St. Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

The theme that’s printed on the cover of our bulletin on this Fourth Sunday of Advent is, Our Lord Comes to Save. 

This had been foretold in prophecies like the one in our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah, Chapter 40 (1-8): “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.” This means that sinners have received from Him a double portion of His blessing, though they deserved the opposite. That is a declaration of God’s mercy. It is a prophecy of a coming Savior, really (because no comfort, no tenderness from God toward people would be possible otherwise). It wouldn’t be possible for sinners to be comforted before God if a Savior weren’t coming. Iniquity can’t just be pardoned without a Savior. A perfect God can’t accept imperfection. The imperfection must be removed so that He is receiving to Himself perfection like He created. It can only be removed with a Savior.

And a Savior can’t be just anybody. Our epistle lesson from the book of Hebrews is included in our program for this morning because it discusses this person who is qualified to save sinners. This Savior is qualified as that because He is God’s Son, for one thing, and the one through Whom God created the world (we say these things in the Creed, don’t we, about the only-begotten Son of God…very God of very God…by Whom all things were made). 

And, in fact, the writer says of Him that He isn’t only God’s Son, but that He is God Himself. Calling Him the radiance of the glory of God, the writer means that to see Him in His fullness is the same as it is to see God in His fullness (because He is God). The writer says the same sort of thing in another way: that this person is the exact imprint of [God’s] nature. In fact, Jesus said one time, Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9). And He didn’t mean by that that He is the Father; they’re two different persons. But He definitely meant that He is God.

So, in our text for today, it’s important business when the angel who appears to Joseph to explain Mary’s surprise pregnancy by the Holy Spirit says, you shall call his name Jesus, and, they shall call His Name Immanuel. 

Joseph is to call the child Jesus, [because] He will save His people from their sins (the angel says). Comfort, comfort My people. They need comfort because guilt brings us the opposite. We even can get to a point at which we doubt God’s love for us when we have become caught up in sinfulness. We get to where we can’t even believe that it would be possible. The fact that God would have to instruct someone to comfort His people demonstrates that they don’t know where they stand with Him anymore. They don’t know if they have in Him friend or a foe. The people Isaiah was originally writing to with those words had gone so far astray from God and had experienced so much of His resulting anger, that they really were in a vulnerable state. They needed this encouragement from Him. 

The devil can even come to a person in that situation and make things worse. You might have experienced this sort of feeling. He accuses, saying, “Who do you think you are, expecting God to be merciful to you when you have so willfully opposed Him like this? You really have some nerve, don’t you, thinking you still have access to Him? You think He still thinks of you as His dear child? You think He can just get past this? You knew what you were doing; and you still did it. Comfort, comfort My people, God says.

He will save His people from their sins. Joseph in our text, was one of His people, who was anticipating the coming of the Savior (though it’s very evident that he had no idea he would play a role, like this, in its story). He was an ordinary man who had found what he knew to be an ordinary young woman to be his wife. They were betrothed; so, as good as married (a divorce would be necessary if they wished to end it). Clearly, he had great affection for her considering that even apparent infidelity didn’t quell his desire to protect her like a husband. She hadn’t done anything wrong; but as far Joseph and the rest of the world would be concerned she had. What other explanation could there be?

In the Catechism, in the discussion of the Eighth Commandment: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, it says that, in that commandment God requires that we excuse [our neighbor] as far as the truth will permit. In other words, we don’t pretend like something that’s happened hasn’t happened. It’s important that we not speak ill of our neighbor; but we don’t make up stuff that isn’t true in order to falsely preserve our neighbor’s reputation. 

Of course, what happens in our text represents a real pickle. God knows that this solitary exception to this particular law of nature has occurred. He has done it. The Holy Spirit has brought about conception in Mary’s womb. But it’s completely beyond reason. It would have been unreasonable for Joseph or anyone else to try to explain a pregnancy by some other means than what we know. Still, we might imagine him wishing something (anything) else could explain it.

Joseph’s conclusion was that he would shield her from the worst of what could come to her as a result of this. He would act lovingly toward her. He would avoid publicly charging her with something that would ruin her - certainly, and maybe even end her life. 

It’s interesting that his evident love for her reflected the child she carried. What that child represents is God rescuing those who have done wrong, so that they are protected and preserved. It’s representative of Him loving those who have made themselves unlovable (I know that Mary didn’t do anything wrong; the illustration limps, as one seminary professor used to say. We leave the comparison at Joseph mercifully putting away her apparent sin as much as it was possible for him to do so). 

We said it’s important business that the angel directed Joseph to name the child Jesus because He would save His people from their sins. Also it was important that the angel said this child would be called Immanuel, which means God with us. We talked earlier about guilty sinners not knowing whether they have in God, friend or foe. Immanuel says friend, doesn’t it? Immanuel - God with us says God is not someone we must be afraid of, Who holds our sins against us, and Who desires our condemnation. Immanuel says God loves the unlovable. It says He puts away our sin by sending to us the One Who bears it in our place. It says He protects and preserves us like the ultimate husband whose love for His betrothed endures even her guilt and shame. 

The child conceived in Mary by a miracle of the Holy Spirit is God with you as well. He is your Lord Who has come to save. Not just anyone could be your Savior; but this one can, because He is uniquely qualified as the perfect God. He doesn’t have any guilt of His own, and can bear yours and mine so that it is put away and no longer condemns us. In Him, your iniquity is pardoned because He has made you perfect, so as to be accepted by God, received by Him like what He created.

Let us pray: Lord God, heavenly Father, the prophet foretold this child that would be called Immanuel, God with us. He is Jesus, your eternal Son through Whom all things are made. He saves us from our sins. Draw us to Him in this season, that we might cling to this One Who makes us perfect in His atoning blood. From every foe deliver them that trust Thy mighty power to save, and give them vict’ry o’er the grave. Amen.

Other Lessons for this Week:

Isaiah 40:1–8

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.

“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.”

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.

Hebrews 1:1–12 

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.” But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the begin-ning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”

The Holy Gospel - St. Matthew 21:1-9

Now when [Jesus and his disciples] drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” 

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

We begin a new Church Year today, on this First Sunday in Advent. It’s a whole new year in which your king comes to you. It's a new beginning, a new opportunity for you to consider what all of this is. You come into this place with its uniqueness. It looks different from the other places you go. It sounds different; not changing with the times so much as preserving a timelessness that connects it to people like you who did this throughout the history of this world. 

“Who did this,” we say. Well, some of them are in our text, aren’t they? 

They have come to receive the Lord Who has come to them. 

They have come praising His Name. 

They have made a clear path for Him. 

They have come recognizing that He brings God’s grace to them. 

They are in need of what He brings. 

