The sermon for January 9 was based on Luke 2:41-52.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

At first glance, it seems that St. Paul has a lot of Law to preach in today's Epistle. "Present your bodies as a sacrifice. Don't be conformed to this world. Don't think more highly of yourself than you should. Think soberly." However, this lesson also contains the Gospel, for it teaches that, though there is nothing you can do to save yourself, you are a member of the Body of Christ, who has done all things for you. Even being a member of the Body of Christ is not something you do of yourself, but something He effects by His gifts to you. Consider this morning what you are apart from the Body of Christ. Then consider your abundance as you abide in the Body of Christ, and how your membership in that Body of Christ is sustained.

"Apart from Me you can do nothing." These words of Christ from the Gospel of John [15:5] tell the truth of your condition rather bluntly. Yet, in your rebellion against God's Word you sometimes imagine that you can do things apart from the Body of Christ. You like to think that you can do it on your own. Just like the little child who refuses help from her Papa, just like the teen who refuses to confide in his parents, just like the elderly folk too proud to depend on others, Americans especially think themselves quite independent from those around them. And so you become isolated in your pride, insisting on failing in your loneliness, rather than living in harmony as a member of one Body.

Pride and self-sufficiency go beyond just physical needs. The whole human race, by its very nature, refuses help from God. You don't like to be told that you are nothing apart from membership in His Body. You like to think of yourself as capable of something good. Every religion in the world, besides true Christianity, teaches that you can indeed do good things apart from the Body of Christ. Such religions teach that you yourself can be obedient to God, that you yourself can attain a state of perfection, that you yourself can be good enough to win God's favor, that you yourself can come to Christ without help, that you yourself can earn forgiveness by the good things you yourself can do. All this is a bunch of deadly lies, all of which place salvation in your own hands, instead of in the hands of Christ. The truth is, apart from being a member of the Body of Christ, you can do nothing.

Christ illustrates this point with the figure of the vine and branches, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." Obviously, a branch apart from the vine can yield no fruit. As a matter of fact, a branch severed from the vine soon withers and dies. These dried branches are burned up with fire. So it is for those who are not members of the Body of Christ, the communion of saints. They can bear no good fruit. Not only that, but they are dead, dried, and withered spiritually. Though alive, they are dead in sin, lost to all good things by nature. Their final destiny is to be collected up and thrown into everlasting fire. Likewise it will be for you, if you do not remain in Christ Jesus.

Unless you are a member of the Body of Christ, you can do nothing. But Jesus Christ is here today, and He lives in you as you have faith in Him. Through this faith, you all are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. Though you were, by nature, sinful, you have become a member of Christ's Body, the holy Christian Church; and so you have life in Him. But this life came at a price, because the price of your sin had to be paid. That price was death, and it has been paid in full by Jesus Christ, your Lord.

In order to pay that price, Jesus became a man and dwelt among us. As a man, Jesus spent all His days about His Father's business, increasing in His favor, doing the righteous deeds required to fulfill the Law. Jesus, in fact, fulfilled God's law perfectly. He is the perfect Man. He is holy and acceptable to God. He refused to be conformed to this world. If anyone has a right to think highly of himself, Jesus does; and yet He humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born of a virgin, so that the teachers of Jerusalem did not recognize the twelve year old Boy as the Son of the Father. Finally, He presented His body as the perfect sacrifice. At this the miracle of your salvation was accomplished, for on the tree of the cross, Christ the perfect Man became covered with your sin. All His righteous deeds were stripped from Him, and replaced by all your putrid, nasty sins, which are so disgusting to the Father in heaven. So Christ, then the most reviled of all men, was cut off from God, suffering the torment of hell. He suffered, and died.

What good would it do you to be a member of a dead body? None at all! Thanks be to God, for Jesus did not stay dead. Though for a little while His disciples saw Him no more, after a little while they saw Him once again. Jesus Christ rose from the dead, as the Father raised Him up for you as the living One. Your faith is not in vain, for the life flowing in the resurrected Christ also flows into every member of His Body.

