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Bible Study - Proverbs 30:1-6

Proverbs 30:1-6 is a very interesting part of the Book of Proverbs. Many of the proverbs were written by Solomon and others. We do not know who Agur, son of Jakeh, is. Scholars have tried to tie him in with others referred to in the Old Testament, but there is no agreement about this. Here is what Agur writes, quoting from the ESV translation: “The man declares, I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and worn out. Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name? Surely you know! Every Word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His Words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar.”

Based on other Scriptures, Agur is referring, in verses 3-4, to our Lord God, the Creator and Preserver of our universe. He is the One who alone has power over the wind and the waves of the sea and all that He has made. The Lord reminded Job of that in last week’s Old Testament lesson, Job 38:1-11, so that Job had to repent of his pride and his questioning of God, in Job 42:3,6, saying, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know… therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.”

Agur is admitting, in this proverb in Proverbs 30, that he, too, cannot understand the greatness of God and His ways. He does not have the wisdom or knowledge of the Holy One as he should. He is weary of trying to figure things out in his own human power. He finally just asks for the Name of God - and for the Name of God’s Son. The Lutheran Study Bible notes, p.1044-1045, quote from a great Lutheran scholar, Chemnitz, who says that this is “the clearest passage where He (God the Son) is called the Son of God without reference to His human nature.” Agur even uses the very same words that God used in questioning Job (Job 38:5 and Proverbs 30:4), “Surely you know!”

Agur then goes on to refer to trusting Scripture and says, “Every Word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His Words” (Proverbs 30:5). There are many other references to God the Son in the Old Testament and prophecies of His coming as our Savior. (See Psalm 2:7 and other quotations mentioned in Hebrews 1:1-13 in the New Testament, for example.) But Chemnitz points us to this passage and says, “These mysteries are known from the Word and we must believe nothing else about God than what he has revealed.”

The words of Agur about “ascending to heaven and coming down” are picked up in the New Testament in reference to Jesus in John 3:12-17. Only God the Son has been in heaven and then descended to earth and became true man and then did His saving work and then ascended to heaven again - all for our salvation. Note especially John 3:13. Look also at Romans 10:6-11, where Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 30:11-14, with regard to the Word of God. We don’t have to ascend to heaven to find and hear it. It is in our mouths and hearts.

And Paul ties that in with the coming of His Son, Christ Jesus, “the Word of God made flesh,” for us and our salvation (John 1:14-18). As Agur predicts, and the New Testament reveals, God the Son came down from heaven and ascended again to heaven, after His death and resurrection, and one day He will say, as He did in stilling the storm in last week’s Gospel, “Peace! Be still!” and He will take us also to eternal life in heaven. (See all this, too, in the context of last week’s sermon on Mark 4:35-41. Like Agur and the disciples of Jesus, we do not understand many things, but Jesus grows our faith and trust in Him through His Word.)

Sermon for Saturday, June 22, 2024

5th Sunday after Pentecost

“Great Fear”

Mark 4:35-41

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 19:14)

The text for our meditation tonight is the Gospel lesson from Mark 4:35-41. You are welcome to look at that reading with me, as found in your bulletin.

Jesus had already had a long day, as our text begins. We hear at the beginning of Mark, Chapter 4, (4:1-2), that Jesus “began to teach beside the sea (of Galilee). A very large crowd gathered about Him so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables.” This apparently went on all day.

As our text begins, we hear, “On that day, when evening had come, (Jesus) said to them (His disciples), 'Let us go across to the other side of the sea.' And leaving the crowd, they took Him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with Him.”

Jesus was a real human being just like us, and He had become very tired, as we sometimes do, too. (This is a good reminder to us that teaching, as Jesus was doing all day, is hard work. We think of Lydia Roland, teaching for 42 years in Lutheran schools, and many of them in our own school. It’s a call to appreciate and be grateful for her and all our teachers for the work they also do on our behalf.

Jesus was so tired that we hear He was soon asleep in the stern of the boat on a cushion. Some think that Jesus had something like a pillow, but it is more likely that it was a wooden railing on which he could rest His head. (All the Greek says is something “for the head.” It would be like trying to find a comfortable enough place in a car so that we could hopefully fall asleep.) Regardless, Jesus was still asleep even when a great windstorm arose and waves were starting to fill the boat with water.

