It has been some time since I was really involved in synodical leadership.  The last time I attended a convention was six years ago, and while I am blessed to serve on the South Wisconsin District Board of Directors, my involvement in our church body at large has been minimal since my illness several years ago.

Because of this, it struck me today, upon my arrival in Houston, how different my perspective is now than it was six years ago when I was a delegate.  Six years ago I was all about fixing what is wrong, making the synod safe for democracy, something like that.  My theological views haven’t really changed much in six years, but my self-understanding as a pastor has changed dramatically.  I’m no longer interested in the politics, the personalities, and all of the juicy gossip that every human institution inevitably breeds.  At this point I am really asking the question, where is Christ?  Where is the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins?  Where is the healing for the brokenhearted, the balm of Gilead that can only come from the divine Word?

I know this is a little rambling.  It’s late, but I wanted to get something written for the day.  There are many friends here, old and new.  It’s great to see them all.  There are people I have been in conflict with in various was here as well.  I pray for reconciliation.  There will be lots of back room deals and shenanigans.  There always are.  But in the midst of it all, God can and is still at work.  Sometimes it happens through us.  Sometimes it happens in spite of us.  Sometimes both at the same time.  It is my prayer this week that the decisions and elections that take place here in Houston will further His Kingdom, and that the old hymn will remain true, “Lord, help us ever to retain, the catechisms doctrine plain, as Luther taught the word of truth, in simple words to tender youth!”

-Pastor Todd Peperkorn

Circuit 26 Pastoral Delegate (South Wisconsin District)

Kenosha, Wisconsin

PS CARDS WIN!  8-0 over the Astros.  Go Cards!

Houston Report #1

Here is a link to my interview on Psalm 32.

In this interview we really talked about the notion of hiding from God versus hiding in God. Adam and Eve hid from God in the garden. They tried to cover up their own sins. But by hiding in God, God then is the one who protects us from any harm that may come from within or without. It was a fun interview. Check it out!

-LL

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM

Messiah Lutheran Church

Kenosha, Wisconsin

Trinity 27 (November 22, 2009)

Matthew 25:1-13

For an audio MP3 of this sermon, click this link: Trinity27-2009

TITLE: “Wake, Awake!”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text for today is the parable of the 10 virgins from Matthew 25.  Let us pray:

Lord God, heavenly Father, send forth Your Son, we pray, to lead home His bride, the Church, that with all the company of the redeemed we may finally enter into His eternal wedding feast; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  So said our Lord.  But the virgins don’t look too shiny sleeping in the middle of the night, as they are depicted here in our text.  On earth their works were not thought wise, the hymn exclaims.  By all appearances, the faith of the wise and the faith of the foolish appeared the same.  You couldn’t tell the wise from the foolish as they slumbered.

Yet there is a difference.  The Christian here on earth lives and breathes and struggles through life just like everyone else.  But by the grace of God, you have the one thing needful.  God in His mercy has given you the oil of gladness, faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ.  This faith points you upward toward heaven.  It means that no matter what you do here in this life, one ear is listening for the trumpet.  There is a part of you that wonders, is it today?  Will the bridegroom return today?  Will our sorrowing have an end now?  We pray it every day in Christ’s Church: Thy Kingdom Come.  When it it be, Lord?  When will you come back?

We don’t know, of course.  We don’t know when the coming of the Son of God will be.  It will be when we least expect it.  He will come in glory, with His holy angels going before Him.  They will cry out to a dying world, Wake, awake,  your king is coming to you even now!

What will that mean for the redeemed, the Baptized into Christ on that last day?  It means all sorrow will come to an end.  It means that all the waiting and wondering and fear and heartache and anxiety and gunk of this life will be over.  Our hymn exclaims that joy as follows:

Zion hears the watchmen singing,

And all her heart with joy is springing;

She wakes, she rises from her gloom.

For her Lord comes down all-glorious,

The strong in grace, in truth victorious;

Her star is ris’n, her light is come.

Now come, Thou Blessèd One,

Lord Jesus, God’s own Son,

Hail! Hosanna!

