Category: Higher Homilies

by The Rev. Christopher S. Esget

Acts 2.37-47; Luke 24.13-27

The voice of terror and doom pierces our every hiding place; it is the voice of the LORD, which demanded of Adam, demanded of Cain, and demands of you: What have you done?

What can you answer to such questions? There is no bargaining with God – He holds all the cards. What shall we do? We are not alone with such thoughts – those who listened to Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost had the same question; we heard it in the first reading:

“Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Their situation is hopeless; Peter has just accused them of murdering the Son of God – and guilt turns to dread when He says that the One they murdered has come back from the dead, has ascended so that He fills the heavens, and has been given all authority in heaven and earth. You murdered Him, but He is back from the dead. How do you expect Him to respond? That is what lies behind the panicked question, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” And then, the astonishing answer: There is nothing for you to do; this Jesus who is risen from the dead has not come for vengeance, but for pardon. Repent and be baptized, and you will receive His gifts: the Holy Spirit, forgiveness, life.

A different kind of dread hung over those two men walking on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus; we heard about them in the Gospel. It was Easter, but they were singing no Alleluias. “What shall we do? Jesus is dead; we thought He was going to redeem Israel! Now everything is lost.” The shadow of death hangs over them, and they cannot even recognize Jesus when He walks with them on the road. But their ears hear Him open the Old Testament Scriptures – “All of it,” He says, “shows that the Christ had to suffer before entering His glory.” And then, the story continues beyond what we read: Jesus sits down to supper with these men, who still don’t recognize Him. And He takes bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and gives it to them. Sound familiar? And that is when they recognize Him. The risen Jesus is there with them in His Supper. He vanishes from the sight of their eyes, but not from their midst. Jesus continues with them, and continues with us, in His Supper, in the breaking of the bread.

In both cases, hopelessness was turned to joy, only by Jesus. Now our lives deal us plenty of circumstances where everything feels hopeless.

And the answer for you is the same as it was in Jerusalem – it is the voice of God pointing you to repentance and Baptism, saying everything is pardoned, everything is atoned for, everything is made new in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

“What shall we do?” Wrong question! What has Jesus done? He has done what you cannot; He has redeemed what you have lost; He will restore what in you leads only to ruin.

Why are you gloomy and sad? Christ is risen, and death is undone!

Why are you anxious and worried? You are baptized, and your sins are drowned!

Why are you hungering for the food that cannot satisfy? Christ is in our midst, and gives you the bread of life!

He says to you: “You are foolish” – and we can only reply, “Yes, yes, it is so.” He says to you: “You are slow of heart to believe” – and we can only reply, “Yes, yes, it is so.”

But then He says to you: “You are still Mine; I claimed you in the font” – and all there is for us to say is, “Amen!” And again He says, “Behold, I give you My body and blood, and join you to Myself” – and all there is for us to say is, “Amen!

And when you are dying, you will remember these things, and look at the crucifix, and go to your short slumber saying, “Amen!”

And then on the last day, our Lord will call you from your grave, and to a world made new you will rise in a body made new, and you will say, “Alleluia! Amen!” +INJ+ 

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

The Rev. Christopher Esget is Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church & School in Alexandria, Virginia. Formerly a student sacristan at Kramer Chapel (Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne), he served as Worship Coordinator for the 2008 Amen Conferences. This Sermon was preached at the Divine Service during Amen – Scranton.

by The Rev. William Cwirla

Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.   (Rev 22:14)

There is a famous scene in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth.  Perhaps some of you have learned it; I did when I was in high school.  Lady Macbeth is racked with guilt over the bloody murders she and her husband have committed.  She roams through the halls of the castle in her sleep late at night, desperately wringing her hands, trying to wash away the bloody evidence that tortures her conscience to the point of madness.  “Out damned spot, out I say!”  but the spot just won’t go away.  “Who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him,” she cries, scrubbing her hands.  She can smell the blood on her hands.  “All the perfumes in Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.”

Sin has left its mark on you – on your soul, your body, your mind, your psyche, your robes.  The damned spot of Adam, the original sin and the origin of all sins – your lies, your immoralities, your blasphemies, your idolatries, your greed, your coveting, your murders, your disobedience, insolence, arrogance, hatred – there’s no covering them up.  They have all left a mark on you. You have blood on your hands.  You search in this world for something that will wash that damned spot of sin away- drugs, alcohol, religion.  You discover the terrible truth of Lady Macbeth.  That damned spot doesn’t go away, no matter how hard you try.  Your prayers and pieties won’t do it.  Your guilt and shame won’t wash it away.  The smell of sin is on you and all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten it.  And then you hear Jesus say, “I am coming soon, bringing my recompense to reward everyone for what he has done.”  So now what?

You need to wash, and I don’t mean clean up your act.  You need to be cleansed, and like Lady Macbeth, you can’t do it for yourself.  All you can do is wring your hands in madness.  But is a detergent for the damned spot of sin – the blood of the Lamb, the blood poured out for you on a cross, the blood poured out on you in your Baptism.  Though your sins be as scarlet, this blood of the Lamb will make them white as snow.

