Many describe the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost as “Orthodoxy Sunday.” In this word we see “ortho,” which in the original Greek means “straight.” Hence, when one wants to straighten out teeth, one visits the orthodontist. From a religious standpoint, the word “orthodox” implies “following the straight truth of Scripture.” Therefore, we describe churches that faithfully hold to Scripture and teach and practice the truth of Scripture as “orthodox” church bodies.
The readings for this Sunday focus on warnings against false doctrine and practice or “heterodox” beliefs and practices. These readings encourage us to hold fast to pure doctrine and practice, as Jesus said His true disciples would do (John 8:31).
Last Sunday the word of God called us to receive God’s messengers as long as their message comes from the truth of God’s word. This Sunday our readings urge both preachers and hearers to see to it that the message is indeed from the word of God, that both preacher and hearer are faithful to the Scriptures (Acts 17:11).
With this Sunday, the emphasis in the readings for the day begins to shift. From Holy Trinity Sunday through the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, the emphasis has been on the greatness and the power of God’s grace in the gospel. Beginning with this Sunday, there is more of a focus on a person’s response to the word of God—while at the same time never neglecting the core gospel truth, which arouses the proper response.
This Sundays’ readings center our attention on the holy office of the ministry, as the divinely established means for the public proclamation of the gospel. God’s sends His messengers as blessings to His church, and as long as they faithfully proclaim His word, the hearers are to listen to them as if listening to God Himself (Luke 10:16). What great blessings God has in store for those who hear the word and by the power of the gospel receive both messenger and message as sent from God!
Truly, God’s ministry isn’t about the messenger; it’s about the message of the messenger. God expects all His messengers to faithfully proclaim His word. Through that word alone the Holy Spirit—when and where He wills—calls sinners to repentance and faith in the message of God’s grace in Jesus.
May God send us more faithful messengers, especially when so many continue to turn from the truth of God’s word. May God also bless us with faithful people who “hold to the teachings of Scripture” (John 8:31).
On Saturday, July 10th from 4-6 PM, we will be having a praise service and presentation about Bethany Lutheran College in lieu of our typically Sunday morning Bible Class and Service. The service will be in the Pavilion at Lakeside Park.
Bruce Gratz will be giving a presentation about all that Bethany Lutheran College has to offer. Activities and snacks will be provided for the kids. Enjoy a burger or ice cream at the Pavilion Grill afterwards. Invite family, friends, and neighbors. The service and presentation about Bethany are open to all.
God brings people to faith through His word or the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Human nature thinks otherwise, that it would make more “sense” to be able to debate people into faith through human logic or reason, or even have God convert people with some flashy miracle. But God in His pure grace uses His means of grace (the gospel in word and sacraments), and that’s why it’s eternally important to stay connected to the word which preserves saving faith.
Several weeks ago in the gospel reading, we heard our Savior state, “Amen I tell you: Everything will be forgiven people, their sins and whatever blasphemies they may speak. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark 3:28-29). But aren’t all sins forgiven in Jesus? Yes. But why then is this sin a seeming exception? That’s because the verb is an ongoing, present tense meaning, “…whoever keeps blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.” The reason this sin is “unforgiveable” is because the person refuses to listen to God’s word, the means by which the Holy Spirit works to call people to repentance, forgiveness and faith for eternal life.
We recognize that truth in God’s Third Commandment where He instructs us: “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.” God’s point remains that it’s spiritually necessary to keep in the word. As the writer to the Hebrews attests, “Let us not neglect meetingtogether [be in the word, church, etc.], as some are in the habit of doing. But let us encourage each other, and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).
The creation itself testifies to the fact that our God is awesomely powerful. When we combine His power with His justice, especially that He is a God who hates sin and we are sinners, it’s easy to conclude at times that God is punishing us or getting even with us for some sin.
It’s true that the writer to the Hebrews states, “My son, do not regard the Lord’s discipline lightly, and do not become weary of his correction. For the Lord disciplines the one whom he loves, and he corrects every son he accepts” (Hebrews 12:5-6). So, how do we reconcile God’s justice with His mercy? How are we able to say that the Lord in love “disciplines” us and trust that He “does not treat us as our sins deserve. He does not repay us according to our guilty deeds?” (Psalm 103:10) Jesus is the answer.
In fact, St. Paul in our epistle lesson today wraps up the fifth chapter with that most powerful and reassuring verse: “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). With that truth at the center of our lives, we know that any discipline God allows, or generally speaking any hardship that comes our way due to living in this sin-fallen world, God will “make all things work for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
Forty days after Easter, Jesus ascended into heaven. What this biblical truth means is that Jesus removed His visible presence from us. There are some who incorrectly believe that since Jesus is “physically” in heaven, He’s “trapped” there and cannot be “present” on earth. But Scripture clearly teaches that our Savior, who is both God and man in one person, can be physically present in more than one place at a time (Matthew 28:20). For example, Jesus gives us His very body and blood, His “real presence,” when Christians—even at differing locations—celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
In a somewhat similar fashion, Jesus also spoke of the “kingdom of God.” Often, people think of such a kingdom in an earthly, physical manner, such as an empire on earth. Even Jesus’ disciples at times misunderstood, thinking that His kingdom would be a visible kingdom on earth (Acts 1:6).
