Trinity 7 2009

SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

26 July Anno + Domini 2009

"Breathing the Air of God's Word”

Mark 8:1-9

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

What a truly blessed and awesome week it was for those of us who attended the Higher Things Lutheran Youth Conference in Grand Rapids.  Words cannot adequately describe what it's like to be in the company of over 900 brothers and sisters in Christ, most of whom are under the age of 18, as the historic liturgy and hymnody of our confession are beautifully and faithfully sung.  Wow!  That's about the best I can do - Wow! 

And, as if the unbelievably reverent and beautiful Services in God's House were not enough, we were also privileged to receive some of the best teaching around from so many faithful pastors and servants in our church body today.  The theme for the conference was "Sola,” which is Latin for "Alone.”  Solo Christo - Christ alone; Sola Gratia - Grace alone; Sola Fide - Faith alone; Sola Scriptura - Scripture alone.  It is these "solas” - these "alones” - that define the eternal truths of our Christian religion.  We are justified (saved, declared righteous) by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone; all of which is revealed to us by Scripture alone.  And all of this leads us to declare, "Soli deo Gloria,” that is, "to God alone be the glory,” for He alone is the author and creator of these "alones” through which we are saved.  He alone is the One who breathes life into us, just as He did with our first father, Adam, in the Garden of Eden.  And, He alone is the One who continues to breathe life into us as we gather together in His House around His Holy Word and Sacraments to be fed by His gracious hand.  He alone prepares and delivers the eternal Food of His Word unto us, that we might remain secure in the comfort and protection of His perfect Kingdom, which has no end.  Our salvation is God's work alone!  And, for that, our lips should be moved to speak a hearty, "Amen!” 

For consider the alternative, dear brothers and sisters.  What if it was not so that our salvation rested in God's hands alone?  What if our salvation was somehow dependent upon us?  What if what so many people believe, even many who claim to be Christians, were true, namely that God does a lot of the work for our salvation, but that it's up to us to supplement His work to make our salvation secure?  If that was true, even if you have God doing most of the work, even if you have Him doing 99.9% of the work, then we would be doomed.  If our salvation is dependent upon us in any way, shape, or form, even if only .1% of our salvation is dependent upon us, we, dear brothers and sisters, are hopelessly lost. 

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).  All does not mean some or many or even most - all means all.  And, all includes you and me.  And, since all have sinned - all including you and me - all receive as their wages for sin death (Rom. 6:23).  There is no life in us when we enter this world.  No true life, that is.  We have physical life, but we lack true life, that is, spiritual, eternal life, the kind of life our God had planned for us, the kind of life He breathed into the nostrils of Adam.  We are, to use the term Pastor Peperkorn used in his homily this week, zombies when we are born into this dead and dying world.  We are the walking dead, alive physically, but dead spiritually.  We are, by nature, spiritually dead, spiritually blind, and enemies of God. 

We can do no more to make ourselves spiritually alive and in fellowship with God than Adam could have done to create himself.  Only the Triune God, the only true God which exists, can create something out of nothing.  Only He can breathe life into that which is dead.  Only He can make saints out of sinners. 

And, this He does through His Word alone, for His Word is not merely a set of informational propositions; it's not merely a book filled with stories about what people think about God.  Nor is it merely a guidebook for Christian living, a set of moral standards for us to follow, as so many wrongly believe.  No, dear friends, His Word is the powerful, life-breathing, life-giving Word which creates faith where only unbelief exists, and makes alive that which was dead.  He alone has this power and He exercises this power through His Word.  And, it delights Him to do so in ways that seem so unconvincing to our skeptical eyes, in ways that make little to no sense to our sinful human reason, for He attaches His Word to simple water and drowns us into His kingdom; He attaches His Word to the proclamation of His servants, sinful men that they are, to deliver it unto His children; He attaches His Word to simple bread and wine to distribute nothing less than the very Body and Blood of the One who saved us from our sins. 

All of this is God's work alone, dear friends - all of it!  And, you need this work in your lives.  You need it not only to convert you to faith and bring you into the kingdom, but to keep you in that faith, that you remain in that kingdom. 

