Readied Set Go [Trinity 21]

 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Genesis 1:1-2:3

• Ephesians 6:10-17

• St. John 4:46-54

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. (2 John)

 

Who speaks to you this morning saying,

“‘Go; your son lives.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.”

 

Our Scripture reading for today is from the Gospel where Jesus sends a man away saying “Go.” God included this in His Word to show that we do not go out from Church unequipped, but we return to Church to requip often. God points us towards Jesus that we may watch Him purchase all the tools we need in Word and Sacrament and with that gift, we may live free in Him.

 

During the Reformation, that is in the midst of anxiety about the future, threats of death, and actual civil persecution, the Reformers had no comfort. They could not see the future to gain comfort as to whether or not what they were doing was right. They had no insight into the universe to be able to say “this is the way” when everyone was saying “not”. They had no confirmation of their good work, in the face of people dying and suffering for their teaching.

 

Could you do it? Could you go when Jesus says go and gives you no evidence that it is the right way? Could you go and “be dragged before governors and kings for [His] sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles” (Matt 10:18)? Do you even remember your Confirmation vows to suffer all, even death, rather than turn away from the faith?

 

Today, God treats this official in the same way. He sends a man out from His presence with seemingly nothing to go with. The official gets no immediate miracle, no bread, no fish, and no wine, since we are back at Cana. All he gets is a word: go. 

 

And this is all we hear in our sin. Go. As in, go out, away from Jesus. Go out and help, go out and witness, go out from your comfort zone, all by yourself. And we take that to mean, “not in church”, that there is nothing in Church, its all outside. We believe this and wonder why our churches are empty.

 

And when we go, we quickly realize we have nothing in our toolkit to build with. It is true that Jesus told the 72 disciples to go out with nothing, in Luke 10, and because of His Word, they lacked nothing. However, at the end of St. Luke, Jesus says take moneybag, pack, and sword (22:36), for the fight is fierce and the warfare long.

 

Repent! Jesus does not send you out as orphans or comfortless. He does not give you numbers to decode, a hidden message to find, or a third temple to build. He gives you Himself. The Father stands up and speaks “Go”, but it is “Go your son lives”, that is “Go in the victory already completed with perfect equipment at the ready”.

 

Jesus, of course, is the true son Who is forsaken unto death, with no one to revive Him but Himself (Jn 10:18). Jesus seems to complain about signs and wonders, but it is exactly signs and wonders that He is giving to the people in order that they believe. Not just miracle parlor tricks, but signs to show just what sort of salvation He is going to work out for the good of those who believe.

 

That salvation comes in one little word: finished. Looking back to our Old Testament reading, chapter 2 begins with: “thus the heavens and the earth were finished”. In the work of Creation, God finished, completed all He set out to accomplish and He called His work Very Good. 

 

Meaning, when Adam and Eve stepped on the scene, they found that they were already a part of this completed scene. They inherited a perfectly created and fully functioning realm. God said see those trees, you can eat from them. See those animals, you can care for them. See those heavenly lights, you can enjoy them. See each other, you can belong.

 

The place was already prepared in the best way to receive humanity and still persists in that duty today. Though we sweat, bleed, and die these days, because of sin, we are still able to live, be free, and pursue happiness. Thanks be to God.

 

Similarly, in Ephesians 6, we are told to put on the whole armor of God. How can that be possible if it were not prepared beforehand? The promise, in verse 15, is a readiness from God. A readiness that is already ready for you to show up and participate.

 

The armor is ready. You know you have taken it up when you see the world and its passions as lies and instead, not only trust in God’s Word, but hear and believe that you have been justified by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith ALONE. 

 

The armor you reach for has been purchased with the holy, innocent bitter suffering and death of God. Purchased with Blood, yet cleansed in the Resurrection. This armor, this righteousness of Christ is imputed to you in baptism. You put on Christ: His death and His resurrection. And if you have so died to sin, you are alive to God. This is the armor freely given.

 

The Word is also ready. You know you have the Word when you not only do what it says, but treasure it and keep it close. Belief must come before action or you will not care what God’s Word has to say. But He is ready. The Word is ready as He has already been made man, suffered, and rose from the dead. You know you have the Word when that Word is Christ Crucified for you.

 

The Church is ready. All of this needs a house to house it. The Bride is resurrected daily, for daily she sins much. But she is a creation of the Spirit of Jesus; called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified in His Name, with His good gifts. The Church is ready and equipping you for life when there is the preached word, baptism, the sacrament of the altar, the keys and confession, the ordaining of pastors, prayer, and bearing the cross.

