Angelic agents of God’s preservation

Posted on September 29, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for St. Michael & All Angels

Revelation 12:7-12  +  Matthew 18:1-11

Our review of the Small Catechism coincides perfectly with today’s Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. We’re moving from the Ten Commandments to the Creed, beginning with the First Article of the Creed, which is entitled “Creation.” It’s printed on the back of your service folder. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. What does this mean? I believe that God has made me, along with all created things; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still preserves them; He also richly and daily provides me with clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and yard, wife and children, land, animals, and all that I have—with all that I need to sustain this body and life; He shields me from all danger and guards and protects me from all evil; and all this He does out of pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all this it is my duty to thank and praise, to serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true

The doctrine of Creation includes not only God’s creation of all things but also God’s wondrous act of preserving all the things He created. Creation and Preservation, and the holy angels are involved in both.

God has made me, along with all created things. We believe what the Bible says, that God made all things, visible and invisible, in six natural days. The “invisible things” include the holy angels. Spirit-creatures with a rational mind, with personality, with great power, but without flesh and bones. They appeared to people throughout the Scriptures in bodily form, sometimes with wings, sometimes as ordinary men. There are vast numbers of them, vast armies of them, all created sometime within the six days of creation to serve God within God’s creation in ways that we can’t even imagine.

But as rational beings, as creatures with a mind and with personality, they were given a choice whether to serve their Creator or not. And as you know, while most of them chose to serve Him gladly, a portion of them chose not to, a number of rebellious spirits led by one now known as the Devil or Satan, that “ancient serpent,” as Revelation refers to him, since he was the one speaking to Eve in the Garden of Eden in the form of a serpent. He lied to her then and so became, as Jesus calls him, the “father of lies” and “a murderer from the beginning,” since it was his set of lies that deceived the woman and brought death upon our race.

We think of demons as scary, ugly, menacing creatures that possess people and afflict them and harm them, and that is what they have sometimes done. But more than anything, they are liars. They attack the truth, sometimes with bold, outright lies, but more often with half-truths and twisted truth. They’re behind every false god, every false doctrine, and every falsehood that brings chaos and dysfunction to human society. They work invisibly, behind the scenes. How exactly they go about influencing people with their lies we aren’t told in Scripture. But we’re told that they do, and that the churches of the world and the governments and kingdoms of the world are two of their primary targets to promote and foster their lies—anything that distorts the truth about God and about God’s creation.

So you hear the lie about evolution, denying the Creator and His own account of the creation in Holy Scripture. You hear the lie about gender. The lie about homosexuality. The lie about abortion and sex outside of marriage being acceptable in God’s sight. You hear lies from politicians every day, you hear lies from the experts, lies from the media, and you hear lies from false prophets, too, to the point that it is almost impossible to believe anyone anymore. Behind those lies are the fallen angels, and you see just how severely the devil and his angels are ravaging our world and tearing it to pieces faster and faster.

But even as the world crumbles, God is there, faithfully preserving His creation for the sake of His children, until it’s time to usher in the new creation. Not only has God given me my eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, but He still preserves them. God is there, richly and daily providing me with clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and yard, wife and children, land, animals, and all that I have—with all that I need to sustain this body and life; He shields me from all danger and guards and protects me from all evil.

The holy angels are part of that preservation, agents of God’s preservation.

The angels are God’s perfect messengers, His perfectly devoted, sinless servants. Michael is called an archangel, one of the “chief princes,” of whom the apocryphal book of Tobit suggests there are seven. Gabriel is another angel we know well from Scripture, and Raphael is mentioned in that same book of Tobit, if that story is to be believed. The angels brought special messages to certain individuals in the Old and New Testaments, but their duty as messengers has largely passed away, being given now to the ministers of the Church who are the “angels” of the seven churches in Revelation.

But today, the spirit-beings called angels still defend God’s children from harm, as they did with Lot and his family, or the prophet Elisha, or the apostle Peter. And they still fight battles against the demons, battles that we will never see, battles fought in the spiritual realm on behalf of God’s human children, on behalf of God’s people, believers in Christ, as they did at the time of the prophet Daniel. As the Psalmist says, The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them…Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.

