A King worth seeking

Posted on January 9, 2025 by revrydecki@gmail.com

(audio only of the sermon for this evening’s service)

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Sermon for the Epiphany of Our Lord

Isaiah 60:1-6 + Matthew 2:1-12

This evening we tell again the story of the wise men. And as we review the details of their journey to seek the newborn King, we’ll also look into the meaning of it.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him.”

Matthew doesn’t give us all the backstory that Luke does about the trip to Bethlehem, and the angels, and the shepherds, and the manger. No, Matthew simply tells us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the days of King Herod. But then Matthew includes this wonderful story that Luke skips over, about the arrival of the “wise men from the East.”

They were from “the East,” probably Babylon, where all the Jews had lived for a time in the 500’s BC, and where some still lived, giving the wise men access to the Old Testament Scriptures. The phrase “wise men” is also translated Magi. They were the court officials and scholars of their day. Their scholarship included not only astronomy but also what we would call “astrology,” which basically means “reading the stars for omens and signs.” They read the stars to know important things like, when summer and winter begin, or when the year starts over. Many ancients also read the stars to try to foretell the turn of events on earth.

But in this case, the wise men read the stars, or one particular “star,” and put it together with the prophesied birth of “the King of the Jews.” There is one such prophecy in the Old Testament, in the book of Numbers: I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; a Star shall come out of Jacob; a Scepter shall rise out of Israel. And they may have put that prophecy together with another prophecy, the one Jacob spoke to his son Judah: The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until the one comes to whom it belongs comes. He will receive the obedience of the peoples. The star is connected to the coming of the One to whom the scepter, that is, the kingship, truly belongs. Hence, the King of the Jews, but also the one who will “receive the obedience of the peoples,” namely, the Gentiles. So it’s with good reason that the wise men, who were Gentiles, believed that this newborn King of the Jews was a King worth seeking.

During their journey, they seem to have lost sight of the star. But that’s okay. Where do you go looking for a king? In a king’s palace, of course! So they went to King Herod’s palace in Jerusalem, assuming the child had been born in his house. But When King Herod heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

Isn’t that sad? God brings His long-promised Son into the world, and the king and the people of the holy city are troubled by the news! The Jews, like many people today, liked the idea of the Christ coming. But hearing that He had actually arrived? That troubled them. If the Christ had truly come, then they knew their lives would change forever, and their relationship with God would be put to the test. They couldn’t just talk about Him anymore. They would have to face Him! And for that, they weren’t at all prepared. It’s as John says in his Gospel, He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.

When Herod had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea. For so it was written by the prophet, ‘And you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah. For out of you will come a Ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

The priests and scribes knew the Scriptures well enough. They were able to point the wise men to Bethlehem, according to Micah’s prophecy, to the birth of the promised Ruler. Micah adds this about the origins of the Christ: His goings forth are from of old, from eternity. In other words, although the Christ would be born as a human child, His origins go back to eternity with God the Father. Who wouldn’t want to seek such a King?

Well, Herod, for one. And the priests of Jerusalem, and the people of Jerusalem who heard about the wise men’s visit but left the seeking to others.

Then Herod, after he had privately called the wise men, inquired of them carefully at what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search carefully for the young Child; and when you have found him, bring me word, that I may come and worship him also.” After hearing the king, they departed. And, behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced greatly.

As we heard on Sunday, Herod was lying about wanting to go worship Jesus. But for their part, the wise men were eager to find Him and overjoyed at the prospect of worshiping Him. The fact that the star which they had seen in the East “went before them” and “stood over where the child was” makes it pretty clear that this was not a star at all, but a bright object in the sky that the Lord placed there and used specifically, and apparently only, for this purpose, to lead these particular Gentiles to Jesus, in Bethlehem, to spark the chain of events that would follow, and, by the example of the wise men recorded by the apostle Matthew, to teach all nations that Jesus is a King worth seeking, and worth worshiping.

And when they had come into the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they fell down and worshiped him.

That is was a “house” means it was no longer a stable; up to two years had passed since Jesus was born. But whether Jesus is still an infant or whether He’s a toddler of almost two years, nothing could have seemed stranger to Mary than to see these wealthy foreigners show up at her door, fall down on their knees, and worship her Son. Yes, she knew where He had come from, but that didn’t make any of these things less bizarre, or less astonishing.

We should say a brief word about the gifts the wise men gave. And opening their treasures, they presented to him gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. Gold is a universal treasure, and surely a fitting gift for a king. Frankincense, an expensive kind of incense, was also associated with royalty, but also with priests as an offering to God. The same was true of myrrh, except that myrrh was also used for burying the dead, as it would be used about 30 years from then, on Good Friday, with myrrh that Nicodemus would donate to bury the crucified body of Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

Is Jesus a King worth seeking? The wise men thought so. And, notice, they didn’t just sit over there in the East in their homes and “seek Him” in their hearts when they saw His star. They didn’t just stay home and pray to God, thanking Him for sending this King into the world. And they didn’t just worship Him in their hearts, but on their knees, with costly gifts and offerings. Because they recognized that this King would rule not only over their hearts but over their entire lives. And because they recognized that God had sent this King into the world in a place—a place far, far away from where they lived, but a place to which they had the means to travel, even though it would be arduous, dangerous, and very expensive. And they recognized that the best worship they could give to this special King was not just with their hearts, but with their feet, and with their knees, and with their treasure.

So give your heart to this King, but also give Him your feet, and your knees, and your treasure. In fact, in view of God’s mercy in sending His Son for us, offer your whole body and your whole life to Him as a living sacrifice and as your reasonable act of worship. Not to purchase His favor, but because you recognize the worth of the King of the Jews, who reveals to you, through the wise men, that He came to redeem all people from their sins, to draw all men to Himself, to be a King who reigns over all things for the benefit of all who believe in Him. So seek Him where He points you now, to His written Word, to His preached Word, and to His holy Sacraments, where the King makes Himself available to you to receive your worship, and, wonder of wonders, to give you the gifts you need to have peace with God and to remain faithful unto death. Jesus is a King worth seeking, a King worth worshiping, because He is a King who once wore a crown of thorns for you: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Amen.

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Peace on earth is not what most people think

Posted on January 5, 2025 by revrydecki@gmail.com

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Sermon for Christmas 2

1 Peter 4:12-19 + Matthew 2:13-23

Merry 12^th day of Christmas! Although today’s Scripture readings are anything but merry. On this 2^nd Sunday of Christmas, the Church’s readings force us to confront the truth of Christ head on, in the terrible story of King Herod’s murderous rage against the children of Bethlehem. And, strangely, it all has to do with the true meaning of “peace on earth.”

On the night Jesus was born, the angels sang, Glory to God in the highest places, and peace on earth, goodwill to men! Christmas song after Christmas song asks for, and sometimes promises, peace on earth. It’s what we all want. It’s what God Himself wants!

In a sense, God wants the same kind of peace that most people want. Most people want peace among men, so that there is no more fighting, no more war, no more violence, no more hatred, no more arguing, no more taking advantage of one another, no more broken marriages and broken families, no more stealing—peace, meaning the absence of those things and a state of calm, a state of safety and security for everyone. The truth is, God has always wanted those things on earth. But mankind, right from the beginning, chose a different path, leading inevitably to a different future. And that’s not God’s fault. The fact is, Jesus didn’t come to bring that kind of peace on earth. He once said, Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

Now, because of that, many throughout history have asked the question, “Wouldn’t it have been better if Jesus hadn’t come?” Honestly, if this life is all there is, if all that matters is how well your life goes for you here on earth, then, yes, it would have been better if He hadn’t come. Not that there would have been peace on earth if Jesus hadn’t come; just look at the world leading up to the flood, or leading up to Jesus’ birth. Look at the Aztecs, or the Communists, or other pagans to see how “peacefully” men live apart from the true God. But in some ways, life on earth would have been better if Jesus hadn’t been born, because life on earth is actually more difficult for many, and, in some cases, more violent because Jesus came. The children of Bethlehem whom we heard about in the Gospel probably wouldn’t have been slaughtered as infants if Jesus hadn’t been born. It’s not that He ever calls upon His Christians to be the aggressors. Quite the opposite! But His birth, His coming (and also the preaching of His Word) triggers many non-Christians, causing them to become even more violent than they already are. That’s exactly what we see in King Herod in today’s Gospel.

