Jesus Has Chosen and Appointed You for Life with Him

The fact that you are here in the Lord’s House to worship Him this morning is no guarantee that you are walking in His Word. Your “worship” is no protection against the judgment of His Law. But if you would live, and not die, then do what He commands you.

Love one another. Worship Him in that way. Love one another. That is His Commandment. It is a solid summary of His Law — that, in love for the Lord your God, you love your neighbor as you love your own self, and you serve your neighbor with your whole body and your whole life.

So, then, what does that mean exactly? Where do you even begin, and how should you proceed?

It’s not a matter of your own choosing. It’s not a matter of deciding, “Okay, I’m willing to do this, I’m willing to do that.” It is a matter of where the Lord has chosen to appoint you. Wherever He has called you to be, wherever He has stationed you, that is where you are to live, and that is where you love your neighbor. That is where you serve the “other” whom the Lord has set before you.

Do so according to His Word, that is, according to His Commandments. You have especially the Ten Commandments, which clearly guide you in what you are to do, and in what you are not to do. His Commandments determine and define and describe what “love” is. That’s not an emotion in your heart, but to do good and not evil. Love gives good things and does no harm to the neighbor.

Where you have done harm, make amends as you are able. And where you have failed to do good, begin to do it now. Do what you are called and given to do in your own particular place.

Mend your ways and deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, lest He bring misfortune and calamity upon you — and lest He remove His Word from your midst.

It’s really a question of who your friends are. As simple as it sounds, that’s what it amounts to. Who are your friends? And by that, I don’t mean that you get to pick and choose who the people you will love are. The point is not that you show partiality or favoritism among your neighbors in this body and life. No, it’s whether you’re a friend of Christ Jesus, or a friend of the world.

So, who do you love? Jesus, or the world? Where is it that you look for life? Is it in Christ Jesus, in His Word, or is it in the world and all its stuff?

If you are a friend of the world, then you’ll perish along with the world and its wealth. Whereas, if you are a friend of Christ Jesus, then you will be hated by the world, and you will be persecuted, and you will perish right along with your dear Lord Jesus Christ. But you will also rise and live with Him, as well, and partake of His inheritance, which is imperishable in heaven.

Don’t suppose that you’re going to play both sides against the middle, not without getting crushed in between the Rock and the hard place. That other Jude — Iscariot — he tried to play that game, and you know that he was lost. And that other Simon — Peter — he was in danger of the same, denying his friendship with Jesus: “I don’t know that guy!” But by the grace of God in that same Lord Jesus Christ, Simon Peter was called to repentance, and he was saved and bore much fruit.

You, then, where you have denied the Lord Jesus, Repent, and befriend Him who has befriended you in mercy, grace, and peace. That is the key: Jesus has called you and made you His friend!

It’s not about goofy secret handshakes or secret clubs. It isn’t “fun ‘n’ games.” But the Lord has befriended you, first of all by laying down His Life for you; and there is no greater love than that, with which He has loved you even unto death upon His Cross. And then He has also befriended you by the preaching of His Word to you, and thereby with His voice giving you His own Father.

See how He has taken you in! He has named you with His own Name, the Name that He has from His Father, the Name that He shares with His Father from all eternity, even to all eternity.  He has become your Friend by giving you that Name, by the preaching of His Word, by speaking to you.

And so it is that, when the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ raised Him from the dead, He caused you also to be born again, His child, to a new and living hope, unto the Life everlasting.

That sure and certain hope and that eternal Life are yours in Christ Jesus. He has given that to you in Holy Baptism, along with His Name, His Father, His Holy Spirit, His forgiveness of your sins, and every other grace and blessing, more than you could ever imagine. And He gives it all to you, again and again, by the preaching of His Word, especially His Holy Gospel, whereby He forgives your betrayals, your denials, your enmity, your lack of love, and every other sin within your heart and mind, words and actions. That is why we rejoice in the Holy Apostles of Christ Jesus, who were called and sent to preach that beautiful good news of the Gospel; and that is why we remember with thanksgiving St. Simon and St. Jude (not Peter and not Iscariot) on this day.

It was the Lord Jesus who chose these men. They were lightly esteemed by the world, to say the least. Indeed, they were persecuted, and they were martyred for His Name’s sake. But they were befriended by the Lord and beloved of God in Christ Jesus. How shall we love them any less?

