Sermon for Friday Chapel, Concordia University, Mequon, WI

(No audio)

Jesu Juva

“Eyes Lifted to the Cross”

Text: Psalm 121

 

In the Name of (+) Jesus. Amen.

When you were little, you lifted up your eyes to your parents. That’s where your help came from. They gave you clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, and all you need. As you got older, you began to grow out of that, and do more for yourself. You became less dependent on your parents. More independent. You became your own person. And that’s good.

The psalmist asked today, I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? And as children of God, the answer is: My help comes from the Lord. My help comes from my heavenly Father. We are children who look to Him for all we need, for all our needs of body and soul. And that’s good. 

But a problem sometimes can arise, here, with this, when what happens in our physical, earthly lives also begins to happen in our spiritual lives. It is a slick temptation of the evil one to make us think that as we get older, as we grow up in our faith, that just as we begin to need our parents less, so should we need our heavenly Father less. Oh, not cut Him out altogether, of course! Just as you still go home on breaks and talk to your parents! You still go to church and pray. But you’re growing up, right? So shouldn’t you become less spiritually dependent on your heavenly Father, too?  And more independent? Do more for yourself? Spread your spiritual wings? Wouldn’t that, too, be good? And the world affirms that message as well - that it’s not good to be dependent! Make your own way. Do your own thing. And our sinful nature plays along, too. Yeah, that sounds good. And everyone else seems so strong . . . Is there something wrong with me . . . Maybe I need to . . .

But while that may be meet, right, and salutary with our physical lives, a man should leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they become one flesh (Genesis 2:24) and start new families, the spiritual reality is exactly the opposite. As we grow and mature in our faith, we grow MORE dependent on God, not less. For in the spiritual realm, independence is not good. For there is one body and one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all (Ephesians 4:4-6). You never outgrow being a child of God. It is the child-like faith Jesus praises, not the seemingly grown-up faith of the Pharisees and Sadducees and Scribes.

And so the psalmist concludes: The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in - not just for a while, but from this time forth and forevermore.

Now when this psalm was written, it was sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem for one of the festivals. They lifted up their eyes and saw the city and the Temple. That’s where their help came from: the Lord who, yes, made heaven and earth, but who chose to dwell with His people there, in that place, and bless them. He was the reason they were going up. He was the reason they were a people. He was the reason they were a nation and had a land of their own. And as they depended on Him, they were, and all was well and it was good. It was when they grew independent that things went south and started to fall apart. And when God then sent prophets to call His people back to Him, back to His Temple, back to relying on Him and being His children. To come back again and lift up their eyes and see their hope: the Temple, the dwelling place of God. 

And so do we. As pilgrims in this world, journeying through this life, we too, lift up our eyes, but see now, not to a Temple of stone, but a Temple of flesh and bone. For the Lord who made heaven and earth, became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14) here, in a body. And then was lifted up high on a cross for all the world to lift up their eyes and see. 

And there we see the Lord who will not let your foot be moved because His feet were fastened, immoveable, to that cross. 

We see the Lord who neither slumbers nor sleeps because He did sleep in death, but rose from the dead never to sleep that sleep again. 

We see the Lord upon whom the sun stopped shining while He was on the cross, and so will not let the sun strike you by day.

We see the Lord who will keep you from all evil and keeps your life for He took all your evil and laid down His life for yours, that your sins be held against Him, not you, and you live in the freedom of a child, knowing you have a Father seeing to all your needs.

THIS Lord is your keeper, from this time forth and forevermore. In all the times and seasons and places of your life. No matter how old or how young, how able or disabled, how strong or how weak, whether you even realize it or not. You are children of a loving God you cannot outgrow. And that is good. To look to Him. To be dependent on Him. To be kept by Him. To lift up your eyes . . .  to Jesus.

In the Name of (+) Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for the Festival of the Reformation

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Jesu Juva

“A Body and Blood Fortress”

Text: John 8:31-36; Romans 3:19-28; Revelation 14:6-7

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

Technically they were right, these Jews who believed in Him who said those words. Sure, their ancestors had been slaves in Egypt back in the day, and later slaves and exiles in Babylon, but they themselves had never been enslaved to anyone. That was true. Oh, they had to pay taxes to the Romans. But the Romans let them rule themselves for the most part. As long as they didn’t cause trouble. So what is this freedom talk, Jesus? You’re not making sense.

