Since we will gather for worship on Sunday and partake of Christ’s body and blood given and shed for the remission of our sins, it is indeed good and right that we examine ourselves in accord with 1 Cor. 11:28-29: “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”

We do so this week on the basis of God’s commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7).

Luther, in his Small Catechism, explains this commandment: “We should fear and love God that we may not curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.”

So, we ask ourselves and consider how we have used God’s name in our lives. Have we cursed with God’s name or made foolish and unnecessary oaths? Have we used God’s name to practice witchcraft or in another superstitious manner? Have we lied or deceived by God’s name by swearing falsely or by misrepresenting and misusing God’s Word? Have we spoken God’s name and words of praise when our hearts really weren’t into it?

And, have we used God’s name rightly to bring God praise and glory? Or, are our words empty and mere lip service? Have we truly brought glory to God’s name by all we say and do? Or do our lives bring Him shame and disservice? Do we faithfully proclaim His Word, or do we abuse and twist God’s Word to our own liking?

Do we remember to call upon God in prayer, trusting that He will hear and answer us in accord with His perfect will? Do we give Him praise and thanksgiving for His goodness and mercy toward us? Or, do we neglect to pray, to praise and to give thanks unto Him?

God’s commandment reveals not only God’s will for us but our sinfulness and failure to do as God desires and demands. We have failed both by misusing God’s name and by not using God’s name rightly to bring Him praise and glory. And the commandment says: “the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” Again, God’s good commandment condemns us because of our sin. We stand guilty before God and under His wrath.

But God, in His love, sent His only-begotten Son, born of the Virgin Mary a true man, that He might fulfill this commandment for us and then bear the guilt and punishment for our sins. Christ Jesus brought glory to God’s name by His prayers, by his faithful preaching and teaching of God’s Word and by His obedience to God’s will — even to the point of bearing our sins and suffering and dying on the cross in our stead that we might be pardoned and forgiven through faith in Jesus’ name.

And so, I ask you before God: Have you sinned against God by using His name in vain, by dishonoring God’s name in your thoughts, desires, words and actions? Have you sinned by neglecting to pray, by using vain repetitions, by failing to give God the thanks and praise due unto His holy name? And do you desire, with the help and aid of God the Holy Spirit, to amend your life and use God’s name rightly and to bring Him glory and praise?

If this is your sincere confession, I announce unto you the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and I, in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Galatians 6:7-8

Many deceive themselves, thinking that they can sow to the flesh — living to gratify their own sinful desires — and still reap life everlasting. They feel that they can use their time, energy and money to gratify their own selfish ambitions and yet still grow and mature spiritually and be ready for the Day of Christ’s return and Judgment. How foolish!

God’s Word warns us of the fallacy of such thinking when it says: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal. 6:7-8).

God would not have us be deceived. And, God will not be mocked. If one sows weeds, he cannot expect to harvest wheat! So it is with our spiritual lives. If we sow to the flesh, we cannot expect to reap life, but corruption.

Again, the Bible tells us that “the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

Thus, if we live to enjoy the pleasures of sin, we shall die. But if we sow to the Spirit of God, who has regenerated us and brought us to faith in our Savior, He will continue His gracious working in our lives through Word and Sacrament and keep us in the true faith and graciously give to us the eternal life won for us by Christ’s holy life and innocent sufferings and death upon the cross in our stead.

How do people sow to the flesh? when they live in such a way that they gratify the will and desires of their sinful nature, when they provide opportunities for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Thus people sow to the flesh when they flirt with sin and temptation and when they give in to their own evil desires. They sow to the flesh when they go places and do things which will arouse the desires of their hearts.

How do people sow to the Spirit? when they make regular use of God’s Word and His Sacraments and support the preaching of His Word (cf. v. 6) that the Spirit of God might use these means to strengthen faith in Christ Jesus and teach men to live godly lives, when they provide opportunities to do that which is God-pleasing and to follow the leading of His Spirit. Thus, people sow to the Spirit when they regularly attend church services and Bible Study, when they read the Scriptures daily and spend time in prayer, and when they seek to live according to the counsel and guidance of the Holy Ghost given to us in the Scriptures.

