The Rev. Paul J Cain, Jr.
1 Corinthians 5:6b-8
Celebrate the Festival
The Resurrection of Our Lord: Easter Dawn, 08 April 2012
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, Wyoming
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Ask any Lutheran
what Lutherans do when we get together, and what will the answer be? (Pause)
Eat! (Pause) Pastors would love to hear the other answer first: receive the
Lord’s gifts and worship Him. But even the first answer confesses that we taste
and see that the Lord is good when we feed on His Word and upon His Body and
Blood.
Whether it
is a Circuit Pastors’ Winkel, an LWML event, the congregational “pot-luck,” or
another festival, with Jesus as our guest, His gifts to us are blest, indeed.
We rejoice
in the daily bread our Lord gives. We receive it with thanksgiving. Where would
we be without yeast? Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole
lump? Yeast is robust and effective. Bakers know the amazing things that yeast,
leavening, can do for breads and other Lutheran desserts.
Bakers also
know that yeast can be temperamental. If the yeast is too old, the water is too
hot, or if salt is added to the recipe too quickly, the yeast won’t work. It
could even die. Normally, we think of that as a bad thing.
Our text says, “7Cleanse out the old leaven that you
may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover Lamb,
has been sacrificed.”
You have heard it said, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation.” 2 Cor. 5:17 (ESV) Behold!
Anyone who is in Christ is a new lump! You are unleavened! Huh? What does this mean? The old
leaven is malice and evil. The Christian, the new lump that you are, is
forgiven. You are reborn. You confess, “I am baptized!” You have been washed
white in the blood of the Lamb. Christ, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed
and Resurrected. You are cleansed, you are redeemed, you are saved from sin,
death, and the power of the devil. And, you go and sin no more. The baptized
are not given to do malice and evil. That would be giving in to the old leaven,
the yeast of the old Adam.
Bakers know
that yeast can be temperamental. If the yeast is too old, the water is too hot,
or if salt (Pause) is added to the
recipe too quickly, the yeast won’t work. Where would we be without salt?
Salt was a valuable preservative.
We read of it being used in ancient times, the middle ages, and even pioneer
days. In the Old Testament, salt was valuable / as were choice, unblemished
lambs and the high quality grain offerings. The people of Israel are told in
Leviticus: (2:13) Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the
salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all
your offerings.”
Salt gave a sense of continuity.
God blessed Israel richly. And using salt on a sacrifice preserved the memory
of these blessings in their minds. We see salt not just as a preservative of
food, but a description of how God preserves His people throughout the ages.
Salt is to yeast what Christ is to malice and evil. Where
would we be without Christ? For
Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
8Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old
leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth.
Getting up
for an Easter Sunrise Service can be a challenge. So it is also with holding to
the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The devil, the world, and even
your own sinful flesh want to add the yeast of evil, malice, and sin to every
batch of your spiritual bread. The world wants a Church that will compromise. The DaVinci Code wants you to believe
that Christianity is a lie and that Jesus was just a man, faked His death,
married Mary Magdalene, and fathered a daughter by her, and that His bloodline
is the true Holy Grail. The Devil wants you to give in to your basest desires,
and your sinful flesh is willing all-too-often. And even so-called fellow
Christians want us to “get with the times” and water-down Biblical practice and
doctrine until both become a matter of personal preference, indistinguishable
from the rest of the world.
Holding to Christ and His Word in sincerity and truth is
something for every generation. Every person should be taught the faith—the
responsibility of each spiritual head of household, every pastor, and each
congregation as the body of Christ.
St. Paul (2 Timothy 3:14-4:5) describes what pastors have
been given to do: I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who
is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out
of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and
teaching. For the time is coming when
people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will
accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the
truth and wander off into myths. As for
you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist,
fulfill your ministry.
A congregation, District, or Church Body, like the LCMS, can
remain faithful only when all are faithful. A pastor who ignores Scripture
under pressure from a congregation, peers, human authority, or other Christian
traditions is unfaithful. Church Discipline is a helpful but rarely used
resource of the Lord. What if a congregation strays from truth in doctrine or
practice? Do sister congregations care enough about one another and the Lord’s
truth to act out of a motivation of love?
Remaining Faithful is hard work. We have to resist the
influences of the world, the devil, and our own sinful flesh. It takes time in
the Word, study of the Word and doctrinal topics, as well as study of the
spiritual context we live in. It takes dedication to remain true to our
Lutheran Confessional heritage: the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds,
and the Small Catechism, Large Catechism, Augsburg Confession, plus the rest of
the contents of the Concordia, the Book of Concord.
At the same time, celebrating the festival in sincerity and
truth is the easiest thing in the world. We first hear the Lord in His Word,
believe it, do it, and continue Hearing, believing, and doing it. We are in the
Word of God so that we know what it says—so that we know what we as Lutheran
Christians believe, teach, and confess. False teaching will then stand out like
dirt against white snow. And we continually are given to be at Divine Service
regularly—without excuse—regularly receiving the gifts the Lord has appointed
to keep us faithful until He returns or calls us home.
The Christian, the new lump that you are, you are forgiven.
You are reborn. You confess, “I am baptized!” You have been washed white in the
blood of the Lamb. You are cleansed, you are redeemed, you are saved from sin,
death, and the power of the devil. And, you go and sin no more. For Christ,
your Passover Lamb has been sacrificed and Resurrected. Let us therefore
celebrate the festival with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Amen.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