Why did Jesus choose these guys, these two men concerning whom we know almost nothing? Why did He choose them? It was for Love’s sake: For the Love of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit, He loved them, even to the end. And He loves His Church on earth, even to the close of the age, to whom He called and sent His Holy Apostles to preach and to act in His Name and stead.

In the same way that He has chosen you and appointed you to love and serve your neighbor, so has He chosen and appointed St. Simon and St. Jude, and countless other pastors and teachers ever since, even to this day, to love and serve you and His whole Church with His Word. And wherever that Seed of His Word is sown, there He bears much fruit, which remains unto Life everlasting.

Now, the fruit of His Word is the fruit of His Cross, and so it is borne in suffering, in great distress, even in martyrdom. The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the early Church, and that is still true. It is in dying with Christ Jesus that you are raised up to live in and with Him, now and forever.

St. Simon and St. Jude are remembered together, because they are said to have suffered and died together in Persia. You also bear the Cross, even unto death, for the sake of Jesus’ Name. And you also, like the Holy Apostles — for you are no less beloved than they are — you, like the Holy Apostles, are protected by the Word of Christ through faith in His Resurrection from the dead.

When the Church remembers and gives thanks for the saints who have gone before us, it is in the hope that we also share the same Resurrection and the same Life, which is theirs and ours by faith in Christ Jesus. It is hope, because it is not yet seen. But it is a sure and certain hope, because it is as sure and certain as Christ Himself is true. And it is for you, as surely as He speaks His Word to you, as surely as He has named you with His Name and anointed you with His Spirit in Holy Baptism, and as surely as He feeds you with His own holy Body and precious Blood. 

Though you cannot yet see Him, and though you do not feel or experience His Resurrection in your mortal flesh, which still gets sick and gets hurt and shall die, even so, you love and trust in Him, and you hope in His Flesh and Blood, because He has befriended you, and because He has chosen you, and He has called you to Himself. And the Lord who loves you does not lie. He strengthens you, and He is with you. And if you are called to lay down your life for His Name, then He shall stand with you, even to the last.  He strengthens you especially by forgiving you all of your sins. He does it over and over and over again, and thereby gives you His own eternal Life in place of your death. His indestructible Life in both body and soul, both now and forever, is yours in Him.

Consider that His Body was made desolate upon the Cross, an abomination, cursed by God. In fact, He became a curse, like Shiloh and Jerusalem; and He was destroyed like that once great Temple.  But in His Resurrection the Lord your God has established His House on earth for you and for all.

The Lord’s House is found wherever the Word of Christ the Crucified is preached, wherever Holy Baptism is administered in His Name, and wherever His holy Body and precious Blood are given and poured out in remembrance of Him.

Not only that, but as your dear Lord Jesus feeds you with the Fruits of His Cross on the one hand, it is also the case that His Resurrection from the dead and His Ascension to the Right Hand of the Father, His own crucified and risen Body and His own holy and precious Blood — these are your true and salutary worship of the living God. In Him, you and your thanksgiving are received unto your Father in heaven, and you are saved in the glorious company of the Apostles, the Prophets and Martyrs and all Saints. It is in that company that you stand in your dear Lord Jesus Christ.

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

The One Who Believes and Is Baptized

St. Mark was an Evangelist, in the first place, because he was a preacher of the Gospel. He is said to have gone to Alexandria and preached the Gospel there. The Church identifies the Apostles and Evangelists with particular places, because the Gospel and the Church are historically grounded and located in real space and time. Christ has sent His preachers of the Gospel into all the earth, into the whole world, to make disciples of all nations, and yes, in fact, to preach the Gospel to all of creation, since all of creation is made new in the Resurrection of Christ, in His flesh and blood.

St. Mark is an Evangelist because he was such a preacher. But he is also one of those four holy Evangelists by whose hand the Lord has given us the written Gospel of Jesus, a record of our Lord’s words and actions, of all that Jesus began to do and teach. It is not only an historical record, but a theological treatise, and really nothing less than the preaching of Jesus, in which He is actively present, breathing His Holy Spirit upon His Church. These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, believing, you have life in Him.

St. Mark begins his record of the Holy Gospel — the Gospel of Jesus Christ — with the ministry of St. John the Baptist. He came in the wilderness preaching a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, because the Kingdom of God was at hand in the Person of Christ Jesus.

Then Jesus came and submitted Himself to St. John’s Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And after He was driven out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for forty days, He also began to preach, “Repent, and believe the Gospel, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”

Repent, therefore, each one of you. Believe the Gospel, and do not forget your Baptism, but daily wash yourself in it by way of repentance, by trusting the Word of Christ, by receiving His means of grace. Be put to death each day, and rise again with Christ each day.

