Keep your prosperity [Trinity 6]

 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Exodus 20:1-17

• Romans 6:3-11

• St. Matthew 5:20-26

Dear Saints, Grace to you all and Peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus, the Christ.
 
Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying: 

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

 
But Jesus immediately puts up a road block in your way of attaining that righteousness, when He says, “I have not come to abolish [the Law or the Prophets] but to fulfill them” (Mt 5:17). This means that when you come to the Law or the Prophets, seeking to live by them, in order to exceed the scribes and the Pharisees, as was commanded, you will find nothing. This is why St. Paul says, “no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” (Gal 3:11). 
 
“That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham” (Rom 4:16).
 
If there were no roadblock. If everyone did what was right in their own eyes; whatever to church, whatever to communion. If God’s own, complete freedom had been given to man, we would always choose sin and always declare ourselves our own savior and god. 100%. No deviation to the left or to the right. If absolute freedom were given to man, absolute hell would be his choice, each and every time. This is why the Tree of Life was denied to Adam and Eve after they had eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
 
The confusion our sin creates in us is this: that we hear God speak with a forked tongue. We hear Him say, “So keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do” (Deut 29:9), but also things like: “For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Ps 73:3).
 
Well which is it? Does prosperity go to the righteous or does prosperity go to the wicked? Following God’s commands is supposed to bring prosperity, but those who despise God prosper also or instead. This hits way too close to home: when we prosper is it because God is approving what we are doing or because God is disapproving? How can you tell?
 
Repent. You can’t. It is impossible. The Commands and Demands of God lock you in prison, but also they kill you, as Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death”. In our sinfulness, we then conclude that God is impossible to please, as He is not happy with anything, and therefore we quit Him and recreate Him as whatever we want, usually a god to fit our private preferences, destroying faith and church on the way.
 
And our private preferences are only 1), for us and no one else and 2) excuses for whatever behavior we choose whether or not it follows God’s Law and Order. And when God becomes this private enabler in our pocket, he becomes a false god and you must once again defend your private preferences, that you think are approved, as either being righteous prosperity or wicked prosperity.
 
Dear Christians, our God and Lord, Jesus Christ does not leave you out in the wilderness to gain entertainment by watching you struggle and then laugh when you try to follow Him. He speaks. And He speaks as the Good Shepherd and His sheep hear His voice, know Him, and follow Him into His Sheep-pen, His Sheep fold.
 
Now a Sheep fold is hemmed in for two reasons. One, to keep lies, wolves and false shepherds, out and Two, to keep the sheep in the right place; to show them where the right place is. In essence, the Sheep Pen is the place where the righteous prosper all. the. time. 
 
All the time. Why? Because that is where the Shepherd is and that is where He declares is meet and right so to be and that is where He stays. So while our sinfulness is debating and arguing over which of us shows the most Christ-like love in Church, Christ is showing His own Christ-like love, Himself.
 
And the Commands of God are the beginning of that show. As in, while we navel gaze, God is out here declaring, “I am the Lord your God”. This is Who I am and this is how I act and I will name ten ways, or commands, for you to understand that: 
 
There is only one of ME, I should know. 
I have not only given you my Word, but my Name also, so much do I love you, in Christ. 
I have an ultimate rest planned for you, which you can begin to see in this Sabbath Day. 
I honor father and mother. 
I do not murder. 
I am chaste and faithful. 
I do not steal. 
I am not false.
I do not covet house or home, for all things are mine, but Am also the Giver of all things. 
 
In the very first place, Jesus’s Commands and Demands describe Who He is. They are not simply basic instructions before leaving earth, and if you would have ears to hear, then you would hear, believe, and find salvation in Him. For He ends Exodus 20 in just such a manner, describing the Sheep-fold, His Church, saying, “You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven...An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my Name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you” (v. 22-24).
 
In every place He causes remembrance. He does that work and He does it by connecting this Word in Exodus with His Word in St. Luke 22:19, “This do in remembrance of me”!!
 
This do in Remembrance of me bringing you out of the house of slavery of Egypt. The Egypt of sin, death, and the power of the devil, by My Hand. This do in remembrance of me baptizing you into My death, freeing you from the Law, as it is written, “you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God” (Rom 7:4).
 
This do in remembrance of Me exceeding the righteousness of the Pharisees on your behalf, freeing you from the prison of your private preference, to live a new, public, universal life in front of God for all eternity. And this life is offered and lived out wherever God causes His Name to be remembered. For us Word-made-flesh believers, that sheep fold is His Word and Sacrament.
 
In the very first place, prosperity that is righteous and God pleasing, is having the Word and sacraments preached and administered in front of you. True, Godly prosperity is the communing presence of God among you and that you find yourself within His Sheep-fold which is walled in by faith in Him, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life.
 
You hear them, by grace you believe them, and in that trust or faith in God’s Promise, have exactly what He promises you. In that God given prosperity, purchased by the crucifixion of Jesus our God and Lord, you begin to see all your prosperity as coming from Him. Not only in prosperity, but even in your tribulations.
 
It is in your tribulations, that you find out just how invincible God’s Prosperity is. That it can withstand tribulation, the hour of death, and the Day of Judgement. In Faith, all of life is prosperous. In the suffering, dying, and resurrection of Jesus, even all of death is prosperous, for in death, we immediately are transferred to our Lord’s side for all eternity. There is no losing!
 
If you measure life and eternal life by earthly prosperity or by how much or how many commands of God you can keep, then there is no point, because, “He has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills” (Rom 9:18). 
 
