Walt's World of Religion and Politics

Sermon for March 19-20, 2011

2011-03-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

Sermon
The Second Sunday in Lent
March 19-20, 2011
Text: John 3:1-17

Dear Friends in Christ,
John’s Gospel is thought to not be chronological in its presentation. That is the events didn’t necessarily happen in the order that John presents them. Rather, it is like a series of vignettes about the life of Christ. This account appears early in the gospel, but yet it sounds like it is happening later in Christ’s ministry. Why? Well because Nicodemus speaks of Jesus performing signs or miracles. Yet, the only one recorded for us to this point is Jesus turning water into wine, which John states clearly was Jesus’ first miracle. But Jesus is a famous person at the time he meets with Nicodemus. So this conversation might have taken place much later in Christ’s ministry, perhaps even near the end. If so, why does John place it here at the beginning? Because Jesus, in the conversation, clearly lays out the message of the Gospel. He gives us the content.

When did John write this? Traditionally, we have said quite late, in the 90's A.D. shortly before his death or as some think his assumption in to heaven. There is a tradition that John did not die but was bodily assumed into heaven, much like Elijah. But this tradition cannot be said to be reliable, though it cannot be entirely excluded either. Back to the time of John’s writing. There are some scholars who think that John wrote very early - perhaps as early as the late 30's. But this is based upon what is called internal evidence which is very subjective. And yet, how does an old man, sixty years after the fact remember conversations, word for word? It seems very far fetched. First, John may have published his gospel in the 90's but wrote notes much earlier. Second, in that day people did not write things down. Paper and ink was expensive. They trained their memories. We know that people with such trained memories can sometimes remember with almost tape recorder accuracy many years later. Thirdly, and most importantly, Christ told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would bring all things into remembrance. So God the Holy Spirit is providing John with such perfect recall. Can God really do that? God the Holy Spirit could take the most advanced Alzheimer’s patient and make him remember conversations from his whole life. As miracles go, I don’t even rank it in the first order.

Who was Nicodemus. He was a Jewish rabbi and a member of the Sanhedrin - that is the ruling Jewish religious council. The name Nicodemus is a Greek name. That does not necessarily mean that he was a Greek convert. Many Jews of this period had Greek names. Even among Jesus’ disciples we see the name Philip, which would be a Greek name. In some circles adopting Greek names and customs would be considered a mark of culture. This would suggest a Jew that was a bit more flexible than some. The school of the Rabbi Hillel was the more flexible version of Judahism. The school of the Rabbi Shamie was the more rigid. A great story of the period has a Greek man coming to the Rabbi Shamie and stating that he would become a Jew if the Rabbi would recite the entire Jewish law for him while standing on one foot. The Rabbi Shamie took a stick and chased the man out. The man then went to the Rabbi Hillel with the same proposition. Hillel stood on one foot and said: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all you soul, all your heart, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Nicodemus comes to Jesus secretly, by night. He does not want anyone to know of this conversation. He is an important leader among the Jews after all. But Nicodemus comes in faith. He acknowledges that Jesus must at least be a prophet of God, at a minimum. The evidence had convinced him of this much. He wants to hear exactly what Jesus is teaching.

Christ begins by pointing baptism to and with baptism the need to be born again. Now this was not a foreign concept. It was used when Greeks converted to Judaism. They were said to be born again as a Jew. But Christ says that all human beings must be born again - they must be born of water and the Spirit. Unless a man is born of God, he cannot be part of God’s kingdom. This implies the idea of original sin. To say something is flesh is to say it is corrupt and sinful. Greek has another word for body that would simply mean something is physical. Nor should we take this as “spiritual” in some vague sense, rather we are born of the Holy Spirit.

When we are born again, that is when we are baptized, we get a new set of parents. God becomes our father. We are begotten of the Holy Spirit. The Church is our mother. As the great church father Cyprian said, “No one can call God Father, unless the Church is his mother.”

Now, where does Christ go next? He speaks of His crucifixion. He uses a type from the Old Testament: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” He is speaking here of His crucifixion. He would be lifted up and all who look to Him will be healed and restored from sin and death. Thus all who believe in Him would have eternal life.

It is curious that our text does not include a few more verses. For Christ than adds some very important things. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:18) Notice here a couple things. Here Christ clearly is claiming to be God. He is attaching salvation to Him alone. And those who reject Him, will face damnation. Further, Christ speaks of His name. That’s a very important concept that Christ is bringing forward into the New Testament. People thought a god was where the idol was located. But Yahweh said that He is present wherever His name is present. You call upon the true God by His Holy Name. That name is now Jesus Christ. He is Yahweh, come to earth. Wherever the name Jesus Christ is placed, there Jesus Christ is. And not only is He present, He is present in grace. He is present to hear our prayers and respond to our needs. Now where is the name Jesus Christ present? Well, in your baptism it was placed, right here, upon your forehead. The baptized carry the name of Jesus Christ with them wherever they go.

Here John gives us a summary of the Gospel message. Jesus Christ came to die for our sins. In Baptism, we are made children of God. We are His offspring, as well as His Church’s offspring. As children of God we carry the name of Jesus upon us. We have life. We can live in the light because our sins are forgiven. We can live before God because we carry the name of His Son upon us. It is not about us at all. We are like infants who are born. They do nothing, their mother pushes them out into the world. So too are the children of God. We don’t make ourselves be born. We are begotten of the Holy Spirit and born of the Church. We are born forgiven because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Amen!

Sermon for March 16, 2011

2011-03-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

Sermon
Second Wednesday in Lent
March16, 2011
Text: Romans 1:16-32

Dear Friends in Christ,
The Apostle Paul wrote the most books of the New Testament. Of the 27 books 13 are written by St. Paul. Two more are written by Paul’s associate St. Luke. Mark was also at times associated with Paul, though at other times, worked with Peter. And the anonymous writer to the Hebrews likewise frames his discourse in the same manner as Paul, though with a much more scholarly tone. So 17 of the 27 books are connected to St. Paul. St. Paul was a convert to Christianity about year after Jesus’ death and resurrection. He had earlier persecuted Christianity. Paul was a disciple of the great Rabbi Gamaliel who is mentioned prominently in many Jewish sources, as the greatest disciple of the greatest of all Jewish Rabbis, Hillel. Within the Pauline corpus, no book stands above the Epistle to the Romans. It was a letter sent by Paul to prepare for a future trip to Rome, and to ask support from the Roman Christians for a journey to preach the Gospel in Spain. The Roman congregation is a bit of a mystery. For Paul writes to it at a time when, as yet, none of the Apostles had been to Rome. Paul and Peter would both later make it to Rome, but neither were involved with its founding. One can only guess at its origins. But it would seem likely that some of those converted on Pentecost carried the Gospel back to Rome. Unlike most of Paul’s other letters, Romans is simply a discourse on the nature of the Christian faith. He is not addressing a particular problem. The letter is like a catechism. He is speaking in general terms about the things that are to be taught and believed about Jesus Christ.

After Paul’s initial greetings, He makes a brief but profound statement. He explains the nature of the Gospel and establishes this as the center of His message. Everything that follows is intended explain this brief introduction. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” This by the way is my confirmation verse. Paul does not give a full definition of the Gospel at this point. He somewhat assumes that his readers will know this - though he does develop this at some length later on. But three clues are given here. First, the Gospel brings salvation to all who believe it. Second it reveals the righteousness of God. Third, the new life that comes from the Gospel is received by means of faith. Paul, right out of the gate is rejecting any works that we do. It is faith in Christ that saves. And the rest of our text will begin to offer an explanation of why that is.

Paul now warns that the wrath or anger of God is active against all ungodliness. Paul will first explain why God can do this, and then he will explain what he means by ungodliness.

How can God punish mankind? After all only a small portion of mankind had the Word of God, that is the Bible. Paul does not believe in what we call today natural law. Rather, Paul believed in a natural knowledge of the law. And with this comes a natural knowledge of the existence of God. Human reason can determine that God exists. How? It is really quite simple. Everything we see was made in some way. Either an artisan fashioned it, or biological parents produced it by procreation or some such thing. Thus it is reasonable to assume that there is a creator god simply by looking at the world. For if the world exists someone must have created it. We can delude ourselves and say this is not so, as the evolutionists do. That doesn’t change the fact that God has presented this evidence to us. God will still hold us accountable. While modern man has created the god of science, ancient man created the idols in all manner of images. The gods of the idols were not the creator of the world. They were either demons or the wild imaginings of mankind. In either case, the idols are part of the creation rather than the creator.

What happens when mankind rejects the true God, Jesus Christ? God hands them over to their sin. God lets them sink deeper and deeper until they create their own hell on earth. Either it leads to repentance, or more often, they die in their sins. Paul’s list is graphic and blunt. He pulls no punches. Homosexuality, both male and female is a mark of their rejection of God. These sins in particular, mark not only a rejection of God but also of God’s created order. It does not take a genius to figure out that human beings were made to function, biologically, in certain ways. Homosexuality violates God’s command as well as God’s created order, often with catastrophic consequences both here and in eternity. Why does Paul spend extra time on homosexuality? Because it was widely accepted in the Greek world and at that time, increasingly, in the Roman world. Originally Roman culture had not adopted the sins of the Greeks. But by this time, that was changing. Nero and his public homosexual antics were yet to come, but the Emperor Caligula would have been in recent memory at the time. Paul then goes on to offer a whole laundry list of sins. The most ironic thing on the list is that men are “inventors of evil.” We keep finding new sins to commit, as if the old ones aren’t bad enough.

Why does Paul offer this discourse on sin? Well, first he is establishing what sin is. He makes it clear that these things displease God. Those who do them will die and God is just in punishing in this way. He is just because man knew this was wrong and did it anyway. The only remedy to sin is the Gospel. The Gospel, that Christ died for our sins, in our place offers the only escape from sin. That’s why Paul started with that. But Paul is not done. He will continue to hammer on sin. His point is to convict everyone. He wants to show that its not just those guys over there, but rather it is us. We are the debauched sinners. We are guilty of all the things listed in our text, either by action or by approval of others. How many Christian parents cannot bring themselves to tell their homosexual children that they are sinning? And by refusing to speak up, they give approval and become guilty themselves. In end we all need that salvation that comes in the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, Who died for us and our salvation.
Amen!

Sermon for March 12-13, 2011

2011-03-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

Sermon
The First Sunday in Lent
March 12-13, 2011
Text: Matthew 4:1-11

Dear Friends in Christ,
There was a song a few years ago called “Holding Out for a Hero.” It was recorded by Bonnie Tyler and was included in the sound track to the movie “Footloose”. It speaks of this girl who was just barely holding on waiting to be rescued by her hero. The video was set in the old west and she was being attacked by villains dressed in black. At the very end she was rescued by a man in white. We have all sorts of versions of this. One of the oldest is the Swiss hero William Tell, the great crossbowman who shot an apple off the top of his son’s head. Another hero of this period was Robin Hood. Many stories about knights in shining armor fall into this genre. Zorro, which means the “the fox” was a hero from the Spanish Pyrenees Mountains who gets relocated into America. There are Zorro stories set in both North and South America as well it’s original local in Spain. Then we had the Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, and the Cisco Kid in the old west. As we moved forward we had the comic book heros, Superman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin, the Green Hornet, the Shadow, and the like. When I was in high school we had “The Greatest American Hero,” a television program that parodied the old hero stories. They really are all the same story, when it comes down to it. They are all about the helpless victim, often a woman, who needs to be rescued from the villain. And the hero always comes at the nick of time to save them. The very first hero story is in the Bible. It goes all the way back to Genesis 3 where God promised a hero to rescue us from sin and death.

We don’t like to think of ourselves as victims, as hapless heroines. And yet, that is one the images we see for mankind the Bible. We are trapped by Satan, sin and death. We are in bondage to the devil. This is what happened when mankind fell into sin. We can no longer fight for ourselves. We are powerless. As Martin Luther say of us when try to fight the devil: “Soon were our loss effected.” That mean we are quickly defeated. We cannot stand up to the power of the evil one. Christ Himself calls us slaves to sin.

This is the problem that we have. We want to fight the battle ourselves. We don’t want to let someone fight for us. We want to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and spit in the devil’s face. But we have no power in this fight. We are helpless. We have no power against Satan. We are like the heroine tied to the saw mill, slowly moving toward the spinning blade. Such is the power that sin exerts over us. Sin is the devil’s weapon to destroy us. So long as we are in sin, we belong to Satan. We are his property. And we have no power to change this state of affairs.

Our only hope is that a hero comes and rescue us from sin and death. At His baptism, Christ accepted the role of our hero. He now stands in our place and everything He does counts as if we had done it. It is credited to our account. So immediately after His baptism, Christ is driven out into the desert to be tempted by the devil in our place. He is here enduring our temptations. He faces the devil we cannot face. One of the aspects of Christ’s work that is often forgotten is His obedience. Here we have obedience in the face of Satan’s direct temptation. We are disobedient. We sin. No matter how we struggle this never changes. Sin is like an onion. We put some sin out of our life. We think we’re doing well. Then God pulls off the next layer and we see that we haven’t been very good at all. So we strive to do better and we clean up that layer of the onion, then God pulls back another layer, and we see that we are no better then we were before. I have often commented that maturity of faith is found in the recognition of our sins. The more mature our faith, the more profoundly we recognize our sins. Fighting our sins, by our power, is, in the end a fruitless task. For even if we can make some outward change, it does not change the fact that we are sinners. But Christ is obedient. He does not sin. He faces the devil and fends him off. He does this in our place. His obedience becomes our obedience. We who are sinners are counted as obedient because Christ faced the devil and did not sin.

Of course this is just the beginning of the battle between Christ and Satan. The temptation was the opening salvo, the first campaign. They would continue to battle for three years. The final decisive battle would come in Jerusalem. Christ, as a victim would win the day. He would give His life as our ransom. He would pay the price of sin, He would bear our punishment. Then, just as the devil and his minions were dancing for joy that God had died, Christ burst from His tomb, victorious. Satan’s power was broken. It was broken because his power is sin. Without sin, Satan has no power over us at all. Now, because Christ has shattered the ranks of hell, one little word will fell him. And that word is liar. Satan is a liar. Everything he says is either a lie or spoken for some false purpose. And so when we confront him as a liar, he must flee. He must flee because Christ has already rendered him powerless. Christ has castrated him and stripped him of his ability to propagate his evil. He is reduced to being a powerless liar.

Many Christians think that they have the ability to fight the devil. In fact much of what claims to be Christianity in America is completely Christless, leaving us in our sins and at the devil’s mercy. We have no power to defeat the devil. Only in Christ, do we find the victory. Christ fights Satan for us. This is our battle, but Christ fights in our place. This is the very center of who we are as Christians. We are people who depend upon a hero. That hero is Jesus Christ. Christ defeated Satan. Christ was obedient in our place. He died for our sins. He rose victorious over sin and death. This is what the Christian faith is all about. It is about Christ and what He has done for us.
Amen!

Sermo for March 9, 2011

2011-03-11T12:54:00.000-08:00

Sermon
Ash Wednesday
March 9, 2011
Text: Joel 2:12-19

Dear Friends in Christ,
For the people of this age, life has allowed them to believe a lie. Even our older people who should know better, have in some cases forgotten. Let me brag here for a moment. I have not forgotten. But I can claim no credit for this. It was a lesson learned early and painfully. It was taught to me by my oldest sister - Sandy. I was a small child, at that age where you get carted from pillar to post - to small to be left home, to small to be in school, but old enough to be a complete pest. So basically, most every place my mother went, I got dragged along. I remember my mother had a small tape measure in a pink metal case that she kept in her purse. I remember because I saw here using it all the time. What was she measuring? Headstones. My sister Sandy had died about five or six years earlier - two years before I was born. She had been just ten years old. She had been buried in a new plot in the newest part of the church cemetery. They had not as yet, put a stone on the grave. Then one day, Dad stayed home from work and he went with us to look at head stones. Eventually a brown granite stone was selected, Dad poured the foundation for it, and it was installed on the plot, with Sandy’s name engraved in one of the small windows on the stone, with the family name wrote large in the center of each side. What is this lesson that Sandy taught me? That we die. That death cannot be cheated. It is a reality. We can’t run away from it.

It was many years later that I finally came to understand that Sandy died because she was a sinner and that I would likewise die because I too am a sinner. Sin brought death into the world. Every human being, born in sin, is doomed to die. We cannot curse death, because we have no control over it. Our curses will not chase it away. We cannot run from death. The father of fitness guru Jim Fixx died of heart disease at a young age. Fixx thought if he was fit enough, he could run away from death. He literally tried to run from death. But, like his father, he died young of heart disease, in spite of all his efforts. Death cannot be beaten, it cannot be cheated. It will claim us all.

Sadly, many Americans, because of our great prosperity, have forgotten this reality.
Often it is times of prosperity that lead people to turn away from God. They hide death under the blanket of our earthly success. So too with ancient Israel. The more successful they became, the more they turned away from God. The more they ignored the reality of death. Then God would send prophets like Joel to remind them.

Our text is not so much reflecting the attitude that the people had, but the attitude that they should have. Martin Luther, in the first of his “95 Theses” said that the whole Christian life should be one of repentance. He might well have had Joel 2 in mind. We are to be mournful over sin. Nor is this to be only an outward show. But we are to mourn in our hearts. And with this mourning over sin, ought to be a desire to turn from sin, to amend our lives.

Why are we to this? It goes to very nature of God Himself. God is just. He punishes sin. He condemns sinners to eternal flames. But He is also “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” God will forgive the repentant of their sins. He will restore them to His presence. Otherwise, there would be no point to repentance. Why should we admit guilt if it changes nothing. But here with God, He forgives the sins of the repentant. He will not punish them.

What we know from ancient Israel is that ultimately they were not repentant. They continually returned to their sins. And this seems to be much the same in America today. We are caught up in the economy. We are worried about jobs. We are worried about taxes and health care coverage. But these are earthly things. They pass away and one day will be of no importance. This whole world will come to its end. And how many people of this world, so caught up in these things, have no time for the things that will last for eternity. God gives us clear warning. Hell is real. Condemnation is real. But the grace of God is real as well. It is there for all people. Only some choose to reject it. Let that not be us.

Today/Tonight we being the season of Lent. It is a season were we take extra time to focus away from the things of this world and focus upon the things that are eternal. It is a time for us to focus on cleansing our hearts and clearing away our sins. It is time when we focus on the reality of Christ’s suffering for our salvation. It is also a time for us to spend more time in the Word of God. Not only should we do this privately, but as couples, families, in small groups and in church. This is why we have extra services as this time. But also consider things like Bible study on Sunday mornings. These are all ways that we can dedicate ourselves to the eternal things. We do this because we know we have a God who is forgiving. We have a God who Himself paid for our sins and our salvation. And when we turn to the Word we are learning ever more about the things that God has done for us. We are learning about the things that will not pass away - the things that are eternal. We are learning about life with God, in Christ.
Amen!

Sermon for March 5-6, 2011

2011-03-11T12:53:00.001-08:00

Sermon
The Last Sunday After the Epiphany - The Transfiguration of Our Lord
March 5-6, 2011
Text: Matthew 17:1-9

Dear Friends in Christ,
The stories are quite common. Someone isn’t who they appear to be. The crown prince of England stumbles upon a boy who looks exactly like him. Then they trade places. They both have some wonderful adventures until the crown prince is caught up and carried off. Right at that moment the king dies. The crown prince is desperate to get back to the palace but only manages it in the nick of time with great difficulty. All the people he met in his adventures were shocked to learn that he really was the crown prince. Mark Twain wrote this improbable tale of the Prince and Pauper. A Scottish youth is kidnaped and put aboard a ship that is to take him to America. The ship is wrecked and the boy escapes. He discovers that his uncle was behind it. Unbeknownst even to the boy himself, he was the heir of a great estate, which is uncle currently held, illegally. He falls in with a Scottish revolutionary and they have many adventures on their way to confront the uncle. The story is told to us by Jonathon Swift and simply entitled Kidnaped. A more recent story of this type would be the movie True Lies where Jamie Lee Curtis discovers that her husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger is not a computer salesman, but really is a top secret agent. There is a great line in the movie when Curtis realizes her husband’s true identity: “Oh, my God, I’m married to Rambo.” There are many other such stories in the literary world.

In many ways the first such account is the New Testament. Jesus of Nazareth was a poor, itinerant rabbi who gathered a group of disciples. He styled Himself the Son of Man. More literally, according to the Greek text, Son of Mankind. The significance of this is found in a vision in the book of Daniel. In the vision the Ancient of Days speaks to the Son of Man. It is clear that this the Father speaking to the Son. So Jesus is picking up on that vision and using that title for Himself. It is a claim of divinity, though a less than obvious one. Peter even expressed the idea that this Jesus was the Messiah or Christ - God’s Anointed One promised from ancient times. But even saying that, does not convey the reality. While some of the theologians understood that the Christ was God Himself, I think most of the common people assumed the Christ was a super prophet. So Peter was still not really clear that this was God.

Toward the end of Jesus’ ministry, He took three of His disciples, Peter, and the brothers James and John up a high mountain in the north of Galilee. Some people think that perhaps it was Mount Hermon. We don’t know that for fact, but Mount Hermon would be one of the tallest mountains in the region. It certainly fits the descriptions in the Gospels. I don’t know what they expected, but they were about to get the shock of their life. While there, praying, according to Luke’s account, Christ was transfigured before them. He was no longer this poor, bedraggled figure. He shone with a magnificent light. His clothing was so bright it was unbearable to watch. He was suddenly the crown prince of heaven - God the Son. He was the beautiful Son of Man depicted in Daniel. The disciples rightly go into a panic. But even in their terror they see something else that is remarkable. Moses and Elijah were speaking to Jesus. As an aside people often ask how they knew it was Moses and Elijah. Moses of course is easy. He’s the one holding the stone tablets. Actually, we don’t know how they new this. They just knew. I suspect that for that moment it was like heaven where we will know everyone perfectly.

Peter than offers to built three tabernacles. Our translation has tents but that’s hardly adequate. Why tabernacles? What is a tabernacle? A place of worship. So what he’s proposing to set up, in essence, is temples for each of them. Peter is thinking in terms of worshiping these prophets. That of course is completely wrong headed and I’m sure Moses and Elijah would have told him that. They were not to be worshiped. They were sinful men. At that moment, a cloud covers them. This is like the cloud that covered Mount Sinai in the days Moses. It is a cloud that covers the glory of God so that sinful men are not destroyed by the Holy Presence. Now, the Father, the Ancient of Days from the book of Daniel, speaks. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

What was happening here? Why was it Moses and Elijah? Moses and Elijah are the greatest of the prophets. They both spoke with God on Mount Sinai. They represent the common division of the Old Testament into the Law and the Prophets. The Law is the five books of Moses. Elijah would represent all the others - the latter prophets. They were there to point to Christ. God the Father speak and tells to listen to Christ. Does this mean that we stop listening to what the prophets wrote. Not at all. But we understand what Moses and Elijah did, the Old Testament in there to point us to Christ. Christ is the final fulfillment of their ministries. If we listen to Christ, we will be listening to the Old Testament. We will be listening to the prophets. And they will be speaking about Christ to us. They will be pointing us to Christ.

This is the moment of revelation. This is the moment when the veil comes off. We see Christ for who He is - God the Son. There is no more doubt. Yet, for the three witnesses, I suspect that they did not fully understand until after the resurrection. Only then did they understand the full glory of God.

God gives us these little glimpses. But these are only to wet the appetite. We would finally see God fully revealed in the cross and the empty tomb. That’s where God wants us to be looking. And indeed, it is right after this that Christ begins His final journey to Jerusalem. These little glimpses are there to clue us in to what is happening when we get to the city. They remind us that this is no accident. This is God the Son, the Son of Man, enacting the will of God the Father, the Ancient of Days.

The mount of Transfiguration is a terrifying place. It is a place, we sinners cannot stand. We cannot stand before a Holy God. But this mount is there only to point us to a smaller, seemingly insignificant bit of rejected rock - Mount Calvary. This One who spoke with the great prophets of old, reveals Himself in another way. It is a way we can bear. He reveals Himself to us as our Savior - as the perfect Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. And so we look to both mountains, but we dwell with Christ on Mount Calvary, in the shadow of that cross that saves us and gives us eternal life.
Amen!

March 2011 Newsletter

2011-03-11T12:50:00.000-08:00

From the Disk of the Pastor March 2011

Dear Friends in Christ,
We live at a time when we feel tossed about on the deck of the incompetently helmed ship of state. We feel helpless. We are warned about all sort of looming problems. Now with Lybian oil off the market, there is fear that we may actually see gasoline rationing. The world seems to being going insane with the Tripoli massacres.

Yet, this is hardly new. Let me tell you about a pastor from a long time ago. Philip Nicolai was a young pastor serving his first parish around the year 1600. On a typical Sunday he preached to about five hundred people. Then the plague came to that part of Germany. Whole families were struck down. The funerals started. The study of young Pastor Nicolai looked out on the church cemetery. He could see the fresh graves from his desk. He was averaging six funerals each day. This continued for six weeks until he had buried half his congregation. In the midst of this, the young pastor began to write a long poem, to express his confidence in Jesus Christ. He called this poem “Mirror of Joy.” A couple years later, he turned back to the poem he had written in those dark days. He selected two sections and wrote melodies, in order to set them to music. They were published as the hymn “Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying” and “Oh Morning Star How Fair and Bright.” They quickly become known as the King and Queen of the chorals, that is, the greatest of all Lutheran hymns.

In midst of that great trial, this man of God wrote: “You shine with God’s own truth and light, Aglow with grace and mercy”. (LSB 395, v.1) He adds “We enter all, The wedding hall To eat the Supper as Thy call.” (LSB 516, v.2) Nicholai’s hymns fairly drip with confidence in Christ. When the whole world is coming unglued, Christ does not waver. Salvation does not change. Yes, these earthly events are certainly terrible. We would not wish such times upon the worst person we have ever met. But Christ still is the One with all authority in heaven and on earth. He’s still in charge.

Why does Christ give us such trials? That is a complex question. Specific answers are impossible to give, short of Christ directly telling us. Such revelation is rare indeed. But we can say how God has used such trials in the past. In the Old Testament, the people of Israel, after the time of King Jehu, thought that they were right with God. They had cleansed Israel of the worship of Baal. But they were still worshiping God through an idolatrous image - that of a golden calf. They had golden calf shrines at Bethel and Dan. The golden calf was intended to be an image of the true God. In addition, because they had written their own theology, instead of listening to what God had given them, they were very unjust. The rich lived in luxury and oppressed the poor. America is not an exact parallel. But in the prosperity of the last quarter century, many learned to trust their wealth instead of God. Even among our retirees, morality was at low ebb. If you doubt this, consider the epidemic of STD’s among senior citizens in the state of Florida. Even those who didn’t engage in such overt sins, often lived in leisure, with no concern for anyone else. Younger people spent all the energy working to earn enough money to live such a life when they retired. And what was happening theologically? Liberal churches were blessing the most perverse of all sins. Evangelical churches were preaching how good we are and we can make ourselves even better. America, as a nation, had made the self god.

What do we need at this time? The Word of God. We need to be ever more focused upon the gifts of forgiveness and life that God gives to us. We need to be deeply in prayer for our neighbors, our nation and the world. At the heart of that prayer needs to be repentance. Then we need to share this with those around us. When you hear someone complain, tell them to pray. Tell them to turn to Scripture, to go to Church, to go to the Lord’s Supper. I cannot say that this will make the troubles go away. But I can say that this is always God’s will for all people. This is what we need to be about. If this does not result in earthly peace, it will bear fruit before God and in eternity. For if we are repentant, we are children of God. We are property of Christ. And that is far more important than what is happening to our bank accounts.
IN CHRIST,
Rev. Jody R. Walter
Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:104-105

Sermon for February 26-27, 2011

2011-03-11T12:48:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany
February 26-27, 2011
Text: Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Dear Friends in Christ,
The book of Deuteronomy has been called the world’s longest sermon. The book is essentially a sermon given by Moses to the Children of Israel before they entered the promised land. Moses knew that he was not going to enter with them. He would turn the leadership over to Joshua.

God made two covenants with ancient Israel. The first is the messianic covenant. In this covenant, God alone is the actor. He is unilaterally giving His gifts and the actions of man have no bearing upon the end result. At the root of this is the promise that God would atone for sin. He would send His Anointed One through the line of Judah. The second covenant is the civil or earthly covenant with the nation. This covenant is quite different. It is about earthly things and mans actions play a critical role. It is this second covenant that is the basis of our text.

To understand this we must understand the role of choice in the Christian life. This is perhaps the most misunderstood thing in current day America. We like to think that we have total free will. But the reality is quite different. A person might choose to be a major league baseball player, but in order to do that you need to be able to hit a baseball. Or throw one really hard. Of all the kids that sign contracts to play professional baseball, only about 1% will make it in the majors. Only about 5% even crack the majors at all. So it might be my choice to be a major league baseball player, but that doesn’t matter. It isn’t going to happen. Even major leaguers sometimes find that they have little choice. Denny McClain thought he’d be a cracker jack shortstop. When he signed with Detroit it was not clear which way his career would go. He was the best hitter on his high school team after all. But he found in the pros, he wasn’t much of a hitter. So he just became the last 30 game winner in the major leagues, helping the 1968 Tigers to the World Series.

St. Augustine was the one who cracked this whole conundrum of choice. Man has limited free will. We will always be hemmed in by our talents, our inclinations, as well our circumstances. The most brilliant scientist in the world in 1600 would have never discovered Penicillin. All sorts of other discoveries had to happen first. So our will is always limited. Most of all, the unbeliever, cannot of his own power, respond in any positive way toward God. That option simply doesn’t exist. Thus we say in the explanation to the Third Article: “I cannot by own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him...” God has to work upon us and convert us to faith. This literally is a resurrection from death.

The unbeliever cannot come to faith by his own power, the believer can leave the faith. Here is where choice becomes very real. We can chose to kill our faith and become unbelievers. We can jump ship. We can choose disobedience. We can remain in God’s grace or choose to reject God’s grace. Notice how I put that. We can remain in God’s grace. Notice there I didn’t say this was a choice. But it is a choice to abandon the faith.

This brings us back to Moses. Moses is outlining the civil covenant with God. If they obeyed the law God gave them at Mount Sinai, they would live peacefully in the promised land. But if they disobeyed, particularly if they started to worship other gods, God would punish them. God would curse them. Now we must understand this in context. Dumb modern Americans think that the Israelites would stop worshiping Yahweh, and start to worship some idols. But that’s not what happened. That’s not what God was warning about. The sin here was syncretism. Syncretism is the blending of things that aren’t supposed to go together. People in the ancient world had the attitude, I don’t want to make anyone angry, I need all the divine help I can get. So if they traveled around they picked up all the gods of the lands they traveled through. To understand this we must understand exactly what First Commandment says. A literal rendering of the Hebrew goes like this: “You shall have no other gods before My face.” This is first and foremost a liturgical command. You are not to mix the worship of the true God with the worship of false gods. Nor are you to worship God in a way other than was commanded. Now what is this about? Throughout Israelite history they kept making idols to represent Yahweh. They were in the form of a bull calf, often a golden bull calf. Moses is telling them that if they do this, God will curse them. What happened? They failed. They did not keep the covenant. And God punished them with many calamities. God divided the nation. Ultimately, God had both halves taken off into exile.

Now how does this apply to us? First we must say that God made this covenant with ancient Israel. It does not apply to modern Israel. Nor has God made a covenant with the United States. He has promised us nothing. He has no special obligation to this nation over any other nation. We reject all forms of Anglo-Zionism and Ammer-Zionism. We are not a chosen race. We are not a chosen nation. So any inference we would take from this text, in terms of the earthly affairs of our nation, would have to be general. It would have to apply equally to all nations. What we can say is that God is not pleased with the increasing immorality of this nation. God is never pleased with sin. We have become an increasingly decadent society. We have used our great wealth for our own indulgence rather than helping our fellow man. In this, I cannot excuse myself. It is tempting to say, ah, I’ve done more than others. But that’s not the measuring stick. The measuring stick is the needs that God has laid before me. And it is difficult, because we cannot possibly meet every need that we see. But our decisions are never made purely. In addition to our lack of charity, there is the overt sins of sexual immorality. How often do we ourselves wink at sin instead of bearing witness to God’s will?

We can say, that is seems that God is sending this nation many trials as a call to repentance. But that is an earthly matter. In the end, this world will pass away. It will be replaced by the new earth, a world not corrupted by sin. But civil obedience to God’s law does not get us into heaven. So here we have two different kinds of righteousness. There is the civil righteousness which is about this world. We can say that generally, God blesses nations that have a strong sense of civil righteousness. But this righteousness does not get anyone into heaven. It is always an imperfect righteousness. Before the judgement of God, we must stand in Christ’s righteousness. And that righteousness starts with our repentance. We repent of our sins and Christ takes our place. That is saving righteousness. So let’s keep this straight. Civil righteousness is about works and its about this world. Personal righteousness is always Christ standing in our place. That righteousness is about forgiveness salvation and eternal life. Both are important. But only Christ’s righteousness gets us into heaven.
Amen!

Sermon for February 19-20, 2011

2011-03-11T12:47:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
February 19-20, 2011
Text: Matthew 5:13-20

Dear Friends in Christ,
One of Rush Limbaugh famous tag lines is: “Talent on loan from God.” Many take offense at this and say oh, this is terrible, what arrogance. In reality, it’s just the opposite. It’s saying that the talent he has was given to him by God. It is a statement of humility. But it is cleverly packaged so that many miss the point. Their missing the point says more about them than about anyone or anything else. On Pirate Christian Radio one of their bumpers is “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of Rick Warren, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” Now many people probably take offense at this. And yes they are taking a swipe at Warren and his false teaching. But those who take offense are missing an essential point. The statement is true. In fact the statement would be true no matter what name you plugged into the blurb. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of George W. Bush, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of Billy Graham, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of Martin Luther you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of President Harrison you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of Pastor Walter you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

Our text is a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount. You might recall that this was a teaching given privately to the disciples. It is the New Testament version of Mount Sinai and the giving of the stone tablets. Christ speaks from the mountain top to His disciples, just as He had spoken to Moses. In this section, Christ is discussing the nature of God’s law.
The law is what we are to do and not to do. The law is the way that God expresses His will for our lives. The law is not a bad thing in and of itself. The old hymn writer teaches us; “The law of God is good and wise.” And certainly we can use the law as a guide for Godly living. The problem is that we cannot keep the law. We are born corrupt. We are born as rebels, as ones already in violation of the law. We inherit sin from our father Adam. And because we are born sinners, we sin. We violate that good and wise law of God. Thus, if we have any sense at all, we live in terror of the law. As a side note, it is truly amazing how many people have no sense of this at all. They go about their lives deluding themselves with their own goodness. Christ does have something to say about that in this text, as we shall see.

