Category: Sermon Page

Last Sunday of the Church Year
November 21, 2021

“Stay Awake, for You Do Not Know When” (Mark 13:24-37)

On this Last Sunday of the Church Year, our service emphasizes, appropriately enough, the end times and the return of Christ. As the church year comes to an end, we look forward to the return of our Lord. We need to be ready for his coming at all times, because we don’t know when he will come. Jesus himself says that in our text from Mark 13: “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.” And he goes on to say, “Therefore stay awake–for you do not know when the master of the house will come.” Thus our theme today: “Stay Awake, for You Do Not Know When.”

Notice, Jesus says that twice: “Keep awake, stay awake, for you do not know when.” When what? “When the time will come.” “When the master of the house will come.” Jesus is talking about his own coming at the end of time. We do not know when that will be. Jesus flat out states, “Concerning that day or that hour, no one knows.”

However, that has not stopped a number of men who thought they did know. For example, one of these date-setters was a man named William Miller. A self-proclaimed Baptist preacher, Miller had as many as 100,000 followers in New York and Massachusetts in the early 1840s. Basing his calculations on certain prophecies in the Bible, Miller predicted that Christ would return sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. When that didn’t happen, he changed the date to October 22 of 1844. On that day thousands of Millerites gathered on a hilltop to await the return of Christ. The day came and went, Christ did not return, and the Millerites were terribly dismayed. In fact, that day came to be known as the “Great Disappointment.” Many followers left, but enough stayed on to form what became known as the Seventh-Day Adventists.

“Miller time” turned out to be wrong. Since then, many other date-setters have come and gone, along with their predictions. A man named Charles Taze Russell of what become the Watch Tower Society and then the Jehovah’s Witnesses–Russell predicted the rapture first for 1878, then 1881, and later, he revised the millennium to begin in 1914. In recent decades, men like Hal Lindsey of “The Late Great Planet Earth” and Tim LaHaye of the “Left Behind” series have gained their own followers. Ten years ago, a radio preacher named Harold Camping predicted the return of Christ for a date in May of that year; and when it didn’t happen, he recalculated and revised it to a day in October. These guys have to do more recalculating than your GPS when you’re lost! All they do is prove what Jesus said: No one knows the day or hour. We do not know when.

But if the date-setters and the pre-millennial rapture crowd have got it wrong, maybe we have an opposite problem: We don’t think much at all about Christ’s second coming! We’re not actively, eagerly looking forward to Christ’s return. And that’s not good either. Why are we not eagerly anticipating Christ’s return? Could it be that we’ve grown a little too comfortable in this world? We’ve become so accustomed and accommodated to the ways of this world that we’re not actively looking for the life of the world to come.

Is that how it is with you? Have you grown accustomed to this place? The world is heading toward destruction, and yet for so many of us, all we can think about is Christmas shopping, football or hockey, or our favorite TV programs. We get all caught up in the things of this world, and we lose sight of our true hope, which is the return of Christ our Lord. Jesus tells us to watch, so that he does not come suddenly and find us sleeping. But many of us continue to sleepwalk our way through life, instead of being awake and watchful.

To sleepwalkers like us, Christ comes and forgives our sin of being conformed to the ways of the world. He renews our mind, readjusts our thinking. He clears our vision, so that we can see. See with the eyes of faith, to fix our eyes on Christ, our risen and returning Savior. Christ wakes us from our sleep, even as he is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. He raised us up in the waters of baptism, that we might walk in newness of life. And he will raise these mortal bodies of ours on the day when he returns.

Renewed and refreshed, now we are awake and we watch. We watch and wait for Christ’s return. Even though we don’t know when, we do know that he will return. And because we don’t know when, we wait for it as though it could happen at any time. And it could. It could happen today. It could happen next week. Or next year. Or a hundred years from now. Whenever the day that Christ returns, we want to be ready for it.

We look forward to that day, because it is our great hope. Not the Great Disappointment. Rather, the Great Hope! The Great Hope that animates and enlivens our lives in this dreary world. Christ is coming again to take us home! Jesus himself says so: “And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.” This will be the great ingathering at the end of time. Jesus will gather his church to himself to be with him forever. This is our Great Hope!

