Prepared for a long wait

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

right-click to save, or push Play

Sermon for the Last Sunday after Trinity

Isaiah 65:17-19  +  1 Thessalonians 5:1-11  +  Matthew 25:1-13

The Christian life is a life of waiting. Ever since the angels on Ascension Day told Jesus’ disciples that He would one day return from heaven in the same way they saw Him go into heaven, Christians have been looking to the skies, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Bridegroom—for the arrival of Jesus, who loved us and gave Himself for us into death so that we might live forever at His side, forgiven, cleansed of our sins, and filled with joy, like a bride who is whisked away by her bridegroom to begin their married life together.

But He didn’t say when He was coming, except for the relative statement, “soon.” Generation after generation after generation of Christians have spent their entire lifetimes waiting. We, too, have now reached the end of another church year, and still the Bridegroom hasn’t come. We’ve spent another year watching and waiting, and now we’re about to begin another year of the same. Maybe this year will be the year of His coming. Or maybe it won’t.

The key, then, is to be prepared for Christ’s arrival at any moment, even today, AND prepared for His arrival if He delays a long time, if you have to wait another 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, 80 years. You may even reach the end of your earthly life and fall asleep in Christ, and He still won’t have come. Are you prepared for that?

The five foolish virgins in Jesus’ parable were prepared for a swift arrival of the bridegroom, but not for a delayed arrival. They were excited to meet him when they first went out to wait. They went out with their lamps. They waited for awhile. But they didn’t figure on such a long delay. The night grew long, and even then, as they waited, the five foolish virgins didn’t think to check the oil in their lamps as the flame consumed it little by little. It never struck them that they hadn’t thought to bring any extra supply along with them. It grew late, and they fell asleep, unconcerned about the state of their lamps, oblivious to their own folly.

The five wise virgins were prepared for a swift or a delayed arrival of the bridegroom. They knew he could come at any moment, or that he could be delayed until midnight. And this is what made them wise: They took their oil supply seriously. They thought about it. They calculated how much they might need and made their plans accordingly, so that no matter when the bridegroom came, they would be sure to have working lamps so that they could go out to meet him, to accompany him in his joyful procession to the wedding hall.

Now, as the ten virgins went out together to wait, do you suppose that the five wise virgins were somehow hiding their vessels of oil so that the foolish ones couldn’t see? No, the foolish ones must have seen that their companions had taken along extra oil. That’s why they finally asked for it as they were roused from their sleep. And yet, still, they foolishly assumed that they wouldn’t need any extra supply. They may have even thought that their wise companions were the foolish ones for taking such precautions and for carrying around the extra baggage. What a waste of time, money and effort! But when the cry came at midnight, ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’, then it was clear who the wise ones were, and who the foolish. But then it was too late for the foolish virgins to do anything about it, too late to get more oil, too late to relight their lamps, too late to join the procession. They tried to come late to the wedding hall. “Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

Will you listen to Jesus’ warning? Will you take it seriously today? Who are the foolish virgins who waited for the bridegroom with no extra oil for their lamps? They are Christians. Christians! And not the false prophets or the false teachers, not the wolves in sheep’s clothing who go around telling lies to God’s people in God’s name and leading them astray into false belief and other shame and vice. They are Christians who start out believing in Christ. They are baptized. They are, at first, eager for Christ to come, and they may spend years going to church, with the flame of faith burning in their hearts, with zeal for the Lord and for His Word.

But time eats away at their zeal and their devotion. They begin to realize that this Christian journey through life is a long journey, a long wait. There are lots of obstacles along the way, including the sin that dwells in each of us and keeps struggling to get out, to indulge itself, to quench the fire of faith. They see their non-Christian friends or their nominal Christian friends enjoying life in this world, prospering in this world, having fun with drinking and sex outside of marriage, playing games and making money. They see their counterparts in false-teaching churches rocking to the band and giving touching testimonials and enjoying all sorts of fun programs and activities. And here we are, out in the cold night, with nothing but lamps in our hands, waiting, waiting, waiting for the Bridegroom who never seems to appear. Where is the excitement? Where is the emotion? Where are the results? They feel that the right-teaching simple-Gospel-preaching Sacrament-administering Church has grown stagnant, stale, boring. Always the same thing. Always the same, boring old…Jesus. They lose interest. They fall asleep. And the flame on their lamp flickers and dies as the oil runs out.

