A Sermon for Reminiscere – Matthew 15

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  It looks pretty grim.  They tell me this is a dying place.  The sun and its rays are hidden and the fierce darkness of Satan’s clouds are rolling in.   The rain is sure to fall upon our heads… The day is past, your prime is over, the excitement blown out when the clouds blew in.  Some say its the neighborhood or the gangs.  Some say its just because everyone has moved on in their lives.  Our Redeemer Lutheran Church waiting for its end… no youth, no excitement, no money.  What else is there to do?

Satan’s been lying in wait.  He’s been counting the days, to stir up within us terrible thoughts, as if God our Lord had rejected and forsake us.  His sly and cunning tongue whispering the nothings of destruction in the ears of God’s elect.  By a word he cast doubt in Eve’s ear and by misusing the Word of God he wills to convince you that trouble will reign in your hearts, in this place, among those gathered here… that you aren’t worthy of the things God has in store for you, that you don’t even belong to him.  “Heathen, Jesus came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel – you are nothing, dogs at best, mangy mutts to be kicked under the table.”

Yes, even the Lord Jesus would agree.  He gave the Canaanite woman the silent treatment.   He reminded her that he came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  He called her a dog.

The disciples were bothered by her continued pestering.  Send her away, Jesus, for she cries out after us.  Wailing and yelling she longed for the King of kings to cast out her daughter’s demon.  She wanted her daughter back.  She came to the creator of all things and called out again and again.  But he ignored her.  She was a Gentile.  He was a Jew.  He the King of the Jews.

You and I might have quit there.  He won’t answer.  His people are staring at me.  I’m uncomfortable and I’m not getting anywhere.  It isn’t going to happen anyway.  She’s been tormented for years… I’ve been looking for a job for weeks… The congregation is getting smaller and smaller… We’ve been hoping the cancer would go into remission…

We’re not getting anywhere.  We ask and ask and ask.  He doesn’t answer.  He says ask for anything and the Father will give it… but there is no answer.  We might as well just pack it up and go back home and quit there.

But, the difficulties in the way do not appall the Canaanite woman; she keeps only in view the object of her coming, and forgets that she is a heathen and he a Jew.  Her confidence and hope in Christ are so great that she never doubts his condescension.  Her faith cancels the fact that she is a heathen.  One without faith would never have acted this way, but would have concluded: It is of no use to present my request before him; I am in the clutches of the devil beyond all hope; let his own people come to him; them he will hear, but not me.

It is surely a severe and dangerous affliction when Satan comes and prompts the heart to despair of the mercy of God.  Rest assure the devil is at work to speak his lies to your hearts in this place.  You and I are his target.  He labors to convince us to refuse to pray to Christ, and rather to be ready to curse him… to think that all is lost and damnation sure… to think we are the heathen kicked under the table to be ignored by God and his Christ.

But she cried out all the more, “O Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  Full of earnestness and faith she confesses with these words her faith in Christ as the Savior of the world.  And yet he says, “I came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  And here her faith moved her like your faith has moved you today.  She worshipped him.  Casting herself to the ground she would not let him go.  “It is not good to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs.”  It was as if he said to her, “You are a child of the devil in every respect; begone, I will have nothing to do with you!”  It matters not what your problem, woman, be gone.  Stop pestering and leave me.

You and I cower and relent.  We retreat and stop asking… we decide he must have better prayers to answer, more important people to care for… and we go home.  And yet we learn a most startling thing; faith will not retreat.  It will not cower in even the most harsh of rebukes by the King of kings.  Faith takes hold of Christ’s words, even when they sound harshly, and changes them into soothing expressions of consolation.  She replies, Yes Lord – I am a dog.  Treat me like one if you like.  Give the bread to the children, and seat them at your table… only allow me to sit under the table and pick up the crumbs those children drop.  With those scraps I will be happy.  Taking the place of a dog she receives the privileges of a child.  And here, forced by his own words, Jesus gives in.

Satan would have us believe it is a dark and gloomy day.  But really it is the light of Christ that dawns.  The rays of God’s pure light make manifest what really is happening here in this place.  The Holy Spirit is creating faith in your hearts.  He is using the very Word of God come from heaven to create and sustain this faith – deep within the soil of your heart.  And this makes the devil frustrated because this faith reaches forth and grasps ahold of Jesus… just like this Canaanite woman’s faith.  It draws you to Jesus in your need.