Even though we do not know when, we do know who, and we do know what. And this gives us hope. We know that our Lord Jesus Christ “will come to judge the living and the dead.” And what gives us hope for that day is who he is for us. Because the one who will judge us is the same one who has saved us. The judge is also our Savior.

We do know who. We know who Jesus is! He is the Son of God come in the flesh to be our brother. In his ministry, he came preaching and teaching, healing and making whole. We know who he is! Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He went to the cross for you, to be the perfect sacrifice for your sins. We know who he is! He is the Lord of life, risen from the dead, in triumph over sin and the grave. He is our ascended Lord, our great high priest interceding for us in heaven. He is the bestower of the Holy Spirit, empowering his church for her mission. And this same Jesus is our coming King, who will take us home to live with him forever. Yes, we know who he is!

Knowing who Jesus is, knowing what he is coming to do, we wait and watch for his return. Jesus gives you everything you need to stay awake and waiting until the end. He gives you the promises of his word. He gives you the Holy Spirit, bestowed in baptism to keep you in the true faith. Jesus gives you his very body and blood, for the forgiveness of sins, to strengthen you in faith toward God and in fervent love toward one another.

We don’t know when Christ will return, but we do know who and we do know what. And what’s more, we know what we are to do while we wait for his coming. We don’t gather on hilltops like the Millerites did, leaving life behind. Rather, our waiting is a busy, active thing. As Jesus says in our text: “It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work.” And so you and I go about our work, the various tasks we have in life, not getting so caught up in them that we lose sight of our Lord’s return, but rather doing our work faithfully and well, even as we watch for his coming. Whatever our particular vocations in life–whether pastor or layman, citizen or official, father, mother, child, worker, employer, teacher, or student–whatever our calling, we do it all to the glory of God. This transforms our daily living. The hope we have for the future invigorates our life in the here and now. Watching, waiting, and working–that’s what we do as we look for Christ to come again.

We don’t know when. But we do know who, we do know what, and we do know what to do in the meantime. We know who Jesus is: He is our returning Savior. We know what he is coming to do: He’s coming to gather us to himself. And we know what to do while we’re waiting: Keep awake, watchful, with the clear eye of Christian hope. Keep doing the tasks God has assigned us to do, our daily lives renewed and transformed by the sure hope that God has given us.

Finally, we also know where, where to find the help we need to stay awake, to remain watchful. We know where to find forgiveness for our sleepiness and sloppiness of living. The forgiveness, the faith and hope and love we need, we find in his Word and Sacraments: the Good News that is preached to you, the Sacraments that are given to you, here in God’s house. Here is where you find the spiritual “No-Doz” you need to remain awake and alert, so that you not drift off into the slumberland of the world.

Brothers and sisters, you have the Great Hope of Christ’s return to look forward to! Keep awake, stay awake, for you do not know when. But you do know him, and that’s what you need to know in order to be ready, whenever he comes.

Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost
November 14, 2021

“The Day Is Drawing Near: Let Us Draw Near, Hold Fast, and Stir Up” (Hebrews 10:11-25)

“The day is surely drawing near,” we just sang. And our reading from Hebrews 10 closes with similar words: “as you see the Day drawing near.” What day is that? Let’s find out. And let’s consider what the implications are for us as we see that day approaching. Our text will tell us: “The Day Is Drawing Near: Let Us Draw Near, Hold Fast, and Stir Up.”

The day is drawing near. The day of Christ’s appearing, his “parousia.” The day of Christ’s return, his second coming. That will be the Last Day, Judgment Day, when our Lord Jesus Christ “will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead.” On that day all humanity will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and he will separate the sheep from the goats, the righteous from the wicked. The righteous will enter into eternal life; the wicked will go away into eternal punishment. That day is drawing near. On that day, God’s people will be delivered. There will be a general resurrection of the dead. Some shall awaken to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt. That’s the day being spoken of in Hebrews, where it says, “as you see the Day drawing near.”

