Pr. DFD

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Tuesday of Lent 4

Baptism Part 3

How can water do such great things?

Answer - It is not the water indeed that does them, but the word of God which is in and with the water, and faith, which trusts such word of God in the water. For without the word of God the water is simple water and no baptism. But with the word of God it is a baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost, as St. Paul says, Titus, chapter three: By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that, being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying.

Water does not wash away our sins, only the blood of Christ can do this. “The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7) Christ’s action plus faith, trusting in Christ’s work, is what produces such great blessings. We trust that what God has promise will happen to us. God’s Word not only puts these great things into Baptism but through this same Word He also operates on our hearts and works and creates saving faith.

Naaman a man afflicted with leprosy was told to dip in the Jordan River and he would be healed. (See 2 Kings 5:8-14) The promise of God was connected with the water. While Naaman had to bathe in the water it was the Word of God that really cleansed and healed him. Even so, in baptism, “without the Word of God the water is simple water and no Baptism, but with the Word of God it is a Baptism, that is, a gracious water of life”, which offers the forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil and gives eternal salvation to all who believe.

Satan, hear this proclamation;

I am baptized into Christ!

Drop your ugly accusation,

I am not so soon enticed.

Now that to the font I’ve traveled,

All your might has come unraveled,

And against your tyranny,

God my Lord, unites with me!

Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld ©WELS

Jesus I will Ponder Now

He of everything took heed
In his hour of dying
Caring for His mother’s need,
On His friend relying.
O man, do all things aright
Love God and thy neighbor,
Die then without pain and fright
Rest from care and labor.

Introduction: Hanging on a cross suspended between earth and heaven Jesus bore our sins in His body. In the midst of His cruel agony He provided for His mother’s care. John records for us the Savior’s word of dying concern. “When Jesus saw His mother, there and the disciple whom He loved, standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on this disciple took her into his home.” How beautifully Bach relates these events.

I. The death of Jesus was complete. “He of everything took heed In His hour of dying.”

A. All sin was paid for by Jesus’ vicious death.

1. There is not one sin left unaccounted.

2. The payment is marked: “paid in full!”

B. The proclamation of the cross is what frees us.

1. It is good news.

2. It is the power of God.

II. On the cross Jesus singles Mary out for attention. “Caring for His mother’s needs on His friend relying.”

A. He calls her “woman”.

1. A desire to spare her the hurt of “mother.”

2. He imparts a proper perspective – Mary will have to be saved like anyone else. She receives no dispensation!

B. He turns her over to John.

1. From that time on he became her son.

2. He provides for her taking her into his own house.

a. By way of history John will be the only disciple not to be martyred.

b. He will be exiled to the island of Patmos. – Revelation 1:9

III. By this act of love Jesus demonstrates the proper regard for family. “O man, do all things aright love God and thy neighbor.”

A. Jesus summed up the life of the Christian when He taught us;

1. “Love the Lord Thy God with all your heart, soul and all your might This is the first and greatest commandment.” - Matthew 22:37

2. “And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.” -Matthew 22:38-39 There is no commandment greater than these.

B. “To love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” - Mark 12:33

IV. Through Jesus’ example expressed to His mother He demonstrates a deep concern for others. Thus Bach concludes tonight’s hymn verse with these words; “Die then without pain and fright rest from care and labor.”

A. We can leave this world in death without pain or fright.

1. Christ bore our sins in His own body on the cross so that we will not have to suffer the terrors of a guilty conscience.

2. We receive Christ’s peace as He has secured for us peace with God.

B. Thus we rest from care and labor.

1. Luther possibly put is best when, in the conclusion to his morning and evening prayers he wrote: “Into Thy hands I commend myself [placing] my body and soul and all thing [into Thy care]. May Your Holy Angel [Spirit] be with me that the wicked foe may have no power over me.”

2. This moved Luther to conclude in the morning the Christian should: “then go joyfully to your work” and in the evening we rest confidently: “then go to sleep at once and in good cheer.”

