sChrist Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
January 3, 2010
What Child Is This?
“And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.” Luke 2:21.
Today we commemorate the name and the circumcision of Jesus. It’s interesting to watch the world celebrate Christmas without the sacred name. But Christmas without Christ is like candy without sugar or beer without alcohol, what’s the point? Everybody is celebrating but no one seems to know what. And so we ask ourselves on this (liturgical) eighth day of Christmas: what Child is this, knowing that the true answer to that question will carry us through this new year no matter what crosses we may have to bear.
What Child is this who was prophesied of old, worshiped by angels, sought by wise men, named in heaven and circumcised on the eighth day? He is Jesus, whose name means Savior, the One who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. But such pedigree is not merely a doctrinal formulation to be repeated, but one which shows that the Lord we adore is the Consolation of Israel and of all who put their trust in Him.
What Child is this? He is Jesus, whose name means Savior, and who was circumcised on the 8th day. Why was it necessary for the Lord who made the covenant with Abraham to be incorporated into it by circumcision?
First because the blood He shed there was a down payment of the good things to come. It was a forecast of the nails and the spear by which the last drop of Divine Blood would be poured out to purify us from our sins. By the bleeding and dying of Jesus we are given a transfusion of Life and made partakers of the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
Secondly by circumcision Jesus became a debtor to the whole Law to do it and perform it so that the righteous demands of the law might be fulfilled in us. Joshua told his people as they were about to cross the Jordan, “You cannot serve the LORD; for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God.” It’s no exaggeration. We cannot believe in Him, hear Him, worship Him or live for Him because we are not holy! But Jesus is! He did all these things for us and continues to do them until we arrive safely on Canaan’s shore.
What Child is this? He is Jesus whose name means Savior and who was so-named by the angel Gabriel “who stands in the presence of God.” This tells us that our Savior’s name and life’s work were determined by God who is omniscient and who knows exactly what we need the most. We need the God/Man to be our Savior from the perils of sin. And as His name was given by divine decision, it is vital that we turn from our sins and Confess Him to be our divine Savior.
To believe anything less about Jesus than that He is the anointed One of God who came into the world to bleed and die and save sinners is to have no Jesus at all. The Jesus of Joel Osteen and of the “coffee house churches” is no more than a five letter word who leaves men fully dressed in the sin of Adam and the un-circumcision of their hearts.
What Child is this? He is Jesus, whose name means Savior, who on the Glorious Eighth Day after suffering unjust death was raised in glory, and who promises all who believe in Him that they too will never die.
What Child is this? He is Jesus, whose name means Savior, whose circumcision was the last necessary circumcision to be performed. He is God who fulfilled circumcision and established Christian and infant baptism even as He had given “infant circumcision.”
Whereas circumcision was a sign of God’s promise, Baptism is much more! Circumcision looked forward to the putting off of the sinful flesh and the putting on of the Lord our Righteousness. But Baptism delivers these things to us! It removes the soiled clothing of our transgressions, and dresses us in the robe and righteousness of the Holy Name.
Baptism not only saves us but it also empowers us to drown the Old Adam within us and to rise up as New Men so that we might live before God in Righteousness and purity forever. So that we might live out our vocations as did the honorable and dependable St. Joseph who was a man among men and who and provided for the support and safety of his family; as did the Blessed and humble Virgin Mary who unwaveringly trusted in God even as many swords pierced her soul; as did aged Simeon who patiently waited his whole life for God’s promise to be fulfilled; and as did faithful Anna who worshiped, prayed, fasted and Confessed the Christ to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
What Child is this? He is Jesus whose name means Savior and who established both the ‘order of creation’ and ‘the order of redemption.’ The order of redemption is pleasant! Under it we are children of God by faith in Jesus Christ and receive every good gift by God’s grace. But the order of creation isn’t so agreeable. It includes distinctions, dis-satisfaction, power, strife, armies and jails. But we must live in it, and by it fulfill the Lord’s command to take up our cross and follow Him.
Though for now the order of redemption is only realized and appreciated by faith there is a time coming when it will be in full force. That’s the day we live for, the Day which Jesus was circumcised to win for us, and it will be ours in Him.
Then we will be at peace. Then we will be at rest. Then we will be one with God and one with the entire communion of saints. All this comes to us from Jesus, whose name means Savior. Haste, haste to bring Him laud, the Babe, the Son of Mary. Amen.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday after Christmas
Christ Lutheran Church
GREAT IS THE MYSTERY
I Timothy 3:16
by: Rev. Lloyd Gross
Imagine that we're among those shepherds who first heard the Christmas Gospel. We're on a hillside just outside of Bethlehem. We are with ordinary men, we meet them at the synagogue, we visit their homes. They know something of the Scriptures. So as we see the angel, shock though it may be, we can make sense out of the message. He must be talking about the Messiah. We conclude that the Messiah is far more important than our daily work, so we grab our staffs and run down to the inn. That's not where the Messiah is. Oh yes, the angel did mention a manger. So we look in the barns. There we see the Holy Family. We are amazed that they are so poor. Could the heavenly host have been singing about this? We go over the checklist: a baby, check. Swaddling cloth, check. In a manger, yep. It's all there. Moses was a helpless infant once, so why not also the Messiah?
You and I know even more of the story. We know that this baby is God Incarnate. If Jesus were only a human child, then our coming here is a mistake, in fact, twenty centuries of Christian history have been a mistake. How difficult it is to say those words -- this Baby is God. Fine gold has yielded its purity to be mixed with mud. That is why St. Paul calls the Incarnation a mystery. No other religion makes such a claim. Reason recoils from it. But all depends on the truth of it - God is a particular Baby in a particular place.
Many of the doctrines of the Bible make pretty good sense. Take creation, for example. When we look at the organ we know all the tracks and pipes, keyboards and boxes, did not come together by themselves. So when we look at a man, a far more marvelous structure, reason demands that we attribute his existence to Intelligent Design. Or take original sin. One thing foreign missionaries have little trouble teaching people is that they are sinners. All we have to do is consult our consciences, think of our many errors, of the days we would like to live over. The Bible tells us the specifics, but the fact that we are sinners we know. Likewise, all people seem to know that somehow a conscious existence continues after death. Ancient Greeks put a coin in a dead person's mouth to pay the ferryman; American Indians buried their chiefs with weapons so he could hunt in the next life. All who have seen injustice prevail know that some day real justice must be done. The Bible tells us a lot more about the next life, but we would know that it existed anyway.
But that God should become man! Outrageous! It's contrary to nature. As Christians we certainly agree. This is contrary to nature. We call it a miracle. It was not an act of nature; it was an act of grace. Where there is grace, there is also the miraculous. Nature is utterly tragic. Where nature is invincible, the Law has the last word, and it ends in death. Grace, not nature, provides the resurrection, the miracle, the intervention that overcomes the tragic. By grace God led His people through the Red Sea, fed them with manna, brought forth water from the Rock. By grace Jesus led Peter to walk on top of the sea, multiplied the loaves and fishes, and washed away our sins with His blood! No one could figure this out without divine revelation. Deep is the mystery of godliness!
That is what God was doing at Bethlehem. Here God was making His love for us real. Here God set in motion the events that would culminate in the victory of grace over nature. The world declares God's power, history His rule, personal experience His tenderness, but to see the height and depth of God's love, we must come to the manger. The Son of God left behind the celestial spheres of power, descended to the limitation of the womb, the frailty of human childhood, the discipline of human education.
Yes, our Redeemer had to be both God and man. No mere man could redeem even himself from sin, let alone everybody else. When you are trying to solve a mystery you look for both motive and opportunity. So when you ask who redeemed the world, ask those same questions. Only God could have such unconditional love so as to lay down His life for the world. Only a man could have the opportunity to suffer and die. A mere man might die, but there the story would end because he would be tangled in the net of sin. To have both motive and opportunity requires God Incarnate. God was in Christ. He could die, and He could rise again.
