Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

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The celebration of the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels dates back to the 12th Century in the Western Church. In the Eastern Church it goes all the way back to the 4th century. In the 16th century, Luther cleaned out a lot of the ‘saints’ days from the church calendar because they filled with so much superstition. But St. Michael and All Angels remained because it points us so clearly to Christ and because it is good, right and salutary for us to have a good understanding of the doctrine of angels. Philip Melancthon, the author of the Augsburg Confession, even wrote a hymn for the occasion which we just sang.

I. Michael
A. 1st – Daniel
Michael’s name shows up in the Bible in three places. Our Old Testament reading from Daniel is the first. A messenger came to Daniel while Daniel was captivity in Babylon. The messenger reported that he was delayed in coming to comfort Daniel because he was being held by the kings of Persia. “But Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me…” (Dan.10:13).

The messenger tells Daniel that things are going to get worse before they get better. But “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. (Dan.12:1).

In other words, don’t get discouraged Daniel. There are forces at work in the world that you don’t know about and can’t see. God will deliver you.

Michael is an ‘angel prince,’ in fact, “one of the CHIEF princes,” “the GREAT prince,” “who has charge of your people.”

In our Gospel reading, we heard Jesus tell His disciples that there are ‘guardian angels’ which are ‘charged’ with watching over one particular child. One angel to one child of God. One angel, devoted to watching over Frankie Penelope-Joan Ouellette.

But Michael has the charge of watching over a whole nation of people, “Daniel’s people,” the Israelites, the people of God.

B. 2nd – Jude
The next time that Michael’s appears is in the New Testament, in that little book right before the Book of Revelation, the book of Jude. In the 9th verse we read that Michael challenged the devil over false teaching about the body of Moses. “The archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses..” (Jude 9)
Interesting isn’t it that we are called to contend for the truth of God’s word against false teaching and false doctrine that comes from men and women. But who contends directly with the devil himself, whom Jesus calls “the father of lies”? Well, it takes an angel to deal with an angel and Michael the archangel ‘contends with the devil.’

C. 3rd – Revelation
In our 2nd reading this morning from Revelation, the apostle John writes what he sees and he sees war in heaven. It was “Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon.”

This is a spiritual war over the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s a war that is fought with the ‘weapons of the Spirit,’ the Word of God. And the weapons of the Spirit overpower the dragon and his angels and they are thrown out of heaven. That’s good news for heaven. But where are they thrown down to? Here. Among us.

We wonder why so many bad things happen in this world, things that are unexplainably painful and evil. Why? Peter writes, “Be sober minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1Peter 5:8).

One of the great hopes that we life for is that in heaven there will be no devil and his bad angels to mess things up. They’ve been thrown out forever. Continue reading →

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St. Matthew reports that “great crowds came to Jesus, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet and he healed them… And they glorified the God of Israel.” (Matthew 15:30-31).

That’s a summary version of the healing that Jesus does during His ministry. Matthew’s a ‘big picture’ guy. He doesn’t give us too many of the individual stories of those who were brought to Jesus and healed. Matthew wants you to get the ‘big picture’ which is that Jesus is doing exactly what the prophets said the Messiah would do when He came into the world. “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.” (Is.35:5-6). Matthew wants you to know that Jesus is the One, the Messiah that the whole Old Testament was pointing to. He wants you to know that the Kingdom of Heaven has broken into this world in the person of Jesus Christ.

But our Gospel reading for this morning doesn’t come from Matthew’s gospel. It comes from Mark’s. Mark has the same goal as Matthew. He wants you to know that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer, the fulfillment of God’s promise, the only hope of man to be saved.

But Mark is a detail guy. Mark rarely talks about ‘great crowds.’ Mark loves to single out men and women from Matthew’s “great crowd,” and tell their unique story. We hear one of those stories this morning.

“And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment.” I remember many years ago, I took Sarah to Colby College to see a production of “The Life of Helen Keller.” Helen Keller of course was the deaf, mute and blind girl that Anne Frank taught how to live with her handicap. It’s a marvelous story. But the thing that that made this particular performance so special was that the person who played Helen in the play was really deaf, mute and blind. She wasn’t just acting. So this play was both a story about someone long ago and a about this particular girl in the play. And she did an outstanding job. I don’t know how she knew just when and where to be on stage and how her deformed speech was always right on cue. At the end of the play when she came out everyone stood and applauded. The director said, ‘she can’t see or hear you. But if you stamp your feet, she will feel the vibrations.’ And that’s what we did and she smiled and bowed. And we were all “astonished beyond measure.”

