All Saints Sunday, 2012
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
Bethany Lutheran Church, 10
AM Central Time
The Hymn # 656 Behold a Host 2:39
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 # 463 For All the Saints 4:31
The Blessings of the Gospel
The Communion
Hymn # 371 Jesus Thy Blood 4:6
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 # 657 Beautiful Savior 4:24
KJV Revelation 7:2 And I saw
another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and
he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the
earth and the sea, 3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the
trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. 4 And I
heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred
and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of
Israel. 5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe
of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed
twelve thousand. 6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of
the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of
Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. 7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed
twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of
the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. 8 Of the tribe of
Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed
twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand. 9
After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of
all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne,
and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10 And
cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb. 11 And all the angels stood round about the throne,
and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on
their faces, and worshipped God, 12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and
wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our
God for ever and ever. Amen. 13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me,
What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14 And I
said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came
out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and
serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall
dwell among them. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more;
neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in
the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living
fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
KJV Matthew 5:1 And seeing
the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples
came unto him: 2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 3 Blessed are
the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they
that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek: for
they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the
merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart:
for they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be
called the children of God. 10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for
righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye,
when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all
manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding
glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you.
ALL SAINTS' DAY
O almighty and everlasting God, who through Thine
only-begotten and beloved Son, Jesus Christ, wilt sanctify all Thine elected
and beloved: Give us grace to follow their faith, hope, and charity, that we
together with them may obtain eternal life: through Thy Son, Jesus Christ, our
Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world
without end. Amen.
The Blessings of the Gospel
Lenski:
Neither time nor
place are specified. While we may be interested in both, Matthew’s Jewish
readers should have their whole attention centered on the substance of the
sermon. So the preliminaries are brief: only a transitional δÎ, the multitudes, the
disciples, and what we may gather from the sermon. From Luke 6:12, etc., we
learn that Jesus had chosen the Twelve as apostles, that other disciples were
present in addition to a great concourse of people. The sermon itself presupposes
a degree of advancement on the part of the disciples. Only in v. 20 does it
refer to entering the kingdom, a word that was evidently intended for those who
had not yet entered. In v. 12 it refers to the Twelve, associating them with
the prophets of old; and in v. 19 it distinguishes between the teachers who
shall be least and those that shall be great in the kingdom. According to Luke,
Jesus went up into the mountain the night before and retired for prayer. It was
in the morning, just after the Twelve had been chosen, that Jesus chose a spot
where all could see and hear him, a large level place between the heights or
along the mountainside, and there began his teaching...
“The mountain,” with its Greek
article, is best taken to refer to the one right at hand, R. 756. The
expression is similar to our “into the woods,” “into the field,” when we have
no special woods or field in mind. Yet some stress the article: “the New
Testament Sinai,” “the mount of sacred history,” but this stress refers to what
the sermon now to be preached made of this mountain. The locality seems to have
been near Capernaum; late tradition takes it to be the Horns of Hattin.
“The multitudes,” with its Greek
article, points back to 4:25, and thus strengthens the inference that the sermon
was spoken at the height of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. It was customary for
teachers, and for preachers to sit cross-legged while speaking, the hearers
assuming the same position. The writer saw a speaker sitting thus on a raised
platform in a mosque in Damascus in 1925, another in the mosque of the
dervishes in Constantinople, the hearers in each case sitting on the floor. The
word disciples means more than
pupils or learners, namely those who have learned, who have imbibed their
master’s spirit. They may still learn, but what they have already learned is
what makes them “disciples.”
Lenski, R. C. H.: The
Interpretation of St. Matthew's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN. : Augsburg
Publishing House, 1961, S. 181
KJV Matthew 5:6 Blessed are
they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be
filled.
The Beatitudes are Gospel
blessings that pour out God’s love on us and also teach us the meaning of the
Gospel. We could say that these special verses are a sermon on the Gospel
itself.
