The lutheransermons's Podcast

Preparing for Worship - August 25, 2024

The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 14, another psalm of David. The Lord looks down from heaven and sees no one who is doing good. Fools deny that there is any God. No one understands and seeks God as he should. Again, David speaks God’s verdict. “There is none who does good, not even one.” This is the reality of sinful human nature ever since the fall into sin by Adam and Eve. (See Genesis 6:5,12.) There are some, though, who are counted righteous in God’s eyes by His grace and forgiveness and who “walk with God by faith.” (See Genesis 6:9, 15:6.) God’s Old Testament people were chosen and called to be part of that “righteous” group, but many of them also fell away and needed to be “restored.” David prays that “salvation for Israel would come out of Zion,” from among God’s place of rule, and that the Lord would be the “Refuge” for His “poor” people. (The Lord inspires David to repeat this same message in Psalm 53, with almost the same words, except for the promise that God would eventually defeat all those “encamped against” Him and His believers (Psalm 53:5).

Unfortunately, many of God’s Old Testament chosen people would continue to drift away from the Lord and be “blind” and “drunk” and spiritually “asleep.” (See Isaiah 29: 9-10.) The Lord then sends the message through the prophet Isaiah that we hear in the Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 29:11-19. The message from God would seem to be “sealed” to them, and people would draw near to Him only with their “lips” and not with their “hearts.” “The wisdom of their wise men would perish,” and they “would turn things upside down.” People would act like “clay,” trying to deny the Lord, who was their “Potter” and their “Creator,” and they would reject His truth and “understanding.” They would develop their own human “commandments” and follow them instead of the Lord and His Word. But again, a time was coming when “the deaf” and “the blind” would “hear and see, out of their gloom and darkness.” Those who were “meek” and spiritually “poor” before the Lord would “obtain fresh joy in the Lord” and “exult in the Holy One of Israel,” the Promised Savior, and His salvation for them.

Jesus was that "Promised Savior,” and in the Gospel lesson, Mark 7:1-13, we see Him challenging those who wanted to condemn Him with their human commandments. Jesus quotes from our Old Testament lesson (Isaiah 29:13) and says that they, the religious leaders and others, were the ones leaving the true commandments of God and holding to the traditions of men. He used the example of the 4th Commandment, “Honor your father and your mother.” The elders and priests had made up a rule called “Corban” that if people pledged to give a certain amount to the priests and the temple, they must do so, even if that meant neglecting the genuine needs of their parents. It also became a way of avoiding giving help to their parents and others if they just did not want to help them for purely selfish reasons. The true Word of God was being ignored by human ideas and rules that were not good. Jesus also said that the people were doing many other things against God’s will and failing to do things that they really should have done. (Jesus was doing what the first two readings this week were also doing - showing us and all people that we are sinners who fall far short of God’s will and need repentance and forgiveness and the new life of trust in Him that Jesus was earning for us and the world as He went to the cross and the empty tomb for us. He alone was and is the Savior that we need.)

The Epistle lesson continues readings from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians - this week, from Ephesians 5:22-33. Paul had been writing about our new life of faith in Christ, by whom we are saved, and calling us in thanks and gratitude to be “submissive to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21). This is also expressed in other Scriptures like Galatians 5:13. Paul writes, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh (for your own sinful desires and wishes), but through love serve one another.” In the Ephesians reading, Paul says that husbands are to be the “head” of the family, and wives are to be submissive. This is not a power play for husbands, though. The pattern is Christ as the head of the church, His body, and its Savior. He loved the church and was willing to die for it so that we could be sanctified through baptism (the washing of water with His Word and promises) and counted “holy and without blemish” in His eyes. Husbands have a great responsibility, too, as head of their family. They are to “love their wives, as Christ loved the church,” in a sacrificial way and “nourish and cherish them, as Christ does the church.” It was the Lord Himself who instituted marriage in Genesis 2 and calls husbands to love their wives as part of them, and wives are to respect their husbands. This is a very high calling from the Lord, and we live in it only by the grace and love and forgiveness Christ bestows first upon us,

Bible Study - Scripture Interprets Scripture and Points to Christ

I was surprised at the number of Scriptures in our Old Testament reading this week that were quoted later on in the Scriptures or at least alluded to. It was a good reminder that the Scriptures themselves help us to interpret other Scriptures, most especially when a Biblical writer, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is referring to another Scripture passage himself. Old Testament Scriptures are so often pointing forward to the future, too, and especially pointing to the saving work of our Lord Jesus Christ, at the center of the Triune God’s work for us, revealed in God’s Word. Here are just a few examples. Be watching for these.

