Sermons

But you see and know the flesh, the world, and the devils for what they are. In faith, you arm yourself daily with God’s Word. Through confession and trust in your baptism, God plunges the Old Adam under the water, that he may daily drown and die with all sins and evil desires. You live in this world and yet not of this world, rejecting the world’s charms, enticements and lusts and living dependent on God, humble in faith, and steadfast in prayer. And when tempted and tried by the Liar of Liars and Murderer, you do not speak falsehood but tell the truth. You do not trust your eyes and experience, but believe the Word of Jesus. You do not subject yourself again to the Evil One, but reject all his works and all his ways. 

That which is different about God’s word, as over against all human words, is its authority. God’s Word does what it says. And He often gives others to speak with His authority, so He acted also through the prophetic word. He sent his word forth in the mouths of the holy prophets to “pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:10) It is written that the Lord “has sent a word against Jacob” and that, “it will light upon Israel.” (Isaiah 9:8) When God speaks, His purpose and motive is clear. He tears down whatever is getting in the way of faith in Him. He builds and plants trust in Him which receives forgiveness in Jesus.

It’s a demonic distortion to try to flatten the incredible God-given diversity and order of the world or the church. And to try to force an equal outcome on this world is to try to turn it into a flat, dull, and ugly place, a Christ-less “heaven” where you’ll own nothing and never be happy. And yet, Jesus says that our reward can be great in heaven. The fathers used to speak of this reward as the reward of grace, a pure gift since it is just as unearned and undeserved as the whole day’s pay that the laborers in the vineyard received, even though they had only worked an hour.

In this age of information, the messages are often conflicting. There are so many messages that you’re often confused. What is true, what is deceiving, and what is misleading? How can you possibly know? If only you had an angel from God, a holy messenger, to come and tell you what is really real. But you have angels sent by God to speak the Word of Jesus authoritatively.

Catechesis is much more comprehensive than mere education. This life is lived by faith in Christ as we go about our daily tasks as husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children, neighbors, and workers of every kind. Living the Christian faith is not merely an “internal thing”; it has authentic “external things” by which it is known and sustained. It is about a real faith that is fed and nurtured through preaching and sacraments in real places of worship. It is lived out in the real world where there is real sin and real sorrow, but real forgiveness and consolation through the Gospel of our dear Lord Jesus Christ. This is what catechesis is all about. All this and more is meant by the word of Jesus: “Make disciples of all nations; baptizing them … teaching them …; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”