The lutheransermons's Podcast

Sermon for Reformation Sunday - October 29, 2023

Sermon for Reformation Sunday, based on:

Revelation 14:6-7

Romans 3:19-28

John 8:31-36

Sermon originally delivered October 30, 2011

Preparing for Worship - October 29, 2023

This Sunday is celebrated in many of our Lutheran churches as Reformation Sunday. The Scriptures focus on key passages that were important for Martin Luther in discovering and emphasizing what he saw as at the center of our Christian faith. I will list each passage for you to read, with only a brief comment.

The first lesson is from Revelation 14:6-7. The eternal Gospel (the good news of Jesus as Savior) is a message to be shared with all people everywhere. God created all things, and He will come again in judgment, but we are ready by faith in Christ Jesus.

The Psalm is Psalm 46, the inspiration for Luther’s hymn: “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” “God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present Help in trouble… Therefore we will not fear… The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge.”

The Epistle is Romans 3:19-28, describing the central teaching of the Scriptures. The Law of God shows that we are all sinners, and that no one can be justified in God’s sight by keeping the Law well enough. The righteousness of and from God is received only by faith in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ for us. “We are justified by faith apart from the works of the Law… through God’s grace as a gift.”

The Gospel reading is John 8:31-36, where Jesus reminds us to “abide in belief in Him and in His Word,” for only then will we know the truth, the truth that sets us free from “the slavery of sin.” Jesus, the Son of God, sets us free by His saving work for us, and we remain forever as God’s children, now and to eternity.

(Some churches may use a different set of readings, if they do not celebrate the Reformation. Here are those readings:

• Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18
• Psalm 1
• 1 Thessalonians 2:1-13
• Matthew 22:34-46

I will comment only on the Epistle, since 1 Thessalonians 2 is part of a series of readings from this letter of Paul, and Paul also talks here of key Reformation teachings, in Chapter 2. Paul and others had “declared the Gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.” They had been “entrusted with the Gospel, not to please man but to please God.” They acted “gently, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children” and at times, “like a father with his children, exhorting and encouraging." Finally Paul speaks of the Scripture alone as the source and norm for what we believe. In 2:13 he wrote, “We also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the Word of God, which is at work in you believers.”

Bible Study - Revelation 1-3 Part 13

Our study this week is on the last of the seven specific letters to churches in Asia Minor, sent from Christ Himself in Revelation 2-3, through the apostle John. This letter is to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22. It follows the same pattern as the other letters. It is addressed to the “angel,” the pastor, the “messenger” and leaders of the church.

These are the words, again, of Christ Jesus Himself. He is called “the Amen” (Revelation 3:14). The word “Amen” means “truly,” “true,” and “most certainly true.” This word is tied in with God in Isaiah 65:16, where one blesses himself by “the God of Amen.” (This is what it literally says, though many translate it “the God of Truth.”) When Jesus says in the Gospel of John, “Truly, truly, I say unto you,” He is literally saying, “Amen, Amen, I say to you.” (See examples of this in John 3:3, 5:24-25, and 8:51-54, etc.) Paul then says of Jesus that “in Him it is always yes. That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory” (2 Corinthians 1:19-20). Therefore, Jesus is also “the faithful and true Witness” to what is true. Revelation 1:1-2 tells us that John “bore witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is “the faithful witness,” though, John says (Revelation 1:5, 3:14).

Jesus is also called “the Beginning of God’s creation” (Revelation 3:14). This does not mean that He was the first created being, as some heretical teachers have tried to say, in the past. It means that He, as God the Son, with His Father and the Holy Spirit, existing as the One True God from all eternity, was the Source of God’s creation. (See John 1:1-3: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” Jesus Himself prayed, predicting His ascension and return to heaven: “And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5). See also the very detailed words of Paul about Christ in Colossians 1:15-20 and in Colossians 2:1-3.)

Did you notice in Colossians 2:1 that Christians at Laodicea were mentioned, as they also are in Colossians 4:13 and 4:15-16? This is because Laodicea was only about 11 miles from Colossae and about 40 miles southeast of Philadelphia. Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians from Rome about 60 AD, and it was to be passed on to the Christians at Laodicea and Hierapolis, too. The “letter from Laodicea” (Colossians 4:16) was probably Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, written about the same time, with the intent of its being circulated also to the other churches. That is eventually what happened with all of the letters of the apostles, along with the other parts of the Scriptures.

