-21T22:00:00.002-05:002023-01-23T09:30:57.065-05:00Happy New Year from the Stuckwisch Family!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOQrgT75LmSi3exeqD3vyPYk7Xnkb1Ww5H4MBN5Ld5Rj_JZwxE2syWwwOCesr0xBhcjEqtJE-6SKOBQ_XfXVGJL-pJB9OuPDguvVgOfC8IdLF_U0Aaw1bcNvjIu4HGUwocdkbf1A5LXsP6u0R8r74NuFahF0oEV9i4f68VqzztJi-RfOKcV6R1JTHY/s5701/Family%20Picture%20(Christmas%202022)%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3207" data-original-width="5701" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOQrgT75LmSi3exeqD3vyPYk7Xnkb1Ww5H4MBN5Ld5Rj_JZwxE2syWwwOCesr0xBhcjEqtJE-6SKOBQ_XfXVGJL-pJB9OuPDguvVgOfC8IdLF_U0Aaw1bcNvjIu4HGUwocdkbf1A5LXsP6u0R8r74NuFahF0oEV9i4f68VqzztJi-RfOKcV6R1JTHY/w640-h360/Family%20Picture%20(Christmas%202022)%20(2).jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>The Rick & LaRena Stuckwisch Family, as of 30 December, A.D. 2022</i></b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b>Happy New Year!</b> (<i>A "guest post" from my lovely and talented wife, LaRena</i> 😇)</span></div><p>It is a bit challenging to write a little “family update” or “Christmas letter” when everything is in transition and changing. But we are not fortune tellers, and these sorts of letters are supposed to highlight the past year, not the future. So, here is my stab at a “short and sweet” version. </p><p>2022 started out fairly normal with the routine hectic pace and occasional chaos. It’s a bit of a blur, even in retrospect: Our new grandson, Jerome, spent some scary time in the hospital being thoroughly poked and prodded, but came out of his ordeal and ended the year strong and healthy. Moreah and Ariksander announced that they were expecting baby #2 (our 17th grandchild, born and baptized in December). Frederick won the overall “Grand Prix” award at the Indianapolis Youth America Grand Prix ballet competition and was invited to the national finals in Tampa, Florida, where he made it to the final round and received several generous offers from ballet schools and companies. (This letter may be too heavily weighted with “Frederick”/ballet news, but that’s because the author, LaRena, also works at the ballet studio.) After the spring ballet performance of Cinderella, we enjoyed a wonderful family vacation in the Smokey Mountains. We could feel the winds of change on the horizon, but we savored each day “in the moment.” </p><p>Soon after vacation, the winds of change swept in at gale force. At the convention of our Indiana District (of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod), Rick was elected to the office of District President. While we had known that was a possibility, some of us at home were not fully aware or prepared for what that would look like for our family. In short, Rick does a lot of traveling, as the “District” includes 235 congregations in Indiana and Northern Kentucky, while the office and headquarters are located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a couple hours from our current location. Rick has been living in a dorm on the Seminary campus during the week and traveling home to South Bend on weekends. He visits churches, attends meetings, and even made a trip to Israel. </p><p>The “living-at-home” children and I are still in our house in South Bend, but we are gradually preparing ourselves for big transitions this year. I have been working for Southold Dance Theater as a greeter / “security” door person and often as a costume aide. But Frederick and I will both “graduate” from Southold, so to speak, with the production of “Giselle” in June. At some point (probably in August), Fort Wayne area house shopping and packing will begin in earnest. For now, I shuttle children to work and other activities, go to work, myself, try not to look too foolish in adult ballet class, do CG virtual workouts with trainer-son Zachary, feed people and clean up, and am excited to try my hand at making a tunic/costume for Frederick. Homeschooling has been on auto-pilot this year, which is a bit concerning for me. </p><p>Justinian is enjoying his work at Great Lakes Heating and A/C as an installer and taking night classes for electrical work. Not only is his work a rewarding career, but our home life has been “rewarded” with his knowledge as well. Justinian may become the homeowner of our South Bend house, so he has been working on many improvements. Several projects are underway in anticipation of Ariksander and Moreah’s family moving to join our household in February. An egress window in the basement and one complete bathroom remodel are currently in the works. Justinian has been blessed with friends who also have handy skills and are generous with their time, so the house is getting some much needed attention! </p><p>This past year, in addition to dancing, Frederick also completed his driving practice and got his drivers license. He finished the year strong as the Nutcracker Prince for Southold here in South Bend, and then danced multiple roles, including “Nutcracker Prince,” “Sugar King,” and “Snow King,” as a guest artist in North Chicago. Frederick leaves for Lausanne, Switzerland, at the end of January, to participate and compete in the Prix de Lausanne, a big dream being realized! It is a great honor to be seen and receive instruction from world wide ballet master teachers, meet some of the best dancers in the ballet world, and watch the “Gala” performance before returning home! It is sure to be an experience of a lifetime! After returning home, he will have this year’s YAGP competitions (March & April), “Giselle” as his senior performance at Southold (June), and then some kind of big transition to launch his dancing career. We trust it all to God’s providence. </p><p>Gerhardt has been a good and faithful worker at “The Coffee Spot” here in South Bend, and now has the distinction of being the employee on staff longer than any of his co-workers (other than the owner and his family). He would like us to invest in a restaurant style espresso machine and frother and a Panini grill. Maybe he’ll have to start a food truck business in Fort Wayne! “G” was able to purchase a computer for his gaming passions with his job earnings. He has been pretty diligent with his school work and helps his siblings out with various projects, caring for nieces and nephews, and he can be regularly found in the kitchen at home, doing dishes. He especially appreciates time with his friends and his brothers as often as those opportunities arise. </p><p>Katharina is in the full throes of “teendom,” having turned thirteen this past February. As much as possible, her daily life is accompanied by the playlist of her favorite tunes. She manages some school work, sings in choir, and especially enjoys time with her friends, whether in person or chatting online. She participated in a ballet class and took an acting/song/dance class with the Civic Theater over the summer, and was confirmed at Emmaus in the fall, so it was a big year for Katharina. Now she is busy packing up her bedroom and shifting her belongings in order to give Ariksander’s family her bedroom and bathroom. She will move to Justinian’s bedroom (and he will move downstairs to the basement as the egress window project is completed in a few days). </p><p>Our married children and their families give us so much joy, and each of them would require an additional epistle in and of themselves. Perhaps I can include tid-bits about their lives in a future address-update newsletter.</p><p>How many miles will Rick drive this year? Where and when? We do not yet know.</p><p>Where and when will we be moving? We do not yet know. </p><p>Where and when will Frederick be launching his career? We do not yet know.</p><p>Where and when will Gerhardt and Katharina be studying after this spring? We do not yet know. </p><p>Where and when will our family be all gathered together again? We do not yet know. </p><p>What we do know is that we are all in God’s hands, and that He continues to provide generously for our family. We are thankful for His bounteous care and look forward to His wise providence in the months to come.</p><p>God be with you in this New Year!</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-50602859285775431432023-01-01T09:00:00.001-05:002023-01-01T21:24:14.196-05:00God’s Covenant in Flesh and Blood<p>You know that it was not Abraham who chose God. It was not Abraham who first called upon God, but rather God who called upon Abraham. When he was living in a foreign land with his family, and though his family was worshiping idols, the Lord our God called Abraham to Himself. He called him by name, and He gave him promises. He called him to go to a place that Abraham did not yet know — yet, he heard and believed that Word of the Lord. By the grace of God, he was a man of faith, indeed, the father of all who believe and trust in the Name of the Lord.</p><p>The promises that God gave to Abraham by His grace and mercy, for peace and life, were not only for Abraham, nor only for his own immediate children, nor only for his own descendants after the flesh. Rather, God called Abraham, and blessed Abraham, and gave Abraham promises, and sealed those promises with a Covenant, also for your sake, and for all the nations of the earth; that all might call upon the Name of the Lord, who has mercy on all who call upon Him.</p><p>When God gave Abraham the Covenant of Circumcision, it was to seal with certainty the promise that God had given, the promise that He would fulfill in the Flesh and Blood of His own Son, born from the family of Abraham in the fullness of time.</p><p>What made Abraham faithful and the father of all who believe was the faith in his heart, which was by the Word and Spirit of God. But even aside from Abraham’s faith, there would be given, from his own flesh, his own Seed, the Savior, who is Christ Jesus.</p><p>And so this Covenant of God with Abraham is given in his very flesh. And it is utterly absurd.</p><p>God does such very strange things. That Abraham and his sons, and all of his many sons who would come after him, should have a portion of the skin from their genitals cut off; and this would be God’s Covenant with Abraham and his family! That is very strange. It is painful. It causes embarrassment and shame. It causes blood. And yet, this is God’s Covenant, sealed in flesh and blood, and attached to Abraham’s body, as surely as God’s Word should be held within his heart.</p><p>Among Abraham’s descendants there would be those who walked in the faith of their father, and those who did not. But even Abraham himself was not always in all things faithful. Nor Judah. Nor David. Those men of God lived by faith, by the grace of God, but it was God who always remained faithful to them and to His Covenant with them.</p><p>So from Abraham’s family there would come the One who fulfilled this Covenant of Circumcision, this Covenant of God’s gracious blessing, His promise that from Abraham would come a Blessing for the nations. It was attached to the flesh of this family, until it should appear in the Flesh of God Himself, conceived and born of Mary, and on this Eighth Day circumcised according to the Law.</p><p>The Law itself was God’s Covenant with the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with the sons of Israel. For having brought them out of Egypt by His powerful arm and with His outstretched hand, He established His Covenant with them, again with flesh and blood, that is, the blood of bulls and oxen, there at Mt. Sinai. There God appeared to them, and He sealed His Covenant with them with that blood which was sacrificed. Not their own blood in this case, for they were spared, but blood nonetheless. It is by blood that God forgives sins, and with blood that He gives life and salvation.</p><p>Thus, with blood He sealed His Covenant with Israel at Sinai, and He gave them His holy and righteous Law to set them apart. As Abraham was set apart, both in his heart and in his body, so was Israel set apart to live by faith and by love. Their lives and relationships would testify to the presence of God among them. For they would be distinct from all the nations of the world. They would worship the Lord in fear, love, and trust. They would hear and heed His Word and call upon His Name. They would be holy and perfect, as the Lord their God is holy and perfect.</p><p>So it was that He gave them His Law to discipline their flesh, to show them the way they should live and walk before Him. But in this way, it also exposed and made clear their sins. And it never would be fulfilled in the lives of the people, but only in the Life of Christ, who is God in the Flesh, in whom the Law is most surely written and fulfilled and completed. Hence, even in showing them their sins, the Law also described that One who would be their Savior, the One who lives in perfect faith toward God and in perfect love toward both God and man: the Son of God, Christ Jesus.</p><p>It is to Christ that the Law has always pointed, and it still does. True, the Ten Commandments per se were given to Israel, as part of God’s Covenant with those ancient people. But those same Ten Commandments summarize the good and gracious Will of God, what is His good and acceptable Will, also for you. In showing you how to live, His Commandments guide you in the way of faith and love. They point you to your neighbor, that you should serve your neighbor as the Lord your God serves you. And His Ten Commandments are also your tutor, pointing you to Christ Jesus. To be sure, you are not under the Law in the way that ancient Israel was, for Christ has come, and you live under grace by faith in Him; but the Law does tutor your flesh in this poor life of labor.</p><p>A tutor in the ancient world was a trusted household slave who would take the children of the family, the sons of the father, and lead them to and from school, and help them with their lessons, and make sure they learned what they needed to know in order to live, in order to receive and use their father’s inheritance rightly. So the Law serves this purpose for you. It is your tutor. It is not your salvation, but it points to the One who is your Savior. It trains you in the way that you are to go in order to inherit the Treasures of your Father in heaven by the faith which is in Christ Jesus.</p><p>You are no doubt familiar with the way that we Lutherans have confessed the Ten Commandments, that they function as a mirror, as a curb, and also as a rule or guide for those who are reconciled to God in Christ, for those who are redeemed and righteous by faith. The Ten Commandments are a tutor in this way. They show you how to live. And I suppose that is fairly easy to understand when it comes to loving and serving your neighbor. You are not to hurt or harm your neighbor in his body, his possessions, his family, his income or reputation. Rather, by your words and by your actions, you are to help your neighbor in all of these aspects of life. Help him to protect his body. Help him to keep his stuff, his wife and children. Help to defend his name among his neighbors.</p><p>But the first three Commandments also serve as your tutor. And this, not for your neighbor’s benefit, nor for God’s protection, as though you were going to hurt or harm Him. No, the first three Commandments rule and guide and tutor you for your benefit, for your protection. They direct you and even require you to do those things which are for your own good before the Lord.</p><p>Those first three Commandments direct you to look to the Lord your God; and in that command there is the certainty that He desires to hear you. They command you to hear His Word, because it is by His Word that He gives you grace and every blessing. It is by His Word that He names you with His own Name. And because He has named you with His own Name, the way in which you speak and the way in which you live are a confession of who your Father is, of who your God is.</p><p>So the first three Commandments command you — with all your heart, with all your mind, with your body and your voice — to fear, love, and trust in the one true God above all things. Not because He needs you, but you need Him. He calls you to Himself in love, because He is your Life and your Salvation. It is by faith that you receive all of His gifts. It is in prayer that you call upon Him. And it is with His Word that He serves you and answers all your prayers and all your needs.</p><p>His Word, ultimately — from before the foundation of the world, and even into eternity — the Word of the Lord is the Son of God, your Savior, Jesus Christ, whom the Father has given in the flesh and blood of Abraham. He is the Seed of Abraham, the promised One in whom the nations of the world are blessed; in whom you also are blessed through the forgiveness of all your sins.</p><p>In Christ Jesus the Covenant that God established with Abraham has been satisfied and fulfilled. And not in some abstract, general sort of way, but this Son of God, Christ Jesus, born of Mary, actually receives in His own flesh, in His own genitals, the Covenant of Circumcision. He bleeds. He hurts. He suffers, already as an Infant, in keeping with the Law of God, which neither Abraham nor any of His other sons or daughters, nor you, could have kept or fulfilled. But Jesus does it all.</p><p>Already as an Infant, and into His childhood, and into His manhood — throughout His Life, even unto death, and in His Resurrection from the dead — He has kept the whole entire Law of God. Every jot. Every tittle. Every Commandment, He has kept. And all that you have broken, He has repaired and rectified in His own Body, by His innocent suffering and death upon the Cross, and in His glorious Resurrection. He has atoned for all of your sins by the shedding of His Blood.</p><p>In perfect faith and love He has lived. In perfect faith and love He has died. And so it is that, by His Cross and in His Resurrection, He has redeemed you from sin, death, the devil, and hell, and He has reconciled you to the Lord your God in His own Body, in His own Flesh and Blood.