When Word and Water Come Together

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Sermon for the Baptism of Our Lord

Matthew 3:13-17  +  Isaiah 42:1-7  +  1 Corinthians 1:26-31

INTRODUCTION – WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE

Water, water, everywhere.  You wouldn’t know it by looking at it now, but last Sunday after church, those of you who remained for a few minutes saw water everywhere that it wasn’t supposed to be, pouring down from the ceiling of the fellowship hall, bursting through the ceiling tiles, drenching the carpet and the chairs and anyone who was standing too close.  It was just plain water, but if it had burst through that pipe just an hour later, plain water might have ruined our church building forever.

Plain water is powerful – to destroy and to sculpt and to sustain life. Where would we be without it?  But that’s nothing compared to what happens when the Word of God and water come together.

You remember how this universe began, don’t you?  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  All things were made through him. Without him nothing was made that has been made.”  You remember that those words refer to the Son of God, the eternal, creative Word from the Father.  

But do you remember this passage from 2 Peter? “Long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.”  Somehow – and we won’t know how until God reveals it to us in heaven – the Second Person of the Trinity, the Word of God brought water into existence and made this whole universe with it.  When Word and water came together, creation happened.

When Word and water came together at the time of Noah, the earth was destroyed, but Noah’s family was saved. When Word and water came together at the time of the Exodus, Egypt’s army was drowned, and God’s people Israel delivered.

In today’s Gospel for the First Sunday after Epiphany, Word and water came together again when Jesus appeared at the Jordan River to be baptized by John. If you read the first page of the service folder today, then you know what this Epiphany season is about: revelation after revelation, testimony after testimony that this man named Jesus is more than a man. He is God; He is the Christ; He is mankind’s Savior.  That’s exactly the testimony we’re given when Word and water came together for the Baptism of Our Lord.

JOHN TESTIFIES

First, John testifies:  For months he had been pointing people to the One who was coming, pointing to the One who comes after him, the thongs of whose sandals John was unworthy to untie. And suddenly, there is Jesus approaching John to be baptized.  Just a man, as far as everyone there could tell.  But John, Jesus’ cousin and a prophet of God, knew better.

John was dumbfounded. “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”  John tried to keep the Word and water from coming together, because John knew that this man standing in front of him was greater than he, far greater, infinitely greater.  For as great a prophet as John was, John knew that he was a sinner who needed his own sins washed away – the only way to enter God’s kingdom.  John knew that this man standing in front of him had no need to repent and have his sins washed away in baptism, because he had no sin.  And yet all men have sin, because all are born in it and steeped in it.  All men need to repent of their sin and receive God’s forgiveness in the place where God offers it.  All except this one man, Jesus, because – the point of Epiphany – Jesus is God.

JESUS TESTIFIES

But the Word was determined to come together with water.  His own testimony reveals him as the Savior-God. “Let it be so now,” Jesus told him. “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”  Now, you have to understand about this word “righteousness.”  It’s a big word in the Bible.  It means perfection.  It means sinlessness.  It means justification – an innocent verdict in God’s courtroom.  It doesn’t come in degrees.  Either you have it or you don’t.  Either you’re righteous in God’s sight or you’re unrighteous, and to be righteous, you need a perfect record, a clean slate. Anything short of that brands a person as unrighteous.

The question is, whose righteousness was Jesus fulfilling when the Word came together with water? His own or someone else’s?  The answer is, Yes!  Under the law – God’s requirements for mankind – righteousness belongs to the person who has perfectly kept God’s requirements.  It comes from me; it comes from you. Or it would, if it could. But it can’t, so it doesn’t. Because God’s law accuses you – always, from the motives of your heart to the words that fall from your lips to your actions to your inaction. God’s law accuses you of loving him less than you ought, and of looking out for yourself more than you ought. You have no righteousness of your own, only condemnation.

And no man – even a perfect man – can offer you his righteousness, unless that man is more than a man, unless that man is God.  By coming together with water, the Word – Jesus – numbered himself with sinners, though he was sinless, and formally volunteered to fulfill all righteousness so that now, sinners have an alternate source of righteousness, a righteousness that doesn’t come by what you do, but by what he does, a righteousness that comes to you, not by doing, but by believing.

And you can’t combine the two.  You can’t offer God your righteousness plus the righteousness of Jesus. It’s either/or.  He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness, not some, not a little bit, not whatever you weren’t able to fulfill on your own.  Either you claim your own righteousness before God or you claim his.  Try to claim both (which is one of the main problems with Roman Catholic theology) and Jesus walks away and leaves you alone.

