Devotions

Meditations on the Lord’s Prayer

“Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread”

Midweek Lent IV

March 11, 2015

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

​If there’s one petition of the Lord’s Prayer regarding which we think we need very little instruction, it’s probably this one – “Give us this day our daily bread.” And there’s a reasonwe believe we’re most knowledgeable on this issue: it’s because it’s this issue – daily bread – with which our hearts and minds are most concerned and consumed. Yes, we are quite focused on our daily bread!

​Interestingly, by including this petition in the prayer, Jesus makes clear that it is not sinful (but godly) to think about the stuff of life. How many ‘spiritualists’ there are in our day – Gnostics, to be honest! … those who want to say God and theology and doctrine is only about spiritual things, that He really has nothing to say about bodily needs and – therefore – believe in your head whatever you want to believe about spiritual stuff, but in your body act and experience and consume and digest the world’s promises according to yourown judgment… because God just doesn’t care about your body and its daily needs.

​But, Jesus says otherwise. God does care about your body; He does promise your daily provision. You need not flock to idols and self-indulgence and self-reliance as the solutions and comforts to life’s daily problems because you have a God who cares about your body. By teaching us to pray “Give us this day our daily bread,” Jesus teaches us that we need muchinstruction on the fact that God cares for our body no less than He cares for our soul.

​Last week, I mentioned that the Lord’s Prayer has these progressions in thought… that we don’t just move through a checklist of petitions, but that they logically flow from one to another. Consider how the previous petition, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” took our minds out of the clouds and promised that God’s will for our soul happens on earth – Christ died outside Jerusalem – and that good and gracious will continues to happen right here and now: Baptism is in the water. Absolution is effected on earth, with the ramifications echoing into heaven. The Lord’s Supper is the weekly union of the Church above with the Church below – but not a reunion in the heavenly places, but on earth.

​Well, that thought that God’s will is done on earth as in heaven… as it trains us to look not to the heavens, but to the font and altar and pulpit, it also acknowledges that when we do not look up, but have our eyes fixed on that which is around us, we will see our daily needs. It’s only the one with his head in the clouds  who doesn’t notice all of the world’s problems around him. And it’s specificallybecause people see daily life problems around them that they seek help from where? – from those things that help them even momentarilyescape the problems of this world – drugs, alchoholism, sexual fantasy, purchasing power.

​Our God answers the need differently. He doesn’t say, “Escape. Flee from this world’s problems! Pretend they don’t exist!” Rather, He teaches us to pray to Him, “Give us our daily bread.”

​Notice how proper dependence on God at the first (“Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done on earth”)… leads to the confidence to be a beggar before his feet and say, “Give us what we need. Apart from you we have nothing. Apart from you our efforts to provide for ourselves in this fallenworld end in malicious thievery, hatred, envy, even adultery and murder!”

Or said slightly differently, notice how proper learning of the first Table of the Commandments – our relationship with God – leads to the proper learning of the second table of the commandments – our relationship with our neighbor. I need not hate, envy, steal from,use for my selfish sexual gain, entice away from or murder my neighbor if I have a God who has promised to provide for me all that I need for this body and life.

​And that is the two-for-one benfit in Jesus lowering our eyes from the heavens at the end of the last petition. To be sure, “Thy will be done on earth” is a reference to God’s defense against the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh which “do not hallow God’s name or let his kingdom come.” But, even as God defends us from all these things on earth, He teaches us to see (with our eyes lowered from the heavens) that He is providing for us on earthdaily bread of life, so that the devil, the world, and the sinful flesh ought not tempt us into disbelieving or despairing of God’s promises.

​For example, we said last week that parents are God’s given agents in making sure His will is done on earth for our benefit, so that they have a God-given duty to discipline and be angry at our disobedience. But, in thispetition, we learn that those same parents – who are the hinge between the first table and second table of the commandments (Fourth commandment is that hinge: “Honor your father and mother”) – those parents also have a God-given duty to care for us with house and home, food and drink, clothing and shoes, all of our youth until the Lord grants us our own spouse and/or our own house and home, food and drink, clothing and shoes.

​Now, where that brings the child comfort, where is the comfort for us as adults? Do we not feel that we are constantly scratching and clawing to make ends meet? Constantly running the societal rat race of making money,preserving health, and making our dollar and life stretch as far as it can?

​And yet, it’s to the adults that Jesus speaks when he says: “Consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, how God takes care of them. Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For… your heavenly Father knows that you need [all these things].”

And it’s to the adults that Paul says, “In whatever situation, I have learned to be content.”

Yes, we adults need to learn that withwhich our children are often very comfortable. They often don’t know whether they are rich or poor, they simply know whether life in the home is content, safe, grounded in Christ. We adults judge God’s love for us by what we have / don’t have in our hands, houses, health,bank accounts.