</p><p>This incarnate Son of God, Christ Jesus, is the Lamb. He is the One whom God the Father has provided for Himself in the place of Abraham’s beloved Isaac. He is the Lamb who is given in place of all the sons of Israel, while God humbles Pharaoh under His thumb. He is the Lamb who is given for the sins of the world. He bleeds and dies that you might live. And He feeds you with Himself, with the Passover Feast of His own holy Body and precious Blood, so that you may live.</p><p>Not only that, but everything that He has done and accomplished, for you and for all people, has also been given to you by His Word and with His Name in the Sacrament of your Holy Baptism.</p><p>St. Paul calls Holy Baptism the Circumcision made without hands. It is the Circumcision of your heart, mind, and spirit. It is the Circumcision worked by the Word and Spirit of the Lord, who cleanses you, who purifies you through the forgiveness of your sins by the blood of Jesus Christ.</p><p>In the dying and rising of Holy Baptism, it is not only that the Law disciplines you by the way of the Cross, but all the more so does the Gospel forgive you by the Cross and in the Resurrection of the Lord. It does so by laying Christ Jesus on your heart with the gift and promise of His grace; and not only on your heart, but on your flesh. For the Word of Baptism is combined and included with the water of Baptism that washes over your flesh and cleanses you inside and out. It cleanses your conscience before God, and it cleanses your flesh for the Resurrection unto everlasting Life.</p><p>In Holy Baptism, the Name of God, which Jesus has received and bears forever in His own Body of human flesh and blood, has been given to you in your flesh. It has been written by His Cross and with His Blood upon your forehead and your heart, upon your body, soul, and spirit. So, then, in the Resurrection of your body you shall be glorious in Christ, and you shall see Him as He is.</p><p>You are named by God. And with His Name God has given you Himself. And with Himself He has given you His Life. You belong to Him. You are a child of Abraham by faith in this God. Even better, you are a child of God in Christ Jesus. You are an heir of the Father. You are a son most beloved. Everything He has belongs to you. With His Name He has given you everything.</p><p>With His Name, through the forgiveness of all your sins, He has cleansed and purified your heart. He has also cleansed and purified your lips and your life in the flesh, so that you are able by His grace to sing, to pray, and to keep the Feast at all times and in all places, to the glory of His Name, because you belong to Him. You are in Christ Jesus. That is your identity. That is your sonship, be you boy or girl. That is your salvation of body and soul, here in time and hereafter in eternity.</p><p>All thanks and praise be unto God through this Savior, Jesus Christ, who has fulfilled God’s holy Law and given you Himself in peace and love, unto the Resurrection and the Life everlasting.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-2347970419589380022022-12-26T18:30:00.001-05:002022-12-27T13:28:10.225-05:00After the Pattern of Christ Jesus<p>St. Stephen was content and at peace, even as he was being put to death, because he had fixed his hope on the living God. He wasn’t searching for the meaning of life, because it had already been made known to him by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel. He wasn’t confused about his place and purpose in the world, because he knew himself to be a child of God in Christ. And he wasn’t nervous or afraid about tomorrow or the next day, because he lived by the grace of his Father.</p><p>That explains the striking contrast that we find in the story of Stephen: On the one hand, his fierce and forthright preaching of the Law, and on the other hand, his gracious prayer of forgiveness for those to whom he preached as they were stoning him to death. He demonstrates the bold courage that characterizes the martyrs of our Lord Jesus, but also the charity and compassion of Christ. He has the strong confidence and passionate conviction, not of harsh anger, but of faith in the Gospel.</p><p>In particular, Stephen knew and trusted that he had a dwelling place with God, because God had made His dwelling place with Stephen in Christ Jesus. The holy martyr knew that he would be with Christ, with the Father in heaven, because the same Lord Jesus Christ was with him in his suffering and death. He knew that heaven was his home, and that heaven had been fully opened to him by the Cross and Resurrection of the incarnate Son of God.</p><p>The Lord has just as surely done the same for you, as well. He has become Flesh for you. He has given Himself for you, even unto death. He has risen from the dead and ascended into heaven for you, also. And yet, He also remains with you here in His Church on earth, in His very own Flesh and Blood, with His Word and Holy Spirit. Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with you here.</p><p>What Moses was shown and what he saw on the Mountain was a Type of that incarnate Lord, Jesus Christ, and the Tabernacle that Moses made by God’s direction was according to that holy pattern. It served the people of God in the wilderness as a means of grace, a proclamation of the Gospel, because it pointed to what has now been accomplished and fulfilled in the Son of Mary.</p><p>He is the new and better Joshua, who brings God’s people out of the wilderness into the good land that He has promised, defeating all their enemies before them. And He is the new and better David — the Son of David who is greater than Solomon — the true King of Peace and holy Wisdom — whose own Body is raised and established as the true Temple of God. That is to say, not a house for God to live in, as though He were otherwise homeless, but a House in which you live with God.</p><p>In Him, by your Baptism into Him, His God and Father is your God and Father. You bear His own Name and Holy Spirit, because you are born of Him, and you have your Life in Him, and you are a member of His family. Your house and home are with Him, safe and secure, now and forever.</p><p>For Christ Jesus, the beloved Son, has become your Brother in the Flesh and your Savior from sin, death, the devil, and hell. He is your merciful and great High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. His sacrificial death is your Atonement and Redemption. His Resurrection from the dead is your reconciliation and your righteousness with God. And His Ascension to the Right Hand of the Father is your own happy homecoming, your peaceful resting place, and your Salvation forever.</p><p>That is why you can be strong and courageous, like St. Stephen, in doing your job and saying forthrightly what is good and right and true, even when it is painfully difficult, woefully unpopular, and poorly received. You fear the Lord, because He alone is your true God and Father, but you need not be afraid of any mortal man. No one can rob you of your Life with God in Christ Jesus.</p><p>Along with such courage and confidence, you are also able to be compassionate, kind, and patient, even when you deal with hurtful and unpleasant people. To be sure, your kind compassion may require the preaching of the Law and the call to repentance, according to your office and vocation. But such a preaching of repentance — as when the Lord persisted in sending the Prophets to His people of old, and in the case of St. Stephen — is neither vindictive nor mean-spirited, but aims at warning the neighbor of danger and calling him back to the Lord. </p><p>So, too, when you must warn your neighbor, do so in love — truly to rescue him from danger and to lead him to life with yourself — and not out of any anger, defensiveness, fear, or vengeance.</p><p>After all, you know that you are safe. Your life is secure. You need not guard yourself so fiercely. God has opened His heaven to you in Christ Jesus, as fully and freely as He did for St. Stephen. Indeed, through your Holy Baptism you have already died with Christ and entered into Life with God in Him. That is how sure and certain your Life and your eternal future are and ever shall be.</p><p>Dear child of God, you know that for Jesus’ sake your true Father in heaven loves you; that He is pleased with you and delights in you, regardless of what anyone else may think or say or do. And you know that all of this is solely by His grace and mercy; that He is compassionate, kind, and patient with you — long-suffering, slow to anger, and full of nothing but steadfast love for you.</p><p>Therefore, as Christ has given Himself for you and given you His own Life by the Gospel, and as He has become your Righteousness and your Salvation, so is He your Strength and your Song — your Confidence and Courage, on the one hand; your Charity and Compassion, on the other hand.</p><p>So it is that you become like Him. Which is also to become like St. Stephen, who was recreated in the Image and Likeness of God, after the pattern of Christ Jesus, by his own Holy Baptism.</p><p>Therefore, you also live, you suffer, and you die, as Stephen did — like Christ — by grace through faith in the Gospel. That is the only power and poise that you will ever need. And it is yours!</p><p>You have the Tabernacle of the Testimony here in the wilderness, that is to say, the preaching of the Gospel. That is the true wisdom and eloquence of the Word and Spirit of Christ Jesus, calling you daily to repentance, unto faith, through the forgiveness of all your sins. It cleanses you and clothes you with the Blood of the Lamb; as in your Holy Baptism, so also in the Holy Communion.</p><p>The saints who have gone before you, especially the holy martyrs like St. Stephen, are another kind of “Tabernacle of the Testimony,” because they have lived in their own flesh and followed by faith the same pattern they were shown in Christ Jesus. And you, in turn, follow the same pattern as a living testimony to your neighbor, so that your neighbor may then see the Son of Man in you.</p><p>Be Thou faithful unto death, and He will give you the crown of Life. That was His sure and certain promise to St. Stephen (whose name means “crown”), and His promise to you is no less sure and certain. Indeed, it is already a “bird in the hand,” because your dear Lord Jesus Christ, the very King of heaven, has already crowned you with His own royalty and righteousness by the Gospel. He has crowned you with Himself and with His Glory, having made of you His royal Bride, His Queen. And as He spoke by the Prophet Isaiah, you are a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord.</p><p>You are another Stephen, by virtue of your Baptism into the Cross and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And as He did for that holy Stephen, for whom we give thanks and praise to God this day, so does He also bring you through the waters of your Baptism into the heaven He has opened to you by His own Baptism. He will bring you through death and the grave into the Life everlasting, as even now He brings you through the great tribulation into His own Resurrection and Ascension.</p><p>Already you live with Him in God, by grace through faith in His Gospel, because God tabernacles here with you in Him, that is, in His Flesh and Blood and in His Word of forgiveness. For that dear Lord Jesus binds together in Himself, forever, both God and Man, both heaven and earth.</p><p>Here at His Altar — and so also from this Altar into the world in your calling and station, even through the wilderness — you live before the Throne of God; you live and abide in His Temple.</p><p>Your sins are all forgiven. Forgive those, also, who trespass against you. For you are righteous and holy before God and precious in His sight for the sake of Jesus Christ. As He has risen from the dead and lives and reigns forever at the Right Hand of His God and Father, so shall you not die but live. Does He not feed you with His Body and pour out His Blood for you to drink? Yes, He does. He sees to it that neither His Word nor His Table are neglected in this place. Therefore, you lack nothing, nor shall you ever lack for what you need. Your sure and certain hope for Life and Salvation are here for you in the forgiveness of your sins and in the Meat and Drink of Christ</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-28760217849491682202022-12-24T23:00:00.001-05:002022-12-27T13:31:16.940-05:00A Light in the Darkness for You<p>You may not be a shepherd, but you do have your own watch to keep — your own flock to guard and protect, to feed and to care for, and your own field in which to abide. You have the duties of your office, the responsibilities of your particular station in life.</p><p>But whether you work the day shift or at night, evenings and weekends, or on call 24/7, you live and work in the midst of a deep darkness. And sometimes that darkness looms and grows and thickens to the point where it threatens to swallow you up completely. Left alone and afraid in the darkness, unable to see which way to turn, you may not see any hope for tomorrow. In the dead of the night, when you cannot sleep — or when your sleep is assailed with nightmares — it does not appear that the sun will ever shine on you again. No matter how many lights you turn on, no matter how many watts you burn, the darkness crowds upon you, and you can’t turn back the night.</p><p>Really, though, I’m not speaking so much about the natural darkness that comes with the setting of the sun at the end of each day. Indeed, the darkest hours aren’t always at night. Nor is the darkness only on the outside, surrounding you. There is a deeper darkness within you, gnawing away at you and eating you up from the inside-out. It is the native darkness of your fallen old man, the darkness of your heart and mind, beclouded by sin, ignorant of God, tempted to wickedness and evil on the one hand, but then also accused, ashamed, and afraid, on the other hand.</p><p>That is the darkness which blackens your thoughts and feelings and makes it impossible for you to see or perceive anything clearly, even at high noon. You live, as it were, always at night, always in the dark. You do your job and tend your sheep, but you do it like a hireling; you despise and resent the flock, you grumble and complain. You run away and hide, on the inside at least, when push comes to shove. You work without joy, because you have to, in order to make ends meet, and you count the hours, the days, the weeks, and the years until you can finally be done with it all.</p><p>When you care for the sheep with no other goal than caring for yourself and meeting your needs, then the darkness emerges from within you in the form of self-preservation and self-protection, and it descends upon your heart and mind in the form of fear, desperation, and finally despair. That is the darkness which would eventually consume you altogether, dragging you into the long dark night of death and the grave and eternal damnation.</p><p>Except that, now, the true Light has come. The same true God who caused the Light to shine out of the darkness in the beginning, has caused the Light of His Glory to shine upon you by His grace. He’s doing it right now, as a matter of fact, in the middle of this dark night, in the midst of all the darkness in this fallen world. As always, it is by and with His Word that His Light shines for you. His Word is the Light, which is preached to you, that you might see God and have Life in Him.</p><p>This Light of the revelation of the Glory of God is scary in its own way. When you’ve been in the dark for so long, you know how it is — the light hurts your eyes. And when you’ve been hiding in the darkness, doing what you should not and neglecting what you should, then having the lights suddenly flipped on might well freak you out and make you sore afraid. For the Light exposes the deeds of darkness and makes it clear that you have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.</p><p>Then again, when you’re lost in the dark and looking for the light, it can seem like the Light of the Lord has been overcome by thick clouds and deep shadows. For the irony and paradox of the Cross, which is the Hour of God’s Glory in Christ Jesus, is that it appears completely otherwise.</p><p>Because it is the Light of the Cross that shines upon you in the Word of Christ, your life on earth is not all blue skies and sunshine, but overcast and overshadowed, maybe even dark and cold and dreary. The days are short, your nights are long. And when all the excitement and celebration of the holidays have come and gone, the presents have been opened and put away, the decorations taken down, and even the leftovers have all been eaten, there will still be your job to do, your studies to resume, and either the frenzy or the boredom, the loneliness or chaos of your life.</p><p>And the prospect that nothing will ever change or get any better may be your greatest fear of all.</p><p>But to each and all of you I say, Fear not. For right here, right now, I bring to you good news of great joy. This is a Word of Peace, not only for shepherds “once upon a time,” but for all people, and so also for each and all of you. These glad tidings are preached to you as you keep your watch, tend your sheep, and abide in your field by night as by day. This message rings out to the ends of the earth, and so also here it is spoken and heard, confessed, prayed, and sung. It is proclaimed for you, first of all, but in such a way that you are also able to speak it and sing it for others.</p><p>This Word of the Gospel is full of great joy, because it meets your deepest needs, delivers you from death, and gives you true and everlasting Life with God. It is comfort and Peace. It is Light in the darkness. It is rescue and relief, protection from danger, tender care, and free Salvation.