 

In Jesus Name we have already prayed for this preparedness. In our Collect of the Day, we prayed for continual godliness, freedom from adversities, and access to devout works. 

 

Not gradual godliness we invent ourselves, even if we use God’s Word. No, continual godliness already ready; to-go; Take and bake. The godliness that is freely given in Word and Sacrament. In this the Armor, the Word, and the Church go into the world freely and, having communed, they go with you freely.

 

We are free from all adversities and yet we must face all adversities. In Christ, in Church, the Way is cleared to all godliness and righteousness. You may take them as often as you do this. In the world, these things are darkened and confused. Our way remains filled with trials. We may think we see the summit we are trying to reach, but when we get there, it is false and there is more to go through.

 

We do have access to devout works as well, plainly in the Divine Service, knowing those are meet, right, and salutary. But hidden in the world, as we are unsure which are right and which are wrong. You can simply pray to God for these works and see what He does in your life.

 

“All things are in Thy will, O Lord” our Introit told us. Whether we believe that we have to make our own church or that we have been sent out ill-prepared, it is the Lord’s Will to crush His Son. Whether we can feel the armor, manifest the Word in our hands, or believe we are on our own, the Lord wills that you hear and believe His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

 

We are sent out at a word from Jesus: go, your son, your church, your faith lives, but we drown in despair, believing that nothing is ready, adversities persist, and that God doesn’t care. The Lord makes that drowning a Baptism and the result, His Resurrection for you. 

 

In this way, we come to the Scripture that really sparked the reform in Dr. Luther, that is Romans 1. “The righteous shall live by faith” (1:17). Not faith that blindly totters around the world in ignorance and timidity, but faith in the “finished”. 

 

Faith that, what God has given us in His Son is good enough for battle. Faith that Christ completed His Church and salvation in His suffering and death. Faith that the resurrection gifts of Word and Sacrament are enough to take down the gates of hell, crush satan under our feet, and even work peace and comfort in our sin-wracked lives.

 

Go, The Son lives and you live in Him. Alleluia. Amen.

 

What a friend! [Trinity 20]

 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 55:1-9

• Ephesians 5:15-21

• St. Matthew 22:1-14

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. (2 John)
 
Who speaks you this morning saying,

“‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.”

 
Our Scripture reading for today is from the Gospel where Jesus names a man “friend”. God included this in His Word to show that a false friend always tries to hold his position, but a true friend gives his position away. God points us towards Jesus that we may watch Him suffer and die to purchase true friendship for us and with that gift, we may be a friend to all.
 
What a friend we have in Jesus, right? I mean, if you ever had any question as to whether or not the world loves Jesus, than look no further than all the pop songs about Him. Jesus is a friend of mine. He helps me do all the things. If you were ever in doubt as to whether or not Jesus approves of me and my lifestyle, you can know Jesus is just alright with me. And don’t worry about me Jesus, I’m alive and doin fine. Go back to Your religion corner till we need you.
 
Woe to you if you disagree with me! You don’t speak for Jesus. You can’t tell me what I can and can’t do. So unless Jesus speaks to me Himself or directly intervenes to change what I’m doing, I’m just going to assume I’m right. I’ll wait for that, but until then don’t expect me to have to answer to you for my faith.
 
 Isn’t it great to have Jesus as a friend?
 
 What sort of friendly things is He promising to do in today’s Lectionary readings? Well, as long as I keep Jesus as my friend, my very best pal, then I get all the wine I can drink and food too, says Isaiah. He’s also going to make an everlasting covenant with me, so I won’t have to worry about anything, especially those pesky religious squabbles that no one cares about. 
 
 In the Epistle He is saying how I need to be careful and make sure I do just enough holy stuff so that others can see it. I need to pay my membership dues at church, make a good show of my Jesus-language once a week, and be thankful I’m so great. Hooray Thanksgiving!
 
 Isn’t it great to have Jesus as a friend!
 
 Repent. Jesus is such a good friend to you, that you are able to forsake Him completely and still believe yourself right with God. Jesus is such a good friend, that as long as your imagination is in communion with Him, then your actions towards Him and others do not matter. Jesus is such a good friend, that He lets you be God, determining what His Church is on earth, because, let’s face it, its the greatest having me as a friend, right Jesus?
 
