Like a Bride Made Ready for Her Husband

Everything is done for the sake of the beloved Son. Everything is done for Him. It is in the Name of Jesus, and for His sake, that the Father loves the Bride, and for the sake of Jesus that He rejoices over her with lavish generosity and gracious hospitality. The Father loves the Bride because she is the Bride of His beloved Son. He loves her as He loves Him — with divine, eternal Love.

It is the Bridegroom who speaks this Parable and reveals the Kingdom of Heaven within it. And He is at the heart and center of it all, not only as the Author of the story, but the Author and Giver of Life by His Word of the Gospel, by the gift of His Holy Spirit through His forgiveness of sins.

The whole story is about this Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. The Feast is held in His honor. And yet, He is the One who has been sacrificed in order to become the Feast. He is the One who has been slaughtered, so that you might eat and drink, cleansed and forgiven. He feeds His guests from His own hand, as the Waiter, for He is among you as the One who serves. And what He sets before you is nothing else and nothing less than Himself, His own holy Body and His precious Blood.

Indeed, the invitation and the call that you have received to this Wedding Feast are actually a marriage proposal. You are called, that is, not simply to be a guest of the Bride and Groom, but to be a member of the bridal party and, what is more, to be a member of the Bride herself, the holy Church. For the call and invitation are a betrothal, that you be wed to Christ, the beloved Son.

Take to heart, therefore, the seriousness, the importance and significance of this call and invitation. The King would have you be united to His Son, joined to Him, as one flesh and blood with Him, both now and forever, so that even death is never able to part you from Him. The Father would have you married to His Son, and He would love you in Him as a dear and delightful daughter.

So it is that, from heaven Christ came and sought you out — to call you to Himself, to make of you His Bride by the washing of the water with His Word. In your Holy Baptism, He has cleansed you, and He has clothed you in His own righteousness. He has made you ready for Himself, as a Bride made beautiful for her Husband. He has dressed you for the Wedding and for the Wedding Feast. You are gloriously adorned, and there is no spot in you at all; there is no wrinkle, no blemish, and no flaw. There is nothing to be seen but the beauty with which Christ has made you beautiful.

And now, made ready, you are called to partake of the Feast. To rejoice and celebrate with Christ, your Groom, your Husband and your Head. To eat and to drink the Meal that He sets before you, the Meat and Drink indeed, which He has prepared by His sacrificial death upon the Cross.

“It is finished,” He has spoken from that Cross. There’s nothing more to be done that He has not done. His Feast is ready. Everything is ready. So, come and eat. Already here and now, His great Feast is set before you in the Holy Communion. You are called to celebrate and rejoice by eating and drinking this Food and this Drink, and thus to abide in Christ, and He in you, in the Kingdom of His God and Father — already manifested here under the Cross within His Church on earth.

The Feast in question is not simply a metaphor. It is not simply a picture of something yet to come. It is already here and now in the Lord’s Supper. The Sacrament really is that central and important to the Christian faith and life. This is what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. More than that, this is the Kingdom of Heaven, which is here with you on earth in the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus.

The Lord’s Supper is not simply a means to some other end. It’s not play-acting in remembrance of what happened a long time ago. Nor is it a dreamlike anticipation of some “sweet by-and-by” yet to come. No, here you actually taste the Feast that goes on forever in the Kingdom of God.

Therefore, do not despise His Feast. Do not reject His gracious invitation.

On the one hand, you despise His Feast when you are unwilling to come, when you engage in other activities while turning your back on that which Christ the Lord has set before you; when you treat the things of this world as a higher priority than the things of Christ Jesus, the things of heaven.

On the other hand, you also despise His Feast when you presume to come dressed in your own attire; when you refuse the hospitality of your Host by refusing to wear the garment He provides.

Consider this Parable’s troubling conclusion: Just when you think that you’re finally sitting down to eat, the King comes in, and He scans His guests, and there He sees a man not wearing wedding garments. He says to him, “How did you get in here, friend, not wearing wedding garments?” And the man is speechless. He has nothing to say for himself. So, what does this mean for you?

How shall you know that, coming to the Feast, you will not be spotted for the sinner that you are, and thrown into the outer darkness of death and damnation, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth? With what worthiness do you dare to come and recline at the Table of the Lord?

The conclusion of this Parable is frightening, if it is heard apart from faith in the Gospel. But that is precisely the point and the problem at hand in the case of this man without a wedding garment. He has approached the Feast apart from faith in the Gospel. He has presumed to dress himself, instead of receiving and relying on the hospitality of the King in the righteousness of Christ.

Do not attempt to feed and clothe yourself. Do not stay away from the Feast in fear that you are not worthy. And do not try to work and strive and primp in order to dress and adorn yourself, as though you could ever be made worthy by such efforts to sit at this Table and to eat this Feast.

Simply come in this confidence, that you are called to feast upon the One who has given Himself for you in love, and you are dressed in His righteousness from the waters of your Holy Baptism. That is where you have received the wedding garment. It has already been given to you. It is already yours. You have already been dressed by the hands of the One who loves you so dearly.

And here your heavenly Bridegroom cares for you as His Bride, His beloved Church. He clothes you, and He feeds you in His love for you, in His faithfulness and mercy, in His steadfast loving-kindness and tender affection for you, whom He has sought and called to be His own. Humble yourself to receive His good work and His gracious gifts, since He is your Savior and your Head.

His care for you, that is your wedding garment. Not what you do for yourself, and no amount of preparation on your part, but His gracious, loving care for you — that is your wedding garment.

Do not come trusting in yourself, nor in any human might or merit. Rather, fix your eyes on your Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, by fixing your ears upon His Word of the Gospel. Rely upon Him, and come to the Feast. Wear the clothing with which He has clothed you in your Baptism, that is, the righteousness, innocence, and blessedness of Christ Himself, which now cover you in His peace.

To wear those garments of salvation is to live by faith in Christ and His forgiveness, clinging to His Word and trusting His Gospel. It is to come, knowing that you are not worthy of yourself to eat and drink this Meal, but that Christ has made you worthy, that He has called you to Himself, and that He has wed you to Himself. Come to the Feast believing that. Here there are only the free gifts of God, and for your part there is only thanksgiving. There is nothing else you can give to Him who gives you everything by grace, except to return thanks through Jesus Christ your Lord.

When everything is a gift, as it is here, there is nothing for you to do but to say, “Thank you!”

It is for this reason that one of the primary names which the Church has given to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper is “Eucharist,” the Greek word for thanksgiving. What else do you have to bring? But clinging to the Cross, you simply give thanks for the free gifts of God in Christ Jesus.

That is what characterizes the Kingdom of Heaven: Thanksgiving and rejoicing, praising the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has done everything for you, who gives everything to you, and who withholds no good thing from you. You, then, give thanks to Him. That is what faith does, as surely as it hears and believes what God says and gladly receives what He freely bestows in the Gospel. Rejoice, give thanks, and sing to the praise and glory of His Holy Name!

Rejoice in what is good and right and true. Be gentle of heart. Be honorable in all of your actions. Be pure and chaste in all of your thoughts, in your words, and in your deeds. And do whatever you are given to do with excellence, as the Lord so enables and provides; not as though you were competing, but to the glory of your God and Father and to the praise of your heavenly Bridegroom.

Trust His grace and favor. And living by His grace through faith in His Gospel, be at peace as you go about your days in this world. So far as it depends on you, be at peace with everyone. If you are hurt, bear it in Christ, in patience, forgiveness, and love. Be content and confident in what the Lord has done and said and given to you; do not be anxious or worried about anything.

Remember that Christ has clothed you with His righteousness. He has dressed you in the robes of salvation. He’s got you decked out in better than your Sunday best. That’s true both day and night, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, whatever you happen to be wearing. You are clothed by and with and in Christ Jesus. How then shall you live in relation to your neighbors in the world?

Glorify the Holy Name of Christ by confessing His Name, not only in what you say, but also in how you act, in how you live your life within the world.

