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Sermons from Our Savior Lutheran Church are now online.

We use the Lutheran Service Book (LSB) One Year Lectionary

Below, and on the left hand side, there is a link from this site to the sermon site.
Here's the site: http://oslcmidlandmi.blogspot.com/

Also can link through our website here
http://www.oursaviormidland.org/

The Mackinac Bridge Walk - 5 miles from the U.P. to the L.P. eh!

<= Our Family ready to begin the 51st Annual Mackinac Bridge walk (our first time walking)


Here we are with 40,000 of our newest "friends." =>











<= On the "downhill" side!

A beautiful morning for a walk! =>



<= And the Payoff! My family and I are now "Official" Michiganders as we completed the Mackinac Bridge walk on Labor Day! Thank you to some very special members of our congregation who invited us to stay with them at their family homestead near the bridge. We had a great time and it was the first time over the bridge (walking) for every member of our family....

The peculiar duty of bishops and pastors

Genesis 45:15. And he (Joseph) kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

AELW 8:54

"Accordingly, the example of Joseph is a true and clear picture of the resurrection of Christ. And such things happen daily in the church. For it is the peculiar duty of bishops and pastors to teach, buoy up, and comfort, not hardened and foolish persons who cannot be set right with words and should rather be left to the executioner and hangman, but tO apply the balsam of Holy Scripture to the afflicted and the distressed. “Do not fear! Have confidence, my son! Your sins are forgiven you!” (Cf. Matt. 9:2.) But how difficult this application is both my own experience and that of others testifies. I have read the Bible with the greatest zeal and diligence for about 30 years, but I have not yet been cured in such a way that I could with full confidence find rest in the remedies shown by God. I would desire to be stouter and stronger in faith and prouder in Christ, but I cannot be.

Therefore the wound is healed in the inn after oil and wine have been poured on it (cf. Luke 10:30–35). For the churches are nothing else than lodging places of this kind in which the people who feel sin, death, and the terrors and vexations of an afflicted and wounded conscience are healed. There, to be sure, faithful and diligent care must be exercised by the ministers by pouring on oil and wine. For sin is a very cruel disease, and conscience is a very delicate thing and a most tender wood grub, so to speak, as the old translator said about David in 2 Sam. 23:8. For this grub is destroyed even by a slight injury to the skin.

And a good little line teaches the same thing: “Reputation, faith, and the eye allow no jesting.” For just as faith, that is, conscience, is offended in a very brief moment, so the eye and reputation are most delicate things that can very easily be injured. From one little word imprudently uttered or wrongly understood, innumerable calumnies and slanders often arise. Thus, therefore, a reconciliation and healing of these brothers took place, even though they were not yet completely restored. And this is a clear example of the healing which customarily takes place in the church through ministers and teachers."

The Law and the Word of promise

AELW 8:40-41

"Wrath and judgment are shown through the Law to keep us from sinning. But when we have fallen, we have the Word of promise by which we are taught not to despair but to bear in mind that the goodness and mercy of God are boundless. He gave His Son for us that He should be our satisfaction and that by His blood our sin should be devoured and destroyed.

God should not be tempted. Nor should one be presumptuous with regard to His mercy. No, one should ask and hope for the remission of sins in faith and in the humility of repentance. Thus when Joseph praises the wonderful governance of God, he does not adduce merits or crimes and the impudence of the brothers; he adduces the mercy of God, who does not want sinners to perish but wants all to be saved."

Let God rule

AELW 8:36-37

"we are in the midst of death, and the world gives signs of falling in ruins. But the Lord lives. Everything belongs to the Creator, who is the almighty Father. Therefore we should have no regard for the magnitude of the disasters and for the power of those who persecute us. Nor should our own dangers or those of our wives and children terrify us. Thus Joseph does not look at prison, disgrace, death, and the very sad and horrible things that befell him. No, he clings to the Word and believes in the almighty Father. But if the Turk or the pope swallow us alive, what are they doing? They are swallowing our death, miseries, and troubles, and are exchanging this unhappy life for eternal life, provided that we believe in the almighty Father.

“Meanwhile, however, religion is being destroyed,” you will say. What will happen then? What of it? Let God rule. Let Him take care of this. The Lord will see to it that the church and a holy seed are preserved on earth. Certainly Joseph was sent to the Egyptians, a barbarous and godless nation with no knowledge of God, where there was great danger that his tender heart would be seduced after being imbued with perverse dogmas and with superstition. But the outcome bears witness that that very mission and danger led to many blessings. Thus it is possible for God also to preserve some of us to be a nursery for the church when the Turk and the enemies of God have been destroyed. For He allows them to rave and rage with no other end in view than that they may be destroyed and perish. In the meantime, however, the light of the Gospel is gradually being propagated more and more. Only let us keep on believing, teaching, suffering, and dying; for they, too, will have to perish.