We must be reminded of the gospel reading: it is the “friend” that gets kicked out! Yes, my friends, When Jesus comes to look in on all His wonderful friends that He has accrued, He has them bound hand and foot and tossed into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, forever.
 
Don’t get mad just yet. Maybe “friend” isn’t so great a title after all, but there is a Divine Path set out by God, for us to discover godly friendship. Job is our example, his friends, actually. Their friendship is on point, though their doctrine is wrong. They do not come to the suffering Job preaching, they come to find their friend, sitting in misery, and they just sit there in misery and silence with him for 7 days and 7 nights.
 
If they would have remained silent after that, the book of Job would be a lot shorter and its conclusion reached quicker. But they didn’t and it wasn’t. It was this way in order to teach us Job’s confession in chapter 30, “I have become a brother to serpents and a friend to sparrows” (v. 29).
 
In other words, my sin has made me to be numbered with sinners and to that dust I shall go. Of such is the friendship of sinful man. All too eager to befriend the devil disguised as the angel of light, but never to befriend the God-made-man. To be among a haunt of serpents, in the Bible, is to be in a place where no one lives. This is one of the judgments given to Israel in Jeremiah 10:22. 
Israel today has become as God judged them: a wilderness devoid of faith.
 
Repent! Jesus is not the friend you want, but He is the friend you deserve. This is for two reasons: 1) He is the friend that tells you what you don’t want to hear, and no one likes that friend. He accuses you of being a brother to serpents and a friend to sparrows and judges you as not fit.
 
And 2) He does things on His own. He doesn’t do things to make you feel happy, or approved, or changed. This makes us uncomfortable. All this adds up to disgust inside us, when we finally realize that if Jesus is my friend, then that friend must be kicked out into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, forever.
 
Jesus is indeed cast out. He is given lip service as a friend, as a fellow Jew, as a fellow man, but sinful hearts are focused on crucifying Him. They call Him friend and yet kiss Him on the cheek in front of the rabble and their guards. They call Him friend, but scatter to the wind at the first hint of the cross. They call Him friend, but watch Him suffer, die, and be buried, alone.
 
Friendship with the world is enmity towards God (Jas 4:4). This does not lessen the desire of Jesus to be a friend, as He says. However, in His friendship, He is the only Way. Therefore, in His way, even the sparrow finds a home in the Lord.
 
Psalm 104 says, “In [the trees of the Lord] the birds build their nests;
    the stork has her home in the fir trees” (Ps 104:17)
 And from Isa 43:20, “The [serpents] will honor me”
 Psalm 84:3 says, “Even the sparrow finds a home…at your altars, O Lord of hosts”
 
In the crucifixion of Jesus, the sinner is given a place to make his nest in a tree (Ps 104:17), the tree of the cross, in order that these wild serpents and birds give honor to God (Isa 43:20) in the renewal of their minds. Jesus is the friend who makes sinners into saints, in order that they too find rest, honor, and true friendship at the Altar of God (Ps 84:3).
 
 “There is a companion”, says Sirach 37:4-5, “who rejoices in the gladness of a friend, but in time of affliction will be against him. There is a companion who for the belly’s sake labors with his friend, yet in the face of battle will carry his buckler.”
 
 Jesus is our friend Who doesn’t just carry all our sorrows, but also our “holy deeds” as well. He is a friend that doesn’t just listen to everything in prayer, but is wounded for our thoughtless words. He is a friend that cleanses both good intentions and bad, because both are soiled with sin. 
 
 He is the friend that has given away His wedding garment to clothe the poor, the sick, the needy, the foolish, and the drunk. He has given it away, because His is the only garment that gets you into the everlasting covenant, filled with the Holy Spirit.
 
As our Introit reminded us, as Job did, we have received judgement, because we have sinned. In faith we pray for God to give glory to His Name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that we may be baptized into His righteousness and be fed the bread of heaven from His nail-opened hand, making us friends of the condemned Jesus Who is risen from the Dead.
 
 So let us be friends, genuine friends, with a quiet mind, humbling ourselves before God and our neighbor, because the friendship of Jesus is no small thing. Let us find pardon and peace in the Word and sacrament of Christ our friend, knowing that it is His will that His friendship be His sacrifice, His Body, His Blood, laid down for you, in your hand and in your mouth, that cleanses from all sin (1 Jn 1:7). 
 