The disciples woke Jesus up, crying out, “Teacher (Rabbi), do you not care that we are perishing?” Jesus immediately, then, rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Clearly, this was a great miracle. Strong winds don’t just immediately stop blowing, and raging waves don’t suddenly stop so that the water is calm entirely.

You would think that the disciples would be overjoyed. They thought that they were perishing, being destroyed, in the storm, but now they were entirely safe. But instead, we hear that the disciples “were filled with great fear.” Literally, in the Greek, “They feared with a great fear.” Twice, fear is mentioned.

This is often what happened when people were directly confronted with the power of the Almighty God. In Luke 2:9, when angels appeared to the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth, exactly the same words are used: (the shepherds) “feared with a great fear.” And in Luke 5:4-10, when Jesus enabled Peter and others to catch a great number of fish, Peter fell down at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” Peter and the others were astonished at the catch of fish and felt so unworthy of being in the presence of Jesus. Jesus had to say to Peter, “Do not be afraid.” And Jesus called Peter and the others to be His disciples and said, “From now on, you will be catching men” (catching people for the Christian faith).

Jesus loved those disciples and had very important work for them to do, but Jesus also knew that faith was a gift and a growing process, as He then humbled them and showed them their weaknesses and sins and their need for Him and His saving help, and then built them up and strengthened them further in faith in Him.

In our text, Jesus had to say very bluntly to those disciples in the boat, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And the disciples showed their very weak faith by their great fear and then by their saying to one another as our text ends, “Who then is this, (this man Jesus), that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

If these disciples had known the Scriptures better, they would have realized that Jesus was showing them that He really was God’s Son, as well as a true, tired man and that He had been sent into this world to rescue them and us from our sins and for a whole new life with Him.

Job is known as a great man of God, but in our Old Testament lesson for today, he also needed to be questioned by God and reminded that only God had control over “the sea” and its “proud waves” - and over Job and his life, even with its ups and downs for him and his family.

The Psalms often give us the picture image of God’s care as exactly what Jesus helped the disciples through in our text.

• Psalm 65:5-7 says, “The God of our salvation, the Help of all the ends of the earth... stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples.”
• Psalm 107:23-30 speaks of people "going down to the sea in ships... and seeing the stormy winds which lifted up the waves of the sea... Their courage melted away at their evil plight... They were at their wit's end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.” This is a prediction of what the Savior, the Messiah, Jesus, would do when He came into the world and what He did in our text and in other ways in the New Testament.

There is also a remarkable passage in Proverbs 30:1-5, where a man says, “I am weary, O God, and worn out… I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One (as I should). Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who wrapped up water in a garment? Who established all the ends of the earth? What is His Name, and what is His Son’s Name? Surely you know.” And the very next verse says, “Every Word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.”

It is through that Word of God, revealed in the Old Testament, and explained even more in the New Testament, that we know of God, our Heavenly Father, and of His Son, God the Son, named our Lord Jesus Christ, and His saving work for us in His life, death, and resurrection. In fact, it is not until after the saving work of Jesus is complete, as He had paid for all sins and made us acceptable to God through faith in Him, that God the Holy Spirit pulled everything together for the disciples and for us, in God’s saving plan.

Before that, as you read through the Gospel of Mark, you find Jesus having to say to His disciples again and again in Mark 7:18, “Are you also without understanding?” and in 8:17, “Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?” and in 8:21, “Do you not yet understand?” and in 9:19, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you?”

Yet Jesus never gave up on His disciples and kept teaching them and doing everything necessary for their salvation and for ours. All this is very comforting for us, too. I help teach a Friday morning Bible study where 15 to as many as 20 men meet weekly for Bible study, and I help with other studies at times. We can usually understand things as we read and talk together about the most important teachings, but sometimes we struggle with some things, and I can imagine Jesus saying to us, “Do you still not understand?” But we keep meeting, and the Lord is patient with us, and the Holy Spirit keeps leading and guiding us through His Word.

This is some of what Martin Luther meant when he introduced the 10 Commandments with the words, “We should fear, love, and trust in God.” The Word of God shows us fear, fear of our sins and failings and our need for repentance and forgiveness, and then leads us to that repentance. But the Word of God also points us to the love of God in Christ, in spite of our struggles, and the Holy Spirit calls us to and enables us to trust in Christ’s mercy and forgiveness and eternal hope in Him because of what He perfectly accomplished for us.

