One, holy, catholic, Apostolic [Trinity Sunday]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE 

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Isaiah 6:1-7

• Romans 11:33-36

• St. John 3:1-15

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. (Titus 1:4)
 
Who speaks to you today, saying:

“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”

 
Thus far from God’s Word, included here to not get us to seek for some super hidden answer in a book because Jesus said, “You must be born again”. Yes, you must be, but there is no way you can birth yourself a second time, as Nicodemus teaches. Jesus wants to show that it is His Word that births us the first time and the second time in Holy Baptism, just as He said.
 
Of vital importance to your faith is history. Not only has God entered history, in Jesus Christ, but God has placed His Church in history. Thus, as Christians, we must gladly hear and learn our history, because the Holy Spirit has not stopped working. This helps us understand our faith, just as history helps us understand our families and where we come from. Without history, we are adrift and vulnerable to fads and heresies. In other words, other people’s histories. 
 
So on this Trinity Sunday, we will contemplate a bit of our own history, having heard the Trinity’s history from Isaiah, and acknowledging every Lutheran’s favorite word: “catholic”. If only because the Athanasian Creed forced you to say it four times today. Regardless, we do things by the book.
 
As the Reformation Polka proclaims: “Let’s raise our steins and Concord Books while gathered in this place, And spread the word that ‘catholic’ is spelled with lower case”. Meaning, we historically distinguish our use of the word catholic from its popular use. Capitalized, it is used with Roman Catholic, referring to the church under the Roman pope. Lower case, it means universal or whole.
 
As the book of Church history teaches, from St. Ignatius: 
“Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist which is celebrated by the bishop or by one whom he ordains [i.e., a presbyter]. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church” ( Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrneans 8:2 [A.D. 110]).
 
And from St. Cyril of Jerusalem: 
“[The Church] is called catholic, then, because it extends over the whole world, from end to end of the earth, and because it teaches universally and infallibly each and every doctrine which must come to the knowledge of men, concerning things visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly, and because it brings every race of men into subjection to godliness, governors and governed, learned and unlearned, and because it universally treats and heals every class of sins, those committed with the soul and those with the body, and it possesses within itself every conceivable form of virtue, in deeds and in words and in the spiritual gifts of every description” (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 18:23 [A.D. 350]). 
 
So to be catholic means to be wholly with Jesus. Easy enough.
 
The name “Orthodox Church” may be more modern than you think, because the Eastern Orthodox Church continues officially to call itself "Catholic", for reasons of universality. It was sometime between the Council of Jerusalem in 1672 and the publication of The Longer Catechism of the Catholic, Orthodox, Eastern Church in 1839, that the church of Byzantine liturgy and communion with Constantinople began more often to describe itself as “Orthodox.”
 
These Modern divisions are simply for noting the difference between East and West. Our traditions coming from the West, or Latin church. However, while catholic and orthodox are certainly biblical, these names were taken for themselves. The bishops chose these labels. Of course, it was to teach the truth of Jesus, at first. And we can understand, having just learned that history.
 
An interesting fact from the book of church history, is that Lutherans didn’t choose their name. During the Reformation, we wanted to be Evangelicals, or “those of the Gospel”. It was our opponents, those that hated us, that called us Lutheran, implying that our pope was Martin Luther. We were stubborn enough to take that as a compliment and keep the name.
 
Dr. Luther comments:
In the first place, I ask that men make no reference to my name; let them call themselves Christians, not Lutherans. What is Luther? After all, the teaching is not mine [John 7:16]. Neither was I crucified for anyone [1 Cor. 1:13]. St. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3,  would not allow the Christians to call themselves Pauline or Petrine, but Christian. How then should I—poor stinking maggot-fodder that I am—come to have men call the children of Christ by my wretched name? Not so, my dear friends; let us abolish all party names and call ourselves Christians, after him whose teaching we hold. The papists deservedly have a party name, because they are not content with the teaching and name of Christ, but want to be papist as well. Let them be papist then, since the pope is their master. I neither am nor want to be anyone’s master. I hold, together with the universal church, the one universal teaching of Christ, who is our only master [Matt. 23:8]. (LW 45:70-71)
 
So far, by the book, we should be St. John/Zion catholic orthodox evangelical Lutheran Church. But what is a book without its author? As Dr. Luther brought up, he was not crucified for anyone. Which leads us to this wonderful Bible verse, which I suggest you underline and write at the top of page at the beginning of every book in your Bible.
 
