St. John's and Grace Evangelical Lutheran Parish

Whoever Receives You, Receives Me

Text: Matthew 25:31-46

Earlier in the Gospel, our Lord sent His Apostles out to preach among the lost sheep of the house of Israel. They were to travel among the cities and towns of the children of Israel, healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, and casting out demons. They were to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ. When they encountered a house that would receive their preaching of Jesus, they were to remain there as long as they stayed in the town. But, if they encountered a town where they were not received, Jesus told them to shake the dust off their feet as they left as a judgment against that town. He said, “The one who hears you hears Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me, and the one who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” (Luke 10:16, English Standard Version) In a way, we see this playing out on a world-scale in the Gospel text today.

This text is another part of the same conversation we heard last week (and which we’ll hear next week). It takes place on the Mount of Olives, maybe even in the Garden of Gethsemane, during Holy Week. The Disciples had earlier asked Jesus about His return, and He used the opportunity to teach about the destruction of Jerusalem alongside the day of His return to raise and judge the dead. This is what our Lord is teaching about in the text today. Here we learn that our Lord will indeed return to separate the sheep from the goats, those who respond to His Word in works of mercy and love from those who don’t.

Our Lord’s teaching today touches upon two subjects that are called fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. Fundamental doctrines are things that must be believed which, without belief in, one might easily find themselves outside the Christian faith. Some examples would be: the belief that all mankind are sinners, unable to merit salvation in anyway whatsoever, justified freely by God’s grace through faith in Christ’s redemption. A fundamental doctrine is something that, if you take it away, the Christian faith falls. The two in our text today are: Christ’s return for judgement and the resurrection of the dead. With the faithful Christian Church of all times and all places, we gladly confess our faith in both of these things. In fact, we do this every Sunday.

We believe that on the Last Day, our Lord will return on the clouds with the cry of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God. At His return the dead bodies of all those who have ever lived in every part of the world will be raised. We heard from St. John last week, “He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him.” Then, John adds, “even those who pierced Him.” (Rev. 1:7) Our Lord Himself once said, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (Jn. 5:28-29) Our Lord spoke of what is happening in the text this week. At His return, He will raise the dead of all nations and gather them before Him for judgment. Though all the dead will be raised, their ends will be quite different.

Jesus said,

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.
Matthew 25:31-33

Our Lord’s judgment will not be some long drawn-out procedure, but an immediate pronouncement and separation of the righteous from the wicked. And this is the judgment, Jesus said, “whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.” (Jn. 5:24) However, how shall we reconcile this with what our Lord says in the text today?

II.

When we hear this text, and particularly the reasons for those on the right being on the right and those on the left, it’s easy to come away with a sense that Christ’s eternal judgment will be based on the works of each individual person – that each person will enter life or damnation based on their own merits. Well, that’s not really what the Scriptures say, is it? So, what are we to do? Maybe we should first recognize that a works-righteous reading of this passage is wrong. I’ll be the first to admit that I have, at times, read it that way; it makes sense to read it that way. However, because we are sinners, we should be suspicious when a text from Scripture inherently lines up with what we want it to say. Let’s try looking at this passage a little differently.

As Lutherans, we recognize that God works through means. God works through certain things to bring about our salvation; He doesn’t just snap His fingers. We see this first of all in the Incarnation. Our God provides salvation through the life, death, and resurrection, of the One who is both God and man – Jesus Christ. He works faith in Christ in us through certain things in creation. We call them the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments. Through these, we receive the forgiveness of our sins and – dare we say – God Himself. To reject the Means of Grace is to reject God, actually. Just as God sends certain means to bring about our salvation, He also sends people. Chiefly Christ, but also the Apostles and the generations of faithful Christians who have gone before us. Our pastors, teachers, Sunday school teachers, parents, friends – all these, and more, have proclaimed Christ and the forgiveness of sins to us. Without their labors, perhaps we would not be here now.

Remember what Jesus said before, “The one who hears you hears Me.” God works through means and people in our lives, people whom He sends. How we receive and behave toward them is how we receive and behave toward Christ. The emphasis in our text is on how we behave toward other Christians. We care for other Christians because from them and in them we receive the love of Christ. How we treat those who’ve gone before us or who follow after us is, actually, how we treat Christ. If we, in faith, seek to love and serve those of the household of faith, we have the assurance that we are truly serving Christ.

III.

When we reflect on our behaviors and attitudes toward those fellow Christians whom God has placed in our lives, we see that we have not always been joyous in our concern for them. On a national level, our schools and universities suffer want. Rather than seeing it as a blessing to educate our children in the Christian faith and for faithful service to the world, we consider the cost of time and money more persuasive and let our school doors close. At times, our funding for missionaries and church planting falters as well. Consider the opportunities for works of mercy or to comfort burdened consciences with forgiveness of Christ that we have lost and avoided. Jesus said, “As you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” (25:45)

Our failures to provide and care for those who share in the Gospel with us reflects our failures toward Christ. We don’t just fail in whole, but as individuals. Let us consider how we have behaved in our own congregations. We bite and thrust at each other. We are quick to judge and slow to forgive, and we gossip. When we so behave against those who are our own flesh and blood, we do it to Christ; for He dwells in their hearts by faith, as in ours. Jesus also said, “As you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.” (25:40)

The final judgment will not be based on our works as the deciding factor, but on how we receive Christ. These two are connected, though. How we receive Christ should be reflected in how we treat our fellow Christians. We must confess today that, we should be heaped into eternal damnation with those gathered on the left. We bite and tear and judge and hate. As we have behaved toward our fellow Christians, so we have toward Christ. St. Peter said, though, that “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise…but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) Let us, therefore, hear these words today in repentance. We deserve nothing but wrath and eternal damnation. If the scale were set with us and our sins on the one side, the bottom would fall out and the jaws of hell would swallow us up.

As it stands, we’re not in the scale alone. Jesus said that everyone who believes in Him has already passed from death to life. We who are baptized into Him are clothed in His righteous robes, and when the Father looks down at us, His own children is what He sees. We have the forgiveness of sins now, and we remain here awaiting the Resurrection with manifold opportunities to serve and love. St. Paul said, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Gal. 6:10) When we seek to serve those whom Christ places in our lives, we know that we are truly serving Him. Therefore, in repentance and faith, let us take confidence that our Lord – for His sake alone – will say these words to us, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (25:34)

Don’t Be Deceived (about the Coming of Christ)

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Text: Matthew 24:15-28

Today we begin our final approach toward the end of the Church Year. You might’ve noticed in the readings already that the tone has changed. Though we had a preview of this back on the Tenth Sunday after Trinity, yet this week we now begin to hear about the return of Christ and the final judgment in earnest. And, though our Lord’s words may be difficult to hear, yet His purpose is not to frighten us or make us fearful of His coming, but to prepare us for it. He gives us these words so that we might watch for His appearing, be ready for it, and eagerly await the resurrection of the dead.

Our Lord sometimes has the habit of teaching about more than one thing at a time. In St. Luke’s recollection of the conversation in our text today, he organizes our Lord’s teachings into two parts to be easier to understand. But, that’s not how St. Matthew does it. He preserves our Lord’s teaching of both the destruction of Jerusalem and His return, even if it does mean covering both topics at the same time. In the text, our Lord teaches about the final destruction of Jerusalem and about His return; one will come with a warning, the other not.