This means that the church in Laodicea had had solid Biblical teaching available to it in the past. This is now about 35 years later, assuming that this letter was written around 95 AD. From what we know about the city of Laodicea itself, it may have greatly influenced the thinking and attitudes of the church members there. Laodicea was the wealthiest city in this area. It was a center of business and commerce and banking; had a strong textile industry, producing cloth and clothing goods; and had a respected medical school and produced a famous eye salve. The city seemed very proud of itself and self-sufficient. There had been a bad earthquake earlier, but the city was able to bounce back and rebuild, without needing much help at all from Rome. One major weakness was not having a good water supply.

The people in the church seemed to have developed a self-centered, self-sufficient attitude, too. Jesus says that He knows their works: that they are “neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm,” presumably in their Christian faith and life; and Jesus is about to “spit (literally, to spew or vomit) them out of His mouth,” like a drink that is at the wrong temperature and can’t be tolerated or makes one sick (Revelation 3:15-16). The church members are saying, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,” while they are really in a “wretched” situation, and cannot see their many spiritual problems (Revelation 3:17). They need to “be zealous and repent” (3:19) and receive again the blessings from the Lord and see again their genuine needs.

Next week, we will look at Christ’s response to them in more detail. We’ll also talk about “discipline” from God and the famous passage in v.20 which is often used and misused by people. Think about how this passage applies to churches today. The Lord’s blessings on your week.

Sermon for the 21st Sunday after Pentecost - October 22, 2023

Sermon for the 21st Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Isaiah 45:1-7

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 

Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon originally delivered October 16, 2011

Preparing for Worship - October 22, 2023

The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 45:1-7, is an amazing prophesy of the coming of Cyrus, founder of the Persian Empire, long before he was even born. “For the sake of My servant Jacob and Israel, My chosen,” God says that He will “anoint” and raise up Cyrus and “go before” him, so that he could easily conquer Babylon and then set God’s captive people free from the Babylonians to return to Israel. The Lord could predict and plan to do all this, long before it happened, because He alone is God. “There is no other,” and He is God for people “from the rising of the sun to the west” - for all people.

The Psalm is Psalm 96:1-9 (10-13). The psalmist calls upon “all the earth,” “all the peoples” “among the nations” to “sing a new song” to the Lord. He is to be “greatly praised” because He “made the heavens” and “established the world,” and “all the gods of other peoples are worthless idols.” He is to be “worshiped” and “glorified” in all the earth. He comes “to judge the world in “righteousness” and “faithfulness.”

The Epistle lesson begins a series of readings from 1 Thessalonians. Paul wrote to the people of this church as people God had “chosen.” They had “received the Word (of God) in much affliction” and “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” They were living now in “faith” and “love” and “hope in the (risen) Lord Jesus, who will deliver them (and us) from the wrath to come. (You can read more about Paul and the Thessalonians in Acts 17:1-9.)

The Gospel lesson is from Matthew 22:15-22. Some of the Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees, and the Herodians, people who ruled on behalf of the Romans, came to Jesus with a question, hoping to trap Him and condemn His for his words. They pretended to be complimentary of Jesus, but Jesus knew they were hypocrites. The question was “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?” Jesus used a coin to show that they lived in two kingdoms. In the kingdom of this world, where government is needed, they should pay their taxes and give support. Also being in the Kingdom of God, they should give God the honor and worship and trust due to Him. The questioners went away marveling at Jesus and His answer.

Bible Study - Revelation 1-3 Part 12

This week, we look at the letter to the church at Philadelphia in Revelation 3:7-13. The letter starts the same way as the others (Revelation 3:7). It is addressed to the “angel,” the pastor and messenger for the church. The letter contains the very words of Jesus Himself, who is “holy” (sinless and set apart to serve His Heavenly Father and His perfect will - see Luke 1:35, for example). Jesus is also “the True One.” (See John 14:6 and 1 John 5:20: “We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the True God and eternal life.”