What a friend we have in Jesus, Who gives us the Altar of God and the Tree of God that we may find not only true friendship, but also a true home. What a friend we have in Jesus, rejected instead of us, cast out instead of us, Who chooses us while we were yet unfriendly, to be Called friends, by the Crucified, Who laid down His life, in order that we could pick it up and follow Him for eternity.
 

The Greatest: Jesus [Trinity 18]

 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Deuteronomy 10:10-21

• 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

• St. Matthew 22:34-46

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. (2 John)
 
Who speaks to you this morning saying,
“On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
 
But, on which two commandments is Jesus demanding that we hang all the Law and the Prophets? We could say the two He mentioned, love God and love neighbor, and we would be technically correct, even textually correct so as to get a doctorate of theology or something. But what if, by Jesus following up with a question about the Messiah, Jesus is pulling a “but the temple He was speaking of was His body”? 
 
As in, Jesus is talking about one thing, but revealing a part of Himself behind it. And that may be what Jesus is doing, because we know the Law does not save, it only brings wrath, says Romans 4:15. Even if we love God and our neighbor, we don’t do so enough and still fall under judgement. But, Jesus is not inciting more wrath by giving us more Law. He is showing His absorption of all that wrath into Himself.
 
What helps get us started here is Jesus’s talk about “hanging”. “Hang” is a crucifixion word, as St. Paul reminds us in Galatians 3, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (v. 13). 
 
Thus, in the first place, Jesus is saying that loving God and loving your neighbor begins with Jesus on the cross. The love needed to love God is purchased with the Body and Blood of Christ. The love necessary to sustain your neighbor in this sinful world is gained only in the Body and Blood of Christ. In this way, the Law and the Prophets “hang”, have their very being and existence in Love: hanging, suffering, dying on the cross.
 
This is a prophesy from Jesus of how He was going to purchase and win righteousness for all. This is why His follow up question about the lineage of the Christ fits right in. Because the prophesy is not which commandment is greatest in order that we avoid all the others to fast-track God’s reward to us. The prophesy is that ALL the Law, ALL the Prophets must be fulfilled, must hang, not just those we can get to whenever.
 
Why? Because, “sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me” (Rom 7:11). The Commandments, the Law of God, prophesy death (John 14:10). They have become our foes, however Jesus will reign until every foe will lie beneath His feet, even ours. 
 
The Law and the Prophets are our foes in God’s eyes, which is the only way to see things. To us, they look like helpful teachers, ready to send us on a righteous and holy path. Yet, they only ever accuse us of not doing enough or excuse us in our sinfulness, making us believe that God will just sweep everything under a rug (Rom 2:15), when the time comes. The right path gets further and further away from us as we simultaneously get things wrong and are excused, falsely, for doing so.
 
Repent! St. Paul, in his epistle reading today, mentions “lacking gifts” (1 Cor 1:7) and you are lacking. As we already heard, you have a pharisaical heart, which lusts after excuses in regards to the Faith. Just as the Pharisees asked “which one law can we follow in order to ignore the rest”, you also ask “how much is just enough to remain faithful”. What is the least amount I can do in Christ’s Church to be counted among the Blessed?
 
Begin to find your way back by answering Jesus’ question, instead of the Pharisees’. Do not ask “who is my neighbor” (Lk 10:29), to try and excuse yourself just because you can’t see God, to love Him. Do not ask which prophet had it best, in order to only follow that one. Do not ask which Pastor is the best, so that you may quarrel and fight for the most team points for God.
 
Dear Christians, ask, do not answer, but ask, “Who is the Christ and whos’ Son is He?”
Then, in all humility because of the weight of your sins, let Jesus answer how He wants to answer and he will say, “I AM”.
 
I AM is David’s Lord. King David saw Jesus and worshipped Him. Not only was David led and spoken to by God’s chosen prophets, but His hand spared David’s life and accepted his offering on an Altar with fire from heaven, calling it down Himself. The Lord answered David at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, and at the site of that same threshing floor, the Lord’s Temple was built (1 Chron 21).
 
I AM is David’s son. This is God’s Promise made to David. Though we all thought it was King Solomon, the promise was, “I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me a house, and I will set up his throne forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son: and my mercy will I not withdraw from him, as I withdrew it from them that were before thee. And I will establish him in my house and in his kingdom forever; and his throne shall be set up forever”, from 1 Chronicles 17 (v.11-14).
 
This “forever seed” is not Solomon, he’s dead. It is Jesus Who is the Seed, the Word of God, Who falls into the ground, dies, and produces a crop of believers a hundred times over, rising again from the dead. He is the Son, both God and man, able to die and rise again in order to occupy His father David’s throne forever. It was His in the first place!
 