Helen Keller is a great story about a particular individual who learned how to live with the incredible challenges of being blind, deaf and mute. Maybe you know people who have broken through the limitations of their particular handicap.

But Mark wants us to see something this morning that transcends every story of personal triumph over whatever limitations we might be faced with. Jesus doesn’t teach the man how get along in life with his handicaps. He takes them away. “And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.” Mark wants us to see that this Jesus has the power to ‘turn back the clock’ and reset the human condition in a way that no one else can.

And the question that Mark and all of the New Testament writers wants us to consider is this, ‘just how far back will this Jesus turn the clock?’ ‘How completely will He reset the human condition?’ Continue reading →

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If I were to ask you how many commandments there are in the “10 Commandments,” you would of course say… “10.” And that would be the correct answer. Sounds silly I know, but truth is, the only reason we’re sure there are 10 commandments is because Moses specifically says so. Three times in Exodus and Deuteronomy we read “And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone.” (Deut.4:13, 10:4, Ex.34:28)

Unfortunately, Moses didn’t number them, so there’s always been a bit of confusion over how to number these things. It’s confusing because there’s actually 14 separate imperatives, “you shall’s” or “you shall not’s” in the 10 Commandments. And no one’s exactly sure how these 14 imperatives are supposed to be grouped into 10 Commandments. Jews group them together one way, Lutherans and Roman Catholics another, and the Greek Orthodox and Reformed another.

This is not a problem really, because in every case, all 14 of the imperatives are included. It just means that if you are not from a Lutheran / Roman Catholic background you may have learned to number the Commandments differently than we do here.

Frankly, I’m glad that Moses specifically told us that there are 10 Commandments. If he hadn’t, we would probably have 14 Commandments which would make Confirmation Class even longer than it is, and extend this “Summer Sermon Series” clear into the Fall.

One of the places where the numbering differs is in the imperatives regarding ‘coveting.’ The Greek Orthodox and Reformed follow the older Jewish system and lump everything together into one Commandment. In the 5th century, St. Augustine suggested that since there were two separate imperatives here they should be two separate Commandments. And this is the approach that Catholics and Lutherans have taken ever since.

Having said all of this, for no other reason than it seems interesting and you have to start a sermon somehow, with the exception of Luther’s Small Catechism, everyone including Augustine and Luther treat these two Commandments as though they were one. And that’s what we are going to do this morning too.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.” “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Continue reading →

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“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” In his “Treatise On Good Works,” Luther says, “This commandment seems insignificant, and yet it is so great that he who would rightly keep it must risk life and limb, property and reputation, friends and all that he has. And yet it includes no more than the work of that tiny member of the body, the tongue, and is called, ‘telling the truth,’ which includes refuting lies when necessary, and thus many evil works of the tongue are forbidden by this commandment.” (AE 44:110)

The 8th Commandment is there to keep the tongue under control. Even though it’s a small member of the body, controlling the tongue is no small feat. James writes, “The tongue is a small member [of the body], yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire entire course of life and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison.” In conclusion, James says, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue… this person’s faith is useless.” (James 3:5-8; 1:26).

Don’t tell James that ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me,’ or that ‘talk is cheap.’ Don’t tell yourself that either. Just think about the damage and pain we have inflicted on others with our tongue. And if you can’t bring yourself to think of others, think of the way that you have been hurt by what others have said either about you or to you?

The 8th Commandment is there to protect and defend us from the human tongue, other’s and our own.

In it’s original setting in Exodus 20:16, this Commandment pertained to the courtroom. Those who were called upon to ‘testify’ were not to give false testimony. This may be hard for us to believe, but the Israelites were susceptible to bribery, and certain prejudices, and selfish motives that caused them to bear false witness against their neighbor in a court of law. Can you imagine?

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Continue reading →

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As we make our way through this series on the 10 Commandments this summer, I am once again surprised at God’s concern for the big things as well as the little things in our life. I doubt that anyone is very surprise to hear that God wants us to ‘have no other gods besides Me,’ and ‘we not misuse His name,’ and ‘honor the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.’ These are the kinds of things that everyone expects God to be concerned about.

