Category: Sermon Page

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
August 15, 2021

“Eat This Bread and Live Forever” (John 6:51-69)

The world’s oldest living person is a woman in Japan by the name of Kane Tanaka. She is 118 years old. She has held the title of oldest living person for over three years, which is unusually long for someone to be the world’s oldest living person. Usually, they relinquish the title before that long. What is Miss Tanaka’s secret? “Eating delicious food and studying,” she says. Her nurses say, “She has a strong appetite and likes eating chocolate and drinking Coke.” Well, I have a strong appetite, I like eating delicious food, including chocolate, and I do a lot of studying. But maybe I should take up drinking Coke.

Then there’s the world’s oldest male, Emilio Flores Márquez of Puerto Rico. He just turned 113 one week ago. Señor Márquez says of his life: “My father raised me with love and taught me to love everyone. He always told me and my brothers and sisters to do good, to share everything with others. Besides, Christ lives in me.”

“Besides, Christ lives in me.” Well said, Señor Márquez! And that is the guarantee that Emilio is going to live past 113, past 118, even past 120. Sure, Emilio is going to die–probably fairly soon. But, because Christ died for him and now Christ lives in him, Emilio is going to live forever. And guess what, dear friends? So will you!

Live forever? It doesn’t look like that, does it? Death is all around us. The names of our friends and relatives end up in the obituaries. Yesterday I did the funeral service for Carol Toenjes of St. Matthew-Bonne Terre, and tomorrow I’ll do the service for Sharon Blakely of Grace-De Soto. Death is right in front of us, staring us in the face. There’s a tombstone up in Chicago waiting to get my name on it. Death is at work in us. Our bodies are in the process of dying. Our immune systems wear down with age. Our bodies don’t heal as well when we get older. The risk of infection is ever-present. The upper limit on age seems to be about 120, and that’s only for a few people who happen to pick the right parents.

Then again, we can eat right, exercise, be in top shape–and we could step off a curb and get hit by a car. Some drunk driver could cross over the yellow line. Dr. Atkins, the famous diet doctor, died after he slipped and fell on an icy street. Diet cannot prevent dying.

But there’s a worse death than just the physical death of the body. Oh, physical death is a part of it, to be sure. That’s the end result of an even worse death, and that’s the death of the soul. Spiritual death. Spiritual death happens because man sins, and that includes every one of us. Spiritual death first set in when we decided we knew better than God, our Creator. We wanted to be our own god, making our own decisions about what’s right and wrong, good and evil. That was the fall into sin. And with it, death set in. That fallen Adamic nature infects us all. We all are like that. Sin and death, both spiritual and physical death–and eternal death, separated from God forever, under his condemnation–that is our natural condition, that is our common lot. It doesn’t matter what how healthy you may eat, how much you exercise, you cannot escape death. Unless. . . .

“Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,” Jesus says. What does Jesus mean by this? Well, he tells us: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”

The first thing it means is to realize that on your own, you have no real life within you. Jesus’ diagnosis is correct. Look inside yourself, apart from Christ, and will find no life there. No life that’s right with God. No life that can overcome your sins. No life that can overcome the grave. “You have no life in you.” Unless. . . .

Unless that life comes to you from outside yourself. Unless that life comes from God, from heaven to earth and into you. That’s how it goes. This is what Jesus offers. To you.

It starts with who Jesus is. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven,” Jesus says. This man speaking in the synagogue at Capernaum–this is no ordinary rabbi. His identity, his origin, is one of a kind. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” Jesus is the very Son of God, the eternal Word, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. “I am the living bread.” In him was–and is–life. Jesus has life in himself. He is full of life. He gives and imparts life. “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven.”

But why does he say “bread”? Well, bread is often called “the staff of life.” “Bread” is a universally understood way to say, “that which sustains life.” Nourishment, food, sustenance, what you need in order to live–all of that is conveyed by the word, “bread.”

And Jesus had just fed the multitude with bread, 5000 people from just a few loaves, with plenty left over. This was a sign, to show that Jesus came to give life, and to give it abundantly. But people misread this sign and were only thinking of free food for their bellies. But Jesus came to give life in the fullest sense. Spiritual life. Life through the forgiveness of sins, healing the rift between us and God. Life that overcomes death in every form: the deadness in our relationship with God and with others; the physical death that cuts our life short at 35 or 70 or 120; and the eternal death that our sins deserve. Jesus overcomes all of that death with his abundant life. Jesus is the true Bread of Life, the living bread from heaven.

Jesus gives us his life and overcomes our death by giving himself into death for us. “The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Christ gave his flesh for the life of the world by going to the cross. In going to the cross, Jesus offered his flesh to the blows of his enemies and the flogging of the soldiers. He offered his flesh to the nails driven through his hands and the spear thrust in his side. His holy, precious blood poured forth and paid the price that we owed but could not pay. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave his flesh and shed his blood as the perfect sacrifice to atone for the sins of the whole world.