Thank God our measuring stick is Crucifix shaped. For it is Christ Who is the full revelation of God and His plans of prosperity for us. In Christ, He promises, “it depends not on human will or exertion, but on [the] God, who has mercy” (Rom 9:16). Find all your prosperity in Christ and in His Bride, the Church, for true prosperity is in and from the Lord and He has plans for your prosperity, in His Son, for all eternity. He is the God Who gives. It is just Who He is.
 

Give up your nets [Trinity 5]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• 1 Kings 19:11-21

• 1 Peter 3:8-15

• St. Luke 5:1-11

 

"We are the little fishes of Christ"

In the Name…

Dear Saints, Grace to you all and Peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus, the Christ.

 

Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying: 

“Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

 

But catching men is the hard part. Not just because no one seems interested in Church these days, and not just because we fumble at trying to talk to people about Church these days, but because most of the time we can’t catch anyone or they don’t want to be caught. Fortunately, the nets of Christ’s Gospel do not ask for permission or consent, but rescue at His Word, as St. Peter teaches today.

 

That is the Truth and the hope we find in any of our speaking to anyone. That the Word of God’s cross is the power of salvation and not our words. We can talk or argue until we are blue in the face, but if we are not using the Word, our persuasion is in vain.

 

For, we must fight spiritual powers without the supernatural ability to see into the hearts of men. So, if we are honest, we must admit that we prefer to just give up on our sin-loving brothers and sisters. Not only do we prefer it, in our sin, but we can find Scripture to support us.

 

God’s Word tells us things like, “Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,” or we can substitute sinner, there, “for he will despise the good sense of your words” from Proverbs 23:9. We also hear St. Paul getting in on the tolerance in 1 Corinthians 5, “you are to deliver this man [who has sinned] to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.”

 

Yikes. 

 

This is the kind of stuff our sinful nature loves to be a part of. We are sore losers. If we don’t get our way, win the day, or win the argument we take personal offense. And when we take personal offense, we shut down. No more Mr. nice guy. No more patience. No more 8th Commandment. 

 

Good news everyone. You are not God! You don’t have all the right answers! When you give up on your neighbor, you do not consign him to anywhere except back to his own life without you in it. Thinking you have such authority over your neighbor is a sin and does the opposite of “catching them” as Jesus said.

 

But, there is another way to “give up” on your neighbor, that does not involve your sin or you sinning. “Giving up” does not have to mean you act as big a fool as your sin-loving neighbor. As usual, when dealing with your sinful nature, simply turn things around. Don’t give up on your neighbor. Give up on yourself.

 

Yes, give up on yourself being the one to “save” them! In your sin, you declare with Elijah, “God. I am the last one.” God says, “Easy bro. There are 7000 others that you missed.” 

 

Repent. When it comes to loving your neighbor, you are only interested in them as far as they take your side. And no one is safe from this, not friends, not family, not even your pastor. How dare he try to change my thinking.

 

When Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light, He meant it. Salvation is not found in your zeal or your anger: “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God”, reminds St. James (1:20). Instead, “a gentle Word turns away wrath” (Prov 15:1) and Jesus says, “I am gentle” (Matt 11:29).

 

Jesus is the Gentle Word that turns away God’s Wrath from us, onto Himself and He is the net.

 

First of all, the entire Gospel reading is one big action that presents Jesus’ death and resurrection to us, which is the true net of the Gospel. Look at it again. He has come down from heaven and His preaching and teaching are His words He has already given in the Old Testament, as He speaks from the boat, or Ark. 

 

Pausing that Word, He takes action Himself in a second Word, the New Testament. That is, he demands that St. Peter hover the Ark over the face of the depths of sin, death, and the devil and let Him down for a catch. In other words, throw Him in. “At your Word”.

 

Here Jesus is repeating what He told Jonah to say, some 700 years earlier, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you” (1:12). Only with Christ it is the cross.

 

And as the net is raised, so too is the Son of Man. And on the third day, having drawn all men to Himself being lifted up on the cross (Jn 12:32), He produces an hundred-fold, fulfilling His own saying from John 12, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (v.24).

 

Being sinful and corrupt means being against everything that God is or does or wants. This is why men are often described as “hardening their hearts” towards God. St. Peter confesses this for us here in saying, “We already went fishing, Jesus, don’t you have anything new?”

 

So, when Jesus shows up, the same reactions take place. Hearts are hardened and its depths, which house sin, death, and the devil are stirred up to a tempest. And St. Peter is right. It is at Jesus’ Word that the storms are calmed. It is at Jesus’ Word that the fish show up and are caught. It is at the Gentle Word that St. Peter falls on his face in the bottom of his boat to worship God, standing right in front of him.

 

What is the Gentle Word? “Do not be afraid”? “Peace be with you”? No. The Gentle Word is “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). The Gentle Word is “He joyfully and willingly endured the cross” (Heb 12:2). The Gentle Word is “we preach Christ crucified…the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:23-24).

 

The Gentle Word is not very gentle towards sin, but is very gentle towards those whom He rescues and forgives. He is not gentle in that He takes sin, judgement, and God’s wrath into Himself, absorbing it, making it His own transgression, for you, in your place. This violence is easy to see as it manifests itself in the beatings, suffering, and crucifixion of Jesus.

 

But, in this action of the Word made flesh, the Word of the Cross is the power of God for salvation (1 Cor 1:18, Rom 1:16). The Gentleness of the Word is that the payment has been made. You are no longer required to pay the price for your sins. Not through any work you did, but simply because Christ wills it for your life.

 

He wills that you hear and believe in His Work. He wills that you be caught alive in His net of His Body and Blood. He wills that you be brought into His boat, His Ark of the Church, to be cared for and nurtured by Him and His Sacraments. 

 

In the case of us “catching men”, He wills that the plan and purpose for each one of us is the same. That He break and hinder every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature and that He strengthen and keep us in the one true faith until we die.

