Though it looks like you’re all alone, left to wander on your own in the darkness, sometimes afraid, and often confused as to which way you should turn, where you ought to be, and how to get there; though your provisions are sparse, your clothing thin, your bread too little, and your water bitter — Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. That is to say, believe and trust in Christ Jesus, the Crucified One, who is risen from the dead, and who lives and reigns for you forever.
There is one true God, the Father of our dear Lord Jesus Christ; and though it is a great Mystery, He is manifest and known in the Person of the incarnate Son, who is one and the same true God. It is this true God and Father, in the flesh and blood of Christ, the Son, who pours out the Holy Spirit upon you, the Lord and Giver of Life, who is Himself the one true God, in order to save you.
See what great Love He has for you! Not a passing fancy, nor a fair weather friendship, but the Love that constitutes the very Being of God, the Bond of Love between the Father and His Son. Not simply emotion or affection, but the Gift of Himself, given and poured out for you and for all, and given into your ears, into your hands, into your mouth and body, unto the Life everlasting.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid, but now be comforted and brave. For in your Father’s House are many dwelling places. Do you hear that? He is your Father. You are not a stranger, nor simply a guest, but a child in His home. His Castle is your castle. For His own dear Son, Christ Jesus, by the way and means of His Cross, has prepared a place for you with Himself. So, too, all the saints and the holy Apostles are your family, because you are of God’s household.
It is by His Cross and Passion that Christ Jesus has gone to prepare a place for you. But you have also heard and received the testimony of Easter, this Queen of Seasons bright, that He has risen and returned from death and the grave. He has come to you, in order to receive you to Himself — to gather you into the embrace of His wounded hands, to graft you into His riven side — so that you are, and ever shall be, with Him where He is. In His own crucified and risen Body of flesh and blood like yours, He is your permanent Place in the House of the Father, both now and forever.
You know the Way to that Place, and even now, by faith, you live and abide in Him by the divine grace of the Holy Trinity. For Christ Jesus, who is sent by the Father and laid upon your heart by the Holy Spirit, is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the Path of Life, the Highway to Zion, the Road to God. He is your Way to the God and Father in heaven.
Not just directions for you to follow and navigate. He’s far more than a spiritual GPS. He not only gets you where you’re going, but He is the Route, and He is your Destination. In and with Him, you are in and with the Father. So do you also live and abide, rest, and reside in the Holy Spirit.
It’s not a matter of getting from Point A to Point Z, but of being adopted as a son of God in Christ. For the Place that Christ Jesus has prepared for you is not so much a new location as it is a new relationship with God, who is your true Father in Him. It is in His own divine Sonship that you now live and move and have your being, your identity, your future, and your hope. Your Place.
He is and remains your Place, no matter where you may roam. You not only have it waiting for you, but you are living in that Place of Christ, even now, wherever you are in this body and life. So shall it be all the more so in the resurrection of your body to the Life everlasting of Paradise.
As the Lord your God is your true Father, and you are His true child, you are always before Him, always in His sight and in His presence. For discipline, yes, but not for condemnation. He leads and guides you by His Word, by which He also teaches you to pray at all times and in all places. He longs to be gracious to you, because He loves you. At the sound of your cry He will surely have compassion. Do not doubt that He will, but, as you long for Him, so call upon His Name.
From within your own flesh-and-blood life in this world, even from out of the depths of your sin and death, you are free and able to pray to your Father in Christ Jesus, to ask Him as dear children ask their dear father. And His answer to your every prayer, His resounding “Yes” and “Amen,” is already sure and certain in the crucified and risen Body of Christ Jesus Himself.
You pray in the Name of this Lord Jesus, as you are also baptized in His Name, because it is in and with His Name that God the Father answers your prayer and bestows the Holy Spirit upon you.
Listen. Your Teacher does not hide Himself from you. It is true that, for now, He does hide Himself under the Cross, but He does so in order to reveal Himself to you in the grace, mercy, and peace of His Atonement. By the Word of His Cross He opens your ears to hear His Voice, and He opens your eyes to see Him, even in the midst of sin and death, in the hope of the Resurrection.
This is the Truth of God Himself: The Truth of His Incarnation, the Truth of His own Cross and Resurrection, and the Truth of His Word and Spirit in the preaching of His Holy Gospel to you.
In the Person of Christ Jesus, the beloved Son, in His true Body of flesh and blood, you see and know His God and Father as your very own God and Father; and you are known and loved by Him.
You know the Father in Christ Jesus, and you know and love Christ Jesus by the gracious gift and blessed work of the Holy Spirit. It is more than enough. It is your full sufficiency and salvation. It is no mere “consolation prize.” It is divine and genuine consolation, comfort, peace, and life.
You might be tempted to think or say that, if only you could actually see Jesus with your own two eyes in the way the Holy Apostles were granted to see Him in their day, then you would be more content and at ease. As the Holy Apostles were tempted to say that, if only they could actually see the Father, that would be enough for them. But the Father is in the Son, the Son in the Father. And as the Father has sent Him, so does He send the ministers of His Word to preach in His Name. Whoever hears that apostolic preaching of Christ Jesus, hears Christ Jesus; and whoever receives the means of grace in the apostolic Ministry of the Gospel, receives the same Lord Jesus Christ.