Trust the Lord your God. Look to Him who is your Father, who has called you His own dearly beloved and well pleasing son. Look to Him who promises to give you all good things in Christ, and pray as He has taught you. Do not doubt but firmly believe that your prayer is heard and answered with a resounding “Yes and Amen!” in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead.

And that you may believe and pray in this way, hear and heed the Word of God. Rejoice to hear His Word and the preaching of it, the preaching of the Gospel, as St. Mark wrote by inspiration, and as your pastors to this day preach into your ears, into your heart, and into your body and life. This Word is true. It is Spirit, and it is Life. Do not doubt it. Be not unbelieving but believing; for he who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who disbelieves will be condemned.

But what does this mean? For all that Jesus has done, does it still come down to you? Must you figure out how to repent, and how to believe, and how to live by faith, lest it all be for naught?

Consider the example of those eleven disciples. They had already heard the testimony of Mary Magdalene and the other women. They had already heard the testimony of the two disciples who were on the Road to Emmaus and saw the risen Lord Jesus in the Breaking of the Bread. But they refused to believe the testimony of those witnesses, and Jesus rebuked them for their hardness of heart, just as He calls you to repent above all for your unbelief and hardness of heart.

But your Baptism does not rest upon your faith. The Lord Jesus does not stand upon your love. And the Kingdom of God does not depend on your repentance. Your faith rather stands on Christ, as it springs from the waters of His Baptism and relies upon His Gospel. And it is because the Kingdom of God first comes to you, that you are called to repent: Not only to sorrow for your sins and turn away from them, but to find shelter in this One who has come in the Name of the Lord.

He has come in the flesh as true Man. He has borne your sins and suffered your death. And He has done it all — He has lived and died for you — by faith in His God and Father. This Lord Jesus Christ has believed. This Lord Jesus Christ has been baptized, even unto death. And this Lord Jesus Christ has been saved from out of death and the grave through the Glory of God the Father.

Do not ever look for your salvation in yourself, not even in your own faith. You cannot choose to believe. You cannot will it. You cannot decide to do any such thing, for sin and death reign in your flesh until the Holy Spirit lays Christ upon your heart through the forgiveness of your sins.

It is the work of Christ that is credited to you as righteousness. It is the work of Christ that is given to you in the preaching and ministry of His Gospel. It is Christ who speaks to you through those whom He has called and sent in His Name. He forgives all your sins and grants you His Peace.

This, then, is the work of Christ, which He has done, and which He works in you. When Christ is preached to you as the One who believed and was baptized, who was crucified and raised, this work of Christ is worked in you. Thus are you called to faith through the narrow passage of the Cross. And so are you born again into newness of life. You are called out of darkness into His glorious Light. Where once there was nothing but doubt and fear and sadness, now there is joyful confidence in the One who was raised from the dead; for He has come to take up residence in you — through your ears and through your mouth, into your heart and mind, into your body and life.

He opens the Scriptures to you. Not that you should know the rules better and try harder to keep them, but that you should know them as fulfilled in Christ Jesus for you. As He has died, you also die with Him. As He is raised, you also are raised up with Him, to live with Him, now and forever.

Be encouraged in this life by the sort of men whom Jesus calls and sends. Men like Simon Peter, who denied his Lord in fear, and yet he was restored and sent as the prince of the Apostles. Men like Thomas, who doubted to begin with, but who was sent — not in doubt, but in confidence — to preach boldly until he also was put to death. And men like Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of the Church, the hater of Jesus, who was called to become His great champion to the Gentiles. He preached the Gospel to the ends of the earth in his day, until he too was martyred for the Gospel.

And then there’s Mark. Whether or not he was that rich young man who went away sorrowful, because of his many possessions, when he was first called to take up the Cross and follow after Jesus, we know that he disappointed the Apostle Paul by bailing out on their missionary journey.

Such are the men, fallible and flawed, weary, weak, and wounded, whom your crucified Savior raises up in His strength and sends in the way of His Cross to the glory of His Name. They have their doubts, they have their fears. They suffer hurt and pain and ridicule and persecution. They are even put to death, despised and rejected by men, though they are precious to God in Christ.

It is through such weakness, by and with the Cross, that the Gospel is preached to you. It is the power of God unto salvation. It is the preaching of repentance, which puts you to death, and destroys your self-confidence, and robs you of any claim to righteousness or merit or good works. It is a word that wounds you in order to heal you, and kills you in order to make you alive, because it is the Word of Christ the Crucified, who is also risen from the dead and lives and reigns forever.