 

In this sense, the saving of each and every person has been accomplished. The payment for their transgressions has been offered in full. In the most perfect way, Jesus has secured forgiveness, faith, and eternal life for all. No one is left out.

 

That is the belief you need to go into when debating, arguing, or discussing. Jesus does not need you to win. He has already won. Jesus does not need you to expand the Kingdom, His Word accomplishes its purpose. Jesus does not need you to burn bridges, by telling people they’re going to hell.

 

Is it ever acceptable to talk to the people for whom Christ died like this: "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness"? Is that really necessary, or the way of biblical discourse? I don’t think so. Unless we want God to talk to us that way, we will believe in the Gospel. And part of that means we trust that God can do His work of salvation, with or without our prayers.

 

Instead, we should be content with being invited. We should be content with becoming weak, that we may win the weak (1 Cor 9:22). “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things”, says St. Paul in Philippians 3, “and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” But wait, there’s more: “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (3:8-9).

 

To catch men alive is the job of the Gospel of Christ. To botch it up, but still be invited to the party, is our job. It is our duty to witness that goodness of Christ and His free forgiveness of sins. It is our duty to confess our weakness and believe in the strength of God to accomplish all things for us, even using our speech to expand His kingdom.

 

For it is the Lord Who catches, it is the Lord Who spreads the net and properly so, in His Church. There were nets decorating the Temple (Ex 27:4-5; 1 Ki 7:17), there were nets used by Jesus, thus today those same nets are cast on you in Word and Sacrament.

 

 

Duty and affection [Trinity 4]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Genesis 50:15-23

• Romans 8:18-23

• St. Luke 6:36-42

 

Dear Saints, Grace to you all and Peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus, the Christ.

 

Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying: 

“For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is more than loyal to God and His creation. He shows us the measure of the duties of the Christ of God combined with affection for our heavenly Father. Jesus, both God and man, knows God’s will perfectly and perfects it perfectly in His suffering, death, and resurrection. Duty and affection? Yes. Loyalty? Maybe…

 

You see, Loyalty is a double-edged sword. So much so, that loyalty was left out of the lists of ancient virtues, the main four being prudence, justice, temperance, and courage. And is not in the theological list of faith, hope, and charity either. This is because being loyal for loyalty’s sake can lead to conflict with other moral demands. Does being a loyal friend include murdering someone for them?

 

Loyalty can also be a good thing. You may not always have the gist of every questionable situation and so you rely on a leader to guide you through. As long as you do what you’re told, you’ll get through better, than if you were on your own. Parenting is a good example.

 

But we do not want loyalty, in faith, we want duty and affection. Those two are things Scripture does talk about. Instead, our sinful nature wants to be loyal, why? Because we can shut off our brain. If we are loyal, someone else does the thinking. If we are loyal, someone else takes responsibility, allegedly. 

 

This is why St. Paul describes loyalty in this way, in 2 Corinthians 11, “For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!” (v. 19-21)

 

Loyalty will excuse abuse, yet will follow. Some even use this as an argument against believing in Jesus. They think that Jesus only wants loyal dogs following Him. You must be rabidly legalistic, draw hard lines, and never ever think for yourself. “Follow me”, Jesus says, “no questions”.

 

Be merciful, we hear. Although, for us sinners, it doesn’t become us to be merciful. For us loyalists, it becomes, “you’re not being merciful enough” or “you’re not as merciful as I am”. Likewise for judging, condemning, forgiving, giving, and measuring. 

 

For us sinners to show our loyalty to Jesus, it is more important that we enforce these values than to practice them. Oh we do them every once in a while and that’s good enough, but when someone isn’t towing the line, they need to be brought in order. That’s when we bring out the big guns and start consigning people to hell, left and right, who don’t do just as we do.

 

If we are in a group, its even worse. Then there is self-justifying all around and only in-group accountability. We are not responsible for “them”. If they would just do as we do, then their lives would be so much better. Its for the greater good, after all.

 

“Theirs not to make reply; Theirs not to reason why; Theirs but to do and die”

 

How could loyalty go so wrong? How could loyalty to Jesus go so wrong? We were only doing as told. “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” (St. Matt 7:22).

 

Yes. You probably did. But did you do it in the Faith that you were given? Were you following orders in a way that pleased God? Your loyalty lies in places like some past, perfect world that will never come back. It lies in past values or culture that you voluntarily gave up to “get with the times”. 

 

The answer is no. It is no, because without faith there is no pleasing God. And the answer is no, because true loyalty does not begin and end with your “love” for God. It begins and ends with your repentance.

 

That is the very first thing that Jesus preaches: “Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt 4:17). The blessed Dr. Luther also began his reformation preaching using similar words in his 95 theses: “The whole Christian life should be one of repentance”.

 

Repent, because your loyalty is just as corrupt as you are. Jesus comes to show and to give true loyalty, that is duty and affection, or love.

 

It is only Jesus who performs God’s duties perfectly and in a God-pleasing way. In Deuteronomy 28 He says, “If you will listen diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, being watchful to do all His commandments which I command you this day, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you heed the voice of the Lord your God” (v. 1-2).

 

Yes. Jesus does His loyal duty to love God with all His heart. And He is rewarded. He is set high above all the nations of the earth. In a glorified way, to be sure, but first in an obedient way. “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (Jn 3:14-15).

 

Your disloyalty comes with a price. Your sin is not just swept under a rug and winked at. What kind of justice is that? Further on in Deuteronomy 28 are listed the curses and they are as bad as you can imagine, because the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23), this is the reason Jesus is high and lifted up…on the cross.