And this text, and others like it, gave the early Christians a picture of the church. It is said that they often drew boats as symbols - reminding of the ark, through which Noah and family were saved. In our text, Jesus also used a boat from which to preach and teach and rescue His disciples - and  how important it is for us, too, to keep gathering and hearing and learning about Christ’s rescue mission for us, as we do in worship and Bible study. Here we also receive God’s gifts of forgiveness and the Lord’s Supper and remember the promises of our baptism. All these gifts of God help us through the storms and troubles we face in life, too, as we stay in the Lord’s boat for our strength.

The place where we sit together for worship is often called “the nave” - the Latin word for a ship or boat. (That’s why we also have a branch of our military called the Navy - people going out in boats to help and protect us.)

Of course, our Lord provides the greatest help and protection for us in Christ. Jesus promises never to leave us or forsake us, and one day He will say to us, “Peace! Be still!” Then all the storms and troubles of this life will be over for us, in the eternal life Christ has prepared for us.

Let us pray: Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they can be safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
(Philippians 4:7)  

Preparing for Worship - June 23, 2024

In the Old Testament lesson for this week, Job 38:1-11, the Lord begins to confront Job by taking him back to the time of the creation and questioning him about how much he really knows and understands about God’s work and ways. He shows Job that his words were “words without knowledge” and humbles him so that Job finally has to confess in Job 42:6, “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (The Lord also exposes the sins of Job’s “friends,” who were trying to straighten him out but not doing so in “right” ways.) As a part of the Lord God’s message, He speaks of how He alone has control of everything, including “the sea” and its “proud waves” - an important message for some of the readings that follow.

The Psalm is Psalm 124. David speaks of the disasters he and others would have had if the Lord had not been with him and helping him and those with him. “Floods would have swept them away,”  and “raging waters would have gone over them.” Twice David says, “We have escaped” by the blessing of the Lord. “Our help,” he says, “is in the Name of the Lord,” the Creator, “Who made heaven and earth.”

In the Gospel lesson, Mark 4:35-41, Jesus goes in a boat across the Sea of Galilee with His disciples and some others, also in boats. “A great windstorm arose,” and “waves were filling the boat with water.” Jesus, who was sleeping, was awakened and said to the wind and the sea, “Peace. Be still.” Immediately, the sea was calm. Instead of joy, the disciples have “great fear,” wondering who this man Jesus really was. They had much need of a growing faith and trust in Jesus as the One He really was, the Son of God and their Savior. Do we need the same, as we struggle with fear and uncertainty at times?

In the Epistle lesson, 2 Corinthians 6:1-13, the apostle Paul continues to write of his ministry, with many ups and downs; yet he keeps offering what everyone needs, the grace of God, in Christ, by which salvation comes. He says, “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” There is no better time than now to trust the Lord and His saving work through Christ. “All this is from God” (2 Corinthians 5:18), and He can “widen our hearts” and bring us to faith through His Word and the working of the Holy Spirit in us. We may seem to have nothing, yet we can possess everything we really need in Christ our Savior.

Preparing for Worship - June 16, 2024

The picture image of a tree is used in several of the readings this week, representing an individual believer and Christ the Savior and His growing kingdom, the church, in contrast with a dry, dying tree - people without the Lord and His blessings, in Christ.

The Psalm is Psalm 1. Pictured is a man blessed by God and delighting in His Word and will, who is like a strong, well-watered tree, in contrast with the wicked, who are sinners and scoffers and will perish, useless and like chaff that the wind blows away.

The Old Testament lesson is from Ezekiel 17:22-24. The context is that many of God’s rebellious people had been carried away to captivity in Babylon. The Babylonians then appointed Zedekiah as a puppet king. He was actually from the line of David but rebelled against both God and the Babylonians and was carried away - the last of the kings of God’s Old Testament people. God has still not given up on His people, though, and promised in this passage that He Himself would take a sprig from a tree and plant it in the mountain height of Israel. It would become a great, noble tree, and birds of every kind would find fruit and shelter in it. This is prophetic of Christ Jesus, brought into this world by His Heavenly Father and prospering and being a blessing and a King with dominion all over the world.

In the Gospel lesson, Mark 4:26-34, Jesus tells parables of the Kingdom of God. God’s kingdom will grow as the seed of His Word is planted and grows into a great harvest, though we don’t have control over it and don’t fully understand how it grows. We simply trust God to give growth, as He wishes, as more and more people come to faith. Another parable is of a tiny mustard seed that grows into a large tree, where birds can find shelter and prosper. This is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy, with Christ Jesus planting and growing and prospering His church in many places over time. He especially taught His chosen disciples so they could eventually begin to sow the seed of His Word in others.

