The Fortieth Anniversary of Christ Lutheran Church – Pr. Braun sermon
Psalm 84
June 28, 2026 | Christ Lutheran Church
IN NOMINE JESU
Prayer: Almighty God, You have built Your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. We thank You for the fellowship of Christ Lutheran Church and for the grace You have bestowed upon us these many years. We pray that You will continue to pour out Your Holy Spirit upon us. Keep us steadfast in Your Word, protect us in times of trial, and enable us to bear witness to Your saving grace, so that many may be brought to know You as their Lord and Savior; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.
Text: The Holy Ghost has caused to be written in Psalm 84.
Despite all the political stuff over there, there are many people who are planning to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. That beautiful building of so long ago was destroyed when the city was invaded by Roman armies. Not one stone, as Jesus said, was left upon another and the city and its place of worship were left desolate. Now, for many, to rebuild the Temple makes a lot of sense. I mean, that would be pretty cool, right? To see the high, beautiful walls, the sight of altars glowing red with fire, the smoke of the sacrifices drifting over the city would be something we would always remember especially if we had a chance to see it in person.
But it’s interesting that this psalm – written hundreds of years before the time of Jesus, did not even mention the Temple at all. Instead, the sons of Korah wrote: How lovely is Your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, And the swallow a nest for herself, Where she may lay her young – — Even Your altars, O LORD of hosts, My King and my God. Now, whether talking about the Tabernacle or the Temple that seems a strange thing to say. Sparrows and swallows building nests on the altar? That doesn’t seem too smart a thing to do. Neither the nests nor the birds nor their young would last very long as the fierce fires devoured the big animals being sacrificed.
But, you see, that was the point. There would come the time when even the portable altars of Israel would not be needed anymore and they would stand cold where once they burned so fiercely. Remember how, as they traveled through the wilderness and as they settled in the Promised Land, the place of the Lord’s presence was moved many times. The Ark of the Covenant had been fitted with those long poles to carry it from place to place as needed. But now, the psalmists tell us that the fires in the altar would be extinguished. The tabernacles’ fabric walls and furnishings that had been carried around for hundreds of years would not be needed anymore. The birds would take over and cheerfully live and settle in the corners and on the grates where thousands of animals once were burned as sacrifices for the sins of the people.
Many Christians, though, don’t understand this. They look to Jerusalem and the current Jewish nation with envy. They see them as having much more than they because the Israelites are living in the place where the chosen people of the Lord and where Jesus Himself lived…as though that mattered. Their desire is for an earthly kingdom to which they can point and say, “There is Jesus!” as He rules on this earth. They long for the exact opposite of what Jesus described so clearly (St. John 18,36): My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.
Our sinful human desires, though, often look away from this. We want to find some evidence or at least some tiny clue that God is in command and that His Church will visibly prosper. Yes, we want it to grow in such a way that the Christian Soldiers marching as to war can would be seen as a great, righteous force to be bragged about. But when we do this, we make what we do have to be not important at all. Because we decide that human standards of success determine real success, we look for evidence of that success. And, thinking we’ve found it we trundle off after the tricks and tactics this world’s people use to bring a measure of fame and fortune to a Church that – well? – doesn’t actually need either of those things at all.
Yes, it would be nice to be able to point to the kingdom, power, and glory we have created as evidence that people should join us here. But what does Jesus say? Through the Apostle Paul He told this to the people in the Greek city of Corinth (1 Corinthians 3,16): Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. And in his second letter to them he wrote this (6,16): And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them\ And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”
This is such a daunting prospect, this being the dwelling place of the Creator of, well, everything, isn’t it? It sounds kind of arrogant, to be truthful. But in the four decades that started out in a skunk-infested schoolhouse on highway 140, to the Molatore’s Restaurant basement, to what’s now the Fellowship Hall, and now here in this beautiful sanctuary that was once a garage, there has never been a certain promise from God that any of this would continue here on this side of the Cascades or on this side of eternity. The world of those faithful people – some of whom are still with us – was where their labors were done in faith trusting that no matter what, the Lord’s will would be done. And for 40 years it has been done…but not completed.
That’s the nature of Jesus’ Church. As we sing, there are steeples that have fallen, spires that have crumbled, but the Word of our God not only stands to do His will, but it will stand forever. Our Psalm puts it this way: Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; They will still be praising You. Selah Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, They make it a spring; The rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; Each one appears before God in Zion.
See how Zion, the place of Jerusalem and the Temple, is equated with where Jesus’ Church is wherever it is in this world. Zion is not there. No, Zion is here. Why? Because the crucified and risen Christ is here. And not just “here,” but He has been here and is here for you. And that’s why we can be content, even happy, no matter what may come. The members of Jesus’ Church do not measure time or longevity by the clock or calendar. No, there’s a different standard in place.
St. Augustine put it this way: For one day in Thy courts is better than a thousand” (ver. 10). Those courts they were for which he sighed, for which he fainted. “My soul longeth and faileth for the courts of the Lord:” one day there is better than a thousand days. Men long for thousands of days, and wish to live here long: let them despise these thousands of days, let them long for one day, which has neither rising nor setting: one day, an everlasting day, to which no yesterday yields, which no to-morrow presses. Let this one day be longed for by us. What have we to do with a thousand days? We go from the thousand days to one day; let us hasten to that one day, as we go from strength to strength.
Today is that one day, this day the Lord has made for you. Why? Because your Savior, the One who once bought you back from your slavery to sin, has again freed you from it this afternoon in this very place. Declared to you once again, as it has so many times in the past 40 years from the servants of Jesus Christ called to this place, I am commanded by your Savior to declare to you today the gracious forgiveness of all your sins in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And you can know this is true because this is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.
The psalm concludes: O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah O God, behold our shield, And look upon the face of Your anointed. For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!
Today, this one day, this “right now” matters. This day the Lord has made has brought you here to have the peace of God that passes all understanding – not just proclaimed to you but actually given to you. In this place, children and adults have had their sins washed away in the Name of the Triune God through living springs of water in Holy Baptism. In this place Jesus brings you His very body and blood with the bread and the wine so that you can be fed, sustained, and declared “not guilty” for His sake because every last one of your sins, even those you don’t remember or have chosen not to remember – these are all forgiven you. Your guilt is gone and right now Heaven is yours!
In my first sermon here at CLC back in 1990 I said this: As Paul so clearly told Timothy: “And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” Thinking in this way, then, we need fear nothing in this world. It can take nothing from us just as it can give us nothing worth having…all that is ours is from God. Surely we will have troubles in our lives, that is a part of living in our sinful world. But God takes those things which we fear the most and turns them around for our own good so that in the end we realize that it is not to the world or ourselves that we look for our hope and comfort, but only and longingly to God, our gracious Father.
For 40 years this has been your life, your hope’s foundation as we prayed at the beginning of this sermon. In this way, through the Gospel, through the Sacraments instituted by Jesus your glory and ultimately your salvation is given to you. In this is your hope even if that steeple over there falls, even if the walls and this altar end up in ruins. Why? Because the Word of your God, who inhabited your flesh, is wherever His Church is, wherever His people are gathered together to have their sins taken away and to be fed again and again with the food that will not spoil. He promises that He will come for you as you live in this world and will give you the true life and health that leads to your eternal salvation.
Revelation 21,3: And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Forevermore. Amen.
SOLI DEO GLORIA