Do not clothe yourself again in death. That is the garment that was spread over all the nations by the fall into sin, the pall of death that covers the entire world apart from Christ. Do not clothe yourself in that legacy of fallen Adam, but be clothed by Christ Jesus with His Life and Salvation. Be clothed by Him in wedding garments fit for the Feast of a King.

Don’t go rolling around in the mud, in the muck and the mire, when your Lord has dressed you in such wedding finery. But where you have stained the wedding garment with which the Lord has dressed you, don’t take it off; and don’t try to cover yourself with fig leaves or high fashion. Only return to the waters of your Baptism; not to be baptized again, but to be cleansed by the Blood of Christ, again and again, as often as you fall, through His Absolution, His forgiveness of sins.

And being clothed and fed by Christ — though He and you are despised by the world — clothe and feed your neighbors with the love of God in Christ, even as you daily return to His love in the Gospel. Pass the serving tray, as it were, with which the Lord Jesus Christ continues to serve you.

In living by faith and with such love for others, you glorify your Bridegroom who has dressed you so beautifully and so well, and who cares for you with a passion that never wanes or ceases.

Be content, be confident, and be at peace in Him. Receive the gifts Christ freely gives, and know that you belong here at His Feast, not simply as a guest, but as His own dearly beloved Bride. From heaven He came and sought you, and He has called you to Himself. He loves you, and He will never leave you nor forsake you. Come, then, to the Feast, and rejoice in His great salvation.

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

Messengers Sent to Serve the Children of Man

Like ourselves, the holy angels are likewise creatures of the one true God; but they are creatures of such might and majesty that we human beings of finite, frail flesh and blood can hardly begin to comprehend what they are like — and all the more so because of our fallen, sinful state.

The angels of God are His creatures, and perhaps in all of His vast Creation there are no creatures of greater might and majesty than they possess. And yet, these holy angels were created for the sake of Man, to honor and serve mankind. Not as though God needed their help; there is nothing that He cannot do by His own almighty power. As great and majestic as the angels are, they also depend upon the Lord our God for their very existence, and for all that they are and have.

But, no, God made the angels, not as though He needed them — not as though He needed anything — but because in His divine love He desired to serve and honor us, men and women made in His Image and Likeness, which is to say, in the Image and Likeness of the incarnate Son, Christ Jesus.

Man alone among all of God’s creatures has been created to share and participate in His divine, eternal Life. The Son of God did not become an angel, nor any other creature than true Man, born of the Woman, born of flesh and blood like your own, save only without any sins of His own. The majestic holy angels were created to serve mankind for the sake of that one true Man, Christ Jesus.

There are hints in the Holy Scriptures — and theologians throughout the history of the Church have surmised and concluded — that Satan and his minions fell from God’s presence because of pride and envy over this very thing, that human beings were created for such glory, that God in His grace would bestow such honor upon such creatures of frail flesh and blood. Out of jealousy and  resentment, Satan rebelled against God, the Lord, and led other angels into this rebellion, as well.

And the gracious privilege that God has given to the children of Man is demonstrated above all in this crucial difference, that, whereas those rebellious and fallen angels — the devil and his hordes — have been given no opportunity for redemption, repentance, and restoration to their original state, fallen man is raised up with Christ Jesus through repentance and faith in His Holy Gospel.

As we are all well aware, it certainly is the case that Man has also rebelled against God, the Lord, and fallen into sin, and brought death upon himself and all of Creation — because all of Creation has been created by God for the blessing and benefit of Man, to whom He gave dominion over the earth. Yet, despite this glory and honor of God’s grace, Man dishonored God and disobeyed His Word. Adam & Eve and all their children, including each of us, have sinned against the Lord.

But to you and all the children of Man — in contrast to the fallen angels — there is given this great redemption in Christ Jesus, this restoration and salvation, this high honor of the Holy Gospel!

It is not as though the sins of mankind are any less sinful or egregious than those of Satan and the other fallen angels. If you consider that Satan’s sin is one of arrogance, pride, envy, and jealousy, you find that much of your own sin is Satanic — or demonic, as we heard recently from St. James. You also are arrogant and prideful in your sin, selfish, self-centered, and self-righteous; and you also are envious and jealous of your neighbor, covetous of what the Lord God has given to others.

And yet, the same Lord God in His mercy has chosen to save you by the incarnation of the Son!

That grace and salvation of God makes the devil all the angrier. Indeed, the devil is furious, hell-bent on dragging you and all people down with himself; he is desperate and determined to destroy you, to grab you and keep you away from the one true God. To that end, Satan tempts you to sin, in order that he might then accuse you of your sin! Do not underestimate the devil’s wiliness, he is wiser and more cunning than you. He is crafty and subtle. And do not underestimate his strength, for he is stronger than you, and he prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour you.

The devil will stop at nothing to destroy you. And sadly, you give him plenty of ammunition with your sins, with all that you do contrary to the Word of God. That old dragon, Satan the “Accuser,” does not even have to lie when he points his finger in your face, because he can bring the very Law of God against you. Yet, he is undone by the Word of the Gospel, because Jesus forgives you!

The simple Word of the Gospel is your mightiest weapon against the devil, all his works, and all his ways. The Word of the Gospel is your strongest armor and protection against the devil’s wiles and strength. For the Holy Gospel of your Lord Jesus Christ forgives your sins and removes all your iniquity and guilt, and it covers you with the Lord’s own righteousness, holiness, and peace.

It is likewise for the sake of this Holy Gospel that St. Michael and all the holy angels serve and protect you in both body and soul, according to the good and gracious Will of God. Indeed, above all else, St. Michael and the holy angels live to serve the Will of God; and it is His good and gracious Will for you in Christ Jesus, that you should be rescued and saved from sin, death, the devil, and hell, and that you should not perish but live forever with God Himself in Paradise.

So, for the sake of the Gospel — which is really to say, for the sake of Christ Jesus — those great majestic angels of God constantly surround you and protect you, and they pull you from the fire, and they save you from destruction, and they protect and guard your body. And along with all of that, they also guard and keep your soul, as well, so that Satan has no chance to get at you.

Even so, for all of that, it has not been given to the holy angels but to men, whom God has chosen, called, ordained, and sent in His Name — not to angels, but to such men it is given to preach the Gospel, to forgive sins, and to administer the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus in His Holy Supper.  It is by this Word and Flesh and Blood of Christ that you are rescued and saved from the devil and all his wicked assaults and accusations. But it is not the holy angels who are entrusted with that Holy Ministry of the Gospel, but men who are sent by the Lord Jesus in His Name and stead.

Today, then, in particular, we give thanks and praise to God for the gift of His human “angels,” His messengers in this place — Bryan and Adam — sent to proclaim His Gospel to all of you!

In this Holy Ministry, we see again the honor and glory that God has given to Man, over and above that of the holy angels. It is men who are given to bestow the Gifts of Christ Jesus, and it is men and women who receive those Gifts unto themselves. For the almighty and eternal Son of God has not become like those angelic spirits, but He has become true Man and the Savior of all mankind.

The holy angels of God see in you, in your flesh and blood, the same human nature that God Himself, the incarnate Son Christ Jesus, has made His very own when He was conceived and born of the Woman, St. Mary. That is what the angels see in you. And by the same token, that is what you ought to see in your neighbor, as well, namely, the Image and Likeness of God, your Savior.

Indeed, in Christ Jesus, mortal Man — despite our fall into sin, and notwithstanding the death and damnation we deserve by our sin — Man is raised up, exalted, and glorified far and above the holy angels: in Him who was for a little while made lower than the holy angels, but has now been given the Name which is above every name, the Name with which He has named you in your Baptism.  And this is your glory and honor, that by the grace of God He has done all this for you.

Unlike Satan and all the other fallen angels who joined in his rebellion, St. Michael and all the holy angels of God harbor no envy or jealousy of you. They do not resent this grace of God toward you and all the children of Man. They are not bitter toward you, nor angry with God over you. Rather, their greatest joy and delight is found in the repentance, forgiveness, faith, and salvation of men and women, boys and girls — in your repentance, your forgiveness, your faith, and your salvation.

