Easter, 4/5/15
John 16:16-20
I Tell You the Truth…Your Grief Will Turn to Joy
I. You will weep, mourn, and grieve.
II. Your grief will turn to joy.
If I told you that I was a big fan of the web site called “Pinterest,” would you believe me? I hope not because it’s not true. But I know that many of you are Pinterest fans. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s a web site in which people post items that are helpful in your daily life. You can find recipes there, along with suggestions for how to eliminate stains and odors. I happened to run across it when searching for short statements of encouragement.
And I found one posted there that I hadn’t heard or used before. It states, “This will make your heart smile.” Your heart smile. Is that even possible? Medically, no, but you understand it, don’t you? It might be a picture or photo, or perhaps it’s a short story that lifts your spirits. I suppose it might even be said about a warm stack of pancakes smothered in butter and maple syrup. “This is will make your heart smile.”
We need those things that make our heart smile. Because life is tough too much of the time. At times it’s unbearable. The cruelty, the hatred, the abuse that human beings do to each other is ugly, even overwhelming at times.
Jesus’ disciples didn’t know it at the time, but within hours after speaking these words they would watch in horror at the ugliness and abuse Jesus endured. Betrayed, bound, beaten, blasphemed, crucified, buried. They would huddle together in a room in Jerusalem, paralyzed with fear and grief.
Did they recall the words of our text? I doubt it. But how often do we? When life becomes unbearable, when grief overwhelms us, listen again to these words of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ, “I tell you the truth, your grief will turn to joy.” Because the tomb was empty, because Jesus rose from the dead and lives forever, those are his words of promise to you and me as well on this Easter morning. May his words bring you Easter joy and confidence!
Part I.
Easter ranks right up there as one of the happiest days on the calendar. For many Christians, it even surpasses Christmas. And I can see it on your faces. The air is ringing once again with our “alleluias.” Lent is over and Easter is here. We’ll spend special time with family and friends today, enjoying delicious food. We’ve got smiles on our faces and smiles on our hearts.
But that’s not usually the way it is. Our spiritual EKG doesn’t always read so positively. In fact, there are times when you consider it a victory simply to drag your tired body and hurting heart from one day into the next.
And when that happens, we react with negative surprise, like this shouldn’t be happening, at least not to us. It’s as if somehow we should be immune to sorrow and grief. We should be able to expect smooth sailing on the glassy sea of life.
Jesus was speaking to you and me just as much as he was speaking to his disciples when he said, “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve.” Jesus predicted it for his disciples just as much as he predicts it for us. His disciples faced it beginning that night as they watched the One on whom they were pinning all their worldly hopes, the One who had repeatedly displayed his almighty power, subjecting himself to his enemies, and later to death by crucifixion. It seemed all so wrong to them, so unfair, so unreal. But it happened.
Just like it does to us. If you ever have the delusion that your life will be one of ease, just read your Bible. God’s people hurt. They are filled with sadness. They grieve. They mourn. And that’s our lives, too. Scripture simply confirms what we experience. Sure, your heart might be smiling today, but it doesn’t smile every day, not by a long shot.
So, what has caused your tears since the last time you celebrated Easter? The loss of a job? Then again, maybe it’s your current job that’s filling your eyes with tears and your heart with pain. Did you experience a broken heart, the end of a relationship? How many funerals did you attend since last Easter? Those can be some painful, tear-full events. And then there’s the grief we cause ourselves. Earlier we confessed our sins of faithless worrying and selfish pride. We also confessed our sins of habit and sins of choice. What are those? Are we too embarrassed and ashamed even to think about them here in church? The question isn’t, “What’s causing our grief?” We know all too well. The question is, “What will we do with it?”
Jesus had an answer for his disciples. Do you recall it from the words of our text? It’s a short phrase that Jesus repeated no less than seven times in the space of three verses. “In a little while.” “In a little while.” Jesus didn’t tell them that he was going to spare them grief, but he did say, “In a little while.” He wanted them to step back and behold the big picture. He comes to his disciples and to us and he encourages, “Whatever you’re going through, whatever you’re about to go through, it won’t last long. Hang in there. In a little while, it’ll all be over.” When a friend or loved one says those things to you, it might ring hollow. In fact, it might make you angry.
But it’s different when Jesus says it. Why? Because Jesus is all-knowing and he knows just how long our “little whiles” are going to last. Jesus knew it would be 96 hours later that he would be with this group of men again, the evening of Easter, when he would appear to them in the locked
room. He knows how long you’ll suffer through your sickness, your pain, your grief, your loneliness.
Jesus is also eternal. He lives without time. That means there are no “little whiles” in his life. He’s simply waiting to enjoy it with you. That’s what his death and resurrection were all about. He sacrificed his life as the payment for your sins and mine, for the world’s sins. In doing so, he won eternal life for us, in which there will be n “little whiles’ of weeping, mourning or grief. And the guarantee it’s yours? Easter! The resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The Savior who raised himself from the dead has promised to raise you also and bring you into glory with him. Your grief will turn to joy.
Part II.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that one of the Christian symbols of the resurrection is the butterfly. What looks like an ugly worm, constructs an equally unsightly cocoon, and then emerges from it a beautiful butterfly that gracefully flies from colorful flower to colorful flower.
The butterfly didn’t take the place of the worm. The worm became the butterfly.
Jesus promised, “Your grief will turn to joy.” Not, “You grief will be replaced by joy.” Not, “Your grief will coincide with joy.” But, “Your grief will turn to joy.” That’s what Easter is all about. It takes a sad and seemingly hopeless situation and turns it into joy.
The disciples were grieved over what had happened to Jesus. They were appalled that he had been crucified when they had such high hopes for him. But his resurrection from the dead caused them to realize his death was the payment for their sins. They now had peace with God and eternal life. Their grief was turned to joy.