That day is coming, be assured of that. It may seem like it’s a long time coming, but it will come. God’s Word leaves no doubt about it. It will be a day of wrath for this evil world. Judgment will come on this world. We see the signs all around us: disasters, wars and rumors of wars, political and economic turmoil, religious deception, the persecution of Christians, a decline in morals, our culture now calling good evil and evil good. This world is falling apart. It’s coming apart at the seams. How much longer till God lowers the boom one last time? We don’t know. No one knows the day or hour. God has more people he wants to hear the gospel and believe in Christ before that day. But it is drawing near.

Judgment and wrath will come on this world on the day of Christ’s return. Will you be able to stand in that day? It will not be because you’re such a good person. It will not be because of your inner goodness or outward good works. Nor will it be because God is an old softie who sweeps sin under the rug and winks at bad behavior. No, Judgment Day will not be like that. God’s justice demands more. Where will you flee? Where can you turn? How will you stand? Look to Christ, trust in him. He is your only hope. Only Jesus, the Savior of the world, can save you on that day.

Christ won your salvation by taking away your sins. Hebrews puts it in terms of a priest making a sacrifice. The priests of Old Testament Israel made many sacrifices, the same ones over and over again. Those sacrifices could never fully or finally take away sins. But then Christ came, the one those priests and sacrifices were pointing ahead to. Jesus is our great high priest. He made the perfect and final sacrifice, the one that really does take away sins. Hebrews says that Christ “offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins”: “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

Friends, this is how you will be able to stand in the day of judgment: Christ made the perfect sacrifice on your behalf! It’s nothing you did. He did it for you! Jesus, our great high priest, made the once-and-for-all sacrifice for sins when he offered himself into death, shedding his holy blood for you on the cross. “Himself the victim and Himself the priest.” Christ the Lamb of God takes away the sin of world. Only God could save you, and he has in Christ. Trust in him, as you see the day approaching. In him you have forgiveness, in him you have hope, according to God’s promise: “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” The day is drawing near, and we will stand secure on that day. Jesus our great high priest made the perfect sacrifice and won forgiveness for our sins.

The day is drawing near. What are the implications of this for us? Our text gives us three things to do: Draw near, hold fast, and stir up. First, draw near. Hebrews says this, again using the language of priest and tabernacle: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near.”

“Let us draw near.” Christ has opened the way for us. Now we have confidence to draw near the holy presence of God. Our confidence is in Christ. He ushers us in to the throne of grace. This gives us the confidence and boldness we need to draw near. “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” This is the way of repentance and faith. This is the way of Baptism, of Confession and Absolution. “Let us draw near with a true heart.” You heard that today at the start of the service, when we were invited to confess our sins to God our Father. And God is faithful; he does forgive us for the sake of his Son. Does your conscience accuse you? Do your sins weigh you down? Then draw near to God. He will cleanse your conscience and purify your heart.

The day is drawing near, so let us draw near. Confessing our sins, receiving God’s forgiveness, hearts cleansed and our bodies washed, now we are ready to speak aloud the hope that fills us. We confess our faith to one another and for all the world to hear. Our text says: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” So first, let us draw near to God. And second, let us hold fast our confession. The faith we confess we will hold fast, even when the world mocks our faith. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope. Our hope is the sure hope of everlasting life, as sure as Christ’s own resurrection. Our faith is rooted in the faithfulness of God. His promises are sure. The Lord God remembers his promises. And all his promises are “yes and amen” in Christ. So let us draw near to God, and let us hold fast our confession.

And let us stir up one another to love and good works. That’s the third exhortation given here to us Christians, as we see the day drawing near: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

You are not an isolated individual, trying to live the Christian life on your own. No, you are part of a community, the church, God’s own family. We meet together and encourage one another and stir one another up to a life of love and good works. You don’t do that on your own. You need your fellow Christians, and they need you. The church is God’s plan. There is no Plan B. There is no such thing as, “I believe in God, so I don’t need to go to church.” That is absurd. It’s ridiculous. We were made for each other. That’s how God made us as Christians. We are meant for community, brought together by God to be his people in the world, in this family, in this community called the church.

“Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,” our text says. Even back in the first century, apparently, they had a problem with some Christians not going to church. Missing church is a bad thing. How can we “stir up one another to love and good works” if we’re not there? How can we receive the encouragement we need? How can we stir up if we don’t even show up? Answer: We can’t. It is discouraging and demoralizing to our brothers and sisters when we don’t show up. They see an empty space where your body ought to be. Or to put it positively, it is encouraging, it lifts our spirits, it builds up the body of Christ, when we do show up and we all meet together. Your very presence in the pew is encouraging to your brothers and sisters. Your voice, added to the voices singing the hymns and speaking the Creed–the very sound of your voice is an encouragement to others. We need one another in this family of God called the church. Every church member’s physical presence every Sunday is more important than people realize.

We help one another in this family, the church. When you or I find out the needs of a sister or brother, then we can help that person in practical ways. This can only happen when we show up and meet together and get to know one another. “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

The day is drawing near, the day of Christ’s returning. Therefore, let us draw near to God, in full assurance of faith, through the way opened for us by our great high priest, Jesus Christ. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope, bold to speak our hope in Christ. And let us stir up one another to love and good works, continuing to meet together, which in itself is a great encouragement. Because of what God has done for us in Christ, let us draw near to God, let us hold fast our confession, and let us stir up one another to love.

The day is surely drawing near. For us Christians, that day will be a day of great rejoicing. Our Lord and Savior will return and take us home to live with him forever. As we see that day drawing near, let us this day ourselves draw near, near to God and near to one another.

All Saints’ Day (Observed)
November 7, 2021

“The Now and Not Yet of All God’s Saints” (Matthew 5:1-12; 1 John 3:1-3; Revelation 7:9-17)

Today, as we do every year on the first Sunday in November, we observe the historic Christian festival known as All Saints’ Day. On this day we thank God for making us all his saints, his holy ones, set apart by God’s grace to belong to God alone. We thank God for the saints of the past, those who have preceded us in the faith, who by the witness of their lives inspire us and encourage us to carry on. And we remember the faithful departed from our own midst, from this congregation, who over the past twelve months have fallen asleep in Jesus and now rest from their labors. This is All Saints’ Day, a time to reflect upon and ponder “The Now and Not Yet of All God’s Saints.”

We see both the “now” and the “not yet” of God’s saints in all three of our lessons today. The “now” is our present situation that we find ourselves in as Christians. The “not yet” is what is in store for us in the future, the beautiful reality that awaits us.

“The Now and Not Yet of All God’s Saints.” Let’s start with the Holy Gospel for today. In Matthew 5, in the Beatitudes, Jesus describes our now and promises our not yet. The “now” he describes for his disciples is generally not too good: “The poor in spirit.” “Those who mourn.” “The meek.” “Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” “Those who are persecuted.” Wow, that’s pretty grim! The world would call these people “losers.” But look, Jesus calls them “blessed”!

You see, our situation now, as followers of Jesus, does not always resemble a bed of roses. On the contrary, it may feel more like a crown of thorns. Because, besides the ordinary problems that befall all men, it’s like we get some extra suffering added on precisely because we are believers. If you want an easy life, don’t become a Christian!

But Jesus calls us “blessed.” That’s weird. It’s a puzzle and a paradox how Christ can call us blessed when our life is in the pits. But he does. And we are. Why? Jesus gives us the reasons in the second half of these verses. And this is our “not yet”: “For they shall be comforted.” “For they shall inherit the earth.” “For they shall be satisfied.” And so on. Our future reward makes our present suffering bearable–and blessed. And that future reward is ours, guaranteed to us, simply because we are Christ’s followers. We believe in Jesus our Savior. We have been joined to Jesus in Holy Baptism. And so the future reward Christ has won for us is guaranteed to us even now.

But notice this. While most of the promises in the Beatitudes are cast in the future, there’s a pair of promises spoken of in the present. In verses bracketing the Beatitudes at the start and near the end, Jesus puts the blessedness in the present tense: “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “Is,” present tense! We share in the kingdom of heaven even now! Christ came bringing the kingdom of heaven with him, along with all of its blessings: comfort, righteousness, mercy, sonship, etc. This is the kingdom of heaven that is ours now. And our not yet is the great future reward waiting for us in heaven.