The collective human race will always be frustrated by evil. It can invent new culture, new education, new technology. All this merely exchanges new evils for old ones. Evil in the world is a consequence of sin. The solution requires grace. Wherever there is grace we will see miracles and mysteries, we will see energy which nature and the Law cannot account for. But we know it was there. We can repeat the fantastic story of the Gospel. The way from man to God was blocked by the barricade of sin, far too high for man to cross. So God came over it in Christ, and made a passage through it with His flesh and blood. That is the mystery of godliness.
In the Iliad, Homer tells of Hector, the hero of Troy. As he prepared for his last battle, Andromache, his wife, came as far as the gate to bid him farewell. She was followed by the nurse who carried Hector's infant son. The mighty Hector, with is marvelous armor and plumed hat, was terrifying to the baby. The little one clung to the nurse's neck. Then Hector took his helmet off, and the baby began to smile. He hugged his father. So when our heavenly Father appears as the volcano God, as He did at Mt. Sinai, we tremble with fear. We recoil from the holy because He is holy. Remember, the Polynesian word for "holy" is taboo. We have innate fear of such things. But as He lays His power by, as He comes in the form of a Servant, even the guiltiest of sinners can embrace Him. Yes, we needed a hero, a superstar. But we also needed a Savior we could approach. In Jesus we have the answer. Great is the mystery of godliness! AMEN.
GREAT IS THE MYSTERY
I Timothy 3:16
by: Rev. Lloyd Gross
Imagine that we're among those shepherds who first heard the Christmas Gospel. We're on a hillside just outside of Bethlehem. We are with ordinary men, we meet them at the synagogue, we visit their homes. They know something of the Scriptures. So as we see the angel, shock though it may be, we can make sense out of the message. He must be talking about the Messiah. We conclude that the Messiah is far more important than our daily work, so we grab our staffs and run down to the inn. That's not where the Messiah is. Oh yes, the angel did mention a manger. So we look in the barns. There we see the Holy Family. We are amazed that they are so poor. Could the heavenly host have been singing about this? We go over the checklist: a baby, check. Swaddling cloth, check. In a manger, yep. It's all there. Moses was a helpless infant once, so why not also the Messiah?
You and I know even more of the story. We know that this baby is God Incarnate. If Jesus were only a human child, then our coming here is a mistake, in fact, twenty centuries of Christian history have been a mistake. How difficult it is to say those words -- this Baby is God. Fine gold has yielded its purity to be mixed with mud. That is why St. Paul calls the Incarnation a mystery. No other religion makes such a claim. Reason recoils from it. But all depends on the truth of it - God is a particular Baby in a particular place.
Many of the doctrines of the Bible make pretty good sense. Take creation, for example. When we look at the organ we know all the tracks and pipes, keyboards and boxes, did not come together by themselves. So when we look at a man, a far more marvelous structure, reason demands that we attribute his existence to Intelligent Design. Or take original sin. One thing foreign missionaries have little trouble teaching people is that they are sinners. All we have to do is consult our consciences, think of our many errors, of the days we would like to live over. The Bible tells us the specifics, but the fact that we are sinners we know. Likewise, all people seem to know that somehow a conscious existence continues after death. Ancient Greeks put a coin in a dead person's mouth to pay the ferryman; American Indians buried their chiefs with weapons so he could hunt in the next life. All who have seen injustice prevail know that some day real justice must be done. The Bible tells us a lot more about the next life, but we would know that it existed anyway.
But that God should become man! Outrageous! It's contrary to nature. As Christians we certainly agree. This is contrary to nature. We call it a miracle. It was not an act of nature; it was an act of grace. Where there is grace, there is also the miraculous. Nature is utterly tragic. Where nature is invincible, the Law has the last word, and it ends in death. Grace, not nature, provides the resurrection, the miracle, the intervention that overcomes the tragic. By grace God led His people through the Red Sea, fed them with manna, brought forth water from the Rock. By grace Jesus led Peter to walk on top of the sea, multiplied the loaves and fishes, and washed away our sins with His blood! No one could figure this out without divine revelation. Deep is the mystery of godliness!
That is what God was doing at Bethlehem. Here God was making His love for us real. Here God set in motion the events that would culminate in the victory of grace over nature. The world declares God's power, history His rule, personal experience His tenderness, but to see the height and depth of God's love, we must come to the manger. The Son of God left behind the celestial spheres of power, descended to the limitation of the womb, the frailty of human childhood, the discipline of human education.
Yes, our Redeemer had to be both God and man. No mere man could redeem even himself from sin, let alone everybody else. When you are trying to solve a mystery you look for both motive and opportunity. So when you ask who redeemed the world, ask those same questions. Only God could have such unconditional love so as to lay down His life for the world. Only a man could have the opportunity to suffer and die. A mere man might die, but there the story would end because he would be tangled in the net of sin. To have both motive and opportunity requires God Incarnate. God was in Christ. He could die, and He could rise again.
The collective human race will always be frustrated by evil. It can invent new culture, new education, new technology. All this merely exchanges new evils for old ones. Evil in the world is a consequence of sin. The solution requires grace. Wherever there is grace we will see miracles and mysteries, we will see energy which nature and the Law cannot account for. But we know it was there. We can repeat the fantastic story of the Gospel. The way from man to God was blocked by the barricade of sin, far too high for man to cross. So God came over it in Christ, and made a passage through it with His flesh and blood. That is the mystery of godliness.
In the Iliad, Homer tells of Hector, the hero of Troy. As he prepared for his last battle, Andromache, his wife, came as far as the gate to bid him farewell. She was followed by the nurse who carried Hector's infant son. The mighty Hector, with is marvelous armor and plumed hat, was terrifying to the baby. The little one clung to the nurse's neck. Then Hector took his helmet off, and the baby began to smile. He hugged his father. So when our heavenly Father appears as the volcano God, as He did at Mt. Sinai, we tremble with fear. We recoil from the holy because He is holy. Remember, the Polynesian word for "holy" is taboo. We have innate fear of such things. But as He lays His power by, as He comes in the form of a Servant, even the guiltiest of sinners can embrace Him. Yes, we needed a hero, a superstar. But we also needed a Savior we could approach. In Jesus we have the answer. Great is the mystery of godliness! AMEN.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Christmas Eve
Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
December 24, 2009
Christmas Eve
Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!” Joyful, all ye nations, rise, Join the triumph of the skies; with th’ angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!” (TLH #94 v.1)
Two hundred seventy years ago God gave a gift to His church that keeps on giving. That gift is the hymn we just sang, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. The hymn’s author, Charles Wesley, wrote over 6,500 hymns and was himself a gift because music and theology are inseparable. While there can be singing without faith, there can be no faith without singing.
We first encounter music in Genesis 4:21 where a man named Jubal is credited with inventing the world’s earliest musical instruments, a flute and a small harp-like instrument known as the lyre. Music played a vital part in Hebrew culture. It was present in their work, their worship, their merrymaking, and their military activities.
The same is true for the New Testament church, the angels sang at Christ’s birth and the song begun there will never end because God’s people will chant “glory to the Newborn King,” throughout eternity.
The first thing the hymn invites us to do is to Hark, which means to Listen; listen to the Herald Angels as they proclaim their two-fold message. And the first part is “Glory to God in the highest.” Indeed, our Lord’s incarnation is God’s most wondrous act!
Creating the universe was glorious. Combining the art of a thousand Michelangelo’s and the science of ten thousand Albert Einstein’s God fashioned a universe so dappled with beauty, and intricate in function that we will never be able to take it all in. We might look outward to discover its enormity, to gaze at the countless galaxies and try to comprehend their breadth, but our tiny brains are not equal to the task. Or we might look inward to discover the tiniest building blocks of matter, but each time we think we’ve found the bottom we see that the this onion has yet another layer.
