1 00:00:00,925 --> 00:00:05,625 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 2 00:00:06,925 --> 00:00:11,625 I'd like to offer a few reflections this morning on the text that we 3 00:00:11,625 --> 00:00:14,125 just read from Luther's Small 4 00:00:14,125 --> 00:00:14,925 Catechism. 5 00:00:17,425 --> 00:00:21,425 In my first couple of years of college at Concordia, Milwaukee, 6 00:00:21,625 --> 00:00:22,425 Wisconsin. 7 00:00:23,325 --> 00:00:27,625 I remember struggling with the whole question of why the real presence 8 00:00:27,925 --> 00:00:30,925 of Christ's body and blood was so important. 9 00:00:32,025 --> 00:00:36,425 Why it was so important that it was the rock upon, which 10 00:00:37,725 --> 00:00:43,625 the Protestant Church largely was broken after and part of my 11 00:00:43,625 --> 00:00:47,025 struggle rose from these words because as I read them said, 12 00:00:48,225 --> 00:00:53,025 These words given and shed for you, are the main thing in the 13 00:00:53,025 --> 00:00:53,925 sacrament. 14 00:00:54,825 --> 00:00:57,025 So I thought, as long as everyone has the words. 15 00:00:58,125 --> 00:01:01,125 What's the big deal about the body and blood? 16 00:01:03,325 --> 00:01:07,225 But then upon a closer reading, may be a few years later. 17 00:01:09,625 --> 00:01:14,925 It said that these words are the main thing in the sacrament. 18 00:01:16,325 --> 00:01:17,625 So what is the sacrament? 19 00:01:18,625 --> 00:01:20,625 Well, there you go back and look at the first question. 20 00:01:21,625 --> 00:01:26,525 And the first question says, the sacrament of the altar is the body 21 00:01:26,525 --> 00:01:27,525 and blood of Christ 22 00:01:29,825 --> 00:01:31,925 in with and under the Bread and Wine. 23 00:01:33,125 --> 00:01:37,625 And then it was oh, there's the connection. 24 00:01:39,325 --> 00:01:43,525 The body and blood of Christ deliver the forgiveness of sins that the 25 00:01:43,525 --> 00:01:46,125 body and blood of Christ deliver the promise 26 00:01:47,125 --> 00:01:48,425 of the Forgiveness of sins. 27 00:01:50,425 --> 00:01:52,025 So, in a sense, 28 00:01:53,325 --> 00:01:55,425 no body, and blood 29 00:01:55,525 --> 00:01:58,425 no promise of forgiveness of sins, 30 00:01:58,425 --> 00:01:59,825 they go together. 31 00:02:01,325 --> 00:02:03,925 And I thought that's why it's so important 32 00:02:04,425 --> 00:02:05,925 the gospel was at stake. 33 00:02:07,125 --> 00:02:10,725 The body and blood of Christ deliver, the promise of the Forgiveness 34 00:02:10,725 --> 00:02:11,325 of sins. 35 00:02:13,525 --> 00:02:15,725 So, what's the Forgiveness of sins then? 36 00:02:17,825 --> 00:02:19,925 We throw that word out all the time. 37 00:02:22,825 --> 00:02:26,225 Well, in all honesty, I think one of the best definitions, I've run 38 00:02:26,225 --> 00:02:30,625 across comes from my own colleague, Dr. 39 00:02:30,625 --> 00:02:31,225 Okamoto. 40 00:02:32,925 --> 00:02:34,325 He often puts it this way. 41 00:02:35,525 --> 00:02:38,625 When God forgives us, he is basically saying 42 00:02:40,125 --> 00:02:46,525 I promise not to let our past determine our future together. 43 00:02:47,925 --> 00:02:54,625 I promise that your past is not going to affect my future, dealings 44 00:02:54,825 --> 00:02:55,525 with you. 45 00:02:57,325 --> 00:02:58,225 Isn't that awesome? 46 00:02:59,325 --> 00:03:02,625 Because often we talk about forgiving in the sense of burying the 47 00:03:02,625 --> 00:03:03,325 hatchet. 48 00:03:04,725 --> 00:03:08,325 And yet I suspect oftentimes, we bury the hatchet 49 00:03:10,225 --> 00:03:14,025 mostly a little bit of a handle sticking up on the ground. 50 00:03:15,325 --> 00:03:16,425 Just so it's handy. 51 00:03:17,225 --> 00:03:19,925 If I need to pull it out and throw it. 52 00:03:21,525 --> 00:03:21,825 You know what 53 00:03:21,825 --> 00:03:22,325 I mean? 54 00:03:23,225 --> 00:03:24,425 You're late today. 