“Blessed are those who wash their robes.”  Blessed are you baptized, believing one.  The gates of the heavenly city lie open to you.  The Tree of Life is waiting for you to pluck its life-bearing fruit.  Earlier, John saw the worshippers of heaven, a congregation no ushering crew in the world could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language.  He asked one of the 24 elders, “Who are these in white robes and where did they come from?”  And the elder said this:  “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Who would have thought that the Lamb would have so much blood in Him?  And such a blood it is that can cleanse the spot of sin and wash it away forever!  Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

Have you ever wondered where your sins go when they are washed away?  It all has to go somewhere, right?   Ever wonder where where the drain goes, where the sewer pipe ends?  It goes out, away, far away, deep into the earth, outside the city.  There is no place for sin in the heavenly city of God.

Outside the city gates is the garbage dump, the septic tank, the cesspool, the place where the dogs hang out, not referring to the likes of that poor Canaanite woman with her puppy dog faith you’ve heard of, but those who revel in the stale stench of humanity gone bad – the sorcerers and the perverts and sexually immoral, the murderers and idolaters, and all who practice and delight in falsehood and lies.  Do you lie?  Outside the city gates would be our destiny too, were it not for Jesus. 

But He was crucified outside the city bearing your sins on the garbage heap called Calvary.  Jesus was made sin for us.  He absorbed the damned, indelible spot of fallen humanity – Adam’s sin and yours – and washed it all away in the blood and water that flowed from His side and ran down the wood of the cross to the cursed, weedy soil, trickling down into the deepest depths of hell, where they belong.

If you wish to keep company with your sin, if you wish to commune in your corruption, if you wish to take delight in the evil you have done, then you must go outside the gates of God’s city, to the dogs.  You must go to hell.  But that’s not what Jesus has in mind for you.  He died and rose so that you would have a rather different outcome.

The Spirit and the Church, say “Come.”  You are invited.  Come.  Come, you sinners, poor, broken, needy.  Come, young and old, torn by guilt and shame.  There is living water to refresh you here, cleansing blood to wash away that damned spot.  Flush it down the drain of your Baptism together with the old Adam and all his sinful desires and deeds.  Let Jesus deal with it.  He already has.  Come, drink of that stream of forgiveness that flows from His cross to you.  Come the church, God’s inn of mercy.  Come to the ministry of forgiveness and healing, to your fellow priests clothed in Christ.  Come, sons and daughters of Adam, no matter how great your sin, no matter how deep the stain, it’s all washed away by the slain Lamb who lives and reigns.

“Yes, I come quickly.”  Jesus’ last word to His Church.  “I come quickly.”  Speedily.  To save you.  To raise you.  To welcome you.  To claim you.  To forgive you.

And the Church, washed in the blood of the Lamb, responds with that little Hebrew word that encapsulates all of faith:  Amen.  “Come, Lord Jesus.”

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you, His saints.
Amen.

Rev. Cwirla is Pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights, CA. He serves as President on the Higher Things Board of Directors and preached this sermon at the 2008 Amen Conference.

by The Rev. Brent Kuhlman

What a fool!  The apostle doesn’t seem to have a clue.  You can just hear Napoleon Dynamite:  “Idiot!”

After all, the religion of the world is:  YOU”VE GOT TO LOVE YOURSELF.  Take care of number one!  Climb to the top of the mountain.  And kick in the teeth of anyone who gets in your way.  Someone hurts you.  You demolish him in return.   Life is a battle royale of establishing yourself as king.

Paul, on the other hand, writes:  “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.” 

Why?  Because you’re mercy-ed in Christ Jesus.  Good Friday-ed.  Died for.  Baptized.  “In view of God’s mercy,” there is the freedom from the love of self to love for members of Christ’s body, your neighbors.  Love even for your enemy.

“In view of God’s mercy,” there is now the life of self-sacrifice.  Putting yourself last and others first.  Using your body not for self-indulgence but for sacrificial service. 

“In view of God’s mercy.”  That’s faith in Christ.  When that’s right, then you have room to move around in the world.  To be the Lord’s instrument for good.  “In view of God’s mercy … don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought.”  You’re nothing.  Jesus is everything.  And now Good Friday Jesus has good use for you to be His hands and mouth for service in the world.  “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual worship.”

That’s done as Jesus uses you in view His Good Friday mercy to be of help for people. 

Paul’s list is quite long.  Let’s review just a few.  “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  Share with God’s people who are in need.  Practice hospitality.”  “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.  Live in harmony with one another.  Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.  Do not be conceited.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil . . . Do not take revenge . . . If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink … overcome evil with good.”

Why?  Because you’re mercy-ed in Christ.  All is forgiven.  You are right with God for Christ’s sake.  He loves you.  Proof is His Son’s Body and Blood in the Sacrament given and shed for you for forgiveness, life and salvation.  Realigned with God via Christ’s Calvary sacrifice, you are restored for loving, sacrificial service to your neighbor in this world through your body.  Jesus brings you into a proper relationship with God the Father AND with those all around you.  God is worshiped by faith.  The neighbor is served by acts of sacrificial love, our spiritual act of worship done in our vocations.  This is “God’s good, pleasing and perfect will.”  Or as Jesus Himself puts it:  “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

Thanks be to God for using Paul for the “renewing of our minds” and the good use of our bodies.   In the Name of Jesus.  