But the taskmaster Jesus was talking about was far worse than they knew. Jesus could see it, even if they couldn’t. They said they had never been enslaved to anyone, but Jesus knew they had always been enslaved to . . .  to one very demanding taskmaster. As have you. And that one, that taskmaster, is yourself. Your own sinful nature.

If you’ve done something even though you know you shouldn’t, you are a slave to sin, to your own sinful nature.

If you’ve flown off the handle, lost your temper, lashed out in anger . . . If you’ve said words that hurt, that you later regretted and wished you could take back, you are a slave to sin, to your own sinful nature.

If you’ve hated, harbored a grudge, refused to forgive . . . If you’ve been bitter, resentful, obsessed with a sin committed against you, you are a slave to sin, to your own sinful nature.

If you’ve had impure thoughts and desires, springing up, living in your heart or mind, you are a slave to sin, to your own sinful nature. 

If you haven’t lived as the child of God you are, why not? Because you are a slave to sin, to your own sinful nature.

And if I didn’t hit your sins in this list - I could! Careless sins, willful sins, impulsive sins, nagging sins, aggressive sins, passive sins, sins clinging to you like stink on a dog. 

But perhaps you already know this . . . how you are a slave to your sin, to your own sinful nature. 

Because the new man in you, the re-born Christ-man in you, does none of those things. But that old man in you, that sinful nature in you, is controlling you, and is demanding and unrelenting.

And just telling you not to do those things doesn’t help! You already know that. As Christians, from the Ten Commandments, you know what you should and should not do, yet you still do. Sometimes carelessly, sometimes willfully, sometimes rashly and impulsively. 

The apostle Paul knew this. He said the Commandments didn’t stop but actually ignited the sin in him (Romans 7:7-8). Luther knew it, too. The more he tried to keep the Law the more he saw the sin in him controlling him. And the Scriptures agree. As we heard today: the Law cannot make us good. What it does is hold us accountable to God. It shows us how we’ve sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It shows us this, convicts us of this, but doesn’t give us the power to change this.

Oh, maybe you think you can. But the truth is that trying to overcome our sins is like playing Whack-a-Mole. Some of you are old enough to remember that arcade game! (If you’re old enough to have gone to an arcade!) The game is to try to whack all the moles coming up out of their holes, and just when you whack one, one or more pop-up someplace else! That’s how it is with our sin. Just when you whack one sin, one or more pop-up someplace else in your life! And then even that sin you whacked before pops up again later! And maybe you do well for a while . . . but sooner or later . . . there are too many moles . . . too many sins . . . coming up too fast . . . you lose. You can’t win. And it never ends.

Now that’s one thing when you’re in an arcade, when it’s a game. It’s another when it’s real life. Or maybe better to say: when your life depends on it. So you can try to win this on your own, this struggle to whack and be free from the slavery of your sin, OR, have someone win it for you. By one who isn’t enslaved, doesn’t have any of His own sins to whack, and so can whack yours and set you free. The Son. For if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.

So that’s why Jesus. Why the Son of God came in the flesh. To play whack-a mole - but not with the visible effects of our sin like we do, and fail! But better: to whack the causes of our sin and win. To whack the evil one by putting His heel on his head. To whack that old sinful man in us by pushing him under the water of Holy Baptism to drown the life out of him. 

But not to leave us there whacked, or just have that old sinful man pop-up again, but to then raise up out of that water a new man, a newborn Christian, set free to live a new life. A new life under a new master, but this one a good and gracious master, who wants the best for us. Who doesn’t want to be a master to slaves at all, but a Father to children. And that is what you now are. Sons of God in the Son of God. That we be controlled no longer by our sinful human natures, but set free and controlled by the Spirit of God.