In Romans 3:10-12, Paul quotes from Psalm 14:1-3 and its parallel, Psalm 53:1-3, along with Ecclesiastes 7:20. In the verses that follow, in Romans 3:13-18, Paul refers to at least seven other Old Testament Scriptures which also make his point that we are all sinners who need the saving work of Jesus. Later on, in Romans 11:26, Paul refers to Psalm 14:7, in saying that “the Deliverer,” who brings salvation, “would come from Zion“ and bless the descendants of “Jacob,” just as Jesus came to do for them and for the New Israel, all believers in Christ. Also, as Psalm 14:4 speaks of “evildoers who eat up God’s people as they eat bread,” Paul reminds believers in Galatians 5:14-15 that they are to “love their neighbors as themselves.” But, he says, “if you bite and devour one another (in sharp disagreements), watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”

Look also at Isaiah 29:11-19. Jesus quotes very directly from this passage, in Mark 7:6-7 (and in the parallel passage in Matthew 15:8-9), showing that His fellow Jews had the same problem in His day as many Jews had in the time of Isaiah’s prophecy, following human commandments and not the Word of God. Jesus had come into the world to help those literally “deaf and blind,” but also those spiritually deaf and blind, for whom the Scriptures seemed to be like a “sealed” book. Jesus showed this for John the Baptist, in prison, and his disciples, too, by referring to the prediction in Isaiah 29:18-19 that when the Savior came, He would help the deaf and blind and the spiritually poor. He would help them “exult in the Holy One of Israel,” for He was the promised Holy One and their Savior.

We heard last week that Peter was brought to that faith and belief in Jesus as “the Holy One of God.” Peter said, in John 6:68-69, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Paul also quotes from Isaiah 29:13 in 1 Corinthians 1:19, where He shows that many people who thought they were so “wise and discerning” were missing the one most important One for their lives and future, Jesus “Christ crucified,” “the Power of God and the true Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:23-24).

I could go on and on with more examples, but the point is that the Scriptures of the Old Testament are rich with Scriptures that point us to the New Testament and to Christ Jesus as our Savior above all. Paul reminded a young pastor, Timothy, “From childhood, you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). That is the greatest wisdom, in Christ our Wisdom. As John said, “These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31). Keep reading and listening to the Scriptures, and let them interpret God’s Word for you, with Christ as the Key. If you have a Bible with cross references, they can help you find passages like the ones I have mentioned. There are so many.

Preparing for Worship - August 18, 2024

There are two possible Old Testament lessons this Sunday. The first is Proverbs 9:1-10. This passage describes Wisdom as a wise woman who built her house on a very firm foundation. (The number “seven” represents “completeness and perfection.”) She has prepared a banquet including meat and bread and wine, which represent the “insight,” “instruction,” and “teaching” that can be found by coming to where the real wisdom is, in “the fear of the Lord” and knowledge of the Holy One, the Lord Himself and His Word. Young women are sent out to invite everyone to come, though it is known that scoffers and the wicked might refuse.

Jesus Himself is pictured in the New Testament as the Power of God and the Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24), and even the demons recognize that Jesus is “the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24). Jesus also tells a parable of a wedding banquet, where many invited guests refuse to come. The king then invites many others, all kinds of people, who do fill up the banquet hall with wedding garments provided for them to make them acceptable (Matthew 22:14). Jesus Himself is the Way and the Truth and the Life and has earned all these blessings for us by His sacrifice on the cross and then bringing us to faith in Him by His Word and Spirit.

The rest of Proverbs 9 then tells of another woman, called Folly, who seductively sits at her door and tries to draw senseless people into her home to stolen water and bread eaten in secret pleasures that lead people only to death, away from the Lord and His will. That is the other way, apart from Christ.

The alternate Old Testament reading is from Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18. Joshua had led the chosen people of Israel into the promised land and helped them to get settled through the Lord’s Word and guidance. The Lord knew that some still had mixed up loyalties to the One True God and other voices and could also be led astray by the Amorites and others with false gods around them and other false influences and gods from the past. The Lord had Joshua make a strong call for the people to trust the LORD, the One True God, alone and not to “forsake the LORD to serve other gods.” That would be their downfall. As with the reading from Proverbs 9, that would be listening to the voice of folly instead of the voice of the Wisdom of the One True God. Both Joshua and the people affirm that they would serve the LORD, for He is their God.