3. Here is evidence of a clear conscience; not based on what we do but rather on what Christ has finished. Our salvation is complete. We can rest in peace because our Father is at peace with Jesus’ work. At the cross and empty tomb Christ’s mission was accomplished!

Conclusion: Jesus showing compassion and care for His mother and His dear disciple has shown us how we too must act. Of the seven words Jesus spoke from the cross half of His last words are concerned with others. May His words and actions so move us to will and to do His good pleasure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx7kfx1Auh8
Schnorr von Carolsfeld woodcuts © WELS used by permission for personal and congregational use. Bach's St. John Passion

Monday, March 19, 2012

Monday of Lent 4

Baptism Part 2

What does Baptism give or profit?

Answer - It works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.

Which are such words and promises of God?

Answer - Christ, our Lord, says in the last chapter of Mark: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Jesus gives us His promise – he that believes and is baptized shall be saved. This was the message of those first disciples. On the day of Pentecost Peter’s message was simple – “repent, be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus, for the remission of your sins.” (Acts 2:38) God has promised us that all our sins are covered. What a relief, God has promised us full forgiveness for all our sins. Paul reminds us, “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Galatians 3:26, 27) As we have been baptized we have received both the benefits and the merits of Christ. By His suffering and death Jesus has earned these blessings for us. In baptism, these blessings become our own.

Sin disturb my soul no longer;

I am baptized into Christ!

I have comfort even stronger;

Jesus’ cleansing sacrifice.

Should a guilty conscience seize me,

Since my Baptism did release me

In a dear forgiving flood,

Sprinkling me with Jesus’ blood

Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld ©WELS

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Time in the Word - Lent 5

The theme for the Fifth Sunday in Lent is the fruit of the cross. Formerly, the fifth Sunday in Lent was named, “Passion Sunday.” Though the name has changed, the theme of suffering and sacrifice of Christ is prevalent. The fruits or results of Christ’s passion are given. In the Gospel Jesus’ upcoming death is an hour of glory for both the Son and the Father. From this suffering Jesus learns obedience. (Epistle lesson) The new covenant, promised in the Old Testament lesson is fulfilled through the death of the Lamb. Christ’s cross enables God and man to enter a new ear of reconciliation. Because of the benefits of the cross, we can glory in it. With the end of Lent approaching, it is good to give consideration to the benefits of the cross of Jesus Christ.

A Prayer for aid against temptation: O God, You justify the ungodly and desire not the death of the sinner. Graciously assist us by Your heavenly aid and evermore shield us with Your protection, that no temptation may separate us from Your love in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

A Prayer in times of temptation: Almighty and everlasting God, through Your Son You have promised us forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. Govern our hearts by Your Holy Spirit that in our daily needs, and especially in all time of temptation we may seek Your help and, by a true and lively faith in Your Word, obtain all that You have promised; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord.

A Prayer for humility: O God, You resist the proud and give grace to the humble. Grant us true humility after the likeness of Your only Son that we may never be arrogant and prideful and thus provoke Your wrath but in all lowliness be made partakers of the gifts of Your grace; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

For blessing on the Word: Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Monday, 19 March 2012—Psalm 116:1-4, 8; antiphon, Psalm 43:1— In the antiphon, the psalmist cries out for deliverance from the wickedness that surrounds him. The rest of the Introit praises the LORD for His deliverance. When we are made to bear our crosses in our own lives, we, who are righteous by faith, also cry out for deliverance, and praise the LORD for the deliverance He has given us from our most fearsome enemies: the devil, the world, and our flesh.

Tuesday, 20 March 2012—Psalm 119:9-16 key verse v.10 — I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. As the cross and suffering of Christ loom near us we need the Lord’s presences in our life now more then at any other time. This Psalm speaks of this need.

Wednesday, 21 March 2012—Jeremiah 3:31-34— The cross establishes a new covenant. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God promises to establish a new covenant with His people – a covenant of grace. Through the atoning death of His Son, God has restored His relationship with rebellious mankind. All who trust in the sacrifice of Christ are incorporated into this new covenant (Romans 9:30). It is all God’s work; we can do nothing to earn our place in it.

