Commemoration of Elisha

Today we remember and give thanks or the prophet Elisha. Elisha, son of Shaphat of the tribe of Issachar, was the prophet of God to the northern kingdom of Israel ca. 849-786 B.C. Upon seeing his mentor Elijah taken up into heaven, Elisha assumed the prophetic office and took up the mantle of his predecessor. Like Elijah, Elisha played an active role in political affairs. He also performed many miracles, such as curing the Syrian army commander Naaman of his leprosy (2 Kings 5:1-27) and restoring life to the son of a Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4:8-37). A vocal opponent of Baal worship, Elisha lived up to his name, which means "my God is salvation."

Collect of the Day:

Lord God, heavenly Father, through the prophet Elisha, You continued the prophetic pattern of teaching Your people the true faith and demonstrating through miracles Your presence in creation to heal it of its brokenness.  Grant that Your Church may see in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the final end-times prophet whose teaching and miracles continue in Your Church through the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Ecumenical Council of Nicaea 325 AD

Today we remember and given thanks for the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea that began meeting in the early summer of 325 A.D. at Nicaea, modern day Iznik, Turkey.  The Roman Emperor convened the council in order to address theological questions regarding the Son of God.  The heretic Arius had said that the Son of God was the highest creation of the Father and there had been a time when the Son did not exist. This teaching had greatly disturbed the Church as many were led to believe that the Son was not truly God.  Alexander the bishop of the Egyptian city of Alexandria and especially his deacon and secretary Athanasius (who became bishop in 328 A.D. after Alexander’s death) opposed this teaching and affirmed the biblical truth that the Son is truly God.  The council produced the Nicene Creed which explicitly confessed that the Son is truly God by saying that He is “of one substance with the Father.” 

Collect of the Day:

Lord God, heavenly Father, at the first ecumenical Council of Nicaea, Your Church boldly confessed that it believed in one Lord Jesus Christ as being of one substance with the Father.  Grant us courage to confess this saving faith with Your Church through all the ages; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

  

Feast of St. Barnabas

Today is the Feast of St. Barnabas.  Barnabas was a Jew from Cyprus and was the cousin of John Mark (Colossians 4:10).  He was responsible for bringing Paul from Tarsus (Acts 11:25-26) and the two of them worked in Antioch.  While in Antioch, Barnabas and Paul were commissioned by the Holy Spirit to go on the first missionary journey to Cyprus and Asia Minor (Acts 13:1-3).  When it came time for the second missionary journey, Paul did not want to take John Mark because he had left them and had gone home during the first journey (Acts 13:13; 15:36-41).  Paul and Barnabas parted as Barnabas took John Mark and went to Cyprus, while Paul took Silas and went to Asia Minor.  Barnabas is remembered as a tireless missionary who proclaimed Christ to the Gentiles.

Scripture reading:

Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

           

Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

           

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

 (Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3 ESV)

Collect of the Day:

Almighty God, your faithful servant Barnabas sought not his own renown but gave generously of his life and substance for the encouragement of the apostles and their ministry.  Grant that we may follow his example in lives given to charity and the proclamation of the Gospel; through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Sermon for Pentecost Eve - Rom 8:12-17

                                                                                                Pentecost Eve

                                                                                                Rom 8:12-17

                                                                                                6/8/19

            In the previous chapter of Romans, Paul has written something that sounds very odd – shocking really.  He said, “For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.”  Now since the law comes from God, you don’t expect it to be arousing sinful passions. After all, as Paul affirms just a little later, “So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”

            But what Paul explains in chapter seven is that since the Fall – since the entrance of sin through the disobedience of Adam – sin has been using the law to arouse and create more sin.  Paul writes, “But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.”

            The apostle has already said in chapter three, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”  Paul has made it clear that the doing of the Torah – the law – cannot bring about the status of being righteous in God’s eyes.  Instead, the law shows us our sin.  It shows us all the ways that we love various things more than God.  It shows us all the ways that we love ourselves, instead of loving our neighbor.

            But now he goes beyond this by saying that the law itself is taken up by sin in order to produce even more sin.  It becomes very clear in Paul’s writings that the real problem is not the law.  Instead, we are the problem. The law itself provides no power for living in ways that follow God’s will.  And in this setting our sinful, fallen nature takes over and uses the law to prompt every kind of sin.  Paul refers to this sin at work in us as the “flesh,” just as we hear him say in our text tonight, “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.”  

            The flesh – the condition in which we are all conceived and born into this world – does nothing but sin.  Just before our text, Paul has written, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” As flesh – as fallen sinners – we do nothing except spiral down into more sin. And this can have only one outcome.  Paul has already written in chapter two about unrepentant sinners, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.”

            However, because there was no hope for us as flesh – as fallen sinners – God acted to save us.  Paul says at the beginning of this chapter, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

            God the Father sent his Son into the world in the flesh.  He sent him as the second Adam.  He sent the Son in the flesh in order to condemn sin in the flesh – in the flesh of Jesus Christ on the cross.  God has judged sin.  He has judged your sin.  He did it on Good Friday when Christ died in your place; when Christ died for your sins.

