http://al.lunneberg.com Sermons and Rumenations Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:14:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 2005-2008 alunneberg@comcast.net (Allen Lunneberg) alunneberg@comcast.net (Allen Lunneberg) 1440 http://al.lunneberg.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://al.lunneberg.com 144 144 Sermons and more from my site. Allen Lunneberg Allen Lunneberg alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/02/05/psalm-1471-11-setting-by-allen-d-lunneberg/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/02/05/psalm-1471-11-setting-by-allen-d-lunneberg/#comments Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:11:16 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=934 http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/02/05/psalm-1471-11-setting-by-allen-d-lunneberg/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Psalm 147:1-11 Setting by Allen D. Lunneberg Misc alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/02/05/not-faint-not-weary/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/02/05/not-faint-not-weary/#comments Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:09:49 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=932 http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/02/05/not-faint-not-weary/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Isaiah 40:21-31 Date: Epiphany V + 2/5/12 According to Saint Mark, when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ appeared, the first thing that strikes us is His ministry of healing. His power to heal extends from the most dramatic casting out of demo[...] Text: Isaiah 40:21-31 Date: Epiphany V + 2/5/12 According to Saint Mark, when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ appeared, the first thing that strikes us is His ministry of healing. His power to heal extends from the most dramatic casting out of demons to what appears to us to be the relatively minor condition of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law lying ill with a fever. Physical healing of the body is one aspect of the gospel of salvation, for, after this life, we do not turn into angels or disembodied spirits. The greatest Christ-ian hope of healing is the promised resurrection of the body, the promise of new bodies for old. We remain human beings of God’s own creation and design forever. The underlying cause of all sickness and disease is not just a medical con-dition but the spiritual condition called “sin.” “You sin, you experience separations of all kinds, you get sick, you die” says the Bible. You don’t sin, you don’t get sick, you don’t die. All have sinned. Therefore all die. God our Creator desires to save us, to deliver all men from sin and death. Unfortunately not everyone knows or believes that, and even God’s own people, in the midst of our weariness or suffering from time to time, can forget God’s compassion and loving desire for us. The coming of Jesus, His preaching, teaching and healing activity and, ultimately, His self-sacrifice on the cross that removes and takes away the power of sin and death, is ever to be our comfort, confidence and hope. As the Easter hymn joyfully proclaims, Jesus lives! The vict’ry’s won! Death no longer can appall me; Jesus lives! Death’s reign is done! From the grave will Christ recall me. Brighter scenes will then commence; This shall be my confidence. [LSB 490:1] This Easter confidence and hope of God’s love is as ancient as His first promise of salvation to Adam and Eve. And this Easter confidence and hope had no greater preacher in the Old Testament than the foremost prophet, Isaiah. Even the prophet’s name means “the Lord’s salvation.” Isaiah is appropriately placed first among the prophets in our English Bibles as he more than the others was given amazing insight into the gospel of God’s plan of salvation. Our text today is from the beginning of the second half of Isaiah, chapter 40 which begins with the reviving call, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God” (Is 40:1). That is the comfort of salvation as he predicts the coming of John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Then, especially in chapter 53, Isaiah sees both the suffering and the exaltation of the Suffering Servant, the Messiah, the Christ. He writes as if he had stood beneath the cross itself and also had seen the risen Savior! But even more, the prophet Isaiah saw the new heavens and earth of Christ’s eternal kingdom beyond even St. John’s vision in the New Testament Revelation. To this comfort, confidence and salvation Isaiah preaches the way of faith. Isaiah preached to a people that had assumed that God had forgotten them. He preached repentance, but had no success. The people wouldn’t listen, much less repent. Thinking that God had forgotten them, or worse, that this God never really existed in the first place, they fell into open idolatry. And how many are there today who are convinced that God doesn’t exist? And how many things other than the one, true God do people worship today, that is, consider to be the highest good in their lives, worthy of all their time and efforts to value and to serve? That is idolatry in any age. Our text today calls us to repentance and faith by reminding us that God is, before and after all, the exalted Creator and Ruler of the world. As Jesus would remind us, God’s kingdom is not “of” this world. Today God and His prophet call us away from entanglement in the kingdom of the world to the blessed, saving, comforting Kingdom of God. How easily we take things for granted. How easily many or most people fall for the worldview of atheistic evolution. As if we