They shout the things that people shout who recognize their guilt before God, and who believe His promise to send one Who will rescue them from the punishment their guilt deserves. That’s what “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” - is. 

It speaks of the promise [God] made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah of a righteous Branch to spring up for David. Our Old Testament lesson talks about this. God would be sending the one called: ‘The LORD our Righteousness.’ Our righteousness - in other words, the one who removes our sin from us, and presents us before God as those who are sinless and fit for His eternal kingdom. The prophet Zechariah had talked about this one as well (9:9), describing Him as righteous and having salvation…humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey (just as we see Jesus in our text). He is the one Zechariah was talking about; He is the righteous one, the one having salvation, the one, humble.

That He comes humble is important. What if we needed to wonder about God’s intentions toward us? What if we had to say to ourselves, “I don’t know how God feels about me. I don’t know how He intends to treat me.” How could we sleep at night, knowing ourselves, and knowing what Moses writes about God’s knowledge in Psalm 90: 

For we are brought to an end by your anger;
    by your wrath we are dismayed.

8  You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.

What if God’s Anointed One were coming to us in God’s anger, in wrath, with it in mind to bring us to account for our sins? Wouldn’t this be a dour gathering to be a part of on Sunday mornings, then? How could there be any joy on our faces as we greet one another, or in our voices as we sing in this sanctuary, or in our prayers? It would be sheer terror. Every one of us has the secret sins that Moses mentions in that Psalm. 

One of the sins is our tendency not always to be so eager to meet the Lord like those did on Palm Sunday. We aren’t eager to pray to Him, for instance, when we have been entangled in some sin (Isn’t it true?), whether it’s thinking or speaking ill of some other person, or being ungrateful for whatever situation we find ourselves in, or some other thing. We haven’t always wanted to encounter the Lord when we have been interested in doing contrary to His will. We are deserving only of God’s anger, of His just punishment.

But Jesus is the King that comes to you, humble. In fact He humbles Himself to purchase and win you from all sin, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood, and with His innocent suffering and death - as Luther writes. He’s the One Who, though rich, becomes poor so that you through His poverty might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). He comes to you, humble, in mercy, in love. He comes with forgiveness for you.

And when we think about the beginning of a new Church Year, it occurs to us also, through what means He comes. We aren’t among the crowd that gathered on the road in Jerusalem in the days of our text. We aren’t lining the street with palm branches so that our Lord’s path might be smooth and proper. We aren’t hearing the clip-clopping of the donkey’s hooves on the pavement as it carries our Lord. But we receive the same Lord for the same reason. And we receive Him in a place like this. He comes to you through Word, and through Baptism, and through Supper. Those are the Means through which He has determined to enable you to receive Him. He comes humble. He comes in mercy, drawing you to Himself through faith, and offering you full and free forgiveness for every sin. You need not ever wonder about God’s intentions toward you; He makes them plain in this text. He is the King Who comes to you, humble.

You are among the believers in God’s promise of salvation. You belong to a group of people that spans every generation in the history of this world. You come here to receive this Lord, praising His Name. Your heart is a clear path for Him, made so by the power of the Holy Spirit Who worked in your Baptism to give you faith, or in your hearing of God’s Word. He still does so. He fans your faith’s flame as you hear His Word even now, at this moment. 

He nourishes your faith in the mystery of Holy Communion, enabling you to put your trust in Christ’s own words, This is My body given for you; This is My blood shed for you for the remission of sins. Joined with bread and wine, these are what He says they are because He is capable of all things, and He cannot lie. So there isn’t any doubt left in our perception of the Supper, just the comfort of knowing that Christ gives us His true body and blood for our good as we anticipate His Second Coming in glory. Behold, your king comes to you. 

So, as this new year begins in the Church, think of yourself each week like those on Palm Sunday. You come to this unique place conscious of your guilt - eager to confess it before God, and to hear the absolution that is pronounced to you by God’s representative. God has forgiven your sins; that’s what your weary soul longs to hear. You come believing God’s promise of His mercy to be found in the One He has sent Who humbled Himself even to the point of death on a cross so that He might remove your sins and make you an inheritor of God’s kingdom. You come knowing that the Spirit is present in God’s Word that will be spoken, and sung, and preached so that hearing, you might have faith that perseveres unto eternal life. You come knowing that Christ is present for you here, also in the Supper to which He welcomes you to give you the heavenly food as a token of what you receive eternally in His kingdom. 

Let us pray:

Lord God, heavenly Father, as we begin this new Church Year, draw us to You in faith and to one another in Christian fellowship. Let this be a year of growth for all of us. Protect us from temptations that threaten our souls. Move us to confess our sins here in sincerity, and comfort us with the proclamation that you have forgiven our sins in the blood of our Savior, Jesus. We pray in His Name. Amen.

Sermon - Acts 28:17-31

17 After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. 18 When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. 19 But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar—though I had no charge to bring against my nation. 20 For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.” 21 And they said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you. 22 But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.”

23 When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. 24 And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. 25 And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:

26 “‘Go to this people, and say,
“You will indeed hear but never understand,
    and you will indeed see but never perceive.”

27 For this people's heart has grown dull,
    and with their ears they can barely hear,
    and their eyes they have closed;
lest they should see with their eyes
    and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
    and turn, and I would heal them.’

28 Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

30 He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

After the shipwreck that we heard about last week, and having gone on to Rome, now, and having been there a few days [Paul] has asked to meet with local Jewish leaders. He wants to explain to them why he comes to be here. He tells of his having been delivered by Jews from Jerusalem into Roman hands, and having felt compelled to make use of his Roman citizenship, appealing to Caesar. And much like in his testimony before Agrippa that we heard about a couple of weeks ago, Paul uses this opportunity (before facing Caesar) to tell of Christ before these Roman Jews.

On this Last Sunday of the church year, our bulletin cover says, The Expectant Church. The Church is all of the believers in Christ in the world. What they’re expecting is the Lord’s return - at any moment. Send forth Your Son we pray, that He may lead home His Bride, the Church, that we with all Your saints may enter into Your eternal kingdom -We prayed that in the Collect this morning. We anticipate the one who says in our Old Testament lesson, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people (that includes you, by the way; it talks about what you will experience in God’s eternal kingdom). We anticipate the One Who comes like a thief in the night (as Paul writes in our Epistle lesson), but to receive to Himself those for whom He died, whom He destined for salvation. We anticipate the Bridegroom Who brings to Himself all those who are waiting for Him, as demonstrated in our Gospel lesson. 

Paul has been journeying to find any who will add themselves through faith to this group of Christ’s followers. He seeks any who recognize the burden of guilt that they bear that has no other solution than God’s grace as it has been offered through the blood of His innocent Son as atoning sacrifice. He’s looking for people to add to the Expectant Church.