In the Epistle lesson, 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (11-17), Paul continues to speak of the challenges of His ministry. He would prefer to be with his Lord in heaven when his mortal, tent-like nature would be swallowed up by eternal life. He has the Spirit of God as a guarantee for His future (as all believers do).  He still has work to do in this life, though, and His work, though hard, is still what he needs to be doing so that more people can become a new creation through faith in Christ. The love of Christ controls and compels Paul to tell others of Jesus. For Jesus died for all, for their sake, that they might be forgiven and have new life through trust in Jesus, as well.

Sermon for Saturday, June 8, 2024

“We Do Not Lose Heart”

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

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 19:14)

The text for our meditation is the Epistle lesson from 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, and you are welcome to look at that reading with me.

In fact, last week, right before today’s text, Paul had described the many difficulties of his ministry and said, “We are afflicted in every way… perplexed… persecuted… (and) struck down.” And yet Paul says, in our text, today, “We do not lose heart… we are not driven to despair.” How could Paul keep going in the midst of so many troubles? His words give us much help and encouragement as we go through many of the same challenges, at least at times, in our own lives, too.

The first thing Paul points out, as our text begins, is that he keeps listening to and reading and studying “what has been written” - the Words of Scripture God has given to us for our “instruction” and “encouragement,” that “we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

Paul had been reading Psalm 116, where the Psalmist had cried out, “I am greatly afflicted” (almost exactly what Paul was saying and feeling) - and yet he still believed that the Lord was gracious and merciful and would deliver his soul and save him. And so the Psalmist kept speaking and writing God’s Word and his psalms, no matter what the circumstances were.

Paul then quotes from Psalm 116, for he knows that he has learned from this part of God’s Word (as we can) and says the same thing as the Psalmist. “I also believe in the Lord God and I also will keep speaking God’s Word,” no matter what. For Paul has the same Spirit of the faith - the same Holy Spirit who has brought him to faith and will keep him in that faith, especially now in Jesus as his Savior.

Paul moves right away then to speak of the Lord Jesus, at the center of the faith, who died for Paul’s sins and the sins of the whole world, and then was raised from the dead, conquering the power of death, in victory over it. It is through the Risen Lord Jesus that Paul had confidence of his eternal future. He had seen the Risen Lord Jesus and talked with Him and had received revelations from Him and knew his future was secure in Christ.

God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were involved in all this, too. And through the one True Triune God, all believers have the same secure future in eternal life through faith in Christ.

Paul wrote, on another occasion: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you” (and He does, through our baptism and His gift of faith), then “He who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).

And again Paul says in our text, “I know that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also and bring us with you into His presence.” Notice the words “with you.” All of us will be with Jesus and with Paul in heaven. And notice the words “brought into His presence.” We will definitely be brought into the presence of the Lord, with Paul and other believers. And it is not our own doing. We are raised and brought there by our Lord and His grace, not by anything we have done.

That’s why Paul goes on immediately to speak more about the grace, the undeserved and unmerited favor and gift of God, given by His love. Paul says, first, “It is all for your sake.” He wants everyone listening or reading to know that this is Good News for them. “Christ died for all.” “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.” That Good News also includes you, and it includes me. God wants all to hear and to be brought to believe this Good News. Paul believes it. He knows it is true. And so He has to speak, as hard as it is at times, so that “the grace of God extends to more and more people.”

And then there is increased joy and thanksgiving for all those who are brought to faith in God and who find peace with God and others through the forgiveness of their sins, and they are able then to forgive others in a better way through God’s love. And God is glorified in it all, and we give thanks and praise to God ourselves.

“So,” Paul says, “we do not lose heart.” But he also knows that sometimes our problems, both physical and spiritual, can seem pretty overwhelming. He mentions first our physical well-being. He says, “Our outer self is wasting away.”

We can obviously have physical problems, whether we are young or older, and problems for the young can be so unexpected and difficult to deal with. But here, Paul seems to be referring to what happens as we get older, especially with more aches and pains and ills that need more medication and other treatments and surgeries, and trouble getting around, and the dangers of falling and on and on. All that can be pretty discouraging.

That’s why Paul says, at the end of our text, that our earthly home, our earthly body, is like a tent. If you have ever been tent camping, you know that there can be plenty of problems. Downpours come, and tents leak. The ground can be very hard, and it can become cold at night. Bugs get in easily, and skunks and other critters can wander through. And on and on. Our human bodies are an amazing gift from God, but they don’t always work so well and won’t last forever. That is the reality of living in a sinful, fallen world ever since the original sin of Adam and Eve that we heard about in our first lesson today.