And if Creation brings glory to God, how much more worship is due Him for the wonders of Preservation? For the remarkable balancing act of keeping all the balls in the air at once? The Bible says that “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Properly speaking there is no such thing as nature, but there is God. He is “the man behind the curtain,” and we should pay very close attention to Him because “nature” stalls without His blessing. David states in the 127th Psalm that: unless the Lord build the house, the workmen labor in vain. We could add to that line of reasoning that without the Lord’s tender mercy: food doesn’t nourish, water doesn’t quench and medicine doesn’t heal.
But as breath-taking as these works of the Lord are they are not nearly as glorious as the miracle Jesus reveals in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
By this Holy Birth God and sinful man are now reconciled, and that means that we don’t need to be afraid any longer. Afraid of God, afraid of sin, afraid of death, afraid of the present or the future. Nor need we fear God’s judgment because the sins that would otherwise condemn us to hell, were redressed on the cross and now we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Next the hymn incites all nations to Rise with Joy because Jesus is the Savior of all men without exception. If you are human Jesus is your Lord your Savior and your God. There is no other. Though men, nations and even many churches have banished His message of repentance, and the blood of His cross from their presence, the Holy Spirit continues to use this Christmas Carol to call men everywhere; to rise up from the darkness of death and find Life, Light and Healing in Christ.
What else can make the nations of the earth rise above their endless envy, endless wars and endless assaults on one another? Can the United Nations do it? Can ‘globalization’ (that devilish word) do it? Can it be done in Copenhagen or Kyoto? Our idolatrous hearts answer “Yes We Can,” but O who wrong they are!
And what can bring Joy to the World and her people? More technology? Money dropped from Federal Reserve helicopters? Or is universal health the missing piece of the puzzle that will finally bring lasting peace on earth and good will to men?
And what can lift up your heavy head tonight, a new life, new husband or wife, a new job? Don’t count on it, Beloved, because whatever changes we make, our sinful hearts go with us and will always sabotage our lovely plans.
Learn tonight from this Sacred Song that only Jesus can bring Joy to the world. He is Immanuel, “God with us” at all times in all places. He is the Prince of Peace who breaks the oppressor’s rod (Isaiah 9:4). He is the Sun of Righteousness who was born to raise the sons of earth, born to give us Second Birth. So with the angelic hosts, let us too proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem!
The hymn also invites us to Join the triumph being proclaimed in the skies. This notion that God can be born of a human mother, and exist in human form taxes our logic, and violates everything our reason tells us about both God and mankind. The idea of a virgin giving birth to God the Son, by way of God the Father, through God the Holy Spirit, is why Christmas is such a wonder. The moment Mary conceived, the fabric of the universe wonderfully and irrevocably changed! The Holy Trinity acted in space and time, a virgin conceived, and God became a Man of both human and divine natures.
In one magic moment God took on flesh and from that time on God became a baby. In this miracle known as Christmas God comes to us. God preaches, heals, and works miracles in our midst. God proclaims His kingdom. God forgives sins. God dies an ignoble death on the cross, pays the price of the entire world’s sin, and imparts eternal life to all in fallen creation who believe and are baptized. God rises bodily from death and continues to be with us by Word and Sacrament until the end of the age when “He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead.”.
What can be our response to this Christmas Gospel? There’s only one, that we join the triumph in the skies by our faith, our songs, our praise and thanks. And likewise by renouncing worldly passions, and living self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age as we wait for the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11-14) Glory to the Newborn King! Amen.
Cleveland, Ohio
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
December 24, 2009
Christmas Eve
Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!” Joyful, all ye nations, rise, Join the triumph of the skies; with th’ angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!” (TLH #94 v.1)
Two hundred seventy years ago God gave a gift to His church that keeps on giving. That gift is the hymn we just sang, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. The hymn’s author, Charles Wesley, wrote over 6,500 hymns and was himself a gift because music and theology are inseparable. While there can be singing without faith, there can be no faith without singing.
We first encounter music in Genesis 4:21 where a man named Jubal is credited with inventing the world’s earliest musical instruments, a flute and a small harp-like instrument known as the lyre. Music played a vital part in Hebrew culture. It was present in their work, their worship, their merrymaking, and their military activities.
The same is true for the New Testament church, the angels sang at Christ’s birth and the song begun there will never end because God’s people will chant “glory to the Newborn King,” throughout eternity.
The first thing the hymn invites us to do is to Hark, which means to Listen; listen to the Herald Angels as they proclaim their two-fold message. And the first part is “Glory to God in the highest.” Indeed, our Lord’s incarnation is God’s most wondrous act!
Creating the universe was glorious. Combining the art of a thousand Michelangelo’s and the science of ten thousand Albert Einstein’s God fashioned a universe so dappled with beauty, and intricate in function that we will never be able to take it all in. We might look outward to discover its enormity, to gaze at the countless galaxies and try to comprehend their breadth, but our tiny brains are not equal to the task. Or we might look inward to discover the tiniest building blocks of matter, but each time we think we’ve found the bottom we see that the this onion has yet another layer.
And if Creation brings glory to God, how much more worship is due Him for the wonders of Preservation? For the remarkable balancing act of keeping all the balls in the air at once? The Bible says that “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Properly speaking there is no such thing as nature, but there is God. He is “the man behind the curtain,” and we should pay very close attention to Him because “nature” stalls without His blessing. David states in the 127th Psalm that: unless the Lord build the house, the workmen labor in vain. We could add to that line of reasoning that without the Lord’s tender mercy: food doesn’t nourish, water doesn’t quench and medicine doesn’t heal.
But as breath-taking as these works of the Lord are they are not nearly as glorious as the miracle Jesus reveals in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
By this Holy Birth God and sinful man are now reconciled, and that means that we don’t need to be afraid any longer. Afraid of God, afraid of sin, afraid of death, afraid of the present or the future. Nor need we fear God’s judgment because the sins that would otherwise condemn us to hell, were redressed on the cross and now we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Next the hymn incites all nations to Rise with Joy because Jesus is the Savior of all men without exception. If you are human Jesus is your Lord your Savior and your God. There is no other. Though men, nations and even many churches have banished His message of repentance, and the blood of His cross from their presence, the Holy Spirit continues to use this Christmas Carol to call men everywhere; to rise up from the darkness of death and find Life, Light and Healing in Christ.
What else can make the nations of the earth rise above their endless envy, endless wars and endless assaults on one another? Can the United Nations do it? Can ‘globalization’ (that devilish word) do it? Can it be done in Copenhagen or Kyoto? Our idolatrous hearts answer “Yes We Can,” but O who wrong they are!
And what can bring Joy to the World and her people? More technology? Money dropped from Federal Reserve helicopters? Or is universal health the missing piece of the puzzle that will finally bring lasting peace on earth and good will to men?
And what can lift up your heavy head tonight, a new life, new husband or wife, a new job? Don’t count on it, Beloved, because whatever changes we make, our sinful hearts go with us and will always sabotage our lovely plans.
Learn tonight from this Sacred Song that only Jesus can bring Joy to the world. He is Immanuel, “God with us” at all times in all places. He is the Prince of Peace who breaks the oppressor’s rod (Isaiah 9:4). He is the Sun of Righteousness who was born to raise the sons of earth, born to give us Second Birth. So with the angelic hosts, let us too proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem!
The hymn also invites us to Join the triumph being proclaimed in the skies. This notion that God can be born of a human mother, and exist in human form taxes our logic, and violates everything our reason tells us about both God and mankind. The idea of a virgin giving birth to God the Son, by way of God the Father, through God the Holy Spirit, is why Christmas is such a wonder. The moment Mary conceived, the fabric of the universe wonderfully and irrevocably changed! The Holy Trinity acted in space and time, a virgin conceived, and God became a Man of both human and divine natures.
In one magic moment God took on flesh and from that time on God became a baby. In this miracle known as Christmas God comes to us. God preaches, heals, and works miracles in our midst. God proclaims His kingdom. God forgives sins. God dies an ignoble death on the cross, pays the price of the entire world’s sin, and imparts eternal life to all in fallen creation who believe and are baptized. God rises bodily from death and continues to be with us by Word and Sacrament until the end of the age when “He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead.”.
