Men You Can Trust

Philippians 2:19-30

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.

But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me.

It has been said no sermon is complete until lived out in the lives of God's people. By such a measure a twenty minute sermon is too short.

The perennial rag on pastors is the question of how long a sermon should last, but that depends on what you mean. There are those who would say a sermon should go on indefinitely. Living the Word is not twenty minute employment.

Hearing and responding are both the result of God the Holy Spirit moving us in faith toward action. It is only tedious because it is so important. The Bible says St. Paul once talked so long-all night in fact-that one young fellow dropped asleep on a window ledge, fell out of the third floor and died from the fall (Acts 20:9).

Mercifully, the Lord miraculously brought young Eutychus back to life, but you wonder how St. Paul would otherwise explain his interminably long talking. He didn't exactly choose the easiest time or duration for it.

Of course, it's not the length but the substance which matters. Paul preached Christ. "Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." (Eph. 3:8) (Also 2 Cor. 4:5 "We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.; 1 Cor. 1:23, "We preach Christ crucified." 2:2, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.")

Timothy and Epaphroditus were men who said "Amen" to the preaching of Paul with Christian lives of devotion, risk, stress, service and self-sacrifice. Their "amen" was to work for the Gospel (v. 22), care for the needs of others (v. 25), and help where others could not (v. 30).

St. Paul commended these men. Of Timothy, he said, "I have no one else like him," and "He takes a genuine interest in your welfare." Paul's intention was to use Timothy, to employ this young man because someone who listens well will also serve well. Those two things must inexorably go together.

Listening without responding is vacuous. Work without faith is barren.

St. James wrote in his epistle (1:22-25), "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-- he will be blessed in what he does."

Of Epaphroditus (I wonder if anybody nicknamed him "Epie"), the apostle said, "He almost died for the work of Christ." What a precious example. You can bet he didn't limit his time with Jesus to 20 minutes.

Paul commended these men, Timothy and Epaphroditus.

By "commend" I don't mean mere compliments or flattery. Paul sent these fellows to the churches as men who could be trusted. They would take a job when asked. Their greatest interest was in the concerns of Christ, not their own pursuits and pastimes.

They were men of Christ because our Lord is involved and full of life. He works.

Jesus once said, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." (John 5:17) Up at the crack of dawn, even after a previously exhausting day, Jesus would work at his prayers. Then he would hustle along. "Let us go somewhere else-to the nearby villages-so I can preach there also. (Mark 1:38) Jesus preached the kingdom of God. He preached, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Mt. 4:17). He preached, "--good news to the poor - freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind- and the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18)

Jesus also lived what he preached. I don't know how many minutes the "Sermon on the Mount" lasted but Christ's behavior, His life and service was the living sermon just as your work and charity are a confession of Him.

You can trust someone whose creeds and deeds harmonize when the core of both is Christ.

That's why Paul urged the church to welcome, respect, and trust guys like Timothy and Epaphroditus. It was the Word and Spirit of Christ which moved them. The church has always needed more men and women like them. That was true in Paul's time because he sadly observed, (v.21), "For everyone looks out for his own interests." Self-interest remains an affliction in our modern world.

So, how grateful we are for those servants in the church today who believe the Gospel has positive consequences and who live what they hear proclaimed.

These are the folks you trust with your life.

We have trusted Jesus with our lives because He has put them above His own. We have trusted Jesus with our lives, not because he "almost died" for us-but because He really did die for us.

So, let us indeed always trust Jesus not only with our ears and hearts but also with our hands and backs and shoulders to show that we really have heard the Good News preached to us. And so, through Christ, be a Timothy or an Epie to others.

Triple Glory

Psalm 96

Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns." The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.

On our honeymoon, Sue and I saw a sunset you cannot describe in words. We've never seen one like it since. Yes, it was our honeymoon, but that added nothing to the splendor we saw that day in June 1972 crossing western Nebraska after a huge thunder storm.

We were young and broke. Our car had been battered by ferocious wind, hail, lightning, and jet black skies for a stretch of miles west of Grand Island, but you could have given us a million bucks, a brand new car, and choirs of angels, I suppose, and it wouldn't have added one iota to the majesty of that sunset on the other side of the storm.

To the southwest it looked like a painting off the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo. To the northwest was a "western sky" of radiant, rioting colors you didn't even know existed; and straight ahead of us were, well, towering clouds of unspeakable majesty.

