"Peace Be to This House"
TEXT: 1After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house!' 6And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9Heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'" Luke 10:1-10 What is all this talk of peace? Where is it? There has been a lot of talk of peace lately with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Pres. Obama. Regardless of what anybody might think of this particular award for 2009, that it is named for the inventor of TNT, and the noticeable lack of peace amongst the people of our country, let alone the world, makes such an award rather ironic at best. This lack of peace is often referenced to bring Scripture passages such as our Gospel today under suspicion-ultimately for the purpose of denying the existence of God-at least a loving one. But one must remember Scripture as a whole. God prepares us for such attacks to His Word and person. Revelation speaks of "wars and rumors of wars." "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." Matthew 10:34-35 "There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked." Isaiah 48:22 And yet the Lord tells his servants of the Word to proclaim peace to those who hear their preaching. Just like Just like Luke's Christmas angel with a multitude of the heavenly host proclaimed, "on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"" Luke 2:14 2 Kinds of peace. · With the world/other men · With God God wants His elect, the baptized believers, his Church,--i.e. those on earth "those with whom he is pleased"--to have peace in the midst of turmoil-peace with Him. Peace with God, is one of those faith things. What we see in the world and what we feel in the body are the farthest things from peace. These things would have us believe that God is so angry with us that He could never forgive us, or that there must be no God at all. But the Word of God that we hear reminds us: o "that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7for we walk by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:6b-7 o 14How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? . . . 17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:14-17 So He sends out the 72, and now pastors- o To preach the Good News o To establish congregations To preach the Good News because we simply don't have it in the world where the devil, the unbelievers (and even believers according to their fleshly desires), and our own flesh are hardly at peace with us. o "No moderation or reason can avoid or guard against these tumults. . . . let no one imagine he has undertaken a light thing when he confesses the Word and faith in Christ." o "Whatever is exalted in the world unites against and joins forces against the church, which, as it is small in number, also lacks almost all those gifts with which the world makes a show. . . . Those who oppose the church are mighty and powerful. They are also numerous, able in wisdom, and have a name for righteousness, whereas we are few and weak." o "Whatever I say concerning kings or the adversaries of the Gospel, however, that I say of any conscience privately. We should learn to stand erect and be brave, not so much against tyrants as against our selves. For Satan oppresses and persecutes us more through our own heart and our conscience than through the sword and tyranny." [Luther] o neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38 o " 1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill." Psalm 2 o To establish congregations so the Good News has a place to call home, to serve as a base of operations, a place where that Good News is well received and the preacher provided for the sake of God's people there and those who have yet to hear the Good News and be brought into His kingdom. Dear people of Trinity, you are one of those congregations who continues to receive and provide for the preaching of the Good News and the proper administration of the Sacraments by which the Holy Spirit keeps you and all who receive them with you with Christ in His kingdom of heaven. Only in your Baptism into Christ, and His suffering, death and resurrection do you have peace. But you do have it. It is why you are here today. It is why you have persevered to the point of losing a building in order to preserve the proclamation of that blessed truth that alone gives us peace with God. Peace be to this house-not the building, but the people, the household of faith. Peace be to you, dear people of Trinity Lutheran Church in Layton, Davis County, Utah. In this proclamation you continue to hear and the kingdom of God has come near to you and will remain with you now and even unto the end of the age- in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen Rev. Kurt Hering Layton, Utah ____________________________________________________________ Online Associates Degrees Connect to AS and AA degrees from leading online universities today! http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2241/c?cp=poJnzQK_e6CENXjOFZGGlAAAJ1Eta3nV55KFmsSNzPEXRdIvAAQAAAAFAAAAANEiWz4AAAMlAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABSJQAAAAA=