The setting of our text this week is the Mount of Olives, perhaps the Garden of Gethsemane, even, somewhere in the middle of Holy Week. If you remember, the sequence of the early part of Holy Week is that Jesus would teach in the temple during the day and lodge at Bethany during the night. One day, as He was leaving the temple with His disciples, the disciples began marvelling over the great buildings of the temple complex. Jesus said to them then, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:2, English Standard Version) Here, Jesus again, foretold the destruction that would come Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans a little less than 40 years later. Now, in the immediate sense, the disciples were confused by what Jesus meant. If you read just before our text in Matthew, they were thinking Jesus was speaking about His return there; but He wasn’t. Instead, He was foretelling the punishment Jerusalem would receive for her rejection of the Savior.

This is a major topic in Scripture and for the history of the Church. Judged by the amount of emotion and words dedicated to it, the destruction of Jerusalem – by both the Babylonians in the Old Testament and the Romans in the New – are about the most painful lessons in Scripture. We heard back on the 10th Sunday after Trinity how our Lord wept over Jerusalem, how He longed to gather them as a hen would her chicks – but they wouldn’t have it. All throughout the prophet Jeremiah’s ministry, God the Father bore His heart and deep sorrow over the rejection of His people. They hated His Word and each other; they lived lives of idolatry, violence, hatred, and adultery. Yet, all the while, they took pride in their city and temple. They believed that no harm could ever come to it. We also heard on Reformation Sunday how our God is just; justice demands the punishment of sin, including unbelief. And so, our Lord allowed Jerusalem to be destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. When the Babylonians became full of themselves, God allowed them to be destroyed by the Persians.

Just as God’s people rejected Him in the Old, they did it in the New. Although many did believe in Christ and receive salvation through faith in Him, many rejected Him – as did Jerusalem as a whole. Therefore, as judgement against them, God would allow Jerusalem to be destroyed once again; though it would not be without warning. Our Lord said to the Disciples, “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place…then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” (vv. 15-16) This is a reference to a prophecy given in the book of Daniel, that armies would come and surround Jerusalem on every side. They would disrupt worship and pollute the temple with their idols. Our Lord teaches us here, that Daniel spoke of the Romans. But remember, our Lord’s purpose is not to frighten, but to prepare. Therefore, He encouraged the Disciples that, when they saw these things coming, to flee Jerusalem. And, actually, that’s what they did. Ancient historians tell us that when the Romans came, the Christians remembered these words of Jesus and fled to the town of Pella, and so were safe from harm.

II.

As we said, though, the Lord sometimes has a habit of speaking about more than one thing at a time. Our text today is one of those times. Up to verse 22, our Lord warns of Jerusalem’s coming destruction. There would be signs for the Christians to see and leave beforehand. However, the topic changes in verse 23. After Jesus said the temple stones would be thrown down, the disciples asked Him what the sign of His return would be. Jesus’ answer to that question begins in verse 23, but comes really in verse 26. The Holy Spirit records for us through St. Matthew, “So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” (vv. 26-27)

The destruction of Jerusalem, really both times, was long preceded by various signs and indications. We don’t have time today to speak much about them, perhaps it would be a good Bible study. But the return of Christ, Jesus Himself says, will be different. There will no sign. Sure, we have signs in general that we are in the End Times, and have been since the Resurrection and Ascension – earthquakes and famines and such – but there will be no sign before Jesus returns. Instead, it will be immediately and plainly visible to all people – just like lightning, for example. The other example Jesus gives is about the vultures. If you’re outside and you see a ring of vultures flying overhead, you know what’s going on. Same with Jesus’ return. Everybody’s going to know; but it will be without warning. St. Paul said, “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.” (1 Thess. 4:16) St. John adds, “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him.” (Rev. 1:7)

Now, the purpose of hearing and speaking about these things is not to frighten ourselves or make us afraid of Christ’s coming. Rather, having been instructed by the Lord, we can be confident that He is coming. He has redeemed us by His blood and won for us eternal life. Soon, He will come to gather us to His side and put away forever all sin and malice. Since we know that the Day will come, and we are reminded this day that it will be without warning, let us then endeavor to be found faithful. The Lord has brought us into His family, He has revealed to us what is good and true, and even produces good works in our lives through the Holy Spirit. Let us pray that He would cause us to be given to them, and abound more and more. St. Paul wrote, words we’ll hear again in a few weeks, “You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Rom. 13:11-12)

Children of God in Life and Death

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Text: 1 John 3:1-3

St. John the Evangelist wrote in the Epistle text, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2, English Standard Version) St. John speaks of the grace we have received in Christ; that, for His sake, we have been made children of God. In Him we have the free and full forgiveness of our sins and the joyful expectation that, at the Resurrection, we will see Jesus with our own two eyes, just as the angels and saints behold Him now in heaven. We will behold Him joyfully, as we are made pure from sin through faith in His sacrifice. Just as those who have gone before us were made pure through faith in Jesus, so we, too, are purified through the same one faith.

Today we celebrate All Saints’ Day, which falls on November 1st. This is an ancient holiday, first celebrated officially in the 4th century as All Martyrs’ Day, a day to remember and give thanks to God for those Christians who gave witness to the truth even by their deaths. In the 9th century, the date was set to November 1st and its name changed to how we know it today, All Saints’ (or, The Feast Of). Today we thank God that, out of His great love for us, He has made us to be His children. And so we are, both in this life of death and in the eternal life to come.

Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, St. John was caused to write the words we heard already, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (v. 1) This epistle was originally written to Christians under the spiritual care of St. John as their pastor. He wrote, in part, to remind them of the calling to which they were called, their new status before God in Christ. They are God’s children now, John said, implying that they were previously children of something or someone else. Earlier in the Church Year we heard from St. Paul to the Ephesians that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ – apart from works. This is a good thing because, in the sentences before that part in Ephesians 2, St. Paul named what we all once were, children of wrath. (Eph. 2:3)

With those words, St. Paul reminds us of the consequences of the Fall. In confirmation, we recently learned about Creation and the Fall and we noted how, although Adam and Eve were created in God’s image, their children were born in their image. It says that in Genesis 5, and that’s the Holy Spirit’s way of telling us that something changed in the Fall. Now, we are born sinful. We are born at enmity with God, hating the things that He wants us to do and only desiring to please ourselves. That is what it means to be children of wrath by nature. What’s more, we have so behaved. We are more concerned with ourselves and our earthly happiness than we are devoted to God’s Word. We have made, do now, make choices that reflect that in our lives. We know what God commands, and when we desire to do something against His will, we push His Word to the back of our minds and carry on with what we were going to do, anyway. This is what we are by nature; in a word, sinful.

St. John says, though, that this has all been done away with through an incredible showing of God’s love. We heard last week that the Father saw our wretched and sinful state and chose to put forth His own Son in our place. We are wicked and corrupt sinners, yet Christ willingly died for us. God the Father put His own Son, Jesus Christ, forward as the payment for our sin and so that we, who by nature were children of wrath, might be God’s own children. By our Baptism into Christ, through faith in the Word which is revealed to us, God the Father clothes us in the robes of Christ’s righteousness which covers all our sins. And so, we are His forgiven children now, as John said. But, “what we will be has not yet appeared.”

II.

With just a short turn of words, the Apostle speaks very well to our present experience. In theological jargon, this is called the “now, but not yet.” That means, we are – as the Spirit says – God’s children by our baptism into Christ. We are united to His death and resurrection and have received (and will yet, today, receive) the forgiveness of our sins. We have this joy now, but our joy is neither yet full nor complete. We have the forgiveness of our sins now, but we are not yet where there is no sin. And, we can tell this in our lives.

Let’s use John as an example. He was a young man when the Lord called him from mending the nets. He followed the Lord but, only a few years after the Ascension, his brother James was the first of the Apostles to be martyred. Still, John continued in the faith. One by one, all the other Apostles were either matyred or otherwise died, until John only was left. He suffered greatly under various persecutions, enduring both torture and exile, along with the persistant slander of false teachers and heretics. Nevertheless, St. John remembered and taught through it all, that he and we are God’s children now.