What can be our response to this Christmas Gospel? There’s only one, that we join the triumph in the skies by our faith, our songs, our praise and thanks. And likewise by renouncing worldly passions, and living self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age as we wait for the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11-14) Glory to the Newborn King! Amen.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
4th Sunday Of Advent
Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
December 20, 2009
Rev. Dean Kavouras
4th Sunday of Advent
Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice, let your moderation be known to all men, the Lord is at hand. Philippians 4:4-5
Advent is a season of repentance. But God gives us a great gift in His Word today, He gives us both the permission and the power to rejoice, not only in Advent but always.
St. Paul’s words today serve several purposes, they are first of all a directive to Rejoice. What is Joy? Most people confuse joy with happiness, but they are two very different things. Happiness is external, Joy internal. Happiness is temporary, Joy is permanent in Christ. Happiness has to do with temporal things like a winning lottery ticket or good hair day, but Joy has to do with our great God and Savior Jesus Christ and the gifts that He gives. Happiness can be pursued and even obtained for short intervals; but Joy is a Gift that remains with us no matter what happens, because we know that our sins are forgiven and we have Peace with God through Christ.
Why do we need this directive, especially since we are New Creations in Christ? Because of the usual suspects: sin, death and the devil.
Sin leaves us with guilt, and guilt robs us of Joy. The world’s catechism works hard to deny guilt but it will never succeed. If sin is the fang of the snake, guilt is the rattle, and wherever the head is the tail is always close behind.
Death also conspires to divest us of Joy, it makes us sick, weak and afraid. As with guilt, the world tries to put a positive spin on death, but nothing it does can take away its sting. Only Jesus, who willingly suffered death for our sins, and conquered it by His glorious resurrection can empower us to Rejoice even in the face of death. The Bible says of our Lord that, “for the Joy that was set before Him He endured the cross, scorned the shame and is seated at the right hand of God.” (Hebr 12:2) With these words: Rejoice in the Lord always, Jesus teaches us to do the same.
And there’s the devil as well who incites so much malice, envy, hatred and revenge among men that finding joy is like looking for a needle in a haystack. And so this divine directive, given to Christians of all ages by the pen of St. Paul, is a priceless treasure that cuts through despair and fills us with Advent Joy.
God’s word also gives us permission to Rejoice. How are we to live our lives as Christians? Should we spend our days and nights anguishing over the sins of our youth? Should we lead drab, austere, celibate lives like the Shakers? Not at all. It’s true that we should regret and confess our sins. They are an affront to God, an assault on our neighbor, and degrading in the extreme to us as children of God. But with these words, Rejoice in the Lord always, God instructs us to put sorrow behind us and to Rejoice in Christ our Lord who became incarnate to save us, and fills our lives with the Joy of forgiveness, and the promise of eternal life.
Though our faith makes us Glad in the extreme our Rejoicing isn’t the manufactured optimism of Joel Osteen, or the artificial enthusiasm of the so-called contemporary worship churches. Instead it’s a reverent and sober joy which focuses on Christ crucified for our sins, and raised again for our justification; one that fills us with delight and our devotion to it knows no bounds.
God’s word also gives us the power to rejoice. Paul is writing these words, but God is the one speaking, and we must always remember that His word brings into existence the very thing that it says. As God spoke the world into existence, He likewise speaks Joy into our hearts by this Word today. Without His gracious Word we could search for Joy our whole lives and never find it, but with Him, Joy is ours.
Scripture also instructs those who Rejoice in the Lord to let their moderation be known to all men. Though Joy is an internal quality, it can’t help but spill over into the way we live. As God’s people St. Paul charges us to be reasonable and agreeable, gentle with others, tolerant of their weaknesses, and as much as humanly possible live at peace with all men (Romans 12:18). Joy makes this possible, because when we are at peace with God and at peace within, we are eager to be at peace with others as well.
God’s word also gives us a reason to Rejoice, namely: the Lord is at hand. What does Paul mean by these words? First He joyously anticipates the Lord’s return because on that Day all that Jesus accomplished by His birth, death and resurrection will be delivered to us in full! Graves will be opened. Death will be destroyed. Tears and sorrow will be forgotten and our Joy will be full. Whether the Day of the Lord is around the corner or many centuries in the future we should be ever mindful of this Great Event and, by faith, join the saints of the ages in Confessing: the Lord is at Hand.
But it’s not just the Lord’s future coming that causes us to Rejoice, He’s also close at hand in the Word He inspired, and in the Sacraments He ordained.
Whenever we hear God’s Word heralded, whether by Isaiah the Prophet, John the Baptist or by the “called and ordained servant of the Word,” we are hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd. By it He gathers us close to His bosom, carries us through the valley of the shadow of death, leads us into the Green Pastures of His love and fills our lives with joy.
The same is true of the Sacraments. In baptism sinners are incorporated into the Triune God and made holy, even as God is Holy. In absolution we receive the continuing Therapy we need to be constantly cleansed of our sins, so that even as we struggle with temptation our Joy might be full. In the Mass we receive the true Body and Blood of Christ into our own sinful and dying bodies, so that the Life of Jesus might be imparted to us in every way.
These things, the Lord’s Second Advent, His Holy Word and Blessed Sacraments cause us to Rejoice unceasingly in the Lord, and in the good promises He makes to us. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say Rejoice. Amen.
Cleveland, Ohio
December 20, 2009
Rev. Dean Kavouras
4th Sunday of Advent
Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice, let your moderation be known to all men, the Lord is at hand. Philippians 4:4-5
Advent is a season of repentance. But God gives us a great gift in His Word today, He gives us both the permission and the power to rejoice, not only in Advent but always.
St. Paul’s words today serve several purposes, they are first of all a directive to Rejoice. What is Joy? Most people confuse joy with happiness, but they are two very different things. Happiness is external, Joy internal. Happiness is temporary, Joy is permanent in Christ. Happiness has to do with temporal things like a winning lottery ticket or good hair day, but Joy has to do with our great God and Savior Jesus Christ and the gifts that He gives. Happiness can be pursued and even obtained for short intervals; but Joy is a Gift that remains with us no matter what happens, because we know that our sins are forgiven and we have Peace with God through Christ.
Why do we need this directive, especially since we are New Creations in Christ? Because of the usual suspects: sin, death and the devil.
Sin leaves us with guilt, and guilt robs us of Joy. The world’s catechism works hard to deny guilt but it will never succeed. If sin is the fang of the snake, guilt is the rattle, and wherever the head is the tail is always close behind.
Death also conspires to divest us of Joy, it makes us sick, weak and afraid. As with guilt, the world tries to put a positive spin on death, but nothing it does can take away its sting. Only Jesus, who willingly suffered death for our sins, and conquered it by His glorious resurrection can empower us to Rejoice even in the face of death. The Bible says of our Lord that, “for the Joy that was set before Him He endured the cross, scorned the shame and is seated at the right hand of God.” (Hebr 12:2) With these words: Rejoice in the Lord always, Jesus teaches us to do the same.
And there’s the devil as well who incites so much malice, envy, hatred and revenge among men that finding joy is like looking for a needle in a haystack. And so this divine directive, given to Christians of all ages by the pen of St. Paul, is a priceless treasure that cuts through despair and fills us with Advent Joy.
God’s word also gives us permission to Rejoice. How are we to live our lives as Christians? Should we spend our days and nights anguishing over the sins of our youth? Should we lead drab, austere, celibate lives like the Shakers? Not at all. It’s true that we should regret and confess our sins. They are an affront to God, an assault on our neighbor, and degrading in the extreme to us as children of God. But with these words, Rejoice in the Lord always, God instructs us to put sorrow behind us and to Rejoice in Christ our Lord who became incarnate to save us, and fills our lives with the Joy of forgiveness, and the promise of eternal life.