The Jews who believed in Jesus didn’t understand that. If there was something to be done, they would do it! Just try a little harder. And that’s what those in Rome thought at the time of the Reformation, too. And many people today. We don’t like to be told we can’t do something. Yes I can! I can do it! I can be good enough. I’m no slave to sin! . . . But the evidence tells a different story. Whether we want to admit it or not. You know it. Look at your life. Look at the world. So much wrong. So much falling apart. So much that is not good.

It’s true, what Paul said. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Which makes it sound better than it really is . . . as if we were almost there, doesn’t it? We just fell a little short! But short is short. Short is out. Short isn’t good enough. Good enough isn’t good enough. A good slave is still a slave and will die as a slave. We have fallen short. We didn’t make it and can’t make it. They closed the cabin door. You missed your flight. That ship has sailed.

Unless . . . something changes. The world won’t turn the ship around or re-open the cabin door for you or bring that plane back to the gate, but Jesus did change something for us, and even greater - He turned around death and opened the grave! So those of us buried under our sins and the sins of others - and sometimes far more than six feet under! - have a new lease on life. A new life to live. No longer controlled by our sin and sinful human nature and not controlled by others and their sin, but now controlled by the love of Christ. So that instead of trying to justify ourselves and be good enough, we repent and be justified, or made right, by the forgiveness of Jesus. And when other sin against us, instead of holding a grudge or demanding satisfaction, we forgive. 

And as the Spirit of God comes to us and works in us through the Word, and the Body and Blood of Christ are fed to us in His Supper, new thoughts and impulses are strengthened and begin to lead us. And that old evil tyrant and our old sinful nature . . . not so much anymore.

That’s the freedom Jesus is talking about here, which yes! those Jewish believers needed. And those at the time of the Reformation needed. And we need! For there is no difference, no distinction, Paul said. And that means all people of all time need this freedom, which Jesus came to provide for all people of all time. That what you were need not be who you are, and who you are be a new creation in Christ. No longer a slave, but a free child of God! To live not in hate but in love. Not in revenge but in forgiveness. Not in fear but in hope. Not in worry but in confidence. The confidence of a dearly loved child.

That’s what Jesus has for you, and what the Reformation was all about. It wasn’t about a man, it wasn’t about throwing off authority, it wasn’t a revolt or a revolution - it was the proclamation of the eternal Gospel. The good news of a Saviour for all people of all time. The good news of a Saviour who will not change. The good news of a Saviour for you. Built on that Rock, the Church shall stand (LSB #645) and will not fall, even when the earth gives way, even when the evil one roars and threatens, even when our own consciences afflict us. For even in the worst of times, the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Take refuge in Him, in His words, in His forgiveness. Look to Him and not at what is happening in the world. That, out there? Who knows! By this [the cross]? Him? This is a sure thing. Your salvation accomplished. Your life restored. The battle won. So take refuge here, in this, in Him. Take refuge here, A Mighty Fortress (LSB #656) of Body and Blood.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Congregation at Prayer

For the Week of Pentecost 20 (October 27 - November 1, 2025)

Invocation: In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Speak the Apostles’ Creed. 

Verse: Matthew 5:11-12a – “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”

Hymn of the Week:  Lutheran Service Book #677 “For All the Saints”

Hymns for Sunday: 677, 676, 633, 673, 675, 672

Readings for the Week: [The readings for Thursday-Saturday are the Scriptures for this coming Sunday.]

Monday: Isaiah 1:10–18

Why did Gd reject some sacrifices? What did He want instead of them? What did He want to do for His people? How?

Tuesday: 2 Thessalonians 1:1–12

What was growing and increasing in the Thessalonian Christians? So why were they suffering? How could they glorify God?

Wednesday: Luke 19:1-10

Why was Zacchaeus so generous? What changed in him? Who changed it? Is the same true for you? Why or why not?

Thursday: Revelation 7:9–17

Who is this great multitude? Where have they come from? What does that mean? What was their lot in this life? What will happen to them in the next?

Friday: 1 John 3:1-3

How has God shown His love to us? How does He not? Why not? When will we see that love? 

Saturday: Matthew 5:1–12

How does Jesus help us understand true blessedness? Why might we be confused about that? Who wants us to be confused? Why?

The Catechism - Confession: What sins should we confess? Before God we should plead guilty of all sins, even those we are not aware of, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer; but before the pastor we should confess only those sins which we know and feel in our hearts.