ha[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/29/a-prophet-like-moses/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/29/a-prophet-like-moses/#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:50:40 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=929 http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/29/a-prophet-like-moses/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Deuteronomy 18:15-20 Date: Epiphany IV + 1/29/12 Near the end of his service as prophet and leader of God’s people Moses announced, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you [...] Text: Deuteronomy 18:15-20 Date: Epiphany IV + 1/29/12 Near the end of his service as prophet and leader of God’s people Moses announced, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.” And the Lord reiterated Moses’ words. The question is, who would that prophet like Moses be? Cecil B. DeMille raised up the actor Charlton Heston to star in the memorable and award-winning 1956 movie “The Ten Commandments.” But here Moses himself and not a successor was portrayed. So that can’t be it. So also with the recent report that Warner Brothers is closing on a contract with Steven Spielberg to direct a new Moses epic titled “Gods and Kings” to start production early next year. In the absence of Charlton Heston, who of today’s actors would you cast to play Moses? That promised successor, however, would not be just one man but many. The fifth and last book of Moses commonly called Deuteronomy records the essentials of God’s covenant relationship with His people in preparation for their residence in Canaan and continuance without their leader Moses who was barred from entering the promised land. In this promise the office of the ministry was extended, the promise that God would continue to provide guidance for and protection of His people through His Word mediated through certain servants of His calling and sending. According to this promise God did raise up priests and prophets in the Old Testament and apostles in the New and those in their train as priests and ministers to this present day. Certain of those Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles and evangelists would write down God’s Word to be transmitted through the centuries as the sacred, inspired, authoritative scriptures, the Bible. Whether prophet, apostle, evangelist, pastor or teacher they are all limited and commanded to speak, prophecy, preach and teach only the words commanded by God. “The prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.” So is the warning regarding false prophets, apostles and teachers, preaching and teaching, a warning echoed also in the New Testament (Mt 7:15, Mk 13:22, Acts 20:28, Eph 4:14-15, 1 Tm 1:3, Heb 13:9, 2 Pt 2:1, 1 Jn 4:1). To this day the question is solemnly asked of those being ordained, “Do you promise… [that] all your preaching and teaching and your administration of the Sacraments will be in conformity with Holy Scripture and with these Confessions?” (LSB Agenda, 166). Besides the line of prophets and priests supplied by God to His people since Moses, this promise, of course, finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, the Son of God and Savior of the world. We heard the apostle Philip saying to Nathanael, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John 1:45). Yet Jesus is greater and more than merely a second Moses as the Letter of the Hebrews describes, saying, “Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself…. Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope” (Heb 3:1-6). Jesus is greater and worthy of more glory than Moses because Jesus is the one and only promised sacrifice for the sins of the world. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). That “lifting[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/22/psalm-62/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/22/psalm-62/#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:51:45 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=925 http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/22/psalm-62/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Setting by Allen D. Lunneberg   Setting by Allen D. Lunneberg   Misc alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/22/gods-call-to-repentance/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/22/gods-call-to-repentance/#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:50:43 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=923 http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/22/gods-call-to-repentance/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Date: Epiphany III + 1/22/12 “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.” The first time it was a disaster. Or, was it? For the first time the word of the Lord came to him, at the command, “Arise, go to Nineveh, t[...] Text: Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Date: Epiphany III + 1/22/12 “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.” The first time it was a disaster. Or, was it? For the first time the word of the Lord came to him, at the command, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it,” Jonah rose but to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord (Jonah 1:1-3). Now which of the prophets of old wouldn’t respond immediately and dutifully obey the call of the Lord? Most did, albeit with various degrees of hesitation. But the Bible is no mere human work and no propaganda piece skewed to make its characters seem to have super-human strength or insight or dedication or even faith. So here we have the call of the Lord coming to one of God’s people, the great grandson of King Jehu, but he disobeys and flees from the Lord’s presence. But where, pray tell, is the Lord not present? So God followed Jonah