Though our faith makes us Glad in the extreme our Rejoicing isn’t the manufactured optimism of Joel Osteen, or the artificial enthusiasm of the so-called contemporary worship churches. Instead it’s a reverent and sober joy which focuses on Christ crucified for our sins, and raised again for our justification; one that fills us with delight and our devotion to it knows no bounds.
God’s word also gives us the power to rejoice. Paul is writing these words, but God is the one speaking, and we must always remember that His word brings into existence the very thing that it says. As God spoke the world into existence, He likewise speaks Joy into our hearts by this Word today. Without His gracious Word we could search for Joy our whole lives and never find it, but with Him, Joy is ours.
Scripture also instructs those who Rejoice in the Lord to let their moderation be known to all men. Though Joy is an internal quality, it can’t help but spill over into the way we live. As God’s people St. Paul charges us to be reasonable and agreeable, gentle with others, tolerant of their weaknesses, and as much as humanly possible live at peace with all men (Romans 12:18). Joy makes this possible, because when we are at peace with God and at peace within, we are eager to be at peace with others as well.
God’s word also gives us a reason to Rejoice, namely: the Lord is at hand. What does Paul mean by these words? First He joyously anticipates the Lord’s return because on that Day all that Jesus accomplished by His birth, death and resurrection will be delivered to us in full! Graves will be opened. Death will be destroyed. Tears and sorrow will be forgotten and our Joy will be full. Whether the Day of the Lord is around the corner or many centuries in the future we should be ever mindful of this Great Event and, by faith, join the saints of the ages in Confessing: the Lord is at Hand.
But it’s not just the Lord’s future coming that causes us to Rejoice, He’s also close at hand in the Word He inspired, and in the Sacraments He ordained.
Whenever we hear God’s Word heralded, whether by Isaiah the Prophet, John the Baptist or by the “called and ordained servant of the Word,” we are hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd. By it He gathers us close to His bosom, carries us through the valley of the shadow of death, leads us into the Green Pastures of His love and fills our lives with joy.
The same is true of the Sacraments. In baptism sinners are incorporated into the Triune God and made holy, even as God is Holy. In absolution we receive the continuing Therapy we need to be constantly cleansed of our sins, so that even as we struggle with temptation our Joy might be full. In the Mass we receive the true Body and Blood of Christ into our own sinful and dying bodies, so that the Life of Jesus might be imparted to us in every way.
These things, the Lord’s Second Advent, His Holy Word and Blessed Sacraments cause us to Rejoice unceasingly in the Lord, and in the good promises He makes to us. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say Rejoice. Amen.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
3rd Sunday of Advent
Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
December 13, 2009
Rev. Dean Kavouras
3rd Sunday of Advent
Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then every man will receive his commendation from God. 1 Corinthians 4:5
Everything about the Christian faith is a mystery. Over time we learn to think theologically and God’s wisdom begins to make sense, but there are still more questions than answers. It won’t always be this way, however. A Day is coming when all our questions will be answered, and when we will know even as we are known. (1 Cor. 13:12)
Chief among the mysteries of our faith is the Lord’s incarnation. Throughout the Old Testament the pre-incarnate Christ made many appearances. He is Melchizedek whom Abram worshipped; the Rock that led the children of Israel through the wilderness, and the fourth Man in the fiery furnace who saved Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from a fiery death. But His greatest Advent is to be found in the mystery of the incarnation when “eternal God begotten of the Father from eternity,” assumed human nature, thereby exalting humanity to the highest heavens!
It’s true that human nature has been completely compromised by sin and that there’s not a trace of spiritual health remaining to it. But that’s not to say that sin is an essential property of man, or that we are the loathsome creatures and blight to the planet that the Nature Worshipers in Copenhagen would have us believe.
In spite of original sin and our many actual sins we are still God’s creations! And though mankind lost its original righteousness when Adam sinned it has been fully restored to us by Christ who is the New Adam! By His birth, death and resurrection He redeemed us, reconciled us to God, justified us, glorified us, and in every other way returned us to full sonship by faith in His name. We all want to be praised and held in high esteem, that’s as basic to Sinful Nature as breathing. But there can be no higher status than the one we now possess as God’s people in Christ. His birth gives us dignity and His death makes us Holy. So let us give up our trifling attempts to be important in the eyes of the world, so that we might receive the commendation of God when Jesus comes again.
Jesus is God’s Great Gift to the world, but His incarnation isn’t the only mystery. St. Paul says, “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” (1 Cor. 15:51ff) St. Paul is speaking here of the Lord’s Second Advent in which He will judge the living and the dead.
The world doesn’t know what to do with such information. It writes off the Christian faith as foolish. Or, in good post-modern fashion, it declares that it’s only valid for those who believe it but affects no one else. But the mysteries of our faith are not fairy tales, or private revelations which only have consequence for those who believe them. Instead they are theological realities that will affect every person without exception.
Equally mysterious is the fact that our Lord knows all that is now hidden and that He will reveal it on the last day. We love our privacy. We all have secrets we’ve concealed from the world, and we’re glad that others can’t read our thoughts. When Warren Buffett, the world’s richest man, was asked what his guiding business principle was he said: never do anything that you wouldn’t want to read about in tomorrow morning’s paper.
But when Jesus returns all that is now hidden will be revealed. He says in Luke 12:12 “Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.”
We don’t like to hear words like this. They make us afraid because we all have many things that we would rather not have revealed. We all judge others harshly in our minds as if we were God. Nor have we been faithful stewards with the gifts God has given us, or in the vocations He’s placed us.
Whenever the Scriptures make us squirm we should know for certain that we are hearing the Law. It’s not pleasant because it exposes the thoughts and intents of our hearts. But we need to hear it so that it can lead us to repentance. Only then can we understand the Great Gift that Christ is. As we can’t justify ourselves before God, neither should we condemn ourselves according to St. Paul. Instead we should let God be our judge and not be afraid to do so, because in baptism we are dressed in Christ, and in Him we stand before God in Righteousness and Purity forever.
St. Paul says in the last part of our text that, “at that time every man will receive his commendation from God.” Does that sound confusing? It shouldn’t. As Jesus praised John the Baptist before the people for his faithful ministry, He will also commend, confess and and acknowledge us eternally before His Father in heaven (Mt. 10:32). He came to share our humanity, He lived for us, died for us, rose again from the grave for us and will come back one more time to bring us to the place He’s prepared for us. These are some of the mysteries of our Christian faith that we will one day understand fully. Until that time, may they sustain us as we fight the good fight of faith, and cause us to rejoice in the Lord always. Amen.
Cleveland, Ohio
December 13, 2009
Rev. Dean Kavouras
3rd Sunday of Advent
Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then every man will receive his commendation from God. 1 Corinthians 4:5
Everything about the Christian faith is a mystery. Over time we learn to think theologically and God’s wisdom begins to make sense, but there are still more questions than answers. It won’t always be this way, however. A Day is coming when all our questions will be answered, and when we will know even as we are known. (1 Cor. 13:12)
Chief among the mysteries of our faith is the Lord’s incarnation. Throughout the Old Testament the pre-incarnate Christ made many appearances. He is Melchizedek whom Abram worshipped; the Rock that led the children of Israel through the wilderness, and the fourth Man in the fiery furnace who saved Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from a fiery death. But His greatest Advent is to be found in the mystery of the incarnation when “eternal God begotten of the Father from eternity,” assumed human nature, thereby exalting humanity to the highest heavens!
It’s true that human nature has been completely compromised by sin and that there’s not a trace of spiritual health remaining to it. But that’s not to say that sin is an essential property of man, or that we are the loathsome creatures and blight to the planet that the Nature Worshipers in Copenhagen would have us believe.