Christ speaks of the law as fixed and unmoving. Even He will not change it. Even He is under it. Now we must here speak of different kinds of law. The Mosaic code, that is the law of Moses, consisted of three kinds of law. There was civil law. This was no longer in force in Jesus’ day. It had passed away. It was abolished. Why? Because Israel didn’t rule its own affairs. Mosaic civil law had been replaced by Roman law. Second was the ceremonial law or Levitical law. This has to do with the cultus, the worship life of Israel. This is what governed the temple. Levitical law specified what animals were to be sacrificed when and so forth. Those sacrifices had sacramental function. They gave the forgiveness of sin, much like the Lord’s Supper does for us. They did this, not because they had any value in themselves, but because God had promised this and they pointed forward to something that did have value and power. These laws would morph into something else when that greater thing came to be. The third kind of law was the moral law. This is written into the very fabric of the universe. If you were able to look into the spiritual nature of a rock, you would find God’s moral law. It is written in our hearts. But here we must be careful, because sin corrupts our hearts. Because of sin, our hearts and consciences are no longer reliable witnesses to the law. You get the sense, and C. S. Lewis asserts this in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, that if this law were changed, the very universe itself would be unmade.

So which of these later two types of law is Christ speaking of in our text? Both. He comes to fulfill both the moral and ceremonial law. He fulfills the moral law by being sinless. He fulfills the ceremonial law when he died on the cross as the perfect Lamb of God. He becomes the perfect sacrifice that makes all other sacrifices meaningless. This then morphs into the new ceremonial law, which has three components, Baptism, Holy Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. So Christ is fulfilling the moral law, and replacing the ceremonial law, which was based on the shadows of future events, with the real thing. The moral law never goes away. The ceremonial law only passes away when it is perfectly fulfill by Christ Himself.

Only someone who has perfectly fulfilled the law is righteous. That counts me out. I can’t go a minute without sinning in some way. I sometimes wonder if I sin in my sleep. Some of my dreams make me wonder. It also counts Rick Warren out. For he teaches that we can by our works make ourselves blessable by God. The only thing the works of men can earn from God is damnation - eternity in hell. This counts Pastor Harrison and Billy Graham out as well. They are sinners. It even counts all of you out. If you have any doubts go through the Ten Commandments in Luther’s Large Catechism. Only one human being is righteous - Jesus Christ. He fulfilled law. And then He does something really strange. He transfers this righteous to us and takes our unrighteousness upon Himself. So when you and I stand before God, we have perfect righteousness. I can boast that I have a righteousness greater than that of Pastor Walter’s. I have the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That’s why Christ died - so that He could give to each and every one of us His righteousness. He died so that in the last judgement, we will be judged according to His righteousness.

Many people look to themselves and their works for their salvation. That’s what the Scribes and the Pharisees were doing. They were looking to themselves for their salvation. In this sense they were making themselves god. Sadly, today, many American Christians are doing the same thing. Works righteousness has so completely saturated American Evangelicalism, its hard to even call many of these congregations churches. The problem is that within ourselves we only find sin and death. There is no life within us. Rather than our own righteousness, we need an alien righteousness. We need a righteousness that is not our own given to us. Jesus Christ does that. Unless we have a righteousness that exceeds our righteousness, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. And indeed we have such righteousness. We have the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Amen!

Sermon for February 12-13, 2011

2011-03-11T12:44:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany
February 12-13, 2011
Text: Matthew 5:1-12

Dear Friends in Christ,
In the rare book collection owned by Yale University is a very fancy leather bound book called the Voynich Manuscript. The book is in good condition and even has metal clasps to hold the book shut when not in use. It has been dated to about 1400-1450 - just before the introduction of movable type and books produced by the printing press. The book was sold, along with whole trunk of other old books, to an Italian used book dealer by the Jesuits in 1912. None of this makes the book of special interest. What is inside is most curious. The pages are covered with drawings, letters and symbols. The symbols are not from any known language. It is believed to have been written in some form of cipher or code. But no one has been able to decode it. Even powerful decryption computers have been stumped. It is thought that perhaps the original author had a template and that only the letters that were in the holes of the template had meaning. This would have been a common code device of the time. Before copyrights and patents, many scholars wrote their work down in code. So the Voynich manuscript was probably just the journal of a renaissance scholar. It is likely that we will never know.

For many Christians, the Beatitudes are as obscure as some ancient manuscript written in an obscure code. Part of this is that it is a difficult section of the Scriptures to translate. You can’t quite get the right accent to the ideas Christ is discussing in English. But secondly, many people lose site of the key to all of Scripture. What is this key you might ask? The Cross of Jesus Christ. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world. This becomes like that templet sheet with certain spots cut out, so that we can decode the text. Secondly, another templet is needed. That templet is the Old Testament. There is some very deliberate imagery that ties into the Old Testament.

Verse 1 is a bit curious, but important for us to picture the setting. Jesus sees the crowds, but then goes up the mountain. This was not some little hill that He could use as a pulpit. He is moving away from the crowds and speaking only to His disciples. This may have been more than the twelve, but this is a sermon not given to the general public. So what does this have to do with the Old Testament? Who went up mountains in the Old Testament? Moses, Elijah, Abraham, and numerous others. But who spoke from the mountain top? Who particularly spoke from the top of Mount Sinai? How many of you think it was Moses? Wrong. It was God. It was Christ who spoke to both Moses and Elijah from the top of Mount Sinai. So Christ is not pulling a Moses. He’s speaking from the mountain top as He did before. The disciples play the role of Moses receiving the mountain top revelation from God. This is the New Testament version of the giving of the stone tablets. And just like in Exodus where the people are kept back from the mountain and God speaks to His prophet, so now He speaks to His disciples.

If we get the first of the Beatitudes correct, the rest will likely fall into place. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Christ here is talking about the spiritually poor. He is talking about those who understand that they are beggars before God. He talking about those who can do nothing for themselves to change their status before God. He’s talking about those who see that they are hopelessly trapped in their sins. Theirs in the kingdom of heaven. This turns everything on its head, from the Pharisees of Christ’s day to the prosperity preachers of today. The Pharisees, like the prosperity preachers today, taught that you can have your best life now. They taught that if you just follow the law and do all the right rituals, you can call down blessings from heaven. The power is within you. Christ stands that on its head. There is no power within us. We are poor in spirit. We have no spiritual power, no spiritual discernment. What happens when a person realizes their spiritual poverty? What happens when a person realizes that they can do nothing to help themselves? Then they must rely upon another to save them. And what does Christ say? Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. They have abject spiritual poverty, but yet they have the deed to heaven. Why? Because Christ gives it to Him. He does that when He dies on the cross for our salvation.

This is a key concept to understanding the Beatitudes. The word that we translate as “blessed” carries a lot of freight. First, these blessings come from outside ourselves. Someone has to bless us for us to be blessed. We don’t make ourselves blessed. So here Christ is defining the blessings that He is giving His disciples, including us. Second, this word carries with it the idea of being saved. The blessings that Christ is talking about are not temporal. They are eternal. To be blessed is to be saved. Again, it is the idea of someone else saving us. The blessings, the salvation, the eternal life, come to us from outside of ourselves. Christ blesses us, saves us, and gives us eternal life. All this weight of meaning is included in that one word, “blessed.”

The other eight statements of blessing follow after the first. Mourning is our sorrow over our spiritual poverty. The meekness follows from this as well. A beggar does not boast or claim anything by right. The beggar meekly holds out his hand to be filled. Those who know the poverty of sin, hunger for righteousness. Those who claim nothing by right, impose nothing upon others. They do not condemn the sins of others. They give mercy as God gives mercy to them. The pure in heart are those made pure by Christ. For if we are spiritually blind and dead, only Christ can make us pure in heart. Having received the peace of God, we share God’s peace with others. This is not talking about earthly peacemakers, but heavenly peacemakers. That peace can only come through faith in Christ.

In the end, having received all these blessings from Christ, the world hates us. No one hates us more than those who think themselves spiritually rich and powerful. They lash out against Christ’s blessed ones. But even this is a blessing. For if they lash out against us, it is because of what Christ has done for us and in us.

Christ sat down on the mountain top and taught His disciples, just as He had taught Moses, some fourteen hundred years earlier. The Beatitudes are often quoted, but rarely understood. Many would make them into a set of laws for us to follow. But that would not be a blessing, would it? If we’ve earned these things, it is a wage not a blessing. But here Christ assures us that He has come to bless us. He has blessed us who have nothing to offer Him, but the empty hands of beggars. Christ gives us His gifts of forgiveness and life. He makes us to be His blessed ones.
Amen!

The Christian Ethics of Dem Senators

2011-02-18T05:56:00.000-08:00

It is official. All the Democrat members of the Wisconsin State Senate spent yesterday afternoon in Rockford, Illinois in order to prevent a vote on a Budget repair bill. In the mean time Chicago community organizers and the teachers union were creating a near riot situation in Madison. The vicious nature of the rhetoric was stunning to see. Our governor was compared to Hitler, Mussolini, Mubarik, and every other disreputable character that they could name. This vitriol will be remembered for a long time. Elephants have good memories - unlike jackasses.

This all begs the question. Was it ethical, from a Christian perspective, for these senators to engage in such gamesmanship? I would have to say no. Their actions were abominably shameful. They abandoned their posts. They were in open rebellion against the laws and people of Wisconsin. Fortunately, the people this state are getting fed up. According one poll taken by a downstate newspaper, 60% of us Badgers are with our governor. After all, he's really posing a simple alternative. Either the state employees take a minor reduction in benefits, which leaves still better than the private sector, or about 6000 of them get laid off. Is not everyone better off with these people keeping their jobs and not in the unemployment line?

Sermon for February 6-7, 2011

2011-02-14T18:27:00.000-08:00

Sermon for February 6-7, 2011

2011-02-14T18:25:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The Third Sunday after the Epiphany
February 6-7, 2011
Text: Matthew 4:12-25

Dear Friends in Christ,
Jesus ministry goes through several stages. This becomes more clear when one compares John’s Gospel with the other three gospels. During those first months Jesus began to gather followers on a part time basis. Many of them were with Jesus on His early trip to Jerusalem, at the Wedding of Cana and so forth. But Christ’s ministry changes after this. It becomes more formal and more open. The disciples are called to full time ministry. This escalation of Christ’s ministry happens at the time that John the Baptist is arrested by King Herod. So Christ and John are not competing with one another. It is only during those very early months, before Jesus ministry hits its full stride that they are both out there. But then we are told that John during that time was preaching in the desert of Judea, near some springs of water. Jesus was in Galilee and Jerusalem.

What was the relationship between Jesus and His disciples? It probably varied. Philip and Bartholomew come from Cana. They are not part of the group of fishermen. They probably first met Jesus during the early days of His ministry. But John and James are cousins of Jesus, as is likely the case also with the other James and the other Judas, who is sometimes called Thaddeus. For them, the surprise was realizing that one of their own was a prophet and perhaps the Messiah. Peter and Andrew, as business partners of James and John, likely also had previously met Jesus. The moments where Jesus turns to individuals and says to them “follow me” is almost assuredly not the first time that they had met.

Jesus began to preach. His message really is a continuation of John’s message - repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Only now it is really at hand, right now. What is interesting is that Jesus didn’t baptize anyone. In some other places in the Gospels, we see that his disciples baptized people, but Jesus does not. Since many of Jesus disciples are also former disciples of John, it is not surprising that they continued to baptize.

Why was it important that people repent? Because God was among them. Only the repentant would survive the presence of God. We must remember that Christ was the one who appeared to Isaiah in the Holy Place of the temple. Christ was the one who spoke from the top of Mount Sinai and so forth. Just because they couldn’t see the glory, doesn’t mean that the danger of Christ’s presence was any less. And indeed later in the Gospels we see Christ placing curses on the cities of Galilee for their rejection of Him.

As Christ began to preach, His fame quickly spread. It says in our text that people came from every direction to hear Him. The places that are described would suggest that His fame, in these early days extended about one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles. In addition to preaching, Christ healed every kind of disease.

Some believed, but eventually, as we know, many rejected Christ. I have to wonder how many of us would have likewise rejected Christ if had seen and heard Him in person. I’m glad for myself, that I will never have to find out. It is so much better to be living in this end of history. But just because we ourselves might have rejected Christ, does that excuse the people of Christ’s day? No. Not at all. They saw the light. What was that light? Christ’s words and deeds. They saw the blind see, the deaf hear, the lepers cleansed, the lame walk, and so forth. No one in the history of Israel had every done the works that Christ did. Now you might say, but Old Testament prophets performed miracles. But not like this they didn’t. Oh, they did a miracle here and there. Probably Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and Daniel are associated with the greatest number of miracles. But Christ probably performed more miracles in a typical day of His ministry than all the Old Testament prophets put together did in their entire ministries. This was dramatic. This was powerful.

Another point that must be made here is that Christ both preached and performed miracles by His own authority. He would say things like; I tell you, rise and walk. This was wholly different from the prophets. I think of Elijah raising the son of the Widow of Zaraphath. Elijah lays himself upon the body of the boy and prays to God. He doesn’t command God. He approaches God as a beggar, begging for the life the child. Jesus doesn’t beg. He commands. He commands the demons, the diseases, the deformities and they obey Him. Seeing all this, and seeing the attitude of Christ, the people should have believed. But many did not. This goes to the nature of faith and unbelief. True faith is rational. It is based upon revealed facts. It is unbelief that is, in the end, irrational. And of course the final sign that ought have brought all men to their knees in fear and repentance is the resurrection. For indeed, what other man laid down His life and took it up again? I would suggest that it is indeed rational to place our trust in the One Man who did indeed lay down His life and take it up again. But yet, many do not believe.

Our text is operating on two levels. First, in terms of the season. It speaks of Christ as God. Remember that the theme of Epiphany is that a man - Jesus of Nazareth - is revealed to be God. But it is also a text about faith. This is a time of sifting. You have those who are curious and you have those who are hitching their horse to the wagon. But you also, under the surface, have those who are starting to question and reject Jesus. Christ is starting the sorting process that John the Baptist warned was coming.

Faith as we noted is based upon knowledge and fact. God does not require an irrational leap. Yet, by our very natures, we resist, we reject. We are born in trespasses and sin, enemies of God. How does God respond? He overwhelms us with the facts. He gives us so many facts that there is no rational way to resist. Then the Holy Spirit works in the hearts men, so that the facts go from simple academic knowledge to trust. For faith in the end is trust. If I am in an airplane and the engines have failed, and there is a parachute, I can crash and burn or I can trust in the parachute. Sadly, many become so fearful that they cling to doom.

It is often said that we are saved by faith. That is correct only to a point. It is really by means of faith. Faith does not cause our salvation. That would place salvation within us rather than in Christ. Rather, faith is the means, the connection, the wire. The cause is the Grace of God. Christ saves us. It’s that simple. In fact, by His death, He has paid the price of all sins - the sins of every human being. Faith in Christ connects us to that reality. So we are right to say that without faith, we cannot be saved. Our trust must always be in Christ’s death and resurrection. Our trust is in a real human being, who died on a certain day, on a real wooden cross, in a real place. Our trust is in those facts. But faith is more than this. For in faith we also understand that this man is God. We understand that His death is for us.

Christ came, called His disciples and began to preach and perform miracles. He did these things as signs to show the world that God was among them in the flesh. Some believed. Some did not. And so for us today. Do we see the signs? Do we see Christ present among us, raising us from the dead in the waters of Baptism, feeding us with His supper, and speaking His Word of forgiveness? Or are we deaf as the proverbial post to God? We have no excuse. We have the signs. We have all the signs we need in the Word - signs that point us to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Amen!

Newsletter February 2011

2011-02-14T18:20:00.000-08:00

From the Disk of the Pastor February 2011

Dear Friends in Christ,
Heresy. Blasphemy. These are terms that we hear on a regular basis. Do we know what they mean? Do we understand how important that they are? Sadly, many today don’t know. And some even think that these are terms that are outdated. They no longer apply. These are words from the past. We must not think this way.

Heresy is teaching doctrines in the church that are contrary to the Bible. We believe that the Bible is, in its entirety, the Word of God. We believe that it contains all that God has revealed and all that we need to know to trust in God and be saved. We call this the Sufficiency of Scripture. We also believe that the Bible is sufficiently clear in its major teachings that a unified body of doctrine can be drawn from Scripture to which all Christians are to subscribe. This is not a new idea. This is exactly what the Church did in 325 A.D. at the Council of Nicea when they wrote the Nicene Creed. Scripture is clear in itself. We don’t need an authoritative group of church leaders to interpret it for us. Rome teaches falsely that the Bible is incomprehensible to ordinary men thus can we only get it right when the church tells us the correct meaning.

Blasphemy is insulting God. The teaching of heresy is one of many forms of Blasphemy we see in our world. It is perhaps the most outrageous because the perpetrators are inside the church.

What is at stake? Eternal salvation. All false doctrine has the ability to destroy faith. Often it makes people resistant to the Word and the correct doctrines drawn from the Word. This was Freidrich Wyneken’s complaint about the revival preachers, at the time of the founding of the synod. They taught their heresy, then left. When honest preachers came the people wouldn’t listen to them or the truth of God’s Word. The people just wanted a bigger show.

In the fourth century a British monk by the name of Pelagius taught a terrible heresy. He said that we save ourselves by our own works. Christ didn’t save us by His death on the cross. St. Augustine poured out a great deal of ink refuting this terrible heresy. Those that teach work-righteousness are called Pelagians.

Rome co-mingles grace, faith, and works. It’s not the crass work-righteousness of Pelagius. Works can only be done by grace, for example. We call this semi-Pelagianism. It is heresy and has caused many to fall from Christ. But when push come to shove, in the Roman system, grace is the key component. One can see this in their Last Rites when they place a crucifix on the chest of the dying and say place all your trust here. That’s something a Lutheran would do.

On the other hand, American mega church evangelicalism is totally Pelagian, that is 100% works-righteous. I’m talking here about Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Rob Bell, and numerous others. If you listen to their sermons you never hear about Christ, His substitutionary death, forgiveness of sins or anything like that. You will hear constantly about what you are supposed to do. This is law, not Gospel. In many cases these “churches” have even become gnostic - that is, that they over spiritualize the Christian faith. They deny that Christ was really a man at all. They deny the resurrection of the body. Because of course, such “churches” would teach that the body is evil, never mind that God created our bodies and saw that it was good.

Many of these false preachers are on television. I would encourage you to avoid them. Don’t watch them. There are a few that are reasonably sound. I think Coral Ridge is replaying old sermons by the late D. James Kennedy. While not in perfect agreement with us, he almost always clearly stated that our salvation is a gift of God, in Christ.

Sadly, many in our church body want to copy these false teachers. We must not fall into that trap. They have full buildings for a time. But it rarely lasts more than a few years. And the people there, for the most part, are on their way to hell. Why? Because they’re not hearing that Christ died for their sins. They’re constantly being told to trust in themselves and their own works. God is not blessing their ministries. They are simply confirming the lost in their unbelief.

We must cling to sound doctrine. Thankfully, as a confessional church, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We have generations of brilliant Christian thinkers who have gone before us. We have the Lutheran Confessions collected in the Book of Concord. We contend that they perfectly reflect the teachings of the Holy Scripture. We have the writings of the ancient fathers like Augustine, Athanasius, Chrysostom and others. We have the great Lutheran theologians like Gerhard, Calov, Sasse, Preus and so forth. All of these help us to more fully understand the Scriptures, as God has set them forth. This is not a small matter. False doctrine sends people to hell. Right doctrine - orthodoxy - shows us how Christ carries us into His eternal house, through Word and Sacrament.
IN CHRIST,
Rev. Jody R. Walter

Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:104-105

Sermon for January 29-30, 2011

2011-02-14T18:17:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The Second Sunday After the Epiphany
January 29-30, 2011
Text: John 1:29-42a

Dear Friends in Christ,
It has been the plot of many stories. There are many variations. A man is killed and then suddenly returns. In some cases the man is literally raised from the dead. In others, he was just thought to have been killed. In still others it is another man who just happens to look exactly like the dead man. The variations are endless. But there is inevitably a scene where a person knew the dead man and, upon seeing the living man, asks, are you real, are you flesh, or are you a ghost? Sometimes a movie leaves the question unanswered. You never do find out if the person is real or something else. I think for example of the Clint Eastwood movie “Pale Rider”.

Many throughout the years have questioned if Jesus was real was something else. Was He a man? And if He really was a man, why would God lower Himself to be one of us? Many false teachings about the humanity of Christ developed. There were those who wanted to say that Jesus wasn’t really a man. He just appeared as a man. Or that the God part wasn’t with Him His whole life. All of this comes from what the Germans call Schopsfergessenheit. You didn’t know you were going to get a German lesson, did you? Schopsfergessenheit - creation forgetting. In fact one of the ancient heresies, called Gnosticism, actually taught that the devil made the world and human beings. The flesh was just a trap for the soul. The flesh was evil and the spiritual, the soul, was inherently good. But God did create the physical universe. God did create man. He created man in His own image, and then saw that it was good. So on one level, it is incredible that God would become a man. But on another, He is simply entering into the world He Himself created. Christ Himself is the creator. He is entering into that creation which He declared to be good, in order that it might again be good.

King Solomon observed that there is nothing new under the sun. Sadly, many of the same heresies are coming right back today. The so called emergent church movement is almost entirely gnostic. Who are these guys? They are mega church guys that are speaking at the big evangelical conferences - Leonard Sweet, Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, and numerous others. Even more sad is the fact that The Ally, a mission in the Woodbury area, started by a former vice president of the Missouri Synod, was created specifically to copy these guys. And why is this a problem? Because, as St. John Chrysostom stated, “What God has not assumed, He has not redeemed.” If Christ was not a man, we are not redeemed. We are still in our sin. We are still condemned to hell.

The season of Epiphany is a great counter to this heresy, this deadly false teaching. It is a season dedicated to the proposition that a man was revealed to be God. This man was Jesus of Nazareth, or in the Aramaic that He would have heard daily - Yeshua Honosri. He was born near the beginning of the year 4 B.C. and died on April 3, 33 A.D.

John the Baptist pulled no punches. John saw Jesus after Jesus had returned from His temptation in the wilderness. He immediately pointed to Jesus and declared that He is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world. Only God can remove sin. To call Jesus the Lamb of God is to call Him God. But John is not done. In verse 30 we read something curious. After me comes a Man... who was before me. The statement can be taken a number of ways. But the nub of it is that Jesus, who is six months or so younger than John, existed before John. John clearly calls Jesus a Man. So this ought not be in dispute. But what John here is again saying is that this Man is God. He has existed from all eternity. That’s how He had existed before John, even though He was younger than John. John then goes on to call Jesus the Son of God. Son of God is a very specific title. It again clearly shows that John considered Jesus to be God. So what John is saying is that this Man, Jesus of Nazareth, is God.

Let’s take a little side excursion here. What does it mean that Christ is the Son of God? We don’t have this concept in our culture. Sonship for us is little more than a biological reality. Our laws distinguish little between son and daughters. But that was not the case in the first century. To be a son had very special meaning. And in most cases, men has sons, but one, normally the oldest, was the son. Jacob had twelve sons, but Judah, son number four, was the son of Jacob. What does that mean. It means he was the heir of his father. He received from Jacob the promise of the Messiah. In much the same way, though David had many sons, Solomon was the son of David. Jesus is a royal Son. He is the crown prince, the heir to everything that belongs to His Father. In the ancient world, crown princes were expected to go out and fight on behalf of their fathers. They were expected to be generals and leaders. John by identifying Christ as the Son of God, is saying that the Crown Prince of Heaven has stepped onto the battle field. Christ has come to fight His Father’s battles.

John continues to point to Jesus as God. He even directs his disciples to follow after Jesus. In this case, one these two disciples was Andrew, who immediately went and found his brother Simon, whom Christ would call Peter. The other disciple was perhaps the Apostle John. That would explain how John knew about these events. But the text does not state this, so we cannot be certain.

We live at a time when many want to deny that God became flesh and dwelt among man, as one of us. Yet, as we see from our text, Christ is God and man. This is crucial for us, as Christ came to die for our sins. He had to be one of us to do that. He had to be a man. And indeed, Scripture clearly teaches that this is the case. Like always, the correct, the orthodox, doctrine always points to our salvation as a free gift from God. The false doctrine, the heresy, points us to ourselves and our own works. The false doctrine denies what Christ has done for us. Considering that it is our eternal salvation that is at stake, it is important to get this right. Jesus Christ became a man, and as one of us, died on the cross for our salvation. We rise to life just as Christ rose from the grave. That’s why we must get this right.
Amen!

Sermon for January 22-23, 2011

2011-02-14T18:12:00.002-08:00

Sermon
Life Sunday
January 22-23, 2011
Text: Jeremiah 1:4-10

Dear Friends in Christ,
Life Sunday comprises a number of things that are hard to compact into a sermon. First you have the reality of sin. In our world today this must be explained, it cannot be assumed that people understand what sin is. Then you have the whole business of repentance and forgiveness. Then we have role of the Christian in society and the doctrine of the two kingdoms. Each of these could encompass several hours of study. They are all, difficult to express and prone to much error. But we do not have hours today. So we will press on and see if we can’t digest this all successfully.

Jeremiah was a prophet sent to give a warning. In chapter 4 for example we find the prophecy of the coming of the Babylonians. Jeremiah warns that those who say all is well are false prophets who stand under God’s wrath. We must take those words to heart today as well. God is the author of life. He creates each human being in His own image. Even after the flood, God tells Noah that man is forbidden to kill man, because man is created in God’s image. In this sense the image of God continues in man after the fall into sin. That life begins when God creates it, in the womb of the mother. That child, from the moment of conception exists in the image of God. It exists because God created that life for a purpose known only to him. My sister Sandy lived just 10 painful years, before succumbing pneumonia and emphysema caused by Cystic Fibrosis. I cannot say what God intended for her life. But she lived the years God gave her. His purpose was fulfilled. He brought into this world and He took her out of it. That is the way God intends it. Abortion, on the other hand, is man taking a life and ending it before God’s time. It is in short, a form of murder, just as much as what Jared Loughner did in Tucson. We don’t want to deal with that reality, but that is what is. Just because our countries make it legal, doesn’t make it right. Fornication is legal as well. That is not right either.

In our society, many other sins are under attack. We see a full frontal assault being waged against those who would dare to call homosexuality a sin. But we dare not change the word of God. Both Old and New Testament speak of homosexuality as sinful.
One might look to Romans 1: “God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” (Rom. 1:26-27)

One of the common errors of our day is see all sins the same. Sadly, even our catechism fosters this idea. They are all the same in that they destroy faith and lead to damnation. This is true. But their earthly consequences are not equal. Some sins are according to nature and other sins are contrary to nature. The ones that are contrary to nature are the more devastating. Women are hard wired to be mothers. It is natural that they desire children and have great love for their children, that they protect their children. Abortion violates that very nature. Many of the women who have abortions are devastated by it. They live a life of horrible pain. Guilt and despondency from abortion destroys a vast number of lives in the United State each year.

Homosexuality is part and parcel of the culture of death in two ways. First, it is a rejection of our God given procreative function. God commands humanity to this day, to be fruitful and multiply. We have lived far too long the shadow the myth of over population. Obviously two men or two women can’t make a baby. Secondly, homosexuality greatly reduces life expectancy. A study collected data from obituaries in the Homosexual Times, a Washington D.C. gay newspaper. They found that male homosexuals who did not die of A.I.D.S. had and average age at death of about 41. Those who did die of A.I.D.S. had and average age at death of about 37. The age of heterosexuals who had obituaries in the same news paper was about 72. And of course if we broaden that to general national averages, life expectancy is about 80. So homosexuality in males cuts life about in half. As one writer grimly quipped, homosexuality is not a life style, it’s a death style. Perhaps God knew some things when He said that homosexuality is a sin.

So, how does the Church respond to individuals committing these sins? Pastorally. Now what does that mean? It means using the tools God has given us. It also means treating one sinner at a time. One might need God’s law rammed down their throat. The next might need to be ever so gently nudged by the law over a period of time. But as we know, no one is saved by the power of the law. The law cannot save. It condemns us all. It always accuses us of our sins. So the most the law can do is show the sin and teach us what God’s will is. The real power to deal with this comes in Holy Absolution. The law is a tool to bring a person to the point where they confess their sins. With confession ought to come a desire to amend our sinful lives. This is true for all of us, for all sins. But we have no power, on our own, to do this. Christ forgives us our sins. This is declared in the Absolution spoken by the pastor. Particularly in private confession, where a particular sin is absolved, this can be a powerful tool. We know with absolute certainty that the sin is gone, forever. It has been forgiven, on earth and in heaven, before the Church and before Christ. Then with the sin behind us, Christ living in us, empowers us to amend our lives. What do we do when the same person comes back with the same sin. We do it all over again. Some, though they hate their sins and greatly desire to amend their lives, can never do it. Some we may need to offer greater assistance and counsel. But Absolution is never denied because a sin was repeated. It is only denied when people are unrepentant. The Absolution is God’s gift, given to the Church, to deal with abortion, homosexuality and all the sins of the culture of death.

The Church exists to preach God’s law and Gospel to sinners. We are here to convict hearts and absolve sins. We are not here to change the world. But the individual Christian is to speak and act for that which is just and right. We are to take our understanding of right and wrong into the public square. In our society we have been given a sacred trust in the right to vote. As Christians we should consider well the position of the candidates on a whole list of issues. Life issues are among the most important, for they have an effect on so many other matters. For too long life issues flew under the radar. Did you know that every president from Herbert Hoover through Jimmy Carter, with the possible exception of John Kennedy, was pro abortion? George H. W. Bush was a pro abortion activist in congress who suddenly become pro life to be Ronald Reagan’s running mate. Both Bush wives were pro abortion. Who knows what influence they had. That’s how we got where are today. Likewise, with the matter of homosexuality. We don’t want rampant discrimination or any such thing. But we also don’t want laws that amount to societal approval either. Nor can we accept laws that would muzzle the church or the church’s military chaplains. If this were to come pass, as it has in Canada and several European countries, civil disobedience would be required of us.

We live in a time when the culture of death has grown large around us. We must speak to it. Yet, we must speak as the Church. We must speak law and Gospel. As the Church, we seek repentance and Absolution. We seek to make people citizens of heaven. As individual citizens who have many rights in this society, we seek use that power to select leaders who embrace life and reject death. And yet, as we do this, we must remember that Christ died for all sins, even these. Even mass murderers sometimes later come to faith in Christ and end up in heaven. And that should be our most important desire for those caught up in the culture of death.
Amen!

Sermon for January 15-16, 2011

2011-02-14T18:12:00.001-08:00

Sermon
The First Sunday After the Epiphany - The Baptism of Our Lord
January 15-16, 2011
Text: Matthew 3:13-17

Dear Friends in Christ,
The Baptism of our Lord is one of the two events that frame the season of Epiphany. The other is the Transfiguration. This is a season that is needed more than ever. For is a season that is dedicated to the proposition that a man if revealed to be God. In this it is the opposite if the Christmas, the season that precedes it. For Christmas is dedicated to the proposition that God is revealed to be a man. The coming of the Magi, serves as the hinge. They mark then end of the time when we focus on God becoming flesh. They focus us on the idea of this infant as King. And this sets the stage for Christ’s public ministry in which He revealed as fact all that the shepherds and Magi had seen and proclaimed.

Matthew records a curious exchange between Jesus and John. John doesn’t want to baptize Jesus. In fact he suggests that he cannot baptize Jesus. This goes to the relationship of the two men. They were cousins. We don’t know what degree of cousins, but probably second or third cousins. Their mothers were cousins, so they were not first cousins. John knew who Jesus was. He had known this from infancy. He is a prophet. The Holy Spirit had revealed this to John. Beyond this, we don’t know a great deal. Jesus would have likely been disciples to a rabbi. Perhaps that was John. It would seem most likely. In the Gospel of John, the Baptist states that One who comes after him is greater than him. John could be making a reference to Jesus being one of his disciples. But the reference is not clear and could be taken more than one way. In any event, Matthew makes it clear that these two men knew one another. John knew that this was the Christ. He knew that this was Holy God. He knew that this was the One who would unleash the fire of the Holy Spirit to purify the believers and consume the unbelievers. This is why John said that Jesus should baptize him. In this John is saying that He is a sinner who also had to be made holy. He is also saying that Jesus is the One who make him holy. Yet, Jesus is asking to be baptized by John.

What is Baptism? Is this the same as Baptism today? Baptism is simply a ritually washing. This is the meaning of the word. The Jews Baptized all sorts of things including animals. It is not a literal washing. It is a symbolic washing. Now we want to dance around that word symbolic very carefully. In this case we are talking about a symbol that conveys what it symbolizes. We could call this an empowered symbol. So it is not a literal washing but a ritual where water is applied to something. This symbolizes that it is being washed clean in some deeper way. And in baptism, there is a very real, deeper washing. Human baptism was common among the Jews. It was normally done when a pagan converted to Judaism. They were said to be reborn. Water is understood to symbolize the womb. They often took a new name - a Jewish name. This has created no end of confusion for us today. Often when we read about people in this era, men with Greek names were born Jews and men with Jewish names were converts! They were baptized because this was understood to show that God now had washed them clean. They are washed and reborn to now live in the presence of God.

Baptism always carried with it the idea of being washed clean of sin. So Baptism was used in another way. It was often used as a ritual of repentance. When one had committed some terrible sin, they would be baptized for repentance. This would show that they were again clean before God.

Now Christ is God. He is Holy. He is sinless. So to what is Christ being reborn? He is being reborn as a sinner. It is just as St. Paul explains: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (II Corinthians 5:21) Christ, at His Baptism, is beginning His work of redemption by taking our sins upon Himself. In this way, all righteousness would be fulfilled. We would be counted as righteous before God’s judgement, because Christ took our sins upon Himself and paid the price of those sins. And what do we hear when Christ comes out of the water? “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” It pleases God the Father that the Son has taken our sins upon Himself. The Trinity speaks and acts in total unity.

This then for us, means that we can trust in our Baptism. We can take comfort in our Baptism. One of the problems for modern Christians is that we reduce our trust in God to vague and nebulous forms. We have sort of a general trust that isn’t very specific or and does mean very much. Rather, we are to place our trust in the things that God gives us. One of those things is Baptism. In the water, we are united with Christ. We come out of the water alive and clean, because Christ came out covered with our dirt, and died in our place. Baptism alone accomplishes this great exchange of places. This is why we clearly teach that one cannot be saved apart from baptism. There might be the odd occasion where someone dies before they are baptized. And certainly we would trust in the grace of God that they are indeed saved. But one cannot reject Baptism and be saved. So one can be can be saved before they are Baptized, but they cannot be saved outside of Baptism. Pastor Ron Mueller and I have sometimes spoken in this way. Some things are necessary and some things absolutely necessary. Baptism is necessary for salvation. On the other hand, Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection from the dead, would be examples of something that is absolutely necessary for salvation. Since Baptism is a direct act of Christ, wherein He gets right into the water with us, we can and must trust in these holy waters. Here in the water, is Salvation. We need look no further than that.

Christ came to John to be Baptized. He entered the Jordan River to take our sins upon Himself. He makes Himself the scapegoat for our sins. Then, out in the wilderness He declares His power to overcome them. In this we can place our trust. For Christ, in entering the water, makes it a holy water that now cleanses us from sin. It does this not just once, but it is an ongoing flood of cleansing that makes us pure and holy each and every day. In this way Baptism becomes one of the physical, tangible means through which God acts. It becomes a place where we can trust. We can’t look up into the heavens. But we can, each day, look into the water, and there see Christ, our Savior.
Amen!