So, he is meeting with the Jewish leaders of Rome. They’re religious people. They’re no doubt very sincere in what they believe. Sometimes people think God will be satisfied as long as you’re sincere about your beliefs. As long as you grab onto something and believe it with all your might, you’ll be good with Him. This is absolutely not the Bible’s message. According to the Bible it very much matters what a person believes. It’s impossible, in fact, to avoid punishment and have God’s eternal inheritance without putting one’s trust where He has placed His mercy. It’s like kids whose mother has left a bucket of apples on the counter in case they’re hungry, who remain hungry because they are looking for a bucket of oranges, and ignoring what has been placed there to satisfy their hunger. The person who is sincere in error goes to the same place as the one who is lukewarm in error. God has placed His mercy with Christ, who died for sins.

And Paul is concerned that these people with whom he meets are in error. After all, he had been one of them. He had been self-righteous, believing that attaining God’s kingdom was based on what a person does in this life, based on a person deserving to be saved because he or she has opted to do right things and avoided doing wrong ones. That’s the most natural thing for us to believe (of course our nature is corrupted). It’s what we believe if God doesn’t cause us to believe otherwise. It seems like it should be right. You more or less do your best and you more or less stay out of trouble, and good things happen. What could be more natural to believe than that? 

For Paul, then, to have success in his aim before these people would be impossible were the Holy Spirit not working through God’s Word to convince them. He works to convince them not to believe what seems like it would be right, and instead, to believe what’s really true. So, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, From morning till evening, our text says, [Paul] expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.

Just as he had done before Agrippa, Paul insists to them, that what he believes and what he wants them to believe isn’t in conflict with what their own prophets have said. They’ve been missing something in it; but it has always been there for them to see. The Christ was to come from their own people. When the people heard Jesus and said, [Uh…wait…] Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? (Matt. 13:55) -as if that meant He couldn’t possibly be the Christ (he was just an ordinary one of them), instead, they should have recognized that coming from them was one of the things the prophets had said about the Christ (the Redeemer, the One God was sending as His mercy toward them). And it had been said of Him by the prophets, that He would suffer and die. Who did they think Isaiah had been talking about in his 53rd chapter, Who appeared ordinary, Who was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, Who was pierced for our transgressions…crushed for our iniquities, by Whose wounds we are healed because the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all? 

And St. Luke writes that some of those to whom Paul is speaking in our text have become convinced (we know through the Spirit’s work through the powerful Gospel message that Paul has been proclaiming). Some of his listeners have added themselves through faith to the group of Christ’s followers, to the Expectant Church. They have come to know Jesus as the One through Whom God has mercifully put away the guilt of their sins, and made them His sons and inheritors.

But others on this day, having heard this message, have disbelieved, Luke says. They have (at least up to this point) rejected the message for themselves. They have refused to be numbered among Christ’s followers, among those who are the Expectant Church. Paul has said to them Isaiah’s words: This people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed. They have forfeited the message for themselves, and now watch with disinterest as it is sent to others who will have the opportunity that is offered within it - the opportunity to have sins forgiven, to have peace with God and the inheritance of His kingdom. 

Why would anyone refuse this? -we might wonder. It’s interesting to know that these were God’s people. Isaiah was writing to Israelites of his time; Paul was addressing their descendants generations later. And in his address to these descendants, he specifically goes back to that text that demonstrates God’s people hardening their hearts against Him to their own destruction. He’s saying to them, Don’t be like they were! And again, these are religious people. They’re sincere in what they believe. But they are choosing to believe contrary to what God has revealed (just as Paul had done before). They are putting Christ aside, like a bucket of apples that was put out when they wanted oranges.

Could it ever happen to you? Could it ever come to a point at which God’s messenger says you’re like the ones Isaiah was talking to? We started out saying how natural it is to be self-righteous, to see oneself as deserving of God’s kingdom because of what he or she has done in this life. It might occur to us that religious people are the very ones who are ripe for that kind of thing. They’re the ones who are behaving (at least it looks that way) while the world around them is misbehaving. Look at you this morning. You’re in church! You’re doing what God said people should do in the Third Commandment. You’re not like the heathen all around. The key word in that statement is you, not Christ. See how easy it is to get there? It’s most natural for us to see ourselves as deserving of God’s kingdom because of what we’ve done. And then we’re no different than the Roman Jews Paul was addressing because Jesus doesn’t mean anything more to us than He did to them. We’re hearing but not hearing. Seeing, but not seeing. We’ve chosen to believe something other than God has revealed to us. We’ve chosen ourselves as savior instead of Christ. And what a poor choice that is, that forfeits God’s grace in exchange for a verdict that is based on our own failing works. We’ve only imagined ourselves righteous.

At the end of our text it says Paul was, teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. We can imagine the kind of thing he was saying. He was probably talking about what it means that our Savior is truly righteous, that He never had any sinful self-righteousness like we do, that He humbled Himself before His Father - obeying in everything, even to the point of death on a cross. His sacrifice removes our self-righteousness and every other sin. Paul was no doubt offering them Christ as the only solution to the burden of guilt; He is God’s grace for them. His innocent blood made atonement for their sins. He was probably saying to them that there is a place among Christ’s followers for them, a place in the Expectant Church, within which forgiven people anticipate His return to bring them to be with Him in His kingdom.

Of course, you hear the same message this morning, this message of God’s grace that is yours through faith in Christ. You have possessed it since your Baptism, or perhaps since hearing God’s powerful Spirit-filled Word and believing it. You can have true peace through it because you’re forgiven of sins. You are inheritors of God’s eternal kingdom. You come to the Lord’s Table this morning as those whom He has redeemed. You are His own, who receive from Him His true body and blood along with bread and wine to nourish your very souls as you await His return in glory. You are those who have added yourselves through faith to this group of Christ’s followers. You are the Expectant Church. God be praised. Amen.

Sermon Text:

Acts 27:27-44

27 When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. 28 So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms. A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms. 29 And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 30 And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship's boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go.

33 As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. 34 Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” 35 And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. 36 Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves. 37 (We were in all 276 persons in the ship.) 38 And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.

39 Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore. 40 So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders. Then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach. 41 But striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground. The bow stuck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf. 42 The soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escape. 43 But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land, 44 and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.

This text is life and death. What could be more so than men on a ship long before today’s technology that allows modern sailors to know what lies before them in water and on land, whether in light or darkness, calm sea or stormy? For Paul and the Two hundred seventy-five others with him, it is the treachery of stormy seas, and the terror of what might be waiting ahead in the darkness of the middle of the night. Life and death.