 

This is the promise God made to His people in the Old Testament. They thought their loyalty would gain them power on earth, when being “high and lifted up” means “crucified”. In His filial duties, accomplished and completed perfectly, Jesus suffers and dies for the sins you committed and continue to love.

 

Jesus also shows perfect love towards the Father. God is love. Jesus is God and man. We should expect no less and hear and believe no less. At Christ’s baptism, the Father declares, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17). He says the same at the Transfiguration of Jesus (Matt 17), but adding a “hearken unto Him” at the end, just as from Deuteronomy 28.

 

The Father also responds to Jesus at the Last Supper when He prays, “’Father, glorify thy name.’ Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, ‘I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.’” (John 12:28)

 

Finally, God the Father speaks up at the death of His Son in the incomprehensible language of grief and joy. “And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised” (Matt 27:51-52).

 

Grief that sin had so thoroughly corrupted His creation and joy that His True Son had both heard His Father and accomplished what He asked, that is salvation for sinners.

 

What kind of loyalty is this? Truly, loyalty of a son to his father, but since “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23), this loyalty is Jesus’ loyalty towards you. Yes! Jesus does not abandon His duty towards you, whom He created, neither does He love you less than anything else. His perfect duty and affection, given to you, set the perfect stage for perfect loyalty.

 

This He gives to you, just as He forgives your sins and gives you faith. He gives you His loyalty which, as we said, begins with repentance of the sins of not loving God and not loving our neighbor and makes it so that we are able to love God and love our neighbor, in Christ.

 

This loyalty Jesus shows to us, allows us to properly be “loyal”, that is through love. In your attempts to be merciful, love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). In your attempts to not judge, love covers a multitude of sins. In your attempts to be loyal, Jesus says turn from your wicked ways and live (Eze 33:11).

 

In the Word and Sacrament, we are fully trained to be little Christs, and so suffer as He did. We suffer and struggle through this life of gray areas and moral ambiguities, of lies told to us and manipulations aimed at us. And our temptations in those things are what Jesus endured for us, not just so that we do them right, but that we have victory over them.

 

Meaning, that in the duties of this new life in Christ, given by the Holy Spirit, our loyalty lies in remaining faithful. It is remembering our sins and remembering our Savior. It is showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Him by keeping the pure Gospel in our communities. 

 

Let our measure be love, as the God Who is Love comes to Commune with us and offer us His loyalty and love once again, in our hands and on our lips. Let our measure be love, as the Crucified is proclaimed and in faith gives freely the forgiveness of sins, faith in Him, and eternal life. 

 

Let our measure be love, such that, when Christ returns at the day of doom, and The Judge takes His seat and motions for us to step forward, the measure held up to us is His cross; His death; His burial; His pure Gospel and His sacraments administered according to it. No higher honor is to be gained than that.

 

Presentation of Augsburg 1530

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE 

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Genesis 15:1-6

• 1 John 4:16-21

• St. Luke 16:19-31

Dear Saints, Grace to you all and Peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus, the Christ.
 
Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying: 

“What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops”

 
As we commemorate the presentation of our Augsburg Confession to the Emperor today, in 1530, we remember the purpose is unity, not division. Let this phrase continuously roll around in your head: “Our Churches, with common consent, do teach” (AC I:1).
 
From there, in true godly fashion, Jesus scares the pants off of us in threatening to deny us before the Father if we deny Him. And, in true sinner fashion, we hear this condemnation only, taking this verse out of context. The true context in St. Matthew chapter 10 is that this “threat” is sandwiched between “you are of more value than many sparrows” and “whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (v. 31, 39).
 
Thus, the Gospel is to far outweigh the Law. Sin and evil are real and have dire consequences. But, the Good News is that we have life and salvation given to us, by God, in and through Jesus Christ and that surpasses God’s denial of sinners, in eternal glory. Meaning, when we hear God speak these hard sayings, we need to first remember our value in Christ and then cling to the promises of God in trying to understand them.
 
This is part of the importance of our Lutheran Confessions. That it is a help when we try to understand, for it faithfully interprets God’s Word for us, Lutherans.
 
Speaking of, Denominationalism among Christians in America is sickening in that it is so divisive and contrary to God’s Word and will of unity for us. And when we think of that and the family and friends involved, we get even more sick because now Jesus’s words of denial are real. Someone is denying God. Who is it?
 
We can play that game all day, but remember the Gospel. Do not seek out who is in and who is out. Be sure it is not you first, and that you believe the Gospel and so have eternal life in Christ. Believe that your value is more than sparrows and you find your life in Christ.
 
As Confessional Lutherans, that is those Lutherans who trust the Confessions because they are a correct interpretation of God’s Word, we view the Church more organically than others. We emphasize and acknowledge that in different times and places, the Church has faithfully confessed the one, biblical truth. Further, we seek to maintain that historic confession in our belief and practice since it transcends time, culture, and language.
 
All that to say, without creeds or confessions, the Church quickly loses its center and everyone does what is right in their own eyes, which then gives us one denomination per person. This is what divides American churches. Not Jesus, but the belief that each individual can decide for himself what Scripture means, with no accountability, and the oversimplified confession: the Bible is our only creed.
 
Repent. When you say “I only need Jesus” or “the Bible is my only creed”, what you really mean is “Jesus and the Bible are whatever I make of them”. They are mine and I don’t have to answer to anyone. God comes to me, speaks to me. And this makes sense, because we are all different and we all need different things. There cannot be a “one size fits all”, because, even though we look alike, I am not like you.
 
And if you disagree, even if you have facts and a good discussion ready, you are judging and disturbing the peace of the church. You cannot have the truth. You can only have your truth. In this way, we shut down debate, in our sin, favoring tolerance, whatever that means. We close our minds, in favor of ignorance. We stop chasing after the truth, and settle for a lie of our own making. The lie that “only I can understand what God wants for my life”.
 