Pastor Kuhlman serves Trinity Lutheran Church in Murdock, NE. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Higher Things.

by The Rev. Mark Buetow

So this woman has a demon-possessed daughter. She’s in a bad way. But Jesus is in the ‘hood so she tracks Him down. “Lord, Son of David! Have mercy on me! My daughter is demon possessed.” Here’s a Gentile woman of all things to whom the Lord owes nothing, begging Him for help. He ignores her. Then the disciples get all upset. “Lord, send her away! She’s stalking you! She won’t go away! Make her be quiet!” Jesus says He hasn’t come except for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That means the Jews. She’s not a Jew. So He ignored her. Then when she wouldn’t go away He says He’s not here to help her. But she still hangs on Him. “Lord, help me!” Finally, He tells her straight: “You can’t take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs!” Whoa! Did you hear that? Jesus just called her a dog!

And what does she say? “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their Lord’s table.” What does she mean, “Yes, Lord?” She should be offended! She should file a lawsuit! She should tell it to the news media. She should go on the Today show and start trashing Jesus on her blog and take Him off her MySpace Friends List. She should quit his church and go find one where the pastor is nice and the people are friendly. She should take out her keys and scratch up the disciples trucks! She ought to kick sand on Jesus and slap Him and turn around and walk away! But none of that is what faith does. Faith’s word is “Amen.” “True dat!” “Yes, yes, it shall be so.” Jesus speaks and whatever He says, to that faith says, “Amen. That’s for me.” Faith says, “Yes, Jesus, I’m a dog. But even dogs get crumbs. And your crumbs will save my daughter.” Faith doesn’t listen to the world or to rude disciples who are mad that you’re sitting in their pew. Faith clings to Jesus. Listens to Jesus. Learns from Jesus. Confesses what Jesus says. Speaks back the promises of God. Faith says that no matter what is true about me, even if I’m a dog, Jesus is still Jesus, the one who has power over the devil and can save my daughter.

Dear baptized children of God: What do you look to to see how it’s going with the Lord? To your life? To your success? To your accomplishments? To your wisdom? To whatever bad things happen to you? What do you trust in when it seems that even God Himself is paying no attention to you, or worse, flat out tells you He’s not there for you? To what do you cling when things are going well? What do you hang on to when everything turns sour and is a mess and the devil, the world and your sinful nature and even the Lord, it seems, are against you? For this Gentile woman, there was nothing but Jesus. She could not be sure of herself. She could only be sure of Jesus. With Jesus, there would be a way out, salvation. Without Him, she was doomed and her daughter with her. It was Jesus or nothing.

That’s for you to believe, too, dear Christians, as this woman did. To know and believe that it’s all Jesus or nothing at all. When the devil and the world and your sinful nature are on you like flies on a pile of poo, and even God Himself seems to want nothing to do with you, then you cling to Jesus like this woman did. Cling to Jesus who doesn’t come to condemn you but to save you. Cling to the Jesus who carries your sins to the cross and suffers for them, and dies for them. Cling to the holy washing given to you in the baptismal waters of Christ’s font, in which God makes you His child. Cling to the words of absolution which declare that you are no orphan but forgiven and that you stand “not guilty” before God. Cling to the body and blood of Jesus which is way more than crumbs falling from the table, but the rich feast that means you ARE a child of Israel, a child of God, one of Jesus’ own dear ones. Cling to Jesus and His gifts and there will be no doubt that your faith is a great faith, because your Jesus is a great Jesus.

The word that faith says is “Amen.” Sometimes it might sound like a “bow wow” or a woof!” But no matter what, that “Amen” means “Yes, Lord.” And that’s a “Yes, Lord” spoken to Jesus who casts our demons, takes away sins, and turns even sinful dogs into God’s own dear children. “Woof! Woof!” Sorry, I mean, “Amen!”

Pastor Mark Buetow serves Bethel Lutheran Church in Du Quoin, IL. He also serves as the Higher Things Internet Services Executive and taught as a Plenary Speaker at the Amen conferences.

by The Rev. George Borghardt III

In the name of Jesus. Amen. There is the “Amen” of God. God’s “yes” answer. He’s at the place of Skull, Golgatha.

For our betrayal of God. He is betrayed. For our sin, He becomes our sin. For our unbelief, He becomes our unbelief. For the wraith of God, He suffers.

This is the Lord God Himself, the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end. Through whom all things were made and apart from whom nothing was made that is made.

“Amen” on Good Friday is spelled, “INRI.” Jesus Nazarenus, rex Judæorum. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. We’d erase that, tweak it, make it more agreeable with what we think. But, what was written, stays written.

“I thirst.” He says. God thirsts. It’s inconceivable that the One who was, and is, and is to come, needs a moist sponge to wet His tongue. How did it come to this?

You know. You know what you’ve done. I know what I’ve done. He bears it all. To save us from what we’ve done and haven’t done.

“It is finished.” One word, tetelestai. Account settled. All that was demanded by God’s law has been satisfied.

He bows His head. He gives up His Spirit. The Father says, “Amen.” Your sin is atoned for. Your debt paid. Your forgiveness achieved in the death of the only begotten Son of the Father.

God’s life, for your life. God’s death swapped out for your death.

This is God for you. This is God for me. Beaten, Bruised, Crushed, stripped of His clothes, hanging dead on the Cross.

This is the glory and majesty of Almighty God. His glory, we have beheld, the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. The glory of the Lamb having been slain.

Behold the “Amen.” Faithful and True. But, God’s “Amen” does you no good if He does not deliver His Amen and make Him your Amen.

Just follow where He is pierced. Blood and water flowed from His side. There in the Blood and Water, Jesus delivers Himself to you.