KJV Matthew 5:3 Blessed are
the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Many verses in the Bible
make us stop and wonder, because they go against our normal thinking. That is
how we distinguish between reason and faith. Our human reason begins to rebel,
so we have to subordinate our first thoughts to what the Word of God reveals.
The Old Adam naturally rebels against God’s revelation.
When people argue from
reason, they are also arguing against faith in the Word.
In this case we can look at
the opposite, the opposite of poor in spirit. Those would be the haughty,
proud, and self-centered. What do they say about the Gospel? They do not need
the Gospel. They have no need for repentance. They do not like something that
takes the focus off themselves. How can they be forgiven when they have no use
for forgiveness? I get to read a lot of liberal theology, and pride is at the
center of it.
Pride – I am too smart to
believe this.
Pride – I have my own
personal version of this doctrine.
Pride – Only a few of us
have this special knowledge – we are super-smart.
Pride – I obey the law, even
if it is my law. That law makes me good.
Poor in spirit is the
opposite. Before the glory and majesty of God, the poor in spirit are humble,
repentant, and longing for forgiveness of sin. Luther said many times that the
powerful and worldly-wise were not suited for the Gospel, which was aimed at
the poor, needy, broken sinners.
If you want to meet humble
sinners, do some jail visitation. They know they deserve to be locked up
because they did 10 times more than the charges against them. They are broken
and contrite because the steel bars remind them of where they have put
themselves.
Who wants an antibiotic? A
runner on his 10th mile? Or a patient lying in bed, burning up with
a fever, with a throat so sore that swallowing hurts and the ears pop in an
unpleasant way? Often that medicine produces instant relief as the healing
begins.
The Gospel is medicine for
the sick, for the poor in spirit.
KJV Matthew 5:4 Blessed are
they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
This Sunday often marks a
day where the departed are remembered. Bethany began with the spirit and work
of three people who have passed on to eternal life, Brenda, Cliff, and Cleo.
In another city, Walt
Boeckler was eager to form an independent Lutheran congregation.
In another city and state,
my mother helped in getting a home and a place where the congregation could
worship locally and across the Internet, first by phone, then by video.
Someone in another state
altogether died a believer, helping out in publications and in other ways,
loving Jesus Priceless Treasure. “That was your best book.”
And there are many more we
have lost collectively. I saw the photo of my friend from junior high, high
school, and college. He was deeply loved as a public school teacher and Sunday
School teacher. Leo had a weak heart but a big heart. He could never be an
athlete so he trained athletes and they named a tournament after him.
Bruce was our best friend at
Yale, earning his second doctorate. He discussed theology all the time with me
and made many good points on the side of conservative Christianity – all the
more impressive coming from a Yale scientist and future Harvard Medical
instructor.
Collectively we have lost many
who were dear to us. That we miss them so much is a measure of how much we
treasured them. Christians are blessed because of the comfort afforded by the
Gospel. This is but one stage before eternal life.
KJV Matthew 5:5 Blessed are
the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Commentary - KJV Psalm 37:11
But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the
abundance of peace.
This is not a promise to
inherit the new earth, at the end of time, but to inherit this earth. “Meek” is
the quality of Christ – not being angry and bitter over reverses in fortune and
harm done by others.
The abundance of peace comes
from accepting in faith the last verse in the beatitudes – the worst promise of
all. Why is that?
The proud, arrogant, and spiteful
are always in turmoil. I like Luther’s expression – they are so angry they
would tear up trees by their roots if they could. They get away with a lot
because bullies make people shrink back and cower in fear. But this same proud
spirit turns them upside down in time and their fall from glory is very
difficult to bear. One District President was the choice for the top
job, but he was asked by his peers to step down as DP, then defeated in his
quest for the big job. I remember when the same bully told my pastor-friend,
“You can voluntarily quit your call and get 3 months pay or I will fire you on
the spot with no pay.” Isn’t that sweet?
The meek do what they can,
knowing they are mortal sinners, but accept what comes their way from the
cross.
KJV Matthew 11:29 Take my
yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly
in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light.