It was like three glorious sunsets in one. We couldn't wait even for an off ramp. Along with other cars here and there, we just pulled over to the side of Interstate-80, got out and gawked.

Looking back to the east a perfectly formed double rainbow of jaw dropping beauty crossed the horizon from tip to tip.

I took some Kodachrome slides with an old Pentax 35mm camera. They didn't touch it.

How much less our capacity to capture God.

How deficient is any description of His splendor and the majesty which exceeds the glory of the heavens. What superlatives can we use to speak of the greatness of the Lord!

The Psalmist sings of God's glory, splendor, majesty, and strength--that He is worthy of praise.

Not just from mankind.

"Let the heavens rejoice." "Let the earth be glad." "Let the sea resound, and all within it." "Let the fields be jubilant." "All the trees of the forest sing for joy." I might add for sunsets and rainbows, let their symphony also declare the greatness of the Lord.

They sure do!

But you and I have a unique privilege beyond the language of roaring seas, jubilant fields, and blazing sunsets. It is ours to "proclaim his salvation day after day." (v. 2).

It might be another 39 years before Sue and I see another sunset like we did in '72. Maybe we'll never see the likes of it this side of heaven. But along with you, God's people of Grace we sing of the salvation of the Lord every single day.

Trees of the forest sing for joy, but no tree (except the tree of the cross) expresses the Gospel the way a Christian can as he confesses the Word of God every day.

We tell of God's salvation in ways that no phenomena in nature can do—no matter how spectacular.

We speak of Christ. We repeat daily the glorious news of sins forgiven. Every morning we rise to life again through Baptism and every evening are granted the Lord's peace and benediction.

The mercies of Christ are spectacular in their equity and truth.

Psalm 96 calls us to worship which is nothing less than to receive the marvelous gifts of the Lord.

The worship of God's people before the Lord is held in the presence of His holiness, His goodness, His charity, and the dignity of His Name. The grandeur is in nothing we bring. No one can improve the perfection of Christ in Word and Sacrament. The Son of Righteousness doesn't need a touch up or some fresh design.

The Divine Service does not need to be reinvented for the 21st century or aired out like an old blanket.

Shame on me if ever I think there isn't enough excitement or appeal in God's means of grace, forgetting from 1 Corinthians 1:27-31 that God uses the lowly and "foolish" things (like ordinary water, bread, and wine) so that no flesh should glory in his presence. Shame also on me if I ever think my own sophistication or elegance—or ritual for its own sake—is enough to paint God.

No. He does all for us through Word and Sacrament of His own accord.

Great is the Lord. Period.

The gods of the nations are idols. This includes all enhancements, add-ons, improvements or supplements man may try to "spice up" the church.

Instead, let's just pull over to the side of the road, get out of the old clunker in which we've been batted around through the week, stand in the fresh air of the Gospel, glory in the Name of Christ, and revel in how magnificently good our God is to us through His Son.

There isn't a solitary thing we can add to the wonder of His salvation.

The storm is past. His promises, like rainbows, stretch from horizon to horizon and there is nothing but beauty ahead.

Aren't we blessed!

Victimae Paschali

All I Need to Know

Ezekiel 38:45b

And the name of the city from that time on shall be, THE LORD IS THERE.

Ezekiel often seems a bewildering prophesy. A book unlikely to be your first choice when turning to Holy Scripture, the language is mysterious and often hard to make out.

It is a perplexing testament of parables and visions which speak to the sadness of Israel's apostasy and the guilt which brought God's people to exile and captivity in Babylon.

The prophet hammers the nations for being enemies of God's people, but Israel herself is even more blameworthy for having pastors and leaders and people who have deserted the Lord.

Ezekiel's language is not easy to read. Much is unfathomable and harsh.

But when the prophet begins to describe in the later chapters the new temple with its precision, beauty, majesty and peace, it leaves Bible students even more mystified.

Here were people whose downfall was profound. They had no right to expect anything but the utter destruction of their land, homes, cities, and lives. Immersed in a foul culture of idols and rebellion against God, they defiled everything good and godly.

How could any comforting word belong in this scene?

And yet, into the chaos of sin and indignity, comes a Word of such exquisite care and surprise that it exceeds comprehension.