Collect for the Week: Almighty and everlasting God, You knit together Your faithful people of all times and places into one holy communion, the mystical body of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Grant us so to follow Your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that, together with them, we may come to the unspeakable joys You have prepared for those who love You; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

The Prayers:  Please pray for . . .

+ yourself and for all in need (remembering especially those on our prayer list).

+ God’s blessing, wisdom, and guidance for our congregation’s Church Technology Council.

+ the Lutheran Church of Uruguay, for God’s wisdom, blessing, guidance, and provision.

+ God’s blessing, guidance, and provision for the Lutheran Heritage Foundation.

Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer and Luther’s Morning or Evening Prayer from the Catechism.

Now joyfully go about your day (or to bed) in good cheer, child of God!

Collect for the Week © 2018 Concordia Publishing House.

Lutheran Service Book Hymn License: 110019268

Sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

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Jesu Juva

“The God Who Wrestles For You”

Text: Genesis 32:22-30; Luke 18:1-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Trust but verify. Some of you will remember when President Ronald Reagan used that phrase when negotiating with the Russians during the cold war. He was clever, because it is actually a Russian proverb that he turned around and used against the Russians themselves! Doveryay no proveryay. I’m sure I’m not pronouncing that very well, but the meaning of the proverb is clear: trust only goes so far. We trust BUT . . . still make preparations, hedge our bets, make sure we have a back-up plan. In case we are betrayed. In case our trust turned out to be foolish.

Well, doveryay no proveryay seems to be what Jacob is doing with God. I trust you God, BUT . . .

You see, Jacob was about to meet his estranged brother Esau for the first time in twenty years. His brother who first he took advantage of to get his birthright, then tricked their father to steal his blessing, and who on that day said he was going to kill that lying, stealing, conniving, no good brother of his. So Jacob fled. Lived with his uncle for the past 20 years. But now the Lord said it was time to go home. The Lord promised to be with Jacob. Even as the Lord had been with Jacob the past 20 years in his exile and had prospered him greatly. The Lord had given him great and precious promises. And even right before this that we heard about today, Jacob had seen the angels of God with him and confessed, This is God’s camp (32:1)! 

But still . . . doveryay no proveryay. Jacob can’t quite trust the Lord. He hedges his bets. He sends gifts to Esau to soften him up. First a servant with 200 female goats and 20 male goats. Then after him another servant with 200 ewes and 20 rams. Then 30 milking camels and their calves, then 40 cows and 10 bulls, and then 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys. One after the other after the other, to win Esau’s heart . . . or at least, a little mercy. Then, as we heard today, he sends his family away for their protection, and he is alone. Not knowing what tomorrow will bring. But knowing he’s done all he could. Doveryay no proveryay. It’s the way of the world.

But it’s not the way of God.

So God comes to Jacob that night, as we heard today, in this strange overnight wrestling match. He didn’t have to. God could have just appeared to Jacob, told him to shape up and trust! But Jacob already knew that, just as we know that. This wrestling match was emblematic of what Jacob had been doing all along: wrestling with God. Doveryay no proveryay. Because that’s what sin has done to us. It has made us no longer trust God. Oh, we do . . . but we don’t. We do with this . . . but not that. At these times . . . but not all the time. Sin has made us no longer trust God as we should, and no longer trusting God as we should is why we sin! We take matters into our own hands. To get the outcome we want.

But what has this gotten Jacob? Well, like that night, he’s kind of in a stalemate with God. God has been wrestling for him but all his life he has been wrestling against God. So no more. God injures him. So he will have to just doveryay, trust. Trust in the God who - whether he knows or understands it or not - has been wrestling for him and blessing him all along. A fight that began when Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden, and that will not end until we are safely through the gates to everlasting life.

Now, I don’t really have to tell you about this - you know it. The battle against evil in our world. The battle that rages on inside you! That trusts God, BUT . . . but wonders, doubts. Can I be sure? Will He still? Have I been too sinful? Have I used up all my chances? ‘Cause things don’t look so good right now! I’m afraid of what tomorrow will bring, of my Esau on the other side of the river. Doveryay . . . no proveryay! I trust . . . but I have to verify! I have to do this. I have to protect myself. I have to hedge my bets. I have to prepare. I have to . . . what? What do you have to do that God cannot do for you? Why are you relying on yourself, your own reason or strength? Why are you trying to be your own wrestler? Why are you wrestling with God?

