Sermon - Trinity III, 2026 - Luke 15

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The Return of the Prodigal Son , Pompeo Batoni, 1773 The Joy of God to Save the Sinner In compassion God atones for sinful man Yet God desires children who love Him, not servants, so He gives us freedom to get lost God’s compassion brings back the sinner crushed by sin God, the angels, and the church rejoices over every sinner saved We have no need of jealousy, for the sinner saved only receives what we have already also received by grace When the father saw his prodigal son returning, seeing his pitiable state, he had compassion for his child. Such is the compassion of God to seek and save sinful mankind. “ As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. ” St. Paul writes: “ God our Savior, desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. ” Indeed, Jesus...
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West Bend, IA Newspaper - Christmas Letter 2020

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 The Word of Comfort

Scientists can’t figure out what there was before the universe, but we Christians know, even a little child can plainly say: “In the beginning was the Word.” That Word has endured since before there was time and space and it will continue to persist even when all this universe is laid waste on the last day. God has given that little changeless Word to us for our endurance, comfort, and hope.

This is really what Christmas is all about! That Word which gives us all hope and consolation through so many trials has become flesh and dwells among us. That Word became incarnate in the infant body of Jesus lying in the manger, in the adult body of Jesus hanging on the cross, and the true body and blood of Jesus in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. That Word which is eternal entered into the temporal, so that we who are mortal might put on His immortality! 

But why? Why would He do this? In the words of the great hymn writer, John Gerhard: “Love caused your incarnation; love brought You down to me. Your thirst for my salvation procured my liberty. Oh, love beyond all telling, that led You to embrace in love, all love excelling, our lost and fallen race.” Because of God’s inexplicable love for us, He sent His Word to become flesh, so that we might have hope and comfort in a world which is otherwise often filled with sadness.

May God bless you with a merry Christmas, remembering that in Christ we are made merry through the birth, death, and resurrection of the Word made flesh. Merry Christmas! 

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