Christ’s repulsive treatment of the Canaanite woman did not proceed from an unfriendly disposition towards the Gentiles, but it was his purpose to test and make manifest the faith of this woman, so that we might learn from her.  Jesus is so well pleased with this woman that he can no longer withhold his mercy and kindness, but tells her: “O woman, great is your faith.  Be it done to you as you desire.”

And so likewise he is please with your faith.  No longer stuck under the table eating the scraps that fall to the floor, Jesus commands that you come up higher and sit with him as he restores you in the forgiveness of your sins and gives you life and salvation.  He does this by his body and blood shed upon the cross.  This the Holy Spirit testifies to you and this your faith reaches out and grabs ahold of.  Jesus died upon the cross and now the devil’s trickery and lies have no depth.  The grave can’t hurt you and death has no sting.  For in the renewal of life, the Lord of life showered you with his blood, drowning the dog that was your old Adam and instead brought forth a new man – righteous before the Father and holy in his sight.  You are made new in the death of Jesus.  You are given new life in the resurrection of the flesh of Jesus.

Satan would have you believe this is a dark and gloomy place.  He wants you to stop praying for this congregation and to ignore its people.  The devil works overtime to make sure that there is division and strife among you.  But I tell you today – in your hearing – that Jesus, the Son of David, the Lord of life is here in this place.  Satan has no hold.  He is a liar.  But Jesus speaks the truth.  He is here and he has called this place holy and vibrant.  He looks out and sees brothers and sisters – not dogs – Children of God.  Angels are singing because of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.  All the vault of heaven resounds because of this family.  Jesus is building you up.  He has made you alive.  Today he sets a table in the presence of your enemy the devil.  He sets it here for everyone to see.  Your faith is great – your sins are forgiven – come dear brothers and sisters and feast with Jesus and celebrate with God.

The day is now.  This is the day of salvation.  This is Our Redeemer’s prime.  Celebrate with Jesus.  The Father is celebrating because of you and because his Son has picked this people.  In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church Houston

The Reverend Steven Thomas Cholak

Invocavit Wednesday Sermon

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.  —Romans 8:16-17

God would with the opening words of the Lord’s prayer (Our Father who art in heaven) invite us to believe that we are his true children.  Even the Holy Spirit testifies to the case – God has made us his own.  So that we may with all boldness and confidence use his holy name to ask him as dear children ask their dear Father.  But rather — what do we use his holy name for??  We call upon it in every unimportant moment and joke and curse with it upon our lips.  It was by this name that you were brought out of your old life and made a new.  It was by this name that you are marked and targeted by the devil.

True, God’s name is indeed holy by itself.  Without you or me – it is holy and it will remain holy despite our sinful nature.  But that it may be holy among us… holy upon our lips… holy in our use, that is what we pray here.  God has come to you and me when we did not want him in our lives, when we ignored him and ran the other way.  In our sin he stopped us in our tracks and showered his Spirit upon our hearts to make Christians out of the heathen.  This holy name he placed upon us and we were begotten in that baptism.  Begotten and birthed by our mother, the church.  A man must be born of the Spirit.  And born of the Holy Spirit you were.  He testifies with your spirit that God has made you an heir to the heavenly kingdom.  You are holy heirs.

Our Father gives us the kingdom.  We call him Father and he is ours because of that which he done to us.  The Blood of Jesus has washed you and made you a new Adam.  We have been transformed by the glory of Christ and by his blood we are made alive.  Not only alive, but forgiven.  And so the Father continues to give you these gifts of heaven.  He calls out your name and doles out the goods.  He looks out and sees his beloved and is delighted that he has picked you.

And so that name that is above every name has forced fruit to come forth from your branches.  Good works cannot be helped.  They are a natural result of the name that God has placed upon your head and that he wants you to use with your lips.  You are his witnesses and you will suffer because of it… but he has provisions.  There is nourishment for the war, and consolation for the weak of heart.  Jesus has won the victory.  Upon Calvary’s cross, he emptied his body of its life and died.  The Godman died.  You are bound to that death.  It is yours.  The water that was poured over your head and the blood that is poured down your throat have made that death yours.  And the life he lives in his resurrection is yours made real in your baptism.

