Festival of the Reformation - 2018 - What Are You Afraid Of?

2018 Summary of Christian Doctrine Class Session Two

Reformation Symphony - Felix Mendelssohn

2018 Summary of Christian Doctrine Class Session One

St. Luke the Evangelist - 2018 - Text Only

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text this evening is from the Gospel lesson just read, especially these words, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  This evening we remember St. Luke, the evangelist.  And yet, just like we spoke of with St. Matthew 4 weeks ago, and St. Michael and all angels 3 weeks ago, we aren’t here to learn about St. Luke so much as we are here to learn about Jesus.  For without Jesus, Luke is no saint, with out Jesus Luke has no Gospel to write.  Without Jesus, Luke is just another forgettable ancient human. 

And yet, Jesus changed all that, calling Luke to record for us the Gospel that bears his name, and the book that records the Acts of the Apostles.  Luke records for us the Gospel.

It is for the sake of that very Gospel that Jesus sent out the 72 in our text for this evening.  He sends them out as lambs in the midst of wolves – and you know what wolves do to lambs – all to proclaim the forgiveness of sins won in Jesus name.  He sends them out to preach in front of emperors, kings, princes and governors, who will have them arrested, beaten, thrown in prison and worse.  He sends them to be poured out like a drink offering by beheading, as happened with St. Paul, crucifixion, as happened with St. Peter, or any other sort of cruel painful death as happened to so many Christian pastors.  He sends them out sometimes into poverty – I know a pastor in North Dakota who had served faithfully for my entire life without ever once having received a raise, even though the worker deserves his wages.  He sends them out, even though their families may be mistreated, ignored, gossiped about or persecuted themselves, as Paul says, “Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm.”  God sends out his servants to visit the sick and to say, “The Kingdom of God has come near to you,” 

It is not an easy task.  Not all pastors will be received.  Some will be removed.  Some will be silenced.  Some will be welcomed not in peace but in hostility.  Some will even die, as Paul, Peter, and perhaps even St. Luke did.  But Jesus sends them out, all the same, to preach the Word.  Jesus sends them to proclaim the Gospel, even if it costs them health, wealth, family, friends and all. 

Why? 

For your sake, dear Christians. 

Yes it is for you, and for all Christians that Jesus sends out speakers of the Gospel. 

So that you might hear the word, and that by hearing you might believe.  So that you might know what God has done to you in His great love, and mercy for you.  With Certainty!  With conviction!  Without doubt!  So that you might hear the Word of God and have faith that Jesus died and rose specifically for you and for your sin.  Yes for you!  For your sin!  His blood was for you.  His death was for you.  Hear that message and believe it!  For the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 

Jesus sends out the 72, and they go, they preach, God does His work through their words and their deeds, sinful though they be.  Jesus sent out St. Luke, to be a companion to St. Paul, even when all others had abandoned him, and his death was imminent.  Jesus sent out, Sts. Timothy and Titus.  Jesus sent out his ministers, and they’ve reaped by preaching and baptizing and teaching all things that Jesus taught. 

And, dear Christians, Jesus still sends out his ministers today.  For you and yours still need God’s word and healing, do you not?  You need to hear that Jesus has won victory over the grave, when you hear the words terminal cancer, Alzheimer’s, or Parkinson’s .  You need to hear about Jesus and his bloody forgiveness, when parent and child are so angry they won’t even speak to each other, when neighbor cheats neighbor.  You need to hear when Marriages feel shakey.  You need to hear when adultery has been committed.  You need to hear when you’ve been sinned against, and you need to hear when you’ve done the sinning.  You need to hear the Gospel. 

And to be clear – this is the Gospel – so hear it now!  That God, in His great love for you, sent his Son Jesus Christ into this world, for the explicit purpose of dying for you.  God traded his own Son’s life for yours.  He allowed his son to be beaten, bloodied, tortured, spat upon, stripped naked to hang along side a public roadway so that you will live forever in a peace, comfort and joy.  By Jesus wounds you are healed.  By Jesus passion, you are promised a place where every tear will be wiped from your eye.  God loved you that much.  Even while you still were a sinner, God had done this all for you.  For your Forgiveness. 

We say it this way in the catechism, That Jesus redeemed you, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won you from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not with Gold or Silver, but with his holy precious blood, innocent suffering and death, so that you might be his own and live under him in his kingdom. 

That’s what Jesus wants you to hear – and BELIEVE!  That’s why Jesus sends out his ministers, even today, so that you might BELIEVE!  So that you might be FORGIVEN!  So that you can know what awaits you in the challenges of this sinful world – God’s Grace!  “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”  Article 5 of the Augsburg Confession says it this way, “So that we may obtain this faith, so that we might believe the message of Free justification for Christ’s sake, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments was instituted.”  That’s a fancy way of saying “God sent pastors so that God might make you believe and thus give you forgiveness, life and salvation!” 

And that brings us back to our Gospel lesson, where Jesus says this, “Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  This is what Christians do because of what God has done for them on the cross.  Never find your salvation in your prayers for your pastor, find it only in Jesus.  And finding salvation in Christ, pray for those Christ sent to you, your pastors.  Pray for your pastors, for they are sinners like you, dwelling in the forgiveness earned by Christ.  Pray for the Vicar, for he needs Jesus just as much as you, dear sinner, for he sins also.  Pray for the teachers at our School.  Pray that God will work through them, pray that the Good Shepherd of the church might defend them from wolves of sin and weariness.  Pray that God will raise up new pastors to preach and teach your grandchildren when Pastor Poppe and I are dead and gone.  Pray for the pastors without calls, pray for those who have been hurt by unruly congregations, pray for District and synod pastors.  Pray that the forgiveness earned by Jesus may be distributed freely through word and sacraments, given by the hands of sinful men. 

Dear Christians, in our text for this evening, Jesus sends out 72 to preach his word in Judea.  Since that time, countless more have been sent to preach and teach.  And in the years to come, more will sent also.  The message has always been the same, recorded for us by St. Luke, as well as by others.  And the message is this:  The Kingdom of God is near to you, with the forgiveness, mercy, grace and love shown in Jesus. 

In the name of Jesus.  Amen. 

Trinity 20 - "Many Called, but due to Apathy, Few Chosen"

Audio:

Trinity 19 - 2018 - Authoritatively Forgiven