The flame dies, the oil runs out—zeal for the Lord dies, faith runs out, because they took it for granted. They assumed, well, I’m a believer. I’ll always be a believer, no matter what, no matter whether I actually think about my sins and mourn over them or not, no matter whether I keep going to church and listening and concentrating while I’m at church or not, no matter whether I pray earnestly to God for help and strength as I wait for Christ’s coming or not.

Faith is not self-sustaining. God sustains it. He sustains it by means of His Word as it is read, preached, heard, meditated upon, poured with water, eaten and drunk with bread and wine, and inwardly digested. God sustains faith in answer to our earnest prayers for help in this Christian life of watching and waiting, of being prepared for Christ’s coming at any moment, or after decades and decades of doing the same things over and over again.

The five wise virgins didn’t do anything amazing or earth-shattering. They just made sure they had a supply of oil handy. So, too, wise Christians don’t do anything amazing or earth-shattering. They just take Jesus seriously, and so they also take their God-given faith seriously. They don’t take it for granted. They consider God’s commandments and how they continually fall short of God’s righteous standard. They seek God’s mercy in Christ, and they know Christ to be a merciful Savior who was crucified for our sins and who wants even sinners like us to flee to Him for refuge, for forgiveness. They know that repentance is not a one-time event, but a daily state in which Christians live, turning to Christ for forgiveness, and turning away from sin and shameful words and deeds.

And because they know that they need Christ every day, these wise Christians make hearing God’s Word a regular part of their life, always hearing, always learning, always growing, always feeding on Christ’s body and blood. They pray. They attend services at church every chance they get, and they gladly attend Bible class, too, if they are at all able. They take God’s commandments seriously, so that they are always abounding more and more in works of love and obedience, always fighting against sin and temptation, always growing more and more into the image of Christ. They live a life of self-denial, daily taking up their cross and following Christ. And they do all this, because they know that they are not worthy to enter with the Bridegroom or to have His love, and yet He loves them and wants to spend eternity with them, and so their life—their true life—is not here on earth. It lies with Christ. And so their whole earthly life is a matter of waiting, waiting for the life that is truly life to appear.

Saints of God, we are in this Christian Church for the long haul, however long it may be. Be wise! Learn wisdom from Jesus. The Christian life is not glamorous. It’s not exciting. But it is fulfilling, and it is wise. Because we know the Bridegroom is coming, and we know who He is—the Lord Jesus Christ who has loved us with an undying love, and who has conquered death for us and appointed us, not to wrath, but to inherit a kingdom. When He comes, it will be well for those who are still trusting in Him, still watching and waiting for Him. Then we will accompany Him into the wedding hall, and the doors will be shut. Then the eternal celebration will begin. May we be found worthy to enter, only for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom, with the Father and the Spirit, be praise, honor and glory in the Church, forever and ever. Amen

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Prepared for a long wait

The blessed and the cursed

Posted on November 16, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

right-click to save, or push Play

Sermon for the Second to Last Sunday after Trinity

Isaiah 40:9-11  +  2 Thessalonians 1:3-10  +  Matthew 25:31-46

Starting last week already we began to focus in earnest on the Second Coming of Christ, and we’ll continue to focus on that Scriptural theme all the way through the Advent season. Several things will happen in connection with Christ’s coming: all human activity on earth will come to an end when the Son of Man comes in His glory, with His holy angels, and is seated on the throne of His glory; all the dead will be raised; all people will be convened before Christ to be judged; this present earth will be destroyed by fire; the new heavens and the new earth will be created. Today’s Gospel focuses on the judgment part.

The judgment part—it’s a good thing Jesus tells us about it, isn’t it? Otherwise we would be left to wonder what will happen, and that might leave us feeling either unnecessarily afraid or mistakenly secure. As it is, the Scripture tells us ahead of time all we need to know about Judgment Day so that we may approach it rightly and think about it productively.

What will this judgment be like? Right away there will be a separation of believers and unbelievers, the righteous and the wicked. Now everyone lives together. Everyone dies, together, too. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. But finally, on that day, the separation will occur, even as God already sees and knows exactly who the sheep are, and who are the goats. As Paul says, “The Lord knows those who are His.”

Jesus addresses first the group on His right, the sheep, the righteous. Who are they? Where did they come from? They’re all sinners, after all, who have disobeyed God’s holy Law and deserve to be condemned. You heard the answer on All Saints Day from Rev. 7: These are the ones who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. How do people get onto the right hand of the King as sheep? By being washed of their sins by the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. By being baptized into His name. By the forgiveness of sins which they received from God now, during this life. As St. Peter says in Acts 10: Jesus commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is Jesus who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins. How did the group on the right get there? They believed in Jesus for the remission of sins. They were justified by faith alone in Christ alone, and they continued to believe in Christ right up to the end of their earthly lives. Only believers in Christ will be standing on the King’s right.

For them, there will not be a single word of rebuke, not a single charge laid to their account, not a single moment of terror. Only the joyful words of the King: Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world! Indeed, how could there be any charge against these Christians? As Paul says to the Romans: Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. This same Jesus who died, this same Jesus who rose again, this same Jesus who now reigns at the right hand of God and makes intercession for His people will be the Judge on the Day of Judgment. We already know Him as our Savior and our Advocate before God. He will not change on Judgment Day.

Then, after hearing nothing about their sins, after hearing only the blessed verdict already pronounced, the saints will also hear the King announce before all the evidence of their faith, the deeds of love that God worked through them during their life. In this parable, Jesus focuses entirely on deeds of compassion that Christians did for fellow Christians in this life, because they were fellow Christians: I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. And inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me. The brothers of Christ are not all people; they are Christians.

Jesus said similar things earlier in Matthew’s Gospel as He spoke to His apostles: He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.

Now, Jesus could have mentioned all the works of love and obedience that flow from faith: “You prayed to Me for help. You loved preaching and My Word. You took care of your pastor, whom I sent to you. You honored your father and mother, you honored marriage, you helped your neighbor to keep his property and income, you spoke up for your neighbor when others were lying about him. You were content with the life I gave you. You bore the cross patiently and suffered for My name’s sake.” All these things are also works that God highly values. But Jesus chose to mention those works of compassion done for fellow Christians in order to emphasize this truth: everyone, down to the littlest child or the poorest beggar, who bears the name “Christian”—every baptized believer—is precious to Christ and will be acknowledged by Christ on the Last Day.

Then, after the saints are acknowledged and welcomed into their heavenly inheritance, the King will address the unbelievers: Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. The judgment will be swift. There will be no arguing with the King, no one defending himself on that day. The sentence will be an eternal, never-ending curse. Hellfire, which was originally only prepared for the devil and his angels, but which these unbelievers will also suffer, since they refused to be saved by the world’s Savior. As Jesus said in John 3: He who believes in God’s Son is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  It was through sin and unbelief that the goats got to be among the cursed on the King’s left.

We already saw how the King will reveal the good deeds of believers on the Last Day, which are the evidence of their faith. So, too, He will reveal the wicked deeds of the unbelievers, the evidence of their unbelief, especially the ways in which they failed to serve the people of Christ. Isn’t this remarkable? Everyone thinks of great and terrible sins like murder, adultery, rape, terrorism, stealing, as sins for which people will be condemned on Judgment Day. But Jesus mentions none of those in this parable—not because they aren’t deserving of condemnation, but because no one even thinks about “little” sins like failing to show compassion to Christians in need. And yet the King has those sins foremost in His mind.

Now, what is the purpose of Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats and this description of the last judgment? It serves to comfort believers in Christ. Isn’t it comforting to know that faith in Christ so completely covers our sins that not one of those sins of which we are now ashamed will be mentioned on the Last Day, while all the deeds of love that God has accomplished through us will be acknowledged and rewarded? Such knowledge should make us all the more eager to persevere in faith amid all the hardships of this life, and to spur us on to love our fellow saints in the world, from the littlest to the greatest, and to show compassion to one another at every opportunity, because in serving one another, we are serving Christ Himself.

Jesus’ parable also serves as a warning to all the impenitent, to repent now, before it’s too late, to seek God’s forgiveness in Christ alone in this life, because it will be too late on the Day of Judgment. All the good deeds that people think they have done will be shown to be worthless on the Last Day, because only the deeds of love done by believers will be acknowledged and accepted by the King.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. But where there is faith in Christ, there is the forgiveness of sins. There is joy and peace and safety before God’s judgment. And there, too, will follow deeds of love, compassion and obedience. In the words of St. John: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. So may it be, until the Son of Man comes in His glory. Amen.

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The blessed and the cursed

As those who are fleeing to the mountains

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

right-click to save, or push Play

Sermon for Trinity 25

Isaiah 49:12-17  +  1 Thessalonians 4:13-18  +  Matthew 24:15-28

Our Lord urgently warns us today about future events that His Christians will face—or at least, future events from the perspective of Holy Week, when He spoke the words of our Gospel. His disciples, earlier in the day, had pointed out to Him the beautiful craftsmanship of the temple in Jerusalem, and Jesus had prophesied that destruction was coming to that city and to that temple. In the verses before our Gospel, the disciples asked Jesus this question: “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” It’s really two questions. When will Jerusalem be destroyed, and what will things be like before You come at the end of the age? Jesus’ answer addresses both questions, even though they are separate events—separated by at least 2,000 years. The literal tribulation leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem mimics the spiritual tribulation leading up to the second coming of Christ. In both cases, the words of Christ to His dear Christians are the same: Flee to the mountains!

Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Idolatry is that great abomination that God hates, and that brings with it desolation and destruction. Idolatry is the worship of a false god, elevating someone or something above God. Idolatry is man’s attempt to worship God apart from Jesus Christ, apart from faith in His death on the cross for our sins. Idolatry is what had firmly taken root in the city of Jerusalem over the forty years following Christ’s death and resurrection. Yes, it was bad that the Jews crucified Jesus. But they could have been forgiven for that. The unforgiveable sin, as Jesus also talked about it in the Gospels, was their sin against the Holy Spirit who preached repentance to them through the apostles and held out the promise of forgiveness through faith in Christ. For a time after the Day of Pentecost, the Gospel was received in Jerusalem, at least by some. But over the years it became increasingly evident that the people of Jerusalem would continue to trust in their own merits and reject the Holy Spirit’s ministry. They would continue to offer up their own sacrifices to God in the Temple. Those sacrifices, separated from faith in the one true sacrifice of Christ, were pure idolatry in the sight of God. And so Jerusalem would be destroyed by God’s own decree—wiped out by the Roman armies in AD 70 after several years of some of the worst tribulation and horror any nation has ever seen.

So Jesus warned His Christians ahead of time to “flee to the mountains,” without hesitation, without delay, and without looking back. And they did flee. They listened, and were saved.

Ever since that time, the city of Jerusalem has ceased to be “the holy place.” There’s nothing holy about that city anymore, nothing special about it, no prophecies that deal with it. Don’t let anyone deceive you with lies about some special place Jerusalem has leading up to the end of the world. All of God’s prophecies about the earthly city of Jerusalem were fulfilled when the city was destroyed in AD 70.

The true “holy place” now is not a single geographic location. The “holy place” is the Christian Church on earth, where the “holy ones” are, the saints, as we celebrated last week on the festival of All Saints. The Church on earth, in its broad sense, is made up of all baptized Christians, all who claim to believe in Jesus Christ. But there will always be “false sons within her pale,” as the hymn says, Christians who do not actually trust in Christ or honor His Word. In fact, Scripture declares that within the Church, within this “temple” of Christianity, a man of lawlessness will set himself up over everything that is called “God.” This is the Antichrist, the “one who replaces Christ,” the spiritual “abomination of desolation.”

But the Antichrist is not a single person. It can’t be, because, as Paul describes in 2 Thessalonians, it lasts from shortly after the time of the Apostles until the Second Coming of Christ. The Antichrist—that institution within the Christian Church that sets itself up as a “replacement-Christ” has been unmasked as the Roman papacy, the line of popes who, for about a thousand years, have been contradicting Christ and setting up their own authority over the authority of Christ’s Word. The idolatry that has been set up in “the holy place” is truly an abomination of desolation—the sanctioned idolatry of trusting in saints and their merits, the sacrifice of the Mass, the salvation-not-by-faith-alone theology, and the condemnation of justification by faith alone, not to mention the Roman doctrine that has been flooding the news again lately in which the pope teaches that God did not, in fact, create the universe in six days, but that He set off the Big Bang and used the natural processes of evolution over millions of years to put life on this planet. All of these are idolatries, setting up manmade doctrines over the Word of Christ. And all of it takes place within the pale and in the name of Christianity.

Lutherans have recognized this abomination of desolation in Rome for nearly 500 years, and so we are as those who are fleeing to the mountains. We can’t stay in communion with Rome or go back to Rome. We can’t stay and share in her prestige or her glory, because destruction is coming upon her. I think everyone here is well aware of that.

But while the papacy may best represent the Antichrist, its idolatries are not restricted to the Roman Church. Protestants, who have no allegiance to the pope, have set up plenty of idolatries in the Christian Church, too. Women pretending to serve as pastors. Homosexuality endorsed and approved as acceptable among both laity and clergy. Evolution embraced and a six-day creation denied. Denying the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion. The worship of man, the worship of personal preference, the rejection of the holy ministry, and the elevation of church bodies and synods to the place of God in people’s hearts. These are just a few of the abominations that have been set up in the Christian Church. You don’t have to be Roman Catholic to be in league with Antichrist. To remain in communion with those who promote any of these idolatries is to remain in Jerusalem after the abomination of desolation has been set up.

And so we must always be as those who are fleeing to the mountains. That doesn’t mean we stop going to church. On the contrary, it is still God’s will to forgive sins through the ministry of the Word, through preaching and through the Holy Sacraments. It is still God’s will to save sinners by proclaiming Christ crucified for their sins and by sustaining faith through His Means of Grace. God will most certainly keep us safe from death and the devil as we flee from the idolatry of the Antichrist. But fleeing to the mountains will mean that we don’t get all the perks of living in Jerusalem, and we’ve been experiencing that now for over two years. It’s much harder to find a right-teaching church that is not in league with Antichrist when you go on vacation or more away. It’s harder to pay our bills, and harder to see so many empty seats in our sanctuary.

But guess what? A life of fleeing to the mountains is not supposed to be comfortable or easy. We are living on the run, living in survival mode. And even then, as Jesus declares, all kinds of false christs and false prophets will seek to distract us along the way. Here is Christ! Over here! Over here! It’s so confusing and so disheartening sometimes that even the elect are close to being deceived.

And that would all be really discouraging…if Jesus hadn’t told us it would be this way beforehand. But He did. Right here in our Gospel. And He promises that it will be all right, and better than all right for those who cling in faith to Him above all things. We may be living as those who are fleeing, but God is with us as we flee, our Captain, our Defender, our Savior. He has not sent us out of the city empty-handed, but has poured His love into our hearts by His Holy Spirit, and has given us His Word and His body and blood for food, and His righteousness for a covering.

And at just the right time, the carcass will appear—the body of Him who was dead, but now lives again forevermore. And when He appears, the eagles will gather around Him, all those who have longed for His appearing. Paul described that in today’s Epistle: The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

The words of Jesus today paint a frightening picture, but not so frightening anymore when He promises His help and a blessed ending for His Church, His believers, His saints. The Church shall never perish! Her dear Lord, to defend, to guide, sustain, and cherish, Is with her to the end. Tho’ there be those that hate her, False sons within her pale, Against both foe and traitor She ever shall prevail. Amen.

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on As those who are fleeing to the mountains

Blessed below and blessed above

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

right-click to save, or push Play

Sermon for the Festival of All Saints

Revelation 7:9-17  +  1 John 3:1-3  +  Matthew 5:1-12

The Festival of All Saints is a good time to review some key teachings of Scripture. For instance, what is a “saint”? A saint is a holy person. How does a person become a saint? Not by leading a holy life. If it were, then there would be no saints. Not by doing miracles, or answering prayers after one dies, or being declared a saint by the pope. Those are false doctrines of Rome. Sinners become saints when they are brought to repentance and faith in Christ Jesus and when they are sanctified by Holy Baptism, that washing with water by the Word. So, then, the saints are all baptized believers in Christ, in heaven and on earth. The one holy Christian (catholic) and Apostolic Church is made up of all saints.

But we speak of two sides of that one Church, the side that is now in heaven, and the side that is still here on earth. We speak of the saints above, who from their labors rest. They are “the blessed,” the Church Triumphant. They have reached their goal. Their fighting is over. Their suffering is finished. And their blessedness is sealed forever and cannot be changed. And we speak of the saints below as the Church Militant, Christians who are still in the midst of the fight, who are still running the race, who still suffer here below and are still surrounded by deadly enemies—the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh.

It is to us here below that Jesus speaks the words of the Gospel. It is the saints here below whom Jesus calls “blessed” as He points us in the Gospel to a blessedness that is ours even here below, precisely because of the blessedness that surely awaits us there above. Not “blessed will they be,” but “blessed are they.”

Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Poor in spirit. The poor in spirit may or may not be poor in possessions. The poor in spirit are described by God in this way in Is. 66: But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word. You see, to be a saint here on earth doesn’t mean “to be perfect.” It means to come before God, not with your head held up high, but with your head hanging low, with nothing but your depravity, with your guilty conscience and your beggar’s hand, a beggar who knows he can only survive at the mercy and generosity of Him who is rich in mercy, only for the sake of Jesus Christ. Blessed are they—“privileged recipients of divine favor.” For theirs is the kingdom of heaven—right now. Because when you have Jesus for a Savior, you have a gracious Father in heaven. You have the kingdom of heaven. You have eternal life.

Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. Not all people who mourn are blessed. But there are two kinds of mourning that God acknowledges as blessed. First, God calls all impenitent sinners to mourn over their sins. This is the mourning of repentance, the mourning of admitting your sins against God in thought, word, and deed, and sorrowing over them. Blessed are they, for they shall be comforted with a comfort that doesn’t wait till you get to heaven, but with the ready comfort of the absolution, the comfort of God, through His ordained minister, releasing you from your sins, declaring you to be forgiven. With words of peace, God comforts all who mourn over their sins with the good news of Christ crucified and delivered over to death for our sins, bringing them to trust in Christ’s holy, precious blood for the forgiveness of sins. Blessed are they who mourn in this way.

And also, blessed are they who mourn over all the suffering and loss that Christians must face in this life, for they shall be comforted. They shall be comforted as soon as they leave this vale of tears, as poor Lazarus was in Jesus’ parable. You remember? When he died, his soul was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom where, Jesus says, “he was comforted.” So, too, all believers in Christ who have suffered loss in this world will be comforted in death, as they come out of this great tribulation. They are before the throne of God, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. To be meek is to be kind, humble, lowly, not aggressive or pushy. To be meek is to be like Jesus, who said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” It looks as if the powerful and the ruthless, the violent and the ungodly are going to take over the earth. But it’s just the opposite, according to Jesus. The earth will be inhabited by, inherited by, the meek. Yet, not this earth. This earth will be destroyed by fire and no one will inherit it. But the new heavens and the new earth that God will create when Christ returns—that will be the inheritance of the meek. Blessed are they.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Sinners who acknowledge their own sinfulness long for someone’s righteousness to hold up to God, because they know they have none of their own. So they hunger and thirst for the righteousness of Christ, and they are blessed, for they shall be filled, even here below, as Paul also said to the Romans: The righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.

But as Christians, we also hunger and thirst for righteousness and justice to be done in the midst of so much depravity in this world where wickedness is exalted and godliness is condemned, where the wicked prosper and the godly suffer. But the Day of the Lord will come, and in that Day, in the resurrection, all the ungodly and unjust will be destroyed, and the new creation will be, in the words of St. Peter, “where righteousness dwells,” and the saints shall be filled forever.

Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. The words of Jesus admonish His Christians to set aside all bitterness and rage, all apathy and indifference to your neighbor, and to have a compassionate heart, to show mercy and compassion to those around you, especially to those who don’t deserve it, because that’s the kind of mercy God has shown to you in giving you His Son, and Baptism into Him. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. A pure heart is not something you can create within yourself. Your heart is, by nature, sinful and unclean. But as God’s Law calls you to repentance, as His Gospel shows you Christ and His loving sacrifice for you on the cross, through that Word God’s Holy Spirit takes unclean hearts and purifies them by faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. But those who trust in Christ Jesus are blessed, for they shall see God, as John said in the Epistle: Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

But then, what does John go on to say? And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. A heart that has been purified by faith will not willingly go on living in impurity and sin, but will daily struggle against sin and strive to keep God’s commandments. This life is, after all, our time of preparation to see God. Why would we go on living as those who are preparing to dance with the devil?

Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. Peacemakers, godly pacifists, are not those who refuse to go to war or who condemn all war as evil. Godly peacemakers are those who, like Christ, are ready to sacrifice themselves for the good of their neighbor and give up all things rather than cause war and bloodshed and discord and anger and bitterness. Blessed are those who are willing to be wronged rather than do wrong to their neighbor. They shall be called sons of God, because they are just like The Son of God, in whose mouth was found no deceit, who did not call down fire and brimstone on His enemies, but allowed Himself to be crucified for us, and so made peace between God and man.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

This is a timely beatitude as we see Christians being persecuted more and more around the world and here in our own country. Our first impulse is to be afraid, or to be troubled by the injustice of it, or even to grow angry and lash out at those who mistreat God’s people, whether it’s at your school, or in society, or in the WELS or in the Missouri Synod, where people still tell lies about our church and our diocese and slander us to this very day. But we mustn’t forget Jesus’ word: Blessed are those who are persecuted, blessed are you when they revile you, when they falsely say all kinds of evil against you for My sake. Rejoice and be glad! Why? Because you’re getting a prophet’s treatment, which also means that you’ll receive a prophet’s reward.

