Not There Yet

Hebrews 4:1-16
        
In the name of the Father, Son + and Holy Spirit, Amen.  The Holy Spirit says:  So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His.  Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience (Hebrew 4:9-11).  This is the Word of the Lord.

Parents have heard their children ask many times.  “Are we there yet?”  “When will we get there?” They ask because they are bored of riding, tired of sitting and eager to get out of the car at their destination.  The longer the trip, the more likely is the complaining.  If they are going to see beloved relatives like grandparents or cousins they can hardly wait to arrive.  If the trip takes them to a vacation spot, camping or amusement park a different kind of joy awaits.  “Not there yet” are three words children do not like to hear.

As children of the heavenly Father, you have been given new birth from above in holy baptism.  The Triune God adopts you as His own with full inheritance rights.  Through Jesus your sins are forgiven and heaven is open to you.  Even now your citizenship is in heaven and you await the time when you will finally be there to experience all of its wonder forever.  Meanwhile we sojourn through life. Times and seasons pass but one day seems similar to all the others.  The years roll on and some things change slowly.  You may be farming the same ground that your great-grandfather plowed a century ago.  The barn or shed that he built may still be in use.

The children of Israel spent four hundred years in Egypt and forty in the wilderness.  They were a people on the move, a pilgrim and transient group looking forward to the Promised Land. They did not enjoy a happy journey through the wilderness.  They complained about the food and water.  At times they longed to go back to Egypt a place of permanency in an otherwise tumultuous trek.  The Israelites were seldom content, often whining and frequently complaining.  They took out their frustration on Moses as God’s chosen leader of the Exodus. They were ultimately displeased with God but did not have the courage to express it directly.  More than once there was a collective “Let’s go back to Egypt” from the people.

Through it all God is faithful.  They ate manna and drank water from the rock.  Their clothing and shoes did not wear out all the days of their wandering in the wilderness.  Still they complained.  The report of the twelve spies sent to investigate the Promised Land scared them.  Oh, it was a good and bountiful land where a family could plant a vineyard or an orchard and enjoy the richness of the harvest.  But there we people in this land that the majority of spies feared.  They felt like grasshoppers next to them.  No way, they said, could they overpower these people.  Only Joshua and Caleb expressed confidence that the Lord would bring them safely through. These two faithful men were outvoted but God had the last word.  None of the adults except Caleb and Joshua would live to enter the Promised Land.  Another forty years awaited their time in wilderness.

The sin of the people was unbelief.  They did not take God at His Word or believe His promises.  They witnessed God’s plagues upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians. They experienced God’s deliverance from slavery and crossed the Red Sea on dry ground.  They travelled to God’s mountain where the Lord met with Moses.  Somehow this was not enough.  Seeing is NOT believing.  They feared men rather than God and rebelled when the Lord directed them ahead.  Despite all of the miraculous acts they witnessed with their own eyes, they did not enter the Sabbath rest promised the people of God.  The warning to the Hebrews applies to us.  Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts (Hebrews 4:7b).  This generation was not there yet, nor would they enter it because of their disobedience and unbelief (Hebrews 4:6).

Are we different from the children of Israel?  Do we recognize the time of God’s visitation and rejoice in it?  The Lord appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterwards in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7).  The longer a trip takes, the more restless children become.  They might quarrel and bicker in the back of the car.  They may say and do annoying things to each other.  Occasionally mom or dad intervenes with a sharp word or threat.  Persevering requires patience.  This commodity grows scarce when delays or unexpected detours arise.  No one is happy when of the travelers becomes sick and requires extra stops and attention.

Similar reactions are found in the church as we await the Lord’s return or our departure from earth at our death.  “Are we there yet?”  Anxious people fidget, bicker and feud.  Idiosyncrasies of people grow irritating the longer you are with them.  Patience wears thin when frustration increases.  We express our feelings in less than kind ways to the person or people we deem responsible for our unhappiness.  We may even turn against the Lord and His servants. All the while the Lord remains true to His Word.  He is with us all day, every day, even to the end of the age.  Why do we act as if He is absent or missing?  This was Israel’s sin even as the Lord’s presence was as close as the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.  Unbelief blinds.  It veils the truth from our eyes as it seeks to destroy vestiges of faith.  It is for this reason that our text states: Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience (Hebrews 4:16). The Holy Spirit is skilled warrior in the use of the Lord’s two-edged sword of Law and Gospel.  He wields it with the skill of a surgeon in excising sin and exposing the thoughts and intentions of every heart.  Everyone stands accountable to God to whom we must give an account.

Jesus Christ is the Light of the world.  His penetrates the darkness caused by sin. Moreover He is the great High Priest.   Upon the tree of the cross He made atonement for your sins and mine. His is the blood of the Lamb, without blemish or spot that remains the propitiation for your sins.  Jesus knows what it is like to live in this world.  He faced every temptation common to man. He succeeded where you and I fail. Christ was crucified, died and was buried.  He rose from the dead ascended into heaven.  He is more than able to help you and me Jesus knows both the hardness of men’s hearts and the frailty of human flesh.  He is able to sympathize with us in our weakness.  We may approach His throne of grace to find mercy and help in our time of need.