Yet our Lord is with us and gives us spiritual help to carry on with our lives. Paul says, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed.” That’s what makes our worship together so important, as we hear God’s Word and promises and remember our own Baptism, and receive God’s forgiveness and strength with one another. That’s how God works renewal in us, to help us through troubled times. As Paul wrote on another occasion, “According to the riches of His glory, He grants you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit, in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:16-17).

And notice that Paul also says in our text that “our inner self is being renewed day by day.” Even at home we can pray, day by day, for ourselves and others. We can read God’s Word and devotions like Portals of Prayer. We can read or listen to many things on the internet that teach us of our Lord. And we can count our blessings and remember all the good gifts we are thankful for, far beyond our troubles. And again, the Lord renews our inner self, day by day.

And the Lord helps us keep the right perspective in two ways. Paul writes, "This light, momentary affliction (in the troubles we go through now) is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison when we are in the presence of our Lord in heaven." Our afflictions often don’t seem light or momentary, but they are, compared with the eternity we will spend in everlasting joy in heaven.

Paul uses another picture image in the last verse of our text also. We live in a tent right now, in this life. But when with the Lord, Paul says, we will have a building from God, a house not made with imperfect human hands, eternal in the heavens. Even if we are still in our homes right now and have a nice home, there is still so much to do, and things go wrong and have to be fixed, and it gets harder and harder to get everything done as time goes on. Not so in heaven! I don’t know what all we will do, but it will be in pure peace and joy with our Lord, with none of the troubling burdens we now have.

And to keep the right perspective, finally, Paul also says, “Look not to things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen - the things of God Himself and His Word and works, in Christ our Savior and in the Holy Spirit.

There are many good and beautiful things still in this world that God created for us and in the gifts He gives us. But what do we often see and hear as we look to our phones and our iPads and other devices and on what we watch on television and other media and read in books? There is so much evil that we see all around, too, that can drag us down. And as Paul says, many of the things we see are “transient.” They come and go and will eventually pass away. It is the unseen things of our Lord that will be a blessing to us forever in Christ. There is our hope so that we do not lose heart.

Let us pray: Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord and in our hope in His promises. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)

Preparing for Worship - June 9, 2024

In our Old Testament lesson for today, Genesis 3:8-15, God confronts Adam and Eve with the reality of their sin in eating fruit from the forbidden tree. They compound their sin in trying to excuse themselves, in blaming the serpent and each other, and in hiding from God. Adam even blames God for creating Eve. God speaks condemnation for Satan, there in the form of a serpent, and gives the first Biblical promise that Satan and sin would eventually be defeated by an offspring of Eve, our Lord Jesus Christ, who would crush Satan and his power.

Because of the fall of Adam and Eve, sin has now spread to all people, as the psalmist in Psalm 130 admits. He cries out from the depths of his own sin and admits that he has no hope in himself if the Lord kept a record of his iniquities, his sins. His hope could only be in the Lord and His Word of promise and His steadfast love and His redeeming work of forgiving all of his sins.

In the Gospel lesson. Mark 3:20-35, we see Jesus, that Offspring of Eve, through the descendant, the Virgin Mary, battling the forces of Satan, including the religious leaders and even, at this point, Mary and some others of His own family. His family sees Him neglecting Himself and not even having time to eat in his busy ministry and think He is “out of His mind.” The scribes (religious leaders) think Jesus is possessed by Beelzebul (another name for Satan) and is serving him instead of God. Jesus predicts His own work of defeating and binding of Satan and His power through His coming death and resurrection. Jesus also warns that if people reject Him and the work of the Holy Spirit, they are rejecting the forgiveness the Lord is earning for them through Jesus - the only way they can be saved. What people need is to listen to Jesus and His Word and trust Him and the will of God He is carrying out for them.

In the Epistle lesson, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, the apostle Paul speaks of having the same Holy Spirit in him, who has brought him to “the faith” and belief in Jesus. Paul, therefore, speaks and tells others what is written about God’s saving work in Christ so that God’s grace will spread to more and more people, who will believe and thank and glorify God. Paul does not “lose heart,” though he faces many challenges, physically and spiritually. He knows that his current afflictions are small compared with the eternal, unseen promises of God ahead for him and all believers when we are brought into “His presence” in heaven. Our current life is like living in a “tent,” compared with the “building from God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,” for us in Christ,

The Unforgiveable Sin - Mark 3:29

Read Mark 3:28-29. Sometimes, people worry about having committed this sin because they have had times in their lives when they have drifted from the Lord and struggled with certain sins. Could they have done this “unforgivable, unpardonable” sin at some point?