55 00:03:24,625 --> 00:03:24,825 Yeah, 56 00:03:24,825 --> 00:03:28,625 well you were late last week well, but you've been late every day this 57 00:03:28,625 --> 00:03:33,025 week and two weeks before but you you know how it goes, bringing up 58 00:03:33,025 --> 00:03:36,125 the past and hurl it. 59 00:03:37,925 --> 00:03:43,025 But the Body and Blood of Christ delivers to you and me the promise that God 60 00:03:43,025 --> 00:03:43,825 will never 61 00:03:45,025 --> 00:03:47,525 dig up that hatchet and throw it at you. 62 00:03:49,225 --> 00:03:54,425 The promise will not affect our life with him. 63 00:03:55,325 --> 00:03:55,725 I'm sorry. 64 00:03:55,825 --> 00:04:04,125 The promise God promises that our past sinful life will not affect our 65 00:04:04,125 --> 00:04:05,625 future life with him. 66 00:04:07,425 --> 00:04:08,625 Now, a promise 67 00:04:10,125 --> 00:04:11,125 seeks faith. 68 00:04:12,125 --> 00:04:12,925 A promise 69 00:04:14,825 --> 00:04:18,525 engenders faith, promise elicits faith. The whole purpose of making a 70 00:04:18,525 --> 00:04:23,125 promise is to instill confidence in someone, 71 00:04:24,525 --> 00:04:27,625 that you're going to do what you promised to do. 72 00:04:30,825 --> 00:04:32,525 There's no other reason for making a promise. 73 00:04:34,325 --> 00:04:35,625 When God promises, 74 00:04:36,725 --> 00:04:41,325 that he will forgive us our sins that he will welcome us into eternal 75 00:04:41,325 --> 00:04:42,125 life with him. 76 00:04:44,125 --> 00:04:50,625 He makes their promise to instill in you and me the confidence that he 77 00:04:50,625 --> 00:04:51,725 will keep his word. 78 00:04:55,025 --> 00:04:56,725 But sometimes that's hard to swallow. 79 00:04:56,925 --> 00:05:04,325 We live in a world of human relationships in which promises broken are 80 00:05:04,625 --> 00:05:05,825 a constant feature. 81 00:05:09,125 --> 00:05:14,725 And because promises are broken, we often then try to bolster that 82 00:05:14,725 --> 00:05:20,625 promise by I swear on the Bible that will keep my promise or I swear 83 00:05:20,625 --> 00:05:23,525 on my mom's grave that I will keep that promise or something along 84 00:05:23,525 --> 00:05:24,325 those lines. 85 00:05:26,825 --> 00:05:30,525 And so I suppose one might even wonder whether God will keep his 86 00:05:30,525 --> 00:05:31,325 promise. 87 00:05:32,425 --> 00:05:34,425 His promise of forgiveness. His promise of new 88 00:05:34,425 --> 00:05:37,025 Life. His promise of a new creation. 89 00:05:39,625 --> 00:05:43,425 Again, that's where the promise tied to the Body and Blood of Christ comes 90 00:05:43,425 --> 00:05:44,225 into play. 91 00:05:47,325 --> 00:05:50,025 Because the body and blood of Christ, 92 00:05:52,825 --> 00:05:57,125 the resurrected body and blood of Christ that was offered on the 93 00:05:57,125 --> 00:05:57,825 cross. 94 00:05:59,725 --> 00:06:04,125 Is God's guarantee that he will keep his promise. 95 00:06:06,425 --> 00:06:11,125 It's because of Christ's suffering death and resurrection that we know 96 00:06:11,125 --> 00:06:14,025 he is trustworthy to keep his promise. 97 00:06:15,125 --> 00:06:16,825 And now he gives to you and me 98 00:06:17,425 --> 00:06:18,825 that very body and blood 99 00:06:20,625 --> 00:06:23,825 on the basis of which he makes his promise. 100 00:06:26,225 --> 00:06:30,525 And so with that promise, and with the body and blood, he seeks to 101 00:06:30,525 --> 00:06:32,925 instill within us the confidence. 102 00:06:34,325 --> 00:06:35,425 God is good for it. 103 00:06:36,925 --> 00:06:38,125 He will keep his word. 104 00:06:40,325 --> 00:06:42,025 And that confidence, 105 00:06:44,225 --> 00:06:46,225 is what we as Lutherans call righteousness. 106 00:06:48,325 --> 00:06:54,225 Confidence, that faith in a sense is how we honor God. 107 00:06:55,525 --> 00:06:57,125 We take God at his word. 108 00:06:58,725 --> 00:07:01,325 We take his promise to be sure. 109 00:07:03,125 --> 00:07:07,425 And that's why the catechism talks about faith is that which makes one 110 00:07:07,425 --> 00:07:14,625 well-prepared and worthy to receive the body and blood for the 111 00:07:14,625 --> 00:07:15,925 forgiveness of sins. 112 00:07:18,025 --> 00:07:19,225 God is good for it. 113 00:07:20,425 --> 00:07:21,025 Amen 114 00:07:22,425 --> 00:07:27,325 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.