Good news is proclaimed. Jerusalem will be restored to unsurpassed glory. Dry bone will come to life again. The priesthood will be pure and sacrifices perfect. The new temple is exquisite.

And all this is delivered in impenetrable language which leaves even the most brilliant scholar or astute intellect in awe.

But skip to the very end of this colossal prophecy and all we need to know is revealed.

What even a child can grasp is stated in the simplest reassurance.

"And the name of the city from that time on will be: THE LORD IS THERE."

This explains the marvel of redemption. This explains the restoration of a land and people utterly stripped and scattered. This explains the emancipation from sin, the resurrection of the dead, and the promise of peace. This is what resolves the enigma of how a destitute people who pollute their land and poison their own souls can live again.

THE LORD IS THERE.

When you and I cannot explain or justify how we continue to sin, the herald of Good News announces THE LORD IS THERE as your Savior. When you and I grieve over the finality and fearsomeness of death, the messenger of the Gospel declares THE LORD IS THERE.

When you and I feel loss and sorrow and shame, the bearer of the Sacrament points to the simple elements of bread and wine and affirms THE LORD IS THERE.

When you and I, in the midst of things we cannot understand, yearn for a Rescuer, a preacher of the cross points to Jesus and says THE LORD IS THERE.

When you or I stare into an inscrutable future and wonder, "What shall become of me," the Holy Scriptures reveals this unshakable truth: THE LORD IS THERE.

It has often been observed that the older we get the more we realize how little we know. The wisest man confesses he is but a child.

There is a story about a world-renowned theologian who, in a setting among fellow scholars, was asked what he considered the most profound theological statement of his time and he said, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

So, when you puzzle over your future, grieve over your sins, weep over losses, or tremble at how little you know, take comfort.

THE LORD IS THERE.

The Thrill of Victory

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Do you know how hard it is to score 10 in an Olympic gymnastics event or break a long jump world record in track and field?

?

No you don't.

Nadia Comaneci was the first person to ever earn a "perfect 10" during the 1976 Montreal Olympics, but a new scoring system makes no more "perfect 10s" possible.

In 1935, Jesse Owens set a long jump world record that stood for 25 years. Bob Beamon in the "perfect jump" in Mexico City exceeded the world record by almost two feet launching books written about this super-human feat. But in 1991, Mike Powell outlasted Carl Lewis, also setting a new world record which has now stood another 20 years.

We have no idea how hard that is.

Self-discipline is the most difficult undertaking. And reaching perfection? Impossible.

Listen, I even have to discipline myself to do nothing!

For me even getting to sleep is a chore. If you are getting older and feel lucky to get just four or five hours sleep, you have to discipline yourself just to get rest. Handling worries, responsibilities, and obligations are like the miniscule fine-tunings for which gymnasts or sprinters adjusts just to eek out one extra centimeter or add one one hundredths of a point.

It takes work.

St. Paul used the imagery of athletic games to speak about the discipline of faith.

What makes competition at world class levels like the Olympics so difficult is the focus one needs. All other considerations and distractions jeopardize reaching the goal.

Not only is intense focus necessary, the training is relentless. No one gets past the trials if training isn't 1000%.

In our Christian faith the prize of heaven and eternal life make a gold medal look like something from a Cracker Jack box. We have the aim of finishing our run here not perched on a box but standing at the very gates of paradise! Can any super-human focus, exercise, or effort accomplish that?

When world records are eventually broken, medals have tarnished and even famous athletes go around on brittle knees and in the long run are eventually carried to their final resting places, can the impossible occur that you and I qualify to enter heaven!

If even specimens of great human achievement, beautiful athletic bodies, and heralded champions fade, how can you and I expect a battle-scared, weary, obscure and undistinguished Christian to come through as victor?

?

Not through any super-human effort.

Rather, a very human one.

It was one very human man, one man made of the same flesh and blood as you and I, not a superman or a hero or some earthly title holder who won the day. It wasn't someone acclaimed by the press or showered with accolades as he stepped forward to bear the "agony of defeat." Indeed, it was a man conquered by the cross.

His body was bloodied. His limbs were overcome with exhaustion. He wasn't even praised at the finish. He was mocked.

But Jesus Christ never lost his focus on the goal--which was to win for you eternal life. He tirelessly schooled himself in God's Word, set his face and body toward an exertion no sinful man could withstand and reached His goal for you.

