Church Sermon - June 5, 2005

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Epistle Lesson; Romans 4:18-25
Old Testament Lesson; Hosea 5:15-6:6
Sermon Text; Matthew 9:9-13

This morning is a special day, here at Holy Cross Lutheran Church! Our young confirmands, who were confirmed in the Christian faith last week, today, for the first time in their lives will receive the true body and true blood of our Savior, Jesus. This is a very significant event in their lives, as well as in the life of our congregation!

And so, because of that, it is a good day for us to think about the Lord’s Supper. Our text for today on the surface seems to have absolutely nothing to do with the Lord’s Supper. It is taken from Matthew, Chapter 9, verses 9 – 13.

I would venture to guess (if you are my age or older), when you were a child and the Lord’s Supper was offered where you and your parents went to church, you probably didn’t have what we have today. We have individual, little glasses or plastic communion cups. I would guess that when you were young, (if you are my age or older) that Communion, the Lord’s Supper, was offered in one big cup, or chalice, called the Common Cup.

Somehow, over the last forty years, things have changed. Most, or many, of the churches now offer the Lord’s Supper in the little, individual cups, instead of the Common Cup. And, for the past number of years, our elders have had an on-going discussion whether we, here at Holy Cross, should offer you the choice of taking the individual cup or the Common Cup, during the Lord’s Supper. Almost inevitably, every time we discuss it, it comes to the point where somebody says, "The Common Cup might spread diseases. If you kneel down next to somebody who has a cold, the flu, or something else, and they drink out of the Common Cup and then you drink out of it next, you might get sick."

And so, we have had an on-going discussion whether we should offer both the Common Cup and the individual cup.

I remember when I was a little boy, my mom was very faithful about going to the Lord’s Supper. But on occasion, she would not go to the Lord’s Supper. And, I would whisper to her in her seat, "Why didn’t you go to communion today?"

And she would whisper back to me, "I have a cold and I don’t want somebody to catch my cold from the Common Cup."

We would get home later that day, and during dinner my mom would explain to my dad why she had not gone to communion. My dad would say, "Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. Silver is a natural antiseptic, and it kills germs. The alcohol in the wine is an antiseptic, and it kills germs."

But, here is my question to you today, as we think about all of that. If you are "sick" should you go to the Lord’s Supper? Or, is the Lord’s Supper only for people who are "healthy"? I would like to turn the whole thing on its head and say that only, only if you are "sick" should you go to the Lord’s Supper. And if you are "healthy", or see yourself to be healthy, you should not go to the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord’s Supper

is for those who see their sickness of sin

and long to be healed from the sickness of sin.

When we look at the Lord’s Supper, there is a "medicine" offered here today, by the great Physician of our Souls. There is nothing in this world that can do what that "medicine" can do.

The "medicine" that is offered here today, while it is free, is absolutely priceless. The "medicine" that is offered here today is none other than the very blood of God, Himself. This is the blood of Jesus that was shed at a huge, huge price. And, we cannot begin to comprehend the sufferings that our Lord Jesus underwent for us, in order to purchase us and redeem us from our sin.

v Here today, in the Lord’s Supper, He offers that very blood that paid for all of your sins, as "medicine" for your soul to heal you, restore you, and make you right with God.

v Here today in the Lord’s Supper, Jesus offers His very body, the body that was hanging on the cross bearing all your sins and my sins.

Jesus’ body and blood are offered here today as "medicine" for those who are "sick",

ü who understand that they are sinners,

ü who understand there is no escape from their sin,

ü who understand there is nothing but eternal damnation waiting for us, unless we are healed from our sin.

Not all of the gold and silver in the world could begin to buy the "medicine" that is offered here today. But, it is offered to you free.

And, it is only for those who are "sick". In today’s text, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

So, are you "healthy" today? If you see yourself as spiritually healthy, then do not come up here and make a mockery out of the "medicine" that is offered to heal your soul. If you see yourself as "healthy", then you do not need "medicine". If, when we went through the Confession of Sins, earlier this morning and you bristled under that confession of sins and thought to yourself, "Surely, I am not that bad. Surely, I am not that deep a sinner that I deserve the eternal condemnation of my sins." Then, you do not see yourself as "sick". You do not understand your disease. And, you certainly do not need a doctor who can offer you a medicine of great value. If you are "healthy," do not come up here today. Do not make a mockery of the "medicine" that is offered today. Jesus says, "It is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick." If you are "healthy" today, don’t come up here to the Lord’s Table.

A couple of weeks ago I had a phone conversation, here, with a young lady from church, who has not been to church for a couple of years. We had a good conversation. When I asked her why she had not been to church here, in a long time, she was very frank with me. She said something that may be going through your mind. She said, "Pastor, I will be honest with you. The reason I don’t go to church at Holy Cross is because we hear the same thing, Sunday, after Sunday, after Sunday. We hear that Jesus died for our sins, and our sins are all paid for. I am tired of hearing that. I am tired of the Gospel. The Gospel bores me. I found a church now where they tell me how to live my life."

She is a young lady who doesn’t understand that she is "sick". She has no longing for the "medicine" of the Gospel. She has no longing to hear, over and over again, what we need to hear, over and over again - Jesus died to pay for our sins. There is nothing else that can heal us. Instead, she is looking for a cure that she herself can come up with, to make herself right with God.

If you are tired of the Gospel, if you are bored with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then don’t come up here today and make a mockery of the "medicine" that Jesus offers you. What He offers today, is nothing but Gospel. It is nothing but the Good News that He died for your sins.