The real sailors onboard are well aware of this. They have done what they can to assess the situation. They have heard faintly what might sound like waves crashing against shore in the distance. They have determined that they are moving into shallower waters. They have dropped anchors in hopes of stopping the ship at least until they might make a visual assessment in morning light; they can’t see anything right now!

In fact, as the minutes tick by and the terror grows, these seasoned sailors have decided not even to wait for morning light. They will escape the ship by lowering the boat (the lifeboat), and making off in it (they hope the inexperienced onboard will see the lowering of the boat as part of the putting out of the anchors, and not as an attempt to abandon all of them to their deaths).  

But Paul has put two and two together. He has pointed out to the centurion and soldiers transporting him and other prisoners to Rome, that their own survival (as well as that of the prisoners) depends upon these sailors remaining on the ship and steering it to safety. So, the soldiers put an end to the plot by cutting the boat ropes and releasing it empty out to sea. They’ll all die together if they’re to die.

The sailors’ scheme isn’t all that surprising, is it? They don’t want to die! They’re clinging to whatever hope they think they might still have of getting out of this thing alive. Had the scheme worked, they still didn’t have that much better of a chance. They would still be heading off in a little boat, into open seas in a storm in the darkness; but they take what they can get. They have real reason to be afraid.

What if it were you? You’re different from these sailors in that you have Christian faith. I want all of you to understand that, this morning. You know that your life is in the hands of an all-powerful God. Some things in this world are legitimately terrifying (you might have experienced some of these things); but there isn’t anything that God can’t do in any situation to preserve your life in this world, if that’s His will. The words of our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah are prophetic words about Christ’s kingdom that comes at the end of the world; but the words speak of the same God who is present for you in the terrors that you might face in this world. Behold, the LORD God comes with might, and his arm rules for him. Those are Isaiah’s words. You face an overwhelming power in this world; but what you have on your side is infinitely more powerful than what threatens you.

The sailors don’t have this perspective. To them, life is in their own hands. What a difficult situation that is! What helplessness! You have the ability as believers, to relax your strained muscles, and lean your head back and say, You know what? I can’t do anything more, but I know that God can. I am in His hands whatever may come, be it to be saved from this dreadful situation, or to be with Him in His kingdom. You can have a real peace in that. The dread that many have in this world doesn’t need to be your experience.

And, of course, the dread that we might have in this life isn’t even the worse dread we face. The Last Judgment is our theme on this 2nd Last Sunday of the church year. We face terrors in this world, yes. And the worst possible outcome of those terrors is that we die, right? We cling to this life; that’s just the way we’re made. But our death in this world isn’t the end of the story. There is a judgment upon guilty sinners. And there is a punishment for sin; Paul calls it wages. It’s what every sinner has earned - this punishment. To be helpless before this particular dread is even worse than helplessness before the dread we might face in this world.

The way to be helpless before this particular dread is to refuse to acknowledge that we have guilt, or to insist we will see to the guilt ourselves. Remember, that’s what the priests told Judas to do when he went to them and confessed that he’d sinned in betraying innocent blood. “What is that to us? See to it yourself (Matthew 27:4).” -they’d said. But we can’t. We see our helplessness in the pagan sailors who have no concern for the hundreds of other lives on the ship, so long as they might cling on to their own, and avoid death for a little while longer.

You and I might have thought like them sometimes. In our fear, we might have forgotten all about the God Who holds our lives in His hands. We might have thought that we must do whatever is necessary to save ourselves from what terrifies us.

In comforting his temporary shipmates in their worldly dread, Paul hopes to comfort them also in the matter of the dread beyond this world. As the dawn approaches, with them having survived another dark, stormy night, he urges them to eat. There hasn’t been a lot of that going on lately (a lot seasickness most likely, but very little eating). Why eat when day after day they have thought they were about to die at sea? 

In the section just before our text, Paul had said to all who were there, …take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25 So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. 26 But we must run aground on some island.” 

Perhaps with those words of Paul’s in mind, they have eaten, and have experienced a revival of their spirits. And they go through the ordeal of the ship breaking apart and of various kinds of panic. But as predicted by the angel, all [are] brought safely to land. Their eating has been preceded by a prayer of thanksgiving from Paul. The provider of this food that revives them, and of protection through the gravest danger is also the one who provides the solution to their guilt. Paul hopes all of the men who have been with him on the ship will come to know this, and to know the peace that comes to those whose faith is in the true God.

God has preserved him that he might testify before Caesar. He will tell of Christ just as we heard last week he did before Agrippa. He will tell of this One Who saves for eternity all who put their trust in Him. He has purchased their forgiveness with His own blood, rising from the grave that sinners avoid at all cost. It will not hold His people just as it hasn’t held Him. It will not hold you who are forgiven in the blood of Christ. There is nothing to dread - not in life or death. The Lord God comes with might. He preserves His people. Amen.

Sermon Text:

Acts 26:1-32

So Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense:

2 “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, 3 especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

4 “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. 5 They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee. 6 And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! 8 Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

9 “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. 11 And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

12 “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, 17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

19 “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. 21 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. 22 To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: 23 that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

24 And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” 25 But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. 26 For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” 28 And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” 29 And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”

30 Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. 31 And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” 32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Agrippa’s words to Paul near the end of our text are interesting for us to consider this morning: “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” He says it ironically. He suggests that it’s somewhat of a crazy notion. It’s audacious. A prisoner stands before one who is to question him, not merely hoping to avoid some sort of harsh treatment from him, but hoping even that he will be able to convince him to join his side! That’s a twist, isn’t it? Agrippa seems to have found it amusing. 

It’s a compelling moment in Scripture, though. It’s a moment with tremendous implications for King Agrippa. He will hear from Paul the clearest presentation of the Gospel; and he will be confronted with whether or not to accept it for himself.

Paul has come to be before Agrippa after Jews have continued to pursue him in the previous chapter of Acts (remember that last week we heard of a plot to kill Paul while he was incarcerated). He’s been before a Roman official named Festus, who heard a case made against him that, frankly, doesn’t interest him. It was, as he later says to Agrippa: certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive. Paul, having Roman citizenship in addition to being a Jew, had appealed to the Roman Emperor, Caesar (which is his right). So, that would be carried out now. He would appear before Caesar. 

But in the meantime, Festus receives visitors. Agrippa and a companion come to stay with him for several days. He tells him the story, and Agrippa is interested enough to request that he hear Paul the next day. Agrippa is a Jew from Herod’s line, who rules under the Roman Empire. He controls the Jewish Temple, appointing the High Priests, even. Paul will seize on his being a Jew as he sort of presents his case before him.