He was the only person who maintained the flawless focus, unblemished self-discipline, and spiritual wholesomeness which are the mark of true human achievement.

Do you know how hard that is?

?

No you don't.

But you do know Him! You know the man Jesus Christ who is God and Savior. He didn't come from Mt. Olympus. He comes to us from Mt. Calvary.

St. Paul knew Jesus. Trusting Him, as Christians ever since have done, we run this race of life, like Paul--- as those who receive the prize. Christ has not made us "also-rans." He has declared us recipients of all the honors he won for us. He has pronounced us heirs of glory and recipients of imperishable wreaths of beauty. He has qualified us for the heavenly prize of eternal life and made us the promise it will never tarnish. His record will never be broken.

In this consummate victory of our Lord we live and stretch and run ourselves--and win. Through Jesus' running and outlasting death itself to rise in triumph, you and I can run this race, not aimlessly or with fear of disqualification, but with wings on our feet, the thrill of the Gospel in our ears, and the shouts of saints and angels cheering us on.

Let's Get Personal

Matthew 11:16-20

"But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,

"'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.'

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look at Him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds." Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

"He's Out!"

Considering it a blown call, the manager tears out of the dugout. He rushes up to the first base umpire, goes within an inch of his face and lets loose with a barrage of complaint.

The man doesn't move. He doesn't even lean backward.

The manager throws his cap on the ground, kicks dirt on the bag. He waves his arms. He rallies the crowd.

It goes on for a minute or two.

You know for certain that if he touches the ump, he'll be thrown out of the game. And you wonder what he finally actually said that after two minutes of rant and rave caused the umpire to dramatically pitch his finger toward the showers and toss that manager for good.

You can bet it was something personal.

Referees and umpires are accustomed to objections to their calls. In a fast moving game someone will invariably disagree with one ruling or another

But you cannot invade a man's personal space.

Touch him with as much as one finger, say something that attacks his person rather than his decision, and out you go.

So, the advice to all ball players, to all men, all employees, all voters, all people-

Don't get personal! It's the quickest way to get yourself booted.

Is that the way it should also be in the church? Teach the rules. Play by the rules. Take the consequences like a grown-up.

But don't get personal?

Don't invade my personal space. Don't speak to me beyond generalities or get inside my personal life. Should it be that even God should come just so far, but have it unacceptable if He (or His people, like a pastor or elders, or other Christians) start to go beneath the surface and get personal?

Is it all fine and dandy to instruct the catechism, lay out beliefs and doctrines, recite the formalities but come no closer? A pastor can say all he wants, hold all sorts of views, but I have a personal space that must remain untouchable.

That's was the Obama presumption. His pastor said all sorts of whacky and outrageous things, but that doesn't mean the parishioners believed them or they applied to one's person. I hold my private views.

It's only as soon as he begins to get personal: that is, as soon as what he says begins to unsettle me myself, that is, have a critical effect on my private space, my personal life, my ambitions and aspirations, my personal ethics - then it’s “Adios”!

But have you thought about just how personal it got with Jesus?

Again and again he faced ad hominem attacks ("argument against the man").

They attacked His character rather than address the substance of His claims. They abused Him personally to discredit God's Word.

It got very, very personal.

They called Him a glutton and a drunkard. They insulted Him by calling Him "a friend of sinners!"

But here is where the true nature and temperament of our Lord is revealed.

Does He stand there unmoved, with His arms folded, cool and distant? Is He impassive and untouched? Is He a judge or umpire who can stand the heat just longer than most but is ready to throw that sucker out on his ear?

Or does Jesus take it all very personally?

Does He take our slights and injuries personally? Does He feel the hurt, agonize over us, and cry inside? When you and I object or complain to being unfairly treated— when someone chooses to snub worship for recreation— when His own people want to castigate a wrong-doer rather than forgive him— when someone turns their back on another rather than speak lovingly, does Christ take this personally?

Without question He does.

We cannot fathom the emotion and passion which coursed through our Lord as He struggled with the burden of our sins every day. All His life must have been like one uninterrupted mule-kicking.

Yet Jesus has always considered it personal with you. He absolutely takes your life personally by having bound himself and all He has to you in Holy Baptism. His thoughts are always-always-always with you.

"Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands." (Isaiah 49)

His personal investment took Jesus to the cross. His personal care is like the Good Samaritan, to kneel over us, bind our wounds, carry us to safety, provide for every need, and promise to pay every cost.

The only thing that can ruin a man is his own refusal, to reject the person of Christ, and hold jealously his own private space and the protection of his own privacy. Jesus denounced the cities where most of His mighty works had been done, not simply as an umpire's duty but because they did not repent. Their doors were closed; their hearts were closed. They effectively told Jesus, "This far but no more."

Christ took no satisfaction in censuring them because He had come to redeem them as He has done for us.

Only when someone refuses to repent must God call them as He sees them.

But it will always be personal with our Lord.

To this very day He gives His very person to you, His personal word of forgiveness, His personal assurance to be with you always. Even His private heart He opens to you in grace.

We have a personal Savior. This is something only Christians know personally. How truly wonderful He is.

We've Crossed the Rubicon

Romans 6:1-11

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The baptism of a Christian brings life where there was only death before. Baptism is resurrection. Baptism is Easter. Baptism is our entrance into the very kingdom of heaven.

There are many wonderful days in our lives. But there is no greater day than the day of our Baptism, and it will never be excelled. Our very best days, even if they could all be combined into one could not together touch the excellence of our baptism day which surpasses what nothing else can begin to touch.

Holy Baptism unites us with Christ in His death and resurrection. To be baptized with water in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is to be unshackled from the slavery to sin and witness the drowning of our own death.

God through His Son makes people His new, mint-condition creation. In baptism God breathes His Spirit into us. He washes our soiled nature clean and creates life in us as miraculous as the handiwork of Eden where God formed Adam into a living being.

Because of water baptism, consider yourself permanently delivered from the clawing reach of the evil one. Sin's quick sand has no hold on you. You are free to live without fretting or phobia. Baptismal water irrigates lives made new in Christ so that we flourish.

The flood tide of baptism has carried away the flotsam wreckage of our sin. The ocean of baptism has drowned Pharaoh's army. The breakers of baptism have carried us to the promised land.

St. Paul makes the point that baptism is a point of no return. It is unthinkable that being delivered from sin and death a Christian should contemplate returning to it. By no means! Paul says.

How absurd for a prisoner set free from his cell and pardoned from the scaffold's hangman would wish to return to it. Do you not know what your Savior has done for you?

Christ died- and He took YOU with Him.

He rose from death, and YOU were given his victory in baptism.

Death which has no dominion over Him cannot therefore conquer you. In baptism you have passed from death to life, from slavery to freedom, from doubt to certainty, from loss to gain, from bereavement to joy, from hell to heaven, and from sin to righteousness. All this was given you in a baptism that can never be taken away because your baptism is into Christ.

For you, Jesus Christ "crossed the Rubicon," the baptism of his suffering and death (Mark 10:38) There was no turning back. Crossing the Rubicon is an expression that comes from the history of ancient Rome. Julius Caesar committed an irrevocable act, led his army across the Rubicon River, and became guilty of breaking the law. It was his point of no return.

Caesar was a mortal man whose greatness and worldly victories could not defeat sin or death even with an army at his back.

The conquest of sin and death required a different man, a perfect man, the man who is God who would pass a point of no return carrying a cross, a man righteous in Himself, who would be charged with guilt for doing so- a man without an army, without worldly greatness, and without cover. This man was Jesus. He assumed our flesh, took the responsibility for our fallen sin, and invaded the territory of our corruption. He crossed his Rubicon from life to death, from righteousness to iniquity, from freedom to slavery, from decency to degradation, from blessedness to anguish. And never looked back.

In infancy Jesus was taken to Egypt, to the land of plagues and slavery, of bondage and death. In his maturity he went to Golgatha and the tree of the cross, the place of disgrace and death.

But it could not hold him. Not Egypt. Not Herod. Not perils or betrayals. Not Pilate. Not Calvary. Not even the tomb.

And now in the resurrection of His body there is again no turning back.

The death he died he died to sin, once for all. It's done! Neither He nor we will ever die again.

The valley of the shadow of death has been traversed, and in Him we have come to the green pastures and still waters where goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives. There is no going back. We walk in the newness of life.

In baptism we have crossed the Rubicon, crossed the Red Sea and traversed the Jordan. Death has forever lost its dominion. We have been given pure and unending life. We who have died to sin can no longer live in it. We are the baptized; the people of the resurrection, dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The day of our baptism is the greatest because it is the new day that will never end.