In the water and the Word of your Baptism – He Amens you and all of your sins are living-watered away. In the Font, your stain is cleansed – made holy – washed white in the blood of the Lamb.

Blood. Follow the blood into the chalice. His Flesh is real food. His Blood real drink. Whoever eats the flesh of Jesus and drinks His blood, has life and the Amen will raise you up on the Last Day. Raise you up as He has been raised from the dead.

Then, with Jesus on your forehead, in your ears, in your heart, and in your mouth, comes your “Amen.”

Faith, which is born from the Blood and water flowing from Jesus’ pierced sides says, “Amen.” Jesus died for you. He died for me too. That’s God’s Amen for me – Jesus dead on the Cross.

But, you’ll have a whole conference to learn about this good news, so…

Today, Behold the Amen, the Lamb of God, Faithful and True, slain for the sin of the world. He breathes His last and gives up His Spirit. He’s is God’s Amen. Your Amen too. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Pastor George Borghardt is the Associate Pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Conroe, Texas. He is also the Higher Things Conferences Executive and served as one of the Plenary Speakers at Amen. And… When Stan Lemon grows up he wants to be just like him!

by the Rev. Mark T. Buetow

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I don’t think any of you would think me strange if I ran into the street to save my daughter if she ran into the path of an oncoming car. You wouldn’t think I’m silly if I told someone walking in the front door of the church to be careful if the floor was wet. So don’t think it unimportant or silly today as I warn you about false prophets and the danger they pose to you! Just as I would never want to see anyone fall and be hurt, so I would never want that you should hear or listen to or be deceived by the preachers of Satan! And it is not me warning you anyway.

Our Lord Jesus Himself tells us, “Beware! Watch out for false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” Jesus is hear warning us that the world is full of preachers and writers and speakers and ideas that all SOUND good. They might even say stuff about Jesus and sound religious and pious. But they’re not. They’re crafty and sneaky ideas designed to make it sound like God’s Word but in fact lead you astray from God’s Word into death and darkness and eternal hell. So watch out! Beware of false preaching! I’ll show you how.

The first way to watch out for false prophets is to never ever trust your own pastor. The Lord calls your pastor to preach and teach God’s Word and administer Christ’s holy sacraments. The Scriptures tell us to “TEST the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1 ESV.) That’s what you must do to your own pastor. Don’t ever take my word for something. Rather, open the Holy Scriptures and see whether what I’m telling you is what the Word of God says.

But also, if you don’t know the Word of God so well, then let me teach you. Not by me telling you what it says but by us reading and studying it together. Let me show you how Christ Himself teaches that He is the heart and center of all the Scriptures so that we will learn to read and see Him in all of God’s Word.

We’ve got some young people in the congregation who are going to read the whole Bible over the course of the year. What will they learn? That from cover to cover it’s about Jesus. It’s about the Son of God coming into this world, obedient to His Father, to do the work of saving us from our sins by taking our place and dying and rising again.

The next way to watch out for false prophets is to learn what a true prophet is. A true prophet, a true preacher, is one who delivers Jesus. In fact, we learn first of all what a true Prophet is by looking at the one who IS the True Prophet, the True Preacher, Jesus Himself. Two things about the prophets to watch out for: how they’re dressed and their fruits.

How is Jesus dressed? Like a sheep? He is the Lamb of God Himself! He is God in the flesh. He is not just wearing a sheepskin, He is the very Lamb of God who takes away sins. He never acts as the wolf does, fooling people and then eating them up, but bringing the comfort of God’s grace to them by preaching the forgiveness of sins.

What are His fruits? On the cross, as He takes our place, as He dies for our sins, the fruits fall from Him. Blood and water. The water that washes away our sins in the font. The blood that feeds and nourishes us. The fruits of Jesus are the forgiveness, life and salvation He wins for us by His death and resurrection. There is no more true Prophet than our Lord. He is the Lamb and He is the One who bears the fruits of salvation.

So if Jesus is such a prophet and such a Savior, anyone who comes preaching in His Name should be giving out nothing other than what our Lord gives out: repentance and forgiveness in Jesus’ name. What is a preacher’s job? To give what Christ has sent them to give. To preach and teach God’s Word. To call sinners to repentance. To deliver Jesus at the font. To speak for Jesus the words of absolution. To give Jesus’ body and blood to Christians to eat and drink for the forgiveness of sins.

If you go to an apple tree, you expect apples. If you go into a peach orchard, you expect to pick peaches. When you go to a Christian pastor, most especially your own pastor, you should expect Him to warn you away from your sins and point you to Christ. You should expect Him to point you back to the font, to absolve you and to call you to the Holy Supper where Christ feeds you. The fruits of a preacher’s ministry are nothing other than the fruits of Christ Himself.

Which is why Jesus tells us to watch out for false preachers! It’s easy to be deceived into thinking that something other than the forgiveness of sins is what preaching is all about. There is repentance for preachers who want to be preachers because there is some benefit to them. Perhaps they’ll have status. Perhaps they’ll have money. (No, really, some preachers think that!) Perhaps they will have lots of followers and be popular. Perhaps they will be well liked. If a preacher is preaching for any of those reasons, He is a ravenous wolf. He is preaching not in faithfulness to the Lord’s call, but for the sake of his own belly!