“But you are being slaughtered in spite of this,” you will say. What then? I know that I must depart from this life. Therefore I do not care, no matter whether I am killed by the pope or the Turk. I believe in Christ. Him I confess and invoke. Anyone who wants to may be angry or laugh.

In this manner the very saintly fathers placed all trust and hope in Christ, and with this faith they conquered death, hell, and Satan with great strength of heart and obtained the eternal glory which is laid up for them and for us in heaven. If Joseph had remained at home and in the household of his father, he would have lived there as a private individual and would have benefited only a few. But after the seed has fallen into the ground (of. John 12:24), it becomes the physical and spiritual salvation of many lands."

Absolution

AELW 8:24-26

Genesis 45:5. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here.

"There is no heavier grief than sorrow of heart, for it is death and hell itself. Therefore it must be counteracted, whether it disturbs you or someone else. Let anyone who can do so close hell and open heaven. Then heaven must be opened, and hell must be closed lest the sick heart be consumed by awareness of sin and grief over it.

Thus Joseph deals here in a most kindly and friendly manner with his brothers to give them more courage. For he was a wise man. He had an understanding of the struggles of conscience. Therefore he applies remedies which soothe the grief. He applies them at the right time. “Let there be no anger in your eyes. Do not think that I am angry. All has been pardoned, forgiven, and consigned to oblivion. I love you heartily and like a brother.”

This indeed is what it means to forgive a brother his fault from the whole heart (cf. Matt. 18:35), especially when he is distressed and grieving. So far Joseph has aimed at humbling his brothers, in order that they might despair completely of their safety and of returning to their father and might have certain and perpetual slavery before their eyes. But when they have been disturbed and terrified, he pardons them with such great clemency and affability that he even weeps with them as they weep.

Therefore this is an outstanding passage and one that is worthy of accurate observation. For one cannot say or believe how difficult it is to buoy up and revive a heart in despair and a conscience overwhelmed by sadness. Those who are not being tried are easily gladdened, but it requires toil and labor to bring a man who lies oppressed by spiritual grief and sorrow back to a knowledge of and faith in the goodness and mercy of God."

More Medicine

Dr. Just, beloved professor at Concordia Theological Seminary, stated it this way (from fading memory not an exact quote)..."Christ came into this world to make right all that has gone wrong..."

And here's Luther....

AELW 8:16

"the Holy Spirit and grace are a medicine, so to speak, for nature—a medicine by which what had been ruined or destroyed in the original corruption through sin is set to right and restored."

I have been baptized

AELW 8:8

"Those who are afflicted feel and complain that they are perishing and dying. Nor can nature think anything else when it is being mortified. It can say nothing else than “I am lost.” But oh, how happy and blessed the voice of Christians is if they can cling to the Word and say: “I have been baptized. I believe in God the Father. I believe in Jesus Christ”! Let only this remain firmly fixed in the heart. Then all will be well."

The medicine of God

AELW 8:7

"we must be troubled and humbled, if not by bloodshed and imprisonment, as the saintly martyrs suffered, at least through spiritual trials, sorrow, grief, and anguish of heart. Otherwise we shall perish in our sins. For the flesh is corrupt, filled with poison, leprous, and has need of a physician to counteract that rottenness by means of cross, martyrdom, sadness, confusion, and disgrace. These, you see, are the medicines with which God purges away sin."

Volume 8, Luther's prophecy

AELW 8:x

“Dr. Luther, the man of God, concluded his lectures on Genesis on November 17, 1545. He had begun them in the year 1535, when he said in his preface: ‘I shall linger over the exposition of this book and shall die in the process of doing so [immorabor et immoriar].’ In accordance with this prophecy concerning himself, he died piously, with earnest prayer to God, in his homeland, at Eisleben, on February 18, 1546.

Thus it seems certain that most or all of the lectures on which these transcripts were based were delivered during the calendar year 1545, and that Luther’s lecture on the last verses of the Last chapter of the Book of Genesis was delivered on Tuesday, November 17, 1545. It was to be not only the last lecture of his most massive work of Biblical exposition but the last lecture of his professorial career. Three months and one day later he died."

