The Rock and the Hard Place

The real life stories of the apostles, Peter and Paul, are real life stories of being chosen out of the world and being hated by it—about being taken out of the hard place of the world and being placed in and built on the Rock of Jesus.

......we remember St. Peter and St. Paul today--because they are us. God takes us flat-nosed Simons and our privileged Saulish attitudes out of the world and makes us Peters and Pauls.

Peter the harsh and lowly in us becomes the rock of the church in the confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Paul the high and mighty in us becomes the small one who ceases to be great and, knowing himself to be “chief of sinners” is used by God to bring many to faith.

They show us the love of God that we might believe and have life in His name.

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles, "The Rock and the Hard Place," this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3814

A Lutheran Book of Concord Reading for St. Peter & St. Paul, Apostles Sunday

The One Holy Christian and Apostolic Church is built on nothing but the person and work of Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, delivered by the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins in the pure proclamation of the Gospel and administration of the Sacraments.

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD
FEAST OF ST. PETER & ST. PAUL, APOSTLES

APOLOGY OF THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION...
ARTICLES VII & VIII: THE CHURCH

5] But the Church is not only the fellowship of outward objects and rites, as other governments, but at its core it is a fellowship of faith and of the Holy Spirit in hearts. Yet this fellowship has outward marks so that it can be recognized. These marks are the pure doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments in accordance with the Gospel of Christ. This Church alone is called Christ’s body of Christ, which Christ renews, sanctifies, and governs by His Spirit. Paul testifies about this when he says, “And gave Him as head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:22-23). 6] Those in whom Christ does not act [through His Spirit] are not the members of Christ. The adversaries admit this too. The wicked are “dead” members of the Church. We wonder why the adversaries have found fault with our description that speaks of living members. 7] Neither have we said anything new. Paul has defined the Church precisely in the same way, that it should be cleansed in order to be holy. He adds the outward marks, the Word and Sacraments. For he says:
Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27)

In the Confession we have presented this sentence almost word for word. The Church is defined by the Third Article of the Creed, which teaches us to believe that there is a holy Catholic Church. 8] The wicked indeed are not a holy Church. The words that follow, namely, “the communion of saints,” seems to be added in order to explain what the Church signifies: the congregation of saints, who have with each other the fellowship of the same Gospel or doctrine and the same Holy Spirit, who renews, sanctifies, and governs their hearts.

Condensed quotations from the Lutheran Confessions from Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, copyright 2005, 2006 by Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Lord grant you faith in His grace alone
for your salvation unto eternal life. Amen

I Am Lazarus

[Jesus said:] “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side." Luke 16:19-22

Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is the Word Who became flesh to dwell among us [John 1:14]. In this flesh He did not become like the rich man, but he became like Lazarus. And when He, a lowly Lazarus bearing the sin of the world died and was raised from the grave, He Himself was and remains to this day The Angel of God who bears every Lazarus, every baptized believer, in His flesh to the bosom of God, the Father in heaven.

To hear and/or the entire sermon preached for the First Sunday after Trinity, "I Am Lazarus," click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3806

Believing Is Seeing

...We like to say, “Seeing is believing.” That may well be true as far as the things of this world. But as for the kingdom of heaven is a different matter altogether. In the kingdom of God, believing is seeing.

...It is a blessed coincidence for us that Father’s Day falls on this Feast Day of the LORD our God. For, as we hear and learn from the holy Gospel for the Feast of the Holy Trinity, everything that is good—including the unveiling of our eyes to life and salvation--begins with the Father and His love that has always been begetting His beloved Son and sending forth His Holy Spirit with you in mind....

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for the Feast of the Holy Trinity, click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3801

A Lutheran Book of Concord Reading for Holy Trinity Sunday

It is not coincidental that Isaiah records the seraphim singing one to another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.” The Old Testament is full of such threefold, Trinitarian language in praise of the Lord, which is fleshed out in the pages of the New Testament and the life of Christ and His Church.

 

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD
THE HOLY TRINITY
THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION & ITS APOLOGY

ARTICLE I: GOD

[See attachment for bulletin formatted Word doc ]

 

¹ Our churches teach with common consent that the decree of the Council of Nicaea about the unity of the divine essence and the three persons is true. ² It is to be believed without any doubt. God is one divine essence who is eternal, without a body, without parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness. He is the maker and preserver of all things, visible and invisible (Nehemiah 9:6). ³ Yet there are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). These three persons are of the same essence and power. ⁴ Our churches use the term person as the Fathers have used it. We use it to signify, not a part or quality in another, but that which subsists of itself. Our churches condemn all heresies (Titus 3:10-11) that arose against this article,... [THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION]
 
¹ Our adversaries [the Roman Catholic Church] approve Article I of our Confession, in which we declare that we believe and teach that there is one divine, undivided essence. Yet, there are three distinct persons, of the same divine essence, and coeternal: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ² We have always taught and defended this article. We believe that it has sure and firm testimonies in Holy Scripture that cannot be overthrown. We constantly affirm that those thinking otherwise are outside of Christ’s Church, are idolaters, and insult God. [THE APOLOGY OF THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION]      
 
Condensed quotations from the Lutheran Confessions from Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, copyright 2005, 2006 by Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 

Lord grant you faith in His grace alone

for your salvation unto eternal life. Amen

The LORD Dispersed Them

Together, man and woman were to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion”—as they walked with God, living by every Word that proceeded from His mouth and breathed the life of the Holy Spirit into them. That is, God dispersed them to live according to His “will ... on earth as it is in heaven.” [The Third Petition of the Lord's Prayer]

But this heaven on earth they were given wasn’t good enough for Adam and Eve. They only wanted the heaven. They were not content to be in the image of God, they aspired to become their own God, to rise above the earth out of which they were created, and which was to be the place where they were to live with God and received everything they needed to have life and have it abundantly.