</p><p>It is unto you that a Savior has been born. He is your Savior, and so He comes for you here and now, right where you are. He is born “in the same country,” that is to say, not Palestine per se, nor the U.S.A. Neither Canada, Tanzania, Russia, or the Ukraine. But all of the above, in the same country and commerce where men and women live and work, the tangible world of sunshine and rain, of eating and drinking, waking and sleeping. The Lord has been born for you into all of that.</p><p>He has come, not simply to be with you and keep you company as you go about your days and nights, but to be your Savior — to save you from all that darkens your world, and from all that brings death into your life. He comes to do it by His Cross, by submitting Himself to the darkness of death and the grave, allowing Himself to be swallowed up by them — and then triumphing over them and swallowing them up, once and for all. The darkness does not overcome Him — indeed, it cannot — and so it is dispersed by Him who is the Light. Death and the grave cannot hold Him, because death is actually defeated by His Death. So He has risen, and He shall never die again.</p><p>As death no longer has any lordship over Him, neither shall it be allowed to rule over you anymore forever. For your Savior, Christ Jesus — born into the House and Lineage of David, a Man after His Father’s heart — He is your Shepherd and your King.</p><p>Even a little child knows that a Shepherd guards and protects His flock from danger, and also feeds and cares for His sheep, leading them into good green pastures and alongside cool clear waters. That is what your Shepherd does for you, so that you have Life, and so that death is kept at bay.</p><p>Because He is also your King, the government rests fully upon His shoulders, and not upon you. He is not a tyrant, nor a cruel dictator, but an “everlasting Father” for His people. That is to say, again, that He feeds and clothes you, shelters and protects you, teaches and trains you. All of this by His grace, without any merit or worthiness in you, but with fatherly divine goodness and mercy.</p><p>King Jesus does not take a census of the people in order to tax the world. He distributes His own wealth to you and all your fellow citizens of His Kingdom, so that you and your neighbor are well supplied and able to love and serve and care for each other with the good gifts of your King.</p><p>So, consider how it is: You are saved by Him, and now you live by His grace and mercy, and you have Peace in the Light of His Gospel. For He is the Christ, the Lord’s Anointed, and having been anointed by the Spirit of His Father in His Body of flesh and blood, He pours out the Holy Spirit upon you through His forgiving of all your sins. Indeed, He is the Lord Himself — the almighty and eternal Son of God, begotten of the Father from all eternity — but He has also become true Man, a human being like yourself, by His conception and birth of St. Mary. In Him, God and Man are perfectly and permanently united. So, also, in Him you are united with God in perfect Peace.</p><p>Come, then, avail yourself of these good things. Seek and find your Savior in the place where He directs you to go, so that you might worship and adore Him by first of all hearing His Word and receiving His good gifts; and that you should then also return thanks, bend your knee and lift up your voice, and love and serve your neighbor in the Name and for the sake of your true King.</p><p>You find Him in the city of David, that is, in Bethlehem, the “House of Bread.” Not by accident or coincidence is your Savior found in such a House, for He is the true and living Bread come down from heaven. But His Bethlehem is not far away from you, on the other side of the planet. It is found, and He is found, wherever His Church is gathered by and for the preaching of His Gospel and the giving of His Body in remembrance of Him. The household and family of His Church, in which that Bread is administered with His Word, is where you find the Son of David.</p><p>He is wrapped in swaddling clothes, in anticipation of the clothes that will wrap and swaddle His Body when He is taken down from the Cross and buried. For He wraps Himself in your frailty and weakness, in your fallen-ness, in your mortality and death. But so does He also burst the bonds of sin and death and set you free. The swaddling clothes of His humble nativity and of His tomb are a sign of His Victory over death and the grave, which He has accomplished for you and for all, that He might wrap Himself up and give Himself to you under the Tree of His Cross.</p><p>So is He wrapped and swaddled now upon the Altar of His Church, in the Cup and on the Plate, reverently adorned with linens recalling both His burial and His Resurrection from the dead.</p><p>If you want to find Him, do so here at His Altar. If the wood of the manger has given way to the wood of the Cross, so is the Cross set before you in the wood of this Altar. And it is still a manger of sorts, that is, a feeding trough from which you eat and drink. Here is where His sheep are fed with the Food and Drink that are His own holy Body and His own most precious Blood.</p><p>Little wonder, then, that angels and archangels and all the host of heaven are gathered here with you and join with you in praising God. For wherever the Body and Blood of the incarnate Son of God are found, there all of heaven takes notice, pays devout attention, and sings with great joy and gladness to the glory, honor, thanks, and praise of the Holy Triune God. All the saints and holy angels in heaven and on earth rejoice, give thanks, and sing, because the Lord our God has become Man, and He has saved the sons of men for the Life everlasting.</p><p>The same Lord God in mercy sends His messengers to you, to shepherd you as His dear sheep by the preaching and teaching of His Word, in order to bring you these glad tidings.</p><p>Do keep these things, as St. Mary did, and ponder them both day and night in your heart and mind. Savor these glad tidings in your words and actions. For this Word of Christ Jesus is the Light that disperses the gloom and scatters the darkness. So it does for you, as you hear it and remember it; and so it does for your neighbor, as you also speak it and share it with those whom you encounter.</p><p>With this Word, and by this Light, return to your own field and your flock with thanksgiving to God, and be at Peace in the sure and certain hope of Christ Jesus. The Truth is that His Incarnation and His Birth, His Cross and Resurrection, have already changed everything for the better.</p><p>Though it is still dark in this perishing world, and the night seems to reign without ending, in fact everything is just as it has been told to you. Your Light has come in the Flesh and Blood of Christ Jesus, and the Grace of God has appeared in the preaching of His Gospel. The eternal Day has already dawned in the bodily Resurrection of the same Lord Jesus from the dead, and as you are redeemed by His Cross, so shall you also rise and live forever in His Light.</p><p>What your eyes have not yet seen shall at last appear, suddenly bursting into the midst of this long dark night. As surely as the Gospel is here preached and the Sacrament administered for the forgiveness of your sins, so surely does your Savior come to you, and His Glory shines upon you, and so surely will He bring you home rejoicing. Then there shall be no more night forever, but only the Light of the Word-made-Flesh, forever and forevermore.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-82211215207155577552022-09-04T09:00:00.001-04:002022-09-04T09:00:00.216-04:00The Things That Make for Peace<div>People certainly do start projects they can’t finish. They do it all the time — maybe due to pride, or maybe out of desperation — without a lot of forethought or planning, perhaps, or with a naive optimism. And not just other people, you do it, too. You take on more than you can manage. You make promises that you won’t be able to keep — maybe with the best of intentions, or maybe just to keep the wolves at bay for a little while longer. You write checks that your body can’t cash. And you go into debt buying things you don’t need with money you don’t have.</div><div><br /></div><div>The same spirit of competition and self-advancement that drives you to do such things, beyond your actual capacities and limitations, also puts you into conflict with everyone around you. So, along with all the rest of it, you take on opponents that you can’t hope to defeat or overcome. “Eye of the tiger” and all that, sure, but this, too, is vanity. And you’re not alone in your bravado. From the playground to the White House, the sons and daughters of Adam pick fights they can’t win.</div><div><br /></div><div>All of this is foolishness, which is always easier to spot in the choices and decisions of the other guy than it is to admit in yourself. But you know better, or you should. To tackle more than you can handle is foolish. It’s a waste of time, energy, and resources, all of which could have been, and should have been, put to some better use. And as the Lord Jesus points out, you not only suffer the loss of your investment, but embarrassment and shame in the eyes of all who see it.</div><div><br /></div><div>The stakes are that much higher in the case at hand in this Word of our Lord. Be wise, therefore, and consider this: If the war you want to win is the judgement of God’s holy and righteous Law, and if the goal you want to reach is that of real Life and genuine prosperity in the heavenly places, there’s only one way to gain that victory and only one way to arrive at that goal. Only one way, and that not of yourself; it is solely by the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by following Him through death and the grave into His Resurrection and Life everlasting in the Kingdom of God.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is by the way of the Cross. But what does that mean? To take up the Cross and bear it after Christ is not an exercise program or a disciplined new diet, whereby you strive to build yourself up and improve your overall health and well-being. There is a place for such discipline in this body and life, and in your spiritual life, as well. But the Cross does not aim at a better you. It’s not a matter of self-improvement. To take up your own cross is to embrace your own execution.</div><div><br /></div><div>To be a disciple of Christ Jesus, to take up His Cross and follow after Him, is to renounce yourself entirely. It is to disavow your collections and your trophies, your prizes and scrapbooks. It is to disregard, not only your possessions, your perishable stuff, but all the best parts of you, that is to say, your wisdom, your reason, your strength, and all of your achievements. To bear the Cross is to be done with all of your self-righteousness. And with that, it redefines all of your relationships, as well, with family, friends, and neighbors. To be crucified is not to get stronger and healthier; it is to die to yourself and your life in this fallen and perishing world.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, then, give up building your own towers, and stop trying to fight your own battles, because the truth is, you can’t reach the heavens, nor can you win the war, by any ways or means of your own.</div><div><br /></div><div>Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can make it or complete it. You can’t. Think about it. When all the world was united following the Flood, the descendants of Noah set out to build a mighty tower, in order to make a name for themselves, to achieve their own fame and glory — in disobedience to the Word of God. And it sure seemed like there wasn’t anything they couldn’t do. But the Lord set Himself against them, confused their communications, and terminated their grand building project. They could do nothing, finally, except what the Lord determined and permitted.</div><div><br /></div><div>The “rich fool,” likewise, as we heard from Jesus a few weeks ago, considered his crops and his storage barns, carefully counted his costs and his profits, and then made his plans to build more and bigger barns for all his grain, to store up his wealth for many years to come. But then his life came to an abrupt end, and he wasn’t able to carry out his plans, nor to benefit from all his crops.</div><div><br /></div><div>When it comes to battles and warfare, consider the history of Moses and the Israelites, of Joshua and the subsequent Judges, especially Gideon, Samson, and Samuel, and the stories of King Saul and King David. It is the Lord who fights for His people, whether with only a few men or many. And where He has spoken, it doesn’t matter if the enemy has hundreds or thousands of soldiers, chariots and horsemen, weapons of bronze, or nine-foot giants — the battle belongs to the Lord.</div><div><br /></div><div>By the same token, whenever Israel proceeds apart from the Word and promise of God, then they are soundly defeated and put to flight, like flea-bitten dogs with their tails between their legs.</div><div><br /></div><div>When it comes right down to it, it’s not the number of people you have lined up on your side, nor the number of dollars in your portfolio, nor the extent of your military savvy, strength, and skill, but the Word and Spirit of God are alone decisive. When you proceed according to His Word, even in great weakness you will succeed and prosper; and when you follow your own self-chosen path apart from His Word, you will fail and fall apart. Not according to the measure of the world, but according to the divine Wisdom of the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus. Which is to say that it may look as though you’ve got the bases covered, but you don’t; whereas, again, when you are being crucified and put to death, and you suffer all manner of hardships and major setbacks, it may be that the Lord Himself is bringing you through those trials and tribulations into Glory.</div><div><br /></div><div>The logic of the Cross is not intuitive or rational. You can’t figure it out by instinct or calculation. It is something you are taught by the Word-made-Flesh. You learn from Him as you listen to His preaching, and as you follow after Him and live with Him on the paradoxical Way of His Cross.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thus do you learn from Christ Jesus that the wealth and ability by which you live and prosper — the ways and means by which you are completed and preserved, rescued and sustained — these are not your own, neither are they in your own power or possession, but they are found in the fear of the Lord, that is, by repentance and faith in His Word, in His commands and promises.</div><div><br /></div><div>The blessing of the Lord your God, the Holy Trinity — His gift of Life and prosperity — is found in Christ the Crucified, the Incarnate Son. In this foolishness of God, which is wiser than man. In this weakness of God, which is stronger than man. In this death of God for the life of the world.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Cross and Passion of the Christ is the divine blessing by which you are saved. By contrast, to rely upon your yourself, upon your family and the whole gamut of your possessions, as though to achieve and keep life for yourself by these means, that is the curse of idolatry, sin, and death. You cannot overcome it, but, ironically, the harder that you try, the more you will succumb to it. It is both sinful and self-defeating to rely upon yourself and your own assets; for that puts you at odds with God, and you will not be able to withstand Him or survive when He comes against you.</div><div><br /></div><div>This does not mean that your body and life, your place in the world, your family and friends, and all the stuff that God has put into your hands is somehow bad or evil. When the Lord Jesus speaks of “hating” your parents and children, spouse and siblings, for example, He is not describing an emotion or feeling of dislike or disgust, but objective choices and decisions, actions and behaviors, whereby you refuse to worship any other god than the Lord, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.</div><div><br /></div><div>The person that you are, the people that God has placed around you in the world, and the portion of His creation that He has entrusted to your stewardship in this life on earth, all of that is good and right in its own proper place. This is the good salt of which Jesus speaks, with which the Lord has seasoned you along the way; and it is meant to season the sacrifice that you are to offer unto Him by faith. What I mean by that is this: You receive all that you are and have from God’s gracious hand, and so do you render it all back to Him, to the honor, praise, and glory of His Holy Name.</div><div><br /></div><div>You should not despise what God has given to you; but neither should you worship and depend upon the creature in the place that belongs to the Creator. You should neither demonize nor idolize the good gifts of God, but receive them in faith and sanctify their use by His Word and prayer. Then the good salt is put to its godly purpose, and your sacrifice is seasoned with thanksgiving.</div><div><br /></div><div>Attempting to use the salt, instead, to buy or build or battle your way into heaven, is worthless. Not only does it do you no good, but it also robs the salt of its good worth, and of its saltiness, so that it becomes useless and even detrimental — not in itself, that is, but in your use of it, or misuse.</div><div><br /></div><div>The salt is rightly used, as I have said, when it accompanies the sacrifice of yourself unto God, whereby you renounce all reliance on yourself, and you relinquish yourself and all your stuff to the Lord your God, in the confidence that all good things are from Him, both for now and for ever.