http://www.spplc.org/, http://eldona.org/

Saints Peter and Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church UAC, 768 Piedmont Highway, Unit A, Piedmont, SC (2026)

08/30/2026

Divine Service (parts edited out) for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday, Sunday, August 30th, 2026 at Saints Peter and Paul Ev. Lutheran Church, UAC of Piedmont, SC. An independent Lutheran parish affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA).

Hymns: INSERT—“God Loved the World So that He Gave”
ASBH 51—“Jesus, Priceless Treasure”
INSERT—“Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me”
INSERT—“Draw Nigh and Take the Body of the Lord”
INSERT—“Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart”
Prelude: “St. Crispin” Paul Bouman
Postlude: “Herzlich lieb hab’ ich dich, o Herr” James Engel
Readings: Epistle—Galatians 3:15-22
Gospel—St. Luke 10:23-37
Sermon Theme: “Who Is My Neighbor?”

08/30/2026

Who Is My Neighbor?

https://spplc.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Trinity-13-online-audio-converter.com_.mp3

My dear friends, the beginning of the Gospel from the Evangelist St. Luke, at first glance, seems to be just background information before we get into the heart of the text. But as is usually the case, the introduction of the Gospel clarifies the rest of the Gospel. The Lord + Jesus tells His disciples that they are blessed because they have seen the things that the prophets and kings of the past had longed to see while they were alive, but they could only see them by faith. Whereas, the disciples, and all those who lived at the time of our Lord + Jesus, saw those things with their very own eyes, and believed on the Lord + Jesus. It is important to remember, contextually, that the seventy disciples had just returned from the work that the Lord sent them to do; to cast out demons, heal the sick, and preach the Gospel of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Many had believed on the Lord + Jesus because of their work, and they rejoiced because of it.

The certain lawyer from the rest of the Gospel is not like these other people who saw and believed. He sees the signs and wonders, and does not believe. We are told by St. Luke that he desired to test the Lord. He needed more proof. What the Lord + Jesus was preaching, did not register with him. The biggest problem was that he refused to see his sin. The people that the disciples, and our Lord + Jesus had been preaching to, felt the sting of the Law, and repented and believed on the Lord + Jesus for forgiveness. This certain lawyer believed himself to be righteous according to the Ten Commandments. As a lawyer—someone who studied the Law of God—he thought he knew the Law well enough. Therefore, he thought he could test the Lord with questions about the Law. Which one was the greatest? A tricky question if ever there was one.

But, our Lord answers the question with a question; seeing the deception hidden within the lawyer’s query. He asks, “What does all your studying of the Law tell you?” Well, it told him the right answer if one was to be saved by the Law. But it did not tell him who his neighbor was. The certain lawyer thought he knew the answer; he thought he knew who his neighbor was, and wanted to justify himself. What that means is that because he thought he knew who his neighbor was—the people that he liked and got along with, which is what we often think about who our neighbor is—he would be right in his assessment of his keeping the Law.

Who was his neighbor? Who was he to treat as his neighbor? Not just the people he liked and got along with, but also the people who he hated, and who hated him. We learn this in catechesis, “Who is my neighbor?” Your neighbor is everybody, whether they are good or evil, whether they like you or dislike you, whether you like them or not. The Law of God to love our neighbor as ourselves applies to everyone. We do not get to pick and choose who our neighbor is; who we love as ourselves. The Law requires us to love all mankind. Which reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw one time: it was a quote by the Dalai Lama which said, “My religion is simple; it is kindness.” To which I responded, “My religion is kindness, too. It is just that sometimes kindness requires a swift kick to the pants.” My point being is that love sometimes requires speaking out against evil and corruption. It requires speaking out against sin and sinful behaviors.

Love desires that all men be saved. People cannot be saved if they do not believe on the Lord + Jesus. But, people cannot believe on the Lord + Jesus as the Savior if they believe that they can save themselves by their own doing and striving. They cannot be saved if they believe that their own keeping of the Law is sufficient enough, just like this certain lawyer from the Gospel. These people must be shown their error. And, this is not done by ignoring them, or letting them continue in their sin. We love them enough to guard and protect them from the false lies of the devil, the world, and their sinful flesh. Just as we love ourselves enough to not listen to the enemy’s lies, but listen to our Lord + Jesus and His holy Word alone. Therefore, our Lord loves this certain lawyer enough to tell him a parable; a parable that would show him that he does not love his neighbor as himself; that he cannot justify himself by his own keeping of the Law of the Lord God.

