Sermon for Pentecost 6: "Faithful Generosity" (2 Corinthians 8:1-9, 13-15)

LISTEN

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

“I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine” (2 Corinthians 8:8).

 

I would like to describe two Christian congregations to you.

 

The first congregation lived in poverty. They paid high taxes and had only few jobs. Most in this congregation had very little to live on. On top of that, this congregation experienced extreme persecution. This congregation was not welcomed in its own city, as their members experienced unemployment, exclusion, and physical beatings for their faith.

 

This congregation would appear to be a prime candidate for another congregation’s help. But there, you’d be wrong. Despite poverty, exclusion from society, and beatings, this congregation gave generously. This congregation gave more than they could afford. They gave joyfully. They gave generously. They gave to fellow Christians they had never met and likely would never see.

 

Now, I’d like to describe to you another congregation. This congregation had members who had financial resources and were well known in the community. This congregation began a collection for another congregation in need about a year earlier. This congregation had a plan. They set aside money every week so that they would meet their financial goal to assist their sister congregation.

 

This second congregation sounds like a place that would have members who would be generous. But there, you’d be wrong. This congregation had fallen behind in their collection. They had slacked off. Their giving became irregular and then petered out. 

 

The poverty-stricken congregation gave generously, more than they could. The wealthier congregation failed in this act of grace; they slacked off.

 

Both of these congregations were very real. That first congregation is simply called “the Macedonians.” Since there is no “Epistle to the Macedonians,” who are they? Believe me, you have heard of them. 

The Macedonian congregations were located in Philippi and Thessalonica. St. Paul wrote of their faith and example in his epistles. The second congregation is the Church in Corinth.

 

Today, on this Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, St. Paul encourages the Corinthian Church toward generosity. So, in his plea for generosity, Paul is holding up the Philippians and Thessalonians as examples to the Corinthians.

 

Again, these churches in Macedonia were not wealthy. Yet, from the depths of their poverty, they overflowed in an abundance of generosity toward others in need. Plus, these Macedonian congregations were adamant about generosity. They begged Paul so that they could participate in the grace and fellowship of helping others in need.

 

Meanwhile, the Corinthian Church, which was financially well by earthly standards needed to be persuaded to assist their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who were in need. Now, Paul is very careful about this. Paul isn’t commanding and demanding the Corinthians to give. Rather, Paul is flattering the Corinthians as he says that they excel in many things and that they should also excel in generosity. So, using the Macedonian congregations as an example, St. Paul is attempting to persuade the Corinthians toward generosity. 

 

Generosity and stinginess – or “tightfistedness” – are not determined by how much wealth a person has. Generosity is a matter of the heart, a matter of trust, a matter of faith. So, St. Paul seeks to open the hearts of the Corinthians to trust in God more than in their earthly wealth, to trust in their Lord more than what’s in their bank accounts.

 

Congregations like the Macedonians and the Corinthians also exist today. 

 

Some are like the Macedonians. They want to give. They want to help. They can’t be held back from generosity. Other congregations are stingy. They are selfish. They can’t be persuaded toward generosity despite being abundantly wealthy.

 

But these aren’t the only types of congregations. There are also congregations that exist in the middle. They wish they could increase giving, but when the opportunity comes to increase giving, their minds turn to something else – a home remodel, a new car, or a dream vacation. 

 

Now, there is nothing sinful with remodeling a home, a new car, or a dream vacation, but more often than we may be willing to admit, these things that serve our own desires are quicker to reach our minds and hearts than the needs of others. Sin has us curved in upon ourselves. Sin leads us to give our scraps, rather than our first fruits to the church. This had happened to the Corinthian church, and St. Paul was encouraging them to bend away from their own self-interests and toward God and their neighbor.

 

Today, too many congregations struggle with unmet commitments, budget shortfalls, and lack of financial support. To this, St. Paul would say, “If you’re not giving generously each week, something has gone awry.”