But Jesus reminds all that His kingdom is “not of this world” (John 18:36). Rather, the “kingdom of God” is a spiritual kingdom; it’s Jesus’ ruling activity in the hearts and lives of His believers. That’s an important truth to remember as we carry out our Savior’s Great Commission—where He emphasized to His disciples right before ascending into heaven— “Therefore go and gather disciples from all nations” (Matthew 28:19; Acts 1:8).
Our readings for Pentecost 4 stress faithfulness to using God’s word to grow His kingdom and to “walk by faith and not by sight,” especially when we may not always “see” the kingdom of God growing as we believe it should. What may be “invisible” to us, however, is clearly visible to God (1 Samuel 16:7).
Some say the fundamental unit of government is the family. There is truth in such a conclusion, since, how parents raise their children, will affect how children interact with others at home and in society.
When God made the first family, He made Adam and Eve His God-representatives for their children. Although God created the pair in the warmth of His own holy image, Satan soon led them away from God. This sin effect brought consequences to Adam and Eve’s relationship as well as in their God-raising of their children.
But we witness what our heavenly Father did to govern His fallen family. Our covenant LORD, the God of “free and faithful grace,” took grace action. He sought out Adam and Eve now marred by sin and fright. Before the LORD pronounced upon them the consequence of their sin (Genesis 3:19), He immediately held before them the Promise of His grace. Our Old Testament reading proclaims the LORD’s first promise of sending His Son, our Savior from sin (Genesis 3:15).
Throughout God’s Old Testament HIStory, the LORD kept reiterating this promise of the Savior until fulfilling that promise as recorded in His New Testament. How comforting to hear the tenderness of God’s gospel love when facing the sin consequence of this fallen world: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Our three readings for Pentecost 3 form a beautiful chain of thought tracing the promise, the fulfilment and the effect of God’s plan to send a Savior for the fallen, sinful human family.
We have now officially entered the Pentecost season. Pentecost Sunday emphasized how the Holy Spirit poured out specials gifts on His church to grow the church. We, although cracked, clay jars, use the powerful gifts of God’s word and sacraments to grow God’s church—the Spirit’s means to bring people into God’s kingdom of grace.
Today, we hear how Jesus came in grace as our “Sabbath LORD.” Remember, God instructed His Old Testament believers to “keep the Sabbath Day holy.” According to Israel’s Ceremonial Law that meant they could do no “work” on the seventh day to honor the God who “rested” after six days of creating. But the Sabbath Day foreshadowed the spiritual, eternal rest Christ would bring through His saving work—as the epistle to the Hebrews teaches as well as St. Paul in Colossians 2:16-17.
Truly, Jesus has set us free from having to save ourselves by keeping any law of God. In principle we “keep the Sabbath Day holy” every time we come to worship, confess our sins and receive with believing hearts Jesus’ forgiveness as proclaimed in the gospel.
In fact, any time we turn to Jesus’ gospel, whether at a worship service with fellow believers or in private study, we hear His promise: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).
Today the Christian church celebrates “Holy Trinity” Sunday. Certainly, the Bible’s teaching about our God challenges our human understanding. On the one hand, the Bible clearly teaches, “The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Yet, our One God consists of three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus expressed this truth about the Trinity in His Great Commission when He commanded His believers: “Therefore go and gather disciples from all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to keep all the instructions I have given you” (Matthew 28:19-20). Traditionally on this day, we confess our faith in the Holy Trinity using the words of the Athanasian Creed. The Christian Church confesses this creed to combat two errors in particular (still prevalent today): 1) the denial that God’s Son and the Holy Spirit are of One Being or Godhead with the Father; 2) the denial that Jesus Christ is true God and true man in one person. Although faithful Christians penned this timely confession generations ago, the truths confessed in this creed still remain necessary for upholding the foundational and necessary truth to our Christian faith. That’s why this creed concludes with these words: “This is the true Christian faith. Whoever does not faithfully and firmly believe this cannot be saved.”
Today the Christian church celebrates Pentecost. In the Old Testament book of Joel, God promised through His prophet: “I will pour out my Spirt on all people” (Joel 2:28). According to the Holy Spirit’s divinely inspired writer of the book of Acts (2:17ff), we know God fulfilled this promise on “Pentecost Day.” 50 days after Jesus’ rising from the dead, Peter declared how Jesus kept His promise to give a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit’s gifts to build the church at this time in its infancy. Jesus, too, had instructed His disciples, especially in light of His ascension, which occurred 40 days after Easter Sunday: “Do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for what the Father promised, which you heard from me”
Truly, God expects Christians to grow and go with the word. As we faithfully administer God’s means of grace—the gospel in word and sacraments—the Holy Spirit works to create and sustain faith, to build the church…to pass on the Christian faith to the next generation.
We witness these truths today in today’s Scripture lessons. In Acts we hear how the disciples called a replacement for the departed Judas Iscariot. In John’s first epistle, this writer of love speaks of how God’s love for us moves us to specifically show love to others—share God’s love centered on Jesus’ redeeming work. In the gospel, John records Jesus’ High Priestly prayer; the Savior asks His heavenly Father to bless His believers with unity, a unity shared by Jesus and His Father and one based on unity of purpose that leads to eternal life.