Thursday, 22 March 2012—Hebrews 5:1-10— The cross teaches obedience and earns eternal salvation. Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant. It is by His perfect obedience, by His shedding of blood, by His death that we have received eternal life. He bore the cross, not for Himself, but solely for our benefit.

Here we see the human Jesus praying with tears and cries to avoid the cross. In an allusion to Gethsemane, Jesus’ appeal is denied. Through His suffering and death, Jesus learned obedience to God’s will. By His obedience He was made “perfect”; that is, He completed and fulfilled His God-given mission to die for the salvation of the world.

Friday, 23 March 2015—Matthew 10: (32-34) 35-45— The cross bears the fruit of eternal life. But at what price. Jesus clearly tells us, Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. There are many loves we have in this life; family, work, church, country. The list is endless yet, our first love, our first priority must be to the Savior. Anything less is a violation of the first commandment. The Father will honor the Son as He gave honor and obedience to the will of the Father. In following Christ we must acknowledge Him and follow in His ways. Christ is the one who willingly submitted to the will of His Father. It’s now all about you. Jesus proved this in His obedience and His trudge to the cross.

Saturday, 24 March 2012— The hymn of the Day, Jesus, I My Cross have Taken – Jesus willingly bore our sins in His body, and carried them to the cross. We, who have been incorporated into the body of Christ by our baptisms, must also bear crosses in this life. When our hour of trial comes, we beseech the Lord that He would give us the strength gladly to bear whatever cross He would. Luther writes concerning this, in the Large Catechism: So there is just as great a need, as in all the other petitions, that we pray without ceasing: “Dear Father, Your will be done, not the devil’s will or our enemies’ or anything that would persecute and suppress Your holy Word or hinder Your kingdom. Grant that we may bear with patience and overcome whatever is to be endured because of Your Word and kingdom, so that our poor flesh may not yield or fall away because of weakness or sluggishness.”

Collect for the Fifth Sunday in Lent— Almighty and everlasting God, who hast willed that Thy Son should bear for us the pains of the cross that Thou mightest remove from us the power of the adversary, help us so to remember and give thanks for our Lord’s Passion that we may obtain remission of sins and redemption from everlasting death; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Illustration from a woodcut by Baron Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872, a distinguished German artist known especially for his book, Das Buch der Bücher in Bilden (The Book of Books in Pictures).

Lent 4

Baptism Part 1

What is Baptism?

Answer - Baptism is not simple water only, but it is the water comprehended in God's command and connected with God's Word.

Which is that word of God?

Answer - Christ, our Lord, says in the last chapter of Matthew: Go ye into all the world and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

It is Christ Himself who speaks the command to make disciples of all the nations. This includes all peoples old and young alike. We do this by baptizing and teaching all that Christ has commanded us. Since it is Jesus who has given the command to baptize, to reject baptism is to reject Christ. The word “ye” speaks not only of the disciples who were present when Jesus gives this command but all Christians living at all times and in all places as Jesus has promised, “I am with you always.”

Jesus gives the command “to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” And one of these things is Baptism. Thus, the Christian Church is by Christ commanded to baptize. We have no other option. Christ has given us His command to baptize, but He has also given us the promise of the blessings of baptism.

Merciful Father, through Holy Baptism You called us to be Your own possession. Grant that our lives may evidence the working of Your Holy Spirit in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, according to the image of Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Saturday of Lent 3

Amen.

What does this mean?

Answer - That I should be certain that these petitions are acceptable to our Father in heaven and heard; for He Himself has commanded us so to pray, and has promised that He will hear us. Amen, Amen; that is, Yea, yea, it shall be so.

There are three things for which we pray when we come to the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer. We ask the Lord to hear us for He alone is the King of kings. It is He alone that we seek in times of need and in periods of joy and blessing. As the Lord of life, our Father alone has the power to grant us these petitions. He is both willing and capable of not only hearing our prayers, but to answer them according to His perfect will for our life. He alone is given all glory and praise in all that He has done for us.

Almighty God, since You have granted us the favor to call on You with one accord and have promised that where two or three are gathered together in Your name You are in the midst of them, fulfill now the prayers of Your servants, granting us in this world knowledge of Your truth and in the world to come life everlasting; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Lent 4

John 3:14-16
The Way of the cross Calls for Faith in Christ who hangs on the Cross

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, Your mercies are new every morning, and though we have in no way deserved Your goodness, You still abundantly provide for all our wants of body and soul. Give us, we pray, Your Holy Spirit that we may heartily acknowledge Your merciful goodness toward us, give thanks for all Your benefits, and serve You in willing obedience.

On this, the 4th Sunday in Lent, we begin to see the cross in the distance and learn of its healing power of salvation by grace. As Moses raised a bronze serpent, Jesus must be raised up on a cross. The upraised serpent in the Old Testament lesson brought healing through the forgiving love of God. This took place simply by looking to the upraised serpent. The cross brings eternal life to those who look to the cross with the eyes of faith. The way of the cross calls for faith in Christ who hangs upon the cross.

Look and know that God loves you –

I. Look beyond the cross – the source of God’s love – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

A. The Father offered up His only Son although it was done through the sinful acts of others.

1. The 30 pieces of silver Judas received is quite a cheap price for God’s only Son. Equivalent to 120 days work – that’s 24 weeks - about ½ a year’s pay.

2. The cash spent to betray Jesus was recognized as blood money. It was currency, which had been compromised – so it couldn’t be placed back into the treasury.
a. It was the price of betrayal
b. At what price would we sell out a friend? Examples; taking a life over a pair of shoes may be an extreme act of violence. Betraying a secret to win another’s attention or admiration? Refusing to help because we didn’t want to get our hands dirty? Can we be charged with similar crimes against humanity?

3. Sin simply causes life to be cheapened and our integrity to be compromised.

B. The purpose of offering His son was the reconciliation of the world. Sin only cheapens life – Christ restores it to its original value. You have worth – real worth not based on what we see or value in ourselves but on what the Father determines to be of real worth.

Transition: We look to the one on the cross to see the source of God’s love. Look to the one on the cross who is giving you this worth!

II. Look to the One on the cross –Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, John 3:14

A. Sin produces nothing but sickness, and death. Israel rebelled only to have deadly snakes devour the people. Where could they go? What could they do? They were trapped – only the Great Physician could heal them. By placing serpent on a pole and lifting it up the people were drawn to it for restoration and life.

B. Likewise Jesus was lifted up on a cross. The cross was the supreme exaltation of Jesus – in being lifted up Christ draws all sorts of people to Himself - without any regard for nationality, ethnic affiliation or status.

Transition: We look to the one on the cross to see the source of God’s love. We look to the one on the cross who is giving you this worth. We look at the cross where there is a sacrifice of life for you!

III. Look at the cross – sacrifice for you – that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:15

A. The sacrifice of Christ on a cross was a sacrifice for a purpose that people might believe in Him. John will use the word “believe” 98 times in his gospel. John’s purpose was that his readers might believe and continue to believe in Christ and Him alone. People are not to believe in John the Baptist or their preacher or anyone else. To this day people are called to believe in Christ through the testimony and the message of the cross.

B. The purpose of such believing is to have eternal life. This life, which Jesus offers, is an infinitely high quality of life in living fellowship with God both now and forever. It is a life, which has no end. It is an abundant life – a life with purpose, and power.

The story is told that when Thomas Aquinas returned form worshiping at the foot of the cross, he said, “That which I have seen today makes all that I have written seem as trash! I shall not write another word!” Salvation comes simply in a look – a look at the cross and a look in faith. Certainly, the way of the cross calls for faith in Christ who hangs upon the cross.

Artwork by Ed Riojas, © Higher Things; - Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld ©WELS;