Jesus gives us a brief glimpse into the spiritual realm in the Gospel from Matthew 18, where He assures us that the angels in heaven, the angels of the little ones who believe in Jesus, always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. He says that as a frightening warning to any who would cause any of His little ones to stumble, and that’s not only talking about little believing children, but about all of God’s believing children, young and old. He calls them “our angels,” because they have been given to us, the people of God, as a powerful guardian host.

So while the influence of the demons may be more obvious to us, remember that the good angels are there, too, these spirit beings who are much more powerful than we are, who are fully equipped to battle against the forces of darkness in the spiritual realm, and who will continue to work quietly, behind the scenes, to shield us from harm and to protect us from all evil.

But don’t thank them. Don’t praise them. And certainly do not worship them, as Christians have foolishly been deceived into doing in the past! Instead, thank God and praise God that they are there as God’s tools for preserving His people. Worship God alone. Give thanks to Him for the faithful service of His beloved angels, who are our spiritual cousins in God’s family. And pray that He would continue to preserve us through the presence and protection of the holy angels. We are unworthy of the help of these sinless, perfect creatures, who must blush when they see us fall into sin. But as we confess in the First Article, God preserves us out of pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. If God provided His only-begotten Son for us, to suffer for our sins on the cross and to give us the gift of eternal life, then He will surely also continue to send His angels to guard and protect us in this life, until they fulfill their final duty for us and carry our souls to Paradise, as they did for poor Lazarus, or harvest us from the four winds on the Last Day, to bring us into the new heavens and the new earth. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, to serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true. Amen.

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Be neither self-seeking nor self-deprecating, but humble

Posted on September 26, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 17

Ephesians 4:1-6  +  Luke 14:1-11

You’ve heard the voice. “Every man for himself. Do what you have to do to get ahead. Go ahead and trample on the rights of others if you think it will help your cause. Look out for yourself. Focus on yourself. It’s your opinion that matters most. What do you need? How do you feel? What will benefit you? You don’t owe anyone anything. Is that little baby growing in your womb getting in the way of the future you want? Kill it! Remember, you’re the most important person in the room. Surely everyone, including God, must agree!”

You recognize that voice, don’t you?, those little gems, those little pieces of advice. It’s the voice of the devil, urging you to focus on yourself and think highly of yourself and look out for Number One. It’s the voice of the world, too, and also the voice that rises up from your sinful flesh. Look out for yourself! Be self-seeking!

Now, there is another voice out there, just as evil, equally diabolical. It’s the voice of the Communist, the voice of the collectivist, the voice of the socialist, and, ultimately, also the voice of the devil, the world, and the flesh. “Don’t be selfish! You don’t matter at all! You’re just a cog in the wheel, a tiny, tiny part of a much greater society. Society is what matters, not you. Your duty is to not get in the way of society’s progress, of society’s health, of society’s purpose. Your place in life is to make sure the collective thrives. It would be better for you to go away, crumple up, and die rather than jeopardize the well-being of society. So mask up and get vaccinated for the good of society, or else we’ll find a way to get rid of you.”

Isn’t it amazing that the devil, the world, and the flesh can speak two opposite, seemingly contradictory messages at the same time? “Be self-seeking! You’re the only one who matters!” on the one hand. “Don’t be selfish! You don’t matter at all!” on the other. But both are wrong. Both are lies.

Today’s Scripture lessons, the Epistle and the Gospel, dispel the devil’s lies and reveal the truth about how God would have us view ourselves in relation to our neighbor, and most importantly, how we should view ourselves in relation to God. Be neither self-seeking nor self-deprecating, but humble, like Jesus.

Jesus was attending a Sabbath-day supper at the home of a Pharisee. The Pharisees are perfect examples of that self-seeking mindset. Even the invitation to this dinner wasn’t for Jesus’ benefit, but for the purpose of “watching Him closely, to trap Him.

A man was there who had dropsy, a painful swelling of the legs. No one could help with that except for Jesus. But the Pharisees had been condemning Him for doing the “work” of healing on the Sabbath instead of “resting” as He was “supposed to.” Well, there were some lawyers sitting right there, experts in the Law. So they should be able to give an answer to Jesus’ simple question: Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? Is healing a sick person one of those “works” that God forbids? Or not? And yet no one would answer Him.