​Jesus teaches us adults to pray this petition, too, because it is in adulthood that we most need to learn not to be anxious for tomorrow, for the present day has trouble enough! It’s in adulthood that we most need to be reminded that this “stuff” doesn’t belong to us; God could take it from us in an instant. And even then, He would still teach us to pray, “Give us this day” and to receive anew our daily bread with thanksgiving.

​Notice that, we petition God with thanksgiving… with gratitude, not with grumbling. King David grumbled, and – in his discontentment – he took Bathsheba for himself. Do you remember how the Lord responded? Through Nathan, He chastised David: “I gave you your master’s house…wives… and… the house of Israel and Judah. And if it had been too little, I also would have given you much more.”

​Friends, God will give you what He desires you to have… even teaches you to pray for such things! – but He teaches us to make our requests known while (in thanksgiving) being content with whatever way He chooses to answer and bless us.

Being content takes practice… it takes learning. Paul admits as much: “I have learnedto be content,” he says. God allows us to learn from the trials of life that He might teach us torely on Him and resist the temptations of the devil, who seeks – through the things of earth – to overthrow the things of heaven. Remember how Moses had to remind the Israelites of this truth?:  

[God] humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna…that He might make you to know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.(As opposed to the devil: “Did God really say?”) [And, as if to say, ‘Why did you worry?’, Moses concludes:]  Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.”

Yes, the Lord teaches us to be content, so that – at the end of life – when our family, goods, reputation, government, weather will not help us in the hour of death – we may say, “Whytreasure any of this “stuff” for my body and soul? All along it was God who provided for me. And now in my hour of death, I realize how singularly and certainly I depend on His promises of forgiveness, resurrection, everlasting life.”

​You see, friends, it’s at the hour of death we finally master this petition: “Give me today, Lord, what I need for today. For whether I live or die this night, I am yours. And, whether I awake on earth or in heaven, You will give me tomorrow what I need for tomorrow. For my body and soul will not be forsaken, but my soul is with Christ, even when my body rests in the grave. An my body, too, will one day know not temporal need, but eternal resurrection.”

​And where do we learn this promise most clearly? If we come to learn that our God will care for us in body as well as in soul, will give us this day our daily bread because He has promised to give us ‘tomorrow’ the resurrection of the body He once created, from where do we learn this promise? Is it not by fixing our eyes on Jesus? Do we not learn to pray “Give us this day our daily bread” by looking at Jesus upon the cross?

​Paul himself says just that when he says to the Romans, “[God] who spared not His own Son, but freely gave Him up for us all, how will He not now with him graciously give us all things?”

​God gives us all things, even the menial material needs of life, because He was willing to give up Christ for us. Because He answered our spiritual need, He will not forsake us in our temporal needs. Because He provided for our salvation, He will provide for our bodily care and keeping… even in the grave.

​It’s as if He teaches us to pray, “Lord, you gave up Your own Son for me. How will you now let that sacrifice go forgotten by not taking care of me?” It’s in the death of Christ, it’s inHis resurrection (Did you hear that in Paul’s words, “He who gave up His Son, how will he not now with Him – the resurrected Jesus! – how will He not now give us all things?”) – it’s in His resurrection that we have certainty ofGod’s promise to give you all you need for this body and life.

Such does not mean that you sit idly by waiting for treasures to pile up in your lap or be poured into your mouth. Rather it means that, as you trust the God who created and saved you to also care for you, so you gladly do as He bids you do. For, what did He bid Adam do in the perfect days of creation? – towork the garden.

Work is neither punishment for sin, nor is it a matter of self-reliance. Instead, work is what God bids us do for the sake of our neighbor. If I work, God grants productive and fruitful labor that benefits my neighbor… even in the form of charity. Remember how He taught His people of old?:

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not entirely reap the corners of your field….  You shall leave them for the poor….”  

I work for the benefit of my neighbor. My neighbor then has means by which to bless me in the way that God has given him to do… so that God through my neighbor grants me either a hot meal, or gifts that provide for my needs, or perhaps even a sum of money through which comes my daily bread and all that I need for this body and life. (Many societies throughout history have known no such thing as a ‘paycheck,’ and the Lord has nevertheless provided their daily bread.)

Through all His means, God provides daily and richly with the same unconditional love by which a father and mother set food on the table for their children, no matter whether the children complain or rejoice that their platehas sufficient good and healthy things for their body and life.