AELW Volume 8 - Genisis 45- 50

LUTHER’S
WORKS

VOLUME 8

LECTURES ON GENESIS

Chapters 45–50

Of God and State

AELW 7:348-349

"today the world stands and empires are preserved for no other reason than that God gathers a church for Himself in the midst of a perverse nation. The existence of a state and its administration must not be credited to princes or kings, who are generally ungodly and the very worst of men; but all things are preserved on account of the Word, Baptism, and the holy seed that is left in the church. For if the world were without godly men and those who are to be saved, it would not stand; and when the last saints are living, the Last Day will soon come. For God has no concern for the state and the household except for the sake of the church."

What do I care if only I have a gracious God?

AELW 7:335-336

"an evil conscience can in no way be satisfied or converted to God unless it has died. Otherwise it always flees from God, from whom it should neither flee nor shrink, since God is such a good God that He should be the sole Refuge of all those who despair and are destitute of the help and comfort of all creatures. But a heart conscious of its guilt would rather be changed into a thousand forms and sooner rush through rocks, fires, bronze mountains, and finally to the devil himself than approach God.

Is it not great and deplorable wretchedness that we fear and shun Him concerning whom Holy Scripture so often asserts that He has become our Refuge from generation to generation? Indeed, if father and mother forsook us and east us off, He would receive those who have been east off, as Ps. 27:10 states: “My father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up.” Therefore if all creation were to declare nothing else than that you are lost, cursed, and damned, you would nevertheless have to say with Ps. 73:25–26: “Just as long as I have Thee, my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” What do I care if only I have a gracious God?"

Afraid of a sausage?

AELW 7:335

"The same thing happens to us that formerly happened to me in my boyhood and to my companions with whom I used to gather contributions for our support during our student days. For when at the time of the celebration of Christs birthday in the church we were singing in four voices from door to door in the villages the usual songs about the boy Jesus who was born in Bethlehem, it happened by chance that we came to a country house situated in a lonely spot on the outermost borders of a village. When the farmer had heard us singing, he came out of the house and asked in a boorish voice where we were. “Where are you, you rascals?” he asked. At the same time he brought out sausages which he intended to give us. But at the sound of these words we became so terrified that we all scattered, although we knew no reason at all for our terror, and the farmer was offering the sausages with the greatest goodwill. It is possible, of course, that our hearts, beaten down as they were by the constant threats and the cruelty with which teachers were accustomed to rage against their pupils, were more likely to be upset by sudden fright. Finally, however, he called us back from our flight; and we laid our fear aside, ran up, and took the contribution he was handing us.

We are accustomed to tremble and flee in the same manner when our conscience is guilty and perturbed. We are afraid of a sausage, and we even fear those who wish us the best."

"God is not angry with you..."

AELW 7:332, notes that the first statement in bold below, "God is not angry with you..." is elsewhere attributed to Staupitz. And as a side note this particular quote is also reflected in "Luther - The Movie."

The second bolded text, "If the devil..." I highlighted because I liked the statement ;-)

And the sentence beginning with, "But a heart..." is similar to a later writing of Shakespeare, Richard III, Act V, scene 3, lines 193-195...

"My Conscience hath a thousand several tongues
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain."

AELW 7:332-333

"the conscience is affected toward God; for when He smiles and is most favorable toward us, it fears His wrath in spite of this and thinks that He is hostile and angry. Therefore it was an extraordinary statement on the part of a certain brother in our monastery who used to say to those who were afflicted and disturbed: “God is not angry with you. Do not be angry with Him. For you are more likely to be in a rage against Him.” This is really the feeling of hearts alarmed by fear, because an impure heart cannot see God, as Christ says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). Accordingly, those who do not have a pure heart are by far the most unhappy of all; for they do not see God but think that they are looking at or listening to Satan when they think, speak, or hear about God.

Nothing so salutary, so good and pleasant, is offered to an evil conscience in the hour of trial that it does not turn to fear, pain, and terror. It can do nothing else than testify and fight against us. And when it finally lies prostrate, the whole world does not suffice to raise it up. For it is the death of the soul, and to raise up and arouse consciences is nothing else than raising the dead. Therefore the church quickens more through the spoken Word which it has than Christ Himself did during His ministry. Thus He says in John 14:12: “He who believes in Me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do.” Accordingly, many great miracles are performed daily—works which we do not see and to which the world gives no heed.