The same thing happened to the women who followed him. Mary was weeping at his empty tomb. Thinking his grave had been robbed, she was now unable to give him a proper burial, one last act of her love and devotion to him. But with a word—her name—Jesus turned that hole in the rock into the rock of her faith. His resurrection assured her that he truly was and is the Son of God and her Savior from sin. Easter turned her grief into joy.
And it does the same for you and me. We grieve over our sins which pinned Jesus to the cross. But Easter turns that grief into the joy of knowing that our sins are forgiven and God’s paradise belongs to us. The joy of Easter is knowing that God accepted Jesus lifer and death as the payment for our sins. As we grieve at the death of a loved one, Easter turns our grief into joy know that we have the certainty of being reunited with our loved ones in heaven where Jesus will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Instead of fearing our own deaths, Easter proclaims that we shall live, in fact, we will rise from the dead as Jesus did and live forever in bliss and joy. No matter how you look at it, Easter turns our grief into joy.
There are days when nothing this world offers will put a smile on our hearts. It can’t really offer us anything to turn our grief into joy. But Jesus can and does. That’s what his resurrection is all about. A risen Savior declares to you and me, “It’s OK. I’ll take care of everything. So don’t grieve. Be filled with joy. Easter joy!” Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! That solid Easter truth puts an eternal smile on your heart. Amen.
April 4, 2015
March 30, 2015
A Loving God's Speaks to His People!
3rd Sunday in Lent, 3/27/11
Isaiah 42:14-21
A Loving God Speaks to His People!
I. He promises a gracious deliverance.
II. He condemns willful rejection.
I know that there are times when silence is golden, but I’m also aware that silence can also be a harsh form of retribution and condemnation. Just talk to the husband who knows he’s done something terribly wrong, he just doesn’t know what it is. And how does he know it? Because he’s getting the silent treatment from the one he has wronged, his wife. When she’s not talking to him anymore, he knows there’s a major problem and it feels like he just got punched in the gut.
We’ve come here this morning to hear our God speak to us in his word. Do you realize what an amazing thing that is? The eternal, almighty, all-knowing, holy God wants to speak to us, his lowly, sinful, wayward, thoughtless creatures. That’s amazing! And that fact is even more amazing when you realize that there’s nothing in it for him. He could just as well exist without any contact with us at all. He needs nothing from us to exist. And yet he speaks to us!
And if he ever stops speaking to us—if he ever gives us the silent treatment—then we should be mortified. I once had a seminary professor who told his class that the worst thing any sinner could ever hear from God is silence. Think about it. If our God ever stops sharing with us the truth about our sinfulness and the truth of our forgiveness and salvation in Jesus, then there’s no hope left for us. We’re condemned forever.
The Lord wasn’t at that point yet during the days of Isaiah the prophet. As sinfully stubborn as the Jews of Isaiah’s day were, God was still speaking to them through Isaiah. And he’s still speaking to us today. A loving God speaks to his people. Let’s take that as an amazing act of his grace and listen to what he has to say to us this morning.
Part I.
I imagine we’ve all had the experience of talking but no one is listening. The person we’re talking to might be looking right at us, but we can tell they aren’t listening to what we have to say. Their mind is elsewhere or we can tell by the expression on their face that they refuse to take to heart what we’re telling them. It’s aggravating, isn’t it? We wonder why we’re wasting our time.
God’s prophet Isaiah had that experience. The Book of Isaiah contains some of the most pointed messages from God to his people in all of the Old Testament. But the people weren’t listening. Instead, they were rank idol worshippers. They had exchanged the worship of the true and living God for the worship of false gods which their own hands had crafted out of wood or stone or precious metals. In another section of Isaiah the Lord blasts the Jews for their foolish idolatry. He describes how his people take a piece of wood and use half of it to make a fire and warm themselves and the other half to make a god and then bow down and pray to it. Ridiculous!
And the patience of the true God was at an end. He used Isaiah to announce to the Jews that soon the destruction of Jerusalem would occur and the Jews who survived it would be carried into exile in Babylon. But his people didn’t listen. They thought God was just blowing smoke. God’s people, forced out of the Holy Land which God had promised to the descendants of Abraham? Unthinkable! And at the hands of the Babylonians, who at this time were nothing as a nation? Preposterous! But that’s what God was telling his people. And that’s what happened.
But notice what God also told his people. “For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant.” God used the example of childbirth to describe his patience with his enemies. The Babylonians would be his instrument of judgment upon the Jews, but don’t think that the Babylonians would be exempt from God’s judgment. He was being patient with them, but the time would come for them to be held accountable to him.
And then he would bring the arrogant Babylonians down. He speaks about laying waste the mountains and drying up the vegetation. Again, that’s picture language for his judgment upon Babylon. In the blink of an eye, one of the greatest kingdoms of the world would be destroyed.
And Babylon’s destruction would mean deliverance for God’s people. He tells them, “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” How unlikely! How amazing! Remember, these were people who were worshipping idols that their hands had made. God was not only still speaking to them, he was promising to be faithful to them and deliver them. He would bring a remnant of the people back to Jerusalem where they would re-establish the worship of the true God. He promises to do the exact opposite of what we would expect. But that’s who our God is.
A loving God speaks to his people. He promises a gracious deliverance.
As we sit and listen to our God speak to us this morning, we might be tempted to shake our heads and wave an accusing finger at God’s people in Isaiah’s day and condemningly state, “How could they?” But that would be rather self-righteous, wouldn’t it? A better question for us to ask is, “How could we?” No, we may not be bowing down to idols of wood and stone and precious metals, but we all have our own little idols in our lives. We bow before things such as recreation and our livelihood, or our relationships or family time or maybe just time for ourselves. All the while God wants to speak to us, but we’ve got other things to do or other things to listen to. In fact, every time we decide to do something against God’s will, we set up another idol and bow before it. Given the countless times we’ve done so, wouldn’t you expect the silent treatment from God? Would you be surprised if he had stopped speaking to us long ago? And yet here he is, once again this morning, speaking to us, reminding us of our sins, exposing us for the sinners that we are. But he also announces to us his gracious deliverance, not from some exile in Babylon, but from eternal death in hell. That deliverance was won for us by his Son, Jesus Christ. It cost Jesus his very life, sacrificed on Calvary’s cross. But in that sacrifice is our deliverance from sin and our assurance of eternal life with him. A loving God speaks to his people, promising a gracious deliverance.