There is nothing lacking here in the Liturgy of His Gospel, in His Divine Service. Here He shows Himself to you, and gives Himself to you, and the Father and the Holy Spirit in and with Himself.
Indeed, the Holy Apostles, St. Philip and St. James among them, despite the fact that we know so little about them, performed even greater works than Christ Himself had previously done among them; though not they, but Christ worked in them. The works are “greater” because, by His Cross and in His Resurrection, everything is accomplished and perfected in His own Body “for us men and our salvation.” All things are made new. Creation is completed, and Paradise is established.
The same is therefore true, also now for you, in the preaching and ministry of your pastors, who follow in the footsteps and stand upon the foundation of St. Philip and St. James and the other Apostles. As Christ Himself is the Cornerstone who gives shape and stability to that foundation, upon whom the entire Church is firmly built and rests secure, so it is that all the members of His Body, all who believe and are baptized into Him, are joined together into one Holy Temple of God.
Therefore, not only is it most certainly true that, in the word and works of your pastors, you hear and receive the greater works of Christ Jesus Himself; it is also the case that, in your own callings and stations in life, as a beloved child of God in Christ Jesus, by faith in Him, you also do the “greater works” of God, and the Father is glorified in you.
Though you may be less than others, and little known on earth — though you may be forgotten in the world within a mere generation or less of your passing from this vale of tears — the Truth remains that Christ the Son of God abides in you, as the Father always abides in Him. And He is surely accomplishing His purposes in you. You are not forgotten by God, your Father in Christ, but you live and abide in His House and Home forever as a beloved member of His dear family.
Do not measure your life and your works by what you see in this old world, but consider your calling in the newness of the New Creation in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead. For you belong to His Body, and you are on the Way that He has gone — through death and the grave into Life with God. He has gone before you, and He has already achieved the outcome, even the salvation of your body and your soul in Himself; but He also goes with you every step of the Way.
You have heard His Word and promise: He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And He is yours. He is your Way to the Father. He is both your Journey and your Destination. And already here and now He is your Place, in whom you abide in Hope and rest in Peace, unto the Life everlasting. He is here with you, and so are you with Him where He is, forever and forevermore.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Showing posts with label St. Philip and St. James. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. Philip and St. James. Show all posts
01 May 2017
Your Home Is Where Your Heart Is at Peace with God in Christ
Real life is more than simply to exist. Real life is more than breathing and eating and drinking, going to bed and getting up to do it all over again. Real life is to dwell with the Father in peace and in love, to abide with Him in His House as a member of His household and family.
To live in the Father’s House, that is real life. And that is more than a matter of location. More than where your bedroom happens to be found at the end of each day. It is more than whether you even have a bedroom or a bed to call your own.
The Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head in His life on earth, and yet, He was always at home with His Father. For the Father always abides in His Son, and He remained with Him at all times, even in the midst of suffering and death. And the Lord Jesus was always in and with His Father, no matter where He roamed, from His Nativity and His Baptism to His Cross and Resurrection.
The same is true for you by faith. Whether you live in a mansion, or a pup tent, or under a bridge; whether you have no permanent address, or a place where you’ve lived for fifty years, your home is with God the Father when by faith you are in Christ Jesus. Whereas, apart from faith, it doesn’t matter where you lay your body down, where you hang your hat, or what you call your home. Apart from faith in Christ, you have no real resting place, no true home, and no lasting family.
It is by faith that you live and abide with the Father in peace and in love. But that is not how it is for you as a child of Adam to begin with. As a son or daughter of Adam & Eve, you have been driven from your home with God, cast out of the Garden. Not because of any fault in God, but on account of your own fault. Your sin, your unbelief, and your idolatry have put you at odds with God and wrecked your relationship with Him.
You know what this is like from your own home and family. If you are at odds with your father or mother, or with your siblings; if there is some unresolved grievance; if you have done wrong but have not yet been reconciled to your father, then, even though you live in the same house, and you have your own room and your place at the table, it sure doesn’t feel like home. You may be frightened. You may be confused. You may be angry and bitter. Your feelings may be all over the map, but you’re not really at home, not when there is no peace between you and your father.
On the other hand, you may be a soldier or a student far from home; and yet, even though you are far away and cut off by distance from your mother and father and your brothers and sisters, your home is where your heart is, and your heart dwells in peace with your family across the miles.
In much the same way, as a child of God, your heart dwells in peace with your Father in heaven, and you reside in His household as a member of His family, when by faith you lay hold of Christ Jesus, no matter where in the world you happen to be, and no matter how things may be going.
But you can’t get there or live there by your own knowledge. You have no GPS or road map that tells you where or even what the Father’s House is. You do not know how to find your way, and you do not know how to dwell there and abide there in peace, until the Lord Himself teaches you by His preaching of the Gospel, by His forgiveness of your sins.
Forgiveness is the Key to the Father’s House. And that forgiveness comes from Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He knows the Way to the Father. He is the Way to the Father. He is the exact Representation and Likeness of His Father, especially in His flesh and blood as the incarnate Son. And now this Lord Jesus Christ — the Son of God who has become true Man, your Brother, born of the Woman — He has come to show you the Way, and to be the Way for you.
And just as God has been hidden from you because of your sin — for it is not a lack of knowledge that prevents you, but sin which bars the way, and breaks your relationship, and makes the House of God feel like a place of fear instead of a place of rest — Christ has come and hidden Himself under the Cross in the midst of sin and death, in order to reveal Himself to you by the Gospel.
