The Fourth Sunday after Trinity, 2014
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship
Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Daylight Time
The Hymn # 452 The Son of God 1:10
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #531 Come Ye Disconsolate 1:15
Holy Communion - The Visible Word of Grace
The Communion Hymn # 308 Invited Lord 1:63
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 413 I Walk in Danger 1:67
KJV Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
KJV Luke 6:36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. 37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. 39 And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? 40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. 41 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.
Fourth Sunday After Trinity
Lord God, heavenly Father, who art merciful, and through Christ didst promise us, that Thou wilt neither judge nor condemn us, but graciously forgive us all our sins, and abundantly provide for all our wants of body and soul: We pray Thee, that by Thy Holy Spirit Thou wilt establish in our hearts a confident faith in Thy mercy, and teach us also to be merciful to our neighbor, that we may not judge or condemn others, but willingly forgive all men, and, Judging only ourselves, lead blessed lives in Thy fear, through Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
Holy Communion - The Visible Word of Grace
When two things are neglected - the Word and justification by faith - the value of Holy Communion is lost and forgotten.
The foundation is essential - everything happens in the Christian Church through the Word and the Holy Spirit, since both work together at all times and never apart from each other.
Congregations have meetings, socials, and trips to theme parks, but these are not the work of the Holy Spirit. A meeting about doctrine would be, but those are few, because people are afraid of an open show of disunity, though they are not afraid of the consequences of hiding it.
One LCA "evangelism specialist" told ministers that the way to grow was baseball tournaments. "We got all our new members that way." Imagine if Jesus had thought of that.
Because people have forgotten the foundation of the Word, they look for outward success (their own measurements) and crave something that will satisfy that success. If someone is hearing the Gospel - just one person - that is success. The Biblical references to this are realistic. If a pastor can remain a believer, that alone is a success. Many have shipwrecked themselves due to a variety of temptations, from the carnal to the spiritual.
The purpose of the Word is singular - to create and sustain faith in Jesus the Savior. The entire Bible is centered on this one theme. The Scriptures are an extended sermon about Jesus. As the Apostle John said - so they might believe in Him and by believing have forgiveness and salvation.
One of the best distinctions created about the Word and Sacraments is this - The invisible Word is taught and preached. The Visible Word is proclaimed in the Sacraments of Holy Baptism, Holy Communion, and Absolution.
Someone summarized LCMS sermons (perhaps unfairly) as a long condemnation about something, ending in "but Jesus died for your sins." In fact, everyone is much more eloquent in condemnation than they are in living and teach the Gospel of forgiveness. We can see the historical results, in entire denominations rooted in the condemnation of something and an extended Law effort to remind everyone about that crucial event and what they must do about it - forget faith in Christ.
The dying Church of the Lutheran Confession cannot get over WELS being slow about breaking with the LCMS. The clergy still talk about it as if it happened yesterday. Yet they also love, love, love Fuller Seminary doctrine and tactics - so why make a distinction today? Bad habits die hard, if they ever do at all.
Pietism itself is proof of the disasters awaiting those who neglect the Word and Holy Communion. All American Lutheran denominations were founded in the era of Pietism, so Halle and Spener were untouchables in that era. Pietism emphasized works over faith and therefore offered Holy Communion rarely. In many places in America, Lutheran churches offered Holy Communion only three times a year. When the frequency went up to 12, Lutherans in Canada left during the communion hymn - in droves. They still communed only three times a year.
Matthew 26:26-28
26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
1 Corinthians Chapter 11
The Words of Institution that we use are a harmony of the Gospels and 1 Corinthians.
One issue is the body and blood of Christ. Given the creative and miraculous power of the Word, we know that God does not distinguish between His Word and His will.
When Jesus ordered the storm to be still, the storm immediately stopped. The Word is dominant over the created order because Jesus is the Lord of Creation.
When Jesus gave commands about the lack of wine, water became the finest wine.
All of His miracles took place through the Word and Holy Spirit.
Making the bread and wine to be merely symbolic is really a subtle evasion about the efficacy of the Word. There are many rationalistic statements made to justify this evasion, but they all fall flat.
Jesus definitely spoke the universal language of the time, Koine Greek. Unlike America, people spoke several languages, their own tribal language, like Latin or Aramaic, and the world language given to us by Alexander the Great - Greek. His Greek general held onto the Holy Land before the Romans grew in power and moved in. Everyone respected Greek culture and the Greek language. It united the civilized world, as Latin did later.
So Jesus did say, "This is My Body. This is My Bood." The verb "is" does exist in Greek and in the New Testament. There is no Aramaic NT from that time. It was written in the universal language. Many people rely on the text of the Bible until they want another text, as they do with the mysterious and never-seen Aramaic New Testament.
How is this possible? The miraculous is revealed to us through the Holy Spirit, and unbelievers simply cannot see or grasp this. Unfortunately, some become unbelievers step by step, rejecting one thing and then another in the Bible.
The miracles of Jesus, which many would never think of denying, support the Real Presence in Holy Communion. Jesus multiplied the loaves in the miraculous feedings. His divine nature was never limited by His human nature, so He appeared before the disciples in the locked room and passed through hostile crowds that wanted to kill Him.
Thus the Body and Blood of Christ can be both symbolic and real in the Lord's Supper because Jesus' Word consecrates the elements.
This must be very important, because Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper before He died for the sins of the world. And the Church practiced communion as a regular part of their services.
Denial of the Real Presence (via Calvin and the Mennonites) made communion less frequent, less important.
The Why of Holy Communion
This is easily answered by the text.
Matthew 26:28
For this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Holy Communion is justification by faith in its purest form:
It is only for believers. Those who do not believe in Christ or understand His Word cannot grasp what the Lord's Supper is.
- It recognizes and highlights the atoning death of Christ, which was prophesied in Isaiah 53 and many other places. The Blood of Christ is the fulfillment of all the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament and the end of them. The one sacrifice of Christ unified all the predictions made in the past, all of them from the Holy Spirit.
- It conveys the complete forgiveness of sin promised by God. So Holy Communion is an Instrument of God's grace. As Luther said - do not tell me about God's grace and tear down the bridge to it. This visible bridge to God's grace is always available to us and yet it is neglected by many because they see it as less important, or as only symbolic, or as too Catholic.
- It is individual. As Luther observed, a sermon can fly right over the heads of people. They are distracted. It is not easy to concentrate on one topic for a period of time. But Holy Communion has us receive the visible Gospel. We have the Body and Blood of Christ in our hands, in our mouths, so we hear those Words of Distribution and cannot mistake them.
- It is the energy of the Christian life. Forgiveness received and appreciated is the energy of the Gospel affecting all our words and deeds. Everything has been accomplished, by grace, for our forgiveness and salvation. We receive this Gospel in faith as the utmost Good News and this is transformed into patience, generosity, forgiveness, love, and sharing of the Word.