Part II.
A few minutes ago I spoke about situations in which you’re talking but no one is listening. As annoying as that might be, there are situations in which there’s a good reason for it. It’s due to auditory fatigue. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. You become the victim of auditory fatigue when you can’t seem to get a person to stop talking to you. You’ve heard enough from them already. You have other things you need to do. You don’t want to hear another word.
It’s a terrible thing to say, but some of God’s people had auditory fatigue when it came to listening to God speaking to them. Listen to what God said to them. “Hear, you deaf; look, you blind, and see!” At first, these words might sound rather cruel. Deaf people can’t hear and blind people can’t see. Isn’t it cruel to expect them to do otherwise? Not when they brought it on themselves. You see, God’s people had heard much from the Lord—for centuries. He had given them Moses and after Moses came countless other prophets, all who spoke God’s word to them. They had God’s written word. But they chose to despise, ignore and reject it.
And if that weren’t enough, consider what his people had seen. Miracle after miracle. Sometimes it involved protection, as with the waters of the Red Sea crashing down on Pharaoh’s army. Sometimes those miracles involved providing for his people such as water from a rock and manna from heaven. Sometimes those miracles involved healing or fire or revelations of God’s holy glory. They had seen much, but chose to close their eyes to it.
In fact, they had heard and seen more than any nation on the face of the earth. God was more gracious to his people—the Jews—than to any other nation.
But they willfully chose deafness and blindness. The Lord says, “Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the Lord?” How ironic to have a deaf messenger! They can’t hear the message to begin with and so can’t share a message with anyone. And a blind servant isn’t much good either. That’s not the way things had started. When God entered a covenant with the Jews at Mt. Sinai, they promised to be his people. But it didn’t take long and they had rejected the word of the Lord, turning a deaf ear and a blind eye to it.
So he allowed the Babylonians to plunder them and destroy their proud capital, Jerusalem, along with its glorious temple. He sent them into exile, far from the blessings they enjoyed in the Holy Land. The final verse of this chapter of Isaiah states, “So he poured out on them his burning anger, the violence of war. It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart” (42:25). And they had no one to blame but themselves.
A loving God speaks to his people. He condemns willful rejection.
May it never happen here! God graciously shares his saving word with us. He simply asks us to take the time to listen to it, believe it, and do what it says. As people who daily transgress his holy law and do not honor and love his word properly, may we ever find our comfort in that word’s forgiveness and our confidence in that word’s promise of eternal life through Jesus, who fulfilled the word of God by suffering and dying for us. A loving God is speaking. Listen! Amen.
Isaiah 42:14-21
A Loving God Speaks to His People!
I. He promises a gracious deliverance.
II. He condemns willful rejection.
I know that there are times when silence is golden, but I’m also aware that silence can also be a harsh form of retribution and condemnation. Just talk to the husband who knows he’s done something terribly wrong, he just doesn’t know what it is. And how does he know it? Because he’s getting the silent treatment from the one he has wronged, his wife. When she’s not talking to him anymore, he knows there’s a major problem and it feels like he just got punched in the gut.
We’ve come here this morning to hear our God speak to us in his word. Do you realize what an amazing thing that is? The eternal, almighty, all-knowing, holy God wants to speak to us, his lowly, sinful, wayward, thoughtless creatures. That’s amazing! And that fact is even more amazing when you realize that there’s nothing in it for him. He could just as well exist without any contact with us at all. He needs nothing from us to exist. And yet he speaks to us!
And if he ever stops speaking to us—if he ever gives us the silent treatment—then we should be mortified. I once had a seminary professor who told his class that the worst thing any sinner could ever hear from God is silence. Think about it. If our God ever stops sharing with us the truth about our sinfulness and the truth of our forgiveness and salvation in Jesus, then there’s no hope left for us. We’re condemned forever.
The Lord wasn’t at that point yet during the days of Isaiah the prophet. As sinfully stubborn as the Jews of Isaiah’s day were, God was still speaking to them through Isaiah. And he’s still speaking to us today. A loving God speaks to his people. Let’s take that as an amazing act of his grace and listen to what he has to say to us this morning.
Part I.
I imagine we’ve all had the experience of talking but no one is listening. The person we’re talking to might be looking right at us, but we can tell they aren’t listening to what we have to say. Their mind is elsewhere or we can tell by the expression on their face that they refuse to take to heart what we’re telling them. It’s aggravating, isn’t it? We wonder why we’re wasting our time.
God’s prophet Isaiah had that experience. The Book of Isaiah contains some of the most pointed messages from God to his people in all of the Old Testament. But the people weren’t listening. Instead, they were rank idol worshippers. They had exchanged the worship of the true and living God for the worship of false gods which their own hands had crafted out of wood or stone or precious metals. In another section of Isaiah the Lord blasts the Jews for their foolish idolatry. He describes how his people take a piece of wood and use half of it to make a fire and warm themselves and the other half to make a god and then bow down and pray to it. Ridiculous!
And the patience of the true God was at an end. He used Isaiah to announce to the Jews that soon the destruction of Jerusalem would occur and the Jews who survived it would be carried into exile in Babylon. But his people didn’t listen. They thought God was just blowing smoke. God’s people, forced out of the Holy Land which God had promised to the descendants of Abraham? Unthinkable! And at the hands of the Babylonians, who at this time were nothing as a nation? Preposterous! But that’s what God was telling his people. And that’s what happened.