Why? Because they didn’t actually care either about God’s Law or about the man who needed healing. They weren’t interested in either. All they sought was their own glory, their own popularity, their own honor, their own self-interest. And it wasn’t in their interest to answer Jesus’ question. Clearly the Sabbath law was not intended to prevent doing good; but if they said that, it would legitimize Jesus’ whole teaching, and that wasn’t in their self-interest. If they said that the Sabbath law did prevent healing and helping a man, they would reveal themselves as hypocrites, because they would most certainly pull their own ox or donkey out of pit on the Sabbath, without thinking twice, so to deny such help to a fellow Israelite in need would be both hypocritical and cruel, and it wasn’t in their self-interest to appear that way.

Well, Jesus didn’t need their permission or their approval. He healed the man. He did it, not in violation of the Third Commandment, but in accord with it. Because the prohibition against work was a prohibition, not against every form of work, but against self-seeking work, against work that was for the goal of providing for yourself, against work that would hinder your attention to God’s Word and the ministry of it. Helping a brother in need—or for that matter, helping an animal in need! —was not against God’s Law.

What about the man with dropsy? Should he have realized that he didn’t matter? That he wasn’t important? Should he have slinked away so that he didn’t bother the Pharisees at their dinner, or bother Jesus with a Sabbath healing that might get Jesus in trouble? No, God’s law didn’t require him to be self-deprecating, either. The Lord wanted him to understand that he did matter, that he was important to God, and that the Pharisees should have cared about him, too, instead of being so self-absorbed and self-seeking. So Jesus kindly healed him and sent him on his way.

Then we come to the second part of the Gospel, where Jesus observed more of this self-seeking behavior on the part of the Pharisees and their friends. As people arrived at the dinner, everyone made a beeline to the highest place, to the seat of greatest honor at the feast. Why? Because they were steeped in this self-seeking mindset. Each one exalted himself or lifted himself up in his own eyes. In other words, each one thought he was the most important person in the room, the most deserving person in the room, so each one grabbed the most important seat in the room, with no thought to the other guests—and with no thought to the host.

So Jesus tells this parable about choosing places at a wedding banquet, and it’s obvious that He isn’t really concerned about where they sit at a wedding banquet, but with how they view themselves in relation to God and to their neighbor. When you are invited by someone to a wedding, do not sit down in the place of honor. Otherwise, if someone more honorable than you has been invited by him, the one who invited you both may come and say to you, ‘Give this man your place.’ Then, with shame, you will proceed to take the last place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the last place, so that, when the one who invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher!’ Then you will have honor in front of all those who are sitting at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

What is the problem Jesus is addressing? As you focus on yourself, and evaluate yourself, you tend to see the good and ignore the bad. Oh, you may identify the bad in other people well enough, but when you look at yourself, you say, “I’m a good person. I’m a decent person. I try hard. I do my best. Surely I’m worthy of respect, honor, good treatment by others, and recognition by God!” You rank yourself pretty high in God’s kingdom, in God’s Church. You. You. You. You. It’s all about you. And while you are focused on you, you forget that God is the One who created you, God is the One who commands you, and God is the One who judges you, and that’s dangerous, because, I guarantee you, God isn’t nearly as impressed with you as you are, and that goes for everyone who is at all impressed with him or herself.

It’s much, much safer to let God be the Judge, to rank yourself in last place in your heart, as the “chief of sinners,” where the Apostle Paul ranked himself. It’s much wiser to seek God’s approval than to assume you already have it because of how decent and honorable you are. Seek God’s approval, not in yourself, but in Christ. Look outside of yourself, away from yourself, to Christ, who ranks #1 in the Father’s estimation. Don’t seek to honor yourself; seek instead to be honored by God for the sake of Christ alone, and you will be exalted. You will be lifted up. You will be forgiven and accepted and even honored when you seek all those things in Christ, and not in yourself.