The now and the not yet. John speaks of it as well, in his epistle. He even uses the terms, “now” and “not yet”: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared.” Right now, we are God’s children. It is a present reality. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” That’s the now. But there’s also a “not yet,” a future reward we can look forward to: “What we will be has not yet appeared.” But it will appear when he appears, when Christ returns at his second coming. “What we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” We will be like Jesus, with a resurrected, glorified body, no longer subject to death. We will be like him, without the sin that currently weighs us down. A bright and glorious future awaits us. We don’t know exactly what all of that will look like, but we do know that it will be good, much better than anything we experience now.

Meanwhile, now the world does not know us. The world doesn’t understand Christians. They can’t figure us out. And they don’t accept us, either. They mock Christians. They think we’re crazy. “The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” The world doesn’t know us, because they don’t know Christ. So don’t be surprised when the world hates you for no good reason. It comes with the territory when you bear the name of Christ.

But because we bear the name of Christ, we also bear the name “children of God.” The Father made us his children when he baptized us into Christ. We now are children of the heavenly Father. Our Father loves us and takes care of us. God’s Son, Jesus Christ, is now our Savior; our sins are washed away for his sake. And God the Holy Spirit has been given to us to give us faith in Christ and to keep us strong in that faith our whole life long. A present joy and a future hope, bestowed on us in our baptism in the name of the triune God.

The now and the not yet. Revelation catches this too, in the scene of the white-robed multitude in heaven: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.” “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

The “now” that you and I experience is the great tribulation that the white-robed saints are coming out of. This is the life of pain and distress and persecution that God’s people endure here on earth. But those in the white robes, they have come out of that. They are no longer suffering the afflictions with which we are afflicted. They are no longer troubled with the troubles that trouble us. That’s the “not yet” we can look forward to.

Dear friends, the faithful departed have already entered into that rest and that joy. They are no longer suffering. They are no longer struggling like we are. “We feebly struggle, they in glory shine.” Yes, behold that host, arrayed in white.

But how did their robes get so white, so pure and clean to stand before God’s throne? It was not because of any inherent purity or cleanliness in them. No, on our own, our robes are filthy and fouled, soiled by sin. Our sin would exclude us from that heavenly scene. But here in Revelation, we get the answer to how sin-stained robes are cleansed. We find out how the saints are able to stand in God’s presence. Answer: “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

The blood of the Lamb: That’s Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses you from all sin. It is the blood he shed for you on the cross. As the perfect sacrifice and our perfect substitute, Christ Jesus won your forgiveness and your eternal salvation. All this is delivered to you in the gospel, in Word and Sacrament. When you were baptized, those robes of yours were washed clean, made white, in the blood of the Lamb. Think of it: Robes made white in blood! But that’s what happens, when it’s the blood of Christ.

And with that as our “now,” our “not yet” will surely follow. We will share in the inheritance of all God’s saints. Listen to the joy that is in store for us: “They are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

“The Now and Not Yet of All God’s Saints.” Our now is poverty of spirit and persecution for the faith. Our now is great tribulation; the world does not know us, and it doesn’t know our Lord. But our now is also blessed, because Jesus pronounces it so. He declares that ours is–present tense–the kingdom of heaven. We are children of God even now. And with robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb, we have a glorious future waiting in front of us. We’re not yet there, but we can see it from here. Our now is good, and our not yet is even better. And all God’s saints said . . . “Amen!”

Reformation Day
Sunday, October 31, 2021

“Eleutherios: Free Indeed!” (John 8:31-36)

Today, October 31, along with millions of other Christians around the world, we are celebrating Reformation Day. Why? What’s so special about this day? Well, 504 years ago today, on October 31, 1517, Dr. Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses against the sale of indulgences on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. And what Luther did that day started the movement known as the Reformation, which corrected many bad practices that crept into the church. Ever since, we observe the last Sunday in October as Reformation Day, and we thank God for using Luther to bring the pure gospel back to light.