God will not be mocked. If we spend our time courting the pleasures of sin, if we live to carry out the sinful desires of our old evil nature, we will reap what we have sown: spiritual corruption and death! On the other hand, if we devote ourselves to Christ and His Word and read and study the Scriptures and partake of the Sacraments that the Holy Ghost might strengthen and preserve us in the true faith, we will reap of the Spirit life eternal in Jesus Christ our Lord!

O Spirit of God, grant that we sow, not to our flesh and its evil desires, but unto Thee, that Thou might graciously grant unto us the everlasting joys of heaven for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible]

Since we are about to partake of the Lord’s Supper and Christ gives us to partake of His body and blood, given and shed for us for the remission of our sins, it is fitting that we heed the words of Scripture and examine ourselves before partaking of Christ’s Supper.

“But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body” (1 Cor. 11:28-29).

In order to examine ourselves and see if we are truly sorry for our sins, if we trust in Christ Jesus and His sacrifice upon the cross for the remission of our sins, and if we, as a fruit of our faith and with the help and aid of God the Holy Ghost, desire to amend our lives and live in accord with God’s Word, it is helpful for us to do so by examining ourselves based upon God’s Ten Commandments.

Today, we examine ourselves in the light of His first commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods.” What does this mean? “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”

Here, we must ask ourselves, Do I love the LORD God with all my heart, mind and soul (cf. Matthew 22:37-38)?

In examining ourselves, we consider the question as to whether God is truly honored as God in our lives. Is He first and foremost in our life? Does our worship and service of God come before all else? Or do we first seek our own will and desires? Do we place earthly goods, pleasures and ambitions before God? Do we put our own family, spouse, or children before God? It is easy to say we love God, but the proof of that is often not borne out in our lives.

Do we trust in God above all else? Or, do we trust in ourselves, our abilities, our jobs, our wealth or even in other gods or images of God made in our own likeness?

Do we seek to honor Him with our lives and all He gives us? Do we honor Him with our firstfruits, give in faith, serve Him with our lives, speak of Him to our neighbors?

In all these things we come short. We fail to measure up. We stand condemned by God’s commandment, and the wages of our sin is death!

Do you acknowledge that you have sinned? Do you confess and agree with God that you are guilty and deserving of his wrath and punishment? Do you believe God’s commandment is good and right but you are wrong, a sinner deserving of the torments of hell?

The Bible says: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10).

But the Bible also tells us that “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13).

Do you trust that Christ Jesus has truly redeemed you from the curse of God’s law? That He fulfilled its righteous demands and truly loved God with all His heart, mind and soul; but that He also then took your sins upon Himself, along with the sins of the whole world, and suffered your just punishment when He died upon the cross? Do you believe that Christ paid for your sins when he died upon the cross and that he rose again in victory?

Do you also believe Jesus gives you to partake of His sacrifice for the sins of the world in the Sacrament – that He gives you His body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins?

As a fruit of your faith, do you truly desire and seek God’s help to amend your life and live it to respect, love and trust in God above all else?

If you are truly sorry for your sins and look to Christ and His atoning sacrifice upon the cross for pardon and forgiveness, I announce unto you the grace of God and, in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Christian Questions with Their Answers (from http://www.bookofconcord.org)
Prepared by Dr. Martin Luther for those who intend to go to the Sacrament

[The “Christian Questions with Their Answers,” designating Luther as the author, first appeared in an edition of the Small Catechism in 1551, five years after Luther’s death].

After confession and instruction in the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the pastor may ask, or Christians may ask themselves these questions:

1. Do you believe that you are a sinner? Yes, I believe it. I am a sinner.

2. How do you know this? From the Ten Commandments, which I have not kept.

3. Are you sorry for your sins? Yes, I am sorry that I have sinned against God.

4. What have you deserved from God because of your sins? His wrath and displeasure, temporal death, and eternal damnation. See Romans 6:21,23.

5. Do you hope to be saved? Yes, that is my hope.

6. In whom then do you trust? In my dear Lord Jesus Christ.

7. Who is Christ? The Son of God, true God and man.

8. How many Gods are there? Only one, but there are three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

9. What has Christ done for you that you trust in Him? He died for me and shed His blood for me on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.

10. Did the Father also die for you? He did not. The Father is God only, as is the Holy Spirit; but the Son is both true God and true man. He died for me and shed his blood for me.

11. How do you know this? From the holy Gospel, from the words instituting the Sacrament, and by His body and blood given me as a pledge in the Sacrament.