That is St. John 5:39, “You search the Scriptures [, the writings, the books] because you think that in them you have eternal life; but it is they that bear witness about me.” 
 
Now, we do not throw our writings away, especially when they agree with Holy Scripture, but we do not think or believe that any sort of man-made book holds codes and secrets to move us to enlightenment.
 
In fact, even though Jesus is talking about the Bible in that verse, He is talking about its abuse, not its use. You see, the Jews wanted to define their own selves. They didn't want God saying whatever He wanted, so they turned Scriptures into a weapon. A weapon that they wielded against their neighbor and against God in the flesh, Jesus. 
 
Repent. You also believe that if you know the right answers you will win all the arguments. You believe that if you can find just the right Bible passage, you can be Lord of everything. You think that God gave you the Bible to find your own private kingdom in there where you are right and everyone else is wrong. 
 
The true role of our book, the Scriptures, is to reveal Jesus. Yes you will find rules for life, morality, and history in there, but God’s purpose is to reveal Who God is and His gift of salvation in Christ. God’s truth about our Savior Jesus Christ is only made known in the Bible: that is the Old Testament books, which promise the coming Savior, and the New Testament books, which tell us of the Savior who has come.
 
“These things are written”, says Jesus, “that you all may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God” (Jn 20:31). The Holy Book is given for this purpose and in this way: the Holy Spirit gave to His chosen writers the thoughts they expressed and the words they wrote. Called “Verbal Inspiration”, the Bible is God’s own Word and Truth, without error.
 
But remember and believe that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh and He is God’s own Truth. He alone do we worship, not a book. We are people of the Word: Christ Crucified. We go to the Bible to find Jesus, for He is the heart, center, and key to the true meaning of all Scripture.
 
So when the books call Christ’s religion catholic (small c), it simply means there is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. It is wholly with Christ. He is Her life and being and all in all and there is only one Church for all people of all time and place: catholic.
 
And when the books name orthodoxy, it simply means that Jesus is the straight and only Way to the Father. Orthodontics means straight teeth. Orthopedics means straight children. Orthodoxy means straight, or aligned-with-God, teaching. 
 
When the books name evangelical, it means “of the Gospel”. Not gospel singers or gospel churches, but the true Gospel, that is the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ alone, in Whom God gives forgiveness, faith, life, and the power to please Him with good works for free.
 
And that is the meaning of “Lutheran”: free. Also the good news; that we are freed from the guilt, the punishment, and the power of sin, and are saved eternally because of Christ’s keeping the Law and His suffering and death for us. Romans 10:4 says:
“Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
 
The Bible is the book of Jesus, Who is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
The Scriptures testify of Him (John 5:39). 
He is the gift of the Father’s love (John 3:16).  
The Holy Spirit testifies to Him (John 14:26; John 16:7-15).  
The world was created through Him (Colossians 1:13-16; John 1:1-14).
The Holy Spirit was present as Moses led God’s people out of Egypt in the Exodus (1 Cor. 10:1-5).  And yet this One who is true God came among us as a true man to redeem us, to buy us back from sin, death, hell.
 
This is our confession today. God reveals Himself to us, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and we confess back to Him what He has said to us. It is a catholic confession, therefore it is a catholic faith. Not one ruled by a pope, but one ruled by Christ and His Word and sacraments. 
 
It is an orthodox confession, therefore it is an orthodox faith. That is that we do not deviate from His Apostle's teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of the bread, or the prayers. Christ has come to serve and we let Him do the work He wants to do, through men, through means.
 
It is an evangelical confession and faith, proclaiming the truth of the forgiveness of sins. It is a Lutheran confession and faith, believing, and therefore receiving, the freedom that only the Son can give, in His Church, from sin, death, and the power of the devil.
 
So when you use these words, like catholic, be sure you are not using them as the Pharisee would. Use them not to be right, but to point yourself and others to Christ. Use these words and the Word as God uses them, that is to show us our sin and the wrath of God; and to show us our Savior and the grace of God.
 

From Acts 2 Church [Pentecost]

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Genesis 11:1-9

• Acts 2:1-13

• St. John 14:23-31

 

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. (Titus 1:4)

 

Who speaks to you today, saying:

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.”