In spite of original sin and our many actual sins we are still God’s creations! And though mankind lost its original righteousness when Adam sinned it has been fully restored to us by Christ who is the New Adam! By His birth, death and resurrection He redeemed us, reconciled us to God, justified us, glorified us, and in every other way returned us to full sonship by faith in His name. We all want to be praised and held in high esteem, that’s as basic to Sinful Nature as breathing. But there can be no higher status than the one we now possess as God’s people in Christ. His birth gives us dignity and His death makes us Holy. So let us give up our trifling attempts to be important in the eyes of the world, so that we might receive the commendation of God when Jesus comes again.
Jesus is God’s Great Gift to the world, but His incarnation isn’t the only mystery. St. Paul says, “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” (1 Cor. 15:51ff) St. Paul is speaking here of the Lord’s Second Advent in which He will judge the living and the dead.
The world doesn’t know what to do with such information. It writes off the Christian faith as foolish. Or, in good post-modern fashion, it declares that it’s only valid for those who believe it but affects no one else. But the mysteries of our faith are not fairy tales, or private revelations which only have consequence for those who believe them. Instead they are theological realities that will affect every person without exception.
Equally mysterious is the fact that our Lord knows all that is now hidden and that He will reveal it on the last day. We love our privacy. We all have secrets we’ve concealed from the world, and we’re glad that others can’t read our thoughts. When Warren Buffett, the world’s richest man, was asked what his guiding business principle was he said: never do anything that you wouldn’t want to read about in tomorrow morning’s paper.
But when Jesus returns all that is now hidden will be revealed. He says in Luke 12:12 “Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.”
We don’t like to hear words like this. They make us afraid because we all have many things that we would rather not have revealed. We all judge others harshly in our minds as if we were God. Nor have we been faithful stewards with the gifts God has given us, or in the vocations He’s placed us.
Whenever the Scriptures make us squirm we should know for certain that we are hearing the Law. It’s not pleasant because it exposes the thoughts and intents of our hearts. But we need to hear it so that it can lead us to repentance. Only then can we understand the Great Gift that Christ is. As we can’t justify ourselves before God, neither should we condemn ourselves according to St. Paul. Instead we should let God be our judge and not be afraid to do so, because in baptism we are dressed in Christ, and in Him we stand before God in Righteousness and Purity forever.
St. Paul says in the last part of our text that, “at that time every man will receive his commendation from God.” Does that sound confusing? It shouldn’t. As Jesus praised John the Baptist before the people for his faithful ministry, He will also commend, confess and and acknowledge us eternally before His Father in heaven (Mt. 10:32). He came to share our humanity, He lived for us, died for us, rose again from the grave for us and will come back one more time to bring us to the place He’s prepared for us. These are some of the mysteries of our Christian faith that we will one day understand fully. Until that time, may they sustain us as we fight the good fight of faith, and cause us to rejoice in the Lord always. Amen.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Second Sunday Of Advent
Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
December 6, 2009
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
2nd Sunday of Advent
Rejoice O Gentiles, with His people. Romans 15:10
Advent is a season to rejoice. We no longer have to rejoice with God’s people like the believing Gentiles did in past ages, because in Christ we are God’s people! By faith in His name we are children of Abraham and heirs to all the promises and comfort the Scriptures give. (Gal. 3:7) And that’s no small amount dear Christians. The Word of God we Confess has sustained people throughout the long night of sadness; and will continue to do so until the end of the age and beyond, because like God Himself the Word is eternal.
Before we can rejoice, however, we first have to repent. Advent helps us do that. It’s a season dedicated to knowing and confessing our sins. As Christians we know that our wrongs were pardoned on the cross, but we must never think of them lightly. Sin robs us of joy. It’s the cause of the enmity that exists between fathers and sons, and sons and fathers. Sin kills! And except for the healing death of Jesus on the wings of the cross, the Day of the Lord that Malachi predicts would be a Day of Wrath. But in Christ it will be a Day of peace and joy for us.
We don’t like to think about sin. Those who don’t know how it is forgiven, by faith in the blood of Christ, must deny it, minimize it or otherwise make it disappear. Sad to say even many churches have banished the dreaded “S” word from their vocabulary. They’ve replaced that “black sheep” of theological terms with the word: brokenness. We’re not sinners, they say, but broken. Like a car. Or a window. One that can be repaired and then it will work again. If only it were that easy.
Yes, before we can rejoice we must first regret, and so the church’s color for Advent is purple. Scripture doesn’t command us to use that color but the church has always done so with good reason. Purple is the color of the God-Man Jesus Christ who came into the world to suffer for sin. When God gave His Old Testament church instructions to build a tabernacle in the wilderness the color scheme commanded over and over again, was blue, purple and scarlet in that order. Why? Because Blue is the color of the heavens and therefore of God; and Scarlet (red) is the color of the ground and therefore of Man who was made from the dust of the ground. When you combine those two colors, as happened when God assumed human flesh, you get Purple. And so Purple is both the Old Testament and New Testament color for Jesus who became incarnate to reconcile Heaven and Earth, God and Man, by His blood on the cross. It was no coincidence that Jesus was dressed in a purple robe before His death. His tormenters were unknowingly proclaiming that Jesus is True God and True Man come to earth to suffer for our sins.
Advent is a season of Rejoicing as well because in it we contemplate the coming Christ, and the end of all our sorrows.
Before Jesus was born, the promise of the coming Christ kept God’s people alive, alert and filled them with all joy and peace in believing (15:13). Through the dark night of sin the Scriptures were preached, taught, prayed and sung even as they are today. The Word consoled God’s people in all the mortal anguish they suffered both personally and nationally as the Lord’s Suffering Servant.
God’s Old Testament church looked forward, but are different. We have a dual focus. We look back to the promise of God that was fulfilled so wondrously in our Lord’s incarnation. But we also look forward to His Second and Final coming. Jesus tells us that the last days, which began with His birth (Heb. 1:2), will be a time of great distress for the world and its people. Truer words were never spoken! In today’s Gospel lesson He teaches that men will stare in stunned confusion as they behold history’s final events. They won’t know what to make of the signs that will be evident in the earth and in the heavens above. But He also tells us that when we see these things happening, when we see the distress of nations that perplex everyone else, that we should stand tall! Stand tall and lift up our heads because they mean that the Day of our Redemption is drawing near.
Along with this Gospel assurance, our Lord also speaks a word of warning, like Malachi does in the very last sentence of the Old Testament Scriptures. He does so because, like the unbelieving world, we too can get weary of waiting, weary in well-doing. We forget to pray. Forget to trust. And just like the children of wrath we want to salve our present pain and future fears by intoxicating ourselves into oblivion. It’s all the rage. It’s how the world deals with spiritual angst. It should come as no surprise, because those who don’t have the instruction, endurance or consolation of the Scriptures have no other defense. Life hurts too much and men can only tolerate uncertainty for so long.
And so Paul prays that God would endow His people with endurance, consolation and with a united heart and voice.
We need endurance because we’re not allowed to quit. We’re not allowed to throw in the towel. Yes we’ve been shot by the devil’s fiery darts. Everyone’s been shot. But God’s Word, in ways we don’t even understand most of the time, gives us endurance. It gives us fortitude to continue in faith, hope and love and to do the work He gave us to do while it is day, “before the night cometh when no man can work.” (John 9:4)
We need consolation too, and we get it from the Scriptures, but the Scriptures don’t come to us naked. They come to us in the context of the church’s worship, where Jesus comes to us with healing in His wings by the appointed means of the Word and Sacrament. We come on empty but we leave on full, consoled by the forgiveness of our many, repetitive, repulsive sins and renewed by the word and promises of God.
Christian worship is the occasion where the words of our text, “Rejoice O Gentiles with His people” come to pass most perfectly. It’s the place where: with one heart and one voice we glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (15:13)
We do that inwardly by faith, but outwardly as well by hearing the same Scriptures and praying the same prayers.
It’s pre-written, canned, planned and engineered. Because short of a Script, one we believe with all our hearts, Christians will have no united voice of praise on earth. But we must, because the Mass is among other things, a rehearsal for heaven where there’s also a Script we will follow and believe unceasingly with all our whole mind and heart.