And it’s interesting to know that there isn’t as much at stake here for Paul as you might think. Agrippa isn’t deciding whether he will live or die, whether he will spend his life in prison, whether he will receive any sort of beating or anything like that. All of that has been taken out of his (and Festus’) hands when Paul appealed to Caesar. So Paul’s motivation in this address he gives in our text is not to save himself; his motivation is to save his listeners. His whole argument will be for the purpose of getting them to consider the Gospel message, and, hopefully to believe it for themselves. As one commentator says, Paul has made this a church, and he is the pastor.

Paul knows that Agrippa knows certain fundamental things about Judaism. One of the things he knows and understands intimately (unlike the Roman, Festus, who Paul had appeared before earlier) is that there are different factions within Judaism. Pharisees and Sadducees are two of the factions. The Sadducees don’t believe in a resurrection from the dead. But Agrippa is not in their camp. He is among those who most definitely do believe in a resurrection. He would believe along with the Pharisees, that God’s promises proclaimed by the Old Testament prophets include a bodily resurrection. 

Paul takes the tack, that it is because he believes in the resurrection and preaches about it to both Jews and Gentiles, that he comes to be in custody and up on charges. Of course that doesn’t tell the whole story. If that were the whole story, he wouldn’t be saying anything different from the greatest part of the Jewish population. They believe the words of the prophets including Moses, too. They believe in the resurrection, too. Agrippa does, too. So, there wouldn’t be any real fuss if the resurrection were all there was to it.

But it isn’t just that Paul talks about a resurrection. It’s a certain someone’s resurrection that he keeps talking about that bothers the Jews; it’s Jesus’ resurrection. We mentioned that Agrippa will be faced with whether or not to believe the message of God’s grace in Christ (the Jews who are accusing him are faced with the same).

But before Paul reveals that particular thing to Agrippa, he tells a little bit about himself. Formerly, he had been a Pharisee - one among the strictest party of the Jews. And very importantly, Paul says, he continues to believe what he so strongly held to as a Pharisee. He hopes in the promise made by God to their fathers. And if there needs to be any evidence of whether or not Paul is a legit Pharisee, he was convinced that he had a responsibility to defend the beliefs that all of them standing there today believe - so much so, that he had taken it upon himself to oppose a certain movement that seemed to be threatening it. He would go throughout Jerusalem locking up followers of Jesus, punishing them in various ways, voting for their executions (forcing many of them first, to blaspheme the Name of Jesus). He didn’t stop in Jerusalem either. He pursued these followers to the outer cities as well. So, Paul isn’t some crackpot coming in from the outside to cause trouble among the Jews. He’s a Jew’s Jew.

But what he has to say before Agrippa and all the rest of them today, is that the same God Whom they all believe in - the one Who spoke to their fathers and in whom is their hope for salvation caused him to see even a little more (and it’s the most important part!). It doesn’t do any damage to what they have believed before. It brings into focus the picture that had been somewhat fuzzy. They have always been anticipating a Messiah - an anointed one from God who will bring to completion His promises to them. Paul now knows who that individual is. He knows it because while he was on his way to another city to persecute more Christians, Jesus Himself blinded him and then spoke to him. He told Paul that He is the one Paul has been persecuting, and that from now on Paul will be proclaiming His Name.

It would seem crazy to think that someone like Paul could be the one proclaiming this particular Name. That’s kind of the theme of his message, here. How could that happen?! He had been heading in the opposite direction. He had been so deceived about Jesus that it would seem unthinkable that he could end up this way. In fact, we could say about him like Agrippa goes on to say of himself, that, “in a short time,” he’d been persuaded to be a Christian. 

Now that’s an interesting thought. Think of the power behind that. And it isn’t that he had been overpowered. You know, there was a time in history when the Roman Emperor Constantine declared that everyone has to become a Christian. Well, that doesn’t work. You’ve converted them in status, I guess; but you haven’t converted their heart. Jesus converted Paul’s heart. He brought him to know God’s grace that forgives sin through the blood of Christ. He brought him to want that mercy, that forgiveness for himself. He wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing today before this ruler and these people if he hadn’t been changed substantially. Now, we talk about the Holy Spirit as the one who converts us, who brings us to faith that saves us from punishment. Though it doesn’t mention Him here, it has to be the case the Spirit converted Paul’s heart through the Word that Jesus spoke to him. That’s how it works.

It isn’t any different for you, dear fellow believers in Jesus. The Bible tells us that our situation before we were converted was no different from Paul’s. Because we have inherited our first parents’ sin, we only want to oppose Jesus like he was doing. We want to avoid Him. We want to deny that we have guilt that condemns us before the perfect God (when our sinful nature exerts itself and we want to sin, we still show this in our lives). As part of this nature we don’t want to think that if God were going to send someone to do us good, that it would be someone who suffers and dies like Jesus did. The crowd of Jews who are present as Paul is addressing Agrippa are thinking that. That’s why it’s irritating to them to think that Paul is presenting as the Messiah someone who has risen from the dead. It isn’t that they don’t believe in the resurrection as a concept. They just don’t want any part of a Savior who would have to rise from death; because that means He has to have been weak and frail to die in the first place. That’s how our sinful nature thinks. And it’s how Paul had been thinking before. We’re condemned according to this way of thinking, according to having hearts that believe like this. Without God’s grace we face eternal punishment.

But “in a short time,” Jesus had persuaded Paul to be His follower. The same happened in your Baptism (or in your hearing of God’s Word) through which the Holy Spirit converted you from unbelief to belief in the Christ Whose blood covers your sins. You have forgiveness in this believing. Your sins are not held against you. Christ willingly took the punishment for them. That He would suffer and die and rise again had been the prophets’ message. It is the message that will save Paul’s audience if they will only believe it. It is the message that has saved you. In a short time, you were made a Christian. That has eternal implications for you - the best kind. God be praised. Amen.

Reformation Service - 10/31/21

Acts 20:17-38

17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. 18 And when they came to him, he said to them:

“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. 34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

36 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.

St. Paul says goodbye in our text, to the elders at the church at Ephesus. He won’t be coming back this way again. The Spirit has made known to him that he must go to Jerusalem, and that he must testify of Christ to those who mean to do him harm (he won’t die there; but he is headed in that direction). No doubt Martin Luther had Paul in mind (among others) when he said in a letter in 1518: “From the beginning God's word is on this wise, that all who cleave to it must with the apostles be hourly prepared to suffer the loss of all things, nay, even to meet death itself.” In another letter a couple of years later, he said, “Take care not to hope that the cause of Christ can be advanced in the world peacefully and sweetly, since you see the battle has been waged with his own blood and that of the martyrs.”

