The Law of God is His Eternal Will God’s Law is: His good and gracious will for human flourishing Broadly all that He speaks Narrowly ceremonial, civic, and moral The ceremonial was fulfilled in Jesus The civic partially fell away with the exile/captivity/destruction of Jerusalem The moral law continues for eternity God’s Law does: Curb: Dissuade us from evil Mirror: Reveal our…

The Joy of God to Save the Sinner In compassion God atones for sinful man Yet God desires children who love Him, not servants, so He gives us freedom to get lost God’s compassion brings back the sinner crushed by sin God, the angels, and the church rejoices over every sinner saved We have no need of jealousy, for the sinner saved…

Being Faithful in the Midst of Wolves The harvest is plentiful; there are many unbelievers who need to hear Yet there are also those who hate the Lord, and will persecute us Therefore, we must faithfully bear witness to Christ As secularism increases in our nation and church attendance declines, we faithful Christians can be prone to despair and despondency about the…

Two Rich Men and Lazarus The rich men of this age who are lovers of money justify themselves by their earthly riches Jesus is the Rich Man who loves mankind, and justifies others by means His heavenly riches, namely His precious blood Lazarus, the poor sick beggar, is all who desire to be fed with the crumbs that fall from Jesus’ table.…

Covering One-Anothers’ Faults Jesus not only overlooks our sins, but forgives them and covers us up We glorify Christ by forgiving one another, and covering up their shame Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.” Strife is all too common among us and it’s hard to get along with others. Some…

The Spirit Guides us into the Truth The Spirit of Truth inspired the prophets and apostles to preach and write the scriptures The Spirit of Truth implants the Word into our hearts Alleluia! Christ is risen! How do you know the truth of Jesus’ teachings? This is confirmation Sunday today, so how do we know that the confirmands actually know the truth…

Jesus is the Good Shepherd The sheep go astray through sin There are many false shepherds who lead the sheep astray and devour them Jesus finds His sheep and  gathers His sheep together and nourishes them by giving Himself to be devoured by them. We follow His example. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! I love this Sunday when…

Jesus Delivers His Peace through Pastors Those who took hold of the horns of the altar, where blood for them was shed,  pleaded for grace in their need. Thomas needed to take hold of the horns of the altar of Christ’s body, in order to find peace from His sins. Since we cannot take hold of Jesus’ wounds,  Jesus sent Pastors to…

Jesus Rose, Hence God is Real Why were the first witnesses of the resurrection afraid and astonished? Because God is real, and Jesus is God. Jesus rose, and therefore sin, death, and hell are real, but so is our rescue from those things. Let us then celebrate the resurrection without the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of…

The passion of Christ is the fulfillment of the angelic message Eve’s fall to the evil angel Mary’s obedience to the good angel The death of Jesus’ tears the divide between God and man A blessed feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to the blessed virgin Mary! It is a bit peculiar that today we are celebrating the incarnation of our…

Whoever is of God shall not see death What does it mean to not see death? To see death is to go to hell and suffer damnation, and those who are of Christ will die on earth, but live forever with the Lord in the resurrection, like Abraham. Who are those who will not see death? Only those who are of God…

The Water of Baptism: Washes away sin, death, and hell Rebirths us as Children of God Isn’t the interaction between Elisha and Naaman fantastic! Here’s Naaman, this great commander of the Syrian army, who is afflicted with leprosy! He had to take advice from one of his foreign born servant girls who directed him to a prophet of the little kingdom of…

Our Spiritual Warfare Christ, the Stronger Man, has overcome Satan Demons continue to assault us, therefore we can’t be neutral If we don’t positively side with Christ, we will lose Therefore, remain firmly in Christ’s kingdom and smite the foe The spiritual warfare of our age is quite intense. Perhaps we don’t always call it that, we’ve got all sorts of medical,…

The Devil’s Sly Temptations The Devil’s temptations appear innocent Jesus is the Scapegoat, who bears all our sins in the wilderness Angels minister to us amidst our weaknesses News that the Devil and his demonic minions are at work in our world among us is entirely unsurprising. Of course we see that the devil is actively promoting unrest and violence in our…

Blessed contemplation on the Crucifixion We do not understand the cross as we should The cross is seen most clearly through suffering Don’t be silenced and pushed away from the cross, but draw near to contemplate the death of Christ for you “See… the Son of Man.. will be delivered over to the Gentiles… But they understood none of these things.” I…

The Joy of Laboring in the Vineyard God receives us into the vineyard by Grace and the aim to be in the vineyard as part of God’s family, not just to receive payment The Kingdom of God is like unto a vineyard, a place of feasting and joy Living in the Kingdom is one of much labor, but because it’s labor in…

Boldness to Confess Jesus and His Word What does it mean to confess? What is at stake? Boldness to confess the truth in my daily life. “Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered Him, “You are the Christ.”” That is a confession of faith! Today we commemorate St. Peter’s bold confession of the truth that Jesus…

Readiness The New Year is a time to reflect upon the past, and make preparations for the future In reflection we must recognize that we have not always been as ready as we ought to have been For which we deserve punishment Our Lord is merciful and forgiving, so we begin the new year afresh, and ready ourselves for Christ’s return When…