We enter all

The wedding hall

To eat the Supper at Thy call.

Yet there will be no second guessing that Last Day of our Lord.  There is no place for salt-lookers in Christ’s kingdom.  Set your eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.  Like the virgins in our text, the oil is yours and yours alone.  You cannot believe for another, and God will not share your heart with anyone else.  You are His, and His alone.  The things of this life cannot hold you, dearly Baptized.  If they hold you down, they will shackle you to the earth and will keep you from looking up to the Rising Sun, who comes with healing in His wings.

This is what we mean might call in the Church a holy indifference to the things of this world.  It means receiving and rejoicing in what God has given you, but it means not letting those things which God has given you to overshadow the God who gave them to you.  Practicing charity and love toward the neighbor means confessing that because Christ is coming again, the things of this life cannot hold you back and holy you down.  For if they do, there is great danger in losing the oil of gladness as we try to hold on to and juggle all the things of this life in our hands.

The Last Day will be here soon.  There will come a day when all of the evil of this life will pass by as a dream.  The day is coming when Amen will be the only word that really makes sense at all.  The evil of this place will be gone.  Luther put it this way in his catechism:

But deliver us from evil.

What does this mean? We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.

So rejoice this day, dearly beloved. When your last hour comes, be it today or in fifty years, God will give you a blessed end, because you are His child, holy, baptized, a part of the family, with the oil of gladness.  You are ready. Believe it for Jesus’ sake.  Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting.  Amen.

You will find attached here a PDF file with the bible study I am using currently for teaching about confirmation and first communion in my congregation. I would welcome any of your thoughts on the subject, as this is an important one for the Lutheran Church.

Confirmation and First Communion in the Lutheran Church

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Epiphany 1 – (January 11, 2009)
The Baptism of Our Lord
Matthew 3:13-17
For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE

TITLE: “The Least and the Most”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is the Baptism of Our Lord from Matthew chapter 3, as well as St. Paul’s words from I Corinthians, “Let him who boast, boast in the Lord.”

Boasting. It is our national pastime I think. Whether it is a child talking about how much faster, smarter or better they are than another child, or an adult boasting about their house, job, family or whatever, we all love to toot our own horn. Now to be fair, we don’t always do this in obvious ways. Sometimes we cover it up in a false humility, but it is there nonetheless. We are all selfish by nature. We all want to make sure that everyone else knows what we do, what we are worth, and that we are worth more than others.

But saint Paul reminds us that this is not the way it is with God and His holy Kingdom. He wrote in his introduction to the book of Corinthians:

1Cor. 1:26   For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

This is hard for us to grasp, it really is. We don’t want to buy it. We want to believe that God rewards a good effort, and that as long as we try really hard, God will makeup the difference. You know the adage: God helps those who help themselves. Of course, that’s not from the Bible. It’s from Benjamin Franklin (1757 in the Poor Richard’s Almanac), but it’s still close enough. Right? No.

Boasting of course is another word for pride. Pride means to be puffed up, to be convinced that you are right and that you are better than anyone else. Now sometimes pride can be a healthy thing. We can talk about school pride or pride in our community. But that’s not what we’re talking about here. Here we are talking about believing especially that it is your own works before God that matter, your attitude, your belief that you are a better Christian than others. All of us have this prideful, boasting attitude within us somewhere. No matter how bad of a Christian you think you are, there is always someone you know that is worse. That makes it easy. At least you aren’t at the bottom of the pile. Of course, God is not fond of this mindset. St. Paul writes, “You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.” (Romans 2:23 ESV)

So all of this talk about pride and boasting brings us back to our Gospel for today, the Baptism of our Lord. When Jesus stands in the waters of the Jordan river, He does so as the Son of God and the Son of Mary. John doesn’t want to baptize Him: “I need to be baptized by you, and you are coming to me!” But Jesus replies with this wonderful Gospel proclamation, ““Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”” (Matthew 3:15 ESV) In other words, Jesus, the Son of God, the creator of the universe, the king of kings and lord of lords, let’s John in on this work of salvation. Only not just John. I would contend that the “us” there actually includes us, you and I as well!

