A sermon on the sacraments for the Season of Epiphany

Matt 5:13-20

The gospel lesson is pretty tough. We are to be salt of the earth, light to the peoples, and we’re to keep every tiny detail of the law and commandments. It says every jot and tittle. That’s the same as saying we must dot every “I” and cross every “t.” We must keep every commandment. At the end of Matthew 5:48, it says: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” That’s referring to Leviticus 11:44-45. It is also found in 1 Peter 1:15-16: “He who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”

Note that it doesn’t say you are to do the best you can. “After all, we’re only human, what can we do?” It says: “Be holy the way God is holy.” The Old Testament text, Isaiah 58:1-9, says the same.

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I Corinthians 10:16-17, 12:12-27

A sermon on the Lord’s Supper for the Season of Epiphany

In this season of Epiphany we’ve been looking at how God works practically, how he works though his Word. Last week it was Baptism and today it’s the Lord’s Supper. In order to deal properly with the Lord’s Supper, communion, Eucharist, it is important to go to the baseline: God became a human being and died and rose again for you and me.

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A sermon on Baptism for the Season of Epiphany

2 Kings 5:1-14; Romans 6:5

After we have celebrated a Baptism, we ask ourselves: “What did we do?” It didn’t take very long. Only a few minutes. There was speaking and a candle.

In the Small Catechism Luther asks: “How can water do such great things?” That’s why this account in 2 Kings about this General in Syria is so useful here. It’s important to remember how Naaman had leprosy. That was a terrible disease. He was the Commanding General of the Army, and there was nothing he could do about it. But Naaman’s wife had a little slave girl from Israel, and she said to her mistress: “Why don’t they go to the prophet in Israel? He could heal him.”

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A Sermon on the Lordship of Christ for the Season of Epiphany
What should you do when the Jehovah’s Witnesses come to your door? (They believe Jesus is less than God.) Engage in a debate with them? No, thank them and send them on their way.
It’s tempting to say to yourself: “I know a Bible verse that will settle it for them.” One such verse is 1 Cor 8:6, which is a kind of creed: “For us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”
In this verse God the Father and God the Son are spoken of in perfect parallelism. But, of course, Jehovah’s Witnesses will then say that in the same book, in 1 Cor 15:28, it reads: “When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him, that God may be everything to everyone.” Therefore the Son is subordinate to the Father.

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The first Sunday after Epiphany

In this Epiphany season we focus on what is practical. How does God work here and now, concretely, practically, really.

All analogies fail. But when we’re dealing with the Lord, he knows us better than we know ourselves. When we’re dealing with this, we’re dealing with forever. How does God work practically, now?

He works through his Word. It’s not just John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . .” God comes in his Word and dies and rises again. It is as Paul writes in Romans 1:16: “The gospel is the power of God for salvation.” It’s important to realize what this Word is not.

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