It is by the Cross and Resurrection, and by the preaching of the Gospel, that the Lord reveals Himself to you. Not to your eyesight, and often not to your feelings and emotions, nor to your intellect and reason as such, but to faith — which He obtains in your heart, where and when it pleases Him, by His Word of forgiveness. It is entirely His good work and His gracious gift.
Christ hides Himself in weakness, in order to reveal Himself in love to you who are weak. The one true God hides Himself in flesh and blood; and not only that, but in the likeness of your fallen flesh, subject to the curse and consequences of your sin. Subject to your death.
God thus hides Himself in that which is the very opposite of God. He hides Himself in darkness and gloom. He hides Himself in hurt and sorrow and pain. He who is the Life hides Himself in death. And He does so in order to reveal Himself to poor, miserable sinners, like yourself, who are lost in the darkness and condemned to die; so that in the midst of deep darkness the Lord might lay hold of you and bring you in peace to His Father.
The Son hides Himself in, with, and under the Cross, in order to reconcile you to His Father in His own crucified and risen Body. That is the Way that He makes known to you through the Gospel.
Though you have been afraid; though you have been lost and confused; though you have been angry and bitter, God has set His heart at peace with you. He is not angry. He is not bitter. And He has not lost sight of you. Instead, the Father has given His Son in the flesh, even into death, that He might become the Firstborn of many brothers and sisters, among whom you are counted.
The Son of God, who has come from the very bosom of the Father, has returned to the Father by the Way of the Cross. He has borne the sins of the world in His own Body, and made Atonement for them by His Blood. And by the Way of the Cross, through suffering, death, and burial, He has risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father. All of His enemies are trampled under His feet, the head of the serpent crushed by His sacrificial death for the salvation of sinners.
By this Way of the Cross, in His Resurrection and Ascension, the Lord Jesus Christ has prepared a place for you. And by faith in His Gospel, that is where you now live — with Christ in God — even while you sojourn through this valley of sorrow, a stranger in a strange land far from home.
Here within the Church on earth, you are in the Father’s House. Here you are set at peace with God, because your sins are forgiven. Here the gentleness of the Father toward you in Christ Jesus calms your quaking heart and your trembling hands and your troubled mind, so that you know peace such as the world cannot give. And you find that you do have a place within the household and family of God, because you do have such a Father who loves you and cares for you. He does not cast you away from His presence. He does not punish you as you deserve. He does not scold you for your sins. He gathers you to Himself, He sets you at His Table, and He delights in you as He delights in His own beloved and well-pleasing Son, your Brother and Savior, Christ Jesus.
That House and Home with the Father are yours in Christ Jesus, who has not left you alone, but He is very near you, in your ears, and in your heart, and on your lips and tongue, with His Word.
It is for this purpose that He called and gathered to Himself those poor, confused men, including St. Philip & St. James, those holy Apostles who were also men of flesh and blood, of sin and weakness, no different and no better than yourself. He revealed Himself to them, and He sent them to preach, to baptize, to absolve sinners in His Name, and to shepherd His flock with the Gospel.
We don’t know much about Philip, and we know even less about this James, who is often confused with a few others of the same name. And what we do know is not altogether complimentary. Yet, Christ knows and loves them well, and He was always with them in the Office to which He called them. He was with them in their preaching. He was with them in their works. So that what they spoke and what they did were the words and works of Christ Himself. Indeed, by these men He has done greater things than He ever did before, because He has accomplished His purposes and prepared a place for His people by His Cross and in His Resurrection from the dead.
What Philip and James and all the Apostles delivered in His Name, and what the ministers of Christ to this day preach and administer in His Name, are the fruits and benefits of His Sacrifice.
Christ has brought you home to the Father in Himself, in His crucified and risen Body And He gives you that Home here on earth within His Church by the Apostolic preaching of the Gospel.
Sheep, you know your Shepherd’s voice. You hear it in the Gospel. You know it, and you follow Him, even though it is by mortal men that He now speaks to you. You hear Christ Jesus in the preaching of His Word, and you know Him by faith. And knowing Him, you know His Father as your own dear Father in heaven. Because what you hear in Christ, and what you see by faith in Him, is the Father’s heart open wide to you in love, in mercy, in compassion and forgiveness.
Believe in Him. Trust in Him. Know that the Word He speaks to you is true. It is steadfast, sure, and certain. It is not empty and lifeless, but living and life-giving. It is stronger than death and the grave. And it is stronger than your own heart, which may accuse and condemn you.
Christ is for you. That is what He speaks. That is what He does. That is what He gives. Believe in Him. And believe in His Father. Believe the Word that He speaks to you, and confess that Word. Speak it against the lies of the devil, and speak it in love to and for your neighbor.
Proceed in faith as you hear that Word, even when everything around you testifies differently. Even though Christ is hidden under the Cross, and that which you see and experience in the world seems so tangible and so convincing, whether for good or evil. The Word of Christ alone is true and eternal. So confess it. And if you are mocked and ridiculed, so be it. Confess it anyway, and rejoice that you are counted worthy to suffer for the Word of Christ like the Prophets and Apostles before you. Like Philip and James, who sealed their preaching with their own lifeblood.