The holy angels of God rejoice to serve and support you for the sake of Christ Jesus, your Savior. They love to do it, because it is according to the Will of God, the Lord. This is God’s greatest delight, to save you and give you life; and so it is the greatest joy and delight of the holy angels.

And so, for all that they praise and honor and worship God, they do so for this above all else, that you have been saved; that you have been called out of darkness into the Light of Christ; that your sins have been forgiven; that you shall live with Christ forever and ever. In this all the angels in heaven rejoice. How much more, then, shall we worship, honor, glorify, and praise our dear God and Father for this Gospel and this Life which He freely gives to us by His grace in Christ Jesus!

And along with all His benefits, we give thanks to God, as well, for the service of His holy angels, who even now gather with us around the Lamb upon His throne, the God of God and Light of Light, the very God of very God, who became Flesh of our flesh and Bone of our bone, who bore your sins and griefs and sorrows in His own Body to the Cross, who was crucified, put to death, and buried for you, to atone for your sins and reconcile you to God, who is risen from the dead, ascended into heaven, and seated at the Right Hand of the Father forever and forevermore.

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

Receiving Life and Peace and Rest from God in Christ Jesus

Christian, live a life worthy of your calling, your vocation, to which the Lord your God has called you. You have that life, not of yourself, but from Him. You are not an independent “free agent,” you are the Lord’s own child and heir. So, live according to the Wisdom of His Word and Will.

Your life is not a contest or a competition. The goal and purpose of your God-given life is not to see how much you can grab for yourself and keep from your neighbor. Not at all. If you work and strive and compete for food that perishes, you’ll come up empty in the end, sooner or later. You cannot get life for yourself, and in any case it’s not a contest. Your brothers and sisters are not your enemies, competitors, or rivals. They really aren’t. Don’t live as though they were.

Your vocation and your life are gracious gifts of God, who is your own dear Father in Christ Jesus. And the life to which He has called you — the life He gives to you by grace — it is a divine, eternal life. It does not wear out, fade away, or perish. On the contrary, the more you live that life by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, the more it grows and thrives and bears good fruits. That is to live in love for both God and your neighbors, especially for those of the household of faith.

God does not call you to accomplish and achieve great things for yourself, to build a tower to the heavens, or to be a raving success. He has called you to be His beloved child, to bear His Name, and to receive all good things from His generous hand. You receive this life because He bestows it upon you graciously in love, even as He has called you His own and adopted you in Christ Jesus.

To be and to live as His beloved child is your primary vocation. Each of you has other vocations in this body and life. Some of you are husbands and fathers, some of you are wives and mothers. All of you are children of some parents. You have brothers and sisters, if not according to the flesh, then within the Body of Christ. But your chief calling is the one you were given by the Word and Spirit of God in Holy Baptism. That is where the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ called you by name and made you His own dearly-beloved and well-pleasing child. There He called you by your own name, to be sure, but there He also named you His own divine and Holy Name! Everything else that you are and do in life derives its value, its purpose, and its meaning from that.

So, think about the particular place and station in life that God has given to you, whether it be as a husband, a father, a wife, a mother, a son, a daughter, a teacher or a student, a worker or retired — wherever the Lord your God has stationed you in relation to your neighbors — understand that the gifts that He has given you are not your own, just as you are not your own but His. Your entire life is a free and gracious gift from God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And all of the many and various gifts and talents that He bestows upon you are a sacred stewardship of His grace, not only for your benefit and joy, because He loves you, but also for the benefit and blessing of others.

Whatever your gifts may be — whatever it is that God has given you, and whatever work He has given you to do — it is all for the purpose of exercising your faith in Him and living in love for your neighbors, not least of all by serving and supporting the Church and Ministry of His Gospel.

You have the gifts that God has given you in order that you might live from His hand, and trust in Him, and be content with what you have; because everything you have, and everything that your neighbor has, comes from the Lord your God and depends entirely on Him. Don’t try to measure yourself according to where you stack up alongside the people next to you. Understand that you are who you are, and you have what you have, because God in His wisdom — and in His love for both you and your neighbor — has given you these things, to the praise and glory of His grace.

He has likewise given you work to do, whatever your own job and station in life might be. So, for example, six days a week the people were to go out and gather the manna. On Friday God provided enough for two days, because on the Sabbath they were to rest, to do no work at all, because God would serve them. But He did give them work to do throughout the week, and He has given work to you, as well: Not to make a life for yourself, but as an exercise of holy faith and holy love.

Everyone who went out to gather the manna ended up with exactly as much as they needed. They couldn’t get more than that, because it would spoil and rot. And none of them got too little or not enough, either. It wasn’t that God redistributed the wealth by taking it from some and giving it to others. He rather lavished His good gifts upon them all, so that everyone ate and was filled.

Their work in gathering the manna was a way of living by faith. It was a daily and weekly test to see whether they would live according to the Word of God or depend upon themselves instead.

And at the end of every week, God demonstrated again that their lives did not depend upon their own efforts, but upon Him. On the Sabbath they were not to work at all, but to rest in His work and listen to His Word. They were to receive what only God could give. And that is your life, too.

Use your gifts and do your work for this reason and purpose — to receive the good gifts of God, and then to use them in service to your family, your friends, and your other neighbors in the world. Do it in the peace and confidence of the Gospel, that is, by faith in the Cross and Resurrection of your dear Lord Jesus Christ, in His forgiveness of all of your sins, and in His good gift of Life.

That is the peace and confidence in which you live. All of your sins are taken away! There is no condemnation against you. God loves you. He is your Father, and He cares for you. Christ is your Bridegroom, and He serves you with His very Life. There is nothing lacking. You are well cared for by God Himself. So, be at peace, and gladly do the work that He has given you to do in love.

The Law cannot give you life. But the Law does teach you how to live in faith toward God and in love toward your neighbor. It does of course expose your sins, because you are a sinner, but it also describes and demonstrates this way of real life in Christ Jesus: Trust in God, call upon His Name, listen to His Word, rest in His Peace. Honor your father and your mother, because God has given them to you. Be faithful to your husband or wife, as Christ is faithful to His Bride, the Church. And in all things, do no harm, but love your neighbor in the world, because God loves you — and God loves your neighbor, too.

The Law does not give you life, but the Law that Christ Jesus has fulfilled shows you what living by faith and in love looks like. Live that way. Not as a burden or an obligation. Do not live in fear. Do not live in desperation to make a life for yourself. It won’t work. Whatever you might achieve, whatever you might acquire, whatever you might accomplish will perish. It will fade away, or be stolen, or rust; sooner or later it will perish, and apart from Christ you will perish along with it.

But you are not apart from Christ, because He has drawn near to you in love, and He has called and gathered you to Himself by His Word and Holy Spirit. You don’t have to make a life for yourself (as if you ever could!), because Christ Jesus is your Life, and He is your reason for living. He’s your reason to get up each morning, and He’s your reason to do whatever it is you’re given to do.

Christ Jesus is the reason you can go to bed each night in the comfort, peace, and safety of your God and Father. Christ is your Strength and your Song, because He has given Himself for you and become your great Salvation. Trust Him. He will not fail you, nor will He ever abandon you.

He is your Life and your Salvation, and in His grace, mercy, and peace He gives Himself to you each day and night, evening and morning, sunset and dawning. Just as we have heard in regards to the Old Testament people of God: He gave them flesh in the evening and bread in the morning, and they saw the Glory of God. Right there in the wilderness!

The people were stubborn and irascible. No sooner has God delivered them from slavery in Egypt, and miraculously brought them through the Red Sea, then they start grumbling and complaining: Better to die in Egypt than out here in the wilderness!

But God fed them anyway, because He did everything out of love, all for the sake of the promised Messiah, and not because they deserved it. And the same is true for you. He has also brought you out of Egypt, and He has also brought you through the water. He has given you His great and precious promises. And though you grumble and complain, and you wonder where He is and why He allows you to suffer, to go hungry, and to die, the Messiah who has come feeds you anyway.