Now, this parable is full of spiritual meanings. In short the parable is about how the only truly Good Samaritan is the Lord + Jesus. This is what the disciples and all those who believed the Lord’s Word had already seen and believed. They believed that righteousness enough to be saved was found only in the Lord + Jesus. And this parable is a picture in words of our Lord’s plan of salvation.

The man in the parable was going from Jerusalem to Jericho. Jerusalem is always associated with the place where God dwells. It is associated with paradise. Jericho, on the other hand, is associated with the world and the place of evil. It was the first city that the Israelites encountered when they began their conquest of Canaan. It was the embodiment of the power and corruption that the land of Canaan possessed. It was the stronghold of Canaan. Nobody could defeat it. So, this man in the parable is a depiction of Adam, who through sin chose to leave the paradise of the Garden of Eden and being continually in God’s presence, to dwell in the place of sin and corruption.

In this place of sin and corruption the man is attacked by thieves who take his clothes and all his possessions and leave him for dead. The thieves are the devil, the world, and our corrupt sinful flesh. On account of sin, we have lost the garment of God’s perfect image. We were left for dead and naked by our enemies; wounded and bloodied by the consequences of our sin and sin in this life. Sin wounds and leaves us half dead every day of our lives.

Both a priest and a Levite see the wounded man and pass by on the other side. These men represent the Law of God and our good works. We will get no salvation through them. The Law and works leave us just as bruised and battered and half dead as we were from when we first knew the consequences of sin. There is no salvation in our works. The certain lawyer thought his salvation was in his keeping of the Law, but our Lord roots out this notion and shows him just how perfect his keeping of the Law must be in order for him to be saved by his works. Unfortunately for him, there is no salvation to be found in our keeping of the Law and our good works. They still leave us dead.

But, this is where our Lord + Jesus finds us. He finds us, through the preaching of the Gospel, beaten and left for dead by our sins. He pours onto our wounds wine and oil, that is, He preaches into our ears the Gospel of salvation in His works and merits alone, and gives us the Blessed sacraments to create faith in us through the work of the Holy Ghost. The Word and the Sacraments bandage our wounds caused by sin, and heals us of our infirmities and gives us forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation.

He sets us on His own animal and brings us to the inn, that is, the Church. Here in this inn of the Church, we are cared for by the Innkeeper, the man of God who has been called and ordained by the Lord to watch over our souls and give an account of his ministering on the Last Day. The Innkeeper, that is, the Pastor cares for our souls until the Lord returns again on the Last Day. The Pastor is even given two shillings—two denarii, in the Greek—to care for us. The Pastor is given the means of grace to continue to give us healing and strength through God’s Word. Through the means of grace, the Pastor forgives us of our sins, and reminds us of the promises of the Lord God. He leads us out of trusting in our works, to believing on and trusting in the Lord + Jesus for our salvation.

From the Pastor, in the Church of God, we learn to not look at our keeping of the Law, but to our Lord’s perfect keeping of the Law for us. And we learn to look to the sacrifice that our Lord made for us on the tree of the holy cross, where He took our place and our punishment. He was beaten and scourged and stripped naked and hung on the tree of the cross until He was dead, so that we might have life and salvation.

We certainly fail miserably in treating everyone as our neighbor. We fail daily in loving our neighbor as ourselves seeking to bring people into the Church through the Law and the Gospel. But, our Lord + Jesus, the Christ reminds us that we have seen the things that the prophets and kings of old wished to see. We see them by faith through believing in the testimony of Holy Scripture. When He returns on the Last Day, we will see Him face to face and rejoice and give thanks that our Lord has rescued us from sin, death, and the power of the devil, so that we can live with Him and all the saints in heaven for all eternity. For our true Neighbor, our Lord + Jesus, the Christ, has had mercy on us, and has given us forgiveness and salvation, who were left for dead by our sins and trespasses. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

08/16/2026

Divine Service (parts edited out) for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday, Sunday, August 16th, 2026 at Saints Peter and Paul Ev. Lutheran Church, UAC of Piedmont, SC. An independent Lutheran parish affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA).

