"To Husbands and to Wives" (Luther's Table of Duties)

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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:

 

Lent is a season of repentance as we reflect on why our Lord died on the cross for us. But Lent is also about catechesis, because Lent is a catechetical season.

 

Tonight, we continue to make our way through the Christian “house rules” on how we deal with each other. These “house rules” serve as our groundwork on our Lutheran worldview of vocation. These vocations are the duties or responsibilities that we each owe to our neighbor.

 

As a reminder: Luther’s intention in including the Table of Duties was to serve us as our guide – the Third Use of the Law – in how we ought to live in this world and what is our duty to one another. But as it always is, when the Law is at play, we often hear the Law as its Second Use – mirror, because the Law always accuses, but again, the primary use and focus of the Table of Duties is to encourage us as we live out our lives in the various vocations that God has placed you and I in.

 

Tonight, we will focus on the first of the Three Estates: family, as we consider the next two pairs in the Table of Duties: “To Husbands” and “To Wives.”

 

We live in a strange world. Much of our strange world would fit in episodes of “The Twilight Zone.” Just imagine you have entered into a world that says men and women are the same. Just imagine you have entered into a world where a man can decide that he is a woman, and a woman can decide she is a man and everyone acts as if this is the way things have always been. These appear like stories from “The Twilight Zone.” But this is our strange world, our fallen world.

 

Today, in this Twilight Zone-like world, it is asserted that men and women are completely interchangeable, and so marriage can occur between a man and a woman, or between two men, or between two women, or even among throuples.

 

The basic idea that men and women are the same has been the focus of feminism in this fallen world. But reality has a way of not cooperating. The truth is that men and women are not the same. Men are physically stronger than women. Men and women are different. 

When children feel ill or are injured, who do they turn to practically every time? Their mom. It’s because women are naturally better at nurturing and comforting than men. Because, again, men and women are different.

 

Men and women are different, because God created men and women to be different. God first created Adam. And then God said, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18). A woman complements the man. They are not the same, because a woman corresponds to the man in ways needed to serve as a helper to him. The ultimate proof that men and women are not the same is that the one flesh union of man and woman is necessary to produce the outcome of marriage – a child. 

 

God’s Word describes an ordering to the creation of man and woman, to husband and wife. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11(:8-9): “For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.”

 

Woman was created for man. Woman was created for man, as the helper corresponding to him. The fallen world may not want to hear this, but this is a fact grounded in creation itself.

 

These facts of creation – this order of creation – then determines how husband and wife relate in marriage. In Ephesians 5(:22-24), St. Paul writes, “Wives, submit to your husband as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”

 

Luther cites this “Wives, submit to your husband as to the Lord” as of first importance in his section on “To Wives.” He also includes “They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear” from 1 Peter 3:5-6.

 

To the fallen world, they hear words like “submit” and “submission” meaning inequality, or that women have less worth or less value than men.

Yet, this exact same language is used of the relation between God the Father and God the Son. In 1 Corinthians 15(:28), St. Paul writes, “When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all in all.” And what do we confess about the triune God? We confess that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are coequal.

 

For St. Paul, submission does not mean a relationship where one side gives and gives, and the other side takes and takes. You see, husbands and wives are to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21).

 

But God did give us an order. The husband is the head of the household, and the wife is to be her husband’s co-equal helper. He, the provider. She, the nurturer. But so often, we don’t see it that way. And we don’t see it this way because of sin.

 

After the Fall into sin, God said to Eve in Genesis 3(:16), according to the New Living Translation: “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” Since the Fall, woman finds herself drawn to men who act in self-serving ways. And since the Fall, women also strive against men, competing for the headship that contradicts their own creation. 

 

We all act this way. Selfishness and pride. Husbands and wives act in selfish ways that put themselves before their spouse. Men abuse the headship position to get what they want, when they want it. Women subvert the headship to get what they want.

 

Guided by culture of feminism, many women disparage motherhood and instead seek to act like men. And men bought the same lie as so many fail in their own responsibilities of being a husband. 

 

When we see the ways we fail to live in God’s order of creation in marriage – and confess our sin, always know that there is forgiveness in Christ. And it is in Christ that we find the ability to live in God’s design for marriage. The Holy Spirit who has regenerated us and given us faith, moves us to live the life of faith in our marriages. This is why Luther included the Table of Duties, so that Christians could better care for each other.

