View Full Transcript
Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good morning. St. Paul Lutheran Church. It's a Sunday drive to Church for October 18th, St. Luke's Day.
[00:00:06] Why St. Luke's Day? Normally the saints days are celebrated on their. What we call their heavenly birthday. That's the day you die. That's the day you're born into heaven. That's the idea. But I mean, once you get before all the biblical characters and before we. It's hard to figure out what day they died on. So normally these days are the days that they ended up moving their bones around and consecrating the church where their bones rest. Apparently, the bones of St. Luke were moved to Constantinople by Constantine and the church there, together with St. Titus and some others.
[00:00:43] That church was consecrated on Oct. 18, back in the four hundreds. It's a long time ago still. That's why we have today, October 18th, for the Feast of St. Luke Evangelist. And we remember. This is how we rejoice in the gifts of the saints that have gone before us.
[00:01:02] Remember the threefold blessing that we received from the saints.
[00:01:08] I want to read this one to you. Hold on. Okay. This is how we say it in our Confessions. Our confession. This is from the Augsburg Apology of the augsburg confession. Article 21, paragraphs 4, 6. Our confessions approve honors to the saints. Here is a threefold honor to be approved.
[00:01:29] First Thanksgiving.
[00:01:31] The first honor is thanksgiving. For we ought to give thanks to God because He has shown examples of mercy. Because he's shown that he wishes to save men. Because he's given teachers and other gifts to the church. And these gifts, as they are the greatest, should be amplified. And the saints themselves should be praised, who faithfully used the gifts. Just as Christ praises the faithful businessman.
[00:01:53] So this is in contrast to the prayer to the saints, which. Which is nowhere commanded and in no way comfortable. The Lutherans say no. We honor the saints rightly. First by thanking God for them. We thank God that He saved them. We thank God that He used them. The second is for the strengthening of our faith. It says it like this. The second service do the saints is the strengthening of our faith.
[00:02:17] When we see the denial of Peter forgiven, we also are encouraged to believe the more that grace truly superabounds over sin.
[00:02:24] Romans 5:20.
[00:02:26] So that when we see the saints, we see the Lord's mercy. We see the Lord's kindness. We see the Lord forgiving sins.
[00:02:32] And this. I mean, we think about Moses, the murderer, saved. We think about Paul, the church persecutor, saved.
[00:02:44] We give thanks to God.
[00:02:47] The third honor is imitation.
[00:02:50] And this is twofold. First of faith, then of other virtues, which everyone should imitate according to his calling. So we want to imitate the saints, first because they believed the promises of God, and second because they began to love and serve their neighbor.
[00:03:05] This is great.
[00:03:06] It's really. So this is the threefold honoring of the saints. So that's what we're going to do for St. Luke. We want to, first of all thank God that he called Luke to be the physician of souls.
[00:03:18] And we want to see how the Lord used Luke, forgave him and rescued him. And then we want to follow in his example and that he was careful to study the Scriptures, so forth and so on.
[00:03:31] So good. Okay, here's the prayer.
[00:03:34] Almighty God, our Father, your blessed son, called Luke the physician to be an evangelist and physician of the soul.
[00:03:40] Grant that the healing medicine of the Gospel and the sacraments may put to flight the diseases of our soul, that with willing hearts we may ever love and serve you through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
[00:03:55] Amen.
[00:03:57] I think the picture on the. Yes, the picture on the front of the bulletin is the sending of the 70 where Jesus sends to the cities before him. These 70 disciples, two by two, go into these towns and go and prepare the way. Going to hear that in the Gospel. But first the psalm. The first eleven verses of Psalm 147. The theme of medicine.
[00:04:23] Well, the theme of healing really runs through the text today. Luke probably the only Gentile who wrote a book of the Bible. And also he was a physician. And then he left his work, presumably and joined Paul. It's in these sections in the Book of Acts.
[00:04:45] The Sunday school kids are going to track them down today. Where the. The.
[00:04:50] The text goes from I to we.
[00:04:53] And we see that Luke was with Paul and joined him. It's pretty cool. Anyhow, Psalm 147 is part of these great Hallel songs that start at the end. Let's see, probably Psalm 146.
[00:05:09] If you look on Psalm 146. 1 Praise the Lord, praise the Lord O my soul, that's alleluia.
[00:05:15] Praise the. Whenever you see in English, Praise the Lord. That's alleluia. In the Hebrew, that's 147. Praise the Lord it's good to sing praises to our God. Psalm 148 Praise the Lord praises from the heavens.
[00:05:26] Psalm 149 Praise the Lord Sing to the Lord a new song. And then Psalm 150, alleluia top to bottom.
[00:05:35] Psalm 147 says, the Lord heals the brokenhearted.
[00:05:39] This is verse three.