</div><div><br /></div><div>Such is the Sacrifice and Salt of Christ Jesus, who sets an example for you to follow in His steps. In Him is the Way of discipleship, that is, the Way of the Cross, the Way of repentance, faith, and love, by which He obtains life and prosperity for you and for all of His disciples after Him.</div><div><br /></div><div>He relies, not on Himself, but on His Father. He looks to His Father in faith and receives all things from Him; and yet, He does not cling to anything, but He offers it up with Himself as a sacrifice. Indeed, He renounces Himself entirely, and gives Himself up to the Cross, in order to be honored by His Father. He stakes everything on the Glory of God, on the promise of the Resurrection; not for His own advantage or benefit, but for the good of His neighbor, for your sake, in holy love.</div><div><br /></div><div>He is the one Man who is willing and actually able to pay the cost, to finish the work that He has been given to do, to establish, build, and complete the tower that reaches to the Father in heaven. But notice that He finishes the task and pays the price, not with cash or credit, paper or plastic, but with His own holy and precious Blood. Rather than avoiding embarrassment and the ridicule of the world, He humbles Himself and bears the shame of sinners, trusting in God’s vindication.</div><div><br /></div><div>Outwardly speaking, He appears to be undone, outnumbered, and overcome. He saved others, and yet, or so it seems, He cannot save Himself. More to the point, He chooses not to save Himself, nor to exalt Himself, but He waits upon the Father to save Him from out of death and to exalt Him in the highest. He does not build a tower to make a Name for Himself, but He is lifted up on the Cross to the glory of God. He willingly submits to death, and He suffers Himself to be laughed at, mocked, and made fun of, in order to rely entirely upon the Word and promise of His Father.</div><div><br /></div><div>Although He has 10,000 angels at His command, any one of which could take out His enemies — and even though He is the “stronger Man,” indeed, the almighty and eternal Son of God, by whom all things are made — He defeats the ruler of this world, and He reconciles the world to God, by the voluntary sacrifice of Himself, contrary to every wisdom and strategy of this mortal world.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rather than crushing His enemies and establishing justice by brute force and raw violence against those who oppose Him, He makes for Peace and Righteousness by His Cross and Resurrection.</div><div><br /></div><div>And this same Peace and Righteousness are what He gives to you by His grace, by the delegation of His Gospel, by the preaching of His Cross unto repentance and forgiveness of sins.</div><div><br /></div><div>As Philemon owed his very life to the Apostle, St. Paul, on account of the Ministry of the Gospel of Christ Jesus, so does your whole life derive from and depend upon the Gospel of the same Lord. As you are crucified with His Cross by the preaching of repentance, so are you raised up with His Resurrection by His free forgiveness of all your sins, unto faith and life and prosperity forever.</div><div><br /></div><div>By His preaching the dear Lord Jesus seasons you with the salt of His own Sacrifice, so as to preserve you in Himself and bring you to His Father in perfect peace and joy, as He Himself has returned to the right hand of the Father in righteousness and holiness, blessedness and glory.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here, then, receive these Holy Things which make for Peace with God: The Word of the Gospel, which absolves you of all your sins, and the Body and Blood of your Savior, Christ Jesus, given and poured out for you, for your Life and Salvation in and with Him.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</div>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-90329079946041431672022-08-29T18:30:00.000-04:002022-08-29T21:29:42.276-04:00Put to Death and Raised to Life in and with Christ Jesus<div>You’re fascinated by St. John the Baptist. No surprise — he is a fascinating man. But at the same time, you’re also scared to death of him and of his preaching. Or, if you’re not, you should be.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, it may be that you like to hear his fiery preaching well enough, especially when he’s pointing the finger at somebody else, and especially when you assume that John the Baptist is long since dead and gone. But you don’t like it at all when you find that he is still preaching repentance from the Holy Scriptures. You don’t like it when he turns the Law of God on you and your sins, and he calls you to repent in both heart and life, to set aside your vices and actually change your behavior.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you imagine that you do like to hear St. John call you to repentance, then you don’t understand repentance at all, and you sink that much further into your own self-righteousness, supposing that genuine repentance, faith, and life are something you can do for yourself. I guarantee that your old Adam, who is no one other than yourself, does not like to hear the true preaching of the Law.</div><div><br /></div><div>The preaching of St. John the Baptist does still call you to repent, and it’s a deadly serious matter. Not only that, but your life depends upon it, because it is not lawful for you to think the things that you think; it is not lawful for you to say the things that you say; and it is not lawful for you to keep on doing the things that you are doing. Your sins and your sinfulness are neither lawful nor safe.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is not lawful for you to compete and fight with your brothers and sisters, nor to take their stuff away, whether it be Legos and action figures or books and video games, or whatever it might be.</div><div><br /></div><div>And as you get older, it is equally wrong and sinful to lust after your neighbor’s wife, to crave her for yourself, and to devise ways of enticing her away from your neighbor. So, too, it is not lawful for you to covet your neighbor’s children, his friends, his workers, or even his pets.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nor is it lawful for you to covet the bodies and affections of young dancing girls, or any of the other provocative allurements of this world, which reign as idols in your heart and in your life.</div><div><br /></div><div>All of your selfish, prideful kingdom building is wrong, as you arrogantly presume yourself to be a god and not a mortal man. And yet, fearing the opinions of man more than you fear the one true God, you commit what amounts to murder in His eyes and in His righteous judgment — by the hatred and enmity in your heart toward those who are beyond your reach, and by the actual hurt and hostility that you inflict upon those who cannot protect or defend themselves from you.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is not lawful for you to do any of these things, nor a thousand other similar sins that you commit.</div><div><br /></div><div>But you add sin upon your sin, and you make things far worse for yourself, when you shut up the preaching of the Law, when you stop your ears to it and run away from it — when you presume to keep it on a leash, because you like to hear it “a little bit,” but you want to keep it at arm’s length, or locked up in a cage or a dungeon, and you insist that it may speak to you only when it is spoken to, and only to the extent that you permit. You thus suppose yourself to be the master of your own domain, the king or queen of your own castle; but that’s a lie which ends in death.</div><div><br /></div><div>Repent of your arrogance and of your sin, or you will lose more than half of your kingdom, and really far more than your head or your body in the end.</div><div><br /></div><div>In your confrontation with St. John the Baptist, it’s kill or be killed, at least for the time being. There’s no two ways around it. Neither of you can live while the other one survives in this life.</div><div><br /></div><div>And yet, here is the profound irony and the paradox of the Cross: Those who save their life in this world will lose it forever in the dungeon prepared for the devil and his wicked angels, while those who lose their life for the sake of Christ Jesus and His Gospel will save it for eternity with Him. That is how things truly are.</div><div><br /></div><div>To repent, as you are called to do, and to be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus, is to put your own head on the chopping block, it is to bare your neck to the sword — to the Sword of the Spirit, at least, and, as needs may be, to the temporal sword of the king.</div><div><br /></div><div>This isn’t fun and games. It’s not make-believe or “let’s pretend.” It is a fearful and deadly encounter. No one gets out alive. One way or the other, you are called upon to die, whether for the Resurrection and eternal Life in Christ Jesus, or for eternal death and damnation in hell.</div><div><br /></div><div>But, now then, do not hear and see only St. John’s fearful preaching of the Law — though, by all means, do hear and heed that preaching, and repent. But in repenting see him point and give way to Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away your sins, who submits Himself to death and the grave on your behalf, and who raises you up with Himself, in body and soul, unto newness of life.</div><div><br /></div><div>St. John’s entire life and ministry, his preaching and Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, his suffering, and finally his death, are all a witness and a proclamation of this one Lord Jesus Christ, of His Cross and Passion, and of His Resurrection from the dead.</div><div><br /></div><div>Everything about St. John — from his miraculous conception and birth, from the waters of the Jordan River to the depths of Herod’s dungeon and, finally, to the tomb in which he is buried — everything about St. John is wrapped up in Jesus. It’s all about Jesus. Every bit of it points to the Lord Jesus Christ. For St. John is called and sent by God to be the Forerunner of the Christ, to go before the face of the Lord and prepare His Way. And because the Way of the Lord is the way of the Cross, the way of suffering and death, that is where St. John the Baptist goes.</div><div><br /></div><div>The same is true for anyone else who preaches and baptizes in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.</div><div><br /></div><div>And it is no less the case for those who are baptized into Him, who are given His Cross to bear and are called to follow after Him, even to the point of death and the grave. It is to that Cross of Christ, and to that death with Him, that each and all of you are called by His Word and Holy Spirit.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Lord’s people, His saints, are so wrapped up in Christ Jesus, so identified with Him, and so also named by Him and for Him as Christians, that the world sees Christ Jesus in them. And that is true for you, as well; for it is no longer you who live, but Christ lives in you, and you in Him.</div><div><br /></div><div>And so it was that Herod could not shake the impression that Jesus the Christ really was St. John the Baptist risen from the dead. And in a way, Herod was exactly right about that!</div><div><br /></div><div>In the Word and works of Christ Jesus are the first fruits of His Cross and Resurrection. For His gracious miracles of healing and new life are a blessed foretaste of the neverending Feast that has come to fruition in His Resurrection and is manifest around the world in the Liturgy of His Gospel.</div><div><br /></div><div>For those who die with Christ Jesus, like St. John and all the baptized, Jesus’ Resurrection is their Resurrection and their imperishable Life. His Resurrection is your Resurrection and your Life.</div><div><br /></div><div>So also, it is in Christ Jesus that St. John and all the baptized are righteous and holy. It is in Jesus that you are righteous and holy, blameless, innocent, and pure before God the Father in heaven.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is in that sure and certain hope, in that confidence of Christ and His Gospel, that the disciples of St. John, with tender affection and Christian love, laid his poor mistreated body to rest in the tomb, there to await the resurrection of all flesh on the Last Day.</div><div><br /></div><div>And already, the souls of those, including St. John the Baptist, who have been slain for the sake of the Word of God — as well as those who have departed from this mortal life in the faith of Christ Jesus — find their Peace and Sabbath Rest in Him, under His Altar, in heaven as on earth.</div><div><br /></div><div>What does this mean? You have died with Christ in your Baptism, and so your life also is now hidden with Christ in God.</div><div><br /></div><div>In life and in death, in body and in soul — even as you carry the Cross in your callings and stations on earth, and even when your body shall in due season be laid to rest in the dust of the ground — you are safe and secure in the Body and Blood of your crucified and risen Lord Jesus.</div><div><br /></div><div>This true and everlasting King, who is both God and Man, prepares a Table before you in the presence of your enemies, each and all of whom He has defeated for you by His own Cross. It is a Banquet, not for His own benefit — not to be served, but to serve you in love — to forgive you all your sins, to give you His own Life, and to save both your body and your soul forever and ever.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, then, as your mortal body is here fed with His Life-giving Body and Blood, it is enlivened, honored, and glorified by Jesus, in preparation for and anticipation of the resurrection of your body at the last, when it shall be no longer mortal and perishable, no longer subject to sickness, infirmity, and pain, nor any more susceptible to weakness, tiredness, and fear, but immortal, and imperishable, and glorious, like unto His own glorious Body.</div><div><br /></div><div>Your soul, as well, both now and forever, has Peace and Sabbath Rest in Christ Jesus, who has given Himself for you, who gives you His Body to eat and pours out His holy and precious Blood for you to drink in this Holy Communion. Whether for the first time, or for the millionth time, it is for all time; it is forever. For with this Feast He gives you, not simply half His Kingdom, but Himself with all His gifts and benefits, in whom the Kingdom of God is truly at hand. Therefore, you are His, and He is yours, forever and ever, world without end.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</div>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-59009159327846934862022-08-28T09:00:00.001-04:002022-08-28T09:00:00.223-04:00Humbled and Exalted in Christ Jesus<p>The Word of the Lord Jesus is plain: “<i>Everyone</i> who exalts himself <i>will</i> be humbled.”</p><p>And the truth is that you have exalted yourself. You have done so in the past, and you still do it.</p><p>You exalt yourself over against the Lord by sitting in judgment of Him, no less than the Pharisees and their lawyers did when they invited Him to dinner and sat there watching Him closely, testing Him, looking for a way to trap Him and accuse Him.</p><p>You may protest that, No, you don’t do that! You love Jesus. And you’re here this morning, after all. But your critical assessment of His Word is a judgment against Him, an exalting of yourself. You pick and choose which parts of His Word you will hear and heed, honor and obey. You may listen to it, but you act as though you were free and clear to take it or leave it at your own whim.</p><p>The Law of the Lord and His commands are clear, but you do not obey them. You do not fear, love, and trust in Him. You place yourself and other gods above Him, as though you were the higher authority, and as though you had the last word on each and every matter in your life.</p><p>When you covet what God has given to your neighbor, for example, you accuse the Lord in your heart of being unfair to you, of holding out on you, of not giving you what you think you deserve. In this way, too, you exalt yourself in the presence of God.</p><p>You likewise sit in judgment of others and exalt yourself over against your neighbors. You do not deal with them in love and mercy and forgiveness. You are not charitable toward your neighbors, as the Lord your God is so charitable toward you. When your neighbors are in need, you may or may not try to help them. Among your neighbors are those who go hungry, whom you do not feed; those who are sick or in prison, whom you do not visit; those who are naked and ashamed, whom you do not defend or speak well of to cover their shame and uphold them.</p><p>There are plenty of neighbors whom you do not help at all. And many of those you do help, you help and assist because there’s something in it for you, something to improve your reputation and your assets. There are favors to be exchanged, invitations to be received and given, friendships to be won, and palms to be greased. After all, it’s who you know that gets you ahead in life.</p><p>Or, perhaps the benefit you get from helping some of your neighbors is a sense of self-righteous satisfaction. It may be that you do help your neighbor in such a case, but only because it makes you feel that much better about yourself. In that respect, again, you exalt yourself above others.</p><p>And yet, despite your unbelief, idolatry, and lack of love, you persist in exalting yourself as you presume to come into the presence of God on the basis of your own righteousness. As though you had a right to stand before Him. As though you had a shred of merit or worthiness in yourself.</p><p>In all of these ways, with all of your sins, you exalt yourself over and above both God and man.