But notice, there is nothing self-deprecating about choosing the last place. Jesus isn’t commanding people to think of themselves as nothing, as worthless, as people who don’t matter, as people who only exist for society’s sake, so that other people can be honored more. No, what does Jesus promise to the one who takes the lowest place? That the One who invited you, that God Himself will honor you and raise you up. That’s a far cry from the socialist claim that you exist to serve the collective. No, you exist to be honored by God. You exist to be glorified in God’s kingdom. You exist to be loved by God and chosen by God and accepted by God.

It’s just that the way to that honor and glory and acceptance isn’t by seeking your own honor or by looking out for yourself first, or by ignoring the needs of your neighbor, or by buying into the lie that you matter less to God than others, or that your life is expendable. It’s by humbling yourself before God and men, which means intentionally looking away from yourself, toward the needs of your neighbor, and toward the judgment of God. You don’t have to look out for yourself first or seek your own good first, because God is already looking out for it for you and will raise you up in due time, without any effort on your part. So be neither self-seeking nor self-deprecating, but humble. As Paul said in the Epistle, Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all humility and meekness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. Acknowledge your sins and unworthiness before God, but also acknowledge His great love for you, which frees you to care about your neighbor while you wait for God to lift you up to glory. Amen.

 

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Steadfast faith and earnest prayer against the demons

Posted on September 22, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Ember Wednesday in September

Amos 9:13-15  +  Mark 9:17-29

Today is the first time we’ve ever observed the Ember Days, as our diocese has just recently encouraged their observance. They occur four times a year, in each of the four seasons, and they place a special emphasis on repentance, prayer, fasting, charitable works, and the fundamental teachings of the Small Catechism—basically the same emphases of the seasons of Advent and Lent, which is why there’s purple on the altar. But just as with the saints’ days, we view these days mainly as an opportunity to gather around God’s Word, to hear and ponder another portion of Scripture or a particular doctrine of Scripture. So we’ll focus on the second Lesson you heard this evening from the Gospel of Mark, which will also help prepare us for next week, when we’ll celebrate the feast of St. Michael and the Scripture’s teaching about angels…and demons.

It was right after the transfiguration, the next day. A father had approached Jesus’ disciples, possibly the nine who remained behind while Jesus, Peter, James and John traveled up the mount of transfiguration. He had a son, apparently an adult son, who had been tormented by a demon since he was a child. In this case, the demon took hold of him, threw him down, and caused him to foam at the mouth, gnash his teeth, and become stiff. It sounds a lot like the neurological disease we know as epilepsy, doesn’t it? Except it wasn’t. It was something malicious, something that intended to harm the man, casting him into fire if there was fire nearby, or casting him into water to drown him. It was a demon, an unclean spirit whose goal was to make people’s life miserable here on earth.

It wasn’t only the afflicted man who was miserable. His father was, too. He came to Jesus’ disciples begging for help. They had helped people with demons in the past. Jesus had previously sent them out to preach and to perform miracles in His name, and when they came back, they were excited that even the demons submitted to them. But this one didn’t.

That prompted an argument with the scribes, who were likely accusing Jesus’ disciples (and Jesus Himself) of being imposters. That’s when Jesus showed up and asked for an explanation. So the father explained to Jesus that it was because the disciples couldn’t cast out the demon from his son. Then Jesus spoke those words of frustration, O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?

Who was showing unbelief? Practically everyone around Jesus. The scribes, to be sure, who saw the failed miracle attempt and immediately used it to prove Jesus a fake. The father, who shows how weak his faith is with his words, “If you can do anything.” Also the demon-afflicted man, whom, as far as we know from Scripture, the demon wouldn’t have been able to afflict if he had been steadfast in faith. And Jesus’ own disciples. Matthew makes that very clear. When they asked why they couldn’t cast out this demon, Jesus’ first words to them in Matthew’s Gospel were, “Because of your unbelief.”

Now, the Lord showed much patience toward sinners in their weakness. But here He shows that even the patience of God wears thin when people try to force Him over and over and over again to prove His faithfulness, to prove His own trustworthiness, to prove His ability to help. Jesus’ words should sting: How long shall I put up with you? We tempt God, we put Him to the test when we doubt His goodness and love and frantically try to make Him prove it yet again, instead of giving up, instead of unbelieving, instead of “being still” and “knowing that He is God,” as Psalm 46 says.