This is what I mean. Jesus was born the Son of Mary. He is quite literally our brother in the flesh. When He does something, you do something. It’s that simple. Everything Jesus does, He does for you. So when Jesus is baptized in the Jordan river to fulfill all righteousness, you are there. This is what our Lord’s baptism does. God declares Jesus His beloved Son, and now, by your baptism, you fall under that
selfsame blessing.

St. Paul calls this “boasting in the Lord”. God ties himself to your future so much that it’s a little unnerving. Yet that is the love God showers upon you in Holy Baptism. What baptism does for you is makes your glory, your boasting be in God, not in yourself and your failings, big and small. Perhaps Luther wrote it best in the Large Catechism:

“Thus we see what a great and excellent thing Baptism is, which snatches us from the jaws of the devil and makes God our own, overcomes and takes away sin and daily strengthens the new man, always remains until we pass from this present misery to eternal glory. Therefore let everybody regard his Baptism as the daily garment which he is to wear all the time.” Large Catechism [Tappert p.446 #83]

God clothes you in Holy Baptism. Jesus stands in those waters, and God declares Him the beloved Son. When He does this for Jesus, He does it for you as well. You have been rescued from sin, death, and the power of the devil. You no longer have to find your identity simply in yourself, and your accomplishments and failures. Now your identity is in the ONE who stands in the water with you, loving you with a whole heart, forgiving your sins, and drawing you into His loving embrace. Boast in the Lord, dearly beloved! He has done all things for you. Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Christmas 2 (January 4, 2009, revised from 2003)
Matthew 2:13-23

For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE

TITLE: “The Flight of the Christian Life”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text for this morning is from Matthew chapter 2, the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt.

Many, many years ago God called a man named Jacob to go to Egypt.  Jacob was an old man, he was tired and hungry, and there was no sign of rest for his soul.  His soul had been restless and in pain since the loss of his son, Joseph, so many years before.  Imagine what it must have been like, to believe your favorite son was lost and killed all those many years.  No father should ever have to bury his own son.  And there they were, left in the land of Canaan, in the midst of a famine.  No food, enemies on every side.  Where should they go?

Egypt.  That is where God commanded that they go.  It was a foreign land, a land of pagans and strangers to the Lord God.  And yet that is where God sent them to go.  Jacob didn’t know that his son Joseph was the governor of Egypt.  Joseph was really their protector, and he was the one that God would use to keep his father Jacob and all of his brothers’ safe, especially Judah.  But God is always taking strange circumstances and bringing about great blessings.

Thousands of years later, another son of Jacob would go down to Egypt, but this son of Israel was not fleeing hunger.  He was fleeing the wrath and hatred of Herod the Great.   Herod could not bear the thought that their might be a King in Israel.  He couldn’t stand the idea that anyone but he would be in charge and in control of his little kingdom.  His hatred for Jesus ran so deep that Herod ordered every male child under two years old in Bethlehem be murdered.

It’s hard to imagine that kind of hatred for the Prince of Peace, isn’t it?  This is the part of the Christmas story where most people kind of want to close the book.  What could be so threatening about a little infant?  Would he start a rebellion?  Would he lead the people to go against King Herod?  What could he possibly do to deserve such hatred?

That’s the thing about Jesus.  For Herod, Jesus represented everything that was wrong in the world.  Herod could not understand the concept of forgiveness, or that God would pay the price for our sins.  It was unfathomable, unthinkable that God would pay for our trespasses.  He must have something else in mind!  He must be trying to take away my power as the king, or so Herod thought.  But Herod did not, could not understand, just like the world cannot fathom the depth of God’s love in the Gospel today.  The world cannot understand God’s love, and so the world rejects Him.

So Jesus fled to Egypt, just like his father Jacob did so many years before.  And just like his great-great-great-grandfather Jacob, Jesus was protected by a Joseph, this time His foster-father.  God used one Joseph to keep the family line and the promised Messiah coming so many years before, and he again used another Joseph to protect this little infant King and his mother.  You see, this is all about timing for our infant King.  His time to die had not yet come.  God protected Him now, but there would come a time when God would unleash His own wrath upon His only-begotten Son, so that your suffering would have an end.