The Gospel begins with the departure of the wise men (whose visit we’ll consider in a few days) and with a warning from an angel of God to Joseph, to get up in the middle of the night, take Mary and baby Jesus, and flee out of the land of Israel to Egypt, because King Herod was going to try to kill their Son. So Joseph, the faithful guardian, got up and did exactly as he was told.

Meanwhile, recall that King Herod in Jerusalem had ordered the wise men to return and report back to him in Jerusalem after they found the newborn King of the Jews in Bethlehem. But they were warned by God not to go back to Herod. So when Herod realized that the wise men had bypassed Jerusalem on their way home, he was very angry, and he sent forth and executed all the children who were in Bethlehem and in all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined precisely from the wise men.

Unspeakable horror. Unspeakable evil. The slaughter of all those little children. Why did Herod want to kill Jesus in the first place? Because the wise men had called Him the “King of the Jews,” and the priests identified him as the Christ. And so Herod saw Him as a rival, someone who might deprive him of his power, someone around whom the people might rally in order to depose Herod from his throne. If only that horrible man had known how Jesus would actually live, what Jesus would one day confess openly before Pontius Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” He didn’t come to set up an earthly kingdom. He didn’t come (the first time) to depose a single ruler from his throne, or to change over a single government of the world. He didn’t come to rally anyone against any king, or to inspire His followers to take over the reins of government, either. He came to bring people into a different kind of kingdom. But Herod was greedy for power and paranoid, callous and spiteful. So he had no qualms about murdering all the baby boys, two years old and younger, in that whole vicinity of Bethlehem, just to insure that Jesus would be erased from existence.

Now, it’s true, God could have stopped him. As it was, God caused Herod to die a very painful death not long after this incident. He could have struck Herod down sooner, before he carried out this murder. But that isn’t how God usually works. He doesn’t snap His fingers and rid the world of evil men and the violence they choose to engage in. Instead, He uses their evil and turns it to good for those who love Him.

How could this slaughter be good for anyone, especially for the children of Bethlehem? Well, again, that depends on your perspective. If you view this life as all there is, and having a good, long, happy life here on earth as the ultimate goal of mankind, then no good resulted for those children or for their families or for anyone else from this terrible slaughter.

But what if this life isn’t all there is? And what if having a good, long, happy life here on earth isn’t the goal of our existence? What if this life is just a brief staging ground for eternal life? And, what if the slaughter of those children helped pave the way for Jesus to accomplish what He had to accomplish for the salvation of mankind?

We have every reason to believe that those little boys who were members of the Church of Israel died as little believers in the God of Israel, even as Jesus spoke of the children who were brought to Him as believing in Him, and “of such is the kingdom of God.” And so, although their part in the “stage” of this life was brief, it wasn’t the end for them. They will be raised from the dead with all believers on the Last Day to spend eternity with God in the life that is truly life. A long, happy life here on earth is by no means a prerequisite for enjoying that better and eternal life.

But what was essential, so that any of us could enjoy that life, was preserving the life of baby Jesus, who had not yet accomplished most of the things that had yet to be accomplished in order for Him to earn our salvation and to become our King. He had to live another 30 years or so under the Law, without sin. He had to be tempted as we are and defeat temptation. He had to teach and preach about God and sin and salvation. He had to heal the sick, and cast out demons, and raise the dead. He had to suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the world, and rise again on the third day, and sit down at the right hand of God, and send out His apostles and their successors to evangelize the world and build His kingdom over the next 2,000 years.

But before He could do any of that, He had to flee to Egypt and then be called back to the land of Israel, in fulfillment of prophecy, and in fulfillment of His role as the Son of God, who took over for Israel in living under the Law. That’s what it means when Matthew applies Hosea’s prophecy to Jesus, which was first fulfilled when God brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, but which was now being fulfilled again when God called His Son out of Egypt, back to the land of Israel. Even the deaths of the children were recorded ahead of time in prophecy, as Matthew quotes the prophet Jeremiah, who foresaw Rachel weeping over her children, because Rachel, the wife of Jacob, had died in childbirth right there in same vicinity of Bethlehem some 1800 years earlier.

So, peace on earth doesn’t mean what most people think it means or want it to mean. In fact, not only did Jesus and His family have to flee from those who were trying to kill Him, not only did the children of Bethlehem have to die, but listen to what Jesus says to all who would follow Him: He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

St. Peter wrote about some of those crosses in today’s Epistle: Beloved, do not be surprised by the fiery ordeal which is taking place among you to test you, as if something strange were happening to you. But rejoice to the extent that you share in Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you! For the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified. On your part He is glorified. In other words, the Lord Christ is glorified when Christians willingly bear the insults and even the violence of the world for His sake. Because we reveal, by our willingness to suffer for Jesus, that He is a King who is worthy to be followed, even to death, because we have come to know what peace on earth truly means.

What the angels actually meant by “peace on earth” was that, by the birth of Christ, sinners have now been given a path—the only possible path—to have peace with God. Christ is that path. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It means peace of conscience for all who turn their sins over to Jesus, who bore our sins and now pronounces all believers free from guilt. It means peace with fellow Christians of every race and nation, because we’ve all been brought into the one body of Christ. It means living at peace with the rest of mankind, to the extent that it depends on us. It means seeking to make peace with the rest of mankind by preaching the Gospel and letting our light shine in the world, so that even those who are now our enemies may become our friends for eternity. It means peace in knowing that our God reigns, that we are in His hands, and that all things must work together for our good. And it means peace in knowing that our final and eternal victory over this sin-ravaged world is certain.

So, knowing what “peace on earth” really means, knowing what Jesus actually came to accomplish, rejoice in His peace. Seek it, and you will find it. And, you will find that all the suffering and hardships of this world are worth enduring, for the sake of having the peace of Christ, that surpasses all understanding. Amen.

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The Savior was circumcised for our salvation

Posted on January 2, 2025 by revrydecki@gmail.com

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Sermon for the Circumcision & Naming of Our Lord

Galatians 3:23-29 + Luke 2:21

Let’s take a moment, on this first day of 2025, to praise the Lord for preserving us through the past year, for 366 days of daily bread for each and every one of us (and, in many cases, far, far more than daily bread), for sustaining His ministry of Word and Sacraments among us, for mercifully forgiving us our sins and putting up with our fears and doubts, for the good works He has worked in and among us, for protecting us in our great weakness against the devil, the world, and our flesh, for ruling and leading us in His ways, for raising us up again when we stumbled, and for comforting us under the cross and in temptation. And let’s call upon Him, each one from his own heart, to graciously preserve us throughout the coming year, that we may finish this year with a stronger faith, a better knowledge of His Word, and a firmer commitment to living each day according to His commandments than we have as we begin the new year today.

There are two events that we celebrate on this 8^th day of Christmas, both of which are recorded in our one-verse Gospel: the naming of Jesus, and His circumcision, both of which took place on the 8^th day of His birth.

It’s easy to see the significance in the naming of Jesus. As the baby’s legal father, Joseph gave his Son the name that the angel had told him to give to Mary’s Son, just as the angel had told Mary what to call her Son: You shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins. The Hebrew name Yeshua means, “He saves.” People often fall into all kinds of trouble from which they need saving, and people often mistakenly look to Jesus to save them from earthly troubles or from earthly injustice. But the angel was specific: He will save His people from their sins. Now, to save people from sins means, first, to reconcile them to God, to secure for them the forgiveness of their sins, to rescue them out of Satan’s kingdom and to bring them into the kingdom of God. How would Jesus do that? First, by living and dying in the place of sinners, to earn the gift of forgiveness for all. Then, by sending His Holy Spirit and bringing sinners to faith in Him as our Savior. And finally, on the Last Day, He will save His people from all the consequences of their sins, perfecting His work of salvation forever. Believing in Jesus, and being baptized in Jesus’ name, is what makes a person “His people.” And so, true to His name, Jesus will save His people from their sins. Jesus, and Jesus alone. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

The other event of the 8^th day was Jesus’ circumcision. You’ll recall that this practice among the Jews went back to the time of Abraham, some 2,000 years before Jesus was born. In Genesis 17, we find God’s institution of this Sacrament for Abraham and His offspring. God said to Abraham, I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your seed after you…This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations.