KJV Matthew 5:6 Blessed are
they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be
filled.
Hunger and thirst remind us
of our most basic needs. If we have plenty of food, we also need something to
hydrate us. If we have water alone, which is good, we also need the calories
from food. Those are two great bodily needs.
But I also see a parallel to
the two sacraments. Holy Baptism is related to water, to washing, to the spring
that refreshed the Israelites, and the water from the well in John 4. Jesus
gives “living water.”
KJV John 4:14 But whosoever
drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water
that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting life.
Righteousness is forgiveness
of sin.
Lenski:
No man, however wise and powerful, has ever discovered a way
to turn a guilty, sinful soul into a righteous one. Men justify and declare
themselves righteous, but this amounts to no more than the criminal’s denial of
his crime and never stands before the court which has the full evidence of his
guilt. But what is beyond all human ability is brought about by Christ who by
his holy life and sacrificial death met the demands of God’s norm of right, met
them in our stead and now transfers his perfect righteousness to us through
faith and thus wins our pardon and acquittal before the divine judgment bar.
“Righteousness” cannot here mean the power of right in human affairs in the
world of men generally; for the passive “shall be filled” denotes a gift of God
to certain persons, rendering them “righteous” in his sight. It cannot denote a
virtue, the so-called acquired righteousness, when men live righteously and do
what is right. The passive verb shuts out also this.
Lenski, R. C. H.: The
Interpretation of St. Matthew's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN. : Augsburg
Publishing House, 1961, S. 189.
Forensic means – in the courtroom – but it is misapplied by
UOJ fanatics. They claim the entire world has been judged innocent. What the
term has always mean in Christian theology is this – through faith in Jesus we
are declared innocent of all sin:
- Great
and terrible sins.
- Many
sins, all sins, not just a few.
- Sins
we cannot conquer, not just those we conquer, which is impossible anyway.
To be filled means to receive a constant supply of
forgiveness, which we receive in faith.
KJV Matthew 5:7 Blessed are
the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
This area is very much
Gospel-influenced. I see that all the time. I was in a crowded gas station when
two of us bumped into each other. I apologized, and the other man apologized.
Then he added, “No, it was really my fault.” I had a situation in a Phoenix
restaurant where one man wanted to fight me because we barely touched while
standing in line. He was offended and wanted his honor restored. Someone like
that is going to have a short life.
Faith is pre-supposed, as
Luther says. One cannot be merciful without faith. That is why so many
synodical officials are merciless and vindictive – they lack faith. The fruit
cannot grow without the tree (faith). Or – the corrupt tree produces evil
fruit.
The forgiven are also
forgiving. If you want a peaceful life, spend a lot of time asking for
forgiveness (repentance) and being forgiving. There are plenty of annoying
things that should be examined with care and seen for how minor they really
are. One useful tool is to say, “Am I annoying in the same way or do I have
similar annoying traits or habits?” If the answer is yes, then there is no
reason to bear a grudge over such things. Some things are just plain funny when
seen this way.
I read biographies and I
cannot fathom why people rehearse their grudges against their parents. The more
they do that, the more childish they look. I was laughing today about a family
reunion where we got there so early the hosts were still in bathrobes. My
father did not want to be late. At the time all of us kids were out of sorts
for waking up early, getting there with nothing to do for hours, and for the
awkwardness of hosts in bathrobes. Today it made me laugh because our son said,
“Everyone has OCD in this family.”
Some want to go around
forgiving murderers and false teachers (murderers of souls) as if that is
Jesus-like. One of my witty friends says, “They are more evangelical than
Jesus.” That is actually the wrong use of the keys, because the unrepentant
should receive the binding key until they repent. The unrepentant cannot
comprehend forgiveness or receive it. They are like mice that get into the
communion host, devouring what they do not understand.
KJV Matthew 5:8 Blessed are
the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
KJV Psalm 24:4 He that hath
clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully.