Conscience is something greater than heaven and earth. It is killed by sin and quickened through the Word of Christ. Therefore we should make efforts to be freed from this exceedingly evil beast from hell. For without it hell would have no fire or any tortures. But this beast inflames and strengthens death and hell; it arms all creation against us. For all things are angry and are sad, fierce, and gloomy; they are against us. And this is not the fault of the creature, which is good and neither threatens nor harms us. No, we, who are afraid and flee, are to blame for this.

On the other hand, a joyful and untroubled conscience breaks through, triumphs, and despises death and the devil, as is excellently described in Ps. 112:7–8: “He is not afraid of evil tidings; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady, he will not be afraid.” No matter whether the devil and the world laugh or are angry, it does not care. If the devil does not want to laugh, then let him be angry. But a heart conscious of guilt is terrified even at a good report; for conscience, as is commonly said, is a thousand witnesses, yes, a thousand armies, against us. But how these terrors are overcome is taught elsewhere, in the doctrine of the Gospel."

Conscience is an evil beast...

AELW 7:331

“Conscience is an evil beast which makes a man take a stand against himself.” The Italians also have a common saying: “It is necessary to kill one’s conscience and to say that it is nothing.” But how long will this evil be lulled to sleep? Until the Law comes. When it accuses and terrifies, I am killed; and I persecute, attack, and torture myself with vain thoughts that amount to nothing. Thus over and above the fact that we sin gravely against God, we also afflict ourselves; we take a stand against ourselves and fight until a brother comes up to console and buoy us up with the Word and say: “Why are you insane? Why are you imagining things in your dreams? You are mistaken. God is not angry with you; He has taken away your sin, etc.” For a heart that tortures itself needs such a remedy and the comfort of a brother."

Comfort in the Resurrection not Introspection

AELW 7:329

In Augustine’s Confessions we find this memorable and excellent statement: “Thou hast commanded, O Lord, and so it has come about that every disordered heart is its own punishment."[Augustine, Confession, I,12, 19]

This life is just a dream

AELW 7:319-320

"we, too, pass this life in dreams. But it is not yet clear that we are sleeping. We have not yet been freed from sleep. But there will come a time when we shall be aroused and our eyes will be opened, provided that we can believe the Word of God. But if we cannot lay hold of the great confidence in our hearts which the truth and strength of God’s promises requires, at least we should believe in our feeble way, as the fathers did, and not murmur or become weary in our praying and crying out to God. Thus Jacob undoubtedly prayed; for where prayer remains, there the promise and faith must be. Although it is a dimly burning wick (Is. 42:3), yet it does not rage against God. No, it sobs, and with this unutterable groaning the Holy Spirit is joined (cf. Rom. 8:26). He does not let you murmur and be broken by impatience. Therefore if you cannot believe, praise, and pray as you were accustomed to do in prosperity, at least do so as is customary and can be done in adversity. Trust and pray, as is written: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you” (Ps. 50:15).

These things must be set before the church for the strengthening of our faith, lest we fall away from God when we are tried and plagued somewhat harshly. For finally we shall see that our life, no matter how troublesome, has been like a sleep. And although we seemed to be in hell, we shall soon be awakened and shall realize that we have been carried into heaven. We shall wonder at that sudden elevation—an elevation which formerly we were not able even to dream of."

A propitious God

AELW 7:304

"This is what we often say and what Scripture bears out, namely, that we are still in the flesh, although we are righteous and have the Holy Spirit and the remission of sins, since we confess Christ, which would be impossible if the Holy Spirit, who glorifies Christ, were not in us. Accordingly, he who seriously honors Christ and does so with a good conscience has a propitious God, as Scripture and the words of the apostles and of the Son of God Himself bear witness. They cannot deceive us or lie. Why, then, are we mournful and sad? Why does Jacob, who also has the promises and yet forgets them, still mourn? He is wholly carnal; sin not only fights in his members (Rom. 7:23) but makes war on him and takes him captive. Or is it not unbecoming for us to be plagued and weakened in this way by our flesh? On top of this, the devil approaches, takes the opportunity offered by the flesh, and increases disbelief, mistrust, and forgetfulness of God."

pro•pi•tious \prə-ˈpi-shəs\ adjective

[Middle English propicious, from Latin propitius, probably from pro- for + petere to seek — more at pro-, feather]

(15th century)

1 : favorably disposed : benevolent

2 : being of good omen : auspicious 〈propitious sign〉

3 : tending to favor : advantageous

Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. (Includes index.;, 10th ed.; Springfield, Mass., U.S.A.: Merriam-Webster, 1996, c1993).