[00:05:41] And he binds up their wounds.
[00:05:44] I think that's the idea here. That's why this is the Psalm for St. Luke. But look at verse 4. He determines the number of the stars. He gives to all of them their names.
[00:05:57] I saw something on some commercial on TV some years ago where you could actually name a star.
[00:06:05] There's so many stars that some star registry will charge you like 200 bucks. You can name a star after someone, but the Lord's done it already.
[00:06:15] And this also has to do with the angels who are also named.
[00:06:19] The Lord lifts up the humble, he casts the wicked to the ground.
[00:06:23] He covers the heavens with clouds, he makes the grass grow. He gives beasts food, he delights. Verse 10. He delights not in the strength of the horse, nor is his pleasure in the legs of men. We're always about power, you know, I mean, still we think about horsepower, but the Lord doesn't.
[00:06:43] The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope, in his steadfast love. You see that word, steadfast love, and you're like, I know what's underneath that. That's the Hebrew word, chesed.
[00:06:55] So you know the first and last Hebrew words of this psalm that we're singing. You know, the first one, alleluia, and the last one, chesed. This, this never ending mercy of God.
[00:07:06] That's pretty cool.
[00:07:07] The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 35, 5, 8.
[00:07:12] It's one of these prophecies of the church age, really, of the work of the Messiah.
[00:07:19] But it's again the healing work. I think that's why it's St. Luke. The eyes of the blind will be open, the ears of the deaf unstopped. The lame will leap like a deer. The tongue of the mute sings for joy. And here, the things that the normal doctor couldn't fix, the Lord Jesus does.
[00:07:34] And then this theme, you'll notice this when you go and read Isaiah and kind of top to bottom, that there's a theme of the restoration of the garden. So when the Lord abandons a place, it becomes a haunt of jackals. It becomes a wilderness. But when the Lord blesses the place, it becomes a garden and then a forest.
[00:07:52] So it says, waters break forth in the wilderness, streams in the desert. Burning sand shall become a pool, thirsty ground, springs of water, the haunt of jackals. Where they lie down grass. Grass shall become reeds and rushes. A highway will be there.
[00:08:07] This is this restoration to the garden that Isaiah is prophesying in the church. It's beautiful. The Epistle takes us right to the end of Paul's ministry. Last time that he was in prison in Rome. And he writes to Timothy, who I think was on Crete at the time.
[00:08:28] Hmm, Timothy was probably in Ephesus at the time Titus was on Crete. That's how we got to get it.
[00:08:36] And he writes this.
[00:08:38] Remember, he's giving his kind of final instructions.
[00:08:41] As for you, be so reminded.
[00:08:44] Endure suffering.
[00:08:45] Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry.
[00:08:48] I'm already being poured out as a drink offering. The time of my departure's come. That's his dying. I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I've kept the faith. Praise the Lord. Hence there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me that day. Not only to me, to all who have loved his appearing. This is one of the ways that Paul talks about the Christian, is those who are who love the Lord showing up.
[00:09:12] Do your best to come to me soon. Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me.
[00:09:23] So Paul is feeling pretty lonely. It's just Luke who's ministering to him in Rome. Everyone else has abandoned him. Get Mark and bring him with you. He's very useful to me for ministry. That's a beautiful line there. Because remember, Paul and Mark, they didn't get along for a little while.
[00:09:38] That first missionary journey where when the going got tough, the Mark got going. I think he went home. See you later.
[00:09:47] And then that's what caused Paul and Barnabas to break up.
[00:09:51] Because when they're getting ready for that second missionary journey, Mark wanted to go, Barnabas wanted to go with him. Paul said, yeah, nah, nah. And so Paul and Barnabas got in a fight and they split ways as the Lord will. So Paul took Silas, went north, Barnabas took Mark, went south and doubled the effort.
[00:10:18] I used to have this idea. Do you know how churches used to split and start a new church? As they just got mad at each other, half the people left, and you end up starting a new church. That's what happened with Mark and Barnabas and Paul.
[00:10:32] They got mad at each other. So they. They went into two missionary teams. They doubled the work.
[00:10:37] How the Lord works.
[00:10:39] But this is why we underlined this passage. Today on St. Luke's Day, Luke alone is with me.
[00:10:45] Probably Luke was with Paul, working on the Gospels and the book of Acts. And it's one of the reasons why we consider Luke, the Gospel of Luke, to be Paul's gospel, just like we consider Mark to be Peter's Gospel.
[00:11:06] Atikius, I've sent to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak I left with you.
[00:11:10] I left with Carpus at Troas, and the books, and above all, the parchments, Paul. This is also a comfort to me that Paul was forgetful. He just leaves stuff everywhere.
[00:11:25] It's so great.
