Jesus Christ

I don’t think I’m going too far

August 14, 2010

when I say that Mary was a means of grace. What are the means of grace, but earthly things joined with divine, given for our salvation? The Word comes to water and it is a Baptism, a life-giving water, rich in grace and a washing of the Holy Spirit. The Word comes to bread and [...]

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The only task of Christian theology

July 1, 2010

Kyrios Jesous Christos, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” This is the original confession of the church. With it the Christian faith once entered world history. To understand the sense of this confession ever more deeply is the great, yes, basically the only task of all Christian theology. To repeat this confession, to speak it in ever [...]

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The Lord and the Church

June 30, 2010

Jesus is Lord first for His church and then for His servant. Jesus is “my Lord” only because He is “our Lord.” Only as members of the church do we belong to Him. The Lord and the church belong so much together that the one is unthinkable without the other. One cannot speak of the [...]

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The Circumcision and Name of Jesus

January 1, 2010

As we review the year coming to a close – how have we used it? “Is there one commandment we have not transgressed? Is there one day in which we have not sinned?” Is there one gift for which we have been perfectly thankful and used as God intended? “Is there one rescue from trouble [...]

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The Savior will help me when all have forsaken me

December 26, 2009

Another gem from Luther, this time from his 1530 sermon on the Afternoon of Christmas Day, on the comfort of the Christ Child in the face of death and despair: In my sin, my death, I must take leave of all created things. No, sun, moon, stars, all creatures, physicians, emperors, kings, wise men and [...]

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Luther on the Deity of Christ

December 25, 2009

From AE 22 (commentary on John 1): We must take close note of the evangelist’s words. Earlier he said (John 1:3): “All things were made through the Word.” However, he does not stop there but repeats the selfsame words with intent and premeditation: “The Light was in the world, and the world was made through [...]

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Trinity 18

October 17, 2009

This sermon is from Oct. 11. We had a Baptism on this day. The Gospel was Matthew 22:34-46. I saw a bumper sticker that said, “Try Jesus.” The Lutheran in me immediately thinks of the Catechism question, “What does this mean?” But let’s just make it simpler. “Try Jesus”? Why? Why should I?

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Merry Christmas!

December 24, 2008

I pray that you all have a wonderful, joyous celebration of our Lord’s birth. Here are some thoughts on the meaning of Christmas from C.F.W. Walther: What happened [in Bethlehem] did not apply solely to the residents of Bethlehem, but to all whose nature the Son of God assumed, everyone who is called human and [...]

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Meditation on Psalm 16

November 12, 2008

Continuing our midweek series on the Psalms… +  +  + INJ +  +  + The foolish man says, “I am god, and all the good I have comes from me.” But the wise man is taught by the sixteenth Psalm to say, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from You.” Men run [...]

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In this life we are pilgrims

October 12, 2008

And so, brethren, in this life we are pilgrims; we sigh in faith for our true country which we are unsure about.  Why do we not know the country whose citizens we are?  Because we have wandered so far away that we have forgotten it.  But the Lord Christ, the king of that land, came [...]

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