On the other hand, it is easy for God’s people to measure their preachers by looking for the wrong fruit. That preacher is friendly. That preacher makes me feel good. That preacher keeps the young people in church. That preacher does this or that that I like. These ways of preaching or judging a preacher that are apart from Christ and the forgiveness of sins are not watching out for but welcoming false preaching. They turn all eyes and ears away from Christ and His Word and put it on ourselves and that is just no good. That’s basting yourself to be tasty for the devil’s wolves!

Brothers and sisters in Christ, listen to the Lord’s warning today! Watch out for false prophets! Beware of anything and anyone that doesn’t preach Christ crucified for you, proclaim Christ in your place for your sins, point you to your Baptism, forgive you, exalt Jesus’ body and blood. Watch out for any preaching or teaching that talks you up rather than speaks Jesus into your ears. Beware of any religion that exalts the man who preaches rather than the Son of God who died and rose for you. Don’t trust your pastor but test him by the Word of God. Test the spirits, knowing that in Christ alone you have salvation. And then, on the Last Day, there will be no need to try to convince Jesus that you were faithful to Him, for Christ Himself will be your boast, your confidence, and your certain entrance into eternal life. You, covered by the Lamb Himself and bearing the fruit of His cross—forgiveness of sins—you will have all things and eternal life in Jesus. This is most certainly true. Amen.

Pastor Buetow is Internet Services Executive for Higher Things. He is also one of the catechists at the Amen Higher Things Conferences.

by The Rev. Joel Fritsche

St. Luke 1:26-38

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  “Let it be to me according to your word.” That’s Mary’s “amen,” her amen of faith. The angel Gabriel comes to this young virgin girl with a shocking proclamation of good news. “You have found favor with God…You will conceive a son…you will call His name Jesus.” Yeshua! The Lord saves! “He will be great…the Son of God…the descendant of David whose throne will last forever…an everlasting kingdom.”

That’s good news! Shocking good news! God is making good on everything He has promised…salvation…here, now, in my lifetime. Then and there the Holy Spirit comes upon Mary and she conceives. Mary receives the flesh of the Son of God in her body. And after all of this takes place, she humbly submits in faith: “Let it be to me according to your word.” That’s Mary’s amen to receiving the promised Savior!

But Mary isn’t the big deal here! The only real major details we have about Mary here in the text is that she is a virgin and that she is pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, who was of the house of David. Even those two details remind us that the big deal is what the Lord is doing. He promised through the prophet Isaiah 700 or so years before that He would give a sign—a virgin would give birth to a son. He promised even before that that He would give His people a true King who would rule with righteousness and justice, a King who was truly after the heart of God, a descendant of King David, but whose reign would never come to an end. This King is the big deal here. Mary is a receiver. The Lord is the doer.

The era of the Lord’s salvation has begun. The angel begins teaching Mary, but there’s more catechesis ahead for her. You see, she’ll learn what it really means that this child in her womb will be great. She’ll learn what His kingdom is all about. This child in Mary’s womb whose kingdom will have no end, who will be great, doesn’t look so great later when He’s mocked and spat upon, fitted with a crown of thorns and nailed to a cross. He doesn’t look so great when He breathes His last and cries, “It is finished.” No, He’s dead. But when He dies, sin dies with him. And when God raises Him from the dead on the third day, your sin stays buried, dead and gone. It all begins with God coming into human flesh, not in some grand, glitzy way, but by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God into a young woman who is a nobody.

Mary is like the church. She humbly receives what the Lord has to give. That’s the story for you and me too. We’re nobodies, dead in our trespasses and sins. And yet today the proclamation of good news of salvation in Christ comes to you and me. Jesus’ death and resurrection are proclaimed—shocking Good News. The Lord comes in your midst to give you the gift of His Son. He gives you the greatness of Jesus. The power of the Holy Spirit overshadows you and works new life, beginning at your Baptism, yet still active even now. You receive the flesh of the incarnate Son of God at His Table. What began at Mary’s womb continues here as you and I humbly receive the incarnate Son of God for life and salvation.

The teaching continues too. When the angel told Mary she would conceive she simply said, “How can this be?” Someone must have taught her how babies are made. We ask questions too, don’t we? We ask questions like, “What is Baptism? How can water do such great things? What is the benefit of this eating and drinking?” Mary’s question isn’t about doubt at all, and neither is ours. It’s about certainty. It’s about what you can be sure of. The angel knows the answer. It’s Jesus! There in the proclamation of God’s promise in Christ, Mary receives the incarnate Son of God in her womb, but there also faith receives the promised Christ. Mary is strengthened through the power and work of the Holy Spirit. The angel’s good news is the good news of salvation, which expels all doubt and uncertainty and moves one to rejoice in the gift of Jesus and to speak the Amen of faith, “Let it be to me according to your Word.”

That’s what takes place here at this conference, but not just here. It happens at home in your congregations where Christ’s gifts are given and received. It happens there where you receive His teaching, like Mary, the life of Christ before your eyes—His incarnation and birth, His ministry, His suffering, His death and His resurrection, and now His ministry continuing in the life of the church.

Your pastor certainly may not seem like an angel (you may not be one to him either), but He is God’s messenger and He proclaims to you the shocking Good News of the Gospel of Christ. Your sin is forgiven. For nothing is impossible for God. Salvation here, now, in your lifetime! Gift given! Gift received! And we too like Mary say the amen of faith, “Let it be to me according to your word.”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Rev. Joel Fritsche serves as an admissions counselor for Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis. This sermon was delivered at Matins on July 2, 2008 at Amen in Saint Louis.

by the Rev. Mark Buetow

Our Old Testament reading tells of Adam and the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life. One of the questions people like to ask pastors is: If God knew Adam and Eve would sin, why did He put the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden? Why did God make something they were forbidden to eat? Why did He do that? It’s like He’s playing games or something. Testing them to see if they slip up. No, that is not why.