October 31, 1517, marked the beginning of a change for the better in the church. At the same time, Luther recognized that the gospel of Christ had made a change in him. And so, starting in November of 1517 and for a couple of years thereafter, in some of his letters to his friends, Luther would sign his letters with a change in his name. He signed them as “Martinos Eleutherios.” Why did he do that? Let’s find out now, under the theme, “Eleutherios: Free Indeed!”

Our text is the Holy Gospel for today, from John chapter 8. It’s what Jesus says in this text that was the inspiration for Luther changing his name. But first let’s go back to when Jesus said these words at the time, back to the original context. Our text starts out: “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him. . . .” Jesus had been teaching in the temple, and some of the Jews believed in him. Some did, some did not. Some had at least an initial attraction to Jesus, but would they continue on and become more firmly grounded?

So Jesus says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.” Not just an initial attraction, but will you continue? Will you abide in my word? Sometimes people start out liking some of the things about Jesus. They like some of the things he says. But will they stick with it? Will they abide in Christ’s word if some of it down the line becomes offensive to them? Remember back to the end of John 6, when Jesus said, “Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” “After this,” it says, “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” Or think of the parable of the sower and the seed. Some of those who hear the word immediately receive it with joy, but when trouble or persecution come on account of the word, they fall away. So not everybody who initially comes to Jesus and his word stays with it for the long haul.

But those who do, by the grace of God–they are truly Christ’s disciples. God gives them the strength to persevere through the tough times. Through the times of questioning and doubt. The Word of God itself is what strengthens us. This is why it is so important for you to continue steadfastly in God’s Word, in the gospel of Christ. Otherwise, your faith will grow weak, and you become increasingly in danger of falling away.

How is it with you? Are you taking advantage of all the opportunities you have to abide in Christ’s word? Regular church attendance. Regular Bible class attendance. Receiving the Sacrament here at this altar, week after week, month after month, year after year. This is how you abide in Christ’s word. This is how you follow Jesus as his disciple.

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” This is what happened in Martin Luther’s life. I’ve often said, the worst mistake the Roman Catholic Church ever made was assigning Luther to teach the Bible. Because as Luther continued to study the Scriptures in depth, the more he did, the more he saw that what the church was teaching did not line up with God’s Word. Luther began to see the errors that needed to be corrected. Luther began to see the truth that needed to be proclaimed. By abiding in Christ’s word, Luther came to know the truth.

And this truth is what set Luther free. It was like the light dawning on a new day. The clear truth of the gospel set Luther free to do the things he did. Like posting those theses against the sale of indulgences. Luther saw in the Scriptures that forgiveness of sins could not be bought and sold through the purchase of certificates. God would not have us bypass repentance and faith in Christ. No, that was wrong. And so Luther spoke up, even if meant persecution from the higher-ups. And this is what started the Reformation. Christ’s word had set Luther free, and that gave him the courage and the boldness to confess the truth over against error. Of course, Rome did not like to hear that they had been teaching error.

Likewise, Jesus’ opponents did not like to hear the things he was saying. So, when Jesus said, “The truth will set you free,” they took offense at that. They told Jesus, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” They didn’t think they needed to be made free. They thought they were free already.

So Jesus tells them what they needed to be freed from. He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” This is the kind of slavery Jesus was talking about. Slavery to sin. And with sin comes death. “The wages of sin is death,” the Bible says. You and I need to be set free from our sins and from the death that is its consequence.

And you and I cannot do anything to free ourselves from this bondage to sin and death. Luther tried it and saw that it does not work. Young Luther became a monk, and he worked harder at it than anyone else. He was under the impression–because that is what the Roman church was teaching–that by your doing that which was within you, you could make yourself a candidate for God’s grace. And thus you could work yourself toward salvation.

But try as he might–and he tried very hard–Luther could not escape the realization that he was still a sinner, still weighed down by guilt. Luther realized that he simply did not love God with all his heart, soul, and mind. And so he thought he was forever damned.