 

The peace that Jesus leaves this world would not be peace, if He left it in our hands or if He gave it as the world gives us things, perishable. God gives us His Word that Peace will be His alone to give and His alone to create and secure. So we should trust His Word over our own and not put our confidence in anything other than that. Thus we should not base our faith on our actions, which we can see, but on God’s actions which require faith to see.

 

You see, popular, false teachers today, love to stop reading the Book of Acts at the point our Epistle reading stopped. They love to stop at “whoever calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved”. This is because, if they stop their teaching there, they have something to do: call on the Name of the Lord. Then, when they do that, they will be saved. 

 

This then becomes their core doctrine that stands above all the rest. Any Church history or other doctrines are insignificant compared to the power of human will and reason to call on the Name and nothing else is needed except that call to Jesus. I guess its just one call, though the psalms speak of many calls day and night. It doesn’t matter. If I call, then I can get saved.

 

However, calling on the Name of Jesus contains the same amount of weight and belief necessary as does praying in Jesus’s Name, which we spoke of a couple Sunday’s ago. Because, what does it mean to call on the Name of the Lord? What is His Name, even? Is once good enough? Does He take collect calls…? What is a collect call?

 

Nobody called the Holy Spirit to the Feast Day of Pentecost, that day, yet He came. Nobody was calling on the Name of the Lord before St. Peter preached this sermon in Acts 2, yet he preached. We begin to see clearly God’s work, when we quit focusing on our own.

 

In this first part of Acts 2, we only get to the Old Testament reading part of the Service that the Holy Spirit is conducting in the midst of all these men on Pentecost. From the Book of Joel, St. Peter proclaims Jesus, as he says in verses 23 and 24: “this same Jesus” delivered up according to God’s eternal plan, is the vision, dream, and prophesy of all believers. 

 

This God-man, Who is the vision, dream, and prophesy of God, was crucified and raised up, St. Peter preaches. “Let all the house of Israel be certain”, he concludes in verse 36, “that God has made Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

 

At this point, the entire Pentecost crowd forgets the rushing wind, forgets the tongues of fire, and forgets calling on anybody, because the condemnation of the Holy Law has fallen upon them. By these words, God has accused every last Pentecost congregant of the sin of killing Him on the cross. 

 

They understand exactly what St. Peter is saying and are cut to the heart. They cry out, “Brothers, what shall we do??” (v. 37). So much for calling on the Name of the Lord. They know calling on anything won’t save them from their sins and they don’t know what to do, even though they heard it directly. We shouldn’t think we can do any better than them when everything about us is revealed by God.

 

Repent! Let your heart be cut by St. Peter’s sermon as well!  Hear and tremble at the fact that your sins, no matter how insignificant they may be, have nailed God to a tree. 

 

What sins, you say? Your life choices don’t hurt anybody. If they would all just mind their own business, everything would be fine. I don’t have to explain myself to you. That’s just how I am and I ain’t never gonna change. Guess I’m going to hell for that one. And the like.

 

How else do you excuse yourself in front of God? You think its only big, public sins that matter?

Consider your place in life according to the Ten Commandments: Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker? Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you been hot-tempered, rude, or quarrelsome? Have you hurt someone by your words or deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm?

 

Sin is a lot closer and more of a threat to you than you usually understand it. No one is making it out of here alive, for the wages of sin is death.

 

Let’s continue on in Acts 2:38-39:

St. Peter proclaims, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

 

Is there salvation in you calling? The Lord God calls to Himself. Did you hear that? What does He Call for? The forgiveness of sins. How does He Call? Through His Gospel and Sacraments, in this case, Baptism. The Lord God Calls you, and you are saved. Everyone who has his name Called upon by the Name of the Lord, shall be saved.

 

This is the true meaning of the Call. But first, Jesus must make a way for that Call for you are dead in your sins and dead people don’t hear very well. A cry to God for mercy must go out first. A cry that darkens the sun and bloodies the moon. A cry that causes the earth to quake, split open, and cough up the dead, alive again. Thus, “Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His Spirit” (Mt 27:50).

 

Jesus cries out on the cross, inflicting His Holy Spirit upon all who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. In that cry, are heard more than inarticulate syllables. In that saving cry of Christ are the names of those upon whom the Call of the Lord has fallen: every sinner, for Christ has come to secure the preaching of the forgiveness of sins in His Church.

 

What moves the almighty God of all things, outside time, outside human needs, to forgive sins? The only thing that moves God to forgive sins is His mercy and because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for sinners. That’s it. Without our prayer, without our calls, and without our vote; God acts. 

 

And He acts according to His person, that is according to His Love and Mercy, as He has told us from the beginning. He acts on His own, becoming obedient unto death, not for His own sake, but for you. He is obedient in order to unleash His Gospel unto the world, which makes the Way straight and the rough places plain. 

 

The forgiveness of sins is only offered in the Gospel, the good news that we are freed from the guilt, the punishment, and the power of sin, and are saved eternally because of Christ’s keeping the Law and His suffering and death for us.

 

And it is in that Gospel alone that we receive the forgiveness of sins by faith. That is, belief in the work God has done and the Son Whom He has sent in the flesh. “to the man who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Rom 4:5). 

 

You can be sure of this, the forgiveness of your sins, because it is a promise made by Him Who died and rose again. For now, since neither life nor death nor anything in all creation can hold Jesus, He is certainly able to guard what we have entrusted to Him, this forgiveness (Rom 8:38-39; 2 Tim 1:12).

 

What we need to make certain, to confirm, is that our name is on the Roll Call. This sinful fear comes out when we hear of the Book of Life in Revelation, “And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15). 

 

Fire again. Fire goes before the Lord (Ps 97:3). It is the mark of our Lord’s Passion, that is that we also bear our crosses in our lives, as He did, so that we are more like Him. The Call comes from the Lord in His Church. Not from the sky, not from dreams, and not in any sort of fire. 

 

Acts Chapter 2 concludes in this place and you hear it every week. The bells tolling. The hymns sounding. The prayers and praise rising as incense. Indeed, the Lord has “hidden” His Gospel Call within His Church of Word and Sacrament. Where the Word, Jesus Christ, is received, there is salvation. Where the Sacraments are administered, there is forgiveness.

 

“And they devoted themselves to the Apostles’ doctrine, the Communion, the breaking of the Bread, and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). The Call only goes out from Christ, through His Holy Spirit, by the Word of His Apostles. Anything outside of this is outside the Book of Life.

 

But the Book of Life is opened by the Lamb of God and written by the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. He has opened heaven to receive us sinners under His righteousness. In the righteousness of Jesus, St. Paul is inspired to write Philippians 4:1-2, “Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved…[with] the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.”

 

This is the true story of Pentecost: your story in Church. It is your story in faith and it is your story because it continues with you. We know life doesn’t end at the conclusion of the Divine Service. We know that once we exit, we will once again have to face our demons and the demons of all sinful humanity.

 

Life doesn’t stop.

But neither does the Lord. Acts 2:40, “Be saved from this perverse generation”. The Lord’s salvation continues through our own perversions, our own returns to sin, because He cannot help but hallow His own Name, keep His promises made, and be merciful.

 

In Christ alone has the Lord shown His mercy and He makes it available in His wounds, to those Who are Called. To those who are Called Saints. To those who are called by the Name of the Lord: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To those who hear their names and are weary and heavy laden with sins. 

 

“Come”. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (Rev 22:17). Come and “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.” (Isa 43:1).

 

 

Jew, Gentile? Christian! [Sunday after Ascension]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Ezekiel 36:22-28

• 1 Peter 4:7-11

• St. John 15:26-16:4

 

May grace and peace be multiplied to you. (1 Pet 1)
 
Who speaks to you today, saying:

“They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.”

 
Jew and gentile. God speaks and He “separates people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats”. On the Last Day He will judge. But until then, we are given to judge, not between people, but between the truth and the lie. Do people get mixed in that? Yes. Does that void God’s Word? No.
 
God includes this word from His Gospel for us to hear today, about synagogues and service to God, partly so that we understand the difference between Jew and Gentile. Jew is a believer in Christ by faith, as the Bible speaks of it. Gentile is an unbeliever. Now, these definitions aren’t accepted today. However, we are to understand these words so that we are pointed towards Christ, His love for sinners, and our own hope in Him alone. 
 
What we will be talking about today is who exactly these people are that will kill Believers as a “service” to God. There is only one division God makes: belief and unbelief. In the Bible, He speaks of that division as between Israel and the nations. Other words for “nations” are Gentiles, ethnics, pagans, and heathen as we heard in our first Alleluia verse today (Ps 47:8).
 