This is the reason the Lord put the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden: God put the tree in the Garden and gave His command to Adam so that even in paradise, even before sin, when all things were good and perfect, Adam was to learn that the most important thing, the one thing that truly gives life, is God’s Word. Adam’s Father gave Him all things and put them under his dominion and rule. Everything God made was a gift for Adam and all people. But the most precious gift the Lord gives to Adam is His Word, which protects Him from death and a fate like the devil’s. In short, the Tree and command God gave was to show even Adam, even in paradise, that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word which comes from God’s mouth. And when Adam gave up that word, he lost all that God had given him and fell into sin and death and fear and worry and burdensome work.

The Lord teaches us that first and foremost is His Word. But our heavenly Father also promises to give us all that we need for our body and life. We are to trust Him, because He gives us his Word of life and that same Word of life gives us salvation and tells us that the Lord will provide for us in this life. Adam taught his wife differently and that sin has been with us ever since. Rather than having God’s Word first, we run around trying to grab all the stuff of this life. Rather that having God’s Word as our highest treasure, we think the most important things in our life are the things we can buy. The Devil loves to tell us the lie: “Well, you can’t eat God’s Word. You can’t make your car run by stuffing pages of the Bible in your gas tank. You can’t power your house with God’s Word. God’s Word doesn’t give you anything. It’s just words and talk. That can’t keep you belly full and a roof over your head.” And we believe the Devil! We listen to that! We really do think like that! The Lord says, “I will give you everything you need. Just believe and trust in my Word and make that the most important thing in your lives.” No way! Too much chance there. Can’t be sure I’ll have a full tummy! Do you know what that makes us when we think like that? Do you know what we are when we doubt the Lord will take care of us?

We are Jesus’ disciples. Because they did the same thing! “Lord, seven loaves and a few fishes? Where are we going to find food for all these people?” I’m sure Jesus’ disciples were all excited to hear Him preach and teach too, until their tummies started rumbling. The Word of God is great until you’ve been with Jesus three days and you’re starving. Then what? Jesus feeds them. It doesn’t matter how much bread or fish there is, Jesus makes it enough. Because that’s what Jesus does. Jesus comes into this world for unbelieving, worrying, ungrateful, idolaters who think they don’t need God’s Word but they need lots of stuff. For our worry, for our idolatry, for our coveting, for our unbelief, for all our sin, Jesus hangs on Calvary, giving His body into death so that now our sins are His sins, our death is His death, our curse is His curse. And His life is ours. Stop and ponder this, dear Christians, over and over Jesus gave up any hope of earthly treasure in order to do just this one thing: redeem us from our sins. No palaces for this king, no feasts. Not even a golf cart to zoom him around like the Higher Things pastors had. Nothing for Jesus but the cup of suffering, the ashes and dust of our sins to chew on. Yet Jesus, above all, believed and trusted in His Father’s Word and that sustained Him. Even through death. Even in the grave. And He rose, according to that Word, and lives to give us salvation and all that we need for this body and life.

That’s why He feeds the 4,000. Why were the 4,000 there? They had been listening to His Word. Their first concern was His Word. Because His Word saves them. His Word is true food. His Word is life. But just because His Word is life, doesn’t mean daily bread is not important. So Jesus, to show that He is true God whose Word gives life but who also provides all that we need for our body and life, feeds the 4,000.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, there is such a temptation for us to think that God’s Word and gifts are not the most important thing. Such a temptation to make sure we’ve got all we want out there in the world. Gas prices go up. That means food prices go up. The price of everything is going up. With that comes a huge temptation to worry that we won’t have enough for what we need. Why? Jesus fed four thousand with seven loaves of bread. Do you think He can’t feed just a few people on what you make? Do you think He won’t provide for you what you need? I don’t. I don’t believe it. You know what I’m talking about: the days that next paycheck seems so far away. Yet did you go hungry? Did you have no place to live? The Lord has made you His own, do you think He’ll let you starve? And even if He did, do you not still have forgiveness and eternal life and all things? Because you have His Word. Repent with me, brothers and sisters, of wondering, as the disciples did, whether Jesus will take care of us.

And when you doubt. When you worry. When you are filled with unbelief. Come and see Jesus feed the 4,000. It’s no random detail that St. Mark throws in when he writes that Jesus took the bread, gave thanks and broke it and distributed it. That ought to remind us of the Lord’s Supper. And here is the truth that the Lord’s Supper teaches us: that Jesus is our Lord not just for eternal life but for now. He doesn’t just give us forgiveness of sins, our “get out of jail” card for later, He provides for and cares for us now. God is not just our God someday but today, not just for heaven but for earth, not just for spiritual things, but for bodily gifts as well. When we eat and drink the Lord’s body and blood, the bread and wine feed our bodies. The body and blood forgive our sins and keep us in Him unto eternal life. Just as Jesus is true God and true man, so He would teach us that just as He dies for our sins and makes us God’s children, so He provides for us all that we need to live in this life. Come and receive Jesus’ body and blood because it takes away your sins. His body, the bread of Life, His blood, shed for you, wipe out your worrying, your coveting, making idols out of your stuff, all of your sins. It is His promise of life and salvation, that He who has given His own Son will also with Him graciously give you all things.

