October 2, 2025

Today's Reading: Catechism: Table of Duties - What Hearers Owe Their Pastors

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 3:1-29; Matthew 7:1-12

“We ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13)

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17)” (Luther's Small Catechism, Table of Duties, What Hearers Owe Their Pastors)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

The Small Catechism’s Table of Duties contains quite a few orders. These directions indicate how we may better serve our Lord and benefit our neighbor and prepare us for Holy Absolution, showing us where we have done wrong. God's perfect will in His law is both good for us and condemnatory of the sin that remains in us. We will not see it perfected in mankind until the day of resurrection.

Our duty to our pastors, outlined above, is a particularly tall order. “Don’t be an affliction to me, child!” That is a comically gross simplification that still rings true. The work of your pastors is arduous and frequently thankless. Their vocation has an abnormally high burnout rate. But they still take great joy in serving you, delivering the confidence of forgiveness in Christ by water and Word.

When your pastors correct you in sin and any error, rejoice that he loves you enough to warn you of it. It would be far easier and less disruptive to ignore the thing. Your pastor does love you. He wants to instruct you in the Christian faith and to turn you from sin and error. He wants to deliver confidently the Words of Absolution into your ears.

He will be accountable for what he has done and left undone. And, he wants you to receive Jesus often. Let him do it. It’s for your good. The whole of creation needs to hear and receive this Good News of forgiveness and salvation in Jesus.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lord God, Heavenly Father, You have ordered all of creation for our good. From the foundations of it, You have been our God. Keep our hearts and minds ever set towards those things which please You, and glorify Your name in the earth, that the free course of the spread of the Gospel of forgiveness in Jesus may be received by all nations. This we pray in the holy name of Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, our Lord. Amen.

Rev. Jason Kaspar, pastor of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, La Grange, Texas.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

Join author R. Reed Lessing helps with this chapter-by-chapter exploration of the Book of Numbers in Hope in the Wilderness. With helpful maps, diagrams, and connections to the rest of the Bible, you’ll be able to understand the beauty of Numbers.

October 1, 2025

Today's Reading: Amos 6:1-7

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 2:16-37; Matthew 6:16-34

“So as soon as all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the people, the Lord said to me, ‘Today you are to cross the border of Moab at Ar. And when you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession.’ …Rephaim formerly lived there… a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before the Ammonites, and they dispossessed them and settled in their place, as he did for the people of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them and they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day… ‘This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’” (Deuteronomy 2:16-19, 20b, 21-22, 25)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

The right hand of the Lord exalts, the right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The people of Israel are preparing to enter the land of Canaan. This retelling of the events beginning the forty years’ wandering reinforces the truth of what will come for them in Joshua. The Lord will fight for them. The Lord will send their enemies fleeing before them.

Moab, Ammon, and Edom are filled with unfaithful people. People to whom the Lord is faithful in His covenant promises. He promised them lands and prosperity, which they have. He even restrains Israel against them. All of these promises are known to the Israelites from Genesis. These unfaithful heathens still enjoy the rain falling on the just and the unjust alike from a faithful God. How much more will He be faithful to His people, Israel?

The promises of God are all gathered together as proof of what is to come. In the garden, he promised to send the Seed of the woman to crush the Serpent’s head. Jesus, the only Son from Heaven and Mary’s Son, is the Messiah Israel awaited. All of creation was groaning for salvation. In Jesus, it is here. God’s greatest promise was delivered by Christ’s death to destroy the power of Satan for you, dear Christians. He has marked and is preserving you in His baptismal grace, delivering you into salvation.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O Lord, You delivered Your promises to your people of old, and You have delivered Jesus to all mankind. Keep us steadfast in your grace, that we may receive the eternal life promised therein, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Rev. Jason Kaspar, pastor of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, La Grange, Texas.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

Join author R. Reed Lessing helps with this chapter-by-chapter exploration of the Book of Numbers in Hope in the Wilderness. With helpful maps, diagrams, and connections to the rest of the Bible, you’ll be able to understand the beauty of Numbers.

September 30, 2025

Today's Reading: 1 Timothy 6:6-19

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 1:37-2:15; Matthew 6:1-15

“But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” (1 Timothy 6:6-10)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Money has no more character. It cannot be good or evil. It makes no choices. It cannot be tempted. Money cannot be righteous either. It simply is.

Like so many things in creation, money is a First Article gift that we abuse. Money provides us with a way to trade toil for goods. Since the fall, we have eaten only by the sweat of our brows. I can break the ground myself and raise grain to make bread. I can also labor for someone else, trading my sweat for money and my money for bread.

Greed for selfish gain, the love of money, brings about all manner of evil. St. Paul offers this warning under the Seventh Commandent. We should not look to defraud or deprive our neighbor, but help them keep and improve what is theirs. God’s Word here serves to turn us from our selfish sins.

Instead, He would have us dwell in contentment. It’s not a contentment we generate from within. This is a contentment given to us by the Gospel. In Jesus, our Lord, we have received forgiveness in water, Word, and the Body and Blood of Jesus. Our Lord’s generosity flies in the face of our greedy desires. What use are small things like money? We have a treasure stored up in the heavens. Jesus has forgiven our debt and continually refreshes us in that forgiveness.

Not only that, but He also sent us the Holy Ghost, bringing the Third Article Gift of faith. Through Him, we receive the very thing that clings to this forgiveness. The Holy Spirit continues to gather us together as a church to hear and receive. We have received the goods from His hand, forgiveness by His blood, and faith itself to trust this promise.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O God, our Father, You have graciously given us all that we need for this Earthly life. Guide our hearts into contentment for our temporal gifts and exceeding joy over the eternal gifts of salvation and eternal life by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Rev. Jason Kaspar, pastor of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, La Grange, Texas.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

Join author R. Reed Lessing helps with this chapter-by-chapter exploration of the Book of Numbers in Hope in the Wilderness. With helpful maps, diagrams, and connections to the rest of the Bible, you’ll be able to understand the beauty of Numbers.