And that’s what repentance is really all about.  To mourn over your sinful record and to rejoice over Christ’s record of righteousness fulfilled in your place.  Here’s how Paul talked about it in our Second Lesson today, Christ Jesus has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  That’s what he became for us – our divinely appointed Substitute – when Word and water came together.

THE SPIRIT TESTIFIES

When Word and water came together, the Holy Spirit, too, was there, testifying to Jesus’ divinity and his mission of stepping in as the Sub for mankind.  With water still dripping from his clothes and his hair, Jesus went up out of the water. [And] heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.  Silent testimony from the Spirit, not a word spoken.  But there was no need, because he the Spirit of God had inspired all the words of the Old Testament that prophesied the coming of this Servant of God, as you heard in the First Lesson today: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.”

The Spirit is always there when Word and water come together.  He was there at the Red Sea in Egypt, the breath of God blowing over the waters to drown Egypt and to save Israel.  He was there at the time of Noah, the breath of God blowing over the water-covered earth to make it habitable again for man.

And why the form of a dove?  Again, it takes us back to the beginning, back to the creation when Word and water first came together, and “darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”  And God spoke his Word, “Let there be light! And there was light.”  So Isaiah said of Christ, “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”

And so, when Word and water come together, there is the Spirit testifying with words inspired long ago, through every prophet, through every apostle, through ever pastor, through every Christian and at every baptism, “Jesus is the one – who does it all, who gets it right, who is worthy to take the place of all men, because he is more than a man.  He is the Son of God and the Son of Man. Trust in him and you will be saved!”

THE FATHER TESTIFIES

And the Father testifies, too, when Word and water come together.  A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  People are foolish who believe that there is salvation apart from faith in Christ, who believe they can be acceptable to God apart from faith in his Son.  This is my Son, God says. Not this one over here or that one over there.  This one.  Jesus.  He is the one I love.  Not this one over here or that one over there.  He is the one with whom I am well pleased.  Don’t even think of approaching me except through my Son, whom I love, with whom I am well-pleased, because I won’t hear you; I won’t help you; I won’t forgive you; I won’t save you.

Ah, but for the one who trusts in the Father’s beloved, well-pleasing Son, there is only grace and mercy and forgiveness all the time. Because Word and water came together when blood and water flowed from the pierced side of the Word when he died on the cross, and the sins of mankind were paid for. Even then the Spirit was there and the Father was there to raise him from the dead on the third day. And now his life covers all those who have been covered with him…when Word and water come together.

THE TRIUNE GOD STILL TESTIFIES

And now we come full circle to the moment when Word and water come together in Holy Baptism.  When Word and water come together, there is the Triune God testifying, “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  When you were baptized into the name of this God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – you joined the Word in the water, you took on the righteousness of Christ.  What he is, you are!  This is your entrance into Paradise.  This is your escape from death and the grave.  The Word was there in that washing with water through the Word, as Ephesians 5 puts it.  The Spirit was there in that washing of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit, as Titus 3 puts it.  And the Father was there, claiming you as his own child, whom he loves, with whom he is well-pleased – not for your sake, but for the sake of Christ.  This one is baptized into Christ – see, this is now a new creation, a tiny bit of humanity rescued from the dying world, a redeemed Israel.  This one has fulfilled all righteousness.  This one’s sins are forgiven.  This one is mine! And the devil can’t have him, and the world will never snatch her out of my hand.

If you would only believe this, what comfort would accompany you every single day, and what strength.  What is trouble?  What is affliction?  What is old age?  What are the attractions of this world that hold your attention?  God isn’t joking about the power of Word and water together. Christ was baptized into you so that you might be baptized into him.  Your death became his death and his life became your life.  This is why you who believe in him will never die, because he never dies – not anymore, not ever again.  Word and water came together, and new life was born, life that is still sustained through Word and water once poured, through Word and Sacrament still administered, until the moment you fall asleep in him and wake up with him in heaven.  Treasure your baptism and the Baptism of Our Lord, where Word and water came together. Plain water can do great things, but when Word and water come together, then eternal life begins.  And where would we be without it?

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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The Rest of the Christmas Story

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Sermon for the Second Sunday after Christmas

Matthew 2:13-23  +  Genesis 46:1-7  +  1 Peter 4:12-19

I wonder what you would say if I asked you where the Christmas story begins and ends. Most people would probably say it begins in Bethlehem, although, you might say that it really began in Nazareth, the hometown of Joseph and Mary, and really, way back in the Garden of Eden.  But we’ll accept “Bethlehem” as an answer for now.  Where does it end?  Where do Christmas pageants usually end?   With the story of the Magi, right?