 

Now, bending away from our own self-interests is not a painless endeavor. It requires sacrifice. It requires denying oneself.

 

Generous givers are not born that way. Generous giving is an attitude of being “reborn.” It is the salvation in Christ that inspires the sinner to a new life of service that includes unselfish, generous giving.

 

The Macedonians were not pressured into giving. It was out of “their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty [that they] overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part” (2 Corinthians 8:2).  They begged Paul to take part (2 Corinthians 8:4).

 

The Macedonians considered it a privilege, a gift of God’s grace, that they could be part of this offering. They saw this sharing of generosity as Christian fellowship. They saw this giving as a display of Christian unity.  These Macedonian Christians were expressing their fellowship, their unity in Christ, with their brothers and sisters in Christ through this offering.

 

For Paul, these Macedonians served as a great example and model for the Corinthian Church. However, Paul’s emphasis is not on the amount of giving, but on their attitude, an attitude that looks up on giving as a privilege, an attitude that says, “I give myself, and that includes my offerings, as a thank offering to my Lord who gave Himself first for me.” That, St. Paul says, is an example worth emulating.

 

So, what should we do here at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church? Should we post financial giving statements on a church bulletin board to encourage each other to give more? No! That is not an example of generous giving. That only serves to puff up some and hurt others. 

 

Thanks be to God that we have both an example to follow and a Redeemer to save us from our sins of selfishness and stinginess: Jesus Christ. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Just think about that!

 

Jesus left the riches and glories of heaven to come down to earth. Jesus emptied Himself and took on our human form. And He didn’t live in any royal palace here on earth. He didn’t overthrow Rome so that He could take Caesar’s palace. No, Jesus had no place to lay His head. He wandered from town to town relying on the generosity of others.

 

And that wasn’t enough. He was arrested, beaten, mocked, and sentenced to death. He could have stopped it all. He had the power to stop it, but Jesus went to the cross stripped and bleeding to die a criminal’s death. A death that He did not deserve. But by Jesus’ poverty, we are made rich. By His wounds, we are healed. By His shed blood, we have peace. By His atoning death, we are given life everlasting.

 

From the depth of His poverty, His crucifixion on a cross surrounded by criminals, Jesus purchases and wins us from all sins, from eternal death, and from the power of the devil. Not with silver or gold, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.

 

Now, we are His. As forgiven and redeemed, we continually live under Him in His kingdom, serving Him in the everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness that He alone has given to us. So, like the Church in Corinth, you may have been less generous in the past. But the past is the past. In Christ, all sins are forgiven. And in Christ, we have the example of a generous attitude, who in His poverty, He has made you rich!

 

Jesus’ act of grace on the cross is the reason we ought to excel in generosity. Generosity ought to become second nature to us. Financial generosity should be seen like forgiveness. We give and we forgive, because Christ first gave of Himself everything for us! Generous giving in an act of faith knowing that the Triune God is the Giver who always provides our needs of body and soul! Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Voters' Meeting Devotion: "Imitating God the Father"

In Ephesians 3, St. Paul writes: ¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every father in heaven and on earth is named. 

All Fatherhood is named after the heavenly Father. Fatherhood is modeled after the heavenly Father. What does God the Father do for us? He created us and He protects us.

Fatherhood is a good gift of God given for the protection of children. Just like God the Father, earthly fathers protect their children. Earthly fathers find the perfect example for their own fatherhood in the Fatherhood of God the Father. It is God the Father who shapes, forms, and orders the fatherhood of man.

Yet, so often, instead of forming our fatherhood in God’s image, we end up with a skewed view of God’s Fatherhood because of our twisted image of earthly fatherhood. Modernism and modern life have made fatherhood optional at best, and at worst penalized it. Fallen man has redefined marriage and reconstructed fatherhood in our image and after our likeness, instead of God’s image and His likeness.

Our sinful flesh is destructive. Our sinful flesh is selfish. God the Father is not destructive. God the Father is sacrificial. He asks for nothing in return but faithfulness. He gives and gives and gives. He is selfless. 