Many Lutheran commentators, including Lenski, say, “Whoever fears that he has committed the unpardonable sin thereby furnishes evidence that he has not done so” (Lenski, Commentary on Matthew, p.485). If he had done so, he would not even be concerned about Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit and would not even be troubled about his sins. J.T. Mueller describes this sin as “perverse, persistent denial and rejection of the divine truth” … “malicious and persistent resistance against the converting and sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost, through which alone sinners are saved.” Some point to Hebrews 6:4-6, where such people are described as continually “crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding Him up to contempt” (Mueller, Christian Dogmatics, p.233). This is a very strong warning to those resistant to Christ and the Word and Sacraments through which the Holy Spirit works to bring people to faith. “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3).

On the other hand, Lenski and others remind us that only God knows enough to give this verdict that someone has committed the unforgivable sin. “We can never say of any man, no matter how blasphemous he may be, that he has committed this sin” (Lenski, p.485). We can still keep sharing Law and Gospel with others, no matter what, showing people the reality of their sins and yet also telling of the love and forgiveness of God in Christ. The Holy Spirit can still work through that Word and bring people to faith. Think of Paul and how resistant He was to Christianity until the Lord Jesus turned his life around. Know for yourself, too, that no matter how hard you may have been struggling with sin and your beliefs, there is forgiveness and new life for you in Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit and His Word. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). The Lord’s continued blessings!

Preparing for Worship - June 2, 2024

The Scriptures this week focus on the transition from the Old Testament understanding of the Sabbath Day to the New Covenant understanding, centered on Christ Jesus as the Lord of the Sabbath, who frees us from many of the Old Testament rules and regulations about this day, but for the purpose of being filled by Him.

The Old Testament lesson is Deuteronomy 5:12-15. God’s people were to observe the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy, set apart for the Lord. No one was to do any work but to have a day of rest. That included servants and animals. This was to be a day to remember their time of slavery in Egypt and how the Lord rescued them with His mighty power.

The Psalm is Psalm 81:1-10. Remembering the Sabbath day was to be a statute and rule and decree for God’s people of Israel, but it was to be a day of joy and song because God had heard the distress of His people in slavery in Egypt and delivered them and brought them through the wilderness to the promised land. Above all, they were to listen to the Lord and not listen to strange and foreign gods. They were to open their mouths in praise of Him, and He would fill them with His good gifts.

The Gospel lesson is Mark 2:23-28 (3:1-6). Early in His ministry, Jesus was being challenged by Pharisees as his disciples were doing work, plucking some grain to eat on the Sabbath. Jesus used an Old Testament example of David and his friends being so hungry that they ate some bread that only the priests were supposed to eat. Jesus made the point that people were not made just to obey Sabbath rules but that the Sabbath was ultimately made to be of benefit to them. Jesus also made the claim that He, as the Son of Man (and really, the Son of God) was Lord even of the Sabbath. Jesus demonstrated that by healing a man with a withered hand. The Sabbath was made for the benefit of people, and especially for the Lord to do good and save the lives of people. Already, though, the Pharisees were upset enough to want to get rid of Jesus, for He was upsetting their rules and systems and control.

The Epistle lesson is from 2 Corinthians 4:5-12. Paul speaks of the importance of proclaiming not himself, but Jesus Christ as Lord. The light of the glory of God is shone in the face of Christ and His surpassing power, through His death and resurrection, for us and the world. Paul and others are simply God’s servants, jars of clay, with many troubles and afflictions, but bringing the Good News of life in Christ to as many as possible, no matter what the cost.

Bible Study - The Ending of the Lord's Prayer

The original writings of the parts of the New Testament had to be copied by hand and sent on to other places so that more people could hear and read the Word of God. See how Paul writes in Colossians 4:16: “When this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans, and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.” Over time, many copies were being circulated. Those who made the copies tried to do their best, but mistakes were sometimes made, and not all copies, even of the same material, are exactly the same.