Gehenna, Sheol, & Christ's descent into Hell

Genesis 4238. But he said: My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm should befall him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.

AELW 7:291-294

Finally, in this passage the Hebraists argue about the word שְׁאוֹלָה, which they understand to mean the grave and translate with “pit.” But they laugh at us for explaining it as Gehenna. But we care nothing about those unlearned asses; they have been given up to a base mind (Rom. 1:28) and outer darkness, so that they do not understand the language which is their own mother tongue.

But קֶבֶר has to mean one thing, and שְׁאוֹלָה has to mean something else. Just as the word “sepulcher,” קֶבֶר, is common to both the godly and ungodly, so is שְׁאוֹלָה. This is certain, and it is based on the usage of Holy Scripture, except that there is this difference: the sepulcher, קֶבֶר, properly speaking, is the earth which is dug out and in which the dead body is laid. For many die who are not interred, like those who are torn to pieces by wild beasts, are crucified, or are consumed by fire. To those a sepulcher is not granted, yet they are all said to descend from this life into the pit.

Therefore these words are correctly distinguished in such a way that the sepulcher is the place in which the body and bones of the dead are buried and where a definite time, person, and place are involved. But שְׁאוֹלָה is a kind of common receptacle not only for the bodies but also for the souls, where all the dead are gathered. In his Enchiridion to Laurentius Augustine mentions “secret shelters for souls.” Therefore this is that chaos in which, although it is unknown to us, there is no difference of places, times, and persons. Thither even those who lack sepulchers descend. It is a common place—provided that it can be called a place—not for the body but for the soul.

In the Apostles’ Creed we say that Christ died, suffered, was buried, and descended into hell. Here, according to the Hebrew way of speaking, these two things, the sepulcher and the descent into hell, are distinguished. And in Ps. 16:10 Christ says: “Thou wilt not leave My soul in Sheol.”

Properly and definitively speaking, therefore, שְׁאוֹלָה is shelter for the souls. But of what nature that place is has led to countless disputes and questions on the part of the ancients. For us this difference should suffice, that just as the body is kept in the earth, so the soul, when freed, comes into its own שְׁאוֹלָה. Nor is mention made of one שְׁאוֹלָה for the godly and another for the ungodly. Others, to be sure, engage in sharp disputes, and there are various arguments on both sides—arguments that do not particularly impress me.

In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus it is said that the rich man was buried in Hades (Luke 16:22–23), which is a sepulcher for the soul, not for the body. Nevertheless, we must think otherwise of the godly than of the ungodly, who are in the same שְׁאוֹלָה.

Thus Jacob says here and also above: “I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning” (Gen. 37:35). Likewise: “You would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol” (Gen. 42:38). Concerning the death of the godly there is a sure and very clear passage in Isaiah, when he says: “The godly enter into peace; they rest in their beds” (Is. 57:2). Likewise in Gen. 15:15: “As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.” In Gen. 25:8 we read: “Abraham was gathered to his people.” This is שְׁאוֹלָה, that is, a certain place into which the godly are gathered. Is. 57:2 calls it peace, saying: “He enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness.” Here, of course he is speaking of the dead. Thus to Josiah it is said in 2 Chron. 34:28: “I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants.”

All these passages from Holy Scripture are plain and certain, namely, that the saints, according to the body, go into their קֶבֶר, just as Abraham is buried in the field of Ephron, east of Mamre (Gen. 25:9). According to the soul, however, they enter into their chambers of rest, into שְׁאוֹלָה, where they are gathered with their fathers. The godly indeed have a pit into which they descend, but they do so in order to rest in it. And although they descend with grief, nevertheless they pass over to rest and peace. Therefore this descent of the godly is nothing else than the changing of this life into another state, where one no longer lives under the sun and on the earth. But after leaving this life the godly enter their chamber or bed, in which they sleep and rest until body and soul are again united in the future and eternal life.

Therefore Scripture contains nothing at all about purgatory but says that the saints and righteous men pass over into their שְׁאוֹלָה, where they enjoy the sweetest peace and rest.

But that man is righteous who, although he is a sinner, nevertheless believes in God’s Son, receives absolution from sins through the ministry of the Word, has been baptized, and has partaken of the Sacrament of the Altar. He is truly absolved and righteous. For this man no purgatory has been prepared; but there is a sepulcher for his soul, the שְׁאוֹלָה of the godly, peace and rest in his chamber."