As earthly fathers seek to imitate God in His Fatherhood, earthly fathers are to protect their children. Earthly fathers are to protect their children from fatherlessness. God the Father has ordered life in a very specific way. So, we must not pretend that fatherhood is optional or unimportant. 

Earthly fathers protect their children from Satan, who is waging war against the children of God and is seeking to devour our children (1 Peter 5:8). So, just as the father must be present at the supper table at home, the father must be present at the Lord’s Table. Satan is at war against fatherhood. Satan has caused his fallen world to call into question whether human fathers are necessary at all.

Fathers protect their children from Satan. This is the duty of fathers: to take their children to the Divine Service, raise them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, teach them all the Lord has done for them in redemption from slavery to sin, and instruct them in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6). In these ways, fathers protect their children from the assaults of the devil.

This is the duty of fathers. Let us give thanks to our Heavenly Father from whom our human fatherhood is named who also protects the souls of His blessed children.

Let us pray. Compassionate Father, from whom all fatherhood is named, we give You thanks for earthly fathers. Give them confidence in their station and zeal for their task to care for their families faithfully. Make them examples to their children of godly life and love of Your Word. Bless their work of bringing up children in the fear and instruction of the Lord, and give them the comfort of Your absolution over all their shortcomings. Amen.

Sermon for Pentecost 4: "The Growth of the Kingdom" (Mark 4:26-34)

LISTEN

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

 

“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground” (Mark 4:26).

 

Today, Jesus teaches us the Parable of the Automatic Growing Seed and the meaning of this parable is straightforward.

 

§  The “man” is Jesus. (Mark 4:26)

§  The “seed” is the Word of God. (Mark 4:27-28)

§  The “ground” are those living under God’s reign and rule. (Mark 4:26, 28)

§  The “seed” sprouts automatically – on its own. (Mark 4:27)

§  The “ground” with the “seed” in it produces fruit, that is the reign and rule of God being implemented in the lives of Christians. (Mark 4:27)

§  The “blade,” then the “ear,” and then the “full grain” shows the Christian’s growth and maturity. (Mark 4:28)

§  The “harvest” is the full goal of God’s plan. (Mark 4:29)

§  The “sickle” is the Final Judgment. (Mark 4:29)

§  For those in Christ, the harvest is beneficial for the “full grain,” so that by bearing fruits of faith, followers of Jesus will fare well at the Final Judgment.

 

As we are in the Green Season – the Season after Pentecost, we are focusing on our Christian spiritual growth. So, what do we make of this parable? What does this parable – the Parable of the Automatic Growing Seed – have to do with us?

 

What Jesus is teaching us today is a well-known fact about the growth of the seed, but He uses it to bring home to us a remarkable truth about the seed of the Word of God: “He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear” (Mark 4:27-28).

 

Now, over time, we have come to better know much about horticulture in how a seed sprouts into becoming a plant, but there is still so much that remains a mystery. 

 

We do not know or understand the power of life and growth inherent in a seed. Farmers trust that the seed simply germinates, develops, grows, and produces more seed. So, there is no need for farmers to worry about the seed in the ground, but instead to trust the seeds to develop and grow, so the farmer takes care of other work on his farm.

 

So, is Jesus teaching us to just sit down, relax, and do nothing? Well, yes – and no.

 

Look around you. Today’s attendance may not look like what you would want to see. Or today’s attendance may look like more than you thought. The Kingdom of God may look like a letdown. We know that we live in God’s Kingdom of grace, but when we look around, what do we see? Empty pews.

 

And to make matters even worse, we look at those sitting in the pews this morning. What do we see? Sinners! We see poor, miserable sinners. We see fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who aren’t as active in the church as we think they ought to be. We see people who don’t always treat us, or one another, as kindly as we think they should. We see people whose lives outside these church walls that don’t always rise to the standards we might set for them. And if we take an honest look at yourself, we must all admit that we, too, seem altogether out of place in the Kingdom of God.