Most people skip right over the day of Jesus’ circumcision, one week after he was born, when he received his proper name: Jesus – Savior.  Most people also skip over the story of Simeon and Ana meeting Jesus in Jerusalem’s temple. But most people do know about the Magi who followed the star to Judea, to Jerusalem, and finally to Bethlehem where they presented Jesus with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

And that…is where the story ends for most people, with the visit of the Magi, a nice happy ending to the Christmas story. Once the Magi come, the Christmas story is over and it’s time to wrap Christmas up, tuck it away in a box and store it away again until next year.  But the story doesn’t end there, does it?  The plot thickens and the drama darkens into a gory suspense thriller, the one you heard in today’s Gospel.  You might like to close the book on the Christmas story with the visit of the Magi, but God wants you to know the whole truth and to learn from it.  God wants you to know The Rest of the Christmas Story.

THE KING IS FORCED TO FLEE

As soon as those Magi presented their gifts to the newborn king of the Jews and headed back to their own country – without informing Herod about Jesus’ whereabouts –, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and warned him to take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.  “Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

And all the wonder of angels singing on Christmas Eve is suddenly replaced by terror as another angel brings the terrifying news that, even as a tiny baby, Jesus’ life was in danger. Satan and his ally, the world, would always have a target on his back.  His was no cushy, comfortable life.

So dependable Joseph took his family and ran for his life – or rather, ran for his son’s life to the foreign country of Egypt. They stayed there in Egypt for probably about four years, until Herod died. And St. Matthew says that that escape to Egypt and back was not a coincidence.  He says it meant something: And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”  That prophet was the prophet Hosea, and here’s the whole verse from Hosea chapter 11, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”

You heard in the First Lesson today how Israel – that is, Jacob – was in danger in the land of Canaan because of a severe famine there, and how he was told by God to go down to Egypt, how he would be cared for there by Joseph, and be brought back out of Egypt again one day.

Well, of course, it was four hundred years later when Israel, now a nation numbering over a million people, was called by God out of Egypt, led by their deliverer, Moses. So, in part, Hosea was referring to the Exodus when he wrote that God loved Israel, and called his son out of Egypt. But Matthew says that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of that prophecy, that Jesus is the true Israel – the Son of God who would get everything right where Israel – and you and I – got everything wrong.

That’s crystal clear in the next verse from Hosea 11, “But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images.”  The nation of Israel was a rebellious, sinful son to God, and so Israel needed a replacement – a Substitute, a perfect Representative, an ideal Israel to be the sinless son they never were.

And so Christ stepped into Israel’s flesh and was born of Israel. And he stepped under Israel’s law when he was circumcised, to redeem those under the law that we might receive the full rights of sons.  He suffered persecution as Israel had suffered persecution at the hands of his brother Esau and his uncle Laban. He fled from danger to Egypt as Israel had fled from danger to Egypt. And one day he would suffer God’s wrath, “Israel” pinned to a cross by Israel, so that the people of Israel might stop trusting in their sinful heritage and trust instead in him who was both their heritage and their inheritance.

But as Israel was saved from slavery in Egypt, so Christ was saved from death and was raised again.  Christ’s humiliation and his suffering and his resurrection as Israel’s Substitute mean salvation for all who mourn over their sins and trust in him to be their Representative before God. Whether you are Jew or Gentile, if you are baptized into Christ, then you are baptized into the perfect Israel, and God declares you righteous by faith in him. All of that is still part of the Christmas story.

A KING WHOSE SUBJECTS ARE SLAUGHTERED

Then there’s that horrendous, unspeakable murder scene that mars the Christmas story.  I reminded you of it last week, the martyrdom of the Holy Innocents.  When Herod went on his murderous rampage and “gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.” This, too, says St. Matthew, was in fulfillment of prophecy – not instigated by God – it was Herod’s wickedness that did it. But part of God’s plan of salvation.

Can this really be part of the Christmas story – this slaughter of the innocent boys of Bethlehem just because Christ had been born there?  It can.  It is.  God would have us know right from the beginning of Jesus’ life that yes, he is a Savior, yes, he is a King – but his is no earthly kingdom.  He did not come to give his people a safe, happy, healthy, long life on this earth.  He did not come into this world to strike down the wicked, like King Herod, or to thwart all their murderous plots.  He will do that one day.  But that’s not what the Christmas story is about.

The Christmas story is about Christ joining his human brothers in our suffering, so that by his suffering, he might earn forgiveness of sins and eternal life for all his human brothers.  He has become the Head of the body, his Church.  Because the body suffers, the Head suffers.  And now, because the Head was persecuted, the body should expect to be persecuted, too.  This is how closely we are bound to Christ. The pattern has been set since the very first Christmas: Christ suffers for being Christ, Christians suffer for their connection to him.

