Proper 15A Sermon: Gathered by God

Preached on Isaiah 56:1, 6–8
The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
16 August AD 2020

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of Gathered by God.

Audio: Alternatively, choose Gathered by God to hear the MP3.

Summary: The Lord speaks of “foreigners who join themselves to God.” He promises those who love and serve Him full access to Him on His “holy mountain” in his “house of prayer for all peoples.”

Because we cannot love and serve Him fully — as His Law demands — we wouldn’t be able to claim the promise. However, the Lord God who “gathers the outcasts of Israel” also gathers us, reaching out through Christ to forgive, reconcile, and kindle faith in people of every nation so that we might live, love, and serve in His holy presence.

Text: Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed.

“And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant — these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.” Isaiah 56: 1, 6–8

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.

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of Gathered by God.

Audio: Alternatively, choose Gathered by God to hear the MP3.

Other Readings: Psalm 67; Romans 11:1–2a, 13–15, 28–32; Matthew 15:21–28

Proper 15A Sermon: Even the Dogs

Preached on Matthew 15:21–28
The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
16 August AD 2020

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of Even the Dogs.

Audio: Alternatively, choose Even the Dogs to hear the MP3.

Summary: As Jesus seemingly ignored, insulted, and rejected the Canaanite woman, she persisted. She held Jesus to the Scriptures’ promises. The Messiah came first to “the house of Israel” but she pleaded with the One who also came to save the Gentiles.

From today’s other readings, the Lord tells us that His saving power comes “among all nations (Psalm 67:2).” He gathers “others” and not only the “outcasts of Israel (Isaiah 56:8).” We Gentiles “now have received mercy (Romans 11:30)” because of Jesus’ suffering and death.

Text: And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.”

But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.”

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”

And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. Matthew 15:21–28

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.

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of Even the Dogs.

Audio: Alternatively, choose Even the Dogs to hear the MP3.

Other Readings: Psalm 67; Isaiah 56: 1, 6–8; Romans 11:1–2a, 13–15, 28–32

Easter Day Sermon: Peter Opened His Mouth

Preached on Acts 10:34–43
The Resurrection of Our Lord (Series A)
A Spoken Order of Matins (LSB 219)
12 April AD 2020

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of Peter Opened His Mouth.

Order of Matins from the Lutheran Service Book begins with the Versicles (219). Then follow the Psalmody (LSB 220–221) with the Venite and Psalm 16, the Readings (LSB 221), and the Responsory for Easter (LSB 222). The sermon starts at the 11:05 mark. The service concludes with the Te Deum (LSB 223–225), Kyrie (LSB 227), Lord’s Prayer, Salutation, Collect of the Day, Collect for Grace (LSB 228), Benedicamus, and Benediction.

Note: I’m still working to get better sound for the music.

Summary: Today’s text begins, “So Peter opened his mouth.” He has a rather spotty record through the previous instances where he does so. We wonder what words might come out and dread just how far his foot might go in.

He confesses Jesus as the Christ, then tells Him that He doesn’t dare go up to Jerusalem to suffer and die. The Lord responds first with a glowing condemnation, then with the stern rebuke, “Get behind me, Satan.”

Overwhelmed by the Transfiguration, Peter blurts out the suggestion to build three tents as shrines for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. From the bright cloud, the Father cuts him off, telling him along with James and John, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

At the Last Supper, when Christ told the disciples that they would all fall away, Peter argued. Jesus responded that not only would Peter cut and run with the rest, he would also deny his discipleship three times.

Yet here, when Peter opens his mouth, he’s prepared to give good testimony concerning Jesus. He now realizes and confesses that the Savior’s death and resurrection were not only for Israel but for all people. God is completely impartial and baptismal regeneration and new life in Christ belong to Roman centurions just as much as to Galilean fishermen.

The gifts that Jesus won also belong to us. God is pleased when we open our mouths to speak of Christ’s love, when we forgive and ask forgiveness, when we call on Him in Jesus’ name, and when we remain steadfast in prayer for loved ones and for enemies alike. Like Peter, our best words are those God gives us in His Word — words of reconciliation, of peace, of joy.

Text: So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

“As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.

“They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

“And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Acts 10:34–43

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.

Video: Click to view the YouTube video of Peter Opened His Mouth. Sermon begins at the 11:05 mark.

Other Readings: Psalm 16; Colossians 3:1–4; Matthew 28:1–10

Pentecost 18 Sermon: Until Death Us Do Part

Preached on Ruth 1:1–19a
18th Sunday After Pentecost — Proper 23C
13 October AD 2019

Title: Click to hear the MP3 of Until Death Us Do Part.

