Peace Lutheran Church
Posts Tagged "Lent"
Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 14, 2024
Text: Jeremiah 31:31-34
Outline
1. Broken Covenant
2. New Covenant
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Old Testament lesson of Jeremiah chapter thirty-one verses thirty-one through thirty-four.
Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Have you ever made a covenant? A covenant is a promise that people make with other people. For example, if mom says to clean your room and if you do that, then she will give you ice cream. If you do not, then you go without ice cream. If someone gets married. They make solemn promises that they will be faithful to each other throughout their whole lives. These are examples of a covenant, two people promising that they will do things for the other person. In our text, God promises that He is going to make a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah. What was the old covenant? What is the new covenant? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
1. Broken Covenant
The Lord declares though the prophet Jeremiah that former days He made an old covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant was etched into tablets of stone at Mount Sanai. They were given as sign of the relationship between God and the people. The Lord says that He was as a husband to them. They had a solemn vow of faithfulness, similar to the vows that husbands and wives make today. The Lord expected that the people were going to be faithful to Him just as He was faithful to them. It is a relationship that the prophets, Hosea, Jeremiah, Isaiah, to name a few, use quite regularly to explain the relationship of the Lord to His people.
The people were expected to keep the relationship. Yet, what they do? The Lord was faithful husband to them. They were a constantly unfaithful wife. They broke the relationship that they had with the Lord by following other gods. The old covenant imposed many rules upon the Jews, rules they found impossible to observe. Hence the old covenant certainly proved that no one could be saved by keeping it. For that reason the Lord says of their fathers, “They broke my covenant.” We would say, Before the ink was dry, they broke the covenant with the sin of the golden calf. When they entered into the promised land, they were unfaithful choosing to follow the fertility cults of Ashera. Thousands worshiped Baal. They sacrificed their own children to the abomination Molech.
We are like unfaithful Israel. The Lord has made a relationship with us in the waters of Holy Baptism where He calls us His very own beloved children. He expects that we will be faithful to Him. Yet, how often are we unfaithful like the people of Israel? We are unfaithful in thought, word, and, deed twenty-four seven, three hundred sixty five days of the year. We follow other gods that we have set up in our own minds and thoughts. Our money, status, power, authority, worldly pleasures. When we are not content with the good blessings God has given to us and we want more and more. When we put our own wants and desires before the needs of others. We justify our own actions for our own sinful pleasures. We listen to the lies and gossip of others rather than the truth of God’s word. When we give into the temptations of Satan and our own flesh. Truly, we are an adulterous and sinful people.
2. New Covenant
What is a faithful husband to do? He could seek revenge, and that would be just and fair for Him to do. Like Carrie Underwood sings in Before He Cheats, God could spiritually “took a Louisville Slugger to both headlights. Slashed a hole in all four tires. Maybe next time, he'll think before he cheats.”
God could rightly and justly punish us just as He did under the old covenant by removing the people of Israel from the land. We deserve present and eternal punishment for our unfaithfulness. That is well within His power to do. It is what He should do for our unfaithfulness.
Yet, what does He say? Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah not like the covenant that I made with their fathers. The Lord is making a new covenant! He is making a different one that the one He made at Mount Sanai. The old covenant pointed to Christ as its fulfillment. By its very nature, then, it was temporary and passing. Many of its activities—the repeated animal sacrifices, for example—emphasized its transitory nature. The Lord is making one that is not transitory, but permeant, one that can not be broken. Why? Because it is not dependent upon the actions of the people but on the faithfulness of the Lord. It is fully and totally dependent upon what Jesus Christ has done for us by His death and resurrection from the dead. How faithful is Jesus? Totally, fully, completely faith as the only-begotten Son of the Father.
The priests under the old covenant could offer only the blood of bulls and goats, for without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. But Christ, the mediator of the new covenant, offers the supreme sacrifice. He offers the sacrifice that matters. He offers the once-and-for-all sacrifice that pleases God and removes sin and guilt. He offers himself. Freely and willingly, he sheds his blood and by the shedding of his blood takes away sin forever. By his sacrifice he opens the way to heaven. Nothing bars the way. The one who trusts him has a wide-open approach to God. At Christ’s triumphant words “It is finished,” the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, showing that a new and better way to God had been opened.