KJV 1 Timothy 1:1 Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus
Christ, which is our hope; 2 Unto Timothy, my own son in the
faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our
Lord. 3 As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into
Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4
Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions,
rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. 5 Now the end of
the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good
conscience, and of faith unfeigned: 6 From which some having swerved
have turned aside unto vain jangling; 7 Desiring to be teachers of the law;
understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.
Pure in heart means not
being a scheming, dishonest, covetous manipulator. Like many other faults,
these short-comings will often be rewarded in our secular society and fallen
congregations, but they are not God-pleasing.
To see God means to
experience Him as He is – all loving and powerful, gracious and kindly. The
wonderful Durer painting I have featured for All Saints is a representation of
this beatific vision, for seeing God also meaning communicating His nature to
others.
That makes many hymns
difficult to sing, because they offer such a glorious picture, faithful to the
Word, that emotions easily well up in us. However, unbelievers do not
experience this and long for soda pop concerts with loud rock music.
As I have often mentioned,
Luther observed that unbelievers do not see the fruit of Christian faith, but
mock it. They only see trouble, poverty, oppression, difficulties. They laugh
and say, “Why are you Christians always so sick?” Their unbelieving clergy
chuckle and say, “You should do things my way, instead of being a sucker.” One
LCA leader said his motto was, “Use others before they use you.”
I know a pastor’s family
where they seem to have nothing in material benefits, but they make do and
create such a paradise of love in their home that I have warned them their
children will be utterly spoiled. I say that in a joking way because they turn
a lack of money into ways of doing without. And all those stories are inspiring
and charming.
KJV Matthew 5:9 Blessed are
the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Lenski:
At peace with God and thus
themselves filled with sweet peace, they live in peace, if possible, with all
men and work to keep and to make peace wherever peace is threatened or lost.
Theirs is the work of true Christians who follow in the footsteps of the Prince
of Peace. Nor is this “peace at any price,” which ignores confessional
principles and is unwilling to contend for the faith once delivered to the
saints (Jude 3). These are not unionistic peacemakers who combine contrary
doctrines by agreeing to disagree. Truth of God comes first, peace with men
second. Friends are dear, the Word of our greatest Friend dearest. No “blessed”
was spoken by Jesus upon the disrupters of the church who insist on their false
views, nor upon those who regard the peace and the fellowship of their
brother-confessors as being of slight value, so that they may run after other
fellowships. The true peace of the church is a blessed possession; we cannot
guard it too closely. Contentious, stubborn, obstreperous church members—this
beatitude ought to make them impossible. Also in the world, wherever strife
arises, the followers of Christ work for peace in the spirit of their Master.
The passive “shall be called”
implies “by God,” for he alone can bestow the title “God’s sons” in truth and
in reality. Here, too, the future tense means that God shall call them his sons
now when they prove their relation to him by their peacemaking.
Lenski, R. C. H.: The
Interpretation of St. Matthew's Gospel. Minneapolis, MN. : Augsburg
Publishing House, 1961, S. 193.
Those who desire sound
doctrine are called trouble-makers. Those who want to merge all confessions are
called peaceful, kind, loving, and accepting. Luther was contentious because he
said “This is My Body” and wrote it on the table in chalk.
But peace comes from
confessing the same truths of the Bible, not conspiring to support falsehood.
God is the one who decides who the peacemakers are. He alone names them.
KJV Matthew 5:11 Blessed
are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall
say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be
exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted
they the prophets which were before you.
This is the difficult
beatitude. How can this be a blessing? Yet Luther often mentioned the “blessed
holy cross.” We only bear that when we teach the truth.
When something is attacked,
suppressed, and silenced by the great and wise within the visible church – that
is the cross to bear.
Luther’s Gospel was taught
in the midst of the one and only church of its time, which is much the way
people see their own denominations today.
Paul too was the convert
(boo hiss) in the midst of the legal religion, teaching the despised and hated
religion that was in the midst of Judaism and hated. Opponents looked for ways to
get rid of him, from stoning and riots to execution.
The cross means that God has
blessed the work.
