29 June 2022

Christ Jesus Builds His Church Upon the Ministry of His Gospel

The Wise Man has built His House upon the Rock.

The almighty and eternal Son of the living God has come down from heaven, and He has taken for Himself our human Flesh and Blood from the womb of His Blessed Mother, in order to give His Body and Life as a Ransom for the many.  He has entered into our pagan territory of sin and death, and here in our stead He has defeated our ancient enemy, that old dragon, the devil or Satan.

By His Sacrifice upon the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ has atoned for the sins of the whole world, reconciled all of us to His God and Father in heaven, and thereby destroyed death, released us from the fear of death, and removed all the power of the devil, namely, sin and guilt and accusation.

He has plundered the grave and Hades of their dead, and in His own bodily Resurrection He has opened the gates of heaven to all who believe and are baptized in His holy Name.

It is by this precious Gospel of Christ Jesus — by His forgiveness of sins and the great Salvation of His Cross and Resurrection — that He establishes, builds, and protects His Church on earth, from Jerusalem to the ends of the world, that disciples from all nations might have Life in Him.

Whoever lives and abides within His Church, even now bearing His Cross in faith and hope, is safe and secure from sin, death, the devil, and hell, and shall live and abide forever with the same Lord Jesus Christ in Paradise.  For He is indeed the Wise Man who has built His House upon the Rock.  The winds rage, the rains downpour, the floods rise and pummel that House, but it shall not fall.

Why, then, would you drown and die outside of His House in the midst of the storm?

The problem that confronts the flesh and blood of your old Adam and the whole sinful world in which you live, is that the Wise Man appears to be, not wise, but foolish; and the Rock foundation of His Christian Church appears to be, not solid and secure, but shifting sand.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, the “Son of Man,” appears to be nothing more than a man like any other.  Extraordinary, yes; a great Prophet, perhaps; a good and righteous man, no doubt; and a powerful preacher.  But surely not the Son of God.  No one is able to perceive or to believe who and what He truly is by means of their mortal flesh and blood or their fallen human reason.

And when He is crucified, put to death, and buried; executed as a criminal; hung upon a cursed tree in naked shame and humiliation; and laid to rest within a borrowed tomb, where is God in all that?

Where is the power and might of the glory of God in His Cross and Passion?  Where is the promise of His coming?  And where do you ever see or feel or experience His Resurrection and His Life?

He says that the gates of Hades shall not be able to overpower His Church.  But what are you to make of the fact that you and your loved ones, your family and friends and fellow Christians, are all subject to death and finally return to the dust, whether by way of illness, old age, or martyrdom.

Where is your hope, your life, and your salvation?  Where is the living God who can help you and save you from death and the grave, who will actually bring you out of Hades into His Heaven?

The Church appears to be a pitiful fortress indeed, little more than a fisherman’s shack upon the seashore.  After all, its so-called “Rock” foundation is nothing but the Ministry of the Gospel, that is, the preaching of repentance, the spoken word of forgiveness, the washing of water with the Word, and the administration of bread and wine in the remembrance of Jesus who was crucified.

And what sort of men are actually called and sent to preach and administer this Gospel?  Sinners, the lot of them!  Men like Simon Peter and Paul of Tarsus — the one a wavering denier of Christ, and the other a former diehard Pharisee, a persecutor of Jesus and His followers.

Pastors to this very day and age are likewise quarried from the same Rock.  They, too, are sinners, each and every one of them, in need of forgiveness for their own sins.  They are mortals, just like you, subject to death and the grave.  Finite, flawed, and frail creatures of flesh and blood.

And what keys do they bring, what instruments and means by which they are to help and save you?  With what do they come to set you free from the death-grip of sin and to open the gates of heaven to you?  By what power and authority are they supposed to keep you safe from the devil and hell?

They have nothing but the Gospel, which is the Word of Christ Jesus and His forgiveness of sins.  It is admittedly pathetic and pitiful to all appearances, seemingly impotent to meet all your needs.  Nor can you perceive or believe otherwise about any of this by any intellect or wisdom of yours.

The truth is that you cannot recognize the Lord Jesus Christ for who He is, nor can you come to Him, nor are you at all able to love and trust in Him, unless the Father reveals Him to you, and gives Him to you, and lays Him upon your heart by His Word and Holy Spirit.

But all of this the Father surely does for you, according to His tender mercies and steadfast loving-kindness, by way of that very Cross of Christ Jesus and that preaching of His Gospel which appear to all the world — and to your own fallen flesh — to be so foolish and miserable and weak.

You could not possibly open your eyes wide enough to see it.  But He has opened your eyes in faith by the Light of His Word, that is, by the Gospel of His forgiveness of all your sins.

You could not even begin to open your heart or your head to accept it.  But He has opened your ears to hear, your mind to understand, your heart to believe, and your lips to confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who has become your Savior, your Strength, and your Song.

The Word of Christ that His servants speak to you in His Name is His Word upon their lips.  The Sacraments they administer in His stead, in remembrance of Him, are His own Gifts of Life and Salvation for you.  Their forgiveness of your sins is His forgiveness, as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ your dear Lord dealt with you Himself.  Truly, this is how He cares for you.

And this Word of forgiveness, this Holy Absolution, this free and full forgiveness of all your sins — although it seems like such a still small voice against the rage and roaring of the devil — it is a most solid foundation of a truly mighty fortress, which shall not fall nor fail to preserve your life.

Where sin is forgiven, the devil cannot accuse you, and even God’s own Law does not condemn you anymore forever.  There is no condemnation for you in Christ Jesus.

Where sin is forgiven, death no longer has any rightful claim on you, but it must relinquish you, body and soul, unto Christ your Redeemer, who has purchased you with His very own lifeblood.

Where sin is forgiven — and your sin is forgiven by the Word of Christ — there is only Life and Salvation.  Come hell or high water against you, these cannot touch you, they shall not reach you.

You shall not die but live.  The gates of Hades shall not prevail against you.  For you belong to the Body of Christ, His Holy Church; and just as He is risen from the dead and lives and reigns forever in His own Body, so are you raised up by His Ministry of the Gospel to live with Him eternally.

His death has been the death of death, the devil’s defeat, and hell’s destruction, and all of this on your behalf.  Therefore, His Resurrection from the dead is your resurrection, and His own Life is yours forevermore.  So has He spoken, and so shall it be.  His Word abides unto Life everlasting.

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

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