The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, 2014
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The Hymn # 44 Ye Lands 2:41
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 #203 Morning Breaks 2:70
Faith in God's Word - The Great Divide
The Communion Hymn # 315 I Come O Savior 2:66
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 # 467 Built on a Rock 2:83
KJV Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
KJV Luke 14:1 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. 2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. 3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? 4 And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; 5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? 6 And they could not answer him again to these things. 7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, 8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; 9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. 10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. 11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Seventeenth Sunday After Trinity
Lord God, heavenly Father: We beseech Thee so to guide and direct us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not exalt ourselves, but humbly fear Thee, with our whole hearts hear and keep Thy word, and hallow the Lord's day, that we also may be hallowed by Thy word; help us, first, to place our hope and confidence in Thy Son, Jesus Christ, who alone is our righteousness and Redeemer, and, then, so to amend and better our lives in accordance with Thy word, that we may avoid all offenses and finally obtain eternal salvation, through Thy grace in Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God. world without end. Amen.
Faith in God's Word - The Great Divide
Reformation will be ignored again this year, by almost all parties. The Roman Catholics want to stay Medieval in a post-modern way. The Middle Ages were preserved by Vatican I and II. so they have new documents supporting the old blasphemies, such as the infallibility of the pope. If anything, the Protestants imitate them as much as possible, but in the wrong ways.
The mainline Protestants and the Church Growth Evangelicals will ignore the Reformation because they do not teach faith but themselves. They have learned this from the Church of Rome - to make the visible church or the local congregation so sacrosanct, so much beyond criticism, that the slightest murmur is considered grounds for excommunication, shunning, and active abuse.
In this mix, with so many brands, leaders, documents, and styles, there is one decisive factor - faith in God's Word. That is the great divide. And that faith must be complete, not modified by faith in the official documents, church constitution, or anything else from man.
That does not exclude the Confessions, since they are a witness to faith in God's Word and subordinate themselves to God's Word.
One American Lutheran wrote, "We do not call the Confessions infallible. We say - the Confessions have not failed us."
We can see how clearly this is taught by St. Paul.
KJV Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
The vocation is - being a Christian. The Holy Spirit calls us through the Gospel to be in Christ through faith. All the blessings of Christianity come to us through faith, chiefly forgiveness of sin and eternal life, but also many other spiritual blessings, the fruits of the Spirit.
This is Paul begging the Christians from prison, with a death sentence on his head, to conduct themselves worthy of this Faith. "Treat the world kindly and be worthy of grace. Remember one day you'll meet God face to face." Judith Durham, Australian singer, The Seekers.
We did not find the Gospel. God called us through the Gospel and the effect was felt at once. Babies baptized in the faith have a God-given affinity for the faith and hear the Word with pure faith. They do not have the adult cleverness to bandy words about, parse them, and explain them in their own peculiar and self-serving way. Men came to Luther and said, "Babies do not have faith." Luther countered, "You do not have faith either, and you are adults."
His point was clear. The Bible reveals infant faith to us, so those who deny it lack trust in the Word. Jesus said, "You must have the faith of a child." And "You must enter the Kingdom as a child." The infants joined in calling out to Jesus as He rode into Jerusalem. One must have faith to hail Jesus as the Savior, the Son of David.
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Children have this grace, that they are not haughty and proud unless trained to be that way. They put up with hardships and are quick to forgive. Holding a grudge is an adult occupation.
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
This is the central point in the first part of this lesson. The unity of the Spirit comes from faith in the Word of God. The bond of peace is justification by faith.
Romans 5:1-2 King James Version (KJV)
5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
References to peace always mean that peace that comes from forgiveness and salvation. It is not the peace of the world, which is impossible while we live. In fact, faith in the Gospel will always mean enmity with the world. Unbelievers cannot abide faith in Christ, and the worst ones are apostates in the visible church.
When Rome burnt Protestants at the stake during the Reformation, people stood around and watched. They did not call out "blasphemy" to the pope but thought the martyrs deserved it. Or they were afraid to talk. Nevertheless, the Reformation raced across the world in the face of persecution and mortally wounded the Antichrist.
The only way to preserve that unity and peace is to keep the Scriptures central and always studied. Then people may debate the issues through the Word with child-like faith.
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
The seven Ones confess the unity of God and the Three-ness of the One God, reminding us that this unity comes from faith in Him.
When I speak to groups or individuals, I can see how faith unites and also how it divides. Believers come from many denominations and even from Rome, where the chains of obedience have been broken for some time.
I heard Evangelical and Pentecostals discussing matters because we live in a non-Lutheran area again. It is not as bad as Milwaukee or St. Louis or Mankato - at least they do not call themselves Lutherans when they are not.
But the Church Growth Evangelicals and Pentecostals are just like the unbelievers in the ELS, WELS, LCMS, and ELCA. That is why they all get along so well together and gather at Fuller, Willow Creek, or Trinity Divinity in Deerfield. They are united by unbelief and a material view of the Gospel. They chase gimmicks for gain and copy one another slavishly.
In contrast, believers put their trust in Christ and rely on Him. That is why the true Church is always going to be invisible, made up of those who rely on Christ without works, whose faith in Him rests on His work, not theirs.
The Reformation was a battle of faith versus institutions. We cannot imagine what that was like. Europe was 99% organized by Catholic institutions and traditions, Catholic holy days and observances, Catholic political and military might. Today the Timid Lutherans (a large group of people calling themselves confessional) say, "What is the use? We have no power. We need our guy in the president's office!"
What did the Reformers have? - burning stakes, stone dungeons, slave ships to man when kicked out of their lands. Every soul was tuned to Roman practices and Roman domination. The duke's soldiers could arrest and hold them forever. They had nothing but the Word, which knocked the old Roman Empire into the ashcan and crippled the Antichrist.
All the Lutheran blogs avoid justification by faith. Their discussion pages avoid justification by faith. The various synods - except one - avoid justification by faith. Why avoid the foundation of the Reformation? Because people will get excited and angry and divided. They must keep everyone calm - sedated on timid topics for timid Lutherans.
Everyone has fears, especially after experiencing the blowback of apostate revenge. But Patton said, "Never take counsel of your fears." Rather than plow through what Americans say about him or what our allies said, I recall what the Germans thought. They were terrified of Patton. One of his little jaunts, to rescue his son-in-law, disrupted the entire country. They saw ghosts and goblins every where.
Luther said, "Faith makes us bold." That is why fears make us timid. If we believe in the Creation, the Incarnation, the Atonement of Christ and His Resurrection, what is left to doubt? Faith overcomes those fears.
Faith moves us to pray earnestly for our needs and the needs of others. I have no doubt that prayer gives health and strength to the objects of prayer. We cannot overcome all disease ultimately, but we can strengthen and benefit others through prayer. Experience has shown this many times.
When we know of a specific need, it is always worthwhile to pray about that, knowing that God is answering our prayer before we think to ask. The timing is such that we know it came from God when that prayer is answered. God delights in answering in such a way that we know it was not our design but His.