</p><p>And even so, the Word of the Lord remains clear: “The one who exalts himself will be humbled.”</p><p>He does not say, “may be humbled.” No, you will be humbled. You will be humbled by the Lord.</p><p>Pray, therefore, that you are humbled here in time, unto repentance, before it is too late; and that you are not permanently humbled in the final judgment of the living and the dead. For those who resist and reject the Word of the Lord, who do not receive His chastening and His discipline, who refuse to repent of their sins, and who persist in exalting themselves — they will be condemned in their unbelief and sin, consigned to eternal shame and everlasting judgment.</p><p>God grant that He would humble you by His Word and Holy Spirit, not unto eternal condemnation, but unto repentance and a reliance on His mercy, unto Life everlasting in His forgiveness of sins.</p><p>Thanks be to God that, in His mercy, He does work to humble you in this way — by the preaching of His Law, and by allowing you to suffer some of the curse and consequences of your sin — in order to bring you to repentance. He thereby turns you away from your death and destruction, away from your sin and self-exalting, that He might bring you back to Himself in faith and love.</p><p>That way of life has been opened for you. It is possible for you to be turned around and turned back. You can be rescued from the pit of despair into which you have fallen. And you are able to come into the presence of the Lord your God and stand before Him in peace and confidence.</p><p>The way is open to you, because the Lord Jesus Christ has humbled Himself in order to exalt you. In fact, He alone has truly humbled Himself. Though He is true God in the flesh, He did not count His equality with God as something to horde for Himself, but He made Himself nothing. He took on the form of a servant. He humbled Himself and became obedient, even unto death on the Cross.</p><p>He has gone to the Cross bearing all of your sins in His own Body of flesh and blood — all that you have failed to do, and all that you have done which you should not. He has borne in His Body all your griefs and sorrows, all your guilt and shame, and all of your humiliation and pain.</p><p>All that you have failed to do for your neighbors, the Lord has done for you in love. And all that you have deserved for your sins, the judgment and punishment of the Law, He has borne for you.</p><p>He has not done it under any coercion or compulsion, but voluntarily. He has gone willingly to His suffering and death out of His great love for His Father, and out of His great love for you and all His neighbors. He has thus gone to His death in true righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.</p><p>He has done all of this for you and your salvation. He has taken your place. It is in your stead that He has humbled Himself and died. And because He has done all of this for you, on your behalf, so are His vindication, His exaltation, and His ascension all credited to you and given to you.</p><p>You are raised with Christ in His Resurrection and seated with Him in the heavenly places, in the presence of God, who welcomes you as a Father His child, with love and mercy and forgiveness.</p><p>The Lord Jesus humbled Himself unto death, and God exalted Him by raising Him from the dead, giving to Him the Name that is above every name in heaven and on earth and under the earth. What is more, the same Lord Jesus Christ has given that Name to you in your Holy Baptism. Everything that He has accomplished and received in His own flesh and blood, He has also given to you in both body and soul. As you see Him rise and ascend, therefore, you see Him bring you into the presence of God in His own Body, into the heavenly Banquet of His own Wedding Feast.</p><p>You stand before God in Christ Jesus, not to be condemned, but declared righteous and dressed in His beautiful holiness and spotless perfection; not to die, but to live forever with Christ in God.</p><p>He has come down from heaven and given Himself for you, in order to make of you a member of His holy Bride, the holy Christian Church, and He your heavenly Bridegroom.</p><p>Here, then, already set before you in His Holy Supper, is the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, who is your true Husband and your living Head. You are His honored guest, for you belong to Him, to His Body and His Bride.</p><p>He has invited you here, and He has wooed you and wed you to Himself, not because of any righteousness in you, but for the sake of His Love and for the sake of His Righteousness. He has not invited you here because you were His friend or His relative or His wealthy neighbor. Indeed, you were none of these. You had absolutely nothing with which you could ever have repaid Him.</p><p>But though He was rich, yet, for your sake, He became poor. Not to line His pockets, but yours, so to speak; in order that you might inherit the real riches of God in Him.</p><p>Though you have been a child of sin and death — a child of the devil and his murderous lies, estranged from God and far removed from Him — the only-begotten Son of God has come to gather you in, to make of you a dear child of God, a beloved daughter or son of His Father in heaven, anointed by His Spirit. So it is that you belong to His family, and all that He has is yours.</p><p>It is in His love for you that He seeks you out and gathers you in to Himself. And in His mercy all your sins are forgiven. All of your iniquities are pardoned. All of your diseases and infirmities are healed. Your sadness is turned into joy. Your shame and humiliation are turned into honor.</p><p>Though you are a poor, miserable sinner, and you deserve nothing but punishment, and you could never repay the debt that you owe to God, and you have nothing to bring before Him, nothing to offer Him, Christ Jesus has come for you and given Himself for you. He covers you with Himself.</p><p>He prepares a Table before you. He sets it here in your presence. He invites you to come and kneel at His Altar to receive these good Gifts which He freely gives. And here you are, set before Him with your sickness unto death, with all your sins and griefs and sorrows, yet you are not turned away or cast aside. He reaches out to you with His Word of the Gospel and with His own Life-giving Body and Blood. He takes hold of you by grace. He heals you and gives you Life. He grants to you His Peace and true Sabbath Rest in His Father’s House within His holy Kingdom.</p><p>Though He does humble you with His Law, He does not do it to destroy you. He humbles you, not to drive you away from Himself into despair, but in order to bring you into repentance and back to Himself in faith and love. So has He done by His grace, and so He continues to do in His mercy.</p><p>And with the preaching of His Holy Gospel, His Word to you is this: “Friend, come up higher!”</p><p>He calls you His friend! He invites you to come to His Table, to recline here with Him. Therefore, come, and take and eat the Body of Christ, which He gives to you in peace. And drink from this Cup His holy and precious Blood, which He pours out for you in love for the forgiveness of sins.</p><p>Here the Lord, the King, the Prince of Peace honors you; He blesses you, and He exalts you in His Righteousness, in His Resurrection from the dead. He has pulled you out of the pit into which you had fallen. He has lifted you up and seated you at His own side as a guest of honor at His Table.</p><p>Rejoice in the Lord, therefore. Give thanks to Him and glorify His holy Name, forever and ever.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-66602082147761358822022-08-14T09:00:00.001-04:002022-08-14T09:00:00.186-04:00The Lord Is a Fierce Foe and a Fierce Friend<p>The Lord is a fierce Friend, and He is a fierce Foe. He is the sort of Friend who tells you what you need to hear, whether you like it or not. And He is a fierce Foe of your sin, because it is your enemy, of the devil who misleads you, and of the death that permeates your fallen flesh.</p><p>The Lord is a fierce Friend, and He is a fierce Foe, but He is also the Lord your God. He speaks with the authority that belongs to Him as the Creator of all things. And His Word to you is fire and water — a fire that threatens to consume you, and deep water that would drown and destroy you.</p><p>The thunder of His Word shakes the mountains and causes them to tremble. It is a fierce Word, a storm that breaks over your head with dark and billowing clouds, thunderbolts and lightning.</p><p>God is not some senile old man who simply smiles and nods as you go about your way. He does not pat you on the back and tell you it’s okay to go on sinning.</p><p>Do not confuse His Gospel with permissiveness. And do not suppose that you can sin all you want, “that grace may abound all the more.” The Lord your God loves you, He does not coddle you. He does not speak peace where your heart is set against Him — He calls you to repentance.</p><p>Is His Word not a Fire that consumes the straw and stubble and hay within you? Is His Word not, first of all, a Hammer that crushes you by exposing your sins and condemning them as wrong?</p><p>His Word is such a fierce Fire and a strong Hammer that pounds away, not because He delights in hurt, but because the way of sin is deadly and damnable, and because the way of Life with God is altogether different than that. So, His Law is fierce, and it is relentless; and the One who is your fierce Friend becomes your fiercest Foe in causing His Word to be preached to you without pulling any punches — <b><i>until</i></b> the Lord accomplishes the purposes of His heart for you in Christ Jesus.</p><p>So, for example, in the midst of Jeremiah’s strong Word of condemnation against the people of Jerusalem who did not listen to the Lord their God, who persisted in their sins, who were prideful and presumptuous and worshiped false gods — in the midst of his strong Word against the “prophets” who ran though God did not send them, who spoke according to their own hearts instead of His — the Prophet Jeremiah also speaks of the Gospel when he says, “The Lord’s wrath and anger will not be set aside until the Lord has accomplished the purposes of His heart.”</p><p>The thing is that, even when He is at His fiercest, and even when He is most ferocious with you, as though He were the roaring lion who would consume you — even then, the Lord purposes to save you by His grace in Christ Jesus, to give you Life with Him. The purposes of His heart are deep divine Love, tender mercy and compassion, forgiveness of sins, and reconciliation with Him.</p><p>It is true that God is fiercely loyal. And it is true that, as you live and abide in Christ Jesus, your sins will not be able to separate you from the Love of God, because He has atoned for them and forgives them. But do not imagine that God ever takes your sin lightly. And do not suppose that your sin is ever harmless, or that it does not cause great damage to you and to your neighbors.</p><p>No, the Lord your God is relentless and ferocious, <b><i>until</i></b> He has accomplished His purposes for you in Christ Jesus. So, what is it, then, that Christ has come to do?</p><p>He has not come to bring “peace on earth.” On the contrary, He comes with a sharp, two-edged Sword, whereby He divides and conquers. He does come to establish Peace with God. But Peace with God results in alienation with the sinful world; to be reconciled with God in Christ Jesus is to be turned away from your sin, the enticements of the devil, and the allurements of your flesh.</p><p>It is like that Pillar of Cloud by day and Pillar of Fire by night, by which God led the sons of Israel out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and across the wilderness, until at last, through the waters of the Jordan, He brought them into Canaan as He had promised. That Cloud and Fire were the very Glory of God in the midst of His people, which divided and separated Israel from Egypt, and so cut off the Egyptians from pursuing Israel, coming between the people of God and their enemies, Pharaoh with all his horses and chariots. And that same divine Glory of God in Christ Jesus is set between you and your own self, between even your bones and marrow, dividing between the flesh and the spirit, between your body and soul, and at times between you and your family and friends.</p><p>It’s not as though God desires to break apart families. Indeed, He calls you and commands you to love your spouse, to love your children, to love and honor your parents; to love your neighbor; to love even your enemies, and to pray for those who persecute you. But He does also call you to separate yourself from unbelievers, to turn both your heart and your body away from false gods and idols, and to turn your heart, mind, eyes, and hands away from that which is your neighbor’s.</p><p>Likewise, the same Pillar of Cloud and Fire that leads you out of captivity into freedom, through the desert into the Promised Land, also separates you from Egypt — from all the sinful lusts and desires of your fallen flesh, and from all the sinful pursuits of your heart, mind, body, and soul.</p><p>Christ brings that division — for you and in you — by the way of His own Cross, which is both Law and Gospel, unto repentance and faith in His forgiveness of sins. Indeed, the death of Christ Jesus is your repentance, whereby you die with Him, that you might also rise and live with Him.</p><p>The Cross of Christ is both Law and Gospel, because it is in His Body on the Cross that you see the wrath and anger of God poured out against the sins of the world, including all of your sins.</p><p>There you see the Law of God fulfilled in the condemnation and punishment of sin, but so also in the faith and love of Christ Jesus, who willingly bears such wrath and anger against Himself in love for you and for all people, in the sure and certain confidence that His Father will raise Him.</p><p>That is the Redemption, the Reconciliation, and the Righteousness of God for you in Christ Jesus. And it is for the sake of that precious Holy Gospel that God’s Law is so fierce, and for the sake of that Gospel that the Lord Jesus comes with such Fire and Brimstone, Thunder and Lightning.</p><p>He comes “to cast Fire upon the earth,” but He kindles it, first of all, in His own Body of flesh and blood, by the way of His Cross and Passion. And it is from that accomplished fact of His atoning Sacrifice that He casts Fire upon the earth by the preaching of repentance, whereby He calls you to contrition, to sorrow over your sins, to regret them as very great indeed, and to flee from them to newness of Life in Him. And by the fire of repentance, kindled in you by His Word and Holy Spirit, He cleanses you within and without, as gold and silver are cleansed and purified by fire.</p><p>He casts the Fire of His Spirit upon the earth, in order to work repentance and faith within you by His grace. It is to that end that He has first of all kindled that Fire in Himself, beginning with His Baptism in the waters of the Jordan River. There He submitted Himself to St. John’s preaching and Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He submerged Himself in the water, taking all your sins, your death, and your damnation upon Himself, and then bearing it all in His Body over the next three years, until His Baptism was finally completed in His death upon the Cross.</p><p>And then, just as He had emerged and risen from the waters of the Jordan, and the heavens were opened, and the Father spoke, and the Spirit descended in bodily form as a dove, so did Christ Jesus also emerge from the tomb, arise from the dust of the ground, ascend into heaven, to the Right Hand of His Father, and pour out His Holy Spirit generously upon His Church on earth.</p><p>So, when you see the Cloud of His Cross rising in the west, in the domain of darkness where the sun has set, and you hear the south wind blowing that hot wind, the preaching of repentance, which shatters rocks and levels mountains, then analyze the present time and consider what this means.</p><p>Heed the preaching of repentance, and return to the significance of your Baptism into Christ Jesus. Die to yourself, to your sins, and to the sinful world around you, and live unto God by faith in Him.</p><p>Turn away from your sins, knowing that all sin is contrary to the Will of the Lord. Turn away from your grudges and your pettiness. Turn away from all those false gods and idols that consume so much of your attention and affections. Turn away from your anger. Turn away from your despair.</p><p>But do not turn away from your neighbors. Rather, where you have neglected them, repent of your sin and return to the Lord your God by loving and serving your neighbors in peace. If you have withheld your heart from your spouse, then trust Christ and open your heart to your wife or your husband in love. If your children have been disobedient and disrespectful, teach them obedience by your example, and teach them respect by the humility of your own repentance before God.</p><p>If you have not honored your parents, if you have not loved and cherished them and given thanks to God for your father and mother, then turn away from your sin and toward your parents in love.</p><p>Where you have lusted, repent and change your ways. Avert your eyes. Discipline your heart and your flesh. Pray, and meditate upon the Word of God. Where you have spent money recklessly, stop, and give alms to the Church and to your neighbor in his need. And where you have been gluttonous or a drunkard, fast and pray, and exercise restraint. Give your mouth to speak the Gospel and your hands to serve your neighbor. And flee with your feet away from sin to do good.