Hymns: INSERT—“Before Thee, God, Who Knowest All”
ASBH 49—“All Mankind Fell in Adam’s Fall”
INSERT—“Jesus Sinners Doth Receive”
INSERT—“My Savior Sinners Doth Receive”
INSERT—“Alas, My God, My Sins Are Great”
Prelude: “Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten” Johann Michael Bach
Postlude: “Ach Gott und Herr” Johann Gottfried Walther
Readings: Epistle—1 Corinthians 15:1-10
Gospel—St. Luke 18:9-14
Sermon Theme: “Two Men Went Up into the Temple to Pray”

08/16/2026

Two Men Went Up into the Temple to Pray

https://spplc.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Trinity-11-online-audio-converter.com_.mp3

My dear friends, in the Fifth Petition to the Lord’s Prayer we pray that our heavenly Father would “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We learn in the Small Catechism that this means that “We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look upon our sins, nor on their account deny our prayer; for we are worthy of none of the things for which we pray, neither have we deserved them; but that He would grant them all to us by grace; for we daily sin much and indeed deserve nothing but punishment. So will we also heartily forgive and readily to good to those who sin against us.” The key point in this petition is that we are worthy of none of the things for which we pray. We are not better Christians than the other people who pray the Lord’s Prayer with us. This is why the second part of the Fifth petition talks about our neighbor. We are as miserable of a sinner as he is, and therefore his sins are not greater than our own. So then, we should forgive him even as we are asking for forgiveness.

This is not a bargain struck with the heavenly Father, to be clear. We who are sinless in every way, can never expect to make a bargain with a perfect God. We are not asking in this Petition that our Father would forgive our sins in the same measure that we forgive our neighbor. That He pull out the measuring scales and determine how much our sins should be forgiven by Him, by measuring how much we have forgiven our neighbor. If this was the case, no one would ever be forgiven their sins, for our sinful pride would always get in the way. Rather, we are stating to our heavenly Father that those sins against our neighbor have already been forgiven by us. “As Thou hast forgiven me, so I too, have already freely forgive them, My Lord.” For we are worthy of none of the things for which we pray on account of our manifold sins and trespasses.

We are not worthy of the forgiveness for which we ask. Neither is our neighbor, but we do not hold that against him. We do not hold our neighbor’s sins against us, when our sins against the Lord God deserve a greater punishment. The worst our neighbor’s sins can do to us is put us at enmity with our neighbor. The sins against our heavenly Father have eternal consequences. Our breaking of His Law and will makes us only worthy of His eternal wrath and displeasure. This is why we should avoid approaching our heavenly Father in prayer filled with pride in ourselves, like the Pharisee from today’s parable by our Lord + Jesus.

This is the problem with people who place their trust in their own faith; who have confidence in their own ability to save themselves. The Lord + Jesus is the verse just prior to our pericope for today says, “When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” Many prideful people like to attribute to themselves this faith, as if it came from their own striving and working. They have made faith a work, and they have granted to their own abilities that their faith is on account of themselves. This obviously leads to pride. Just like this Pharisee in our Lord’s parable. They forget the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer. They forget that they are worthy of none of the things for which they pray; even faith. Faith is not something that they have drummed up in themselves by their great virtue and strength. Faith is a gift of the Lord God. It is granted to us through the working of the Holy Ghost through the means of grace, as we will hear more about in our study of the Book of Revelation in the Epistle to the Church at Philadelphia (when we get to it).

The problem the Pharisee has, and all those who justify themselves by comparing themselves to a set of scales they have made of their own virtues, is that they forget that they are worthy of none of the things for which they pray. They do not see how much of a poor, miserable sinner they are. They do not see their sin, and therefore, they do not need a Physician. Why go to the Lord God, heavenly Father at all, then? Do healthy people go to the doctor and brag about how healthy they are? I am sure there may be a few if one was to pose this question to a physician. But healthy people, other than routine checkups, do not need to go to see a doctor. Who needs a physician? the sick and wounded.

The sick man knows that something is not right with him, this is why he goes to the doctor to get is checked out. A man full of sin knows that his sin is killing him, and so he goes to the only One Who can heal him of his sin; he goes to the only One Who can take away the penalty of his sin. For he remembers his unworthiness to even to see the Physician of our souls. He remembers that forgiveness is granted to him on account of the grace alone of the Lord + Jesus. Like the Publican in the parable, we beat our breast, and humbly confess that we are poor sinners in need of his grace. We pray, as he did, “God, be Thou merciful to me a sinner.” Or to say it another way, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

We are worthy of none of the things for which we pray, especially for the gift of the forgiveness of our sins. But our Lord + Jesus is abundantly merciful and gracious. The Publican went down to his house justified, that is, made right with the Lord God, because his faith was directed in the right direction. The Pharisee directed his faith towards himself. He considered his own virtues and strengths. The Publican only placed his trust in the mercy of the Lord God, heavenly Father. He knew that his sins were too great for him to overcome by his own striving and working. No amount of good works to the contrary was going to replace the sins which he had committed. Nor was any amount of good works going to overwrite the penalty of the original sin that inhered to him from his birth. Only the mercy of the heavenly Father was going to right the wrongs he had done. Only the absolution given to him by the grace and mercy of the heavenly Father was going to make things right with the heavenly Father.