But Jesus didn’t refuse help just because He was surrounded by so much unbelief. Bring him to Me, He said. And then we see more evidence that this was no ordinary illness, because when the unclean spirit saw Jesus, it caused the man to fall down and go into convulsions. Jesus asked the man’s father about his condition, not because He couldn’t have accessed that information through His divinity, but because He wanted to show the care and compassion of a doctor, and also because He wanted to expose the weakness of the father’s faith, to confront and to admit his own problem, so that Jesus could heal him, too. “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us!”

Jesus identifies the issue and puts His finger on the problem: If you can…believe! All things are possible for the one who believes. Any prayer that begins, “God, if You exist…” or “God, if You can,” is a worthless prayer, because it starts from a position of doubt and unbelief. It’s just like saying, “God, I don’t know if You exist. I may be talking to the air right now. I don’t know if You can help. You may be just as powerless as I am.” As James says, Let a person ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. By nature, that father couldn’t believe in Jesus for help or salvation, but that doesn’t excuse his unbelief, just as it doesn’t excuse ours. The fact that a severely drunk person can’t drive straight doesn’t excuse his erratic driving. But Jesus’ own Spirit-filled words are powerful to coax faith out of the man, to persuade him, to change his doubt into a weak faith. All things are possible for the one who believes!

All things are possible. That doesn’t mean God will do whatever a person believes He will do. It means that God will do whatever He says He will do, and it means that God is always trustworthy and able to help in any and every situation. He can literally do anything. If there is an “if” that we should ever use, it’s the “if” that the leper once spoke, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Not, if You can, but if You are willing. That’s a good prayer.

But the father then utters a very good confession and a prayer of his own that every Christian can imitate: “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!” He said it “with tears.” He was desperate. He had given up on every other remedy. He had faith in Jesus, but he knew his faith was weak, and he knew he couldn’t make it stronger. Only Jesus could. And that’s always the way it is. So he asked, he prayed earnestly for that gift, and Jesus granted it. He commanded the demon to come out of his son, and the demon had to obey.

Why couldn’t we cast it out? the disciples wondered. Because of your unbelief, Jesus says, according to Matthew’s Gospel. And then Matthew and Mark both record the other reason: This kind can only come out by prayer and fasting. In other words, when they tried to cast it out, as they had done at other times successfully, but this time it didn’t work immediately, they gave up! They stopped believing in the authority Jesus had given them, and instead they relied on themselves and their own power. But this is a special kind of demon, Jesus says, one that He can cast out immediately, with a word, but one that can otherwise only be cast out by prayer and fasting. In other words, not immediately, but after setting aside time and earthly distractions to ask God for special help.

We might like to know more about the kinds of demons there are, but we shouldn’t get distracted by that. The point is that, if God’s power and help don’t appear immediately, don’t give up. Be steadfast in faith. And be earnest in prayer. And, yes, even use fasting, if necessary. The flesh grows lazy when it’s full, sluggish when it’s satisfied. And there are times when it’s necessary to set aside earthly needs and pleasures and distractions in order to give proper attention to seeking the help of the unseen God against unseen enemies, especially when that help doesn’t come right away. Prayer and fasting are required to confront certain kinds of demons.

That brings us to these Ember Days, which call us to reflect on those demons that aren’t quickly cast out or those troubles that aren’t quickly resolved, for which we are in desperate need of God’s help. That begins with our flesh, which takes a lifetime to subdue, and so denying it once in a while is a very healthy practice. The devil himself is not quickly turned away, but remains like a roaring lion, who goes around looking for someone to devour. The demons that are exerting their malicious influence on the nations and governments of the world are also not quickly cast out. In fact, it will only be the coming of the Lord Jesus that gets rid of them once and for all. But God will come to the aid of His people in all the ways we need it, either with outward deliverance, or with the inner peace and strength we need to bear up under it until His final deliverance comes. Don’t lose faith in His help! Instead, pray for it all the more. Let these Ember Days encourage you to do just that. Amen.

 

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Don’t worry. You’re going to die.