The Psalm is Psalm 34:12-22. This continues the reading from last week of the opening verses of this psalm, which end with the words of David, “Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD” (Psalm 34:11). These are the same Words that Wisdom speaks in the Proverbs 9 reading, which added that these Words bring “the knowledge of the Holy One of God” and true “insight.” David speaks of “seeking peace and pursuing it” in God’s good will. When we are “broken-hearted” in our sins and “crushed in spirit,” the LORD is near and “redeems the life of His servants; none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.” God’s people will still have afflictions, as David did, but “the LORD delivers them out of them all.” There is even a prophetic Word from David in this psalm about our Lord Jesus, our ultimate deliverer, who, even in His terrible death for us, “kept all His bones; not one of them was broken.” (See John 19:32-36.) Above all, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Roman 8:1).

The Gospel lesson, John 6:51-69, continues readings from the last two weeks about Jesus identifying Himself as “the Bread of Life that came down from heaven” (John 6:33,35,38,41). Jesus repeats this in John 6:51 and adds that “the bread He will give for the life of the world is His flesh.” At this point, Jesus is especially referring to the sacrifice of His flesh, His body, on the cross, in payment for the sins of the world, as the Lamb of God. (See John 1:14 and 29 and John 3:13-15 and later on, the explanation in Hebrews 10:5-14.) Jesus is calling people to hear His Word and trust in Him, even as Wisdom, in Proverbs 9:5,10 called out, “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and live, and walk in the way of insight,” - “the insight of the knowledge of Jesus as the Holy One, given by God.”

Jesus puts the emphasis upon trusting Him and His Word, through the Holy Spirit. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh (our flesh) is no help at all. The Words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and Life” (John 6:63). Jesus also says, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father” (John 6:65). These seemed to be very hard words from Jesus, and we sadly hear that “many turned back and no longer walked with Jesus” and no longer followed Him. Even one of the original 12 disciples, Judas, was turning against Him (John 6:60,61,66,67,70-71). Simon Peter, however, spoke of what was really true. “Jesus has the Words of eternal life, and we have come to believe and have come to know that Jesus is the Holy One of God,” just as Wisdom had said in Proverbs 9:10.

When we read or hear this passage today, especially John 6:53-58,  we think also of God’s great gift of Holy Communion, where we receive in, with, and under the bread and wine the very Body and Blood of Christ Himself. At the time Jesus first spoke these words, though, He had not yet instituted and given this Holy Meal. That would not happen until at the Lord’s Supper, the night before Christ’s sacrifice of His flesh, His Body and Blood, on the cross. Christ Jesus certainly had in mind and was predicting the coming gift of Holy Communion, though, which now forgives our sins and strengthens our faith, as baptized and prepared believers, in fellowship with one another, so that we may “abide in Christ, and He in us,” as we receive the Lord’s Supper often (John 6:56-58).

The Epistle lesson, Ephesians 5:6-21, also continues readings we have heard for several weeks, from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. Paul warns His fellow believers not to be deceived by “empty words,” which are not of and from the Word of God. Once, we were “darkness” in our sins and sinful nature, but now we are “light in the Lord,” wanting to follow what is good and right and true and pleasing to the Lord. Ephesians 5:14 may be part of an early baptismal hymn of the early church. We were “dead” in our sins and “unfruitful works of darkness,” but now have been awakened in our baptism and through the Word of God, and Christ shines on us and the Holy Spirit fills us. Together, we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, thanking the Triune God in the name of Christ. We try not to push our own selfish will but seek to submit to God’s ways in loving service to one another. (See Galatians 5:13 as another description of this, in reverence for Christ our Savior.)

Preparing for Worship - August 11, 2024

The Old Testament lesson is from 1 Kings 19:1-8. The Lord had helped the faithful prophet Elijah and shown His power over the prophets of the false god Baal. The Lord had Elijah kill these false prophets, and King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, who supported these false prophets, was so angry that she vowed that Elijah would be dead by the next day. In fear, Elijah fled as far south in the land as he could go and was ready to die. The angel of the Lord cared for him and fed him enough that he could travel to Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sinai), where the Lord would appear to him, as He had to Moses long before, and encourage and strengthen him.

David, too, had his troubles, even as a servant of the Lord, as expressed in Psalm 34:1-8. The introduction to the psalm refers to a time when David had to pretend that he was crazy or insane in order to escape from a king of whom he was afraid. (See 1 Samuel 21:10-15.) David was also being pursued by his own king, King Saul, at this time. David praises the Lord in Psalm 34 for delivering him from all his fears. He was like a poor, helpless man, but the Lord saved him from his troubles, and the angel of the Lord protected him. David exclaims, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” (See how this verse is quoted for us in 1 Peter 2:2-3.)