12. What are the Words of Institution? Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: “Take eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.” In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying: “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

13. Do you believe, then, that the true body and blood of Christ are in the Sacrament? Yes, I believe it.

14. What convinces you to believe this? The word of Christ: Take, eat, this is My body; drink of it, all of you, this is My blood.

15. What should we do when we eat His body and drink His blood, and in this way receive His pledge? We should remember and proclaim His death and the shedding of His blood, as He taught us: This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.

16. Why should we remember and proclaim His death? First, so that we may learn to believe that no creature could make satisfaction for our sins. Only Christ, true God and man, could do that. Second, so we may learn to be horrified by our sins, and to regard them as very serious. Third, so we may find joy and comfort in Christ alone, and through faith in Him be saved.

17. What motivated Christ to die and make full payment for your sins? His great love for His Father and for me and other sinners, as it is written in John 14; Romans 5; Galatians 2 and Ephesians 5.

18. Finally, why do you wish to go to the Sacrament? That I may learn to believe that Christ, out of great love, died for my sin, and also learn from Him to love God and my neighbor.

19. What should admonish and encourage a Christian to receive the Sacrament frequently? First, both the command and the promise of Christ the Lord. Second, his own pressing need, because of which the command, encouragement, and promise are given.

20. But what should you do if you are not aware of this need and have no hunger and thirst for the Sacrament? To such a person no better advice can be given than this: first, he should touch his body to see if he still has flesh and blood. Then he should believe what the Scriptures say of it in Galatians 5 and Romans 7. Second, he should look around to see whether he is still in the world, and remember that there will be no lack of sin and trouble, as the Scriptures say in John 15-16 and in 1 John 2 and 5. Third, he will certainly have the devil also around him, who with his lying and murdering day and night will let him have no peace, within or without, as the Scriptures picture him in John 8 and 16; 1 Peter 5; Ephesians 6; and 2 Timothy 2.

Note:
These questions and answers are no child’s play, but are drawn up with great earnestness of purpose by the venerable and devout Dr. Luther for both young and old. Let each one pay attention and consider it a serious matter; for St. Paul writes to the Galatians in chapter six: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.”

What happens when we die? People have many opinions on the subject, but God’s Word, the Bible, teaches that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

Since the next thing for us after death is God’s judgment, how do you wish to be judged by God?

If you wish to be judged on the basis of God’s law, you should know that God demands perfect obedience. The Bible says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20); and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). And, lest you think that you have not broken God’s law, the Bible also tells us that “there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not” (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

My point is that God does not use averages or grade on a curve! His law condemns all who break His commandments in any point (cf. Galatians 3:10); and who among us can claim perfect love for God and neighbor and no sin in thoughts, desires, words or deeds?

The Bible explains further in Romans 3:19-20: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

If you wish to be judged under God’s law — on the basis of your life and good deeds — you stand condemned to the eternal torments of hell! You just don’t measure up; none of us do.

But there is another way to be judged and to be counted righteous, holy and acceptable in God’s sight: through faith in the holy life and innocent sufferings and death of Christ Jesus, God’s Son and our Savior!

In order that we not be condemned for our sins, God provided a substitute — His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary and made true man — to fulfill all the righteous demands of God’s law for us and then to take our sin and guilt upon Himself and suffer upon the cross our just punishment (cf. Galatians 4:4-5).

The Bible tells us: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6); “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures … that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4); and that “Jesus Christ the righteous … is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1,2).

Therefore, when we acknowledge our own sin and guilt under God’s law and look instead to Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), God deals with us in grace and mercy. He pardons and forgives our sins because Jesus already suffered our just punishment under the law. He counts us righteous and holy because Christ Jesus fulfilled all the demands of the law in our stead. Instead of condemning us under the law, God declares us just and righteous for Jesus’ sake!

The Bible speaks of this when it says (Romans 3:21-26): “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

And so, what happens when we die and are judged of God? If we are judged under the law on the basis of our own works and merits, we are condemned to the eternal death and condemnation demanded by God’s perfect law. If we die, trusting in Christ Jesus and what He accomplished for all upon the cross, we stand acquitted, innocent and righteous in God’s sight solely for Jesus’ sake (cf. Colossians 1:19-23).

It is as Jesus said in John 3:16-18: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Jesus also said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

[Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible]