Sermon for Trinity 7, 2013

Posted on July 14, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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He Who Provides for the Soul Will Also Provide for the Body

Mark 8:1-9

Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Dear family in Christ:

I have just a short message for you today from God’s Word, some thoughts from the Gospel for today, the Feeding of the Four Thousand, Mark 8:1-9. (You may wish to follow along on the insert with today’s Propers printed on it.)

In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar.” Then His disciples answered Him, “How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?” He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.” So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude. They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them. So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand. And He sent them away. (NKJV)

The Feeding of the Four Thousand has a lot in common with the Feeding of the Five Thousand. They both teach us to trust in Jesus, who is compassionate and kind to all who come to Him.

You might say, they teach the same lesson, but from opposite directions.  In the Feeding of the Five Thousand, the people were flocking to Jesus for physical healing and outward signs, for help with their bodily needs.  And Jesus did help them.  He gave them physical bread so that they might recognize Him as the living Bread from heaven.  He taught them this from the lesser to the greater: If they could trust Him to take care of their lesser needs, their bodily, temporary needs, then they could certainly trust Him when it came to their greater needs, their spiritual and eternal needs.  They should look to Him, not only for bread that will perish, but for righteousness that will not perish, for the forgiveness of sins, for words of everlasting life.

The Feeding of the Four Thousand is a lesson from the greater to the lesser.  The crowds had already been hanging on the words of Jesus for three days.  They had left house and home and career for days, just to hear Him and be with Him.  First, He gives them His Word, and with it, faith, and with faith, eternal life.  Then, to these four thousand who have left house and home to follow Him, to these who believe in Him for help with their spiritual, eternal needs, He shows special compassion in providing for their bodily, momentary needs, and He does it richly and abundantly.

That’s like what Paul said to the Romans in chapter 8: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?  In other words, if God’s mercy is so great that He looked down at the world of sinners and sacrificed His beloved Son on the cross for them all—for us all, if He loved us so much that He sent His Gospel to us and called us out of darkness and made us His children through faith in Christ Jesus, do you really think He doesn’t care if you have enough to eat and to drink?  Do you think His mercy is too small to cover your bodily needs?  Of course not.

No, we see in our Gospel the kindness and compassion of Jesus and His eagerness to provide for soul and body.  And so we learn here to trust in Jesus to provide.  He has already provided atonement for all sins, to redeem both our soul and our body from hell.  He has already provided His Spirit in the Gospel to call you to faith in Him, to dwell among you and to work among you through Word and Sacrament.

If He has already provided all this for our eternal welfare, then trust in Him also to provide for all your earthly needs.  If you don’t see how He will provide, well, you don’t have to see.  The disciples didn’t see how Jesus could possibly feed four thousand people in the middle of the desert.  That didn’t stop Jesus from providing.  Reason has to see.  Reason has to know and understand and have it all laid out before your eyes.  But faith says, even though I can’t see right now, even though it seems impossible right now, God has promised, and that is that.

He has already provided for us here at Emmanuel—for our families and for our church, for our souls and for our bodies.  He has done it in ways that no one could have imagined even a year ago.  And He will do it. Because God is faithful, and His mercies are new every morning.

If God has taken it upon Himself to worry about our souls and our bodies, then we are left to worry about neither.  Instead, we are left to thank God, with heart and hands and voices.  We are left to rejoice in God’s compassion and in God’s forgiveness.  We are left, as Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6, to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Let your concern be for God’s Word, for Christ’s righteousness, and for eternal life as God’s gift to you in Christ Jesus.  Let your concern be for serving your neighbor and providing for his needs, since you know that the same God who loved you enough to give His Son for you, will also graciously give you all things, out of pure fatherly goodness. Peace be with you.  Amen.

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A better righteousness than that

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Sermon for Trinity 6

Exodus 20:1-17  +  Romans 6:3-11  +  Matthew 5:20-26

We just sang Martin Luther’s great hymn on the 10 Commandments.  It fits perfectly with our Scripture readings today, not only with the Old Testament reading from Exodus where the Ten Commandments were originally pronounced from Mt. Sinai, but also with the Gospel.  The commandments teach us what righteousness looks like, what God demands, what men are required to do.  And as you noticed, each stanza of that hymn goes beyond mere superficial obedience.

That’s what Jesus does in the Gospel.  He uses the example here of the Fifth Commandment.  “You shall not murder.”  Well, of course not!  But not murdering does not make you righteous.  The commandments require a better righteousness than that.

Jesus says in the Gospel that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.  The scribes and Pharisees were not murderers; they were not killers.  For that matter, they were not rebellious against their parents, or adulterers or thieves, either. They were “good people,” honest, hard-working citizens, and even more religious than the average Jew.  But listen again to what Jesus says.  Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.  It takes a better righteousness than that.

Jesus goes on to explain.  Yes, murderers will be subject to the judgment.  And that includes those who murder little children inside the womb.  But who else will be subject to the judgment?  Also the one who is angry with his brother for no divinely approved reason.  As the Apostle John writes, “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer.”  And who would have guessed that calling your brother a fool or an idiot or a dummy would put you in danger of hell fire?  And yet, it does, says Jesus.

What’s true of the Fifth Commandment is true of all of them.  Honoring father and mother is not just obeying with the hands, but respecting with the heart.  Not committing adultery also means not lusting after anyone or living a life that is less than chaste and honorable.  All the commandments are to be kept with the hands, but also with the heart and with the tongue.  And they are all broken, not only with the hands, but also with the heart and with the tongue.  True righteousness is outward as well as inward.  True righteousness is perfect obedience to the Commandments.

Notice, too, that Jesus emphasizes the commandments that have to do with your neighbor.  You can’t be righteous toward God while being unrighteous toward your neighbor.  If you think you can present an offering to God at His altar or in the offering plate while knowingly sinning against your neighbor, you’re wrong.  If you think you can serve God without making things right with your neighbor, whom you have injured, you’re wrong.  Your offering, your sacrifice to God doesn’t make up for your sins against your neighbor.  God requires a better righteousness than that.

In short, even as modern so-called “Christian” churches back away from God’s commandments and try to legitimize immorality in our world and in our country, Jesus pulls out God’s Commandments and says, here is righteousness! This is what it looks like, and it doesn’t change.  At the same time, those who want to boast about their own righteousness or rely on their own righteousness before God have the rug pulled out from under them by Jesus, too.  He holds up the Commandments as the true mirror that they are, the mirror that reveals one inescapable lesson to everyone:  You are not righteous.  God requires a better righteousness than anything you can provide.

Which is why each stanza of Luther’s hymn on the 10 Commandments ends with the plea, “Have mercy, Lord!”  As the stanza says, “God gave these laws to show therein, O child of man, your life of sin, And help you rightly to perceive How unto God you should live. Have mercy, Lord!”  As we stand before God, the Judge, in His courtroom and His commandments accuse us, and the Judge points to the commandments and says, “These are the charges against you. How do you plead?”  There is only right answer.  “Guilty.”  The Law was given to silence every mouth before God, so that everyone has to concede, “Yes, that is what I was supposed to do.  That is what I should have done, what I should do, and how I should be.  But I have failed.  Have mercy, Lord!”

You must have righteousness to stand before God uncondemned.  The commandments make it plain to every honest person: Righteousness is required, but it can’t come from you.  A better righteousness than that is required.  It has to come from somewhere perfect, from somewhere else.   That “somewhere else” is the theme of the Gospel.

Where it comes from is the cross of Christ.  Where it comes to you from is the altar that gives you His body and blood.  During the distribution today, you will sing, “Jesus, Your blood and righteousness my beauty are, my glorious dress; mid flaming worlds, in these arrayed, With joy shall I lift up my head.”  You will also sing, “Your works, not mine, O Christ, speak gladness to this heart. They tell me all is done; They bid my fear depart. To whom but You, who can alone For sin atone, Lord, shall I flee?”  Or as the final stanza of Luther’s hymn puts it, “Our works cannot salvation gain; They merit only endless pain. Forgive us, Lord! To Christ we fly, Our Mediator on high. Have mercy, Lord!”  That is where the Lord does have mercy—where Christ is.  Christian righteousness does not come from keeping the commandments.  Christian righteousness comes by faith in Christ.

When you repent of your law-breaking, when you see that you have done wrong and deserved God’s wrath and look for somewhere to flee, the Gospel calls out, “Flee to Christ!”  Faith latches onto God’s promise, given to us in Holy Baptism, that all of you who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have put on Christ.  Now there is a better righteousness that covers sin.  There is a life of perfect obedience.  In a human court, you can’t claim someone else’s obedience as your own; you have to have a clean record.  But the Gospel reveals the grace of God that not only allows us to claim Christ’s righteousness as our own, but invites us to do it.  In a human court, no judge can knowingly sentence an innocent man to jail for your disobedience; you have to pay for your own crimes.  But the Gospel says that Christ has paid the price for all and earned forgiveness for all, so that no one who trusts in Him will suffer condemnation.

As for the commandments, you must still do them.  They are God’s will for how we are to love Him and love our neighbor.  The secret is, that only the one who is first righteous by faith in Christ can even begin to keep the commandments.  By faith, we are free from the law’s condemnation. By faith, we are free from our obligation to come up with a righteousness that works before God, because we have received the righteousness of Christ as a free gift.  But we are not free from obeying the law.  We are not free to serve sin again as slaves.

We have been cleansed, forgiven, washed and sanctified by the blood of Christ.  We are finally set free to keep the commandments, not for salvation’s sake, but for God’s sake; not under compulsion, but out of reverence and thanksgiving to God; not to help ourselves, but to help our neighbor; not for the purpose of receiving praise from God or mercy from God, but because we have received God’s mercy.

So now, we return to the Commandments as a guide, not to learn how to enter the kingdom of heaven, but to learn how children of heaven are to behave in this world, how children of heaven are to think and speak and act toward our neighbor.  Jesus commands you to be righteous people, and He teaches you in His commandments what righteousness looks like.  It looks like fearing, loving and trusting in God above all things, honoring His name and not misusing it, honoring His Word and the preaching of it and gladly hearing it and learning it.  It looks like honoring parents and others in authority.  It looks like kind words and thoughts toward your neighbor, and hands that are ready, never to hurt, but always to help him in every bodily need.  It looks like Christians living chaste and decent lives, honoring the marriage bed as defined by God, spouses loving and honoring each other.  It looks like Christians respecting their neighbor’s property and even helping him to improve it.  It looks like Christians preserving their neighbor’s reputation, even at the expense of their own.  It looks like Christians being glad for their neighbor’s prosperity, not jealous or covetous of his house or his things.

Only Christians can begin to live a righteous life like that, because only Christians—only believers in Christ are being renewed daily by the Holy Spirit in our New Man.  Only Christians have our conscience cleansed before God by the blood of Christ, so that we are covered before God in the righteousness of Christ.  There is no better righteousness than that.  Amen.

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Propers for Trinity 10

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

INTROIT               Ps. 55:16a,17b,18a,19a,22a; Ps. 55:1

(Antiphon) As for me, I will call upon God, And He shall hear my voice.
He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me,
God will hear, and afflict them, Even He who abides from of old.
Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you;

Give ear to my prayer, O God, And do not hide Yourself from my supplication.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

COLLECT

O God, You manifest Your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity. Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of Your grace that we, running the way of Your commandments, may obtain Your gracious promises and be made partakers of Your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

OLD TESTAMENT READING          Jeremiah 7:1-11

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!’ ” 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’

5 “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, 7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

8 “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10 and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.

GRADUAL            Ps. 17:8,2

Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings,
Let my vindication come from Your presence; Let Your eyes look on the things that are upright.

EPISTLE READING             1 Corinthians 12:1-11

1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: 2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
 

VERSE   Ps. 88:1

Alleluia. Alleluia.
O LORD, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You. Alleluia.

HOLY GOSPEL    Luke 19:41-48

41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, 44 and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

45 Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”

47 And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, 48 and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.

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Devotion for the Lord’s Day

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

DEVOTION FOR THE LORD’S DAY

when unable to attend the Divine Service

Before beginning the Devotion, the head of the house should take note of the Day in the Church Year so that the appropriate Lessons may be used.

A Hymn may be sung.

The sign of the holy cross + may be made by all in remembrance of their Baptism, saying:
I call upon Your name, O Lord God—Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

In the morning:
I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High. Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. Make me to know Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day long.

In the evening:
O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Because Your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise You. I will bless You as long as I live; in Your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise You with joyful lips, when I remember You upon my bed, and meditate on You in the watches of the night; for You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. I will lie down in peace and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

THE EPISTLE

THE HOLY GOSPEL

THE APOSTLES’ CREED

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day He rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
a holy Christian Church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.  Amen.

MEDITATION

A portion of Luther’s Small or Large Catechism, or a sermon by Martin Luther may be read, or the pastor’s sermon for the day may be heard or read.

PRAYERS

Specific prayers may be said, concluding with the Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

In the morning, Luther’s Morning Prayer may be said:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that you would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.  Amen.

In the evening, Luther’s Evening Prayer may be said:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night.  For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things.  Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.  Amen.

A Hymn may be sung.

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Peter is still hauling them in

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Trinity 5

Jeremiah 16:14-21  +  1 Peter 3:8-15  +  Luke 5:1-11

Jesus said to Peter at the end of the Gospel, “Do not be afraid.  From now on, you will catch men.” And you know what? Jesus told the truth.  From then on, Peter began to catch men, and he has been hauling them in ever since.

Peter?  Where is Simon Peter?  How is he catching men today?  Let’s go back to our Gospel and see.

As He often did, Jesus taught His disciples a lesson about the kingdom of God in today’s Gospel using picture language and analogies. In this case, the analogy of a fisherman going out in a boat, casting a net to catch fish.  You have three or four basic parts to this analogy:  The fish, the net, and the fisherman who casts the net.  The fish are hauled into a boat, which would be the kingdom of God.

You see at least three parts right away at the beginning of the Gospel. There was a great number of people (like the great number of fish that Peter caught), pressing around Jesus (the Fisherman), to hear the Word of God—that’s the net.  It’s really just that simple.  Jesus preached the Word of God to the crowds gathered around, and many of them believed the Word and were “caught” out of death and brought to spiritual life, “caught” out of Satan’s kingdom and brought into the kingdom of God.

Jesus was sent by God the Father as both priest and prophet.  As priest, to offer up one holy sacrifice of atonement, once for all, the sacrifice of Himself as the Redeemer, as the one who made atonement for the sins of mankind.  As prophet, Jesus was sent to preach the Word of God, to preach the Law and the Gospel, to proclaim the truth—that all are sinners who must repent and believe the good news of salvation through faith alone in Christ Jesus.  It’s by preaching that people are brought to faith in Jesus and saved.

So, which of these two “offices” is our text talking about today?  Priest or prophet?  Prophet, right?  Not priest.  So when Jesus sends Peter out into the deep waters to catch fish, he isn’t sending Peter to make atonement for sins or to make sacrifices to God.  He’s sending Peter out to preach the Word of Christ, who is our great High Priest, who offered Himself up on the altar of the cross to make atonement for sin.  He’s sending Peter out as a “caster of the net,” or in other words, as a “minister of the Word.” We learn in today’s Gospel about the role of the ministry of the Word in the kingdom of God.

What is that role?  Well, it’s a humble role.  As Jesus directs Peter to take the boat out for a catch of fish, Peter admits, they worked hard all night trying to catch fish, and didn’t catch a thing.  The ministers of the Word don’t know where the fish are or how many they will catch in any given day.  They don’t know where to steer the boat.  All they see is water.  All they see is the sea.  They know fish are out there, but where?  Only God knows.  And that’s the way it’s supposed to be.  They go at Jesus’ Word, not knowing where they are going.  They simply open their mouths as Jesus’ gives them opportunity.

What is the role of the ministry?  It’s a humble role, because the ministers of the Word have no power of their own to bring people to faith and catch them for eternal life.  The power is never in the minister.  It’s only in net, only in the Word.  Paul said to the Romans, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.”