The Gospel lesson is John 6:35-51, continuing last week’s reading, where Jesus said He was “the Bread of life,” who could bring eternal life to those who believed in Him, as the promised one, sent from God the Father. Jesus had opposition, too. Many Jews grumbled at this claim of His, as they knew Jesus as the son of Joseph and his wife, Mary. How could Jesus claim to have come down from heaven and be offering living bread that would bring life forever - better bread than the manna provided in the wilderness at the time of Moses? Jesus was telling the truth, but it did not make sense to many of the people. (We will hear more of this next week, too.)

The Epistle lesson is another reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 4:17-5:2. Here, Paul emphasizes what new life in Christ as Savior looks like. We have heard that we are counted righteous already, simply by faith in Jesus. We have a new life in Jesus and in His truth and now want to be renewed in our minds and be a new self, a new person, according to what our Lord knows is right and best for us and for others around us.

This is very different from the very self-centered lifestyle of the Gentile Greco-Roman world. It involves being truthful in what we say, seeking to build up others, and doing honest work. It means trying to be kind and forgiving to others, as God in Christ has loved and forgiven us. Christ Jesus loved us and sacrificed everything for us. We seek, now, to walk in His way of love, as His beloved children, in what we do and in what we say. Like David and Elijah, we will sometimes fail, but the Lord will forgive and lift us again and send His angels to help and protect us, as He promises.

Bible Study - "Receiving God's Grace" and "Powerful Angels"

“Receiving God’s Grace”

We have heard several readings from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians on Sundays in recent weeks. Paul clearly emphasizes, as the Scriptures so often do, that we are saved purely by the grace of God (His undeserved love and favor and gift for us) through faith in Jesus Christ and His saving work for us, and even our faith is not our own doing, that we produce. It is a gift of God, not by our works so that no one can boast about what we have done. We were spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins, but God made us alive by His grace and worked faith in us through His Holy Spirit, through His Word and our baptism, and strengthened us through the Word and Sacraments, as we receive Jesus, the Bread of Life. (Read especially Ephesians 2:1-10, again, as a summary of all this. This grace and gift of God is already ours if we are trusting in Jesus as our Savior. We could not believe without that grace.)

We also have heard that God has given us the gifts of prophets and apostles and evangelists, who taught and wrote down God’s Word for us. These are the Holy Scriptures through which the Holy Spirit works and we can learn and be strengthened in God’s Word and will for us and in knowing what is truly right and wrong for our new life in Jesus. God’s Word is vital for us, and through it, we also know the value of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, as the Lord connects His Word to the water of baptism and the bread and wine, Christ’s true body and blood, in the Lord’s Supper. These are all gifts of God’s grace, by which we have received our salvation.

But Paul also says, in Ephesians 4:7, “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” This seems to refer to the unique gifts of grace we each are given to serve one another in the body of Christ. Paul speaks of “each part working properly, helping the body grow and build itself up in love.”

In a Bible study discussion, this seemed confusing to some. Are these natural gifts and abilities that we have that can be used? Some people are better than others in certain things, as we are all unique individuals, and none of us are strong in everything. But Paul mixes in God’s grace given to each, which seems different from the same grace given to all by which we are saved. Our natural abilities are surely a gift from God, too. That does not make us superior or inferior to others in the church. That just makes us different.

The Biblical writers often use blessings like “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” See Philippians 1:2. Peter even writes, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:2). And Peter says, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” That seems to say that we can wish and ask for God’s grace for a greater understanding of our Lord and His will and what we can do in service as the unique person we are.

That does not mean that we can be more saved. Christ has already done everything we need, and we simply trust Him for His completed work of salvation. This has nothing to do with competition with other Christians about anything, either. Paul writes about “walking in a manner worthy of our calling” as Christians, which involves “humility and gentleness with patience, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:1-2). And we do not ask for God’s grace for personal glory, but to serve our Lord and others in a better way, for God’s glory. Right after Peter speaks of “growing in grace,” he adds, “To God be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” And while Paul writes his letter to the Ephesians, inspired by God, he just has to stop and give all the glory to the Lord and His grace. If we accomplish anything, it is by God’s power at work in us, in our Christian life. Paul writes, “Now to Him Who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).

“Powerful Angels”

Two of our readings this Sunday mention “an angel of the Lord” helping people. An angel helped the prophet Elijah survive and provided food for him for a long journey (1 Kings 19:5-8). David also knew that the Lord “delivered him from all his fears” and “saved him out of all his troubles” (Psalm 34:4,6). And right after that, David wrote, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them” (Psalm 34:7). In the Bible, the good angels are powerful servants of God in service to the Lord and in protecting us.