Do not only confess the Word that is spoken to you, but also pray according to it. Pray in Jesus’ Name. That is to say, pray in the confidence of Christ who loves you. Pray from within the waters of your Baptism. Pray as a member of God’s household and family. Pray as dear children ask their dear father, only that much better; for God is your true Father, and you are His true child, and He does not spurn your prayers. He has commanded you to pray, and He has promised to hear you.
As you lift up your heart and your voice to call upon the Name of the Lord, you enter into His courts with thanksgiving; and along with your prayer, you also ascend like incense into the Holy of Holies, in and with the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus.
Your prayer is heard for Jesus’ sake. By prayer in His Name you already dwell in the House of God, because Christ has drawn near to you. He has not simply waited on high for you to pray, in order to have compassion, but in compassion He has stooped low. He has built His Church here. He has raised its walls and established its foundations by the preaching of His Holy Apostles and Prophets, which He also causes to be preached to the ends of the earth and to the close of the age.
By that Word, right here and now, your sins are all forgiven. There is no condemnation. You are not cast out. You are at home with your Father, because His own dear Son, Christ Jesus, is here with you as your Savior, who will never leave you nor forsake you. And as He is here with you, with His Gospel, so shall you be with Him, where He is, forever and ever.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
To live in the Father’s House, that is real life. And that is more than a matter of location. More than where your bedroom happens to be found at the end of each day. It is more than whether you even have a bedroom or a bed to call your own.
The Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head in His life on earth, and yet, He was always at home with His Father. For the Father always abides in His Son, and He remained with Him at all times, even in the midst of suffering and death. And the Lord Jesus was always in and with His Father, no matter where He roamed, from His Nativity and His Baptism to His Cross and Resurrection.
The same is true for you by faith. Whether you live in a mansion, or a pup tent, or under a bridge; whether you have no permanent address, or a place where you’ve lived for fifty years, your home is with God the Father when by faith you are in Christ Jesus. Whereas, apart from faith, it doesn’t matter where you lay your body down, where you hang your hat, or what you call your home. Apart from faith in Christ, you have no real resting place, no true home, and no lasting family.
It is by faith that you live and abide with the Father in peace and in love. But that is not how it is for you as a child of Adam to begin with. As a son or daughter of Adam & Eve, you have been driven from your home with God, cast out of the Garden. Not because of any fault in God, but on account of your own fault. Your sin, your unbelief, and your idolatry have put you at odds with God and wrecked your relationship with Him.
You know what this is like from your own home and family. If you are at odds with your father or mother, or with your siblings; if there is some unresolved grievance; if you have done wrong but have not yet been reconciled to your father, then, even though you live in the same house, and you have your own room and your place at the table, it sure doesn’t feel like home. You may be frightened. You may be confused. You may be angry and bitter. Your feelings may be all over the map, but you’re not really at home, not when there is no peace between you and your father.
On the other hand, you may be a soldier or a student far from home; and yet, even though you are far away and cut off by distance from your mother and father and your brothers and sisters, your home is where your heart is, and your heart dwells in peace with your family across the miles.
In much the same way, as a child of God, your heart dwells in peace with your Father in heaven, and you reside in His household as a member of His family, when by faith you lay hold of Christ Jesus, no matter where in the world you happen to be, and no matter how things may be going.
But you can’t get there or live there by your own knowledge. You have no GPS or road map that tells you where or even what the Father’s House is. You do not know how to find your way, and you do not know how to dwell there and abide there in peace, until the Lord Himself teaches you by His preaching of the Gospel, by His forgiveness of your sins.
Forgiveness is the Key to the Father’s House. And that forgiveness comes from Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He knows the Way to the Father. He is the Way to the Father. He is the exact Representation and Likeness of His Father, especially in His flesh and blood as the incarnate Son. And now this Lord Jesus Christ — the Son of God who has become true Man, your Brother, born of the Woman — He has come to show you the Way, and to be the Way for you.
And just as God has been hidden from you because of your sin — for it is not a lack of knowledge that prevents you, but sin which bars the way, and breaks your relationship, and makes the House of God feel like a place of fear instead of a place of rest — Christ has come and hidden Himself under the Cross in the midst of sin and death, in order to reveal Himself to you by the Gospel.
It is by the Cross and Resurrection, and by the preaching of the Gospel, that the Lord reveals Himself to you. Not to your eyesight, and often not to your feelings and emotions, nor to your intellect and reason as such, but to faith — which He obtains in your heart, where and when it pleases Him, by His Word of forgiveness. It is entirely His good work and His gracious gift.
Christ hides Himself in weakness, in order to reveal Himself in love to you who are weak. The one true God hides Himself in flesh and blood; and not only that, but in the likeness of your fallen flesh, subject to the curse and consequences of your sin. Subject to your death.
God thus hides Himself in that which is the very opposite of God. He hides Himself in darkness and gloom. He hides Himself in hurt and sorrow and pain. He who is the Life hides Himself in death. And He does so in order to reveal Himself to poor, miserable sinners, like yourself, who are lost in the darkness and condemned to die; so that in the midst of deep darkness the Lord might lay hold of you and bring you in peace to His Father.
The Son hides Himself in, with, and under the Cross, in order to reconcile you to His Father in His own crucified and risen Body. That is the Way that He makes known to you through the Gospel.
