18 Pentecost

+ Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost +
September 26, 2010
“If they do not hear Moses”
The intent of Jesus’ parable is not to give a literal description of the after-life, a subject about which there swirls never-ending currents of curiosity, but to teach important lessons about how to prepare for that inevitable conclusion to our journey through this vale of tears.
1. The mercy of God in Christ Jesus our Lord determines our destination
a. Many live as if mercy were no concern of theirs – don’t need it
b. Those who receive mercy become merciful themselves
2. The time for concern about others is NOW.
a. I have five brothers – please warn them!
b. They have Moses and the Prophets – let them hear them.
2 Peter 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

Luther on Galatians

"As I have said, therefore, Paul is painting a picture of the whole of the Christian life in this passage: inwardly it is faith toward God, and outwardly it is love or works toward one's neighbor. Thus a man is a Christian in a total sense: inwardly through faith in the sight of God, who does not need our works; outwardly in the sight of men, who do not derive any benefit from faith but do derive benefit from works or from our love

desert = people

"We have to remember that we look for solitude in order to grow there in love for God and in love for others. We do not go into the desert to escape people but to learn how to find them: we do not leave them in order to have nothing more to do with them, but to find out the way to do them the most good." Thomas Merton

power of the Word

He shall break the power of the wicked, while the strength of the just shall be exalted. Psalm 75

how is it possible

But how is it possible for us to miss the impact of God planting His Church here in this place not only for our sakes but for the sake of the world around us? How is it possible to meet Christ where He has promised to be (Word and Sacrament) and then go home as if the most important thing on our agenda were finding something good to eat? Is this a matter of bad people or bad attitudes or is it a symptom of the fact that we have forgotten that the Church is not ours, we do not create it, and we are not the objects of the Church's existence. -- Rev. Larry Peters, Clarksville, TENNESSEE

a pure Christian symbol

To this Christian [pious] Augsburg Confession, so thoroughly grounded in God's Word, we herewith pledge ourselves again [publicly and solemnly] from our inmost hearts; we abide by its simple, clear, and unadulterated meaning as the words convey it, and regard the said Confession as a pure Christian symbol, with which at the present time true Christians ought to be found next to [which pious hearts ought to receive next to the matchless authority of] God's Word; just as in former times concerning certain great controversies that had arisen in the Church of God, symbols and confessions were proposed, to which the pure teachers and hearers at that time pledged themselves with heart and mouth. -- preface to Solid Declaration, Formula of Concord

Schwenkfeldians: go away!

Erroneous Articles of the Schwenkfeldians.

22] 3. That the ministry of the Church [ministry of the Word], the Word preached and heard, is not a means whereby God the Holy Ghost teaches men, and works in them the saving knowledge of Christ, conversion, repentance, faith, and new obedience.

23] 4. That the water of Baptism is not a means whereby God the Lord seals the adoption of sons and works regeneration.

24] 5. That bread and wine in the Holy Supper are not means through and by which Christ distributes His body and blood.

25] 6. That a Christian who is truly regenerated by God's Spirit can perfectly observe and fulfil the Law of God in this life.

26] 7. That it is not a true Christian congregation [church] in which no public excommunication [some formal mode of excommunication] or no regular process of the ban [as it is commonly called] is observed.

27] 8. That the minister of the church who is not on his part truly renewed, regenerate, righteous, and godly cannot teach other men with profit or distribute genuine, true Sacraments. -- Epitome, Formula of Concord