This is the Word that is preached to you. And with this Word of Christ there are signs, which you cannot recognize by your eyes, but by the faith that God works in your heart you know what is going on here. By the waters of your Baptism, and by the forgiveness of your sins, all of your demons are cast out. All of your darkness is enlightened. All of your dirt is washed away.

When Jesus lays His hand on your head, and His servant speaks with that new tongue of the Gospel, “I forgive you all your sins in the Name and stead of Christ,” you know and believe that you are thereby healed. Your body is made ready for the resurrection on the last day. You shall not perish but have everlasting Life. You shall not die but live, in body and soul, forever and ever.

The deadly serpent’s sting has been undone. That old dragon, Satan, cannot harm you. He can still try and bite you. But it doesn’t stick. The sting of death is removed. The sting of sin is gone.

Nor is there any deadly poison in that overflowing Chalice which the Lord Jesus sets before you on His Table. It is rather His Blood of the New Testament, the Blood of Christ Jesus Himself, which He pours out for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of all your sins.

When you have doubts, do not be afraid, and do not run away from God, but listen to His preaching of the Gospel. By this Word He keeps on loving you. He keeps on forgiving you. He keeps on coming to you. So does faith come by hearing, and hearing by this Word of Christ. And as you believe, so it is done. In fact, before you have called, God answers. And while you are yet speaking, already He is acting to save you — through men like Mark, pastors He has never failed to provide for His Church on earth. So are you and all the sheep of the Good Shepherd nurtured on the green pastures of His Gospel, refreshed by the living waters of His Baptism, and fed at His Table in His House, unto the resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of body and soul.

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

Two Ways, and a Great Difference Between Them

There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between the two.  The way of life is that of faith in Christ Jesus, which proceeds in love for God and man; and the way of death is that of unbelief and self-idolatry, whereby you strive to serve yourself above all others, only to find that you are consumed by the desires and demands of your own fallen flesh.

So you stand at the crossroads, and these two roads diverge before you, the blessing and the curse, the way of life and the way of death.  You cannot travel both, but it seems as though the choice  ought to be easy enough, since faith and life and sin and death are as different as heaven and hell.

The trouble is that, in the blindness of your sinful heart and mind, you cannot perceive or interpret the difference clearly.  The way of life looks like death to you.  The life-giving Word of the Lord sounds onerous and burdensome, as though it were asking too much of you, whereas the gifts and promises of God in Christ appear foolish and pointless.  Life itself looks like the opposite to you.

By contrast, the way of death appears to you as though it were pious and righteous, as though it were a sure and certain path to life and happiness, to safety, security, and peace, and as though it were actually the way of God.  In your sinfulness, in your native unbelief, life looks like death, and death looks like life.  Faith seems foolish, a bad investment.  Sin seems wise and profitable.

The way of death, in short, is the way of legalistic self-righteousness, which is already the heart of the problem.  It comprises all the many and various ways by which you strive to get life for yourself, whether by attempting to bargain and barter with God, seeking to buy Him off with your works and sacrifices, or by ignoring Him altogether on the false assumption that you know better.

This way of death is common to all the sons and daughters of Adam & Eve, apart from conversion.  Until the Holy Spirit shines the Light of Christ into your heart through the Gospel, you dwell in thick darkness, though you cannot even tell that you’re in the dark.  You strive and strain with all your might to set things right, to get life for yourself, to gain control, to get whatever you want.  But what you get is death; and many others suffer, too, as you pursue that path of self-destruction

The way of life is the very opposite.  It is followed by no trust or confidence in yourself at all.  It is pursued solely by faith in the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus, by His Word and Spirit.

You cannot find or follow that way of life by any wisdom, reason, or strength of your own.  For you cannot recognize or know the Lord Jesus apart from His Word and Holy Spirit, far less can you believe in Him or follow Him by any intelligence or effort of your fallen flesh.  But the Lord in His mercy does not leave you to your own devices or allow you to proceed unhindered on the way of death.  He rather confronts you with the preaching of His Cross and Resurrection.

By the preaching of His Word He knocks you off your high horse, He shatters your hard heart, He pierces your beclouded mind, and He breathes His life-giving Spirit into your body and soul, so that you become a living being.  He shines the Light of the Gospel into the midst of your darkness, so that you begin to see Him as He is.  It is as though something like scales falls from your eyes.