So, let us learn from this petition to call on our loving Father with thanksgiving: “Father, from you come all good and perfect gifts. Teach me not to love these material things more than you. Teach me not to depend on the gift, but the Giver. Teach me to receive my daily bread with thanksgiving, that it might always remind me that I live by every Word that comes from Your mouth… every Word that declares that my time is in your hands just as surely as my salvation is in Your Christ.”

In the Name of the Father

And of the Son

And of the Holy Spirit.

+ AMEN +

Rev. Mark C. Bestul

Calvary Lutheran Church

March 11, 2015

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Prayers for the week of March 15, 2015

Heavenly Father,   for a renewal of baptismal faith in this Lenten season, that we humbly acknowledge that apart from Christ, we are dead in our trespasses and sins; that we gratefully trust that our heavenly Father has made us alive with Christ; and that we joyfully live as God’s workmanship, doing the good works He created us to do, Lord, in Your mercy:  hear our prayer for the whole Church of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs.  

Gracious Father, rich in mercy and so ready to forgive and to give,  receive these petitions of Your Church and grant them to us according to Your will, through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

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{Jesus said:} “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”  John  3:14-21

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 A Prayer based on the Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer:  “Thy Kingdom Come”

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

 O Lord, Whose Kingdom comes freely and abundantly, we sinners pray that Your Kingdom may come among us also, even today, as Your Holy Spirit works through Word and Sacrament to bring us Your Kingdom of grace and mercy, so that we would believe Your Word and lead a godly life according to it. To that end, lend your fatherly ear to my petitions:

 * For the ill, suffering, injured: O Lord, as Your Son came preaching, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” so also as part of that message He came healing the sick and raising the dead. Bring comfort to those who contend with illness, to those who suffer, to the injured and the hurting, especially to Edna Citizen who is currently hospitalized after a fall, Connie Block and Richard June, both who struggle with the effects of cancer treatments, Debbie Taylor, Sue Ail- and all those who bear their crosses of afflictions, Wally Bartels and Wayne Zollers, continuing rehabilitation at home after recent hospitalization, and Richard and Geraldine, parents of Diane Mautone, their afflictions continue.

* For the anxious, lonely: O God, through the work of Your Holy Spirit, who brings to our remembrance all the promises of Christ, we know that the blessings of Your Kingdom – given freely in Your Divine Service to us – is a present comfort, a daily calm in the face of all our cares.  Hear my prayer on behalf of Dorothy Bratton, Irene Fehrman, Geraldine Hagemann, Bruce Morecraft, and Alice Breneman, and all Widows and Widowers of Calvary that they would be granted Your peace, which needs not worry about tomorrow, for Thy Kingdom of grace and mercy is among us this day. Grant us all peace for today and tomorrow’s certain hope that Your Holy Spirit will continue to work among us and strengthen and sustain us through Your Word and Sacrament.

* For the mourning: O Lord, Thy Kingdom comes among us each and every day; especially at life’s end, are we thankful  that You have sustained Your saints through Your Spirit’s working in Word and Sacraments, that the faithful might know a blessed end. Hear my prayer on behalf of all who mourns the death of a loved one. Comfort them with Your mercy; point them to the future glory that knows in full the joys of the Kingdom that has no end. Grant the courage to know that – as they continue on here below, here too Your Holy Spirit will continue to sustain them in Word and Sacrament.

* For the rejoicing: O Lord, with what rejoicing do we welcome and celebrate the coming gifts of Your Kingdom, Your grace and mercy therein, and the many temporal blessings that flow to us because – even today – Your Kingdom comes among us. Hear my prayer of thanksgiving as we welcome Christina Orlando from Bethany, Naperville into membership at Calvary.  Grant me a thankful heart that confesses Your goodness and desires to continually receive the means by which Your grace and Spirit come – pouring out the benefits of the cross upon us all… those benefits won and purchased for us by the blood and death of Christ, our Lord.

Hear my petitions, O Heavenly Father, for the sake of Your Son, who has promised your kingdom to come and, thus, taught us to pray, “Our Father, who art in heaven…”

-- 

Steve White

Devotions

Zealous for God’s House - John 2:13-22 - Third Sunday in Lent - March 8, 2015

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text, His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume Me.”
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
John’s gospel is not as chronologically-oriented as, say, Matthew’s gospel. John’s gospel is more thematically- / theologically-oriented. So, when the text begins, “The Passover of the Jews was at hand,” John is probably implying more than just giving us the occasion for which Jesus went to Jerusalem.

The Passover of the Jews was historically when the lamb’s sacrifice and blood was the covering for the people, that death might pass over them as God delivered them from bondage to Pharaoh. But, far from simply being a remembrance of that day, God gave the Jews the Passover to point them forward, forward to the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world… whose blood would cover God’s people as death passes over us. And so, for the Passover, all of God’s people were to gather at the temple, the meeting place between God and Man, that the blood of lambs might again pour forth to remind the children of God of the divine Lamb who was to come.

