The three readings for Series A for the 1st Sunday after Christmas are Isaiah 63:7-14 (Remembering Moses); Galatians 4:4-7(Redeem under the Law) and Matthew 2:13-23 (Herod kills children). Selected to preach about is Galatians 4:5, “to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

What exactly does it mean to be “under the Law.” It must be important in light of what Paul writes in Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Clearly, being under Law means that sin has dominion over us. How so?

Part of our answer is found in 1 Corinthians 15:56 which reveals that “The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law.” What does that mean? Sin in and of itself has no strength. Its strength comes from the consequences of sin. Not just temporal consequences, mind you, but the spiritual consequence as revealed in what is referred to as the curse of the Law, “In the day that you sin, you shall surely die!”

That curse of sin does not result in temporal death but spiritual separation from the holy Trinity. Being “under the Law” refers to the consequence of eternal death for any and every sin we do. For we deserve nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. How then, did Jesus, redeem us from the Law?

In essence, He did so by taking upon Himself the punishment you and I deserved. The culmination of that punishment took place on the cross when these words were spoken, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Through a mystery that humans cannot fathom, God deserted God so that now those in Christ will never be forsaken by God.

The adoption we received was that of becoming sons by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And just what does a baby do to get adopted? Answer: nothing. So also, because of Jesus Christ, the elect need never again fear God because they no longer live under the Law but under grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

For the 4th Sunday in Advent on December 23, 2007 the assigned readings are Isaiah 7:10-17 (Virgin shall conceive); Romans 1:1-7 (Paul, an apostle) and Matthew 1:18-25 (The birth of Jesus). Chosen for the sermon is Romans 1:7, “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.”

Once again we find a passage that can be taken in two ways–the wrong way and the right way from a Law and Gospel perspective. The wrong way is the thinking of the Theologian of Glory; the right way is the thinking of the Theologian of the Cross. Here is how the THOG interprets this verse: “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to become saints.” Note the difference in the word “become” instead of “be”.

The natural man as well as the Old Adam of the Christian cannot fathom the notion that a Christian is at one and the same time both sinner and saint. It must be an either…or, not a both…and. How do we reconcile this apparent contradiction? First, we realize that we need to regard the phrase not from our point of view but from God’s. That’s why it is called theology and not manology. (“Theos” is the word “God” in the Greek.)

When God regards even the Christian from the point of view of whether we are obeying the Law perfectly, then the conclusion is that we are sinners at all times. However, when God regards the Christian from the point of view of the Gospel, both the forgiveness of sins and the robe of righteousness given to us by grace through faith result in the conclusion that we are sinless saints.

A parent might say to the children, “To all who are in this house, beloved by father and mother, called to be our children…” Note that “children” is not something that they need to become by working on it; rather, they are children by the fact that they have either been born or adopted into the family which lives in this house.

My former copastor, Peter Kurowski, has the practice of referring to members of the congregation as “Saint Fred” or “Saint Ruth” as he distributes the holy Eucharist. As an aside, Dr. Kurowski has also written the first of 5 novels in a series about the Angel of the LORD being Jesus in the Old Testament. The first book is now available at lawgospel.com and is entitled, “The Everlasting Angel: The Mountains of Fire.”

During this Advent/Christmas season, we can rejoice that the baby born in the stable was born in order to die FOR YOU! It is why you are now regarded by God as a holy saint by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It is His gift to you. The only thing that God now wants from you is your sin. It’s called repentance.

For the 3rd Sunday in Advent on December 16, 2007, the 3 assigned readings from Year A are Isaiah 35:1-10 (Highway of Holiness); James 5:7-11 (Patience) and Matthew 11:2-15 (Baptist asks Jesus). The selection chosen to preach about is Matthew 11:6, “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

There is a knock at the front door. You are given an envelope. When you open it you find a Christmas present of a $500.00 check from your mother. Immediately you go to the phone, call her and say that you were greatly offended by such a gift. Sounds ridiculous, does it not? Yet that is what the world does to God as they are offended at the gift of Jesus Christ. Why?

The answer is clear to those who have eyes to see as the distinctions between Law and Gospel are utilized. While the gift of money from your mother is an analogy that makes those who reject the gifts of Jesus ridiculous, the following analogy helps us to understand why people take offense.