Today, if you intend to come up to the Lord’s Supper and then go home later and continue to live in some sin (and you know, you know in scripture it is called a sin), but you have no intention of changing that in your life. If in your own mind you have come to the conclusion, "For me, that is not a sin. I have a good reason. I have a good excuse. I have a good explanation as to why I should continue in that sinful life." Then, don’t come up here to the Lord’s Supper today. Don’t make a mockery out of the healing that is offered here today.

The healing that is offered here today is not only a healing that takes away your guilt, but also it is a healing that gives you the ability to go home with the desire to start to live for your Savior and not live in sin, anymore. If you feel no need for that type of healing, then don’t come up here and receive the Lord’s Supper, and make a mockery of what is offered here today.

Or, if you feel, "I am worthy. I go to church every Sunday. I have not fallen into some terrible sin this week. I sing as loud as anybody else in church. I say my prayers every day. Certainly the Lord would want me to come up to His table." Then, you don’t realize that you are "sick". Then, you don’t realize that you need "medicine". Then, you don’t realize what is offered here today. You see yourself as "healthy".

If you see yourself as healthy, spiritually, don’t come up here today and make a mockery of the awesome "medicine" that is offered.

On the other hand, if you understand what scripture says about your soul. If you understand that you are a sinner. If you understand that because of your sin, you do not deserve God’s love. You deserve to have God reject you and damn you forever in Hell. And, if that troubles you, then you understand that you are "sick". Jesus says,

He calls you to come today. Jesus says,

Johan Sebastian Bach was a famous musician, who probably affected the world of music more than anybody else who ever has lived. Did you know that Johan Sebastian Bach was a Lutheran? Did you know that for at least four years, a church in Leipzig, Germany employed Johan Sebastian Bach? Did you know what his job was at Leipzig, Germany? Every Sunday he was to present, during the church service, what is called a cantata. And so, during the week he read the scripture texts that would be read and preached on that Sunday. Then, he needed to figure out what the main theme of those texts was, what those Bible readings were trying to get across. He was then to take that cantata and use that as a preparation for the people, so they understood the theme for that Sunday’s scripture readings, what they were aiming at, what they were pointing at.

Bach did that Sunday, after Sunday, after Sunday. He was a profound theologian, besides being a great musician. And so, he would do a Herculean task. He would write his music. He would write the words. He would train a boys’ choir to sing it. And then, during the church service they would sing that cantata.

On the fourteenth Sunday in Trinity, the text for the day, (we don’t use the same scripture readings week after week, that they used back in Bach’s day) the Gospel text for the day was the text that talks about the healing of the ten lepers. Johan Sebastian Bach wrote a cantata to direct the people’s heart to what that whole service was going to be about. I want to read this to you. It is in rough English, because it is translated from the German, so listen very carefully to what his words say.

"There is nothing healthy in my body. Because of your anger, and there is no peace in my bones because of my sins. The whole world is nothing but a hospital. Where in numbers too great to count, people, and even children in their cradles, lie down in pain and sickness. One person is tortured in his breast by a fierce fever of vicious lust. Another lies sick from the detestable stench of his own pride. A third wastes away through his obsession with money, and before his time is thrown into the grave. The first Fall has stained everyone and infected him or her with the leprosy of sin. This poison rages through my limbs. Where in my wretchedness may I find a cure? Who stands by me in my misery? Where is my doctor who can help me again? Ah, where in my wretchedness may I find counsel? My leprosy, by boils, can be healed by no herb, no medicine, except the ointment from Gilead. You my doctor, Lord Jesus alone know the best cure for my soul. Oh Jesus, beloved master, I flee to you. Ah, strengthen my weak and sinful soul. Take pity, you doctor and helper of all who are sick. Do not drive me away from your face. My healer, make me clean from the leprosy of sin. Then to you I want to give in return my whole heart to dedicate as a constant offering and for all of my life be thankful for your help. All my days I shall praise your mighty hand because by you my trouble and distress have been turned aside with such love. Not only in this mortal life shall your glory be spread abroad, I want to bear witness to it hereafter also, and there forever praise you."

Johan Sebastian Bach, that is some awesome theology!

If that is your heart, then you understand, "I am sick. I have the leprosy of sin raging through me. Oh, who will deliver me from this wretchedness? I need a doctor."

If that is you, then by all means, the Lord Jesus invites you to come and eat this meal.

In our text today, the Pharisees scorned Jesus. They said that He ate with sinners. Today, Jesus eats with sinners, with those who are "sick". That is whom He invites to come.

then I must announce it publicly from the pulpit and it must be announced publicly to you, here at the Lord’s Table,

Here our Lord serves a meal. He serves the meal. He serves Himself to you, His body and blood. And by that, comes to you, the Gospel. There is no clearer Gospel than to have Jesus stop in front of you and say to you, "This is my body. This is my blood given for you, for you for the forgiveness of your sins."

There, Jesus is not speaking to anybody else in the world, but to you. He is telling you that what happened on the cross, happened for you. It is your possession. That is healing for your soul. If you are "sick" and you need a "doctor", then by all means come up here today. And, if you struggle with sin in your life, you long to live a more God-pleasing life, and you understand that it is because of the sickness of sin, then come up here today.

The Lord’s Supper doesn’t just heal us from our guilt and take away our guilt in God’s eyes, but here, through the Gospel, the Lord Jesus gives us a new heart. That "medicine" gives us a new heart that says, "I want to go home and live for my Savior, who has redeemed me."

So, who is the Lord’s Supper for? Is it for "healthy people" or for "sick people"? It is for "sick people" and only for "sick people". So, if you are "sick" today, you understand your sin, and you know you need a "doctor," then by all means, come and eat.

Martin Luther said, "He is truly well prepared who believes these words:

Amen.

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