Thanksgiving is right around the corner and St. Mark will gather around the Word of God to say “Thank You” for another year of blessings.

Our annual Thanksgiving celebration will take place on Wednesday, November 25 (Thanksgiving Eve), beginning at 6:30pm.

As we have done for the past few years, this service will be based on the favorite lessons from Scripture and hymns from our hymnal as submitted and voted upon by our  members.

This year the lessons include:

• 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (sermon text, “Thank You Jesus for the Ministry of Reconciliation”)
• Romans 8
• Ephesians 2:1-10
• Jeremiah 29:11-13
• Hebrews 11:1-6, 39-40, 12:1-3
• 1 Corinthians 13
• Job 19:23-27

This year the hymns include:

• The King of Glory Comes
• Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
• What a Friend We Have in Jesus
• Not Unto Us
• Be Still My Soul
• Behold, a Host Arrayed in White
• Love is the Gracious Gift
• The Church’s One Foundation
• Now Thank We All Our God

All are invited!  All are welcome!

Do you have children aged 4-11?

Do you know children aged 4-11?

Then you know people who should come to St. Mark on Saturday, December 12, 2009 for our annual Christmas for Kids, a one-day Bible school focusing on the good news about Jesus!

Christmas for Kids is a day for

• learning about Jesus!
• singing music!
• making some great crafts!
• meeting new people!
• enjoying some fun snacks!

There is no cost and no need to register.  Just bring your kids to St. Mark at 9 am on Saturday, December 12 and we’ll do the rest!

Saints Triumphant Say Thank You Jesus!

In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ^But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. ^Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. ^The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: ^“This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” ^Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” ^ And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

You have a lot to be thankful for.  And I’m not talking about that First Article laundry list of clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, cattle, and all that you own, that God the Father pours out upon you.  Set that aside.  Don’t just set them aside.  Ignore them.  Pretend like you don’t even have them.  Maybe some don’t have to pretend.  If you don’t have proper, adequate, or any clothing, shoes, food, drink, shelter, family, friends, land, or possessions, if you have no skills and no abilities and no talents, if you have nothing, you still have a lot to be thankful for, because you have Christ.

You have Christ, the priest who offered for all time one sacrifice for sins. You have Christ who made perfect forever those who are being made holy. You have Christ, who caused His Father to forget your sins and lawless acts.  You have Christ whose sacrifice was so great, so powerful, so effective, so cosmic, so wondrous, so valuable, so redeeming, so justifying, that there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. You have Christ, who sits at the right hand of God, waiting for His enemies to be totally and completely conquered, which will happen, no doubt about it.  You have a lot to be thankful for.  That’s why those who are Christians, those who have faith in Christ, those who are saints triumphant, saints now, saints forever, saints declared so on account of Christ, saints whose sins are forgiven, say, “Thank you, Jesus!”  THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME PERFECT FOREVER; and THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME HOLY NOW.

Those two things sound identical don’t they?  What’s the difference between being made perfect forever and being holy now?  It’s an enormous difference.  One talks about our salvation.  One talks about our Christian life.  And to blur the two could put our faith in jeopardy.  Let’s look at each individually, by looking at one phrase from Hebrews 10:  by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Jesus offered a sacrifice that made perfect people who are being made holy.  Already, we see a distinction as we note verb tenses.  The sacrifice of Jesus made people perfect.  It did something in the past, something that still affects you now.  And that something is changing your status before God.  Immediately prior to our verses the Spirit says:  we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. We were not holy.  We are now.  Because the one sacrifice for sin that could be offered was offered – Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  Because of Christ and through faith in Christ, faith worked by the Spirit who speaks these words, you have been declared saints, saints triumphant, saints whose names are written in the Book of Life, so that, when the voice of Jesus calls you from the grave, it will be to everlasting life, not everlasting shame and contempt.  And the writer is emphatic about the nature of this sacrifice.  It was done once for all.  It was the only possible one that could have effected this perfection, that could have created this holiness, that could have turned sinners into saints, that could have caused God to forget sins and lawless acts.  There is no other sacrifice and never ever, ever, ever will be such a sacrifice.

Which is what is so damning about even the slightest possible chance of injecting some sort of sin-erasing effect into a deed of mine: 

After some extensive study in the congregation, St. Mark has decided to make two key changes to her evening worship schedule.

• Evening worship services (year-round and seasonal services like midweek Advent/Lent) will move from Thursday evenings to Wednesday evenings.
• Evening worship time will change from 7:30 pm to 6:3o pm.

These changes will be implemented in the following manner:

• Evening worship time changes will take effect with our Thanksgiving Eve service on Wednesday, November 25.  It will begin at 6:30pm.
• Evening worship day changes will take effect with our Midweek Advent series, beginning on Wednesday, December 2, at 6:30 pm.

 

This Sunday, November 15, Cathy Garrett, after completing a course of study in the Word of God, will be welcomed into membership at St. Mark through the rite of confirmation.

She has chosen as her confirmation verse Psalm 33:20: “We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.”

St. Mark’s course of adult instruction, GOD 101, is available upon request.  If you, or someone you know is interested in taking the course, please contact St. Mark or Pastor Tomczak.