and tracked him down, sending a great storm to intercept his getaway. You recall the drama of Jonah’s willing if desperate sacrifice to be thrown overboard into the sea ostensibly to placate the judgment of “the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land” (Jonah 1:9). It was obvious that Jonah felt the guilt and sorrow for his disobedience. But sorrow is not yet repentance without faith. Then “the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17). Then Jonah prayed from the belly of the fish, strangely, a prayer of thanksgiving, “and the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land” (Jonah 2:10). Though, you will agree, Jonah deserved God’s judgment and punishment of death, the Lord delivered him through a spectacular miracle. You will agree also, then, that we deserve God’s judgment and death because of our sin and disobedience. Yet the Lord has delivered us through a spectacular miracle, the vicarious death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. For, as He Himself said, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt 12:40), thus predicting both His death and resurrection. So now, “the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.” The “Hound of Heaven”[1] has still not lost track or hope that His servant will now hear again and trust and obey. And this time “Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord” (Jonah 3:1). He preached what He was sent and told to preach. And these otherwise ungodly, heathen Gentiles nevertheless believed God and repented of their sin. And God “relented of the disaster the he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.” Quite a successful mission, don’t you think? You would think. But the drama is not over. For Jonah didn’t think the result was so pleasing, for “it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.” This time, in the face of Jonah’s rebellion, God “turned up the heat” of His word, calling, still calling Jonah to do what the otherwise despised heathen did so readily, namely, to repent and to remember and to believe that the Lord’s mercy and grace is, after all, as He first promised to Abraham, for “all the families of the earth” (Gen 12:3). This is still God’s plan and mission. Now the word of the Lord comes to those He calls to preach repentance and faith. Instead of sending a fish, however, He sent fishermen. “Follow me,” he said to men named Simon and Andrew, “and I will make you become fishers of men.” For whatever that might mean, they dropped their nets designed for catching fish and were caught in the net of God’s grace. So also men named James and John He called and they, too, were caught by God to be catchers of others. So is the Church likened to a ship, a lifeboat sent to rescue all who are drowning in the deep of the loneliness of their separation from God. We enter the Nave of the church building and s[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/15/psalm-139-and-speak-lord-your-servant-listens/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/15/psalm-139-and-speak-lord-your-servant-listens/#comments Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:47:46 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=918 http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/15/psalm-139-and-speak-lord-your-servant-listens/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-10 Date: Epiphany II + 1/15/12 God called Abram out of his unbelief and idolatry to be­come the father of faith for the whole world. The Bible simply says, “the Lord said to Abram.” How the Lord spoke to Abram is not said. Interes[...] Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-10 Date: Epiphany II + 1/15/12 God called Abram out of his unbelief and idolatry to be­come the father of faith for the whole world. The Bible simply says, “the Lord said to Abram.” How the Lord spoke to Abram is not said. Interestingly, Luther wrote, “did he hear this voice from God Himself? I am convinced that he was not called directly by God without the ministry, as it is related below (Gen. 18:2) that God visited him, conversed with him, and was even the guest of Abraham; but I believe that this command was brought to him either by the patriarch Shem personally or by some others who had been sent by Shem.”8[1] In addition, we’re all familiar with the miracle of how God called Moses directly “in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” (Ex 3:2). Through the Word God called Joshua. After the time of the judges God called young Samuel, of which we heard and is our text for today. And who can for­get the spectacular call of Isaiah in the holy temple shaken to its foundations and filled with smoke and the song of angels? Today’s Gospel is about Jesus’ call of men named Philip and Nathanael. Many of the Old Testament prophets were called directly, immediately by God, some of them mediately as Luther said of Abraham. So also the apostles of the New Testament were called directly, personally by Jesus including Saul who became Paul called directly by the risen and ascended Lord Himself. Today we have no word, no promise that God calls or speaks to anyone directly or immediately. We do have the Word and promise that God calls and speaks to people through the Word, the prophetic and apostolic Word of the Bible and through its reading, study and preaching, and “doing” through the sacraments. All people are called by God to His gift of salvation and life. That saving call comes “mediately,” through the witness and ministry of the Church concerning the holy sacrifice of Jesus’ body and blood for the forgiveness of the sins of the world. That witness bears God’s own stamp and validity in the sacrament of Holy Baptism by which we are joined to Christ’s death