And so Jesus describes the blessed life here below: a life of poverty of spirit, a life of mourning and meekness, hunger and thirst, a life of mercy and purity of heart, a life of making peace in the midst of conflict, a life of persecution and suffering for the name of Jesus that was branded upon us in our Baptism and that we Christians carry around with us every day. Only by faith can we call such a life “blessed.” But that’s exactly the purpose of Jesus’ Words: to strengthen our faith, to spur us on to love and good works, and to fix our eyes on Him and on the prize He has promised to those who love Him. The saints above in the Church Triumphant finished their race in faith, and now they cheer on the saints here below in the Church Militant to finish our race, too, still trusting in Christ Jesus, still confessing His name, ever faithful, ever courageous, and ever blessed. Amen.

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Blessed below and blessed above

A Forceful Reformation

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki


right-click to save, or push Play

Sermon for the Festival of the Reformation

2 Chronicles 29:12-19  +  Revelation 14:6-7  +  Matthew 11:12-15

497 years ago, on October 31st, a Roman Catholic priest named Martin Luther posted a notice on the door of All Saints’ Church (aka Castle Church) in Wittenberg, Germany. The notice that he posted contained 95 Theses for debate among the local clergy and theologians—95 Theses on the sale of indulgences.

Indulgences were letters of pardon, signed by the pope himself, and were a shameless money-grab by Rome. The pope and the salesmen of indulgences were making it very easy for people to be saved: buy a letter of pardon from the pope, purchase an indulgence and you will be saved, and so will your dead loved one for whom you purchase an indulgence. Purchase a letter of forgiveness from the pope and he will give you entrance into heaven. You can finally rest in peace, knowing that this letter in your hand guarantees you eternal life and a reprieve from hell and purgatory. See how easy it is? Just do this one work of buying an indulgence, and you will be saved. It sounds just like the devil when he was temping Jesus, “Just bow down and worship me, and all the treasures of the earth will be yours.”

Luther’s response in the 95 Theses can be boiled down to this: True repentance is required—and is all that is required—in order for someone to have his sins forgiven. God forgives sins through all of his priests (pastors) on earth, because they all hold the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, letters of pardon or “indulgences” signed by the pope and purchased for money are worthless when it comes to salvation. The last two theses put a fitting exclamation point on the whole document:  94. Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hell; 95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven rather through many tribulations, than through the assurance of peace.

“Following Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hell.” “Entering into heaven through many tribulations.” Luther makes it sound like Christianity is not for wimps, like Christianity involves a fight, a struggle, a contest that is both much easier to win than the pope was claiming, and also much harder. Easier, because our victory over sin, death, the devil, and hell does not depend on our works, but on Christ crucified alone. Harder, because peace cannot be purchased with a coin, and the true path to heaven is marked by a daily struggle to live in contrition and repentance and to bear the dear cross as we follow Christ, our Head, through shame, through persecution, and through temptation.

That brings us to the Gospel appointed for the Festival of the Reformation from Matthew 11, where Jesus, too, paints the picture of Christians, not as wimps, not as passive participants, but as a violent mob breaking into the kingdom of heaven.

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. Now, what is Jesus referring to? How does the kingdom of heaven suffer violence? How do the violent take it by force? It sounds like a terrible thing. Poor kingdom of heaven! Suffering violence at the hands of men! Ah, but this is a good kind of violence—not physical, but spiritual. And the kingdom of heaven isn’t harmed in the process; it’s expanded.

“From the days of John the Baptist until now” — until the time when Jesus spoke those words, what had been happening? First John and then Jesus had been proclaiming this “new” doctrine called the Gospel. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” “Repent and believe the Gospel!” John preached “a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,” and he pointed people to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

What a difference that was from the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets. Jesus says that “all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” The prophets and the law announced the future coming of the kingdom of heaven in the person of Christ. Until He came, the Jews were all under the Law of Moses, burdened and heavy laden with the Law’s accusing voice: “You shall, you shall not, and the soul that sins shall surely die.” As for the Gentiles, they were basically excluded from the people of God under the law and the prophets. But when John came, followed by Jesus, all that changed, and the kingdom of heaven began forcefully advancing into Judea, and Samaria, and Galilee, and beyond. People flocked to John in droves, just as they later flocked to Jesus, and they began pressing into the kingdom of heaven like never before, because of this simple message: Repent and believe the Gospel! Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins! Here is Christ, and where Christ is, there God is offering free forgiveness and eternal life.