The division Jesus points out today is that same division, that between those who offer authorized Service to God and those who offer unauthorized service. That is the proper distinction the Bible makes between these two different groups of people.
 
The seemingly bad reputation for the gentiles starts with God, as all things do. He declares to Israel in Leviticus, “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean” and “lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you” (Lev 18:24, 28).
 
The cliche is as old as war and politics: “divide and conquer”. That is, if you divide a large nation into enough splinter groups that don’t care too much for each other, you will have an easier time bringing them under your control. 
 
And it was the American Revolutionary War that took that phrase and made it biblical and political, saying “United we stand, divided we fall”, referencing Jesus saying, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste” (Mt 12:25). 
 
Thus the Jews strategy was division; to keep themselves separate from those other nations who were not like them. And it was God’s Word they used to justify it. One reason we don’t understand this discrimination and are already offended by God, is because we don’t realize or believe that everything in life is religiously oriented. Especially in Old Testament times, if there was a nation that was not God’s, they worshipped false gods. God’s wars in the OT were always religious: Him against a false god.
 
This is the point where we better understand what a gentile really is and, as always, it is a matter of faith. Deuteronomy 29:18 says, “Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations.”
 
So the division was not a blood division, but an ethnic, cultural division. That is what the word “gentile” literally means: ethnicity. The danger is not skin color, but how you live; your culture, your values. Does your culture, language, and values line up with the one, true God, or are you drunk on “the wine of the passion of [Babylon’s] sexual immorality…and…the power of her sensuality and richness” (Rev 18:3). Even more than that, it is a matter of the heart. An inward distinction, not an outward.
 
The Jews began to exclude Gentiles from the Temple enclosure completely, apart from God’s Word, utilizing this outward distinction.  By the time of King Herod the Great (immediately before Jesus), when he rebuilt the temple, Herod even had priests trained in masonry so that they could carry out the construction of the sacred precincts rather than the Gentile builders he had used in other projects (Josephus, Antiquities 15.390) and had them carve in the stone, proclaimed in Greek: “No foreigner may enter … the sanctuary and the enclosure. Whoever is caught, on himself shall he put blame for the death which will ensue.”
 
Repent. You are a gentile by this account. You do not have Abraham as your father and neither do you have a family line traced back to any Old Testament patriarch. And yet, you continue to believe in divisions in life which are only skin deep. Divisions that cause pain, hurt, and suffering. Divisions that cause the devil no end of delight, for he is The Divider.
 
And Jesus is He Who unifies. He draws all people to Himself through His suffering on the cross and He prays that we be one even as He and the Father are one. 
Do not be mistaken. You are a gentile in sin, but the chosen of God, in Christ. At least as the Bible says it, a Jew is a Jew by faith alone.
 
There is inheritance in Christ alone. There is no earthly family tree or hereditary trait that gains you or anyone access to the Lord’s favor. At the Final Judgement, there will be no one asking for your “23&me” papers. In fact, that is probably a good way to get tossed out! 
 
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus in John 8:39-40, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.”
 
Even claiming God as Father does not work: “If God were your Father,” Jesus says, “you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me”, from the same place in St. John.
 
What Jesus will ask for, on the Last Day, is the Truth, that is: is the truth with you or not? Do you bear the marks of the cross or not? Do you house the Son or not? Has the water and blood of His righteousness been placed upon you or not? The Truth is Christ Crucified for you, in the flesh, uniting Himself to you. Not you making right on your own.
 
Because the righteousness of Christ exceeds the righteousness of the Law, all people were permitted to pray and sacrifice to God in the same way the Israelites did:
“For the generations to come, whenever a foreigner or anyone else living among you presents a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, they must do exactly as you do…You and the foreigner shall be the same before the Lord: The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you” (Numbers 15:14-16).
 
At the dedication of the first temple, King Solomon prayed:
“As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm — when they come and pray toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name” (2 Chronicles 6:32-33).
 
And the prophet Isaiah records the words of God regarding the Gentiles and the temple:
“… foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant —  these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:6-7).
 
As satan situated himself more and more in the hearts of Israel, the outer court of the Temple became the only place for foreigners to worship and was also where the animals that would be sacrificed were kept, and the noise, stench, and excrement of the many animals hardly made the court a place conducive to prayer.  
 