He does it by the preaching of His Cross and Resurrection, which is the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His Name.  That same preaching is what is necessary for the salvation of all the nations.  So that is what St. Paul is called to do, like the other Apostles before him; and that is what pastors to this day are called to do in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

By that preaching of repentance you are crucified and put to death — to yourself, to your sins, and to the wicked world all around you.  You are crucified, put to death, and buried with Christ Jesus, in order to be raised to newness of life by His forgiveness of your sins and the gift of His Spirit.

Whoever tries to save his own life will lose it, but whoever loses his life in this world for the sake of the Lord Jesus and His Gospel will have Life everlasting with Him in body and soul.  That is the paradox between these two ways, the way of life and the way of death.

The preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of your sins marks your body and soul, heart, mind, and spirit, with the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the sign of His Cross, as also in your Holy Baptism.  So it is for you as it was for St. Paul.  As the Lord sent Pastor Ananias to lay his hands on Saul of Tarsus, to bestow the Spirit upon him, to open his eyes, and to baptize him in the Name of the Lord Jesus, so has the same Lord sent His pastors to baptize and catechize you, to anoint you with His Spirit, and to sign you with His Cross upon your forehead and your heart.

As the Cross has been signed upon your heart, mind, and body, as it is preached into your ears and confessed with your mouth, so does the Cross mark all that you think, all that you say, and all that you do.  It crucifies and puts to death whatever is self-righteous in your body and soul, whatever is sinful, whatever is unfaithful and unloving.  But it also resurrects and sanctifies your body and soul, and it strengthens the New Man in you — which is your life in Christ and His Life in you.

Because the Cross does all of this, because it marks you, and because it crucifies you, and because it raises you up with the Lord Jesus Christ, it also means that you are hated and persecuted for His Name’s sake, and that you bear and suffer His Cross in your body and life on this earth.

Consider what God said concerning St. Paul: “I will show him how much he must suffer for My Name’s sake.”  Not that God would punish him for being so wicked up until that point, but that his suffering for the Name of Jesus Christ would manifest the Gospel in his body and life.  Thus were the power and wisdom of God manifest in St. Paul; and so are they manifest in you, as well.

What you suffer is not pointless, it is profound and fruitful, both as a discipline by which you are strengthened in your repentance and your faith in Christ Jesus, and as a bodily confession and proclamation of the Cross and Resurrection of the same Lord Jesus Christ.

So was St. Paul called to bear the Cross and to suffer for the Name and sake of the Lord Jesus.  And though you do not have the same office and vocation as St. Paul the Apostle, you do have the same Lord, you are called by the same Jesus, and you are given the same life in His crucified and risen Body.  You bear His Name and His Cross in your body and life, wherever He stations you.

As you are thus called to live and die with Christ Jesus on the way of life — and so to rise and live with Him forever in both body and soul — He does not leave you to fend for yourself on your own.  Like St. Paul, having received the true sight of faith through the preaching of the Holy Gospel, and having received the gift and cleansing of the Holy Spirit in the waters of your Holy Baptism, so are you also now fed and strengthened in body and soul by the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus.  You are invigorated as a member of His Body, the Church, to live in faith and love by His grace.

And it is not only that you bear and suffer His Cross as a disciple, but Christ Jesus Himself is with you to share your sufferings and to bear you up in the midst of sin and death, each step of the way.  Indeed, so closely does He identify Himself with His Christians, that whatever you suffer in His Name, He suffers in you and with you and thereby sanctifies your sufferings with His own and saves you from sin and death in His Resurrection and Ascension to the Right Hand of the Father.

Whatever it is that is put to death in you by the Cross of Christ Jesus, much more do you receive in the Fruits of His Cross, in His crucified and risen Body given for you, and in His holy, precious Blood poured out for you.  Baptized in His Name, anointed by His Spirit, fed and strengthened by His Food and Drink, you live and walk with Him on the way of life.  Which is to say that, even though you die to yourself, to your sins, and to the world, yet shall you live unto God in Christ.

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

By the Ministry of the Word of Christ

Wherever the Lord Jesus Himself would go, He sends pastors in His Name, in whom His grace and glory are manifested through the ministry of the Gospel.  In their preaching of His Word, in their working of His works, the Kingdom of God draws near.  For Christ Jesus Himself is present and active in their faithful service, granting His perfect peace through the forgiveness of sins.