So. Circumcision was the sign of the covenant God made with Abraham to be his God, to treat Abraham’s offspring as His very own sons and daughters, to care for them, protect them, and to give them the land of Canaan. It later became part of the Law of Moses, so that any male who wanted to be counted among the people of Israel and to participate in the worship of Israel had to be circumcised. A male Israelite who refused to be circumcised, or the Israelite parents who refused to circumcise their son, would be guilty of sinning against God.

So Mary and Joseph fulfilled the Law for their Son. They did what God required of them, shedding just a little bit of their newborn’s blood in order to bring Him under the Law of Moses, that He might inherit all the promises God had made to Abraham and His offspring. But if this child was truly “Jesus,” the promised Savior, then His circumcision meant much more than that. He wasn’t just any offspring of Abraham, like all the other circumcised men of Israel. He was THE offspring of Abraham, the true Heir of the Covenant, born to bring His people into a new and better Covenant, the New Testament in His blood.

That’s what Paul says about Jesus in Galatians 3, in the verses right before the text you already heard this evening: Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ…Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made…The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

As you heard in the First Lesson, that means that the Law of Moses is finished. The Jews were under the Law of Moses as little children are under a guardian while they’re little. Once children become adults, they’re no longer under a guardian. In the same way, Paul says, now that Christ has come, those who believe in Him have “grown up” and are no longer under the guardianship of the Old Testament law. That covenant or Testament has been replaced by the New Testament in the blood of Christ.

The meal of the New Testament is the Lord’s Supper. But the sign of the New Testament, our entry into the New Testament, is Holy Baptism. As Paul said in tonight’s reading, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

This connection between Old Testament circumcision and New Testament Baptism is also mentioned by Paul in his epistle to the Colossians, where he writes to the uncircumcised Gentile Christians: In Christ you, too, were circumcised, with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

But all of this, including the forgiveness of our sins, including our status as sons and daughters of God, was only possible because Jesus, the Son of Mary, the Son of God, was circumcised as part of God’s plan of redemption. So Merry Christmas to all the baptized children of God! Because the circumcision of our Lord, on the 8^th day of Christmas, is what gives validity to your circumcision made without hands, when you were baptized into the name of the One who received His own saving name on this very same day, the Savior named Jesus, at whose name all in heaven and earth must bow. Amen.

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Celebrating Christmas with an eye toward the future

Posted on December 29, 2024 by revrydecki@gmail.com

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Sermon for Christmas 1

Galatians 4:1-7 + Luke 2:33-40

Although most of the world has moved on, it’s still Christmas today, the fifth day of Christmas, to be exact. It’s good to celebrate Christmas. It’s good to think of Jesus as a tiny baby, lying in a manger, surrounded by Mary and Joseph and the shepherds of Bethlehem. It’s good to sing Silent Night, and to think of baby Jesus sleeping in heavenly peace on the day He was born. The Lord God approves of such a celebration. He must, because He inspired the story of it to be recorded in Holy Scripture, which He wants us to read and hear and ponder. But He doesn’t want us to get “stuck” on Christmas, as many do. Even among those who actually celebrate Jesus’ birth at Christmas, many refuse to move on from it. Many are happy to think of Jesus as a baby lying in a manger, and that’s it. They don’t want to think too hard about the ramifications of Jesus’ birth, why He was born, what He would say and do, how His birth must have an effect on their lives. But God wants us to turn our thoughts from the Child’s birth to the Child’s future, as the Scriptures immediately do and as the calendar of the Church also does. In today’s Gospel, the Lord directs our attention to Simeon and Anna—two elderly, outstanding Old Testament saints who help us celebrate Christmas, without getting stuck on the manger, to celebrate Christmas while keeping an expectant eye on the future.

Our text begins, And Joseph and his mother were amazed at the things which were spoken about him. Let’s make sure we know the context. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. When He was 8 days old, He was circumcised, and now a month has passed since then. Jesus is 40 days old, still a little baby. Mary and Joseph have brought Him to the temple in Jerusalem for His presentation, and for Mary’s ceremonial purification after childbirth. An old, respected man in Jerusalem named Simeon has been directed by God the Holy Spirit to the temple on this same day and has been enabled by the Holy Spirit to recognize baby Jesus as the promised Christ. He has just taken the baby in his arms and has spoken the words we know as the Nunc Dimittis, praising God for allowing him to see the long-awaited Savior with his own eyes. We’ll talk more about all that in February when we celebrate the Festival of our Lord’s Presentation. For now, understand that it’s Simeon’s words in the Nunc Dimittis that have left Mary and Joseph in utter amazement.

But Simeon isn’t done talking to them yet. Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel,

Not a single one of us knows, when our children are born, what they’re appointed for. We may have hopes and dreams and aspirations for them, maybe some expectation of which opportunities they may or may not have. But God alone knows the plans He has for our future, and for that of our children. That was not true about Jesus. God had already revealed much about the coming Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures, not only the passages that are specifically Messianic but also all the prophecies about what God would do for Israel, and also for the Gentiles. All His plans, all His promises, and also all His judgments revolved around the coming of His Son into the world, and the impact that the Christ would have on the world. Simeon knows those Scriptures especially well. How does he sum up for Mary and Joseph the future that lay ahead?

This child is appointed for the fall…of many in Israel. Not the political fall. Not the physical fall. But the spiritual fall of many in Israel. Think of the high and mighty Pharisees and priests in Israel who fell from favor in the eyes of the people as Jesus revealed them for the hypocrites and frauds they were. Think of Judas, who fell from grace all the way down to betrayal and suicide. Think of all the people in Israel who fell away from the faith of Abraham, and from the inheritance promised to Abraham, by rejecting Jesus, the true Son of Abraham. Think of that whole people group known as the Jews, who were once God’s chosen people, but who have fallen from grace and have made themselves enemies of the Gospel of Christ.

But think, too, of all people who live in sin and impenitence, and in willful ignorance of the doctrine of Christ, refusing to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus, refusing to listen to His Word. They’ve all fallen, and they will fall even harder when Christ comes again in judgment.

But, Simeon also says, This child is appointed for the rising of many in Israel. Think of the thieving tax collectors and sinners who encountered Jesus and were brought to repentance and faith, and who went on to live a new life of obedience to God. Think of Mary Magdalene, and of all who had already fallen, because of their sin, or who fell when they heard Jesus, but then, like the Apostle Paul, eventually found God’s forgiveness and salvation in Christ. Think of all those among the Jews and Gentiles who have been rescued from eternal condemnation and brought into God’s family by hearing and believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All of that lay hidden in the future of the child that Simeon held.

He also says, This child is appointed…for a sign that will be spoken against, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Already as an infant, Jesus’ future was clear. If He was the Christ, then the Old Testament foretold His future clearly: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. Or in the words of the prophet Isaiah, He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. The Christ was appointed for rejection, for being spoken against. Think of the Pharisees, constantly speaking against Him for “dishonoring the Sabbath Day,” or for working with Beelzebub, or for criticizing their godless traditions. Think of the crowds on Good Friday, demanding that Jesus be crucified, or the soldiers at the foot of the cross, mocking Him as He died.

Still today, Jesus is spoken against, more vehemently than at any time. Just last week I read the words of a woman who was musing about how much better the world might have been if Jesus had been aborted, or if Jesus had been killed as a little baby. The people who cry about “white supremacy” usually find a way to blame Jesus (or at least His Christians) for every bad thing that has ever happened in Western civilization. But there are other ways of speaking against Him. Every expression of belief in the theory of evolution is a denial of Jesus. Every prayer uttered to a saint is a “speaking against” Jesus as the one Mediator between God and man. Every suggestion that you don’t have to believe in Jesus in order to go to heaven, or that you don’t have to listen to Jesus in order to be a child of God—that’s speaking against Jesus, too.