and resurrection. Unfortunately, in those churches that do not believe and do not use Baptism as it has been commanded and promised, they are left with hav­ing to just take someone’s word for it that God has spoken with no reliable evidence or confirmation of it. In addition the Church uses the word “call” to refer to the recruitment of men into the public ministry of the Church. But that call also comes “mediately,” in the Church’s usual order. Beyond that, each Christian is encouraged to discover the particular gifts, talents, abilities and interests with which the Lord has equipped you and to consider whatever your station in life and your occupation as your “vocation” in which you serve God and others in this world. In many ways each of us can relate to some aspects of Samuel’s call. Our author says that the young man Samuel, God’s mira­culous gift to Elkanah and his mother Hannah, was engaged as a Levite in “ministering to the Lord under Eli.” Whatever else is meant by the comment “the word of the Lord was rare in those days,” and “there was no frequent vision,” we might ask if this doesn’t apply today, implying either the increasing confusion of Law and Gospel among preachers and/or ears grown dull among hear­ers as Jesus quoted from the prophet Isaiah’s call, “For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear” (Mt 13:15). We’re told that, during the night, the Lord called to Samuel three times, speaking his name. Three times Samuel assumed it was Eli calling him from the other room. Only when “Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the young man,” he instructed Samuel how to answer the Lord in the words, “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” Like Samuel, we can say, we have been called by God speaking our name at our baptism, yet we need to be instructed both how to reco[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/08/and-god-said/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/08/and-god-said/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:48:16 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=911 http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/08/and-god-said/feed/ 0 0:00:01   Genesis 1:1-5 Psalm 29 – setting by Allen D. Lunneberg Text: Genesis 1:1-5 Date: The Baptism of Our Lord + Epiphany I + 1/8/12 “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters” (Ps 29:3). [...]   Genesis 1:1-5 Psalm 29 – setting by Allen D. Lunneberg Text: Genesis 1:1-5 Date: The Baptism of Our Lord + Epiphany I + 1/8/12 “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters” (Ps 29:3). Another psalm says, “When you send forth your Spirit, they are created” (Ps 104:30). Today we are called to attend to the voice, the waters, the Spirit, and creation. At creation the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, “hovered over the face of the waters” while “the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep” (Gen 1:2-3). The creation of the universe, of “the heavens and the earth,” took place at the mere urge and will of the goodness of God. Then, at the speaking of God, “And God Said,” time was created first as, without source of a sun, light and darkness mysteriously alternated. God so loved the world that He declared it all good. So is the mystery of the creation of all things, the Spirit, the Voice and the waters. The Holy Spirit hovered over waters again, over the face of the Jordan River, and descended on Jesus of Nazareth at His baptism by John. And there again was a voice from heaven. A new creation was thus inaugurated to replace, or rather, renew the old that had become disjointed, disfigured, corrupted, sick and dying of sin, for God still so loved the world. Jesus’ baptism was to fulfill all righteousness. It was to take His place, shoulder to shoulder along side of us in this world as our substitute, as our Savior. As on the evening and the morning of Day One of creation God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, so on this day, God said, “You are my beloved Son” and the redemption, the recreation of the world was begun. The voice of the Lord is over the waters, and when He sends forth His Spirit, creation happens. How mysterious these words and beyond all scientific investigation! Every other theory, philosophy or myth concerning “the beginning,” proposes some sort of so-called eternal substance, nugget or stuff from which everything came with a bang or an extended, evolutionary whimper, without, of course, explaining where the original stuff came from. God’s Word says that God created everything “ex nihilo,” that is, out of nothing—impossible for us to imagine! And the creation of light, it’s only source the God who spoke it into being, foretells of the new creation, the city that “has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev 21:22-23). God’s act of creation was an act of pure grace reflecting His very character. Not only was the light “good,” even the darkness was good. After creating time, over six days God ordered the elements and then vegetation, sun, moon and stars, living creatures of the air and the sea and everything that creeps on the ground and finally man. And the thing is, first, it all happened by His mere speaking things into existence and, second, it all was very good. Even after the fall into sin, however, much of the goodness of God’s handiwork remains. The main difference now is rebellious, destructive, corrosive evil and sin defaces and destroys, infects and kills. There were no cemeteries before sin entered the world. Now they are piled on top of each other the world over. All have sinned therefore all die. But death was not in God’s original plan and creation of grace. Still God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Mt 