It always boggles my mind when I hear people say that they don't need Church.  I hear this all the time:  "Why do I need to go to Church?  I believe in Jesus and have my own personal relationship with Him.  I don't need no stinkin' church!”  Or, this is another popular, but oh so wrong, belief:  "I've been baptized and confirmed in the Christian faith.  I don't need to keep going to Church now.  I've put my time in; I'm good with God.” 

Saying things like this is like saying, "I've breathed air and don't need to keep breathing it to survive.”  Really?  Give that one a shot for a minute or two.  On second thought, don't.  I wouldn't want anyone passing out.  And, besides, you need not test this theory.  You know full well that you need to keep breathing air to survive. 

But, friends, do you know, do you realize, that it is the same with your Christian faith?  You need to keep breathing the air of God's Word in order for your Christian faith to survive.  And, where does God breathe the air of His Word you need into you?  Here in His Holy House.  Here in His Church.  To say that you don't need Church is really, at the end of the day, to say that you don't need Jesus, for here's a newsflash:  The Church was established by Jesus!  And, He established His Church to be the place where His beloved could gather together in His presence and receive the breath of life He breathes into them through His Word and Sacraments; the very breath of life they need to continue living the Christian life He has given them to live. 

And there is nowhere this side of heaven where our Lord breathes the breath of life into us more than here at His Holy Altar.  As He graciously had compassion upon the four thousand and saw to it that they were fed, so here He invites us to His Table to eat and drink of His perfect life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection.  The Feeding of the 4,000 and the Feeding of the 5,000-plus on another occasion point forward to the Feeding of the innumerable faithful Christ performs throughout the entire New Testament era in the Holy Eucharist.  And, the fulfillment is far greater than the foreshadowing, for as miraculous as it was for Christ to feed the multitudes with seven loaves and a few fish here and five loaves and a couple of fish elsewhere, it is a greater miracle by far for Christ to feed His Church continually from generation to generation with His Body and Blood.  The 4,000 and the 5,000-plus were fed bread and fish to sustain their physical bodies, but here, dear friends, in the Holy Sacrament the faithful are fed on Christ Himself to sustain their spirits.  For here in the Holy Supper our Lord descends from His throne to the manger of His altar to be our Food, the Bread of Life we need to endure life in the wilderness of this sinful world.  And by means of that Food, that Most Holy and Precious Food, He breathes into us His Life, His grace, His love, His peace that surpasses all understanding, that we might live in Him and for Him as we depart and make our way back into the wilderness.

Dear friends in Christ, our good and gracious God provides for our every need.  He has rescued us from our impending doom by coming down from heaven to become one of us that He might live and die in our place, fulfilling His Law with His perfect life and paying the price for our sins on the Tree of Life, that is His Life-giving Cross.  He has done it all for us.  There is nothing left for us to do but come to where He bids us come and to receive what He desires to give to us - forgiveness, life, and salvation.  We come to where He bids us come - here to His Church - to receive the air of His Word which is vital if we are to continue breathing the Christian faith; to receive the Bread of Life our spirits need to be sustained in the wilderness of this sinful world.  To stay away is to pull the plug from the life support we need. 

But, don't misunderstand things, for this doesn't mean that we come just to come or that our mere presence in Church somehow guarantees that we receive the air we need to breathe as Christians.  Merely showing up and going through the motions, as if this were simply some kind of obligation to fulfill, is just as bad as not coming at all.  To come to where Christ bids you come without true repentance and sincere faith, without recognizing your sinfulness and desperate need of salvation, is like the patient who pinches off his oxygen or feeding tube.  To come harboring ill-will and holding grudges and having no desire to work toward reconciliation with those with whom you are at odds is to make a mockery out of the salvation your Lord desires to freely give you.  That is why He warns us in His Word time and time again to examine ourselves before coming to His altar, so that we don't turn the blessings He has for us into curses. 

So come prepared, dear friends, as sinners who recognize your great need for the salvation offered you here.  Come that you might take in the air of God's Word and the Bread of Life you need to sustain your spirits.  Come and be filled that you might leave ready to serve your Lord and your neighbors.  Be filled with the Breath and Bread of Life that your life may bear the fruits your Lord desires.  As St. Paul says, "For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.”  Come as beggars, as slaves, to the salvation, to the means of grace God offers you here, knowing that you cannot possibly without them.  Lord, grant this unto us all.  In Jesus' Holy and Precious Name.  Amen.

Now the peace which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting.  Amen.