Finally, Simeon, even as he celebrates Christmas, points Mary to the future of her Son, (yes, a sword will pierce your own soul, too). Speaking by the Holy Spirit, Simeon points her ahead to the terrible pain she would suffer one day, the pain of sitting at the foot of her Son’s cross, watching Him suffer and die.

In all these things, God used Simeon to point not only Mary and Joseph but you and me to the whole life of Christ, so that we can celebrate Christmas intelligently, so that we’re pondering who the baby was who once lay in a manger, and why He came, and how it will affect our lives.

Now, Simeon gets more of our time, because his words about Jesus are actually recorded for us. But we don’t want to neglect Anna, who was also a faithful child of God whom the Lord used to keep our eyes on the future of the baby named Jesus.

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well-advanced in years and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and was a widow of about eighty-four years, who never left the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

The fact that Luke is able to give us so many details about Anna speaks to how highly regarded she was in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ birth. And with good reason! She had spent over five decades of her life, ever since her husband died, basically living in the temple in Jerusalem, fasting, praying, meditating on the temple ministry and its significance, and surely also interacting with the priests and with the Jews who came regularly to the temple. She had devoted her whole life to God’s service, and God had a special reward for her for her faithfulness.

She came at that very moment and gave thanks to the Lord and spoke about him to all those in Jerusalem who were looking for redemption. It was no accident that Anna showed up at just that moment, or that she was able to recognize Jesus for who He was. Whether she learned it from Simeon or by direct revelation from God, she knew. And she celebrated Christmas! She celebrated the birth and the arrival of Jesus. She gave thanks to God, and she also made sure to tell others in Jerusalem about Him.

And what did she tell them, exactly? Not about how cute the baby was, or about the wondrous circumstances of His birth. No, Luke tells us what her message was. She spoke about Him to “all those who were looking for redemption.” Redemption is one of those big words in the Bible. It means “purchase.” It also means a radical rescue from a dire situation. Redemption is what God did when He brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt. It’s what He promised to do through the coming Christ, saying through the prophet Isaiah, The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the LORD. It’s what St. Paul was talking about in today’s Epistle: When we were children, were enslaved under the principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those who were under law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. This is the word that Anna so faithfully spread to all in Jerusalem who would listen, to all who worshiped the God of Israel, not for tradition’s sake, not to fulfill some obligation, but because they trusted in God to send the Redeemer, to rescue them from their sins and to make them acceptable to God. “Christ, the Redeemer, has come!”

Yes, Christ, the Redeemer, has come! Don’t stop celebrating His birth, especially while we remain in the Christmas season. But, as you celebrate, keep an eye on the future of that baby, why He came, what He would accomplish, how it affects your life to believe in Him. That child is your Redeemer. That child is your Lord, and your King. He didn’t come to make your life easy. He came to give you life, and life to the fullest, because without Him you are dead. But with Him as your Redeemer, you have the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation, and a future of your own as a beloved child of God. Amen.

Source: Sermons

The Christian celebration of Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2024 by revrydecki@gmail.com

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Sermon for Christmas Day

Hebrews 1:1-12 + John 1:1-14

Dear Christians, saints of God and siblings of Jesus, who became our Brother in order that, through Him, we might become children of God: Last night, we heard the story of Jesus’ birth, and we heard the angel declare to us exactly who that baby was whom the shepherds would find lying in a manger. Unto you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. A Savior, who is Christ, the Lord. Christmas Day digs deeper into those key truths about the Child who was born to Mary and placed in a manger. It identifies for us who the Jesus of the Bible really is; it defines the celebration of Christmas, and it separates the Christian celebration of Christmas from the secular traditions that have corrupted Christmas and turned it into a Christ-less nothingness.

So consider with me for a few moments, on this Christmas Day what the writer to the Hebrews, and also St. John, reveal to us about the Christ, so that ours may truly be a Christian celebration of Christmas.

Long ago, at many times and in various ways, God spoke to the fathers through the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us through his Son…

Dreams. Visions. Brief, mysterious encounters with God. These are some of the ways God gave His word to the prophets in the Old Testament, bits and pieces of knowledge, snippets of revelation. In some cases, we don’t even know how exactly God gave His word to the prophets, who then preached that word to our Old Testament fathers and revealed to them what God wanted them to know about Himself and about His demands and His promises. But from the moment Jesus came into the world, God had a new and better way of communicating with mankind. Because God didn’t have to send His word to Jesus or reveal Himself to Jesus. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

Unlike the prophets of old, Jesus, the Word-made-flesh, didn’t receive the word of God. He was the Word of God. He is the Word of God. Jesus didn’t speak from God some of the time, but all of the time, in every word, in every deed, and gave us the perfect revelation of God’s Being and of God’s will, and especially of God’s grace.

His Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the universe.

Those two phrases don’t seem to go together. If God the Father made the worlds—made the whole created universe—through His Son, then isn’t the Son already the co-owner of all things, together with the Father and the Spirit? He is! So why does He have to be “appointed heir of all things”? This is the mystery of the incarnation. According to His divinity, Christ already possesses all things from eternity. But Christ, the co-Creator and co-Owner of the universe, was born in time and took on human flesh in order to become the Redeemer of humanity. And so, according to His humanity, born in time as one of us, Christ has to receive everything from His Father, just as we do. As a man, Christ owned nothing until the Father declared Him the Heir—the human Heir of all things.

And of course, if the Son of God is the Heir of all things, then what is left for anyone else to inherit? If the Son of God receives all things, then what is left for anyone else to receive from God? Nothing! And yet Scripture speaks many times of the “inheritance of the saints.” How does that work?

Understand what it means to be made a believer in Christ Jesus. It means that God brings you into the body of His Son, as Scripture often uses the analogy of Christ being the Head of the body, and the individual members of His Church being His mystical body. As a sinner is converted by the Holy Spirit and united with Christ through Holy Baptism, he is now counted by God as being a part of the Son of God, so that everything that the Son of God inherits, the converted sinner who believes in Christ now inherits, even a place in God’s house, even the inheritance of all things—together with Jesus, and never apart from Jesus.

Back to Hebrews. It says that Christ is the radiance of the Father’s glory and the express image of his being, even sustaining all things by his powerful word.

Can you separate the brightness of a light from the light itself? Can you separate the image or the appearance of a thing from the thing itself? And yet that’s how the Bible describes the relationship between God the Father and God the Son—distinct Persons, and yet one God, so that when you see Jesus, you see exactly what God the Father is like, and when you hear Jesus, you hear exactly what God the Father speaks. That’s a little bit mysterious and hard to grasp. The Apostle Philip once struggled with it, too. He once said to Jesus, Lord, show us the Father. Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father;

Do you see, then, why it’s utterly impossible to say that those who don’t believe in Jesus still believe in the same God in whom we Christians believe? If Jesus is the express image of the Father and the brightness of the glory of the Father, then to reject Jesus is to reject the Father, and to worship anyone but Jesus is to worship a false god.

On the other hand, to receive Jesus is to receive His Father as well. And to know Jesus, the express image of God, lying humbly in a manger, showing mercy to sinners, dying on a cross for our sins, is to know God the Father as well. And so, by faith in Christ, we are made children of God.

And so, after making a cleansing of our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…

The writer to the Hebrews connects Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and the Ascension for us. The same Jesus, the same Christ the Lord, who was born at Christmas, purged our sins by His death on the cross. He rose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the majestic Father—all of this according to His humanity. First His humiliation, then His exaltation. It’s our Brother who now reigns over all things.

…having become as far superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

There was a bit of angel worship going on in the first century, as we also learn in Colossians 2. But the writer to the Hebrews shows us how foolish that is, because in the Person of Christ, we have the eternal Creator, who took on human flesh for us, who died on the cross for us, who now reigns over all things for our good. And we are invited to trust in Him and to worship Him and to call upon Him as the God-Man, our Brother, who is the one Mediator between God and man. He is far superior to the angels according to His divinity. He has become far superior to the angels also according to His humanity. Why on earth would anyone pray to an angel or a saint, or worship an angel or think of the angels as anywhere near as important as Christ?