Man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God. From the Words that make you His own at the font to the words that feed you with His own body and blood, Jesus is your Lord for this life and for the life to come. That’s why He put that Tree in the Garden, to teach that to Adam. Adam didn’t live by that Word but after the Fall learned to live by that Word given in the promise of the Savior. Jesus comes so that there will be One who really does live by God’s Word. And that living done by Jesus now counts for you.

And know this: the most precious, important food and gift you have is God’s Word. Do you have that Word? Is it yours? Your Baptism says, “Yes!” Absolution says, “Yes!” In the Supper you hear and eat the Word Himself in His body and blood. So yes, that Word is yours. That’s what gives you life. Food, clothing, and shelter? No problem for a Lord who can die and rise again and take away your sins! After all, you’ve got Jesus Himself and that means you have everything. Amen.

Pastor Buetow is Internet Services Executive for Higher Things. He is also one of the catechists at the Amen Higher Things Conferences.

by The Rev. Rich Heinz

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:1-5 ESV

“The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” Job 1:21 ESV

Anakin Skywalker had a problem. Okay, so he had quite a few problems. But one thing that truly plagued him was a fear of suffering, death and separation. There had been no father in his life. At age nine he left his mother behind, in slavery, as he began a new life. When he returned, she had been captured and tortured, and it was too late; she died before his eyes. He was later tormented by dreams of his wife and unborn child dying – all the while being deceived and tempted by a prince of lies to curse the Light Side of the Force. And after he has lost everything, he goes into a rage and destroys the things around him as he screams in utter agony.

Job had a problem. Okay, so he had quite a few problems. He had one calamity after another, that would plunge most anyone into a terrible depression. The agony of losing all your possessions, having all your children die, and being subjected to sickness and sores, all at the same time – this would drive most people to a nervous breakdown. No one understood how Job could be steadfast in faith, receiving this as a gift from God. Even his wife urged him to “curse God and die!” Yet, he simply reflects on the goodness of God, and how the Lord even works through the most horrible events to bless and help and grow us. He responds: The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

The difference between the two, of course, (other than the fact that Anakin is fictional) is Christ. Anakin did not know Christ. He had faith in a power that could be manipulated and twisted into his own image. He believed that he could learn to have power over death, and in the midst of his own suffering, selfishly tried to regain control so that all things could serve his warped idea of what was good.

Job, on the other hand, had faith in the Christ to come. He was given to believe that the Lord would save him, would use all of these sufferings and hardships to work good in his life, and in the end would raise Job up from the dead to be with Him.

We can sit here, all puffed up, and say, “Of course Job has faith! We know Jesus is risen too. We can withstand the attacks of the devil.”

However, when actually faced with trauma and suffering – especially to that degree – most of us would be crushed. When the old evil foe prevails, we often slip into feeling sorry for ourselves, and begin to be masochists, taking pride that no one else can feel as bad as we do.

Anakin was crushed by his traumas and suffering. He fell into a terrible life of serving evil and causing others to suffer. Misery loves company. “If I have to feel this bad, then I’m bringing you down with me.”

We are more like Anakin than we care to admit. Old Adam – miserable. Our sinful flesh – inconsolable. Cries of “What did I do to deserve this?” and “Why is God picking on me?” surface to conscious thoughts. And we have our minds made up that not even timely articles written by our own Reverend Borghardt, the “Disaster Pastor” are going to be heard.

What is wrong with this picture? Everything! When Job had his “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day,” he did not pack up and move to Australia. He did not even curse God; he blessed the Lord: “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

Indeed, the Lord gives! When it comes down to it, even suffering is a gift. And boy! Is that ever hard to admit! Saint Paul reminds us: “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Our dear Lord blesses you with suffering! How often do you stop and think of it that way? He gives suffering as a gift, so that He can give the gift of hope. And not just hope as in, “I hope my family can afford to go to Disney World!” or “I hope that there’s a cute guy or girl to meet at Higher Things!” No.

This hope is far more than a wish. It is not just a daydream, or something you would like someday.

This is the sure and certain hope that comes through Christ Jesus, who gives the sure and certain hope of life and salvation! This is the hope that boasts with King David: “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Psalm 46:7.) This is the hope of the hymnist: “Christ be my Leader…Darkness is daylight when Jesus is there.” “Christ be my Teacher…Doubt cannot daunt me; in Jesus I stand” “Christ be my Savior…Death cannot hold me, for He is the Life. Nor darkness, nor doubting, nor sin and its stain can touch my salvation: with Jesus I reign.”

Cursing God and dying is rejecting everything that He gives. But thanks be to God, you are not giving up and cursing Him. You don’t even need to wait twenty-some years to have your children save you from your unbelief.

“The LORD of hosts is with us.” And “the Holy Spirit has called [you] by the Gospel, enlightened [you] with His Gifts, sanctified and kept [you] in the faith.”

In faith, you receive even the gifts of suffering, trusting that Jesus is providing the light, removing the doubt, and giving you life. So instead of cursing, you speak the word He gives you to say: “Amen!”

Amen! The Gift of suffering is received. So be it! Yes, yes, it shall be so.

Amen! The Gift of endurance remains. So be it! Yes, yes, it shall be so.

Amen! The Gift of character is given. So be it! Yes, yes, it shall be so.