Who except for God knows what you will suffer in this New Year for following Christ?  Be prepared for it now so that you don’t shrink back from it, and so that it doesn’t take you by surprise. As Peter said in the Second Lesson today, Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

There is comfort for those who suffer for the name of Christ, even for those families in Bethlehem who had their children viciously murdered.  If our goal for our children is a long, happy life on earth, then there is no comfort for the families of Bethlehem.  But if our goal for our children is that they be spared from evil on this earth and kept in the faith until death and spend a blessed eternity with our Father in heaven, then those little children of Bethlehem reached their goal.  They, like Jesus, had been circumcised and brought into God’s covenant with Israel – his covenant of grace and forgiveness and everlasting life.  If Jesus had been killed, then their lives would have ended in tragedy.  But because Jesus lived, because his life was saved so that he could complete his saving mission, their lives didn’t actually end at all.  Because he lives, they, too, will live.  The prophet Isaiah says, “The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart…no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.”

That’s not enough for the world.  It’s not enough for our sinful flesh, either.  But it’s more than enough for faith to cling to.  It’s part of the Christmas story, after all.

A KING WHO IS HIDDEN AWAY IN NAZARETH

And the final part of the Christmas story, the very last thing we hear about the little child Jesus until he’s twelve years old: After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” God kept his word to Joseph to keep them safe in Egypt and to bring them back safely to the land of Israel.  God kept his Son safe, and with him, the hope of all who would trust in him was kept safe, too.

But Joseph was still a little concerned.  He set out for Israel, but was worried about returning to Bethlehem or Jerusalem because Herod’s son was ruling in Judea. So God directed him – again in a dream – to take Jesus to Nazareth (in northern Israel) and raise him there.  But that, too, was no accident.  St. Matthew says that So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Now, there’s no Old Testament passage that puts it in those words, “He will be called a Nazarene.” But several of the prophets, starting with Isaiah, referred to the coming Messiah as a Branch, a “Nezer,” in Hebrew – a Branch from the stump of Jesse (King David’s father), a righteous Branch whom God promised to raise up to David to save his people.  As part of his divine poetry, God made sure that Jesus would not only be the Branch, but that for the rest of his childhood and throughout his adult life, Jesus would be known by everyone as Jesus of Nazareth. Just as the name “Jesus,” given to him on the day of his circumcision was given to him for a reason, so was this name “of Nazareth.”  Every prophecy was fulfilled.

And so it all ties together.  The one whom the Magi came to worship as the King of the Jews, born in Bethlehem, the city of David, would one day have a sign nailed above him on a cross, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”  Few, if any, made the connections at the time between Jesus and the Old Testament prophecies.  But that’s why the holy apostles, like St. Matthew, wrote their Gospels – to make the connections for us as he does three times in our Gospel, to tell us the rest of the Christmas story.  There’s so much more than meets the eye to Jesus, and so much more for us to study and keep learning year after year after year.

In this new year, may God strengthen you in every trial and tribulation, knowing that your Savior suffered with you and for you and promises to support you all the way into his heavenly kingdom. And may you take advantage of every opportunity to be strengthened by the Means of Grace, to serve Christ and his people, and to grow in your knowledge of the entire story of Christmas.  Amen.

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Stephen Shows Us the Consequences of Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Sermon for the Feast of St. Stephen, December 26th

Acts 6:8 – 7:2a, 51-60  +  2 Chronicles 24:17-22  +  Matthew 23:34-39

Merry Christmas, everyone!  And a very blessed Feast of St. Stephen to you as well.  I know it’s probably a first for most of you, to celebrate this day. It’s a first for me, too.  I always thought it was strange to talk about St. Stephen on December 26th, the day after Christmas. I always wondered why I saw it there on my calendar of the church year.  What does martyrdom have to do with Christmas? What does red have to do with white?

And then I remembered, lots of blood has been shed over Christmas.  The Virgin Mary herself certainly shed her blood in giving birth to her firstborn son.  Blood was shed one week after Jesus was born when he was circumcised according to the Law of Moses.  And let us not forget all the blood that was shed when King Herod learned that the King of the Jews had been born and ordered the slaughter of the baby boys of Bethlehem.  The remembrance of that holocaust is also on the church calendar – the martyrdom of the Holy Innocents – December 28th.

The fact is, Christmas is about love and joy and peace, but Christmas also has consequences, and no one exemplifies that for us better than Stephen.  Stephen shows us the consequences of Christmas.