For his sins were not against his fellowman, but were against the heavenly Father. The sins against his neighbor needed to be addressed with his neighbor. But the sins against the heavenly Father needed to be addressed with the heavenly Father. He, however, knew that the heavenly Father was a gracious and merciful Lord God. He knew that it was only the Lord God Who could deliver him from the pain and misery which his sins had given to him. Only the Physician of our souls could heal him of his transgressions.

This is why we have a great advantage over this Publican. We are told by the Lord + Jesus that he went down to his house justified. But how did he hear it? We have the benefit of the means of grace. We have Holy Baptism, which declares that the Lord God has placed His Name upon us, so that we are clothed in the white robes of His righteousness. Every time we make the sign of the holy cross, we are reminded that our Lord + Jesus suffered and died to atone for our sins.

The Publican had the foreshadowing of that atoning work of the Lord + Jesus in the sacrifices offered in the temple. He went up into the temple to pray, but it is safe to assume that he also went up into the temple to offer up a sacrifice for the sins for which he prayed for forgiveness. That sacrifice pointed to the one, true sacrifice of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ, upon the tree of the holy cross. We remember that on the cross He has atoned for our sins, when we remember that we have been baptized into His suffering and death. So that even as He paid the penalty of our sins in His flesh, and He died, and was buried. We too, have died to sin. And as He was raised again from the dead on the third day, we too, arise each new day, whenever we remember our Holy Baptism. For we have been clothed with His righteousness.

This righteousness is declared to us in the words of the absolution spoken by the minister. He declares into our ears that we have been forgiven by the Lord God. We get to hear the words the Publican longed to hear, “Thy sins are forgiven. Depart in peace.” The Publican clung in faith to the mercy of the Lord God. We cling in faith to the words of the Absolution, for by them we are declared justified before the Lord God.

Even more so, our Lord is abundant in His mercy and grace, in that He even offers us the very Body and Blood of our Lord + Jesus for the remission of all our sins. In the sacramental union of His true and substantial Body and Blood in, with, and under the bread and wine, we are granted the remission of all of our sins. This meal strengthens our faith. For we come hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and we receive that for which we seek and pray: the forgiveness of our sins. In this meal we remember our Lord’s mercy for us in that He offered up His life as a ransom for ours. He did this for us even though we are unworthy of this great gift. We are unworthy to receive the forgiveness which we desire. We are worthy of none of the gifts the Lord God heavenly Father bestows upon us. We are not worthy to be called by His Name in Holy Baptism. We are not worthy to be declared absolved in the Absolution. We are not worthy to receive the remission of our sins in bread and wine, and Body and Blood. But our merciful Lord gives these things all to us by grace.

This is why we cling to Him in faith like the Publican. This is why we avoid the prideful self-righteousness of the Pharisee. For his faith was directed at himself. The faith of the Publican was directed toward the heavenly Father. It is with this faith that we approach the throne of our heavenly Father, and beating our breasts, and hanging our eyes, we implore Him to forgive us our trespasses, even as we have forgiven those who have trespassed against us. We look for His forgiveness, and we offer forgiveness to our neighbor. For we understand that we are not worthy to receive His forgiveness except on account of His manifold grace and mercy.

Therefore, my dear friends, let us continue to humble ourselves knowing full well that we are poor, miserable sinners in need of the Lord God’s grace and mercy. Let us freely forgive each other, for our sins are no less destructive than the ones that they commit against us. We can heal the enmity caused by our transgressions against each other simply by acknowledging that we are all miserable sinners in need of the Lord’s grace. Our sins against each other do not lead to eternal death. Let us therefore remember our unworthiness to receive the forgiveness for which we pray. And our heavenly Father will grant this to us, not because we have deserved it, or done something to earn it, but solely because in His love He chooses to show mercy to us. May He continue to be merciful to us throughout our lives. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

08/09/2026

Divine Service (parts edited out) for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday, Sunday, August 9th, 2026 at Saints Peter and Paul Ev. Lutheran Church, UAC of Piedmont, SC. An independent Lutheran parish affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America (ELDoNA).