Time doesn’t allow for us to speak of all our afflictions. Some of them may be similar to John’s, but many not. We suffer in our health and in our personal lives. Some of us have only made it this far in the faith and remain in it with great difficulty. We are looked down upon, as Christians in whole, by the world; our own church body, in particular, is increasingly an object of derision in the world’s eyes. We should expect this, however, as St. John said, “The world does not know us [because] it did not know Him.” (v. 1) That doesn’t make it any easier, though. This does: John said, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him because we will see Him as He is.” (v. 2) St. John offers this as fact: We are God’s children now by Baptism and faith. We have the forgiveness of sins now. When Christ returns, all things will change.

III.

This is our hope, it is our confidence; and, not just ours, but also of those who have gone before us here. St. John said, “Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.” (v. 4) He’s saying that, by our union with Christ in Baptism – God the Father calls us His children. To be His child is to have the forgiveness of sins. To have the forgiveness of sins means to be no longer beneath the shadow of sin and death. Though our bodies die as the punishment of sin, yet the souls of those who believe continue to praise God in heaven. We heard some of their song in the reading from Revelation. Those whom we have loved and lost from among our fellowship this last year, are now in that choir singing.

So, will we be. We are God’s children now. The Father has shown His great love for us, adopting us – who by nature are sinful and unclean – into His own family. He puts His own robe around us and rings on our fingers. He sacrificed the true fattened calf for us, and we feast at His own supper. Though our experience now is filled with hardship and affliction – that is only because what will be has not yet appeared. But, it will. Soon, the last trumpet will sound and our Lord will return. All evil and all death will be forever ended and we will live forever with Christ in everlasting light. Should it be the Lord’s will that we depart before that time, then we will be with Christ, too, just awaiting the Resurrection. We have this hope, and are purified by this hope, because He who promised is faithful. Today, we give thanks to God that, out of His great love, He has made us to be His children. And so we are. Amen.

The Righteousness of God

Text: Romans 3:19-28

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St. Paul wrote to the Romans, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” (Romans 3:21-22, English Standard Version) Today we celebrate the Festival of the Reformation. Though Reformation Day itself falls on Thursday, we take the opportunity today to give thanks to God and glorify Him for the grace revealed to us in His Scriptures, and for calling His Church back to the Scriptures through His servant Martin Luther. On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses, giving a start to the Reformation.

This year, I’d like us to look at a different portion of the text than we normally do. Normally, when Romans 3 comes up in the Lectionary, we take the opportunity – and rightly so – to be reminded that we are not saved by our works but by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. That is and (must always be) evident in our preaching, our hymns, and even the Liturgy. This year, I’d like us to focus on the words the Holy Spirit gives us through St. Paul, where he says, “The Righteousness of God.” What is the righteousness of God, and how is it shown? The righteousness of God is shown in His

a) punishing the sins of those who break His Commandments, but also, and especially, in
b) the sending forth of His Son as the atonement for all sin.

In order for us to understand what St. Paul means by the righteousness of God, we need to first talk about God. Who is God? How should we describe Him? Speaking for us as a group, we would probably refer to the words of Scripture to describe Him. How do the Scriptures describe Him? In addition to being a Trinity and the creator of all things, the Scriptures speak about God as being a God of love and truth and, also, of righteousness and justice. As the creator and source of all things, He is the one who determines what is right and what is wrong. For lack of a better explanation, we might say that he who invents the game also sets the rules. And, in a way, that is what God has done. He has revealed to us what is right and good and true. He has revealed to us how best to serve Him and love our neighbor. He has even written these rules on our hearts and revealed them in Scripture. We know them. The Ten Commandments.

God has revealed to us His holy will, the standard of what is right and wrong, what is good for us and for our neighbors. He has revealed these things to us, and what have we done? We have ignored His Commandments or explained them away. We have forgotten them and disregarded them. What’s worse, we who have been raised in the Church have known the Commandments since our childhood – and we break them anyway. This confession is what St. Paul is working toward when he said, “There is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (vv. 22-23) St. Paul worked in chapters 1-3 of Romans to demonstrate that, because God has revealed His Law in the Commandments and written it in human hearts, there is no excuse we can give. We are sinners, one and all, no matter which way you cut it.

Now, what is God to do with such a bunch? God is love, that is true; but He is also a God of justice and righteousness. He has revealed to us how to act righteously, and we have not done it. What is a righteous God to do with those who are unrighteous? Well, He’s to punish them. In fact, it would be unrighteous for God not to punish. We have already confessed this morning, that we deserve God’s punishment in both temporal and eternal fashions for own evil sins. When parents don’t discipline their children, they fail in their vocations as parents. If God did not punish those who break break the Commandments, He would make Himself to be unrighteous. The righteousness of God is shown when He punishes those who transgress His Law.

In the book of Numbers, the Holy Spirit gives us an account of how the children of Israel responded to the reports of the spies they had sent into Canaan. The twelve spies came back, telling of the great land, but also of the powerful people who lived there. Joshua and Caleb encouraged the people that the Lord was on their side and had promised to give them that land. But, the nation was swayed by the report of the ten wicked spies. They even prepared to stone Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Caleb before the Lord stopped them. The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.” (Num. 14:11-12) In other words, the righteous Lord was prepared to punish the unrighteous breakers of His Law. He was going to do it, until Moses interceeded for them.

Moses said to God,

Now if You kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard Your fame will say, ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as You have promised, saying, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression.’
Numbers 14:15-18

Moses reminded the Lord that He is not only a righteous God, but a loving and merciful one – one who forgives transgression. The Lord shows His righteousness in punishing transgression, this is true. But even more so, does He show it by forgiving the sins of those who trust in Christ.

Instead of pouring out His righteous wrath on all mankind, which would be what we deserve, the Lord took another course – one which came only at great cost to Himself. God the Father saw our sin and considered the punishment we deserved, and instead put forth His only Son in our place. He sent His Son Jesus to take own our same human flesh and to bear our sins in Himself. Jesus actively and fully obeyed the Commandments and then suffered our punishment on the cross. On the cross, the Father poured out all His wrath on Jesus, as our substitute. Jesus bore it so that, in Him, we might be forgiven. And, how do we receive this forgiveness? We heard these words already, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and 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.”

Our God is a righteous God. He sent forth His holy will in the Ten Commandments and He wrote it in our hearts. In keeping with His righteousness, He punishes the sins of those who break His Commandments. But, He freely forgives those who believe in His Son. That is why Christ took on our flesh, so that God might both be just and our justifier through faith. This is what all the Scriptures are about, and it’s what Luther called back to our attention. Or rather, God called it back to our attention, through Luther. We are not saved by our good works. We contribute nothing to our salvation by them. Rather, we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ – whom He put forward as the sacrifice for sin in our place. In this way, God shows Himself to be righteous: in demanding payment for sin, but, even more so, in forgiving those who trust in His Son, even us.

The Law and the Gospel

Text: Matthew 22:34-46

In our Christian Book of Concord, the Lutheran confessors write,

The distinction between the Law and the Gospel is a particularly brilliant light. It serves the purpose of rightly dividing God’s Word and properly explaining and understanding the Scriptures of the holy prophets and apostles. We must guard this distinction with special care, so that these two doctrines may not be mixed with each other, or a law be made out of the Gospel. (Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration Article V, paragraph 1)
Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration. Article V, paragraph 1.
An public domain copy of the Book of Concord can be found here: http://bookofconcord.org/sd-lawandgospel.php#para1

They wrote this because, after Luther’s death in 1546, there was confusion about how God’s Word should be preached, particularly in congregational settings. Some pastors were saying that people should be taught to repent of their sins by contemplating Christ’s death and resurrection. Others maintained, correctly and with Luther, that repentance comes through the preaching of the Law, while faith and the forgiveness of sins comes through the preaching of the Gospel. In the Book of Concord, the Church confesses that there is a difference between the Law and the Gospel and, in this, we follow the pattern of our Lord.