While our Sunday morning Bible study on the End Times isn’t yet over, we have reached a transition period in the study.  We’ve completed our look at Matthew 24-25.  The six lessons studying those two chapters are available here.

Next we will move into a study of some key sections of Revelation which we will wrap up before Christmas.

As a heads-up, after Christmas, our Sunday morning Bible study will get back into the Augsburg Confession with Articles VII-XI!

The Verdict is in:  Innocent!

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.  Amen.

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ^ Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I can’t tell you what it’s like to sit in the defendant’s chair.  I’ve never waited for a judge to decide if I’m guilty of a crime, and therefore deserve punishment, or if I’m innocent and able to return home free and clear.  And yet, I do.  I, and you, have sat in that defendant’s chair.  We have faced a judge.  And there was no question about our guilt.  The evidence was beyond reasonable doubt.  The prosecuting attorney had the goods on us.  He had us on misdemeanors and felonies.  We violated every law on the books.  We were just waiting for the hammer to drop, declaring us guilty, and sentencing us.  And in our case, the death penalty was on the table.

We were there – in God’s court.  The LORD had every right to declare us guilty.  Our lives give evidence of our crimes.  Again and again we broke His commands – lying, cheating, stealing, coveting, lusting, harming our neighbors, spreading lies and rumors, committing adultery, whether in thought or deed, disrespecting parents and authorities, despising God’s Word, throwing around His Name as if it were some common thing.  And then there was the big one, the capital offense of all capital offenses:  We worshiped other gods.  We put something, any thing, many things before and above the Lord Almighty, our Creator.  Guilty.  Guilty.  Guilty.

Then the moment came, the reading of the verdict.  Our chests tighten as we stand.  Our legs are about to give out.  We know the words we’re going to hear:  “Guilty.  Death.”  The bailiff hands the verdict to the Judge, to the Almighty Father of heaven and earth.  He opens it.  He looks at it.  He looks at us.  “Not guilty.”  We collapse into our chairs.  Some excited observer shouts to those awaiting word:  THE VERDICT IS IN:  INNOCENT!  JESUS WINS IT!  GOD THE FATHER GUARANTEES IT!

It’s true.  Despite all the evidence, despite all your sins, God declares you innocent.  This is justification.  This is the almost unbelievable message of Scripture.  This is what we call the Gospel.  This is what sets Christianity apart from all other religions, philosophies, or ways of life.  In no other “faith” do gods simply declare people innocent.  But the true God, the God of the Bible does.  And He does so because of His Son.  We deserved to be declared guilty.  We broke God’s commands.  But as Paul makes clear with his stunning rhetorical questions – no one can bring a charge against us, for God has justified us.  No one can condemn us, because the Son of God Himself stepped forward on our behalf.  As our lesson from Hebrews said, He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Jesus not only served as our Lawyer, but His argument was Himself. 

⁵³ The main proofs for our belief are in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Yet, the adversaries twist mutilated passages from this Epistle against us, as in this very passage, where it is said that every high priest is ordained to offer sacrifices for sins. Scripture immediately adds that Christ is the High Priest (Hebrews 5:5–6, 10). The preceding words speak about the Levitical priesthood and show that the Levitical priesthood was an image of Christ’s priesthood. The Levitical sacrifices for sins did not merit the forgiveness of sins before God. They were only an image of Christ’s sacrifice, which was to be the one atoning sacrifice, as we said before. ⁵⁴ To a great extent the Epistle speaks about how the ancient priesthood and the ancient sacrifices were set up not to merit the forgiveness of sins before God or reconciliation, but only to illustrate the future sacrifice of Christ alone. ⁵⁵ In the Old Testament, saints had to be justified by faith, which receives the promise of the forgiveness of sins granted for Christ’s sake, just as saints are also justified in the New Testament. From the beginning of the world all saints had to believe that Christ would be the promised offering and satisfaction for sins, as Isaiah 53:10 teaches, “when His soul makes an offering for sin.”

⁵⁶ In the Old Testament, sacrifices did not merit reconciliation, except as a picture (for they merited civil reconciliation), but they illustrated the coming sacrifice. This means that Christ is the only sacrifice applied on behalf of the sins of others. Therefore, in the New Testament, no sacrifice is left to be applied for the sins of others, except the one sacrifice of Christ upon the cross.

⁵⁷ Those who imagine that Levitical sacrifices merited the forgiveness of sins before God, and by this example require sacrifices in the New Testament that are to be applied on behalf of others in addition to Christ’s death, are completely mistaken. This imagination absolutely destroys the merit of Christ’s passion and the righteousness of faith, and it corrupts the doctrine of the Old and New Testaments. Instead of Christ, it makes for us other mediators and atonement makers out of the priests and sacrificers, who daily sell their work in the churches.