This is the only way to have life. There is no other. “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Unless you partake of Jesus by faith, unless you receive him and trust in his sacrifice for your sins–there is no other way to come before God, other than the one and only way that God provides, namely, through Christ’s offering of his flesh and blood on the cross.

But come to him, believe in him, receive him, and you will live! This is his promise, and his word is sure! “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” Here is what you truly need to live past 113 or 118. You need Jesus Christ. Eat this bread and live forever! “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Notice: “has” eternal life, which is present tense, right now! You who trust in Christ, you have eternal life even now! It’s already yours, by faith in Christ.

You have eternal life now, and so the little death that we will face at the end of however many years we get–that is not the end. Our bodies may rest in the grave, but there is another day coming. Jesus speaks of this day. His promise for the believer is this: “And I will raise him up on the last day.” Even as Christ is risen from the dead, so will he raise our bodies, new and glorified forever, on the day when he returns.

So until then, continue to feed on him. Be nourished by Christ with the life that he gives. “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” This is Jesus’ promise to you today. He promises to be with you, in the closest way possible, as we journey through this wilderness on the way to the promised land. Jesus even gives–he literally gives his own body and blood here in this Sacrament. With the bread and with the wine, Christ gives us his very body and blood to eat and to drink. Here is true food and true drink, exactly what you need to sustain your life in Christ.

In the book, “The Fellowship of the Ring,” part of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, as the company is about to set out from Lothlorien, they are given gifts of food and clothing for their journey. The food is in the form of very thin cakes. “We call it lembas or waybread,” the travelers are told, “and it is more strengthening than any food made by Men.”

So it is here today. Here in this Sacrament, our Lord Jesus Christ gives you his “waybread,” food for your journey ahead. He himself is the Way, and he himself is the living bread from heaven. This bread of life is more strengthening, more life-giving, than any food made by men.

So come and eat! Come to Jesus and receive from him! Eat this bread and have eternal life even now. Eat this bread, and you will live forever!

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
August 8, 2021

“Strengthened for the Journey” (1 Kings 19:1-8)

I haven’t been following the Olympics, but I understand that this weekend was one of the main events, namely, the marathon. If you’re not familiar with the marathon, it’s a long-distance race in which the competitors run a total of 26.2 miles! 26.2 miles! Imagine that! What a grueling test of training and endurance that must be! The runners have to be in tip-top shape in order to compete, much less complete the race. And their training has to go on for months beforehand. Long preparation is required in order to run that long of a race. The runners have to watch what they eat and drink, if they expect to have the strength to finish the course. Otherwise, they might have a good first half, but in the second half of the race they’ll burn out, and the marathon will be too much for them. They need to be strengthened for the race.

Friends, that’s like how it is for us. The Christian life is like a marathon. This is no hundred-yard dash. Instead, it’s a long journey. And on our own, the journey would be too much for us. We would not make it the whole way. We need strength from outside of ourselves in order to complete the course. We need to be “Strengthened for the Journey.”

In our Old Testament lesson for today, we read about a man who had had a great first half of the race, but then he was running out of gas in the second half. He needed strength from outside himself in order to complete the course, or else he would not make it. That man was the great Old Testament prophet Elijah. As I say, he had had a great first half. Elijah had bravely stood up to the evil King Ahab.

King Ahab, the Bible tells us, did evil in the sight of the Lord. He had taken a foreign wife, Jezebel, and they had promoted the worship of the pagan god, Baal, in the land of Israel. “Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.”

So the prophet Elijah confronted King Ahab over his sins. Ahab called Elijah “you troubler of Israel.” But Elijah shot back, “I have not troubled Israel but you have. You have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals.” That took a lot of courage on Elijah’s part. It’s risky to speak truth to a powerful king.

Then Elijah set up a showdown on Mount Carmel, challenging the prophets of Baal to a contest. “Let’s see whose god can send down fire from the sky. If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” The prophets of Baal pleaded and prayed to their god all day long: “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no answer.

Then Elijah took his turn, and prayed to the God of Israel. And, lo and behold, the Lord God did answer and sent down fire from heaven. And the people saw it and proclaimed, “The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.”

Well, so far, Elijah is doing great. He had stood up to Ahab. He had cut down the prophets of Baal. If this were the Olympics, if this were the marathon, we’d be halfway through the race, and it would look like Elijah is about to take the gold medal on the victor’s stand.

But the race is not finished. What happens next? King Ahab goes back to his palace and reports what happened to Queen Jezebel. This makes Jezebel mad, to say the least. She takes an oath that she’s going to kill that nasty Elijah. But now the previously courageous Elijah is afraid. He runs as far as he can to get away from Jezebel, who wants to kill him.

