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“Salvation in the Good Shepherd and in No One Else” (Acts 4:1-12; John 10:11-18) Today we are celebrating “Good Shepherd Sunday,” the day every year when the readings, the hymns, etc., all deal with Jesus as our Good Shepherd. Which makes our first reading today seem a little out of place. Because in this text from Acts 4 there is no mention of “shepherd” or “flock” or that type of language. But it is a strong resurrection text, which makes it fitting during this Easter season. And it certainly proclaims salvation in Christ most clearly. And this does tie in...

“I Perceive That You Are Not Very Religious” (Acts 17:16-31) In our reading from the Book of Acts, Paul is in Athens, at the Areopagus, and he begins his address there by saying, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.” Now I wonder how Paul might begin a speech here, if he came to America in our day. He might just say, “I Perceive That You Are Not Very Religious.” Not very religious: Let me explain. If you track the views and activity of Americans over recent decades, you would have to say that...

“This is not communism. It is pure Christianity.”Yes, even Pope Francis, a man often accused of being soft on communism, understands. He offered that succinct assessment in a homily on Divine Mercy on a Sunday in 2021 at St. Peter’s Square, when speaking on the Book of Acts, specifically Acts 4:32, which states of the apostles that “no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.”Francis paused to explain in the very next line, lest anyone had any misconceptions: “This is not communism. It is pure Christianity.”Indeed.I mention this now because the Lectionary...

“The Centrality of Baptism: On Pentecost and in Your Life” (Acts 2:1-42) Today is the Day of Pentecost, one of the three great festivals of the Christian church year, along with Christmas and Easter. This festival commemorates the day of Pentecost that we read about in Acts chapter 2. And what happened that day--the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Peter’s preaching of Christ crucified and risen and repentance and forgiveness in his name--what did that result in? The baptism of 3,000 souls that day. And we even see what happened in the life of the newly baptized in the days...

“The Good Shepherd and His Flock” (John 10:22-30; Acts 20:17-35; Revelation 7:9-17) Today is the Sunday in the church year known as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” You’ll notice that on this day all of the readings, the psalm, the hymns--all carry the theme of the shepherd and his flock, the sheep. And this will strengthen our faith today and give us life and hope for the future, as we see what God’s word says about “The Good Shepherd and His Flock.” The first thing we need to do is to identify who this shepherd is and who are his flock. The...

“Only Jesus: No Other Name” (Acts 4:1-12; Revelation 1:4-18; John 14:1-14) Something significant, something momentous, happened in the city of Chicago 175 years ago this week. No, I’m not talking about the day I was born. I was born in Chicago, yes, but I’m not quite that old. No, but something else was born there 175 years ago. It was the birth of our church body, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It was on April 26, 1847, that representatives from fourteen Lutheran congregations came together at First St. Paul Lutheran Church on the north side of Chicago, and they formed a...

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." "He that receiveth you receiveth me,...

"But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour." "And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you." "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear...

“The Day of Pentecost: What Does This Mean?” (Acts 2:1-21) You know those people we heard about in Acts 2, the ones in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost? I think they must have been Lutheran. I mean, it says in our text, “And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’” That’s the Lutheran question, isn’t it? “What does this mean?” We’d almost expect the answer to begin, “We should fear and love God so that. . . .” Well, even if it isn’t right out of the catechism, this is still a good...

“Filling the Office” (Acts 1:12-26) Let’s see, where are we on the calendar? On the church-year calendar, I mean. This past Thursday was Ascension Day, forty days after Easter. Fifty days after Easter--that’s next Sunday--will be the Day of Pentecost. So now we’re in the ten-day period between Ascension and Pentecost. Our reading for today from Acts puts us into that time frame. We’re with the apostles and other believers in Jerusalem in the days immediately following Christ’s ascension. And we’re waiting for the ascended Lord to pour out the Holy Spirit, which he promised would happen soon. So we’re...

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come...

Wheaton theology professor Jennifer Powell McNutt, in her article An Unsung Inspiration for the Protestant Reformation: the Ethiopian Church, recounts how the Reformation–far from being an exercise in individualism–saw itself in the context of the historical church and global Christianity.  The Reformers looked to the Orthodox churches of the East and of Africa as providing a precedent for many of their reforms. When Rome insisted that there can be no church without a Pope, the Reformers pointed to the Orthodox churches, which have no Pope and whose practices pre-date those of Medieval Catholicism.  Those churches do not emphasize Purgatory and do not...

I analyze the recent David Wood Koran-eating controversy from a Biblical perspective.

“The God of New Beginnings” (Genesis 1; Acts 2; Matthew 28) Today is Trinity Sunday. It is on this day every year that we call special attention to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. This teaching is true every day of the year, of course, but on this particular Sunday, we call special attention to it. The Scripture readings for today bring out the nature of God as being triune, that is, one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The hymns we sing on this day are trinitarian in their content. And Trinity Sunday is the one...

“Ascended and Still Present” (Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:15-23) Where is Jesus, and what is he doing? That’s a good question to ask on this Ascension Day. Where did Jesus go when he ascended, and what is he doing now? Alright, you say, I know the answer to that; we just confessed it in the Creed: “He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” OK, fine, but what’s the big deal about that? Is that enough to have a whole special festival service, to come out and have church on a Thursday? Well, I...

“Making Known the Unknown God” (Acts 17:16-31) The reading today from the Book of Acts is the story of Paul preaching at the Areopagus in Athens. There Paul was preaching not in a Jewish synagogue where he could assume some biblical literacy. Rather, he was speaking in a Gentile, pluralistic marketplace of ideas. And so this text has great relevance for us today, for this is the world we live in. Thus our theme this morning: “Making Known the Unknown God.” So Paul is in Athens, the great intellectual center from Greece’s glorious past. This was the city of the...

“The Real Normal” (Acts 2:42-47) We’re hearing a lot of talk these days about “the new normal.” “The new normal”: It means that the way we’ve been living these last seven weeks is how we’re going to have to continue to live for the indefinite future. Depending on the state you live in and who your governor is, you’re going to have to stay at home, self-isolating, and not do any unessential travel. If you do go out for anything deemed essential, you’re going to have to practice social distancing--stay six feet apart from anybody. You’re going to have to...

You’ve heard this question. Since I write a lot about Christianity and economics, I’ve been asked it dozens of times. Was the early Church communist?It’s not a crazy query. In the book of Acts, just after Pentecost, members of the new Church sold their belongings and shared their wealth. That sounds like communism to some folks. And if Christians are to live up to their origins, the argument goes, then they should be communists too.Makes perfect sense, as long as you misread the text, ignore the details, and forget the meaning of words.Still, lots of people have that impression. So...

“The Father’s Day--and the Son’s, and the Holy Spirit’s” (Acts 2:14a, 22-36) Today is Father’s Day. No, wait, let me correct that. Today is “The Father’s Day--and the Son’s, and the Holy Spirit’s.” What do I mean by that? Let me explain. Today is the third Sunday in June, which in our country is Father’s Day. And that’s a good thing. It’s good for us to honor our fathers and our mothers. In fact, God put that right into the Ten Commandments. So on this day we honor our fathers for the gifts that they are, given to us by...

“All the Words of This Life” (Acts 5:12-20) In our reading today from the Book of Acts, we find the apostles in Jerusalem, ministering in the name of the Lord and finding favor with the people. But the high priest and the Sadducees don’t like this. They’re jealous, and so they have the apostles arrested and thrown in jail. The Lord has other ideas, though. That night an angel comes and opens the prison doors and brings the apostles out and instructs them to carry on, saying, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the...