 

The Table of Duties lists “To Husbands” first, and rightly so. Man has been created for headship in marriage and family. And the conduct of this headship is modeled after Christ. St. Peter writes in 1 Peter 3(:7): “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as your live with you wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”

 

It is true that the wife is weaker, but the husband is to live in a way that reflects the knowledge of what God has done for both of them in Christ, and of the gift the husband has received from God in his wife – as his helper. The husband is to honor his wife and recognize the unique status they share together and that they are co-heirs of God’s saving grace.

 

Luther also includes a passage from Colossians 3(:19) addressed to husbands which reads: “Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.”

 

And this should not be forgotten, for after St. Paul’s brief statement about wives, he writes in Ephesians 5:25: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” This sacrificial love of Jesus Christ for His Church is the pattern that is to guide the husband’s behavior.

 

If tonight’s sermon is hitting you hard, seek forgiveness through Christ’s blood and merit and seek forgiveness with your spouse. Remember, Luther’s Table of Duties isn’t intended to be gospel, but as our guide, so that we would be encouraged as we live out our daily vocations.

 

Certainly, men and women are different. Thank God for that! God joins husband and wife together as one flesh. Husband and wife are ordered in marriage in a way that reflects God’s creation of Adam and Eve – the first husband and wife. Uniquely distinct from one another, husband and wife each are needed for marriage and family to be the blessing God has given. Through the Holy Spirit, the union of husband and wife in heart, body, and mind support each other through mutual companionship as they love, honor, and strengthen each other through sickness and in health. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

"As God's Chosen Ones" (Colossians 3:12-17)

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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:

“Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17).

 

Merry Christmas! The promise has been fulfilled, since the promised Messiah is born!

 

The birth of Jesus is a sign and a reflection of the heart of God the Father toward His people. The love He shows His people comes in the form of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. The embodiment of forgiveness and mercy comes in the form of the Christ Child in Bethlehem. 

 

Today, on this First Sunday after Christmas, we now turn our attention to the impact that Christ’s birth has on the world and the implication that His birth has on His faithful people.

 

You see, Christ’s birth changed the world. Christ’s birth changed you. From the very beginning, the Triune God – the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit – knew what He was going to do. He was going to save fallen man from their sins.

 

So, there in the manger is the fullness of God. He may be crying for His mother Mary’s attention for food and drink, but He knows why He has come. He has come to live the life God calls on all of us to live, but inevitably fail because of our sinful nature. He has come to receive a sinner’s baptism, to suffer and die for yours and my sins, so that by grace through faith in in Him, we would live forever.

 

Through the coming of Christ, He has fulfilled everything His Father asked of us. As we just proclaimed through singing today’s Hymn of the Day:

“He undertakes a great exchange,

Puts on our human frame,

And in return gives us His realm,

His glory and His name,

His glory and His name.”

(Let All Together Praise Our God, LSB 389 stanza 4)

 

As a result of Christ’s work, the image of God has been restored to all who cling to Jesus as their Lord. Now, this perfect righteousness and holiness is not seen now, but it will be seen in eternity.

 

Since Christ has redeemed His chosen ones – you and me – through His death and bodily resurrection, and through the work of the Holy Spirit at your baptism, we now live as new people. We are now holy and beloved. And as holy and beloved, we show this character toward others.

 

You see, the virtues of the Christian life are displayed toward other people, even when we display less-than-perfect conduct toward our neighbor.

 

So, the new Christian life ought to break with the old vices and be filled with Christian virtues. The virtues of the Christian life are to be permanent, distinguishing marks of the Christian.

 

By God’s grace, we have been made a special people, a people who belong to God and are united in fellowship with Christ. So, what are these distinguishing marks of a Christian? They are: “compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” (Colossians 3:12b-13).

 

Now, back in the time of St. Paul, lowliness and humility were attitudes that were thoroughly despised by the pagan world. And, not much has changed since then. It is still the same today. But lowliness and self-sacrificing humility are the characteristics of Jesus, who calls on us to imitate His humility. And where humility exists comes a peaceful atmosphere where we each count each other as better than yourself and we rejoice in serving others. 

 

Another distinguishing mark is gentleness. Sometimes when we think of being gentle, we think of “putting on kid gloves” by treating someone with extreme care to avoid causing any offense. This is not the mark of a Christian. We are not spineless. But we ought to exhibit gentleness in our dealings with others as we overlook insults in the spirit of forgiveness.