So then, the temple was ‘center-stage’ in all of this theology. It was center-stage not simply because it was an important building (the meeting place between God and man), but more specifically because what happened, what transpired and took place, what was communicated between God and Man in the temple was everything the children of God were taught by God Himself to hope in, to learn, to cherish and safeguard, by which to define their faith and life and salvation. (What good is a meeting place with God if our focus and hope is temporal and not faith, life, and salvation?)

So, when Jesus comes to the temple and sees that it has been turned into a market, a place to sell goods, a place to make a buck – no matter how noble the use – He cleans house, literally.

We’re not used to seeing Jesus upset. It’s simply not how he’s portrayed, especially in children’s Bible Stories and in TV movies. To think that Jesus could be angry – we confuse that with sin because we forget the righteous and holy anger of God Most High. As Christ is that God Most High enfleshed, we ought not be confused by his anger, but rather be called to attention and self-examination and repentance.

Last week, we heard Jesus lay it on the line with his disciples and the crowds, saying quite plainly that whoever would be ashamed of him and his words, of that person he would be ashamed in His glory.

Now again, today, another righteous rage – a zeal – the psalm says… and that word “zeal” (zelos) was derived from a term meant to sound like the sizzling, boiling over of water. Yes, God – even in the flesh – is angry with our sin. And He’s specifically angry because He sees how we view His house… and not just his house as a building (though He doesn’t totally disregard His building, even as we prayed, “For this holy house and for all who offer here their worship and praise”), but rather how our dealings with that building hint at our view/attitude regarding our God’s dealings with us.

Remember a few months ago, our text was the boy Jesus in this same temple. And the boy desired to be there in that temple, cherished being there, because – as He told Mary and Joseph – “I must be about my Father’s business.” It wasn’t so much about the building itself as much as it was about the heavenly business happening therein.

In the same way, turning the temple – the house of God – into a marketplace (or, as the Greek says it, an “emporium”)… the offense isn’t harm done to the physical building, it’s what it said about the Jews as the descendants of Abraham and the children of God – about their changing views, understanding, and attitude toward what the building was all about! For Abraham, years before the temple, he had faith God would deal with His faithful people in the ways He promised. But, for them (the children of Abraham), the building was no longer about God dealing with His people in the ways He promised, but in ways that most pleased them.

We struggle with the same sin, don’t we? That sinful old Adam convinces us that God’s dealings with man are tantamount to a checklist to see if you’ve been to church each week. And, as long as we are here, we can do whatever we please, however we please, so long as we show God we love Him. We might not have tables set up for trade, but we treat God’s forgiveness as if it can be purchased with our gold and silver, our works and merits and righteousness. “Who needs Jesus to give meaning to the temple, when I can?” We begin to grow weary of learning and contemplating the great Old Testament truths that teach us God’s intentions… truths of the temple, a bloody sacrifice, temple “washing and cleansing” rituals, tables of the bread of God’s presence … all these age-old truths teaching us God’s plans for us now, plans that He long had established blueprints for in heaven itself. Of these things we tire; we find it difficult to believe that this hour (what’s happening here) is anything more than symbolism, difficult to believe that this is actually God dealing with us here and now, and find it much easier to base this house and this congregation on our own desires, our own customs, our own traditions grounded in 40 years in this sanctuary and 60 years in this congregation rather than in 4000 years of God’s detailed promises and dealings with His people.

And because of our sinful shortsightedness, we actually are offended by Christ when He calls us to repent of our man-centered plans for the Church, to be replaced by Christ-centered plans for His Church. We are offended by it, so that we might even think to ourselves or say aloud (as those in our text): “By what authority… what right do you have, Jesus… to tell us pious people that we can’t use the house of God whatever way we want?”

And Jesus reminds us, this isn’t about a building; it’s about the dealings between God and Man. And so, he attaches it all to his own body. “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.” He attaches it to his own body because in the body of Jesus we see God’s intended dealings with Man. In the body of Jesus we see the prophetic purpose of the Passover, we see the reason for (fulfillment of) centuries of bloody altars and sacrificed lambs. In the body of Jesus, in His wounds, His thorn-crowned head, his pierced side, we see how God wants to deal with man…deal with you. We see the holiness of His Law focused upon you and your sins, and we see the consuming wrath upon the Substitute in your place, and the abundance of His love and forgiveness for you… the sufficiency of His gospel for you. We understand that Christ took the place of that Temple and all of the sins carried there by the faithful hoping God would be merciful. Jesus was zealous for the temple, because he was zealous to carry the sins the faithful once brought to the temple. As our Introit began, “For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you (that’s us and our despising / hatred of him, us and our sins!) … [those reproaches] have fallen on me,” Jesus says. He’s cleared the temple of our vain efforts of appeasement, and He’s taken it all upon himself!