Pray that He would continue to send such faithful pastors to His Church throughout the world, and to all those whom He would call to Himself in every city, in every place, in every congregation.  And do not neglect to pray and intercede for those He has called, ordained, and sent in His Name. By all means pray for your own pastors in Christ, that they may be found faithful in their office.

And as you pray, give thanks to God that, according to His grace and tender mercy, He has never failed to provide such shepherds for His lambs and sheep.  St. Timothy, St. Paul, St. Titus today, and tomorrow, St. John Chrysostom, these men are but a few of those whom Christ has raised up in His Name and stead.  Prophets and Apostles, Pastors and Bishops, who handed over to the Church what they received from the Lord, and who ordained faithful men to follow after them.

As the Lord has so established and preserved His Church on earth for the sake of His Gospel, all those who are called to the pastoral office are instructed to rely on Him to provide for their needs through His Church, even as the people of God receive His good gifts through their pastors.

If you are a pastor, or if you aspire to that office, be content with what you receive, and work hard to serve those entrusted to your care.  And if you are baptized into Christ, if you are a Christian, a member of the Church, see to it that you support your pastors and provide for their needs in this body and life, all for the sake of the Gospel.  Not only in thanksgiving for what you thus receive, but that your neighbors also should be served by this pastoral office and ministry.

In relation to each other — pastor to people, and people to pastor — it is more blessed to give than to receive, as the Lord Jesus has taught you.  That is to speak in terms of holy love, for which you sacrifice yourself and your desires in order to serve your neighbor, to provide whatever is lacking.

Before God, though, you have nothing to offer but thanksgiving, since all things are from Him and are His.  All that you are and have belong to Him, and yet you are blessed by His generous giving and His good gifts to you.  Thus do you rely upon the grace of God in Christ for all that you need, as you go about serving your office and stations in life in love for God and for your neighbor.

And so it is that pastors are sent, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, as sacrificial lambs in the midst of wolves; because they are the servants of the Lamb of God who handed Himself over to the Cross, who gave His life and shed His blood for the sheep, that they might have life in Him.

The pastors and confessors of Christ Jesus bear and suffer His Cross in their body and life, as surely as they proclaim His Cross in their preaching and distribute the fruits of His Sacrifice by the Ministry of His Gospel.  And they are content with the food and drink, the clothing and shelter that God provides through His people, just as surely as the Lord feeds His people and quenches their thirst with His Holy Supper, clothes them with His righteousness in Holy Baptism, and shelters them within His Church on earth through the labors of His called and ordained servants.

As ministers of His Word, as stewards of His Mysteries, they hold fast to what He has spoken, and they do what He has commanded.  They preach and administer His Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His Name.  They take the bread and cup, they bless and give thanks, and they give you the Body and Blood of Christ with His Words in the remembrance of Him.  They hold fast to His Word, that they might teach, rebuke, admonish, comfort, and forgive you in His stead.

It is by His Word that pastors are kept faithful, not only in their vocation and office as pastors, but in their faith and life as Christians; that they should be above reproach, hospitable, lovers of what is good and right and true; self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined in word and deed.

The faithfulness of pastors and people alike, from St. Titus in Crete to this very day and place, is found not in the Law which accuses, but in the blessed Peace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which the world neither knows nor gives, but He has obtained by His Cross and bestows by His Ministry.

It is by and with His Word, and for the blessing of His Word, that He guards and protects you from all harm and danger to body and soul, and that He keeps you steadfast in the one true faith.  He so works repentance in your heart and mind, in your body and life, and He forgives you all your sins.

By His Word the Lord Jesus gives you all that is His — His Father and His Spirit, His Resurrection and His Name, His Sonship and His Kingdom — together with St. Titus and all the saints in Light.

See here, the Kingdom of God has come near to you.  Do not doubt it, but believe what He says.  For in this preaching of the Gospel, in the Word of the Lord, the Lord your God has come near to you in the flesh.  He is here with you and for you, and He shall never leave you nor forsake you.

Rest here in His House, at His Table, in His Peace.  Eat and drink what He provides, His own holy Body and His precious Blood.  This Hospitality of Christ, given and received in faith and love at His Altar, is the beating heart and center of His Church and Ministry.  In this Holy Sacrament the grace and loving-kindness of your great God and Savior are manifested and given for you.

Not on the basis of deeds that you have done, but according to His mercy, He saves you, even as He feeds you with Himself.  What He has established in His Body by His Cross and Resurrection, He bestows upon you by and with His Word of Peace, that you might live with God in Him.

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