But notice what God also told his people. “For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant.” God used the example of childbirth to describe his patience with his enemies. The Babylonians would be his instrument of judgment upon the Jews, but don’t think that the Babylonians would be exempt from God’s judgment. He was being patient with them, but the time would come for them to be held accountable to him.
And then he would bring the arrogant Babylonians down. He speaks about laying waste the mountains and drying up the vegetation. Again, that’s picture language for his judgment upon Babylon. In the blink of an eye, one of the greatest kingdoms of the world would be destroyed.
And Babylon’s destruction would mean deliverance for God’s people. He tells them, “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” How unlikely! How amazing! Remember, these were people who were worshipping idols that their hands had made. God was not only still speaking to them, he was promising to be faithful to them and deliver them. He would bring a remnant of the people back to Jerusalem where they would re-establish the worship of the true God. He promises to do the exact opposite of what we would expect. But that’s who our God is.
A loving God speaks to his people. He promises a gracious deliverance.
As we sit and listen to our God speak to us this morning, we might be tempted to shake our heads and wave an accusing finger at God’s people in Isaiah’s day and condemningly state, “How could they?” But that would be rather self-righteous, wouldn’t it? A better question for us to ask is, “How could we?” No, we may not be bowing down to idols of wood and stone and precious metals, but we all have our own little idols in our lives. We bow before things such as recreation and our livelihood, or our relationships or family time or maybe just time for ourselves. All the while God wants to speak to us, but we’ve got other things to do or other things to listen to. In fact, every time we decide to do something against God’s will, we set up another idol and bow before it. Given the countless times we’ve done so, wouldn’t you expect the silent treatment from God? Would you be surprised if he had stopped speaking to us long ago? And yet here he is, once again this morning, speaking to us, reminding us of our sins, exposing us for the sinners that we are. But he also announces to us his gracious deliverance, not from some exile in Babylon, but from eternal death in hell. That deliverance was won for us by his Son, Jesus Christ. It cost Jesus his very life, sacrificed on Calvary’s cross. But in that sacrifice is our deliverance from sin and our assurance of eternal life with him. A loving God speaks to his people, promising a gracious deliverance.
Part II.
A few minutes ago I spoke about situations in which you’re talking but no one is listening. As annoying as that might be, there are situations in which there’s a good reason for it. It’s due to auditory fatigue. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. You become the victim of auditory fatigue when you can’t seem to get a person to stop talking to you. You’ve heard enough from them already. You have other things you need to do. You don’t want to hear another word.
It’s a terrible thing to say, but some of God’s people had auditory fatigue when it came to listening to God speaking to them. Listen to what God said to them. “Hear, you deaf; look, you blind, and see!” At first, these words might sound rather cruel. Deaf people can’t hear and blind people can’t see. Isn’t it cruel to expect them to do otherwise? Not when they brought it on themselves. You see, God’s people had heard much from the Lord—for centuries. He had given them Moses and after Moses came countless other prophets, all who spoke God’s word to them. They had God’s written word. But they chose to despise, ignore and reject it.
And if that weren’t enough, consider what his people had seen. Miracle after miracle. Sometimes it involved protection, as with the waters of the Red Sea crashing down on Pharaoh’s army. Sometimes those miracles involved providing for his people such as water from a rock and manna from heaven. Sometimes those miracles involved healing or fire or revelations of God’s holy glory. They had seen much, but chose to close their eyes to it.
In fact, they had heard and seen more than any nation on the face of the earth. God was more gracious to his people—the Jews—than to any other nation.
But they willfully chose deafness and blindness. The Lord says, “Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the Lord?” How ironic to have a deaf messenger! They can’t hear the message to begin with and so can’t share a message with anyone. And a blind servant isn’t much good either. That’s not the way things had started. When God entered a covenant with the Jews at Mt. Sinai, they promised to be his people. But it didn’t take long and they had rejected the word of the Lord, turning a deaf ear and a blind eye to it.
So he allowed the Babylonians to plunder them and destroy their proud capital, Jerusalem, along with its glorious temple. He sent them into exile, far from the blessings they enjoyed in the Holy Land. The final verse of this chapter of Isaiah states, “So he poured out on them his burning anger, the violence of war. It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart” (42:25). And they had no one to blame but themselves.
A loving God speaks to his people. He condemns willful rejection.
May it never happen here! God graciously shares his saving word with us. He simply asks us to take the time to listen to it, believe it, and do what it says. As people who daily transgress his holy law and do not honor and love his word properly, may we ever find our comfort in that word’s forgiveness and our confidence in that word’s promise of eternal life through Jesus, who fulfilled the word of God by suffering and dying for us. A loving God is speaking. Listen! Amen.
Jesus Is the King of Kings!
Epiphany Sunday, 1/5/14
Psalm 72
Jesus Is the King of Kings!
I. He rules over all.
II. He saves all.
You know how deceiving looks can be. As the saying goes, you can’t tell a book by its cover. What looks wonderful and great on the outside may be ugly and even dangerous on the inside. How many times have you opened a wholesome-looking container of food for the first time only to see and smell something far less on the inside?
The same holds true for people. We take great pains not to be taken advantage of by con artists. They look for all the world like genuine, honest people who only have our best interests in mind, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
But it works the other way, too. I’m sure you’ve received some amazing gifts that were wrapped in crude and simple ways. Likewise, we try not to judge a person by their looks. Rather, we try to get to know them for the loving, caring person that they are on the inside.
Looks could have been deceiving when the wisemen first laid eyes on Jesus. I don’t think there was a single thing inside the home of Mary and Joseph that would have indicated that the holy God in flesh and blood lived inside. I doubt that Jesus said or did anything that day that amazed them. He likely made the same movements and noises that billions of infants have made. There was no choir of angels that day nor any stunning display of almighty power.