Gentiles were permitted, encouraged, to donate animals for sacrifice in the temple, but Roman coinage was not accepted, and so money changers conducted a lucrative business exchanging the foreign currency for Hebrew coins which could then be used to purchase sacrificial animals (very likely at inflated prices). Sneaky.
 
It was this situation, of course, to which Jesus reacted so violently when he drove the money changers and animal sellers out of the Court of the Gentiles, quoting Isaiah: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers’” (Mark 11:17). The Temple of God is to be a house of prayer “for all nations”.
 
At the death of Jesus, the temple curtain blocking the view of the inner temple was torn and St. Matthew records that it was no Jew, but a Gentile – the centurion who beheld Christ’s death – who was inspired to state:  "Surely He was the Son of God!" (Matthew 27:54).   
 
“in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith” (Gal 3:26). Those who seek to kill and divide are doing the work of their father the devil, who was a murderer from the beginning. The cultural or genealogical label they give themselves does not matter. An unbeliever is an unbeliever and is only distinguished by the faith he confesses.
 
“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit”, says Romans 8:16, “that we are children of God” now. This is why Jesus says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek…slave nor free…male [nor] female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28). It is not that there are no differences between people, but that those differences we usually use to separate us have to do with language, borders, and culture, not faith.
 
And though Jesus is the God of culture, He gives His own culture. It is no longer worth while to discover who is a Jew and who is a gentile. Those labels are meaningless in front of God. The only label that matters is “Christ”. This is why the Lord has His people named “Christ-ians”, not on their own, but by those who despise Christ and His Church Culture.
 
“in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians” (Acts 11:26). 
And, “if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that Name” (1 Peter 4:16). 
 
 

No space-time ascent [The Ascension of Jesus]

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• 2 Kings 2:5-15

• Acts 1:1-11

• St. Mark 16:14-20

Mercy, and Peace are secure for you from God our Father, through our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus the Crucified of God!

 

Who speaks to us, even this evening, as we hear from the Book of Acts:

“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.”

 

Two things we do NOT want to believe when confronted with our Lord’s Ascension. One, that He is moving through space-time as we know it; meaning from one place to the next, as if the Right Hand of God were in Hoboken, NJ or something. And second, that we don’t try to dumb it down. Meaning, that we try and rationalize the Ascension using words like “myth” and “symbolize”. This turns God into Not-God and that’s not good.

 

The Bible and the Lutheran Confessions do not understand the Ascension as some sort of space travel. Jesus is not on earth one minute, and then in heaven the next, as if He took Air Force Jesus to travel there and therefore, when He returns, we’ll also get to ride Air Force Jesus to get back here. 

 

No, we believe and understand the Ascension as Jesus’ removal from ordinary sight. that He simply exists in a way in which our eyes do not have the ability to focus on Him anymore. The Ascension is Jesus’s final act of liberation from the limitations to which His humiliation had subjected Him within the created world (Christology, Scaer, 102). If we were able to still see Him as He was, He would not be exalted anymore.

 

If we begin to degrade it by rationalizing it, saying its mythical or symbolic, that “Jesus has ascended to the presence of my heart” or something equally cringe, then He becomes less than Who He says He is. As soon as we mythologize or spiritualize Jesus, He turns into a false god who is just a superman and is limited by time, space, and our superior intellect.

 

There is no movement from place to place, here. The only reason you would need Jesus to be a myth or moving is if you wanted Him out of the Lord’s Supper during the Divine Service. Lutheran Father Abraham Calov, 17th c., put it this way: 

“But the heaven which [Christ] occupied is not locally situated above the stars, as the Calvinists prattle. Scripture knows nothing of this heaven. No, it is a majestic and glorious heaven, which, like God Himself, is everywhere. The mathematical calculation we leave to the Calvinists themselves, who have certainly busied themselves with this noble science.” (Christology, 102)

 

If we just wanted another redundant and therefore unnecessary, story to symbolize God’s glorification of Jesus, then this would be a myth. If we want to believe like God and keep Christ’s human nature in His omnipresence and universal dominion in the world and His Church, then the Ascension is historic fact. Jesus had passed out of the disciples’ sight before. This time should be no surprise.

 

Look at Elijah, from our first Reading. He was also taken up and out of eye shot. Our eyes have natural limits of sight. Called Angular Resolution, when things go too far away they “disappear”. This is the reason the angels appear at the Ascension, to make clear that Jesus truly ascended into heaven (Sunday Sermons of the great fathers, II:438) and didn’t just “go away”.