The Gospel today gives us an opportunity to speak this way because we heard our Lord giving a masterclass in preaching the Law and the Gospel. Even yet in the temple during Holy Week, even then, He desired that His opponents would repent and believe in Him, and so receive the forgiveness of their sins. Therefore, He preached the Law to them – that God demands absolute love for Him and neighbor. Then, He preached the Gospel – that the son of David is also the Son of God, come to put the enemies of sin and death beneath His feet. Our Lord preaches both Law and Gospel so that we would rightly know and lament the depth of our sin, and so that we would also know the greatness of His love for us.

The underlying question the Pharisees and lawyers had for our Lord was how to interpret the Scriptures. The setting of our Gospel text this week is the temple in Jerusalem during the last week of our Lord’s earthly ministry. During Holy Week, Jesus would lodge at Mary, Martha, and Lazarus’ place and teach in the temple during the day. The question for our Lord today is the third question posed to Him, each an attempt to trip our Lord up and cause Him to blaspheme. They should’ve known better by now. But, the question behind their question was, as we said, how to interpret the Scriptures. Should the Scriptures be interpreted simply as a rule book for us to follow and thereby merit eternal life – as some of our Lord’s opponents held – or is something else going on? In His response to their question, and in the question He gave them, our Lord shows us how to interpret the Scriptures: by first recognizing the difference between the Law and the Gospel.

But, what is the Law; and what is the Gospel? Let’s see if we can stretch our minds back to our confirmation days. When we say “The Law,” we mean those passages in Scripture where our God tells us how we are to live, what we are to do and not do. When we say, “The Gospel,” we mean those passages in Scripture that speak of Christ and His work for us, such as His keeping of the Law for us and His death on our behalf, as the payment for our breaking of the Law. St. Paul teaches us that the purpose of the Law is to make sin known and lead to repentance while, through the preaching of the Gospel, faith is created and forgiveness is received. We maintain this distinction because, if we take away the preaching of Christ’s cross and leave only the Ten Commandments, we lead people only to despair. If we preach only the death and resurrection of Christ but leave out the Law, then we remove the reason why Christ died and our need for salvation in the first place. This, in a very short time, is what we mean by the Law and the Gospel. But, what does preaching the Law and the Gospel look like in practice, in real life? Let’s turn to our Lord’s preaching in the temple.

II.

The Holy Spirit records for us through St. Matthew that, “when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question to test Him, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’” (Matthew 22:34-36, English Standard Version) Remember, we’re in the temple during Holy Week and Jesus’ opponents are crowding around Him. They ask Him, more or less, which is the greatest commandment in the Old Testament. Apparently, historically-speaking, this was the sort of conversation people would have, and the usual response would be what our Lord did say, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Mt. 24:37) The greatest and first commandment is that we fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Now, here, Jesus preaches the Law. He said to them, “A second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (v. 39)

We hear elsewhere that the Pharisees were lovers of money. They were also lovers of being honored and respected by the public. They were lovers of loving those who loved them, but not so much of loving everyone. And, so, Jesus rightly pointed out that God does not only demand absolute love for Him, but also absolute love for everyone whom He places in our earthly lives. In fact, the whole second table of the Commandments is directed toward that end. By doing this, Jesus preached the Law to Pharisees to point out that they were, in fact, sinners in need of salvation. However, we should also hear this preaching of the Law ourselves. The Scriptures say that the “word of our God will stand forever” (Is. 40:8), and that includes both the Gospel and the Law.

God, in His Law, demands perfection. He demands that we, truly and with our whole being, love Him alone and above all things. There is no equivocation, there is no wiggle room. He will not tolerate anything to take His place. And yet, we cast His Law aside and throw it away from us. We neither study His Word or hold it in our hearts. We consider it a burden to be well-versed in Christian doctrine and live accordingly. In our homes, our televisions and stuff feature prominently while Bibles gather dust or are absent. We trust in our retirement investments to provide for us old age more than God. Just as God commands absolute love for Him, He also demands that we love our neighbor – every neighbor. Yet, we ignore that, too, as we all have in the past or do now hold grudges in our hearts. The same Law preached to the Pharisees should also weigh heavy on our hearts. They were no deeper into sin than we are now.

III.

Do you feel that? That sinking, heavy feeling in your chest? You’re supposed to feel that; it’s evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in your heart. The Lord has just shown us through the Law, how wicked we are. We don’t love God like we’re supposed to, and we don’t love our neighbors as we’re supposed to, either. God commands and we disobey, and that often on purpose. The punishment for this is death and eternal condemnation. This is what the Law does. The preaching of the Law shows our sins. It does this so that we can then hear this: Jesus Christ died for your sins. He knows how you only half-heartedly love God and how you have gossiped and hated your neighbor. He knows you have not treasured God’s Word as pricest of all jewels and that you have grown bored of hearing sermons preached. He knows these things, and all the things you have ever done, and He died for you. He died so that you might hear these words and believe. By His death He paid for your sins, by His resurrection He restores to you eternal life. If you believe these words, you have exactly what He says.

This is all because Jesus is not just David’s son according to the flesh but, as our Lord pointed out, He is “David’s Lord.” (v. 43) Jesus pointed out for the Pharisees and us that the son promised to David would be the same offspring promised to Abraham, the same promised to Adam and Eve, the Son of God Himself. His would be no mere earthly kingship, but a heavenly one filled with truth, righteousness, and love. This what our Lord established by His death and resurrection. He brings us into His reign by Baptism and by faith. Through these things, He gives to us the forgiveness which He won for us and the eternal life He purchased for us poor sinners. This is what we mean by the Gospel. Jesus Christ knew your sin and shame, took it Himself all the same, nailed it to the cross in His own flesh and made payment for it. The forgiveness which He earned, He gives to you as a gift through faith.

These two things must always be preached in the Christian Church, the Law and the Gospel. Our Lord did it there in the temple, as we heard, and He does here, now. By His Law, He shows us which things are right and good – and which we fail to do and so deserve eternal condemnation. By His Gospel, He teaches us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, because those who are in Him are rescued from sin and hell. Let us give thanks to God that He has preserved this teaching among us this far and pray that we would be granted to confess the same in our lives and conversations. Amen.

Sabbath Humility

Text: Luke 14:1-11

In our readings this week, we seem to have two streams of thought going on. The first stream we heard in the Old Testament reading, in St. Paul, and the second half of the Gospel text. The word that comes to mind in all three readings is humility. Our Lord encourages us to live in humility toward Him and our neighbor; that we not think only of ourselves, but look to the good of those whom the Lord places in our lives. The second stream of thought that comes up this week concerns the Sabbath. We heard in the text how our Lord healed a man on the Sabbath – demonstrating, again, the true purpose of the Sabbath.

It seems that these are two different streams of thought and perhaps we shouldn’t try to meld them into one sermon. I went back and forth on which part of the Gospel I’d like us to focus on this year; but I do think there is a connection between the two thoughts. I think it’s this: a right understanding of the Sabbath will lead us to live in love and humility toward others. You see, the Sabbath is not about doing no work. The Lord provides us the Sabbath so that we have time to rest, reflect, and receive the benefits of His work for us. In humility, Christ did not count His equality with God as something to be doted upon. Instead, He emptied Himself to bear our sins and make the payment on our behalf. When we understand that the Sabbath is for us to receive the benefits of Christ’s humility, how can we not, then, aspire to share in that humility in our lives here on earth?