We’re getting a little glimpse into Jesus’ life here, and already we see that this life is not an easy one.  Born amidst the animals, no place to lay His head, this little one will do battle for your soul His entire life.  But the battle He fights will not be fought with swords and guns and weapons.  No, His weapons are poverty and weakness.   He survives on the charity of strangers, but that charity will run out.  He does all of this because of His great love for you, His wayward children.

So what does this mean to you?  What Jesus does this morning is teaches us how to understand our lives of suffering and hardship.  St. Peter tells us in our Epistle that if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.  In order for us to understand this suffering, though, we really have to see ourselves in Jesus’ life.  He left His home for a foreign land, and God saw Him through.  The foreign land to which He traveled, though, was not finally Egypt.  It was death itself.  For truly, what could be more foreign to the eternal Son of God that the road of death?

Yet that is the road that He took for you.  His journey is the road to death, so that your journey does not end in death, but life.  That is the miracle of Jesus’ birth into our flesh.  The real miracle does not lie in how humble was His birth, or the beauty of the scene, or any of these things.  No, the miracle lies in the reality that when He takes on our life, He gathers all of our hurt and suffering and sorrow into Himself.  So when you look at His life, that is your life in Him.

As we near the close of this Christmas season, this is an important lesson for us pilgrims here on earth.  When we talk about the Christian life here on earth, God calls us to look at it through the lens of Jesus’ life.  God does not call you to a life of perfection, victorious living, happiness and fulfillment.  That is what Satan falsely promised Adam and Eve in the Garden.  No, God has bigger plans for you and I.  He calls you in Baptism to a life of suffering and trial, but a life that is shaped by the cross of Jesus Christ.

This is a far greater life, because it is a life of sacrifice that is lived in God.  Only God can bring this about in your life.  You and I just don’t live lives of sacrifice by nature.  You and I are inward focused, self absorbed and possessive, not unlike our friend Herod from our text.  That is how you live.  But by your Baptism, God creates you anew, and gives you this life that is lived in Him and in your neighbor.  You are Joseph and Mary, taking care of the Christ child.  It’s a strange though, isn’t it?  And yet that is the reality of Jesus’ birth.  Jesus puts His very life into the hands of sinners like you and I.
His own life is wrapped up in yours.  When you hurt and suffer, He hurts and suffers.  When He lives the perfect life of obedience to the will and Word of God, you live that perfect life.  And when He finishes His great journey to the cross and the empty tomb, your pilgrimage is complete.

Oh, to be sure, we still have these trials and hardships here on earth.  But look at this babe fleeing in the arms of His mother.  If God can live such a harried and difficult life for you, don’t you think He’ll take care of you here on earth?  That is the gift that He brings to you this Christmastide that goes beyond all understanding.  He gives you the gift of peace, peace that He is in charge.  Peace that He has suffered all things for you.  And peace that will bring you eternal life.  Believe it for Jesus’ sake.  Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting.  Amen.

What is the history of the liturgical movement in the Missouri Synod? If you were to come up with names, some of them would include Fredrich Lochner, Arthur Carl Piepkorn, Valparaiso, Fort Wayne, Arthur Just, Walter Buszin, the St. James Society, Ron Feuerhahn, and others. No matter how you compiled your list, one name would always be on it: Berthold von Schenk.

Berthold von Schenk (1895-1974) was a pastor in Northwest St. Louis, Hoboken, the Bronx, and elsewhere. He was known as a powerful preacher, an ecumenical spirit, a proponent of tithing (“The Kingdom Plan”), and a gadfly to pretty much everyone. What we know him for is his liturgical predilections, especially through his little book, “The Presence,” and his work in founding the St. James Society.

His autobiography, Lively Stone, was published fairly recently by the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau.  I will try and work up a more complete review, but suffice it to say that if you are a liturgical Lutheran, you simply must read this book.  It helps us to make sense of a lot of the oddities in the LCMS.  More on it later.  But READ THIS BOOK.