5:45); “God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people” (Fourth Petition). But, after all, “life is more than food, and the body more than clothing” (Lk 12:23). Because of sin now darkness is where evil hides. Because of sin we have “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom 1:25). We confuse God with His creation, life is emptied of the Spirit and we do[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/01/blessed-in-the-name/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/01/blessed-in-the-name/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:03:53 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=907 http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/01/blessed-in-the-name/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Numbers 6:22-27 Date: Circumcision and Name of Jesus + First Sunday after Christmas + New Year’s Day + 1/1/12 We tend to hear this shortest Gospel reading of the year as a mere report of events, not unlike a short announcement in the newspaper[...] Text: Numbers 6:22-27 Date: Circumcision and Name of Jesus + First Sunday after Christmas + New Year’s Day + 1/1/12 We tend to hear this shortest Gospel reading of the year as a mere report of events, not unlike a short announcement in the newspaper, “just the facts:” “at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” Period. That’s it and that takes care of that. In a similar way every Sunday are we tempted to just let the final words of the Aaronic benediction slip by us like so many required words of legal disclosure at the end of a commercial. “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” Well, that’s nice. Thank you. And that takes care of that. Today our infant Savior is given a name, and we are given a name. But what takes care of what? Why all the hubbub over names? Well, the Law required, as God spoke to Abraham of old, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised…. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised” (Gen 17:9-10, 12). So Joseph and Mary brought their newborn Jewish Child to the temple to be circumcised on the eighth day since His birth. And that took care of that. But, did you ever wonder, why the eighth day? It is the eternal day, the Day of resurrection and reconciliation with God and new life, even from the beginning! That’s why we’ve gathered here today, not just because it’s New Year’s Day, not on the seventh day of the week nor even the first of another week, but on the eighth day, the eternal day, the day full of grace from God and salvation for dying souls. The Babe received the sign of the covenant of God, the covenant that pointed to the forgiveness of sins and new life in the Messiah. Yes! Here is the Messiah, and the very first blood shed by Him for us and for our salvation, for it is “the blood of Jesus [God’s] Son that cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). “And how is this child to be named?” There was no question about it. No baby name books or fussy discussion. Mary and Joseph had been commanded by God through the angel and he was called Jesus, a relatively common name of the time. “Joshua,” “Yeshua.” It means “God saves.” But this Child would be the only One who would, who could live up to His name. And that’s it. That takes care of that. That is until you are commanded to believe in this name, to be baptized in, or into this name, to confess both the sins He takes away and the faith He gives. Such faith and confession is not such an easy, automatic, undemanding, uncomplicated thing. So that doesn’t necessarily take care of that, at least that easily. Similarly with the Aaronic benediction. “Bless you,” we say to someone after they sneeze. But why? What is a blessing? And why this blessing? Well, for one thing this blessing tells who and how and why we need God’s blessing. Two years after God led His people out of the slavery of Egypt He prepared them to be His people in this world. He was making them a nation along side of the nations of the world. He gave them Laws to regulate their life together. But more than that they were to be different than the nations of the world, indeed, a light among nations, the light of the deliverance of God. And so they were also made a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that they may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light (cf. 1 Peter 2:9). For their moral and spiritual order He set apart the Levites to serve at the sanctuary of God, the priests being Aaron and his sons. Beside[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/25/his-holy-arm/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/25/his-holy-arm/#comments Sun, 25 Dec 2011 16:52:36 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=904 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/25/his-holy-arm/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Isaiah 52:7-10 Date: Christmas Day + 12/25/11 On Christmas Day we celebrate and proclaim the doctrine, the teaching, indeed the mystery that, in Jesus of Nazareth, God became man, took on our human flesh and blood, in order to redeem, to save [...] Text: Isaiah 52:7-10 Date: Christmas Day + 12/25/11 On Christmas Day we celebrate and proclaim the doctrine, the teaching, indeed the mystery that, in Jesus of Nazareth, God became man, took on our human flesh and blood, in order to redeem, to save us from sin, death and hell. Isaiah had foretold it, even as he foretold so much about the coming Messiah. Among the prophet’s prophecies, in the fifty-second chapter he speaks of human feet and arms. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news.” The feet belong to the messengers. He calls them beautiful not because of any expert treatment of a podiatrist or pedicurist but they are beautiful because of the good news the messenger brings. The feet belong to a preacher sent by God. They belong to the prophet Isaiah. They belong to apostles like Paul. Above all they belong to Jesus Himself as the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews calls “Jesus, the apostle,” that is the sent one (Heb 3:1). These feet belong to all who are sent by God throughout the ages to preach the Gospel. You know the messenger is a preacher sent by God if He preaches not just about the latest tips for family peace or advice for congregational development, but preaches about Jesus according to the pure doctrine revealed in Holy Scripture. The Good News or Gospel he preaches is peace with God and salvation. He proclaims, “Your God reigns.” This is certainly good news to anyone who has begun to think, as have God’s people time and again throughout history, that God has abandoned us or that He is sleeping, angry or simply ignoring us. For by His Word of promise we have come to know that God reigns and rules for our good and not for evil. As Jesus said, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). In addition to the feet of the messenger, Isaiah speaks of the arm of the Lord. “The Lord has bared his holy arm.” His arm is an expression of God’s strength and action, taking on the enemy and freeing His people from captivity and enslavement. Applying to God human characteristics is called “anthropomorphism.” It is a way of expressing a quality about God by human analogy. God, of course, does not have feet or arms. “God is spirit” (John 4:24). But at Christmas we discover with some surprise that God so loved the world that He came in human form. Not an apparition, mind you, but real, observable, touchable, “holdable” and huggable human form. St. John reminds us that God is the Word in the beginning, before all created things and creating all things. God is life itself. And God is light as opposed to darkness. Yet, in the fullness of time, God, the Word, became flesh and dwelt among us. When He took on our human nature, our human flesh and blood of His mother Mary, yes! God now has feet and arms! In Jesus “His holy arm” was about to do what no human being could do. In Jesus His holy arms first clung to His mother Mary, feeding at her breast as any normal human child. And that clinging would turn into honor and continued care even all the way at His final moment when He handed her keeping over to the care of His beloved disciple, John. Those holy arms gathered and hugged the little children to bless them. They cast out demons and told the devil where to go. Sometimes they flailed a whip to cleanse His temple. His arms bent often or reached heavenward in prayer to His Father. They reached out to call sinners to repentance, to preach the good news of release from sin, and to teach His disciples of the good and gracious will of God. His arms gather us in fellowship every time He extends the bread of His body and the cup of His blood to us, proclaiming His death, the price of our redemption. Those holy arms, of course, would finally be extended to embrace and bless the whole world as they were nailed to a cross. Those holy arms, on the cross, were not held fast by the nails as much as by the Savior’s holy[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/24/god-is-with-us/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/24/god-is-with-us/#comments Sun, 25 Dec 2011 01:54:24 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=901 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/24/god-is-with-us/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Isaiah 7:10-14 Date: Christmas Eve + 11/24/11 How many tyrants in their conquests, how many nations, how many church denominations, or how many football teams or quarterbacks have been convinced that God is on their side? At least the proper c[...] Text: Isaiah 7:10-14 Date: Christmas Eve + 11/24/11 How many tyrants in their conquests, how many nations, how many church denominations, or how many football teams or quarterbacks have been convinced that God is on their side? At least the proper cheer would be “Deo Volente,” “God willing,” as St. James advises, “you do not know what tomorrow will bring,” so “you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:14-15). So I suppose to some it would seem rather presumptuous that our Savior and God Jesus Christ would be called “Immanuel,” “God is with us.” But that is not a name we came up with on our own, the product of only of our own loyalty or enthusiasm. It is the amazing, majestic name of the Savior given by God Himself through the prophet Isaiah. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel,” literally, “with us God,” God is with us. This is the significance of Christmas. It was a word given to the prophet Isaiah to convey to Ahaz, the King of Judah, when “the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind” (Is 7:2). They were frightened; frightened at the prospect that Judah was surrounded. The foreign Assyria and traitorous Ephraim threatened from the north and Egypt threatened from the south. So Isaiah was sent with a word of the Lord to assure Ahaz that God had determined that it shall not stand, their defeat shall not come to pass. Ahaz didn’t believe it. So the Lord commanded him to ask for a sign to confirm God’s promise. After all, this was the mighty God of Moses talking, the One who liberated His people from their bondage in Egypt with mighty signs. When Moses feared that the people would not believe his words the Lord gave him the sign of his staff turning into a serpent and back again (Ex 4:1-5). Then there were the signs of the ten plagues to finally convince Pharaoh to