Jesus also has “the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens." This is a quotation from Isaiah 22:22, where Eliakim, a representative of King Hezekiah, is addressed. Hezekiah, like David, had authority to open and shut things, and God answered his prayers by shutting down the armies of his enemy, the great King Sennacherib. This power to open and close passed on finally to Jesus, the Son of David, who opened up the Kingdom of heaven to us by all He did and gives some of those powers to the disciples and the church. (See Matthew 16:19, 18:15-21, and John 20:21-23, for example.) This adds to what Jesus said of Himself in Revelation 1:18, too - that He has “the keys of death and Hades.” Later on, He “opens” a scroll and its seven seals that no one else could open (Revelation 5:5). Jesus then speaks with authority to the church at Philadelphia.

Philadelphia was a city founded by King Attalus Philadephus in the 100’s BC, in honor of his brother. Our US city, Philadelphia, is named after this city, as a city of “brotherly love.”  It was southeast of Sardis in a good location and was a rich and commercially important city. As Martin Franzmann notes, the church in Philadelphia “was neither rich nor important” - but it was “faithful” to the Lord. Jesus knew its works. It had “little power” and yet its people “kept the Word of God and did not deny Christ’s Name.” (This is, in fact, the only one of the seven churches that receives no direct criticism from Jesus.) Instead, Jesus promises to this little church “an open door which no one is able to shut” (Revelation 3:8).

This will happen in two ways. In v.9, Jesus says that there was a synagogue in Philadelphia that was rejecting Jesus as the promised Savior, the Messiah. Over time, Jesus promises that at least some of these people would realize that Jesus was the Messiah and that He loved that little church, because they were speaking the truth about Him. Some of these people would then become Messianic Jews, who believed that Jesus was the One who was the Savior and the fulfillment of all of God’s promises. The witness, then, to all of those who do not yet know and trust in Jesus, needs to continue - with genuine love and care for them and their spiritual welfare.

In v.10, also, because the people of this church had kept God’s Word with patient endurance, Jesus promises to help and protect them and “keep” them during a time of trial and testing coming on "the whole world,” including the churches. Some think that this refers to the coming of Trajan as Emperor in Rome in 98 AD, with more intensified persecution of Christians (and Jews and anyone who opposed the Roman gods and Emperors as gods). This greater persecution by the Romans lasted for about 100 years and prefigured other times of persecution throughout the centuries, which Jesus also predicted, in other Scriptures, and warned, speaking of even more trouble coming in the last times. Other parts of Revelation speak of these troubled times, as well, but verses like Revelation 7:1-17, also picture the preservation of God’s faithful people.

In v.11, Jesus also said He was coming again soon. His timetable is different from ours, though, as passages like 2 Peter 3:8-9 indicate. Jesus wants His people, including us, always ready for His return, by trusting Him and trying to be faithful to His Word. He encourages the believers in Philadelphia to “hold fast what they have, so that no one may seize their crown,” the crown of righteousness and everlasting life. (See, for example, 2 Timothy 4:8.)

In v.12, then, Jesus speaks again of those who do “conquer” through Christ, through Christ’s help and strength. They will reach eternal life, the new Jerusalem, as heaven and earth as we know it pass away. They will be like “pillars” in God’s presence, with His names written on them. (Philadelphia was a place where earthquakes sometimes happened and pillars in buildings fell, with great destruction.) Such will not happen in eternal life. We are perfectly safe forever, with our Lord. The new names may be a reflection of God’s promise from heaven in Revelation 21:5, “Behold, I am making all things new,” See the promise also in Revelation 21:4. Heaven will be a perfect place.

Finally, Revelation 3:13 has the phrase written in each of the letter, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” The size of our church or our community does not matter. Our trust is in our Lord and His strength and blessings for us, in Christ. We believe that He will help and preserve us, through the Word and Sacraments He gives us, and we, too, can “hold fast what we have in our Savior always, by His grace.