What does a person do who believes that the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us?  In other words, what does a person do who believes that Christmas is true? For Stephen, it meant devoting himself to the apostles’ teaching in Jerusalem and learning the Holy Scriptures better and better. It meant that his Old Testament Jewish faith made the seamless transition to a New Testament Christian faith as he was led to believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah – born of a virgin, just like Isaiah had prophesied.

Stephen, as Acts tells us, was a man full of grace and power, full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit.  He was one of seven devout men who were chosen to be ministers, deacons in the Jerusalem church, to help with the distribution of food to the believing widows.

Stephen’s vocation was that of a layman; the apostles preached in the assembly of believers, not Stephen. But as Stephen went out and mingled among the people of Jerusalem and in the temple, he was not silent.  As a consequence of his faith in the Christ, born in Bethlehem, Stephen spoke publicly to everyone as he had opportunity.  He spoke of Christ as the fulfillment of the law. He spoke of faith in Christ as that alone which saves.

But just as Herod persecuted the babies of Bethlehem who dared to be born at Christmas time, the Jews in Jerusalem persecuted Stephen for believing in Christ.  They challenged his witness of Christ. “He’s speaking against the temple!  He’s speaking against Moses!  He’s condemning good works!”  People pervert our message the same way today.  “Those Lutherans say that a person is saved by faith alone!  They’re forbidding good works!”  The first part is right, the second part is wrong. We don’t forbid good works.  Neither did Stephen.  Just look at all the good works Stephen did in the process of preaching salvation by faith alone in Christ!  But we do teach, as Stephen taught, that no works are good apart from faith in Christ, and that faith alone – apart from works – is what makes us right with God.  Where there is faith in abundance, faith in the Christ of Christmas, there are also fruits of faith in abundance, consequences of Christmas.  But the fruits don’t save.  Christ saves, through faith alone.

But these Jews would have none of it.  They dragged Stephen off to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish court, and they falsely accused him and questioned him.  Now, we didn’t even read most of chapter 7.  Stephen retells a long portion of Old Testament history – see how well he knew the Scriptures! – and this theme repeats over and over: God gave our forefathers every gift of grace, but they always ended up persecuting the very prophets who were sent to deliver them.  Jesus said the same thing in today’s Gospel: from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah – whose murder you heard about in the First Lesson today.  To the blood of Christ himself, murdered on a cross.

As a consequence of Christmas, because Stephen believed that the Word had become flesh, he had to speak up – out of love for God and for his fellow men who were steeped in sin and impenitence and unbelief- You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.

Sometimes – sometimes, when people hear the hard truth about their sin, they repent of it. They realize the horrible crimes they’ve committed and are crushed with sorrow, like the people of Jerusalem to whom Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost.  But sometimes – I’d have to say most of the time, the preaching of the law produces anger. “Who do you think you are? How dare you call me a sinner!” Sometimes it produces absolute rage, as it did in the case of the Sanhedrin with Stephen.  When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.

And then, both to strengthen his servant Stephen and to further enrage the Sanhedrin, Jesus gave Stephen a vision, a vision that assured him: the Son of Man, the Word made flesh, has indeed risen from the dead and is ruling even now at the right hand of God, in the heaven that is prepared to receive you now, Stephen.  Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid!

And, as a consequence of Christmas, he wasn’t afraid, because the Word had become flesh, our human brother, and had taken Stephen’s sins and ours to the cross and paid for them there and had opened heaven’s doors to all who believe in Him.  Even as they dragged Stephen out and began to stone him to death, Stephen prayed two perfect prayers, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”  When he had said this, he fell asleep.

How could they hate Stephen so? How could they think they were serving God by stoning this man to death? That’s one of the consequences of Christmas.  “The light came into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”  The message of Christmas – that God has come into the world as man, that man’s works cannot save, that salvation is found in Christ alone – that message stings man’s pride. That message divides people.  “Do not think I have come to bring peace to the world,” Jesus told his disciples.  “Not peace, but a sword.”  God sends prophets and teachers and wise men, and the world persecutes and mocks and kills them.

It must be this way, Jesus said.  Not by God’s design, but by man’s choice. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.  It must be this way, because the majority of the world will always be unwilling to receive the Christ of Christmas.  They’ll tolerate a tiny little baby and the story of some shepherds and wise men.  But they won’t tolerate it when we claim that that baby is the Almighty God in whom alone is salvation.