To Bring To Your Remembrance

John 14:25-27

"These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

1 Cor. 11:23-26

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

The Hazen Brigade Monument on the battlefield of Stones River, at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is the oldest Civil War monument in the nation.

Resting close to the Manson Pike, a two-lane road that passes through the battlefield, the commemorative stone was the very first formal expression of Civil War memorial, erected even before the war ended.

The Battle of Stones River was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863. It was one of the most costly engagements of the war in human lives.

Today, this earliest memorial is threatened by "urban sprawl."

Murfreesboro has grown and prospered. There are plans to construct a highway interchange on the core battlefield and private developers want to carve up valuable properties.

The memorial is old stuff to some today, not worth preserving.

But unforgettable to soldiers who felt a need for a monument to honor the thousands of brave soldiers who died, was the sacrifice they gave. Black troops of the 111th USCT (United States Colored Troops) did the hard, horrible work of removing the dead.

What resulted was a space that bound whites and blacks, Unionists with African American veterans together.

In fact, once Memorial Day was established, rail trains from Nashville would bring festive crowds to the new national cemetery. Even then there was friction over the value of the memorial. Many blacks objected to the lack of restraint by those who came for the fun rather than to pay respects.

A controversy already existed because Confederates were banned from the burial ground. But over the years that softened as the Stones River Battlefield Park was the first to include both Union and Confederate veterans as members erasing borderlines of North and South.

How easy to forget.

How simple to make a memorial simply an historical asterisk with no solemnity or remembrance of the costs paid for our liberties.

How short-sighted the aims of those who would devour and divide real estate without remembering the blood shed on it.

The church of Christ also has its memorial.

Although it is far more than a simple remembrance or ordinary marker, Jesus left us an everlasting Memorial. It is his own shed blood and crucified risen body by which He has delivered to us the Christian's liberty and life.

It is often overrun by the sprawl of worldly interests and priorities. Too infrequently it can be visited. The Sacrament of the Altar is squeezed and marginalized by other things which take precedence. It's old stuff to those who would soon forget the cost in blood our Savior paid.

Jesus knows we need something tangible, something real, something accessible to anchor us to Calvary where death and life collided on that fatal battlefield. We need a memorial that interprets for us the passion and victory of Christ and brings to us the benefits He fought and died to earn for us.

It's not enough just to drive by.

The house of God doesn't conduct drive-through ministry.

The church celebrates the living memorial of Jesus' body and blood continually, because it is through Christ alone that people of all races are truly bound together with each other and with Him. It is in the Body of Christ where divisions cease, conflicts are buried, and borderlines disappear.

Just as protection of America's natural and historic heritage requires eternal vigilance on the part of U.S. citizens to resist the sprawl that would swallow up remembrance of blessings given, we too, in repentance and faith, must remain attentive to the Lord's means of grace which place Jesus first.

He Himself invites us to receive often this memorial—this reality of Himself.

In a reckless age of thoughtlessness, God remembers. He continues to raise the Memorial of His Son to our lips that we may remember too. It is never old stuff.

Unforgettable to us who are saved by Him are His sacred Words indelibly inscribed in this memorial and in our memory, "Take eat, take drink, this is my body and blood for you for the forgiveness of your sins."

I Only Want You to Know Christ

Ephesians 3:14-19

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith-that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

This text is all one sentence. It is as if, in one breath, Paul bears his heart.

Here is a pastor every true pastor ought to emulate. His first reverence is for God. "I bow my knees before the Father," Paul writes. He doesn't bow to anything or anyone other than to our gracious God and Father. His heart and confidence rests on the One from whom every believer, including himself, derives the name Christian.

He doesn't bob around, first to what's popular and then be bent by what's nerve-racking, never sure where to put his feet down or his knees down. He doesn't carom back and forth in ever shifting loyalties, first to this method, then to that style. He doesn't hop around from one belief to another without an inkling of what confession to adopt today or which new thing might catch his fancy tomorrow. Instead, he depends only on the Father for the Father's gifts.

He looks only to the glorious riches grounded in Christ and trusts only the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word to implant faith in the hearts of people and build up the ranks of the saints.