This new covenant proclaims a salvation complete, finished, and, above all, free for the asking. It is a salvation won in and through Christ. “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).
Under this new covenant, we are given of the Holy Spirit that we can cry, Abba, Father! A covenant signed and sealed in blood, not bound by law after law, but one given freely by the grace of God. That when we are unfaithful, we remember the grace He has given to us in Holy Baptism. He is faithful for He cannot deny Himself. He holds to His promises. Thus, we remember our baptisms daily that the old Adam may drown and die, that the new Adam may live. Heaping grace upon grace, in an equally wondrous and marvelous way, our Lord shares the meal of the new covenant with us.
In that Communion meal, he draws us to himself. He gives us the supreme gift: with the bread, his body given on the cross; with the wine, his blood poured out on the cross. With these sacred gifts, he gives to us the forgiveness of sins. With them he removes all doubts that might linger in our hearts. He comes to each of us personally and gives. We are sure. We belong to him. We are one with him. All that is his is ours.
We are united and bonded to him. But this bond goes much further. Because we all eat of the one bread and are with him through faith, so we are joined to one another in the body of Christ, the church. Such is the vision Jeremiah saw. He saw the day of Christ and was glad. Such is the gift we taste and know.
That is the blessing that we get to share with others. God has made a new covenant for the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of souls. He has fulfilled all of the old covenant by the work, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, given freely by His grace.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Third Sunday in Lent Midweek
March 07, 2024
On donkey colt He rides to town
The people cheer, the foes plot on.
But soon we jeer, shout Crucify!
This sudden change just mystifies.
O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer.
Jesus enters Jerusalem in the most unlikely of ways. We would expect Him to enter in the most miraculous of ways, a shout, shining in power and glory coming down from the heavens. At the very least riding in on a majestic charger of a stallion showing His authority and might. Yet, what does He enter on? A donkey, specifically a colt upon which no one had ever sat. Why? The same reason that David had Solomon do so, to show that he comes as King in peace rather than in the midst of war, conquering, and bloodshed.
This reason is why our Lord enters on a donkey as the ultimate Prince of Peace. He comes to make peace between men and men, but ultimately to make peace between sinful humanity and a righteous, just, and holy God by forgiving all of our sins by His death and resurrection from the dead.
What is the crowd’s reaction to this? They line the streets in a joyful procession. They wave palm branches. These were often used in military parades as symbols of victory over a conquered foe. Even today some funerals will have people buried hold palm branches as symbols of Jesus’ victory over death itself. The crowds line the street and shout Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna is a Hebrew word that means save us now. The phrase Son of David is used of the Messiah, as the One from the line of David whom the Lord had promised would reign forever upon David’s throne. They rejoice in the expectation that their King has come in order to save them.
They think Jesus has come to save them from the hated Romans. Jesus has come to establish an earthly kingdom greater than David or Solomon ever could have imagined. They will have peace forever and never need for anything upon this earth again.
Yet, as the week goes on, the crowds reaction changes. A joyous crowd on Palm Sunday turn into a hateful, spiteful, murderous crowd on Friday. As they saw that Jesus was not the warrior king they had expected, enthusiasm waned. The religious leaders were plotting Jesus’ death even as He enters Jerusalem. They spread lies about Jesus and slowly, public opinion turned. Many false messiahs had come and gone, leaving devastation in their wake. Because of the lies of the leaders, public opinion in Jerusalem had turned on Jesus. He was no longer the promised one, but another charlatan come to deceive. He was not who they thought he would be. So, when offered Barabbas or Jesus, they chose Barabbas, a convicted murderer and revolutionary, and called for Jesus’ blood.