I recently came across an old devotion I had saved, written many years ago by a Purdue student who became a pastor and, for a while, sent out regular devotions to friends. He spoke of how angels are often pictured in very different ways. Rafael has a famous painting in which several “cherubs” (one of the kinds of angels) are “pictured as adorable, chubby little babies. The image of a cherub looking like a baby comes from Eros of Greek mythology or Cupid of the Romans, but not from Scripture at all.”

That made me think of how often in movies and books these days, angels are pictured as bumbling creatures sent from God to help someone but not able to get things right and messing things up, at least for a while, until they earn their wings. Again, that is never the Biblical picture. Angels are spirits and do not have a “body.” They can appear in various forms. Nor do people ever become angels. Angels are uniquely created by God to be His servants. The good angels in the Bible are mighty, powerful servants of God, always doing God’s will as they should, for us and our good and our protection. They can be powerful warriors against Satan and the other angels who rebelled against God and fell into great sin and evil and oppose God.

The good angels are also God’s messengers who bring good news to people. It was an angel who was sent by God to the prophet Isaiah when he realized his sin and said, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.” The angel touched his lips and said, “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Angels announced to Mary the coming birth of her Savior, born to her; angels announced to the shepherds the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem; and on and on. When you hear of good angels, make sure that they fit the Biblical picture of powerful servants of God working for good. What a blessing that we still have such guardians and helpers from the Lord, for children, but for all of us.

Sermon for August 3, 2024

11th Sunday after Pentecost            

“United in Christ, Speaking the Truth in Love”

Ephesians 4:1-16

Let us pray: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer." Amen (Psalm 19:140).

A few weeks ago, in Ephesians, Chapter 2:13-22, we heard the apostle Paul promising that the Good News of salvation through faith in Jesus was for all people, non-Jews as well as Jews. Paul wrote, “Now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For Christ is our Peace, who has made us both one (both Jews and non-Jews - all who have been brought to faith in Christ) and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility… He has reconciled us both (Jews and non-Jews) to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility… For through Christ, we both (Jews and non-Jews) have access in one Spirit to (God) the Father.”

Note that this unity is the plan and the work of the One True Triune God, not of us, as we are built, Paul says, “on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets,” those who taught and wrote down the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, with Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord… by the Spirit.” This is what we now call the Holy Christian Church.

In our text for today, Ephesians 4, Paul speaks again of “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” that is in the Church. Seven times in verses 4 through 6, Paul uses the word “one,” emphasizing the one plan and work of the Triune God for all of us and our salvation. Our primary strength in the Church is not in our diversity but in our unity in our Triune God and His Word and His one way to new and eternal life, centered in Christ as the cornerstone, and His sacrifice on the cross for us all.

Listen again to Paul’s words. There is only one Holy Spirit, who gathers people together in one body, the church, by one faith, in the one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit does this through the speaking of the one truth, the Word of God, and through the Word and promises of God connected with the water in one baptism, by which people are “born again” and brought to that one true faith (John 3:3,5-7) and then strengthened in that faith. That calling to faith also brings one great hope for this life and for eternal life to come for us and all believers through our one God and Father, who is with us always, over and through and in us.

Let me stop for a moment and ask: does the Christian church today really seem to be this united? We have so many groups and divisions and denominations; and we know that we are still sinful, struggling individuals, too. Yet the miracle of salvation by God’s grace through Christ is that God now looks at us through Jesus and sees Jesus in us so that we look and are counted as forgiven and acceptable to God through Jesus. Sometimes pastors wear two robes. The black robe underneath represents our sins. The white robe over that represents Jesus covering over all our sins.

Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake, God made Him (Jesus)to be sin who knew no sin.”  All our sins were dumped on Jesus, and He carried them to the cross and paid the penalty for all of them and forgave them all. He did that, Paul says, “so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” We and all believers are counted righteous by being brought to faith and trust in Jesus. This is sometimes called the “invisible church” that only God can see. God looks at us, and He sees only Christ in us. That is the one true church, the one holy, Christian, and apostolic Church that God has made and sees, as described in the creeds.

How much we need all this that our one true triune God has done for us and continues to provide for us, in watching over us. For we live in challenging times, with all sorts of competing ideas and voices all around us, including on moral and spiritual teachings.