Rejoice O Gentiles with God’s people. We are God’s people. We were made so by the wings of the Cross of our Lord, who gives us endurance, consolation, and unity, so that with one heart and voice we can ever praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
Cleveland, Ohio
December 6, 2009
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
2nd Sunday of Advent
Rejoice O Gentiles, with His people. Romans 15:10
Advent is a season to rejoice. We no longer have to rejoice with God’s people like the believing Gentiles did in past ages, because in Christ we are God’s people! By faith in His name we are children of Abraham and heirs to all the promises and comfort the Scriptures give. (Gal. 3:7) And that’s no small amount dear Christians. The Word of God we Confess has sustained people throughout the long night of sadness; and will continue to do so until the end of the age and beyond, because like God Himself the Word is eternal.
Before we can rejoice, however, we first have to repent. Advent helps us do that. It’s a season dedicated to knowing and confessing our sins. As Christians we know that our wrongs were pardoned on the cross, but we must never think of them lightly. Sin robs us of joy. It’s the cause of the enmity that exists between fathers and sons, and sons and fathers. Sin kills! And except for the healing death of Jesus on the wings of the cross, the Day of the Lord that Malachi predicts would be a Day of Wrath. But in Christ it will be a Day of peace and joy for us.
We don’t like to think about sin. Those who don’t know how it is forgiven, by faith in the blood of Christ, must deny it, minimize it or otherwise make it disappear. Sad to say even many churches have banished the dreaded “S” word from their vocabulary. They’ve replaced that “black sheep” of theological terms with the word: brokenness. We’re not sinners, they say, but broken. Like a car. Or a window. One that can be repaired and then it will work again. If only it were that easy.
Yes, before we can rejoice we must first regret, and so the church’s color for Advent is purple. Scripture doesn’t command us to use that color but the church has always done so with good reason. Purple is the color of the God-Man Jesus Christ who came into the world to suffer for sin. When God gave His Old Testament church instructions to build a tabernacle in the wilderness the color scheme commanded over and over again, was blue, purple and scarlet in that order. Why? Because Blue is the color of the heavens and therefore of God; and Scarlet (red) is the color of the ground and therefore of Man who was made from the dust of the ground. When you combine those two colors, as happened when God assumed human flesh, you get Purple. And so Purple is both the Old Testament and New Testament color for Jesus who became incarnate to reconcile Heaven and Earth, God and Man, by His blood on the cross. It was no coincidence that Jesus was dressed in a purple robe before His death. His tormenters were unknowingly proclaiming that Jesus is True God and True Man come to earth to suffer for our sins.
Advent is a season of Rejoicing as well because in it we contemplate the coming Christ, and the end of all our sorrows.
Before Jesus was born, the promise of the coming Christ kept God’s people alive, alert and filled them with all joy and peace in believing (15:13). Through the dark night of sin the Scriptures were preached, taught, prayed and sung even as they are today. The Word consoled God’s people in all the mortal anguish they suffered both personally and nationally as the Lord’s Suffering Servant.
God’s Old Testament church looked forward, but are different. We have a dual focus. We look back to the promise of God that was fulfilled so wondrously in our Lord’s incarnation. But we also look forward to His Second and Final coming. Jesus tells us that the last days, which began with His birth (Heb. 1:2), will be a time of great distress for the world and its people. Truer words were never spoken! In today’s Gospel lesson He teaches that men will stare in stunned confusion as they behold history’s final events. They won’t know what to make of the signs that will be evident in the earth and in the heavens above. But He also tells us that when we see these things happening, when we see the distress of nations that perplex everyone else, that we should stand tall! Stand tall and lift up our heads because they mean that the Day of our Redemption is drawing near.
Along with this Gospel assurance, our Lord also speaks a word of warning, like Malachi does in the very last sentence of the Old Testament Scriptures. He does so because, like the unbelieving world, we too can get weary of waiting, weary in well-doing. We forget to pray. Forget to trust. And just like the children of wrath we want to salve our present pain and future fears by intoxicating ourselves into oblivion. It’s all the rage. It’s how the world deals with spiritual angst. It should come as no surprise, because those who don’t have the instruction, endurance or consolation of the Scriptures have no other defense. Life hurts too much and men can only tolerate uncertainty for so long.
And so Paul prays that God would endow His people with endurance, consolation and with a united heart and voice.
We need endurance because we’re not allowed to quit. We’re not allowed to throw in the towel. Yes we’ve been shot by the devil’s fiery darts. Everyone’s been shot. But God’s Word, in ways we don’t even understand most of the time, gives us endurance. It gives us fortitude to continue in faith, hope and love and to do the work He gave us to do while it is day, “before the night cometh when no man can work.” (John 9:4)
We need consolation too, and we get it from the Scriptures, but the Scriptures don’t come to us naked. They come to us in the context of the church’s worship, where Jesus comes to us with healing in His wings by the appointed means of the Word and Sacrament. We come on empty but we leave on full, consoled by the forgiveness of our many, repetitive, repulsive sins and renewed by the word and promises of God.
Christian worship is the occasion where the words of our text, “Rejoice O Gentiles with His people” come to pass most perfectly. It’s the place where: with one heart and one voice we glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (15:13)
We do that inwardly by faith, but outwardly as well by hearing the same Scriptures and praying the same prayers.
It’s pre-written, canned, planned and engineered. Because short of a Script, one we believe with all our hearts, Christians will have no united voice of praise on earth. But we must, because the Mass is among other things, a rehearsal for heaven where there’s also a Script we will follow and believe unceasingly with all our whole mind and heart.
Rejoice O Gentiles with God’s people. We are God’s people. We were made so by the wings of the Cross of our Lord, who gives us endurance, consolation, and unity, so that with one heart and voice we can ever praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
Saturday, November 28, 2009
First Sunday Of Advent
Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
November 29, 2009
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
First Sunday of Advent
"Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now 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. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light." Romans 13:11-12
The long awaited Savior, whose incarnation we mark with joy each Christmas, will come to earth one final time. Not in poverty or humility, but with great power and glory. Not to die again for sins, but to raise the dead. On that Day the long night of waiting will be over, and all who believe and are baptized will be incorporated into the glories of the Church Triumphant. However far the devil, the world or sinful flesh has pushed us back a Great Reversal will take place when our God returns. He isn’t coming to fix things or fine tune them but to hit the Reset Button. To create a New Heaven and New Earth filled with Righteousness in which our every hope will come true. May this good promise calm our troubled hearts and give us Heavenly Peace as we begin a new church year.
The opening words of our text are a bit curious. St. Paul says “besides this you know what hour it is.” He makes it sound as if God’s people have a special insight into the times, as if we know something the rest of the world doesn’t. It’s no mistake that he speaks like this because we do. We don’t know the day or the hour but nor does it matter because we do know the two most important things of all. First that Christ will return, and secondly how to prepare for His coming.
How do we know that our Lord will return? Not from special revelations, or by studying the Mayan calendar, but from hearing and believing God’s Word.
Scripture teaches that the world had a beginning, and that it will have an end. That it had a first day, and that it will have a last day, a Day which will coincide with the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. But our Lord’s second coming is not only a future event for Christians. In his first epistle St. John states that “the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8). For Christians the return of Christ is as much a present event as a future one. We experience it most fully whenever the Gospel is preached and the Sacraments administered. In these gifts Christ truly comes, and imparts the merits of His death and resurrection to us.
The second thing we know is how to prepare for His coming. Not by locking ourselves in our closets with our bibles, but by dedicating our lives to all the things which Paul teaches in the thirteenth chapter of Romans. We can think of this chapter as a catechism of Christian behavior while awaiting the Lord’s return. He tells us here that, though we are citizens of heaven above, Christians are to be fully functioning members of society who obey the laws of the land, who love their neighbors, and who embrace the highest moral behavior.