The cause of Christ has been Paul’s very urgent business since being handpicked by Him on the road to Damascus to be His witness to both Jews and Gentiles. He reminds the Ephesian elders in our text, that he has done this work humbly and faithfully in the face of trials. He hasn’t shrunk in the past three years from declaring to them the whole counsel of God (in other words, everything that is necessary for them to know in order to have God’s grace that saves from sin and death). He has spoken of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel of the grace of God, the news of Christ having obtained His Church with the shedding of His own blood. As Paul prepares to take his leave from them, he gives one last exhortation: Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock. 

We observe the Reformation today, and Martin Luther as someone who did just that. Reformation Day is really the anniversary of his having posted on the church door in 1517, in Wittenberg (in what’s now Germany), Ninety-Five Theses (or points of debate). He had come to the conclusion that a long-accepted practice of the church was ungodly, and taught people to put their trust somewhere other than in Christ. The practice was that of selling indulgences. Luther wrote of it in a letter: 

The poor souls [believe] that when they have purchased such letters they have secured their salvation, also, that the moment the money tingles in the box souls are delivered from purgatory, and that all sins will be forgiven through a letter of Indulgence… 

Of course, this wasn’t the truth according to Scripture. Luther wrote to the Archbishop a number of times on behalf of the people, encouraging him to do away with this practice. In one of his later attempts (with his patience having been exhausted) Luther said: I humbly request that your Grace would prove yourself to be a bishop, and not a wolf, permitting the poor flock to be robbed. You know that the Indulgence is sheer knavery, and that Christ alone ought to be preached to the people. He went on to say: Therefore I openly declare that unless the Indulgence is done away with, I must publicly attack your Grace…and [let] the world see the difference between a bishop and a wolf.

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, Paul says in our text. To do so is to do as Luther said in his letter, to preach Christ alone. He followed in Paul’s footsteps, who says in our text: I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 

The “word” he means is the word about Christ, Who obtained the Church with His own blood. It is the Word about God so loving the world that He gave His only-begotten Son as its Savior from sin. It’s the Word that proclaims God’s righteousness given free of charge to all who believe on Christ. It's the Word that promises resurrection from death to eternal life.

But Paul’s exhortation to pay careful attention is not given without good reason. Fierce wolves mingle among the flock to draw away the disciples after them. They draw them away from the flock by drawing them away from God’s Word. It doesn’t happen through some sort of loudly spoken invitation to leave the Word behind, but more subtly. It happens through a suggestion like was given to our first mother: Did God really say [basically, that you can’t have, that you can’t do - anything you want - is what he meant? Who is God to stand in the way of your happiness, anyway? Why should you be the only one around who limits yourself in this way? There isn’t really going to be any consequence for it. Our first mother was drawn away from God when His Word became less important to her than what she could reason out herself. Her reason told her that she’d be better off disobeying; so she disobeyed.

Fierce wolves mingle among us as well. There is a certain word, relevant, that kind of describes a thing or things that matter, that are kind of worth our time and attention. Relevant things grab our attention, in fact. They’re the things that are important to us. As far as society is concerned, some things are relevant, and others aren’t. The serpent convinced our first parents that God’s Word was irrelevant to them. 

Fierce wolves that attack Christ’s flock today, aim to convince you of the same. So, as far as you are concerned, then, is God’s Word relevant? What would demonstrate that to you, it is relevant? Has it been important to you compared to other things? Has it grabbed your attention? Have you considered it worth your time? Or, is it the case that the things the world considers relevant have occupied your mind and heart to a greater extent? Has their appeal become so substantial in your life that God’s Word is a speck off in the distance by comparison? In Luther’s time the indulgence was an example of something that was replacing Christ in the lives of church people. It was something they were grabbing hold of instead of Christ. The devil has worked hard in your life like in Eve’s life to offer you things to grab hold of instead of Christ. Hasn’t he succeed sometimes? Hasn’t he shown you just the right thing that has turned your head, that has repositioned your heart so that God’s Word was no longer the most important thing to you?

For a little perspective, consider how important it is to St. Paul, as he says to people weeping over him, and embracing him, and kissing him, and praying with him, that they will not see his face again. Testifying of this Word of Christ is so important that even continuing to live in this world isn’t more important than it. 

We observe the Reformation today because by God’s grace, he provided for us about fourteen hundred years after Paul, confessors who believed the same, and who paid careful attention to themselves and to all the flock. They knew that the message about Christ, Who makes sinners right with God was worth fighting for, and worth dying for. It’s the message about the One Whose absolute devotion to God’s Word stands in the place of yours and my occasional indifference to it, makes up for yours and my treating of it at times as irrelevant to us in the pattern of our first parents. It’s the message of the One Who obtained with His own blood your forgiveness for that sin and for all others. 

It was into faith in this message that you were baptized and brought into God’s family. Through it the Spirit has preserved your faith throughout these years of your life. It’s of the same message that Luther writes:

We are unable to accomplish anything against sin, death, and the devil by our own works. Therefore, Another appears for us and in our stead who definitely can do better; he gives us the victory, and commands us to accept it and not to doubt it. He says, ‘Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world’; and again: ‘I live, and you will live also, and no one will take your joy from you.’  

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock. Paul’s words were being spoken to elders in the congregation who were kind of overseeing the members (maybe like pastors do). But his exhortation is relevant to all of us, isn’t it? The message about Christ is the most precious treasure because it makes us right with God. Nothing else does. Christ’s righteousness covers your sins. In Him you are forgiven of sins. The Lutheran Confessors paid careful attention to themselves and to all the flock by uncovering the message of Christ that had been hidden under false teaching, and allowing it to shine so that sinners could know God’s grace, and the eternal peace that comes from it. Nothing is more relevant than that. 

The cause of Christ was Paul’s very urgent business. It was Martin Luther’s. Make it yours as well. No other suggestion, no other promise that would be made as an alternative to it will ever make you right with God. That cause alone is one through which you have forgiveness and eternal life. Amen.

Sermon Text:

Acts 23:12-22

When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. 13 There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. 14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. 15 Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

16 Now the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. 17 Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.” 18 So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.” 19 The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?” 20 And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him. 21 But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.” 22 So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.”

We don’t like very much to be told we’re wrong. Whadaya mean, I’m wrong?! I’m not wrong. After all… and then we think really hard. We go back over everything. We make a case for ourselves. I’m not wrong! After all, this, and this, and this, and this… And then we might even start attacking the person who’s saying we’re wrong. You’re the one whose wrong! After all… and then we begin making a big long list of reasons they’re wrong. Either by actually saying things, or by thinking them to ourselves, this is one of the things we all do.