It has always been this way, though. A little later on in our text, Paul writes of children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine. We do have concerns, don’t we, about our literal children and grandchildren, for fear that they might be led astray by false doctrines and wrong moral and religious ideas. But Paul is really talking about all of us, no matter what our age, as he wishes that we, too, may no longer be children or childish, tossed to and fro by false doctrines, by human cunning that leads to evil, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

You have probably read that senior citizens are estimated to have lost over 3 billion dollars to scammers in just 2022 alone. And my local bank had warnings out this week that people claiming to be bank fraud investigators were actually trying to steal from people. There are spiritual deceivers, too - people focused, Paul says, on human cunning - people talking about things that appeal to our human thoughts and the desires of our sinful human nature - and what we would like to hear about, and not on the things of God. How can we tell what is correct?

Paul tells us again, in our text, that God gives us the gifts that we need. He mentions again that God gave us the gift of the prophets and apostles and evangelists, who long ago taught and wrote down the Holy Scriptures, as Paul says on another occasion, “for our instruction, that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have Hope… in accord with Christ Jesus” (Romans 15:4-5). That means that if anyone ever comes with new “Scriptures” and new teachings, we should have nothing to do with them.

Paul also says, in our text, that God gave us, in addition, “shepherds” (that’s what pastors are, literally) and “teachers” to help us use and understand the Scriptures, “the foundation” for all our beliefs, “in the unity of the faith” (there are not many faiths, but only one true faith), centered in greater “knowledge of the Son of God,” our Lord Jesus Christ, and confidence in Him, and to what Paul calls being more “mature” believers.

How eager we are, then, to have the gift of our own new shepherd, Pastor Bombaro, with us in just a few weeks to lead and guide us. And how exciting that a new school year at St. James starts even sooner, with the gift of our teachers and principal, working with our children and helping us together focus on God’s Word, too. May we pray for and support and encourage them all as they lead and serve us.

Paul also speaks of one more gift we have, too. He writes, “But grace was given to each one of us according to Christ’s gift.” It is, of course, only by the grace of God that we have been brought to faith and received our baptism and been saved to begin with. But God can provide us also additional strength, by His grace, to be a blessing to fellow believers within the body of Christ, the church. That is what He wants us all to be, though we have different gifts and abilities, by the grace God has given us.

At the end of our text, Paul writes, “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow, so that it builds itself up in love.”

“When each part is working properly,” the body grows, Paul says. Every one of us is important, as God gifts and graces us, even if only in the smallest ways. And if we are to speak the truth in love with one another, that starts with hearing the one truth, in God’s Word, in regular worship and remembering our own baptism and its blessings and receiving Christ, the Bread of Life, in the Lord’s Supper. It also means reading the Word on our own and/or studying it with our pastor and teachers and others when and if we can. When we see and hear of God’s great truth and love for us in Christ, we can then better speak and show that truth and love to others, too, in encouraging and helping each other, as we are able, or just in our prayers or in any other way we can.

And as Paul said, at the beginning of our text, we are to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called by Christ,” by His great love and mercy and forgiveness for us, and thus that we can act with “humility and gentleness and patience, bearing with one another in love,” in what we say and do.

We also remember that the most important things have already been done for us for our salvation by the grace of God in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection and His Word of Truth, brought to us.

Anything we can accomplish, then, is by the grace of God and His working in and through us. As Paul wrote in the same Epistle, that we heard last week, just before this week’s text, “Now to God, who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power (His power) at work in us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).

Let us rise for prayer: “Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds safe, in Christ Jesus. Amen.” (Philippians 4:7)

Preparing for Worship - August 4, 2024

The Old Testament Lesson for this Sunday is from Exodus 16:2-15. God had rescued His people from slavery and misery in Egypt and was leading them to the Promised Land. They quickly forgot God’s mercy and care, though, and began to grumble and complain as if God had led them into the wilderness to starve and die. God is patient with them, though, and provides daily food for them, in the gift of manna from heaven, and enough extra for the Sabbath Day, when they were to rest. God even provided meat for them, at times, with quail. God gave food on a daily basis as a kind of test for them and to teach them to trust Him each day, as we still pray in the Lord’s Prayer.

The Psalm is Psalm 145:10-21. David calls upon all people to give thanks and praise to God for His goodness. He is faithful in all His words and promises. Verses 15-16 are still used by some as a table prayer of thanks at meals, as God provides “food in due season.” Verse 18 is also a great promise of God: “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth,” trusting in Him and His mercy. “He hears their cry and saves them,” especially in the saving work of Jesus which was to come. There is a word of warning, too, and of judgment for the wicked who continually reject the Lord and His will. David, though, will speak with his mouth in praise of the Lord and His kindness and His “everlasting kingdom.”