            But for Paul, Christ’s death is only half of the story.  In this letter the apostle describes Christ as the One “who who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”  The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the new beginning.  The apostle told the Corinthians, “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” 

            God the Father raised up Jesus, and then the Lord - who is still true God and true man – was exalted to the right hand of God in his ascension.  We celebrated this ten days ago.  But before he ascended Jesus told the disciples not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

            Tonight we begin the celebration of the fact that God did pour fourth his Spirit on Pentecost. And while tomorrow we will focus on the event itself, tonight we consider what the presence of the Spirit means for us.  Paul wants us to know that the presence of the Spirit has completely changed the situation I have just described.  He has just said to the Romans, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”

            The Spirit of God has changed us.  He has given us regeneration – rebirth. He has worked faith.  He has made us a new creation in Christ.  Where the law provided no power for living in the ways of God, the Holy Spirit is now the source by which we are able to do so.  You are not in the flesh.  You are in the Spirit!  Why can I say this to each one of you with certainty?  Because you have been baptized!

            The presence of the Holy Spirit means that the power of the One who raised Christ is in you.  In the verse just before our text Paul says, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”  God will raise your body from the dead through the work of the Spirit. The same Spirit is in you now, working the life of faith made possible by Christ.

            Because this is so, Paul says in our text, “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”  The apostle addresses the reality that while the presence of the Spirit makes new life possible, this does not yet mean the flesh is completely gone.  Instead, our fallen nature continues to hinder us and seeks to drag us into sin.

            Paul says that by means of the Spirit we need to put death the deeds of the body.  The Holy Spirit provides the ability to resist and suppress the old Adam and what he wants us to do.  It is the Spirit who leads us in this, for as Pauls says, “All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”  He leads.  He provides the ability.  But of course Paul writes these words because it is also necessary for us to follow the Spirit’s leading.  It is necessary for us to use the Spirit’s power in order to put to death the deeds of the body.  It is something we must have as a goal and intention.

            The Holy Spirit is the One who sustains us in this life of faith.  Paul says, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” Because of the work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we are now able to be sons and daughters of God.  God has made us this through the work of the Spirit, and the Spirit is also the one who enables us to call upon God as our Father.

            The Holy Spirit poured out on Pentecost in these last days in the One who affirms within us that we do indeed belong to God.  Pauls says that, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” God himself is bearing witness within us, and along with us, that we are his; that we are his children.  And at the end of our text the apostle reminds us that this means everything when he adds: “and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

            We are fellow heirs with Christ.  His death has given us forgiveness of sins and peace with God.  His resurrection provides the guarantee of our own resurrection.  And the Holy Spirit is within us so that we can follow our Lord and suffer with him.  The Spirit is the One who gives us peace, and joy, and hope in the midst of those things, because we know that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.  The Spirit poured out on Pentecost is the One who will transform our bodies to be like our Lord when we are glorified with him on the Last Day. 

Pentecost Eve

Tonight is Pentecost Eve as we begin the celebration of the Feast of Pentecost.  We give thanks that in these last days, the risen and exalted Lord Jesus has poured fourth His Spirit upon the Church.

Scripture reading:

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:12-17)

Collect of the Day:

Almighty and ever-living God, You fulfilled Your promise by sending the gift of the Holy Spirit to unite disciples of all nations in the cross and resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ.  By the preaching of the Gospel spread this gift to the ends of the earth; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

Commemoration of Boniface of Mainz

Today we remember and give thanks for Boniface of Mainz, Missionary to the Germans. Boniface was born in the late seventh century in England. He became a monk, and was ordained as a presbyter in England, where he was inspired by the example of others to become a missionary. Upon receiving a papal commission in 719 to work in Germany, Boniface devoted himself to planting, organizing, and reforming churches and monasteries in Hesse, Thuringia, and Bavaria. After becoming an archbishop, Boniface was assigned to the See of Mainz in 743. Ten years later he resigned his position to engage in mission work in the Netherlands. On June 5, 754, while awaiting a group of converts for confirmation, Boniface and his companions were murdered by a band of pagans. Boniface is known as the apostle and missionary to the Germans.

Collect of the Day:

Almighty God, You called Boniface to be a witness and martyr in Germany, and by his labor and suffering You raised up a people for Your own possession. Pour out Your Holy Spirit upon Your Church in every land, that by the service and sacrifice of many Your holy name may be glorified and Your kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Sermon for the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord - Acts 1:1-11

                                                                                                Ascension

                                                                                                Acts 1:1-11

                                                                                                5/30/19

            Forty days with the risen Lord, and that is the question they ask?  The apostles say to Jesus: “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” At first glance, when we hear the apostles’ question in our text it sounds like they are clueless.  Jesus Christ has died on the cross and risen from the dead.  He has defeated sin and death, and yet they are focused on Israel as a nation – Israel as it existed in the Old Testament.    

            It seems that they have their priorities all out of kilter and that they completely misunderstand Jesus. But actually, there is more going on here. For anyone who knows what the prophets of the Old Testament had said, their question actually rings true.   