So, you see what a momentous event has taken place here today.  A tiny baby has been baptized into the Christ of Christmas, and there’s nothing cute about that.  There will be consequences for it.  Sophia has now been clothed with the white robe of righteousness of Christ.  But Sophia has now also been brought into the blood-red war – the war in which the Son of God rides out with the two-edged sword that comes from his mouth, the word of law and gospel, of condemnation and grace.  And the world fights back, not with words, but with swords and stones and chains and death.  Blood marks the way of the Christian, just as blood marked the way of the Christ.

But see how confidently Stephen faced his death!  See what love still flowed from his lips!  How could Stephen pray for those who hated him so and who hated his Savior, too?  That was a consequence of Christmas. Because Christ was not born to save good men, but the most wicked of men.  The Lord Jesus also prayed for those who nailed him to the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  And the grace of the Lord Jesus spilled over into Stephen’s heart, praying for the deliverance of his enemies, praying that they might be brought to repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins, just as he had been.

Then Stephen fell asleep.  What beautiful words the Scriptures now use to describe the death of the saints.  “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said. “If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”  If we remain steadfast in the truth of Christmas, if we follow in the footsteps and the witness of Stephen, then as a consequence, death becomes a sleep for us, too.

Don’t be fooled with the rest of the world into believing that Christmas is about snowy white fields and picture postcard manger scenes.  Red is mixed with white at Christmas, as blood is mixed with snow. Christmas has consequences, and if you would celebrate Christmas rightly, then you must know the consequences and be prepared for them.  Learn from Stephen and imitate his faith! Truly, Stephen shows us the consequences of Christmas with his martyrdom: faith, humble service, love for God and for men, patience, boldness, courage, confidence in the face of death, and mercy in the face of persecution – those are the consequences in the believer.  The shedding of blood at the hands of an angry world – that is the very real consequence for the believer.  If you believe the Christmas story and live your faith, then you are marked for death.

But, you know what the name “Stephen” means?  It’s the Greek word for “crown.” How fitting!  “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”  That, too, is the consequence of Christmas, and God’s gift to you who believe. A blessed Feast of St. Stephen to you all, and a very Merry Christmas! Amen.

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The Simple, Saving Truth of Christmas

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Sermon for Christmas Day

John 1:1-14  +  Exodus 40:17-21, 34-38  +  Titus 3:4-7

You just confessed a few moments ago your faith in some of the key portions of the Athanasian Creed. And at the end of it you said, “This is the true Christian faith.”

Do you realize, my brothers and sisters in Christ, that you are in a minority? You’re in a minority because the vast majority of people in the world stayed home today and didn’t venture out to a Christmas service on a Saturday morning of all days.  But much more than that, you’re in a minority because you know and confess the true Christian faith, which means that you know why Christmas matters.  You know why today is a day of joy to the world. You believe in something that the vast majority of the world rejects.  You know and believe in The Simple, Saving Truth of Christmas.

The simple, saving truth of Christmas is summarized beautifully in our Gospel from the first chapter of St. John’s Gospel. John uses lofty language to teach these simple truths:  Christ is true God and true man, who has created all things, and has been given to man as Life and Light, although only a few of all those to whom he is revealed receive him.  This is what John would have us know and believe about the child whom Mary laid in a manger.

First, that Christ is true God.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  All sorts of false teachings have arisen about Christ.  Some have said that he was the first thing God created. Some have said that he didn’t even exist before he was born of Mary.  Some have said that Christ and the Father are just different names for the same divine Person.  Some have said that Christ was the first spirit-child of a God who was once a man.

But all we have to do is pay attention to what John says. In the beginning, the Word was.  Not “he was created,” not “he came into existence.” He was. The Word was. If he was already in existence at the beginning of creation, then he had no beginning and is not part of the creation, and therefore, he is God, because there is God and there is the creation of God.  There is nothing else.

The Word was with God and the Word was God.  John would have us understand the unique relationship between God the Word and God the Father. The Father exists of himself.  The Word is spoken from the Father’s heart and has his existence from the Father, just as a human word comes from the heart of a speaker and has its existence from the speaker. Now, we human beings have new thoughts, new ideas, new desires, new feelings all the time.  We learn things, we change our minds. God, however, is eternal and changeless and the Father’s thoughts are eternal and changeless, so the Word from the Father is eternal and changeless, and is the exact representation of the Father’s being.

So the Person of the Word of God is true God, and yet not the same Person as the Father – or as the Holy Spirit.  That’s absolutely impossible to comprehend, but it’s the simple truth taught by the Scriptures. Christ, the Word, is true God.  Anyone who denies that Christ is true God denies the true God and cannot be saved.