He considers only one thing essential for the church he loves, that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. He doesn't consider it essential that folks be comfortable. He doesn't regard it important that they be amused, successful, popular, or prosperous. He only wants them to receive Christ. That's why he prays. That's why he preaches the Gospel. That's why he distributes the fullness of God in the sacraments. That's why he confesses his own sins and counts how unworthy, like himself, is anyone to represent Christ.

He only wants these people to know the breadth, length, height and depth of the love of Christ. To have people comprehend, not with masterful knowledge but with faith in the Word, the love of Christ-- this is the cardinal hope and yearning of the apostle.

He wants these people to be filled with the fullness of God because he knows this was God's intent in sending us His Son and the continuing reason God delivers Christ to us in Word and Sacrament.

I have a long way to go to become such a pastor, and I know many of my colleagues in ministry feel the same. That is why we never want you to focus on us. We never want you to be persuaded by force of personality or the range of someone's talents. That's why we hope you will not ask us to be more effective or more believable. Pray simply that we will be faithful. The best pastors come with nothing but the mercies of Christ. The best pastors are invisible within the office of Word and Sacrament.

For it is Christ alone in whom you are rooted and grounded. The "riches" we receive come not from the flair or genius of men but hidden in water, bread, wine, and words from ordinary men. The riches are gifts centered in Christ and flow from Him. They are forgiveness, righteousness, providence, and paradise. They are Baptism and the Eucharist. They are the words which speak the life and peace of Christ into the ears and hearts of sinners reborn from the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit.

These are the jewels of our faith.

Not even someone like St. Paul belongs on a pedestal. And certainly, most certainly not I. I pray only that we gather at the foot of the cross, hear only the Word of Christ, and celebrate nothing else but the infinite breadth, length, height, and depth of God's goodness who gave His Son into death that we may live.

One Claim, One Cross

Galatians 6:14

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Since when has our human flesh - that is, our corrupt nature, imperfect judgment and our self-centeredness ever guided us well? How many score of times each day do we veer off the right way? The estimation we have of ourselves is skewed. Nobody on earth thinks as well of me as I do of myself. Nobody regards me as so important because they have their own advantages and benefits to consider.

I don't say a majority of people are crass braggarts. We are only more sophisticated in our boasting. Unconcealed showing off begins to pale with maturity, but not because we don't think we have neat things about ourselves worth mentioning. It's because blowing your own horn usually receives disapproval from those who find it objectionable to have themselves upstaged. We just get better at our self-pride (or worse as the case many be). Look in a mirror once and simply say, "You are so full of yourself!"

We are incredibly narcissistic. It is not just the cocky end-zone hot-dogger or the gyrating celebrity bimbo who thinks she's such hot stuff. It's not just the neighborhood wind-bag or the mother of whose children you are always hearing are so textbook perfect. No, its all who scorn them and consider their own conduct superior or admirable. Prim little old ladies can be exceedingly judgmental and vain. Well-dressed, well-educated, well-mannered and well-healed professionals can be remarkably arrogant.

No class, age, or situation can inoculate us against the sin of our own big head and big talk, even if we keep our opinion private. "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" [Romans 7:24]

Only one object is deserving of true honor. And it is alien to us.

The cross.

The cross displaces every conceit of our human flesh because flesh is crucified upon it. Whose flesh? Our human flesh in the man Jesus. The cross was ours. We built it. We earned it. We ought to have had our own smug, supercilious booties nailed there. Since when did we make the cross someone else's symbol? Distant from us upon a steeple or ambiguous in a politician's political ad?

The cross was taken from me. The cross was carried by another. The cross had impaled upon it my Substitute, my Savior. All that I deserved fell upon Him.

The cross is now the object of our one legitimate boast - not because we did anything there or can take personal pride in a decision to venerate the sacrifice offered on it - but because once and for all every part of those airs and gall and pretense I manufacture, and which is opposed to God, has been crucified. Because of what Jesus did and suffered all association between the world of conceit and selfishness and who I am as a child of God has ended. Self-pride is dead. Self-justification is defunct and useless.

The Christian may now see himself or herself in the flesh of Christ - and know that God honors us, not for anything by us or from us, but through the cross of his beloved Son. In the morning, when you get up, make the sign of the cross and say, "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Don't just put a cross on a door plaque or on the wall or suspended under your rear view mirror. Proclaim it as the singular pride of your life in contrast to which everything else means nothing.