2 nd SUNDAY after TRINITY: June 26, 2022

“Once Far Off”

Dear saints here at Divine Savior, you faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and greetings from your brothers and
sisters in The Faith, and Pastor Mark Schlamann at Cross of Christ in Bountiful.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, [Ephesians 1:1-3], and by the call
of the Holy Spirit through Christ’s Church here in Niwot under the faithful care of Pastor
Greg Schultz at his request, I have the blessed privilege of proclaiming once again
what you have heard from him, and Pastor Russell before him–for years, and decades,
and even generations now– in various ways, and from different texts and authors of
God’s inspired Word, according to the Faith once delivered to us, and into which we
are all Baptized and made One, to wit:, according to the Apostle Paul in Ephesians
2:13-22  [13] But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought
near by the blood of Christ.

That is indeed the long and short of it; the Law and Gospel of it; the “tetelestai,” finish
of it; the truth that cannot be denied of it; the “what God has joined together let not man
separate” of it; the blessed “joy that was set before him” of it, for which He “endured
the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
[Hebrews 12:2]—and now, we who were far off, lost and wandering around in the
wilderness of this world and our own sin, have been brought near by the blood of
Christ, and indeed, as stated by the apostle Paul earlier in 2:6 : “raised us up with him
and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
It’s so easy to miss, or forget about, or to deny, or even replace that truth, given all that
is going on around us. That’s really what our Gospel lesson, Luke 14:15-24, is about
today.
 

[15] Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said
to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” [16] Then He said
to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, [17] and sent his servant
at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’
[18] But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have
bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’
Weekends are the only time I get to relax and enjoy myself in recreational activities.
[19] And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I
ask you to have me excused.’
I have more work to do that simply cannot wait or it will not get done.
[20] Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’
My family comes first and is precious to me and they are not members/believers. I do not want to drive them away.
While all of these things have a time and place in the life of a Christian–for they are the
very things that the second table of the Law commands ought not be denied or taken
from our neighbor, indeed we are to help them preserve, protect, and even improve
them–they all proceed from and are gifts of the God who desires first of all that we
fear, love and trust in Him to provide them as His loving children in His kingdom and
household of faith. Not to mention our family and friends are those given to us as first
among those with whom to share the kingdom of God and His love for us in Christ
Jesus.

If this rejection by those so graciously and lovingly invited is not tragic enough, far too
many called and sent servants of God—not to mention the self-appointed or popularly
elected, pseudo servants of men or councils and synods of men—are tempted,
persuaded, bullied, or take it upon themselves to replace or at least postpone that
invitation to be “brought near by the blood of Christ—…raised … up with him
and seated … with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” in favor of more
entertaining, supposedly more exciting, or safer things—and any willing to provide
them. This ignores God’s own judgment on those who reject the Word of God’s
invitation and His means of making it so, again as per today’s Gospel parable.

[21] So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of
the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of
the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ [22]
And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’
[23] Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and
compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. [24] For I say to you that none of
those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’”

In this single-minded purpose for the servant of the Word that is the very will of our
Father who is in heaven, some would say that pastors in particular and Christians in
general “become so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good,” as the late
Chief Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes was heard to opine. But that is a gratuitous
assertion that is not based upon and cannot be concluded from the Word of God or the
spirit of His Law. As Luther might have put it, “Dies ist ein Unding!”—an absurdity.
Indeed, the only way to be of any earthly good, that is, to love our neighbor as
ourselves and not lose heart in doing so in a thankless, self indulgent world, is to “fix
our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, [Heb. 12:2], … we fix our eyes
not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what
is unseen is eternal. [2 Cor. 4:18]”
Our eyes of faith so fixed, and only so fixed, we no longer have the need to fight and pursue our own welfare, blessings, happiness that we imagine make for peace.
[14] For He Himself is our peace.
This being accomplished for us once and for all by and in Christ Jesus, we who were

far off in sin and unbelief have been sought out, forgiven, and “brought near by
the blood of Christ; . . . raised … up with him and seated … with him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus.” This what we have been baptized into and what we confess
particularly in the Third Article of the Creed.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; one holy Christian Church, the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.
What does this mean? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength
believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called
me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the
true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole
Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in
which Christian Church He forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all
believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to
me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. 

This already accomplished and secured for us in the heavenly realms, we are free to
work for and rejoice in earthly victories that proceed from the Word of God and the
Faith once delivered to us, such as the SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v. Wade
and allow men with consciences formed by the fear of God to outlaw the taking of
innocent lives from the safety and nurture of the mother’s womb before their time. How
wonderfully appropriate that the overturning of Roe v. Wade is announced on the Feast
Day of the Nativity of John the Baptizer. He who once leapt in the womb of his mother
for joy in the presence of Jesus who was Himself in the womb of His mother, is, in
spirit, once again leaping for joy in the presence of Christ in the heavenly realms with
all the hosts gathered under the mercy seat of God awaiting the Last Day. For as
Jesus assures us in Luke 15:10, “there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of
God over one sinner who repents.”

As horrible and destructive as the sin of abortion is and has been to its victims and our
nation, it has had the even greater effect of
1) dividing people in Christ’s Church on earth as to whether it is even a sin;
2) the works righteous in but not of Christ’s Church on earth treating women who
have been caught up in this sin similarly to the adultery of the woman Jesus kept
from being stoned, i.e., as one who is alone responsible and to be punished;
3) and being used against Christ’s Church and servants of the Word that call for
true repentance unto forgiveness, life, and salvation as evidence of hypocrisy and lack of love.

These are all stark reminders of the first sin and the first sinners reaction to being
called out by God—to hide from Him, to cover the shame of the sin, and to blame
someone else—even God for it. They are also stark reminders that we all sin and fall
short of the glory of God and try to hide from Him, cover the shame of our sin, and
blame someone else, even God—until God searches for and calls us out by the
Gospel as He does today here in His Church from the mouth and pen of the Apostle
Paul, and assures us that we too can, should, and do leap for joy together with John
the Baptizer and all the heavenly host, not only for what this Supreme Court decision
means for many innocent little ones going forward, but as an earthly reminder and
result and example of the repentance to which John the Baptizer called ALL sinners.

For, as the Lord reveals to us through the prophet Jeremiah, “the thoughts that I think
toward you [are] thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
[Jer. 29:11] Therefore, we who were once far off from God and His kingdom because
of the guilt of our own sin, have been brought near by the blood of Christ, . . . no longer
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the
household of God, [20] having been built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, [21] in whom the whole
building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, [22] in whom you
also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Dear saints here at Divine Savior, you faithful in Christ Jesus: it is to this `God calls,
gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies you and the whole Christian Church on earth, and
keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. God grant it to be so here among you
and for generations to come—in the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the
Holy Ghost.