Posted on September 19, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 16

Ephesians 3:13-21  +  Luke 7:11-17

In last week’s Gospel, the Lord Christ taught us very patiently not to worry. In today’s Gospel, He teaches the same thing, except in a much more striking way. Last week, He taught us to look at the birds and how our heavenly Father provides for them. This week, He teaches us to look at the dead man being carried out of the city of Nain in a casket and how He, the Lord Jesus, took care of the problem. Don’t worry, He says. You’re going to die. But it’ll be all right in the end.

You’re going to die. Everyone is. For as much as people want to avoid it, deny it, or prevent it, no one can. Not for long, at least. Oh, they frantically take their precautions and treat anyone they view as a threat to their health as a villain who needs to be removed from society. But Moses says it plainly and truly: The days of our life are seventy years; or eighty, if we have the strength. Yet their boast is only toil and sorrow. For it passes swiftly, and we fly away. Now, some make it a little past eighty, but many don’t even make it to seventy.

Take the young man in today’s Gospel, the young man of Nain. Death came for him sooner than it does for most people. We may call it tragic. We may also call it tragic that he was his mother’s only son. And we may also call it tragic that she had already dealt with death; we’re told she was a widow. Her husband had already died, so that she was now left husbandless, childless, and destitute. So much tragedy and sadness!

Of course, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. It was supposed to be a happy world, a world filled with laughter and life, a world without sickness or death, where family members were never separated from one another by death or by anything else. That’s the world God intended. That’s the world God created. That’s the world God blessed.

But you know where death came from. You know whom to blame, and it isn’t God. It’s, first, the devil, who wanted to see his Creator’s creation suffer, who tempted Eve to do the one thing that God had already told them would surely bring death on the human race. But she did it anyway. And so it’s also her fault. And Adam’s fault. And the fault of every child of theirs who has sinned, and that’s everyone—except for One. Our culture hates to admit that death is what we all deserve and the wages we’re all going to get, and so it will go to any lengths to pass the blame on to someone else. But no one can change the fact: Death comes for all of us. You’re going to die.

And so it was that death came to the young man from the city of Nain. He wasn’t the first young man to be taken too early, and he won’t be the last. Death continues its nearly perfect record of victory over the human race. But on this one occasion, for the very first time (at least, the first time recorded in the Gospels), death encountered its Destroyer in the Person of Jesus.

Jesus saw the grieving mother and went up to her and comforted her. Do not weep. Why not weep? Because Jesus had come. And death was about to be undone.

He touched the casket, and the procession halted. He spoke to the dead man, Young man, I say to you, arise! And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

It wasn’t the permanent ending of death’s march against our race. That young man would eventually die again. His mother would die. All the people of Nain would die. All the people of the world have died or are dying, quickly or slowly. It wasn’t the end of death that day. But it was a foretaste of death’s ultimate defeat.

Death is defeated in two ways. Jesus describes them both in John 5. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.

We all begin life dead already, spiritually dead in our trespasses. But the time is coming and now is when the Gospel of Christ goes out, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved! And where the Spirit works faith, that person passes from death to life, to life so real and so strong that even death can’t interrupt it, as Jesus says in John 11: I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.

That’s our first consolation when we face death. For the believer, death has already been defeated. There is no death, only the temporary sleep of the body in the grave. The soul is safe with God, and very much alive, no longer fighting, no longer wrestling with the devil, the world, or the flesh, but resting in the true peace of Paradise. That is no small comfort.

But there is more. Jesus goes on in John 5, Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. That’s what we get a taste of in today’s Gospel, the actual raising of dead bodies when the voice of Jesus speaks over their graves. For those who died in unbelief, who rejected Jesus the Life-Giver, it won’t be a resurrection to life, but to condemnation. But for those who died in faith, it will be a much better life.