In the evening He gives His own Flesh for the Life of the world. And in the morning He rises as the very Bread of Life, with which His entire Church on earth is nourished unto Life everlasting.

So, then, eat your Manna in the wilderness, and live! Suffer patiently, whatever Cross is laid upon you. Suffer patiently in faith, hope, and love, as Christ has suffered for you. Do not grumble and complain, but pray. Your Father hears and answers. You are His child, after all, and you are dear to Him. As He has given His Son to die for you, so does He provide you with all good things.

If and when He does allow you go hungry for awhile, well, He has taught you why He does that. It is so that you will learn to live by faith in Him, and to rely on Him alone for all that you need.

In that same confidence and hope, serve your neighbor willingly and gladly in love. And do it especially within your callings and stations in life, wherever God has stationed you. That is where and how He teaches you what you are to do in holy faith and holy love. And you can go about doing that holy work, not as a burden of obligation to somehow raise yourself up by your own bootstraps, but rather as living the life that is already yours in Christ the Crucified.

Consider that He who is your Life — the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life — He who is the Resurrection and the Life — He has given Himself for you, even unto death. You see there how He has suffered patiently, in faith and hope, and He has done so in order to serve you in love.

And He has conquered. By His death, death has been defeated and emptied of any threat. All of the sins of the whole world — and that means all of your sins, too — Jesus has atoned for. Everything is paid for. And He has thereby reconciled you to His own God and Father, who is now also your own dear God and Father in Him.

Christ Jesus has suffered in order to serve you, and He still does serve you faithfully, day by day by day, in holy love. Seek Him where He may be found. Seek Him in His Church. Hear Him in the preaching of His Gospel. Know that it is His Voice that speaks to you, that He calls you again and again back to Himself in and with His Word of forgiveness. Receive Him also in His Holy Supper.

This dear Lord Jesus Christ is Himself your Peace and Sabbath Rest. He is the end of your work week. He is the eternal Eighth Day, the neverending Sabbath that remains for the people of God. Rest yourself in Him. He does not demand or take anything from you, but He rather gives you everything by His grace. He freely forgives you all of your sins, and He feeds you with Himself.

Eating and drinking Jesus in His Word and Sacrament, you lack nothing. Which is not to say that everything in this body and life is going to go smoothly, easily, and according to all your hopes and dreams and desires. Nor does it mean that you will no longer suffer any hurts or sorrows in this poor life of labor. But as the Lord your God gives Himself and His Life to you in Christ Jesus, none of that other stuff matters (be it good or bad), because everything that matters is yours.

The one true God, who loves you, is your Life. And nothing in heaven or on earth can rob you of that. As He feeds you with Himself, He gives you everything, so that nothing can hurt you, nothing can snatch you out of His hand. His love for you remains. And His Life is yours by His grace.

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

The Spirit of Life in the Valley of Death

Whether you’ve been around and doing your thing for twenty years or one-hundred-twenty, apart from the Holy Spirit you are nothing but dust and bones, constantly returning to the ground from which you were taken. Apart from the Holy Spirit you are dead and dying; for you have no life in you — neither in your body nor in your soul — except by the Spirit of God, the Breath of the Lord.

But you have been created for eternal Life with God. That is why you’re here, and why you exist at all. Yet, you do not really live without the Spirit. Apart from the Spirit, you continue to exist, as it were, but at odds with God (your Creator, the Author and Giver of Life) and cut off from Him; which is no life at all but a persistent and eternal death, an eternal damnation.

In the final judgment, in the Resurrection of all flesh at the end of days, you shall be raised from the dust of the earth in and with your body. But if you have not received the Holy Spirit in your body of flesh and blood within your life on earth, and if you have not remained in the Spirit of Christ Jesus within this body and life, then you shall be raised, not for everlasting life with God in Paradise, but for the neverending death and damnation of hell in both your body and your soul.

In the meantime, your body is dying because of your sin, which is (at its heart) the rejection of the Word and Spirit of God and the worship of yourself instead of the Lord. You die, as all men die, because of your sin. You live at all only by the grace of God, who gives life and breath to all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, who causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on both the evil and the good, and who gives daily bread also to all the wicked. But all of this is temporary.

The Spirit of God does not strive with man forever. He continues to strive with man for a season — as He has done for twenty years through Pastor Kolaskey’s ministry, and as He has done for more than one-hundred-twenty years in the life and mission of Trinity right here in Dillsboro — because of God’s love for man, and because of His desire that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth. But that season of grace will come to an end in the hour of death and in the final judgment. Then everything will depend on whether you have received and borne the Spirit of Christ Jesus in faith, or denied and rejected the Spirit in sinful unbelief and idolatry.

The fact that you are presently dying and wasting away is a daily reminder of your sin, and thus a daily call to repentance. If you rely on yourself and persist in your sins, you will perish forever; for you cannot keep yourself from dying, and you cannot save yourself for eternal life with God. Even if you do not yet see it or feel it in yourself, consider the world around you. Do you not hear of death and destruction on a daily basis, both near and far? People get sick and die at every age.

Whether it be strangers in the news, or loved ones on their sick beds, or your own mortal flesh with all its frailties and flaws, you look about and find that you are set within the valley of the shadow of death, surrounded on all sides, within and without, by dried up bones returning to the dust.

In the very midst of all this death, your only hope is in Christ Jesus, who pours out upon you the living and Life-giving Holy Spirit through His Word of the Gospel. His Church and Ministry right here in your midst is a bastion and bulwark of Life over against the very gates of hell. And yet, you cannot see, perceive, or feel His Life and health and strength here with you. Despite the promises of God, all that you can see and feel in this world is dust and bones. So you wonder if there is any hope, or if you should give up in despair. Sadness fills your heart, sorrow permeates your spirit.

Can these bones live? These dead and dying bones of yours? These brittle and breaking bones?

Can you possibly be rescued in both your body and your soul, rescued from death and damnation, in order to live with the Lord your God in the good Land that He has promised, in the place that Christ has prepared for you, in His House, in the Kingdom of His God and Father? Can even you be raised from the dust of the earth to everlasting Life, though for now you are subject to death?

By the Word and Spirit of God, the answer is “Yes,” a loud and resounding “Yes” and “Amen.” By the preaching of Christ Jesus, you are raised up and rescued from death and the grave. Your sins are all forgiven by the grace of His Gospel, your death is undone. In the Body of Christ you belong to God the Father, you bear the Holy Spirit, and you live, body and soul, now and forever.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the almighty and eternal Son of God, anointed by the Father with the Spirit in His own Body of flesh and blood, conceived and born of St. Mary — the divine Word by whom all things are made — He has fully entered into your Death Valley. And there, by His Cross and Passion, by His innocent suffering and death, by the voluntary shedding of His holy and precious Blood, He has overcome the curse and consequences of sin, and He has won the victory for you.

He has come, this true God in the Flesh, this true and perfect Man, to bear your sins in His Body to the Cross, to suffer your death and the righteous judgment of the Law against the sins of the whole world, in order to reconcile God and Man forever in Himself, to receive and bear the Spirit in His Body, and to raise the sons and daughters of man from death to life in His Resurrection.

In perfect faith and holy love, He takes the full responsibility for your sins and hands Himself over to your death. In the confidence of His God and Father, He is crucified, dies, and is buried in the dust of the earth from which you are taken. He submits Himself to be cut off from the land of the living. He traverses the dark valley into the far country of death and the grave, even into Sheol.

For all that, appearances notwithstanding, He is not defeated in His death upon the Cross. The victory remains with Life, because God the Father does not abandon His Holy One, Christ Jesus, to Sheol. He does not leave Him to suffer decay, but raises Him and rescues Him from out of death.

Not only that, but in the Resurrection of Christ all the children of Adam are raised. The New Man is taken from the dust of the ground, and the Lord breathes His Life-giving Spirit into His Body. Thus are dead bones given new life, the dirt is remade in the Image of God, and man is saved for life with God in the Spirit. The whole Christian Church in heaven and on earth has life in Christ Jesus — and so also Trinity Lutheran Church in Dillsboro as a vital part of His Body and Bride!

