Sermons 2025

Text: Galatians 3:23–4:7

Outline:

1.    Purpose of the Law
2.    Purpose of the Seed

Sermon:

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Epistle Lesson of Saint Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia chapter three verse twenty-three through chapter four verse seven.
Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Have you ever had a guardian? Paul in our text for today talks about the Law as our guardian. A guardian is someone who watches over you in place of your mom and dad. It could be a grandparent or friend, possibly a babysitter when mom and dad go out for the evening. How is the Law of God like a guardian for us? Who is it replaced by? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

1.    Purpose of the Law

Have you ever been a slave? We might pause for a bit when we consider this question. Slavery in our modern context brings to mind images of whips, chains, harshness, anger, and, racism. Yet, that is Paul’s very question. We may not like to admit it, but we are all salves to someone. Either we are slaves to the world, under the condemnation and harshness of the Law of God, or we are slaves to Christ, freed by His death and resurrection from the curse of the Law? Which are you slaves to?

Before Christ and faith in Him came, the answer is clear. “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, qimprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, rthe law was our sguardian until Christ came, tin order that we might be justified by faith.” Our sinful nature is one in slavery to sin, death, and the power of the devil. It is bound in hellish chains to the elementary spirits of the world. Bound so tightly as to be impossible to free oneself. As we confess every Sunday, “We are sinners in thoughts, word, and deed, and we cannot save ourselves from our sinful condition.”

Because of our sins, we are worse that slaves, we are in prison in the deep, dark, depths, in chains forever. We are under the harsh accusations of the Law of God. The Law of God was given to Israel on Mount Saini. They were given 613 various commandments, everything from not mixing fibers of clothing, avoiding certain foods while preferring others, not touching dead people or animals, and much more. Every single one of these Laws stand in accusation against Israel, and us, God demands perfection. His Law shows how much we fail to be perfect. 

Yet, if you were to ask someone today, they were probably say that they are pretty good. They have not done any major sins. They have not murdered anyone in action, they have not stolen much. They have been pretty good in terms of keeping their wife or husband happy. They have done good, certainly in comparison to other horrible people. That’s what the majority of people think. They think that they are pretty good, and certainly pretty good is enough to get you into heaven. You just have to do better. They say things like, “Jesus is great, but you need to join our church and stop drinking coffee and wear certain kinds of underwear; and don’t smoke, and don’t chew, and don’t hang out with those that do, and you can go to heaven.” God will settle for pretty good if you are one of us. They forget that we have broken God’s law. The wages of sin is death. We’re all under the condemnation and judgment of the Law.

1.    Purpose of the Seed

Yet the Law is good. The Law accuses that we would be prepared to hear the sweet words of the Gospel. We might consider the actions of the Law the same as a thermometer. When you take your temperature with a thermometer, you find out you need to take something to treat the fever that you might have. Now, a thermometer, or something that takes your temperature, isn’t going to take your temperature down. You can walk around with a thermometer in your mouth all day, and it’s not going to do anything. If you realize you’re running a fever, then you have to take the proper medicine to lower the fever. The law is like a thermometer. It shows you your sin. It drives you to Jesus, the medicine that we need to remedy the malady or the sickness or the disease that we have, which, in this case, is our sin so that we might be justified by faith.

The Law was only established for a short time, as a guardian for us. In ancient Roman culture, a “guardian” was someone who was employed by a wealthy family and who had the responsibility of supervising a young boy of the family until that boy became a man. This “guardian” would make sure the boy received a proper education and learned the skills that would be necessary for him to be successful as an adult. And the guardian would also be in charge of disciplining the boy in whatever ways the guardian thought necessary in order to ensure the boy’s character development. So, the guardian would have authority over just about every aspect of the boy’s life. However, once that boy reached a certain age, he would be free from the authority of his guardian. The guardian’s assignment would then be complete since the boy formerly under his supervision would have become a man. So Paul says that the Law was temporary until a certain time. 

That time? When Christ came. “4 But dwhen the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, eborn fof woman, born gunder the law, 5 hto redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive iadoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent jthe Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then kan heir through God.” When the time was right, the Father sends the Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus was born under the Law. He took on flesh, why? To redeem us. To buy us back. Through His perfect life, Jesus fulfills all of the Law on our behalf. Jesus takes all our sins, all the Law’s condemnation, upon His Holy Flesh as He hangs, accursed on the tree. Shedding His blood and rising again from the dead, Jesus breaks us out of our slavery, breaks the chains that bind us, and brings us out of the darkness of the prison, into His marvelous light, that we might receive adoption as Sons. Adoption in our modern world is an incredibly long process that involves mountains of paperwork, numerous interviews, and a whole lot of waiting. It’s also surprisingly expensive. The average cost of an international adoption is between 20 and 50 thousand dollars. So, needless to say, if you desire to adopt a child, you had better be prepared for that. It takes a lot to see that process through to completion.