Today there are thousands of copies available, along with various early translations into other languages and comments made by early church fathers, quoting passages, etc. Some scholars have specialized in putting together what they think are the best copies from which our English translations are made. Our pastors are trained to read Greek and can look at what the scholars have come up with, with variant readings also indicated. The good news is that most all of the variants are very minor (for example, the spelling of names of towns), and they do not affect the doctrines and teachings of Scripture.

At the end of the Lord’s Prayer, what scholars now think are the earliest and best manuscripts of Matthew, stop at the words “but deliver us from evil.” They then go on to more of the words of Jesus about forgiveness in Matthew 6:14-15. These manuscripts and writings come from the Western side of Christianity as it spread - from Rome and Alexandria in Egypt and North Africa - where the Roman Catholic Church was dominant over time. The Roman Catholic churches do not include the extra words but stop at “but deliver us from evil” when they pray the Lord’s Prayer.

Another group of manuscripts and writings was found more often in places farther to the East and in what became known as the Orthodox churches. Those manuscripts often included part or all of what many Protestants include at the end of the Lord’s Prayer: “For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.” There is an example of this in a very early manuscript, The Didache, from the 100’s AD, which included worship materials. Many scholars now think that it became an early tradition to add these words at the end of the Lord’s Prayer as a kind of doxology, words of praise to our great Lord and God.

In fact, if you look at 1 Chronicles 29:10-11, you will find these very words as part of a blessing in praise of God spoken by King David when there was a great offering received for the future building of the temple in Jerusalem. “Therefore, David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth in Yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as Head above all.” All the words we say are included in this Biblical doxology.

Today, in our Lutheran tradition, sometimes when an important event has happened, like the calling of a pastor or teacher, we choose to sing together the Common Doxology - “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,” Hymn # 805, from our current hymnal. Some scholars think that adding the doxology based on parts of 1 Chronicles 29 became so common in parts of the early church that these words began to be included in manuscripts of the Scriptures as an ending to the Lord’s Prayer as time went on. We don’t know if all this “scholarship” is accurate, but what is said is clearly accurate and Biblical teaching: “For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.”

When the King James Bible was translated in 1611, it was based largely on the manuscripts that included the doxology. That had a great influence on how the Lord’s Prayer was said, with the doxology, for several centuries. In the 19th and 20th centuries, new translations were made based on what scholars now thought to be the earliest and best manuscripts and left out the doxology.

Ultimately, though there is some uncertainty about all this, we are certainly using Biblical words and language in how we pray the Lord’s Prayer as Lutherans, along with many others, and it is not worth arguing with Roman Catholics if they choose to pray without the “For Thine is the kingdom….” As I mention below, one of their official catechisms gives support to the content and intent of the doxology words.

A few final thoughts. Remember that Martin Luther grew up in the Roman Catholic Church and chose not to argue with its form of the Lord’s Prayer. If you want to see how that is handled in the latest version of Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation (c) 2017, CPH, look at page 22, where Luther has an “Amen,” but not the rest of the conclusion. See also page 236, where we have the note: “The ending, ‘For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever,’ is not in the oldest manuscripts of the Bible. These words were included early in Church history as a response of praise at the conclusion of the prayer.” See also the Conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer and its explanation on pages 279-280, with other related Scripture references in support of the content of the Conclusion.

Luther’s Small Catechism is also included in the Book of Concord, writings by Luther and others that we believe are faithful to Scripture and what it teaches. There, too, we read the comment by the editor (c) 2005 CPH, page 448: “These words are not necessarily part of the original text of the Lord’s prayer and may have been inserted into later copies of the Gospel (perhaps in the second century). Nevertheless, they are fine and appropriate words.” Another translation of the Book of Concord, the Tappert Edition, (c) 1959, Fortress Press, p. 348 footnote, indicates that “The Nuremberg edition of 1558, and many later editions, inserted ‘For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever,’ before ‘Amen.’”

Very interestingly, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (c) 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. - Libreria Editrice Vaticana, includes on page 687, Article 4, The Final Doxology, an affirmation that the doxology “For the kingdom, the power and the glory are Yours, now and forever” along with the “Amen” are faithful to what the Scriptures say in other places and quotes from the first part of the Lord’s Prayer and mentions Revelation 1:6, 4:11, 5:13 and 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 and the early church father, Cyril of Jerusalem. There is also a warning that Satan tries to take these titles for himself in Luke 4:4-5.