But that didn’t matter. In spite of that fact that everything was so ordinary, the wisemen knew this was no ordinary child. In fact, he was the ultimate one of a kind. This child was the King of kings.
That’s precisely what the psalmist proclaims about Jesus more than 800 years before he was born. This child is special. Jesus is the King of kings. May that Savior richly bless his Epiphany words to us this morning!
Part I.
I was speaking to a good friend of mine the other day about courts of justice in our land. We were noting that too often laws that are meant to protect and help people actually bring unintended harm. That fact renders our courts not as being halls of justice, but the resolution of disputes. And in such resolutions, neither side wins everything. It’s not about justice; it’s about resolution and neither side is completely satisfied.
If you agree with that assessment, then the psalmist has some good news for us. In the opening verse he states, “Endow the king with your justice, O God; the royal son with your righteousness. He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice.” It sounds like this royal son is just what our court system needs.
But that’s not what he’s talking about. Instead, he’s speaking about that child which the wisemen came to worship. As he showed once he began his ministry, Jesus was always just and right. He always made the perfect assessment of people and situations. He was never fooled even by the most clever of human plots against him. He always judged others perfectly. But most importantly, he will be the one to carry out the final judgment for all people. On that day he will right every wrong.
As people who have not always done what our God demands, in fact, as people who daily miss his mark of perfection, that doesn’t build our confidence. It may fill us with fear. But don’t miss what the psalmist proclaims. Jesus comes to this earth with the righteousness of God not to flaunt it before us or to condemn us with it, but to give it to us. In another place in the Old Testament Jesus was declared to be the Lord our Righteousness. The Son of God comes to this earth as a child in order to give us the righteousness that God demands. Jesus won that righteousness for us by living a holy life for us and by dying as the punishment for our sins. That righteousness becomes ours the moment we come to faith in Jesus by the working of the Holy Spirit. Jesus robes us in his righteousness. He makes us saints in the eyes of God as he washes away all our sins. On the Last Day he will declare before all people, “These are my holy people who belong to me.”
That makes him a King like no other. The King sacrifices himself so that we can belong to his kingdom forever. The King suffers and dies on the cross and then rises from the dead in order to crush Satan’s power. The King uses his gospel in word and sacrament to bring us into his kingdom and keep us in his kingdom so that he can share his glory with us forever. The wisemen who came to worship Jesus knew and believed those great truths about Jesus in spite of the fact that he looked nothing like a king. And they worshipped him as such. They opened their treasures and offered him their gifts of love and appreciation. These “kings” of the orient fulfilled what the psalmist writes here, “All kings will bow down to him.” On the Last Day kings throughout history will join us in bowing before him in joy; others will do so in fear and dismay.
Let there be no mistake about who this child is. Jesus is the King of kings. He rules over all.
We call them wisemen. The world would call them fools. What they did defies human reason. Outwardly speaking there was only one thing that made this child stand out in their minds—a star. How convincing is that? Look what ludicrous things even modern people believe about the position of the stars. And when the wisemen arrive at the home of Mary and Joseph, there’s no indication that this child is anything but the son of these two people. But their eyes of faith see him as he really is—the King of kings! Faith takes God at his word. This is none other than the eternal Son of God. And they place their trust in him.
How’s that going for you? You and I have never laid eyes on Jesus and yet we behold him with the eyes of faith. We place our trust in him and worship him. At the moment, that appears to be going well for us. But fears and doubts surround us. They poke into our hearts and minds every day of our lives. We confidently praise him as our King in here but not so confidently out there. We hear his gracious words of unconditional love and forgiveness here, but guilt and shame nag us out there. Is Jesus your King or not? He conquered sin, death and hell for you. He paid his holy life and innocent death for you to belong to him forever. By faith in him you are his. He is your King and he rules in your heart with his word of love to keep you his forever. Jesus is the King of kings!
Part II.
We hear about it every day—our country’s Affordable Care Act. The goal is to provide health insurance coverage for every citizen of our country. That sounds admirable, but there are skeptics. Maybe you have your doubts about this program. Will it really work?
That’s a common reaction in our imperfect world. As hard as we try to do something that will benefit others, people fall through the cracks either because of their failure or ours. So we do what we can to try to help as many as we can and try to be happy with that.
Imagine if that had been the attitude of Jesus when he came to this earth to do his work. Imagine if he had come to die for some but not all. Imagine if he had died for some sins—even most sins—but not all sins. You and I would then live each day in damning doubt. I could never be certain that he is my Savior.
But that was never his intention and it was never God’s plan. Listen again to the words of the psalm, “All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.” It uses that familiar biblical phrase “all nations.” That’s God’s way of including every single person who has ever lived and will ever live. God did not exclude a single person when he planned to send a Savior. When Jesus came and did his work as Savior he did it for every person. He didn’t exclude anyone.
That makes him a blessing to every single sinner whether they recognize it or not. With complete confidence I can approach any person I meet and declare to them that Jesus is their Savior. He is a blessing to them. He wants to be an eternal blessing to them. Through his word of salvation he simply calls for them to believe it.
And by God’s grace you do. Of all the things you know, this truth is most astounding of all: Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Even our children can sing and declare that saving truth. And it’s all by God’s grace, his undeserved favor. Jesus has accomplished our salvation from beginning to end. We do nothing; he has done it all. He has done it for all.
Jesus is the King of kings. He saves all.
By God’s grace we had the blessed privilege to celebrate Christmas once again this year. Christmas is the opportunity for us to wonder at God’s gift for us—his Son in human flesh and blood. Jesus is our gift. Jesus is for me, for you.