This is what gives believers strength to face a hostile world and a future in the world that may often appear bleak. You’re going to die, and you know it. You’ll die of COVID. You’ll die of cancer. You’ll die of stroke or heart failure or old age. You’ll die from cold. You’ll die from heat. You’ll die from an accident. You’ll die from foul play. And yet, nothing the world throws at us can interfere with the life that Jesus now gives, or with the life that He will give at the resurrection. No disease, no accident, no tyrannical oppression, no amount of hatred, no amount of danger can change the fact that Jesus has conquered death by His own resurrection from the dead, after making payment for sins of the world with His own death. Nothing can change or overturn Jesus’ promise to deliver His baptized believer from every evil of body and soul. As St. Paul writes, Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For now, it’s OK to weep when death wins yet another battle. But don’t weep as the world does, without faith and without hope, without knowing that you, united with Christ in Holy Baptism, have already won the war. The same Lord who approached the grieving widow mother approaches each grieving child of God in Word and Sacrament, to comfort and to heal and to assure you that death is about to be entirely undone. Yes, you’re going to die. But don’t worry. You’re also not going to die. You’re going to live, because God has taken this horrible thing called death and has made it work together for good to those who love Him. If you remember that now and cling to Christ continually, then you truly have nothing to worry about. Amen.

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The Conclusion of the Commandments

Posted on September 15, 2021 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

(Sermon is audio only)

Small Catechism Review

The Conclusion of the Commandments

We’ve now briefly reviewed the First Chief Part of Luther’s Small Catechism, the Ten Commandments, over the last several weeks. All that remains is what Luther calls the “Conclusion” of the Commandments. Some have called it the “Close” of the Commandments, but that doesn’t capture the meaning, especially because it doesn’t come at the “close,” at the end of the commandments, but at the beginning. Right after the First Commandment, right after God has forbidden His people from having any other gods and from making carved images with which to worship those gods, He speaks the words which Luther rightly applies to all the commandments as the “conclusion” we are to draw, since the First Commandment governs all the rest:

What does God say about all these commandments? He says: “I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, who visits the sin of the fathers upon their children who hate Me, to the third and fourth generation; but to those who love Me and keep My commandments, I do good for a thousand generations.” What does this mean? God threatens to punish all who transgress these commandments; therefore, we should fear His wrath and not disobey them. But He promises grace and every blessing to all who keep them; therefore, we should also love and trust in Him, and gladly obey His commandments.

Recently someone tried to make a point about the way the government is trying to force people into getting the COVID vaccine. They cited a pastor (of course), who argued something like this. “If the government has to make you afraid and threaten you in order to get you to obey, it’s out of step with the God of the Bible. Our God is a God of persuasion, not of threats.” So I brought up the Conclusion of the Commandments with this person, because it does no one any good to misrepresent the Christian religion in the fight against government oppression. The person had to retract the statement. Because while the Gospel is all about divinely empowered persuasion, the Law is all about threats. Threats of punishment for disobedience and promises of reward for obedience.

Let’s look at the text itself. I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I, the Lord, Yahweh, your God, the only true God, He Who Is and Who Was and Who Is To Come. I, the Lord your God, that is, the very same one who has just done wonders in Egypt, ten horrible plagues against the Egyptians, so that you could go free. I, the Lord your God, that is, the very same one who passed over your houses marked with the blood of the lamb, saving you from death and destruction. I, the Lord your God, who parted the waters of the Red Sea so that you could pass through, who has led you for 50 days through the barren wilderness, providing bread from heaven and water from a rock. I, the Lord your God, who has just commanded you not to have or worship or serve any other God—I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.

Now, we normally think of jealousy as a vice, as a sinful attitude, and among us sinners it usually is. Jealousy is the anger and resentment we feel when we see someone else getting or having something that we think we deserve more. It’s usually sinful, but not necessarily so. For example, a teenager decides to do something really nice for his parents. While they’re gone, he spends the whole cleaning the house, inside and out, cleaning the yard, sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, mopping, everything. And then, when mom gets home, she praises the brother or the sister who did nothing at all. And even though the teenager tells the truth about what happened, the mom just can’t stop praising the do-nothing brother or sister. That would be a justifiable reason for jealousy on the part of the one who did it all.

So the Lord God is provoked to jealousy when His benefits are attributed to someone else, to a false god who did nothing. God provides everything for His people, even the very world we live in, the sun and the moon and the air we breathe, and men still give the credit to someone else, to false gods, including themselves, giving themselves credit for what God, in His mercy, has done. That makes Him justifiably jealous.