It’s not only duty that drives us, but also a conscious awareness that our Lord could return at any time. Every day that passes brings the event one day closer. Every moment is pregnant with the possibility that Jesus could return and call an end to all the devastation sin has visited upon us. Those who don’t know God’s Word don’t know where they came from, and so they can’t possibly know what their final destination might be. They may have wishes and hopes, all men do, but they have no certain knowledge that can guide them when perplexed, or console them in life’s distress. But we do, Beloved, because we know that however bad things get, Jesus has the final word, and it will be a benediction for us.
How do we prepare for His coming? By waking up from spiritual slumber and casting off the works of the Flesh. Why does Paul say it like this? Because sin has a powerful sedative effect on us. It puts us into a deep sleep regarding our present duties and our future destiny. And so St. Paul sounds the alarm, and pastors in every generation must to the same.
In biblical theology Flesh is a synonym for sinful nature. From its conception Flesh is at war with God and there’s nothing that can be done to repair it, change it or even to improve it a little bit. Flesh is like gasoline, if it gets too near a flame the result is always the same. You can’t change gasoline by preaching to it or praying for it, and the same is true with Sinful Nature. The only way to deal with Flesh it is to drive the stake of God’s Law through its grisly heart.
Flesh cringes at the Law. It fears it the way vampires fear sunlight and like Superman fears Kryptonite. It doesn’t like to be hemmed in, told what to do or threatened with divine punishment.
What does Flesh love? It loves all the things the Apostle tells us to cast off in his little catechism. It loves to party like there’s no tomorrow. It prefers pleasure over duty. It loves to get drunk and abandon self-control. It’s devoted to fornication, adultery, casual sex, internet porn, orgies and every perversion it can think of. It loves quarreling and jealousy until there’s not a scintilla of happiness to be found, and the whole world is at war with itself. Is it any wonder, then, that our families are a wreck and our society a disaster?
These are the things that Flesh loves, and the things that Paul sounds the alarm about. There’s no human power strong enough to overcome them, but the Word of God is. And so Paul, speaking as God’s apostle, instructs us to cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light! Jesus is the Light; the light of the world and the light of life. He is our armor against sin’s curse, death’s sting and the devil’s reign of terror in our lives.
He further instructs us to, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the Flesh.” This was done to us and for us in holy baptism. The Bible says that all who are baptized into Christ are clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27). In that primary Sacrament we are dressed in the garments of salvation and robed with our Lord’s own righteousness (Isaiah 61:10).
We’re only baptized once but its benefits are everlasting, and we should remember that sacred event every day. By contrition and repentance we should daily drown the Old Adam, with all his sins and evil desires, and emerge as new people to live before God in righteousness and purity forever, as we wait for history’s final and finest hour.
We don’t know when it will come, only that it will. We know how to prepare for it by doing battle every day with temptation and living as New people. Most importantly we have God’s ongoing Word of love to inform, pardon and empower us. With these holy gifts we can wait calmly and patiently for the Great and Awesome Day of the Lord to arrive. Amen.
Cleveland, Ohio
November 29, 2009
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
First Sunday of Advent
"Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now 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. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light." Romans 13:11-12
The long awaited Savior, whose incarnation we mark with joy each Christmas, will come to earth one final time. Not in poverty or humility, but with great power and glory. Not to die again for sins, but to raise the dead. On that Day the long night of waiting will be over, and all who believe and are baptized will be incorporated into the glories of the Church Triumphant. However far the devil, the world or sinful flesh has pushed us back a Great Reversal will take place when our God returns. He isn’t coming to fix things or fine tune them but to hit the Reset Button. To create a New Heaven and New Earth filled with Righteousness in which our every hope will come true. May this good promise calm our troubled hearts and give us Heavenly Peace as we begin a new church year.
The opening words of our text are a bit curious. St. Paul says “besides this you know what hour it is.” He makes it sound as if God’s people have a special insight into the times, as if we know something the rest of the world doesn’t. It’s no mistake that he speaks like this because we do. We don’t know the day or the hour but nor does it matter because we do know the two most important things of all. First that Christ will return, and secondly how to prepare for His coming.
How do we know that our Lord will return? Not from special revelations, or by studying the Mayan calendar, but from hearing and believing God’s Word.
Scripture teaches that the world had a beginning, and that it will have an end. That it had a first day, and that it will have a last day, a Day which will coincide with the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. But our Lord’s second coming is not only a future event for Christians. In his first epistle St. John states that “the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8). For Christians the return of Christ is as much a present event as a future one. We experience it most fully whenever the Gospel is preached and the Sacraments administered. In these gifts Christ truly comes, and imparts the merits of His death and resurrection to us.
The second thing we know is how to prepare for His coming. Not by locking ourselves in our closets with our bibles, but by dedicating our lives to all the things which Paul teaches in the thirteenth chapter of Romans. We can think of this chapter as a catechism of Christian behavior while awaiting the Lord’s return. He tells us here that, though we are citizens of heaven above, Christians are to be fully functioning members of society who obey the laws of the land, who love their neighbors, and who embrace the highest moral behavior.
It’s not only duty that drives us, but also a conscious awareness that our Lord could return at any time. Every day that passes brings the event one day closer. Every moment is pregnant with the possibility that Jesus could return and call an end to all the devastation sin has visited upon us. Those who don’t know God’s Word don’t know where they came from, and so they can’t possibly know what their final destination might be. They may have wishes and hopes, all men do, but they have no certain knowledge that can guide them when perplexed, or console them in life’s distress. But we do, Beloved, because we know that however bad things get, Jesus has the final word, and it will be a benediction for us.
How do we prepare for His coming? By waking up from spiritual slumber and casting off the works of the Flesh. Why does Paul say it like this? Because sin has a powerful sedative effect on us. It puts us into a deep sleep regarding our present duties and our future destiny. And so St. Paul sounds the alarm, and pastors in every generation must to the same.
In biblical theology Flesh is a synonym for sinful nature. From its conception Flesh is at war with God and there’s nothing that can be done to repair it, change it or even to improve it a little bit. Flesh is like gasoline, if it gets too near a flame the result is always the same. You can’t change gasoline by preaching to it or praying for it, and the same is true with Sinful Nature. The only way to deal with Flesh it is to drive the stake of God’s Law through its grisly heart.
Flesh cringes at the Law. It fears it the way vampires fear sunlight and like Superman fears Kryptonite. It doesn’t like to be hemmed in, told what to do or threatened with divine punishment.
What does Flesh love? It loves all the things the Apostle tells us to cast off in his little catechism. It loves to party like there’s no tomorrow. It prefers pleasure over duty. It loves to get drunk and abandon self-control. It’s devoted to fornication, adultery, casual sex, internet porn, orgies and every perversion it can think of. It loves quarreling and jealousy until there’s not a scintilla of happiness to be found, and the whole world is at war with itself. Is it any wonder, then, that our families are a wreck and our society a disaster?
These are the things that Flesh loves, and the things that Paul sounds the alarm about. There’s no human power strong enough to overcome them, but the Word of God is. And so Paul, speaking as God’s apostle, instructs us to cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light! Jesus is the Light; the light of the world and the light of life. He is our armor against sin’s curse, death’s sting and the devil’s reign of terror in our lives.
He further instructs us to, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the Flesh.” This was done to us and for us in holy baptism. The Bible says that all who are baptized into Christ are clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27). In that primary Sacrament we are dressed in the garments of salvation and robed with our Lord’s own righteousness (Isaiah 61:10).
We’re only baptized once but its benefits are everlasting, and we should remember that sacred event every day. By contrition and repentance we should daily drown the Old Adam, with all his sins and evil desires, and emerge as new people to live before God in righteousness and purity forever, as we wait for history’s final and finest hour.
We don’t know when it will come, only that it will. We know how to prepare for it by doing battle every day with temptation and living as New people. Most importantly we have God’s ongoing Word of love to inform, pardon and empower us. With these holy gifts we can wait calmly and patiently for the Great and Awesome Day of the Lord to arrive. Amen.
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