Newsletter January 2011

2011-02-14T18:05:00.000-08:00

From the Disk of the Pastor January 2011

Dear Friends in Christ,
Jesus said, “Martha, Martha you are anxious and troubled about many things...” They are familiar words. And indeed this was in many ways a wary Christmas, and a scary new year. We are troubled by many things. We have a weak president. His weakness continues to get us into ever greater problems. The economy is in shambles, unemployment and gasoline prices both keep rising, government spending is spinning out of control, and gross immorality is being promoted on official levels. Conflict drags on in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran and Korea remain volatile. For all that we know, 2011 could be the first year of World War III. We have in place the kind of weak leadership, in all too many places, that leads to conflicts. Many of us also are struggling on a personal level with finances, health, and other matters.

In addition to all this, there is rising persecution of Christian beliefs in our own country, which in theory is supposed to allow freedom of religious teaching and practice. With the laws passed regarding homosexuals in the military it is unclear if chaplains will still be allowed to teach what the Bible says. The LCMS, Roman Catholic Church, and numerous other bodies may be forced to withdraw their chaplains from the military. The ultimate goal of homosexual activists is to make it illegal for anyone, anywhere, to say that homosexuality is a sin. They have achieved this in Canada and yes, pastors have been fined and put in jail for teaching the Word of God. In Europe this is pretty standard in most countries, including historically Lutheran countries. In fact men have even faced reprisals for publically opposing women’s ordination in some Scandinavian countries.

So we are living in a Martha time. It is time when things are not good. It is a time when there is much fear. Consider what a major war would mean. And do not do this in general terms. Think of one person, perhaps a young person at church, a grandchild, child, so forth. It’s easy for me because I can think of those I’ve recently confirmed. That one person, if they are healthy, would have to go war. There would be no choice. While war is a necessary thing in a sin filled world, we don’t want war. We don’t want that young person to have to go to war. We don’t want them injured or killed. And we don’ t want them to have to kill others. Even though it might be a soldier’s office before God to kill the enemy, it is still a terrible thing.

Christ has something to say to us. It is just what He said to Martha. There is one thing needful. That one thing is the Word of God. God’s Word speaks to us in all times, all situations. He reminds us in His Word that He is genuinely in control. In II Kings 6 a young man thought they were about to be overwhelmed by the enemy. But then his eyes were opened and he saw that there was a host of angels between them and the enemy. We also need to be ever reminded of this. Whatever this year brings, Christ and His hosts are with us. We learn that in God’s Word. So this year, 2011, above all else needs to be a year of God’s Word. That, for us, is the one thing needful.
IN CHRIST,
Rev. Jody Walter
Psalm 119:104-105

Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

An American Tragedy

2011-01-08T16:50:00.000-08:00

The very nature of the United States is openness. Years ago, General William "Beetle" Smith even stated that our society was open, by its very nature, that we could not have spies.

This openness places a wall around our public officials. They are not to be touched. We don't shoot leaders. If we disagree with them, we vote them out of office. To shoot a public official is an attack on the entire nation. It doesn't matter if they voted against our position on this or that. They are not to be touched.

There can be no place in our nation for vandalism against the offices of public officials or violence against the officials themselves. This is both ungodly and un-American. Luther does allow for active resistance against tyranny. But only in the most extreme of cases. Luther's admonition to resist the Emperor after Augsburg could be translated to the American Revolution. But it could never be applied to random violence against public officials in a democratic republic.

Harry's Problem

2011-01-08T10:46:00.000-08:00

Harry Reid either is truly clueless or is trying operate on very deep level. He was complaining about the U.S. House leadership's vote on repealing Obamacare. He said a repeal would never get through the U.S. Senate. But that misses the point. By holding this vote, Republicans are making Democrats take ownership of Obamacare. It remains wildly unpopular. It is truly an anchor around the neck of anyone connected with it. By making Reid publicly defend Obamacare, they are making him and his fellow Senate Dems own it. Any senator who is forced to claim ownership of Obamacare can kiss his chance reelection goodbye. Sure, Harry just squeaked back in, that's to the fact that Republican senatorial committee ran an incompetent campaign and wouldn't back his
Tea-Party opponent. But it's not just Harry's head that's on the block. A lot of other Dem senators are up in 2012. Boehner and company know that they can regain the senate by forcing Dingy Harry and company to defend Obamacare.

Clueless Democrat

2011-01-04T19:20:00.000-08:00

I heard a Democratic congressmen interviewed on television. He insisted that the Republicans should not be wasting time with votes on heath care. They should be focusing on jobs. That proves this guy is still clueless. He doesn't understand that Obamacare is the biggest job killing bill in the history of the nation.

If I were made tsar I would order every legislator who voted for Obamacare to start a business that employs people. We'll see how long it takes for them go bankrupt. A few might have brains that haven't completely turned to stone and figure out just how difficult Obamacare makes running a business.

Sermon for January 2, 2011

2011-01-02T06:20:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The Second Sunday After Christmas
January 2, 2011
Text: Matthew 2:13-23

Dear Friends in Christ,
Lullay, Thou little tiny Child, By, by, lully, lullay. Lullay, Thou little tiny Child. By, by, lully, lullay. The Coventry Carol is familiar to most of us. It is included on most recordings of traditional Carols. It’s strange, haunting sound is a striking counterpoint to most of what we hear at Christmas. Most people know the tune, but not the words. Many associate it with Christmas, but they do not know that it is lament for the children of Bethlehem killed by King Herod. The picture painted by the carol is that of a young mother holding her dead child and weeping. Certainly, for the young mothers it was a terrible day, made more distressing by the fact that they probably did not know why this had happened. The Carol was first sung in 1534, in the city of Coventry, England, as part of a mystery play depicting the Massacre of the Innocents.

King Herod, as I have noted many times before, was a shrewd political operator. He knew how to press all the right buttons. But he was a military despot who stayed in power because of the backing of Rome. He was not a popular king. There were many plots against him during his reign. But for most of his reign he ruled capably. He was a great builder and produce a long period of stability. This was the man Rome backed. But in the very last years of his life, he went insane. We don’t know if it was a physical dementia, or simple mental illness. Mad kings have existed throughout history, and they’ve always been a problem, whenever this happens. Herod became paranoid, to the point that he killed several of his own sons. Herod would die in March of 4 B.C. While there is debate about just when Christ was born, I believe that it was within just a couple weeks before Herod’s death. So the Herod of the Christmas story is an old, frail, failing, lunatic, filled with rage and anger at the world in general. Herod’s great fear was that he would be replaced. It is an ironic fear for a man who should have known that death was near.

Herod, as Matthew tells us, sent his soldiers out to Bethlehem to kill all the baby boys in hopes of killing Jesus. This was a minor atrocity, as these things go. Bethlehem was not a large place. The number of infant boys would not have been large. And perhaps some were hidden and spared. The soldiers themselves probably just killed enough to say that they had followed their orders. It would seem likely that they didn’t look real hard. Another point that should be made is that they counted age differently at that time. So when it says 2 years of age, this is what we would call 1 year of age. So their orders, in modern terms was to kill all babies 1 year of age and under.

Joseph, being warned, had fled with Mary and Jesus. It would only be a little more than twenty miles from Bethlehem to cross the frontier into the Roman province of Egypt. They may not have gone down to the Nile. They might have just went to what we call today the Gaza strip. This journey would have only take a day or even less, on foot, for people used to walking. Why do I think that they were walking? In those days people walked. Someone on a donkey or a horse would attract attention. They wanted to blend into the general population.

If my time line is correct, they spent just a few days in Egypt. When they heard that Herod had died they returned to Bethlehem. Now we know from history that it was unclear what would happened to Herod’s kingdom. He had changed his will many times, and it was unknown whether the Romans would accept Herod’s will. This was a strategically crucial province in the empire after all. Egypt was where most of the grain in empire was grown. In other words Egypt fed Rome. Between Egypt and Rome’s enemy, the Parthian Empire, was Palestine. So Rome had to be certain there was stable rule in this area. It took a little while for Rome’s answer to be returned to Jerusalem. Herod’s kingdom would be divided between three of his sons. Archelaus would rule Judea and Samaria. Philip would rule the land across the Jordan. And Herod’s youngest son, Antipas, just eighteen years old, would rule Galilee. Joseph was again warned in a dream and relocated to Galilee. This would then fit nicely with what Luke tells us, that after Jesus was presented in the Temple at 40 days of age, they returned to Nazareth. Luke’s Gospel seems to be telling us that the events of our text have to take place prior to Jesus presentation in Temple. So it was a busy 40 days.

We could stop here and say well we’ve covered a nice chunk of salvation history. Indeed we have. But then we would be missing some really important ideas. Herod trusted in himself, his own shrewdness and judgement. Herod’s god was Herod. That was true both before and after he went insane. There are many Herod’s in our world today. They have no room for a God who would come to them. Any god they would accept must be an absent god. But the true God is Immanuel - God with us. He comes to us to save us from our sins. But those who make themselves god, have no room for a Savior. They think that they determine salvation on their own terms. It is has been said that those in hell would not want to be in heaven. They curse God for condemning them, but would not want God’s form of salvation. They want salvation on their terms or not at all. But the true God, Jesus Christ, comes to us, and Bethlehem was not fist time. He came at Mount Sinai, He was enthroned on the Ark of the Covenant and so forth. The salvation that God offers is His presence among us. To be saved is to live in God’s presence. For that to happen we must be holy. We must have our sins forgiven. Indeed, Christ does this very thing. But how many do not want Christ among them. They lash out. They complain about nativity scenes in parks and tell us not say Merry Christmas. These are the modern day Herod’s trying to kill Christ in our day. They don’t want God to be present with them. They don’t want that kind of salvation. That salvation would not be on their terms.

Today we examine the account of the Massacre of the Innocents. They are martyrs in a sense, but not in the full sense. For they did not die confessing Christ. They died because Christ was present among them. We live in a world that does not want Christ to be present. But wherever Christ is not present, that is hell. That is the very definition of hell. It is the place where Christ has withdrawn His presence. Sadly, we see that all too often in our world. The presence of Christ is often rejected just as violently as it was by Herod. It is rejected because men would make themselves god. Where this happens there can only be hate and violence. But Christ comes and dwells with us. He brings forgiveness, peace with God, fellowship with our fellow believers and finally eternal life. So which salvation would you prefer? The salvation of man is death. The salvation of Christ is life.
Amen!

Sermon for December 26, 2010

2010-12-27T18:16:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The Feast of St. Stephen
December 26, 2010
Text: Acts 6:8-7:2a, 51-60

Dear Friends in Christ,
“Good King Wenceslas looked out on the Feast of Stephen...” We all know the old carol. When did he look out? On the Feast of Stephen - December 26th. It is on this day, the day after we celebrate the Incarnation of Christ, that we celebrate the first to be killed for confessing Christ.

There is a strange irony that St. Wenceslas of Bohemia would become connected with the Feast of St. Stephen, Martyr. Wenceslas was the ruler of Bohemia for just 5 years in the 900's. In his own life, he’d have been known as a duke rather than a king. Two things conspired to make his brief reign tragic. First, Bohemia was still divided between Christians and pagans. Wenceslas’ mother and brother were both pagans. But Wenceslas was a devoted Christian, known for his piety and his acts of charity. Bohemia was also at a political crossroads. Should it be part of the Holy Roman Empire or should it be an independent state? Wenceslas realized that they could not resist the empire. He probably also saw this as a way of strengthening Christian presence in Bohemia. Wenceslas was murdered by his pagan brother on the steps of a church. He died a martyr. He died because he embraced Jesus Christ. Ironically, Boleslav, Wenceslas brother was defeated by the Holy Roman Empire and was forced to become a vassal of Emperor Otto I. Nor could Boleslav hold back the growth of Christianity in Bohemia. A bishopric was established in Prague during time of Boleslav’s son.

Stephen was likewise a martyr. He died because he confessed Christ. In fact he is the very first Christian martyr in the proper sense of the word. He bore witness to the world for Christ with his very blood. That is what the word martyr means - to bear witness.

Who was Stephen and why was he singled out for such harsh treatment? The congregation at Jerusalem was organized immediately after Pentecost. In that time widows were often left impoverished. There were no jobs for them. They were not allowed to own property. So the church began to make provision for them. This practice would eventually evolve into what we know as the convent, a few centuries later. This led to the first fight in the church. That first congregation had two factions. They were all Jews but some retained their language and customs. Others had adopted the Greek language and customs. The widows who spoke Greek as their everyday language began to complain that they were being shorted in the distribution of food. The Apostles asked the congregation to suggest seven men who could oversee this work and make certain everyone was treated fairly. So seven deacons or helpers were selected. We read in Acts 6:5-6: “And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.” If you were to examine these names closely you would find that they are all Greek names. So these would have been Hellenic Jews, that is Greek speaking Jews. This was probably done to show that they were committed to the care of the Greek speaking widows.

The deacons were not pastors. They did not conduct the public services of the church. But they did get involved in evangelism, in addition to their care for the widows. The book of Acts tells us that both Stephen and Philip were heavenly involved with evangelism work. We should note that the Deacon Philip is not the same person as the Apostle Philip.

Stephen got involved with what could be called apologetics ministry. This is the defense of the Christian faith over and against those Jews who had not become Christians. Stephen, it appears, was a good Jew who knew the Scriptures backwards and forwards. In this he is much like St. Paul, who ironically was one his opponents. Stephen would debate with Jewish scholars and they could not refute him. So they took him out and stoned him. Stephen, following the example of Christ, with his dying breath asked that God would forgive his attackers.

The date for the celebration of saints is normally their presumed date of death. So this is thought to have occurred on December 26th of the year 33 A.D. - just months after Jesus death and resurrection. Stephen would be the first to bear witness to Christ with His blood.

It might seem odd in the Christmas season to be celebrating a martyr. But we should not think it odd at all. Christ divides the world. At His coming Herod tried to kill Him. Certainly others, had they known, would have done the same. Perhaps even Caesar Augustus would have sent soldiers after Christ had he known of his birth. Christ later said that He did not come to bring peace but to set one against another. This division happened when some came to faith and others rejected the gifts of God. But didn’t the angels sing of peace on earth? Yet, but it’s not earthly peace. Rather, that the peace of God came into the world and into the hearts of all who believe.

Christ came to divide the world. He would divide it by raising some to life in the waters of baptism. Others would refuse or reject baptism and the new life that Christ offers. Sometimes it is those who have the gifts of Christ and cast them aside who become Christ’s bitterest enemies. Joseph Stalin was once a seminary student, studying to be an Orthodox priest.

This is literally a battle between the living and the dead. Christ raises us to life to life as sons of God - that is as heirs to the entire kingdom of His Father. He makes us princes just as He is the Prince. In raising us to life, Christ takes our sins from us. He makes us to be holy and righteous. His righteousness becomes our righteousness. But for those who reject this, they remain dead. They remain in the grasp of Satan. And often they lash out at the sons of God. It happened from the first.

Today is the feast of Stephen. It is a day to remember that some have given their very lives for the Babe of Bethlehem. There has been a great legion of martyrs. And there will continue to be martyrs for Christ, as the world of the dead hates the living and the One who gives life. Today we remember two of them. There was King Wenceslas killed on the door of the church by his pagan brother. Then there was Stephen, killed for defending Christ among those who did not want to hear the truth of God’s Word. These are just two of the many men and women who have born witness to Christ with their blood.
Amen!

Sermon for December 24, 2010

2010-12-24T16:59:00.001-08:00

Sermon
The Eve of the Nativity of Our Lord
December 24, 2010
Text: Isaiah 7:10-17

Dear Friends in Christ,
Christmas. The word is literally Christ’s Mass. It is the celebration of the incarnation of God the Son. We are celebrating the fact that God became flesh and dwelt among men. December 25th is not Christ’s birthday. We don’t know the day that He was born. The date of someone’s birth was rarely recorded in the ancient world. We only know that Christ was born shortly before the death of Herod the Great, which occurred in March of 4 B.C. Some scholars have suggested late January as the time of Christ’s birth - the time when lambs are born. This would account for the shepherds in the fields. But that is just a guess. December 25th was chosen by the western church in ancient times as the day to celebrate the incarnation of Christ. The Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on January 6.

There are many prophecies regarding the birth of Christ. Isaiah gives us what is perhaps the most curious. First, it doesn’t even appear to be talking about Christ at all. The prophecy was given in 740 B.C. when Judah was going to war against Israel and Syria. King Ahaz, a faithless man, was preparing the defenses of his kingdom. Isaiah was sent to give King Ahaz a sign to show that he need not fear these enemies. Their power would be broken by the Assyrians. And it would happen in the time it takes for a woman to conceive, bear a son, and that son to be weaned - say about four years. Dr. Luther, in his lectures on Isaiah explains how this prophecy was fulfilled at that time. And this would make a great discussion in a Bible class, but that is of little concern for us today/tonight. For while this prophecy was fulfilled at that time, it also had a second and greater fulfillment, which Dr. Luther was also quick to point out. And how do we know that this is talking about Christ? Because St. Matthew in Chapter 1 of his Gospel tells us that this prophecy points to Christ. As we say, Scripture interprets Scripture.

The ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah’s words would come when Mary conceived apart from the will of a man. Mary, a virgin, was carrying a Son. This is simply not humanly possible. Yet, this is what Isaiah had foretold. And this is what Matthew and Luke tell us happened.

Who were Mary and Joseph, that this should happen to them? They were common people of the age. They were neither rich nor poor. They were young, probably just getting started in life. There was nothing special that they did that caused this to happen. This was all God’s doing. There are two things however, about them that must be considered. The promise of the Messiah was not just given to the world in general. The promise was given to Adam and Eve. Okay, everyone is a descendant of Adam and Eve. That doesn’t narrow it much. The promise was given to Noah. But then we are also all descended from Noah. The promise was given to Abraham. So now we have a narrowing of the promise. It would be fulfilled through the descendants of Abraham. The promise narrowed again when it is given to Jacob’s son Judah. Well, Mary and Joseph were Jews. In the fact the word Jew means of the tribe of Judah. But it was narrowed again. Within the tribe of Judah, the Messiah would be born from the descendants of King David. And Isaiah narrowed it even more. It would be a virgin of the House of David who would bear the Messiah or Christ. And indeed what do we read in the Gospels? Mary and Joseph are both of the House of David. Micah prophesied that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem, and Hosea that He would be raised in Nazareth. Daniel prophesied that the Christ would be born in the time the of the Roman empire.

God’s plan was all laid out when the Angel Gabriel appeared to a Virgin in the little Jewish village of Nazareth. She would bear a Son, who would be the Son of God. How do we know? Because she was a virgin. This was no ordinary child. This Child was born of the will of God. God alone is His Father. Luther explained that Mary conceived through her ear. She heard the words of the Angel and it happened just as he had said. One presumes that this is the only child in the history of world conceived through the ear. All other children in the history of the world were conceived through organs a bit lower on the body. But that’s the point. This Child is God. And yes, He was already God in the Virgin’s womb. The ancient Church gave Mary the title of the Blessed Theoktos. That is a Greek word that means the “bearer of God.” Sometimes it is rendered “mother of God”. The Child she carried is God. And how do we know this? Because Mary was virgin. It has only happened once in all of history. It’s bound to be pretty important.

In fact, these events are so important, our eternal fate hangs upon them. God didn’t come into this world show off His power. Look’ee what I can do, I can even make a virgin have a baby. No, no, it’s nothing like that all. God had a far greater and more serious purpose for this. Christ, at the moment of His conception in the womb of the Virgin, became a man. He became one of us. He became a fully, flesh and blood, human being. He didn’t just appear to be man. He was a man. But He’s also still God. He’s still God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. God became one of us. He does this to make peace between God and man. He becomes one of us, so that He can bear our sins and free us from sin and death. He was born without sin, and thus could not die. Yet, He was born to die. He was born to die for our sins upon the cross. This was not an academic exercise. This was real. God really was in the womb of a virgin, for us. He was in that manger, for us. He was on the cross, for us.

God became flesh and dwelt among us? How do we know that this is true? Because He was born of a virgin, as Isaiah had foretold. This is the mystery of the ages. God came down from heaven, to save us sinners. He came to bear our punishment, and our humiliation. He came to give us life, with Him, that would never end. He came to be one of us.
Amen!

Sermon for December 22, 2010

2010-12-22T06:54:00.000-08:00

Sermon
Forth Wednesday in Advent
December 22, 2010
Text: Exodus 25:10-22

Dear Friends in Christ,
Any time anyone brings up the Ark of the Covenant, the first thing many people think of is Harrison Ford as Dr. Henry W. “Indiana” Jones and the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. There is actually a lot of good stuff in that movie. What many movie goers didn’t grasp is how much of what is portrayed is based upon the Bible and up on history. Hitler really did collect artifacts and talismans. If he’d have had any inkling of the location of the Ark, he would have sent men to find it. And of course we know from the Bible that opening the Ark is a bad thing. Several people in the Bible died for trying to do that. In fact merely touching the Ark caused death. The Philistines became ill merely having it in their cities. The Ark of the Covenant is one of those items you’re not quite certain you want around.

What was the Ark of the Covenant? It was a box made of acacia wood, covered in hammered gold. It was about a yard long, a half yard wide and a half yard tall. It had a lid also covered in gold. On the lid were statues of two cherubim. Between the cherubim was a seat, called the “Mercy Seat”. The Ark was built at the time of Moses. Inside was placed an urn of manna, the stone tablets, and Aaron’s staff which come to life and blossomed and produced almonds. If the Ark still exists, it is unknown what one would find inside today. Perhaps these items have indeed turned to dust as the movie depicted. Or perhaps they were removed. The Ark itself disappears sometime between 950 B.C. and 680 B.C. It may have been taken to Egypt by the Pharaoh Ramses II, whom the Bible calls Shishak. But, if so, it may have been returned. It appears to still be in the temple into the time of Isaiah. But it does not appear that it was still in the temple when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C. The last hint of it’s presence would be a hundred years earlier, and even that is not certain. So we don’t know if it was destroyed. We don’t know if it was hidden. It could, in theory, be out there waiting to be found. I’m not certain I want to be the one to find it.

The Ark was placed into the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle. This was the innermost sanctuary of the Tabernacle. The high priest would go into the Holies only once a year. He would enter on Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement. He had to take the blood of the goat sacrificed for the sins of the people and pour it out on the Mercy Seat. This continued in the Temple of Solomon. Once the Ark was removed, and throughout the time of the second Temple, the high priest would simply pour out the blood on the spot where the Ark would have sat. According to Jewish tradition, the Ark had been placed in the Holy of Holies of the Temple on the very stone where Abraham had attempted to sacrifice Isaac. For indeed, the temple mount is the very same Mount Moriah, where Abraham and Isaac had went to worship.

How does the Ark of the Covenant point us to Christ? It goes back to what the Ark of the Covenant is. A little study of languages is in order here. In Hebrew, the word covenant is B’reth. Yet, when Jewish scholars translated the Old Testament into Greek they chose an odd word to translate B’reth. They used the Greek word Diatheke. Diatheke means last will and testament. It carries with it the idea of being a solemn gift. God’s Covenant was a gift to His people. He sealed that gift with His own presence. Christ dwelled upon Mount Sinai. We don’t know why. We just know that He did. Moses got, from Christ, the instructions for building the Ark of the Covenant, on Mount Sinai. When the Ark was first placed into the completed Tabernacle, the glory cloud that concealed Christ upon the mountain descended and rested upon the Ark. The Ark was Christ is throne among His people. And what did they do with their sins? They poured their sins out upon Christ. Christ would be upon the Mercy Seat when the priest poured out the blood. By this act they were pouring their sins upon Christ. Why? Because Christ was taking their sins upon Himself.

The Ark, in a literal sense was lost. But the true Ark remained. The true Ark is Christ’s throne of grace. The next throne would be the womb of a young virgin. So when Mary comes to Elizabeth, Elizabeth greets the living Ark of the Covenant. The manger would become the next Ark of the Covenant. So the shepherds would come and see Ark of the Covenant with Christ there enthroned, in a stable. And finally, Christ would take His place, enthroned upon the final incarnation of the Ark of the Covenant - the cross of Calvary. The cross too would be Christ’s throne of grace among His people. It was upon that mercy seat that the blood of atonement for our sin would be once and for all poured out.

So yes, the Ark of the Covenant is an object that points us forward to Christ. It is Christ’s throne of grace. It is the mercy seat of God. In that, it was the first in a long line of thrones, from a virgin’s womb, to a manger, and finally the cross. The Ark and the Cross are really the same thing - Christ’s throne of grace, the mercy seat of God. They are both the place where our sins are placed upon Christ and atoned for all eternity.
Amen!

Sermon for December 18-19, 2010

2010-12-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The Fourth Sunday in Advent
December 18-19, 2010
Text: Matthew 1:18-25

Dear Friends in Christ,
Marriage customs have varied a good deal over the centuries. Today brides wear white. But in the middle ages, white was the color of death, so a bride would never wear white. In our day, marriages are contracted and finalized all at once. But in earlier times, marriage contracts could precede the actual union by several years. Among kings, it was once common for infants be married by proxy. The actually union would not take place until the children were physically mature, say in their teenage years. Think on this, could you image being married as long as you could remember, but not meeting your spouse for several years? Virginity was once considered so important to the marriage contract that brides often wore chastity belts for a period time before the wedding to make certain the contract could not be broken.

Marriage customs at the time of Christ’s birth were much different than they are today. A boy would apprentice into a trade. By about twelve or fourteen, he’d become a journeymen. At this time he’d begin to salt away his money. He might also during this period contract with another man to marry the man’s daughter. He needed to save enough money to support his wife and acquire a home. He’d have to progress in his trade to the point where he was considered a master craftsman, who could operate his own shop. Most frugal and industrious young men would accomplish all this some time between seventeen and twenty-two years of age. Most girls would be entered into marriage contracts shortly after they were physically mature. This would be somewhere between ten and twelve years of age, depending on the girl. The couple would not start their life together until the man had all things in readiness. So it was typically perhaps two years between betrothal and the actual union.

A side note, here. There is a tradition that Joseph was an older widower. We see this in much of the Christmas artwork. But I believe that there is a problem with such a supposition. First, Scripture tell us this no where. Second, a widower, most likely would enter into a marriage contract and immediately take his bride home. All things would already be in readiness. While this does not prove that Joseph was not an older man and a widower, it suggests that it is not likely. I think we are best to take Joseph to be a younger man, between seventeen and twenty-two as I have noted. Mary, as a typical bride, would be between say thirteen and fifteen years of age.

We also know that morals were a little loose in this time. It was not unheard of for a girl to turn up pregnant. Then, as now, no one suspects a virgin birth. Often if a girl didn’t want to marry daddy’s choice, she snuck off with her choice and let nature take its course. Joseph, very likely, presumed that this had been the case with Mary. He may not have known her particularly well. Matthew tells us that Joseph was a “just man”. Today, we might say, he was a nice guy. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to Mary. And he really didn’t want to impose himself upon her, if she genuinely didn’t want him. He would privately void the marriage contract so that she would be free to marry the father of the child. While adultery was, in theory, punishable by stoning, this was rarely done in this period. For one thing, King Herod’s government would look badly upon a mob killing someone, no matter what the reason. Just think of the rigamarole that went along with getting Jesus put to death on Good Friday.

Matthew is writing here what may be termed a rabbinic legal brief. He is writing this account in the way you would present it to a Jewish rabbinic court. He’s trying show how this was a proper marriage and that Jesus did not come into this world by a sinful liaison. Joseph is now approached by an angel. We can, with reasonable safety, presume that this is the angel Gabriel, though it is not specifically stated. The angel explains to Joseph that Mary’s child is the creation of God, it is miracle. This child would be truly be the Son of God - that is the second person of Trinity, come into the flesh of a human being. As John would say, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Joseph then fulfills the promise made in his marriage contract, indeed he would have been obligated to do so. But he does not consummate the union while she is carrying the Christ child.

The question is raised as to whether Mary remained a virgin. In a direct sense the Bible is silent on this. Verse 25, the last verse of our text, when read in the Greek, only speaks to what happened before Christ was born. It does not speak to what happened afterwards. Any position taken on this would be a conclusion drawn from indirect evidence. Many Lutherans, including Dr. Luther and Dr. Walther, taught that Mary remained virgin. My professors at seminary were divided. Yet, the simplest reading of several passages would suggest that Mary did not remain a virgin and that her and Joseph had a normal marriage from that point forward. It is a point of teaching where we must let each conscience decide for themselves, and place no imposition upon others.

The virgin conception and birth of Christ has huge implications for us. In Genesis 5:3 we read that Adam’s son Seth was born in Adam’s image. All human beings are born in the image of Adam. Adam is the father of us all. That image is the imprint of sin. We are born sinners. David says in Psalm 51:5 “...in sin did my mother conceive me...” We call this original sin. It is the sin we inherit from our fathers. But Jesus is the descendent of the woman mentioned in Genesis 3:15. He is not a son of Adam. He is the Son of God. He is conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, apart from the will of a man. Because His Father is God, Christ is born holy and sinless. This is why it is crucial to teach that Christ was born of a virgin.

One who is without sin, cannot die. They are eternal. Death comes from sin. The very fact that we are mortal comes from the fact that we were born in sin. Yet, Christ who was sinless died. So what sin caused His mortality? Our sin. He carried our sins upon Him. He became sin for us. Only One who is both holy and divine could do that. He carried that mission with Him from the moment of His conception. Even before Christ was born, Zechariah, His cousin, was singing of how He would save God’s people from their sins. In order to do this He had to be sinless. To be sinless, Christ had to be born of a virgin, apart from the will of a man.

Christmas, its almost here. Just one more week. This baby was born according to the customs of the time. His birth was acceptable according to rabbinic law, as Matthew demonstrates. Matthew also us tells something else. This Child was born of a virgin. He was truly the Son of God. He was the sinless Son of God come to bear our sins all the way to the cross. He came to pay the price of our redemption so that we would be truly children of God. Amen!

Sermon for December 15, 2010

2010-12-15T06:07:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The Third Wednesday in Advent
December 15, 2010
Text: John 3:9-15

Dear Friends in Christ,
The bronze serpent is perhaps the strangest of the prophetic objects of the Old Testament. Its origin is recorded in Numbers, as we read. It was late in the time in the wilderness, perhaps thirty years or more into the forty years of wandering. The people again grumbled against God. They complained about the food, the manna that God was miraculously providing for them every day. I mean how much can you do with manna. Once you tried manna waffles, manna bagels, and ba-manna bread, what’s left? Ironically, there was no reason to get impatient. They knew that God had decreed that they would wander in the desert for forty years, until all the adults who had left Egypt were dead. One generation would leave Egypt, their children and grandchildren would enter the promised land. So their grumbling about how long it was taking to get to the promised land was a rejection of God’s judgement.

God punished the people by sending poisonous snakes among them. The venom of this particular snake caused a painful, lingering death. The people quickly repented and cried out to God for relief. But instead of taking the snakes away, God did something different. He had Moses make a bronze serpent and hang it up on a pole. Anyone who was bitten who looked upon the bronze serpent was healed and did not die. Looking upon the bronze serpent was an act of faith - a mark of trust in God’s promise. The bronze serpent didn’t save, really at all. It was God acting through this object. God had attached His grace to the bronze serpent.

Afterwards, the bronze serpent was placed in the tabernacle and later the temple. There it remained until the time of Hezekiah who became king in 716 B.C. At that time people were worshiping the bronze serpent as if it were an idol. Hezekiah, a man faithful to Yahweh, had the bronze serpent destroyed, so it could no longer be worshiped.

To a Jew, like Nicodemus, the bronze serpent was one the most familiar objects, though it was no longer present. It was, in this way, like the Ark of the Covenant, it was no longer present in the temple. Yet, all Jews considered it an important mark of God’s grace for His people. When the people in the wilderness looked upon it they were healed of the snake bites.

Consider for a moment that a snake as an image of salvation is odd to say the least. The snake is usually associated with Satan. Most people consider it an unattractive animal to say the least.

Christ uses the image of the bronze serpent to describe His own work. He would be lifted up, as the serpent was lifted up. All who would gaze upon Him, would be saved. This object was pointing to Christ’s crucifixion. It places that event in the very center of our faith. We don’t gaze upon an ugly snake. We gaze upon the bloodied, brutalized corpse of Christ. We gaze upon the bloody corpse and we are saved.

Now we don’t have the corpse here, except in imagery. So our crucifix is only an image of the real thing. But it is an important image for us. The use of the crucifix is a mark of faithfulness to the Word of God. Through the Word, we gaze upon our Savior, covered in blood and gore. It is an ugly image. It is the price of our sins. Christ is made ugly on the cross because our sins are that ugly. Christ understood that this was His purpose. He embraced the cross for us. Many Christians don’t want to see the cross, especially at this time of year. We want a Baby. But that Baby, born of the Virgin, came to be lifted up, so that we would be saved. Many would say, well Christ isn’t still on the cross. But all throughout the balance of Scripture, particularly in the Book of Revelation, Christ is always the slain One. So when we look upon the infant Jesus that we find in the Word, we must never forget the dying Jesus, Who was lifted up like the bronze serpent for our salvation. All who look to this Christ, will indeed have forgiveness and life.

We are preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ. We are preparing to focus upon the incarnation - that great miracle of the ages, that God become flesh and dwelt among us. But Christ did not come only to have angels sing about Him and shepherds wonder about Him. He came to die for the sins of the world. He came to be the very Lamb of God. For the manger to be of any value to us, it must sit in the shadow of the cross. Only when we understand that this Child will die for us and our salvation, does His birth become important. Christ is not here to promote world peace or peace in our hearts. He came to create peace between God and man by dying for our sins.

The manger is incredibly beautiful. God was laid in a manger. But what we really need to gaze upon is ugly and brutal. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. He must be lifted up and die, so that we would have forgiveness and life. He is in that manger for us. And He is on the cross for us.
Amen!

Circuit Pastor's Conference Paper

2010-12-14T05:04:00.000-08:00

To Type or Not to Type
A brief look at Isaiah 7:10-17

The debate on the interpretation of Isaiah 7 ranges on, and probably will until the end of time. This is often used as the test case of rectilinear methods versus typical methods. To the extent that it used as a test case it is a poor one. I am not a strict rectilinearist. Christ Himself used typology. Nor do I believe we are limited to just those types and antetypes used in Scripture. But the case has to be clearly made in each instance. The fact that Isaiah 7 remains in play shows that neither side has made a compelling case.

What must be said first is that Matthew 1:22-23 is final fulfillment of this prophecy. For that ultimate purpose was it given. The only question is whether it also has early, pre-fulfillments.

The prophecy of the Virgin Birth is given in about 740 B.C. - just 18 years before the fall of Samaria to Assyria. This is also believed to be the year of King Hezekiah’s birth. Israel and Syria had formed an alliance against Judah. King Ahaz was in the process of preparing the defense of his kingdom. God offers Ahaz a sign which he rejects. Isaiah then gives this curious prophecy.

