Pious Lutheran

  “ The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ” In this parable, God is the Master of the house, the Owner of the vineyard, and the church on earth is the vineyard. When we think of being in God’s vineyard, we often think of what Jesus says, about Him being the vine and we being the branches. But in this parable it’s a little different; we’re not the plants being tended by the divine Vinedresser, rather we’re the laborers. We are laborers in God’s vineyard, and as this parable shows us, it’s not about the labor, it’s about God’s generosity. Into this vineyard, many are called by God’s Word. The Master goes out to hire laborers for His vineyard, calling to them and promising them a reward at the end of the day. God has called you to be a laborer in His church on earth, and promised you a reward at the end of this life. He’s called you through His Word in the sacrament of baptism, as He’s done this day with ...

  Today in the life of the church we remember the pastor, bishop, confessor, and martyr, St. Timothy. Timothy was born in Lystra to parents of mixed ethnicities and religions. His father was a Greek gentile and his mother Eunice was a Jew converted to Christianity. God be praised for Eunice who taught the faith to her son in spite of her husband’s unbelief. While St. Paul was in Lystra, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he met Timothy and took him under his tutelage to train him up to be a pastor in Christ’s church. Thus the letters bearing Timothy’s name were written by St. Paul to St. Timothy as instruction and encouragement to a young pastor. These letters largely focus on the responsibilities given to pastors, which is primarily to be engaged in the public reading of scripture and teaching. To this day, men preparing to be pastors still study the epistles to Timothy, and are thus primarily engaged in the public reading of scripture and teaching the faith. According to tradi...

  God loves marriage. Among all of the earthly institutions we have on earth, from rulers to schools, from the military to local employers, there is one earthly institution which stands above the rest: marriage. Marriage is the one earthly institution God created before sin. Marriage is the foundational building block for all of civilization. Marriage is God’s gift. So what is marriage? Quite simply, marriage is the one flesh union between one man and one woman until death parts them. From Genesis we read: “ The rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ” In spite of sin, marriage is still a good gift from God and it is still His institution on earth. We see that He very greatly bles...

  Beloved in the Lord, siblings and children, relatives and friends of Irene. God’s peace be with you. “ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us [ that’s Irene and that’s you ] to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”   That is the reason we gather here in this sanctuary today; because we have living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. If Christ has been raised from the dead, then we too shall rise from the dead with Him! We shall live because Christ lives! Christ has earned for us an inheritance beyond any treasure and kingdom in this world. Houses crumble and burn down, fields are flattened by the wind, heirlooms decay and rust, and the markets crash without notice. But our inheritance received from God is eternal and everlasting; it does not end. Iren...

Today’s Gospel is the singular account of Jesus’ life between His nativity and when He’s 30 years old, beginning His public ministry. Nevertheless, although we may have just one short passage describing these 30 years, it does reveal significant insight into His life and ours. First, it foreshadows Christ’s eventual crucifixion in Jerusalem. Second, it shows us where Christ is found today and where we children of the Heavenly Father also ought to be found. Third, with what we are to fill our lives. Our text says “ His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. ” Every year the Israelites celebrated the feast of the Passover by returning to the temple in Jerusalem. This feast commemorated the event which precipitated their exodus out of Egypt and eventually into the promised land of Israel. A male, first-born, unblemished lamb was sacrificed and eaten. The blood of this lamb covered them in God’s...

Merry Christmas! God’s ways are mysterious, yet wonderful. Many things we’ve heard about the past few weeks are obviously wonderful and even quite joyful. John the Baptist was born to Elizabeth. The angel Gabriel announced to Mary and Joseph that the Christ would be born to them. Then Christ was born, with angels and shepherds rejoicing together. On the 8th day, He was brought to the temple and circumcised and named. Later on, the Magi come from the east and present Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  But today, it’s a 180, a complete and sudden change of mood! An angel appears and says to Joseph: “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” So the holy family flee Herod’s jurisdiction and hide out in Egypt until Herod dies. Meanwhile, Herod, “when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in ...