Today we have begun celebrating Epiphany and the focus shifts. We continue to celebrate that Jesus has come, but now we celebrate that he has come as the Savior for all. That truth is both our comfort and our motivation. When life seems unbearable and we begin to doubt our God’s love and power, Epiphany reminds us that our God does not withhold his love from anyone, not even me. Jesus is the world’s Savior. That means he is my Savior. But that truth is also our motivator. What can we do to bring Jesus to more people? What can you do? We can pray. We can bring our offerings for kingdom work. We can be the salt and light of the earth. We can tell people in simple terms what Jesus means to us. And then we let the King do his work of bringing people into his kingdom. Indeed, Jesus is the King of kings! Amen.
Psalm 72
Jesus Is the King of Kings!
I. He rules over all.
II. He saves all.
You know how deceiving looks can be. As the saying goes, you can’t tell a book by its cover. What looks wonderful and great on the outside may be ugly and even dangerous on the inside. How many times have you opened a wholesome-looking container of food for the first time only to see and smell something far less on the inside?
The same holds true for people. We take great pains not to be taken advantage of by con artists. They look for all the world like genuine, honest people who only have our best interests in mind, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
But it works the other way, too. I’m sure you’ve received some amazing gifts that were wrapped in crude and simple ways. Likewise, we try not to judge a person by their looks. Rather, we try to get to know them for the loving, caring person that they are on the inside.
Looks could have been deceiving when the wisemen first laid eyes on Jesus. I don’t think there was a single thing inside the home of Mary and Joseph that would have indicated that the holy God in flesh and blood lived inside. I doubt that Jesus said or did anything that day that amazed them. He likely made the same movements and noises that billions of infants have made. There was no choir of angels that day nor any stunning display of almighty power.
But that didn’t matter. In spite of that fact that everything was so ordinary, the wisemen knew this was no ordinary child. In fact, he was the ultimate one of a kind. This child was the King of kings.
That’s precisely what the psalmist proclaims about Jesus more than 800 years before he was born. This child is special. Jesus is the King of kings. May that Savior richly bless his Epiphany words to us this morning!
Part I.
I was speaking to a good friend of mine the other day about courts of justice in our land. We were noting that too often laws that are meant to protect and help people actually bring unintended harm. That fact renders our courts not as being halls of justice, but the resolution of disputes. And in such resolutions, neither side wins everything. It’s not about justice; it’s about resolution and neither side is completely satisfied.
If you agree with that assessment, then the psalmist has some good news for us. In the opening verse he states, “Endow the king with your justice, O God; the royal son with your righteousness. He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice.” It sounds like this royal son is just what our court system needs.
But that’s not what he’s talking about. Instead, he’s speaking about that child which the wisemen came to worship. As he showed once he began his ministry, Jesus was always just and right. He always made the perfect assessment of people and situations. He was never fooled even by the most clever of human plots against him. He always judged others perfectly. But most importantly, he will be the one to carry out the final judgment for all people. On that day he will right every wrong.
As people who have not always done what our God demands, in fact, as people who daily miss his mark of perfection, that doesn’t build our confidence. It may fill us with fear. But don’t miss what the psalmist proclaims. Jesus comes to this earth with the righteousness of God not to flaunt it before us or to condemn us with it, but to give it to us. In another place in the Old Testament Jesus was declared to be the Lord our Righteousness. The Son of God comes to this earth as a child in order to give us the righteousness that God demands. Jesus won that righteousness for us by living a holy life for us and by dying as the punishment for our sins. That righteousness becomes ours the moment we come to faith in Jesus by the working of the Holy Spirit. Jesus robes us in his righteousness. He makes us saints in the eyes of God as he washes away all our sins. On the Last Day he will declare before all people, “These are my holy people who belong to me.”
That makes him a King like no other. The King sacrifices himself so that we can belong to his kingdom forever. The King suffers and dies on the cross and then rises from the dead in order to crush Satan’s power. The King uses his gospel in word and sacrament to bring us into his kingdom and keep us in his kingdom so that he can share his glory with us forever. The wisemen who came to worship Jesus knew and believed those great truths about Jesus in spite of the fact that he looked nothing like a king. And they worshipped him as such. They opened their treasures and offered him their gifts of love and appreciation. These “kings” of the orient fulfilled what the psalmist writes here, “All kings will bow down to him.” On the Last Day kings throughout history will join us in bowing before him in joy; others will do so in fear and dismay.
Let there be no mistake about who this child is. Jesus is the King of kings. He rules over all.
We call them wisemen. The world would call them fools. What they did defies human reason. Outwardly speaking there was only one thing that made this child stand out in their minds—a star. How convincing is that? Look what ludicrous things even modern people believe about the position of the stars. And when the wisemen arrive at the home of Mary and Joseph, there’s no indication that this child is anything but the son of these two people. But their eyes of faith see him as he really is—the King of kings! Faith takes God at his word. This is none other than the eternal Son of God. And they place their trust in him.
How’s that going for you? You and I have never laid eyes on Jesus and yet we behold him with the eyes of faith. We place our trust in him and worship him. At the moment, that appears to be going well for us. But fears and doubts surround us. They poke into our hearts and minds every day of our lives. We confidently praise him as our King in here but not so confidently out there. We hear his gracious words of unconditional love and forgiveness here, but guilt and shame nag us out there. Is Jesus your King or not? He conquered sin, death and hell for you. He paid his holy life and innocent death for you to belong to him forever. By faith in him you are his. He is your King and he rules in your heart with his word of love to keep you his forever. Jesus is the King of kings!
Part II.
We hear about it every day—our country’s Affordable Care Act. The goal is to provide health insurance coverage for every citizen of our country. That sounds admirable, but there are skeptics. Maybe you have your doubts about this program. Will it really work?
That’s a common reaction in our imperfect world. As hard as we try to do something that will benefit others, people fall through the cracks either because of their failure or ours. So we do what we can to try to help as many as we can and try to be happy with that.
Imagine if that had been the attitude of Jesus when he came to this earth to do his work. Imagine if he had come to die for some but not all. Imagine if he had died for some sins—even most sins—but not all sins. You and I would then live each day in damning doubt. I could never be certain that he is my Savior.
But that was never his intention and it was never God’s plan. Listen again to the words of the psalm, “All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.” It uses that familiar biblical phrase “all nations.” That’s God’s way of including every single person who has ever lived and will ever live. God did not exclude a single person when he planned to send a Savior. When Jesus came and did his work as Savior he did it for every person. He didn’t exclude anyone.
That makes him a blessing to every single sinner whether they recognize it or not. With complete confidence I can approach any person I meet and declare to them that Jesus is their Savior. He is a blessing to them. He wants to be an eternal blessing to them. Through his word of salvation he simply calls for them to believe it.
And by God’s grace you do. Of all the things you know, this truth is most astounding of all: Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Even our children can sing and declare that saving truth. And it’s all by God’s grace, his undeserved favor. Jesus has accomplished our salvation from beginning to end. We do nothing; he has done it all. He has done it for all.
Jesus is the King of kings. He saves all.
By God’s grace we had the blessed privilege to celebrate Christmas once again this year. Christmas is the opportunity for us to wonder at God’s gift for us—his Son in human flesh and blood. Jesus is our gift. Jesus is for me, for you.
Today we have begun celebrating Epiphany and the focus shifts. We continue to celebrate that Jesus has come, but now we celebrate that he has come as the Savior for all. That truth is both our comfort and our motivation. When life seems unbearable and we begin to doubt our God’s love and power, Epiphany reminds us that our God does not withhold his love from anyone, not even me. Jesus is the world’s Savior. That means he is my Savior. But that truth is also our motivator. What can we do to bring Jesus to more people? What can you do? We can pray. We can bring our offerings for kingdom work. We can be the salt and light of the earth. We can tell people in simple terms what Jesus means to us. And then we let the King do his work of bringing people into his kingdom. Indeed, Jesus is the King of kings! Amen.
Look What Creation Tells You About the Triune God!
1st Sunday after Pentecost, 6/15/14
Genesis 1:1-2:3
Look What Creation Tells You About the Triune God!
I. All he creates is very good.
II. He creates humans in his image.
III. He entrusts his creation to us.
Men, remember when it used to be a “guy” thing to work on your own car? Not so much anymore. All the time it takes is one reason for it. But the bigger reason is that we don’t feel competent (although we hesitate to admit that to anyone except perhaps a counselor who cannot share confidential information). So we accept that we don’t know how our vehicle works; we just know that it does a nice job of getting us from point A to point B in safety and relative comfort.
Likewise for cell phones. Don’t ask me how I can use this device not only to call someone on the other side of the world, but also to take photos, calculate my BMI, pay my bills online, check the weather and help me navigate my way from point A to point B in the vehicle which I don’t understand either. It seems that no matter what you want these days, there’s an app for that. I don’t know how to make this work. When I want to find out, I ask my children. The only thing I know is that it does what I want it to do. In other words, I know it because of what it does for me.
OK. So we admit that most of us don’t know much about our vehicles and our phones; so now tell me about the inner workings of our God. Tell me how he can be three persons but only one God. Tell me how he knows and sees all things. Tell me how he can create all things out of nothing in six days using only his almighty word. Explain how he came up with the laws of nature. If God is everywhere, is he outside of our universe? By the way, what is outside of our universe? And if it’s nothing, how can you understand that?
Our God knows that, as incredible as human wisdom is, it’s limited. We can’t understand him; at least not fully. But he does reveal to us what we need to know about him. And we can know all sorts of wonderful things about him as we look at the way he created all things. We have that blessed opportunity this morning. We have before us the creation account. Look at it with me. Look what creation tells you about the Triune God.
I.
Two weekends ago I spent about 10 hours spreading mulch around my home’s flowers and shrubs. When I got done I stood back, admired the job I had done through eyes smarting with sweat and said to myself, “Good enough.” Good enough?! Is that all? Two days later I noticed a spot I had missed. There was too much mulch here and not enough over there. Mulch spilled onto the sidewalk in one spot and covered a small flower in another. “Good enough” meant I was not going to make any more effort to make it better. “Good enough” meant I was willing to admit it wasn’t perfect. In fact, it meant I knew I was incapable of a perfect effort.
Not too many people, if given the chance, would step back from our world and proclaim it “good enough.” In fact, most would state our world is a mess. Another school shooting. Al Qaida is alive and well. Storms bring death and destruction. And then people wonder, “Where is God in all of this? Why doesn’t he do something about it?” And then it dawns on them that it’s always been this way. We live in a world gone wrong. And their conclusion? This is all God’s doing. It’s his fault. This is the way he made things.
Such people either don’t believe or haven’t read our first lesson for this morning. They miss or deny this little, but so important verse of God’s holy Word, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” That’s the Hebrew way of saying there was nothing wrong with it. It was perfect.
First, that means it turned out exactly as he wanted it to. He didn’t start out to do a perfect job but once he got into it and realized how difficult it was decided to settle for good enough. Everything turned out exactly as he planned it to. All things worked in perfect harmony. The entire universe beamed with the glory of the almighty, perfect God. He had created a perfect world.
That also means the world was morally perfect. There was no evil lurking deep within just waiting to emerge and ruin everything. There were no evil intentions even within Adam and Eve. There was no sin. There was no death. There was no destruction. There was no frustration. Just goodness. All over. All the time.
Look what creation tells you about the Triune God. All he creates is very good.