⁵⁸ If anyone argues that in the New Testament a priest is needed to make offering for sins, this can only be said about Christ. The entire Epistle to the Hebrews confirms this explanation. In addition to Christ’s death, if we were to look for any other satisfaction that applies to the sins of others and so to reconcile God, this would be nothing more than to make other mediators in addition to Christ. ⁵⁹ The priesthood of the New Testament is the Spirit’s ministry, as Paul teaches (2 Corinthians 3:6). So it has only Christ’s one sacrifice, which is enough and applies to the sins of others. Besides, this priesthood has no sacrifices like the Levitical order, which could be applied by the outward act (ex opere operato) to others. Rather, it offers the Gospel and the Sacraments to others, so that they may conceive faith and the Holy Spirit through them and be brought from death to life. So the Spirit’s ministry conflicts with the application of an outward act (opus operatum). The Spirit’s ministry is that through which the Holy Spirit is powerful in hearts. Therefore, this ministry is beneficial to others when it is powerful in them and regenerates and enlivens them. This does not happen by applying someone’s work to another.

⁶⁰ We have shown why the Mass does not justify by the outward act (ex opere operato) and why, when applied to others, it does not merit forgiveness. This is because both conflict with the righteousness of faith. For it is impossible that sins should be forgiven and the terrors of death and sin be overcome by anything other than faith in Christ, according to Romans 5:1, “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace.”

– The Apology, Article XXIV: The Mass, paragraphs 53-60 (Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, Reader’s Edition, CPH)

The Gospel Cannot Be Destroyed

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.  Amen.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

The book of Revelation is meant to increase understanding.  It reveals.  It show[s] what must soon take place.  It was Jesus Christ revealing things to His Church.  The book is a series of visions depicting the time between Jesus’ earthly ministry and His Judgment Day return.  Each vision looks at the same events from different perspectives.  Think of them as vivid portraits painted in graphic color and detail, each growing in intensity. Our text comes halfway through a vision spanning chapters 12 through 15.

A dragon attempts to devour a pregnant woman’s child, but both child and mother escape.  The dragon, meanwhile, fights a war in heaven, loses, and is cast down to the earth.  There, he once more attacks the woman, and when she escapes again, he goes after the rest of her offspring – those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. This last line helps us understand the whole vision.  The dragon is the devil.  The child is Jesus, described as the ruler of all nations, snatched up to God’s Throne.  Having Jesus crucified didn’t bring the devil victory.  He was hurled down.  He then goes after the entire Church, and when he can’t destroy the Church, he attacks individual Christians.

The Dragon summons forth allies, a beast out of the sea and a beast out of the earth.  The first beast, representing godless governments, seeks to destroy the Church, demanding that Christians worship him.  We find no problem understanding this having lived through communism, fascism, and even today’s society that blasphemes Jesus by saying that all religions are equal.  The second beast, described as looking like the Lamb but talking like the Dragon, represents especially the Man of Lawlessness, the Antichrist with a capital ‘A’, who looks like Jesus but speaks like Satan.  This beast forces everyone to submit to him, or else.

Things look grim.  But then John’s eyes are turned from earth to heaven with a vision of the Lamb, Jesus, standing on Mt. Zion with those who have His name and His Father’s name on their foreheads.   They stand above and outside the fray, victorious, having come out of the tribulation.  This introduces our part of the vision.

Ten years ago today — October 31, 1999 — Lutherans from the Lutheran World Federation and Roman Catholics got together at Augsburg, Germany, to sign a document purporting to resolve the major conflict between the two churches — the doctrine of justification.

The document — the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (read it here) — claimed to put to rest all 16th century condemnations between the two churches from the Lutheran Confessions (Book of Concord, read especially the Augsburg Confession, Article IV , VI, and XX, the Apology, articles IV and V, the Smalcald Articles, and the Formula of Concord, Articles III and IV) and the councils of the Catholic Church (especially the Council of Trent).

A close (very close) reading of the document will make it clear that nothing was really resolved.   Areas of already existing agreement were repeated.  Classic areas of difference were either ignored, downplayed, or explained as different foci or emphases.

One participant in today’s celebrations said: “Today we are celebrating the fact that the decades of patient dialogue between Lutherans and Catholics have paid off and we can now together subscribe to a differentiated consensus in the doctrine on justification. There are thus no longer any church-dividing differences regarding what is for Lutherans the central core of the biblical message.”  Except the continued prayer to Mary and saints for intercession, the belief thatMary is a co-redemptrix in our salvation, the sacrifice of the mass, the teachings regarding purgatory, the continued sale of indulgences, the idea that we have to complete our justification, that we merit eternal life by our life of good deeds…other than that, no real dividing differences at all.

• Call for a Spiritual Ecumenism at Joint Declaration’s Tenth Anniversary
• Dialogue Between Lutherans and Catholics Has Paid Off
• Catholics, Lutherans, and Methodists Mark 10th Anniversary of Joint Declaration

But Paul says:  “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

^“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

^“Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith” (Romans 3:19-30).

And again:  ”We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

“If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:15-20).

And once more:  ”As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:1-10).

Luther writes in the Smalcald Articles, “Upon this article everything that we teach and practice depends, in opposition to the pope, the devil, and the whole world.  Therefore, we must be certain and not doubt this doctrine.  Otherwise, all is lost, and the pope, the devil, and all adversaries win the victory and the right over us” (Part II, Article I).