A second simple, saving truth of Christmas:  Christ has created all things.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  John would have us recall what Moses wrote in Genesis chapter 1.  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  How?  By his Word. God said, God said, God said. It doesn’t say that in the beginning God created the Word through whom he created everything else.  Instead, it says that God said, and his saying, his Word, created all things.

So the Person of the Word of God is responsible for the existence of all things visible and invisible.  He is the Creator God – in whom, as Paul says, we live and move and have our being. Anyone who denies that Christ is the creator of all things denies the source of all things and cannot be saved.

Third, John teaches very simply and very plainly that Christ is true man.  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  As the Word, as the Son of God, the Person of Christ has no beginning, but was there already in the beginning.  But the miracle of Christmas is that the eternal, uncreated Word of God became “incarnate,” that is, he joined himself inseparably to human flesh of his own creation so that in Christ, God is Man and Man is God.  Whoever denies that Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate – true man – denies the Christ of the Scriptures and cannot be saved.

Fourth, John teaches very simply and very plainly that this God-Man, the Creator of all joined to his creation in the Person of Christ, has been given to man as Life and Light.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.  Because of our sin, all was death, all was darkness and despair.  But in the God-Man, born in Bethlehem, in the 33 years he spent on the earth, in his life, in his death, in his resurrection – there was life and there was light.  John the Baptist testified to that light. There was God the Lamb of God earning life for sinful man. There was God revealing the light of grace to a world in darkness. Only in Christ was there life and light, only in that man who made his dwelling among us for 33 years.

But as St. John says, the light still shines in the darkness and life is still given to men in the preaching of the gospel, in the Holy Scriptures, in the Sacraments, through his ministers, Christ comes and reveals his life and his light.  Even now, as we contemplate the mystery of the incarnation – the simple, saving truth of Christmas – there is life in these words, and light is shining in the darkness.  In Baptism, Christ truly comes with his life and his light.  In the Holy Supper, Christ truly comes with his flesh and blood, born in Bethlehem, to give life and light to sinful men.

Apart from Christ, all is darkness and death.  But John teaches the simple, saving truth that Christ has been given to man as life and light.  Only there. Only in him.  Whoever denies that simple truth cannot be saved.

And sadly, that includes most of the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  The Word became flesh to reveal the love and the grace of God to the whole world of men, but men loved darkness rather than light.  The world still loves darkness rather than light, still wants to wallow in sin, still wants to earn its own way to salvation.  To receive Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem as the eternal Word of God now incarnate, to receive Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, as the only life and light of men – the world is unwilling.

And you were part of the world, too, lost in darkness and death, but here you are, gathered together on Christmas Day, believing the simple, saving truth of Christmas, receiving the Christ child for who he is: true God, true man, who created all things, who has been given to man as life and light.  To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  Marvel at God’s grace, sing joy to the world, for the Lord is come and his gospel has taken you who were once unwilling and made you willing to receive the Word of God incarnate, to know him and to trust in him, and so to be saved by him.

This is the simple, saving truth of Christmas. Wouldn’t it be a happier time of year if everyone knew it – and if we all remembered it?  The truth is, Christmas is not about presents and trees!  And it’s not about family or friends or a job or health or money or a meal.  Whether you have those things or whether you don’t have them, Christmas remains the same for all:  it’s about the true God who was born as a true man – the creator of all things, who has been given forever to all men as life and light.  If you know him as St. John reveals him, then you are in a minority, but it’s a blessed minority, because you have Christ, and in Christ you have all things – even forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation. Give thanks to God on this Christmas Day, and rejoice in the simple, saving truth of Christmas. Amen.

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Songs of Advent – The Song of the Angels

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Sermon for Christmas Eve

+  Luke 2:14  +

As you heard a moment ago from the writer to the Hebrews, When God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”  And they did.  First, one of them announced to the shepherds the greatest good news this earth has ever heard: “Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord.”  Then “a great company of the heavenly host” joined the angel – a great company, maybe hundreds, maybe thousands, maybe ten thousand times ten thousand like the company of angels who appeared to the prophet Daniel or to the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation. And they sang this glorious Song at the Advent of Christ:

Reading from the NKJV, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Glory to God in the highest – it’s ironic that the holy angels sing this song when God humbled himself to be born as a man, because it was man way back in the Garden of Eden who usurped God’s glory for himself. And we’ve been doing it ever since.  Not glory to God, but “glory to me in the highest.”  That has become mankind’s song, a song we learned from the devil himself.

Glory to me – what I want, what I crave, what I like, what I dislike, my comfort, my happiness, my reputation, my good deeds – this has become the mantra of man, whether we’re bold enough to say it out loud or whether we just act on our self-gratifying, self-glorifying desires.  Glory to me in the highest, and glory to God, as long as he does what I think he should do and says what I think he should say.