 

Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus encouraged His disciples to cultivate a forgiving spirit. He taught them to pray: “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us” (Luke 11:4). He forgave His enemies from the cross, and on that cross, He endured justice that makes the injuries we suffer at each other’s hands minor indeed. And even now, though we spurn His love, Jesus daily restores and forgives us.

 

If we truly understand His forgiveness, we should never question in our hearts about our willingness to forgive one another.

 

When St. Paul encourages mutual forgiveness, he is not speaking of a forgiveness with conditions. Jesus never put conditions upon His forgiveness. And the forgiveness that we give to one another should not have conditions, either. As God’s chosen ones, we are to offer immediate, unconditional forgiveness in the spirit of Christ.

 

So, what kind of forgiveness are you showing in your life? Are you placing conditions upon your forgiveness? If you are, it’s time to ask for help from your Savior on how to forgive. For where there is forgiveness, then quarrels, resentment and hatred are extinguished.

 

But did you know that God provides an opportunity for displaying Christian virtues and He even supplies the power in doing them? He calls on us to “let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16).

 

The Scriptures should be more than something we hear on Sunday mornings and Monday evenings or something more than an invited occasional guest in our homes. The Word of God ought to inhabit our lives continually as it fills every corner of our lives with its blessed spiritual wisdom. The Word of God ought to be the hub that each Christian family revolves.

 

When the Word of God inhabits us, we grow in faith and knowledge and in Christian living, and we will be able to encourage one another and teach and admonish one another. When we ignore the Word of God or use the Scriptures infrequently and carelessly, we deprive ourselves of the Lord’s blessings. When we ignore His Word, we take off Christ as we choose to walk with the fallen world.

 

Even here in the Divine Service, God supplies the power in doing Christian virtues. Through the proclamation of the Word of God, and through prayer, music and song, He empowers us for faith and life. Through “singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,” we give praise and thanksgiving to God. 

 

In the Divine Service, God leads us through Scripture, prayer, and song to right belief. This Latin phrase is true “Lex orandi, lex credendi,” which means what you pray is what you believe. So, through spoken voice and song, through spoken prayer or silent prayer, you are what you eat. There was a good reason the Roman Catholics of Luther’s time were concerned with the people singing Luther’s hymns as they said, “The people are singing their way into Luther’s doctrines.” Now, to be sure, those doctrines in Luther’s hymns are not Luther’s, but God’s. However, the gist of their comment is true. So, what we consume has a profound effect upon our beliefs.

 

As “God’s chosen ones,” there ought to be no division between the sacred and the secular as Christ accompanies us in all facets of life.

 

So, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17). We give thanks to God, since there is no truer friend than He. Merry Christmas! 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 10: "The Sign of the Covenant" (Genesis 9:8-17)

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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:

“And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth’” (Genesis 9:12-13).

 

Not everyone today knows the significance of the rainbow. Today, the rainbow has all kinds of associations: where dreams come true (The Wizard of Oz), the rainbow connection (Kermit the Frog), leprechauns and pots of gold, and gay pride. Society today is very much confused on the significance of the rainbow. Today, on this Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, we will focus on what the Scriptures tell us of that colorful arch in the sky.

 

But before that rainbow would appear, this fallen world, fell deeper and deeper into sin. It all started with our first parents: Adam and Eve. Their disobedience to God bred original sin into the generation that followed. As each generation came, this fallen world devolved further and further down into a quagmire of cruelty, violence, and wickedness. This world that God created good, became so full of corruption and violence that the triune God could scarcely recognize His creation. God was grieved that He had created man.

 

Man’s sin worked the ruin of the whole world. In order to cleanse this world, God chose to start over. He chose to start over with the only family that still knew Him. So, if you think today is bad, in Noah’s time, it was only Noah and his family that knew God. It was down to one family. But still a sinful family.

 

Just as the rainbow is often misunderstood, Noah’s Ark is also often misunderstood. When you think of Noah’s Ark, what do you think of? Do you see a painting of an ark brimming with smiling animals? Do you see a colorful and cheerful children’s book where all the animals are led to the ark two-by-two?

 

In God’s grief over human sinfulness, and when God’s patience over sin had expired, God opened the floodgates of the heavens and the floodgates of the great deep burst forth. 

Torrents rained down 40 days and 40 nights until the entire world was deluged, flooded, drowned under millions of billions of gallons of churning, life-destroying water. These waters came upon communities suddenly. In a moment, those in the busy, laughing, self-sufficient world were swept away by God’s watery judgment. And not just man, but every living creature that had the breath of life had died. The dry land upon which God created every living creature, according to its kind, became a murky mass grave.