Let’s pause for a moment, though, and reflect, again, on the Sabbath. This past Lent, we had the opportunity to study our Lord’s Ten Commandments and we spent a Sunday on the Third Commandment. But, that was a little while ago. The Sabbath, as you know, is the day set aside by God as a day of rest. In fact, the Hebrew word means, “rest.” This day was not given by God on Mt. Sinai, when He delivered the Ten Commandments, but it actually predates the Commandments. The Sabbath was given by God in the week of Creation. In Genesis 2, the Holy Spirit says, “On the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation.” (Genesis 2:1-3, English Standard Version) God did not rest on the seventh day because He was fatigued from His work, but to reflect on His good work of creation and to delight in it. God first gave the Sabbath on the seventh day of creation. Only later did it become codified in the Ten Commandments on Sinai.

God commanded the observance of the Sabbath in the Third Commandment. He said,

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God…For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Exodus 20:8-9, 11

God insisted that His people observe the Sabbath so that they would have a day of rest. Our God knows that life in the fallen creation is hard and full of labor and that we don’t always take time to get the rest we need. Therefore, He made the Sabbath a commandment. His people were to rest from all their work on the seventh day for this purpose: that, as God rested and reflected on all His work, so His people would pause to reflect on His work, receive His benefits, and live in love toward their neighbor.

II.

Whenever God gives something good, however, man usually finds a way to ruin it. It happened in the Garden of Eden and it happened with the Sabbath. This is what’s going on in the Gospel text. Our Lord was invited to dine in the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, so He went. Now, this dinner was on the Sabbath. There was a man among them suffering from dropsy, a debilitating swelling of body parts. Our Lord then asked the lawyers and Pharisees whether it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not. He didn’t ask because He didn’t know, but to point out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and lawyers. By their time, they had corrupted the Sabbath and lost its true meaning. Instead of the Sabbath being a gift of God to His people, they turned their observance of the Sabbath into work for God. And it was quite a strenuous work, doing no work. They believed that they honored God’s Commandment by doing nothing on the Sabbath; no walking, no cooking, no lifting of anything. That’s what the Sabbath meant to them. Instead of being a day given by God to reflect on and receive His blessings, they made the Sabbath about them – them doing no work.

Now, lest we heap it all on them, we must confess that we have a share in this load of sin. We also take the good thing that God gives and reshape it in our image. And we do it, first, but cutting God out of the Sabbath; that is, Sunday. When Sunday rolls around and we want to sleep in, we sleep in. If we want to fish, we fish. If we want to attend sports, we do it. If we plain don’t want to go to church, we don’t. In all of this, we act as if this is the reason why God gave us Sundays at all – for us to do what we feel like. We also corrupt the Commandment when we do come to church and then tune out. Even crasser still, is the idea that we earn something in God’s eyes by coming to the worship service. Sometimes we act as if attending the Divine Service is just another box to check for us to count as good Christians. Now, we’ve come full-circle; because that’s how the Pharisees looked at the Sabbath.

III.

Our Lord asked the lawyers and Pharisees if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath, but they kept silent. They weren’t even able to string two words together. Our Lord took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him away. Thereby, Jesus demonstrated for us, again, the true meaning and purpose of the Sabbath. God calls us to observe this time of rest so that we might receive the blessings and benefits of Christ’s work for us. This how the early church understood it. All throughout the Book of Acts, we hear how the Apostles gathered on the “Lord’s Day,” Sunday. In a way, the man in the Gospel suffering from dropsy is a good picture of ourselves. Dropsy was a swelling which rendered one unclean. Sin is a disgusting swelling of the heart and mind that renders us unclean before God.

The Scriptures say, though, that Christ bears our infirmities. We saw this in an immediate sense in the Gospel, but we see it to an even greater extent in the cross. Christ properly and fully observed the Sabbath. And, yet, He took our failures to do so upon Himself on the cross. By His death, He atoned for our failures to love and honor God. By His rest in the tomb, He fulfilled the Sabbath. Just as the Father rested from His work on the seventh day, so the Son, from His. Now, He gives us this day and time for us to rest. In our busy and stressful lives, He gives us this time to pause. In this hour He comes to us. He takes our burdens and makes them His own. He gives us His righteousness and makes it our own. Worldly comforts come and go, but here Christ gives us a rest and refreshment that lasts unto eternal life.

There’s a word for this, to describe how our Lord behaves toward us. Well, there’s many; but the word today is humility. St. Paul said in the Epistle, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.” (Eph. 4:1-2) He recalled to the Ephesians that our Lord has borne our burdens with patience, love, and gentleness. He did not cast us away for our sins but, in humility, counted us as more important than Himself – even to death. Here in this hour He gives us all the fruits of His cross. This is what the Sabbath is for. And maybe, now that we know what the Sabbath is for, we can live humbly toward our neighbor as Christ is toward us. God grant this unto us all. Amen.

Life Through Death

Text: Luke 7:11-17

I will extol you, O Lord, for You have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried to You for help, and You have healed me. O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol; You restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
Psalm 30:1-1, English Standard Version

These words of King David, spoken at the dedication of the land upon which the temple would later be built, could well have come out of the mouth of the poor mother in our Gospel text. To begin with, she was a widow. However, she also was the mother of only one son, who had died by the time our Lord came to that town, Nain. It would’ve been that son’s responsibility to provide and care for his mother. With his death, her hopes faded and she became as among “those who go down to the pit.” That is, until our Lord had compassion on her.

When Jesus entered that town, leading a joyous procession of the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins, He was met by a procession of another sort: a funeral procession. Where these two things collide, life must the victory win. Our Lord stopped the procession, spoke to the young man, and – with His Word – raised him from the dead. Then, as a continued expression of His compassion, our Lord returned this young man to his mother so that he might care for her. In our Gospel text today, we learn, again, that Jesus, our compassionate Lord, is able to bring life out of death.

That there were resurrections in the Old Testament, we noted in our reading today – where Elijah restored a widow’s son to life. Elisha, as well, would later be connected with a resurrection. There were also near resurrections, such as when King Hezekiah was restored from a grave illness. These resurrections, along with the prophecies of Isaiah, David, and others, pointed ahead to the resurrection of Christ at the fullness of time. But, as yet in our Gospel text, our Lord’s resurrection has not happened. Neither, has our Lord yet raised anyone from the dead – Luke 7 being earlier in His ministry. It happened, after the Sermon on the Mount, that our Lord returned to His home base in Capernaum, where He healed the centurion’s servant. From there, Jesus set out again to preach and teach the Gospel.

When our Lord entered the town of Nain with His disciples and a crowd of followers, St. Luke writes, “Behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.” (Luke 7:12) Nain was about 25 miles from Capernaum. It would’ve taken about a day to get there on foot. Our Lord spent that day preaching and teaching. People who heard the Gospel and believed it followed Jesus to continue learning from Him. So, upon entering this town, our Lord was leading a parade of sorts when He then encountered an especially sad occasion. There was a widow from that town who had not only lost her husband, but now her only son, as well. With that son, her hopes of a future – of a place to live and food to eat – died, too. King David, in another psalm, speaks well for the situation of the woman, “The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.” (Ps. 116:3)

“When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’” (v. 13) When our Lord saw the procession, He had compassion on the poor widow. He stopped the funeral parade and told her not to weep. Then, He gave her good reason not to weep. St. Luke writes, “He came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise.’ And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.” (vv. 14-15) Our Lord Jesus Christ is gracious and merciful, and has compassion over our human suffering. When He saw this widow carrying out her son, He cared for her by bringing her son back to life. Jesus is able to bring life out of death.

II.