No, the angels themselves don’t want anything to do with being worshiped. They themselves bow down and worship Christ, even as they came down from heaven and worshiped Him when God brought Him into the world on Christmas, because they know who He is: the Son of God, who is also called God and Lord and Yahweh/Jehovah, as the rest of the verses from the Epistle demonstrate, the Son of God who, out of pure grace and mercy, took on human flesh to save His fallen human creatures. That makes Him worthy of all praise and honor and worship, from the angels, but even more, from us human beings whom He came to save.

And so we have come today to praise Him, to honor Him, to worship Him who took on man’s flesh to save man from sin and to bring us to God. And the highest and best way to worship Him is to hear His Word, to hear what He says about Himself, to believe it, to believe in Him as our Savior, and to receive, in His holy Sacrament, the very body and blood that once lay in a manger, later to be sacrificed for us on the cross, that we might be forgiven all our sins, that we might believe in Him and be given the right to become children of God. Let us praise the Lord God for His grace revealed in Christ Jesus, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true Man, born of the virgin Mary. This is the truth that defines a Christian celebration of Christmas. This is the truth to which we must cling, and by which we must be saved. Amen.

Source: Sermons

The angel still tells the meaning of Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2024 by revrydecki@gmail.com

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Sermon for Christmas Eve

Luke 2:1-14

Back in 1965, a man named Charles Schulz wrote a Christmas special for TV called, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” and he decided to include in it a reading from the Bible, Luke 2:8-14, which you heard a moment ago, read by Linus from a public school stage, after which Linus said, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” When asked if he was sure he wanted to include a Bible reading in his cartoon, Schulz said, “If we don’t do it, who will?” He had no idea how right he was! Because, fast forward 60 years, and, where would you turn, if you didn’t know the true meaning of Christmas? Where would you look? How could you find it? Certainly not on a public school stage, or classroom. A drive through the neighborhoods and streets of our city would make you think Christmas is about pretty lights, and ornamented trees, and reindeer, blow-up dinosaurs and Mickey Mouses, snowflakes and Santa Claus. Christmas movies tell of family gatherings, romance, cookies, presents, holiday cheer, and maybe also Santa Claus—most of which is harmless fun, but none of which gets at the true meaning of Christmas. Who even knows what it is anymore?

You do. We do. It isn’t complicated, but it is largely unknown in this world, whose adults have intentionally forgotten it and whose children, in many cases, have never learned it in the first place. But, for those who are paying attention, it’s all captured in the verses that Linus read in that old Christmas special, where an angel from heaven explained it perfectly well to a group of shepherds. Let’s review it together this evening and proclaim to the world again from this humble church building what the meaning of Christmas truly is, as revealed by God’s holy angel. And in proclaiming it, and in contemplating it, let us rejoice!

We start with just a little background that’s also relatively unknown to people today. The true history of the world starts only about 6,000 years ago, when God—the true God, the only God—created a beautiful, perfect world, including a perfect man named Adam and a perfect woman named Eve. He gave them everything, except for the fruit of a single tree, from which they, tempted by the Prince of demons called Satan, still decided to eat, knowing, and not caring, that it would ruin their relationship with their Creator and would place them and their descendants under God’s curse of death and condemnation. But God, in His mercy, promised to send a human child who would be more than a human child—a Child so powerful, so special, that He would be able to save fallen mankind from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

Some 4,000 years went by, and the more you study world history, the more you see just how violent and idolatrous and unjust mankind has always been, from the great civilizations down to the scattered tribes of men. Men lived in darkness and always in the shadow of death. But during those 4,000 years, God was getting all the world actors into just the right places, including the people of Israel, including a young woman of Israel, a virgin named Mary, and her fiancé Joseph. God sent an angel to Mary to announce to her a miraculous pregnancy and a virgin birth. She was to give birth to the Son of God, the Savior first promised 4,000 years earlier, and Joseph was to care for her, and for her Son. 9 months later, God turned the tides of history to cause Caesar Augustus of Rome to issue a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world, which forced Mary and Joseph down to Bethlehem, where, 700 years earlier, in that prophecy you heard this evening from the prophet Micah, God had foretold that the Savior would be born. Well, Mary’s baby was born right there in Bethlehem, and wrapped in strips of cloth and placed in a manger, where animals feed, because all the inns in Bethlehem were full that night.

And then there’s the part that really gets to the meaning of it all, the part that Linus read from the school stage in the cartoon, the part about the shepherds, and the angel, and the brilliance of the glory of the Lord piercing the darkness of the night, and then a whole sky full of angelic soldiers in the angelic army.

The angel appeared to the shepherds and said, Do not be afraid. For, behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people. For to you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord. The Christmas message, is above all, good news! Joyful news! Because God had finally fulfilled a promise He had been repeating to mankind for 4,000 years—the birth of a human Child who was not just a Child of man, but also the Son of God. And the Son of God was not born into the world to destroy sinful men, or to shame us into obedience, or to model for us the way to earn our own way back into God’s good graces. No, the Son of God was born as a man to save sinful man, because we, by ourselves, are beyond saving. We, by ourselves, are godless, idolatrous people who love neither God nor man as we ought. But, instead of destroying us, instead of abandoning us, God became one of us, joining us in our hardships, choosing a manger for His very first bed. But that’s only one part of the good news. The awful, wonderful rest of the story is that God became one of us as a little baby, laid sweetly and tenderly in a manger, so that, one day, He might give His life for us on the cross, as the true price of mankind’s reconciliation with God.

The angels knew this. They knew the extent to which their God had lowered Himself, and why. They knew the height and the depth of God’s love for fallen mankind, which brought Him to earth as a tiny baby, not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And so they sang, Glory be to God on high, and on earth, peace to men! Goodwill! God gave His Son as a peace offering to man, so that we might turn from our sins and find God’s goodwill toward us—God’s love and forgiveness—lying in a manger, that we might believe in Him, and be saved by Him.

That, as you know, dear Christian friends, is what Christmas is all about. That’s the meaning of Christmas, and it puts all the other fake meanings to shame. Who cares about Santa Claus or reindeer or anything else, when you have the truth of God’s love staring up at you from the manger at Christmas time? So rejoice in your God, your faithful God, your Savior-God, who came for you, and who wants nothing more for you at Christmas time than that you should know, and believe in, and rejoice in His only-begotten Son, and find rest for your soul in the true meaning of Christmas. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Let John prepare the way for you, too

Posted on December 22, 2024 by revrydecki@gmail.com

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Sermon for Advent 4

Philippians 4:4-7 + John 1:19-28

Last week we heard Malachi’s prophecy about John the Baptist: “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me.” There it was Jesus identifying John as God’s messenger. In today’s Gospel, we hear John identifying himself in the same way from a similar prophecy found in the book of Isaiah: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD!” On this, our final Sunday of the Advent season, we turn to John the Baptist once more, examining his ministry to see how he prepared the people of Israel for Jesus’ first coming. Because the same preparations are necessary for us, as we await Christ’s second coming, and as we would seek to celebrate His coming at Christmas in just a few days. Let John prepare the way for you to meet the Lord.

John’s role in God’s plan of salvation was unique. As we just saw, he was more than just a prophet. He was the prophet who was to hold the door open, as it were, for the Messiah, as the herald of His arrival. And he began to perform that service even before he was born!

When newly pregnant Mary went to visit her relative Elizabeth, who was already six months pregnant with John, Elizabeth informed Mary that as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Yes, already in his mother’s womb, John was filled with the Holy Spirit, as the angel Gabriel had told John’s father Zacharias that he would be. There he was, already celebrating the arrival of the One who was greater than he, rejoicing in the salvation Mary’s Son would bring, and showing us that, even in his or her mother’s womb, it’s possible for a little baby to have faith in Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word.