 

Inside the ark was safety and security. Outside the ark was death and destruction. Inside the ark was life and provision. Outside the ark was silence.

 

Yet, in His mercy, God had warned Noah. He instructed Noah to build an ark. God caused pairs of living creatures, according to their kind, to come to the ark. God remembered Noah and his family. God remembered the animals of the earth. He sealed them in the ark. And in that ark, God preserved man and beast through the raging flood of His own divine judgment upon sin. 

 

When the rains had ended and the dry land finally appeared, some 370 days later, God caused the ark to rest safely upon the earth. They all came out of the ark and into a changed world. I cannot begin to imagine the eerie silence all around Noah and his family. All that remained were eight souls and two of every creature, according to its kind. But as they all came out of that ark, into this changed world, the curse of sin remained. That curse upon creation was not removed. Human sin and the wickedness of man’s heart was still in place.

 

At this point, among all this eerie silence around them, and maybe some worry in their hearts, God initiates the covenant and its sign.

 

God speaks to Noah and His family with a word of promise for all creation: “The waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh” (Genesis 9:15b). Over and over again in today’s Old Testament text, God repeats His promise: “I establish My covenant” (Genesis 9:9); “I establish My covenant” (Genesis 9:11); and “I will remember My covenant” (Genesis 9:15). God repeats His covenant promise three times! Maybe Noah and his family just needed to hear this promise over and over again. They were traumatized. Afterall, they had just survived a world-destroying flood.

 

So, what exactly is a covenant? Well, it’s an agreement between two parties. In this case, it’s between God and His creation. It is likely that we are most familiar with covenants like this: “You do this … and I will do that.” But this covenant between God and all creation is much different. Out of the death and destruction of the flood, God was bringing hope and peace. And this covenant was unilateral. It was one-sided. God would be the One to establish this covenant, and He is obligating Himself to the terms of this covenant. God would require nothing from anyone, and His promise to creation was unconditional. 

 

So, what are the terms of this unilateral covenant? “Never again” (Genesis 9:11, 15) would He bring waters from above and beneath to destroy life on the earth. However, rains will continue to fall, floods will still rage and foam, and life would still remain in peril, but “never again” will all life perish due to God calling upon the waters to wipe out all life.

 

Despite God’s covenant promise, humanity still struggles with fear and anxiety over the chaos and turmoil that abounds in this fallen world. Because of the fallen nature of this world, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, and straight-line winds persist. But “never again” will He flood the earth.

 

Just as we may worry about what tomorrow brings, most definitely, Noah and his family had some worry. They had heard the covenant promise from God three times. But could God still flood the earth? Could God really be faithful to His promise?

 

So, to make sure that Noah and His family knew that He is serious about His faithfulness, He provides them the sign of hope: the rainbow – bands of color rising up as an arch above a murky graveyard.

 

We have all seen a rainbow. How many times have you seen God’s rainbow? Just weeks ago, I saw a beautiful rainbow driving home along I-90. Just as I thought I was arriving to the site of the rainbow; I kept on driving. I never reached it, but it was a beautiful sight!

 

Rainbows are a marvel. The sight of a rainbow can take your breath away. Rainbows are a gift from God. But that rainbow is also a sign. Rainbows communicate. Like the Means of Grace, God gave the rainbow as a sign to embody and confirm His word of promise. 

 

So, what does a rainbow communicate? Well, we already know that that rainbow is the sign that God will never destroy the earth with a flood. But there is more. You see, that rainbow declares God’s mercy and His concern for the whole earth, which is why it overarches the world. But that’s not all. That beautiful rainbow also declares a warning. That rainbow warns us that just as He destroyed the earth through water, He will one day destroy this earth by fire. It has been said that the colors of the rainbow declare this: blue to red. Blue is the color of water, the color of God’s bygone wrath. Red is the color of fire. So, we can look at the rainbow and be warned of the coming Final Judgment and Last Day. Plus, that rainbow shines with hope and assurance for everyone in Christ as it points to Jesus! So, when God’s wrath is roused on that Last Day, God the Father will remember Jesus, who will intercede for us.