A New Birth The birth of Jesus foreshadows our new birth through Holy Baptism The birth of Jesus foreshadows our new birth in the day of resurrection Merry Christmas! “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” That Word which was…

Christians Sing We sing because of God’s actions We sing as a collective whole “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!” From young to old, with voices and instruments, we have made a joyful noise to the Lord, we have broken forth into joyous song! It’s that time of year when…

Rejoice, then, ye sad-hearted, who sit in deepest gloom Intro: Explain 10 stanzas originally written Through sin we sit in gloom and are covered in shame Christ descended into our deepest gloom through His love for us Through His incarnation He frees us from sin and brings us into His kingdom Last week pastor Matheny gave you a great rundown on some…

Hope or Foreboding Jesus is going to return with certainty The world faces Jesus’ return with dread The Christian faces it with hope because our redemption is drawing near Therefore, watch yourselves, for that day will suddenly come, and either it will fill you with hope or foreboding. When most Americans talk about hope, we don’t usually think anything is going to…

Thanksgiving is not about the abundance of possessions Early American Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is not just about a feeling of thankfulness but is about giving thanks to God While we give thanks to God for all of our possessions He’s blessed us with, Thanksgiving moves us beyond the possessions and towards faith in God A blessed Thanksgiving to you dear brothers and sisters…

Jesus Reigns as King from the Cross to Spare us from God’s Judgment against Sin The Coming Judgement marked by babies Christ was born of the blessed virgin Mary in order to defend us against the impending judgment Through Christ’s crucifixion we may enter into Paradise We’re coming up on Thanksgiving this week, and as such the Christmas decorations are popping up…

The Resurrection of Man Intro The body/soul composition of man Death is the unnatural separation of the body from the soul The intermediate state of man Resurrection is the reunion of the body and soul “There came to Him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection.” Just as today among God’s people, at the time of Jesus there were…

Be wise before this generation The Reformation is about the bravery to confess the Gospel before this violent generation The issue of the Reformation was Justification The issues today are our own, but we must wisely be brave to confess the Gospel before this violent generation A blessed feast of the Reformation to you, dear christians! Properly understood, this can be a…

Do Not Be Ashamed Intro: We commonly keep our faith private because we’re afraid of the world’s ridicule.  Of the Word of God Therefore, follow the pattern of sound words and guard the good deposit entrusted to you Nor of other christians “I remind you to rekindle the gift of God… for God gave us a Spirit not of timidity [or cowardice]…

Filled with the Word Empty yourself of worthless wealth Be filled with God’s Word Follow Jesus despite the world’s enmity A blessed feast of St. Matthew to you my brothers and sisters! Today we give thanks to God for the apostle and evangelist Matthew. Through his local ministry in Ethiopia he proclaimed the Gospel to many, and through his book of the…

Let Us See Jesus Upon the Cross The cross looks like foolishness to the world But therein is wisdom The cross looks depressing to Christians But therein is hope and life A blessed feast of the Holy Cross to you dear brothers and sisters in Christ! This feast, Holy Cross Day, is perhaps one of the more controversial feast days among us…

The Holy life of a Sanctified Congregation The blood of Jesus sanctifies us, and therefore We are united in Jesus as a Sanctified family As a sanctified family, we mutually live holy lives We had a phenomenal celebration a few weeks ago to celebrate our 75th anniversary. Lots of memories from the past few generations of Christians who have been a part…

Be faithful, so that you may obtain a better treasure Faithfulness under trial Example of Lawrence The better treasure we are looking forward to What it means to be faithful today “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Take heart, brothers and sisters in Christ, and do not be anxious about the cares…

Receiving God’s Service God serves His people first Our service must respond to, but not distract from, God’s service Listening to Jesus is the one thing needful What’s the point of going to church? Why should people come here? Obviously I don’t need to convince you into coming to church, since you’re already here. But when you’re having a conversation with someone,…

Love your neighbor To love is to devote yourself to another My neighbor is whomever God has placed near to me The Lord Jesus selflessly devotes Himself to us and our salvation We must devote ourselves to our neighbors How do you receive eternal life? That’s not a difficult question posed to Jesus, and in fact it’s a question any average Israelite…

The Rock of Bold Confession Sts. Peter and Paul made bold confessions and were executed for it Their bold confession is the gospel of free forgiveness for the sake of Christ Jesus Let us confess boldly, and not even the gates of hell shall prevail against it A blessed Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, dear brothers and sisters in Christ! On…

Jesus Casts Out Demons Jesus casted out the demons from the demoniac and cleansed the man Our nation is plagued by demonic oppression The Word of Jesus casts out demons and cleanses us Demons are real. Jesus casts out demons. When Jesus first entered the Decapolis, particularly the region of the Gerasenes, it was gentile territory. This means that these people did…

Redemption made Manifest Not merely performing a drama The redemptive body and blood of Christ are made new again In this sanctuary the most precious treasure in the world is delivered to us What happens here in the Divine Service, and throughout the church year, is not some sort of a theatrical play or a dramatic retelling of history. Holy Week, beginning…

True Christian Joy The Sorrows of life Worldly Joy Godly Joy Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” You will be sorrowful, Jesus says. There are some people who really embrace that, and…