Possible Interpretations

The strict rectilinearists will say that the giving of the prophecy itself is the sign. Yet, this seems a weak sign to king fearing for his kingdom.

If the rectilinearists are wrong, then there has to be a another baby that fulfills the prophecy. The first thing we must do is study the word Almah, usually translated virgin. But it is not the technical Hebrew word for virgin. Some have suggested that it means a young women from the onset of fertility until the birth of their first child. Yet, in all the Biblical examples where the meaning can be determined it refers to a girl who is in fact a virgin in the technical sense. But then why didn’t Isaiah use the technical word for virgin? If this only refers of Mary who is clearly a virgin in the technical sense, (the NT offers no wiggle room on this) then why does Isaiah use Almah?

There are two possible children that often mentioned. Hezekiah, was likely born around the time of this prophecy. But we don’t know anything about the circumstances of his birth. If this was the fulfillment of prophecy wouldn’t the birth be mentioned? Perhaps not, if Ahaz was already aware of the pregnancy. Thus Isaiah would be saying: “You know that princess that’s about to give birth?....” Yet, this argument is unconvincing. Even if Ahaz clearly saw the fulfillment, it is certainly God’s intent also to be clear to us. So the argumentation then begins to look like this: There is a pre-fulfillment, which Ahaz would have clearly seen, but it doesn’t matter to us, so God didn’t mention it. A further problem is that Hezekiah is a little old. However, Damascus fell in 732 B.C. One presumes that the war was raging a little before that and its outcome already clear. So the war against Syria and Israel would begin when Hezekiah was 6 or 7, still young enough to fit the prophecy, perhaps. So the destruction begins with say 735 B.C. and the final deportation of the Israelites in the 680's B.C. which would be within the 65 year time window that Isaiah gave.

The second child is the son of Isaiah and the prophetess (presumably his wife) born in Isaiah 8:3-4. But this was Isaiah’s second child so his wife would hardly be an Almah by any definition. However v. 4 “for before the boy knows how to cry 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria” could be seen as a parallel to 7:15-16 “He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.” Another plus to this child being the intended fulfillment, is that he’s a bit younger than Hezekiah. So that would make him more clearly a young child as all this geo-political stuff is developing. Again, however, we must conclude that this not convincing, since it would be nothing approaching a virgin birth.

Dangers

The obvious one is distraction. The prophecy was given to point us to Christ. While seeing O.T. types is often helpful, in this case it could actually get in the way. Further it has led some to deny the virgin birth of Christ, which we cannot do with out violence to the text of Scripture.

A second danger is present as well. The typological fulfillment is primarily geo-political. It plays into the hands of the dispensationalists and their mis-use of Biblical prophecy. That being said, there is a great deal of geo-political prophecy in salvation history.

Conclusion

We cannot settle this debate. The evidence simply does not exist to conclusively demonstrate the truth or falsehood or one or the other camps. We will have to live with this tension.

Sermon for December 12, 2010

2010-12-12T12:11:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The Third Sunday in Advent
December 12, 2010
Text: Matthew 11:2-11
Dear Friends in Christ,
An announcement in a church bulletin said: Tonight we will have our annual hymn sing in the park. Bring a blanket and be prepared to sin.” I suppose there are some who would say my singing is the sin. The bulletin didn’t have it quite right. Often times there are things that aren’t quite right. Another example occurred at a baseball game. A hall of fame baseball player was introduced: “He’s one of the game’s great immoral players.” That may be true, for some of these guys set more records in the hotels than on the ball fields, but I don’t think that’s quite what the speaker had in mind. Of course in recent years we’ve been debating if all the muscles on the ballplayers are real. They used to ask live or Memorex, now they ask weight room or steroids. Somehow all of these seem just a little off the mark.

A lot of people didn’t quite understand who this John was. John the Baptist preached in the wilderness. His ministry spanned about a year, perhaps even a little less. He basically started down by the Dead Sea, worked his way north to Galilee where He baptized Jesus, then went back south. Near the end of his ministry he was baptizing people by some pools in the desert which are about six inches deep. Finally, John went back north into Galilee to confront King Herod Antipas. Antipas had stolen his brother’s wife. Mind you, she was a willing participant, but that doesn’t make it right. John con- fronted Herod with his sin and Herod threw him in jail. Later Herod would execute John. In that brief time of preaching, John attracted a lot of attention. People were certain that he was a prophet. But then they had never seen prophet, nor had their parents or grandparents. It had been four hundred years since there had been a prophet. People didn’t know what to make of John and His ministry. Who was this John?

People didn’t know what to make of Jesus’ ministry either. Who was this upstart who came after John, who may in fact have once been one of John’s disciples? John’s ministry was at a standstill, but now Jesus was preaching to great crowds. So who was this Jesus?

John sent some of His disciples to Jesus. He probably was trying to get them to see that they now needed to follow Jesus. One would presume that John knew who Jesus was. He certainly seemed to know at the time of Christ’s baptism. So this mission was for the benefit of John’s disciples. They came and asked Christ if He were the “Expected One”? Christ gives a curious answer. He quotes Isaiah 35:5-6a to them. Now as good Jews they would have known the Scriptures and they knew immediately that Jesus was quoting the Word of God to them. It’s sort of a “da” moment. You know the signs, do I have to spell it out for you? That’s what Jesus is saying to them. Of course I’m the Messiah, who else could do all these things. I kind of picture Christ speaking to the disciples of John was an amused smirk.

Jesus then used this as an opportunity to speak about John. Again He points people to the Word - specifically Malachi 4:5. This was the prophecy that Elijah would return ahead of the Messiah. Jesus tells them that John is the Elijah that was to come. He speaks of John as the greatest of all the prophets, the greatest man ever born.

The next line is the source of some discussion. Luther thought that Jesus was referring to Himself. Jesus is the servant of all, therefore the least in the kingdom of heaven. So Jesus is saying, according to Luther, that John, as great as he was, was not as great as He, Himself. Jesus is claiming a place above that of John. The Australian theologian Henry Hamann, who taught briefly at Fort Wayne when I was a student, just before he died, suggests a different view. Hamann takes Christ’s words as referring to those who would live to see the coming of the new age, those who would live to see the resurrection and the birth of the Church. In this way, John is like Moses. He sees the promised land that Christ would lead His people into via His death and resurrection, but John himself will not be allowed to enter - at least not upon this earth. There are certainly other views as well. I present both of these interpretations because they are both pious and theologically correct. Neither does violence to the text. We can live with this debate.

How does this apply to us? There are two keys that we should take from this text. First, notice how Jesus pointed the people to the Word of God. I am constantly amazed at how people try to understand things apart from the Word. Now for my niece, who was unfortunately not really raised in the church, this is understandable. But many times we, in the church, seek answers from God apart from the Word. It is in the Word that we find our answers. The Word gives us the most important answer of all. We have a Savior from our sins. He is God and His name is Jesus of Nazareth. We can learn this no where else. This leads us right into the second point. It is important to correctly identify our Savior. John was a great prophet, but He cannot save us. Nor can Moses, Elijah or any of the prophets. God Himself must carry our sin to the cross. God must save us. In the Word we see that Christ has indeed done this.

Jesus here, is trying to show people that they were right to listen to John. John was important. He was a prophet of God. His coming was foretold both by Isaiah and by Malachi. He is the greatest of something old, something that was passing away. He was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. He is the one Old Testament prophet who intrudes into the New Testament. But John is not the Messiah. Jesus is the one promised from of old, the One who would crush Satan’s head, who would be a blessing to all the world, who would sit on the throne of David forever. Jesus is God in the flesh. Jesus is the One who saves all mankind from sin and death.

In Jesus’ day many people had questions about Jesus and John. Then and now the Scriptures teach us that John was the greatest of the prophets, and Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Amen!

Sermon for December 8, 2010

2010-12-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The Second Wednesday in Advent
December 8, 2010
Text: Isaiah 9:1-7

Dear Friends in Christ,
One of the images of God’s presence is light. But light is also always connected to the forgiveness of sins. The tabernacle was constructed at the time of Moses. It was to be God’s house in the midst of His people. Central to it was the Ark of the Covenant which would be placed in the Holy of Holies. In front of the Holy of Holies was the Holy Place. This is where the Altar of Incense was located. To the left of the Altar of Incense was the golden lampstand - the Menorah. It had seven branches, each with an oil lamp on the top.

For Jews, the Menorah has a special place. About 150 years or so before the time of Christ, Judea was ruled by the Successor King Antiachus Epiphanies. The Successor Kings are the heirs of Alexander the Great, whose empire was divided between his generals. Antiachus was a militant promoter of Greek culture and religion. He was determined to stamp out the Jewish religion. He set up a statue of Zeus in the temple in Jerusalem and sacrificed, on the altar, 1000 pigs. This led to a revolt led by Judah Macabee. Miraculously, the Jews prevailed though they were greatly outnumbered. At end of the revolt Judah Macabee ordered the restoration of the temple. The rededication lasted for eight days. According to Jewish legend, though they only had oil enough to keep the lamp burning for one day, it burned for eight. This miraculous sign was seen as a mark of God’s approval of their independence movement.

Jewish independence was short lived. About a hundred years later, they came under the control of the Roman empire. The Romans installed their man as king - Herod the Great. This lust for political independence was still fresh in people’s minds at the time of Christ.

For the Jew, the Menorah, the temple lamp, symbolizes Jewish independence. Judah Macabee is considered their greatest hero. I heard this in a Jewish song on the radio. The restoration of the temple is the basis for the celebration of Hanukkah, which will end, for this year, tomorrow.

For the Christian, the Menorah, the temple lamp means something quite different. For us it is about forgiveness. God’s light is not just illumination. It is a light which purifies. It is a light which makes us clean to stand before God. Thus the prophets speak of God’s light coming. Isaiah speaks of the light first appearing in Galilee, in the land were the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali had once lived. This is a reference to the beginning of Christ’s public ministry. But what did Christ do when He started preaching. He forgave sins. In fact Christ made a big deal about forgiving sins. He went out of His way to prove He had the power to forgive sins. Many of His miracles were done to show that He has power over sin and all its effects. This is the light that Isaiah was talking about in our text.

Sin is often illustrated by darkness. We think of nefarious deeds being done in dingy establishments where nice people don’t go. That image can be good and bad. If we think that’s the only place sins are committed, we will fall into self righteousness. But if you think of your sins as figuratively putting you into that dive, you’ve got it. We want to deny our sins. One way to do that is to keep the world dark. We want to keep information private. Politicians have long desired to keep their actions hidden. But today the internet has become like a flashlight beaming into the face of the Washington rats scurrying for cover. But the light of Christ is different. It is light that exposes our sins and removes them. It is a light that makes us able to stand in the light. Christ Himself is that life giving light. His coming was about the forgiveness of sins. That is light indeed.

The Jews idolize the Menorah. They celebrate Judah Macabee and his rebellion in the festival of Hanukkah. In fact they have made this the central fact of Jewish identity. Their light is political victory. But such earth bound things are fleeting as the centuries have shown. The Jewish people have spent far more time in countries that are not their own over the centuries than they have spent in their own country. The true meaning of the Menorah is not found in political victory or in anything earth bound. The Menorah’s light symbolizes for us the forgiveness of our sins. That is the light that would be revealed by the sea and beyond the Jordan. Christ came and brought to us the light of the forgiveness of our sins. That is something far more important to celebrate.
Amen!

Sermon for December 4-5, 2010

2010-12-06T18:19:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The Second Sunday in Advent
December 4-5, 2010
Text: Matthew 3:1-12

Dear Friends in Christ,
On an April night a man rode through the region by horseback shouting a warning. He wanted everyone to hear and take heed. He rode through several villages, yelling at the top of his lungs. The situation was dire. Everyone needed to take action immediately. There was one group of people especially that needed to take action. What was he shouting? “The regulars are out!” Most of us today wonder what that meant. In fact, many have changed what he shouted in the retelling of the events. But he did in fact shout; “The regulars are out.” Soldiers of the regular army had crossed by water from Boston to the Charlestown neck and were marching toward Concord. The militia needed to be prepared. The man’s name? Paul Revere. The next day, the War for American Independence began in one of the villages Revere had warned - Lexington, Massachusetts. When the dust finally settled eight years later, British colonials were Americans.

In the year 29 A.D. in the Roman province of Judea, a man began to proclaim a warning. He was warning people to be prepared for God’s coming among them. He told them that they needed to repent. The man’s name was John the Baptist, or more correctly if we take the Greek, John the Baptizer. He was the second Elijah that had been prophesied by Malachi. He was the forerunner prophesied by Isaiah. He was a wild man of the desert. He was also a Nazarite from birth, like Sampson and Samuel. That meant that he was to never drink alcohol and never cut his hair. He had come to warn people to repent. Preparation was all about repenting of sins.

Who was the target of John’s preaching? The religious people - the church goers. It might even be said that his target was the pastors. What? Why was he targeting these people? Shouldn’t he have been targeting the drunks and the prostitutes. That would seem logical to us. After all who needs to repent? Sinners, right? Pr. Gilbert McDonald was my high school religion instructor. He recently posted this quote on the internet: “It is only when you see the desire to be your own Savior and Lord - lying beneath both your sins and your moral goodness - that you are on the verge of understanding the Gospel and becoming a Christian indeed.” (Timothy Keller) There’s some meat on these bones. What is this quote saying? It’s saying that by nature we want to save ourselves. Just having the Christian label doesn’t change that desire. Yet, this is a path to destruction. It’s self righteousness. There are two things that crush this out of us. Our sins and our good works. Sins crushing our righteousness is rather obvious. If we sin, we are not righteous. But what’s this business about our good works, our moral goodness? Surely this should not be a problem. But it is. It is a problem because it is never good enough. Maybe I did something, but my heart wasn’t in it. Maybe I did it to say look at me and all the good things I do. The good that I do is always coated with the vomit of my sin. It is when we understand this that we begin to understand the Gospel. When we understand our moral goodness as failure and sin, then we understand that we need a Savior. Then we understand that we cannot save ourselves. We need God to save us.

John came to a lot of people who were much like American Christians of today. They thought that they were right with God because they were doing such wonderful things. They were fulfilling the law. They were making all the right sacrifices at the temple. They would read the Scriptures morning and night. They would tie little slips of paper with Bible verses into their clothing. They had Bible verses painted above the doors to their homes. They’d pray in the synagogue every day. They’d give alms to the poor. They were good people and they knew it. What does John say of them? “You brood of vipers!” John speaks as a prophet of God. When John says this it is God calling them a brood of vipers. There own moral goodness had made them poisonous snakes. They failed to see that they were filled with sinful pride and false righteousness.

John was preaching to us, the church goers. My Mother sometimes used to quip after church that the people who weren’t in church needed to hear that sermon. But John wasn’t preaching to the people who weren’t in church. He was preaching to the people who were in church. He was preaching to the good people. There are a number of ways we must examine this. I once had someone leave the congregation I was serving because they didn’t want to hear about sin all the time. We have some within our staunch Lutheran congregations who would have us stop talking about sin. They would have us preach silly self improvement programs instead. After all that’s something we can apply to our daily lives, they will say. But of course we cannot improve ourselves. We need Christ to truly improve us. Such preaching as these people demand of course is nothing other than preaching into hell. But of course we have a whole branches of Christianity in America that no longer talk about sin. Whether its old liberals with their social gospel or Rick Warren with his purpose driven nonsense, its all the same. Its all about not talking about sin and talking about how wonderful we are. I’m so great I’m filled with purpose. I go down to El Salvador and help the poor throw off the shackles of oppressive capitalism. There was a reason why right wing militias used to murder nuns down there. It was this toxic meld of Christianity and Marx called Liberation theology, which was being taught by the nuns. It was just another way people tried to show how good they are and ignore the sin in their hearts.

Repent! Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. This is the message that John has for us today. We need to see that it is us, the good people, the church people, who need to see our sins. We need to repent. We need to lay our sins before God. Only when we see our sins do we see that we need a Savior. That was John’s point. The Savior was coming. But the people weren’t ready for their Savior, because they didn’t understand that they were sinners. And so we also need to repent. We need to see that it is only in repenting of our sins that our hearts are ready for our Savior. Certainly, there are others out there who need to repent as well. And there are moments when we are to speak to them. But first, we must repent. We must look to our sins and cling to our Savior, Jesus Christ, who redeems us from sin and death.
Amen!

Semon for December 1, 2010

2010-12-01T07:11:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The First Wednesday in Advent
December 1, 2010
Text: Exodus 30:1-10

Dear Friends in Christ,
One of the keys to unlocking the whole of Scripture is to focus upon that which seems unimportant. This is particularly true of things that are in the Pentateuch - that is the five books of Moses. Why is there so much detail about the tabernacle and the sacrifices and the incense and the show bread and on and on and on? You might just get the impression that God considers this stuff important. God wants things done in just a certain way. That actually applies to the New Testament Church and things like Baptism, Holy Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper. These things are to be handled in just a certain way.

One of the things that we often miss in the Old Testament is that when God speaks to man, it is always the pre-incarnate Christ. In other words it was Jesus speaking the Ten Commandment from Mount Sinai. And it is Jesus who gives the instructions in our text to Moses.

Christ commanded the Israelites to build an altar for the burning of incense. It was to be placed in the Holy Place, in front of the curtain that divided the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was to be placed. The Ark of the Covenant was God’s throne of grace in the midst of His people. It is likely that the Altar of Incense where Zachariah burned incense in the temple was the third one which was constructed. We don’t know if Solomon had a new one built in his day when they went from the tabernacle to the first temple. However, it seems likely that a new altar of incense was constructed at that time. That altar would have been destroyed when the Babylonians destroyed the temple in 586 B.C. A third altar would have then been constructed at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, when the temple was rebuilt. So the altar at the time of Zachariah was not the one built by Moses, but it was probably five hundred years old. It would have been built to the exact specifications laid out in Exodus.

There is a strange instruction at the end of our text. The altar of incensed had to be atoned. To atone for it is pay for it, in the sense of paying for sins. But an altar is an inanimate object. It does not sin. Yet, Jesus told Moses that the altar was to be atoned each year on Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement. The high priest was to take some of the blood from the goat slaughtered for the sins of the people and put that blood on the horns of the altar. Each corner had a piece that projected up above the body of that altar. These would be the horns. They were covered in gold, as was the whole altar. The blood was brushed on the horns to the altar to pay for the sins of the altar. This is driving at something very profound. The altar itself through the worship of the people, became the bearer of the people’s sins. It had to be cleansed so that the people could again lay their sins before God.

We know that sin can only be atoned by the shedding of blood. Scripture is clear on this point. In fact the first shedding of blood came in the Garden of Eden when God killed animals to provide clothing for Adam and Eve. The clothing symbolized God covering our sins by the shedding of blood. But the blood of animals cannot cover our sins. Nor could the blood of animals purify the altar. All of this was pointing forward to another kind of blood that can genuinely cover sins. It was pointing to another kind of blood that truly could purify the altar. As we sang “Not all the blood beast on Jewish altars slain could give the guilty conscience peace of or wash away the stain.” In just the same way wine cannot take away our sins. But something else was happening here. In that blood of beasts, another blood was present. This was a blood that would be shed in the future. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, which was present in, with, and under the blood of the goat. It was the blood of Christ which made that altar pure - which made it an altar where sins would be removed and God would receive our prayers. Because of the blood of Christ who was yet to come, Zechariah burned incense on behalf of the people and God received their prayers favorably.

That particular day, something more would happen. The wheels began to turn. The time had come for the promises to be fulfilled. An angel appeared and told Zachariah that the hopes and prayers of centuries were now to be fulfilled and he would have a part in it. His son would be the forerunner - the forerunner of the one who redeemed the temple by the shedding of His Holy and innocent blood - the true lamb of God. And so also for us. Our altar is cleansed by the blood of Christ, present here in the Supper. We too are made holy by the blood of Christ. Just as the sacrifices and animals communicated the blood of Christ, so also the Supper delivers to us that very same blood.

In about fourteen hundred B.C. Moses was commanded to build an altar for the burning of incense. It was an altar made holy by blood. But only the blood of Christ would truly make that altar holy. Thus the altar of incense is a prophetic object. It existed to point us to Jesus Christ who was yet to come. It is no accident, that it was before the altar of incense, the altar redeemed by the blood of Christ, that His coming is first announced. For Christ was coming to shed His blood - blood that would cleanse not only the temple, but the entire world.
Amen!

Bronze Age Lutherans II

2010-11-29T16:58:00.000-08:00

What happened to the Bronze Age Lutherans in the LCMS after Seminex? I noted in my first article that they were immediately challenged by conservative/confessionalist forces. These people are disciples or Robert Preus, Kurt Marquart, David Scaer, and Norman Nagel, among others. The great literary voice for this movement is Herman Sasse. (It should be noted that one of the most prolific translators of Sasse is LCMS president Rev. Matthew Harrison.)

But just because a new voice successfully challenged the re-ascendancy of the Bronzies, doesn't mean that they went away. So what happened to them? They became Fullerites. (A Fullerite is a follower of the theology of Fuller Seminary. It is sometimes also called, quite erroneously, church growth theology.) Fullerism is about as anti Lutheran as you can get. It is a based on the belief that the church is built by human power and human methods. Further, it embraces an ends justify the means type approach.

How did Bronzies get hooked into Fullerism. In the wake of Seminex, I think there was the realization that something had to fill the void left by liberal theology. These men had no faith or interest in the Lutheran confessions. Nor do they have a strong sacramental theology. Further, many Bronzies seemed embarrassed by Lutheranism. They tend to apologize for Lutheranism, rather than defend it. With this was also the belief that growth would be seen as God's stamp of approval. And so if the Bronzies could grow the LCMS using Fullerite methods, they would be seen as fit to lead.

Sadly, the result has been endless controversy, no growth, and a massive waist of money and resources. One would think that after all these years of effort, people would see that Fullerism is an utter failure. But for the Bronze Age Lutheran, admitting failure is not an option. The only other game in town is confessionalism. Since they don't really believe in the confession, or the office of the ministry, or sacraments, or means of grace, this becomes a major problem.

2010-11-29T16:56:00.000-08:00

From the Disk of the Pastor December 2010

Dear Friends in Christ,
As we press into December with snow already on the ground, and temperatures that look more like January, we enter into the season of Advent. The word means “Coming”.

Advent was first marked in 400's in southern France - what was then known as Gaul. It was originally six Sundays in length. It was copied from Lent. In those early days people fasted two or three days each week during Advent. (Typically Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.) By about the 11th Century, the practice was universal in the Western church, but had been reduced to four Sundays. But the season really extends for seven Sundays. Yes, the official season is only four Sundays, but the climax of the old church year, with three Sundays dedicated to Christ’s coming, already resounds with Advent themes.

Over this seven Sunday span, we focus upon Christ’s coming. We work backwards through time. We start in the future. The first events we consider are those associated with the return of Christ at the end of time. We look at the last judgement. We consider the fact that Christ will consign the unrighteous to hell. We also celebrate that Christ will take the believers to heaven. The traditional text to open Advent is Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week. From there we continue following the clock backwards until we get to the stable in Bethlehem.

Advent is a time of preparation. But that word has lost its meaning for most people today. The solution is not to abandon the word to reinstall its proper meaning. What does it mean when Christians prepare? It means to repent. Preparation for the Christian is to examine our lives in the light of God’s commands. It means to seek out our own sins - that is to identify where we have sinned in our lives. It also means to rededicate ourselves to amending our lives. All too often we fail to take amending our lives as seriously as we ought. We justify ourselves by saying, well, we can’t ever really stop sinning anyway. This certainly is true. But that does not excuse us. Seeking to amend our lives is part and parcel of repentance. One who is unwilling to amend their life, who would keep on sinning with no care, desecrates the grace of God and treats it with contempt. Such a person is still in their sins.

We are now at the time of Advent. This is a solemn season. It is a season marked by the examination of our lives. We are to consider our sins. We are to amend our lives. This is what it means for the Christian to prepare. Advent and Lent are twin brothers in the Church year. The two seasons are supposed to look like one another. It is also a season marked by some of the richest hymnody in our hymnal. It is a catastrophic tragedy for the church when it is in such a rush to get to Christmas that we don’t sing these priceless treasures. For those who don’t understand what a great treasure our Advent hymns are, I would suggest that you take some time to study the texts of these beautiful pearls of great price. All these things we do to prepare our hearts. Christ is coming. Are you prepared?
IN CHRIST,
Rev. Jody R. Walter
Psalm 119:104-105
Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Sermon for November 27-18, 2010

2010-11-29T16:55:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The First Sunday in Advent
November 27-28, 2010
Text: Matthew 21:1-11

Dear Friends in Christ,
Today we begin the season of Advent. It is a twin of the season of Lent. It is a season of preparation. What does that mean for Christians to prepare? Do we clean house? Do we put up various decorations? Do we go shopping? Obviously many people do this. The Friday after Thanksgiving is called black Friday because it is the day that most retailers’ ledgers for the year go from red to black. It is the day they start to make money for the year. But, no for the Christian this has no special meaning. Shopping does not help us to prepare in the Christian sense. Preparation for the Christian always involves self examination and repentance. It is the repentant heart that is prepared. So Advent is a somber time. It is a time step back and compare our lives to the Commands of God. It is not a time of celebration. It is not a time to party. It is a time for quiet contemplation. It is a season where we need to spend some quite time alone with the Word of God. It is a time for us as Christians to act in a manner that is contrary to the way of the world.

Advent has a rhythm and structure, but it is really backwards to what many people expect. Even some pastor’s don’t get it. I remember a pastor a few years ago throwing out the lectionary in Advent, because he didn’t understand the logic of the season. First, it runs through time backwards. This is especially clear if we include the broader season and extend back three Sundays into the old church year. We start with Christ’s return at the end of time. Then we move backwards until we get to the stable of Bethlehem. The traditional text for the First Sunday in Advent is Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

What is the purpose of including this text on this day? It is somewhat different than when we examine this text on Palm Sunday itself. The last couple weeks we spoke of Christ as our judge. We could say “Here comes the judge.” And it won’t be near as funny as it was on the old “Laugh In” television show. This judge is the One who judges the living and dead, heaven, hell, and earth. But that was last week. This week its here comes the King. It is our King who comes to us. It is not a teacher. It is not a prophet, but the Prophet, Priest, and King. It is the King who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, who comes to us.

Why is this important? Why must we remind ourselves that Christ is our King. Because we
live in a world of rebels - both inside and outside the church. In colonial times there were many groups who refused to bow to the king of England. They refused to follow any of the court ceremony. Why? Because only Christ was truly king. While this is misguided and a twisting of Scripture, it was commendable. The Scriptures teach us to give to earthly rulers whatever honor and deference is owed to them. But one can understand why some Christians would come to the conclusion that they should not honor earthly kings. But today, in America, the attitude is more this; “We don’t need no stinkin’ king.” And those who utter such things would often include Christ as well. Even many Christians have so radically redefined Christ and God so that He is not our King.
Why do people reject Christ as King? Because then we are not king.

When George III fought against the Americans, did he come and lead his armies into battle? No, of course not. He sent generals like Carlton, Howe, Burgoyne, Kyniphousen, and Cornwallis. One of his sons would later serve in the Navy and another in the army. Frederick the Great of Prussia still commanded armies in the field. Later, Napoleon would as well. But even these monarchs were rarely involved in the actual fighting, staying well to the rear. George VI during World War II often wore a navy uniform, but knew little about military affairs. (His daughter, now Queen Elizabeth did serve as a driver in the army.) But if we go backwards in time, as we do in Advent, we see something quite different. Kings use to actually, literally, lead their troops into battle. Henry V of England was right in the thick of the fighting at Agincourt. Charlemagne likewise personally wielded the sword in battle. Roman emperors were often generals in the army before they became emperor. And if we go back to the Old Testament, kings like David, Solomon, Hezikiah, Jehu, and Josiah, were right in the thick of the fighting. A king had to lead by example. He had to be a warrior.

Yes, there is a point to this rather lengthy illustration. Christ, in entering Jerusalem, is entering as a warrior king. He doesn’t necessarily look it. He is riding on a donkey. He’s not wearing armor or holding a sword. That was okay. People got the picture. That was because this was how Solomon had entered Jerusalem after being anointed king on the Mount of Olives. Christ was coming in as our warrior king. He would lead in battle. But it was a battle against Satan. It was a battle He would win by dying. Thus the great Lenten hymn: “Sing my tongue the glorious battle, sing the ending of the fray... tell how Christ, the world’s redeemer as a victim, won the day. ”

So when we speak of Christ coming as our King, He is not just our ruler. He is our warrior King who fights and wins the battle. He comes as the old medieval Christmas carol says “to riffle Satan’s fold.” He come to defeat Satan and claim us as His property. He comes to dictate a peace treaty between God and man. He does that by first winning the great cosmic battle between good and evil, between life and death. He establishes peace by being the greatest warrior the world has ever seen. He crushes Satan, then says, I won, you lost, here’s the terms of the settlement. That’s what Christ entered Jerusalem to do. And on the cross He declared victory with His dying breath - “It is finished.” Sin is finished. Satan is finished. The victory is complete. Forty-two days later, Christ would entered into heaven as the triumphant conquering King.

Christ is coming. This is certain. He is coming at the end of time. He returns because He is the conquering King who has won the victory for us, over sin and death. He came to Jerusalem as the King. He stepped onto the battlefield and emerged triumphant. This is what we mean when we say that He is the King. It’s not just that He rules, but that He fights and is victorious. And this is why we must prepare our hearts. This is why we must repent. As the victorious King, Christ dictates the terms of peace. He places the conquered in to eternal bondage. But for those who are claimed by Him as His children, for those who trust in Him, we are set free. We are freed from sin and death to live with our conquering King forever.
Amen!

Sermon for November 26, 2010

2010-11-24T14:20:00.000-08:00

Sermon
Thanksgiving (Harvest Observance)
November 24, 2010
Text: Luke 12:13-21

Dear Friends in Christ,
Yesterday, I awoke to news that North Korea had shelled South Korea. I spent the rest of day wondering if World War III had begun. That doesn’t exactly put one in a thankful mood. From our point of view a few strategic heart attacks would make the world a better place. You ask yourself why doesn’t God just take out Kim Jong (mentally) IL, Osama Bin Ladin, Hugo Chavez and a couple dozen others? Life would be infinitely more peaceful if these men were not part of the world. But then God looks at things differently than we do. Saddam Hussain was terrible man, who did terrible things. But there is one good thing that he did. He protected religious minorities from attack. In other words Christians in Iraq were far better off under Saddam than they are today. The anarchy that followed Saddam’s fall, allowed radical Muslims to terrorize and massacre Christians. Ironically, the United States has done little to correct this problem. Political correctness has prevented us from enforcing justice. We must remind ourselves of these things whenever we think ourselves wise enough to challenge God. What if World War III does begin tonight, or tomorrow? Then we must simply say, “Thy will be done” as well as “the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh - blessed be the Name of the Lord.”

Our text is a familiar one. It is a parable that Christ told, which illustrates many things. A rich man planned to retire and live a life of luxury, with no concern for others. God takes the man’s life. How can God take the man’s life? Because He is Lord over life and death. He controls the events of this world, to bless and to punish. He makes all things happen for His purposes. And often God blesses and punishes in the same event.

How can God bless and punish in the same event? God brings terrible destruction upon a nation for its sins. The destruction is in the form of a catastrophic war. But in that war, a young man’s faith is formed and reinforced. He becomes a committed Christian and impacts with the world with his faith. One example of this would be a young German boy by the name Uwe Siemon-Netto. Today he writes books on ethics and vocation for Concordia Publishing House. Germany became a nation cursed by God, but this boy was blessed by God in the midst of the curse. Why Germany was cursed by God, we cannot say with precision. We can only guess. But I think it was because this nation which had the pure fountain of the Gospel proclaimed to it by the prophet of Wittenberg, ultimately rejected the Gospel for human reason.

We don’t know what the future will bring. We fear that we are on the brink of a great and terrible curse from God. The repentance of each heart is the only answer to this. Nations cannot repent. But the people of a nation can repent of their own sins as well as the sins of their nation. And in repenting of our national sins we must speak out against them. This is because repentance is turning around and going the other way. We must speak out against the rampant abuse of women that has become the norm in our day. We must speak out against marital infidelity, as well as the easy sexual norms of our day. We must speak against abortion and euthanasia. We must speak against homosexuality. We must work to change hearts. But laws must be changed as well. For the law is a teacher. If one sees that the law condemns a certain action, they see a testimony that this is immoral and sinful.

Yet, we must thank God, even for the trials. For in these trial, God rescues and saves. He draws people to Him. It has been often noted that more people come to church in a time of crisis. And often they stop coming when it is resolved. But some false Christians do come to real faith at such times, and some repent of superficial faith and become more deeply committed.

We might ask ourselves, with the economy in the tank and the world perhaps on the brink of major war, what is there to be thankful for? Our government is in total disarray. Our sons and grandsons might soon be conscripted into the army. If that happens, some of them will die in combat. But we must see that God blesses even through His curses. God does not desire our destruction. He would call us to Him in repentance. And for this too, we must be thankful. For God would draw us ever closer to Him. He would make us see that we are totally dependent upon Him. He would show us how to use all the blessings that He has given to us to help our fellow man. So even in the midst of calamity, we are to praise and thank God. For He works all things for the good of His children. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.
Amen!

Sermon for November 20-21

2010-11-22T12:05:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The Sunday of Fulfillment
November 20-21, 2010
Text: Malachi 3:13-18

Dear Friends in Christ,
When I was a kid, movies taught the lesson that crime does not pay. There was a zany movie about a guy who had a plan to break into the government print shop where they print the money and print a bunch for himself. He assembled a nutty group of crooks who pulled it off, in spite of the fact that their safe cracker was deaf and so forth. But then, the money was stacked in boxes in the ally and the trash man came along and carted it all off. So in the end, for all their work, they had nothing. Their crime did not pay. In the 1960's there were the crime as justice movies, like Jane Fonda’s Cat Ballou. She took revenge on the railroad men for killing her father. For this she became an out law and was almost hung. Her escape from the hangman is one of the funniest scenes in the history of movies. Lee Marvin’s drunken gunfighter is unforgettable. But today, many movies glorify crime. The criminal satisfying his greed and lust is the hero. This then is also reflected in video games like Grand Theft Auto where you win by stealing the most cars.

In real life, it is little better. Bill Gate became a billionaire by purchasing a key piece of software from IBM. He didn’t invent anything. He didn’t innovate in any way. He just understood that every computer would need this software and if he owned the rights to it, he would get rich. Many of the wealthy simply get that way by moving money around here and there in the markets. Kids go to college, specifically to learn how to do this. Politicians line their own pockets even as they run the country into the ground. A recent song accused politicians of stuffing their pockets while Rome is burning. Congressman Charlie Rangel was convicted by the House Ethics Panel of major corruption and all he is getting is a censure - an official reprimand. We certainly could never get away with the thing’s he’s done. We’d go to jail.

When we look at the world, we wonder, does it even pay to be honest? Does it benefit us to do good? Often, in the world, it doesn’t appear that it does. We hear sayings like no good deed goes unpunished. The Jews in 400 B.C. were thinking the same things. Following the will of God was not a good thing. The wicked prospered and the righteous often suffered.