 

Yes, we know that when we fellowship around God’s Word and Sacraments, the Kingdom of God is among us, but sometimes it is hard to believe. This just doesn’t look like what we think the Kingdom of God ought to look. Shouldn’t we do something?!

 

Again, Jesus says, “He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how” (Mark 4:27). But we want to know how! We want to find ways to grow! We want to know the sure way unbelievers and inactives can have the same certain hope and joy that we have in Jesus! We want to be able to explain church growth or decline! 

 

So, when it comes to the Kingdom of God, we want to learn the steps to make church growth happen! And there are plenty of programs out there designed to help churches grow. But more often than not, these church growth programs are not focused on Jesus and His Word, but on us: what I can do. The focus is on the self.

 

The truth behind how to grow the church or how to get loved ones to believe is not in exploring what we can do, but instead in what is already done. In other words, to ask what can be done is to assume that something is missing that we can work to supply or improve. We can begin to live as if Jesus was not sufficient to do what is to be accomplished. You see, the growth of the Kingdom of God is up to Jesus, not us.

 

God’s ministry is working. It needs no assistance. At once it is loose in the world, the reign of God has it in itself to grow. So, we don’t need to help the reign of God along. It will succeed. That is the meaning of this parable. 

 

Like the farmer has complete confidence in the seed, God’s Kingdom grows mysteriously of itself through the Word. So, we marvel at the mystery of all that Jesus describes: “The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear” (Mark 4:28). Automatically, it all happens. Life resides in the seed. Only when the seed is introduced into the soil does something happen. Apart from the seed, the soil of the sinner’s heart is dead, devoid of any spiritual life. Only when the living seed of the Word of God has been planted in the heart of the sinner can spiritual life be generated and sustained. So, the soil without the seed is dead. Likewise, the human heart without the Word of God is dead. 

 

So, what are we to do? Is there anything we can do? As followers of Christ, He has given us vocations – or callings in our daily living. And as Christians, we are seen as “little Christs.” We follow the Light of Christ and so His light is reflected onto us. Here, in the Divine Service, our faith in Christ takes root and is strengthened as it is fertilized, watered, and pruned through His Law and Gospel and in His forgiveness of our sins. Here, the Holy Spirit causes us to “Know and Grow” in Christ, so that we can “Go” to share the good news of salvation in Christ to others.

 

As the Christian faith has taken root and grown in our lives through Word and Sacrament, Jesus uses us in our daily vocations to bring that same seed – the Word of God – to others. St. Paul puts it this way, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

 

Like the “man” in our parable, we go about our day-to-day business as a child of God in our God-given vocations – in our homes, schools, workplaces, and communities. For we are a people who are called by the Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism into Jesus’ death, formed by grace and forgiveness, shaped by mercy received at the Lord’s Table, who live by faith and prayer, patience and hope. 

So, we confidently ask God to grant the growth He wills for us, for those we love, for the one Holy Christian and apostolic Church throughout the world, and for those in whom the Kingdom of God is still but a seed.

 

Now, always take confidence in Jesus words here that the Word of God is the seed, and this Word of God is always powerful and reliable. All that needs to be done, and all that can be done, is to sow the seed, to proclaim the Word of God. The power is in the seed, the Word of God. It is sown; it sprouts; it matures; it is harvested. For God says, “So shall My Word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

 

The triune God grows His Kingdom. Though at times we may not see the results, there will be a harvest because the seed has God’s power within it.

 

This Parable of the Automatic Growing Seed was said by Jesus to steady His disciples, to comfort them, to assure them. Jesus said this parable to steady, comfort and assure us, too. 