Sin no longer has mastery over you, but rather it is defeated in the bread and wine here offered.  The body and blood of the King of kings has undone the power of the devil and has elevated you to the right hand of God.  Sons and Daughters of the Almighty Father.  It is real.  He is true to his Word, you are his and he is Our Father.  In +Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Reverend Steven Thomas Cholak

Invocavit Sermon

Grace, Mercy, and Peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.  For forty days and forty nights it rained upon the earth.  Eight souls in all were in that boat.  As the rain began to come down, Noah and his family began to fast.  It would be some time before they would see the sunshine again, or to breath the fresh air as the wind carried it down the face of the mountains and across the valleys.  Forty days the rain came down and for forty nights, too.  It deprived them of everything they knew and loved and kept them locked up with all the animals.

Not a self-chosen fast, like “I’ll give up liver this Lent,” but a fast inflicted upon them because God counted Noah righteous.  Forty days and forty nights the rain beat down upon that boat as eight souls remembered their village, their friends, the green grass, and the warmth of the sun upon their cheeks.  They remembered the ridicule, the pain, and the violence that filled the earth.  Locked up by the Lord Himself because the Lord found favor with Noah.

Jesus was hungry.  Again, not a self-inflicted fast, but it was the Spirit of God that led Jesus to the wilderness.  For forty days and forty nights, He he did not eat.  A desolate place, alone without the niceties of life, away from everything that He knew and loved, led there to be tempted by the Prince of Darkness.  And when he was good and hungry Satan came and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

But Satan didn’t get it.  Well, he thought he was punching Jesus when He was down.  You find the weak part in the armor and drive the sword straight through.  Tempt Jesus with food when He’s hungry, yeah that’s the way to go…and maybe, just maybe, He’ll take the bait and lose the war.  But Jesus’ answer was more devastating for Satan than he would ever know.  “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.”

In those Words, in that short little bit of preaching, Jesus’ fast was over.  “It is written,” Jesus said.  Man shall live by the words that God has written.  Man shall live by the bread that comes from God, that comes down from heaven, that fills our ears, our mouths, and our eyes.  It is the gifts from heaven that sustain God’s people.

Beware dear Christians, it has been a long fast.  Many years have gone by since we have walked with God in the cool of the Garden.  The Prince of Darkness has waged a long and dangerous war and each of you is his target.  Get the weakest link, take down the ones that are hungry, and carry away the spoil.  Too often this devil’s lies have found willing ears nestled upon our heads, his seduction an easy mark in our wayward hearts.

A fast has begun for us this past week.  Our alleluias taken from us.  No more “Glory be to God on High”…for forty days and forty nights…our lenten fast carries us outside the walls of Jerusalem to the bread that came down from heaven.  Each stop along the way eating up the Word we live by.  Nourishment for the war that is being waged upon us.

A bumper sticker, “Pray for peace!” it said.  Peace in our world, no doubt, peace that keeps soldiers from marching through Kabul…that keeps Twin Towers from falling…that cures cancer and dries each tear before they are formed.  Satan would tempt us even with a little bumper sticker.  Tempt us to forget about the Peace nestled within the Word of God and rather to turn to the desires of sinful men.

Temptation is always temptation to break God’s Word, to go against it.  God says, “Do this” or “Don’t do that.”  And the devil says, “Oh, come on now!  That is not practical.  You’re being a prude, old-fashioned, no fun.  Surely God didn’t really mean it.  And even if He did then it is only because He is holding out on you.  What kind of a God is He, anyway?  I thought He was supposed to love you.”  This is the way he attacked Eve in the garden.  It is the way he attacked Our Lord in the desert.  It is the way he attacks us here and now.  Eve could not bear the assault. Adam failed to protect her.  He, and she, gave in, and became children of Satan and you are the spawn of their loins.  But the 2^nd Adam, the perfect Adam, suffered these temptations also.  And He did not fail.  He overcame.  He lived the perfect life of faith and with nothing more than the Word He drove the devil back.