NEW Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost - October 15, 2023

Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Isaiah 25:6-9

Philippians 4:4-13

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon originally delivered October 14, 2023

Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost - October 15, 2023

Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:

Isaiah 25:6-9

Philippians 4:4-13

Matthew 22:1-14

Sermon originally delivered October 9, 2011

Preparing for Worship - October 15, 2023

The Old Testament lesson for this week, Isaiah 25:6-9, is a prophecy of a great feast coming when the Lord has “swallowed up” the veil of death forever and there are no more “tears” of sorrow or reproach (disgrace) for His people. The Lord has spoken and promised this, and it will happen. We are to “wait” in faith for that day of “salvation” in heaven in eternal life.

The Psalm is Psalm 23. The Lord is our Good Shepherd. He “restores” our troubled, sinful “souls” and leads and comforts us all our life. He provides a “table” for us (the Lord’s Supper and His Word and other gifts) in the presence of the “enemies” of our faith; and one day, we will “dwell in the house of the Lord forever,” enjoying His great feast in heaven.

In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 22:1-14, Jesus tells a parable about the Kingdom of Heaven being like a King (our Lord God) giving a wedding feast for His Son (our Lord Jesus). God’s Old Testament people were already invited to the feast, but they refused to come. Other servants invited them, but they went off to their own pursuits or treated the King’s servants very badly and killed some of them. The King finally destroyed many of the people and their city. (Many Jews died and Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD.) A general invitation to the wedding feast went out to everyone possible, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled. Wedding garments were provided to all (robes of righteousness in and through Jesus - the Way to heaven), but one man refused to wear his robe and was cast into outer darkness, where there is only sorrow - the way to hell, rejecting Jesus and His grace and gifts.

The Epistle lesson is the fourth reading from Philippians, Chapter 4: 4-13. Paul calls people to “rejoice in the Lord always” and to trust in the “peace” He brings through Christ Jesus as Savior. Paul knows that he can do all things he needs to do through Jesus “Who strengthens him” in this life, no matter what the circumstances. He seeks to keep in mind the honorable and just and pure things of God and His Word, which he has received and taught, as he waits for the Lord’s return and that heavenly feast.

Bible Study - Revelation 1-3 Part 11

The letter to the church at Sardis follows the same pattern as the other letters (Revelation 3:1). It is written to the “angel,” the church leader and messenger of Sardis, and it is the very words of Jesus, who is identified in Chapter 1:4 with “the seven spirits who are before the throne” in heaven - which is a way of speaking of the One Holy Spirit, who has seven-fold gifts (Isaiah 11:2) and works among all seven of the churches in Asia Minor. Jesus is also said to have “seven stars in His right hand” (Revelation 1:16), and the seven stars are the angels (the leaders and messengers) of the seven churches (1:20). Jesus is seeking to teach and guide these leaders and their churches by these letters.

The city of Sardis was about 30 miles southeast of Thyatira. It had been the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, long before the Roman control of this area. It was a city of great wealth and fame. Its high point (acropolis) was 1500 feet above the valley below. The church in Sardis had a reputation, a “name” of being an “alive” church, but Jesus says that He knows its works, and it is dead (Revelation 3:1). As He goes on, He says that the church is not completely dead, but dying, like a fire where the coals were becoming “dimmer and dimmer,” with lots of “mere ashes and dead coals,” and in danger of “the whole fire being dead,” as the commentator Lenski says. It was a “drowsy, sleepy” congregation that didn’t seem to see what was happening and needed to “wake up and strengthen what remains.” Jesus especially could see that because, as God, He found that their works were not “complete” (filled full). This does not mean that they were not doing enough works, in the sense of not doing enough to earn salvation, or anything like that. None of us can earn our salvation, no matter what we do.

Rather, good works flow from faith and confidence in Christ Himself, who He is and what He has already done for us as our Savior. Notice again a familiar Scripture like Ephesians 2:4-10, where Paul first tells us what God has done for us in Christ, by His grace alone that saves us. Only then, in v. 10, does Paul talk about the fact that we are now God’s “workmanship,” new people “created in Christ Jesus for good works” in our new life in Him. Somehow, in the church at Sardis, “the faith, love, and spiritual life” in Christ “that should have filled all their works had been growing less and less,” as Lenski says.