 

Jesus is the One who sows the seed of the Word. His seed will go out and many will have ears to hear, many will receive a heart to humble itself and believe and follow. He keeps on sowing for the spiritual life and growth of His Kingdom – the Church, until the gracious time of sowing comes to a close at the Final Judgment. For us, who are in Christ, His Word produces spiritual fruit in Him, which will come to an end at our death – or if Christ returns first. Then comes the judgment, but this sickle of judgment holds no terror for us in Christ, since we are harvested and transformed from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant.

 

So rather than stress, know that when it comes to the growth of God’s Kingdom be like a farmer, who trusts in his seeds to produce. For by Jesus’ atoning death and bodily resurrection, God the Father will grant growth in His time and in His way. For now, just spread the seed of His Word, then sleep and rise night and day trusting that the Holy Spirit will sprout and grow those seeds while not knowing how. Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Sermon for Pentecost 3: "The Stronger Man" (Mark 3:20-35)

LISTEN

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

 

Jesus said, “No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house” (Mark 3:27).

 

Everywhere Jesus went, crowds gathered. We see this in today’s Gospel reading. People just wanted to touch Him. They just wanted to see Him perform miracles. They wanted to hear His powerful preaching. To this, there were certainly questions. Who is Jesus? Is He a rabbi? Is He a prophet? Is He a sorcerer? Could He be the promised Messiah? Could He just be crazy, a misguided lunatic, a charlatan, a fraud? Could He be an agent of Satan?

 

Even those who were closest to Jesus – His earthly family – did not know Him. Certainly, they thought they knew Jesus, but they did not. For they were saying, “He is out of His mind” (Mark 3:21). His family was saying to Him: “Enough!” They wanted to talk some sense into Him, or even restrain Him. They thought it was insane and unhealthy the way He was going about Galilee preaching and teaching. They thought the work had gotten to Him, or He was burned out. So, they came to Capernaum to do an intervention: “Jesus, it’s time to end this and just come home!”

 

By their actions, His own family did not know Him. They did not believe in Him as the promised Messiah. Nor did they understand the necessity of Him using every opportunity in sharing His message. 

 

If His family had serious misgivings about Jesus, the Jewish religious leaders went all out in seeking to undermine His influence. Now, they could not deny that Jesus was performing miracles or driving out demons. But their minds were made up about Him: “He’s evil!” They cry out: “‘He is possessed by Beelzebul,’ and ‘by the prince of demons he casts out demons’” (Mark 3:22).

 

Now, “Beelzebul” was a wordplay on the Philistine false god known as “Baal.” Beelzebul had become to be known as “the ruler of demons,” or “the master of the spirits.”

 

As they name dropped “Baal”, Jesus gives the true name for “Baal.” For “Baal” was just another disguise or alias for Satan himself.

 

Jesus replies, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end” (Mark 3:23-26). 

 

In effect, Jesus is saying: “How is Satan able to cast himself out? Do you not know basic principles? A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. If I am aligned with Satan, My ministry against him is divided. So, he is of no effect and is finished. But that is not true, since Satan is still living and active and is still a powerful force, a force that I am dealing with.”

 

You see, the last thing Satan would ever do is cast out his own demons. Satan would never cast out his own henchmen. Satan would never divide against himself.

 

As much as today’s society would like us to believe that Satan is a figment of our imagination, Jesus says here that Satan is very real. Satan likes working behind the scenes. Satan likes not taking the credit. That’s why he disguises himself as “Baal,” as “Molech,” as an “angel of light.”

 

Since the Fall of Man, by luring Adam and Eve to commit the original sin: pride. As Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Pride is the sin that is celebrated by the fallen world this month. Pride is the worship not of God, but a worship of the self and submission only to self. Pride should not be celebrated. No expression of pride – the excessive love of self – should ever be accepted or tolerated and certainly celebrated as pride has become its own false idol, a false idol that Satan used to convince angels to become demons, a false idol that Satan used to convince Adam and Eve to question God’s love for them.

 

As Adam and Eve bit into the forbidden fruit, Satan took possession of this fallen world and everyone in it. But now Jesus has come to bind up Satan. He has come to plunder Satan’s house. He has come to destroy Satan’s kingdom. Jesus has come to reclaim those who were possessed by Satan. Jesus has come to redeem all those who would trust in Him.