Greater than the Law and the Prophets is the God Who gave both. And God is love, so the focus is on Him. You, too, focus on Him. Hear of His wonders, see Him be made man, hear the words of His preaching, and watch His Way of the Cross as He is Crucified for you.
 
What does this mean? It means that to the Pharisees and those with their heart, He is a stumbling block, not allowing any part of the Law or the Prophets to be ignored or cast aside. You could sooner cast aside God in His own Creation, than do something like that.
 
It means that to the Gentiles and those who think they are super-spiritual, Jesus is a Fool, taking on the position of “son” rather than king. A king can command, demand, and kill others for transgressions. Much more exciting to follow the powerful! A son can be ignored and cast aside, even killed. Humility and weakness are not words that usually come to mind when speaking of God.
 
For us, it means that loving God and loving our neighbor come second to the Greatest Command: that of believing in the Lord Jesus, Who gives both Law and Prophets for the building up of His Church and in order to accomplish His work of salvation.
 
Hear and believe. At the Transfiguration the first command was given: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matt 17:5) which is a parallel to Moses and the Burning Bush where Moses and all Israel was commanded to listen, to hear what God was saying and what He wanted done.
 
Believe. From the beginning, it was all about believing. Belief is counted as righteousness (Gen 15:6). Belief is rewarded with eternal life (John 11:26). Belief produces salvation (Mk 16:16), blessing (Lk 1:45), and most importantly access to all of God through the Apostles’ Word (Jn 17:20).
 
This is what the Gospel is. That we hear what the Lord has to say, what the Lord is doing, and how the Lord gets it done. And if we hear His Word, we know that He has already answered our questions, even about the Commandments.
 
Hear Deuteronomy 6:
“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers” (v.20-23). 
 
Therefore, when you dwell and meditate on God’s Commandments love them and do what they say, but recognize and believe that they point to the Word Made Flesh, first and foremost. They point to the Holy Son Who brought us out of sin, death, and the power of the devil with a mighty hand. And showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against death and against the devil and all his hosts, before our eyes in Word and Sacrament. He brought us out from there and gave us an undying country in His Church that He swore to our fathers: His true Body and life everlasting beside Him.
 

Church Militant [Trinity 17]

 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Proverbs 25:6-14

• Ephesians 4:1-6

• St. Luke 14:1-11

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. (2 John)
 
Who speaks to you this morning saying,

“But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away.”

 
Today, we will talk about what it means to be the Church Militant on earth.
With the passing of St. Michael’s Day last week, the Church begins to be mindful of the End of all things, anticipating the return of Jesus. Unfortunately, because the devil and his angels have been thrown to earth and are in great wrath, the Church on earth has become a Military Base, day in and day out being harassed and defeated.
 
While as exciting as the Church being a military operation sounds, the only structure left standing in the Spiritual War is the Medic Tent filled with ailing church-goers, waiting for the dropsy of their sin to be healed so that they may perhaps return to the front lines. They sit and wait for the Lord in their places of perceived dishonor, hoping and praying to be seated in honor.
 
It is for these reasons we call the Church, the Church Militant, during this Age of Grace. The devil prowls about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour: those who resist steadfast in the faith. The world succeeds. The Church appears to dwindle. The fight in heaven may have cast out 1/3 of the angels, but the fight on earth seems to be casting out all the faithful.
 
This diseased man from our Gospel reading, whom did he have to fight for him? How long he had been sick, no one can say, but who was treating him that he was forced to confront this Jesus, causing trouble for the religious establishment, for aid? Who was caring for him, seeking a cure? Who was fighting for him and visiting him with God’s comfort? 
 
Or the woman with the flow of blood for 12 years, who spent all her savings on state-owned doctors and received no help? Or the prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners that had all been destroyed by the Holy Religious Order that declared them forsaken, and yet also found themselves at Jesus’s feet?
 
We also need to include the lawyers and Pharisees, who’s spiritual and civil job was to lead the people on God’s Way and increase faith in the Messiah. Who was policing them? If they would have walked worthy, as our Epistle said, then there would have been no problem. But because they were watching out for themselves and not their sin, their neighbors lie on the side of the road, forsaken.
 
Is it lawful to walk this way, through life? Yes. The civil law and God’s Law, allow for legal excuses to get around loving your neighbor. The man with dropsy is a sinner and, if interacted with, could be contagious. “Touch no unclean thing” (Isa 52:11), saith the Lord. We are vindicated in not helping him.
 