That is what God has done for us in Christ. This fact should confound our minds. We, who were enemies of God, under His condemnation and punishment because of our sins. Yet now, in and through Jesus Christ, the God-man, we can cry “Abba! Father!” And He will hear and answer us as His dear and beloved children. It does not matter who you are, or what you have done. Paul says, “you are all sons of God.” Every Christian has equal standing before God and equal status as a “son” of God. Even the Christian who’s the lowliest in the eyes many in this world has just as much standing and status in the eyes of God as any other Christian.

How does this happen? In the waters of Holy Baptism. There, you are clothed with Christ. Jesus is as close to you as your own clothing is today. Clothed with Christ, your sins are washed away by His blood. You are cleansed, connected with Jesus. You come dead in your sins and trespasses, your old Adam, your sinful nature is crucified with Christ. It drowns and dies. Yet, you rise to newness of life forever in Christ, a son of the eternal Father. 
A key feature of our sonship is that we’re heirs of an eternal inheritance that’s greater than we can ever imagine. And the first installment of that inheritance is God himself—in the Person of the Holy Spirit—actually living within us. I mean, think about it: there’s no greater gift God could ever give than the gift of himself, and that’s exactly what he does in sending the Holy Spirit to dwell within our hearts. It’s kind of like we now have God’s DNA. Of course, in a regular adoption, the adopted child never actually has the DNA of the adoptive parents. But when God adopts us into his family, there’s a certain sense in which he’s actually able to give us his DNA through the Holy Spirit, who comes into our hearts and progressively changes us, from the inside out, to be more like God.

Thanks be to God, that He has saved us. He has justified us in faith that clings to Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, until that day when our inheritance has been fully realized, and we are with our beloved Heavenly Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with all our fellow brothers forever and ever.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
 

Proverbs 8:1-4,22-31ESV

Outline:
1.    Man’s wisdom
2.    God’s Wisdom
3.    Living in Wisdom

Sermon:

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 is the Old Testament lesson of Proverbs chapter eight verses one through four and twenty-two through thirty-one.

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today.

Do you have a lot of brain power? Some of us have a lot of brain power. Some people can remember a lot of information. Some people are good with names, facts and numbers, or information about people. Some people struggle a lot with dates or numbers. They seem to not have a lot of brain power for that. Whether we have a lot of brain power or a little, we need God’s wisdom. We need His brain power. God gives us true wisdom. Seeing things rightly, using God’s wisdom, we recognize that all we have comes from the Lord. We see and confess who God is, and what He has done for us in Christ. We are wise because Jesus lives in us. How does God give us His wisdom and help us in our daily lives? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
    
1.    Man’s wisdom

Today is a day when we are confronted with a great mystery and celebration of the Trinity. Rather than focusing on trying to describe the Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity, this great mystery that we cannot even begin to comprehend. Our text describes God according to one of His attributes and the works therein. Our text says that wisdom calls. She goes to the heights and the byways, calling and calling, for others to listen to her. What is wisdom? The dictionary defines wisdom as: ability to discern inner qualities and relationships, good sense, a generally accepted belief, accumulated philosophical or scientific learning, a wise attitude, belief, or course of action, or the teachings of the ancient wise men. There are values and virtues humans ought to pursue and the vices that should be rejected.

By these definitions, we think that we are pretty wise. We have wisdom. But are you listening to the right wisdom? We can tell if someone has a good quality or a good character. We are usually good at figure out what the right course of action should be. Should I spend my money for food or on a new car? Usually food wins out because we enjoy living. We are constantly learning new things, making new inventions, digesting new books, and much more.  We follow the teachings of old while keeping up with scientific learning. Mixing old wives tales, “Feed a fever, starve a cold.” If that does not work, then go to the urgent care and see what the doctor says.