            Luke tells us that Jesus “presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”  A recurring theme in the resurrection accounts is that the encounter with the risen Lord was not a one-time event.  It wasn’t even a one day event.  Instead, it was something that happened again and again.  The Lord presented himself alive to different groups of people, in different places over a long period of time – forty days.  Why were the apostles and the other disciples willing to struggle, suffer and even die in sharing the Gospel?  It was because Jesus Christ had left no doubt about the fact that he had risen from the dead.

            Luke tells us that Jesus gave a very specific command.  He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” The disciples understood that Jesus was the Christ – the Messiah promised by God.  As we hear in our Gospel lesson, he had opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “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, beginning from Jerusalem.”

            Jesus had just promised that they were about to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  In the prophets such as Isaiah, Ezekiel and Joel, the Davidic Messiah and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit were the key features that Yahweh had promised to Israel for her restoration.  The Messiah reigning and Spirit poured out was the expectation of Israel’s promised future.

            So when the disciples asked, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”, they were simply expressing the expectation provided by the prophets.  Like John the Baptist before them, when he sent the question about whether Jesus was the coming One, they weren’t entirely wrong. But they also didn’t truly understand things yet.

            Jesus responded, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  Our Lord sidestepped their question about Israel.  Instead, he focused on what the Spirit would do.  He would give them power so that they could be Jesus’ witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

            They wanted to talk about Israel.  Jesus spoke about the sending of the Spirit and the proclamation of the Gospel in Samaria and to the ends of the earth.  The disciples did not yet understand that “Israel” was being transformed by God’s saving work.  Through Christ, Israel was becoming the light to the nations she was always meant to be.  In the Book of Acts we see how the Holy Spirit prompts … and sometimes forces the Church to understand that Gentiles are now fully included in the people of God through faith in Christ, and baptism.

            The Israel of God was expanding to include all nations.  This would take place through the work of the Holy Spirit – the Spirit who was yet to be sent for this particular manner of working.  Jesus Christ was about to change that. Yet his doing so would be the result of a change for Christ.

            We hear in our text: “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”  The Lord was taken up into the air until a cloud hid him from view. The ascension of Jesus Christ was the means by which he withdrew his visible presence from the disciples. For forty days the risen Lord had been in their midst, interacting with them. Yet now an event occurred that brought this to an end.

            This fact was emphasized by what happened as the apostles looked up into heaven.  Luke tells us: “Behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’”  Jesus had visibly departed in the ascension. But the angels announced that he would also visibly return.

            Our Lord Jesus has ascended, and our text does not explain what this means for Jesus and for us.  But on the day of Pentecost – on the day of the outpouring of the Spirit that Jesus had promised – Peter did exactly that.  He confronted his audience with the fact that they had killed Jesus.  But then he declared, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.” 

            We learn that the resurrection and ascension are directly connected, and that the ascension is the exaltation of Christ.  It is in fact the enthronement of Jesus at the right hand of God.  Peter went on to say as he quoted Psalm 110: “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

            The ascended Lord now reigns through his Spirit.  The rest of the Book of Acts is the story of how the Spirit of Christ moved the proclamation of the Gospel from Jerusalem to Samaria and Syria, to Asia Minor and Greece, and on to Rome.  He continues his work of restoring and creating his Israel in these last days. 

            Israel is more than the apostles recognized, and they didn’t understand the timing of how God’s Spirit would work.  That often describes us as well.  We know how we want God’s kingdom to look like.  We know how we want to see God’s reign through the Gospel advancing. But there are times when it just doesn’t seem to be happening as we want. There can be discouragement and doubt as we see the culture of the western world turn increasingly hostile to Christ’s Church.  We grow frustrated with God in ways that pose a challenge to faith.

             The Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord serves to snap us out of this because it fixes our attention squarely on the Lord – our Lord.  Designated as the Messiah at his baptism, Jesus has been enthroned in his ascension.  Jesus announced at his trial before the Sanhedrin, “But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” 

            In our text Jesus Christ is taken out of sight by a cloud, and we have heard how Peter said he has been seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  The ascension shows us that Jesus is Son of Man of Daniel chapter seven. There, Daniel sees the Ancient of Days – God – seated on throne with a stream of fire issuing forth from before him, and multitudes of angels around him. 

            Then Daniel tells us: “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

            This is our Lord, and God has said that he is enthroned until God makes his enemies his footstool – until the Father makes every so called power in the world submit to him. This is the Lord we worship and serve. This is the risen and exalted One in whom we trust.

            And the day is coming when all will have to recognize and submit to him.  The angels told the disciples that he will return in the same way he ascended.  Jesus said, “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”  For now, our Lord reigns through his Spirit as he works through the Means of Grace. These are means that can be resisted and rejected.  But the ascension of our Lord declares that Jesus Christ who has been exalted will return in irresistible power. For now we greet him in the Sanctus as he comes to us in the Sacrament of the Altar.  But on the Last Day we will know the joy of crying out: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” as we greet the risen and exalted Christ.