</p><p>And as you work to do all of these things, and you come up against the brick wall of your inability to make yourself righteous, realize that, while you can and should discipline your outward actions, you remain sinful from the inside-out. And then fix your eyes on Jesus, and consider Him who has endured such hostility against Himself, and remember that for the joy set before Him He endured the Cross and did not consider the shame to be any deterrent, but gave Himself for you and for all.</p><p>Consider the example He has left for you to follow in His steps. Consider how He turned the other cheek, how He bared His back to those who struck Him, how He forgave those who sinned against Him, how He did good and not evil. But more than His example, see in His Cross the Gospel. See the fulfillment of the Law, the satisfaction of its punishments. See your reconciliation with God.</p><p>And do analyze the time, that it is growing short. You know how to plan and consider for tomorrow. You know how to find out what your work or school schedule is going to be. You can check and see what the weather will be like. You know how to tell when your car needs gas. And you can read your neighbor to know when he’s about to blow a gasket, or when he needs a helping hand.</p><p>So also, analyze the present time, and consider the signs of Christ. Look to the Cross, which is set before your eyes, that you might know the seriousness of sin, but also the greatness of God’s Love, His mercy and compassion, His Atonement and forgiveness. Consider the signs to know that God is with you, the Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night that are set before you in Holy Baptism, and in the preaching of the Gospel, and in the Holy Absolution of all your sins. And consider the death of Christ until He comes, who actually gives you His Body to eat and His Blood for you to drink. In these you know the heart of God, your fierce Friend who is the fierce Foe of all your enemies, who deals with you by grace and calls you away from sin and death to Himself.</p><p>If the Hammer of God’s Law crushes you, then know that there upon the Cross the Son of God was crushed into the dust on account of your transgressions; so that, in raising the same Christ Jesus from the dead, God might again form Man from the dust of the ground in His Image and Likeness, and breathe into Him the Breath of Life — and so also raise you from death to Life in Him.</p><p>When the Law weighs heavy upon you, trust Christ and live. Listen to His Word, pray according to His Promise, confess your sins and be forgiven, and receive the Gifts He so freely gives to you; for here is the Cloud by day, the Fire by night, and the Life-giving Wind of the Holy Spirit — here in the Cross of Christ Jesus, your Savior — that you should not perish but live forever and ever.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-8592850864960632342022-08-07T09:00:00.001-04:002022-08-07T21:31:13.776-04:00The Lord Jesus Is Faithful in All Things for Your Salvation<p>Dear little lamb of Jesus, have no fear! Although you are small and weak, beleaguered, and mortal, you are more valuable to Christ Jesus than birds and flowers, more precious to Him than the ravens and the grass. Has He not redeemed you for Himself, purchased and won you with His own lifeblood? And has He not made His God and Father your own dear God and Father? Yes, indeed, this is most certainly true. So, then, your Father shall not only feed you and clothe you, as He does for the rest of all His creatures, but He has gladly chosen to give you His Kingdom.</p><p>Do the work that He has given you to do, even as the birds live and the flowers grow. Do your work faithfully, but do it in love for God and your neighbor, and not as though your life depended on it. And do not work to get treasures for yourself on earth, which will not last but perish.</p><p>Whatever God places into your hands, extend to your neighbor in mercy, in the confidence that God will surely continue to feed and clothe you according to His gracious providence. He knows your needs, and He well provides them. Be content, therefore, with the food and clothing that He gives to you by His charity — for you are worthy of none of those things, and yet, He gives them to you by His grace alone. And you, in turn, feed and clothe Christ Jesus in your neighbor’s need.</p><p>Do not seek and strive after food and drink and clothing for this body and life. Do not make that labor your righteousness, and do not make those temporal goods your treasure and your god.</p><p>But do seek the Kingdom of the one true God in Christ Jesus. Not by work and worry, but by faith in the Gospel — in the clothing of Christ, with which He has clothed you in Holy Baptism, and in the Food and Drink of Christ, as you recline and rest here at His Table where He serves you.</p><p>Fix your heart and mind, your eyes and ears, your body, soul, and spirit on Him. For the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, is your true and lasting Treasure — an unfailing Treasure in heaven — who has come down to earth for you and freely gives Himself to you here and now.</p><p>As He has done so, and as He continues to do so within His Church — and as the Father has not withheld His only-begotten and well-beloved Son from you, but has given Him for you — have no fear, but know that the true and only God gives Himself and all good things to you in Christ.</p><p>Though you do not yet see Him with your eyes, behold Him by faith in the Gospel, in His means of grace and forgiveness, and trust His great mercy and salvation. You will not be disappointed.</p><p>Do not worry about what you will wear, but be dressed in readiness for Christ the Lord, clothed in His righteousness by His grace. And keep your lamps lit, your loins girded, knowing that His Passover is at hand, the Sacrifice of His Body and Life having been offered once-for-all.</p><p>Do not worry about what you will eat or drink, but recline here at your Master’s Table, where He comes and girds Himself to serve you. Here He washes your dirty feet and waits on you in love. Here He is not only your Host, but your Waiter and your Meal, your Meat and Drink indeed.</p><p>Like a Thief in the night He comes, by the way and the means of His Cross, with the Fruits of His Cross, given and poured out for you, the Body and Blood of this true Lamb of God who was slain for your Salvation. “See, His Blood now marks our door; faith looks to it, death passes o’er.”</p><p>Pharaoh is undone. Egypt is plundered. Even Satan, strong though he be, is bound and cast out.</p><p>For here is the true Solomon, the Son of David, the King of Righteousness, the King of Peace. And not only that, but He is your great and merciful High Priest forever, who brings in bread and wine, who blesses God and blesses you, and who feeds you such a great Feast that you could never have imagined. Neither could all your work and worry ever spread such a Table as this one, which Christ has prepared for you by His own Cross and Passion.</p><p>Here is the true and promised Seed of Abraham, in whom all the promises of God are fulfilled, by whom all the nations of the world are blessed, by whose righteousness you are made righteous, being justified by His grace through faith in His Gospel.</p><p>So, then, do not be afraid.</p><p>Though you have been fearful, He has been steadfast. Though you may yet be terrified, He has already prevailed for you and for all; and for you and for all He remains, forever and forevermore.</p><p>Though you have been anxious and worried about many things, He has been faithful in all things — in your stead and on your behalf. And He is still faithful. All that He has promised, He does, and He will do — for you and your salvation.</p><p>Though you have not been watching, waiting, and alert, He has been ready, willing, and able at all hours of the day and night. From the rising of the sun even to its going down, and through all the watches of the night, He is and ever has been vigilant in His care for you, just as He has gone to the Cross for you, and risen from the dead for you, and ever lives to make intercession for you, and reigns over you in love for all eternity.</p><p>This greater Solomon — in all His Glory — has fasted and gone without food for His Body; for His food is to do the Will of His Father, and He has hungered for His Father’s Kingdom and His Father’s Righteousness, in order that you might be fed in His Peace.</p><p>This greater Solomon — in all His Glory — has thirsted, even unto death, that He might pour out the living Water of His Holy Spirit generously upon you, and cleanse you and quench your thirst with the Life-giving River of holy Water and royal Blood from His open heart and wounded side.</p><p>And, dearly-beloved child of God, as the Lord Jesus has opened His heart to you, know that you are His treasure, and He is now and ever with you where you are.</p><p>This greater Solomon — in all His Glory — has gone naked in open public shame, that He might clothe you with His garments of divine Sonship and eternal Salvation.</p><p>Listen to His Word, and take to heart what He says and promises: Christ Jesus has come, and He has opened the door to you. Here within His Holy House, He has girded Himself to serve you. So, recline here at His Table, and receive what you did not expect: Food from His hand. Drink from His Cup. Life from His death. Perfect Peace, instead of endless worries and frustrations. Safety from all that has frightened you and hounded you. Sabbath Rest from all your labors.</p><p>Here is your true Fatherland, the Country you’ve been waiting for. Here is the City of the living God, and here is your Father’s House, whose Architect and Builder is Christ Jesus, your Savior, to whom be all the glory, honor, worship, and thanksgiving, now and forever.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-39982708025669975062022-07-31T09:00:00.001-04:002022-07-31T09:00:00.206-04:00Dying to Live with Christ Jesus<p>The Law of God is not a comfortable or comforting word, though many people try to use the Law to get comfort for themselves. The Law of God does not really work that way. It exposes your sin by telling you to stop doing what you’re doing. And it exposes your weaknesses, your frailties and faults, by commanding you to do things you haven’t been doing and really don’t want to do.</p><p>By way of example, St. Paul defines greed as “idolatry.” He mentions a number of other sins that could lead you to suppose that he’s focused especially on the Sixth Commandment. He refers to impurity, evil desires, and passion. And maybe such things strike to the heart of your behavior; or maybe those particular commands make you think of those “other” people who are like that.</p><p>But then the Apostle goes on to say that your greed is idolatry, and with that he mows you down. It’s not just sexual lust, but covetous desire for your neighbor’s property and possessions, position and power and popularity — for all those things that you suppose would make your life happy and easy — all of that coveting in your heart and mind, thoughts and feelings, is damnable idolatry.</p><p>The truth is that you do break the Sixth Commandment in your heart and mind, even if not with your body. But it’s also the case that you break the First Commandment, first of all, and the Ninth and Tenth Commandments on a daily basis, and really all of the Commandments, the entire Law of God. There is no one who is righteous. No, not one, and not you You do not do what God commands, but you continue doing what He forbids.</p><p>But your idolatry, your covetous lust and greed are not only sinful; they are foolish and deadly. When you make a god out of money, out of flesh, out of food and drink, out of sleep, popularity, entertainment, hard work, or even your family, then you have made for yourself a god who cannot save you, a god who cannot give you life, a false god which is itself perishing and passing away.</p><p>To put your faith in such false gods — to live by such idolatry — will drive you to despair, and you will find no rest, not even at night. Your heart and mind will churn, perhaps your stomach, also. Even when you sleep, whether you dream or not, you will not get the rest that you need and long for; for day and night you are hounded by the Law of God and the devil’s accusations, by the wicked desires of your own old Adam, and by the enticing temptations of the world around you.</p><p>When you are driven by such faith in false gods, when you live by such idolatry, then your work is painful and grievous, even when it is good and right in itself. When you are driven by idolatry, then loving your spouse is painful and grievous, and honoring your parents is painful and grievous, and caring for your children is painful and grievous. Doing your job, paying your taxes, mowing the lawn, helping your neighbor, even listening to the Word of God — it’s all painful and grievous, and you find no joy or satisfaction in any of it, because your heart languishes without the true God.</p><p>It’s all striving after the wind, and see how much good that does you. You can’t catch it in your hand or put it in a bucket. Whatever you do gain is vanity — futile, empty, and chaotic at best.</p><p>Neither your labors nor the fruits of your labors can save you. It doesn’t matter how much you make, it doesn’t matter how much you save or spend, it doesn’t matter how big your barns are or how much you put in them. It’s all going to perish, every bit of it. None of it will last.</p><p>Ironically, though, much of that perishing stuff will outlast you; and when you die, it will go to someone else — maybe a friend, maybe a child, maybe a complete stranger. It may well be that some of the things you have prized so highly will be discarded as junk. Things you thought were so important, nobody else will care about. And things you worked so hard to get, someone else will take for granted, or give away without a second thought, or leave to get dusy in a closet.</p><p>Your stuff won’t save you. You can’t get life for yourself. It’s foolish and futile to try.</p><p>But real Wisdom — which begins and continues in the fear of the Lord — and the knowledge of God, and the joy and peace that surpass all human understanding, and real Life with God, now and forever — all of that Wisdom and knowledge and joy and Life are found in the death of Jesus.</p><p>The fallen world will never understand this. If you get it, thank God the Holy Spirit that you do, because your old Adam would never understand this, either. If you truly understand and believe that Life is found in the death of Christ, praise God the Holy Spirit, and Christ Himself be praised.</p><p>Whether you realize it or not, real Life — divine, eternal Life — is found in the death of Christ Jesus. It’s not a life for which you have to strive and struggle or work and scheme. In fact, you cannot get it for yourself. Yet, it is given to you freely, without measure, poured out generously into your heart and your hands, into your ears and your mouth, into your body and your soul.</p><p>Life is found in the death of Christ, and the death of Christ is found in the waters of Holy Baptism — in which you and all the baptized drown and die and rise and live with Christ Jesus, our Lord.</p><p>That is where real Life is found: Life for today and tomorrow, for this whole week and month, for this whole coming year, and forever. It’s found in the waters of your Holy Baptism, where you were crucified, put to death, and buried with Christ Jesus — where everything you are and have, all that you know, and whatever you have tried to do and accomplish has all been put to death.</p><p>It is by dying with Christ Jesus — by your Baptism in His Name, and by daily repentance in the ongoing significance of your Baptism — that you are raised up to live by faith in His forgiveness, in His Resurrection and His Righteousness, credited to you by grace through faith in Him. For Life is found in the Fruits of His hard labor, in the sweat of His brow and the produce of His hands, as He has worked the land and cultivated the soil by laying down His Life in death and returning to the dust of the earth, sanctifying your grave with His own Body, and then rising from the dead.</p><p>He has ransomed your life with His own. So, you’re already bought and paid for. Everything is done. It’s not on a credit card, it’s not even on layaway. He’s already bought and paid for your Life with God forever. He has ransomed and redeemed you from death and the grave with His own Body and Life, with own His holy and precious Blood, and with His innocent suffering and death.</p><p>Here is a Rich Man who does not build bigger barns so that He can lounge by the pool and party with margaritas. Here is a Rich Man who has poured Himself out and given up everything, so that you, a poor, miserable sinner, can live with Him and not die forever.</p><p>So, when your idolatry, your greed and lust and selfishness, your covetous desire, your laziness, and your neglect drive you to despair, go ahead and finish the job and put to death the members of your earthly body. Deprive yourself of what you want, and cling to what Christ Jesus gives. Let yourself die to yourself, to the world, and to your sin, in order that you may live with God.</p><p>Put the members of your earthly body to death, as St. Paul writes, not by suicide, but by the Word and Spirit of God, by contrition and repentance, by examining yourself and confessing your sins. Let go of your sinful desires, that you might receive and cling to the Gospel of Life in Christ Jesus.</p><p>If you would be your own shepherd and foolishly trust in your own words and your own works, in your own thoughts and ideas, in your own efforts and striving — which can only ever lay hold of empty wind — then, says the Psalmist, you are destined to die; your “shepherd” is death.</p><p>But here you have a better Shepherd, a Good Shepherd, Christ the Lord, who has laid down His Life for you and for all. He has given Himself over to death for the sake of His lost and wandering sheep, in order to regather them to Himself in safety, to let them graze on the mountains of Israel, to give them rest near peaceful waters, and to feed them at His Table as dear daughters and sons.