You are out with your best friend, Bob. You tell him that you have a gift for him. He excitedly asks what it is. You take out of your pocket a breath mint and hand it to him. Does he react with, “Thank-you, thank-you. I forget mine and this is a life-saver because I have such bad breath.” I think not.

Instead, Bob will have an attitude somewhere between upset and incensed at such a gift. Why? Because the gift of freshening up your breath is given with the assumption that his breath is so bad that he needs it. Of course, most people can’t smell their own breath, so Bob will not be as happy with the gift as you were in giving it.

God is not giving us a breath mint but a life-giving gift of the forgiveness of sins. Behind the gift, though, is the assumption that we are poor, miserable sinners deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. Some of the Pharisees were so incensed at the message of the carpenter from Nazareth that they crucified Him.

The message from Jesus that “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” is misread if one imagines that by not being offended that somehow we are really going to be blessed. No, the point is that the blessing is having received the attitude from the Holy Spirit in not being offended when being told we have bad eternal breath.

The only apologetic (defense) of the faith is the one Jesus gave the disciples of John. “The blind receive their sight and the lame walk” and so forth. By quoting from Isaiah 35:5-6, Jesus affirms that He and He alone fulfills the prophecies of the Old Testament which would point to the One Who has come to take away the bad breath of the world. Only the believer is not offended in recognizing not only the need for salvation but also the precious gifts of salvation given to those who in no way deserve it as they are saved by grace through faith on account of Jesus Christ.

This coming Sunday, December 9, 2007 is the 2nd Sunday in Advent with three readings assigned: Isaiah 11:1-10 (Wolf dwell with lamb); Romans 15:4-13 (Hope) and Matthew 3:1-12 (John the Baptist). Chosen to analyze is Matthew 3:3b, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.’”

One can probably find no greater prophet in the Scriptures who is a vivid reminder of the proper distinction between Law and Gospel than John the Baptist. In fulfillment of the prophets Isaiah and Malachi, John is setting the stage for the coming of the Messiah. The assignment given to him from God is also our assignment. How so?

What is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? It is NOT the historical events of His conception, birth, sufferings, death and resurrection. Rather, the proclamation of the Gospel is the announcement of the forgiveness of sins because of the events that have transpired in regard to the Christ.

However, good news will not be received properly if the recipient is unaware of the bad news. And what is the bad news? Not just our sin but the curse of the Law that demands death for sin. That curse is made known by the proclamation not of the Gospel but of the Law!

As the forerunner of the Messiah, the Baptist is to proclaim the law in its fullness. For what good is honey to a man who has just finished eating a huge banquet? So also, until the Law does its work in mirroring our poor, miserable sinful self before an Almighty God, the Gospel will fall on deaf ears.

In fact, Jesus even commands not to share the Gospel with those who are unprepared with the statement, “Do not throw pearls to the swine.” Hungry pigs might turn on you who throw them pearls rather than food. Many of the Pharisees and scribes, steeped in the theology of the Law, could not stand the message of Jesus Christ Who proclaimed their need for salvation.

John’s baptism of repentance was not a sacrament as was the Pentecost baptism. John’s baptism instead was a ceremonial action in publically confessing one’s sin and unworthiness before a just God. But as John prophecied, the One coming after him; that is, Jesus, the Christ, would baptize not just with water but with the Holy Spirit and fire. Law and Gospel. While the Gospel is the only means of grace, the Law is necessary to be proclaimed to prepare hearts to receive the forgiveness of sins and the robe of righteousness with joy and thanksgiving.

Received a phone call and asked about what to say to someone who is grieving over the suicide of a friend. The immediate tendency is to attempt to react with some kind of comfort by saying something alone the line of “Not everyone who commits suicide goes to hell. God is gracious and merciful and even the sin of suicide can be forgiven.”

While there is nothing inherently wrong with that statement, might it not send a wrong message to those who are contemplating suicide? Perhaps it is because I am on the radio every weekday that I have become sensitive to the many kinds of listeners out there. For some, the thought that they will go to hell if they commit suicide can become a deterrent to making that decision but if the impression is given that most people who commit suicide go to heaven, are we not then responsible for that action?

It has been a teaching of the Church for centuries that a person who commits suicide will go to hell unless there are extenuating circumstances. What kind of circumstances? For example, a girl is slipped a drug into her drink at a party. She hallucinates and imagines that she can fly. She jumps through a three-story window falling to her death. Though technically it is a suicide, it is clear that she was not in control of her senses.