You might as well expect a tiger cub to remain a tiger cub and not grow into a killer than to expect error to remain content with a subservient position in the church and in your heart. So I will declare to you right now, that we have a superior right for the truth. Bigotry, I know.
 
But we have to say that. Not only have we fought a losing battle to discover the truth in our own lives, but we have struggled to make that match up to what life is like outside of Sunday School. We have to say that, if only because Jesus calls Himself the Truth and if we would be followers of Jesus, then we must declare, and not deny, that we have the truth of the world and all things.
 
Repent again, because you are not supposed to pursue the Truth of Christ for your own personal gain, though you will gain by gaining the Truth. You are to pursue it for the sake of your neighbor who needs the saving grace of Christ and not the denial of Christ before the Father.
 
You see, Creation has persecuted its Creator and you can’t get much lower than that! “You will be hated for my Name’s sake”, Jesus said, not because everyone sees you as a meanie, but because Jesus was persecuted first and you are united with Him in baptism. 
 
What is revealed, as our Gospel said, is revealed in Christ Crucified. That God, in the flesh, has come to reconcile with His enemies: us sinners. What was hidden was God’s mighty work of salvation accomplished by the suffering and death of Jesus. What was in the dark, was whether or not God truly denied His creation and so was going to destroy it once again, like the Flood. 
Or was He going to have mercy?
 
When Jesus revealed that God was going to have mercy, sin could not stand it. It lashed out and when it found purchase on this Man, claiming to be God, it found purpose in killing Him and offering Him up to governors and kings, on the cross. “We have no king but Caesar”, they said.
 
Now if God had made war with earth, that would have been acceptable. Choosing sides, picking favorites, raising up campions and warriors. Those are all things sinners understand and can get behind. Anyone born after 2001 has not seen a day without the US at war.
 
Jesus acknowledges sin, death, and the devil on His cross. He gives them their say. He allows error and denial to rule the day. And what do they accomplish? Nothing. They cannot conquer the world, because everyone disagrees on how to do it. They cannot conquer creation, God’s Word upholds it. They cannot even create a different reality, they have no power.
 
They can’t even accomplish their name’s sake because Jesus undoes them. Sin He forgives, death He forces to produce life, and the devil He judges and condemns. They tried to charge Jesus with those crimes, but He simply rose again from the dead, vindicated in His Truth. The Truth.
 
In the Truth, we are reconciled to God and given the words to confess Christ properly. That is that we proclaim His mercy, not our party lines. We acknowledge His work, not our purging of the rolls. We deny the works and ways of our sin, death, and the devil and instead offer the good confession.
 
This is where the Augsburg Confession steps in. It gives us aid in that good confession. Those who say “the Bible only” are quick to turn to their favorite teachers to define their denomination. Finding the good confession is never for our own sake, though we benefit. The good confession is all for the sake of proclaiming the pure Gospel to a world that no longer shares basic Christian assumptions of the Bible, sin, and redemption.
 
Which includes our neighbor. He wants to know what you know. He wants the forgiveness you have in Christ. He wants the devotion, the Liturgy, and the Communion you have with God. He wants the truth and you have Him. Or rather, He permits you to have Him in His Word and Sacrament.
 
Yes, Jesus bows low to the earth and submits to your senses in the Divine Service in order to save you. He comes down to give free handouts of forgiveness, faith and eternal life in Him. As The Servant God, He chooses the lowly things to reveal His heavenly things. And since it is eternal life on the line, we need to be sure we have it right, or at least as right as we can.
 
Jesus is our right, our righteousness. How that is and why that is, is what our confessions and catechism and history teach us. Jesus leaves behind His Word which is to be told publicly. Nothing is secret. Nothing is private. Jesus saves everyone the same way and unites everyone to Him. One Lord. One union. One faith. One baptism.
 
Are Lutherans going to be the only ones in heaven? Absolutely not. Are we the ones taking this Salvation from God as serious as possible so that we are sure that we don’t deny Christ, in the end? I think so.
 
 

True Body, Full House [Trinity 2]

 [T E X T  O N L Y]

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

 

Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying: 

“When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, ‘Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’”

 

Blessed, blessed, God Blessed. We are overwhelmed with how much blessing God gives to us and that is as it should be. We should want, therefore, to be as sure as possible that we are receiving those blessings. So amidst all the “blessed are the poor”, “blessed are the peacemakers”, and today “blessed are the Kingdom-bread-eaters”, we find these blessings located only in Jesus, specifically, only in making physical contact with Him in His Body.

 

One way of physical contact is by His Word, for there would be no blessing in this eating of bread if the Lord did not say there was blessing in the eating of bread. Likewise, there would be no kingdom if the Lord did not say “Let there be a kingdom”. 

 

Many falsely believe that there are actually two kingdoms, though they will not admit it. There is a kingdom on earth and a kingdom in heaven. There has to be a kingdom on earth for two reasons, first Jesus says the kingdom is at hand, and second from everyone’s favorite book, Revelation, Jesus is going to reign on earth for 1000 years. He’s gotta do it from somewhere.

 

There also has to be a heavenly kingdom, one because Jesus says His kingdom is not of this world and two, there has to be a heavenly kingdom, because what’s on earth now absolutely cannot be the kingdom God has prepared for believers. There just has to be something better.

 

In this way, we all become good Jews and believe that the Kingdom of God is a literal, physical, and political body that will appear in front of us, on earth, just before the Last Day. “Thy kingdom come”, we pray and we cannot separate the physical image that conjures in our minds from the literal kingdom it promises.