As St. Peter goes on to say in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, when God raised Jesus from the dead He poured out His Spirit upon Him, just as the Father had done when the same Son, Christ Jesus, was baptized in the Jordan River. In each case, the Lord Jesus receives the Holy Spirit in His Body, that you might also receive the Spirit of God in Him, as a member of His Body, baptized in His Name. Thus are you sanctified in body and soul for the Resurrection and everlasting Life.

That is the whole point of your life as a congregation, and of your calling and office, Pr. Kolaskey: What Jesus has received on behalf of all people, you also now hand over and receive in Him by the Ministry of His Gospel, by His Word and Holy Spirit. The Atonement of His Cross has made it possible, and in His Resurrection from the dead all things are made brand new. He pours out the Spirit from the Father upon His Apostles and upon His Church, even to the ends of the earth — even here and now! — through the free and full forgiveness of sins in His Name. As all men die because all men sin, so by the Lord’s forgiveness of sins are all men made alive in Christ Jesus.

His own crucified and risen Body is the Firstfruits of the New Creation, to which you also belong by His grace through faith in His Gospel. As Jesus is anointed by the Spirit of God, so are you anointed by the same Spirit as a Christian. As Christ Jesus ascends to the Right Hand of the Father in and with His Body of flesh and blood, so are you and all His people reconciled to God the Father in the incarnate Son. You are seated with Him in the heavenly places, as He is with you here and pours out the Spirit upon you within the Household and Family of His Church in this place.

It is here in His Jerusalem, the City of God — in the Upper Room where the disciples of Jesus are gathered in His Name and according to His Word and promise — within the Church, the Body of Christ, the fullness of Him who is all in all — it is here that the Father pours out the Holy Spirit generously upon you through Jesus Christ, His Son, by the pastoral Ministry of His Holy Gospel.

God speaks to you by His Son, and in doing so He breathes the Spirit into your body and soul, into your ears, into your heart, and into your mind, unto repentance and faith in His forgiveness of sins. He calls you away from sin and death, back to Himself in Christ Jesus. He raises you up from the dust of the earth and calls you back to life in His Spirit by the Resurrection of His incarnate Son.

This preaching of Christ Jesus, crucified and risen — the preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins in His Name — that preaching is the Voice of the Holy Spirit, the Voice of the Gospel. That is the “Noise” that Ezekiel heard in the valley of dry bones, the “Noise” of a mighty wind, such as the disciples also heard filling the Upper Room in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost.

You cannot know or predict or see with your eyes where the Spirit is coming or going, but you do hear this “Noise,” this Voice of the Spirit in your own dear pastor’s preaching of the Gospel of Christ Jesus; and you are given to behold the work that your very dear Lord and Savior does and accomplishes by the preaching and ministry of His servant among you. Those who were dead in their trespasses and sin are raised up in faith to newness of life. Those who have succumbed to doubts and denials, perhaps even to despair, are delivered from the fear and the power of death and the devil. They are made to stand in confidence and hope, bold and courageous in the face of evil. They are sanctified in body and soul for life with God, both here in time and hereafter in eternity.

All of that is given to you by the forgiveness of your sins in the Name and stead of Christ Jesus. Thus do you have divine and real Life with God in Him, by the free gift of His Spirit, wherever in the world the Lord has stationed you in love. As Christ is risen from the dead and lives forever, so do you live by faith in Him, by His Holy Spirit, even here and now, regardless of appearances. Though dust and bones surround you and permeate your experience on earth, your body and life are not fruitless or futile. Your labors in the Lord are not in vain, whatever your vocation may be. In the work that God has given you to do, Christ bears in you the blessed fruits of His Spirit. You love and serve your neighbors in peace. You praise and glorify the Name of the Lord your God.

Thus do you also speak with new tongues by the Spirit of Christ Jesus, your Savior. That is to say, not only with your words, but also with your life, with your particular abilities and talents, with the work that you do, and with all that is in you, you glorify God and praise the Lord by confessing the Gospel of Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit who animates your life in this way, as a true doxology, no less so than He caused those 120 disciples to praise the Lord in all those many languages — and every year that you have lived by His grace in this place is yet another chorus of that doxology!

The Gospel itself is the “New Tongue,” as it is also the “New Song” that all God’s people sing in heaven and on earth. It is the Salvation of Christ that you confess, no matter what your language or profession, no matter your talent and skill. In confessing Christ, you speak as an oracle of God. Men and women, boys and girls, disciples of all ages, you all declare the glories of Him who called you out of the darkness into His Light, as the Spirit gives you utterance by the Word of Christ.

The confusion of tongues and the dispersal of the nations after the Tower of Babel is now reversed. Not by the restoration of a single common language, but by the confession of the one Holy Gospel, the forgiveness of the Cross of Christ and the righteousness of His Resurrection from the dead. For there is one Holy Spirit who has called you by that one Gospel of Christ, enlightened you with His gifts, sanctified you in the one true faith — who keeps you steadfast in the Word of the one God and Father, in the one Lord Jesus Christ, in one Holy Baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and in the blest Communion of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, on earth as it is in heaven.

It is the Spirit who lives and abides and speaks in you by the Word of Christ, so that you confess His Holy Name in all that you say and do. That is what you are given to preach and teach and confess, Pastor Kolaskey; and that is what you dear people of Trinity are given to hear from your pastor and to confess in turn. And it is by that Word and Spirit of Christ that the dead are raised up and gathered from all the nations into the Household and Family of God. Thus do they pray and confess the Name of the Lord, together with you and all the disciples of Christ Jesus, to the glory of God the Father. They also rejoice, give thanks, and sing with you and all Christians.

Beloved of the Lord, your life and your confession are not meaningless! The life that you live by faith in Christ Jesus, and the work that you do according to your calling and station, are the work of the Holy Spirit. For He is actively present and graciously at work in the Church and Ministry of His Gospel, that your dried up, dead, and dying bones should rise and live with God forever!

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

The Comfort of the Holy Spirit in the Church and Ministry of Christ

This Sunday is unique within the Church Year, coming as it does between the Ascension of Our Lord (this past Thursday) and the Feast of Pentecost Day (one week from now). The joy of the Resurrection remains and prevails on this Seventh Sunday of Easter; yet, there is also the very real experience of sadness and sorrow in this world of tribulations, in the shadow of the Cross.

In the history of the Church, this Sunday (Exaudi) was sometimes called the Sunday of Roses, due to the custom of strewing the pavement of the churches with roses in homage to the Lord Jesus Christ, whose Resurrection and Ascension coincide with the blooming of spring flowers. And to be sure, the Ascension of Our Lord is a feast of victory and a celebration of joy and gladness, as He has raised up our human nature in and with Himself to the Right Hand of His God and Father.

But every rose has its thorns, and this day is not without its pain and anguish. It belongs to a time of watching and waiting on the Lord in the midst of sin and death, not only in the world around you but in your own mortal flesh and blood. As it was for the disciples then, so it is for you now.

By the Cross you are thus taught to pray, to call upon the Name of the Lord in the hope of His Resurrection: “O Lord, hear my voice,” let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. As the Liturgy calls you to lift up your heart, your mind, and your spirit to dwell upon your risen and ascended Lord, so do you call upon Him to come and abide with you here and now on earth.

Above all, your desire is (or ought to be) to seek and to see His face. But for now, the truth is that you cannot see Him — not with your eyes — not yet. Lifted up in glory, He has vanished and is hidden from your sight. It is rather in the preaching and catechesis of the Holy Scriptures, and in the Breaking of the Bread at His Table, that you must learn to seek Him and to see Him by faith.

As it is by faith and not by sight that you seek His face, so it is not by your own wisdom, reason, or strength but by the Holy Spirit that your ears, your heart, and your mind are opened to hear and believe the Holy Scriptures and to recognize and receive the risen Lord Jesus in His Holy Supper. For it is only by the Holy Spirit that you behold and know the Lord, God the Father in His Son.