The same Lord who had compassion over this widow, also had compassion over the whole world. In Genesis, no sooner did our Lord declare the consequences of sin than did He also promise a victory over sin and death in His own death and resurrection. That’s what Genesis 3 promises, it’s what the prophets sang of, and what the young man’s resurrection pointed ahead to. Jesus, also, was an only son. Though He Himself was without sin, unstained by original sin and without any actual sin of His own, Jesus placed Himself into the snares of death and pangs of Sheol. Though He had committed no crime, yet He opened not His mouth. And, why? Because of us.

We are the reason why Jesus died. Though we were not there in the Garden, the corruption of sin has flowed down into us. We were born in it and live in it. In the course of our lives, we have allowed sin to hold sway in our hearts, minds, and actions. We have allowed its flow to continue unchecked. On account of this, we stand justly condemned. We disobey the Almighty God. His verdict is just, and the sentence for treason against the divine is death. This is why we die. But, it is also why our Lord died. Only, He didn’t die as a punishment for His sin – because He didn’t have any. Jesus died so that the wrath of God which we have deserved by our sins, might pass from us to Him. By His death – the death of the only Son of God – our sins are paid for. Then, our compassionate Lord not only died for us, He rose for us. He brought us life out of death.

III.

That is what Jesus’ resurrection means. Just as the Old Testament resurrections and the son’s in the Gospel text pointed to Christ’s resurrection, so Christ’s resurrection points to our resurrection. That is what the Scriptures mean when they say that Jesus Christ is the “Firstborn of the dead,” which we spoke together this last week. It means that Jesus was the first, but more would follow. We would follow. By our Baptism into Christ, and by faith in His name, His resurrection is our resurrection. His newness of life is our newness of life, here and in the life hereafter.

In many ways our experience of life is the same as King David’s and the widow’s, because we also experience what comes to all people as the punishment of sin: death. We die, and our loved ones die. But, the Scriptures say that Jesus Christ is the “same yesterday and today and forever.” (Heb. 13:8) The same compassion He had for the widow, and for the world in His own death, He has over us. When our loved ones die in the faith – and we as well – we have the joyful hope that we will be reunited. If we should die before our Lord returns, we depart immediately into His presence among the saints in heaven. When He returns, He will raise our bodies and change them to be like His, and we will live forever in the new creation. If we are alive at His return, we will be likewise changed. Our Lord is compassionate, and He is able to bring life out of death: for the widow in the text, for the world, and for us. Amen.

Altar Guild Workshop 2019, Pt. III

Welcome back to the third and final session of this year’s altar guild workshop. So far, we have reviewed our Lutheran confession of faith when it comes to the Lord’s Supper. We have explored the idea that what we believe about something should be reflected in our actions. And, we have learned about the items needed for the celebration of the Sacrament. Tonight, we’re going to learn a little bit about church architecture. Then, we’re going to learn about setting up for the Lord’s Supper – what goes where, and so on. Finally, we’ll talk about how we should take down after the service has ended.

Maybe the first question to ask is, what is a church? What is a church building, and what is it for? A church is a building where God’s faithful people gather together to receive the Lord’s Supper, to receive God’s blessings through His Word and Sacraments, to speak back to Him in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving, and be encouraged through corporate worship and Bible study. These are just some ways to describe a church, but the focus overall is the loving faithfulness of God toward us in Christ, as given to us in the Means of Grace. This is actually reflected in how church buildings are laid out. At least, according to traditional church architecture – of which, both our congregations are examples.

In the history of the Church, it has been quite common for churches to be built west-east. People would enter, generally, in the west and face forward to the east. This isn’t always possible or practical, so this isn’t always the case. Regardless of the actual orientation, the altar is always said to be in the east (liturgical east). The right side of the altar (as you face it) is called the north or Gospel side, the left the south or Epistle side. Now that we have our directions down, we can start to navigate the rest of the building. A church building has two main parts, the chancel and the nave. The chancel is where the altar is. The nave is the main body of the church, where the congregation sits. If there is a space the congregation enters before the main worship space, that is called the narthex. In history, this often where baptisms would take place – symbolizing the washing away of sin before entering God’s presence. These are the big divisions everyone should know. But, there is one more that is helpful for us to know now. In most churches there is a room off of the chancel for the pastor to vest before services, which might also hold the supplies for the divine service. This is called the sacristy.

Now, let’s zoom in to the altar. The altar stands front and center in the sanctuary. It is a sign of God’s enduring presence among His people. Though the language of altar presents us with the idea of sacrifice, in the Lutheran Church we understand the altar as, primarily, the place where our Lord distributes to us His many gifts: chiefly, in the Sacrament, but also in the words of Absolution. Only after, may we talk about the altar as a place of offering – since it is where we place our offerings of thanksgiving. Just as the building has parts, so does the altar. The top of the altar is called the mensa. In many cases, the mensa is inscribed with five crosses – one in each corner and one in the middle. These correspond to the five wounds of our Lord on the cross. On top of the mensa go just about everything we’re about to talk about.

We’ve already talked about the items that we need for the celebration of the Sacrament. We need the elements of bread and wine. Without these, it wouldn’t be the Lord’s Supper. In order for easier distribution of the Sacrament, we also use plates and cups of various kinds. In most cases, however, we don’t just throw all these things on the altar. When you’re having a fine meal at home with your guests, you might put out a tablecloth and some nice napkins. This serves a purpose. Number one, it protects your table, but it also adds a dignity to the meal. Setting up a nice tablecloth and the like says that what’s going on is important. We also take that approach to the Lord’s Supper.

Before we place the communion vessels upon the altar, we first vest the altar. We can talk more about paraments some other time; let’s focus on items connected to the Supper. Right on top of the altar, cut to the exact size of the mensa is a linen called the cere linen. This used to be a waxed linen placed upon stone altars to prevent condensation from ruining other things. Over the cere linen goes the fair linen. This is the first thing you can see from the pews. It’s a white cloth the width of the altar that extends over the ends a little bit. Traditionally, this has been made of the finest linen available, as it symbolizes the linen used to wrap the body of the Lord.

On top of the fair linen, in the center of the altar, goes the corporal. The corporal is a square cloth that the communion vessels are placed upon. It, also, should be of fine material, since it represents the cloth that was placed on our Lord’s face while He rested in the tomb. Once the vessels are placed upon the corporal, then the pall goes on top of the chalice. This is a square piece of a stiff material, covered in fine linen. The purificator is set alongside the chalice. This is the linen used for cleansing the rim of the chalice during the distribution. Over all the vessels before and after the distribution is another piece of fine linen called a communion veil. Some congregations have a veil just for the chalice and a larger one for the other vessels. Finally, a burse is a envelope-like case used to house the corporal, purificators, and veils when not in use.

Now comes the part that occasioned all of this. How do we set up the Lord’s Supper? First things first. For reasons that we’ll talk about later, we want to know how many we are expecting to commune, so that we can have an appropriate amount of supplies. If we are expecting 40, we wouldn’t want to be setting a table for 100. Ordinarily, we want to keep the number we prepare for and the number of those actually communing fairly close. Once you have your numbers, in the sacristy, find the hosts. Count out the appropriate number and place them in the appropriate vessel. At Grace, that’ll be the paten. At St. John’s, the ciborium. If there are hosts that have been previously consecrated, be sure to use those first. After preparing the hosts, prepare the wine. In the sacristy, fill the appropriate amount of individual cups and place them in the trays. Also, fill the flagon with an appropriate amount. As with the hosts, be sure to use any previously consecrated wine first.