Amen! The Gift of hope stands firm. So be it! Yes, yes, it shall be so.

“The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” Amen!

Pastor Heinz is the Front Page Editor for the Higher Things website. He preached this sermon at Matins on Thursday of Amen – St. Louis. He also taught a sectional on the Office of the Holy Ministry at Amen.

by The Rev. David Kind

Revelation 22:12-21

It’s kind of cool that now that we have come to the end of our week together at this conference, we also have a reading from the very end of the Bible. But coming to the end of things is not always pleasant. And with an event like this one, it can be kind of depressing when you realize later today or tomorrow or in a few more days I’m going to be back home and back to my regular routine. Oh, for a while, you’ll relive this week as you tell about it to your friends who couldn’t come. You’ll exchange pictures on facebook. And hopefully you’ll start planning to come to the next conference. But eventually the joy and excitement of the experience will fade away, even the joy of retelling it will fade.

So it’s a good thing that Jesus gives us something to look forward to, and not talking about the next Higher Things Conference, although I’m pretty sure He wants you to look forward to that too! Rather Jesus tells us to look forward to Him. We’ve been talking about Jesus and His gifts all week long. We’ve even received those gifts, the Word given in sessions, and the Word preached and Sacraments given here in the Chapel. But now Jesus says: “behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.” Now Jesus coming! That’s something to look forward to!

But this part about “to everyone according to his work” And then those words, “Blessed are those who do His commandments…” sound kind of scary. You know, after all, just what kind of works you do. And you know that they aren’t always great works. In fact you should know that most of your works are crappy works. And some of your works are downright evil. In other words, you know that you are a sinner who breaks God’s commandments every single day. And if you don’t think that’s the case, then you’d better check yourself over and make sure you have flesh and if you find out that you do, then you’d better listen to what God says about it and about you. After all, God doesn’t ask just that you try hard to be a good person. He demands perfection. And you’d darn well better have it!

And you do. No, no, no… now wait a minute pastor, you’re probably thinking, didn’t you just say I was a sinner whose works were no good? That’s right. But the work that God is speaking about in this chapter, the commandment He wants you to do, is one you can keep because it requires that you do absolutely nothing, nothing that is, but receive.

Remember that St. John wrote Revelation. And in John’s Gospel, the people ask Jesus what work they must do to do the works of God. And Jesus says: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” And later in John’s first epistle, the apostle says this: “this is [God’s] commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another”. And now Jesus says blessed are you if you do this – if you keep My Words. If you do this I’m going to give you the reward that is rightfully Mine.

He’s talking about faith. The work is to believe. It is to say Amen to Jesus. It is merely to receive what Christ gives. It’s not an active work, but a passive one. God does it and I receive it. Now that’s the kind of work I can get into! And that work of God in us through His Gospel produces fruits in us as well and works of love toward our neighbor too. First believe, then out of that faith, love. This is part of faith’s Amen, after all: the Amen of a life lived in love to others. And that’s a life that is different from that of those who love, believe and practice a lie.

But faith’s reward is not based upon your busyness for Christ, or even for your neighbor’s welfare. It is His reward given – given – to you. It is the reward He has won for you through His suffering, through His dying on the cross to save you from your sins, through His rising from the dead to defeat your death. And what reward is that? Where there is forgiveness of sins there is also life and salvation. There is heaven. Don’t do for salvation, Jesus says, rather receive. Take the waters of life freely. And faith says Amen to that and lives in it.

Now all of this is not just a future thing. It’s not some far away future reality of floating on the clouds with your harp, or of eating donuts and chocolate, or what have you. Heaven is yours now. Already. We’ve been saying “Amen, Amen, it shall be so.” But it’s more than that. Amen, Amen, it is so. Not only in the future, but now. Already.

Jesus said “Surely I am coming quickly” Yeah, as soon as the letter was read! When you hear and receive the Word of God, you receive Christ! He comes to you. And so the implied future of the one sentence (I am coming) is balanced against the present tense of the following: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” Amen. It is not a wish. It is a declaration of the present reality. Amen. It shall be so. And it is so. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, and everything in between.

And the reward Jesus brings with Him when He graciously visits us is yours now too. For in Holy Baptism you were washed in the waters of life, and those waters, through the power of Word of Christ attached to and comprehended in them, are continually springing up to life within you. You will be able to enter the gates of the City, Jesus says. And you already have entered the City. For you now live in the City of His Holy Church, which is the City of God, the place where Christ is revealed on earth and among which He dwells. You will have the right to eat of the Tree of Life. And you already, this week, even have eaten the fruits of that Most Holy Tree, for you have dined on Christ in Holy Communion, the fruits of the tree of the cross, the tree of torture and death that is made a tree of life for us. All this is yours now.

And faith says Amen to it. Amen, come to us, Lord Jesus. We trust in the works you have performed to save us when you first came. We say Amen to your incarnation, to your suffering and death, to your glorious resurrection and ascension. Come to us now and bring your reward with you. And we say Amen when He does, believing and trusting that His Word and promises to us are true. Amen, come again in glory, O Lord, and bring us to the full recognition and experience of what is ours already by faith, when we shall have joy without end. Amen, Amen, it was so. It is so. It shall be so. Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, to life everlasting.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +

The Rev. David Kind is Campus Pastor at University Lutheran Chapel in Minneapolis, MN. He served as the head Chaplain at “Amen” in Scranton, PA.