Even now your true life is hidden with God in Christ.  When He appears, you also will appear with Him in glory.  Here in the Lord’s house and at His table he comes to us anew each week.  Here He passes over our lips, into our mouths to join His life to our mortal bodies.  Here we receive all that we need to support this body and life from Him who is the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.  Here we are called from disobedience to faith, from unbelief to a living hope in Him who died and rose again.  He is coming back but has not yet returned in His indisputable glory and honor before all creation.  Now we live by faith, not by sight.

In heaven we will have the full Sabbath rest described in our text.  Until then we are buffeted, troubled and hounded by the forces of hell trying to remove heaven from our sight.  Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.  Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience of Israel in the wilderness for we are not there yet,  Amen.

Conference Sermon

The following was preached at the Fall Southern Illinois District Pastoral Conference on October 2 at Pere Marquette State Park.

A Faithful High Priest

Hebrews 2:1-18

In the name of Jesus Christ, the merciful and faithful High Priest who made propitiation for your sins, Amen.  In the ordering of creation there is a distinction between what is seen and unseen. Regarding the visible creation Adam was given dominion over the earth and everything in it.  He would serve as God’s minister to the created world.  Unmentioned both as to the exact day of their creation and their heavenly ranking and authority are the invisible (to mortal eyes) beings of God’s creation.  We usually lump them together as “angels.”  The good angels serve God and His creation ceaselessly.  The evil angels work at the destruction of the same through the corruption of humanity.

Since angels are a different order of creation than humans, it is presumed that they are better or more important than us children of men.  Scripture reveals something different that is utterly profound.  The author to the Hebrews writes regarding the work of Jesus:  For surely it is not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham (Hebrews 2:16).  Likewise the prophets longed to see what we have in Jesus Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit, something into which angels long to look (1 Peter 2:12).  God uses the angels to serve for your sake.  Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:14).  This is why the text begins with the admonition that we pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it (Hebrews 2:1).

These are perilous times for Christians.  Christianity is under assault on many fronts.  Federal and state governments seek to restrict religious liberty by enacting laws contrary to the Holy Scriptures.  They expect the church to accommodate and adjust what it believes to be reprehensible.  If abortion is murder, which it is, no amount of time will make it less a violation of the fifth commandment.  If marriage is anything beyond the union of one man and one woman, there are unseen consequences ready to leap out of this Pandora ’s Box.  It is already starting. One woman wanted to marry herself.  Utah will no longer prosecute the laws prohibiting polygamy.  If marriage is “whatever” the fabric of society collapses. It will not be long before people marry their children, pets or stuffed animals.  The absurd will be commonplace.

A pastor in Arizona was arrested for holding a home Bible study.  Officials cited zoning laws prohibiting such meetings in a residential neighborhood.  Persecution will increase as Islam intensifies its campaign of terror and worldwide expansion.  Muslims will be given more protections even as yours are lost in the illiberal thinking that we mustn’t do anything to anger them.  Our Canadian brothers are already on guard against “hate speech” such as saying that the practice of homosexuality is sinful according to the Word of God.  It may not be far off before some of us are spending time in jail for being an unrepentant minister of the Gospel.  So be it.  Christians have faced worse.  Jesus experienced the ultimate hatred and rejection of mankind while being forsaken by the Father.

Listen again how Hebrews expresses this so eloquently.  But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.  For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of salvation perfect through suffering.  For He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.  That is why He is not ashamed to call them brothers (Hebrews 2:9-11).  Jesus knows your heart.  He understands your fears.  The Sanctifier and sanctified are in this together; you are not alone.  Jesus is the merciful and faithful High Priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.  For because He Himself suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted (Hebrews 2:17-18).

Temptations abound.  Do you fear men more than God?  Repent.  Are you mushy in accurately dividing the Word of Truth?  Repent.  Do you condone sin so as not to offend the sinner?  Repent. Do you pass your days afraid of the very people you are called to serve?  Repent.  By now you may think: Maybe I should think about a different line of work and get out now before trouble begins in earnest.  I didn’t sign on for this.  I only wanted to help people and feel appreciated by them.  I didn’t expect to die for this gig.  Maybe I should look for the most out of the way place in the Synod and there live out my days in peace. Each of these temptations has a certain appeal to the flesh.  These, however, are not your calling.  Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.  For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? (Hebrews 2:1-3a)

One pernicious temptation is to go it alone.  Withdraw into yourself.  Withdraw from your brothers.  Trust no one.  Follow your instincts, trust your gut not your mind.  Watch out.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Lions kill by isolating an animal from the herd.  They chase, circle and attack.  The victim is allowed no rest.  Exhausted, injured or maimed the kill comes quickly.  We need each other now, more than ever lest we fall victim to the evil one.  Most of all we need the merciful and faithful High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.  The mutual consolation of the brothers goes a long way in strengthening weak hands and wobbly knees.  The forgiveness of sins spoken one to another puts into practice the apostolic mission breathed by Jesus on the disciples in the Upper Room.  Jesus wills that repentance and forgiveness of sins be proclaimed in His name to the whole world until He comes again.