Who are these “violent” people who take the kingdom of heaven by force? They are, as Jesus points out a few verses earlier, “the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, the dead, the poor.” Physically weak, and sinners, all of them, but being made spiritually strong by the Gospel (even as they were also being made physically strong by Jesus’ healing power) so that nothing could separate them from Christ. The “violent” who were taking hold of the kingdom of heaven by force were the tax collectors and prostitutes and public sinners as they heard the preaching of John and Jesus and repented and believed. Foolish people, all of them, insignificant people, rejected people according to earthly standards, but according to God’s purpose, they were chosen people, blessed people, even violent in this sense: they were not sluggish or lazy when the Gospel came to them, not timid, not yielding to the threats and terrors of the devil or the world, but contending and doing battle against the devil, and breaking into the kingdom of heaven by faith in Christ, where they were safe and protected and forgiven.

All without purchasing a single indulgence.

The Reformation of the Church that took place as a result of Luther’s 95 Theses was a violent assault on the Church—in a good sense, in the same sense that Jesus talked about in today’s Gospel. Over the centuries, the devil had injected enough false teachings into the preaching of the Catholic Church that the souls of men were again burdened and heavy laden with guilt as the sweet Gospel of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was muffled and drowned out by the preaching of works-righteousness, by the preaching of a false hope and a false peace—peace that was connected, not to Christ and His holy, precious blood, but to empty promises of popes and to invented good deeds, like becoming a monk, becoming a nun, lighting candles, praying to saints, and doing works of penance.

But from the days of Luther until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. Christians have been turned back to the Word of God, and there we have found the truth: the Law of God proclaimed as it truly is, as the holy requirement of a holy God that those who would be His people must be holy like Him. The Law does not say, “Try hard!”, or “Do the best you can and everything will be all right!” No, the Law says, “You shall, you shall not,” and “be holy or die.” When the Law is preached like that, then all people are revealed as sinners who fall short of the glory of God, so that those who rely on the law remain under the curse. But from the days of Luther until now, Christians have also heard the Gospel of God proclaimed as it truly is, the message of God’s grace to sinners in sending His Son to keep the Law for us, to die for us, and to forgive sins to all who believe in Him—justified by faith alone in Christ alone.

From the days of Luther until now, Christians have again understood that doctrine matters, because our only connection to Christ is through the teaching, the doctrine of Christ, as He said to those who believed in Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

From the days of Luther until now, Christians have been turned away from the useless works invented by men and have been instructed again in what truly good works are, works that are done according to God’s Word, that are done in faith, and that are done to serve our neighbor in love, for his good.

From the days of Luther until now, Christians have returned to the patient bearing of the dear cross, understanding that there is no comfortable, easy way to heaven, but only the way of the cross as we follow behind Christ crucified. Christians have again understood that the Church is not supposed to look glorious on this earth, and Christians are not supposed to look successful or prosperous, but must follow Christ, our Head, through penalties, deaths and hell, knowing that He will also eventually lead us through this valley of the shadow of death into the glory of the resurrection. We understand that the earthly glory and grandeur of Rome is not the mark of God’s favor, but a sign of its own doctrinal decadence. On the contrary, the preaching of the pure Word and the administration of the Sacraments of Christ—that is the mark of God’s favor, whether the church is big or small, wealthy or poor, growing in number or shrinking.

From the days of Luther until now, there has been an angel—a messenger flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. You have heard it in this nation. You have confessed it. You have believed it. And now is the time for us, as Christians, as Lutherans, not to shrink back in fear or despair, not to fall into apathy or indifference, but to cling to the Word of Christ ever more firmly, to hold out the Word of Christ ever more boldly, to take the kingdom of heaven by force, at God’s own bidding, and to press into it ever more urgently, until the devil, death, and the gates of Hades are defeated forever at the coming of Christ.

Christianity is for sinners. Christianity is for the meek, the poor and the lowly. But Christianity is not for wimps, for the lazy, for those who want earthly ease and comfort and pleasures. Christ and His truth are worth fighting for. Christ and His truth are worth dying for. More than that, Christ and His truth are worth living for, each and every day. Let us hold onto His Gospel faithfully, forcefully, to the praise of God the Father, for the honor of God the Son, and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Posted in Sermons | Tagged , , | Comments Off on A Forceful Reformation