Therefore, Jesus says, in Revelation 3:3, that the people at Sardis needed to “remember what they had received and heard” in Christ and the Word of Scripture and the Sacraments and “keep” that strong and “repent” of their spiritual sleepiness. To use Lenski’s picture of dying coals, see how Paul said to the young pastor, Timothy, “I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you… (2 Timothy 1:6) “by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus…” (2 Timothy 1:9).

How are God’s gifts “fanned into flame” in Timothy and in the people in Sardis and in us, still today? Jesus particularly mentioned in Revelation 3:1 His connection with God the Holy Spirit, who works, based on other Scriptures, through the Word of God and the Sacraments to bring people to faith and and keep them in that faith, unto eternal life. (See for example 1 Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 2:19-22, Matthew 28:19-20, and Acts 2: 42.) That is why it is so important that we stay in God’s Word and His good gifts, through which the Holy Spirit works in our lives. That is why the “angels” of the churches, the pastors and teachers and leaders of the churches (Revelation 3:1) need to stay in the Word, too, for their own sake and to teach and lead others in the proper way, according to God’s Word and will.

That is why Jesus also gives a strong warning in Revelation 3:3, that if the people at Sardis do not “wake up,” He will come like a thief” at an unknown hour, and “come against those people” if they are spiritually dead and don’t ever repent. As He also warns in v. 5, their names would be “blotted out of the book of Life,” because of unbelief.

The image of Jesus coming unexpectedly, “like a thief in the night,” is used numbers of times in the Scriptures, especially in regard to His second coming, on the last day or in a time of judgment. Here are some examples: Revelation 16:15, Matthew 24:42-44, and 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3. The emphasis is upon being ready and prepared by continuing faith in Jesus, whenever He comes again or when the day of death comes for each of us, whichever comes first (Matthew 10:22).

The image of “the Book of Life” is also often used in the Scripture, as a way of assuring people that their personal future is secure in eternal life, because of God’s promises and His desire to keep them in faith in Him. There are warnings that people can be blotted out of the Book by sin and rebellion and continually rejecting God and His will and plan for their salvation. Here are other Scriptures that speak of this “Book of Life,” if you would like to trace them through the Bible: Exodus 32:32, Psalm 69:29, Daniel 12:1. Malachi 3:16, Luke 10:20, Philippians 4:3, Revelation 13:8, 17:3; 20:12,15, and 21:27.

Going back to Revelation 3:4, we hear Jesus revealing that there were still some people in the church at Sardis who were faithful Christians, “who had not soiled their garments.” This is a Biblical way of speaking of sinfulness, which pollutes a person. The Bible tells us that we are all sinners. The difference for these people is that they had been brought to repentance and forgiveness and faith in Jesus as their Savior and continued in faith in a life of repentance. These are people who say with Isaiah, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10). As Paul also says in Philippians 3:9, I am “found in Christ, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” His worthiness comes not from himself, but from what Christ has done for him.

In Revelation 3:5, Jesus says that such believers “will be clothed thus with white garments” and will “walk with Him in white” (Revelation 3:4) in eternal life. John sees such believers “given a white robe” in visions later on in Revelation 6:11 and 7:9, 13-14. Their robes were “washed white in the blood of the Lamb,” the sacrifice of Jesus for them on the cross to forgive all sins. These people have “conquered” through Christ and their names are never blotted out of the Book of Life (Revelation 3:5). In fact, Jesus says of such a believer, “I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels” (Revelation 3:5). (See how Jesus promises this to all those who are His own, in Matthew 10:32 and Matthew 25:34, too.)

In this letter to Sardis, then, Jesus is calling all of the people of this sleepy congregation to “wake up” and “repent” of their sins and their lazy response to Christ and “strengthen what remains,” through God’s Word and Sacraments. This is always possible, through Christ. When Jesus predicted that Peter would deny Him three times, Jesus also said, “I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned again (repented), strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-34).

This letter, like the others, says to us all, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” We all have times of “sleepiness” in our Christianity, and none of our churches are perfect. This letter is for us, too. You might remember the closing words of Jude, when we studied his letter a while back: “In the last times there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear; hating even the garments stained by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 17-25)