</p><p>The dear Lord Jesus Christ is your Good Shepherd, and He is rich toward God in His love for you. In faith and in righteousness, He has given Himself a Ransom for many. He has laid down His Life, but He has also taken it up again by faith in His Father. So has He received all authority to forgive your sins, to raise you up from death and the grave, and to bring you into everlasting Life.</p><p>As He shall raise you from your tomb on that great and final Day, so does He now take you out of the bed you have made for yourself — the bed in which you cannot sleep but only toss and turn — and He lays you gently on His soft bed, on the perfect pillow of His grace. He covers you with His Righteousness, and He tucks you in with His forgiveness. And He sings your cradle song each night, as His holy angels stand round about you on all sides, and you are guarded from every evil. The wicked foe can have no power over you, because you are Christ’s, and He is yours forever.</p><p>It really does not matter how much money you have. And it really does not matter how great your life on earth might be. It only matters that you belong to the One who has died and been raised; for in Him you also have died and are raised.</p><p>Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have already died, and your Life is hidden with Christ in God. It happened in your Baptism, and it remains the truth, now and forever. It is clarified and confirmed each time that uncomfortable Word of the Law crushes you and stabs you and puts you to death, and then the sweet Gospel comes in and says, “I forgive you.”</p><p>“I forgive you,” says the Lord, your Savior and your God. “Everything you have done wrong, and all that you have failed to do — whatever you have screwed up royally — I forgive you. You shall not die. You’ve already died with Me in the waters of your Baptism, and as I live, so do you live.”</p><p>As you go about your days, as you live and love, as you work and play, even right here on earth, your Life is hidden with Christ in God. You are hidden with Christ in God. And you are safe.</p><p>Consider what an astounding difference that makes, as you go about doing whatever you’re given to do — as you go to work and do your job, as you stay home and take care of your children, as you go next door to help your neighbor, as you mow the lawn or watch a movie, as you go to the store, ride your bike, snuggle your babies, or read a book. Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, or whatever it is, you do it to the glory of God because you abide with God in Christ Jesus.</p><p>You live within your vocations, and they are not painful and grievous; they’re a light and easy burden, even though it is a Cross that you bear, because Christ has borne that Cross on your behalf. You love your spouse, care for your children, honor your parents, do your job, and live out your days in this fallen and perishing world; and it’s not all “painful and grievous,” because Christ is risen, and He rejoices over you in love, and you are well-pleasing to your Father in heaven.</p><p>Christ the Lord rejoices in you, and you are beloved and well-pleasing in God’s sight; for He sees in you what you do not yet see. God the Father beholds you in love, and He sees in you the Perfect Righteousness, Holiness, Innocence, and Blessedness of His beloved Son, Christ Jesus.</p><p>So, you are good in God’s sight. You do not have to strive or work for righteousness or riches. You don’t have to, because everything is already yours. You work for the sake of love. And as you receive good gifts from the hand of God, as you eat and drink what He provides for body and soul, you enjoy your Life, and you rest in the Peace of Christ, who forgives you all of your sins.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-6746165975777994352022-07-25T18:30:00.001-04:002022-07-25T18:30:00.203-04:00To Live with Him in His Kingdom<p>What is it that you want the Lord Jesus to do for you? What greatness and what glory do you hope to receive from Him and share with Him? And what do you suppose that would be like?</p><p>When you pour out the deepest longings of your heart, what is it that you pray for? What is it that you ask the dear Lord Jesus to do for you or give to you? Do you want to have more friends? To be popular and in demand? To be admired and respected? Or do you long for comfort and care and relief from whatever it is that has you trapped and afraid? Or security and stability, so that you don’t have to keep working so hard to hold it all together, just to keep going from one day to the next? Is it happiness that you’re after? Some kind of heaven on earth? A life worth living?</p><p>The truth of the matter is that Jesus, the Son of Man, who is the incarnate Son of God, the Lord’s Anointed, the very King of heaven — He has come in love to serve you, to give you nothing less than Himself — to give His Body and Life for you — and with that, to give you all good things.</p><p>He does not lord it over you, but He makes Himself your Servant, even a Slave on your behalf. He exercises His almighty power in His compassion for you, in showing mercy toward you. He uses His authority in heaven and on earth to forgive you all your sins; and with that forgiveness He gives you everlasting Life and eternal Salvation, divine Sonship, and a place in His Kingdom.</p><p>You do not understand. But He does it for you anyway.</p><p>You do not deserve or merit any of this. But He does it all for you by grace, for His Love’s sake.</p><p>This is the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ, which is His Greatness and His Glory. He voluntarily takes His place and His position on the Cross, centered between two thieves, one on His right, the other on His left. That is where and how He becomes the first of many brethren, including you. That is where and how He obtains all good things for you; for He takes your place under the Law, and He fully bears the curse of your sin and death, in order to give you a place with Himself in the Kingdom of His God and Father. He gives Himself for you, and He withholds nothing from you.</p><p>It’s all yours, for free, for the asking, and even before you ask. Take it and live, for Jesus’ sake.</p><p>And then what? Everything is yours: What are you going to do with it? How shall you live?</p><p>Shall you live with Jesus in the Kingdom of His Cross? Or will you go your own way, in the hope that something better comes along? Where will you go? What will you do? Will you throw your hat in the ring with the gentiles? Or will you die with Jesus, in order to live with Him by grace?</p><p>As you consider the glorious company of the holy Apostles and the sainted Martyrs of this Lord Jesus Christ — St. James the Elder prominent among them, especially on this festival day — learn from them to fix your eyes on Jesus, come hell or high water against you.</p><p>Do not look to your left or your right to see how it’s going with your neighbor. Christ has given Himself for your neighbor, too; and by the Gospel He gives all good things to your neighbor, as well, and a place in His Kingdom, purchased and won at the cost of His own Life. That it is how it is with your neighbor — and all of it for Jesus’ sake, who is also with you and for you in love.</p><p>But the particular place that has been given to your neighbor is different than yours — a different chair at the table, a different cross to bear, a different crown of glory.</p><p>Do not be indignant with your neighbor, neither for his sin, nor for his faith and life. And do not be angry with your Lord, either, for giving your neighbor what He has not given to you.</p><p>As you are a citizen of His Kingdom, do not live as a citizen of this sinful world with its petty jealousies. Do not compete with your neighbor, nor seek to get the better of him. Rather, for the sake of love, serve your neighbor as Christ Jesus loves and serves both you and your neighbor.</p><p>How so? By patiently suffering hurt, hostility, and insult, without any anger or vengeance, without bitterness or resentment. By forgiving your neighbor his trespasses against you. And by helping your neighbor to bear his burdens, without begrudging or coveting your neighbor’s blessings.</p><p>Let there be no jealousy among you, but only love. Let there be no competing or contesting for greatness or glory, but glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and His Cross by outdoing one another in humility, grace, and compassion.</p><p>Do you want to be great? Then serve. Be great at serving, the very best at doing unto others as you would have done to you. Do you want to be number one, the gold-medal champion? Then become the humble and willing slave of all the rest. Be the number one servant. Be like your Lord Jesus. Dedicate your whole life, your every breath, your blood, sweat, and tears, to serving your neighbors. Hold nothing back, and show no partiality or prejudice. Love even your enemies, as the Lord has commanded you. Forgive those who trespass against you, and gladly do good to those who hate you and hurt you. Bless those who curse you; bless, and do not curse. Take up the Cross. Bend your neck to the sword. Give your body to be beaten, bruised, and buried.</p><p>Are you able to do all this? The answer actually is, Yes. But not by your own reason or strength.</p><p>What do you have that you have not been given? What good shall you do that is not done for you? How shall you love and serve for Jesus’ sake, except that He has come in love to serve you and to give His Life for you? How is it that you share His Baptism and drink His Cup, except that He has been baptized for you, even unto death upon the Cross, and that He has drained the Cup to the very dregs in fulfillment of all righteousness.</p><p>It is by your Baptism into Christ Jesus that you do share His Cross and Passion, His innocent suffering, death, and burial, His Resurrection and His Life, His Righteousness, and His Glory.</p><p>With His Baptism He has taken your place, so that your Baptism has given you His place. His faithfulness is credited to you, and it becomes yours through faith in Him. So, too, His humility and His obedience are yours. His service and His greatness — it is all made yours by His grace.</p><p>So are you likewise given His Cup to drink, not for wrath and woe but unto Salvation. And more than that, you are given His Body to eat for the forgiveness of your sins. The very Flesh that bore your sins upon the Cross, the holy and precious Blood that atoned for your unrighteousness — these are given to you at the Lord’s own Table. He surrounds you on the right hand and on the left, and He gives to you the place of honor, that He may serve you and give Himself to you in love.</p><p>The bitter cup of wrath and woe He has made sweet by His bloody Cross and Passion. The poison in that cup — the righteous wrath and judgment of God against all the sins of the world, including all of your sins, and the punishment of sin with death and damnation — that poison Jesus has swallowed and consumed, every drop of it; so that His Cup has become for you the New Testament in His Blood, which is poured out for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of all your sins.</p><p>As He shed His Blood to fill that Chalice from His Cross, and as He poured it out for His disciples, for James and John and the other ten, for each of them to drink from His own hand, so did He send them to give that Cup to His Church — to give that Cup to you — and to give His Body to be eaten — for the granting of eternal Life; that you might be His own, and live with Him in His Kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even forever and ever.</p><p>St. James poured out that Cup, not only as an Apostle and a Minister of the Sacrament, but as a Martyr of the Lord Jesus Christ, as a lamb to be slaughtered in a Passover like that of his King.</p><p>You are given to drink that same Cup of Blessing and Salvation. It is filled from the Cross, and those who drink it bear the Cross of Christ, as do each and all of those who share His Baptism. Whether that will mean for you the sword, or poison, or prison, or fire, or lions, or simply the weight of daily service in your own callings, the Cup of Christ is your Glory and your Life.</p><p>Take it, and live. It’s all yours, for Jesus’ sake. And nothing in heaven or on earth shall be able to sever you from Him, who loves you without end.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-86133139408442956212022-07-24T09:00:00.003-04:002022-07-24T09:00:00.215-04:00The Lord Jesus Teaches You to Pray<p>You are able to pray, and you do, because the Lord your God has chosen to communicate with you, and He has thereby established a relationship with you, inviting you to call on Him as your Dad. It all hinges on the fact that He has called you to be His own, and He has named you His own dear child — in the circumcision made without hands, that is, by your Holy Baptism into Christ Jesus.</p><p>As a newborn infant is held safely in the arms of his parents, sheltered in their home, protected by their constant attention, fed and clothed, washed and cared for, so are you held, safe and secure, in your Father’s hand. Before you have ever learned to know your need or even how to ask for any help (or anything at all), while you are still so oblivious to His providential care, He is already meeting all your needs and preserving the life that He Himself gives to you in body and soul.</p><p>But as you are then growing up and learning to live as His child, as a member of the household and family of God, He also teaches you to pray — to say “please” and “thank you,” so to speak. It’s more than a mere formality or simple politeness; He is catechizing you in the way of faith and love, in the rhythm of family life. He would have you know and trust, more and more, what He is like, and to become more and more like Him in the way that you think and speak and act, in the way that you live in relation to Him and with others. He would have His sons grow up to be men after His own heart, and His daughters to become women like His Bride, the Church, the Mother of us all.</p><p>So your Father in heaven speaks to you and deals with you in love, and He bestows His Holy Spirit upon you by His grace through the Ministry of the Gospel of His incarnate Son. For it is in the Word and work of Christ Jesus, the promised Seed of Abraham, in His own Body of flesh and blood, that you know your God and Father and learn to love and trust in Him.</p><p>You have heard it already in the case of father Abraham. When he was a stranger in a pagan land, the Lord God called him, and led him, and brought him to the Land of Promise. He named him the father of many nations, when that man was already old and still childless. And the Lord swore an oath to that old man, that He would be with him and bless him, and that all the nations would be saved by and through his Seed. By the Covenant of Circumcision the Lord God Almighty actually bound Himself to Abraham’s flesh, and sealed His promise in Abraham’s body, eventually to be fulfilled in the Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ. By the Spirit of the Lord, Abraham believed the Word and promises of God, and by such faith he was accounted righteous.</p><p>All of this the Lord has already accomplished in calling Abraham to Himself, when He then also chooses to reveal to Abraham His plans for Sodom and Gomorrah. See, He has made Abraham His own beloved child by faith, but here He also invites the man into the intimacy of friendship; more than that, He catechizes Abraham in what it means to be a father. By Word and example, the Lord prepares the old man to become the patriarch of His people (and the ancestor of His Christ).</p><p>To say it simply, the Lord leads Abraham to pray in the righteousness of faith and in the justice of love and mercy. In laying before him the intentions of His wrath against those wicked cities, He provides Abraham an opportunity to call upon His mercy, and thus to lay hold of Him according to the true heart of His almighty power, which is made known especially in grace and compassion.</p><p>Abraham does so with humility and reverence, in the fear of the Lord, to be sure; in repentance he knows himself to be dust and ashes. Yet, in the faith and knowledge of God’s forgiveness, trusting His Word and promises, and responding to the friendship that God has shown to him, Abraham prays and intercedes for Sodom and Gomorrah with an almost brazen boldness and courageous confidence. In the righteousness of faith, he appeals to the righteousness of God. In doing so, he demonstrates a profound understanding, that God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked, but will rather spare the wicked for the sake of the righteous.</p><p>Like a little child asking his father for good things, always eager for more in the certainty of Dad’s generosity, Abraham is not shy about asking — and even continuing to push for more. Except that Abraham does not appeal for himself, nor only for his nephew Lot and his family, but he intercedes for the entire population of those evil cities. It’s not that he condones or defends their wickedness — he does not — but he pleads that God would be patient, and preserve the righteous remnant, and spare the rest of the people on account of the few righteous among them.</p><p>This is not simply how Abraham happens to pray, but this is how he believes in God, how he exercises his faith in the promises of God, and how he lives in the confidence and expectation of God’s faithfulness and grace. And with such prayer he will likewise teach his children to know and love the Lord their God, to worship Him in repentant faith, and to live in the sure and certain hope of His mercy and forgiveness. It is specifically for the sake of such catechesis of his children and descendants that God here catechizes Abraham by opening Himself up to the man.