[00:11:27] The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
[00:11:37] So good.
[00:11:38] The gospel lesson, Luke 10.
[00:11:42] After this, the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them on ahead of him two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.
[00:11:59] Go your way. Behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. That doesn't sound cheerful.
[00:12:05] Carry no money bag no knapsack, no sandals. Greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, say first, peace beyond this house. Can you imagine? This is how the Lord Jesus sends us into the world to bring peace. Peace to you. Peace to you. Peace to this place, peace to this home.
[00:12:20] If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him. But if he's not, it'll return to you.
[00:12:24] Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide. The laborer deserves his wages. Don't go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what's set before you, heal the sick in it, and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you. So that you know this is previous to this. When the kingdom, you would know that the kingdom of God had come near because Jesus had come near. But now the kingdom of God is near because the preacher that Jesus sends is near. Where his word is, there's his kingdom. It's amazing. So his church, where you're driving right now, where the word is preached, where the sacraments are administered, that's where the kingdom is.
[00:13:05] That's unbelievably wonderful.
[00:13:15] Heal the sick. The kingdom of God has come near you. There's something here about this too, how the Lord says, pray for laborers.
[00:13:22] And then he says, all right, now you guys go.
[00:13:26] So you pray for it, and then you're sent into it. In some ways, our prayers are preparation. That's why when people say, pastor, how do I speak about the Gospel and the goodness of God to my friends and neighbors who don't know or believe the Bible and don't know Jesus and his mercy? So we start always first with prayer.
[00:13:47] And that's. That's not just because the Lord hears our prayers and answers them, which would be enough, but it's also because prayer kind of goes before it prepares the way. So when you start praying for something, then you start to notice that the Lord will open up doors for you to.
[00:14:05] When you start praying for opportunities to speak of the love of God to your friends and neighbors, then those doors start to open. You start to notice it. That's why we try to take time when we remember in the prayers to pray for those who do not know the Lord's love and mercy because we want the Lord to rescue them, but also because those prayers remind us that those opportunities are there.
[00:14:34] It's also good to remember how to think about this, that what Jesus says when he's about to ascend into heaven, it's better for you if I go, that that is true.
[00:14:51] It's better for us that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father and that he sent the Spirit and that the Word comes to us in the scripture and in the preaching of the Gospel.
[00:15:05] The hymn of the day is 1:18. By all your saints in warfare.
[00:15:09] This great kind of sort of military. It's a strong hymn. It has how many of his stanzas?
[00:15:16] 28 stanzas.
[00:15:18] We only sing three though, because it has the insert appropriate stanza here. By all your saints in warfare. For all your saints at rest your holy name, O Jesus, forevermore be blessed. For you've won the battle that they might wear the crown. How about that? Now they shine in glory reflected from your throne.
[00:15:36] Then verse 26, stanza 26 for Luke.
[00:15:40] For that beloved physician all praise whose gospel shows the healer of the nations, the one who shares our woes. Your wine and oil, O Savior, upon our spirits pour.
[00:15:51] And with true balm of Gilead anoint us evermore. That's the name of Jesus, Old Testament balm of Gilead.
[00:15:58] And that comes in there nicely and poetically because Luke was the balm applier as the physician. But now he's applying Christ to us to deliver a good conscience.
[00:16:10] Then let us praise the Father and worship God the Son.
[00:16:14] Absolutely wonderful.
[00:16:17] There is this long tradition by the way of associating the four gospel of the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John with the four faces of the angels that fly around the throne of God. Remember, those angels had the face of an ox, of a lion, of an eagle, and of a man.
[00:16:38] And maybe each of them had four faces just on each side. But when you look at them, you only see one. So you see all four.
[00:16:45] You can see that on the windows that are behind the organ console. When you're leaving church, you can also see those four living creatures on the lower windows on the pulpit side of the church. Now, different church fathers have identified different. Different gospel writers with the different living creatures, the traditional. And so I always mess it up because I think, like, Irenaeus had one set and St. Augustine had another set. And I don't know, I had another set in my own mind. The eagle's always John. That's the easy one. But the man, the lion and the ox always could be Matthew, Mark, Luke, but probably traditionally the ox is Luke.
[00:17:27] That's the animal of the temple sacrifice. And he highlights Christ's priestly service. That's the idea.
[00:17:35] Although, I don't know. I always think that Luke would be better as the man. But anyhow, nobody consulted with me. So that's those four living creatures, those gospel writers. It's good especially for the kids, to make sure you find the ox picture in the back window and in the side window as you think about Saint, Saint Luke. All right, There you go. That's Sunday. Drive to church. Drive. Say, oh, look, we're. We got. Well, you got extra time today. Enjoy some peace and quiet.
[00:18:07] We'll see you soon. God's peace be with you.