As we pray and confess in the Collect this morning, the Lord Jesus has promised to send the Holy Spirit as the Comforter and the Consolation of His Church on earth. And so He does. According to His Word and promise in this Holy Gospel from St. John, Christ Jesus sends the Spirit from the Father to the chosen Apostles — and so also to all of His Christian disciples within His Church.

The Holy Spirit is not some vague feeling of optimism, nor is He an impersonal divine power. He is the Spirit of Truth, the third Person of the Holy Trinity, who proceeds from the Father and rests upon the Son — who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified as the one true God.

The Spirit testifies concerning Christ Jesus, who is Himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life. That is what the Spirit does. So do the Apostles also testify to the one Lord, Jesus Christ, as they have been with Him from the beginning, from His Baptism in the Jordan River to His Ascension into heaven. They are the witnesses of His Life and Ministry, and of His Cross and Resurrection.

Indeed, it is through the preaching and the Scriptures of the Apostles that the Holy Spirit testifies to you and to all the people of God — even to the ends of the earth and to the close of the age.

So it is that you also, in due season, testify of Christ within your own office and station in life, especially with love and forgiveness, charity, and compassion for your neighbor, all by the Holy Spirit; for the forgiveness of sins is the primary means and the premier fruit of the Spirit. As you receive the Spirit in the forgiveness of your sins, so do you forgive the sins of others against you.

It is the Word of Christ that bestows the Holy Spirit; and the Spirit, by the preaching of that Word, testifies concerning Christ. He lays Christ upon your heart through that preaching, and He thereby calls you and brings you to repentance, to faith in the forgiveness of sins, and to newness of life.

In the preaching and ministry of His Word, therefore, both Christ and His Spirit are with you. Though hidden from your eyes, they are actively present and at work to comfort and console you under the Cross, unto the Resurrection of your body to the Life everlasting of your body and soul.

Meanwhile, Christ Jesus has returned to His God and Father by the way of His Cross and Passion. And His departure causes grief and sorrow, anguish, and pain to fill your heart and mind, because it appears and feels as though He has gone away, as though He has left you on your own.

What is more, His disciples on earth experience the Cross in their own bodies and lives. Indeed, to receive and share His Spirit is to bear and carry His Cross, to share in His suffering and death.

Throughout history and around the world, to this very day, in many and various ways, His Church and His Christians are subjected to hatred and persecution, both bodily and spiritually. Even now, your brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering loss and being put to death for the sake of the fair Name with which they and you have been named by the Word and Spirit of God in Holy Baptism.

But for all of that, do not be discouraged, and do not despair, but bear the Cross in holy faith and holy love, to the glory of God and the good of your neighbor, in the hope and confidence of Christ.

Bear in mind and take it to heart that the Cross of Christ and His departure to the Father have been necessary for your life and salvation. It is to your great benefit that He returns to the Father who sent Him, and that He does so by the way and means of His Cross and Resurrection and Ascension.

In particular, were it not for the departure of Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit (the Paraclete) could not be given to you: the One who is your Comforter, your Consolation, and your Defense Attorney.

Now, to clarify, this is not some kind of tag-team wrestling maneuver on the part of Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit! But the divine Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, could not be given apart from the Atonement of the Cross, nor apart from the righteousness of the Resurrection of Christ.

The Holy Spirit could not be poured out in fulfillment of the New Creation (in Christ Jesus) until the curse of sin and death upon the first creation was overcome. Neither could the Spirit comfort and defend you, except by the forgiveness, life, and salvation of the Cross, with which He testifies of Christ on your behalf against the accusations of Satan and the condemnation of God’s own Law.

The Spirit does not coddle you. He does not pat you on the head and tell you that it’s all okay. He does not wink at your sin and look the other way. And He does not get you off the hook through legal trickery, loop holes, or technicalities. It is rather by and for the sake of His holiness that He rescues and redeems you and all His people, His own creation, from the bondage of sin and death.

He is the Spirit of Truth, and so He testifies only what is True. He speaks in and with the Word of God, and not at all apart from it. He speaks the divine Truth of both the Law and the Gospel.

Thus, by the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in the Name of Jesus, the Spirit convicts the world — He convicts you — of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He condemns sin by the Word of the Law, which condemns you apart from faith in Christ. But He declares you to be righteous by the Word of the Gospel, by the Absolution of your sins, which is the Lord’s own verdict upon you, in accordance with the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus. So are you judged on the sole criterion of where and how you stand in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ.

All of this the Spirit does and accomplishes — in you, throughout the Church, and all around the world — by and with the Word of Christ the Crucified: As by the preaching and ministry of the Apostles in their day, so now by the preaching and ministry of the called and ordained servants of Christ Jesus who speak and act in His Name and stead to this very day and in this very place.

Anointed by the Holy Spirit, the ministers of Christ speak as the oracles of God, and they carry out the Lord’s own works by His divine authority, according to the gifts of His grace. In this way and by these means the Holy Spirit carries out His work of laying Christ upon your heart through the Gospel, and laying you upon Christ Jesus through faith in His Gospel.

So it is, by the preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins in the Name of Jesus, the Spirit puts you to death and raises you to newness of life. In Holy Baptism He has anointed you, once and forever, as a Christian, as a beloved child of God the Father. In the Holy Communion, the Spirit feeds your body and soul with the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus. And in Holy Absolution, the Spirit bestows upon you the very Life of God in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead.

None of this is set before you as anything that you must do or accomplish for yourself. Nor could you do so, in any case. It is the Lord who does it all for you, for the sake of His own Holy Name.

It has been and is accomplished for you, and it is given to you now, by the grace of God alone, by and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son, who is your Savior and Redeemer, crucified for your transgressions and raised for your justification, ascended as your merciful great High Priest.

Therefore, it is Christ whom the Spirit conveys to you through the Ministry of the Gospel, along with all the fruits and benefits of His Cross and Resurrection. And it is to the same Lord Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit leads you and guides you, by His Word and the preaching of it, through faith in His Word. So does the Spirit call you by the Gospel and gather you into the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church: out of death into Life, out of darkness into His marvelous Light.

This is the great help and comfort of the Holy Spirit, His precious and prevailing work at all times and in all places: To bring the Son of God, Christ Jesus, from the Father in heaven to you here on earth, and to raise you up in the same Lord Jesus Christ. So does the Spirit replace your heart of stone with a brand new heart of flesh and blood; and He breathes Himself into your body and soul through the Word of Christ, so that you should not perish but truly live with God in faith and love.

Thus do you walk in His statutes, according to His Word within your own place in life, as a living testimony to Christ Jesus, to the glory of His Holy Name. And thus do you pray by the Spirit of God in Christ Jesus, calling on His Name. And your prayer is heard and answered, as surely as the Father has raised Christ Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His Right Hand. So shall you see His face with your own two eyes, from your own resurrected and glorified body of flesh and blood.

Already here and now, by the Ministry of the Gospel, the Spirit calls and brings you to the Father in Christ Jesus, to live with Him in the good Land that God has prepared for you and promised to give you. That is the Paradise which is pledged and given to you in the Word of Absolution, which declares God’s judgment concerning you, that you are forgiven, righteous, holy, and pleasing in His sight. And that Paradise is yours in the Body of Christ, in His Church and in His Sacrament.

Indeed, the Lord Himself is here with you in His Church on earth, that you should be and live with Him where He is, seated at the Father’s Right Hand in the heavenly places, forever and ever.

As the disciples gathered daily in the Temple of the Lord to pray, praise, and give thanks to the Father in Christ Jesus following His Ascension into heaven, and as they were gathered all together in the Upper Room when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them, just as the Lord had spoken, so then, you also, follow their example in this body and life on earth in the face of sin and death.

If you would seek His face and gaze upon the beauty of your Lord, then seek Him where He is to be found, here in the Temple of His Church, in the preaching of His Word, and at His Altar in the celebration of His Sacrament, in the Breaking of the Bread in remembrance of Him. For His Word to you is Spirit, Truth, and Life, and His Holy Supper is your Spiritual Meat and Drink indeed.

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

A Steward of the Rich Man's Things

When it comes to your life in this world, you’ve learned a thing or two over the years, and you’ve got at least a few things figured out. Whether you’re a second-career man, a bi-vocational pastor, or rocking a side hustle — or simply a full-time pastor with a home and family to care for and look after — you know how to “get ‘er done.” Right? You know your own business, your hobbies and pastimes. You’re a bona fide expert at your own occupation and activities in this body and life.

By a fair amount of trial and error over the years, you’ve learned how to make your way in the world. You know how the system works, and how to work the system. You know how to connect the dots, to make ends meet, and to get what you really want, one way or another.

You’ve also figured out how to make friends. You know what they expect from you, and what you can reasonably expect from them. And likewise, notwithstanding all the ups and downs on your learning curve, you know what to expect from this life on earth, and what it takes to survive.

But do you know the business of God? Do you know how things work in His Kingdom? Do you know what to expect, and what is expected of you, on the way that leads to the Life everlasting?

The fact is that you are a steward or manager of a Rich Man’s things, not only as a pastor, but as a human being, and all the more so as a Christian — a Blood-bought baptized child of God. Your life is not your own, no matter what you may kid yourself into thinking. Everything you have is on loan from God. It is entrusted to you, not for the purpose of feeding the appetites of your fallen flesh, but for the glory of God in the good that He does to you and to others. You are to use His gifts in faith before Him and in love for your neighbors. That is your job and your responsibility.

And you should take heed and take to heart, there will be an accounting of your stewardship. There will be a day of reckoning, when the ledger of your body and life in this world is presented to the Lord your God. And there will be the facts to speak for themselves.

How have you spent your time? And, yes, how have you spent your money? Where have you invested your energies? To what or whom have you given your affections? What have you done with God’s things? And what have you done for those people whom God has placed around you?

In short, who has been your master? Who has been calling the shots? Is it you, or the Lord?

Do not suppose that “clocking your hours” as a pastor every week is adequate or somehow even generous on your part. If there is any portion of your life that you regard as “your own,” then you are robbing from your true and rightful Lord, who has created you and given you life and all that you are and have. On any given day, in any given week, at best you have only done your duty.

Have a care how you think about tithing, as well, and about almsgiving. Perhaps you have shied away from any such notions altogether, because they have sometimes been taught and practiced legalistically. And to be sure, do not at all suppose that tithing will atone for your sins, justify you before God, or purchase your place in His Kingdom. But having been forgiven freely by Christ Jesus, made righteous by His grace through faith in His Gospel, and named a child of His God and Father in your Holy Baptism, do not at all suppose that you are now to live as a god unto yourself.

As for tithing, ten percent of your income is not a bad guideline, a starting point. It is surely not too much. But if you are hard pressed, commit some significant percentage of your income as a regular offering to the Lord, as an exercise of faith and love. And if you are able, do not hesitate to go well beyond ten percent. Or, if you do not think so readily in terms of percentages — if your income and expenses are variable through the year — then consider setting apart as much for the Church and Ministry of Christ as you spend on your hobbies, your entertainment, your vacations, and your luxuries in life, whatever goes beyond your food and clothing and safe shelter.

And let your almsgiving likewise be as generous as you pamper yourself. After all, if you can find the means to pay for your pastimes, for ball games and video games, for going out to eat or going to a show, then you can also find the means to care for your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

Only, whatever you do, realize that you are not buying God off, nor are you earning His favor, since you are using and investing His riches, not your own.

Be very clear on this point: God doesn’t need your stuff. It’s already His stuff in the first place. But God does require your heart. All of it. And because you are His steward or manager, He has entrusted you to live and serve according to His good pleasure, that is, according to His Word.

The Lord looks not only at what you accomplish, but at whatever drives you to accomplish it. When you proceed in selfishness, it may result in impressive things in the sight of men, but the Lord your God is not impressed. Nor is He pleased by your selfishness and self-serving behavior.

The Lord does not measure things by the law of the jungle. He does not teach you to look out for yourself first, and for your neighbor only when it appeals to you or suits your plans. He calls you to live by faith in Him alone, and for His sake to sacrifice your entire life in love for your neighbor. He charges you to love even your enemies, and to pray for those who persecute you. That is how you are to occupy your days and nights, your life, your time, your energy, and all of your stuff.

That which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. And the opposite is also true: That which is highly esteemed before the Lord is detestable in the eyes of men.

Consider the Lord Jesus Christ, the almighty and eternal Son of the living God. Though He was rich, yet, for your sake, He made Himself poor, so that you could inherit the riches of God in Him.

He came down from heaven to become true Man, and not only that, but to bear the sins of the world in His own Body, to hand Himself over to the Cross. He liquidated Himself. He spent it all. He gave Himself away. Not for those who loved Him, but for you, though you were His enemy.

And the world says in response, “Jesus, you’re a bloody fool! That’s no way to live!”

And yet, it is the way that God lives. It is how He has lived for you. He humbled Himself and became obedient even unto death, in order that you might live with Him in His Resurrection.

You also, then, have this heart, mind, and spirit of Christ in you. For this is how you are to live.

For God’s sake, be generous to your neighbor, even if you don’t like him. Use the stuff that God has given you to love and serve those in need around you. And don’t tell me there are no people like that. There are. You know there are. So, love them. Don’t just speak nice words to them. Do things for them. Go out of your way. Give up some of your time. It isn’t your time, anyway.

Forgive. Above all, forgive. Forgive those who have trespassed against you, as your dear Father in heaven forgives you. That is the coin of the realm in the Kingdom of God, within His one, holy, catholic, and Apostolic Church on earth: Forgiveness of sins. It is not hoarded and hidden away. It is spent freely. And the more forgiveness is given, the more it multiplies and grows.

You are to exercise your stewardship in faith and love. That is the course that you are given to follow. So, then, trust in God, who has given you all things to begin with. Do not be afraid that if you give some of it away, He’s going to deprive you. He’s not going to stop being generous. He has no problem with generosity. That is what characterizes Him. It flows from His very nature.

If you are generous with what the Lord your God has entrusted to you, do not worry, and do not be afraid. He knows how to feed you. He knows how to clothe you. He knows how to take care of you. And because you are His very own, He does all of this for you with charity and compassion.

Even when you fail to be grateful, even when you fret and fidget and forget to say thank you, and even when you go about your life as though you have gotten everything for yourself, your dear Father in heaven still has this overflowing abundance of generosity for you in Jesus Christ. And it is such generosity that you are likewise to have for your neighbor. Indeed, the Lord’s generosity with you is not for your benefit only, but for the benefit and blessing of your neighbors, as well.

So, what’s that going to look like? What is that kind of faithful stewardship of your life and that kind of godly generosity in your life going to look like?

Well, here’s the thing, which ought to resonate especially with all of you who are pastors of the Lord’s people: It looks like the stewardship of the Mysteries of God, to which you have been called. It looks like the Ministry of the Gospel, like the administration of the Means of Grace.

The right way to use the temporal stuff that God has entrusted to you for this body and life on earth looks like the way that you as a pastor are given to use the Means of Grace on behalf of God’s dear children: the way you make disciples by way of Holy Baptism and ongoing catechesis in the Word of Christ Jesus; the way you feed those disciples with His holy Body and precious Blood; the way you freely and fully absolve them in His Name and stead. According to the Lord’s commission and command, all of these sacred things are done and given freely, without charge, and without cost.

The stewardship of the Mysteries of God, that is the pattern by which you are called to exercise the stewardship of your body and life, and of all that the Lord your God has placed into your care.

It is not like the scribes and Pharisees, who are lovers of money and lovers of praise from men. It is rather like the Gospel, because it is the life that is lived by and from and in the Holy Gospel. It is like the Lord Jesus, coming down from heaven and giving Himself for you and to you, and to and for others, also. That is how the Lord administers His true riches.

And that is how you are to manage and administer the Rich Man’s things.

It may seem foolish in the eyes of the world. Well, so be it. You ought to look foolish in the eyes of the world. Your Lord Jesus did, and so He does. The world still thinks this is all a bunch of nonsense. But living by faith, your hope is in Christ. And your hope shall not be disappointed.