But as time went on, Luther came to see that all of our works cannot offset our sin. Buying indulgences, venerating relics, making pilgrimages–doing our best at doing good works was not good enough to free ourselves from our plight. Only one way was good enough. And that is the liberation that only Jesus, the Son of God, provides.

As Jesus says in our text: “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” In an ancient household, there could be a slave and there could be a son. The slave does not have the rights and standing of a son. The slave is not free. The son is. If you keep relying on your works to set yourself free, that will never work. You will remain a slave to sin. On the other hand, if the very Son of God sets you free, then you will be free indeed. You will have the rights and standing of a true son in the household, and you will remain in God’s house forever.

This is the truth of the gospel that Luther learned. This is the truth that liberated him and liberates you and me: God’s own Son has set us free. As Luther writes in the Catechism, “I believe that Jesus Christ . . . has redeemed me,” that is, set me free, “from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil.” How? “Not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death.” Only the blood of Jesus can set you free. It took the death of God’s Son, dying for my sins and your sins and the sins of the whole world–this is how Christ atoned for our sins, taking God’s judgment in our place, so that we would not die forever but instead have eternal life. Through faith in Christ, generated by the Word and Sacraments, we obtain God’s forgiveness and share in Christ’s resurrection victory. This is most certainly true! It was true for Jesus’ hearers back then. It was true for Luther at the time of the Reformation. And it is true for you today.

As I promised earlier, I said I would explain to you why Martin Luther began to sign his letters as “Martinos Eleutherios.” Why the change in his name? Well, actually, Luther’s name at birth was Martin “Luder,” with a “d,” “L-u-d-e-r.” And that was the name he used into adulthood. But after his discovery of the gospel, when it began to dawn on him that only Christ could set him free, he began to sign his name as “Martinos Eleutherios,” even using the Greek letters for “Eleutherios,” as you can see reproduced in your bulletin. And here is how it connects to our text today: Wherever Jesus says “free”–“the truth will set you free,” “if the Son sets you free”–it’s a form of the Greek word “eleutheros.”

And that’s how Martin Luder now was thinking of himself: as one set free by Christ! So for a couple of years he signed his name that way: “Martinos Eleutherios,” “Martin, the one set free!” Later he shortened “Eleutherios” to just “Luther,” which sounded close enough to his original name, “Luder.” But for the rest of his life, Luther always thought of himself as one set free by Christ.

How about you? Would you sign your name as “John Eleutherios” or “Mary Eleutherios”? Whether or not you do, nevertheless, since Christ has set you free, you are still, like Luther, “Eleutherios: Free Indeed!”

Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost
October 24, 2021

“Christ, Our Great High Priest” (Hebrews 7:23-28)

For a number of weeks now, our Epistle readings have come from the Book of Hebrews. And throughout these readings, Hebrews has been making this major point: All the worship practices of Old Testament Israel, all its religious institutions, were pointing ahead to, and have been fulfilled by, Jesus Christ. The Sabbath rest, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the priesthood–all these have been fulfilled in an even greater way by Christ.

Take the priesthood, for example, and the office of the high priest, in particular. Our recent readings from Hebrews have made the point that Jesus now is our great high priest. Hebrews 2 told us that Jesus came in order to be “a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 4 said that “we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.” And so now today, when we come to Hebrews 7, we continue along those same lines, under the theme, “Christ, Our Great High Priest.”

Our text begins: “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he [Christ] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.”

“The former priests,” it says. Now since none of us here were around back when Israel had priests, I suppose I should begin by explaining who they were. The “former priests” were those of the Levitical priesthood, that is, from the tribe of Levi and descended from Aaron. The Lord God had established the priesthood for Israel at Mount Sinai, appointing Aaron, the brother of Moses, to be the first high priest. All the subsequent priests were descended from Aaron, and out of all the priests, one of them at any given time would serve as the high priest.

“The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.” Now this seems pretty obvious, since once they died, that would be the end of their priestly service. But what Hebrews is doing is setting up a contrast between those many former priests and the one great high priest we have now, namely, Jesus Christ. Our text says: “but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.” Christ has a permanent priesthood, because he has overcome death. Jesus rose from the dead and lives forever. Therefore, he still holds his priestly office.