 

And yet, we do separate them, in our sin. We separate them because we love to divide and conquer. It is our sinful nature. We want God’s Kingdom on earth so that we can be in it and others cannot. We want favor and blessing so that we can point out those who do not have it, but we rest assured, that for the most part, we do.

 

Jesus isn’t as sure as you are, in your sinfulness. In fact, whenever someone brings this subject up, He always proves them wrong. When someone told Him, “blessed are the breasts that nursed you” He shot back, “rather blessed are those who hear the Word” (Lk 11:27-28). 

 

Today’s Gospel is no different. Someone tries to say something nice about heaven and Jesus says, “when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed” (Lk14:13-14). 

 

And we’re like, whoa Jesus. That escalated quickly. We were just trying to say something nice, no need to get all bent out of shape about it. You shall not judge! Take your negativity elsewhere.

 

Repent! You do not have the right body for corrupted earth, much less do you have the right body for heaven. Before you even think about eating or the kingdom, you have to think about ability and it seems as if Jesus is saying, that since you have ability, you are not fit for the kingdom. The poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame get in before you are even thought of!

 

You don’t have the right body.

You want to be blessed? Better check your able-ist privilege at the door. Got money? Ain’t gettin in. Use of both legs? Rejected. Able to look around? Get outta here. Mental faculties intact? Keep movin pal. 

 

There is no blessing for the able and for those who have all their stuff together. “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 5:31-32).

 

I have come to call sinners to repentance. Where is the blessing in being a sinner? Sin makes you poor, crippled, blind, and lame. Where is the blessing in being a sinner?

Jesus has come for you.

 

Where is the blessing in being poor, crippled, blind, and lame? Jesus comes to give you His Body in exchange. He has come to regenerate and renew. “Born again” we call it. Given a new generation, a new life. A second Life. The first was a bust. The second is eternal salvation in Christ.

 

God came in His own body to redeem your lowly body. God was made man, in order to remake man in His Image once again, because that image was lost in Adam’s fall. Jesus Christ, God in man made manifest, took on flesh and bone in order to retake the blessings of God for man, and give them back to man.

 

“Truly I say to you,” Jesus says in St. Matthew 19, “that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (v.28). In the regeneration, you shall sit with Jesus. The regeneration of body and soul. 

 

For you are corrupted in your body in two ways. First, you cannot stand to be in the presence of sin, so much so that you get sick, grow old, and you will die. Second, Your body cannot withstand the kingdom of heaven. That Kingdom is brought in by the cross and you are too weak for the cross, much less its glory and holiness found therein.

 

Jesus takes the body, all our bodies, into Himself. He, as man, ascends to triumph on the very cross you cannot withstand and against the very sin that destroys body and soul, He emerges from the Tomb victorious, in His Body.

 

It is Jesus’ Bread. It is Jesus’ Kingdom. It is Jesus’ Feast. To Jesus, the Father says, “when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind [in sin], and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Lk 14:13-14).

 

And He does just that. He doesn’t call the righteous, He doesn’t call the holy. He calls the poor, wretched sinners to His banquet. Why? Because its not good enough for the others? No. Because, the blessing is not being in a fancy mansion, with fancy tables, and fancy manners. 

 

The blessing is: Jesus is regenerating bodies. He is making the Poor into princes. He is making the cripple sound of mind and body. He is making the lame into olympians. He is making the blind see. 

 

Why? Because the blessing is not ability. The blessing is that the Lord’s house must be full. “And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled’” (Lk 14:23).

 

In Christ, the blessing is: “blessed is everyone who fills the House of the Lord”. Do you take up space? You’re invited! Do you breathe, eat, drink, and grow? 

 

To you our Lord says, “Take and eat. The true Body of Christ, given for you!” 

The true Body of Christ, given for you. There is the right Body. There is the whole Body, the healthy Body, the Body that is able to save each and every person that has ever and will ever walk this earthly realm. Given for you.

 

Welcome to the Lord’s Body shop. He gives you His. No strings. No catch. You get it and you get in and you are blessed, in Christ. Blessed are you, dear Christian, for you do eat bread in the Kingdom of God, today, in the Body of Jesus Christ, your risen Lord and Savior.

 

Claim your true body in love, in the Word, in talk, in deed, and in the Truth. Your Lord comes to you to make physical contact with you in order to transfer His holiness to you. You want blessings? They are only located in the Body and Blood of Christ, no matter if you’re rich or poor, able or unable. All will be regenerated so that our lowly bodies will be like His Glorious Body, in Christ.

 

Nothing to decode [Trinity 1]

 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Genesis 15:1-6

• 1 John 4:16-21

• St. Luke 16:19-31

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

“The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried”

 
And, in this one verse, we can find a little bit of understanding regarding the Last Day. For when we die, we do not disappear into the dew of the universe, but we fall asleep in Christ. And just like when we sleep and are woken up, so too will we close our eyes on this sinful world for the last time and awaken at Christ’s side forever. That is how sleep works and that is how waking works. We should expect our own death and resurrection, in Christ, to work no differently than His.
 
So when we look at Lazarus and the rich man, through the lens of the Last Day, we see that immediate jump from time on earth to eternity. Now, you may argue that Jesus spoke that way for teaching purposes and skipped that time in-between to get to the point faster. And maybe so, but St. Paul describes things happening in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, in 1 Corinthians 15 (v. 52).
 
And we don’t even have to go to St. Paul for an in-depth take on the Last Day. Jesus has already told us, on Ascension Day, that He will return in the same way we saw Him go (Acts 1:11). Meaning, His Return will not be secret neither will there be a pre-game return. One and done, says the Word.
 
But in order to understand, we’ll try to find out why year after year there are calculations about the day of the Lord returning. First of all, we need to be gracious and recognize the zeal of these people. That the Word is so important to them that they will turn to it in every need. Do not quench that smoldering wick!
 