let God’s people go. Through the wilderness God led His people by the signs of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. So Ahaz was told to ask for a sign from God. How often have you asked or wished for some sign from God to help you make a decision? “But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.’” Was this the answer of an unbeliever? or of one truly humble? You recall how our Lord Jesus was tempted by the devil to test God’s promised angelic protection, and Jesus answered by simply quoting the Law in Deuteronomy 6:16, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” But Ahaz was not here being tempted by the devil, he was being commanded by God. So his refusal amounted to, at least, false humility and at most unbelief. It was the prophet Isaiah that then spoke and asked the king a question. He calls Ahaz, “O house of David,” as if to remind him of all of God’s promises now invested in him. “Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?” Clearly Isaiah was frustrated. On the one hand Ahaz was one of those who would not believe without seeing. And yet when signs were offered so that he might believe, he wouldn’t look! A person “wearies” God when you do not hear His word or believe and take Him at His word. All our worries and fears, not to mention our doubts and slowness to believe weary the God who would have us hear, believe and be saved. So the Lord, under the motto, “If you want it done right, do it yourself,” gave Ahaz a sign of His own choosing. But what a mysterious sign! “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Most prophecies have both a short-term and a longer-range fulfillment. This one, however, is a puzzlement and went unsolved for ages. Yet it is one of the most important of the Messianic prophesies in the Old Testament. That a virgin would conceive and bear a son is, of course, the normal procedure as a chaste bride and groom would not have relations until they were married. That is still God’s will and desi[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/18/h-o-u-s-e/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/18/h-o-u-s-e/#comments Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:02:08 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=897 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/18/h-o-u-s-e/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: 2 Samuel 7:1-16 Date: Advent IV + 12/18/11 When St. Luke reports of the visit of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary he says that Mary was “betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph,” and adds the important detail, “of the house of David.” Fur[...] Text: 2 Samuel 7:1-16 Date: Advent IV + 12/18/11 When St. Luke reports of the visit of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary he says that Mary was “betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph,” and adds the important detail, “of the house of David.” Furthermore, the angel’s announcement includes the prediction that Jesus “will reign over the house of Jacob forever.” Today’s sermon title points to the double use of the word “house” in our Old Testament reading telling of the great King David “dwelling in a house of cedar,” but the ark of God dwelling in (or should I use today’s protest language and say “occupying”?) a tent on the one hand, and the dynasty, lineage or family tree of David on the other. We are taught to make the distinction in the phrase (at least as old as Benjamin Franklin), “a house is not a home.” Franklin said a house becomes a home when “it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.” We generally make the distinction between house and home more simply between a structure and the family living in it. But you will notice the sermon title, “H O U S E,” is printed in graphic imitation of the title of the FOX television network’s award winning medical drama series starring James Hugh Calum Laurie OBE (Order of the British Empire) or simply Hugh Laurie. And chances are that you’ve probably seen an episode as the 2012 Guinness book of World Records has designated “H O U S E” as “the world’s most popular current television program, watched by a whopping 81.8 million people in 66 countries.” But did you know that the name of the lead character, Dr. Gregory House, and therefore the name of the program, is itself a double entendre, “a subtle homage” of the writers to the fictional British detective Sherlock Holmes. Get it? “Holmes,” “House”! And this even extends to their “sidekicks.” As there was Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, so in the television series it is Dr. Gregory House and Dr. James Wilson. So the phrase becomes, “a HOUSE is not a HOLMES.” But this was precisely the confusion in the conversation of King David with the prophet Nathan and God Himself. David was concerned about an appropriate structure to house the ark of God as His dwelling place. God was concerned with the extension of His promise of the Messiah, a Savior. You will recall that promise was first made in the most general of terms to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, saying that one of Eve’s offspring will contend victoriously over the devil (Gen 3:15). The promise was defined and refined more in Genesis 12 as we are told He would be the offspring of Abraham. Then through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the line continued through Ruth, Obed, and Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of David. So it was the promise and prediction that the Savior would be of the house, that is, the genealogy or lineage or family tree of David. That’s why the phrase “of the house of David” is so important in St. Luke’s narrative. But the Messiah was not merely to be identified and found as a descendant of David. The Messiah’s heritage as “Son of David” highlights a specific and important aspect of the salvation and kingdom He brings. That aspect is peace. And this is signaled in two ways here in Second Samuel. That this is a major step forward in God’s plan of salvation, first, seems to be indicated by God’s name spoken through the prophet Nathan. Because God had given David rest from all his enemies, only now did it enter David’s mind to build in Jerusalem a more permanent building, house or temple as God’s dwelling place rather than the temporary and portable tent that had served up until now. And he was on to something. The concept of rest is important, as we shall see. When he first mentions the idea to Nathan the prophet, Nathan says to the king, “Go.” Literally, “Quite right! Do it, for the Lord (Yahweh) is with you.” But then follows the vision and instruction to Nathan by Yahweh, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says Yahweh.’” And he basically [...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/11/the-robe-of-righteousness/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/11/the-robe-of-righteousness/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 18:01:09 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=894 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/11/the-robe-of-righteousness/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 Date: Advent III + 12/11/11 Last Sunday we heard the prophet Isaiah foretell the coming of John the Baptist. In today’s selection he speaks no more of him. Interestingly, even though the reading from John’s Gospel today rep[...] Text: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 Date: Advent III + 12/11/11 Last Sunday we heard the prophet Isaiah foretell the coming of John the Baptist. In today’s selection he speaks no more of him. Interestingly, even though the reading from John’s Gospel today reports about the Baptist, the Baptizer himself insists that he doesn’t talk about himself but came only as a witness to “the light,” “the Christ,” the “One standing among you who you do not know,” “the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” So this Sunday Isaiah also speaks only of the coming Messiah and the joyful kingdom He brings. The tradition of the one pink candle of the Third Sunday of Advent proclaims joy. “Rejoice always,” says apostle Paul. John the Baptist proclaims the joyous light of glory that was coming into the world. Hope abounds in today’s psalm for “those who sow in tears” for they “shall reap with shouts of joy.” So the Servant of Yahweh, the Messiah brings good news, healing, liberty, the Lord’s favor and gladness. He says, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord” as He is covered with the robe of righteousness in order to clothe others, to clothe us for the joyous marriage feast of salvation. “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,” writes Isaiah. But who is he writing about? Himself? That cannot be. For nowhere else does the prophet speak at such length about himself. Everywhere else Yahweh speaks of and to the One called the Servant of Yahweh, the One appointed to be the mediator of a new covenant, the light of the Gentiles, even the Suffering Servant. No, not Isaiah but the Messiah Himself speaks already. When He came, of course, Jesus Himself read these very words in His hometown synagogue of Nazareth as His own “call document” then declaring in no uncertain terms, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). In other words, who is this of whom the prophet speaks? Jesus says, “You’re lookin’ at him!” This is the calling and work of the Savior. He is “anointed,” literally, “the Christ.” He brings good news to the poor, mercy and the favor of God to all who know their need. “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted” as His people have prayed for and expected for centuries in Psalm 147:3. When He comes to eradicate sin it is like throwing open the barred gates of our slavery to sin. These words always refer not to the mere opening of a room but the opening of the eyes. That is, the darkness of the prison cell of sin is invaded by the glorious light of the grace of God, the forgiveness of sins, of life restored. Here again is the important, life-giving word repeated from last Sunday, “comfort;” to breathe again, to comfort all who mourn, those who take to heart and can see that sin is the culprit and death the final enemy. To those who receive the gift of deliverance from sin and death comes beauty, gladness, praise of God and the steadfastness and sturdiness not of their own making but of this wonderful gift of God called “tsediqah,” “righteousness;” “that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.” “Righteousness” means that our relationship with God is restored, like God originally created and intended with Adam and Eve. As they were in a place called a “Garden,” so are God’s people now “the planting of the Lord,” the Church “a garden that causes what is sown in it to sprout up.” So important and central is it that the word “righteousness” is repeated three times in our text. The Servant Himself is righteousness, the sinless Son of God, even in the days when He took on our flesh. God is His Father both in the same way and yet an even more unique, glorious, mysterious and intimate way than of ours. For He is “the light” as apostle John calls Him. That is, He is as we confess in the Creed, “begotten” and “consubstantial,” “of one substance” with the Father. You can’t get any more intimate than that. In Jesus, God Himself came into the world, not “to condemn the world, but [...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no