Ascension Day 2012

Ascension Day 5/17/12 I want to share it with you today a sermon written by C. F. Walther in 1865. For those of you that might not be familiar with him he was instrumental in formulating the faith we Lutherans proclaim today. Pastor Walther covered four different topics in his sermon on the Ascension of Jesus. I have taken one topic to share with you today; Lord’s supper. I have chosen this topic because his words written in the late 1800s are as relevant to us today as they were to his congregation so long ago. The following is his sermon edited for length. In our day especially, it is generally believed that after his ascension Christ is no longer on earth with his human nature. Consequently, the doctrine of the ascension is misused to deny that Christ’s body and blood are truly present in the Holy Supper. This error rests upon a completely false conception of the real nature of the ascension of Jesus Christ, Son of God, and Son of man. It is mistakenly supposed that Christ ascended into heaven just as Enoch or Elijah did; he now lives in a certain place in heaven, as is believed of all the other saints. We must note, first of all, that we are much too weak to grasp and fathom the real nature of ascension. We do not even have an idea of what the Scriptures call heaven, for it says that heaven has no time or space. Yet our mind has absolutely no conception of something not bounded by time and space. The Holy Scriptures do not say that Christ only ascended into heaven; it rather speaks this way, “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.” (Ephesians 4:10). Now who can begin to grasp this mystery, to say nothing about describing it. Bear in mind, that the ascension of Christ is like the sun. The more clearly one wishes to look into it, the more it blinds our eyes, so that finally we see nothing. This work belongs to those which we are not to fathom but in childlike faith simply to believe what the Scriptures say of it. The more simply we hold to what the Scriptures say of it, the more faith-strengthening this mysterious article becomes. What do the Scriptures say? They do not tell us that Christ is circumscribed by heaven as other saints are, but that He fills all things, not that he was received by heaven, but rather that he has received heaven, yes, that he has ascended up over all heavens, and, as our text says, now “sits on the right hand of God.” What does this mean? If we do not want to go astray, we must consult the Scriptures. It says that God led Israel out of Egypt with his right hand, and hurled Pharaoh with his army into the sea. It says in Psalm 77:10, “I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.” (German: “The right hand of the most High can change all things.”) It says, “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” Psalm 139:9,10. From this it is clear that by God’s right hand the Scriptures understand his omnipotence, omnipresence, rule, and eternal divine majesty and glory. That we are not mistaken in this explanation of Christ’s sitting on the right hand of God the Scriptures again show us. St Paul says, “Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:20-23. And even in Psalm 110 we read, “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” (Vv. 1,2b). Naturally, all this is not said of Christ’s divinity but of that nature in which he went about in the form of a servant, his human nature; his divine nature could be neither humbled nor exalted, experience neither ebb nor increase of its glory, as Psalm 102 expressly says of the divine nature, “Thou art the same.” (V 27). Now decide for yourself whether according to Holy Scripture Christ is no longer with us according to his human nature. Far be it! To be sure, he left the world in such a way that he no longer walks among us like a human being, visible, touchable, and occupying space as once he did with his disciples. Christ could in this sense say, “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.” (John 16:28). The angel also could speak in this sense, pointing to Christ’s empty grave, “He is not here; behold the place where they laid him.” (Mark 16:6). We speak in this sense at the close of the Second Article of the Apostle’s Creed, “From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” But be it far from us to believe that this applies also of Christ, what Abraham said to the rich man in hell, “And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.” Luke 16:26). Be it far from us to believe that Christ is King in a kingdom from which he is separated, and which he can rule only from a distance. No, Christ has taken a local departure from his disciples. With his glorified body he truly lifted himself ever higher and higher, as far as the eyes of his disciples could reach. But that should only assure them of the truth of the great change, which now took place in the state of the man Jesus. We dare not suppose that, when the clouds received Jesus like a triumphal chariot and hid him from the sight of the disciples, he now continued to rise slowly ever farther and farther from the earth and raised himself up above the starry heavens. No, as soon as the clouds