However, you only need a few verses in Daniel, a few verses in 1 Thessalonians, and some verse in Revelation and you have all that these false teachers use to find the End. There’s more to the Bible than that, boys.
 
In my understanding, there are only a few verses used as the foundation to begin calculations. Those are the ones having to do with numbers. The chief of which is 2 Peter 3:8, “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”. This allegedly gives us the cypher or the key to begin moving forward with the maths, because everything else the Lord gives us are words.
 
Words that only describe things like satan’s imprisonment, Jesus’s reign, and time times time and a half. These are not numbers, but descriptions of things. So with the super, secret, cypher we can then decode all this and come up with names, faces, and times. Because we want to know.
 
Repent. Eve wanted to “know” and you know what happened to her! It is part of our godly nature to be curious and question and discover. It is part of our sinful nature to want to know just like God knows and to fear, love, and trust that knowledge, when we gain it, instead. God warned us. This is all part of Romans 1, “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done” (v. 28).
 
So let’s discover and really listen to what God has to say. First, “satan’s little season”, from Revelation 20. The 7 years of tribulation will come after Jesus’s 1000 year reign, allegedly, which is a bum deal already that Jesus’s reign can’t stop this 7 years from happening, but…
 
Anyways, what happens in this 7 years? 
 
Jesus says the devil will deceive the nations to make war and to attack the Saints, His Church. It also talks about fire descending from heaven to prevent it.
Well, we have seen fire from heaven a few times already: Sodom and Gomorrah, the pillar of fire in the desert, Elijah against the false prophets, Jesus under the fire of God’s wrath on the cross. This means, something more is going on here than literal future events.
 
Likewise, when we look at the 1000 year reign of Jesus prophesied, what happens there? Jesus defeats the devil so that he cannot deceive the nations, He raises some to a First Resurrection to rule with Him, and gives power to resist the Second Death.
Well, in Christ’s Word and Sacrament, there is no deception from the devil. In the gift of faith, we are raised from the death of our sins to stand before God in righteousness, daily. This gift of faith then will mark us as “one redeemed by Christ”, giving eternal life, which naturally, or supernaturally, resists the Second Death, that is life in hell, forever.
 
The danger to our faith is that we begin to look for these things more than we look for Christ. The danger to us is that we begin to trust that, if we can just figure out who what where when how and why, then we will be the ones to come out on top. We lose faith and trust in God and His work accomplished for us, finding, instead, an inept God Who cannot complete His victory without our aid and consent.
 
These things are already taking place. The devil is already deceiving everyone. There is already devastating war. There is already turmoil and tribulation, even in the churches. 
And there is already victory. 
 
Christ is risen from the dead. It is finished. These are the signs of victory, when God is reconciled to us and forgives our sins through His only begotten Son. The reign of Christ is the reign of His Gospel, the free forgiveness of sins. Right now. We call those 1000 years the Time of the Church, when we can daily find redemption and salvation for all in His church on earth, no matter how many years it takes.
 
Verse 17 from our Epistle reading makes more sense when that 1000 years is not a literal 1000 years. It says, “because as He is so also are we in this world”. This means two things, first “as He is”, as in as Jesus is in His resurrected state, glorified and holy, we are also, by His Word. “You are a holy people”, He calls us. Second, we are in this holy state in this world, WITH HIM. He has not left or gone away.
 
Though Christ has ascended, He has not left. Though He has given us His Word, He has not encoded it. Though He has told us the mysteries of heaven, He lays them all bare to us, because the mystery of heaven is not our holy lives, but the source of that holy life: His Crucifixion.
 
You want to ponder the end of the world? Ponder instead the darkening of the sun and the bloodying of the moon at the crucifixion of Christ. You want to find out who is the lying anti-christ and who are his cohorts? Meditate on the forgiveness of sins found in the Blood of Christ. You want to uncover the sinister plot of Armageddon? Commune with your God.
 
All else is distraction. You remember why St. Peter began to sink in the water, when attempting to walk to Jesus on the water right? He took His eyes off Jesus. He focused on the wind and the waves, in other words, he began to trust more in the death that could be dealt to him by earthly things and people, rather than the eternal life dealt to him by Jesus.
 
He began to doubt the Church Christ had won, purchased, and purified and instead believed that there is no way something like a measly Church could withstand what the world can do. He began to look for peace and comfort in the deadly waves that drown the foe, and soon him, instead of trusting his baptism.
 
Peace and comfort. Didn’t Jesus say He came to bring those things and to give those things? This is why talk about the End Times in a fearful, uncertain way should immediately raise red flags for you. Those things only bring fear and discomfort, but that is how they sell their books! 
 
I’m not saying that all things in this life should be comfy, but that when we speak of the things that God has in store for us and the things that He gives to us, even today, those things should be about peace. “I go to prepare a place for you” should not be a far away thing, but a close, intimate promise.
 
We return to our Gospel reading. If we are talking about the end then it should be in the terms that Abraham uses. Mainly, that Lazarus is now comforted. He had it rough, even nigh unbearable, but not now. Now that he has fallen asleep and has been awakened to his Lord’s favor, he is in paradise. No more bad things, no more sores, no more dogs.
 
Lazarus’s table is full of rich foods and aged wine. He has no thoughts of the past. He remembers none of his torments. The twilight of his sins has turned into the morning of eternal Easter. Through the merits of Christ, Lazarus has become part of Abraham’s inheritance.
 
This is what true End Times predictions are for. For being comforted and finding peace in Word and Sacrament. The very things Christ gave to us to prove to us that we are His and that on the Last Day, we will be raised and given eternal life with all believers in Christ. 
 