Malachi was the last of the Old Testament Prophets. And it is pronounced Mal-a- ki not Ma-lach-ee. He was a Jew not an Italian. Malachi was active as a prophet around 400 B.C. This would also be close in time to the death of the Prophet Zechariah. The temple and Jerusalem had been rebuilt. They had peace within the Persian empire. Yet, many who were their enemies lived in lands around them. They often seemed to prosper more than the Jews did.

Christ also warned in the New Testament that people of the world would often seem better off than the people of God. Christians would often suffer at the hands of the world. We see this to this very day. More Christians were martyred for the faith in the 20th century than in all the previous centuries combined. From a worldly standpoint it is not a good thing to be Christian. It might cause you poverty. It might even cost you your life. And what happens to those who do these things to Christians? They go on their merry way and prosper.

Through the Prophet Malachi, God responds to this situation. He makes a book of remembrance. Does God need a book to remember these things? No, of course not. But it is a frequent image and I would suggest that God does have a literal book. What is written in a book does not change. It has an official character to it. God records the evil deeds done to His children. They are written in the book. They will not be forgotten.

Christ will return to judge the living and the dead. Many fear this. It will be the end of this world. We are unable to understand what will come after this. Yes, we are told that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. They will be without sin. We will live there in peace and joy. But these things are so far beyond our experience that we cannot even imagine them - at least not with any great confidence. So people fear this. We also fear the judgement of God. As sinners this is natural. There should always be a sense of fear when dealing with God. But there is also great confidence - a certain hope. We know what is written in that book. We know that when God opens it to our page, He will not see our sins, but instead will see the cross of His Son, Jesus Christ. That is the official record for each of us. But we also know that this is not so for the wicked. When God opens the book, He will not see the cross. He will instead see all the evil that they have done.

This book of remembrance will be the basis for a distinction. In the judgement we will see who is righteous and who is evil. All will be revealed. The distinction will be clear. Here will be the sheep and there will be goats. Here will be those who trust in the cross of Jesus Christ and there will be those who reject the cross. It will be clear to everyone who is righteous and who is evil.

When Christ comes He will take the believers to heaven, to live in the new heaven and the new earth. How that exactly will work, I cannot say. But I can say this. There will be no sin. We will no longer sin. And those who remain in their sin will no longer be there among us. We will be separated from them. Christ, tells us that there will be a great gulf between us and the wicked. There is no way to cross between them. The wicked will bother us no more. The distinction will have been made.

Christ promises to make a Book of Remembrance, and on the last day to clearly distinguish between righteous and the wicked. Though we often see the wicked prosper in this world, they will not prosper in eternity. They will be cast into the outer darkness. The righteous will be in the new heaven and the new earth. They will be gather together with all the righteous. That’s part of what makes it heaven. Not only will we be with Christ our Savior, but with all Christians from throughout the ages. As a child I thought it would be neat to see Moses, David, and the other saints of old. As I’ve gotten older, my sights are lower, and closer to home. I look forward to seeing my brothers, father, grandparents and the like. To be gathered with them at the table with my Savior, that is paradise indeed.
Amen!

Bronze Age Lutherans

2010-11-19T12:40:00.000-08:00

The term was coined, I am told, by Dr. John Pless, and it is intended as an insult.
Bronze age as opposed to golden age.

I have become convinced that the sole figure view of history is a myth.
It was not Luther but Luther and Melanchthon, for example. And thus,
the LCMS founding was not the work of Walther. It was the work of
Walther, Wyneken, Ernst, Silher, and Craemer. Especially, it was the
work of Wyneken and Walther. Wyneken was a fiery missionary pastor.
And he was a firebrand by nature. He was astute theologically, but not
really a professional theologian. Only recently have we had any of
Wyneken available to us in English. And what we see is a man militantly
committed to confessional Lutheranism, but who doesn't speak with the
great precision of the professional theologian. The best theologian
available to the followers of J.K. Wilhelm Loehe in America was
Friedrich August Craemer. But he arrived just in time to be a charter
member of synod. He was later president of the Fort Wayne Seminary. In
the mean time however, at the urging of Ernst, they reached out to Walther
and his cohorts in Missouri. They had read Walther's work in Der
Lutheraner. They saw that he was the careful theologian that they needed.

Wyneken was uncompromisingly opposed to anything "protestant". He saw
this as a way to kill the church, not build it. He promoted things like
private confession and every Sunday communion. As president for 14 of
the first 17 years of the synod, he had a profound influence on that
generation. But Wyneken published little. He preached from outlines,
so few sermons survive. Thus his influence was limited to that first
generation. Further, the difficult conditions of the frontier, made
much of what he promoted difficult to carry out in practice. For
example, it is difficult to have every Sunday communion when the pastor
only comes once a month.

Walther, on the other hand, did write, and his influence lived on.
Further, Walther wrote in such a way that future generations could
redefine his work. Amplifying this problem was the transition from German
to English which was largely accomplished by WWII, even though
individual congregations often still worshiped in German. Now, an
increasing number of laymen and pastors could not read what Walther
wrote and were dependent upon others to tell them. Further, many of those translating Walther had their own theological agenda, other than faithfully reproducing what Walther actually said.

Missouri's Bronze Age (1930-1960). You could perhaps extend this back
to 1920. After the turn of the century, Missouri began to turn away
from the sturdy confessional Lutheranism of the Founders. Franz Pieper was
a major force in holding onto our confessional roots. But even he was
starting to pull away from the founders on some points. Pieper died in
1931. Pieper was a Pomeranian, born and educated in Germany. But after
1931, almost all our professors were trained in house. This would start
to change about 1960 as men began to seek accredited academic degrees.
Missouri at this time become bitterly anti Catholic. In the founding
generation more literature was written against the Methodists and other
Lutherans than against Rome. Now little was written about the dangers
of Methodist work righteousness. The liturgy was less important.
Sacramental theology was not taught or preached. The big names here
would John T. Mueller, Walter A. Maier, Sr. and Edward Koehler. It has
been noted that Maier, on the Lutheran Hour, never once mentioned
Baptism. Richard Shuta's recent article about Maier points out he often
asked people to make a decision for Christ, much like Billy Graham.
Needless to say, Wyneken would have been appalled.

The Bronze agers were very strongly committed to the authority of
Scripture. In this sense they equipped the synod well for the battles
with liberal theology that were to come. However, much of liberal
theology was a reaction against errors of the Bronzies. It was the
wrong reaction, but it was a reaction nonetheless.

In the wake of the walkout in 1974, and the partial purge of the
liberals that followed, the Bronzies tried to reassert themselves, and
had some initial success in St. Louis. But a non LCMS trained pastor
began to turn the synod in a new direction. His name was Robert Preus.
He was president of the Sprinfield, later Fort Wayne, seminary. He
brought in a number of young professors, like David Scaer and Kurt
Marquart. These men understood that in a sense both sides had been
wrong. The solution is what I term a dynamic or living confessionalism,
with strong sacramental theology, which these men taught. It eventually
became standard for both seminaries.

(It should be noted that Rev. Norman Nagel was instrumental in bringing true confessionalism to our seminary in St. Louis. He also is non LCMS trained. He's an Australian and a disciple of the German theologian Herman Sasse.)

Why do we call this group from 1930-1960 the Bronze Agers? Many, in the
wake of Seminex began to call this Missouri's golden age. Maier,
Mueller and Koehler became almost god like. It was the period when
Missouri experienced its greatest growth since the founding generation and
became the largest it had ever been. Yet, many theologically gifted
pastors dreaded the thought of returning to this theology. They understood
that the leaders of this period were lesser theologians and in some
cases only marginally Lutheran. Thus, as a slap to those who thought of
this as Missouri's golden age, it was termed Missouri's Bronze Age.

Sermon for November 13-14

2010-11-15T12:49:00.000-08:00

Due to bad weather, only 10 people heard this. One of my better ones I thought.

Sermon
The Twenty-Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
November 13-14, 2010
Text: Luke 21:5-28

Dear Friends in Christ,
Sven and Ole were these two old pastors who served churches that were right across the road from one another. The two churches were out on a paved country road just before a sharp curve. Sven was a Swedeborg - that is Swedish Unitarian - and Ole was a Lutheran. These two guys had a habit of putting up signs in front of their churches to get each other’s goat. So one day a guy drives by and there’s Sven on his side of the road and Ole on his side, each putting up a sign. Sven’s sign said “Da end ist near!” Ole’s sign said “Turn around before Da end!” The driver shakes his fist at them as he zooms by and yells; “When are you two old Swenskas going to grow up?” He peels around the curve. Suddenly there is the sound of tires squealing and a crash. This went on for a little while. About the time they heard the fifth crash, Ole calls over to Sven, “Maybe ve should jus’ say Da bridge ist out.”

How many people in our world are like the drivers going by those churches. The warnings are there. But they pay no heed to them. They don’t recognize them for what they are. They go on their merry way, paying no mind to the fact that the judgement is coming, one way or the other. I think of all the snowmobilers back in Lincoln County, where I previously served. The trails literally ran from tavern to tavern to tavern. Every week there’d be several injuries and deaths on the trails. Inevitably, the guy was four times the legal limit going a hundred and twenty at two in the morning. Not even the wood from a town of Corning popel tree is soft enough to absorb that kind of impact. Then of course people would go around ringing their hands and saying, I don’t understand why so many people are getting killed on snowmobiles. Did those snowmobilers understand that the judgement of God was at hand as they quaffed their twentieth drink of the night? Obviously not. But in a short time, the opportunity for repentance was over. They were in the judgement hall of Christ.

Our text is one of warning, one of law and vengeance. One of the false ideas of modern man is that vengeance is wrong and has no place among men. This is not correct. Rather we learn that vengeance belongs to God. (Is. 34:8, Rom 12:19) God exercises this judgement both in the final judgment and through earthly, human agents upon the earth. In this case, the human agent was a Roman general by the name of Titus Flavius Vespatian Minor, who would later become the Emperor Titus.

Christ uses a form of a technique we call typology. This is typological prophecy. In typological prophecy, a near term event is used a type or symbol of some ultimate or final event. In this case Christ is using the destruction of Jerusalem that would occur in 70 A.D. as a picture of the final judgement at the end of time. And following Jesus’ logic, this makes every disaster, natural or man made, a picture of the final judgement of God. We should take such events as a warning to us. As Christ says speaking of those killed in another disaster, “you repent, lest you also perish.”

The temple was a beautiful structure. Some said that after Herod’s renovation, it was more beautiful than the temple of Solomon. The first temple was really the tabernacle constructed by Moses and Aaron at Mount Sinai. It was God’s intent that it be moved from place to place within Israel. However, very quickly , it found a permanent home at a place called Shilo. The Ark of the Covenant was lost at the time of the High Priest Eli, when the Prophet Samuel was still very young. After this Shilo fell into ruins. It would never again be Israel’s place of worship. The Ark was recovered and later, David moved the Ark to Jerusalem. Solomon built the temple to house the Ark, God’s throne of grace among His people. Later, the Ark was lost again. It appears to have been removed from the Temple by a Pharaoh the Bible calls Shishak. This Pharaoh is better know as Ramses II or Ramses the Great. Though Scripture does not record this, it appears to have been returned. About three hundred years later, during the rule of King Manassah of Judah, it was lost again, and remains missing to this day. It is almost certain that the Ark of the Covenant was not in the temple when it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. About fifty years later, when they started to rebuild the temple, people wept because it would not be as beautiful as the previous temple. King Herod the Great, the Herod of the Christmas story, ordered a reconstruction or renovation of the temple. Ordinary stone was replaced with marble. Gold was pounded into the veins of the marble. Some of the stones used were twenty feet or more long. When the sun hit the temple it seemed to glow with a heavenly light.

This was the picture before the disciples that day. Christ warns that they would live to see the temple destroyed. Most of them did. God rejected the Temple and the rulers of the Temple because they had rejected Him. The end was closer than anyone realized. The early Christians remembered Christ’s words. When they Jewish revolt began they fled Jerusalem and went into hiding in the hills. Not a single Christian was killed when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem.

But this is a warning for us as well. Every time we see a disaster, large or small, from a car crash to a hurricane we should see it as a warning to us. We are to repent of our sins. We are to seek Christ’s forgiveness. We are to amend our lives and live lives that reflect the reality of being Children of God.

It is only in repentance that we can avoid destruction. When the tsunami hit Indonesia a few years ago a passenger train was swept away and most of the people were killed. Among the dead was the Bishop of the Indonesian Lutheran Church and his wife. You might say that God did not protect them. But they were protected by God. He had forgiven their sins. They may have died. But they did not perish. They now live among the saints of heaven. They were ready for the end.

God uses the events of this world to punish and save, to warn and to preserve. When we see that one stone indeed is not left upon another, we are to know that this was the hand of God. We are to take that to heart. We are to cling to our Baptism, and flee to the Absolution and to the Supper. We are to cling to the forgiveness of our sins. I cannot promise that life will be easy. I cannot promise that God’s ravaging hand will not strike here, for reasons that we will never understand in this life. We might die. We might be left destitute. But in Christ, we will not perish. We will have life and have it abundantly. We will have the life that Christ gives through repentance and forgiveness. That life will not end, regardless of what happens here or there.
Amen!

Sermon for Nov 9

2010-11-15T12:47:00.000-08:00

Sermon
November Winkel
November 9, 2010
Text: John 20:19-13

Dear Friends in Christ,
Christ gives to His Church a great and precious gift. It is a gift that I think has been despised over the centuries. In my youth pastors were not confessors - they were counselors. Many pastors actually went and got degrees as counselors. And some claimed such degrees when they had not earned them. There was a very famous case in the Saginaw valley involving St. Michael’s, Richville and a certain Pastor McNutt. And yes, that is his real name. This fad had passed by the time I went to seminary. But we are still assaulted by the forces of Pietism and evangelicalism that both attack this gift of Christ - the gift of Holy Absolution.

In the Lutheran Confessions, both Luther and Melanchthon speak of Absolution sacramentally. Melanchthon uses a simple straight forward structure and calls it a sacrament, along with Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. It is Melanchthon who specifically terms it “Holy Absolution.” This is a radical departure from both Luther and the earlier terminology, wherein it had been termed penance or the sacrament of repentance. Melanchthon does this to show God’s work in the very title, rather than man’s work. And thus we also should prefer Melanchthon’s terminology - Holy Absolution. Luther speaks of only two sacraments. But a careful reading the Large Catechism section on Baptism shows that for Luther the first sacrament is really Baptism inclusive of repentance or Absolution. So Luther is, in essence, saying that Absolution is a Sacrament, but simply not giving it its own number. So the options the confessions give us regarding Absolution are to count it as a Sacrament in its own right, or to count it as a sacrament under the heading of Baptism. Luther indeed correct in noting that Holy Absolution is just the daily drowning of the old Adam. It is the living out of Baptism.

Why did God give this gift to the Church, to be carried out by it’s ministers? So that we would have the constant assurance and comfort that our sins are indeed forgiven. God has given us the authority to loose sins and set men free. We are told by Christ that this is as binding in heaven as it is on earth. So when we hear those precious words, we know that we have exactly what they say - forgiveness of our sins.

The Small Catechism makes a clear distinction between pastoral absolution and lay absolution. In the section on the Office of the Keys, it always prefaces the action with the phrase, when the ministers of God... The catechism does not ascribe the same to lay absolution. But we have understood that lay people are to absolve in an emergency, just as they are to baptize. And certainly all Christians are to assure one another of God’s grace and forgiveness.

So when should sins be confessed to another person, and when should they be confessed to a pastor in private confession? We confess to one another what we have done against that person. It is right to seek their forgiveness. Nor should we treat confession as an apology. We should not say, I’m sorry. We should say, I have sinned against you. On the other hand we go to the pastor as the representative of Christ, a modern day apostle in the sense of an officially authorized messenger. We go to the pastor for Christ’s forgiveness. So we go to our brother for their forgiveness, and to our pastor for Christ’s forgiveness. So there may be times when we confess the same sin twice - to our brother and to our pastor.

In a few weeks we will begin the season of Advent. However, Advent is a strange season. It begins before it begins. The official season is the four Sundays before Christmas. However, really the season begins yet in the old church year, including the last three Sundays. All of these seven Sundays focus on the theme of Christ coming. Advent is a season of penitential preparation. In fact, in the Church, penitence and preparation go together. We prepare by confessing our sins and receiving the Absolution. We prepare by being forgiven. And so today, I commend to you the importance of preparing our hearts in a truly Christ centered, Gospel focused, and God pleasing manner. Our hearts are prepared in Holy Absolution - the declaration that our sins are forgiven, in heaven and on earth.
Amen!

Sermon for November 6-7

2010-11-15T12:41:00.000-08:00

Sermon
The Feast of All Saints
November 6-7, 2010
Text: John 5:24-29

Dear Friends in Christ,
You children are loud enough to wake the dead! Did your mother ever scold you with that line? Did you ever scold your children with that line? My parents did. It is of course a false statement. The dead don’t hear. They are dead. Oh, perhaps with someone recently dead, the eardrum might still vibrate from various sounds, but there is no working nerves to transmit the signal and no brain to interpret the sound. They are dead. The remains are simply inanimate matter. The phrase itself hearkens back to superstitions that the living could disturb the spirits of the dead. Thus you walk quietly and reverently through cemeteries. This does not mean we should treat cemeteries with contempt, but rather that we should show proper respect for the memory, without bowing to superstition. Indeed a Christian cemetery, the old church yard, is intended to be a place of prayer. For the markers in such a place are a catalogue of the saints in heaven. This is why many cemeteries have strict rules about who can be buried there. You cannot bury the rank unbeliever among the faithful. And having grown up in a church that had a cemetery out back, this matter was the subject of more than one tense voters’ meeting.

Quiet, you’ll wake the dead. We can’t wake the dead. This is one of the absurdities of the WWJD bracelets. What would Jesus do if He encountered a funeral? He raise the dead person to life. What would Jesus do if a close friend died? He’d raise the dead person to life. Now you go and do likewise. It is what Jesus would do! But of course Jesus is God. We are not God. He can do things we cannot.

One wonders if Mary every ever said to Jesus; Quiet, you’ll wake the dead. Jesus literally does wake the dead with His words. I think of the Aramaic phrase Talitha Kum - little girl arise. But is was not just one little girl. Christ makes it clear in our text that all the dead hear His voice. All come to life. Death is not the end. For Christ calls all from the grave. An admiral in the navy ordered that when he died, his body was to shot out of a torpedo tub over the deepest part of the ocean, so that God could not find him to raise him for the judgement. Christ who created the depths of the oceans, knows exactly where he is. Some want to be cremated and their ashes scattered so that God cannot raise them again. But even this will not prevent God from raising them.

Our text is really sort of a double entendre. The dead will hear. Yes, indeed, the dead will hear. And not only those dead in the graves, but the dead who are still walking around on the earth. The dead who are alive also will hear the voice of Christ. Huh? How can the dead still be walking around? Christ talking about the spiritually dead - the unbelievers, those still trapped in their sins. Christ is talking about two different resurrections in our text. He is talking about calling people to faith in Him, and calling people from their graves. So Christ is speaking both ways in this text.

Why is it important that the spiritually dead hear the voice of Christ? First, we must say that every human being is born spiritually dead. We are all born dead in our trespasses and sins. Physical death is just the final consequence of spiritual death. The dead are dead. They cannot help themselves. They cannot make themselves alive. That which is not living cannot become living. Even Mary Shelly’s monster required Dr. Frankenstein to make it alive. See, even in the world of fiction it is understood that the dead do not make themselves alive. But Christ calls to us in the waters of Baptism and makes us alive. He raises us to life with him. Baptism is our resurrection from the dead. Thus we say, in the normal course of events, baptism is required for salvation. The dead cannot be saved. While this is not without exception, those are in God’s hands and not in ours.

Christ then moves from raising the spiritually dead to raising the physically dead. All the dead come forth for the judgement. Christ will then judge them. Our text says that we will be judged according to the good or evil we have done. But this must be understood in the light of the cross. Everything we do is sin. Our very best works are stills sins. We don’t have a pure heart. We do them for the wrong reason or for mixed reasons. Many times we ourselves don’t understand our own motivations. We don’t see that we are doing good with evil intent. This is because we have lied to ourselves. I’m no different than you in this. We have a limitless capacity to justify our own actions. So if we are judged purely and only by what we have done by our own power, we will be condemned. But you see, Christ looks at the actions of believers through the cross. The sin that we commit and mingle in with the good is removed. Christ then only sees the good. And thus, in Christ, we are judged righteous and enter the eternal wedding feast of heaven.

Why are we talking about Christ raising the dead today? We are celebrating the feasts of All Saints and the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. We are celebrating that the dead in Christ live. We are celebrating that we gather with them in the Divine Service around the throne of Christ. We are celebrating that we remain in communion with them.

In the Orthodox Church, there are many icons. Orthodox Christians will come in come into the building and kiss each of the icons of the saints. Why? Because they understand that those saints are presents there with them. They are greeting the saints as they would greet their brothers and sisters in Christ who are still upon the earth. This practice is very commendable on one level and fraught with dangers on the other. So no, I don’t suggest we copy it. But it is a good concept to understand. The saints of heaven are here. My father Marvin, by brothers Danny, and Mark, my sister Sandy, my father-in-law John, my mother-in-law Peggy, are all here. Your friends, siblings, spouses, children, are all here. All who died in the faith are here right now. When we take the body and blood of Christ, they are at the table with us. At no time are we closer to our departed loved ones than when we take the Lord’s Supper.

Quite, you’ll wake the dead! We’re glad Christ didn’t listen to that admonition. For He calls the dead to life. He called us to life. That is our hope.
Amen!

It's Done!

2010-11-03T09:41:00.001-07:00

The election of 2010 is in the history books... well sort of. There are a few close races to recount and there will be legal challenges, in a couple places I'm sure. Two big surprises. First, the defeat of Jim Oberstar in Minnesota and the survival of Harry Reid. Considering that Angle was up in all the polls I saw, one has to wonder to what extent voter fraud played a role. In Wisconsin, other than Secretary of State, the Republicans won all the state wide races. They also took control of both houses of the legislature. Two locals, Erik Severson and Ron Rivard played a role in that by wining their assembly seats.

Winning is one thing. Now they must govern. The key is to keep the promises that have been made. If the Republicans cut spending, cut taxes, and cut regulation and this results in job growth in Wisconsin, they will control things for a very long time. If they fritter this away, as has so often happened, by not fulfilling their promises, they won't last long.

November 2010 Newsletter

2010-11-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

From the Disk of the Pastor November 2010

Dear Friends in Christ,
Christ gives us salvation as a free gift. We do nothing to earn this. It is simply received by all who trust in Christ. In fact we can do nothing to earn this. God needs nothing from us. There is nothing we can do for God. Christ then would have us reflect the mercy He has given us to our fellow man. So then we speak of our duty to our neighbor. One of those duties is to be a good and loyal citizen of the nation in which we reside. What that means will vary greatly depending upon the country. A monarchy would have different requirements than a republic. We, of course, live in a federal republic. A federal system is one where several independent levels of government function together at the same time. In our case, we have national, state, and various forms of local government. We almost all have two levels of local government - county and town or municipality. (City or village.) Each of these has a reserved function, into which the others are not to tread. As we are both a federal system and a republic, we get to vote for all these different government officials. As Christians we should consider it a God given duty to vote, even in the most minor of elections. While this is a duty, it also carries with it a responsibility to be informed. So we should know who the candidates are and where they stand on the various issues. This is sometimes quite difficult to do, though the internet has made it easier. This is particularly true in our area where our print media does only a limited job, and there are really no other local media sources.

As Christian voters we take Christ with us into the public square. We are to vote our beliefs. By this I don’t mean that the church is to take over the government. But if we know that Scripture teaches that something is wrong and destructive, we should vote for candidates who share that view. It’s that simple. These candidates may be Lutherans or belong to another church. They may even be non Christians - just so long as they share our view on what is right. We should never vote contrary to what the Bible teaches us is right or wrong.

One issue I don’t think has weighed heavily enough on the consciences of most Christian voters is that of life. God is the author of all life. We are made in the image of God. It is never man’s place to take a life. Because of sin in the world, God permits just a few narrow exceptions - self defense and those acting lawfully as police or military, including, if human laws allow, capital punishment. Other than these narrow exceptions, human life is never to be taken, from conception to natural death. Abortion, except to save the life of the mother, is always excluded. Euthanasia, that is the killing of the elderly and infirm, is also forbidden. Rather than kill the elderly, we are to care for them with grace and dignity.

As Christians we have a duty to uphold life when we vote. But there is more to this. It’s not just the specific acts in question. It is about a whole world view. Our founders believed that every individual person has dignity and value. They embodied this in the Declaration of Independence when they said... “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights...” All people, no exceptions. This idea was drawn from the Bible. Jefferson was not a Christian, but he had a Christian world view. When considering law in all areas, how a person views life will effect how he/she votes. Understanding man as having intrinsic value and seeing man as a commodity are radically opposing ideas. Pro abortion legislators will also, likely, support other measures that attack the dignity of man, in all areas, from the environment to job creation. So it is imperative that we elect pro life people to office. God is pro life, and so also should we be pro life. And one’s attitude toward life will determine their views on nearly every other area governmental activity. So yes, it is our duty to vote, and to vote for life.

IN CHRIST,
Rev. Jody R. Walter

Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:104-105

Sermon October 31, 2010

2010-11-01T17:49:00.000-07:00

Sermon
The Festival of the Reformation
October 31, 2010
Text: Romans 3:19-28

Dear Friends in Christ,
A day like this poses a problem for the preacher. Do you tell the story of the Reformation and preach a rather poor sermon because you took so much time telling the story, or do you simply preach the text and leave everyone wondering what you are celebrating? Inevitably, you try to strike a balance. You succeed this more or less depending on the year.

Reformation Day marks the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther posting his 95 Theses or statements on the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg. That seems like a mundane event. Such a posting must have happened a dozen or more times a year in the university town. But this day, someone unknown to history recognized their potential importance, copied them down and took them to a printer. They were quickly translated from Latin into German and circulated throughout Germany. What followed was an explosion of nuclear proportions. The western Church shattered like a piece of glass.

Luther was a reluctant and a conservative reformer. He wanted the church look as close to what it had looked before. He retained everything that he could - even some things that did not have Christ’s clear command. For example, in Luther’s day one had to come to private confession before coming to the Lord’s Supper. They retained the same vestments that they had always worn. The liturgy was largely unchanged, though some parts were now in German. Some parts were left in Latin. Many thought that Luther didn’t go far enough. Some wanted to purge the church of everything Roman. Some wanted revolution. Some wanted to completely withdraw from the world. So the majority, around Europe who broke from Rome did not follow Luther. Thus we have many confessional groups that formed at that time, with names like Reformed, Presbyterian, Anglican, Mennonite and so forth.

The Christian Church in 1517 was nearly 1500 years old, having been born on Pentecost in the year 33 A.D. With the collapse of the Roman Empire that took place in the 400's, a great deal of learning was lost. Distant Ireland became the place where books were preserved for future generations. In the years that followed, many priests could not read, let alone the people. In this context, many of the things that were taught changed. But there were also those who remembered the truth. There were those few who read the Scriptures. You had competing schools of theology. These often attached themselves to the various monastic orders. Dominican scholars like Thomas Aquinas were prominent. They stressed the importance of good works and dependence upon the church. That dependence upon the church, over the centuries transformed from trust in the Word preach and the Sacraments administered to trust in the earthly institution. Others, like the Augustinians and the Franciscans gave the grace of God a higher place. Two point we must take from this. First the true theology was preserved but in isolated places like the Augustinian monasteries. Secondly, this situation confused church officials, including the Pope himself, who initially saw Luther’s complaint as nothing more than an Augustinian versus Dominican dispute.

How was Luther revolutionary? He made his arguments from Scripture in the language of the people. He didn’t just dispute with scholars. Luther was one of the few men who had read the text of Scripture and one of the even fewer who could read it in Greek. He would soon master Hebrew as well. In 1522, Luther published his translation of the New Testament. The whole Bible followed twelve years later. With the use of the printing press and movable type, a technology less than a century old, Luther’s work spread to all who could read and in many cases all who could hear. Now all could see what Luther himself had found when he studied the Scriptures.

For Luther, the key was his study of the book of Romans in preparation for his lecture series of 1515 - 1516. Here he found the whole counsel of God in digest form, clearly articulated. The text confirmed something he already believed - that God is indeed holy. God hates sin and those who sin. He learned something else that had understood intuitively. The grip of sin is unbreakable. It is hopeless for man to struggle against sin. We cannot do it. Thus all man are lost and damned. All men are consumed by their sin. St. Paul puts simply, “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God... all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...” St. Paul tells that the works of the law cannot save us. We cannot make up for our sins. Even if we committed no actual sins, we would still be born under the curse of Adam’s sin. We human beings had no answer, no way to free ourselves. But God has a simple and elegant solution, as St. Paul also explains. “[All] are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” Propitiation is one those twenty dollar words. Maybe with inflation it’s a hundred dollar word. It means satisfaction. Christ’s blood satisfies the demands of God’s law. Christ’s blood pays the full debt of our sins. All who trust in Christ as Savior from sin and death, have this as a free gift.

The danger, as Luther quickly realized with his own parishioners, is that many will treat grace casually and live as libertines. We struggle with this to this day. That is why we must understand what St. Paul means when he speaks of the Glory of God. God is holy and righteous. God is to be feared. His retribution is limitless. We see this in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues wrought against Egypt, and the slaughter of the Assyrian army before Jerusalem. We ought to have great fear of coming under God’s anger. The grace of God should not remove that fear. This is what happens when people become libertines and wantonly sin. They have no fear of God. The fear of God is to remain. But, the grace of God is our hope in the face of our terror. We are right to be terrified of God. We are right to tremble before the holy things of God, such as His Word and Sacraments. Luther himself, never lost his fear of God. He continued to warn about the wrath of God until the day he died. But He also spoke the sweet words of Grace. God has put away your sins, in Christ Jesus, you will not die.

So how can we summarize the Lutheran Reformation? What does it mean for us. We still have churches and clergy. We still have liturgy. We still are dependant upon God’s Word and Sacraments. Luther did not proclaim an end to all structures or total freedom. But He did restore a balance to the Church. God is still be feared as our righteous and holy judge. But God is also be loved, as the One who Sent His Son, God in the flesh, to die in our place and pay for our sins.
Amen!

Sermon for October 23, 2010

2010-11-01T17:48:00.000-07:00

Sermon
The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost
October 22-23, 2010
Text: Luke 18:9-17

Dear Friends in Christ,
Our first reaction might be, not another sermon on the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Pastor we know that one. Yes, but this is a seminal text. It explains in the clearest terms the nature of the Gospel. It also barbeques the conscience of every person. It is a portion of Scripture than no one can read and come away unscathed.

What is the point of this parable? What was Jesus’ target? He was going after the self righteous. He was attacking those who thought that they could please God by their own power and machinations.

In Jesus day, there were several groups that thought of themselves as religious reformers. You had the Essenes who said that Jerusalem and the temple was so corrupt it was beyond cleansing. There was no way to reform the temple. So they went out into the desert, separating themselves from the corruption of the temple, and preparing themselves to receive the Messiah. John the Baptist might well have been raised in an Essene community. But Scripture does not record a single encounter between Jesus and the Essenes. The next group of would be reformers was the Pharisees. They still had hope that the Temple could be saved - by them of course. They would restore Israel to obedience to the law. In fact they would go beyond the law to make certain that they were actually doing everything right. They made new laws to protect God’s commands. And they were very careful to keep away from anyone who was deemed a sinner. This would be anyone who wasn’t a Pharisee. They were certain if they did this, they would purify the nation so that the Messiah would come, trash the Romans, and make Judah the new power in the world.

Why were they so convince that this was the Messianic age? First, they new the Scriptures. The Messiah, that is the Christ, was to come during the time of the fourth empire, according to the Prophet Daniel. Then the Messiah would come and smash that empire into little pieces. First was the golden empire - Babylon. Then came the silver empire - Persia. After this came the bronze empire - Alexander’s Macedonia, and the successor kingdoms that followed. Finally would come the iron empire - Rome. But there was more to this, I am certain. Word of strange events passed through Judea. A barren old woman gave birth to a son. His father prophesied that this child would be a prophet of the Most High. It caught people’s attention because the man had been struck dumb and suddenly, without warning, broke out in his prophetic song, at the time of his son’s birth. Now it was the forth decade after these events. But people remembered them, I am certain. There were people who witnessed these things that were still alive. There also were probably stories about a baby born in a stable and angels appearing to shepherds. But my guess is that these were less well known. It was the birth of John the Baptist that primed the pump of messianic frenzy that still had not burned out. Now remember the Pharisees saw themselves as the religious reformers who were going to bring in the Messianic age, by their work.

Christ tells a simple parable. A Pharisee and a Publican or tax collector went to the synagogue to pray. Now to the Pharisees, the Publicans were the lowest of the low. They worked for Rome and got rich at the expense of their own people. They were invested in the status quo, while the Pharisees wanted to change things. The perception was that they were all crooks as well, collecting more taxes than they were required. In fact, I suspect that most of them were honest civil servants. Some were dishonest to be sure. But most were probably honest. Tax collecting, in those days, was a lucrative business. Typically they collected a market tax. To enter the market you had to pay a tax. If you were a vendor you probably paid a higher tax. The tax collector had a quota dictated by Rome. Anything above this amount he could keep. In many cases, one could get wealthy just doing it above board. The fact that Publicans were hated was in part due to the fact that they were in bed with Rome and also that they were rich. In other words it was the same kind of class warfare that we see in our political debates today. It was false then, as it is false now. But nevertheless, to a Pharisee, a Publican was the worst of sinners.

When the two men pray, the Pharisee boasts how good he is. The Publican prays for forgiveness. Christ then says something stunning. The Publican, the tax collector, the sinner, is right with God. But the Pharisee, who thinks that he has kept all the laws, is not right with God. The Publican trusted in the mercy of God. He was not disappointed. He asked and he received. The Pharisee relied upon his own works. These cannot stand. Why? Because everything we do is tainted by sin. The Prophet Isaiah tells us that all our righteous acts are as unclean rags before God. (Is 64:6) Isaiah is talking about the good things that we do - the very best that we do. The very best of our works are like medical waist before God. So the works the Pharisee was boasting about were worthless.

This parable is unique in its application. There is no character that corresponds to God, as would usually be the case. We are the Pharisee. We always want to show off how good we are. We always want to claim something by right before God. God we’ve earned this or that. We need to be the Publican. So in this parable Christ contrasts who we are by our sinful nature, with who we ought to be. We are to be beggars, as Luther said. We are to bring nothing before God other than our sin, for which we beg forgiveness. Only when we are empty of self, can we be filled with Christ. Only when we see our need for God’s forgiveness will we receive it. Any who think that they don’t need to be forgiven will be cast out from God’s presence. This is a stern warning to us. Often it is the most religious who turn to themselves. It is the most religious who get caught up in what they are doing for God. The Pharisees then and now have no place for a Christ who dies for their sins. And yet, that is exactly the thing every son of Adam and every daughter of Eve needs.