Truth be told, your stewardship is not what it ought to be, neither in the church nor in your home.

Surprisingly, shockingly, the Lord nevertheless continues to deal with you by the stewardship of His Gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, your Savior, He is the faithful Steward and Manager of His Father’s things. For His Name’s sake, He praises you and blesses you, because He has poured out the Holy Spirit generously upon you and adorned you with His perfect righteousness. He has given Himself for you. He has reconciled you to His God and Father. He has been a Friend to you in need. And having befriended you in love and called you to Himself, He forgives you all of your debts, all of your trespasses and sins, and all of your faults and failings.

In His own faithfulness and righteousness, He who gave Himself up for you in love, continues to give Himself to you with the free and full forgiveness of all your sins. And for His own sake, for the sake of His divine and holy Love, He welcomes you into His House, into His dwelling, both here in time, where He feeds you at His Table in His Church, and hereafter in eternity, where you shall feast upon the Wedding Banquet of the Lamb in His Kingdom forever and ever.

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

The Life and Salvation of the Crucified and Risen Lord Jesus

Be sober in all things. Endure hardship and bear the cross patiently. Do the work that God has given you to do. Fulfill your calling as a Christian.

The Lord your God has poured Himself out as a drink offering for you and for all people, even to the ends of the earth. And He pours Himself out for you here — for you and for the many — that you should be crowned with His righteousness, sealed with His Blood, and live with Him in His Kingdom, in safety, peace, and happiness forever.

By the baring of His holy arms upon the wood of the Cross, He has redeemed His people and the whole of His creation from the curse of sin and death.

And now He also bares His holy outstretched arms and His merciful hands by causing the Gospel to be preached to all the nations, to make known His salvation to all men and women everywhere, and to comfort His Church, His beloved Jerusalem, even in the midst of her suffering and sorrow.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the almighty and eternal Son of God, in flesh and blood like your own, has fulfilled the entire Law, the Word and holy Will of His Father. He has established faith and love, righteousness and holiness, in Himself, in His own Body, in the perfect unity of His own Person as the One who is both true God and true Man. It is in Him, therefore, by faith in Him, that all the sons and daughters of man are called and given to live the divine life, to partake of the divine nature, and to abide in peace and joy forevermore within the bosom of His God and Father.

He has broken down the wall of hostility and separation between God and man, which sin erected in the fall of Adam. The Lord has removed the accusation of the Law and every condemnation; for He has suffered the death and damnation of sin in His own Body, and the wrath of God against all unrighteousness. And having done so in perfect faith and love, in holiness and innocence before His God and Father, He has been vindicated and raised from the dead on behalf of all people.

Because His bloody Cross and Passion have made Atonement for the sins of the whole world, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ has defeated death forever and crushed the devil’s head.

His Resurrection is the Father’s Holy Absolution of the world, which He has reconciled to Himself in Christ, His dear Son. All flesh and all of creation are restored in the flesh of Christ, in His Body, crucified and risen. So God the Father now beholds the world in Jesus Christ, and it is very good.

All of this redemption, reconciliation, and righteousness, the Lord has accomplished and fulfilled, not for His own benefit, but for you and for all — that you might live in His good and glorious New Creation — that you might live, by faith in Christ Jesus, in the love of God forevermore.

It is into that life and love that God invites you and brings you by His Gospel, which is the Word of Christ, the proclamation of His Cross and Resurrection, the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His Name, and of peace with God in His holy and precious Blood.

As He brought all of creation into being out of nothing by His Word, so has He also brought about the New Creation by His Word. And so it is that He brings you out of death into life — out of the darkness of your sins into the Light of His Love, into His New Creation — all by His Word.

It is by His Word that He has given you the new birth of water and the Holy Spirit, so that you are no longer dead in your trespasses and sin, but having been crucified with Christ you are raised with Him to newness of life with God, here in time and hereafter in eternity. Outside of Christ Jesus you are condemned, but in Him you are alive and shall be saved eternally. Remain in Him, therefore, by returning daily to your Baptism through contrition, repentance, and faith, and by living the new life to which He has called you, in love for God and man, according to His Word.

Do not underestimate the importance and necessity of His Word and the preaching of it. For it is His Word that separates the darkness from the Light. It is His Word that raises you from death to life. And it is His Word that saves you from every evil of body and soul, until He shall call you from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.

It is when His people disregard His Word and turn away from it that His good creation falls into the curse and condemnation of sin and death. And, as it is by His Word that you abide in Christ, and by His Word that Christ abides in you, so it is that, when you turn a deaf ear to His Word and refuse to hear it, then you are found outside of Him and condemned in your unfaithfulness.

Where His Word reproaches you for your unbelief and hardness of heart, repent. Do not become angry or defensive; do not persist in your stubbornness and sin, but repent and believe the Gospel. Do not refuse to hear the testimony of those who are the witnesses of His Cross and Resurrection, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. Do not despise this preaching of His Word, but receive it with your ears, ponder it in your heart, believe it, and live according to it at all times.

Trust Christ, that He was crucified for your transgressions and raised again for your justification. Live in Him, and do not allow the devil, the world, or your sinful flesh to rob you of that life.

Wherever in the world He has called you and stationed you to be, live and work there in the joyful confidence of His Gospel, and in the love that His Word directs you to have for your neighbor.

If you are a preacher, preach. But let none of you suppose that only preachers shall be saved or live by the Word of Christ. Rather, live in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus, according to His Word that has been preached to you, within each and all of your callings and stations in life as a Christian. Know that the Lord your God works with you and in you, confirming His Word to you by the signs of His grace, mercy, and peace in your faithful service within your own place, wherever it might be, and in all of your various relationships.

Live such as you are, as one whose life is safe and secure in Christ Jesus, who sits at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. That is where you live by faith, even as you live in love here on earth

And that, too, is very good, for Jesus’ sake

The goodness of His creation — redeemed by His Cross and restored in His Resurrection — and the goodness of life in this world, is demonstrated by the ways and means with which He causes His Gospel to be preached to all the nations of the world, even to the ends of the earth.

Not angels, but men of flesh and blood like His own, He calls and sends in His Name to preach.

Men like St. Mark the Evangelist, whom we remember with praise and thanksgiving to God this evening. By his hand, the Word of Christ Jesus has been recorded and published in all the world. Surely by such proclamation he was useful to St.  Peter and St.  Paul. And he is useful to you, also, by the Word that he has written in the Holy Spirit. With mortal hands he wrote with human words on earthly parchment, and yet those Words he wrote are the Words of Christ, your Savior, alive with His Spirit and full of His forgiveness for the salvation of sinners, including you.

So do the preachers of Christ Jesus, even now, speak with new tongues, so that you may be healed of your sins, set free from your demons, and raised from death to life. The lying tongue of the serpent shall not deceive you or mislead you, and his deadly poison shall not hurt you, not while you are guarded and kept by this preaching of Christ and His Gospel of forgiveness. Not because you never fall or fail, but because He is risen from the dead and He raises you up with Himself.

With His Word He has made of ordinary water a Baptism for you, that is, a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit. Believe it, and be saved.

Believe, too, that the same Lord Jesus Christ who died and rose again, who called and sent Saint Mark to preach and publish the Gospel, and who reclined at the Table with His holy Apostles, making Himself known to them in the Breaking of the Bread — that same Lord Jesus Christ, by the same Word of the Gospel, reclines here at His Table with you, and He gives Himself to you here and now, His Flesh and Blood for your body and soul, in the same Breaking of the Bread.

His Word sounds from heaven here in this place through the mouth of His servant, and His holy arm stretches out to feed you from His own hand. There is no poison in His Cup. It is poured out as the Medicine of Life and Immortality, which He has brought to light through the Gospel.

By His precious Word, sweeter than honey, and by His Holy Sacrament, He reigns as your King.

All praise and thanks to Him for this great salvation, and for the gift of His servant, St. Mark, through whom He has caused His Word to be heard in your ears and your heart, unto eternal Life.

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