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A Flood of Salvation—1st Sunday in Christmas

12/28/2014

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Readings: Genesis 6:5-7:24; 2 Corinthians 5:16-17; Matthew 24:36-39

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Noah found favour with God. (Gen. 6:8) Without any merit or worthiness in him. For all men sin and every intention of the thoughts of their hearts is evil continually. (Gen. 6:5) Even Noah’s heart. But Noah was given grace. For He heard and believed God’s promise of a saviour who would crush the head of the serpent. (Gen. 3:15) His name is means comfort. And in faith he preached this promise of God’s comforting salvation. (Heb. 11:7) Thus, it is said he walked with God. (Gen. 6:9)

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Prancing Ponies Before the King—Christmas Day

12/28/2014

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Readings: Psalm 2 (Exodus 40:17-21, 34-38; Titus 3:4-7; John 1:1-14)

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Joy to the World the Lord is come, let earth receive her king! It is accomplished. It was planned from the foundation of the earth. (Eph. 1:3-4) So why do nations still fret? Why do they stamp their feet like prancing ponies, or petulant pre-schoolers, slamming doors like tantrumming teens yelling at their parents, “I hate you. Your ruining my life. I wish I’d never been born.” But the slammed door does not change the facts. The angry teen has been born. The kings of the earth can plan all they want, but it does not change the facts. Christ has come. All the kings of the world can’t change what the Lord had planned, nor what the Lord has done. For Our Lord’s birth and death have carved out for Him a bulwark, a people, a nation, a Church, a mountain, in the midst of His rebellious creation, by which He saves some from the raging flood of their sin.

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Christmas Fairy Tales—Christmas Eve

12/24/2014

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Readings: Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The birth of this most important baby has become somewhat fairytale like to us. The Christmas Gospel reading we heard tonight is an historical account. It contains all the necessary information to situate it in the realm of fact, not fiction. Yet, with all our love that we have for Christmas, with our favourite shows, and carols, and obsession with shopping, Christmas has become more myth than fact for us. Maybe you even heard Linus' voice as that Gospel account was read.

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Bad Fruit---4th Sunday in Advent

12/21/2014

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Readings: Genesis 4:1-16, 25-26; Hebrews 11:4; 12:1-2, 22, 24; Luke 11:47-51

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

If Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8) then there are not two different gods described in the Bible, one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament. There is merely the same God, with the same character throughout all of time. He has different testaments or legal frameworks which have set out different boundaries and ways of working, but He is the same. For example, under the New Testament in His blood (Matt. 26:26-28) there is no longer a physical temple in Jerusalem (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:20-22) with the sacrifices and rules of cleanness in order to enter it. But while the specifics may be different, the big picture is the same. God’s character is the same. God still has the same goal: your salvation.

Which brings us to today’s question: why was Abel’s sacrifice accepted and Cain’s not? Over the years I’ve heard many answers, but none of them ever made much sense. For instance, I’ve heard it said that Cain’s sacrifice was of the “fruit of the ground” (Gen. 4:3) which leads some people to speculate that it was rotten fruit from off the ground. That Cain was not giving his best to God. He was not giving of his first (or best) fruits.

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Life’s Location—3rd Sunday in Advent

12/14/2014

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Readings: John 19:4-6, 16b-17; Revelation 12:9-11; Genesis 3:1-24

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

“Location, location, location.” That’s supposed to be one of the famous keys to business success. (That, and, “Buy low, sell high.”) But to understand this account in Genesis 3 we need to pay attention to location, location, location. To start, where was the man when the serpent came? Genesis 3:6 tells us. He was right beside the woman! Yet where was the woman when God said “You may eat of any of the trees of the Garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”? (Genesis 2:16-17) You see, knowledge is both good and bad. Up to this point all knowledge they had was good, for everything was good. (Genesis 1:31) Even today the Law of God is good and wise (Romans 7:12; Psalm 19:7-8) but it does not give you life. Eating of knowledge, education, can be good, and also evil. But no matter how much good knowledge you accumulate it does not give life. (Galatians 2:15-16; 3:10-11) Only eating of the tree of life gives life. (Genesis 3:22)

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Good Patterns—2nd Sunday in Advent

12/7/2014

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Readings: Genesis 2:4-25; Ephesians 5:25-32; Matthew 19:3-9

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Last week we heard how God spoke all things into existence. (Genesis 1) Today we hear about a pattern with God. He speaks, both creating things and commanding them. And so we see that where God has not spoken and commanded, or instituted, something we dare not say otherwise. We dare not make laws about things that God Himself has not said. But where He has spoken. That is where His blessing is. By this I mean, so many people make up stuff that they think God wants them to do. And though they have no mandate for it in His clear word, they then bind their consciences to it, and sometimes the consciences of others, even judging on the basis of these self made laws, and they use God as an excuse for why they are doing something. In the past it was things like special fast days and pilgrimages not commanded by God that were taught as though they ought to be done, nowadays its having to sing Silent Night on Christmas Eve, have potlucks in just the right way, have a Sunday School, or choir to properly be a church, or any number of human traditions or personal ideas that get treated as though they are mandates from God . But if God has not commanded it and instituted it with a clear, unequivocal word through His prophets and apostles of old—i.e., in His revealed Word we call the Bible—then just be honest. It isn’t God leading you to do something. Or at least you can’t be certain of that. It is really you who wants to do it.

I am also talking about these weird ideas each one of us gets in our head from time to time that has no basis in Scripture, but to which we have become convinced if we don’t do it we’ll make God angry, cut ourselves off from His blessing, etc. People all over the world like to blame God for the things they do, when He never mandated or commanded them. We’ve imbibed these ideas from our parents, from Hollywood, Oprah, or from our own hearts or minds. Whatever the source, it isn’t God’s design.

God works in clear ways. He has revealed Himself in His Word. The things He is doing He has spoken about by His prophets. (Amos 3:7) He institutes and gives a blessing to those things that He wants us to be sure He is doing.

Have you ever noticed in the Small Catechism when talking about the three means by which salvation comes to you—Holy Baptism, the Word of Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper—Martin Luther always asks the question “What is it?” Answers the question. Then asks, “Where does God say this?” And then gives you a clear verse where God commands it and promises His blessings through it. This is how God works. He institutes and commands His blessings in His Word. You can be sure of those three means of salvation because they have God’s own mandate and blessing.

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A Flood of Salvation—1st Sunday in Christmas

Prancing Ponies Before the King—Christmas Day

Christmas Fairy Tales—Christmas Eve

Bad Fruit---4th Sunday in Advent

Life’s Location—3rd Sunday in Advent

Good Patterns—2nd Sunday in Advent

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