But the angels get it right on Christmas Eve. Glory to God in the highest, because, in his righteousness, he did not let mankind’s sins go unpunished, but has sent his Son into the world to take our sin upon himself.  Glory to God in the highest, because God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. Glory to God in the highest, because God, in Christ, has condescended to the lowest, taking on the form of a servant, being made in human likeness.  As usual, God’s glory is in his humility.

For thousands of years the holy angels have watched in sadness as men are born, only to die – the tragic result of our own unholiness.  And now they marvel as their Maker becomes man and is born of man, born to live a short life on the earth – 33 years or so – and then die, as all men die – except for one thing.  This one didn’t have to.  This one had no sin. This innocent child, born in Bethlehem, would die only by his own choice as the innocent Substitute for sinful men – to give to us mortals the eternal life that is only his to give.

God has taken all his glory and wrapped it up in one place, so that now, apart from Christ, there is no glory, there is no salvation.  In him alone God’s glory is to be sought and found.  Through faith in him alone God’s glory is sung.

And so the angels sing in joyful celebration of the righteousness and the grace of God in the birth of Christ, born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem, wrapped in strips of cloth, placed in a manger.  “There is your God,” the angels tell the shepherds, “and ours.  There is your Savior – yours alone, O sons of earth, not ours, for he was not born to the race of angels, but to the race of men. He is Christ – the Lord! Glory to God in the highest!

“And on earth, peace.”  Really?  Where?  Not in the Koreas.  Not in the Middle East.  Not in Juarez or the rest of Mexico, for that matter.  Not in the streets and the barrios of the United States.  Not in every home, either.  Or were the angels just singing about their wish for the earth and not what really is?

No, the angels get it right again.  On earth, peace!  Isn’t that what Isaiah said, too?  “To us a child is born, to us a Son is given…and his name shall be called Prince of Peace… Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.”  “Peace came to earth at last that chosen night,” so we’ll sing in just a moment.  Peace was born – a real end of hostilities between God and man, because now God is man, which makes Christ the perfect Mediator between God and man.  Outside of Christ, apart from him, there is no peace.  But for all who trust in his peacemaking mission, heaven is open! God is reconciled in this child who has been born.

He also gives the peace of love between angels and people.  Listen to them sing, “And on earth, peace!”  Now reconciled to God through Christ, we are reconciled also to his holy angels, our dearest friends and protectors.  Now reconciled to God through Christ, we have peace on earth even with fellow believers.  And why not? We fight with one another when one has something the other doesn’t have. But God makes it simple. He takes our own righteousness away from every single one of us so that we see: all of us alike have nothing. We come to the table with nothing, nothing but sin and shame. But Christ is born to each of us alike – not more for one or less for another. All who trust in him are covered equally with his righteousness. There is no more reason for hostilities among us, no more reason for boasting or for pride, for we are nothing. Christ is everything. There is peace on earth among those who trust in Him.

Peace on earth, the angels sing, and urge all men to receive God’s Christmas gift of peace in his Son.

Goodwill toward men.  The angels get it right.  Outside of Christ, God is pleased with no man.  But God’s goodwill extends toward all mankind when he gives his Son to all and says, “Here!  Here is peace!  Here is love and joy!  Here is my goodwill, not my anger or wrath or punishment! Only Fatherly care and forgiveness!  Look here, in the manger. See my goodwill toward you!  Repent of your sin and believe the good news that my herald angels have sung to you!”

Now, I ask you, if God’s holy angels sing for such joy at the birth of Christ, how much more reason do we have to sing for joy? The Son of God was not made an angel, not made one of them.  He was made man, made one of us.  The Son of God did not enter his creation to redeem angels from their sin. They have no sin.  He entered his creation to redeem fallen mankind – for us men and for our salvation. No angel can claim the Son of God as his brother.  But we can! You can!

And so the Church sings this Song of Advent very often, almost every Sunday and sometimes in between. A song sung once by angels to shepherds out in the fields, this song has been sung by the saints of God – by believers in Christ for nearly two thousand years – Gloria in Excelsis, Glory be to God on high, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. We praise you, we bless you, we worship you, we glorify you, we give thanks to you for your great glory, O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty, and so on and so on and so on.  We’ll sing it tomorrow morning, in its regular place in the liturgy – but now with even greater understanding, with even deeper joy.  With joy in our hearts we’ve sung this song tonight many times, and we’ll go on singing it forever, this song of Advent, the song of the angels, the song of Christmas.  Amen.

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