But He doesn’t mope in His jealousy. He punishes. He visits the sin of the fathers upon their children who hate Me, to the third and fourth generation. If the fathers hate God, and so break His commandments, chances are they teach their children to do the same. And their children teach their children, and on and on, and God’s threat follows each generation that hates Him. To the third and fourth generation, there are consequences for idolatry and godless behavior. The only thing that can end that cycle of disobedience and punishment is repentance and faith in Christ, from which flows all true obedience to God’s commandments.

And then the Lord God promises, but to those who love Me and keep My commandments, I do good for a thousand generations. The only way anyone can love God is by first knowing Him as the God whom we have offended with our sins, and as the God who gave His Son into death as the payment for our sins. The promise of the Gospel, of forgiveness to all who flee in faith to Christ, is what persuades sinners to believe in Christ. And from faith comes love, first for God, then for our neighbor.

Some people say that certain laws shouldn’t exist, because laws don’t change hearts. For example, some say there shouldn’t be a law criminalizing abortion, because that wouldn’t change anyone’s heart. But again, the purpose of the Law isn’t to change hearts or to create faith in God. It’s to curb bad behavior and to incentivize good behavior, so that society doesn’t crumble and self-destruct in lawlessness. It’s the use of the Law we call the “Curb” or the “Club.” God does threaten and God does punish, and whenever we see the disobedient punished, we are supposed to fear God’s wrath, as Luther says, and learn not to disobey Him.

But, but, that sounds like thunder and lightning preaching! Well, remember when the Law was given, there was thunder and lightning and fire and billows of smoke at Mt. Sinai. Better to have thunder and lightning and fire in the preaching of the Law and in the threats the Law makes than to face the eternal flames of hell. As Jesus once said, Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Yes, people should be afraid to disobey God. He is the Judge, and His threats are not in vain. As the writer to the Hebrews says, It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

But He promises grace and every blessing to all who keep them; therefore, we should also love and trust in Him, and gladly obey His commandments. But, but, that sounds like bribing people! Not a bribe, but incentive for our Old Man, who needs that prodding and pushing, and hope for our New Man, who is eager to receive the rewards God promises with thanksgiving and joy, even as Jesus Himself was motivated to obedient to death on the cross because of the reward promised to Him—not the reward of His own glory, but the reward of pleasing His Father and of saving sinners.

To summarize: God threatens punishment for disobedience and promises rewards for obedience, not to change our hearts, but to control our behavior. That’s the Law’s use as Curb or Club. Its other two uses are just as important. Remember? It serves as a Mirror to show us our sins. And when we see our sins, then the Law serves as Curb again, with its threats, to make us rightfully afraid. Then the Gospel comes in and comforts the fearful and penitent: Christ has suffered for your sins. The threats of punishment against the disobedient were carried out against Jesus on the cross, so that all who take refuge in Him are no longer under wrath, but under grace, no longer condemned as lawbreakers, but justified and forgiven as righteous through faith in Christ.

Then, finally, the Law comes back in with its Third Use, as Guide, and shows us how to put love for God and our neighbor into practice, and then the Law comes back in once again as Curb, not to threaten, but to promise us extra incentives and the hope of God’s grace and every blessing when we keep His commandments. And then when the weakness of our Old Man prevents us from doing all the good we want to do, the Law comes back in as a Mirror and as a Curb and accuses, but then the Gospel comes back in and assures us that God is faithful, and that His acceptance and forgiveness depend, not on how well we obey, but on Christ alone.

The Ten Commandments are the Law, and the “Conclusion” of the Commandments is that we ought to obey God and not disobey Him. Until the Law has done its work on you, revealing your sins and bringing you to fear God’s wrath and punishment, you’re not ready for the Gospel. But once the Law has done its work and broken your heart and crushed it, the Gospel comes along to offer you God’s solution to your lawbreaking—faith in Christ, who kept the Law for you and suffered its penalties in your place. The Gospel is beautifully summarized for us in the next part of Luther’s Small Catechism, the Second Chief Part, the Apostle’s Creed. Starting in two weeks, that will be our weekly focus, too. May God grant us His blessing! Amen.

 

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