Though you have been afraid; though you have been lost and confused; though you have been angry and bitter, God has set His heart at peace with you. He is not angry. He is not bitter. And He has not lost sight of you. Instead, the Father has given His Son in the flesh, even into death, that He might become the Firstborn of many brothers and sisters, among whom you are counted.
The Son of God, who has come from the very bosom of the Father, has returned to the Father by the Way of the Cross. He has borne the sins of the world in His own Body, and made Atonement for them by His Blood. And by the Way of the Cross, through suffering, death, and burial, He has risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father. All of His enemies are trampled under His feet, the head of the serpent crushed by His sacrificial death for the salvation of sinners.
By this Way of the Cross, in His Resurrection and Ascension, the Lord Jesus Christ has prepared a place for you. And by faith in His Gospel, that is where you now live — with Christ in God — even while you sojourn through this valley of sorrow, a stranger in a strange land far from home.
Here within the Church on earth, you are in the Father’s House. Here you are set at peace with God, because your sins are forgiven. Here the gentleness of the Father toward you in Christ Jesus calms your quaking heart and your trembling hands and your troubled mind, so that you know peace such as the world cannot give. And you find that you do have a place within the household and family of God, because you do have such a Father who loves you and cares for you. He does not cast you away from His presence. He does not punish you as you deserve. He does not scold you for your sins. He gathers you to Himself, He sets you at His Table, and He delights in you as He delights in His own beloved and well-pleasing Son, your Brother and Savior, Christ Jesus.
That House and Home with the Father are yours in Christ Jesus, who has not left you alone, but He is very near you, in your ears, and in your heart, and on your lips and tongue, with His Word.
It is for this purpose that He called and gathered to Himself those poor, confused men, including St. Philip & St. James, those holy Apostles who were also men of flesh and blood, of sin and weakness, no different and no better than yourself. He revealed Himself to them, and He sent them to preach, to baptize, to absolve sinners in His Name, and to shepherd His flock with the Gospel.
We don’t know much about Philip, and we know even less about this James, who is often confused with a few others of the same name. And what we do know is not altogether complimentary. Yet, Christ knows and loves them well, and He was always with them in the Office to which He called them. He was with them in their preaching. He was with them in their works. So that what they spoke and what they did were the words and works of Christ Himself. Indeed, by these men He has done greater things than He ever did before, because He has accomplished His purposes and prepared a place for His people by His Cross and in His Resurrection from the dead.
What Philip and James and all the Apostles delivered in His Name, and what the ministers of Christ to this day preach and administer in His Name, are the fruits and benefits of His Sacrifice.
Christ has brought you home to the Father in Himself, in His crucified and risen Body And He gives you that Home here on earth within His Church by the Apostolic preaching of the Gospel.
Sheep, you know your Shepherd’s voice. You hear it in the Gospel. You know it, and you follow Him, even though it is by mortal men that He now speaks to you. You hear Christ Jesus in the preaching of His Word, and you know Him by faith. And knowing Him, you know His Father as your own dear Father in heaven. Because what you hear in Christ, and what you see by faith in Him, is the Father’s heart open wide to you in love, in mercy, in compassion and forgiveness.
Believe in Him. Trust in Him. Know that the Word He speaks to you is true. It is steadfast, sure, and certain. It is not empty and lifeless, but living and life-giving. It is stronger than death and the grave. And it is stronger than your own heart, which may accuse and condemn you.
Christ is for you. That is what He speaks. That is what He does. That is what He gives. Believe in Him. And believe in His Father. Believe the Word that He speaks to you, and confess that Word. Speak it against the lies of the devil, and speak it in love to and for your neighbor.
Proceed in faith as you hear that Word, even when everything around you testifies differently. Even though Christ is hidden under the Cross, and that which you see and experience in the world seems so tangible and so convincing, whether for good or evil. The Word of Christ alone is true and eternal. So confess it. And if you are mocked and ridiculed, so be it. Confess it anyway, and rejoice that you are counted worthy to suffer for the Word of Christ like the Prophets and Apostles before you. Like Philip and James, who sealed their preaching with their own lifeblood.
Do not only confess the Word that is spoken to you, but also pray according to it. Pray in Jesus’ Name. That is to say, pray in the confidence of Christ who loves you. Pray from within the waters of your Baptism. Pray as a member of God’s household and family. Pray as dear children ask their dear father, only that much better; for God is your true Father, and you are His true child, and He does not spurn your prayers. He has commanded you to pray, and He has promised to hear you.
As you lift up your heart and your voice to call upon the Name of the Lord, you enter into His courts with thanksgiving; and along with your prayer, you also ascend like incense into the Holy of Holies, in and with the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus.
Your prayer is heard for Jesus’ sake. By prayer in His Name you already dwell in the House of God, because Christ has drawn near to you. He has not simply waited on high for you to pray, in order to have compassion, but in compassion He has stooped low. He has built His Church here. He has raised its walls and established its foundations by the preaching of His Holy Apostles and Prophets, which He also causes to be preached to the ends of the earth and to the close of the age.
By that Word, right here and now, your sins are all forgiven. There is no condemnation. You are not cast out. You are at home with your Father, because His own dear Son, Christ Jesus, is here with you as your Savior, who will never leave you nor forsake you. And as He is here with you, with His Gospel, so shall you be with Him, where He is, forever and ever.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
01 May 2015
At Home and at Peace with the Father in Christ
Your heart is troubled, restless and anxious, because you are longing for your home; which is really to say that you are longing for real life with God, for peace and rest and a home with Him.