The message of parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector is a simple one. But it gets right to the heart of our faith. It divides heaven and hell, life and death. Those who turn to themselves and their own works will be condemned by God. Those who come as beggars, empty of self, and seeking grace, will be saved. It is that simple. The problem is that we are always fighting this battle. We want to be the proud Pharisee boasting before God. We need to be the humble Publican, begging that God would have mercy on me, a sinner.
Amen!

Sermon for October 17, 2010

2010-10-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

Sermon
The Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost
October 16-17, 2010
Text: Luke 18:1-8

Dear Friends in Christ,
If Jesus were around today, one has to wonder whether elected officials wouldn’t be the butt of many of His commentaries. How many elected officials have we had over the years who wanted people’s votes but then did nothing for those who elected them? Or who actually worked against the interests of their voters. In the past, many politicians could hide what they were really doing. Only those who took the time and expense to get their hands on actual bills and read them, knew what was happening. But in our day, the internet is exposing some of this nonsense. We can find out the voting record of our officials just by a few clicks of a mouse. I suspect that this part of what is happening this election cycle. Enough people have become informed about what happening to force changes. The longer term question is whether this round of reformers will actually reform or be corrupted by the system as previous reformers have been. Will they continue to listen to the people of this nation or will become insulated politicians who line their pockets and ignore the people who elected them? I suspect Jesus would have had something to say about that.

Jesus uses an example from the political realm of His own day. There was a corrupt judge. Nothing unusual there. Many judges were corrupt. All too often in world history has justice been about who you are, who you know, and how much money you have. This judge has a widow who keep pestering him. Widows in that time had no power or influence. She probably didn’t have a lot of money. Judges usually ignored widows. But this widow persists. She just keeps bugging him, until he finally has had enough and grants her petition. He doesn’t do it because it is right. He does it so that she’ll go away and stop bugging him. Let us change the parable. Let us say that the judge was a righteous man. What would happen? The widow would come to him and he would hear her case. If it has merit he would immediately rule in her favor. The matter would be finished. Why would he do it? Because it is simply the right thing to do. She would not have to pester the judge night and day.

This parable is unique in that it doesn’t exactly follow the normal rules. One of the ways we interpret the parables, is to place ourselves into the story. Clearly, we are the widow. But the unrighteous judges has no parallel in the kingdom of God. Why? Because the judge is Christ. He is a righteous judge. We don’t have to storm the gates of heaven. We don’t need to pray on our knees for twenty hours straight. We don’t need prayer vigils. We lay the matter before Christ and we know that He will do for us, immediately, all that is good and right. He will not delay acting on our behalf. If it appears that God has delayed, it is only because God, even in this is acting for our good.

This parable is often misunderstood. Some will say it teaches us to be persistent in prayer. Rather, it teaches us to pray. The point is that even the unrighteous, on earth, can be worn down. You can even get your plea answered by the unrighteous. Certainly, God who is righteous will answer without the pressure applied to the unrighteous. Thus we can be confident when we pray. We know our righteous Lord will not forget us. He hears and answers.

One of the popular things these days to post prayer requests on Facebook. And everyone responds that they are praying for you or your loved one. This not a bad thing in itself. But some seem to feel as though more prayers change the mind of God. Now a high school and college friend reported that his mother is in ICU. This is a lady who went to the same church as Bonnie did, when she was growing up. Now, probably hundreds of people are praying for her. Multiple churches are praying for her. What if she dies? Does that mean God didn’t hear all hundreds of prayers? No. He heard every prayer that was offered by a Christian in her behalf. What it means is that God knows that this is what is good and right for her and her friends and family. We can be absolutely certain that God will do what is good right in each case.

Well, if God will do what is good and right in each case, why do we pray at all? Why don’t we just leave it to God? Well, first because we are commanded to pray. Now, when we pray, we are teaching ourselves that these things are in God’s hands. We are reminded that life, death, our daily bread, the heath of our church, and all things, are in God’s hands. There is a saying - prayer changes things. Actually, what prayer changes is us. It teaches us how totally reliant we are upon God. We have nothing apart from God. We are nothing apart from God.

How is it that sinful man can pray to a holy and righteous God? This is where prayer connects to justification. Christ died on the cross as payment for our sins. He rose to life for our Salvation. In Baptism we are adopted as sons of God. In Baptism, what Christ did on Calvary become ours. By taking our sin from us, Christ makes us holy and righteous before God’s judgement. Thus we can approach God’s throne of grace and mercy. We can come to Him with our concerns and lay them before Him. Christ and our heavenly Father answer our prayers, in grace. We know that. Thus we can be bold to pray, knowing that the One who died for us will answer with all that is good and gracious.

The final verse of our text is a chilling warning. Christ asks if He will find anyone who believes in Him when He returns at the end of time? Indeed Scripture speaks of the Church that survives to the end of time as a mere remnant. I suspect is that this will come about because of false doctrine. The church will appear full. Just like we see the televangelists and the mega churches of today. They have people galore. They take the collection with ten gallon trash cans - and they are filled each week. But is this the Christian Church? Sadly, in most cases no. They are preaching self righteousness and new age mantras. There are all sorts of names, word faith movement, purpose driven, emergent church, and so forth. All of these are outright attacks on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So what I think Christ is telling us here, is that sure they’ll be a lot of people who call themselves Christians, and think that they are Christians, who are not. The Church will appear to have triumphed, but will have utterly failed. It will have failed because it no longer preaches Christ crucified for the forgiveness of our sins.

God gives us a great gift. We, as His adopted sons, can come before him and lay all our concerns before Him. We do this knowing that He already, before we ask, will do all that is good, right and gracious. He does this because He is both righteous and loving. Prayer, like all good things, is about God. It is about His grace and His love. We can trust this, because the grace and love of God are most reliable things in all reality. Amen!

Millard Obama

2010-10-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

Millard Fillmore was the 13th president of these here United States. Many regard him as the least successful of all U.S. presidents - until recently. The Millard Fillmore Society was created to honor the memory of this president and to recognize the value of mediocrity in general.

There have been several good attempts to dethrone old Millard over the years. Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan made back to back attempts in the 1850's The strongest run was made by James E. "Jimmy" Carter. But old Millard still sits there atop the heap of presidential failures. Critics say he remains there because he can't decide if he should go or stay.

But alas his run at the top of just middlin men, might well be over. The Millard Fillmore Society is considering whether to change their name to the Barack Obama Society. It just goes to show that no matter how bad you are as president, someone will honor the memory of your achievement.

For more information go to: http://millardfillmoresociety.org/

Women Vote Project Idiocy

2010-10-14T11:40:00.000-07:00

Well, the world of political slander is going hot and heavy. The Women Vote Project is in full attack mode against Sean Duffy. They are trying to convince voters to vote for Democrat Julie Lassa based on an outright lie.

This should not surprise us when we understand that the Women Vote Project is none other than EMILY's List - also known as the yeast infection crowd. (EMILY's List is actually an acronym for Early Money Is Like Yeast. Considering the damage this radical pro abortion group does, the effect is more like a yeast infection.) They are miss representing themselves from the start by not disclosing who they really are. So why shouldn't they tell lies about candidates?

They start with a quote from Sean Duffy, most assuredly taken out of context. They quote him saying that he can't create jobs. Duh!!! Neither can Julie Lassa. Government does not create jobs. Government can kill jobs by high taxes and over regulation. But they cannot create jobs. All government can do is keep taxes and regulation under control so that the private sector can create jobs. We don't need special programs that offer loans to small business or some other big government gimmick. We need low taxes and less intrusive regulation so that small business can flourish. Sean Duffy gets this. Julie Lassa is still clueless about how jobs are really created.

Integrety?

2010-10-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

Ann Hraychuck just sent out a flier that says that she has the integrity to resist special interest groups. But she has clearly shown that she does not have the integrity to stand up to the Democrat leadership in Madison. Nor does she have the integrity to stand up for concealed carry, even though she says she is for it. Nor does have the integrity to stand in defense of the unborn. So what kind of integrity does she have?

Sermon for October 10, 2010

2010-10-14T09:42:00.001-07:00

Sermon
Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost
October 9-10,2010
Text: Ruth 1:1-19a

Dear Friends in Christ,
What was life like in Israel in about the year 1300 B.C.? The book of Judges gives us an account of some of the big geo-political events. But Judges does not give us a picture of everyday life. In this, the book of Ruth is unique. Here we have common people going about their affairs. We see a picture of life in Israel during the period of the judges.

The setting is a little village called Bethlehem Ephretha. It is just south of a Jebusite settlement called Salem or Jerusalem. The name means House of Bread. It was a common name, there were many Bethlehem’s in Israel. But this one has a second name to distinguish it. It is called Ephratha, the fruitful one. It is the place where Jacob buried his beloved Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. But Bethlehem was a village in the tribe of Judah. Judah, of course was born of Jacob’s first wife, Leah.

A man named Elimelech left Bethlehem during a famine and went to live in the land of Moab. This is just the other side of the Dead Sea. The Moabites are descended from Lot, though an act of incest with his oldest daughter. They were not Canaanites, though they were pagans. They had adopted the Canaanite gods. The Israelites were warned not to marry foreigners who would lure them into the worship of their gods. But the sons of Elimelech did just that. We don’t know if they became idolaters. All we do know is that Elimelech and his two sons died. His wife, Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem. The two daughter-in-laws, Orpah and Ruth start out with her. They were unlikely to marry again in Moab. Widows were treated terribly - even young widows. Many were forced into prostitution. This was also true in Israel. Noami bids them to return to their homes in Moab and plead for mercy from their families. Orpah does. But Ruth begs to remain with Naomi. Then she says something extraordinary. “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” She is begging to become an Israelite. - a true Israelite.

Back in Bethlehem, she goes out and gleans in the fields. Now she could have simply entertained the workers and been paid well. But she did not. She chose the more difficult path of gathering grain. Israelite law required the farmers leave the edges of the fields for the poor. Some followed this, some did not. She caught the attention of a man named Boaz. Now, Boaz is the son or descendant of Salmon and Rahab. Rahab, you will recall, was the prostitute who hid the spies in Jericho. Salmon was one of those spies. Rahab likewise placed her trust in the true God and became an Israelite. Boaz took note of Ruth and ordered his men to protect her. This was important as some would have tried to use her as a prostitute. He also instructed his men to leave extra grain for her to harvest. After this, Naomi instructs Ruth to ask Boaz, a kinsmen of hers, to redeem her from widowhood. Again, this was required by Israelite law, but many did not follow it. Boaz indicated that he could not because there was a closer relative. But Boaz went and confronted this man, who, in front of the village, surrendered his rights to Ruth. Boaz then took Ruth as his wife. From the line of Boaz and Ruth would come the kings David and Solomon, and all the kings of Judah that would follow. And eventually, from their line would come the Christ.

Ruth, though born a Moabite, was a true Israelite. Romans 4:16 says: “That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.” St. Paul here is explaining how Jews and Gentiles were both descendants of Abraham. Those who share Abraham’s faith, are his children, down to the present day. Christ Himself calls heaven “the bosom of Abraham,” in the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. When Ruth claimed Naomi’s God for herself, she was an Israelite. And some of those who did not trust in God, were not true Israelites, though they were born of that line. Abraham is the father of the faithful. Ruth became one of those faithful.

Throughout the period of the Exodus, the conquest under Joshua, and the time of the Judges, many foreigners became Israelites. Moses married twice, both times to foreign women. The second wife was probably a black African. The Gibeonites tricked Joshua into making a treaty with them. Once the deception was known, Joshua agreed to uphold the treaty so long as the Gibeonites were circumcised and became followers of the true God. They did. We’ve already mentioned Rehab, the prostitute from Jericho. All these came to faith and were rewarded with a place in the household of God. Thus it has always been. Israel was chosen not to be God’s exclusive people, but to stand before God on behalf of the whole world. The Church of today fulfills a similar role, when we pray for our leaders and our nation.

How can this happen that foreigners become Israelites? Because the household of God is gift of grace. God gives us a place in His household by the forgiveness of our sins. This gift is given to all men. It’s there for all of us. It is grasped by those who trust in these very promises of God. So it was there for Orpah. She too could have journeyed to Bethlehem and become an Israelite. Apparently, she did not trust in God. She did not have faith. Ruth did.

The story of Ruth is one of grace, forgiveness, restoration, and confession. St. Paul reminds us: “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 10:11) This was certainly true for Ruth. She boldly confessed the true God. She was not put to shame. She was given a place in the household of God, among the people of God. And so also for us. We confess Christ as our God, as Yahweh, as Savior, and we have all that Christ gives. We have forgiveness, we have a place among God’s people, we have eternal life in God’s household. All this is a gift of God’s grace, received through faith. Ruth trusted and was saved. So we also trust and are saved.
Amen!

Excitement in the Church

2010-10-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

This past summer, the Lutheran - Church Missouri Synod unseated it president and elected a different man to serve in that office. This is a rare event in our church body. As a delegate, when the screen came up with the vote totals, it took a moment for it to register what had happened. We replaced an aging bureaucrat with a man who had actually done something in the world.

Rev. Matthew Harrison was the director of LCMS World Relief. In this capacity he had a taken little agency and turned it into a major player. He had worked directly with Lutheran leaders all over the world.

The excitement over Pr. Harrison's election is greater than I have ever seen for a new synodical president. And it is not just us in the LCMS. Lutheran leaders from all over the globe are genuinely pleased at this turn of events. Several were present for his installation on September 11, 2010. The preacher for the service was Bishop Walter Obare Omzuma, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya. Leaders came of Siberia, India and other distant lands. We pray that this excitement leads to a renaissance for our church body.

Clueless Ann Still Clueless

2010-10-05T17:33:00.000-07:00

State assembly person, Ann Hraychuck is showing why she should never have been elected in the first place. She's bragging that she's introducing a bill to prevent companies from writing moving expenses off their taxes when they move out of state. This is called closing the barn door after the horse is out. Why didn't she do something to improve the business climate in Wisconsin so that companies don't want to move out of the state? Governor Doyle has waged a scorched earth campaign against business and all she can say is that it not right for companies to write off moving expenses on their taxes?

She further brags that Wisconsin has been cutting business taxes. First she neglects to say that we started with some of the highest business taxes in the nation. Second she neglects to say that neither she, nor the Democrat party had anything to do with these tax cuts. Most of these tax cuts took place under Governor Tommy Thompson. In fact these tax cuts were not supported by her, but many of them were enacted with the help of her predecessor, Mark Pettis.

Showing Hraychuck in an even darker light, she is reported to be having great difficulty in raising money in the district. According to reports, most of her campaign cash is coming from Madison and Milwaukee. That is fitting, in that she doesn't represent us. She never has. She's always been Madison and Milwaukee's choice to be our assembly person. She was bought and paid for by the Democrat leadership from day one. Maybe it's time we elected someone that actually would represent us here in northwest Wisconsin.

Political Nasties

2010-10-04T14:01:00.001-07:00

This October, the monsters running around might not just be kids in costumes. This promises to be the ugliest political season of my life time. We've already had a candidate's words edited to say the opposite of what he really said. We've had a candidate attacked for paying a maid a good wage, then firing her when she found out the maid was illegal. We've had a candidate pilloried for something she did in high school. I fear that this is not even the beginning. So brace yourself.

Who is responsible for this? To some degree all sides have done these things. We remember well Tricky Dick Nixon's special operatives who derailed the campaign of Edmund Musky. But at the moment, the dirty tricks are mostly on the Democratic side. Why? Because Republicans have more ammunition than they can use. All they have to do is tell the truth about their opponents. In fact, the records of some of the democratic candidates like our local assembly person, Ann Hraychuk are so bad, that if you tell the whole truth, you'll be accused of making it up.

Historically, Republicans have been uncomfortable with this sort of underhanded politics. We want to focus on the issues. Yes, there have been Republicans who play dirty. But its the exception not the rule. But it seems becoming the rule on the Democratic side of the aisle. Perhaps when all you have power, and power is your ideology, all you can do is play dirty. So hold on tight. The 2010 elections are going to be a wild ride.

Internet Bullies

2010-10-04T13:39:00.001-07:00

One of the problems with interactive blogs and e-mail lists is that certain people don't play nice. When this happens the people who should be posting are scared to post. This has destroyed more lists and blogs than I care to mention.

Now, how do I know that it's not just me? Perhaps Pastor Walter is the Internet bully. This must be carefully considered. I've certainly been involved in a good many conflicts in cyberspace. But in fact, most of my conflicts have been with five specific people. I've dealt with hundreds of other people with little difficulty. Many of these people have had views that are different than my own. But we are able to work through that without personal attacks and such.

Cyber bullies are often like NHL goons back in the days when they only had one referee. The goon would get away with his cheap shot and the person who reacted to defend themselves would get a penalty. What I have seen in practice is that those who start the conflicts on line are rarely blamed for it. Those who dare to stand up to the bullies and defend themselves are often treated as if they were the trouble makers.

Is there a solution. Yes, but it is not a popular one. Those who own or manage blogs and lists must carefully police them. They must be careful to identify those who are persistent problems and ban them from the forum. For very large blogs and lists this requires a lot of work. It's hard to do. Further, in some cases the list/blog owner is the problem. This makes any sort or proper monitoring impossible.

Because of some of the bad experiences that I've had on line, I got together with Pr. David Emmons and created the E-Pasture list. Lay people are invited to join. (Only those marked by previous bad behavior will be denied.) Pastors are likewise invited to join, but we do screen them carefully. So there is little bit of vetting process for pastors. We do this keep those who would offer a knee jerk reaction off the list. Pr. Emmons and myself promise to carefully monitor this list so that it is always a comfortable place to discuss Lutheranism.

If you are interesting in discussion Confessional Lutheran theology, practice and related church news, please contact me at voneisen@lakeland.ws

October 2010 Newletter

2010-10-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

From the Disk of the Pastor October 2010

Dear Friends in Christ,
We live in a sea of things that make us look in the wrong direction. In our own midst we have the battle for the Bible. This became so intense that I have seen churches that replaced the image of Christ with an image of the Bible on the altar. Such a thing is idolatrous. We don’t worship the Book. We worship the Christ who is revealed in the pages of that Book. Sacramental theology is also suspect in some circles. I knew an LCMS pastor, many years ago, that believed that anyone who was strongly sacramental, was a Seminex liberal. He honestly believed that trust in the Sacraments was a denial of Scripture. This is reinforced by pop evangelicalism that openly denies that God works through the Sacraments.

Yet, the sacraments, rightly administered, are one of the marks of the Church. Bishop Walter Obare Omzuma, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya, was the preacher for President Harrison’s installation. In his sermon, Bp. Obare went so far as to call the liturgy a mark of the Church. Our confessions do not list the liturgy as a mark of the Church, but he is essentially correct. The liturgy is about the right administration of the Sacraments. This is a little more complicated than it might seem. Nor is it just about the Lord’s Supper, as you might presume.

Baptism is lived in the Church. We mistakenly think of it as a one time thing. Rather, baptism continues to wash us daily. It is our adoption as sons of God. So we gather as the sons of God and approach His throne. How do we do that? In the baptismal name - that is in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is the name of God that was placed upon us when we were baptized. We now approach God through that name. This is baptism in action in our lives. The Church gathered is the assembly of the baptized. Otherwise it would be a blasphemous parody of church. The liturgy then, in this way, is the right administration of the sacraments.
The sacrament of Holy Absolution is actually an intrusion into the service. Originally, Lutherans practiced private confession. And people were expected to come to confession before communing. We see a vestige of this in the old practice of having people come and register for communion. Sadly, many pastors did not use this time for confession and absolution. Confession was added to the service, on a regular basis, when there weren’t enough pastors to cover all the pulpits. It has been done both at the beginning of the service and after the sermon. (In the LCMS German service, confession was after the sermon.) But here too we are establishing the terms of coming into God’s presence. We come as beggars, we come as publicans. We come seeking God’s grace and forgiveness, with nothing that is truly ours to offer back to God.

Then we come to the Holy Supper. This is the very body and blood of Christ. Luther once said that if a person is troubled by their sins, they should not look to the cross, but they should look to the supper. Here is where we become actual participants in the death of Christ on the cross. Here we claim this sacrifice as a credit to our account before God the Father. The liturgy is there to teach us what is happening. When we cut short the communion liturgy, we lose the understanding of what is happening. In a Christian world that denies the real presence of Christ, we need these liturgical structures more than ever to remind us that this is indeed the Holy of Holies, the very body and blood of Christ Himself for us to eat and drink.
Each day we are assaulted by all manner of false images of the Christian faith. Much that claims to be Christian in the United States is not. And much that is Christian, is wracked with severe errors that cause many to lose their faith. We must hold precious the structures of the liturgy and the centrality of the Sacraments in our lives. This is what makes us different, and more truly biblical, by God’s grace, than many others.
IN CHRIST,
Rev. Jody R. Walter

Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:104-105

Sermon for September 19, 2010

2010-10-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

Sermon
The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 18-19, 2010
Text: Luke 16:1-15

Dear Friends in Christ,
The history of the world’s navies is complicated. At no time is this more true than in the years after World War I. In those years naval goals became intertwined with diplomatic and economic goals. England the and the United States, in particular, did not want a naval arms race. This was sort of a foolish goal, but this was the thinking. Nations like Japan, however, were trying to gain ground. All the attention was focused on battleships. The U.S. was able apply enough pressure to force all the major powers to sign the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. This basically made it a rule that nobody could build any more battleships. A couple of countries were allowed to complete battleships that they had under construction. However, Japan, turned around and built heavy cruisers to the exact limits of the treaty. Secretly they were actually in violation. But this forced other nations to build cruisers that were also right to the limits. But in the end all this chicanery was meaningless. Battleships and cruisers were not nearly as important as another weapon that none of the major planners of the world’s navies had considered - aircraft. The next war would not be fought with battleships. The major naval weapon system was the aircraft carrier. So everybody was looking at the wrong thing.

This is what happens with this text. Everybody looks at the wrong thing. There is something that would have been obvious to Jesus’ hearers, that is not obvious to us today. Jesus tells a curious parable. He tells this right after the parable of the Prodigal Son. The context is a familiar one. The Pharisees are complaining that Jesus receives sinners.

The parable’s main character is owner. We tend to get bogged down on the manager and what he’s doing. But we need to be looking at what the owner does and says in the parable. That’s where the real action is.

A manager is dishonest. He has, as they say, sticky fingers. The owner gets wind of this and demands an accounting. The man fears that he will be caught. But he places his hope on the master. It looks like he’s placing his hope on his master’s debtors. But that is not the case. He calls the debtors in and forgives part of their debt. Now they must believe that this is the master’s orders. They would never go along with such a scheme if they didn’t. For if it wasn’t the masters orders, they would be caught and thrown into jail. Indeed, the manager himself ought to be thrown into jail. He’s a thief. But the manager knows his master. The master wants to be known as a generous man. He cannot renege on what the manager had done without looking greedy and mean. Nor can he throw the manager in jail or even fire him. For that too would look bad. The owner would not look gracious and generous. The parable doesn’t tell us what the manager did. But I could well picture him giving the manger a different job that looks like a promotion, but at the same time removes the temptation to steal.

Now you might say, but it says that the debtors would welcome them into their houses. Yes, but that does not mean that he would live with them. Rather it means he would continue to have fellowship with them. It would mean jail for someone to house the manager if the master had fired him. They would have no further dealings with him. Rather, they would continue to welcome him as a guest to their tables, because he would still be in favor with the master.

So what is the message that Jesus is trying to communicate with this seemingly strange parable? The owner, the master, is overwhelmingly generous. Anyone who bets on the grace of the master will be rewarded. They will not be disappointed. Only those who reject the master's grace will be disappointed. When we are in heaven we are not going to look over at hell and say, oh God should have saved that one. We’ll know that those in hell placed their trust in their own works and rejected the grace of the master, Jesus Christ. Another underlying point here is the nature of these who are saved. The saved are no more righteous than those who are condemned to hell. Rather they are like the dishonest manager, and place their trust in the grace of the master.

The reverse of this is the pharisees then and now, who place their trust in themselves. They believe that they are fulfilling the law. We must see that we do not fulfill the law. At most we can create an outward facade. And in fact the more we try to hide our sins, the more corrupt we become. In the modern nation of Israel it is said the more orthodox the rabbi, the more often he comes to the brothel. I was rather amused by appearance of such pietism in local politics. The village board decided to deny the new pool hall a beer license. We can’t have beer in there, they’re might be kids in there - as though a kid has never seen someone drink a beer. Which leads to the old joke about how much beer you need to bring when going fishing with a Baptist. If there three Baptists in the boat with you they won’t drink any beer - it against their religion. If there are two Baptists in the boat with you, they’ll each have one and agree to not tell anyone. If there’s only one Baptist in the boat with you, you’d better bring two cases of beer. This is what happens when you try to look righteous. It ends up being a sham.

What should we do instead? We should be like the dishonest manager and trust in the grace of God. We should live lives of true righteousness in the forgiveness of our sins. It’s like the sermon that Luther is depicted giving in the movie. “When the devil confronts you with your sins, you say, yes, I’ll admit I deserve death and hell, but what of it? I have One who advocates for me, Jesus Christ. Where He is, there I will be also.” We are sinners. We are thieves, murderers, adulterers. We are these things because this is what is in our hearts. But we have a gracious God who would save us from sin. He would give us eternal life at His banquet table. But not because we are so great. Rather because we trust in His grace. He saves us. We do not save ourselves.

When looking at the Bible, it is important to understand what we should be looking at. Most times it is obvious. But this text is a bit deceptive to the modern reader. Christ is not praising dishonesty. Rather Christ is telling us that sinners who trust in the grace of God will be saved. This parable is natural follow up to the Prodigal Son. In both cases the sinner in the story sees his own helplessness. He then places his hope in the grace of God. He is not disappointed. Nor will we be disappointed when our trust is in Christ alone.
Amen!

Sermon for September 12, 2010

2010-10-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

Sermon
The Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
September 11-12, 2010
Text: Luke 15:1-10

Dear Friends in Christ,
In one scene in the “Lord of the Rings” movies, the king of Rohan asks one of his aides, “Who am I?” The aide is a little taken aback and doesn’t know what to say. He simply replies; “You are the king, sire.” Who am I? It is a question that we often ask ourselves. Who am I that I should have such troubles? Or who am I that I should be so blessed? Who am I that I should be blessed to hear the Word of God throughout my life. Pastors must ask who am I that should presume to stand before the Lord’s throne and speak from the Lord’s pulpit? Who am I? It is a question that mocks us. It is a question we often ask and receive silence for an answer. And yet, how we answer this question will determine so much of our lives.

Who am I? This is the unspoken question that completely underlies the text. Everybody reacted as they did, based upon how they answered this question. The text has three people or groups of people interacting. How they act in the text is determined by how they have answered this question for themselves and for others - who are they?

The tax collectors come to Jesus and Jesus receives them. He has dinner with them. He teaches them and they eagerly hear Christ’s words. So how do the tax collectors answer the question. Who do they think that they are? Sinners. Sinners in need of a savior. They need forgiveness. They need hope. They were considered hopeless by the people of their day. They were reprobate - beyond redemption. They had sinned by collaborating with the Romans. But Jesus doesn’t treat them that way. He welcomes them. He offers them forgiveness and the hope of everlasting life.

What about the Pharisees and the scribes? Who did they think that they were? They were the righteous. They were without sin. They followed the law of Moses. But St. Paul, himself one of the most learned of all Pharisees, tell us: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20) So the Pharisees and teachers of the law thought that through the law, they could save themselves. How do they see Jesus? As a threat. He attacks the law by making it unattainable. He drives people to despair. But at the same time Christ flaunts the law by eating with sinners. How then did Jesus see the Pharisees? He saw them as sinners who did not see their own sins. They were self righteous which always means unrighteous. They were enemies of God. They were enemies because they misused the law. Instead of seeing the law as a mirror to examine their lives, they saw the law as something that they could actually do. What does St. John tell us? “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:8-9) Now none of us have ever heard that before, have we? The Pharisee were making God a liar by not acknowledging their own sins.

Now, we come to us. Who am I? Who is Jody Walter? Who is Bonnie Walter? (Name some other names.) We must each ask and answer that question. Our text actually gives us a good mirror, or foil. We can test ourselves against the text. We obviously are not Christ. That part of the answer is easy. So are we the Pharisees or the tax collectors? Who should we want to be? The tax collectors, of course. They were honest sinners. They came to Christ as beggars knowing that their was no good in themselves. All too often however, we find ourselves being the Pharisees thinking we can somehow please God by our own righteousness.

The law of God functions in several ways, both properly and improperly. We think of three proper functions of the law. The Pharisees were of course using the law improperly. In fact when we try to use the law, we almost always abuse the law. When the law is functioning properly we are not using the law, rather God is using the law upon us. The law is really something for God to use. And when He uses it upon us it functions in three ways. First it is a curb upon evil. God has built His law into the fabric of the universe and established the authority to restrain evil. So if you were a soldier or a police officer, God’s law would explain to you, your vocation. The law is a mirror. It shows us our sins. Then God uses the law to teach us His will. But only those who have seen their sins in the mirror of the law, can truly understand the will of God. The will of God flows out of forgiveness. It does not ever function apart from forgiveness. Obedience must always flow from the forgiveness of our sins. If we try to be obedient apart from forgiveness, we will only be self righteous hypocrites.

Jesus eats with the tax collectors because they understand that they have no hope in themselves. They need a Savior. Christ is that Savior. That’s why He came to Earth. That is why God dwelt with mankind. God came so that He could be our Savior from sin and death. God would pay the price of our rebellion. He would die on the cross in our place. Crucifixion, in the Roman system, was the death of rebel. Christ died as a rebel. He died because we are the rebels. But He did not die so that He could come and zap us. He came to die so that we would live.

So who am I? In my sins I am a rebel and whore. I am an enemy of God. In Holy Baptism I was reborn as a child of God. I was put into that room with the tax collectors and sinners. Of ourselves there is no hope. In ourselves there is only false hope that only leads to the fires of hell. But that’s the strange part about what Christ has done. It is those who know that they are sinners who are received by Him. Sin is a terrible thing. But to be placed into the company of sinners by Christ, is a good thing. For in that company of honest sinners, there is a certain hope. For those who know that they cannot save themselves have a Savior - Christ Jesus, our Lord. So who am I? A poor, miserable sinner, a beggar, who has nothing to offer God. Those who approach God in this way, are filled with hope, love, mercy, forgiveness, and life. So who am I? A redeemed sinner who lives because Christ is righteous in my place. So who am I? A redeemed sinner who lives because Christ lives for me.
Amen!

Sermon for September 5, 2010

2010-10-04T13:27:00.000-07:00

Sermon
The Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
September 4-5
Text: Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Dear Friends in Christ,
This is of course Labor Day weekend. This of course is ironic, since we don’t normally labor on Labor Day. In fact most of us don’t even know what it’s celebrating other than the end of summer. As a child, of course, I didn’t think the end of summer was much to celebrate. We had to go back to school. Playing baseball in front of the barn was more fun. Labor Day was created by American socialist to celebrate the labor movement in the United States. Considering the desolation organized labor has brought to states like my home state of Michigan, I’m not sure that’s much to celebrate either. Perhaps we’d be better off renaming it entrepreneurs day and celebrate innovation and industry. That would fit nicely with things like the State Fair.

There is another kind of labor that we as Christians are to be about. There is another kind of remembrance that needs to be front and center. The labor we are to be about is the study of God’s Holy Word. The remembrance we must have is the remembrance of what God has done.

The children of Israel were read to cross the Jordan into the promised land. Moses gathered them together and gave them the longest sermon ever recorded. It’s most of the book of Deuteronomy. Our text is climax of that sermon.

To whom was Moses preaching? These were people who were children when they left Egypt
or were born in the wilderness. Remember that the adults who left Egypt, except for Joshua and Caleb, all died in the wilderness because of their sins. They were people who had seen God’s mighty works in Egypt and in the wilderness. But would they remember what God had done for them? The answer is only partially. They remembered and remained faithful for themselves. But they did not see to the instruction of their children. It was not many years hence, that few remembered the mighty works of God. They turned to other gods and their sins multiplied. Faithful who cross the Jordan under Joshua’s leadership, soon became the craven, debauched idolaters of the book of Judges. The book of judges ends with the statement: In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25)

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. That statement needs some examination. It is not as straight forward as it appears. Why is it eye and not mind? And how would we render it today? The eyes for the Hebrews would have been used much like we use heart. Everyone did what was right in his own heart. Well, what is in the heart? Sin, idolatry, fornication, murder, theft, sexual perversion, and craven unbelief. So when we say that each person did was what was right in his or her own eyes or heart, it is saying that they did evil. They dwelt in their sins. They no longer even understood that they were sins. What would mind has signified? Knowledge. The mind knows. The people at the time of the Judges no longer knew what God had done. So their mind was not involved. They were acting mindlessly.

This leads us to examine for a moment the nature of faith. I caught an episode of The White Horse Inn on Pirate Christian Radio this past week. The regular panel was making the point that in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament, faith starts with the mind. Christian preaching in the New Testament starts with a testimony of facts. For example; Jesus Christ who was dead, rose to life again. The heart then follows the mind. It doesn’t always but in most cases it does. Consider for example the life of C. S. Lewis. Lewis was a bitter atheist who studied Christianity in great depth so that he could publically debate against Christians. He became so knowledgeable that he could destroy any argument put forward by his Christian opponents. But within his own mind, his knowledge of the Scriptures, destroyed all his arguments. So Lewis could defeat all his opponents, but he could not refute his own mind. The knowledge he possessed was overwhelming. Thus he became a Christian.

Are we really any different than the people do whom Moses was preaching? Are our hearts, of their nature, filled with anything other than sin? Of course not. We desire our own way, the way of sin and self. If we want Christ at all, it is simply as fire insurance. We don’t really want to live as His child. But what else in our hearts besides sin? Death. So when we choose our own hearts over the knowledge of Christ, we are choosing death, rather than life. One of the ways this culture of death takes over is through fads in the church. So many people and so many congregations are chasing the latest program and the popular gimmick. But these things do not expand our knowledge of Christ. In short, fadishness in the church leads to fatishness in the church - particularly in our minds. And we all know what cholesterol does to our brains. So we could say that fads in the church are spiritual cholesterol. Just remember, fadishness in the church lead to fatishness in the church.

Another point that needs to be made before we depart from this text, is that of choice. Who has a choice and who does not? Scripture never speaks of unbelievers having a choice. It is always believers who are presented as having a choice. Moses is here speaking to believers, or at least people who have the knowledge needed to believe. Okay, you believers in Yahweh, you decide if you are going stay with God or turn from Him. Moses is not giving this choice to the Canaanites. One who is floating in the middle of ocean, miles from any ships cannot decide to get on a ship. That option is not there for them. But a person on a ship can choose to jump off the ship. Coming to faith is not our choice. We are called by the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacrament. Faith is created by the Holy Spirit as knowledge is given to the mind and the heart follows. But one can take that God given life and commit spiritual suicide.