Elijah is depressed. He’s discouraged. He has run out of strength. So he sits down under a broom tree, and he’s ready to die. “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” And he lies down and falls asleep under that broom tree. From such a great start, Elijah now is bowing out of the race. He’s run out of gas. It’s too much for him.

Friends, do you ever feel like that? Like the race, the journey, the living of the Christian life, is too much for you? Do you ever feel like you’d just like to lie down under a broom tree and go to sleep? Well, then welcome to the club. We are the Team of Tired Runners, you and I, and Elijah is our captain.

But the Lord had mercy on Elijah, just like he will have mercy on us. An angel of the Lord awakens Elijah and bids him to rise and eat. And behold, there is a meal set before Elijah. “Arise and eat,” the angel says, “for the journey is too great for you.”

Brothers and sisters, the journey would be too great for us, if the Lord would not give us the strength we need to carry on. The journey would be too much. Think of it: What would keep you from completing the course? Well, you’ve got several obstacles working against you, namely, the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh.

The devil, Satan, is your great adversary. Jezebel may be out to get you, but the devil is stronger still. “With might of ours can naught be done, soon were our loss effected.” “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” And you look mighty tasty to him. The journey is too great for you.

Then you’ve got the world wanting to stop you from running the race. I read yesterday that someone has organized an online event for this Thursday called “Global Middle Finger to End Christianity.” And the cover photo is of a bunch of young atheists giving the middle finger to us Christians. And that’s just one small example of the outright hostility towards Christians these days. Besides that, the allurements of the world would try to pull you away from Christ. So, from either angle the world is out to stop you from being a Christian. The journey is too great for you.

And if these outside forces were not enough, you’ve even got a battle within. Your own sinful flesh, your selfish desires that do not want to do God’s will, your innate sinful nature, would also keep you from running the race. So put these high hurdles in front of you, and it’s no wonder you would not reach the finish line in the marathon that is the Christian life.

So, what to do? Like the angel says, “Arise and eat.” Yes, the Lord has set a meal before you here. Come, eat and drink the very body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in this Sacrament. Jesus gave his holy body into death for you. He shed his precious blood on the cross for you, for the forgiveness of your sins. He rose from the dead to give you eternal life with him. You need what he gives you. The journey is too much for you otherwise.

Jesus says to you today, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” The Son of God came down from heaven to save you, to give you eternal life. Come to him, and he will not cast you away. And he will raise you up on the last day, body and soul perfectly restored and made whole. And you will live with him forever.

Here is strength for your journey. When Elijah arose and ate and drank the meal the Lord provided for him, he went in the strength of that food and reached his destination. So it is for you. Jesus will raise you up from your weariness and strengthen your weak knees, so that you will complete the course set before you.

And when you reach sight of the finish line, you will be able to say with Elijah and with St. Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that Day.” Truly so, for the Lord has promised, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Friends, by the grace of God, Elijah got his gold medal, and so will you.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Lord is saying to us, his Team of Tired Runners: “Arise and eat. And you will be strengthened for the journey.”

Guest Pastor Thomas Reeder

Sermon: “The Church on the bible” John 8:31-32

Sermon by guest Pastor Matthew Wood

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
July 18, 2021

“No Longer Aliens” (Ephesians 2:11-22)

Aliens are not very popular. I’m not talking about aliens from outer space. I’m talking about aliens who are illegal immigrants, people who come in as outsiders. Often there is hostility between the aliens and the people who’ve been there their whole lives. They feel like their territory is being invaded. Foreigners, strangers, outsiders are seen as a threat. In whatever the culture, throughout history, aliens generally have been unwelcome.

Well, that was what the situation was like at the time of the New Testament. The insiders were the Jews, God’s chosen people. The outsiders, the aliens, were the Gentiles. There was a mutual hostility between them. The Jews didn’t like the Gentiles, and the Gentiles didn’t like the Jews. And this hostility carried over to some extent even when people from both groups came into the church. It was a struggle at first for the Jewish Christians to accept the Gentiles into their midst. The Jews had been trained to think of the Gentiles as “illegal aliens,” as people who didn’t belong, as outsiders who were outside God’s law and outside of God’s people. When Gentiles were accepted into the church, sometimes it was just barely. They were considered by some Jewish Christians to be second-class citizens within the kingdom of God. “Guess who’s coming to dinner? The Gentiles!” “Oy! Not the Gentiles! There goes the neighborhood!”

This is the background that Paul in addressing in our text today from Ephesians 2. He reminds the Ephesians of their status as Gentiles before they came into the church: “Remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh (were) separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

Now Paul doesn’t say this to put them down or to make them feel bad. In fact, he’s reminding them of how much God has done for them by bringing them into his family. How about us? Do we have a lively sense of what God has done for us by bringing us into his family? Do we realize what our situation would be apart from Christ? Most of us are so used to being in the church that perhaps we don’t realize how bad off we’d be otherwise.