You are troubled because, despite that anxious longing of your heart, you find yourself wandering and wondering, curious, and confused about it all. You don’t know where you’re going, nor do you recognize the way. Your experience of mortal life in this fallen world is that you are a stranger and alien, separated from God, lost and alone, far away from any true home, all on account of sin; because of your doubts and fears, and your denial, disobedience, and rejection of God’s Word.
But now, take heart, dear child of God. Be at peace, and do not be afraid.
Your home is where Christ Jesus is, and fear not, He is with you. He has prepared a place for you — by His Incarnation, by His Cross and Passion, and in His Resurrection and Ascension. Indeed, Christ Himself is your Place where you belong. His Body, crucified and risen, is your true Home, your Life and your Salvation with His God and Father forever. All of this, not only in your heart and soul, but first of all in your ears, and then also in your mouth and in your body.
Already here and now you are at home with God in Christ Jesus — by His grace alone, through faith in His Word. And so shall you be at home with God hereafter, forever and ever, in Christ.
By His Incarnation, He has come close to you, and He has become like you in every way, save only without sin. He has perfectly united God and Man in Himself, in His own Body of flesh and blood.
And by His Cross and Passion, in His own flesh, by His holy and precious blood, He has undone and rectified the separation of sin, so that you and all mankind are reconciled to God in Him.
In His Resurrection and Ascension to the right hand of the Father, He has raised true man to eternal life with God — in the flesh — in righteousness, holiness, and blessedness forever.
In all of this, by the Word and work of the incarnate Son, you behold the true heart, the gracious good will, and the divine glory of the Father. Thus, you know and love and believe in the one true God and Father by this way and means of His beloved and well-pleasing Son.
How, then, do you know the Son and believe in Him?
It is by the preaching of His Word, and by the works that are done in His Name.
Indeed, the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ do the same and even greater works than He once did; because they are sent to preach and perform, in His Name, the accomplished Word and work of His Cross, and thereby to distribute the fruits and benefits of His Resurrection from the dead.
They preach heaven on earth. They preach God the Father in His Son, Christ Jesus, and so also the blessed life and forgiveness and perfect peace of His Holy Spirit, through the Holy Gospel.
As we thus remember and give thanks for the Holy Apostles — for St. Philip and St. James on this day, in particular, although we know so very little about these two men — we remember and give thanks for Christ Jesus, our Savior; and in Him we know and love our Father in heaven.
For the whole Christian Church, the House of God, is built upon the foundation of the Holy Apostles, and Christ Himself is the Cornerstone who gives shape and stability to the whole.
You live and abide within that House, and so do you live and abide with Christ in God, by the Word and work of the Apostolic Ministry: by the same preaching and performance of the Gospel.
It is by that Word and work of the Gospel that God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, abides with you in love; and by faith in the Gospel, you abide with the Holy Triune God in peace and hope.
It is by faith in His Word, and not by sight, because you live and walk by the way of Christ the Crucified through this dark valley of sorrow and tears unto your eternal home in heaven.
So do you carry the Cross in your vocation as a Christian, baptized into Christ Jesus; you suffer and die, as did Christ Himself and His Apostles, in the same faith and hope of His Resurrection from the dead. You wait upon the Justice of God the Father, who will certainly raise you also in the righteousness of Christ Jesus, who has become your Advocate and your Kinsman Redeemer.
For now, you live in the wilderness, surviving on the water of oppression and the bread of privation, irrespective of your temporal circumstances. But you do survive, nevertheless, in the household and family of God, within which your Teacher makes Himself and His Life known to you through the preaching of His Word and by His gracious work.
You know where you are going, and you actually do know the Way; not because you have found it or figured it out for yourself, but because the Lord Jesus Christ is the Way, and He has found you. He has sought you out, and He still does, by the Ministry of the Gospel, in order to gather you to Himself and bring you to the Father in and with Himself, in His Body and His Blood.
Believe it. For He has already gone the way of the Cross on your behalf, and by it He has opened the Way of Life with God for you. Your sin no longer separates you from God, nor does it prevent you from knowing and going to Him. Rather, in Christ, you are already safely at home with Him.
Let not your heart be troubled. Eat the Bread of Christ the Crucified, with which your Father feeds you here at His Table in His House. Recline yourself here, and put your mind and body at ease by His Word and Spirit of the Gospel. Eat and drink what He gives and pours out for you, and rest yourself in His Peace. For you are His dear child, your sins are all forgiven, and this is your home.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
You are troubled because, despite that anxious longing of your heart, you find yourself wandering and wondering, curious, and confused about it all. You don’t know where you’re going, nor do you recognize the way. Your experience of mortal life in this fallen world is that you are a stranger and alien, separated from God, lost and alone, far away from any true home, all on account of sin; because of your doubts and fears, and your denial, disobedience, and rejection of God’s Word.
But now, take heart, dear child of God. Be at peace, and do not be afraid.
Your home is where Christ Jesus is, and fear not, He is with you. He has prepared a place for you — by His Incarnation, by His Cross and Passion, and in His Resurrection and Ascension. Indeed, Christ Himself is your Place where you belong. His Body, crucified and risen, is your true Home, your Life and your Salvation with His God and Father forever. All of this, not only in your heart and soul, but first of all in your ears, and then also in your mouth and in your body.