closed behind him, he in that instant also entered into the state of divine majesty, appeared in heaven full of glory before all angels and saints, and also as a man began to share in the omnipotent and omnipresent rule over heaven and earth and all creatures. If we consider the ascension of Christ in this way, oh, what a firm basis for a joyful faith we then have! Far be it that Christ should have withdrawn himself from his congregation; he has rather come real close to us. We need not first go to Judea to seek him. No, shortly before his ascension he promised, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20). Through his visible entrance into his invisible glory he confirmed and brought this about. In all places he as God and man is now near us with his grace, with his help, with his protection. If during his sojourn on earth Christ dealt with his Father chiefly for us, now his own attention is continually directed toward us, his redeemed, to bring us to faith in him, to preserve us in it, and to carry out the good work in us until that day when we shall see him as he is. Christ has not ceased completing his work in sinners; he does not rest in the enjoyment of salvation, resting from his labors as those do who fall asleep in him; but he has appeared for us before God in the Holy of Holies; as Aaron bore the names of the tribes of Israel on his breastplate when he entered into the Holy of Holies, so also Christ carries the names of all believers on his heart when he appears before God as the true High Priest. There he unceasingly intercedes for his own, rules them, provides for them, and protects them, that the gates of hell cannot overpower them. Oh, then, let everyone today be awakened to faith in Christ and be strengthened in it through his glorious ascension. Let no one say: How does this concern me? If you are a prisoner of sin, the Law, and death, as you can not deny, then Christ’s ascension concerns you most intimately; through his ascension Christ has led your captivity captive. If you at your death do not want to descend into the eternal prison, then in faith cling to the Ascended. You are then free even here, and some day you will follow him into his glory. He thought of you when before his ascension he gave the command, “Preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” (Mark 16:15,16). Now if in the meantime before your Savior brings you home into his Father’s house, you experience misery, many temptations and dangers of soul, do not give up. Cling to him who today received the kingdom of his Father. For your sake all power in heaven and on earth was given to him. He will permit nothing to tear you from his hand and will be your shield and protection until he has placed you among those whom he has delivered, who sing an eternal hallelujah to him in the temple of heaven. To him be honor and praise here and hereafter, forever and ever. Amen

Sixth Sunday of Easter and Mother's Day 5/13/12

Sixth Sunday of Easter 5/13/12 Text: John 15:9-17 Title: Born to Love In this morning’s Gospel lesson we hear, starting in verse twelve Jesus say, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:12-15 ESV) It is a perfect text for today since the reading for the 6th Sunday of Easter and Mother's Day fall on the same day. Most mother's, after all, are the closest we come, in this fallen world, to examples of selfless, unconditional love. By God's design they pour their hearts out to others in love, mainly their children, whom God committed to their care. They sacrifice for a greater good, namely the welfare of those they bore. Thus, today we give thanks to God for giving such examples of love in our lives. Thank you moms. You can't read very much of God’s Word without being confronted with his command to love one another. "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." he tells us. And in yet another place in his Word he tells us, "You are to love your neighbor as yourself." and “If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?” And last but not least we hear Jesus tell us, “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Verse after verse we hear Jesus tell us to love, or we are not his and we shake, at least we should shake, in our boots knowing we are not loving others as God demands. Just like the disciples that Jesus told to love others we want to narrow it down, so that we can justify our loving only those we want to love, by asking, “Jesus, just who is our neighbor?” We say, “You certainly cannot mean everyone; even those who are enemies or we do not know, do you?” And Jesus replies, by telling us the story of the Good Samaritan which shows us that our neighbor is anyone in need. So much for narrowing Jesus command to love! To love God with our whole heart, mind and soul, with our whole being, and to love our neighbor as ourselves is the greatest challenge we face as disciples of Jesus. It's a challenge because, as you well know, we are by far better at loving ourselves. Oh we will love others, if we can get something out of it, like love or recognition, but loving all others, well that is just downright silly. Who would expect anyone to do that? God does and we