In the Church Militant, the fight is against these spiritual tribulations and temptations, because they are important to faith and eternal life. “You cannot love God, Whom you can’t see, and hate your brother whom you can see” (1 Jn 4:20). One weapon the Church militant employs is Scripture Alone. When the devil wants to play word games, we give him more words of God, specifically the Gospel.
 
Against the church lawyers, it is “Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath” (Lk 6:5). Against the Pharisees it is, “God will get for Himself His own honor” (Isa 48:9-11). And against the sin-sick sinners, “Jesus answered them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance’” (Lk 5:32).
 
Repent! Your “place of honor” that you choose for yourself, that is, how you love God, how you serve Him, and how you worship Him, is reserved for someone else. You will be asked to vacate that seat, in order that you see your sin. Your “low place”, the seat you look down on and degrade others for being in, will be your seat, when the time comes. 
 
Really, there is only one seat: the Seat of Christ. If you are going to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, then best to not get in God’s way. For there is only one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one Baptism; one Sabbath, and one Honor.
 
There is only One Church. One Body of Christ; One. This is what Scripture says. If it is His Body then, it is His honor. More than that, Jesus Christ is the honor of God. We don’t give Him honor, He has His own, which He wants to give to you. If you or your works are in the way, then you may miss it.
 
There is only one Sabbath and Christ is its Lord. That means that on any given Sabbath, He can heal whomever He wants and do whatever else He pleases. Yet we know He limits Himself to His Promises and the Sabbath promise is that of rest, but our rest, not God’s. We set aside the work we do, in order to let God work in us.
 
There is only one Baptism, one Faith, one Lord. Baptism is not a work of man, it is a work of Faith: hearing and believing that water and the Word saves. The one Hope we press towards is that, even though we set aside reason and action, we hope Jesus keeps His promise to work and to save in our stead, because everything we have done hasn’t done it.
 
Which brings us to the One Spirit. The One Spirit in Trinity with the Father and the Son and this One Spirit chooses to create the one, true Church on earth. That is, He gives Faith and saves by Word and Sacrament. This He does to people and with the promise to build His Church (Matt 16:18), we believe that it is here among us, now. 
 
This is the Church Militant, the church beset by problems and infested with hypocrites. This visible, or revealed, Church is only revealed by the Word of God, Baptism, the Lord's Supper, the Office of the Keys, ordination of ministers, prayer and praise, and bearing the cross. These 7 marks are all works of Christ and all He gives us to find His Church on earth.
 
The Church’s One Foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. Though we dwell in the sick-tent, suffering underneath the dropsy of our sin, Jesus has come to heal on the Sabbath, and every other day, and grant us His place of honor in front of God, while He takes the seat of the Cross. This Seat turns out to be the seat on which your sin-sick self is purchased and won from your sickness and from your weakness against any and everything in this world. 
 
The Church is called the Holy church because of this cleansing blood of Christ. It is the Christian Church, because it is built on Christ alone and belongs to Him alone. This same Church, beset by countless devils, will be the Church Victorious because of her Victorious Lord, Who has risen from the dead.
 
Because we see all these things taking place in front of us, as the Word and Promises of God declare, we are given the true gift of the Church: endurance. Endurance to always seek to be and remain members of the hidden Church, Christ’s Body. Endurance to be faithful to our denomination by Word and Sacrament. Endurance to avoid false teachers, false churches, and false organizations.
 
And endurance to maintain and extend God’s Church through service, prayer, and financial support, for “the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor” (Gal 6:6).
 
This is the way of Christ and His Church. The Church Who gains rest in Christ and is exalted by Christ, not ourselves. We cling to Christ because He is our Captain in the fight, our savior, and our medicine for eternity. Our honor is that we cannot fight for ourselves.
 
Thus, the greatest honor a Christian can receive is to be healed, saved, and called by Jesus, without his own merit or worthiness. There is no honor for defeating demons, or following the Law, or walking worthy. All honor, glory, might, and dominion is Christ’s (Rev 5:13) and He uses all that is His to “present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:27).
 
Therefore, let us keep the festival and rejoice in our militant med-tent, and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Church has made herself ready, because she was gifted Clothes to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure — for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. Blessed are those who are invited to the Sacrament of the Altar of the Lamb. These are the true words of God. (Rev 19:7-9)