Hymns: INSERT—“Lord, to Thee I Make Confession”
ASBH 48—“My Jesus, as Thou Wilt”
INSERT—“Consumed by Flame, the Weary World”
INSERT—“Draw Nigh and Take the Body of the Lord”
ASBH 34—“Our Father, Thou in Heav’n Above”
Prelude: “Freu dich sehr” Ralph C. Schultz
Postlude: “Vater Unser” Michael Praetorius
Readings: Epistle—1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Gospel—St. Luke 19:41-48
Sermon Theme: “He Entered into the Temple”

08/09/2026

He Entered into the Temple

https://spplc.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Trinity-10-online-audio-converter.com_.mp3

My dear friends, when we celebrate Palm Sunday it comes at the end of the Lenten season, and at the beginning of Holy Week. We begin that Service in a joyful manner. We hear of the multitudes who welcome our Lord + Jesus into Jerusalem with shouts of praise: “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!” The crowds spread palm and olive branches before our Lord, they lay their garments before the ass, and the c**t of an ass, upon which our Lord + Jesus rides. The joy of the Gospel reading appointed for that day spills out into our own worship. We sing the traditional opening processional hymn, “All Glory, Laud, and Honor.” We receive palm branches so that we may join with the multitudes of that first Palm Sunday in their joy and jubilation.

But the joy that begins that Sunday quickly turns to sorrow. For we hear the Passion history of our Lord + Jesus. We hear the suffering, crucifixion, and death of our Lord from the Apostle and Evangelist St. Matthew. Even our hymnody goes from “All Glory, Laud, and Honor” to “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.” For this is why our Lord + Jesus took upon Himself our flesh—why He became Man—He came to atone for our sins by taking our punishment upon Himself. Our Lord rides into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday triumphantly, with shouts of praise. He goes willing, silently, as Lamb led to the slaughter. He does it all for our good.

But we are a rebellious generation. We are stiff-necked, and refuse to hear the Gospel of our Lord + Jesus. Instead of allowing Him to be the sole source of our salvation and redemption from sin and death, we try to curry away from Him some of His redemptive action. We want to add our two cents to our atonement, saying, “We have to do this, or that, in addition, to what our Lord + Jesus has done. Mankind always thinks he can save himself by his own keeping of the Law, by being a good person. Is that not what the world thinks? That all the “good people” are in heaven.

Of course, “good” is determined by the estimation of this evil world. “Good” in this world is not good in eyes of the Lord God and in measure against the Ten Commandments, the Law of the Lord God. The world rejects the Law of the Lord God, the Law, which is a light to our path, which shows us our sins, so that we see how truly desperate our situation is, how we cannot in no wise save ourselves, so that we are forced to seek help outside of ourselves; to seek help in the One and only One Who can redeem us from sin and death. The world rejects this Law and creates one of its own choosing. It condemns those who do not buy into it, and follows it wholeheartedly, and praises those who do.

The Christ comes to atone the sins of even these haters of Him and the Church. But as He rides into Jerusalem amidst the cheers and shouts of praise described in St. Matthew, we are told by St. Luke the Evangelist that our Lord + Jesus is weeping over Jerusalem, for He sees its destruction. We heard the history of its destruction after the Gospel reading. We heard what terrible things happened to the city of Jerusalem. We know why our Lord + Jesus wept over it. And be clear that this weeping of our Lord + Jesus was not a simple tear running down His face. The Greek word implies loud, uncontrollable sobbing; a wail. Our Lord + Jesus was crying with full force. The destruction of Jerusalem pained Him greatly.

For the destruction of Jerusalem, though indeed a historical event, which happened in the year 70 AD, is symbolic of the eternal destruction of all those who reject the Lord + Jesus as the One, true, Redeemer, and Savior of the world. The destruction levied against Jerusalem is a sign, and type, of the eternal suffering and destruction of all those who look to their good works as a means of salvation. It is a foreshadowing of all those who reject the Law which the Lord God gave, and create their own rules and laws contrary to the Commandments of our Lord.