can’t get out of it if we are his, as he tells us today, “friends.” Even on this "Mother's Day" as we rightfully show our profound appreciation for our mothers and for the love that they gave us in raising us, sin rears its ugly head and shows us just how turned in on ourselves we can really be. For even on this day some mother’s son or daughter will be molested, sold into slavery, or murdered for the pleasure of someone else; the ultimate disrespect of motherhood. Jesus calls us his friends, as he goes even further than the golden rule where we are told to "Do to others as we would have them do to us." He says, "Love one another, as I have loved you." You of course, know how much Jesus loved you, don’t you? If you don’t you should because every Sunday you are told through God’s Word that Jesus bled and suffered death for you on that terrible cross because he loves you. On that cross he became your sin, my sin, the sin of everyone; an incomprehensible fact, if it were not for our eyes of faith. God brings that act of love to us every Sunday in the forgiveness of your sins that I say in the name of Jesus. He brings that act of love in his Supper where we are not just reminded of, but given forgiveness, life, and salvation. He brings that act of love through God’s Word as it is read to you. He brings that act of love as we say and sing the liturgy and hymns in the worship service. The vastness of God’s love is great, so the cost of being a disciple must be great, at least that is what you would think, but it isn’t as a pastor found out. There was once a pastor who preached a sermon in which he shared his thoughts on what he perceived to be the cost of being a disciple of Jesus. At first he thought that it would be like writing one big check to cover that cost. But then after reading read about Dietrich Bonheoffer, the Lutheran pastor who was put to death in Nazi Germany for opposing Hitler's regime, he thought that the cost of discipleship would be more like being put against a bullet ridden wall where he would be asked to renounce his Christian faith. Upon refusing to do so he would be executed. But his life would not be a waste, for he thought because of his refusing to renounce his faith people would visit the site where he was executed and cry, as they remembered that this is where he died for his faith. He would be remembered for his glorious deed of giving up his life for the Lord. That would be the cost of being a disciple of Jesus. But, as time went on it wasn't long before he realized that being a disciple, actually a friend of Jesus meant something entirely different. It did not mean writing one huge check in response for God’s love for him. It did not mean being executed out of response for God’s love. As he lived his life he found out that the cost of discipleship was doing little acts of love, making little sacrifices, those everyday expressions of the love he had come to know in Christ; that is the cost of discipleship. But even then those little things we do each day; the "dailyness" of our lives is not our doing, but the doing of Jesus love through us. It does not stop, but continues to the time we are in the presence of God, for all eternity. His forgiveness is our forgiveness which we give to others. When you think about it, to not forgive others is to reject the forgiveness, the love of God, for you. If disgust and repulsion or the ability to not forgive or love get in your way, remember that it is of your own making and thus, a product of your own inwardness and self-love, for it is certainly not God’s love. I can say that because love and forgiveness are inseparably connected to one another. Forgiveness is motivated by love and love naturally results in forgiveness. That is just not something that I am telling you, but is the word of God, for Saint John wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life." And again in verse ten of our Gospel today, "This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins." Love and faith cannot be separated. Love like faith is an action word. God's love moved him to die for you because it was the only way you could be forgiven for your sins. You are the recipient of both Jesus' love and forgiveness and as his disciple, his friend, you are as, Martin Luther stated, “A little Christ” who does what he did; love and forgive, for we love, “Because he first loved us." Please grab your LSB Hymnal page 703 and read with me verses 1 and 2: "How can I thank you, Lord, for all Your loving kindness, that You have patiently borne with me in my blindness! When dead in many sins and trespasses I lay, I kindled, holy God, Your anger every day. It is Your word alone that I am now converted; o'er Satan's work in me You have Your pow'r asserted. Your mercy and Your grace that rise afresh each morn have turned my stony heart Into a heart newborn." Did you get that? God has given you a “heart newborn.” It is not, my dear friends of Christ, your love and forgiveness that you give to others, but God’s love and forgiveness that moves in and through you, as you, a forgiven sinner forgives other forgiven sinners. That is the Christian life, as God defines it. Amen.