It’s as natural to us inheritors of our first parents’ sin, as it was for them after they’d sinned. God confronted Eve with her wrong. She said it was the serpent who was actually wrong. God confronted Adam with his wrong. It was actually the woman God had put there with him who was wrong. In a way he was saying, you’re the one who’s actually wrong, God; you put her here with me. One of the characteristics of our sinful nature is that we don’t like to be told we’re wrong. Children on play dates, husbands and wives, co-workers in an office… I’m not wrong! Whadaya mean, I’m wrong?! You’re wrong!

What precedes our text is Paul telling a bunch of guys they’re wrong. And, of course, they are wrong. He’d been one of them. He recounts the story in the previous chapter of Acts. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, 5 as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished. 

But then something had happened (he goes on to say). He'd heard the voice of the Lord speaking to him on the road to Damascus. His eyes were blinded with a bright light. The Lord enabled him to see that he’d been wrong, and now sent him to tell them they’d been wrong. And like we said in the beginning: we don’t like very much to be told we’re wrong. 

In fact, we have an amazing capacity to overlook our wrong, and to bear down on instances in which we think we’ve been wronged by others. What happens in our Gospel lesson is good example of this. Jesus’ parable is about a couple of men who owe debts to another man. In older-English versions of the Lord’s Prayer, sometimes we hear people say, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. So, the word debts is where we usually say the word trespasses. That’s an interesting way to think of it. Our sins are a debt that we owe to someone. The one who owes a debt is at the mercy of the one to whom he owes the debt. That other person is the one who sets the terms, then. The one who owes the debt doesn’t set the terms; he just does whatever the other says he has to do.

In Jesus’ parable a man sets very generous terms with his debtor for repayment. He cancels the debt. The debtor has begged for mercy, and the other has granted mercy. Now, that doesn’t mean he never owed the debt in the first place; he certainly owed it. But the one in control of the relationship determined to have mercy and forgive the debt (and it had been a very large debt). 

But then, of course, the one whose debt has just been forgiven goes out and zeros in on someone who owes him a much smaller debt, demanding immediate repayment (while choking him), refusing the man’s pleading, and having him thrown in prison until he pays in full. The one who’d forgiven his debt, then, treats him harshly. He hasn’t been angry about having to forgive the debt (in fact, he didn’t have to; he chose to). He’s angry that the man can’t recognize his true situation, and what has been done for him. He can’t reflect gratefulness in how he deals with someone who owes him money. He overlooks his own situation, considering it to be of little importance. The idea that someone has spared him the worst circumstance is the farthest thing from his mind.

The men who are being talked about in our text are in the same boat. Paul has been trying to convince them that they are in a relationship with God (whether they see it or not) in which they’re not in a position to set any terms. They’re beggars before Him like the man was in Jesus’ parable. They’re in a position in which the only way for things to turn out good for them is if the one to whom they owe a debt chooses to have mercy and forgive the debt. And, of course, Paul’s message to them has been that gloriously, this is the case! God has put their debt on someone else, His own Son! They’ve deserved for Him to deal with them according to His wrath, throwing at them the whole severity of the Law and judgment; but He has chosen to punish His perfect Son, and to put that Son’s righteousness upon them. He has chosen to forgive their debt.

But they’re like the forgiven servant in Jesus’ parable. It goes right past them. They don’t have any appreciation of it. Like we said earlier, we have an amazing capacity to overlook our wrong, and to bear down on instances in which we think we’ve been wronged. And they think they’ve been wronged by Paul, who keeps going on and on about their sinfulness, and about their need to repent and receive God’s mercy, and about God’s mercy to be found in Jesus Christ. So they start attacking the person who’s saying they’re wrong.

They make a plot. They bind themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till [they’ve] killed Paul (more than forty men involved in this). They’re going to have Paul brought from the barracks in which he is being held, under auspices of determining his case more exactly; but they have in mind to kill him before he gets there. Paul’s nephew hears of it and goes and tells the official who’s in charge of him; and the whole thing is thwarted - this plan of theirs to attack the one telling them they’re wrong.

You have someone telling you you’re wrong. I’m doing it right now (I’m saying it to myself too). And of course, we are wrong. We’d be foolish to overlook it (though we’ve been very prone to do that). We’d be foolish to think, like those men in the text were thinking, that we have something about us that makes us powerful before God, that makes us able to set the terms in the relationship, that we’re able to make enough of a showing that He has to accept us on our terms. We are beggars before Him, whose only hope for things turning out good is the mercy of the One to Whom we owe a debt. There isn’t point in attacking the messenger. That wasn’t the solution to the men’s problem in our text. They could kill Paul; but they still had to deal with God, and with the debt of their sins.

The solution to their problem (and to ours) is Christ. Not only is He not prone to overlooking His own wrong, but He has no wrong to overlook. We might imagine that we have righteousness to present before God; but it’s only a deception like the men were under in our text. Jesus does have righteousness. He has accomplished everything we were supposed to accomplish, been obedient in everything. And because God is merciful, He counts what Christ has accomplished to us; to you. There isn’t any sense in trying to hold onto some imaginary righteousness of your own. You don’t need it. You have everything you need through the free gift of Christ’s blood shed for you. You have forgiveness of your debt. You have the promise of eternal life. 

We said at the beginning, that according to our nature we tend not to like being told we’re wrong. We tend to say, Whatdaya mean, I’m wrong? - and to attack whoever is telling us that. We can be self-righteous, and unwilling to accept that we’re wrong, that we owe a debt, etc. 

It can look another way too, to just as damaging a result (because the devil is clever). We can have recognized our wrong. And we can have recognized the debt we owe. And we can think about that for a minute. And we can have been told by someone like a pastor or someone else: God has been merciful to you. He has forgiven your large debt. You are free. Because of Christ, you are…right. And you can be thinking about your sins - about things you’ve done in the past, and about things you’ve recently done that make you feel so guilty. You can thinking about all the ways in which you are wrong. And you can say, Whadaya mean, I’m right? I’m not right. How could I be? You might be right - good for you; but I’m not. After all…and then in your mind you make a long list of all of the things that preclude you being right (because you recognize so substantially that you’re wrong). 

Think of the king in Jesus’ parable in our text if you’re feeling this way. He did something there that is an absolute fact. The man couldn’t pay, so he cancelled the debt. The same has been done for you through the suffering and death of God’s only-begotten Son. His righteousness is your righteousness. It’s an absolute fact. It happened. In Christ, you are right. There isn’t point in clinging to your guilt. Cling to Christ, Whose innocent blood paid your debt. In Him, the wrong become right. In Him, you are right. Amen.

Sermon Text

Acts 18:1-11

After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. 9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

Dear Fellow Redeemed:

In our Gospel lesson this morning, there is a man about whom St. John writes: And he himself believed, and all his household. We hear basically those same words in our text this morning. It says that a certain man, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. Then it goes on to say: And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. 