What is the role of the ministry?  It’s a humble role, because, when Peter saw the great catch of fish they brought, he fell on his knees before Jesus in horror.  He had no right to claim that catch of fish as his own.  It was all Jesus’ doing.  Jesus demonstrated that He was the Almighty Lord of nature, which also meant He was the Holy One in whose presence no sinner can stand.  And Peter knew he was nothing but a sinful man.  He knew his sins.  He felt his sins.  Ministers of the Word are not holier than other men.  Peter was a sinful man, as are all the ministers of the Word.

But see, Jesus came to save sinners, like the Apostle Peter, who would deny Jesus three times, like the Apostle Paul, who would spend years persecuting and killing Christians before his conversion.  Jesus came to save sinners like me, and like all of you.  He gave His life for sinners.  He calls sinners to repent and believe in Him for forgiveness.  And as Peter himself would one day declare to a group of “fish,” “whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

Jesus didn’t “depart from” Peter, as Peter begged Him to.  No, He announced peace to Peter, as He announces peace to all who repent.  And He did even more.  He called Peter to this ministry of the Word.

Now, if Jesus had wanted to catch men for His kingdom without using sinful men as ministers of the Word, He could have easily chosen to send His holy angels to preach the Gospel.  They are sinless.  They are perfect servants of the Lord, and they would have gladly done it.  But in His grace, Christ has specifically chosen not to send angels for this ministry.  They serve Him in many ways, but not for this—not for casting the net that brings men into His kingdom.  For that, He has chosen only sinful men, like Peter.

You want an example? Years later, after Jesus died and rose again and ascended into heaven, there was a Gentile named Cornelius who worshiped the God of Israel, but had not completely embraced the Jewish faith; he was not circumcised.  And he didn’t know Jesus as the Christ.  God had mercy on him.  God wanted to catch Cornelius for His kingdom.  God even sent an angel to Cornelius’ house.  But for what purpose?  To preach the Word?  To cast the Gospel net and bring Cornelius into the kingdom of Christ?  No!  All the angel did was to point Cornelius to Peter—to send for Peter.  “He will tell you what you must do,” the angel said.  And then the angel was gone.  God directed Cornelius to the ministry of the Word.  That is how Jesus has chosen to go fishing for men.

So while the ministry of the Word has a humble role in God’s kingdom, it also has a vital role.  Christ has provided this ministry for His Church, and the Church is authorized to call ministers, in the name of Jesus, to cast the net of the Word, to cast it here within the Church and to cast it out into the world.  Have you sinned?  Do you need forgiveness?  God directs you here, to the ministry of the Word, where He will absolve you, he will speak forgiveness to you through your pastor and give you His body and blood.  Do you know a Christian who has distanced him or herself from the ministry of the Word?  Direct them back to it!  Do you know someone who may not be a Christian at all?  Then you are God’s angel, God’s messenger to direct them to the place where God has established His ministry.

This is Christ’s lasting gift to His Church and to the world.  This is how Christ has chosen to be present among us and working with us to grow His kingdom until He comes again.

Now, we may look out at the world, and at the immorality that surrounds us.  We may look at our culture as it changes and degenerates into Sodom and Gomorrah all around us.  We may look out at the world and despair.  Or just as bad, we may look out at our culture and imagine that we need to tweak something, either the message or the ministry of it, in order to “reach” the fish.  But we shouldn’t.  We dare not.  We need not.  There is only one net, and there is only one thing to do with it, and that’s cast it out into the darkness, into the deep, and trust in the power of the Gospel, the power of the Holy Spirit to catch men, where and when it pleases God.

As for us, we give thanks to God today for the ministry of the Word, the ministry by which He has caught us for eternal life, the ministry by which He will keep catching men until the nets are good and full.   And even if they don’t look full to us, remember, there is only one net.  It’s Peter’s net.  Not, Peter the man, but Peter as he represents the ministry of the Word.  One net, one ministry, one Holy Christian and apostolic Church, since the time of Christ and lasting until the end of the world.  When you understand that, when you understand our tiny place in that great and ongoing catch of fish, all you can do is stand back in awe as Jesus’ disciples did, and give humble thanks to God for His grace and mercy in establishing this ministry on earth, and among us.  Amen.

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