Some thirty years later, John headed out into the wilderness to live by himself. But not to be alone! He traveled up and down the Jordan River, preaching to all who came by, and his powerful preaching attracted more and more people. In fact, St. Mark begins his Gospel of Jesus’ life with the ministry of John the Baptist: John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. John was fulfilling what the angel had foretold about him: He came in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord, waking them up from their spiritual slumber. They had forgotten about the Lord for too long, had neglected their souls for too long, had become too focused on this world, with its pleasures, and with its troubles. Here’s a sample of his preaching:

“Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. A strong warning to repent, to turn away from their sins before the Lord comes in judgment. But also strong comfort in this new Sacrament called “baptism,” which God had directly sent John to administer, through which God promised to forgive them their sins. Finally, a strong warning not to go on sinning after receiving God’s forgiveness, but to mend their ways and bear fruit consistent with repentance. In other words, if you say you’re sorry for living in adultery, then stop living in adultery! If you say you’re sorry for stealing, stop stealing! If you say you’re sorry for neglecting God’s Word, then stop neglecting it!

After preaching for many months to sinners who needed to repent and receive God’s forgiveness, John was surprised to see Jesus finally step forward to be baptized—the only man in history who had no need of repentance or of forgiveness. We’ll hear about that in a few weeks, during the Epiphany season. After He was baptized, Jesus disappeared for the next 40 days to face the devil’s temptations alone in the wilderness. The events of our Gospel apparently took place just as those 40 days were coming to an end, as Jesus was just about to return.

Well, the scribes and Pharisees (the religious leaders in Jerusalem) hadn’t yet heard of this “Jesus.” But they had heard a lot about John and were nervous about his popularity with the people of Judea. So they sent to ask him who he was and by whose authority he was preaching and baptizing—because they certainly hadn’t authorized it! As you heard in today’s Gospel, John didn’t for a moment claim to be more than he was. In fact, he came right out and denied being the Christ. But what he claimed about himself was still extremely important. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD!” That meant that the Lord was just about to appear on the scene. And, sure enough, the next day, He did!

But before we move forward, we should pause and consider what John meant when he said to the Pharisees’ envoys, “I baptize with water, but there stands among you One whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” John had said something similar earlier, Yes, I baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Evangelical churches tend to teach wrongly about “water baptism.” They make it something inferior to the “real” Baptism, which, according to them, has nothing to do with water. But was John’s baptism inferior to Jesus’ baptism because John baptized “with water”? No, it wasn’t inferior. It was a “baptism for the forgiveness of sins,” according to Scripture. Jesus would soon institute a similar water baptism “for the forgiveness of sins,” and it’s this “water baptism” that is a “washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,” as St. Paul writes. Baptism in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is and has always been “water Baptism.” So there’s nothing insignificant about it!

But, as John says, Jesus would also “baptize with the Holy Spirit.” In fact, after His resurrection from the dead, Jesus explained to His apostles exactly what that meant: For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. He was referring to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the believers on the day of Pentecost—the same Spirit who is now given in connection with “water Baptism,” as Peter told the crowds on the day of Pentecost: Repent and be baptized…for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!

As for the baptizing “with fire,” that’s referring to Jesus sending forth His Gospel into the world after the Day of Pentecost, a Gospel that would spread like wildfire as the Holy Spirit accompanies the Word of God and works through it to spread the kingdom of God. As Jesus once said, I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

So John wasn’t minimizing his divinely-ordained baptism. He was simply confessing to the Pharisees that the Christ would do far, far more than he would. While John baptized a relatively small number of people in the Jordan River, the Christ, who was far superior to him, would send the Spirit of God to convert sinners to repentance throughout the world.

The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him, apparently returning from His 40-day fast in the wilderness, and John told some of his disciples, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Finally, Jesus had arrived on the scene to begin His ministry, and John was the one holding the door open for Him, pointing people to the Christ who had come. From then on, John began to send his own disciples away to follow Jesus, the Savior of the world. From then on, John, as a faithful messenger, told people plainly, He must increase, and I must decrease… For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. In this way, John prepared the people of Israel to receive their Savior in repentance, in faith, and in joy.

His preaching prepares the way for us, too. “Christ is coming,” John declares. He’s almost here! It’s time to wake up from the daily routine that so easily lulls us to sleep. It’s time to hear the Word of God and truly pay attention to it. It’s time to recognize sin for the deadly snare that it is. It’s time to repent and, either be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, or cling to the promise God made to you when you were baptized, because Jesus is the Son of God, sent by the Father to save the fallen world, including you, the Lamb of God who took the sins of the world upon Himself and suffered for them on the cross, and who now holds out the forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit of God. And, Christians, it’s time to bear fruit consistent with repentance, to live each day as the children of God, as the Christians you proclaim yourselves to be, because Christ is coming soon in judgment against the sinful world, and He’s given you this time before His coming to prepare, so that you may escape the judgment and go with Him, rejoicing, into a new and glorious world. This preaching, this message, is how John the Baptist prepared the people of Israel for the Lord’s first coming. May it also serve to prepare you, so that you may be a people ready to receive the Lord on the Last Day, and before then, a people ready to celebrate the Lord’s birth. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Two different endings for two different groups

Posted on December 19, 2024 by revrydecki@gmail.com

(sermon only this week)

Sermon for Midweek of Advent 3

Isaiah 66:14-24

We’ve come to the end of our meditation on Isaiah’s prophecy. We’ve spent just over a year on it. I hope you’ve noticed over the past year that certain basic themes keep repeating throughout these 27 chapters, usually in contrasting pairs: Law and Gospel, judgment and salvation, threats and promises, comfort for the distressed, and distress for those who live in godless comfort, restoration and destruction, eternal life and eternal death, the end of Old Testament Israel and the beginning of the New Israel, the first advent of Christ in humility and the second one in glory. Back and forth Isaiah goes to those themes, repeating them over and over. We have them all before us in tonight’s reading as well. We also have a perfect example of the difficulty Old Testament readers must have had in recognizing the two separate advents of Christ, because Isaiah goes back and forth between them, foreseeing them both, as if they were just two sides of the same portrait, telling what he sees on one side, then on the other, back and forth. And just as there are two advents of Christ, so there are two messages and two outcomes for two very different groups of people, one for the faithful, the other for the faithless.

You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of the LORD shall be known to his servants. Here Isaiah is describing the second Advent of Christ, speaking to believers, about believers. And with Christ’s arrival at the end of the age comes heartfelt joy, and prosperity, and, finally, revelation! Revelation of what God has been doing all along, behind the scenes, how He has been guiding the world and the Church and our own lives to get to that moment of eternal victory. The hand of the LORD shall be known to his servants.

Still viewing Christ’s second Advent, Isaiah then speaks about unbelievers on that day: And the LORD shall show his indignation against his enemies. “For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many. “Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pig’s flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the LORD. “For I know their works and their thoughts. God is speaking here in the language of Old Testament Israel, including among their forms of rebellion how they thumbed their noses at God’s commands in the Law of Moses against eating pig’s flesh or mice or other unclean foods. Part of the idolatrous practices of Israel was intentionally breaking some of those laws, eating things that were forbidden. But since this is talking about the last day, it doesn’t only include Israel’s rebellion. It includes the rebellion of “all flesh,” as all men have thumbed their noses at God’s Word and God’s commandments, often making up their own invented forms of worship and expecting God to accept them. Those whom God finds still living in rebellion against Him on the Last Day will not escape the fire of God’s wrath and the sword of His condemnation. He will “slay” them all, which, as we’ll see shortly, doesn’t mean just putting them to death, but something much, much worse.

Now Isaiah turns his head to gaze at Christ’s first Advent. 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. There’s a subtle reference here to Jesus’ birth, when God first began to gather the nations to see His glory by bringing the wise men from the East to worship His newborn Son. The star was one of those “signs” that God set among them. But the cross was another one of those signs, as Jesus Himself said about His death on the cross, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified…And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will gather all peoples to Myself.”