Pilate gives into their demands for fear of another riot, because then he would have lost the favor of the Emperor and possibly his own head, but more on that in two weeks. He releases Barabbas and sentences Jesus to be crucified. Jesus is humiliated, shamed, mocked, and crucified. Why? To fulfill the plan of the Father. To be our Prince of Peace and reconcile sinful humanity by bearing the punishment of our sins with a just and holy God. Jesus does come as a Savior. Not a savior from only the Romans, but from Sin, death, and the power of the devil. He saves us from all of our foes by His death and resurrection from the dead.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Second Sunday in Lent
February 22, 2024
Text: Genesis 17”1-6,15-17
Outline
2. Abram’s shortcut
1. God’s response to Abram and Us
Introduction: Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Old Testament lesson of Genesis Chapter seventeen verses one through seven, fifteen through sixteen.
Boys and girls, have you ever been with mom or dad when they have taken a shortcut on a trip thinking that it will save time? Has it ever worked in cutting time off of the trip? Usually more time is added. Too often, shortcuts end in bad ways. There is the dead-end road or the two-lane road with heavy traffic so it is no shortcut at all and takes you longer to travel. What about a shortcut when mom or dad is trying to fix something at home or on the car? They think they have an “aha” experience, and then it breaks again and costs more to fix the second time! Shortcuts do not usually work. We see Abram try to take a short cut in our text for today. How does God respond to it? Ponder this question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
2. Abram’s shortcut
What we see in Abram today is a desire to take a manmade shortcut. He wants to do things his way under his own terms and power. He has figured out a way to have an heir using Hagar, Sarai’s slave woman. After all, he is ninety-nine years old. He and Sarai are not going to be having children. It is just too late. So, Abram has a plan for an heir that is done in such a way that God can save face. Abram wants Ishmael to be his heir. Ishmael is already born. Abram loves Ishmael. He practically begs for Ishmael to inherit everything, praying to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” He knows he and Sarai are too old to have a son, so just make Ishmael heir of the promises, make him the one through whom the Messiah will come. This is Abram’s fervent wish and his answer to his problem.
We see here the weak faith in Abram and Sarai. Abram doubts that God can keep his promise and provide him an heir. This would be impossible—too much to ask! Abram takes matters into his own hands. He wants to fix the problem. He thinks he has the perfect solution: “God, let’s do things my way this time.”
How often do we find ourselves operating the same way? We have problems in life. Everyone does. We, as the people of God, go to Him in prayer. You pour out your heart to Him. You tell Him you believe in His promises. As soon as you pray “Amen,” you start looking for your own solutions, your own answers, the way you think the problem should be solved. Just like that, there’s worry, fear, anxiety. Give it to God and then take it right back just as fast as you can. The real problem here is that you don’t trust God and His ability to answer as is best for you. You want to do it. After all, you might not like God’s answer and his solution. Just like Abram!
1. God’s response to Abram
So God comes to Abram face-to-face. God does not come to chastise or to condemn. God comes to Abram to strengthen his faith by speaking to him the promises of the covenant. If Abram thought it was impossible, unbelievable, that he and his wife could have a child in their old age, he must have been astonished at the unbelievable promises that God made to him.
He changed Abram’s name to Abraham. Why? To signal to Abram the assuredness of the promises. The “Exalted Father” would become the “father of a multitude of nations.” Sarai was changed to Sarah because she would be the mother of many nations. God would not work this promise through Ishmael, but He would keep His original promise by giving Abraham and Sarah a son of their very own even in their old age. God was going to work two miracles. First, Abraham would have his own son. Second, he would make him very fruitful and make him literally into many nations.
God was going to bless Abraham with descendants, generation after generation. In fact, God would bless him so that this would be an everlasting covenant. The covenant would be everlasting because of one of those descendants. Human beings each have their own life expectancy, beginning and ending. To be an everlasting covenant would take a special descendant who would be like Abraham, a human descendant, but also like God, who has no end, everlasting. One of Abraham’s descendants would be the Savior, Jesus Christ.
Finally, God would give to Abraham the land of Canaan, literally the Promised Land for his future descendants. This Promised Land would be an everlasting possession. Again, it would be everlasting because there would be a land far beyond anything on earth. There would be a Promised Land that would last forever.