-LL

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM

Messiah Lutheran Church

Kenosha, Wisconsin

Populus Zion – Advent II (December 7, 2008, revised from 2003)

Luke 21: 25-36

For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE

TITLE: “Watching for the Coming King”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is the Gospel lesson just read, with focus on the words of Jesus, But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.

We are all creatures of habit, you and I. When it comes to this season, and preparing for Christmas, we are all creatures of habit. You know exactly what you will do with the Christmas lights. You know what cookies you will bake, how you will decorate your house, and when family and friends will be coming to your house for the holidays. And yet it is this very constancy, this fact that you know what this month should be like in your mind, that can often be the source of frustration and tension. You have to spend more time at work than you want, and so you don’t have the time to prepare you wish. The kids are, well, being kids, and it means that your life is always a roller coaster. Somehow it even seems as though things break more in December than any other month of the year. And so we spend our lives trying to grasp for the white Christmas that is never exactly what you just know you your head that it is supposed to be like.

Our text this morning really speaks to our temptations this time of year. Jesus warns us to take heed, lest our hearts be weighed down with parties, food and drink, and the cares of this life. Why? Because these things distract us from what really matters, what is really important in our lives. Jesus even warns us that the cares of this life can make it so that the Last Day may come upon us unexpectedly, and we won’t be ready.

If Jesus were to return tomorrow and Judgment Day were upon us, would you be ready? How would you receive Him? Would you receive Him with faith and joy at His return, or would you be so focused on the things of this day that you wouldn’t even notice? Or, as Jesus Himself asked the question, Do you think that when the Son of Man will come, that He will also find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8).

I think that’s what we find so frustrating and distracting about texts like this one this morning. Jesus warning today is against, by and large, the very things that this world tries to make this season all about. Food. Drink. The things of this world. Gifts that don’t last. The love of money. These are the things that Jesus warns you about this morning.

Now I will be the first to admit that this doesn’t fill me with a lot of Christmas cheer. I am especially not happy about this warning over food and drink. How can things like food and drink be spiritual? What does this have to do with God at all? That’s what we ask, not only about food and drink, but about everything in our lives. Why does God care how I spend my time? Why does He care what I do with my money or how I take care of my family?

God cares about these things because He knows you. He knows your very soul. He knows how Satan seeks to tear you away from Him by getting you looking at yourself and your possessions so much that you can’t lift up you heart to see the Son of Man coming with healing in His wings. And if Satan can use things like food and drink and toys big and small to tear you away from Christ and His Word of forgiveness, then that is exactly what he will seek to do.

So God’s warning for you today is clear and to the point. Repent. Repent of believing that your life can be found in cookies or hot chocolate or cars or parties or food or drink or friends. Repent, because God has much bigger and better plans for you than these things, which come and go like the wind. That’s God’s Law, and God always gives His Law to you because he wants to give you something even better.

Repent and believe that God offers you something today that is far greater than the temptations of this world. Our Lord says through Malachi the prophet:

But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;
And you shall go out
And grow fat like stall-fed calves.
You shall trample the wicked,
For they shall be ashes under the
soles of your feet
On the day that I do this,

For our Lord, you see, has a banquet planned for you. He has a banquet planned for you that will fill you up, both body and soul. You don’t have to escape from your troubles with food or drink or whatever it is that turns you on. Christ Himself is coming, and He will take away all of your troubles, by taking them in Himself. Christ is coming, and His work of life and forgiveness will give your life meaning and purpose that none of the things of this world could ever give.

Now to make this point, Christ uses the story of the fig tree. I kind of appreciate how he uses a food story to warn us about overindulgence. How do you know when a tree is ripe? You know a tree is ripe when there are buds on the branches. That’s the sign that its coming. The fruit, the flowers are on the way. You know what’s coming because you can see the buds.

That is how our Lord wants us to look at the end of the world. When you see trials and heartache, when you see the world obsessed with food and drink and carousing and self-absorption, when you see these things coming, then that is the sign that our Lord is on the way. That’s the sign. And that sign is for you a very good thing, because it means that Jesus is coming back, and that when He comes back, all of our troubles will be gone forever. We suffer through trials and heartaches now because we know that they are here and gone, but that the Word and promise of the Lord endures forever.