And our Lord + Jesus weeps over them bitterly. He has sent them prophets, and apostles, and pastors and teachers to preach into their ears that salvation is to be found in Him alone, but they would not hear. They have sealed their own destruction by their rejection of Him and His Word. The jubilation that surrounds our Lord on that first Palm Sunday, only reveals how truly the people did not know the day which made for their eternal peace with the Lord God. The people of Jerusalem, and all those who have rejected Him as the Messiah, have failed to see the day of their visitation. This world will be destroyed, like Jerusalem, because they did not know the day of their visitation. They have rejected the One Who can redeem them from sin and death, eternally.

This is why the history of the destruction of Jerusalem is read every year on this Tenth Sunday after the Feast of the Holy Trinity, as a reminder to us that if we do not repent, and cling in all faith to the Lord + Jesus, then the atrocities described in the history of the destruction of Jerusalem that we heard wait for us. Only it will not be a temporal punishment and destruction, but an eternal one. We should weep over our sins, even as the Lord + Jesus weeps over our destruction if we do not repent of our sins, and seek to amend our sinful lives, and live lives worthy of repentance. To repent means to turn from the folly of our sins to faith in the atoning sacrifice of our Lord + Jesus for us, and for all mankind.

Having seen the destruction that awaits Jerusalem, and having wept bitterly over it, our Lord gives a foretaste of that destruction when He enters into the Temple. When He entered into the Temple, He saw the result and consequences of the rejection of the people of Jerusalem. They turned that which was meant to bring atonement for sins—that which was meant to be a foreshadowing of His sacrifice upon the tree of the holy cross—into a market of buying and selling. The sacrifices were no longer about offering atonement for sins, but had become a means for people to profit off of other people’s misery and pain.

It is no surprise really that our Lord’s emotions change from that of bitter weeping into anger. They were unaware of their impending doom, of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and they went about in their daily lives with the same corruption which they had always done. Our Lord + Jesus will not tolerate it. He drives them from the Temple. We are told in another Gospel that He formed a whip from a cord of three strands, so that we know that He was not just urging them with words. He was administering punishment with a whip to those who had defiled the Temple. It is a foreshadowing of the punishment that will be inflicted upon Jerusalem in the year 70 AD. And it is a foreshadowing of the eternal punishment that all those who reject Him deserve on account of their impenitence and unbelief.

It is believed that our Lord + Jesus cleansed the Temple twice during His earthly ministry, once at the beginning, and once here at the end. Indeed, the third part of our Gospel shows that our Lord + Jesus will continue to do all that He can to lead people away from the impending destruction. St. Luke records that He taught daily in the Temple. He continues to preach salvation through Him alone to us. He continues to send us bishops, pastors, and deacons to proclaim that same message of salvation in the works and merits of the Lord + Jesus alone. Our Lord does not want anyone to perish. He does not want anyone to endure the coming destruction. He weeps over our impenitence and unbelief. He desires to draw us under His wing like a mother hen her chicks; to protect us, and guide us into the heavenly homes which He has prepared for us by His suffering and death.

So, He keeps on sending to us pastors and deacons to preach into our ears salvation in Him alone. They preach the Law, warning us of the destruction that will be ours if we do not turn to the Lord + Jesus in faith. They cleanse the Temple of our hearts with the Law, so that they may be filled with the hope of saving Gospel message of salvation in our Lord + Jesus alone. They take away all of our props that we build up for ourselves—all of our works for which we praise ourselves, and pat ourselves on the back, because we have accomplished keeping the rules and laws which we have made for ourselves; rules and laws which are easy for us to keep. The Law of the Lord God strips those things away from so that we are only left with the Lord + Jesus as our only means of salvation. The Law causes us to see our impending doom, and we cling to the only Source by which we may escape eternal destruction.

Therefore, my dear friends, let us not be like the foolish people of Jerusalem, who did not recognize the day of their visitation; who refused to see the things that made for their peace. But let us instead, heed our Lord’s warning, heed the lessons learned in hearing about the destruction of Jerusalem, and turn in faith to our Lord + Jesus, and cling to Him for our salvation. For He is the One Who can bring us eternal peace with the Lord God. He is the One Who can turn our sorrow into joy. The joy we feel on Palm Sunday, when we join the crowds of Jerusalem singing our Lord’s praise. For we see that our Redeemer and Savior has visited us. He has suffered and died to atone for our sins. He has come to cleanse our hearts by His Law, and He has come to turn our weeping into singing; our mourning into dancing. Let us go to meet Him with rejoicing, for in Him is eternal life and forgiveness of all our sins. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Saints Peter and Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church UAC

08/30/2026

08/30/2026

08/16/2026

08/16/2026

08/09/2026

08/09/2026

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Listing takedown request