But what a description here of life apart from Christ: “Separated, alienated, strangers.” “Having no hope and without God in the world.” Wow! That’s a shockingly bleak picture! Do you realize there are many people all around us in our community, maybe in our own family, who are not living by faith in Christ and are in the exact same boat? “Having no hope and without God in the world.” That’s a scary thought. But that’s also where you and I would be, if God had not brought us into his family.

And that’s where Paul goes next, to the fact that God has brought us into his family: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” God has brought us near, in close. He has made us insiders. And this has happened “in Christ Jesus.” In Christ–in connection with him–now we are on the inside. God has brought us near to himself through the blood of Christ. The blood Jesus shed on the cross cleanses us from our sins and opens the way for us to come into God’s presence.

Paul continues: “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”

Christ has made peace between Jew and Gentile. Both groups come into the church the same way. Not by means of the law. Because the law never could save anyone in the first place. Some of the Jews thought so, but they were wrong. No, we come into the church–we come into God’s family and God’s presence–only through Christ. “For he himself is our peace.” Peace is not an idea; it is a person. In the person of Christ we have peace. Through his blood, in his flesh, through his cross–only in Christ Jesus, our crucified and risen Savior, do any of us, Jew or Gentile, have peace with God. So there is a level playing field. We all come in through the same door. And since we all have peace with God in the same way, therefore in the church we are at peace with one another.

This is helpful for us to realize when factions and frictions arise in the church. Whether we’re lifelong members of the church or recent converts, all of us have come in through the same door, in the same way. Only in Christ are any of us acceptable to God. None of us is more worthy than another. We are all poor, miserable sinners, saved solely by God’s grace in Christ. This helps me to realize that I’m no better than anyone else. If God accepts a wretch like me–and I realize that Christ died for that person over there just as much as he died for me–then who am I not to love and accept and forgive my brother or sister in Christ? God cares for all of us. We therefore care for one another. We are at peace with one another, and we seek to maintain that peace that Christ has established among us.

Paul goes on: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” No longer strangers. No longer aliens. Now we are on the inside. Fellow citizens with God’s people. Members of God’s household. Think about that! What a tremendous identity we have! What a high calling! Would that we all would think of ourselves in this way! What a difference that would make in the way we live and in the priorities we set! What a difference it would make in our church! We need to see our identity in life, first and foremost, as being part of God’s people, the church. To see ourselves as members of God’s household, his family. For this is who we are! This is what Christ has won for us. God has made us his own. He has brought us into his family, through baptism, that we might live and belong to him alone. What a wonderful identity we have! See yourselves in this way, my friends, for this is how God sees us.

“You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Paul here compares the church–that is, the people of God–to a building, specifically, to the temple. The Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles together laid the foundation for this building by laying down God’s inspired and authoritative word for all generations. Christ Jesus himself is the chief cornerstone of this building. Christ is the focus of it all. The Old Testament prophets point forward to him. The New Testament apostles declare what is ours because of him. Christ determines all the angles and the dimensions and the shape of the church in all ages. He is the one who unites us all, in all times and in all places.

In Christ we become a temple, a holy temple in the Lord. The distinctive thing about the temple was that it was the place where God made his dwelling on earth. Where God’s saving, guiding presence took residence among his people. The Lord showed his mercy in the temple. That is where he forgave sins through the sacrifices he provided. Today all of this takes place in the church. Jesus says, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in their midst.” Here, in the church, where Christ gathers us together in his name–this is God’s holy temple. Jesus is in our midst. The Lord is here, welcoming us into his presence. The Lord is here, forgiving our sins. The Lord is here, present in the Holy Sacrament. And so we are being built up as his people, “being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

It’s all because of Jesus. Through his blood, in his flesh, through his cross, he himself is our peace. Our peace is a person, Jesus Christ. In him we are at peace with God. In him we are at peace with one another. This peace is ours, whether or not we feel at peace. This peace is objectively true, even if the circumstances in our life are not all that peaceful. God’s word assures us of a peace that passes human understanding. Our experiences may tell us, “No.” Our emotions may tell us, “No.” But God, in the gospel, tells us, “Yes.” “Yes, in my Son, I have reconciled you to myself. Yes, in my Son, I have established peace, and I unite my church. Believe this peace; it is true. Receive this peace; it is yours as a gift. Know this peace, deep down in your soul.”

My “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,” today I declare to you that we are no longer aliens. Now we are insiders, at home, where we belong. The church is our home. We’re at home and at peace. In Christ, who is our peace, we are at peace with God and at peace with one another.

So, guess who’s coming to dinner? We are! Whether Jew or Gentile, whether lifelong Lutheran or new convert, we all come to our Lord’s Supper together as one people in Christ.