Next, find the corporal. Stretch it out on the center of the altar. Then, take the chalice and place it on the center of the corporal. From north to south, place a purificator across the mouth of the chalice. When possible, place the paten over the chalice, and the pall atop. Once those are in place, the paten or ciborium are placed back and left of it (the liturgical south east). The flagon then may be placed back and right of the chalice. Once these are all in place, the veil goes over all. The trays of individual cups are then placed to the right. They may be under the veil if it is large enough, or another may be over the trays by themselves. This is how we prepare for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. How, then, do we clean up after?

Remember the thesis we’ve been working with. What we believe about something should be reflected in our actions. What we believe about the Lord’s Supper should be reflected in our actions before, during, and after. We believe that, at the Word of Institution, the bread and wine are changed in such a way as to be both bread and wine and Christ’s body and blood. The term for this is Sacramental Union. In the Roman Catholic Church, they believe that the substances of bread and wine are forever and unalterably changed into the body and blood. In the Lutheran Church, we believe that apart from the administration and distribution of the Sacrament, bread is bread and wine is wine. That is to say, after the distribution has ended, at some point, the earthly elements return to being simply the earthly elements. When the Book of Concord speaks on this topic it purposely does not say when the bread and wine are no longer Christ’s body and blood, because we can’t know. At some point the Sacramental Union does end, but we’re not exactly sure when. This means that there are certain ways should act with what remains from the Supper.

Remember, also, the word we’re looking for here is reverant. Even if these elements are no longer Christ’s body and blood, they are still bread and wine that at one point were. These were the true body and blood of Christ which conveyed His life, love, and forgiveness to us poor sinners. Therefore, we handle what remains with reverence. There are a few ways to do this, and each has a longstanding history in the Christian Church. The first option is reserving the reliquae for future use – for home and hospital communion services, and for the next Divine Service among the congregation. In this case, the hosts that remain are kept separate from unconsecrated hosts. This helps the pastor and altar guild know which are to be used first. The remaining wine, likewise, is stored in a separate container from unconsecrated wine. In both cases, the separate containers should be clearly marked or in other ways made obvious.

A second, and equally as ancient, practice is simply to consume everything. This does require keeping diligent counts so that we don’t end up consuming an unnecessarily large amount of reliquae. In this case, the wine from the individual cups is poured into the chalice. Then, the pastor and assisting minister consume what remains, there at the altar. This may also be done by the pastor and altar guild after the service. Our Lord said to eat and drink and this method stays as close to this as possible. This was the method practiced at the seminary while I was there. These are both reverent and acceptable options, and it isn’t a sin to choose one or the other. Often, a combination of both takes place. Another common practice with the wine is to pour it out on the ground. In this case, what comes from the earth returns to it. We pour it directly on the ground and not down the sink so that wine which previously was the blood of Christ is not mixed with common waste.

What about the vessels? After properly storing or consuming the elements, the communion vessels should be cleaned with soap and water. An additional step should be taken with the chalice and individual cups. The individual cups should first be rinsed into a larger container, then washed as normal. The initial rinse water is then poured onto the ground. This, again, prevents wine that was previously Christ’s blood from becoming mixed with common waste. We rinse the chalice by pouring water into it and then onto the ground. After being washed, plastic communion cups may be recycled. A practice in some congregations is simply to burn the used individual cups. This, also, is a good practice. There are some tips for laundering the linens which I will leave to other discussions. This much is good for us all to know.

This about brings our workshop to a close. There is more that could be said, but I think this much should suffice for now. We do have some resources available to us for further study. Probably the most authoritative is What an Altar Guild Should Know by Paul H.D. Lang. This is from 1964, but is usually mentioned as the standard. The Altar Guild Manual by Lee A. Maxwell was authorized by the LCMS Commission on Worship in 1996. That one is available directly from CPH.

Altar Guild Workshop 2019, Pt. II

Administration of the Sacrament

Welcome to session 02 of our workshop covering the Sacrament of the Altar. The focus of this workshop to remind ourselves of what the Scriptures teach and what we, as Lutherans, believe about the Lord’s Supper. It’s my opinion and, I think, the Lutheran one, that what we believe should be reflected in how we act/practice our faith. But, as a reminder, what do we believe about the Lord’s Supper; what is it? We believe that the Lord’s Supper is Christ’s true, real, and very body and blood. The same body which was broken for us and the blood which was shed for us on the cross are given to us beneath the forms of bread and wine. We commonly use the phrase, “in, with, and under the bread and wine,” to describe how, though we see with our eyes only bread and wine, yet our Lord says, “This is My body, this is My blood.” By the power of His Word, Christ joins Himself to the earthly elements. This is called the Sacramental Union.

For what purpose does our Lord give us this meal? We confess each week in the Post-Communion Collect that it is for the forgiveness of our sins, the strengthening of our faith, and the increase of our love – both for God and each other. Or, as the Catechism says, the Supper is for the forgiveness of our sins, life, and salvation. We receive these good things not simply by eating and drinking, but by faith in Christ’s Word, along with the eating and drinking. When we eat and drink trusting in Christ and desiring what He gives to us here, we receive exactly what He says, “forgiveness of sins.” In short, the Lord’s Supper is Christ’s body and blood for us, for the forgiveness of our sins. Last week we learned some Latin, a phrase: lex orandi lex credendi. Loosely translated: how you worship reflects how and what you believe. Our faith should have a bearing on and be reflected in how we receive the Lord’s Supper. But, how do we receive it?

Let’s start with the basics and work our way on up. When it comes down to it, what do we need in order to have a celebration of the Lord’s Supper – from a physical perspective? We need the elements, don’t we? St. Augustine said that a Sacrament has an earthly element and a heavenly one. In Baptism, the earthly element is water and the heavenly is Christ’s Word. Without water, you don’t have Baptism; right? In a similar way, there is an earthly element to the Lord’s Supper. Or, maybe we should say, elements. In Baptism, Christ joins His Word to water. In the Lord’s Supper, what does He join His Word to? Bread and wine. In the most basic sense, in order to have the Lord’s Supper we need bread and wine. These are the elements. That’s the technical term. There will be a test.

I realize that this can be a topic of some contention at this point. In various quarters of the Church, certain innovations have taken place that have seen different elements being used or substituted or removed. Well, we call it the Lord’s Supper because it is His Supper. It’s His to change or not; we simply receive. Our Lord’s Evangelists and Apostles are clear and in agreement that our Lord, on the night He was betrayed took bread and He took wine. Now, within these categories there is some acceptable latitude. For example, we do not know what sort of bread our Lord had available to Him at the Last Supper. The Last Supper was a Passover meal, so it is possible that it was unleavened bread – but the Gospel doesn’t explicitly say. Our congregations do use what are called hosts – which are little unleavened disks of bread. Other congregations do things differently. In the Orthodox Church they use leavened bread almost exclusively, and many bake the loaves themselves on Saturdays. Some church bodies allow for rice-based bread. Here we may err on the side of grace. But the Word says and what Christ used is bread and, hence, what we should use, is bread.

Since the setting of the Lord’s Supper was in the context of a Passover meal, what was in our Lord’s cup was wine. He Himself said, “fruit of the vine,” which is another way of saying wine. We could delve into the historical reasons why alcoholic drinks were consumed more frequently than water, but that would push us beyond our time limits. We might also note that what we know as grape juice simply didn’t exist in our Lord’s time, therefore it would not have been available to Him at the Last Supper. Just as we have some freedom over what sort of bread is served – since the Scriptures don’t specify – so we also have freedom with the wine. It should be wine, but there is freedom in whether it’s red, white, or rose. Congregations that offer substitutes for wine – even with good intentions – do depart from our Lord’s institution. Where we depart from our Lord’s institution, there uncertainty reigns. Jesus doesn’t want us to be unsure of whether we’re forgiven, but to be joyfully confident.