 

This rainbow is not the only sign that God has provided in order to bring us comfort and peace to our troubled hearts and minds. We may not always have devasting floodwaters, but we know that we have all fallen short of God’s commandments and all that it demands. Sin is a terminal disease that can only be cured by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

 

Like the rainbow covenant, God also gave us another covenant through the cross of Calvary. There upon the cross, Jesus poured His lifeblood for the sins of the whole world. As Noah, his family, and the animals were hidden in the ark to preserve creation, so you and I are now “hidden with Christ”(Colossians 3:3). As the cross stands as the sign of your salvation, so you have received this amazing gift through the washing floodwaters of Holy Baptism (1 Peter 3:20-22).

 

As the rainbow reminds you that God will never again destroy the world by water, the cross of Christ reminds us that yours and my sins have been paid in full.

 

As that ark was opened, Noah and those on board came out likely filled with fear and anxiety. And what did God do? He made a covenant with them and with us and with all of creation that He would never again flood the earth as He placed in the clouds that sign of the covenant: a rainbow. That rainbow was given to us, so that we would never forget God’s promise to us and to teach us of His precious love for us that He sent us His Son, who has fulfilled the Law, and suffered and died for you and me so that by grace through faith in Jesus, we would live forever. May we always remember the meanings of the rainbow and the cross. 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 Epiphany 5: "Building Up the Body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 14:12b-20)

 

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:

[Intro: The Issue in Corinth]

The Corinthian church was a deeply troubled congregation. At the start of his letter, the Holy Spirit guides Paul into writing, “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers” (1 Corinthians 1:10-11).

One of the most troubling aspects of the church in Corinth was a sense of superiority on the part of some members of the church.

Typically, the distractions at the Corinthian church came from the worldliness outside the church. You see, the city of Corinth was a very large city with a population of nearly a million people. And like any large city then and now, comes many distractions. Added to this is the fact that Corinth was a port city. In fact, it had ports on each end of the city. Being a major port city, this brought commerce, but it also brought with it much sin.

Corinth was a city of wealth, a city of luxury, but what it was most known for was that it was a city of immorality. Corinth was a city well known for sexual immorality and drunkenness.

But Paul is not writing here about the distractions coming from the outside. Here, Paul is writing about the distractions that are coming from within the church in Corinth.

The issue here is that divisions are mounting within the church in Corinth as outsiders cannot understand what is being said – and many of the faithful at the church are also unable to understand.

Evidently, those who spoke in tongues were convinced that they were better than those who could not speak in tongues. They believed they had an increased value over the non-tongue speakers. Paul’s point is that if no person is able to interpret the tongues, then you are not building up the church. The speaking of tongues may be beneficial to the one speaking in tongues, but to everyone else, it just sounds like pure nonsense. If there is no interpretation, then the tongue speaking is worthless. It isn’t edifying the church. It isn’t building up the body of Christ.

In a similar way, often our sinful nature leads us to want more when it comes to the Sunday Divine Service. Sometimes, we focus on our feelings, instead of being satisfied in receiving the gifts that God gives us.

Today on this Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, the Triune God is leading us not to focus on ourselves, but instead on Jesus as He leads us in building up His Body, the Church.

[Understanding the Good News]

Back during the time of the Reformation, there was confusion within the church of the Holy Roman Empire – of what is now known as Germany. You see, throughout their daily life, they would speak German, but when they entered church, they would hear the Mass in Latin. Some understood parts of the service, but most people did not understand much at all. The issue here was understanding.

Martin Luther was also frustrated with this. So, as part of the Reformation, he created the Divine Service to be spoken in the language of the vernacular, the language of the people. With his reforms, the people spoke the liturgy in German, the people sung the hymns in German, the people heard the Scripture readings in German, and they heard the Scripture interpreted in the sermon in German. At last, these people could say “Amen” and know what they were agreeing to.

This is the issue at hand in Corinth, many within the church were saying “Amen,” but they didn’t know what they were agreeing to. With this being the case, the church in Corinth was not being built up.

Foundational to Paul’s whole discussion about tongues and worship in the church is that Christ is the head of the Church. Christ’s own head bore the crown of thorns in His passion. Christ’s own head bowed down in death – His atoning death on the cross. Christ’s own head was lifted up in His bodily resurrection. Christ’s own head received the crown of glory as He bodily ascended back to heaven.

Christ is now our head of all things in heaven and on earth. He is the head of His body, the Church, in a rule of grace, love, and forgiveness. This means that the Church is to live together and seek to build itself up as one caring and unified body.