So Jacob is forced to trust God, and, turns out, God had it handled! Esau didn’t want the gifts, didn’t want to kill his brother anymore. All Jacob got out of his proveryay-ing was a limp. 

And for you and me, too. Our lack of trust, our wrestling with God is only hurting ourselves. Making life harder for ourselves. 

For yes, we have a God we can doveryay, we can trust, who is wrestling for us, fighting for us. And not just Jacob’s story, but the whole Old Testament testifies to this. God’s care for Abraham, Isaac, and yes, Jacob. God leading His people out of their slavery in Egypt and giving them the promised land. God protecting them from the nations around them. And when the people got in trouble, when things went south, it was because they stopped doveryay-ing, trusting, and took matters into their own hands, doing what they thought best, worshipping false gods. And so sometimes God had to hurt them, so that they would have to turn to Him and trust Him again.

But all that was just the prelude to the real wrestling match to come, when the Son of God came and wrestled for us, fought for us. When He took our sins upon Himself and took them to the cross. When He shed His blood on our behalf. When the Lamb of God was far more than just injured for us, but died in our place. And when three days later, what looked like the greatest defeat of all time turned out to be the greatest victory of all time, with sin, death, satan, and hell all conquered in His resurrection. What we could never do, He did. A victory He now gives to us.

For, to move into the Holy Gospel we heard today, our God is no unrighteous judge, only in it for himself, and not wanting to be bothered. No! Jesus is only using that as an example . . . that if we’re like that widow, with people in our world like that unrighteous judge, why not also with a loving, merciful, gracious, giving heavenly Father, and His Son who not only wants to bless us, but laid down His life for us. Why not go to the righteous one who will always do the right thing?

We should. We know we should. We can doveryay, trust, and we don’t have to proveryay, verify, because Jesus has already done that for us in His resurrection. That’s all the proof we need that the victory is His. That the One who came to wrestle, to fight for us, has won. There on the cross is where we see God face-to-face and our life is delivered. There on the cross is our Peniel - the face of God. And there in the Font is the yad-el, the hand of God, who in those waters made us His own. And there on the altar is the lehem-el, the bread of God, who feeds us and strengthens us. And here is the Word of God and the forgiveness of God and the life of God . . . for here IS God, in the Church of God, for you. The God who wrestles for you, fights for you, and will not stop.

So you come, maybe injured, bruised and beaten up again by the world, and He is here to heal your soul. 

Maybe you come, like Paul warned Timothy, with itching ears, wanting God to approve of what you want and to say what would make your life easier. But you will not hear that here. Your God is here to speak the truth in love.

Maybe you come filled with guilt and shame for what you have done again this week, rolling around in the cesspool of your sins, and the One who died for those sins is here with His forgiveness for you.

And what else? Maybe you come filled with fear, or anger, or bitterness, or sadness, and your wrestling with these hasn’t made them go away or get any better. And here is the crucified One for you, to fight for you, to fight these things for you, and win. You’ll gain the victory no other way. 

I won’t let you go unless you bless me! Jacob said that today, and the widow we heard about did that. Jesus told that parable so we would, too - pray and not lose heart. But even greater than that is having a Saviour who is here for us and says to us, I won’t let you go unless I bless you! And He does. Blessing upon blessing here. Blessing that will never run out. 

And when you’re facing the greatest fear of all, when you don’t know what tomorrow will bring, when your Esau on the other side of the river is the enemy called death, and there’s nothing you can do to win that battle . . . like Jacob, you’ll find out that God had it handled. He took care of it for you. You’ll pass from life to life in your Saviour, who went through death to life for you.

But the story of Jacob teaches us that you can live in that life, that freedom, even now. On this side. Because in the midst of fear, of uncertainty, or whatever, your God who wrestles for you and fought for you is here for you, and your life has been delivered.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.