God fulfilled his promises to Abraham and Sarah, and, in doing so, he has kept his promises to you and to me. Jesus Christ, the descendant of Abraham, has come. He has come for all people, all nations, all generations. He came to bring the promises of God to ultimate fulfillment. He did so to remove the sins of our weak faith, our doubts, our constant desire to do things our way, to solve problems without regard to God’s will. He did so by his own suffering, his own shed blood to cover our sins, his own death to pay our wage of sin, and his glorious resurrection to conquer death itself. Through Jesus Christ, the promises of God to Abraham and to us are fulfilled. By faith in Jesus, we, too, are now descendants of Abraham.
He has changed your name too. At the day of your Baptism, the day you received the Holy Spirit, the day your sins were forgiven, the day you became an heir of eternal life, God gave you a new name: Christian. God applied His very name to you. He keeps his promises to you. He gives you “a new covenant in his blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” His covenant, sealed in his holy, precious blood, strengthens your faith and keeps you in faith to life everlasting in the everlasting Promised Land.
Conclusion: God made promises to Abraham. The promises seemed impossible, unbelievable, to an old man and his wife. But God Kept His Unbelievable Promises
to Abraham and to Us!
All the promises were fulfilled in Jesus Christ when he came for you and me. Now we have new names, forgiveness of sins, an everlasting covenant, and a promised land. These are indeed unbelievable promises.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Ash Wednesday
February 14, 2024
Let now these ashes make their mark, upon our foreheads and our hearts; from dust to dust we see decay that only God can take away.
O Lord may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer.
As I look our today, I see a lot of crosses. Crosses made with Ash. Why? How does this remind us not only of our mortality, but also of what Jesus Christ has done for us?
Black of ash made their mark upon our foreheads. Why? As a reminder of what we are made from. All the way back in Genesis, when God creates Adam and Eve, He forms Adam from the dust of the earth. He forms Eve from Adam’s rib as a helpmate fit for him. When they sin against God. When they violate the one command that God gives. That command is to not eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, they are rightfully punished. Eve is cursed with pain in childbearing. Adam bears the greatest of the curses, because he did not speak up, rebuke the snake, and tell Eve to stop talking to him. Because of Adam, the entirety of creation is doomed for death and decay. For dust you are and to dust you shall return.
A death and decay that extends to us still today. The ashes are not only on our foreheads, but also to mark the darkness within our own hearts. Every single one of us have what we call original sin. The desire to break every single one of the commands of God. Sin that we have inherit ate by the fact that we are humans born of humans. We are sinners. We lie, cheat, steal, and covet. We put other things and people in the rightful place of God in our lives. We are deserving of present and eternal punishment. We are dust and to dust we shall return. Eventually, we will die. We will die because every single one of us has violated the Law of God in thought, word, and deed.
Black, dusty ash to remind us of our mortality. Yet where do these ashes come from? They are made from the palms of last year’s Palm Sunday. This is done to remind us that our King has come, not in the terrors of judgement, but to redeem us. A King who answers our cries of Hosanna, save us! In the most unlikely of ways. While we are deserving of eternal punishment, astray from God, violating His commands. The Creator of the universe enters His creation to save us. The seed of the woman through the womb of the blessed Virgin, Jesus lays aside His divine power, glory, and authority. He assumes the form of a servant. He assumes our sinful dust, yet was without sim, that our sinful black ashy self may be reconciled to God once again.
How is this reconciliation done? Look at how the ashes have been applied to you. They are applied in the shape of a cross. Why a cross? That is how Jesus reconciled us to God forever. By the wood of the cross, we are saved. Jesus saves us by living the Law perfect on our behalf. He bears our punishment when He dies a brutal death upon the cross. He covers our sinful, black dust, with His innocent blood. By dying He destroys death forever. By rising again from the dead, Jesus gives to us newness of life with Him forever.
Black ash to remind us of our dustiness, our sinfulness, and mortality, yet in the shape of the cross to remind us that we are redeemed dust because of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.