Are you going to choose life or are you going to choose death? This is the question Moses poses to the Church. Is it life that flows from the knowledge that Jesus Christ has died for our sins and gives us life as a free gift? Or is it going to be death that flow mindlessly from our hearts? Churches are dying. We hear about church bodies who will probably cease to exist in another decade or so. We’re talking about large and powerful church bodies like the Episcopal Church USA, the Presbyterian Church USA, the United Methodist Church and even perhaps the ELCA. And don’t assume that it couldn’t also happen to the Missouri Synod. Many local congregations are closing their doors forever. It is all happening because people have turned from the Word of God and no longer remember the mighty works of God. They no longer remember the Cross of Christ where our the price of our sins was paid. And thus I lay before the labor of the Church on this Labor Day weekend. We remember the mighty works of God by studying His Word. So which is it? Do we choose the death which flows from our own hearts? Or do we choose life and labor in the Word? Amen!

September 2010 Newsletter

2010-10-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

From the Disk of the Pastor September 2010

Dear Friends in Christ,
If you noticed your alphabet soup at lunch had a few more letters in it, you’re right. It does. As I am writing this the NALC - the North American Lutheran Church - is holding its constituting convention in Columbus, Ohio. (Having grown up in Michigan in the midst of the Bo and Woody Wars, one must ask; can anything good come from Columbus? Go blue! Beat those Buckeyes! Or as a common bumper sticker read; OhhowIhateOhioState.) The NALC is a break off from the ELCA. They have over 1100 delegates in attendance. I am assuming that represents congregations, probably pastoral and lay delegates. So at least over 500 congregations. If we project that out, the initial membership is probably in the 250,000 range - about half the size of the Wisconsin Synod (WELS). However, once formed, it is likely to grow very rapidly. Most of that growth will come from the ELCA. So as they grow the ELCA declines.

The ELCA had a net loss of 90,000 members in 2009. It is likely that NALC represents less than half of the losses that the ELCA will experience in 2010. A few congregations, like Zion Lutheran, in Mission Valley, Texas, have joined us in Missouri. Most ELCA congregations have lost individual members. In some cases the losses have been nearly half the congregation, as happened in Grantsburg. Some are forming new congregations and choosing to remain independent for the moment. Others congregations are leaving the ELCA but not joining one of these groups. It seems likely that at least one more church body will yet be formed from ELCA refugees.

How do we view this? Do we rejoice? Are we sad? The answer is yes. We are sad that relationships are shattered. We are sad that false doctrine is being promoted by church officials. We rejoice that some are turning back to the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. We must remember that this is not a game we’re trying to win. This is God’s Church. Our focus must always be on what this does to the proclamation of the Gospel.

Where is the NALC at theologically compared to the ELCA and the LCMS? They reject homosexual ordination and fellowship with the Episcopal Church (ECUSA). At issue on this second point it the teaching of Apostolic Succession. The Episcopal Church teaches that only those who can trace their ordination back to the Apostles through an unbroken string of hands are validly ordained. The ELCA had more or less accepted this notion when they went into fellowship with the ECUSA. On the flip side, the NALC does not recognize the Scriptural prohibition on the ordination of women. They still endorse the liberal method of interpreting the Scriptures. It is also felt that the NALC is theologically in motion. It is not now where it will be. And what direction it will move is not predicable. So at this moment there is no possibility of Altar and Pulpit Fellowship between the NALC and the LCMS. One cannot, however, rule that out in the future.

How should we speak to NALC people as we deal with them? We should be friendly toward them. It took great courage and sacrifice to get where they are now. We should encourage them to dig ever deeper into the Scriptures and the Confessions. Perhaps there might even be forums where we can do that together. Most of all, we should pray for them. They are our brothers in Christ. Yes, we are separated by doctrinal differences, but never forget that they are still our fellow believers in Christ.
IN CHRIST,
Rev. Jody Walter
Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:104-105

Sermon for August 29, 2010

2010-10-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

Because of a pulpit exchange Pastor Walter conducted services this week at Salem Lutheran Church, in Barron, Wisconsin.

Sermon (Salem, Barron)
The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 29, 2010
Text: Luke 14:1-14

Dear Friends in Christ,
The face of American Lutheranism is changing. Old bodies are breaking down. New bodies are being formed. More congregations than ever are choosing to be independent Lutheran congregations, rather than being part of a church body. There is a strong anti institutional attitude developing in both religious and secular politics. Ironically, this anti establishment attitude has been most strongly expressed, to date, by the Harry Potter books. But we see it also in the Tea Party movement. One aspect of this is that of generational change. In many ways, the world we live in is the one created for us in the late 1940's by the World War II generation. Attempts to create a new order in the 1930's were never quite completed. The ideas didn’t quite work when put to the test. In spite of all the New Deal programs, the U.S. remained mired in the Great Depression. Only after the war, when Truman eliminated war time taxes, did we finally see recovery. So it is this period, the late 1940's, when our world was really created. Structures were established, that would later be expanded. Those structures were copied in the church, the Missouri Synod. Where a generation earlier, the synodical headquarters was the president’s enclosed back porch, you now had a large bureaucracy. Soon there were also district offices with full time staffs. They mimicked government departments with many staff persons and many secretaries, and lots of paper work. Baby boomers were impatient to coopt these in institutions for their purposes, but in the end, made no effort to change them. To have the right people controlling them was enough. Now come the post baby boomers. Now they are taking the reigns and something is happening that terrifies many in the generations before them. Post baby boomers don’t want to control of the structures of church and state. We are the barbarians come to end them or radically change them. We don’t think like our parents or grandparents. We think like our great-great- great grandparents. And the world is holding its breath as they wonder what the changes will be.
The most obvious change is that the Missouri Synod replaced 67 year old Rev. Kieschnick with 48 year old Rev. Harrison. Age tells part of the story. But the paths of the two men to the presidency of synod tells another part of the story. Rev. Kieschnick worked up the ladder in the Texas district, until he became president of the district. From there he promoted himself around the synod and was elected president. Rev. Harrison was an inner city pastor at Zion, Fort Wayne, where several of our seminary professors are members. He began to write many articles and books on various theological subjects. He was selected to be the director of LCMS World Relief. This was a small little agency that didn’t do much. Under Harrison it exploded onto the scene, being front and center at nearly every disaster around the world. Harrison continued to write, translate, and edit serious theological works. As Rev. Harrison went around the country to promote LCMS World Relief people began to say, that this is the kind of man we should have as our synodical president - someone who has actually done something.
Front and center to this the work of mercy. As Christians we are called to have mercy upon our fellow man. Here we need to lay a careful foundation, however. Otherwise, we confuse mercy ministry with the Gospel itself. We come before God as beggars holding empty sacks. In the Divine Service, Christ fills our sacks with grace, mercy and forgiveness. We then go out into the world and share these things with our neighbor. Then we return to the Divine Service the next week with empty sacks and Christ fills them again. And again we go out into the world and again share grace, mercy and forgiveness with our fellow man. We are made right with God so that we can serve our neighbor.
Our text is about serving our neighbor. The context that Christ uses for this bit of teaching is a feast given by one of the Pharisees. He noted how they acted, how they sought to bring honor to themselves. Christ noted how this was just a social game, where one would invite a person to their feast, and then in turn expected to be invited to the other person’s feast when that came around. I remember as a child my parents asking themselves if it was their turn to visit or the other family’s turn to visit us. Christ then suggests something rather revolutionary. Instead of this social tread mill, why don’t we invite people who could not possibly invite us back? Why don’t we have compassion on our needy neighbors and feed them? This is one of the ways we empty that sack. The Apostle James points out to us that the mercy we have for others needs to be the mercy that they need right now. If its winter, we don’t just ask God to bless them and keep them warm. We give them a coat. We invite them inside to warm up. Or on a day like today, to cool off. This is not the Gospel. But it is mercy. And it is a reflection of the Gospel. Throughout the history of the Church such mercy has opened the door so that we could tell people about Jesus and the forgiveness He won for us on the cross.
At the root of this is grace alone. Christ saves us by bearing the entire cost Himself. We pay nothing. We receive forgiveness and life for free. We share these things with those in need without cost to them. We give as we have been given. This is important to understand. We have nothing to give. We ourselves are beggars. We can only give what Christ has given us. Since we give nothing of our own, we can claim no credit. We are simply sharing what Christ has given us. But wait a minute! How can we say this when we are talking about charitable gifts to others. We certainly have earned our money and our possessions. Not according to the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles Creed. As Luther teaches us, all things, even our material blessings come from God. God gives us a peaceful society. God gives us employment. God gives us rich soil, fish filled lakes, game filled forests, lumber and stone to build, as well as the knowledge and skill to use these things.
Pastor Harrison has laid this vision before us. It is his vision for the synod. But he does not ask us to embrace it because it is his idea. Rather we are to embrace mercy ministry because this is what Christ gives us to do. Mercy ministry is simply taking that sack which Christ has filled out into the world and sharing with all we meet. We are to provide mercy to all in need because Christ has already met all our needs. Christ has forgiven our sins and given us life everlasting at no cost to us. When we are people of mercy we are reflecting the mercy of Christ. We open the door for Christ’s Word to be shared. For feeding the hungry and clothing the naked is not the end. Rather it is the beginning of sharing Christ with the world. In mercy, we open the door so that people can hear that their sins are forgiven in Christ and that He would give them life everlasting. Amen!

Sermon for August 22, 2010

2010-10-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

Sermon
The Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
August 21-22, 2010
Text: Luke 13:22-30

Dear Friends in Christ,
Historically, this is the kind of text we would see in October. It is pointing us toward the judgement. So it is a little odd that we have this at this time of year, which has historically been focused on the mission and ministry of the church. This is where the three year lectionary still needs a little tweeking.

This text is about faith and salvation. In our age many people believe in universalism. Even within our churches we see people who say I don’t believe God would send anyone to hell. That wouldn’t be very loving. Aright, consider this. You have a faithful Christian, say a Ukrainian Lutheran, who spends years in the Gulag, though he has committed no crime. Now you say he must live with Stalin and all those who tormented him. Would that be loving? But that is exactly what one is saying when they insist that God condemns no one, that He saves everyone. They are saying the just must live with the unjust for all eternity. And of course it is not loving to place the faithful together with those who gave themselves over to evil. It is not loving because it is unjust. True love requires justice as well as love. God, out of love for His people, condemns the unrighteous to hell. So even God’s condemnation is an act of love - not love for those He condemns, but love for those He saves. He will not allow His people to ever again face their tormentors.

Luther spoke of the Gospel as a passing summer shower that comes and then is gone. That shower is just hitting Africa right now. It has largely departed Europe. It appears that we in America are on the trailing edge of the shower. We cannot count on the Gospel being preached and taught in the future. It is here now. This is part of the warning the Christ gives in our text. Those who don’t believe now may not get a second chance to come to faith.

Another aspect of this warning pertains to church membership. How often do people act as though they are saved because they are a member of this or that church. Perhaps they were confirmed and once communed. That would be the eating and drinking in Christ’s presence. The same would apply to someone claiming baptism as simple fire insurance. If we listen to the words of the baptismal rite, we learn that baptism is only the beginning of baptismal life. There is to be instruction and continued faithfulness.

Many Americans seek a vending machine Christianity. They want to push the button, get their eternal life policy and put it away in the lock box until it is needed. I took care of that church thing, I don’t have to worry about that anymore. Christ tells us that such as these will find themselves condemned. They will not be in heaven. God’s gifts of word and sacrament are intended to produce faith. Faith is knowledge of God and trust in Him. Such faith changes who we are and how we relate to other people. Those who claim Christ apart from faith in Him will not be saved.

The first sacrament most of us experienced was the Lord’s Supper. Probably, before our mothers knew that they were pregnant, we received the body and blood of Christ through our mothers. Shortly thereafter, we began to hear the Word of God. We would have received, along with our mothers, the Word of absolution. When we were born, we were baptized. All of these things are intended to produce faith in Christ. They all are vehicles through which the Holy Spirit works in us, producing such faith. As we continue to learn the Word, we understand more of what God has done for us.

Faith is not a leap, nor is it blind. We trust in a God that we know. But faith must be constantly nourished. Faith is totally dependant upon grace. So we rightly say that the most important thing is God’s grace, in which we trust or have faith. It is the grace and mercy of God which nourishes faith. In short it is the constant forgiveness of our sins. Our sins are forgiven each day as an ongoing application of our baptism. But there is this sense of it. You have word from the judge that you will be acquitted but you must come to the court for it to become official. You come to court and the verdict is given. There is no surprise, but it is now official. That court is the Divine Service of the Church. Luther uses this analogy; We come as beggars with empty sacks. We have nothing for God. Then, in the Divine Service, God takes our sacks and fills them with grace, mercy, and forgiveness. We leave the Divine Service with full sacks. Then we spend the week sharing those gifts of grace, mercy and forgiveness with everyone we meet. It is God’s will that we give away all that we have been given. Then the next week we come again before our King with empty sacks and He fills them up again, with grace, mercy and forgiveness.

Some who are first will be last, and some who are last will be first. Some who claim Christ in this world, because they think that they’ve earned His favor, or because they once pushed the right button, will not be saved. Many will try to claim Christ and be rejected. There is but one path that leads to eternal life. It is the path of grace, mercy, and forgiveness. It is the path of beggars. Those who will not come as beggars will be locked out. But those who come as beggars, those who plead like the Publican in Christ’s parable, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, will find peace and rest. It doesn’t matter how great a theologian one is. In fact many theologians will not be heaven. It doesn’t matter how prominent you were in your congregation. Many prominent church people will not be saved. God is just in doing this. For we are all sinners. We are all conceived in rebellion against God. Salvation is a gift. It is a gift that God intends for all sinners, that is for all mankind. But it is a gift received by means of faith. It is a gift received by humble beggars, who plead for mercy and receive from Christ exactly that for which they have asked.
Amen!

Sermon for August 15, 2010

2010-08-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

Sermon
The Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost
August 14-15, 2010
Text: Jeremiah 23:16-29

Dear Friends in Christ,
A man came into town promising to make everyone rich if they would just invest in his company. Of course he ran off with the money and everyone was poorer. The most greedy, who then of course invested the most, suffered the most. We have names for men like the one that came to town. We call them con men, confidence men, flim flam men, and the like. They are evil men in a sense. But they prey upon other men’s evil, particularly greed. In the old days, con men supposedly had a code. Perhaps this is romanticized, but I have heard it said many times. The old con men never wanted to hurt the innocent. They preyed upon the greedy and worldly. A good con was supposed to draw people in at what ever level of greed they possessed. A truly honest person would avoid their schemes. In this way, con men also revealed hypocrisy. Many would claim not to be greedy, but the con men would show them to be the greedy pigs they were. So a good con man, according to the code, would never prey on the innocent, only upon the guilty.

There is a another kind of con man. This type is common today. This type preys upon the piety and innocence of people. It is the false prophet. There are two types of false prophets - those who are simply trying to line their pockets, and those who actually believe their own lies.

The first group includes many of our television evangelists. The British rock band Genesis led by singer Phil Collins did a song and music video called “Jesus He Knows Me” about this type of false prophet. This secular rock band was willing to say what many in the church were unwilling to say. These men and women are self serving hypocrites. They are not preaching Christ, they are preaching themselves. But they are not just on television. We see them in the local parishes as the marrying sams, or more recently the burying sams, who jump at any chance to earn an extra buck, and often times to do so compromise the word of God. This is part of the reason we don’t have set fees for pastoral services. Funerals and weddings are not there to line the pastor’s pocket. We also have such men in the local parishes in those who are constantly jockeying to “move up the ladder.”

The other type, those who believe their own lies are more insidious. They actually think that they are expressing God’s word and God’s will. Such men are earnest and well intentioned. They can appear to be very outwardly godly, sometimes more godly than those who teach the truth. But in the end they are preaching people into hell. Such men exist in our own community, and even in some cases in our own church body. This is why you must know the Scriptures and the confessions so that you can spot such charlatans. This type is only revealed by comparing their words to the words of Scripture.

What about our lay people. Can they be false prophets? Yes, though often in a different way for different reasons. Usually here the push is to abandon any preaching or teaching of sin, because such teaching might break relationships. Adulters might stop coming to church, pastor, if you preach that adultery is a sin. Often when you are told such things, the child or children of the one saying it are the adulterers. Pastor if you talk about sin, thanksgiving dinner is really going to be uncomfortable for our family. No one every stops to consider what true repentance might do to strengthen our relationships. For no sin is unforgivable save that of unbelief. What has become the ultimate sin in many people’s minds is homosexuality. Homosexuals repent all the time. We have a large and growing body of people in the U.S. who call themselves former homosexuals. Repentance and forgiveness is God’s plan for dealing with sin. It really does work every time its put into effect.

Here in our text, God warns us through the prophet Jeremiah that we must not listen to false prophets. We must not make light of sin. God does hate sin. God punishes sin both here in time and in eternity. Sometimes the punishment of sin is delayed because it would also harm God’s people. Consider this example. A Christian pastor needs an operation to save his life. But only one doctor in the world is skilled enough to do it. This doctor happened to be a feminist, Hindu, lesbian. Does this pastor refuse to have the surgery because of the doctor’s beliefs. No. He has the surgery and continues to preach the Word. He should pray that this doctor would come to repentance and faith, but he should go to the doctor nevertheless. But if God were to kill this woman as punishment for her sins, this pastor would die as well. Thus God sometimes delays His punishments for the sake of His people. But that does not mean He doesn’t punish.

In Jeremiah’s day, God said that the nation of Judah would be conquered by Babylon for its
sins of idolatry. This was an inevitability. The die was cast. Jeremiah was sent to warn people to accept God’s judgement. Their survival would be determined by their acceptance of the judgement. But many false prophets preached that Judah would not fall. They said that sins were not really sins and that God was not angry with the nation. The day came when the city of Jerusalem was attacked, the walls breeched, the king captured, the people carted off into exile. For those who resisted God’s judgement, horrible things happened. Many were killed. The king himself had to watch his children executed in front of him, and then his eyes were put out. Babylon carried this out, but it was the judgement of God.

So also in our day, the judgments of God are real. They don’t go away because we wish them away. But God also has a plan for our survival. It starts with Christ bearing our sins to the cross. It includes our recognition of our own sins. It includes repentance, that is the turning from our sins. It includes our being raised to life in the waters of baptism. It includes our sins being forgiven. It include our living in God’s presence through the Lord’s Supper. It includes our being taken to heaven and being seated at God’s banquet table, to remain forever. Think back to the parent who is worried about their temporary, earthly relationship with their children. What is this compared to the eternal relationship that God desires to have with us? Thus we cannot ignore sin. We cannot ignore false teachers. These things must be confronted on the basis of God’s Word. We must be turned to repentance so that we also receive the forgiveness of our sins from Christ, our Lord.
Amen!

2010-08-01T12:33:00.001-07:00

From the Disk of the Pastor August 2010

Dear Friends in Christ,
What a difference a month makes. Beginning September 1, a new leadership team takes the reigns of the LCMS. It’s not just the election of Rev. Matthew Harrison, but all the elections. Very few incumbents were reelected. We now have a new and markedly younger set of leaders. Dr. Wohlrabe went from being by far the youngest VP to be right in the middle of the pack.
Where will this new leadership try to take us? Actually the bigger question, the more important question is how will it take us there. Pr. Harrison is determined to lead on the basis of the Word of God. He will draw people together around the Word and let the Word lead us forward. This is a marked contrast from nine years of bylaws and marketing programs. Pr. Harrison in a unifier. He will seek to draw people together.
What does this mean for us? Well, it means that if we receive some document from the president’s office we know that it was properly examined in light of our theology. If we are asked for money, there is the assurance that the synod will use it wisely and in ways that are in accord with our teachings. It also means that we also will be encouraged to be people of the Word. Scripture first in all things. It also means good public relations. People will know that the Missouri Synod is a church with integrity. It also means that we will again be a church that display its accomplishments. We will again be able to point to our mission work as a real jewel of our church.
Education will be a major theme under Pr. Harrison. It is his desire to rebuild our system of colleges. I think that the number of his supporters elected to the various boards of regents will certainly add weight to this task. Pr. Harrison sees our schools as central to our mission. He will work closely with both seminaries. This is important because our seminaries train not only our pastors, but many pastors from around the world. The next generation of Lutheranism is formed in those classrooms in Fort Wayne and St. Louis. Pr. Harrison will see that they remain strong voices forming the next generation around the Scriptures and the Lutheran confessions.
What does Pr. Harrison need from us? First our prayers. Second, he needs our patience. Many are already complaining that he isn’t moving fast enough. The man is not even officially in office, yet. We didn’t get into the mess we are in today overnight. It took a half-century of mistakes, mismanagement, bad theology and the like. We won’t get out of this situation over night. Pr. Harrison and his 1st Vice President, Pr. Mueller, have a monumental task to reform the Missouri Synod. They are determined to do it. But they must have the time and support to do it. Rapid changes would cause damage. Congregations might be forced to choose to stay or leave before they have had a chance to study God’s Word in the matters before us. Thus, Pr. Harrison would rather take the patient approach. We need to be patient with him, as he tries to draw all the synod together around the Word of God.
IN CHRIST,
Rev. Jody R. Walter
Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:104-105

2010-08-01T12:32:00.001-07:00

The Tenth Sunday After Pentecost
July 31-August 1, 2010
Text: Luke 12:13-21

Dear Friends in Christ,
In this day and age, this text is twist, misapplied, misused, and misinterpreted in every way imaginable and some that aren’t. Christ tells a parable to explain the problem of covetousness. In the parable man dies. What did he do that was so terrible that God was going to strike him dead? Was it because he was wealthy. No. Nothing wrong with being wealthy. Was it because he had a good harvest. No. Nothing wrong with having a good harvest. Assuming that he had labored and planted, he was simply reaping his reward. Even if he was a gentleman farmer, hiring others to do the work, he had carefully managed his operation, leading to the good crop. Was his life taken from him because the man wanted to save for the future. No. Nothing wrong with saving for the future. That’s just plain prudent. Everyone should try to salt away a portion of their earnings for future needs. Was it wrong to celebrate? No. In fact Christ made a bunch of wine for a party. Celebration has its place in life. Was it wrong to build bigger barns? No. Again, that is just prudent. If you don’t have the barns to store the crops, they will spoil and be worthless. So nothing wrong with that. What’s wrong then? The man was not about the things of God.
Here is the key to our text. We are to be about the things of God. But what does that mean? It is a far more loaded of a statement than we might think. Christ is packing a great deal of assumed information into that statement. To understand the things of God, we must first understand who we are and what our relationship to God is. The man in the parable lusted after wealth in order to gratify his desires. But was that his first sin? No? Was that the first time he came under God’s condemnation. No. In fact he was born under God wrath. King David says in Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” This confirmed by St. Paul in Romans 5 where he talks about how all men became sinners when Adam fell into sin. So this man in the parable was born a sinner and therefore was born under God’s anger. He compounded God’s anger by his actual sins, including his lust for self gratification. So how then does a sinner go about doing the things of God? If he is a sinner, he is under God’s judgement. He cannot do things for God. The answer lies in the work of Christ, who reconciles us to God. He reunites us with God by paying the price of sin on the cross in our place. He bears our punishment. You and me are supposed to be on that cross. Christ is the One who is there. In Holy Baptism we are made children of God. This would the same as the man in the parable, who was made a child of God when he was circumcised at eight days of age. Baptism replaces circumcision as God’s rite of adoption. So this man was a child of God, by God’s grace. It was a gift given to him. So he was to be about his Father’s business.
So then, as a forgiven and resurrected from the dead, child of God, how was this man supposed to use the blessings given to him. First, yes, he should build bigger barns and use that as an excuse to employ people, to whom he would pay fair wages. He certainly would have needed help to bring in the harvest. When the harvest came in, the first ten percent, the first and best, taken off the top, was to be given to the church. This was a law in the Old Testament. For us it is not a law but is a still a model of proper Christian practice. He was to share his bounty with those who could not work - the blind and the crippled. Now that he had the wealth and the leisure that goes with it, he could look to the needs of the poor and the widowed. He might even train to become a physician to help care for crippled and infirm. Perhaps, if he was unmarried, he could even go out of his way to take a young widow as a wife, thus, redeeming her from widowhood. This is simply what a child of God does.
Let me apply this matter to the issue of government charity. The government was not created by God to be an agent of charity it and does it badly. Often those who receive government charity are harmed by it. And often those who would genuinely benefit are refused assistance. Christ is not advocating government programs in the New Testament. He is telling us to get our hands dirty and serve our fellow man. If each person does what they can for those in need, where they know the need is real, we will have a far better society than what the government can create by it’s programs.
This also ties in very nicely with a Lutheran understanding of worship. We come into the church and Christ serves us with Word and Sacrament. Then we go into the world and serve God by serving our neighbor. As Dr. Luther would say, God doesn’t need our works, our neighbor does. First we are given the gifts of forgiveness and life. We are adopted as sons of God. Then we live in the world as a child of God. What happens to us in church changes what happens out in the world.
Some will object saying, pastor isn’t that works righteousness. Aren’t we saved by faith alone? Technically, we saved by grace alone, through faith alone. Getting the prepositions right is important here. So we are save through or by means of faith alone. Yes, that is correct. Our salvation is gift of God to us. But, as Luther says, faith is never alone. In Christ we are a new creation. Faith changes who we are. If we are a new creation is Christ, we will live our lives differently. So our works are not the cause of our salvation, but rather are cause by our salvation. Thus, Jesus’ brother James can write, “I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:18)
Jesus tells a parable to explain the problem of covetousness. Rather than coveting goods, we are to count our blessings. We are to take what God give us and use it for His purposes. We are His sons by the adoption of baptism. We are to be about heavenly Father’s business. That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a good party, say in celebration of wedding or some such thing. That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the material blessings that we are given. But we do these things always as children of God. These things never become the focus of our lives. Our lives are not about ourselves. Our lives are about Christ who died for our sins and gives to us eternal life.
Amen!

2010-08-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

The Ninth Sunday After Pentecost
July 25, 2010
Text: Luke 11:1-13

Dear Friends in Christ,
Some times crossroads are important. There was a little market town that was at the crossing of several important roads. Because all these roads went through that one place, so also did the armies. In fact in early July of 1863, two armies met there at the crossroads. The place was named Gettysburg. Likewise in December of 1944, all the roads in certain place led through this one town. When the Germans attacked, troops were rushed forward to hold the crossroads, thus limiting the German’s ability to maneuver. The place was named Bastogne.
Crossroads are important. Sometimes, something sits at theological crossroads. The Lord’s Prayers is one such thing. It sits at the crossroads of prayer and confession. In order to fully understand this prayer, we must understand how it functions for us in both ways.
The key here is the question that the disciples asked Jesus - “teach us to pray as John taught his disciples to pray. In those days each rabbi had a prayer that he would teach his disciples. They were not to teach this prayer to other people. Only the disciples of that rabbi were to pray that particular prayer. So then why do we pray the Lord’s Prayer? In Matthew 28:19 Jesus’ followers were told to go into the world and make disciples. All believers in Christ are His disciples. We are disciples of Jesus Christ. Thus we pray the disciples’ prayer.
It is instructive to examine how the Lord’s Prayer has been used in the church. In the ancient church, the Lord’s Prayer was placed adjacent, either before or after, the Verba, or words of institution. That’s just where we use it today in the communion service. Why is this significant? Because in the ancient church they ushered out those who would not commune. Only the communicants were present to pray the Lord’s Prayer. In other words only those who were truly disciples of Jesus were allowed to pray the Lord’s Prayer. It was understood that this prayer was also a confession of Christ.
Luther likewise understood this concept. You might ask, Pastor, how do you know this? Well, if you think about it, you know it too. These words of the good doctor are as familiar to you as they are to me. To which you might reply, I’ve never read anything of Luther. Ah, but you have. Do you remember these words: “God’s name is kept holy when His word is taught in its truth and purity, and we lead godly lives according to it”? Of course, right in the Small Catechism. These words under the first Petition of the Lord’s Prayer are speaking of the prayer as a confession. We are confessing the authority of Scripture. In the Fourth Petition we are confessing that our food and all our earthly possessions come from God. Every petition of the prayer has a confessional quality to it. So the Lord’s Prayer is both a prayer and a confession of faith in Christ. It stands at the crossroads.
This then already answers the question if we are to actually pray the Lord’s Prayer or just use it as an example. Of course we are to pray it. For to pray the Lord’s Prayer is to confess Christ. And think on this, all other creeds are man made. Church councils in 325 and 381 A.D. gave us the Nicene Creed. The Apostles Creed was developed in the congregation in Rome as a baptismal creed. Even the ancient creed, “Jesus is Lord”, which is mentioned by St. Paul, was created by men. These are fine expressions of the true Christian faith. They are careful reflections of Scripture. But the Lord’s Prayer comes from Christ Himself. It can therefore be seen as an even greater confession of faith.
Yet, we must not forget that it is also a prayer. It is one of the ways that we speak back to God. God speaks to us in Scripture. We speak back to God in prayer. Luther in the Smallcald Articles, part of the Book of Concord, says: “God does not want to deal with us in any other way than through the spoken Word and the Sacraments. Whatever is praised as from the Spirit- without the Word and Sacraments - is of the devil himself.” Thus we say that God’s speaks to us through the Scriptures and we speak back to God in prayer. Prayer is the proper response of faith. Prayer ought to come in many forms in our lives. We should have formal prayers, written out with a carefully crafted structure. We should have regular prayers which have some structure but follow upon the needs of ourselves and those around us. So we might have a form that we follow when praying for the sick, but the names we mention might change daily. Thirdly, we ought to have prayer that is like an ongoing conversation with God throughout our day. This will have no more structure than the thoughts of our brains.
One thing that is of utmost importance, that must be said, is that only believers in Christ can pray. Others simply go through the motions. Their prayers are not heard by our heavenly Father. Prayer comes from faith. Faith is nothing more than trust. We know who our heavenly Father is, and because of Christ, we trust in Him. We know that our heavenly Father loves us and desires good for. His desire for our good is so strong that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die for our sins. With the forgiveness of our sins, we can now approach God and speak to Him for ourselves and for our neighbor. We must be very mindful of our unbelieving neighbor. Especially for them we must pray. We must place their names before God’s throne, attach their names to God’s altar. We must do this for them, because they cannot do it themselves. We trust in Christ and our Heavenly Father, therefore we can pray. We can petition our king and trust that He will hear us, His subjects, and that He do all that which is good and right in the time and manner that He knows to be best.
There is much confusion today about the Lord’s Prayer. Many cast it off as simply a model or relic of earlier times. Some will even say that the truly spiritual don’t need such crutches as pre written prayers. All of this fails to understand that the Lord’s Prayer exists at the crossroads of confession and prayer. It is both our confession and our prayer. It teaches how to pray and what to pray for, but it also is a prayer and confession that we must say as well. It is the very words that Christ gives us to mark us as His disciples - as those whom He has saved.
Amen!

Sermon for July 4

2010-07-11T15:18:00.001-07:00

The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
July 3-4th, 2010
Text: Luke 10:1-20

Dear Friends in Christ,
In the days leading up to the American Revolution, two things were very important. First was the sharing of accurate information about what was happening. Second was the education of the general public. Most Americans had little concept of governmental theory and individual rights. They hadn’t really thought these things through. So men were sent out throughout the thirteen colonies carrying news. Sometimes they would take it to newspapers. In places where the press was censored they might simply give the account at various locations - often taverns or churches. These men also carried with them pamphlets like Thomas Jefferson’s “On the Necessity of Taking Up Arm” and Thomas Pain’s “Common Sense”. Such men were not sent out to do their own thing. They carried a specific message. Part of their work was to educate people as to why it was necessary to separate from Briton. The common people didn’t always know this and needed to be taught. Without this education campaign, the American Revolution would have never happened.
Toward the end of His ministry, Jesus sent out seventy-two of His follows to preach. They weren’t just to preach anything. They were to preach the words that Christ had given them. This is a crucial point in understanding their work and Christian preaching today. They were sent out to talk about Christ. They were to warn people that the Kingdom of God was already among them. The point here is that their preaching was to have a specific content. This is true today as well. Christian preaching is to be about Christ. It is to be drawn from Holy Scripture. And yet this idea is under attack. A recent letter put out by a liberal group called Jesus First was claiming that the vast majority of people in the Missouri Synod held certain beliefs, as though this made them right. This is nonsense. Majorities don’t determine what is right teaching. Only the Word of God can do this. Brian McClaran, one of the so called emergent church gurus, stated that doctrine is to be determined by observing the pagans on the mission field. It is hard to imagine that anyone who said such a thing would be taken seriously. Yet, McClaran sell tons of books and is in constant demand as a speaker. What’s wrong with his position? Well, first how would the pagans know anything about God? That’s what it means when we call them pagans or heathen. They don’t know anything about the true God. So observing them would not reveal God. It would reveal godlessness. Further human observation can only see the things of this earth. We cannot see the things of God. In addition humans will never agree. So if you base the content of Christian preaching on human observation, there won’t be one Gospel but many false gospels.
True Christian preaching is drawn from the Word of God. Only then will there be a clear message. Only then will that message have authority. You see, what we do not and cannot know, God reveals to us in Holy Scripture. It comes from outside of ourselves. This is crucial to understanding the Gospel. It comes from God, not from ourselves.
Now it is not odd that people get it wrong today. Notice how the disciples came back all excited at the miracles that they had performed. Christ is less than impressed. The reason for this is that the disciples were excited about the wrong thing. The Scriptures do not say that they said anything about their preaching or about people coming to repentance. In other words they should have been excited because people listened to their preaching and came to faith. Instead, they were excited by the miracles. It was the old “look at me! look at me!” syndrom. The day would come when the miracles were no longer there. But the Word of God endures forever. Even after this world is gone, the Word remains.
Even locally, in our area, we have pastors and congregations that want flash and glitz. They will not tolerate the Word. What is lost? It’s very simple, if you lose the Word, you lose the words “your sins are forgiven.” You lose the words “you have eternal life.” You lose the words “the kingdom of God is among you.” For us to have the forgiveness of our sins, it must preached from our pulpits and taught in our classrooms. In other words, Christian preaching must have a specific content. That content is that we are sinners. That we sin with every breath. That we incapable of pleasing God by our own power. But that Jesus Christ has died for our sins and gives us forgiveness and life. That’s a message of repentance. You won’t learn that by observing pagans. You can only learn that by reading the Word of Holy Scripture.
Christ sent out the seventy-two to preach to the people. They came back excited that they could chase demons. Christ warns them that this not important. What is important is what they preached - that we are to repent of our sins because Christ is here. Christ is here, not to condemn, but to give forgiveness and life.
Amen!