In the Gospel lesson, John 6:22-35, Jesus had just done the great miracle of feeding the 5,000. Now many people were “seeking Jesus,” but primarily because they had eaten their “fill of the loaves.” They were focusing on “food that perishes,” while Jesus wanted to give them “food that endures to eternal life.” Jesus was the Son of His Heavenly Father, upon whom “the Father had set His seal.” The true “work of God” was simply to bring people “to believe in Jesus.” The people wanted more signs to be able to believe in Jesus, though, like the manna provided in the Old Testament. Jesus says that He is “the Bread from heaven… the Bread of Life.” Those who come to and believe in Him will not hunger or thirst but will have true and eternal life through faith in Him.

The Epistle reading continues readings from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians - this week, Ephesians 4:1-16. We heard Paul promising last week that the Good News of salvation through faith in Jesus was for all people, non-Jews as well as Jews. Now he says that this is a unity brought by the Holy Spirit for all believers in Christ, no matter who they have been. Seven times Paul uses the word “one.” There is only one Spirit who gathers people into “one body” by “one faith” in the “one Lord,” the Lord Jesus Christ, through “one baptism,” with “one hope” in “the one God and Father of all.” (Notice that this is the one true Triune God at work to accomplish this saving and uniting work. All believers have the same trust in the Father and His saving work in Jesus through the Holy Spirit. However, God gives different gifts of grace to believers to help in “building up the body of Christ,” the Holy Christian Church. The power is in “speaking the truth” of God and His Word “in love” so that believers may grow from childlike to mature “knowledge of the Son of God” through Christ and His Word. Otherwise, we could be “tossed to and fro” by false teachings and deceitful human ideas of those opposed to Christ and the teachings of God’s Word. We have the Scriptures, written by the apostles and prophets, as inspired by God Himself. Today, we also have pastors and teachers to help guide us through that Word and to be strengthened in our Savior. As “the body of Christ,” we can all help each other, too, doing what we can to encourage one another with the love of Christ. As Paul says, that takes a lot of “humility and gentleness and patience” toward one another, as our Heavenly Father enables us through Christ and by the Holy Spirit.

Preparing for Worship - July 28, 2024

The Old Testament lesson for today, Genesis 9:8-17, speaks of the first covenant that God gave to Noah and his descendants and to the whole earth. As with the other covenants to follow later, this is God’s doing, out of love and care and forgiveness for His people, and not because they had earned or deserved anything from Him. God promises that he will never again destroy the whole earth with a flood. A rainbow that appears in the sky is a sign of this promise of God.

Jesus shows again, in the Gospel lesson (Mark 6:45-56), that he is God’s Son and has power over the wind and waves, as He had done earlier, in stilling a storm (Mark 4:35-40). Jesus had gone to pray after feeding the 5,000 and sent His disciples across the Sea of Galilee ahead of Him. He knew that they were having trouble, for the wind was against them, and He walked on the water near them. They thought they were seeing a ghost and were terrified until He said, “Take heart; it is I. Don’t be afraid.” Again, we hear that the disciples were not understanding about who He was, and they were “hard-hearted.” As our text goes on, Jesus stopped the wind and, when ashore, allowed many people to come in faith and receive healing by just touching the fringe of His garments.

The Psalm, Psalm 136:1-9, reminds people to give thanks to God for His steadfast love, beginning at the creation of this marvelous world and universe and continuing with His control over land and waters and all things. God the Son was there at creation, too, involved in this creative work (see John 1:1-5, for example) and continued to show this steadfast love while here on earth, though His disciples (and maybe we sometimes, too) do not see and understand it. Again and again, beyond our reading, Psalm 136 tells us, “His steadfast love endures forever.” May we believe and trust that, even on dark and troubled days!

The Epistle lesson is another reading from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, Ephesians 3:14-21. Paul bows his knees in praise and thanks to the Triune God, the Father, from whom every family is named, along with Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, who empower our inner being. Paul prays that in faith and love, we may comprehend the surpassing greatness of God’s love and His ability to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think through His power at work in us. To Him be the glory in the church, in Christ Jesus, forever and ever. Paul adds an Amen. This is most certainly true! We can trust this as we trust our Triune God.

Preparing for Worship - July 21, 2024

The Old Testament lesson this week is Jeremiah 23:1-6. The Lord condemns shepherds who have not attended to their sheep, God’s people, but, through evil deeds, have scattered and destroyed them. The Lord Himself will gather the remnant of His flock and bring them back and set shepherds over them who will care for them. And days are coming, declares the Lord, when He will raise up a righteous Branch who will reign and deal wisely and bring salvation and security. This is prophetic of the coming of Jesus, who is both our Lord and our Righteousness.