So we pray for a different peace, knowing that bombs will still kill, and soldiers will still march.  There will always be hospitals…and those that die in them.  We pray for a peace that sustains and brings us through the lies and attacks of Satan.  We pray for the peace that brings us life and unifies us with Christ.  We pray for peace that is the Word of God.  The Word that we live by.  Christ, our fighting King, has succeeded where Adam failed.  He does not stand idly by as Satan and his legionnaires taunt you with their siren songs of destruction and death.  He intervenes.  He shields you, His beloved, but weak bride.  He protects and defends you.  He attacks those who would harm you.  He goes in your place, overcomes what you and Eve could not.  He did not need to do this for Himself.  He did it for you.  He removes death’s sting, the grave’s morbid victory.  The roaring lion who once terrified you is now but a barking dog with no bite.  His teeth, his claws have been removed.  He is chained to his own torture which will never end.  He cannot have you.  He cannot harm you.  For you have a Master, a King, a Benefactor, and a Protector.  You bear the Name He placed upon you in Baptism.  Thus you belong to Him, not just because He made you, but also because He bought you.

So be forewarned.  Be prepared.  Make yourself ready for warfare, ready for sneak attacks, and dirty underhanded tricks.  Make yourself ready by eating and drinking the provisions provided in His Grace, that which He has given and shed for you.  Open your ears.  Hear the Word of God.  Pray that He would strengthen and sustained you in the days to come.  Pray lest you fall into temptation.  And learn to pray once again, O Christians, the prayer He taught, the prayer He gave.  And learn to pray as the early Church so fervently prayed, “Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly!”

“And the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to Him.”  In +Jesus’ Name.

Reverend Steven Thomas Cholak

Ash Wednesday Sermon

A cross on each forehead to remind us of what Christ has done.  Reaching out his holy arm, he has claimed you as his own.  This is in stark contrast to what we do.  Take for example the Tower of Babel:  The people wanted to make a name for themselves.  They wanted to reach to the heavens and without God’s help, or rather, apart from God’s help, be forged into a single lasting memory.

Adam wanted to be like God.  Not understanding that the devil had duped him – because God had already made Adam and Eve in his own image.  And so to make a name for himself, he took the fruit Eve, his wife, gave him and he ate.  We too want to have our name in lights, our memory enduring, our legacy in the history books.

Apart from God, on our own road, we want to forge a legacy.  We love to create a name for ourselves.  But creating this name comes at a cost.  It means that someone else’s name can’t be in your way to the top.  It means that you forget God.  You start to expect all good in other things – in your own life, in your job, in your money, in your possessions… In your own name.  Where do you find your refuge?  With your whole heart – who or what do you trust?

And what of our wicked tongues?  We slander our friends, we betray them, and tell all sorts of lies about them.  We drag their names in the dirt under our feet.  We hold on to their wicked actions and give lip service to forgiveness… because we know better than God.  We know what’s best for our rise to the top and these sinners may get in our way.

Repent.  The kingdom of heaven has come very near.  The Lord Jesus has seen you in the depths of your sin and he comes to you.  Before the foundation of the world he wanted you to have a name that is above every name – so he predestined you to adoption – AS SONS – before the foundation of the world.  He wanted you to have his image, he wanted you to trust in him alone, to love and fear him above all things – this world, the devil, and even your own selves.  And at last to stand as one holy people.  His holy people.

So today a cross is traced upon your forehead, with the very dirt from under your feet, to show you what Jesus has done.  It isn’t the first time a cross was drawn there, no this one is placed where one already is.  For when you were baptized, the Lord Jesus put a cross there and also one upon your heart.  He put them there to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified.  He wanted a mark placed upon you for the devil to see and even your own sinful nature.  It is this cross that shows who he is and what he has done.  It is with this cross that he is faithful to his promise.

Though great our sins and sore our woes, his grace much more aboundeth.  For when we were making a name for ourselves and traveling our own path, the Lord Jesus came and planted his Word deep within our hearts.  He called you and placed his holy name upon you.  The cross upon your forehead marks you as one washed by Christ’s blood.  For high upon the mountain of Calvary, Jesus was crucified and died – that his death would mean new life for you.