How does that define our view of God’s dealings with man? Does it not prove Him to be a God of mercy, compassion, self-sacrifice, grace… to cleanse the temples that are our bodies and grant us His Holy Spirit?

And therefore how does that define our zeal for his house? Will we not protect his house from all of man’s vain pursuits… from a pursuit of money other than firstfruits thankofferings given in faith that God is our source of provision?... from false doctrine that seeks to change this house of God into a place where the dealings between God and Man depend on Man’s righteousness and not God’s? … (Will we not protect this house from) an unwillingness to trust the Law and Gospel of God or call sinners to repentance or forgive and strengthen the penitent? … (Protect it from) being deserted by those who in weakness forget what it is they here receive… and so we will go to them and call them back to this place that it might serve God’s purposes for their eternal benefit? Protect it from being ignored by a world that wants to meet with God in different ways, and so will we not invite them to come and here meet with God according to His ways? Will we not protect this house from a casual irreverence that sees the sanctuary as no more than a staging area for an earthly gathering of people with similar interests?... (protect it from) an indifference that cares not what theology this holy house conveys and confesses to the eye of every person who enters it?

Friends, we ought have a holy zeal for the house of God, not because of the building itself, but because here in this place, we have access to the divine temple of God, which is the person of Jesus. Here in this place, the God who raised up His enfleshed temple in three days has designed to deal with us according to that temple. He gathers His children together in faith toward him and love toward one another, and He gathers us to conduct heavenly business with us… to approach our unholiness in his holiness, to approach our humility in his glory, to instruct us with His Wisdom, and to consume our sins with His mercy and forgiveness. We ought have a holy zeal for the house of God because it is in itself a visual reminder that we may with certainty and joy believe the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken, that He would raise up His temple in three days.

This building (our sanctuary) stands for one reason and one reason only: because Christ is risen. This building is a testament to us and to this community that Christ is risen and always ready to serve His people. If Jesus’ body (the enfleshed temple) – if Jesus in his body stands as the Lamb of God upon the altar, then this house ought stand with all eyes fixed upon the altar that faith might there see Jesus (“Come, let us fix our eyes on Jesus”). If Jesus’ body stands arrayed in heaven’s glory, then this sanctuary ought stand arrayed in glory that evokes the thoughts of heaven. If Jesus’ body stands in resurrected glory to be fed to God’s people, then this sanctuary ought stand to feed God’s people Christ’s temple. If from Jesus’ own body (own mouth) comes forth His Word, then from this body (you and me as the mystical body of Christ) that Word ought be carried forth and shared with all nations, for His body was given into death for them all.

And, if we desire Jesus, if we desire His gifts, if we desire Him to deal mercifully with us, if we desire to cling to His body as did Mary at the tomb, then we ought cherish running to this temple, for here God pours out for us the water and blood that poured from the side of Jesus… here the Lord stewards to us the mysteries of Word and Sacrament… here Jesus in holy zeal unlocks for us the gates of heaven and continues in the business of the Father – to give you forgiveness, life, and salvation.
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Prayers for the week of March 8, 2015

Most Holy God, Yours is a house of grace wherein you make that which is unholy to be holy, cleansing it from all corruption of sin. We pray that You would uphold the sanctity of Your house, here and in all places. Where Your Church is in error, reform it; where it has fallen, restore it; and where it rightly confesses the truth of Your Word, confirm it, strengthen it, and embolden it, that Christ and Him crucified may be proclaimed throughout the world. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer. Into your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your mercy; through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord…Amen.

“The word of the cross I folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart’.” Mark 8:31
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A Prayer based on the Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer...“Hallowed be Thy Name”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

O Lord, Whose name is certainly holy in itself, we sinners pray that Your name may be kept holy among us also. Your Name is kept holy when your Word is taught in truth and purity and we, as children who call on You as ‘Our Father’ lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this in all situations of life, O Lord. To that end, lend your fatherly ear to my petitions:

* For the ill, suffering, injured: O Lord, Your Word teaches in truth and purity that You have the power to heal the sick, bring relief to the suffering, mend the injured. Hear my prayer on behalf of Wally Bartels*, Connie Block*, Diane Mautone*’s mother-Geraldine and also her father, Debbie Taylor, Sue Ail, and all those who bear their crosses of physical infirmity that they would live patiently according to that Word, not despising Your promises, but faithfully waiting Your promised temporal or eternal deliverance.
* For the anxious, lonely: O God, Your Word teaches in truth and purity that we cannot add to the length of our days by worrying, nor need we – for our good is in the hands of You who care even for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. Hear my prayer on behalf of Myrtle Stade, Betty Wear. Fern Weddle, Bruce Morecraft, and Alice Breneman and all Widows and Widowers of Calvary that they would be granted your peace in anticipating that which lies ahead and thus dwell in Christian confidence according to Your Word.
* For the mourning: O Lord, Your Word teaches in truth and purity that You alone give and You alone take away… that, though the devil meant our death for ill, through the atoning death of Christ Crucified, the Christian’s death is but an entrance into life everlasting. Hear my prayer on behalf of the family of Rose Zarth*, at her death- and all those who mourn that they would live in the joy of the Christian, even in the hour of sorrow, not despising Your promises regarding the resurrection, but holding to Your Word, which declares: “Death is swallowed up in victory… thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
* For the rejoicing: O Lord, Your Word teaches in truth and purity that You are the source of every blessing. Hear my prayer of thanksgiving with and on behalf of those who attended Calvary's bowling outing. Grant us thankful hearts, that we may rejoice in your Name at all times and desire to live according to Your Word and walk in your ways to the glory of Your Holy Name.

Hear my petitions, O Heavenly Father, for the sake of Your Son, who has taught us to hallow Your Name by praying, “Our Father, who art in heaven…”

Devotions ...

He Spoke Plainly - Pastor Mark Bestul
Mark 8:27-38
Second Sunday in Lent
March 1, 2015

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text, He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