 

Elijah was taken up, as though to heaven, for he was a servant. Jesus was taken up to heaven, for He is the Lord. One in a chariot, the other in a cloud. When the servant was called, the chariot was sent. For the Son, the Royal Throne of His Father comes to get Him, as Isaiah says, “Behold the Lord is seated upon a cloud” (Isa 19:1). And as Elijah let his mantle fall to Elisha, so does Jesus send down His gifts of graces upon His disciples, making not one, but many Elishas. (Sunday Sermons, II:439)

 

Jesus is received, welcomed, and assumed into heaven as both God and man. That He also takes His humanity with Him is the main point and our hope, for His humanity is our humanity. 

“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13).

 

Jesus says: “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel,

who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb;

even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you.

I have made, and I will bear; I will make you ascend and will save you.” (Is. 46:3-4)

 

Once again, these Feast Days of Jesus are for you. Jesus does not need another proof of His Glory or power. He desires to bring you with Him. He desires an eternal dwelling place for you. “And if I go and prepare a place for you”, He says, “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (Jn 14:3). “Take you to myself”, because He “was speaking about the temple of His Body” (Jn 2:21).

 

To Ascend with Jesus means to commune with Jesus, to believe He is both God and man. Fully divine and fully us, only without our sin, since He has made His sacrifice already, once for all. The Ascension of Jesus once again proves that He really did rise again from the dead and that He now can be in all places at all times with His Body, not just in spirit.

 

In Christ, humanity is welcomed into heaven, into the very Body of Christ, to shouts of glory, laud, and honor because we are like Him, in the forgiveness of sins. In Christ, the Father has said, ye are gods (Jn 10:34), because the Word of God has come to you, made His dwelling in you, and makes you ascend with Him, to His side, for all eternity. 

 

Behold, the dwelling of God is among men (Rev 21:3). God keeps His promises and remains among us. As God He rules over all. As man He serves all His forgiveness. It is no heavenly hermitage that He manages in some far off, distant place. He is near, His kingdom is near, and His heaven is near. 

 

Near in time, to be sure. He is returning and quickly. But also near in space, physically near, to commune with His Church.

 

Prayer, in the Name [Easter 6]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Numbers 21:4-9

• James 1:22-27

• St. John 16:23-30

 

May grace and peace be multiplied to you. (1 Pet 1)
 
Who speaks to you today, saying:

“Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

 
Thus far from God’s Word in His Gospel, and He includes this for us to hear about His gracious gift of Prayer. “Ask, ask”, He says and points us to a wonderful life of prayer He wants to give us. But we must learn to pray first, and that involves sitting at the feet of our Crucified Savior to receive His gifts of life. So also ought we to pray in the Name of Jesus.
 
The traditional name of this 6th Sunday of Easter is Rogate and it is Latin for the command “you pray”. The reason this is important is because the Church has found wisdom in using these last Sundays of Easter to focus on the end of Easter, Pentecost. So the Church is to pray and she is to pray for the Holy Spirit to come, as Jesus has been talking about in our Gospel readings. 
 
"There is need every hour without ceasing”, says Dr. Luther, “to pray everywhere with tears of blood to God, who is so terribly angry with men. And it is true that it has never been more necessary to pray than at this time, and it will be more so from now on to the end of the world." In fact, he says, "I have so much to do that if I didn't spend at least three hours a day in prayer I would never get it all done."
 
That he can say two very such different things about prayer is a testament to the strength that Faith gives. We are told to pray for all people, even our enemies. And we must pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven and that takes strength. That prayer can be both a shield and weapon against the world, and also practical comfort in everyday humdrum, attests to how important prayer is for the Christian.
 
“When you pray”, Jesus says as He gives us His own prayer, The Our Father. Not “if you pray”, but “when”. That is, you do it. When? Every chance you get. Unceasingly (1 Thess 5:17). How? In perfect, righteous faith, of course (James 5:15-16) which can move mountains and in, literally “in”, the Name of Jesus (Jn 14:14).
 
Setting aside the necessity of perfect faith for now, ha, praying “in the Name of Jesus” does not mean simply tacking on His Name at the end of your prayer. Although you include His Saving Name in each of your prayers, to pray “in the Name” means to pray according to Jesus’s Person, words, and work.
 