So repent and rejoice! Christ is coming soon, and He sustains you this day by Word and Sacrament, so that you may be found worthy to receive Him at His return. We pray in the liturgy every Sunday that God would lift up our hearts to Him so that we may receive His body and blood. God will draw you out of the cares of this world into Himself. Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM

Messiah Lutheran Church

Kenosha, Wisconsin

Ad Te Levavi (Advent 1), November 30, 2008

Matthew 21:1-11

For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE

TITLE: “The Way of the Lord”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for this morning is the Gospel lesson just read, with focus on the words from Zechariah, Behold, your King is coming to you. He is just and having salvation.

In Psalm 24, which we prayed after the Old Testament reading, we hear the following:

“Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” (Psalms 24:3-5 ESV)

Who indeed? Who can come into God’s presence? God’s holiness, His mighty presence in the world isn’t worshipped much today. In our world today, God is analyzed, critiqued, discussed in court, put on bumper stickers or coffee table books, and generally kept some place private and out of the way, like those pictures from when you are a kid. You’re glad you have them still, but you don’t really want people knowing about them all that much. But worshipped? No. That’s not what we do today. We don’t worship. We play. We worry. We work. We get stressed. But we don’t worship.

But our God reminds us through the Psalmist that only those with clean hands and a clean heart are able to stand in His holy presence. We sort of assume that God will always be there when we get around to him. I’ll come back to him later, when I’m done living my life. I’ll come back another time, when I’m not so busy. I’ll come back when I’m good and ready. And he’ll be waiting for me, like the girlfriend left behind while her man goes off to war. He’ll be waiting. Won’t he? St. Paul, however, tells us this:

“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Romans 13:11-12 ESV)

God knows that your heart isn’t pure. God knows that you will never come to Him on your own. He knows your weaknesses. He knows your rebellion. He knows the anger in your heart, the bitterness, the shame, the sorrow, the hurt, the fear that is within you. He knows these things better than you know them yourself. He knows that you cannot go to Him. You are dead in sins. You are blind to the light of His truth, deaf to His Word, and that you cannot sing or speak His praises.

God knows all these things and more. So He comes to you, lowly and riding a donkey. He comes to you, just and having salvation. He comes to you humble, riding only His Holy Word. He comes to you know meek and mild, not arrogant and proud. He comes to you as the God who loves you with every fiber of His being. He comes to you know in peace, bringing healing in His wings, and having the mighty gift of salvation upon His holy lips.

He comes to you now, and what does He want? One church father put it this way:

Let us spread before the Lord’s feet, not garments or soulless olive branches, which delight the eye for a few hours and then wither, but ourselves, clothed in His grace, or rather, clothed completely in Him. We who have been baptized into Christ must ourselves be the garments that we spread before Him. Let us show him honor, not with olive branches but with the splendor of merciful deeds to one another. Let us spread the thoughts and desires of our hearts under his feet like garments, so that entering us with the whole of His being, He may draw the whole of our being into Himself and place the whole of His in us. (St. Andrew of Crete)

Now that’s a lot of beautiful language and fancy words, but what he is getting at is this. Jesus does not want your money. He doesn’t want your house. He doesn’t want your job. He wants you. All of you. This is essentially the theme of Advent. Our King is coming. He is just and having salvation. He is coming, and He is coming for you. He comes to reign in your heart, not by fear and trembling. He comes to give you Himself. He comes so that He may use you to show His love to a dying world.

This king of ours is not like the kings of this world. His motivation is not fear, but love. Paul Gerhardt put it this way:

Love caused your incarnation; Love brought you down to me

Your thirst for my salvation, Procured my liberty.

Oh, love beyond all telling! That led you to embrace

In love all love excelling, Our lost and fallen race. (LSB 334: 4)

Our God is always coming. He is coming to you even now, in Word and Meal. He comes again and again with words of forgiveness, love and hope. When things are dark, when your future is unsure, when you don’t know what is coming next this you can know: God is here for you. God’s thirst for your salvation will not be slaked by anything less than your peace and joy in Him. He enters into Jerusalem on a donkey, He goes to the cross in sorrow, and He comes forth out of the empty tomb in light eternal. All for you. All for you. All for you.