By the way, Jesus was not from the tribe of Levi. He was not descended from Aaron. Jesus was from the tribe of Judah. He was descended from King David. So Jesus has a unique, one-of-a-kind priesthood. He is a special priest, our great high priest, set apart to do a work only he could do.

Our text continues: “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” This is the work only Christ could do, that is, to save us. He is able to save to the uttermost–completely, to the nth degree–Jesus is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him. Jesus is able to save to the farthest reaches of lost sinners. Jesus is able to save you, and he has.

Through Christ, we are able to draw near to God. Without him, we could not do this. Our sins would separate us from God. We were alienated from God. But now in Christ we have been brought near, we have been reconciled back to God. And this happens only through Christ. “No one comes to the Father except through me,” Jesus says. But through him, we do have access to God’s throne of grace. Just as only the high priest of old could enter through the curtain into the Holy of Holies, now Christ our great high priest has entered in, and he has opened the way for us to draw near to God.

And Jesus is still serving as the high priest for sinners, since, as our text says, “he always lives to make intercession for them.” Jesus still today, right now, is acting as our high priest. Having risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, Jesus right now is standing at the heavenly altar, and he is praying for you. He is interceding for you. When you are in danger or in need, Jesus is praying for you. When you stumble and fall in your Christian walk, Jesus is praying for you. He’s saying: “Father, do not hold this sin against them. Look, here is the blood I shed to atone for their sins. Forgive them, Father. Restore them to the right path.” Yes, Jesus ever lives to make intercession for you, and this is of great comfort!

Hebrews continues: “For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.”

Christ, our great high priest, is far superior to those high priests of old. They were sinful men. Jesus is without sin, holy, innocent, and unstained. Those priests had to offer up sacrifices first for their own sins, before they got to the sins of the people. Jesus had no sins of his own that needed forgiving. Those priests had to offer up sacrifices daily, weekly, year after year, showing that the blood of bulls and goats could never really, fully, take away sins. The sacrifices those priests made pointed ahead to the once-and-for-all sacrifice Christ would make. Jesus only had to offer up one sacrifice, and it was enough to cover all the sins of all men everywhere, in all times and places.

What was this most powerful sacrifice that Jesus offered up, a sacrifice strong enough to atone for all the sins of mankind? Our text tells us: “he did this once for all when he offered up himself.” Jesus is both the priest and the sacrifice! Christ is our great high priest, and at the same time he is also the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus offered up himself on the altar of the cross. He gave his body into death, so that we might have life. He shed his holy precious blood for the forgiveness of our sins. And now, here at this altar, Jesus invites us to draw near and partake of his very body and blood for our forgiveness, life, and salvation. What a high priest we have!

Our text concludes: “For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.” The law of Moses appointed Aaron and his sons to serve as high priests for Israel. But they were weak and sinful men. And their time has come and gone. Far greater, God has sworn with an oath and appointed his own Son to serve as the great and perfect high priest for all people, forever. As was prophesied of Christ in Psalm 110: “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’” Like mysterious Melchizedek, who predated the Levitical priesthood, Jesus has a unique priesthood. All those priests of old served their purpose. But now they’ve given way to the final, forever priesthood of the great high priest, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Take comfort in this today, dear friends: You have a great high priest serving on your behalf. He has a permanent priesthood, because he has overcome death and now lives forever. Your high priest is able to save you to the uttermost, completely, to the nth degree. Through him, through Christ, though formerly your sins kept you from God, now you are able to draw near to God and his throne of grace for mercy and help in time of need. On top of this, Christ your high priest in heaven ever lives to make intercession for you. Jesus is praying for you, and he knows exactly what you need.

Your great high priest has offered up the perfect sacrifice on your behalf: It is Christ himself. He, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, made atonement for your sins by his death on the cross. Jesus will never fail you. He is God’s own Son, your perfect high priest with a permanent priesthood. Therefore, today at this altar:

Draw near and take the body of the Lord,
And drink the holy blood for you outpoured;
Offered was He for greatest and for least,
Himself the victim and Himself the priest.