And so in the crucifixion of this Jesus we are gathered together.  We are made new and given forgiveness and life.  Today is the day of salvation – today is the day you have been made great.  Today you eat and drink with the King of kings and the Prince of life.

The cross upon your forehead has marked you for death.  The ash and dust remind us of the decay of death.  Each cross is made slightly different and none of them perfect.  That is how our sin is – individual, yet the same.  However – one cross, one Christ, one God has redeemed you.  That Jesus calls you by the name that is above every name.  Our Shepherd is good and true.  His helping love – no limit knows.  Today the Lord has done great things.  He calls you by name, his Father calls you his sons, he loves you – and the angels in heaven rejoice, for you have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and you are called Children of God.

In + Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Reverend Steven Thomas Cholak

The Church and its Mission

Describe your understanding of the Church and its mission, especially regarding outreach to the lost. As Lutherans we believe that the Church is the community of believers gathered around Jesus in the preaching of the Word and administration of the Sacraments.  Our churches teach that one Christian Church will remain forever.  We find unity in the doctrine of the Gospel and in the sacraments administered to us by Christ’s holy hand.  The ministry of Word and Sacrament builds up the body of Christ for every good work.  It is the Church that rubs shoulders with the world and moves about in the valley of the shadow of death.  The Church bears the burdens of the whole and moves each other to speak of the hope they have in Christ Jesus.

A Lutheran pastor must be one that continues to study the Word of God and then continues to carry that Word to his people as he teaches and cares for them.  It is an active and father-like role.  He teaches them the Word of God in their place.  He gives them the gifts of Christ to strengthen them in their vocation and relationships.  It is the church’s work to know nothing but Christ and him crucified and to believe in the one who sent him.

But the Church lives with the lost.  Her people work and trade with those that do not know Christ and him crucified.  Thus the Word of God serves to build up these dear ones in their place.  The Holy Scriptures are useful for teaching and correction, but are the foundation and identity of each person.  Thus, the ministry of Word and Sacrament is how the Holy Spirit brings faith and strengthens the Church to do good works and speak of Christ to the world.

God’s mission is the Church’s mission.  The Church is one flesh with her Lord and thus his work is her work.  We cannot say that it is not the congregation’s duty to reach out to the lost in their neighborhoods and towns.  It is exactly her mission to be a light on a hill.  The Sunday School song, “This little Gospel Light of Mine,” is a perfect example of the congregation’s role.  Hide the Gospel under a bush?  Oh NO!  Try to shhh it out?  Oh NO!  Of course, Jesus will make it shine, make it shine, make it shine.  All the time, Christ Jesus shines forth for the world to see, to warm our cold and sinful flesh, energize us for service, and point the way to his loving arms… all the time.

Destruction by a Flood

The bow was set in the sky to remind all involved parties that God had made a promise.  He is always true to His Word.  Never will He destroy His creation with a flood.  Never will He tear open the gates of the deep and the flood doors of the heavens.  Never again will the creation grasp for air and fail to swim.  Instead, He sends forth His only Son.  And it will be this Jesus that is torn open upon the tree of Calvary.  It was a flood of holy blood that burst forth from the Son of God.  And that flood did destroy.  Behold, Lo, look there!  It is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.  And flowing forth from His pierced side is a flood of heavenly love.

Floods always destroy and this one was no different.  Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.  The sin of everyone hunted down, sought out, and destroyed.  Sin, no matter how big and monstrous or small and feather light… they all sank to the bottom and were swallowed by the power and might of Christ’s blood.  For God so loved the whole world, that He sent His only Son to die upon the cross.

Jesus has died upon the cross.  His death is yours and so let the bow that has been set in the clouds be a reminder that God has kept his promise.  By a flood of His own Son’s blood – your death, all your sins, and the power of the devil over you – have all been destroyed.  This blood means death to sin and destruction and defeat to Satan, but to you it is comfort and life.  In the blood of the Lamb of God you have been made alive.  In the preaching of the Word and in the partaking of the sacraments the Lord wraps you with His life and warms you through your ears and mouth.

Behold the Lamb of God is coming again to take you up into His loving arms.  Lo, He comes for you, you are His own, He knows everything about you and you are His delight.  Rejoice, like the angels in the heavens, every time you see the rainbow.  The One who calls you is faithful and He will do all things well.