We are truly wise indeed! Yet, it is a wisdom that is only wise in the ways of the world. The world’s wisdom depends upon you and what you think, your own wisdom. The wisdom of the world is self-centered. We scoff in wisdom and ask, “What’s in it for me?” “If I get nothing out of it, why should I do it?” We never concerns ourselves with “How can I help?”  A scoffer is an island unto himself.  Foolishly, the scoffer lives a self-righteous life that alienates and marginalizes any dependence on others.  The scoffer’s circle of friends is very small.  The scoffer’s world is egocentric, and paranoia of others threatening its legitimacy constitutes reality. Scoffers depend entirely on their own, and upon the world’s wisdom.  If our wisdom does not work, maybe someone else’s wisdom will be better. We need to find the smartest and wisest people, then we will be better and good.

Sadly, this thinking can even affect the church. We think that we are wise if faith is only a knowledge in the head to come up when we need it, rather than a wisdom from the heart. We know a lot about God’s word. We know the Bible stories. We know who Abraham, Issac, and Jacob are. We know the prophets. We know the Bible Stories. We often become puffed up with our own knowledge and how much we know. False wisdom, the world’s wisdom, cannot save or help us. We need true wisdom. We need to be listening to God’s wisdom.

2.    God’s Wisdom

What is God’s Wisdom? How can we listen to true wisdom? God’s wisdom has been with Him from the beginning. “I was setup as the first before the heaven’s and earth was made.” God’s wisdom is an attribute, a character of God. Proverbs 8 is famous because it lay at the heart of the controversy over the deity of Christ that culminated in the Nicene Creed. Nearly everyone in the early church understood this passage to be about Christ. In love, all of God’s attributes, including His wisdom, are made flesh for us in Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Wisdom—gushing forth forgiveness and new life in the font of Baptism.  Today Jesus is our Wisdom—bringing us His very body and very blood in bread and wine for life everlasting.  Today Jesus is our Wisdom—speaking to us still through His living Word in preaching and absolution.  That your days might be multiplied and years added to your life, this Wisdom from on high deigns to dwell among you, His 21st century people of God, in Word and in Sacraments. That we have God’s wisdom in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ and His work. We listen to his wisdom every time we gather and hear the Words of Holy Scripture.

3.    Walking in Wisdom

As Christians we walk and live in Godly wisdom in our daily lives. Listening to God’s wisdom in Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, God lives in us! Thie wisdom of God shows itself in our thoughts, words, and actions. It enables and strengthens us to put worldly ways behind us, things like sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness. Rather than following the wisdom of the world into darkness and death, we follow the ways of God unto life everlasting.

God, in His wisdom and love, has called us out of the darkness of the wisdom of the world, into his marvelous light and wisdom in Christ. We live in the light of Christ, who is the light of the world. Christ, who gives life and light to our soul and to our senses. Now in Christ, we have been given His wisdom. We know God for who he truly is, as our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We know him as the God of mercy, who forgives our sins freely for Christ’s sake by His death and resurrection.

The wisdom of Christ takes specific shape in the things we put behind us and avoid, and in the things we say and do and think now, as the new people we are in Christ. As Saint Paul gets at “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

The Lord continue to bless us with wisdom all of our days until that day when we are with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit forever and ever.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
 

Text: John 14:23-31
Theme: Word of the HS

Outline:
1.    HS?
2.    What does He do? Brings to remembrance
a.    Creates and Sustains faith
3.    Your Work?

Sermon:

Grace, mercy, and pece 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 Holy Gospel according to Saint John the Fourteenth chapter verses twenty-three through thirty-one.
Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Have you ever felt really sleepy? So sleepy that you can’t keep your eyes open? You just want to close them and not open them for a really long time? That can be how we feel when it comes to the great task that God has given us to do of spreading His Word to all the world. We can feel like we have no energy but what happens today in our lesson? The Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples and they are given power from on high. They, and we, do the work God has given us to do, not by our own power but by the Power of the Holy Spirit. How does the Holy Spirit continue to give us His power today? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

1.    HS

Who exactly is the Holy Spirit? Many people in the world today misunderstand who the Holy Spirit is. They think that He’s an inactive something that you can just call upon when you need it, like the Force from Star Wars. It’s just always around you. If you can just tap into it then you have unlimited power. Whenever you need help you can draw upon the Spirit, He will help you. Then, you can just put Him back until you need help again. Others misunderstand because they think that the Holy Spirit does not exist. They think that He is indeed a Spirit or a Ghost with no form or substance to Him whatsoever. Others misunderstand because they think that the Spirit gives you a jumpstart, the same as you might jumpstart a dead car battery, and you then need to do the rest.