 

Jesus has come to set you free from your sins. He has come to claim you. He has come to make you His very own. 

But what do these Jewish religious leaders see in Jesus? They see Jesus as the incarnation of evil. 

 

The only unforgiveable sin is unbelief. For Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you … whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark 3:28, 29). Jesus is extremely serious here. He isn’t mincing His words. 

 

You see, the Holy Spirit’s main work is to point us to Jesus, so that He may be known in the Means of Grace: His Word and Sacraments. 

 

As fallen people, we are spiritually blind and dead (Ephesians 2:1), so that we are unable to come to faith in Jesus on our own, let alone choose to entrust our lives to Him. Apart from the Holy Spirit, we actively resist the Gospel’s call to faith in Jesus Christ, since “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh” (Galatians 5:17).

 

This unforgiveable sin is the stubborn, persistent refusal to allow the Holy Spirit to do His work. Faith in Jesus is the gift of God. “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). 

 

People can and often do resist the Holy Spirit’s power. They hear the Gospel invitation, but they resist. By their own stubbornness, they close their hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit. And without the Holy Spirit, there can be no repentance; there can be no forgiveness; there can be no faith; and there can be no salvation.

 

When people resist the Holy Spirit, they remain in their sins, their unbelief, their blasphemy. This was the sin of these Jewish religious leaders. They refused to hear His Gospel promise. They claimed they knew who Jesus was, but they stubbornly resisted what the Holy Spirit wanted to reveal to them. Their hearts and their minds were closed.

 

Has it ever occurred to you that you may be guilty of an unforgiveable eternal sin? Have you ever doubted Jesus’ promises? Have you ever neglected Jesus’ words of Law and Gospel? We would like to say, “Not me!”

 

Do you recall those words said by your Godparents at your Baptism? Do you recall those words you said on your Confirmation Day? 

“Do you renounce the devil? Do you renounce all his works? Do you renounce all his ways?” Have you ever given into Satan’s temptations to live according to the fallen world? 

 

You see, Satan is consistently tempting us to not “Know, Grow, and Go” in God’s Word in avoiding your Sabbath rest in God’s Word and His Sacraments, but instead Satan urges us to follow his ways of sexual immorality, idolatry, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, divisions, and envy (Galatians 5:19-21).

 

Now, if you are worried that you may have committed an unforgivable eternal sin, let me assure you that you are not guilty of sinning against the Holy Spirit. The fact that you are concerned means that the Holy Spirit is working on you and in you and is still seeking to bring you to repentance and to assure you of salvation in Jesus Christ.

 

For people who are guilty of this sin, they never even consider it. They don’t even think about it. They go on in their lives in stubborn indifference with their minds closed to the truth. Their hearts resist the Holy Spirit’s gracious invitation.

 

May we never forget Christ’s Gospel promise: “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter” (Mark 3:28). So, if you are troubled by any particular sin, hear Christ’s words again: “All sins will be forgiven.” Remember, Jesus forgave those who spat in His face, who beat Him, who mocked Him, and who hung Him on the tree of the cross. He forgave and restored His disciples who had forsaken Him and denied Him. And He will even forgive you.

 

So, is Jesus crazy? Is He misguided? Is He of the devil? No, Jesus is the Strong One who came to bind up Satan. He came to rob Satan’s house by His dying on the cross. He has come to make you His own. He has come to forgive you. And He is here today as He comes to us in His very body and blood under the bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Altar to forgive your sins.

 

Thanks be to God that Satan’s power over us is broken. Yet, Satan still brings us troubles – as he is still living and active – in this fallen world, but he can never do more than Christ allows. Satan cannot hold us. For everyone in Christ, we no longer belong to Satan. We belong to the Stronger Man, who comes to you this day with the promise to forgive all your sins. Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  + SOLI DEO GLORIA +