It’s easy in this text to focus on Peter’s great confession gone bad to the point of rebuke. It’s also easy to focus on Jesus’ monologue about his suffering and death, or his monologue at the end of the text, calling us to not be ashamed of Jesus’ words, but to live a godly life according to the gospel.
But, with so much to focus on, it’s easy to overlook that little sentence right in the middle of our reading: “And he said this plainly.”
When it was all on the line, Jesus spoke plainly. No parables, no symbols. Just the ‘meat and potatoes’ law and gospel. “It is necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things and be rejected and be killed, and after three days rise again.” It is necessary. He can’t say it any more plainly than that. Without this suffering and death, you remain in your sin and are condemned for eternity. It is necessary.
As plainly as Jesus speaks the need for the gospel, He also plainly speaks condemningly of us sinners as we pay lip service to the gospel. Peter paid lip service to it, calling Jesus the Christ, but then rebuking the Christ for taking the hard, necessary road.
In response to Peter, Jesus speaks plainly words that evoke in us a humbling self-examination: “Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
He said this plainly, as bluntly as can be said. How desperately we need Jesus to speak plainly. For, with any wiggle room we find reason to doubt his plain meaning, to convince ourselves that the Christian life will be more comfortable, or that the gospel will be achieved some easier way than in Jesus’ suffering and death or shared more easily than us confessing to this adulterous and sinful generation. We need Christ to speak plainly to us, lest we reinterpret everything to fit our imaginations, because that’s exactly what this world certainly tries:
Jesus says, “In the beginning God created them male and female,” and evolutionists explain that he really meant “in the beginning of humanity, not six literal days at the beginning of time!” Jesus says, “Be baptized with water and the Spirit,” and enthusiasts think he’s saying, “When you’ve made your decision for Jesus, you’ll be baptized with the gifts of the Spirit. And, to show you’re committed to him, then be baptized with water.” Again, Jesus says, “This is my body; this is my blood,” and rationalistic protestants say, “He couldn’t have really meant it.” He says, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise,” and proponents of purgatory argue that he was really crying out, “I say to you today (comma) you will be with me in paradise” as if Jesus needed to clarify that he wasn’t speaking those words tomorrow or yesterday! And, as blatant and simple as any of His words: “It is finished!” And we sinners think that somehow we can/need to still do something to earn heaven.
How foolish/asinine is Man in his blatant effort to disregard the plain words of Christ and make them mean something other than what Jesus said! If anyone ever wanted to doubt him or reinterpret his meaning or put words into his mouth, hear the words of our text. Jesus speaks plainly.
And yet, it’s when Jesus speaks plainly that He is rebuked by his own followers. Recall in John 6, Jesus spoke plainly about eating his flesh and drinking his blood… the crowds said, “This is a hard saying. We can’t believe this!” When Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked if they too were going to leave, Peter made a great confession, “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”… the words – the plain words – of eternal life. That is all that is needed. And yet, does Peter himself forget the simple plain truth of Jesus’ gospel? For when Jesus speaks plainly to Peter about how this gospel will be achieved and sealed – “The Son of Man suffers and dies” – Peter refuses to believe it. He rebukes His Lord for such blunt honesty.
How like Peter we are! So willing to hear something plainly as long as it’s something we agree with… but once it’s not, the words better be chosen carefully, guardedly, a “walking-on-egg-shells”, “don’t rock the boat” way of speaking.
And so, how does Jesus respond? He gathers the crowd and speaks plainly not just the gospel but the Law!
It’s almost as if we can see his frustration with Peter. It’s almost as if Jesus is speaking through a clenched jaw when he gathers the crowds and gives them an earful of what Peter is due: “Here’s what’s involved in being my disciple!” And yet, this is no simple “letting-off-steam” earful that the poor hearers didn’t deserve. Nor is this some rosy pep talk, as if Jesus is really rooting them on, saying, “Hey would-be-disciples, you can do it! I believe in you.” Rather, this is Jesus telling it like it is. Saying it plainly: “If you are ashamed of Me and my plain, simple words, I will be ashamed of you when I come again in glory.” Period.
Friends, do you want to be a disciple of Christ? Then here it is: expect life to be hard. Expect that your plain, simple confession that Jesus is the Truth will be received by the world as an abrasive – as nails on a chalkboard! Jesus says, “If the world hates you, know that it hated me first.” The world will hate the Christian faith.
And specifically because it will, you are called to deny yourself. Not to fend for yourself (for God will defend you), not to change the plain simple words so that the world will like you (God will protect you), but to deny yourself and think of your brothers and sisters in Christ, starting with your own household… But also, to think of those who are enemies of the gospel and what it would mean for them to be blessed by your plain confession of the Law and Gospel!... to think of others before thinking of self. As Jesus says it, “let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” To deny in the Greek is  (a-par-nay-omai). To deny one’s self is to affirm that one has no acquaintance or connection with himself. He does not know himself or think on his own needs, but only on Christ. In the words of St. Paul, “I desire to know nothing among you but Christ and Him Crucified.” If that seems hard, that’s because it is. To be sure, following Jesus and trusting His law and gospel – it’s all for our own benefit, but that doesn’t mean we sinners aren’t persuaded by the world’s own promises. In fact, you know in your heart of hearts how miserably you have failed at being a disciple.
Have you not asked yourself, ‘Do I really want to gamble with the theology of this Jesus, when the world offers me so much?’ Indeed, the Christian faith is not confusing – it’s radically simple; but in this world, because of our sinful seflishness, it is hard to hold fast.
And at other times, you’ve probably said, “But my life isn’t hard. I don’t feel I’m bearing any crosses.” Then consider that from two angles: first, examine yourself and ask whether your daily life is one that confesses the faith, or whether you have exchanged your cross of faith for a life more defined by the expectations of this society. Have you packed your schedule so tightly that you write-off as a relic of a bygone era family time to gather around the Word in prayer? Have you shied away from confessing the faith to your family, neighbors, and others because you want to steer clear of a ‘touchy subject’? And what about the confession we make with our money? Does our love of money tempt us to think the service’s Offering is about giving as little as needed (whatever is left over) rather than about a confessional act of giving firstfruits in faith that God is our source of provision? Is your life defined by your wealth and health and reputation, so that if any of these was taken from you, you might doubt whether the Gospel is worth holding on to? In short, is Christ your God during the week, or do you merely pay lip service on Sunday morning and then have your daily life defined by the temptations of the world… in which case, no wonder (!) you do not feel the burden of bearing your cross.
But, there’s another angle from which to view this: Perhaps you can honestly answer with true godly piety to everything just asked – that, yes, daily life earnestly desires to echo and depend on God’s gifts of Sunday morning, and in thanksgiving, to benefit others with your confession of the Faith. And, even with that, your life is so blessed that you do not feel like you are bearing a cross. To which I say, “thanks be to God that He has blessed you in such ways. Truly, what a marvelous gift of His Fatherly goodness toward you.”
But, then, you must also consider the second angle: you will eventually bear your cross because, unless Christ first comes in His glory, you will walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Your loved ones around you will taste death. You will taste death. All that surrounds you now, all that comforts you now, it will all be reduced to nothing… so that many of us – no matter how rich, how successful, how intelligent, how well-known – many of us spend our final days with little more than bed and a night stand, a preview of the hymnists’ prayer: “And in its narrow chamber keep my body safe in peaceful sleep until thy reappearing.” And – if all you have now rivals Christ – what will you then say about the great price you paid in selling your soul for earthly comfort? Will you not in regret echo Jesus’ plain words: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? What can a man give in return for his life?”
No matter how light and far off and distant that cross seems now, you will all taste death. And that is the ultimate cross we bear… the temporal suffering in the hours, days, weeks, and months before we taste of death. As even our rite of confirmation reminds us, we are called to “suffer all, even death, rather than renounce this faith.”
This is a most weighty cross. And yet, why do we carry it in the confession of Christ? Is it because we say, “Well, I’m going to die anyway, I might as well hope this is the answer!”? Or, is it because we say, “This Jesus, this Savior of mine, He and he alone has conquered death, has carried the cross of justification, and can promise with authority that I will overcome death. He has spoken such promises plainly. He has forgiven my sins of not bearing my burdens faithfully. And so, I pray for strength to carry my crosses anew with hope firmly in him.”
You see, in all the hardships in life, even staring into the face of death, in them all it is worth following this Jesus because not only does He speak plainly of your crosses to carry, but He also speaks plainly about His cross carried for you. He speaks plainly about your salvation. Hold fast to him because he has already said plainly that He will hold fast to you. He has already proven it and done it and accomplished it, so that there is nothing left for you to accomplish. You do not hold fast to him to earn anything, as if trying to convince him to unclench his jaw and not compare you to that poor, miserable wretch Peter. Rather, you hold fast to him because for you and your fellow poor, miserable wretch, Peter, for you both he clenched his jaw and set his face on Jerusalem and determined to go there and suffer and die and rise again for your salvation. You hold fast to him because He has promised not to be ashamed of His Church even before His Father in heaven. Jesus went to the cross and bore the brunt of your sin, your guilt, your condemnation by taking up your cross of condemnation – the one you deserved – and making it his own… so that he stood before the Father and confessed His willingness to shed his blood for you rather than be ashamed of you.
What comfort is yours that Jesus – He who intercedes for you, He who advocates for you – what comfort that He speaks plainly! The Father will not reinterpret Christ’s words. He will take the Son’s words at face value: “O Father, for this soul, I have shed my blood and paid his ransom.” And, if the Father takes Jesus’ word at face value, you ought as well.
How necessary! – in fact, the only way – how necessary that the Son of Man suffer and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said it plainly. He accomplished it plainly. Thanks be to God.