However, to argue that anyone who commits suicide is out of control is an error in judgment. For there are those who are so fed up with life, who are so angry at the god they thinks exists or who are atheists, that committing suicide could result in an eternity in hell.

Our dilemma is the following. On the one hand, we do want to give comfort to a person who is grieving over another’s suicide but one the other hand, we do not want to give the impression that God is so merciful and gracious that every act of suicide is forgiven. The problem is we cannot read hearts and so are rarely aware of the level of faith, if any at all, of a person who commits suicide.

I normally have two responses to those asking about the fate of a person who commits suicide. The first is to another pastor or theologian when asking whether the person who has committed suicide should be given a Christian burial and the second response is when talking to someone who needs to be comforted.

I am a pastor of the public ministry, not the private ministry. I absolve, confirm, marry and bury someone on the basis of a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, the absolution in the liturgy begins, “Upon this, your confession…” And pastors ought not confirm someone who denies teachings of the Christian faith.

Thus, there is a two-step process I follow when a person has committed suicide and I have been asked to give them a Christian burial. First, is there any evidence that the individual is a Christian? If there is none, then I will not conduct the burial. That does not mean I will not speak to the relatives. But to conduct a Christian burial is only possible when the pastor can give the assurance that the individual who has died is indeed in heaven.

However, in regard to a person who commits suicide, I do not believe it is sufficient to give a Christian burial simply because he or she was a member of the congregation or a believer in Christ. For example, if the individual was being pursued by the police because he had molested a child and then shot himself rather than be arrested, it would be wrong to give that person a Christian burial.

On the other hand, it may be that God does bring that person into heaven because He is able to read the heart in a way I cannot. Therefore, I will not insist that anyone, including a person who commits suicide, is definitely going to hell. I am not God and am able only to make such a judgment about a Christian burial on the basis of the public evidence.

However, as mentioned earlier, if the person who committed suicide was a Christian and either a physician or psychologist can provide evidence that due to drugs or a mental illness the person was not himself, then I would have reason to conduct a Christian burial.

For example, I would conduct a Christian burial for a person who in his last days on earth was swearing at his children and wife. How could I do that? Because the physicians had diagnosed him with dementia. He had simply lost his ability to keep down the old Adam. In fact, during his more lucid moments, he was most anxious to receive the holy Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood.

In regard to the second point of comforting those who are grieving because of a friend or relative who committed suicide, I disagree with the notion that I can point to the mercy and grace of God and say the person is in heaven. But then, what comfort can I provide? Theology take place by making distinctions and the most important one is that between Law and Gospel.

Is it not true that when a person asks about the suicide of another, behind the question is the nature of the God we worship. From a Law and Gospel perspective, you give Law to those who are secure in sin and the Gospel to those who are truly in fear of God’s wrath. In the scenario I have provided, this person needs the Gospel, not the Law. But how to do so?

I disagree that the Gospel should be on the basis of whether the person who commtited suicide is going to hell or not. The focus should be on the promises of God instead. But I’ve already pointed out that we cannot provide the promise that the person is gong to heaven. Then what other promise is there?

Keep in mind that it is the faith of the person who asks the question, not the person who committed suicide, that is important in providing an answer. While what follows is not the only Gospel that can be provided, it is what I have found both to be comforting and in agreement with God’s holy Word.

There are really two sides of God. The one is the God we know as revealed in the holy Bible. The other is the God we don’t know who has kept hidden from us the answers to many of our questions. I believe that Christians need to respond a lot more with, “I have no answer to your question.” For when we provide an answer to a question that has not been clearly revealed in the Bible, we are talking about the hidden God Who has chosen not to reveal Himself or His decisions.

Then what can we say that God has promised? To the one grieving over a person who has committed suicide I say something like the following: “Your question really is asking whether you will be with your friend in heaven. While I cannot answer that, I can say the following. When you get to heaven, God promises you will be in bliss which means not only no death or sickness but also no grieving. If your friend is in heaven, you will be in bliss. If he is not in heaven, your bliss will not be diminished. I do not understand that promise from God but I believe it. Perhaps we will understand more of the mind of God and whatever are His decisions in regard not only to your friend but also to all our loved ones, will be accepted by us. For we live by faith, not by sight.”

While only scratching the surface of this important topic of suicide, these thoughts may at least result in additional responses from you as together we grapple with that part of God which is hidden from us but which will be fully revealed as we enter into our heavenly home forever and ever.