Already here and now you are at home with God in Christ Jesus — by His grace alone, through faith in His Word. And so shall you be at home with God hereafter, forever and ever, in Christ.
By His Incarnation, He has come close to you, and He has become like you in every way, save only without sin. He has perfectly united God and Man in Himself, in His own Body of flesh and blood.
And by His Cross and Passion, in His own flesh, by His holy and precious blood, He has undone and rectified the separation of sin, so that you and all mankind are reconciled to God in Him.
In His Resurrection and Ascension to the right hand of the Father, He has raised true man to eternal life with God — in the flesh — in righteousness, holiness, and blessedness forever.
In all of this, by the Word and work of the incarnate Son, you behold the true heart, the gracious good will, and the divine glory of the Father. Thus, you know and love and believe in the one true God and Father by this way and means of His beloved and well-pleasing Son.
How, then, do you know the Son and believe in Him?
It is by the preaching of His Word, and by the works that are done in His Name.
Indeed, the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ do the same and even greater works than He once did; because they are sent to preach and perform, in His Name, the accomplished Word and work of His Cross, and thereby to distribute the fruits and benefits of His Resurrection from the dead.
They preach heaven on earth. They preach God the Father in His Son, Christ Jesus, and so also the blessed life and forgiveness and perfect peace of His Holy Spirit, through the Holy Gospel.
As we thus remember and give thanks for the Holy Apostles — for St. Philip and St. James on this day, in particular, although we know so very little about these two men — we remember and give thanks for Christ Jesus, our Savior; and in Him we know and love our Father in heaven.
For the whole Christian Church, the House of God, is built upon the foundation of the Holy Apostles, and Christ Himself is the Cornerstone who gives shape and stability to the whole.
You live and abide within that House, and so do you live and abide with Christ in God, by the Word and work of the Apostolic Ministry: by the same preaching and performance of the Gospel.
It is by that Word and work of the Gospel that God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, abides with you in love; and by faith in the Gospel, you abide with the Holy Triune God in peace and hope.
It is by faith in His Word, and not by sight, because you live and walk by the way of Christ the Crucified through this dark valley of sorrow and tears unto your eternal home in heaven.
So do you carry the Cross in your vocation as a Christian, baptized into Christ Jesus; you suffer and die, as did Christ Himself and His Apostles, in the same faith and hope of His Resurrection from the dead. You wait upon the Justice of God the Father, who will certainly raise you also in the righteousness of Christ Jesus, who has become your Advocate and your Kinsman Redeemer.
For now, you live in the wilderness, surviving on the water of oppression and the bread of privation, irrespective of your temporal circumstances. But you do survive, nevertheless, in the household and family of God, within which your Teacher makes Himself and His Life known to you through the preaching of His Word and by His gracious work.
You know where you are going, and you actually do know the Way; not because you have found it or figured it out for yourself, but because the Lord Jesus Christ is the Way, and He has found you. He has sought you out, and He still does, by the Ministry of the Gospel, in order to gather you to Himself and bring you to the Father in and with Himself, in His Body and His Blood.
Believe it. For He has already gone the way of the Cross on your behalf, and by it He has opened the Way of Life with God for you. Your sin no longer separates you from God, nor does it prevent you from knowing and going to Him. Rather, in Christ, you are already safely at home with Him.
Let not your heart be troubled. Eat the Bread of Christ the Crucified, with which your Father feeds you here at His Table in His House. Recline yourself here, and put your mind and body at ease by His Word and Spirit of the Gospel. Eat and drink what He gives and pours out for you, and rest yourself in His Peace. For you are His dear child, your sins are all forgiven, and this is your home.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
01 May 2013
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
Your heart is troubled, because you are longing for home; which is really to say that you are longing for life with God.
But you find yourself wandering and wondering, curious and confused. You don’t know where you’re going, nor the way. You experience yourself to be a stranger and an alien, separated from God, lost and alone, far away from home, because of sin; because of doubt, denial, disobedience and rejection of God’s Word.
Take heart, dear one. Be at peace, and do not be afraid.
Your home is where Christ Jesus is. He has prepared a place for you — by His Incarnation, by His Cross, and in His Resurrection and Ascension. Indeed, Christ Himself is your Place, where you belong; He is your true Home, your Life with His God and Father forever. This not only in your heart and soul, but first of all in your ears; then also in your mouth and in your body.
Already here and now, you are at home with God in Christ Jesus — by His grace alone, through faith in His Word. And so shall you be at home with God hereafter, forever and ever, in Christ.
In His Incarnation, He has come close to you, and He has become like you in every way, save sin. And He has perfectly united God and Man in Himself, in His own Body of flesh and blood.
By His Cross and Passion, in His own flesh, He has undone and rectified the separation of sin, so that all mankind is reconciled to God in Him.
In His Resurrection and Ascension to the right hand of the Father, He has raised man to life with God — in the flesh — in righteousness, holiness and blessedness forever.
In all of this, the Word and work of the incarnate Son, you behold the true heart, the gracious good will, and the divine nature of the Father. You know and love, and believe in the one true God and Father, by this way and means of the one true God, the Son.
How then do you know the Son and believe in Him?
It is by His Word, and by the works that are done in His Name.