Still looking at Christ’s first Advent, Isaiah goes on: 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. He’s talking about Jesus’ command to His apostles to Go and make disciples of all nations, to Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation. He’s talking about Pentecost, when the nations first gathered in Jerusalem to hear about the fame and glory of the God who had given His Son into death so that all men might take refuge in Him and be incorporated into God’s holy family.

Now gazing at the time between Christ’s first and second Advent, Isaiah foresees the New Testament era: 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.

This is the success of the Gospel among the Gentiles, the building of the Christian Church over the centuries. The “holy mountain Jerusalem” is no longer the literal mountain on which the literal city of Jerusalem is built, but the spiritual mountain of the Church throughout the world, the spiritual Jerusalem, in which you and I are also citizens, as St. Paul said to the Ephesians: For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

The Lord even foretells the inclusion of the Gentiles in the New Testament ministry: And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD. Now, you can’t literally make a Levite out of anyone. A Levite is literally a descendant of Jacob’s son Levi. But this is a figurative way of saying that God will take, not all New Testament Christians, but “some” of them to be called and ordained ministers, sent out, just as the original apostles were, to preach the glory of Christ among the nations.

Now Isaiah’s gaze turns one last time to Christ’s second Advent and the eternal glory of the Church after He comes again: “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. Earlier, Isaiah saw the Lord slaying “all flesh” at Christ’s second Advent. Now, He sees “all flesh” coming to worship before the true God. The “all flesh” that was slain were the unbelievers. The “all flesh” that comes to worship are the believers, the sheep at the King’s right hand, from the parable of the sheep and the goats, the ones who are invited by the King to come and inherit the kingdom prepared for them since the foundation of the world, where we will worship our God forever and ever.

The Lord closes out Isaiah’s book of prophecy with a final word about the eternal destiny of those who are found in unbelief on the Last Day: “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.” Imagine putting these verses on a Christmas card! Does it seem strange that Isaiah would end on such a sour note, describing the eternal suffering of “the dead” in hell? Well, it’s no different from Jesus’ own preaching, who always preached comfort and joy to believers, judgment and anguish to unbelievers. A wide open invitation to the penitent to come into His kingdom, while the doors to the kingdom are closed shut to those who refuse God’s gracious invitation. Forgiveness and joy and the adoption as sons is what God wants for all men. That’s why He was born in Bethlehem. That’s why we’ll celebrate His birth next week. Because God wants all men to find their Savior in that manger. But make no mistake. Mankind has already earned his own condemnation. And for those who won’t seek God’s salvation from that condemnation in the manger, and on the cross, in the Son of God named Jesus, there will be a day of reckoning and an eternity of suffering.

But even this bad news is preached as a gift from God. This age of Christ’s first Advent is the time of grace, the time to repent, the time to enter Christ’s Church before He comes again. This age of Christ’s first Advent, including its warnings about eternal condemnation, is meant to bring all men to repentance, that all may escape the judgment, through faith in Christ Jesus, that all may be prepared to enter with Him, when He comes, into endless, glorious joy. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Yes, Jesus is the One who was and is to come

Posted on December 15, 2024 by revrydecki@gmail.com

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Sermon for Advent 3

1 Corinthians 4:1-5 + Matthew 11:2-10

In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist asked the question for the ages. He asked Jesus, Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect another? Jesus answered the question in two different ways, both of them crying out with a resounding, “Yes I am!” Yes, Jesus is the One who was, and is, to come. And if that’s true, and if we believe it, then it will change how we view…everything, including our troubles, including our suffering as we wait for Jesus to be revealed at His second advent.

As we’re told in the Gospel, John didn’t come and ask Jesus his question in person. He couldn’t. He was locked up in King Herod’s prison. In the course of his preaching, he had publicly denounced the king for committing adultery, so the king had put him in jail. And there he sat. There he would keep sitting, until Herod eventually chopped off his head. John didn’t know, at the time of our Gospel, exactly how it would turn out for him. But it looked pretty bad. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus the most important question of all: Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect another? “Did I get it right, Jesus, or did I make a mistake? Are You the One I said You were, before they threw me in prison, when I preached about You and turned most of my disciples over to You? Are You the One whose winnowing fan is in His hand, and who will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire? That’s what I told people, Jesus. I have always believed in You, that You are the One who was to come. But most of what I preached about You, I haven’t seen fulfilled yet. So please, give me some assurance. Was I right? Or was I wrong? Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect another?”

Jesus could have just said, “Yes, I am.” But instead, He told John’s disciples, Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. In order to strengthen John’s faith, and ours, Jesus points John to His public works, works which John’s disciples could witness for themselves, incredible, miraculous works of healing, works of great kindness, always done in mercy, always done for free. He also points John to His public preaching, to His Gospel, the good news of God’s love and forgiveness for those who came to Jesus in humble repentance.

What’s more, both Jesus’ works and Jesus’ Gospel were foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures, which cannot lie. He was doing all the things that the Scriptures had foretold of the One who was to come.

Well, some of the things. Because the Old Testament Scriptures, and John the Baptist himself, had also foretold that the One who was to come would come with justice for the people of God and destruction for His enemies. The Scriptures had foretold that the One who was to come would come in judgment, would redeem God’s people from every evil and would lead them safely into new heavens and a new earth. The Scriptures had foretold that the Christ, the One who was to come, would bring great glory to His Church. Those things Jesus had not yet done, because those things are connected with His second coming, at the end of the age, not His first. As we discussed two weeks ago, the distinction between the Christ’s first and second advents was not made clear in the Old Testament. For that matter, Jesus hadn’t yet accomplished everything He would accomplish during His first advent, like offering His life on the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, which John the Baptist had preached about, but which he hadn’t yet seen.

But that’s OK. John didn’t need to see everything in order to know who Jesus was. He only needed to hear about the many things Jesus was doing and preaching and teaching, in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. That was enough for John. It’s enough for you and me to know with the certainty of faith that Jesus is the One who was, and is, to come.

Jesus had one final word for John: Blessed is he who does not stumble over me. Many in Israel did stumble over Jesus. In fact, that’s recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures, too, where God says. Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame. Many stumbled over Jesus’ teaching of free forgiveness to the penitent. Many stumbled over His claim to be the Son of God. Still others stumbled over His humility and His disinterest in politics and political solutions. They wanted the Christ to take over the government and free Israel from Roman oppression and make life on earth better for the people of God. And when He didn’t do that during His first Advent, they stumbled. John himself was on the verge of stumbling for the same reason. But Jesus calls him back and bids him to trust, to believe that Jesus was the One who was and is to come, and that He would eventually do all the things that were foretold about Him, but each thing in its own time.

After sending John’s disciples away with that answer, Jesus goes on in our Gospel to address the crowds who had heard this exchange. And to them He gave yet another proof that, yes, Jesus is the One who was and is to come. For that proof, Jesus turned to the Old Testament Scriptures, and to John the Baptist himself.

Jesus began to say to the crowds concerning John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? No, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothes are in kings’ palaces. No, what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I am sending my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’”

Everyone who heard John preach knew that he was a prophet. He lived in the desert, alone. Matthew tells us that John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Certainly not someone who was in it for the money, or to have a life of ease or comfort, certainly not someone who minced words or was afraid to speak the hard truth that the people needed to hear. Israel hadn’t seen a prophet like John for hundreds of years. In fact, Jesus explains to the crowds that the world had never seen a prophet like John. Because he was more than just a prophet. He was THE prophet whose coming was prophesied by the prophet Malachi: Behold, I am sending my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. John was “My messenger,” God’s special messenger who would be sent “before Your face,” to “prepare Your way before You.” Who is the “you” and “your”? Whose way is John preparing? Well, go back and read Malachi’s whole prophecy, and you’ll see: The messenger would prepare the way for the Lord God Himself, who would come, in person, to the land of Israel, to the temple in Jerusalem. So, if John was the messenger, then the One whose way he was preparing had to be Christ, the Lord. This was another way for Jesus to answer the question, Are You the One who is to come? “Yes, I am! Because the Scriptures point to John as the promised messenger, who pointed to Me, the coming Lord.”