Out from the elements, which are the most basic items needed for the Lord’s Supper and, alone, are necessary (without them it isn’t the Supper), the next most basic items are the things the elements are in. At home we put our bread on plates and wine in glasses; same with the elements of the Lord’s Supper. Let’s start with the bread. Present in most Lutheran congregations is an item called the paten. Paten is Latin for “plate,” and it is the plate used in the distribution of the Sacrament. There are a few variations on the paten. In some congregations, the paten is simply a plate. In other congregations, the plate will have a deeper portion in the center which also serves as a storage vessel for the hosts. This is common, especially, where there may be large numbers communing at one time. In congregations where the paten is simply a plate, it will usually be accompanied by either a ciborium or a pyx. At St. John’s we use a ciborium, which looks like a chalice but holds the hosts. The ciborium is also used to distribute from. If a congregation doesn’t have a ciborium, it may have a pyx which is a small, round box for housing the hosts. The celebrant takes hosts from the pyx and places them on the paten for the distribution. So, we have three items for housing the hosts: the paten, the ciborium, or the pyx. What about the wine?

In many congregations, upon the altar you’ll find a large metal container. This container is most often made of sterling silver or maybe gold, and is called the flagon. The flagon holds the wine before it is poured into a vessel for the distribution. In some congregations, you may find that, instead of a metal container, there is a glass one. The glass container for holding wine is called a cruet. Where there is a cruet, there may be a second one holding water. In some areas, it is traditional to mix a little water into the wine. The water cruet may also be used for the celebrant to wash his hands. From the flagon, wine is poured into another metal item, the chalice. This is otherwise known as the “common cup.” In Church history, these have almost always been metal and, often, of precious metal. Besides the common cup, most congregations – if not all – have available what are called individual cups. They are carried around in metal trays. Often the cups themselves are made of plastic, but they are also available (preferably) in glass or, even, as miniature chalices.

These are the items for the celebration and distribution of the Lord’s Supper. Among Christian congregations, you will find various shapes, sizes, and materials, but most congregations have and use these same things. One item that we have at St. John’s that is becoming less frequent is a spoon with holes in it. This is used in the event something should fall into chalice. In Eastern Orthodox church bodies, they practice infant communion, and the spoon is also used for that. One last item, which you may see at a Roman Catholic Church or perhaps an ELCA congregation, is silver or glass bowl called the lavabo. This is used by the celebrant to wash his hands before continuing with the service of the Sacrament. All of these things are placed on or near the altar in the fashion we’ll learn next week.

He Will Command His Angels

Text: Psalm 91:11-12

We sang together in the Psalm, “He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.” (Psalm 91:11-2, English Standard Version) In the Gospel, we heard our Lord say, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels away see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” (Mt. 18:10) From these verses, along with many more throughout the Scriptures, we conclude that Biblical faith also includes a belief in angels. The angels are not essential to our salvation; they don’t contribute anything to it. Yet, one who confesses faith in the words of Holy Scripture must also acknowledge that angels do exist.

But what are angels, and for what purpose do they exist? These are questions that our Lord answers through the Scriptures, and we have the opportunity today to talk about them. Today is the feast of St. Michael the archangel along with all other angels. This holiday has been celebrated in the Christian church on September 29th for over a 1,000 years, even if hasn’t always been marked in every congregation. For us, this is another opportunity to give thanks and praise to God. He so greatly desires and is concerned for our salvation that He has created angels to serve and watch over us. We pray that, as they continually serve Him and behold His face in heaven, so we would serve God faithfully in this life until we behold Christ with our eyes in heaven.

That angels do exist is a fact. Though, at times in Scripture, angels do take visible forms, we cannot prove their existence scientifically. We must simply trust God – who cannot and does not lie. Let’s first ask this question: What are angels? In simple terms, angels are beings created by God during the first six days. They are similar to humans in that – at creation – both they and we were created with free will to love and serve God. Angels are different from us according to their nature. We humans are both body and soul, while angels are purely spirit beings. They do not have bodies. But, that isn’t the only difference. The angels are also different according to their strength. The Scriptures often speak of the angels as being strong and mighty; they are often pictured as warriors and armies. They are not all-powerful or all-knowing, things which belong to God alone; but they are mightier than we are.

As we heard in the reading from Revelation, there are both good and evil angels. The evil angels are frequently called “demons,” “devils,” and “unclean spirits” in Scripture. We do not know exactly how there came to be evil angels except for that the Scriptures indicate they were not created that way. The evil angels are in fact fallen angels who, with Satan, rebelled against God sometime before the Fall of Man, were cast out of heaven, and will locked away in hell on the Last Day. The goal of the evil angels is to cause havoc in both Church and state and destroy the faith of as many Christians or prevent as many from hearing the true Gospel of Christ as possible. However, their number is limited and their time is short. There will never be any more fallen angels, as God made it so that the angels can no longer fall. Christ did defeat them one and all by His resurrection from the dead, and all demons will be finally put away at His return. That is what the demons were afraid of before Jesus cast them into the herd of pigs.

II.

That is what angels are. They are spirit beings created by God in the first week of creation. They are similar to us in that they were created with free will, different from us according to their nature and might – and that Christ was sent only for us. That’s what angels are, now we should ask what angels do. Why did God create the angels? The angels exist to do God’s will. The Scriptures describe them doing this in a few ways. First, the Scriptures teach us that the angels serve to worship and praise God. They did so at the creation of the world. In His answer to Job, the Lord asked, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth…when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Jb. 38:4, 7). We heard on Trinity Sunday of St. Isaiah’s vision of the heavenly throne room. It was angels who first sang these words, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” (Is. 6:3) The Gloria in Excelsis we sing in the Divine Service was also first sung to the glory of God by His angels. The angels exist for the glory of God.

A second work of the angels we learn from the name, angel. The word “angel” comes from the Greek and means “messenger.” The angels serve as messengers and ministers of God to His children. Angels brought God’s Word to the patriarchs and prophets – which we heard in the Old Testament reading. Gabriel announced the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah and the birth of our Lord to Mary and Joseph. They announced to the women and apostles on Easter that our Lord had risen from the dead, just as He said He would. Angels cared for our Lord in the wilderness after He was tempted by the devil, and one strengthened Him with encouragement in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Angels also serve God and carry out His will by protecting and watching over His children on earth. Our Lord referenced this in the Gospel, the Psalm also spoke of God commanding His angels in their care over us. We see examples of this in Scripture, such as when an angel of the Lord defended Jerusalem by single-handedly defeating an enemy army, when angels rescued Lot from the destruction of Sodom, and when an angel preserved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace. The same things they did then, they do know. They help defend the Bride of Christ – us – from the devil and all his minions. They are present with us in the worship of Christ, and they rejoice together with us over the forgiveness of sins. Jesus said, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Lk. 15:10)

III.

What, then, should we take away today, especially with today being a Church holiday? Today we give thanks to God for His great mercy and we praise Him for His great care for us. His concern and care for our – for your and my – salvation is so great that He created angels, who are strong and mighty, to keep watch over us. They are at all times obeying God’s will and defending both His Church and us His children. We may never know how often we have been preserved from great danger, misfortune, or false teaching, by God through His angels. For that, we give God all praise and glory.

Another thing we might take away is that the heavenly angels serve as faithful messengers of God’s Word to His people. We should pray that we might also be faithful, like the angels. In thanksgiving for the forgiveness of sins that we have by faith in Christ, we might pray that we would be, likewise, faithful servants and messengers of God in this earthly life. The angels do now, at all times, behold God’s face in heaven. May the Lord grant that we, giving all thanks and praise to Him for His great glory, serve Him faithfully throughout this life until, with eyes unclouded, we behold His face ourselves in the life to come. In Jesus’ name.