July 2010 Newsletter

2010-07-11T15:16:00.000-07:00

From the Disk of the Pastor July 2010

Dear Friends in Christ,
We’ve come to the moment when the future of our church body will be decided. I do not over exaggerate this. We are at a time when American Christianity is in crisis. Particularly hard hit are liberal mainline Protestant church bodies. Many of them are bleeding members so rapidly, that the date the last member leaves can be calculated - its close at hand. I’ve heard 2017 for one fairly large church body, in the 2020's for some others. Some of this is demographic. The members had fewer children, so as they die off they leave fewer behind. Some of it has to do with the fact that mainline liberal Protestantism has nothing to offer people who are truly struggling with issues of sin and death. It also has to do with the fact that people see their churches increasingly controlled by church bureaucrats, and they as members are blocked from having any influence on the direction of the church.
The LCMS in the one old mainline Protestant church that is not liberal. Lutheranism is unique in that it has two large church bodies. In other confessional families the conservative churches are secondary churches, that is a fraction of the size of the large, liberal one. So there is really only one large Presbyterian church body, one large Methodist church body and so forth. Up through the presidency of A.L. Barry, numbers wise, we didn’t look much like the liberal mainline churches. The average age of our members was quite a bit younger, and our membership was not moving too much in either direction. Since President Kieschnick has become president, the rate of decline in membership has increased sharply. A number of pastors and congregations have left the LCMS. Splinter groups like the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA) have come into existence. Shadow synods within the synod like the Augustana Ministerium have been formed. The synod also shows increasing financial stress. (It should be noted that many pastors left the LCMS during the presidency of Dr. Barry, but most of them did not take their congregations with them and they did not remain Lutheran. These pastors most often became Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox.)
The question then before us is whether we will follow our liberal brethren in the path of church body destruction or whether we will choose a different path. The proposals of the Blue Ribbon Task Force would make our church body look very much like a liberal mainline Protestant church in terms of our structure. It would take away many of the options of influence available to the grass roots of our church. This would only accelerate the decline. Funding of the synod would take a huge hit. This new structure would cause us to begin to eat ourselves. By that I mean that we would have to begin to sell off assets, such as college campuses, just to pay our day to day bills. Bankruptcy of the national church could come very, very quickly.
What are the answers? One is demographic and cultural. The Christian Church will likely be smaller in the U.S. in the decades to come than it has been in the recent past. So to a certain extent, declines are to be expected. But how can we minimize this or even counteract it? Focus the church body upon the Word of God. A church body in the Word and driven by the Word will have a message for a dying world. It will become the place to be. Keep it and make it even more to be a grass roots church body. Let the Word come down to the people and let the people respond to the Word. Their industry, creativity, skills, and talents can accomplish far more than we would ever imagine. But first we must make all these things captive to the Word of God. Then God’s work will be done among us.

IN CHRIST,
Rev. Jody R. Walter

Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:1204-105

Sermon for June 27

2010-07-11T15:15:00.002-07:00

The Presentation of the Augsburg Confession
June 27, 2010
Text: John 15:1-11

Dear Friends in Christ,
What a contrast we have before us in our church today. We celebrate the bold confession of God’s Word that was made at Augsburg by our forefathers on June 25, 1530. At the same time we wonder what will happen with proposals at our convention that would make the by-laws and rulings of commissions more important than the Word of God.
Let us review the facts of the matter. In 1529, Emperor Charles V was determined to end the religious controversies that had racked Germany for more than a decade. He had declared Martin Luther to be an outlaw, but his teachings continued to spread. Charles had been unable to act against Luther and his followers by a series of wars. Finally, defeating the Turks at Vienna, Charles had won the wars. He demanded that all the princes of Germany join him in a Corpus Christi procession - that is a parade through the streets of the city of Speyer following after a piece of consecrated communion bread. Several princes, led by Duke John the Steadfast of Saxony, refused to obey the emperor’s command. Finally, Charles ordered Duke John and the others with him to present their confession of faith. The document was prepared by Philip Melanchthon, Luther’s co-worker. It was presented on a steamy hot, June 25. It was read before the emperor by Wittenberg lawyer and scholar Christian Beyer. The emperor rejected the document, but Duke John and the others held firm. Soon many other leaders in Germany rallied behind the Augsburg Confession. The Lutheran Church was born.
The root of the conflict, then as now, was authority in the Church. Is the Word of God, the only authority in the Church, or is there something else. The Word comes from God. He inspired men to write these things down. These men were termed prophets and apostles. Prophets had to give signs and make predictions that came true. Often God even told people to ask for a sign. Apostles had to have seen the risen Christ and be appointed to their office by Christ Himself. We don’t know who all the apostles were, but we can name fourteen for certain - the surviving eleven disciples, Mathias who was chosen to replace Judas, Jesus’ brother James, and Paul. We cannot say if there were or were not others. These men affirmed the Old Testament and quoted from it frequently. The Epistle to the Hebrews is nothing other than a commentary on the Old Testament. They also add their own writings - what we call the New Testament. This Word of God is also termed the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures. We know of no word from God apart from the Bible. Martin Luther was emphatic on this point. We are not limiting God in saying this. Rather we are taking Him at His Word. Revelation 22:18-19 says: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” If I were to claim some other authority, whether it be a direct revelation or some church rules, would I not be adding to the Word of God? And if were to follow this other authority in place of the Bible, would I not be taking away from the Word of God?
Throughout the history of the church on earth, there have been all sorts of attempts to take us way from Scripture alone. It was claimed that the Bible is too hard for people to understand. They must listen instead to the church. Certainly, it is God’s will that His Children listen to faithful teachers. But they are to judge who is faithful and who is not by comparing what is said to Holy Scripture.
Why is this important? What does it mean to abide in Christ? What does it mean to be a branch connected to the vine? It means that we have God’s Word in us. God’s Word is really the sap nourishing us. This is why without Christ and His Word we can do nothing. Without the Word, we are dried up branches to be gathered for the fire. What Christ is saying in our text is really very simple. We must be faithful to the Word of God. That includes reading and studying that Word regularly. It means hearing that Word publically read and preached. It means conforming our lives to the Word of God. It means conducting the affairs of our church in ways that are in accord with the Word of God. It means that the Word trumps all constitutions, by-laws, Robert’s rules of order and other church rules. For these are rules of men. They must always be under the Word of God. And if the word of men is in conflict with the Word of God, the Word of God must rule.
Why do we say this? Why must God’s Word alone reign supreme among us? It is because we are sinners. Our perception of reality is warped and distorted beyond recognition. Even though we are redeemed by Christ, sin still destroys our reason. Being a redeemed child of God only means that we are in the thick of the fight with sin and Satan. We, of our own reason, will never understand the things of God. They must come to us from outside of ourselves. And no man could tell us. For what man is any less of a sinner than each of us? I have no natural knowledge of the things of God. Rather Christ gives us His Word. When that Word flows through us, there is abundant fruit.
The first fruit is forgiveness of our sins and eternal life. The Word convey’s Christ our Savior from sin and death to us. Without the Word we do not know who Christ is or what He has done. Without the Word we would not have the Sacraments, wherein we become participants in the events of salvation history. Without the Word we are lost and damned.
That’s a bad place to be. So forgiveness and salvation are the first fruits of the Word dwelling in us. This then changes who we are. We are no longer the lost and damned. We are the saved. The deed is already done our behalf. Christ paid our debt in full. The law still accuses us because we continue to struggle with sin. But it also now tells us what God’s will is. In short we are to serve our neighbor. We are to help others with their needs. It might be something as simple as two farmers working together to get their hay in. It might be helping an elderly person with errands or some such thing. For those in the Word, these are natural acts, often done without thought. It is impossible to not do them. Yet, these are quite properly the fruit of God’s Word flowing through us.
Christ said: “I am the vine; you are the branches.” We live because Christ, through His Word, lives in us. It is then the Word that creates and governs the Church. Five hundred years ago, our forefathers insisted that the Church be governed by Scripture alone. They were cast out of the papal church for this bold confession formed the Lutheran Church. We too need that same spirit of John the Steadfast. For we also are called to demand Scripture alone.
Amen!

Sermon for June 20

2010-07-11T15:15:00.001-07:00

The Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
June 19-20, 2010
Text: Luke 8:26-39

Dear Friends in Christ,
Romans 10:17 says: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” This is also saying, by implication, that miracles don’t produce saving faith. We see this illustrated in the book of Exodus where the Children of Israel see great miracle after great miracle and they continually rebel against God. In spite of all the things that they saw God perform through Moses, they still didn’t trust in God. This then begs the question of why Christ performed miracles. Moses taught the Israelites that miracles authenticate the Word. A true prophet would perform signs to show that he was indeed from God. Of course no prophet had come close to the signs performed by Moses. Moses was the greatest of the prophets. He had performed the greatest miracles and given them the most important parts of God’s word. Miracles were also intended to teach. They were to teach that God is the One who saves. How could the waters have parted for the Israelites and closed in to drown the Egyptians? No human power could do this. Even if it were shown to have been a phenomenon of nature, the timing is too perfect for it to have been a coincidence. It must have been the hand of the God of nature. In addition miracles show that God has power over all things. Many of Christ’s miracles are intended to show that Christ has power over sin and the author of sin - the devil. And of course if Christ rules over the devil, then also His minions are under His authority.
Faith comes from hearing the Word of Christ. That is the source of true saving faith. That brings us to our text. Christ traveled to a region on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. Here the people were not Israelites. So Christ is preaching here to Gentiles. He is immediately confronted by a man who is possessed by many demons. It is instructive that the man lives among the dead. For the devil and his minions are the author of death. This man is in bondage to death, in a very literal sense. Jesus immediately commanded the spirits to leave the man. The demons know who Jesus is and beg Him not to torment them. By this we would say that the demons are asking not be shut up in hell, but that they be allowed to continue to roam the world. To that end they ask to be allowed to enter a heard of pigs. The pigs, tormented by the demons immediately drown themselves. It is interesting that the pigs will not tolerate the presence of the demons. One presumes that the demons then returned to hell, their plan to remain on earth thwarted.
The man then becomes a follower of Jesus and listens to Jesus’ teaching. The begs to remain with Jesus, but Jesus sends him away. He instructs the man to tell everyone what God has done for him. Now, Jesus is not telling the man to go around and give his testimony. He is commanding the man to tell people what God has done. So the message he is to proclaim is all about God.
There is much to glean from this text, and we will surely not cover all of it. The man is freed from the demons, then he sits and listens to Christ. The sign opens the man up to what Christ has to say. Miracles and teaching always go together. Christ here is confronting Satan’s kingdom head on. He is driving the demons from the world. But a more important cleansing happens whenever sins are forgiven. Certainly, here also Christ forgave the man’s sins. Forgiveness is ultimately what drives the devil away. For sin is the power of Satan. Where sin is removed, Satan’s power is broken. And so this miracle really is a picture of what happens when our sins are forgiven. God throws Satan out. He is the divine bouncer, tossing Satan out of our hearts by forgiving our sins. He new sherif in town saying to Satan, this world isn’t big enough for the both of us.
We also must take note of the nature of the change in the man. He no longer lives in death, but among the living. But the change is not one that the man made. He didn’t do anything. Things changed because Christ acted on the man’s behalf. This is true of us as well. Any change that comes about in our lives is not achieved by our efforts. Our efforts to reform our lives always fail. Thus St. Paul will say that the good works he does are not his work at all, but Christ living in him. American Christianity is filled with all sorts of Christian self help notions. The typical Christian book store is filled with this nonsense. We see numerous books that tell us: Follow this plan and you will make yourself a better Christian. All such books do is make us self righteous pigs rushing to destruction. That’s because we can’t cast out the demons. Only Christ can cast them out. He casts them out with the forgiveness of sins. The change comes because Christ declares our sins forgiven. Then we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. We don’t make ourselves new creations. Christ creates us anew in the waters of baptism. And it is interesting that the pigs fled the demons by plunging into the water. Here we have a picture of the old man being drown and the demonic powers being driven out in the waters of baptism.
Christ cast out demons to show that He alone has power over sin, Satan, and death. He teaches us here that we are helpless before the powers of darkness. But Christ drives out the demons. He drowns the old man of sin, and raises us to life as His new creations. Yes, this is acted out in Baptism. But the power that works this, acting through baptism, is the forgiveness of sins.
Amen!

Sermon for June 13

2010-07-11T15:14:00.001-07:00

The Third Sunday After Pentecost
June 12-13
Text: Luke 7:36-8:3

Dear Friends in Christ,
One of the problems with the Gospel accounts is the fact that we have similar events recorded in the Gospels, that may or may not be the same event. In John 12 we have the account of Mary the sister of Lazarus anointing Jesus’ feet. Though the event seems the same, it probably is not. For that took place in the home of Lazarus, after Lazarus was raised from the dead. Here, in Luke 7, the event takes place in the home of a Pharisee who does not appear to be a follower of Jesus. Further, the event in John 12 clearly takes place in the week before Palm Sunday. This incident appears to be taking place much earlier in Jesus’ ministry. So Jesus has his feet washed with ointment or perfume and dried with a woman’s hair more than once.
Culture can be cruel. Part of the cruelty is that it is about what’s on the outside. In the 1920's a man wanted to criticize the lack of charity in the world. His name was Harold Grey. He created a comic strip about a little orphan girl. Often the strip lampooned the rich for their lack of concern for their fellow man. The strip was a hit and Grey himself was a popular guest at many parties. He met many of the real life wealthy. His own view of the wealthy began to change. And so did the comic strip. The girl was adopted by a wealthy man named Oliver Warbucks. Most people just remember him as Daddy Warbucks, the wealthy man who adopted Little Orphan Annie. What Grey learned is that reality is often different than perception. Many of the wealthy were in fact, kind, honest and caring people. But many did not see or understand this. Thus, to this day, we see the wealthy, as a group, pilloried in popular culture.
In Jesus day, there was a culture that then, like now, focused on the outward, and often ignored reality. Pharisaic Judaism focused upon ones place in the community. It focused on one’s outward piety and character. Reality was often different. It was a culture where the pillars of the community were often rotten to the core. They would make a great show of praying several times day. The would literally have Bible verses sown into their clothing. Yet, they would, behind closed doors engage in great debauchery and often would cruelly oppress the poor, whom they were supposed to be helping. The Pharisees would look down at those who were perceived to be less faithful than they were. In many cases, they looked down upon those whom they sinned against. This is true to this day. Research conducted in Israel has shown that the more orthodox a rabbi is the more likely he will visit a brothel. So here we have a proud Pharisee and a sinful woman.
Scripture does not tell us what this woman’s particular sins were. But the fact that she was publicly known as a sinner suggests that she was probably a prostitute. This was a culture that forced women into such a life. Often those who most railed against such women, were themselves the most guilty. It is likely that this Pharisee had himself sinned against the woman in one way or another, either by direct act, or by his indifference. Such women were often broken by their guilt and shame. They were desperate for some way out.
The woman anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. I think in any culture this would been seen as act of great humiliation. This woman was willing for humiliate herself before Christ. It was a way of approaching as a beggar, in fact less than a beggar. What does Christ do? He forgives her sins. Why was she forgiven? Because she trusted in Him. It is not her faith does the saving. It is the object of her faith. If her faith had been a rock, it would have been worthless. But she trusted in Christ. She was not disappointed.
This created a great stir among those at the dinner table. How could Jesus forgive someone their sins? Especially the sins of someone who was so great a sinner? The answer is simple. She asked. By her act of humiliation she was asking God’s forgiveness. But that doesn’t answer the first question. How can Christ forgive sins? Only God can forgive sins. This is because all sins are first and foremost committed against God. Thus David says in Psalm 51: “Against You only have I sinned.” Every sin we commit is a violation God’s divine law. Since all sins are committed against God, only God can forgive them. Not even a pastor can forgive sins of his own authority. Notice the words of the absolution - In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ. It’s like a judge who says by the authority vested in me by the state of Wisconsin... The pastor doesn’t forgive, Christ forgives through the pastor. But we are still dancing around the question voiced in our text. How can Jesus forgive? Only God can forgive. Well, who is Jesus saying that He is? Is He claiming to be a prophet. No. A prophet would speak like Nathan did to David - God has put away your sin. Christ says that He, of His own authority forgives sins. So what is He saying? Christ is saying that He’s God. Don’t let anyone deceive you with this nonsense that Jesus never claimed that He’s God. He’s making that claim right here. He can forgive sins because He is God.
Pharisees had a major problem with this. They didn’t understand sin. So I ask you, am I sinning while preaching this sermon? You would be tempted to say no, of course not. Preaching God’s word is a good thing. Indeed it is. But as a sinner, everything that I do is a sin. I can’t do anything good enough, perfect enough, with a pure enough heart to be truly good, of its own accord, before God. Everything I do is corrupted by sin. So the Pharisee speaks of this woman in our text as a sinner, but who were the sinners in that room? Everyone except Jesus. The problem was that the host and his guests did not understand that they were sinners. They all should have been groveling as Jesus’ feet begging for forgiveness. But they had lied to themselves, and convinced themselves that were without sin. Thus the woman is forgiven and the Pharisees at the banquet are not.
Jesus here shows compassion for this woman. He gives her exactly what she needs - forgiveness. It is significant to note that the early church, from the time of Pentecost took care of widows and orphans. Widows were, in essence, the first nuns. The purpose was two fold. First to help the women who were in need. Second, to remove the temptation from the men. This flows out of the reality that we are all sinners. We cannot escape from sin. But in Christ, we have perfect forgiveness. From this flows an empathy for others caught in sin. We understand the great good that Christ has done for us. This leads us to share that gift with others. So one of the ways the early church did that was by taking care of widows and orphans.
We live in a world that does not understand sin. The world thinks sin is a little thing. But sin is rebellion against God and a rejection of His law. It is not a small thing. Every person bears the curse of sin. No one is free from it. We are all sinners. Christ came to save sinners. Christ says to us, your sins are forgiven.
Amen!

Sermon for June 6

2010-07-11T15:13:00.002-07:00

The Second Sunday after Pentecost
June 5-6, 2010
Text: Luke 7:11-17

Dear Friends in Christ,
In America we tend to think in emotional terms. And in fact, for many, the reality is irrelevant so long as you felt the right thing. It doesn’t matter if the charity we gave to actually does what it says, it felt good to give. This allows groups like the Susan G. Kommen Foundation to survive. It parades itself as a women’s cancer organization when it is in fact a front for the radical pro abortion group Planned Parenthood. In fact many in our society see no relevance to the fact that Planned Parenthood was formed specifically to provide abortion services to Black, Hispanic and Catholic women. Their intentions are good, after all they just want to help women. So for Americans compassion is an emotion. It doesn’t matter if it leads to action or effective action. All that matters is that we feel the right thing. All that matters is that we feel sorry for others and that the feeling is salved in some way. That was in fact the real purpose of our social welfare system. It wasn’t intended to actually help people. It was intended give middle class tax payers the warm fuzzies. Oh, our tax dollars are helping people. Never mind that no one really, in the long run, is helped.
Alright, now its time to stop thinking like stupid Americans, put on our Biblical glasses and start to think the way the Bible thinks. Why is that important? Because the Bible is God’s Word. It reveals to us who God is, what God has done and still does, and what God’s will or law is for us. If we are thinking Biblically, we will be thinking in a radically different way than the world thinks. And many things that the world thinks are just grand, will be totally unacceptable.
Now, we come to a place called Nain. We don’t know exactly where Nain is. It is village somewhere in central Galilee. It’s not far from Capernaum. But then Galilee is a not a very big place - probably smaller than say a typical county in the U.S. Now it is not shocking that we don’t know where Nain was. There were many villages in Galilee over the centuries. Many times archeologists dig up a site and cannot identify it. And many more sites have never been uncovered. Further, as far was we know, there was nothing special about Nain. It was just this little place, like many others. You could think of many of our small villages in northern Wisconsin. There’s a lake, a bait shop in the gas station, a bar and few houses. They all are kind of the same. Nain was, for its time, kind of like that.
Jesus comes to Nain. He sees a funeral procession. Nothing unusual there. People die everywhere. Nor is it odd that it was a young man, probably in his early teens. (They were considered an adult at twelve.) Even today, many young people die. In those days, without modern medicine and such, life was often very short. It is very unlikely that Jesus raised every dead person He encountered. But what do we read? This was a widow’s only son. Now let me paint a word picture for you. I’m going to fill in some details that the Bible doesn’t tell us. But this is likely what Jesus encountered. Let’s just say the boy was thirteen. He was the oldest child. His mother is in her middle twenties, still quite young herself - still attractive, desirable. But widows are seen as subhuman in that culture. She would never attract another husband. She has some younger children - daughters. They must be fed and clothed. Her son inherited his father’s property, a house and a small field, a few chickens, and perhaps a goat or two for milk. It wasn’t much, but they had food and clothing. But with the death of her son, this woman and her daughters would be homeless and destitute. Another male relative would take ownership of all that she had. There were no jobs for women in that culture - at least no dignified ones. Most such women ended up prostitutes. It was their only means of support. This was wrong. Her family and neighbors had an obligation before God to support her in honor and dignity. But most would ignore God’s command. Most would see her as a helpless victim to be used as they willed. She was a widow. She was no longer human.
Christ saw this situation and He had compassion. But the compassion of Christ, in fact the whole idea of compassion in the Scriptures is not an emotion. Compassion is a type of act. It is something that is done out an understanding of the need of another. Compassion here is complex as well. Compassion on the women? Yes, certainly. On her daughters, if she had any? Yes. What about on the village as a whole? How was Christ being compassionate to them? He was removing their opportunity to fall into great sin with this woman. The men of the village would not be tempted to use her as the object of their lusts. They would not sin against her by failing to support her. Christ understanding all this, raised the young man from the dead and returned him to his mother. It is important to note that Jesus acted effectively to meet a need that He saw in front Him. It wasn’t enough to have said that He tried to help. It was not enough for Him to say that He felt her pain. Compassion, in the Bible, equals seeing a problem and fixing it.
We can’t do what Jesus did. We can’t raise people from the dead. But we can have compassion. We can see the need of another and fix it. Now it is not our vocation to fix all the problems in the world. Nor can we help those who will not allow themselves to be helped. It think of an alcohol abuser who refuses to work because then can’t be drinking. This is beyond our power to fix. For this there is only prayer. We pray for them. Nor does throwing money at a problem automatically help. Sometimes money is needed, but compassion money must be spent with great wisdom. It is easy to harm by throwing money at a problem. But when we see someone in need, and it is within our power to help, then we are to help.
Why don’t we help, as we should. Well the simple answer is sin. We are sinners. But that kind of generic answer isn’t really very helpful. What sin does is it makes the self the king of the universe. The universe exists to serve me. Why should I help someone else? What is in it for me? But didn’t that old Adam, that old man of sin die, when I was baptized. Well, he was drowned, but the old bugger is a real good swimmer and somehow seems to keep popping back up to the surface. Thus Luther talks of baptism daily drowning the old man by means of contrition and repentance. So it is a constant battle. We still tend to be focused upon ourselves and our own desires. As Christians we are in a constant battle over this. Am I the center of the universe or is Christ the center of the universe? Thus we are also in constant need of the Cross of Christ. Why should we fight if we have lost? Yes, we have lost this battle with our self. But Christ wins it. He sees our need and He does something about it. He puts in place an effective cure. He pays for our sins and gives us forgiveness as a free gift. That is what compassion really is.
Amen!

June 2010 Newsletter

2010-07-11T15:13:00.001-07:00

From the Disk of the Pastor June 2010

Dear Friends in Christ,
It has always struck me as odd that so many people don’t know about major events in the church that have happened in our life time. It is understandable that people don’t know about the Predestinarian Controversy, even though it was the thing that divided the LCMS from the ALC and its predecessors, particularly the Iowa Synod, for nearly a century. After all it took place way back in the 1800's. It’s in the days of our great grand parents or even great-great grandparents, in my case. Parish pastors long ago stopped preaching and teaching about it. You’d have to pick up a book and read about it. Knowing about this battle does explain a great deal about our church and its relationship with other churches, but we’ve long since moved on to other issues. But what about events that people have lived through - things that happened in their own life times? Let’s consider for a moment some of the major events of relatively recent LCMS history. These are things that have happened in our life times, which have shaped the church in a very crucial way.
Seminex, 1969-74. In the 1960's, during the presidency of Dr. Oliver Harms, concerns began to raised about what was being taught at our seminaries, particularly at St. Louis. Harms had no interest in addressing the issues. Things began to heat up in 1969, when Harms was replaced by Dr. J.A.O. Preus II. Preus was the son of Minnesota governor J.A.O. Preus I and was serving as president of Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Illinois. (Now in Fort Wayne, Indiana) Preus along with his brother Robert were transplants to the LCMS from the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) also known as the little Norwegian Synod.
What was the issue? Many professors at St. Louis were teaching that the Bible had errors and was not, in its entirety, the Word of God. They taught that Adam and Eve were not real people, the global flood was a myth, Moses didn’t write the first five book of the Bible, and so forth. The name for this was higher criticism or the higher critical method of interpreting the Bible. Some of those trained by these men even claimed that the gospel has nothing to do with the forgiveness of sins.
In the 1973 convention of synod, which met in New Orleans, the historical critical method was condemned as false doctrine and the convention ordered that this was not to be taught at our seminaries. In March of 1974, Dr. John Tietjen, the president of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis was removed for promoting higher criticism. Forty-five of the fifty faculty members and a majority of the students walked out in support of Dr. Tietjen. The professors were summarily fired for abandoning their post. It should be noted however, that many would have been removed anyway, given time. The dissidents formed a new seminary which they called Seminex, short for seminary in exile. After the walk out a couple professors from Springfield were likewise removed. The Senior College, located at Fort Wayne, was closed because it too was a hot bed of liberal theology. The pre-seminary program was moved to Concordia, Ann Arbor because it was considered the most theologically solid of our colleges at that time.
The effect of this was a radical change in the training of LCMS pastors. This changed how pastors minister to you. The last of those pastors trained by the Seminex professors before the walkout, will reach retirement age in 2013. A few Seminex graduates did manage to come back into the LCMS, but those numbers are small. The other aspect of this is that men became professors at a younger age to fill the void. Thus, a whole generation of pastors was shaped by those young men who became professors at our seminaries in the late 1970's.
The Preus Controversy, 1989-1994. Robert Preus became president of Concordia Theological Seminary in the mid-1970's. He oversaw the move of the seminary from Springfield back to it original home city, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Through the 1980's he brought in many fine confessional theologians. He also tried to emphasize missions in curriculum. This brought in several professors who were influenced by Fullerism. Fullerism (after Fuller Seminary, a non-denominational school in California) basically teaches that missions is so important that anything is permissible in the name of missions. With the backing of synodical president, Dr. Bohlmann, the board of regents for Fort Wayne attempted to fire Dr. Preus. The intent, as far as can be determined, was to turn the seminary over to the Fullerite professors. There were even rumors that the seminary would be relocated to California, to a property adjacent to Fuller Seminary. This resulted in lawsuits and a great deal of legal and political maneuvering. Only two district presidents, Dr. A.L. Barry of Iowa East, and Dr. Robert Kuhn of Central Illinois, rallied to Preus’ defense. Tensions increased on the eve of the synodical convention when 32 students, who supported Preus, were not placed. Rumors circulated that they would never be placed because they had dared to speak in Preus’ defense. The 1992 convention, meeting in Pittsburgh, replaced Dr. Bohlmann with Dr. Barry. Barry immediately moved to reinstate Dr. Preus. All the ministerial candidates were also immediately placed.
However, further maneuvering followed by the board of regents who still opposed Preus. In 1993 Preus retired. Dr. David Schmiel became president of the seminary, further advancing the Fullerite camp. However, the members of the synod refused to financially support the Schmiel administration. There were memorials sent to the synodical convention demanding a formal investigation of the Schmiel administration. Schmiel retired before the convention, thus finally ending the sad affair. Dr. William Weinrich was made interim president of the seminary and immediately acted to remove the Fullerite professors. He also restored the trust of the people of the synod who again financially supported the school. Dr. Dean O. Wenthe was named to the post of president of the seminary by a new board of regents elected at the 1995 convention of synod.
The Death of A.L. Barry, 2001. Dr. Barry had announced his plans to run for one more term as synodical president. He remained extremely popular in spite of the fact that some thought him too cautious in handling some disciplinary matters - particularly Atlantic district president Rev. David Benke who was accused of unionism for participating in leading joint worship services with leaders other denominations. Without warning Dr. Barry died of pneumonia in the spring of 2001. Dr. Kuhn completed his term, but had already announced his retirement. This set off a mad scramble for the presidency. The result was the election of Dr. Gerald Kieschnick, president of the Texas district, in the summer of 2001. This was quickly shown to be unfortunate when Rev. Benke participated in the infamous Yankee Stadium service, not only with other Christians, but with non Christians. Far from disciplining Benke for this clear violation of our teachings and practice, Kieschnick came to his defense. The matter remains unresolved. Although Kieschnick was narrowly re-elected in both 2004 and 2007, he is regarded as the least supported president in the history of the LCMS.
The Blue Ribbon Task Force, 2007-2010. The 2007 convention endorsed the plan for a blue ribbon task force, which had been appointed by Dr. Kieschnick, to propose a new constitution for the LCMS. The proposal greatly centralizes power in the office of the president. It takes a great deal of power away from the grass roots. This will be voted upon at the 2010 convention. Any portion of it that is approved will then have to be approved by two thirds of the congregations. Strong opposition has arisen against the proposal. Also a strong opposition candidate has emerged - Rev. Matthew Harrison, the director of LCMS World Relief. Our convention will again be a battle ground of opposing forces.
These are some events that every member of the LCMS should know about. All but the young have lived through them. So there is no reason not to know of these events. Each of these events have had a profound effect on the local parish, particularly on how our pastors are trained. So these are not trivial matters. May God enlighten our hearts to issues before us.

IN CHRIST,
Rev. Jody R. Walter
Psalm 119:104-105
Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Sermon for May 30

2010-07-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

The Feast of the Holy Trinity
May 29-30,2010
Text: John 8:48-59

Dear Friends in Christ,
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity. It is the last high holy day of the church year. From now until November 27th, when this church year will end, we are in the time of the church. We usher in this time with one last major festival. But unlike the other major festivals of the church year, this one is dedicated to a doctrine, rather than an event in the life of Christ or the Apostles. It is dedicated to the doctrine of the Trinity, our confession that God is One, and yet is three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
Many critics will jump up and say that the word Trinity does not appear in the Bible. There are many terms that we routinely use that are not in the Bible. It has become fashionable to blame all supposed insertions into the faith on the Council of Nicea. This is rather bizarre as the man who coined the term Trinity, and wrote extensively in its defense was a North African by the name of Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullian. Tertullian died about a hundred years before the Council of Nicea convened. What happens throughout the history of theology is that people start talking about something that they can’t quite express, or the expression is very cumbersome. So they invent the language needed to communicate the ideas efficiently. So very quickly Christians knew what the word meant. It had a specific content. Now they could just say or write Trinity and everyone knew what was meant.
The doctrine of the Trinity appears throughout Scripture. In Genesis 1 we have the reference to the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the deep. Many Old Testament references are less useful, unless you are already clued in. But clearly, Daniel 7 speaks of the Father and the Son. In the vision the Father, that is the Ancient of Days, gives all authority to the Son of Man. The Ancient of Days also establishes that the Son of Man’s kingdom will last forever. This is later directly paralleled in Matthew 28:18-20: “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”
The Gospel of John gives us the most grist for the mill in terms of the Doctrine of the Trinity. In John 3, while speaking with Nicodemus, Jesus tells us that He is the only One who has ever seen the Father. So then, who appeared, as God to the Israelites throughout the Old Testament? God the Son - the pre-incarnate Christ. So in a very real sense Jesus is Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, in that He is God who deals with man. It is Jesus Himself who speaks from the burning bush and give Moses the knowledge of the divine name - I AM, that I AM or Yahweh. This is pivotal to understanding our text.
Jesus went to Jerusalem for the celebration of the Feast of Booths. This was a Jewish festival commemorating the forty years Israel spent in the wilderness. Jesus would argue that they were still in a wilderness - just one of a different type. Jesus confront the Pharisees with their sins. He told them that they were of their father, the devil. Much like school children the Pharisees attack back with the same charge - you are demon possessed. Christ then launches into a discourse on His relationship with the Father. It is the Father who seeks glory for Christ. It is interesting here that Christ speaks of the Father as judge, yet, in Daniel and Matthew we see this authority transferred to Christ. By this we understand that the Father is the ultimate judge, but as judge, He can appoint another to act on His behalf. This One who judges on behalf of the Father is the Son. Christ also inserts the claim that anyone who believes in Him would not die. By this, Christ is speaking of eternal death, that is damnation.
From here we get into this whole business with Abraham. Jesus says that Abraham had seen His coming and rejoiced at it. What does that mean? It means that Abraham is alive and Jesus had spoken with him. This is a bold claim. Jesus can speak with the dead in heaven. The Jews are flabbergasted at this claim. Jesus obviously isn’t old enough to have walked the earth with Abraham. That was two thousand years earlier. Then Jesus says it: “Before Abraham was I AM.” Jesus here is making a clear claim to be the God of the Old Testament. He is saying that He is Yahweh. The Jews thought of God as being in heaven. Here God was right in front of them, in the flesh. The Jews knew exactly what Jesus was saying. It was either true or the most incredible blasphemy that could ever be uttered. We see the proof of their understanding by what they did next. They picked up stones to stone Jesus. They did that because the understood that Jesus had just told them that He is I AM, that is God.
Christ make a further claim in our text. Those who are in Him live. This was true for Abraham. Abraham believed that one day, God would come in our world to save us from our sins. Now just how fully developed Abraham’s understanding was, we don’t know. But He understood in a basic sense. He trusted in the promises of God, and God counted this as righteousness. The reason why this is so, is because Christ would die on the cross for the sins of the world. This where God wants us to see Him. This is why we call the crucifix the most perfect revelation of God. The Crucifix is where we see God, as God desires us to see Him. Nor is this just the work of the Son. It was the Father’s will that Christ die for our sins. It was by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word, that Mary conceived and Christ came into the world. So our salvation is in Christ, but Christ is simply acting out the desire of the entire Godhead. So Christ on the cross is where we see God most fully revealed. Why? Because there we see the complex nature of God. We see His love for fallen man. We also see God’s justice that could not pass over sins without the sins being atoned. Sin must be punished, or God ceases to be God. But God Himself bears that punishment on our behalf. On the cross we see God the Son. That is the person of the Trinity that we see, that we interact with. Yet, in the cross we see all the persons of the Trinity. For we see the Father’s will. And we see the Spirit’s moving of events to bring this about.
The Church itself is an expression of the Trinity. For God desires only to work with mankind through means. We do not limit God in saying this. God can do anything He pleases. But when God says, this is what pleases me, we do well to listen. God tells us that He will not deal with us except through the means He has established. So through these means, the Holy Spirit conveys Christ to us. The Holy Spirit uses to preaching of the Word to teach us about Christ. But in Lutheranism, we have always understood that the real thunder is in the Sacraments, where what we learn in the Scriptures is directly applied to each of us, individually, and personally, by name. So in Baptism, the Holy Spirit places us into the tomb with Christ. In Holy Absolution, the Holy Spirit places the very words of Christ into the mouth of the pastor and tells you your sins are forgiven. And when we do private confession and absolution this becomes just as personal as Baptism. In the Supper, we become participants with Christ in His sacrifice for the sins of the world. All these things take place in the Church. The Church is the creation of the Holy Spirit so that His means can be implemented and Christ is therefor given to God’s people. All this is the will of God the Father.
Amen!