This, we need to hear and understand! Even today, as we correspond using the English language, we still need someone to interpret God’s inerrant Word. There are times when we become distracted in the Divine Service, as we think about lunch, afternoon plans, or something catches our eyes or ears that end up distracting us. And even if we pay the closest attention, we may still not understand what we just heard spoken in the Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel lessons. This is why we have a time of interpretation, known as the sermon. In the sermon, we hear God’s Word interpreted through preaching.

Still, even then, our minds may wander, but when we have questions about God’s Word, we know who to ask – God’s called and ordained pastor.

But besides listening to the pastor, how do we build up the church? Well, instead of trying to impress people by how much we may know, try building each other up through teaching and catechesis. Through group Bible studies, we build each other up. Through attending the Divine Service faithfully together, we build each other up.

From this, the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to instruct others. We speak in a way that others can learn. Paul says to the Corinthian church and to us: “I want to speak of Christ and His sufferings, death, and resurrection for the salvation of souls, so they can hear this message.” So, when we instruct others on who Jesus is and why He matters, we become fishers of men. By sharing the love of Christ, we build up the church!

You see, it is through the good news of God’s truth that builds up the church. This is why Luther put together his Small and Large Catechisms, where he taught God’s six chief parts – The Ten Commandments, The Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, The Sacrament of Holy Baptism, Confession, and The Sacrament of the Altar. There, in the catechisms, Luther interprets what each Chief Part means, so all may know God’s Law and Gospel. And, with each section of the catechisms, Luther confirms God’s truth with an “Amen” by saying “This is most certainly true.”

There, Luther places Christ’s net, so that every follower of Christ would know the proper teachings of the one true Christian faith and be able to share God’s love with others.

Since we all have been bought and paid for by Christ, through His death and bodily resurrection, we ought to learn and take to heart all that God has done for us by bringing us peace. So, as His new creation, we strive to excel in building up the Church.

God teaches us to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16).

You see, God desires worship that enables “Amen.” God desires worship that catechizes the confused. God desires all divisions to cease. God desires that His Church be built up as the Body of Christ.

Paul raises some sharp questions not only about the practices of the Corinthian church, but also about the church’s life in any age. Unclear, confusing, or noncommunicative speech in the church fails to edify the church.

For us this day, we are to always recall that through Baptism, we “are the body of Christ, and individually members of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). In other words, Christ is our head, and we are His body, the Church.

As the Head, Christ leads us to forgive one another as He has forgiven us. Here, in the Divine Service, He shows His love for us through His Means of Grace – Word and Sacrament – as He strengthens our faith and forgives our sins. He leads us away from a self-centered life as we care for the needs of others. He, alone, unites us as His body as He builds us up! Amen.

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

T SOLI DEO GLORIA T

Funeral Sermon: "Singing the Glad Songs of Salvation" (Colossians 3:12-17)

 

Carol, Mary, and Julie, family and friends of Esther:

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!

[Christ Speaks Comfort]

“Let not your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1a). Christ spoke those words to comfort His disciples, since He knew His departure was nearing – with His betrayal, suffering, and death – just days away. Christ speaks those same words of comfort to us here this morning.

You see, any departure – though short or long – is a cause for distress. Certainly, nobody wants to be separated from their loved ones and friends. This morning we see before us the wages of sin, which is death. Due to sin, no human being can overcome death. But, although we die to sin – death serves as a portal, a gate to heaven – since “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b).

For all believers in Christ, death is not to be feared, since we have the sure and certain hope that we will be with our loved ones again who have died in the faith. “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him all those who have fallen asleep. … Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:14, 18).

At the same time, don’t be ashamed to grieve. Grieving the loss of loved ones is perfectly natural. Remember, Jesus grieved. But always hold on to this sure and certain truth that because Christ lives, everyone in Christ also lives.

[God Blessed Esther]

We are here this morning to remember Esther’s life, but most importantly, we are here to rejoice in Christ’s promise of forgiveness of sins, which begets eternal life and salvation to all who trust in Him.

Throughout her life, the Triune God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – blessed Esther. She was blessed in her marriage to Harold, known as “Bud” to many, with three daughters Carol, Mary, and Julie. She was loving and never met a stranger. She was certainly a people person as she always remained close to her family and friends.

God also blessed Esther in her work life as He led her to become a prolific stenographer in her youth, which prepared her as she served as secretary at Glencoe High School for 22 years under many principals.