Preparing for Worship - May 26, 2024

The Sunday after Pentecost, May 26, is known in the church as Trinity Sunday. (It may be overshadowed for many in the area where I live by the Indianapolis 500 race and by Memorial weekend activities, but knowing who is our God, the One True Triune God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and worshiping Him, alone, is vitally important for us.)

The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 6:1-8. Isaiah is given a vision of the Lord Himself, high and lifted up, sitting on a throne, with His robe filling the temple. As the passage goes on, we don’t get a neat picture of the Trinity - just glimpses of what would be revealed more and more as the Scriptures go on. Angels called seraphim are praising the Lord, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, for He fills not only the temple; He will fill the whole earth with His glory (as happened with the coming of Christ Jesus as Savior for all). This three-fold calling of the Lord as holy occurs in other places, too. See, for example, Psalm 99: “Holy is He!…  Holy is He!… The Lord our God is holy.“ This prepares for the teaching that in the Triune God, each Person of God is Holy. In contrast, Isaiah knows that he is in big trouble. He is a sinner, a man of unclean lips, living among fellow sinners. He could not be in the presence of God and live. One of the angelic seraphim immediately took a burning coal and touched the lips of Isaiah, saying, “Your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for.” This is unique. Normally in the Old Testament, sins were atoned for and forgiven through animal sacrifices. This prepares the way for the forgiving work of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who would take away the sin of the world through His work of propitiation, His atoning sacrifice on the cross. (See passages like John 1:29, Romans 3:25, Hebrews 2:17, and 1 John 2:2.) Then, the Lord Himself finally speaks, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Notice that the Lord used the plural word, “us,” as He had done at creation, in Genesis 1:26 and 3:22. Though God is One ( Deuteronomy 6:4), He is also three (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), as the Scriptures go to to make clear. Isaiah, cleansed and forgiven, then volunteers to go and speak for the Lord as a prophet. God reveals through him many things about the coming Savior, Jesus, true God and true man, and the Holy Spirit. (See passages like Isaiah 9:6-7 and Isaiah 11:1-2 and 53:3-12.)

The Psalm is Psalm 29, another of the Psalms of David. This psalm is appointed for the baptism of Jesus and for Trinity Sunday,  as we think of the Spirit of God, hovering over the waters in Genesis 1:2, and descending as a dove upon Jesus at His baptism, and the voice of God the Father (Psalm 29:3) over the waters of the Jordan River, powerfully identifying Jesus as His beloved Son, in Matthew 3:16-17. It is the Triune God at work, the same God enthroned forever as King in Psalm 29:10 and Isaiah 6:1. Notice also how the Lord gives strength to His people and blesses them with peace in Psalm 29:11. The same gifts are also connected with what both Jesus and the Holy Spirit can give. (See, for example, John 14:24-27, Matthew 11:27-30, and Galatians 5:22.) As the psalm also calls upon all to give the glory and worship due to the Holy Lord and His Name (Psalm 29:1-2), we now baptize and teach and worship in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20) and give glory to the Name of Jesus (Philippians 2:9-10) and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31-32), as well as to the Father.

In both the Gospel and the Epistle this week, we also see the Triune God mightily at work, with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit spoken of. In the Gospel lesson, John 3:1-17, Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God and the need to be born again, or born from above, through the water and the Holy Spirit, a reference to the Spirit’s work in baptism. Jesus also speaks of the fact that He, the Son of God, descended from Heaven and became the Son of Man, to do His saving work and be lifted up on a cross, that the world might be saved through Him. Here is one of the simplest and clearest expressions of the Gospel, too, sometimes called the Gospel in a nutshell, that God the Father so loved the world that He sent His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. The ones condemned are simply those who do not believe. They are condemned already because of sin and their sinful nature unless they are brought to faith in Christ by the Holy Spirit.

The Epistle lesson lesson is Acts 2:14a, 22-36. This is Peter’s sermon on Pentecost. Through this Word of God, the Holy Spirit brings 3,000 people to faith in Christ Jesus and baptism. Peter focuses on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, showing that only Jesus could fulfill the prophecy from David, whose body is still in a grave. Jesus died on the cross but was raised from the dead and exalted back to heaven, at His ascension, to the right hand of God the Father, and then sent the promised Holy Spirit, through whom people could see and hear the Good News of Jesus, who is both Lord and Christ, the promised Savior. (See also the importance of the Holy Spirit in bringing people to faith in 1 Corinthians 12:3 and 2:12-14 and in my sermon from May 18 on “When the Spirit of Truth Comes.")