The Last Day is a Promise, not a threat. God does not need to hold the Last Day over our heads and say, “better watch out, better not cry” or you’ll be left out, high and dry. There is no fear in love, our Epistle said. Why? Because our God is love and out of His own love He sent His Son. And out of that Love, His Son suffered and died for you. And out of that love, your seat at His Feast of Victory is secured. 
 
In Christ, the Last Day, the day of dread and woe, has already passed. It has passed over you and unleashed God’s fury upon the Son. With the Blood sprinkled upon your forehead and flowing through you, you are Passed over from judgement and death, to new life in Christ between which such a great chasm is fixed, that you will not be able to go back.
 

Pride and humility [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, from His Gospel heard in His Service, saying: 

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

 

To be sure, Jesus is not telling Nicodemus to never think about how one is “born again”. He is comforting Nicodemus by reminding him it is not his work. Nicodemus cannot “born himself again” neither can he enter the kingdom of God. His rebirth will be divine action and his entrance into heaven will be afforded by the wrenching open of the pearly gates by the Lamb Who was Slain. 

 

What Nicodemus is trying to do is educate this man, Jesus, on just how impossible it is for God to act in this world not through the cover of Law. The Law which says a man cannot be born again. The Law which says flesh cannot be spirit, and the Law which says God and man are forever separate. “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, is One!” (Deut 6:4).

 

“One” means far away. How far away? That is a question that Isaiah answers with his reading this morning and one that shows up constantly in “contemporary” “christian” “music”. That is “high and lifted up”. In other words, high and lifted up far away from the paltry concerns of humanity. He has left His words, His Law and that is enough. Or maybe, its all we’re going to get?

 

St. Paul does not seem to bring the silver lining to this conversation. He takes up the same tone about God using words like unsearchable, and inscrutable, whatever those mean. Even the words are far away from us! 

 

Lord! Defend us from such pride! We are so prideful that we think two opposing things at the same time! First that we are alone and second that we are alone. In the first case, our pride cannot fathom that God would always have to watch over us and keep everything together. We are full of pride that we are better off alone, without God.

 

In the second, there really is no God. We are the rightful and pride-filled masters of this stage in evolution and, though things appear to be put together by intelligence, that is just coincidence. A happenstance that we have discovered because we are so great.

 

Repent! The pride of this corrupt world and our sinful nature does not stop there. Not only do we try to invade heaven and usurp God from His throne, but when that doesn’t work, we turn on each other. However, the true, cruel pride of tyrants has no place in this world anymore, therefore it has become more devious and devilish.

 

The real sin of pride is thinking that it is magnanimous, that it must be done for the good of others. C.S. Lewis said, “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some points be satiated; but those who torment us for their own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience” or pride, if you will (God in the Dock).

 

This is what we face today under the useless terms “racisim” and “gender equality”. In pride, we knivingly bow down in front of those we deem too incompetent, too unworthy to live their own lives. Almost a reverse Pride, but just pride couched in “we know what’s best for you”. This is our pride towards the God we deem unworthy because He is far away or absent and because we know better.

 

And isn’t God full of pride?! See how He treats Nicodemus. “Do not marvel”, as in do not question me. “You’re a teacher and you don’t know these things?” Also, the Flood and “vengeance is mine”, saith the Lord.

 

In God’s pride He is high and lifted up. No wonder where we get it from. Yes. God is so prideful, that He dares to God-splain to us. Listen to Him in Ezekiel: “Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name” (36:22). Our Epistle reading speaks to us this way: “For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all” (Rom 11:32).

 

Mercy? Does He not think that I can be righteous on my own? That I can be high and lifted up among the nations, if I choose? 

 

It is Mercy! Mercy that reveals to us that indeed we cannot do those things. Mercy that teaches us the God of Pride is so proud that He has mercy. His unsearchable, inscrutable ways are ways of mercy. In this way, all will be saved (Rom 11:26), when He forgives sins (v 27). So must the Son of man be lifted up.

 

The Pride of the Lord is so perfect that it leads Him to mercy, to His cross. The mystery of God is not His pride, but His humility. His humility to feed Isaiah in order to make him holy. His humility to make a way of salvation, even in a world completely lost to its pride. His humility to lift Himself up, by casting His holy Name into the tomb.

 

There is real pride. There is real humility. The Pride of the Father produces the humility of the Son. He is so proud of what He has created, that is faith on earth, that His sacrifices every last drop of His own blood to sin, death, and the devil in order to save. He is so proud, that He dare not let even death soil His holy Name. He is so proud that He can keep His Name holy, even when giving it to you.

 

Yes, the pride of man, your pride, does not stop the humility of God. You may only be baptized, but that “only baptism” has placed, I should say tattooed, the Name of God on your entire being. Such that when He vindicates His holy Name, you are brought along for the ride! The Lord can cast His pearls before sinners and in doing so, they are made saints.

 

In God’s pride you are given His humility and in His humility, you find His eternal life for you. This, now, is the answer to Nicodemus that Jesus will give in showing him His crucifixion and His resurrection. You cannot, in your pride, be born again, but the Blood of Christ over you and in you, can. 

 

You are saved by works! Hehehe. You are saved by works, just not your own. The work of Christ is to bring to all salvation. He knows your wretched state and acts. He knows He is your Maker and that He will be blamed for not taking out the extended warranty on you. 

 

He acts. And in His work, Nicodemus is born again, born from above. He acts, and in His pride, salvation is purchased for the whole world. He acts, and in His work believers are created to see the Son of Man, high and lifted up on the cross.

 

Oh the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His sorrows on the cross and how inscrutable His Way of salvation through Jesus Christ. The mystery is not the Three-in-One, but that the Three-in-One comes to serve you in Word and Sacrament, in all humility.