But what happened to all that righteousness which was stripped from the righteous Christ? Well, that righteousness has been credited to you, as a member of His Body. You now do those pleasing deeds merited by Jesus Christ. You are about your Father's business, because Christ is. Thus, through your membership in His living Body, you are credited with deeds pleasing to the Father, and you shall reap the reward of God - eternal union with Him in the paradise of heaven. There you shall eat the perennial fruits of the Tree of Life as you drink from the river of living water in happiness and blessedness forevermore.

Now, since you are a member of the Body of Christ, you also do good deeds of your own. Rendering your body as a living sacrifice, doing good works to all those around you, you show yourself to be a member of Christ's Body. You are not conformed to this world, but are transformed by the renewing of your mind through your new and living Head, Jesus Christ. As a member of His Body, you can't help but share the good news about Jesus, even with strangers you meet as you go about your business, which has become your Father's business.

As you remain a member of Christ, He remains in you. It is Christ who lives in you, prompting you by His Spirit to present yourself as a living sacrifice. When people look at you, they do not see you, but they see the love and true compassion of Christ as He remains in you and you remain a member of Him. Likewise, as your Father in heaven looks at you, He sees His own Son in you. And so you are beloved of the Father, as a member of His beloved Son. And as Christ is in you, you can look forward to the heavenly reward He has earned for you, the luscious victory feast of the Lamb and His Church, His Body, His Bride.

All these wonderful benefits, righteousness and its reward, come to you as you remain a member of Christ. Apart from Him, you can do nothing but wither and perish and be thrown in the fire. But how do you remain a member of His Body? Are you expected to do this by your own strength, by your own faithfulness? God forbid! If you had to rely on yourself, what hope would you have of eternal life? None whatsoever. But again, thanks be to God, for He has provided you with the means to keep you continually a member of His Body, the holy Christian Church.

The first of these means to remain in Christ is His Word. He taught His Word among the Jewish teachers in the temple, and He teaches His Word now in His Church. Abiding in the Word of God, you remain a member of the Person of that Word, Jesus, the Son of God. Through that same Word, the Holy Spirit strengthens your faith and increases your knowledge of your loving God. This keeps you a member of His Body. Through the preaching of that Word, even now as I speak, the Holy Spirit deepens your understanding of the Word, and strengthens your membership in Christ. And as you go about your daily business, your faith continues to thrive as you are reminded of God's promises to you in His holy Word. May God continue to strengthen you by the power of His Word.

The second of these means to remain in Christ is Holy Baptism. This is the means through which God initially makes you a member of Christ's Body. In your baptism, you become connected to Christ. The voice of the Father at Christ's baptism is the voice of your Father, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." [Mt 3:17] As you daily remember who you are, a baptized son of God, you confess your sins, and seek the absolution of your sins given through your Pastors. This forgiveness belongs to you because you have been baptized into Christ's death, which paid for your sins. And you remain a member of Christ through your baptism, because in it you are reborn from the Father as a new creature in Christ. That is your identity; that is who you are as a member of Christ Jesus.

The third of these means to remain in Christ is Holy Communion. In this divine meal, the very Body and Blood of Christ enter into you. Thus, in a real, tangible way, Christ remains in you and you thus remain a member of Him. The forgiveness that His Body and Blood purchased for you takes away all your sins. The presence of Christ within you strengthens your faith. This weekly meal feeds your body with bread and with wine, while it feeds you with the very thing you need: Christ Jesus, your Lord. What a wonderful way God uses to keep you a member of Christ, and to keep Christ in you!

All these wonderful gifts, God's Word, absolution through Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, are offered to you week after week. While other religions offer distortions of God's Word, or their own imaginations, or false sacraments, or none at all, here at Bethany you have been blessed with God's continued mercy and forgiveness. Through the holy Church throughout the ages, through the prophets and apostles, through the saints and martyrs of the ancient Church, through theologians like Augustine and Athanasius, through the fathers of the reformation like Luther and Chemnitz, and finally through your Pastors down to this very day, God has continued to preserve the preaching of His Word and the administration of the Sacraments. And through these means, He has kept everyone of His members united firmly to Himself, members of one body in Christ and individually members of one another. May God continue to give you His means of grace, and thereby keep you united to your Lord as a member of His Body. Amen

The Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Last Updated: 7/15/2008