Often overlooked in times like this are the very basic but profound truths of the Holy Scripture summarized so well in the Creeds.  The Lord, He is God, there is no other.  Why do the nations rage and its rulers against the Lord and His Anointed?  The Lord sits in the heavens and laughs at the foolishness of haughty, arrogant men who presume to dismiss God.  He knows their day is coming.  The Lord has established His Anointed on His holy hill.  The Father has put everything in subjection to Jesus Christ.  Oh, we don’t see it that way now.  But it is that way, now, and for eternity in Jesus.  We confess that the Triune God is the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.  Why do we live and conduct our ministries as if He was not?

The Lord knows you intimately.  He knew you from eternity and called you to be His own in Baptism.  He comes to us again this morning hidden in bread and wine bestowing His very body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins.  You have been called into the Holy Ministry in the Church’s usual order.  You have been ordained or commissioned to serve the Lord in your particular ministry and location.  Jesus remains as the merciful and faithful High Priest interceding even now for you and the whole Christian Church on earth.  He is able to help those who are being tempted because He Himself suffered while tempted.  The Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one (2 Thessalonians 3:3).  What is there to fear?  Amen.

A Brief Overview of Closed Communion

The following was prepared as a response for a brief presentation on closed Communion.  

Closed Communion & Koinonia

1 Corinthians 10

16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation (koinonia) in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation (koinonia) in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

1 Corinthians 11

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

Acts 2

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship (koinonia), to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

A Multi-Dimensional Celebration

In the Lord’s Supper there is a vertical component as the person receives the body and blood of Jesus in the bread and wine.  This is genuine koinonia with Christ.  There is also a horizontal element where the person shares koinonia with all who are communing at that altar and church. The Sacrament of the Altar is the highest form of koinonia Christians experience on earth.  They are one with Christ and with believers who share the same devotion to the apostles’ teaching.  The celebration of the Sacrament expresses unity on the horizontal level.  The presence of division at the Lord’s Supper prompts Paul to address the church in Corinth. He indicates that division breaks the unity and has no place at the Sacrament.

     We profess not only what we receive into our mouths but also confess our agreement with the teachings of the congregation confessed at that altar, pulpit and denomination. To admit people who hold a different profession of faith is both unloving and harmful to their salvation. We either make them into hypocrites who believe one thing and practice another, or we let them eat and drink judgment on themselves by not discerning the Lord’s body and blood (1 Corinthians 11:29).

Closed from the Start

     From the beginning days of the Church, Christians followed closed communion. Only those who are baptized, instructed and confess the same faith in the Lord Jesus Christ received the Sacrament of the Altar.  Visitors from other congregations needed examination or a letter of introduction from their bishop (pastor) before they would be admitted to the Lord’s Table.  By the third century there was a rite of dismissal for those who were not baptized, receiving instruction or under church discipline.  They would be dismissed with prayer from the Divine Service to continue instruction under a deacon while the faithful celebrated the Sacrament behind the closed doors of the church.  Their rationale was simple.  “The Holy Things of God for the holy people of God.”  They cited Matthew 7:6 for not communing those who were not admitted to the Sacrament.   “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”

The Universal Practice of the Church

     Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutherans and other Christians practice closed communion today.  It was during the 19th and 20th centuries where the practiced changed among Protestants who did not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper.  It was only in the latter half of the 20th century when Lutherans began to practice open communion.  Lutherans remain divided on church fellowship and the Sacrament of the Altar.

The ELCA - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

     The ELCA practices an extreme open communion policy and have declared themselves in altar fellowship with such diverse groups as the Anglicans, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians and the United Church in Christ.  In some cases only baptism remains as the requirement for attending the Lord’s Supper.  In this diversity one can believe about anything regarding the Sacrament.  1) It could be the real body and Christ for us Christians to eat and drink; 2) It is simply a memorial meal where we eat bread and drink wine while our thoughts ascend heavenward to Jesus; 3) It is a command of Jesus that we do this in remembrance of Him but it has no power to forgive sins or give us Jesus’ body and blood in bread and wine. The Lord Jesus is much clearer on this topic than many wish to believe.

      Within the ELCA the Bible contains the Word of God.  Missouri Synod Lutherans believe teach and confess that the Bible is the Word of God.  The difference is the “continental divide” within Christendom today.  When the Bible merely contains God’s Word it has other words mixed in and we can’t be sure of anything.  The worst case scenario is that anything goes.  The world writes the agenda and the church follows.  This is the rationale behind women pastors and the acceptance of gay clergy. The next issue for apostasy will appear shortly as the world turns further away from Christ.

Conclusion

Closed communion remains the practice of the majority of Christians worldwide. It is the Biblical teaching of the Sacrament of the Altar that we retain in The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.