All Saints Sermon: What Kind of Love!

Preached on 1 John 3:1-3
All Saints Day
3 November AD 2019

Title: Click to hear the MP3 of What Kind of Love!.

Summary: Look! Behold! Pay attention!

Led by the Spirit and following those who came before him, John points clearly to Christ. Any good gifts, any true blessings flow through Jesus from the Father. Because He is the perfect Son who offered the perfect sacrifice, we are God’s children by faith. Because He lives, we live also — in time and throughout eternity.

Humankind can only define itself negatively before God. We are the rebels, Satan’s bastard children, heirs of wrath and judgment. Yet even the vilest sinner discovers by faith in Christ that no iniquity is greater than Jesus’ forgiveness. The most wayward and prodigal of sons still find the Father’s arms welcoming them as He redefines them by water and the Word as His dear children.

We don’t play guessing games, trying to figure out what eternal life will be like or what it means when Jesus returns and we are “like Him.” It is enough to know that we will be completely satisfied, absolutely joyful, and perfectly pure in heart and mind. No matter how exactly the New Creation resembles the various Scriptural images — green pastures and still waters, a never-ending banquet, or a city of gold and jewels — we know that it will be our home because it is where our Savior will lead us to dwell.

Text: See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 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.

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of What Kind of Love!

NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 149; Revelation 7:(2-8) 9-17; Matthew 5:1-12

Reformation Sermon: Fortified!

Preached on Psalm 46
Reformation Day (Observed)
27 October AD 2019

Title: Click to hear the MP3 of Fortified!

Summary: Our powers are insufficient for the trials of this world. As the hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God declares, “With might of ours can naught be done.” We need fortification; we need the Lord Himself surrounding us.

Only He can protect us. Christ alone is the Gate. He opens to allow us in but closes to keep sin, death, and Devil at bay. The Holy Spirit extends Jesus’ invitation through the Gospel, brings us to faith, and leads us through the Gate into our refuge and dwelling place.

We also need internal fortification: God must dwell within us, strengthening us as we continue on our pilgrimage. He lifts our hearts, raises our heads, straightens our backs, and energizes our limbs. As we take shelter in Him, so He also makes His home in us through Word and Sacrament, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Text: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire.

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Psalm 46

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Fortified!

NB: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Revelation 14:6-7; Romans 3:19-28; John 8:31-36; alternate Gospel Matthew 11:12-19

Michaelmas Sermon: Do Not Rejoice ... Rejoice

Preached on Luke 10:17-20
Saint Michael and All Angels
29 September AD 2019

Title: Click to hear the MP3 of Do Not Rejoice ... Rejoice.

Summary: It’s good that Satan and his minions have no power over us, when demons are driven out and tormented people given peace. Yet however wonderful these are, they are only signs of our true source of joy: Jesus Christ died to save sinners and because of Him we are God’s children.

The Lord’s true glory isn’t revealed in the demons’ submission to Jesus but in the Son’s submission to His Father’s will in His suffering and death. By His sacrifice, Jesus effected our salvation.

Yes, Jesus “saw Satan fall like lightning.” But Jesus also saw you raised up from the baptismal waters, named by God and recorded in the Book of Life. In Baptism, our names are “engraved on the palms of [God’s] hands. (Isaiah 49:16; see also the sermon Engraved on God’s Palms)” They are “written in heaven” and no matter what befalls us on earth, we know that we’ll be raised up as eternal citizens of the new heavens and the new earth.

How can we not rejoice in this!

Text: The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”

And [Jesus] said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

“Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:17-20

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Do Not Rejoice ... Rejoice

NB: A few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio with Windows Media Player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 91; Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3; Revelation 12:7-12; Matthew 18:1-10 (alternate Gospel)

Lent 1C Sermon: Tempted for Us

Preached on Luke 4:1-13
The First Sunday in Lent, Series C
14 February AD 2016

Title: Tempted for Us (MP3 Audio)

Summary: That we might be prepared “for every good work,” God inspired “all Scripture,” making it “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)” Yet if we stop with this, we might as well never start studying the Scriptures.

The Word has a higher purpose than instruction and inspiration. Jesus said, “The Scriptures” are the source of “eternal life” because “they bear witness about me. (John 5:39)” And not only do they talk about Him — they deliver Him to us. We not only learn that the Christ lived a sinless life and died a sacrificial death to save us but the Word actually gives us forgiveness, life, and salvation.

in today’s Gospel, we learn about the devil’s wiles and resisting temptation through God’s Word. But we truly profit when we believe that Jesus fasted and faced testing from Satan so that He might credit us with His own spotless obedience to the Law.

Certainly, Christ’s temptation is a cautionary tale and His ability to overcome it brings us cheer. We learn to trust the truth of the Word in the face of the Devil’s lies and his twisting of Scripture. Yet we only overcome temptation and conquer Satan when we believe that Jesus already vanquished him on our behalf. The story of His suffering is the story of our salvation.

Text: And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”

And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”

And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”

And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. Luke 4:1-13

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear MP3 of Tempted for Us

NB: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-13; Romans 10:8b-13