Just in case we don’t say it clearly and simply enough: that is the goal here - believing. You’re a small group now; but you’re hardy. And the point of you getting up on Sundays and coming over here and into this place is that, having believed, you now continue to believe. Wouldn’t be any reason otherwise, would there? In believing that the Christ is Jesus (as Paul was testifying in the synagogue in Corinth), you stand on the Last Day before the God Who demands perfection (that you know you haven’t accomplished); but you do so with Christ having taken the punishment for all of your sins. You simply believe it, and forgiveness is yours as a free gift. And along with that gift of forgiveness comes eternal life in God’s kingdom.

Our text is a bit of a slice of life when it comes to believers in the early church (and we could even say, when it comes to believers in this world). There’s a little mention of what we might call Christian fellowship in the text. Paul meets up with fellow Jews, Aquilla and his wife Priscilla, who have recently been banished from Rome. He stays with them, and they work together as tent makers (they see to the needs of their bodies in this world, just as you do when you work at your job at home or outside of the home). And then in this slice of life, Paul is reasoning with Jews and Greeks in the synagogue on Sabbaths, trying to persuade them to believe what you believe.

But this work doesn’t always have the result he would like it to have. Sometimes the people oppose the message he is preaching. It even says they revile him; they get angry, and abusive, and insulting in their opposition of him (sometimes they even try to kill him). And his regular way about things, then, is to do kind of a gesture - shaking out his garments (like Jesus kind of told His disciples to do in these situations - Luke 9:5; 10:11), and say what amounts to: You know what? I gave it my best shot here, guys. No one could say that I didn’t try to get you to acknowledge that you are headed for disaster, and that I didn’t try to get you to put out your hand and receive what God is offering you in His grace and mercy. And then, he’s essentially saying, If you’re not going to take it, then I’m going to offer it others who maybe will. And then he goes to the Gentiles.

And then, in this slice of life, we hear of more Christian fellowship. Paul goes to the home of another man, Titius Justus, who John calls a worshiper of God. Nearby is also Crispus, a believing synagogue ruler, whose family is among many Corinthians who have believed Paul’s Gospel message and been baptized.

The message they’ve been hearing from Paul, of course, is the sort of thing we have heard in our Gospel lesson this morning. It’s the message about Jesus, who (in this case) receives word from a Gentile official in Cana whose son is ill (at the point of death, even). He believes Jesus can help. He thinks (very reasonably) that in order to do so, Jesus will have to come down with him to his house. He’ll have to be in the same room with the boy, certainly. That’s how doctors carry out this kind of work. But Jesus doesn’t have the limitations that doctors have. He doesn’t have to go anywhere in order to make something happen. He simply tells the man, “Go; your son will live.” The man learns later, that it was when Jesus said those words that his son started to improve (eventually getting well). Jesus is God in human flesh, Who brings God’s mercy for sinners.

This is the sort of message Paul has been preaching in the synagogues on Sabbath days. It’s the same sort of message you hear on Sundays in this place. 

You have your own slice of life we could talk about in a couple of paragraphs like are in our text. Our Lord’s Days are Sundays. You come here and interact with the same message Paul was proclaiming on the Lord’s Day of his time. You hear about Jesus, without Whom life would have an uncomfortable uncertainty. You maybe don’t think about this very much - what it would be like not to know Jesus (after, all, you know Him). But there would be this uncertainty about what happens next. When the thought of dying comes up (and it does, because it happens to everyone), you would be forever trying to convince yourself that you must be good enough to be in a good place after all of this. What have I ever done that was so bad? -you’d be saying to yourself. But then you’d be thinking back like I do sometimes, on those things you’ve done in this life that bother you - that you wish you could go back and undo. You’d be trying to convince yourself that none of those things matter (because what else are you gonna do?). But you wouldn’t have any real peace about it; it would be a lot of bravado with nothing at all to back it up. 

Of course, the Bible says that before we’ve even drawn our first breath in this world we already have the corruption of our first parents. We’ve inherited it from them. The Bible talks about the hope that we have in Christ; and what it really means is the belief, the knowledge, the confidence of His atonement for sins being a reality, a done deal. But without knowing Jesus, you’d just be hoping you’re good enough (in the sense that we usually think of that word). You’d be wanting it to be true that you’ll be okay when all of this is over, but not really knowing it to be the case.

Think about how encouraging it was for Paul, and about how encouraging it can be for you, what happens at the end our text. The Lord says to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 

There are some things about that statement that we might say, give earthly comfort, right? God has in mind, apparently, for Paul to continue to be able to do what he does, to speak this Gospel message boldly, knowing that at least for the time being, he will be safe in doing so. He is surrounded by fellow believers among whom he will be safe and cared for. 

Even more importantly, though, there is eternal comfort in the Lord’s vision to Paul. God Himself is reaffirming that the message about Jesus that Paul is proclaiming is His message. That message is what truly unites sinners with the perfect God. It is His message of reconciliation. He has drawn sinners to Himself through the sacrificial death of His only-begotten Son. Him rising from death means they will rise too. Their sins are taken away entirely - already punished and and done away with in that sacrificial death.

So, the Lord says, go on speaking and do not be silent. Keep reasoning with Jews and Greeks in synagogues on Sabbaths (and with Gentiles too). Keep testifying that the Christ is Jesus. Do it with confidence, knowing that the Lord is with you - because it’s His message!

The encouragement to remain in this message is for you this morning as well. In the slice of life that is written about you, there are frustrations. You might sometimes feel as opposed when it comes to this faith you have, as it says Paul was. You feel awkward saying anything about it in public because it might be offensive to someone. You feel very misunderstood, right? The world characterizes what you believe in a way that makes it seem foolish, even hateful (it isn’t true, but it’s presented that way). On top of it all, you have continuing guilt over sins that you continue to commit (because you’re a sinner). You might even feel like a hypocrite coming here on Sunday morning. You slink up to the Lord’s Table to receive His Supper, feeling most unworthy (so do I, by the way).

That being the case, think about what the Lord is saying to Paul in this vision. He’s encouraging him, of course. But He’s claiming as His own message the message Paul is preaching. It’s the message of forgiveness for sinners in Jesus Christ. Forgiveness for you is also being proclaimed in that message. You stand before God with a clean conscience - not because of anything you’ve been able to accomplish for yourself, but because of what Christ has accomplished for you. Keep coming here, then, to hear this message. Keep bringing everyone in your household that, having believed, you continue to believe. That’s the goal. Amen.

Gospel Lesson: St. John 4:46-54

[Jesus] came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.