Even in the hard times of losing the farmstead near Lester Prairie in the spring of 1965, due to a tornado, out of that destruction, God blessed Esther and “Bud” as they moved to Glencoe.

All through her life, God provided for all of Esther’s needs of body and soul.

[Glad Songs of Salvation]

Now, you may have noticed a common theme in today’s Scripture readings. If not, I will enlighten you now.

We first heard from Psalm 118 with these words: “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous” (Psalm 118:14-15). Then we heard in Revelation 7 of those clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, crying out saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:10) They later proclaimed, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen” (Revelation 7:12) In the reading from Colossians 3, we heard these words: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16).

This common theme is singing the glad songs of salvation. In my years in knowing Esther, she expressed her faith in Christ through song. In a way, singing hymns was how she prayed to her Lord and Savior. All throughout her life, she memorized many hymns. And later in life, when her eyesight diminished, she continually sang the hymns that were written in her heart.

Back at Easter, I visited Esther in the hospital. Being hospitalized, I knew she would not be able to attend the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord, so I began singing Easter hymns to her, such as “Awake, My Heart, with Gladness,” “O Sons and Daughters of the King,” and “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today,” and without any words in front of her, she sang right along with me.

For Esther, the word of Christ dwelled in her richly as she sang hymns with thankfulness in her heart to God.

[Hymns as Proclamation of the Word]

In our reading from Colossians 3, God teaches us that singing hymns is also a means for the proclamation of the Word. In fact, Christ-centered hymns convey some of the Bible’s greatest teachings.

As we sing hymns, we anticipate the worship, joy, and glory of eternity that all believers in Christ have. But for Esther, she is no longer anticipating these joys as she is there participating in this worship, joy, and glory with the Church Triumphant in heaven!

So, just as the Word of the Lord gives life and remains to eternity, as Baptism is a resurrection with Christ, which assures us of being raised with Him at His coming, and as the Holy Supper of Christ’s very Body and Blood is a foretaste of the banquet of the kingdom to come, so through singing hymns, the Church anticipates our future worship as the Church Triumphant. So, the closest we can get in this life to the joy and glory of paradise is the church’s worship of Word and Sacrament – including the hymns and canticles that are included.

For Martin Luther, hymnody was powerful. He wrote hymns that are rich in doctrine in order to teach and instruct, as well as to be easily memorized. Luther wrote in his Large Catechism that “nothing is so powerfully effective against the devil, the world, the flesh, and all evil thoughts as to occupy one’s self with God’s Word, to speak about it and meditate upon it. … Without a doubt, you will offer up no more powerful incense or savor against the devil than to occupy yourself with God’s commandments and words and to speak, sing, or think about them … [as] that drives away the devil and puts him to flight.”[1]

The Word of the Lord endures forever even through song. Christ-centered hymns proclaim Christ’s sacrifice for our sins and what His sacrifice gives us: forgiveness of our sins, eternal life, and salvation. For Esther, memorizing and singing hymns gave her comfort knowing that Christ has accomplished salvation for everyone who puts their faith and trust in Jesus.

Today, Esther and her fellow saints arrayed in white in the Church Triumphant are singing the glad songs of salvation – the glad songs of peace with God through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Today, Esther has no more hunger, no more thirst, no more tears. She has perfect eyesight. Esther has joined the Church Triumphant because she knew the way. So, what is the way? Jesus says: “I am the way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6)

You see, Jesus bridges the chasm between God and man. He is the only Bridge to God the Father. As we have all gone astray – due to our sin – Jesus took upon Himself all of our sins through His suffering and death upon the cross, so that we – by faith in Him – would know the only Way to God the Father.

As the Truth, Jesus is the actual embodiment of the Truth. As the Life, He abolishes the separation and unites us with God the Father.

Through Christ’s love for you, He has opened the gate of salvation. He opened the gate of salvation through His suffering, death, and bodily resurrection, which destroyed the power of sin, death, and hell upon all believers, so that we – by faith in Him – would be with Him forever. So do not let your hearts be troubled, since Christ alone has become our salvation.

For everyone in Christ, we are comforted knowing that even in the hour of death, through Christ, we possess the resurrection to everlasting life!

May we one day join Esther and her fellow saints in heaven and sing with them the glad songs of salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb! Amen.

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

T SOLI DEO GLORIA T

Esther Michaletz's Obituary: https://hantge.com/obituaries/esther-m-michaletz/

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[1] The Book of Concord. Luther’s Large Catechism (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), 381.