In the Name of the Father And of the Son And of the Holy Spirit.AMEN

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Prayers for the week of March 1, 2015

Lord God, almighty and everlasting, for the sake of Your beloved and only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus, rightly confessed to be the Christ—we beseech You therefore to hear our prayers, and to grant unto us that which You know is needful and best…. Lord, in Your mercy:  HEAR OUR PRAYER as we pray for for the whole Church of God and our brothers and sisters  in Christ according to their needs..  Heavenly Father, we ask You to hear our prayer, deliver, and preserve us, not for our sakes, but for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ…Amen.
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 “And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”  Mark 8:31

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A Prayer based on the Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer  “Our Father, who art in heaven”

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

O Lord, Almighty God, You graciously gave Your only-begotten Son over to death that we sinners might believe that You are ‘Our Father’ and we are your children, so that with all boldness and confidence each Christian may ask of you as dear children ask of their dear father. To that end, lend Your fatherly ear to my petitions:

* For the ill, suffering, injured: As a father is ever faithful at the bedside of his ailing children, so also be ‘Our Father’ in caring for those who are ill, injured, or hospitalized including Wally Bartels, Connie Block, LaVerne Anderson, Valerie Mulles, Diane Mautone’s father and mother, Debbie Taylor, Sue Ail and all who bear their crosses of physical infirmity:  Bless those who cannot attend church including Irma Martin, Margaret Joseph, Florence Mitchell, Bruce Morecraft, and Alice Breneman.

* For the anxious, lonely: As a father brings courage to his trembling children, so also be ‘Our Father’ in giving strength to those who prepare for surgery or await test results and those who are otherwise anxious or lonely including all Widows and Widowers of Calvary.

* For the mourning: As a father comforts his children, so also be ‘Our Father’ in wiping every tear from the eye of those who mourn the death of loved ones. Comfort them with the certainty of the resurrection and the promised inheritance of all who are children of the Heavenly Father.

* For the rejoicing: As a father takes pleasure in providing joys and blessings for his children, so also be ‘Our Father’ in hearing our thankful praises for the blessings you have bestowed on your children. With those whom you have called in Holy Baptism to be Your child (including NAME), with those who celebrate anniversaries and birthdays, with those who thank you for new and restored health, and with those who celebrate any of life’s blessings, we thank and praise you as ‘Our Father.’

* Please give and strengthen Faith in Christ to Anne, Vickie, Alexa, Dan, Kevin, Ryan, Paul, Mark, and those whom I encounter at work and in the daily conduct of my life.

Hear my petitions, O Heavenly Father, for the sake of Your Son, who has taught your adopted children to pray, “Our Father, who art in heaven…”