Every Divine Service Is Easter

March 30, 2024 by Christopher Esget in Theology

A gem from Luther:

We have Easter as often as we celebrate the Mass, preach, and administer the holy Sacrament. With us Christians every day is Easter, except that for ancient memory’s sake we observe a special Easter once a year. And that is not wrong but good and laudable, to observe the time when Christ died and rose again, even though our remembrance of His suffering and resurrection is not restricted to such a time but may be done on any day. As He says: “As often as you do this, do it in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:25).

LW 13, pp355–356

Psalms of Lament: Psalm 90

March 23, 2024 by Christopher Esget in Sermons

The “celebrations of life” people hold now pretend that what has happened isn’t real. The funeral homes with flowers everywhere—flowers that themselves will be dead in mere days—cover with their sickening sweetness the stench of death in a corpse we’ve filled with formaldehyde to pretend none of this is really happening….

Trinity 18, 2023

October 10, 2023 by Christopher Esget in Sermons

There are many congregations, but one church. The one, holy, catholic and apostolic church finds its expression in local assemblies. That’s what the word church means: assembly. Today’s Epistle reading is a letter to one of those local assemblies: “To the church of God that is in Corinth.”

We tend to think of Christianity in individual terms, a private faith, a personal experience or decision. Certainly the individual is involved, but Paul writes to Corinth as he does to all the other local congregations: collectively…

Christ Is Nothing Other than Sheer Life

April 01, 2023 by Christopher Esget in Theology

A gem from Luther:

Christ is nothing other than sheer life, as his saints are likewise. The more profoundly you impress that image upon your heart and gaze upon it, the more the image of death will pale and vanish of itself without struggle or battle. Thus your heart will be at peace and you will be able to die calmly in Christ and with Christ, as we read in Revelation [14:13], “Blessed are they who die in the Lord Christ.”

LW 42:104

The Second Sunday after Christmas 2022

January 02, 2022 by Christopher Esget in Sermons

“An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.” It’s not an example. Many of our dreams are the fruits of anxiety or indigestion. I once had a dream that Fritz Pauling and I were in Italy stealing a pipe organ. I don’t plan to do what I dreamed. (Although it might make a pretty good buddy caper movie.) The kind of dream Joseph has is extremely rare. But it should remind us of another Joseph: the son of Jacob who had that amazing technicolor dreamcoat. His dreams got him thrown into a pit, then sold into slavery. To where? Egypt. See the similarities? With this new Joseph, and the Mother and Child, God is going to redo the Exodus.

So the “Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying.…” Angel means messenger. An angel speaks; that is his purpose: he brings God’s Word to particular people. What’s the message?

Christmas II

January 08, 2021 by Christopher Esget in Sermons

There’s always a bit of a letdown after the holidays. The Bible stories that come after Christmas are no exception. From glad tidings of great joy, we move to King Herod plotting the murder of the infant Jesus. When he cannot ascertain which boy he is, Herod responds with horrific ruthlessness: “Kill them all.”

Faith Grasps God's Word

Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church

November 29, 2019 by Christopher Esget in Sermons

Howard Jones sang, “No one is to blame,” but the Eighties were a long time ago. In 2019, someone must be blamed. Political anger has replaced religion as the culture’s driving animus. Someone is to blame, and the mob won’t stop until the scapegoat is called out and cancelled.

Today’s Epistle shows us that people are not our problem. I don’t agree with Marianne Williamson on much, but she’s right about one thing: We have spiritual forces of evil arrayed against us. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Against this enemy, no earthly defenses will avail. The Satan has this aim: to turn you away from the God who loves you; to drive a wedge between creature and Creator...

Reformation Sermon

November 29, 2019 by Christopher Esget in Sermons

Lady Gaga tweeted on Friday, “Fame is prison.” I believe her.

“We … have never been enslaved” said the Jews to Jesus. I don’t believe them.

Our appetites enslave. Death imprisons.

Perhaps you’ve struggled with an addiction. Alcohol. Video games. Porn. Social media. Gazing into the electronic abyss, fondling your phone.

Maybe you’re mired in what seems an inescapable situation. A job; a marriage; a mental construct that tyrannizes your mind and desolates your soul.

For Luther, he saw he was imprisoned by his sin. He knew God demanded righteousness. And Luther knew he was not good, no matter how hard he tried…

Commandments and Word

May 18, 2019 by Christopher Esget in Theology

In 1 Jn. 2, keeping (τηρῶμεν) the commandments (v3) is a companion to keeping the Word (v4, λόγον).

You Will Be My Disciples: Sermon for the LCMS Florida-Georgia District Convention

June 22, 2018 by Christopher Esget in Sermons

All we have to offer the world is the cross of Jesus. The greatness of Luther is in his pointing to Jesus and His cross. There is the One who lays down His life for friends and enemies alike. You are by God’s grace called to be His disciples; by God’s grace you will become His disciples; and by God’s grace He will prune us to bring forth fruit – confessing His name to the world, and bearing evil with patience.