</p><p>This is what fathers do for their children. They teach them how to pray, and thereby teach them to know God rightly, to love and trust in Him, and to live in love for other people, too. Along with all the other things a father teaches and does for his children, nothing else is more fundamental and important than prayer. A father prays for his children and sets an example of prayer for them. He prays also for himself, because he lives by faith in his own God and Father. And he intercedes for others beyond the family, because he exercises love for the neighbor. Children learn from all of this, even as they learn to ask for and receive good things from their Dad.</p><p>So Abraham did for his family, for his descendants. And humanly speaking, you might consider, then, where and how the Lord Jesus first learned to pray, and how to pray, when He was a little Boy. Surely His parents taught Him with their words and by their example. Joseph and Mary of Nazareth, being faithful in their callings, as they had learned from their own fathers and mothers, catechized and taught their Son from the Holy Scriptures. So did Jesus learn to pray from the Word of God in their home, in the synagogue, and at the Temple in Jerusalem.</p><p>Now, then, in much the same way, the Lord Jesus teaches His own household and family to pray. As the incarnate Son of God, a Man after His Father’s heart, He is a faithful Husband and Father to His Church. And that means that, not only does He protect and provide for His people, but He also teaches them to live by faith, to live in love, to call upon Him, and to call upon the Father in His Name, to pray and petition, to praise and give thanks. So does He catechize you even now.</p><p>He urges you to pray with all boldness and confidence. That is the chief and central point to His two little Parables this morning. You should not be shy or hesitant in going to the Lord in every circumstance, whatever the time of day or night. You can count on Him to provide for your every need, so that you will lack for no good thing, neither for yourself nor for your neighbors. And you may ask Him with the confidence of a child seeking help from his or her Dad, except that He is not a sinful man but the gracious and merciful Lord, who is merciful to all who call upon Him.</p><p>Jesus not only urges you to pray — as elsewhere the Lord commands you to pray — but He also provides you with the very words by which to call upon the Father in His Name; and He promises that His Father will hear and answer your prayer. He will not ignore you. He will not deny your prayer or refuse to meet your needs. Neither will He give you evil things instead of good, but He will pour out His Life-giving Holy Spirit upon you, so that you do not perish but gain eternal Life.</p><p>The Our Father is more than information or instruction. With these Words the Lord God does for you as He did for Abraham. He initiates and establishes a relationship with you, an intimacy of friendship and familial love. He draws you into a fellowship of faith with Himself, and thereby also makes a place for you within the broad fellowship and family of His one, holy, catholic, and Apostolic Church. He teaches you to pray, not in lonely isolation, nor as a private individual, but within a community of brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, with one God and Father in heaven.</p><p>To pray in this way is to be and to live as a Christian, as a child of God, a disciple of Jesus. It is to actively rely upon the Lord your God for all that you need, for both your body and your soul, for this life and for the Life everlasting. It is to live by faith in His forgiveness, and therefore, also, to forgive those who sin against you. It is to eat from the open hand of God, and to open your hand in love to feed and care for your neighbor, for your own children and family, and for your fellow Christians, and even for the fellow who comes calling on you for help in the middle of the night.</p><p>As you pray, so do you believe, and so do you live. Or, so you should.</p><p>Where do the confidence and courage come from? Where are such faith and love to be found? How shall you pray as you ought, and how shall you live and love in harmony with such prayer?</p><p>The answer is found — and it is given to you — in the very One who teaches you to pray. Your boldness and confidence rest upon His generous love and gracious mercy toward you. Your faith resides in His faithfulness. As a child of God in Christ Jesus, you learn to rely upon your Father by way of His constant care for you, and from His compassion for you in all trial, fear, and need.</p><p>Jesus teaches all of this in teaching you to pray. But that is not all that He does. For one thing, He exemplifies the life of prayer in His own practice. Especially in St. Luke’s Holy Gospel, the Lord Jesus is often found praying; for He lives in perfect faith and perfect love, and so He persists in perfect prayer. That belongs, first of all, to His life as the true and perfect Man. But then it also belongs to His Office and Ministry as your merciful and great High Priest. It is still the case that He actively prays and intercedes for you, now and forever, at the Right Hand of the Father.</p><p>The Lord Jesus Christ, by His Cross and Passion, and in His Resurrection and Ascension, is not only the One who prays for you, but He Himself is your Voice of Prayer to the God and Father in heaven. As He is the Word of God to you, made Flesh and dwelling with you bodily in the Gospel, so is He also the divine Word that avails for you and speaks to the Father on your behalf. And He is also already the Father’s resounding “Yes” and “Amen” to all of your prayers and all of your needs. It is in Him, by His Ministry of the Gospel, that the Father gives to you the Holy Spirit.</p><p>For the sake of this one Righteous Man, Christ Jesus, the Lord God Almighty forgives you all your sins. He does not punish or destroy you, nor count your transgressions against you, nor withhold any good thing from you because of your sins. On the contrary, He rescues you from every evil of body and soul, saves you from sin and death, and reconciles you to Himself in Christ Jesus.</p><p>Along with His forgiveness of your sins He also feeds you with the Bread that you need. Bread for each day, yes, to nourish and support this body and life on earth. But also the Bread of eternal Life, the Bread which does not perish but preserves you in the imperishable Body of Jesus. Hence the connections that Christians have always made between our prayer for “Daily Bread” and the forgiveness of sins and the fellowship of the Lord’s Altar in the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus.</p><p>It is in the eating and drinking of these Holy Things — in this Bread and this Cup, which are given and poured out for you and for the many — that you are firmly bound to Christ, your Head, and that all of you are knit together as one Body in Him. Forgiven and forgiving, you eat and drink together with the Lord, and so also with each other in Him, unto faith and life forever.</p><p>Beloved in the Lord, as He so teaches you to live by faith in Him and in fervent love for family, friends, and neighbors, so, then, pray for one another. Pray that God’s Kingdom would come to all of us and all the world. And pray that He would take not His Holy Spirit from His Church on earth, but would continue to pour out the Spirit generously upon us through Jesus Christ our Lord.</p><p>The One who teaches you to pray is faithful, and He will do it. Not because of your resolve or perseverance, but for the sake of His own righteousness. For Christ has come, and He remains with you in peace and love. He has taken His stand with you, and as He has died for you and risen from the dead, He ever lives to make intercession for you. His prayer for you is signed and sealed with His holy and precious Blood, by His Cross and Passion, and in His Holy Communion. And His own Resurrection and Ascension are indeed the answer that your dear Father gives to you.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9048575444859487507.post-66865752854159320172022-07-22T18:00:00.001-04:002022-07-22T18:00:00.215-04:00An Excellent Wife the Lord Jesus Has Found in You<p>Mary Magdalene is a woman who fears the Lord, and He has risen up to praise her in the gates. Her children also rise up to bless her, and her works follow her to praise her, both day and night. For as St. Mary the Mother of God is both a living icon and a member of the Lord’s Holy Bride, the Church, so is St. Mary Magdalene. And as St. Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, is remembered wherever in the world the Gospel is preached — because she loved the Lord Jesus, listened to and learned from His Word, and anointed Him beforehand for His burial — so also is St. Mary Magdalene remembered with thanksgiving to God for her works of mercy and her witness to the Gospel of Christ Jesus, our Savior.</p><p>Her gratitude runs deep, and she loves Him greatly, because she was rescued from great evil, and she was forgiven much. Jesus cast out seven demons from this dear woman, saving her life and cleansing her in both body and soul. He had mercy upon her, called her to Himself, and gave her, not only another chance, but a brand new life here in time and hereafter in eternity. Thus did she become a true and faithful disciple, following the Lord Jesus throughout His Ministry on earth, listening and learning. In love she supported Him and His holy Apostles from her own means, because she recognized the value and importance of His Ministry, both for herself and for others.</p><p>She was there, then, to witness the defining events of the Gospel: the Cross and Passion of our Lord, His entombment, and His bodily Resurrection from the dead. In fact, St. Mary Magdalene is the first witness of our Lord’s Resurrection — not only of His empty tomb, but of His risen and glorified Body — and He Himself <i>sends</i> her to announce His Resurrection to the Apostles, to the very ones who would be sent to preach this Gospel to the ends of the earth. So she is “the apostle to the Apostles,” as the Eastern churches regard her; and if their feet are beautiful because they have gone out into all the world to preach the Gospel of peace, St. Mary Magdalene is likewise beautiful among the saints of God in Christ. She is adorned with His beauty and His glory, as a bride is adorned for her husband. And as we thus remember her and give thanks for her on this day, we honor Christ Jesus, our Savior and hers, and give all thanks and praise and glory to Him.</p><p>Everything we know about St. Mary Magdalene is bound up in and with her dear Lord Jesus. She received such excellent gifts and benefitted from His Ministry, and so she supported His Ministry with her whole life and all that she had. She shared in His Cross and Passion, not only by her presence as a witness, but also by Holy Baptism and daily repentance; and accordingly, not only did she witness His Resurrection from the dead, but she herself is raised up by it, in and with Him, to live before God in His righteousness and purity forever.</p><p>Dear child of God in Christ, the same is no less true for you, as well. Though you are not an eye-witness of His Cross and Resurrection, you are in fact baptized into those realities, so that you also die and rise with Christ Jesus through daily repentance and faith in His forgiveness of all your sins. Consider the great treasures of His grace, mercy, and peace, which are given to you by the Ministry of His Gospel. By these you have abundant life in Him and with Him, both now and forever. For He is your true and heavenly Bridegroom, who has sought you out and found you and called you by name to be a member of His Body and His Bride, the holy Christian Church.</p><p>How, then, shall your life be a witness of His Resurrection? How shall your words and actions testify that God has raised your dear Lord Jesus from the dead? With what means, and by what works, will you support His Ministry of the Gospel for your own sake and for your neighbor’s?</p><p>Everything about you, and all that you are and have, is bound up with Christ Jesus. For you are baptized in His Name. You have died with Him — by your Baptism into His death — and so it is that your life is now hidden with Him in the bosom of God the Father. Your temporary sojourn on earth, including your stewardship of whatever means the Lord in His mercy has entrusted to your use, is meaningful, significant, and holy, because you are taken up into Christ and His Gospel — through His Cross and Passion into His Resurrection and His Life everlasting</p><p>Do not try to cling to Him, therefore, in the dead and dying things of this world. Do not attempt to find Him and have Him for yourself in that which has only the appearance of beauty, while inwardly it is perishing. That sort of beauty is vain, and its charm is deceitful.</p><p>Trying to hang onto Jesus and His Life in the transitory familiarities of earth is futile and fatal.</p><p>The fact of the matter is that, apart from His Word and His Voice of the Gospel, you do not know where or how to find Him, nor are you at all able to find Him. You are still in the dark, and so you are confused and afraid, and you weep with sorrow. You seek comfort and security and answers to your questions from your mortal father, old Adam, although he is laid to rest in the tomb and remains there to rot and decay. And as you are so intent upon the dust and the dirt, you are unable to recognize the risen Lord Jesus. You do not know Him as He is.</p><p>But He is not that gardener, old Adam. He is the Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for the sheep — and takes it up again — that they may have abundant life in Him. He does for you and all His sheep as He did for dear Mary Magdalene: He calls you by name. He calls you with His sweet Voice of the Gospel — whereby He forgives you all your sins, casts out all your demons, heals all your diseases, and raises you from death to life. His Voice calls you and leads you and guides you to and from the quiet waters of your Baptism, through the lush green pastures of His Word, to the laden Table of His Altar in His Father’s House. There He has prepared a great Feast for you, and He pours out His overflowing Chalice, which is the New Testament in His Blood.</p><p>Now your heart sings for joy, because you know the Voice of your Good Shepherd. You recognize and respond to the tone and timbre of His Gospel with its persistent rhythm of mercy and kindness and its melody of forgiveness. You know, when He speaks, where He is to be found, where His Body is given and His Blood is poured out for you to eat and to drink. You know, when you hear His Voice, not only who He is and where He is, but who you are and where you are.</p><p>Beloved, not only are you a dear sheep of this Good Shepherd, but you are an excellent wife of this true and heavenly Bridegroom. O son or daughter of the King, you belong to His most holy Bride! With St. Mary Magdalene, with Mary of Bethany and Mary the Mother of God, with Peter and John and all the witnesses of the Resurrection, and with all the baptized in every time and place, you belong to the Wedding Party of the Lamb, and you are seated with Him at His Table. For He takes you to be His very own, to have and to hold forever, and all that is His, He shares with you.</p><p>He rises from the dead; therefore, you also rise. He ascends to the right hand of God, and you are seated with Him in the heavenly places. His God and Father is now your God and Father. And He has prepared a place for you with Him, where even now your life is hidden, safe and secure.</p><p>Not only has He called you by name to Himself, but He has also called you by His own Name. Even now that is your surety, your pledge, your guarantee, your down-payment, and your dowry, unto the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of your body and soul.</p><p>No longer are you in the dark, since Christ your Lord is risen from the dead. Even in the middle of the night, His Word is still a Lamp that does not go out, and by its light you rise up to eat and drink His Food from afar, and so to feed your neighbors in peace and love. You are clothed with His scarlet and His purple, that is, with the forgiveness of His holy and precious Blood, and with the dignity and strength of His own royal righteousness. Thus are you made strong, and thus are you able to strengthen your household and family, your neighbors and friends, and all your brothers and sisters in Christ. For as He speaks so sweetly to you with His Voice of the Gospel, He likewise opens your mouth to speak in wisdom and with kindness to others.</p><p>Were you to look at yourself and consider yourself, for now, you would see no such glory, but only a poor gardener of sin and death, waiting to die and to be buried. But listen now, and hear the Voice of your Bridegroom, who has risen from the dead for you, who blesses you and praises you according to His grace, mercy, and peace:</p><p>“Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all. For you are worth far more to Me than silver and gold, more than many rubies and fine jewels. Have I not sought you out and found you for Myself, and given Myself for you? Surely I have done so, and you are My own forever. Even in the gates of Hades I declare that you shall never perish but have abundant life in Me, and no one shall snatch you out of My hand. Rest assured that you shall not be put to shame, for I, the Lord, am your Refuge and Strength. Let not your heart be troubled; neither let it be afraid.</p><p>In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p>Rev. Rick Stuckwischhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664716292792101540noreply@blogger.com0