Summary: Initially established through Lot’s incest after Sodom was destroyed, Moab fully earned the Lord’s rejection by hiring the prophet Balaam to curse Israel. Yet the Lord loved these outcasts and wanted them back as His own.

Through the love shared by Ruth and Naomi — a love flowing from His own boundless mercy and grace — He received Moab into His chosen people. He did so through the unlikely vessel of a Moabite woman. Ruth’s selfless love for her mother-in-law and her promise to never forsake her led her to travel back to Judah with Naomi.

There, God granted her a righteous and loving husband who more than cared for both her and Naomi. And beyond merely showing that He cared even for these often-despised Gentiles, the Lord included Moab in the line of the coming Davidic kingship and thus into the earthly family of the coming Savior.

Text: In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah.

They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.

And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”

But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.”

Then they lifted up their voices and wept again.

And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.

So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. Ruth 1:1-19a

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 Until Death Us Do Part.

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 111; 2 Timothy 2:1-13; Luke 17:11-19

Pentecost 11 Sermon: New Heavens, New Earth, New People

Preached on Isaiah 66:18–24
11th Sunday After Pentecost — Proper 16C
25 August AD 2019

Title: Click to hear the MP3 of New Heavens, New Earth, New People.

Summary: As his prophecies drew to a close, Isaiah spoke to God’s chosen people and proclaimed that the Lord’s grace extended beyond the borders of Judah. The Gentiles — even the nations that oppressed and carried Israel into captivity — would become His people.

In remaking Creation, as He creates the new heavens and the new earth, God will establish the new Jerusalem, the eternal city peopled by all believers. The multitude coming from east and west, from north and south, is the entirety of humankind who trust His promises of salvation in Christ Jesus.

No believer is exempt from this eternal reunion. There are no other qualifications for citizenship in the eternal kingdom. Paul reiterated this in his epistles. For example, he reminded the Colossians, “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. (3:11)”

Text: “For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations.

“And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.

“For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.

“And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” Isaiah 66:18-23

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 New Heavens, New Earth, New People.

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 50:1-15; Hebrews 12:4-29; Luke 13:22-30

Pentecost 21 Sermon: Unbent, Unbroken, Unbounded Love

Preached on Ruth 1:1-20
The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost — Proper 23C
9 October AD 2016

Title: Click to hear the MP3 of Unbent, Unbroken, Unbounded Love.

Summary: Aliens. Strangers. Foreigners. Outcasts. In the minds of most Israelites, Moabites were all of these and more. Israel’s cousins were familial fallout, along with the Ammonites heirs of the incest of Lot and his daughters. Worse, instead of welcoming their kin home hundreds of years later, Moab hired Balaam to curse the God’s people as Israel journeyed to the Promised Land.

In response to their treachery, the Lord cursed Moab, pronouncing them unable to rejoin full worship fellowship with their family. Even if they married into Israel and lived in their midst, their men were barred from the tabernacle “even to the tenth generation. (Deuteronomy 23:3; see also vv. 4-8)”

Yet the Lord loved these outcasts and wanted them back as His own. And when an Israelite widow and her Moabite daughter-in-law found themselves impoverished and alone, He acted. Through the love shared by Ruth and Naomi — a love flowing from His own boundless mercy and grace — He received rejected Moab into His chosen people. Ruth of Moab found herself fully accepted into the clan of Ephrathah of the tribe of Judah.

More than merely showing that He cared even for oft-despised Gentiles, the Lord included Moab in the line of the coming Davidic kingship and thus into the earthly family of the coming Savior. An heir to Adam’s rebellion, Lot’s incest, Jacob’s deceit, David’s adultery and murder — Jesus was the righteous fruit who grew from a dead and decaying family tree. He not only claimed kinship with them but He also claimed their sins as His own and took them to the cross.

However, as the Lord said of His promised Son, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. (Isaiah 49:6)” Therefore, Jesus claimed the sins of all people throughout all time — even yours and mine. We, the once-rejected, join all of the rescued, ransomed, redeemed, and restored people of God in rejoicing forevermore.

Text: In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah.

They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.

And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”

But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.”

Then they lifted up their voices and wept again.

And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.

So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?”

She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. Ruth 1:1-20

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 Unbent, Unbroken, Unbounded 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 111; 2 Timothy 2:1-13; Luke 17:11-19