These common misconceptions are wrong. The Holy Spirit has a form and substance. He is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. As our Lord says, the Holy Spirit takes what belongs to the Son and gives it to the disciples. That is something that only God can do. The Holy Spirit is not an inactive force that we can draw on whenever we need Him. Rather, He is living and active within Creation. We might consider Genesis chapter one where the Holy Spiri is hovering and brooding over the waters like a protective bird over its nest, making sure that the young are well tended to and everything is going according to plan. The Holy Spirit does not merely give you a jumpstart and leave you to do the rest. Rather, He is with you forever, every single moment of your life giving you strength and peace.
 

   The Holy Spirit gives us a strength and peace that we cannot get on our own. We know well how weak and frail we are. We seem to have no peace in this sinful world. We are tossed by the wind and waves of the world. We go from one sinful thought and action to another. All the while thinking ‘Maybe this time will be different’, ‘Maybe finally I will achieve something good.’ ‘Maybe this time I can finally overcome sin and temptation on my own.’ How is that working out for you? On our own, we can-do no-good thing. Under our own power, we see how powerless we really are. We become anxious and fearful, wondering how we can ever have peace and strength.

2.    What does He do?

Thanks be to God that He does give us of His Holy Spirit and takes not His presence away from us. By His work, we have peace and strength in the midst of a sin-filled world. As the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, we can overcome sin, stand firm against the pressures of the world, and resist the temptation of Sin. Not by our own power but because of the work of the Holy Spirit. How does this happen?  Our text for today tells us. Our Lord says, 

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and dbring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” 

The Holy Spirit gives us strength and peace. Because the Holy Spirit never points to Himself. He always focuses and points to Jesus Christ and what He has done for our salvation. Because of the Son, we have peace and strength. We have Peace with God, having been reconciled to Him by the blood of Jesus. We have strength, because He leaves in us. The Holy Spirit teaches by creating faith in us that we may cling to Christ’s work. Through this faith, the Holy Spirit sanctifies us. He makes us holy, here and now. 

How does this great transformation happen? How does the Spirit make us holy? As Luther writes in the Large Catechism “Sanctifying is nothing else than bringing us to Christ to receive this good, to which we could not attain of ourselves.” (Source: https://bookofconcord.org/large-catechism/apostles-creed/#lc-ii-0039 ) and “Just as the Son obtains dominion, whereby He wins us, through His birth, death, resurrection, etc., so also the Holy Ghost effects our sanctification by the following parts, namely, by the communion of saints or the Christian Church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting; that is, He first leads us into His holy congregation, and places us in the bosom of the Church, whereby He preaches to us and brings us to Christ. (Source: https://bookofconcord.org/large-catechism/apostles-creed/#lc-ii-0037 ) 

God always works through means. The Father works through the means of His Word at Creation. The Son works through the means of the incarnation. The means by which the Holy Spirit works to make us holy are what we call the marks of the Church. Here, within the community of believers gathered around His Word and Sacraments, the Spirit makes you holy. He says, “Hey, here is everything Jesus has done in His Word. Here is His very Gospel in a visible and tangible way in the Sacraments, water and the Word to make you a beloved child. Bread and wine with the Word to give you Jesus’ true body and true blood for you to forgive your sins. Listen! Hear the voice of your Pastor as “in the stead and by the command of Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins.” Here you are forgiven of all of your sins by the blood of Jesus Christ. Here God places His very name upon you, makes you His beloved child, creates saving faith in you, and constantly strengthens you to do the work that Christ has given you to do.

3.    What Work do you do?

You have the Spirit living within you. He strengthens you to do His good work. What is that work? Firstly, the Spirit creates faith in you. You trust in the Son and what Jesus has done for you. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection from the dead, you have peace no matter what happens in this world. Jesus has already destroyed the power of sin, death, and the devil in your lives. There is nothing to fear, worry, or be anxious about. God Himself is with you and strengthening you. Secondly, that faith and trust shows itself in your thoughts, words, and actions. In the midst of this sin-filled world, you are little Christs to those around you. You use your thoughts, words, and actions to give God the glory rather than using it to indulge your sinful lusts or give into the pressures of the world, or the temptations of the devil. 

Thanks be to God that He sends us the Comforter and the Helper. May He continue to give us of His Holy Spirt that we may always walk in His ways for the glory of His name.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep your hearts, and minds, in Christ Jesus. Amen.