Emmanuel Lutheran Church

For He will come in a cloud with great power

and glory.

To the wicked and the proud, it will be a Day of judgment that will

"set them ablaze" (Mal. 4:1). The signs preceding this Day will bring

them fear and fainting. But to those who believe,

who fear the name

of the Lord, this Day is one to look forward to

and rejoice in:

Straighten up and

raise your

heads, because your redemption is

drawing near

(Luke 21:28). Christ our Redeemer is

coming; the Sun

of Righteousness will bring healing in His wings. Let us, then, give

attention to the words of the Lord. which do not pass away.

Let us "through

endurance

and

througn

the

encouragement

of the

Scriptures" (Rom. 15:4) be strengthened in our hope by the Holy Spirt

and watch diligently for Jesus' coming. Then, by God's grace, we shall

escape all these things that will come to pass

and stand betore the Son

of Man

The new Church Year begins by focusing on the humble coming of

our Lord. "Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted

on a donkey" (Matt. 21:5). Even as He was born in a lowly manger, so

Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a beast of burden. For He bears the sin

of the world. He is the Son of David riding to His enthronement on the

cross, where He shows Himself to be

"The LORD is our

Righteousness" (Jer. 23:5-6). Our Lord still comes in great humility to

deliver His righteousness to us in the Word and Sacraments. Before

receiving Christ's body and blood, we also sing, "Blessed is he who

comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest.!" (Matt. 21:9)

And as we receive the Sacrament, we set our hearts on His return in

glory, for

"our salvation is nearer to us now than when we first

believed' (Rom. 13:11).

"The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night" (1 Thess. 5:1-

11). The arrival of the bridegroom will be sudden and unexpected.

Therefore you are to be watchful and ready like the five wise virgins.

"For you know neither the day nor the hour"

when the Son of Man is

to return. (Matt. 25:1-13). The lamps are the Word of Christ. The oil

in the lamps is the Holy Spirit, who works through the Word to create

and sustain the flame of faith in Christ. The foolish are those who do

not give proper attention to the working of the Holy Spirit in baptism,

preaching, and the supper, and so their faith does not endure. The wise,

however, are those who diligently attend to these gifts of the Spirit,

and who therefore have an abundance of oil. The flame of faith endures

to the end. By God's grace they are received into the eternal wedding

feast of the Lamb in His kingdom, the new heavens and the new earth

created by the Lord for the joy of His people (Is. 65:17-25).

Guest Pastor, Reverend Matthew Conrad (Luke 21: 5-6)

Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple

5 And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

"A great multitude ... from all tribes and peoples and languages" cry

out. "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne" (Rev. 7:9-

17.) Faith-filled saints from every place and time with unified voices

eternally magnify the Lamb of God. As His beloved children, we, too,

"shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:1-3). Joined with the throng of angels

and myriad saints, we shall "serve him day and night in his temple"

(Rev. 7:9-17). In our earthly tension vacillating between saint and

sinner, faith and doubt, sacred and profane, we earnestly seek Jesus to

calm our fears, comfort our spirits and forgive our sins. The Holy

Spirit, through faith in Christ, propels us forward, fortifying us in

Word and Sacrament, to our eternal home. In the midst of our constant

struggle as believers, we need to be blessed. And so we are. The poor

in spirit, the meek, the hungry, the thirsty, the merciful, the pure and

the persecuted are all blessed, and we will most certainly inherit the

kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:1-12).

"Wisdom is justified by her deeds" (Matt. 11:19), and the true Wisdom

of God, Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son, has justified us by His deeds. He

prepares His way by the preaching of repentance, but He has suffered the

violence of the Law and voluntarily handed Himself over to violent men,

that we might eat and drink with Him in His kingdom and

"remain in the

house forever

" (John 8:35). He is

" a friend of tax collectors and sinners"

(Matt. 11:18-19), and He has rescued us by His grace from the slavery of

sin and death. By the proclamation of His eternal Gospel

"to those who

dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people

" (Rev.

14:6),

"the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law

(Rom. 3:21),

"that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has

faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26). And by the hearing of that Gospel of Christ

Jesus,

"whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be

received by faith" (Rom. 3:25),

"you will know the truth, and the truth

will set you free"

(John 8:31-32).

"A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own

household" (Matt. 13:58). James the Just was once offended at Jesus'

"wisdom and ... mighty works" (Matt. 13:54). But he came to faith

following His resurrection, when Jesus appeared to him (1 Cor. 15:7).

He then became a leader of the Early Church in Jerusalem, present at

the council recorded in Acts 15. There James recognized from the

prophets that Jesus was the Lord

"known from of old" and returned to

rebuild David's fallen tent and restore it,

"that the remnant of mankind

may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name"

(Acts 15:16-18).

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials

of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces

steadfastness"

James 1:2-3). Josephus and other historians record

that James was martyred by stoning in the 60s A.D. "Blessed is the

man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test

he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who

love him" (James 1:12).

The Pharisees ask a Law question. Jesus asks a Gospel question. The

Pharisees seek to test Jesus in His own words. Jesus seeks to "test" them

in the saving reality of who He is as the Messiah (Matt. 22:34 46). The

Law requires you to "fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways,

to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all

your soul" and to "love the sojouner" (Deut. 10:12-21). Failure to keep

the Law perfectly brings judgment. On the other hand, the Gospel brings

the grace of God given by Jesus Christ, that you may be blameless in the

day of His return (1 Cor. 1:1-9). Jesus is David's Son yet David's Lord,

true God and true man. He is Love incarnate who fulfilled all the demands

of God's Law on our behalf, that we might be saved from the Law's

condemnation and sanctified in the Gospel's forgiveness. Thereby we see

that "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his

Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:9).LCMS Lectionary

"You cannot serve God and money,”(Matt. 6:24-34), for they require two

contrary forms of service. Worry is the worship given to the false god of

mammon, an unbelieving anxiousness and focus on the things of this

world. Faith is the worship of the true God, a confident trust that He is a

loving Father who will care for all of our needs in both body and soul.

The widow of Zarephath served God that is, she believed the word of

the Lord spoken by Elijah that the bin of flour would not be used up nor

would the jar of oil run dry (1 Kings 17:8-16). He who feeds the birds

and clothes the flowers will certainly provide for our daily needs. For He

has already provided for our eternal needs, clothing us with Christ's

righteousness in Baptism and feeding us His body and blood for our

forgiveness. With such confidence we are liberated from worry and freed

to do good with our material resources, especially to those who are of the

household of faith (Gal. 5:25-6:10). LCMS Lectionary

"Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence" (Prov.25:6-14).

Rather, take the lowest position at the table. Humble yourself before Him.

For your place is not for you to take but for Him to give. Conduct yourself

with all lowliness and gentleness, bearing with one another in love (Eph.

4:1-6), that the King may give you glory in the presence of those at the

table with you.

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and

he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 14:1-11). Is this not the

way of Christ? He is the one who took the lowest place, who humbled

Himself even to the point of death for us. He is now exalted to the highest

place at the right hand of the Father that penitent believers may be exalted

together with Him in the resurrection. To the humble at His Supper He

says,

"Friend, move up higher,"

giving you His very body and blood for

your forgiveness that you may ascend to take part in the great wedding feast which has no end.

LCMS Lectionary