That is how the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ did the same and even greater works than He had done; because they preached and performed, in His Name, the accomplished Word and work of His Cross, and thus distributed the fruits of His Resurrection from the dead.
They preached heaven on earth. They preached God the Father in His Son, Christ Jesus, and so the blessed life and forgiveness of His Holy Spirit, through the Holy Gospel.
In remembering and giving thanks for the Holy Apostles, for St. Philip and St. James, though we know very little about them, we remember and give thanks for Christ Jesus, our Savior; and in Him, we know and love our Father in heaven.
For the whole Christian Church, the House of God, is built upon the foundation of the Holy Apostles, of which Christ Himself is the Cornerstone, who gives shape and stability to the whole.
You live and abide within that House, and thus you live and abide with Christ in God, by the Word and work of the Apostolic Ministry: the same preaching and performance of the Gospel.
It is by that Word and work of the Gospel that God abides with you in love; and by faith in that Word of the Gospel that you abide with God in peace and hope.
It is by faith in His Word, and not by sight, because you live and walk by the way of Christ the Crucified through this valley of sorrow to your eternal home in heaven.
So you carry the Cross and go to your death, as Christ and His Apostles did, in the faith and hope of His Resurrection. You wait upon the Justice of God the Father, who will raise you also in the righteousness of Christ.
For now, you live in the wilderness, surviving on the water of oppression and the bread of privation (irrespective of your temporal circumstances). But surviving, nonetheless, in the household and family of God, in which your Teacher makes Himself known through the preaching of His Word and His gracious work.
You know where you are going, and you know the way; not because you have found it or figured it out, but because He is the Way, and He has found you. He has already gone the way of the Cross for you, and by it He has opened the Way of Life with God for you. Your sin no longer separates or prevents you from God, but in Christ you are already safely at home with Him.
Let not your heart be troubled. Eat the Bread of Christ the Crucified, with which your Father feeds you, here at His Table in His House. For you are His dear child, and this is your home.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
But you find yourself wandering and wondering, curious and confused. You don’t know where you’re going, nor the way. You experience yourself to be a stranger and an alien, separated from God, lost and alone, far away from home, because of sin; because of doubt, denial, disobedience and rejection of God’s Word.
Take heart, dear one. Be at peace, and do not be afraid.
Your home is where Christ Jesus is. He has prepared a place for you — by His Incarnation, by His Cross, and in His Resurrection and Ascension. Indeed, Christ Himself is your Place, where you belong; He is your true Home, your Life with His God and Father forever. This not only in your heart and soul, but first of all in your ears; then also in your mouth and in your body.
Already here and now, you are at home with God in Christ Jesus — by His grace alone, through faith in His Word. And so shall you be at home with God hereafter, forever and ever, in Christ.
In His Incarnation, He has come close to you, and He has become like you in every way, save sin. And He has perfectly united God and Man in Himself, in His own Body of flesh and blood.
By His Cross and Passion, in His own flesh, He has undone and rectified the separation of sin, so that all mankind is reconciled to God in Him.
In His Resurrection and Ascension to the right hand of the Father, He has raised man to life with God — in the flesh — in righteousness, holiness and blessedness forever.
In all of this, the Word and work of the incarnate Son, you behold the true heart, the gracious good will, and the divine nature of the Father. You know and love, and believe in the one true God and Father, by this way and means of the one true God, the Son.
How then do you know the Son and believe in Him?
It is by His Word, and by the works that are done in His Name.
That is how the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ did the same and even greater works than He had done; because they preached and performed, in His Name, the accomplished Word and work of His Cross, and thus distributed the fruits of His Resurrection from the dead.
They preached heaven on earth. They preached God the Father in His Son, Christ Jesus, and so the blessed life and forgiveness of His Holy Spirit, through the Holy Gospel.
In remembering and giving thanks for the Holy Apostles, for St. Philip and St. James, though we know very little about them, we remember and give thanks for Christ Jesus, our Savior; and in Him, we know and love our Father in heaven.
For the whole Christian Church, the House of God, is built upon the foundation of the Holy Apostles, of which Christ Himself is the Cornerstone, who gives shape and stability to the whole.
You live and abide within that House, and thus you live and abide with Christ in God, by the Word and work of the Apostolic Ministry: the same preaching and performance of the Gospel.
It is by that Word and work of the Gospel that God abides with you in love; and by faith in that Word of the Gospel that you abide with God in peace and hope.
It is by faith in His Word, and not by sight, because you live and walk by the way of Christ the Crucified through this valley of sorrow to your eternal home in heaven.
So you carry the Cross and go to your death, as Christ and His Apostles did, in the faith and hope of His Resurrection. You wait upon the Justice of God the Father, who will raise you also in the righteousness of Christ.
For now, you live in the wilderness, surviving on the water of oppression and the bread of privation (irrespective of your temporal circumstances). But surviving, nonetheless, in the household and family of God, in which your Teacher makes Himself known through the preaching of His Word and His gracious work.
You know where you are going, and you know the way; not because you have found it or figured it out, but because He is the Way, and He has found you. He has already gone the way of the Cross for you, and by it He has opened the Way of Life with God for you. Your sin no longer separates or prevents you from God, but in Christ you are already safely at home with Him.
Let not your heart be troubled. Eat the Bread of Christ the Crucified, with which your Father feeds you, here at His Table in His House. For you are His dear child, and this is your home.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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