But what we have been seeing as we make our way though the 2nd Table of the Commandments is that God is just as interested in what we typically call the ‘ordinary’, and ‘down to earth’ things, such as our families; “You shall honor your father and mother,” and our physical body; “You shall not murder,” and our marriage; “You shall not commit adultery.” And now this morning we hear that God is also concerned for, of all things, our material possessions; “You shall not steal.”

Does it surprise you like it does me, that the almighty God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is concerned about things like your boat, and golf clubs, and fly rod, and your wardrobe and jewelry and car, and your I-pad and I-phone and your toys?

Does it surprise you that ‘true religion’ is a whole lot more ‘all encompassing’ than we either think it is or maybe even than we would like it to be? You mean that God is involved in my ‘stuff,’ and my neighbor’s ‘stuff?’ Maybe we’d like to keep our religion on a much more ‘spiritual’ level. Maybe we want our ‘money’ and ‘possessions’ to be exempt from anything to do with matters of faith and the life of faith. Continue reading →

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Our summer sermon series on the 10 Commandments brings us this morning to the 6th Commandment – “You shall not commit adultery.” For better of for worse, like it or not, awkward and embarrassing as it may be, there’s no way to talk about this commandment without using the word “sex.” Simply put, “adultery” is the improper use of sex. Adultery is sex with those whom it is not meant.

I did a quick word search and discovered that the word ‘sex’ is never used in the bible. But the word ‘sexual’ however is used 31 times, and 30 of those times, it’s “sexual immorality.” In the Greek of the New Testament, it’s one word, “porneia.” It’s the word that we use for “pornography.”

The word ‘adultery’ appears 35 times in the Scriptures including the 6th Commandment. In the Old Testament it’s the Hebrew word “ne-aph.” In the New Testament it’s the Greek word “moixea.” Both words refer to the sexual infidelity of either a husband or a wife.

In every single case that either “porneia,” “ne-aph,” or “moixia” appear, its always in the context of God’s condemnation.

It shouldn’t surprise us that none of these words are found anywhere in the first two chapters of Genesis. There we read that God created the man and the woman and pronounced His “very good” upon all that He made. No “adultery” or “sexual immorality,” none of God’s condemnation in the beginning. ‘As it was in the beginning,’ is the way that it’s supposed be ‘now and forever.’ Needless to say, it is not.

It is quite clear in the Scriptures that God created the man and the woman for sex. After God made the male out of the dust of the earth and breathed His life giving breath into him, He announced for all to hear, ‘it is not good for the man to be alone.’ Something we men prove to be true over and over again.

In the counsel of the Holy Trinity, God said, “I will make him a helper FIT for him.” We should hear that little word “fit” in a much more literal and physical than we usually do. It is God’s purposeful and intentional design that the man and the woman physically fit together. Continue reading →

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So far in our exploration of the 10 Commandments, we have examined the first three Commandments that make up the 1st Table of the Law, “You shall have no other gods;” “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God;” and “You shall honor the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” Jesus summarizes the 1st table of the Law like this, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind.” The 1st Table of the Law tells us how we are stand directly before God – ‘Coram Deo.’

Jesus summarizes the 2nd Table of the Law like this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The 2nd Table of the Law tells us how we are to stand before man – ‘Coram homo.’ So far, we have explored the 4th Commandment, “You shall honor your father and mother.” This morning, we will explore the 5th Commandment, “You shall not murder.”

But by way of introduction, let’s understand that there is, in the Scriptures, an interesting and important connection between the 1st and 2nd Tables of the 10 Commandments. The temptation that we all face is to separate these two tables from each other in such a way that we miss the connection between them. The temptation we face goes something like this:

“My standing before God depends on my faithfulness to the 1st Table of the Law and not very much on the 2nd.” This kind of misunderstanding produces very “religious” people, who feel confident about their standing before God even though they are lacking in charity towards their neighbor.

On the other hand there are those who feel very confident about their standing before God because they are very faithful to live according to the 2nd Table of the Law, with very little concern for the 1st. We see this kind of misunderstanding in people who are very charitable and whom everyone would call a ‘good person,’ but are not religious. They feel confident before God because they are very charitable, even though they never go to church or call on the name of the Lord. Continue reading →