So rejoice this day, as we await the coming King! Rejoice and remember His mercy. It is everlasting. It is rich and deep. And it is for you. Let us pray:

Stir up your power, O Lord, and come to rescue us from the threatening perils of our sins, and save us by Your promised deliverance; for You now live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM

Messiah Lutheran Church

Kenosha, Wisconsin

Thanksgiving Eve (November 27, 2008)

Luke 12:15-21

For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE

TITLE: “Rich Towards God”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for this Thanksgiving is from Luke 12 as we heard a few moments ago. We especially look at the following verse: “And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”” (Luke 12:15 ESV)

Isn’t it incredible when it seems like God’s Word is speaking directly to the situation at hand? Our country is faced with two different and maybe opposing viewpoints right now. On the one hand we have a new president coming into office in just a couple months, and we pray God’s blessings upon him and hope that his time of service will be good for our nation. But on the other hand, we have a serious recession going on, and many people are talking about financial depression. Our church has felt the crunch, the holidays are coming up, and money is just in the air. So all of it really begs the question: What really is life all about?

That’s a good question. Jesus says in our text that one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And yet in some ways, it seems as though that is exactly what we do this time of year. We gather around the dinner table, hold hands, and give thanks to God for all of the stuff that we have. We give thanks for clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals and all I have, as the catechism would put it.

But Jesus in our text seeks to draw us away from the things of this world and into Himself. And to do so He gives a parable. The parable of a rich man who is getting richer. The rich man, in fact, is so rich that he has to make more barns to house all of his riches. And because he is so very rich, because he has been blessed so abundantly, the man says to himself, take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.

In other words, the man looks at his possessions and sees in them the point, the purpose to his life. His life was all about stuff. More stuff, so that he could eat, drink and be merry. The man’s life was good. He was happy and well provided for. Those who are happy want more money, because they believe it will make them happier. Those who are unhappy believe that money will solve all their problems.

But the rich man could not see the truth. His world was not what it seemed, and so his life was actually a waste and he never even knew it.

Now there is for us tonight both a warning in this and hope for the future. The warning from God is obvious: don’t let the things of this world define you. Your life does not consist in the things of this world. They come and go. Houses, cars, food, drink, the toys of the day, these things do not make you who you are, and if you seek to find happiness and joy in them, it is fleeting and will soon be gone. Don’t be trapped by the devil into thinking that these things are the point. They are not.

That’s the Law. Here’s the Gospel. Jesus talks about how the rich man laid up treasures for himself but was not rich toward God. What does it mean to be rich toward God? Being rich toward God has everything to do with faith, for it is by faith that you receive the God things which God gives you this day and every day.

That, dear friends, is what Thanksgiving for the Christian is all about. It’s all about faith in the one who gave up everything. Christ our Lord became poor so that you might be rich toward God. He cried out from the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That is the ultimate in poor. He was forsaken by all, doomed and left to die alone, a poor beggar with nothing but vinegar on a sponge for his food and drink. And yet through His death and resurrection, you are now rich beyond measure. When you look at your life, the thing that makes you who you are, it is Christ’s work that makes you rich.

Really if you think about it, the gifts and things of this world are almost icing on the cake for the baptized. When God gave you His Son in your Baptism, he gave you everything you would ever truly need. But the reality is that He continues to give to you, over and over again. He provides for your soul and your body. He gives out of the abundance of His mercy, so that even in tough times, you are fed and clothed, your family is safe, and you look forward to an eternity together with Him.

So this thanksgiving, as we remember all of the blessings God has given us, let us remember first of all the great gift He gives us by forgiving our sins and drawing us into His holy presence. You are truly rich toward God, and because of that, you may receive the things of this life with thanksgiving. What makes you rich is not your hard work, our great nation, or the ups and downs of the economy. What makes you rich toward God is that God in His riches delivers it all to you for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.