Tag Archives: Oculi

Sermons

Oculi—Lent 3 (Lk 11:14–23)

Oculi—My Eyes (Lk 11:14–23)

Immanuel Lutheran Church—Bremen, KS || AUDIO
Bethlehem Lutheran Church—Bremen, KS || AUDIO

INI + AMEN.

((5. Oops!: The devil wants silence.))

The devil wants silence. He wants to silence God. He wants to silence you. To do it he speaks, he lies. His lies kill. His word creates unfaith, undoes God’s good creation. It’s why he speaks. It’s why he does anything.

He wants to silence God. He doesn’t want people, doesn’t want you to hear the Gospel. He doesn’t want anyone to hear about Jesus’ death and resurrection for them. That message sends the devil packing, and so it must be silenced. He doesn’t want people reading their Bibles. He doesn’t want people to be baptized, to hear that they are thus beloved children of God, “with whom I am well pleased,” as the Father says. He doesn’t want faithful pastors who will preach the Gospel, who will absolve sinners of their sins. He doesn’t want you to receive Jesus’ body and blood. Any day the Words of Institution are silent is a good day for the devil. Continue reading →

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Sermons

Oculi (Lk 11:14–28)

March 19, 2017
Bethlehem Lutheran Church—Bremen, KS || AUDIO
Immanuel Lutheran Church—Bremen, KS || AUDIO

INI + AMEN.

“Eyeballs.” That’s what today’s name means. Oculi mei: “My eyes are ever toward the LORD,” as we sung in the Introit. David puts it in terms of sight, but eyes aren’t really the organ of faith. Now, unbelieving Thomas may have tried it, but there’s no “seeing is believing.” Eyes aren’t the organ of faith; Judas proves that.

But we do know that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.” Eyes may not be the organ of faith, but ears are! As the Father said at the Transfiguration, “This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.”

C.S. Lewis once told this story: “I have known only one person in my life who claimed to have seen a ghost. It was a woman; and the interesting thing is that she disbelieved in the immortality of the soul before seeing the ghost and still disbelieves after having seen it. She thinks it was a hallucination. In other words, seeing is not believing.”

Jesus calls us to “see” with our ears. “My sheep hear My voice,” and all that. So then, the devil’s goal is to get you to not use your ears. He wants there to be silence. He doesn’t want you to hear—well, not Jesus anyway. But that’s exactly who the devil has to deal with. And we should know full well that

THE DEVIL’S “SILENCE” IS DROWNED OUT BY JESUS’ WORD. Continue reading →

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