To pray according to Jesus’s Person means to acknowledge that He is the Second Person of the Trinity. He is the only-begotten Son of the Father. That He is true God, begotten of the Father from all eternity and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary. And that in one Christ, the Chosen One, there is united perfectly those two natures so that we may believe that a man sits at God’s right hand ruling the universe, right now.
 
To pray according to Jesus’s words means two things. First, that we acknowledge Him as the True Word of God and second that we believe that His Holy Bible is the inerrant Word of God, given to us men to hear it, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it. That the Bible is what normalizes our belief and everything we do in faith and that we do not deviate from it.
 
To pray according to Jesus's work, means that we ever are mindful of dwelling in and having our life fed by His suffering, crucifixion, and death and resurrection. That He has come to secure the forgiveness of sins by His holy, precious Blood and to purchase and win you from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil with His innocent suffering and death.
 
In other words, only those who believe in Jesus Christ may pray to God and expect to be heard. 
 
That the Holy Scriptures, and God Himself, cannot be penetrated by study and talent is most certain. Therefore your first duty is to begin to pray, and to pray to this effect that, if it please God to accomplish something for His glory--not for yours or any other person's--, He very graciously grant you a true understanding of His words. For no master of the divine words exists except the Author of these words, as He says: 'They shall be all taught of God' (John 6:45). 
 
Repent. You must, therefore, completely despair of your own industry and ability to reach God with your words and rely solely on the inspiration of the Spirit. No matter how long or how fancy or how creative your prayers are, unless they are made in faith, they go nowhere.
 
Now does God abandon His creations? No. How does He deal with those creatures that do not believe? We don’t know. His Word doesn’t tell us. But we do know that He has made a way, the Only Way through Christ and He is merciful.
 
Thus, the Christian relies on Faith. The Faith of the One Who Prays: Jesus. “I have prayed for you”, He says in St. Luke 22:32, “that your faith may not fail.” Jesus, the God-man, prays. He prays for the glory of God and He prays for you. He doesn’t pray to Himself. He prays, Jesus the Son, to His Father and your Father Who art in heaven. 
 
This is what makes the Lord’s Prayer so special for us. It is the Lord’s own prayer that He gives to us, in order that we pray side by side with the Creator of all.
Side by side with Jesus, the Church asks for God’s name to be hallowed and God’s kingdom to come.  Side by side with His Church, Jesus intercedes for our daily bread, our forgiveness, and our deliverance from evil.
 
With all this, you would think that He would tell us to pray for any and everything. And while that is included in prayer, because it includes us and our lives, there is one specific thing that Jesus directly tells us to pray for. It is found both in St. Matthew and St. Luke saying, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Mt 9:37-38, Lk 10:2)
 
That is, pray that the Lord send out laborers, Pastors, to us to preach His Word and administer His sacraments. This, really, is the only prayer that all our prayers are asking for. That God’s Name be holy, that His Kingdom come, and that His Will be done among us also. This is what it means to be His Church. To have these things around us and to find our life in them, for they are His gifts to us.
 
And that makes sense, because you need to learn to pray and what better place to learn than at the Master’s feet as He preaches His Word to you and gives you His Body and Blood. Thus, being a part of His Church and communing with Him is the first step in a life of prayer. You could really say that the Divine Service is prayer lived out in real time.
 
When Jesus tells us to pray, He is not just giving us words to say, but a life to live: His Life. And the words He does give us are the Holy Spirit’s own words, which interpret our groanings in sin, too deep for words. 
 
To pray is to be invited into Prayer with the Lord. This is why the Apostle Paul can command us to pray unceasingly. Not because we are capable of such a thing, but because Jesus provides us with such prayers that never stop. One, because He intercedes for us unceasingly before the Father and Two, because the life He lives is now life for the whole world, but especially for His Bride, the Church.
 
This means that you should be certain that your prayers are pleasing to our Father in heaven, and are heard by Him; for He himself has commanded you to pray in this way and has promised to hear you. Amen, amen means “yes, yes it shall be so”.
 
Hear my prayer for you today: that you always have a Laborer in the Vineyard among you; that you trust in your baptism and the Lord’s salvation given to you there; that you rejoice in your communion which brings the one, true God into your hands and mouths for forgiveness; and that you continue steadfast, doing what you are doing here, in Faith.
 
Alleluia!
Amen.