The Psalm is Psalm 23. This psalm also speaks of the Lord and His care for His people and points forward to the coming of Jesus. Jesus will restore our souls and lead us through this life in His righteous way and through the valley of death to the house of the Lord, where we will live forever.

In the Gospel lesson, Mark 6:30-44, we see our Lord Jesus having compassion upon crowds of people because they were like sheep without Him, the Shepherd they really needed. He taught them the Word of God, and when it became late that day, He even provided physical food for them abundantly in a miraculous way. (Jesus did this again in a less heavily Jewish area, the region of the Decapolis, when in Mark 8:1-10, he fed another 4,000 people, spiritually and physically, in an abundant and miraculous way.)

This demonstrates what Paul talks about in the Epistle lesson, Ephesians 2:11-22. Jesus came not only for the old covenant people of Israel but for all people who were once far off from the promises of God but were now brought near through His blood shed for them. Christ Jesus is the Way to peace for all people, Jews and non-Jews, united in Him. He is the Cornerstone for a new and holy temple of believers in Him, the Holy Christian church, where God dwells among His people by His Word (and Sacraments) and through the Holy Spirit.

Bible Study - Thoughts on Psalm 85 and Jeremiah 23:1-6

Old Testament readings always show us our sinfulness and need and then point us forward to the coming of our Savior, Jesus, in God’s rescue plan for our world. The readings for July 14 and July 21 do an especially good job of showing us that.

In Psalm 85, a reading for July 14, the psalmists know that God has mercifully forgiven and covered over their sins in the past. But now they are in a situation where they are seeing God’s disgust with them and His anger over their continuing wrongdoing. They pray that the Lord would turn them around, restore them, and revive them again. They are repentant and ask that the Lord would speak peace to them, forgive them, and help them not return to folly. They are confident that their Lord will give them what is good, including such gifts as “steadfast love” (mercy), “peace," “His salvation," “righteousness” (mentioned 3 times), and “faithfulness” (mentioned 2 times). It is “His footsteps” that would lead the way for them to these gifts.

Likewise, the Old Testament reading for this coming Sunday, July 21, from Jeremiah 23:1-6, shows the failures of God’s shepherds and other leaders in the Old Testament. God Himself would need to be the Good Shepherd for His people, His flock, and provide better shepherds to help them. The Lord particularly speaks of a coming day when there will be a “Righteous Branch” from the line of King David who will reign and deal wisely and with justice and righteousness and bring salvation and security. Notice all the words describing this Branch who is to come. (The picture image of a branch or shoot from the stump of Jesse, David’s father, is used in a number of other places, too - in Isaiah 4:2, 6:13, 11:1,10, for example.) Jeremiah 23:6 also gives two more names for this Branch: “The Lord” and “our Righteousness.”

When we come to the New Testament, we see all these words connected to Jesus. Jesus is Lord, God the Son, sent into this world to bring forgiveness and salvation to us. See John 1:1-2, 14-18, and 20:27-31. See also 1 Corinthians 12:3, Philippians 2:8-11, Revelation 17:14, 19:16, and 22:20-21.

Jesus is also the Righteous One, who fulfills all righteousness for us, who fall far short of God’s righteousness, no matter how hard we try. See Matthew 3:15, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 John 1:7-8, 2:1-2, Philippians 3:8-9, 2 Corinthians 5:21, etc.

These two sets of Scriptures show us so clearly that Jesus is the One who fulfills the words of Jeremiah 23:6. We are counted righteous only by faith in Jesus, our Lord, and what He has done for us, including His righteousness for us.

Jesus is also then the “Branch” or “Shoot” or “Root,” the Greater One from the line of Jesse and David, who nourishes us through His Word and Sacraments. See Revelation 5:5 and 22:16 and Matthew 12:42. See also John 15:1-5, where Jesus calls Himself the Vine, and we are His branches, who cannot survive without Him. Jesus is also the Merciful and Faithful One, where we sometimes struggle. See Revelation 19:11,13, 2 Timothy 2:13, Hebrews 2:17, 3:6, 10:19, 23, and Revelation 1:5. Jesus is also the Wisdom of God, where we are not always so wise. See 1 Corinthians 1:24, 30, Romans 16:27, and 2 Timothy 3:15, the most important wisdom of the Scriptures, “the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

All this work of Christ finally brings us “peace” and “hope.” As Paul writes in Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we have also gained access by faith into grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” This is exactly where we need to be, in Christ, as the Old Testament predicts and the New Testament reveals and fulfills in Jesus.