If only John the Baptist could have seen the rest of what Jesus would do during His first Advent, how He would suffer, and die, and rise from the dead, how He would build His worldwide Church through countless New Testament ministers, who, like John, are ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, as we heard in today’s epistle! If only John could have seen the full impact of his own ministry, including the martyr’s death he eventually suffered, as, to this very day, we Christians rely on John’s preaching—and even on John’s question from prison—to guide us each year during the Advent season, to point us urgently to Jesus as the One who was and is to come! What a blessing John has been to every Christian for the last 2,000 years! But he couldn’t see that, couldn’t see the big picture. All he could see at the moment were the bars of his prison cell.

Most ministers can’t see the full impact of their ministries, and God hasn’t chosen to give any of us a detailed explanation of everything He is doing, and why, or of His plans for the future, or how we fit into them. We’re often left seeing a picture that looks like prison bars, that appears dismal, or confusing, at best. “How can I possibly harmonize what I’m going through right now with the good plan God says He has for me? How can this possibly turn out for good?” It’s easy to lose hope in such times, to lose sight of Jesus, when all we can see are the prison bars—our problems, or the problems of our families, or of our church, or of our world.

But today’s Gospel is like a light shining into our dark prison cell. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean Jesus isn’t out there doing everything He promised to do. He is! And just because you don’t know how your present difficulties can work out for your good doesn’t mean God will fail to accomplish it. He won’t! And just because you don’t know when He’ll come again doesn’t mean He won’t come. He will! In the Gospel, the Holy Spirit points you to the works of Jesus that you do know, to His works revealed in Holy Scripture, and to the preaching of Jesus, which you know as well, not only from the Gospels, but also from the preaching He still does through the mouths of His New Testament ministers.

Yes, Jesus is the One who was and is to come. That means you’ve been right to trust Him up till now. Don’t abandon ship before you reach the heavenly shores! Trust Him in times of joy and certainty. Trust Him even more in times of sorrow and doubt. Soon, soon He’ll come and show you the big picture, and how your life fit into it perfectly. Just as the words of Malachi were fulfilled in Jesus’ first advent, so they will soon be fulfilled a second time: And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts. Come, Lord Jesus! Amen.

Source: Sermons

The Lord preserves and prospers His true worshipers

Posted on December 12, 2024 by revrydecki@gmail.com

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Sermon for Midweek of Advent 2

Isaiah 66:1-13

After ascending briefly into heaven in last week’s reading, where we heard the Lord’s promise to create new heavens and a new earth when Christ returns in glory, we come back down to earth for a moment as Isaiah begins the final chapter of his prophecy. Here the Lord makes His case one last time against apostate Israel, and extends yet another comforting promise to His beleaguered Church here on earth, made up of true believers, true worshipers of God. Even as the Lord threatens to reject the false worshipers in Israel, He assures the true worshipers that He accepts them, and also promises to increase their number abundantly, removing the apostates and replacing them with genuine Christians.

Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord.

Here it sounds like God doesn’t care about having an earthly temple in Jerusalem. He doesn’t need a building to dwell in or a place to live. He already inhabits all creation. What need does He have of an earthly building? None.

That doesn’t mean the temple in Old Testament Jerusalem was unimportant. On the contrary! God commanded Israel to build it and told them to use it for His worship. In fact, He forbade them from worshipping Him anywhere else. He chose to bind Himself to that building, to that place, so that Israel would learn to worship Him only in the place and in the way He instructed them. Because, contrary to popular belief, you can’t worship God “anywhere.” You can’t worship Him in any way you want. The only true, acceptable worship of God is the worship that He has established, in the place He has established. The Old Testament temple was actually intended to foreshadow the Person of Jesus Christ, because He is the only “place” where God the Father accepts sinners, where He is willing to listen, and ready to forgive.

But many in Israel missed the point of the temple. They became proud of it, secure in it, as if God couldn’t possibly bring judgment down on them, because, after all, they had the temple of God in the city of God! They ignored God’s commandments, they stopped trusting in Him, but they still were sure that they were going to be fine, because they had the temple.

Here God assures them that He does not need the temple. He does not accept people just because they show up in His temple, or because it sits in their city. He doesn’t actually need a place to rest. No, it wasn’t being near the temple or inside the temple that made Him willing to accept a person. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. That was the worship God was seeking, not maintaining a building—even the building He had commanded them to build and to use—but humility before Him. Contrition in a person’s spirit, that is, sorrow over sin. And trembling at His Word. In other words, when God speaks, a person actually listens, actually cares what He says and is careful to do what God says, instead of making himself the judge over God, instead of hearing God’s word and then saying, “That’s not for me. I’ll do as I please and believe as I want.”

But that’s how most of Israel responded to God’s Word. “I’ll do as I please. I’ll believe as I want. But, I’ll continue to bring sacrifices and offerings to God in His temple, and surely He’ll accept me, even though I’m not humble, or contrite in spirit, nor do I tremble at His word.” The Lord describes and condemns their faith-less acts of worship. “He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck; he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig’s blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations; I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring their fears upon them, because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight.”

Right now, as God’s Word goes out into the world, how many are actually listening? There are a few who listen, who take Him seriously, who repent and believe and care about His Word. But most are like Old Testament Israel. When I called, no one answered. When I spoke, they did not listen. Most people hear God’s Word today and laugh. And sit in judgment of it and of any of the “fools” who actually believe it. That’s how they’ve chosen to act, to sin against God’s Holy Spirit who calls out to them in His Word. But God threatens to choose harsh treatment for them, even eternal condemnation.

But God knows that there are some who have listened, and He comforts them with His next words. Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word: “Your brothers who hate you and cast you out for my name’s sake have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy’; but it is they who shall be put to shame. “The sound of an uproar from the city! A sound from the temple! The sound of the Lord, rendering recompense to his enemies!

When you’re hated by people you don’t even know, or who aren’t close to you at all, it can still hurt. But the worst kind of hatred is the hatred that comes from a brother, from someone who claims to be a fellow Christian, but who has actually rejected the Word of Christ and now hates you for still believing it and for living according to it, maybe not with a visceral kind of hatred, but with the hatred of rejection and condescension. Those very haters often prosper in this life. They’re the ones with the big cathedrals and the megachurches and the full parking lots on Sunday, just as they were the church leaders back in Old Testament times. But here God speaks to those who still tremble at His word and comforts them: He’s coming against your enemies.

“Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?” says the Lord; “shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?” says your God.

Who is the woman in labor here? It’s the Church, often pictured as a woman, often referred to in the Old Testament as Zion, which is another name for Jerusalem. In the New Testament, she’s referred to as the Bride of Christ, or “the Jerusalem above.” To whom does she give birth? She gives birth to Christians from every nation, tribe, language, and people. But, as God says here, it’s really God who causes the Church to bring forth children, as His Holy Spirit works through the ministry of the Church, through Word and Sacrament, to bring sinners to faith in Christ and to make them children of God. Here God promises the birth of New Testament Christians from the Old Testament Church, after the Christ Himself is born.

“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance.” For thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

There was good reason to love “Jerusalem,” that is, the Old Testament Church of God, because God created it and nurtured it, just as there was good reason to mourn over her, because she was in shambles and appeared about to die in Isaiah’s time, since there were so few true worshipers of God left in her, and so many false worshipers and non-believers within the Church of Israel. But God called on His true worshipers, on those who tremble at His word, to rejoice with Jerusalem, because He was going to make her the mother of a new Church, of the Holy Christian Church.

So give thanks to God for preserving His Old Testament Church long enough to get His Son born into the world, and long enough to give birth to those who believed in Him and proclaimed His Word in the world, so that you, too, could hear the word about the Child born in Bethlehem, humble yourselves, become contrite in spirit, and tremble at His word. In other words, so that you could be born again as true worshipers of God, whom He will preserve within His New Testament Church, just as He preserved the true worshipers in the Old Testament, until it’s time for the New Jerusalem to come down out of heaven. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Saints Peter & Paul Lutheran Mission

Silver City, New Mexico

Author Archives: revrydecki@gmail.com

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