Ever since this fall, man has been trying to raise himself back up into the heavenly places again. We see it in our OT lesson today. “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:3-4

Did you catch that last part? ”Lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

This is in direct rebellion and disobedience to God’s good Word in the beginning. Man was created and meant to ”be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for the Feast of Pentecost, “The LORD Dispersed Them,” click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3795

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD for THE DAY OF PENTECOST

 A READING FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD
THE DAY OF PENTECOST
THE LARGE CATECHISM: THE APOSTLES’ CREED
ARTICLE III.34-42: SANCTIFICATION

34] I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

35] I cannot connect this article (as I have said) I to anything better than Sanctification. Through this article the Holy Spirit, with His office, is declared and shown: He makes people holy (1 Corinthians 6:11). Therefore, we must take our stand upon the term Holy Spirit, because it is so precise and complete that we cannot find another. …

37] “But how is such sanctifying done?”
Answer, “The Son receives dominion, by which He wins us, through His birth, death, resurrection, and so on. In a similar way, the Holy Spirit causes our sanctification by the following: the communion of saints or the Christian Church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. That means He leads us first into His holy congregation and places us in the bosom of the Church. Through the Church He preaches to us and brings us to Christ.

38] Neither you nor I could ever know anything about Christ, or believe on Him, and have Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 12:3; Galatians 4:6). …

40] Learn, then, to understand this article most clearly. You may be asked, “What do you mean by the words I believe in the Holy Spirit?”
You can then answer, I believe that the Holy Spirit makes me holy, as His name implies.

41] “But how does He accomplish this, or what are His method and means to this end?”
Answer: “By the Christian Church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. 42] For, in the first place, the Spirit has His own congregation in the world, which is the mother that conceives and bears every Christian through God’s Word (Galatians 4:26). Through the Word He reveals and preaches, He illumines and enkindles hearts, so that they understand, accept, cling to, and persevere in the Word” (1 Corinthians 2:12).

Condensed quotations from the Lutheran Confessions from Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, copyright 2005, 2006 by Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

I Will Cleanse You

Dear Baptized, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses,” said, “I will cleanse you.”

And He “made us alive together with Christ,” fulfilling in Baptism what He ...promised hundreds of years earlier in Babylon through the lips of His anointed prophet, Ezekiel. 25I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.

What beautiful baptismal language and imagery we get from Ezekiel. It is language and imagery by which the Israelites could get a foretaste of what would be fulfilled in Christ, and spread to every corner of the world through His disciples and priesthood of all believers.

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for Exaudi Sunday, "I Will Cleanse You," click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3789

The Holy Spirit, the Helper

 

The Holy Spirit is the Helper sent by Christ so that the distinction between the Law and Gospel of God’s Word is properly proclaimed by the called ministers of His Church. In this proclamation sinners are called to repent and receive the forgiveness of sins to believe and be saved.
 

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD
EXAUDI: EASTER 7
FORMULA OF CONCORD: SOLID DECLARATION
V. THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL

3 . . . the term Gospel is not always used and understood in one and the same sense. It is used in two ways in the Holy Scriptures and also by ancient and modern Church teachers. 4 Sometimes it is used to mean the entire doctrine of Christ, our Lord, which He proclaimed in His ministry on earth and commanded to be proclaimed in the New Testament. Therefore, this includes the explanation of the Law and the proclamation of the favor and grace of God His heavenly Father. For it is written, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). And shortly afterward the chief points are stated: Repentance and forgiveness of sins. So when Christ after His resurrection commanded the apostles to “proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15), He compressed the sum of this doctrine into a few words. He also said, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations” (Luke 24:46–47). Paul, too, calls his entire doctrine the Gospel (Acts 20:21). He summarizes this doctrine under two points: Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. 5 In this sense the general definition of the word Gospel, when used in a wide sense and without the proper distinction between the Law and the Gospel, is correctly said to be a preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. 6 For John, Christ, and the apostles began their preaching with repentance and explained and taught not only the gracious promise of the forgiveness of sins, but also God’s Law. Furthermore, the term Gospel is used in another way. In its proper sense, Gospel does not mean the preaching of repentance, but only the preaching of God’s grace. This follows directly after the preaching of repentance, as Christ says, “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

Condensed quotations from the Lutheran Confessions from Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, copyright 2005, 2006 by Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Lord grant you faith in His grace alone
for your salvation unto eternal life. Amen