So, would you say that things today are getting better or worse? I don’t have the results of any poll before me, but if I had to guess, I’d say only a small minority of people would say that things are getting better in our world. It’s evident to the vast majority of us that things are getting worse. There are political powder kegs in our world just waiting to be detonated by some madman. We still have energy and pollution problems that we can’t seem to solve. That person who seemed so nice to his neighbors was actually despicable. Too many times each day the medical expert tells his patient, “I’m sorry. There’s nothing more that I can do for you.” What happened to “very good?” We know what happened. Sin happened. And we contributed far more than our share of it. So what’s the solution? Jesus Christ. He came to make all things very good between us and God. He did that with a gruesome death on Calvary’s cross. He came to make all things good for us forever. He did that with a glorious resurrection from the dead. He will come and make all things very good for us again on the Last Day. And that’s what we need to know. Look what creation tells you about the Triune God!
II.
Do you realize how often every day you’re confronted with your image? It’s a huge advertising gimmick. If advertisers can just get you to consider that you should look different, they’ve done their job. Now you’ll listen to want they’re pitching. And it doesn’t even have to be physical. Consider the “subliminal messages” You should be smarter. You should be more active. You should be more popular. You should be happier.” It’s all about your self-image.
This first chapter of Genesis also contains information about an image. Not ours, but God’s. It says that God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” Adam and Eve were created in God’s image. Just what does that mean? Well, let’s state clearly what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean they were God. They were humans. Nor does it mean that they looked like God because God doesn’t have a body.
What does it mean? Scripture states that by faith in Jesus we regain the image of God—true righteousness and holiness. For Adam and Eve to be created in the image of God means that their will was in perfect harmony with God’s will. What they wanted was exactly what God wanted. Their desires about each other and all of God’s creation were holy.
It also means their intellect was holy. They thought about things the way God thinks about them. They didn’t reason how they could use something for a sinful purpose, but only how it could be used for the way God designed it. They didn’t think—either intentionally or unintentionally—about how to ruin something.
What a world! What marvelous human beings! Look what creation tells you about the Triune God. He creates humans in his image.
We might not be so bold as to say, “What I think and what I want are right because it’s what I think and want,” but that sounds fairly familiar, doesn’t it? Given a particular situation or issue, and we can easily conclude on our own what’s right for us. And the corollary to that thinking is, “Who is God to tell me?” How far we’ve fallen from being created in the image of God when our thinking and our desires were in complete harmony with God’s, not in utter discord! This creation account reveals the sad truth about us. But as we read further, we see how God planned and fulfilled the way to restore his image in us—through faith in Jesus as our Savior. Jesus won our forgiveness. Jesus makes us right with God. Jesus will fully restore us to the image of God when we enter eternal life. Look what creation tells you about the Triune God!
III.
A loving and generous father takes the keys to a brand new car and hands them to his daughter on her graduation from high school. Can you imagine it? Yeah, it happens. A father spends 2 years restoring a vintage car to its original condition and, as soon as he’s done, he hands the keys to his son who just got his driver’s license. Can you imagine it? Most of you are saying, “I’m not picking up what you’re laying down, Pastor.”
Now imagine this. God takes the perfect world—the entire universe—which he had just created out of nothing and hands it to Adam and Eve to use in a perfect way. Can you imagine it? That’s what happened.
God told Adam and Eve to fill the earth and subdue it. The Hebrew words here indicate that they should use God’s creation in a way that God designed it. They weren’t to abuse it. And before the fall into sin, that’s exactly what they did.
It was all here for them to enjoy. They were amazed at the marvelous way God had created all things, from the beauty of a small flower to the vastness of the night sky. God takes the keys to the world and hands them to humans. What a loving God!
Look what creation tells you about the Triune God!
He did that knowing they would ruin it all with their sin. And we wonder why. I can’t answer that because God doesn’t tell us in his word. But when they did ruin it, he immediately announces a fix to it all—he will send a Savior. Now that’s love! Astounding love! Love like no other. That’s his love for you. Look what creation tells you about the Triune God. Look, and be eternally grateful! Amen.
Genesis 1:1-2:3
Look What Creation Tells You About the Triune God!
I. All he creates is very good.
II. He creates humans in his image.
III. He entrusts his creation to us.
Men, remember when it used to be a “guy” thing to work on your own car? Not so much anymore. All the time it takes is one reason for it. But the bigger reason is that we don’t feel competent (although we hesitate to admit that to anyone except perhaps a counselor who cannot share confidential information). So we accept that we don’t know how our vehicle works; we just know that it does a nice job of getting us from point A to point B in safety and relative comfort.
Likewise for cell phones. Don’t ask me how I can use this device not only to call someone on the other side of the world, but also to take photos, calculate my BMI, pay my bills online, check the weather and help me navigate my way from point A to point B in the vehicle which I don’t understand either. It seems that no matter what you want these days, there’s an app for that. I don’t know how to make this work. When I want to find out, I ask my children. The only thing I know is that it does what I want it to do. In other words, I know it because of what it does for me.
OK. So we admit that most of us don’t know much about our vehicles and our phones; so now tell me about the inner workings of our God. Tell me how he can be three persons but only one God. Tell me how he knows and sees all things. Tell me how he can create all things out of nothing in six days using only his almighty word. Explain how he came up with the laws of nature. If God is everywhere, is he outside of our universe? By the way, what is outside of our universe? And if it’s nothing, how can you understand that?
Our God knows that, as incredible as human wisdom is, it’s limited. We can’t understand him; at least not fully. But he does reveal to us what we need to know about him. And we can know all sorts of wonderful things about him as we look at the way he created all things. We have that blessed opportunity this morning. We have before us the creation account. Look at it with me. Look what creation tells you about the Triune God.
I.
Two weekends ago I spent about 10 hours spreading mulch around my home’s flowers and shrubs. When I got done I stood back, admired the job I had done through eyes smarting with sweat and said to myself, “Good enough.” Good enough?! Is that all? Two days later I noticed a spot I had missed. There was too much mulch here and not enough over there. Mulch spilled onto the sidewalk in one spot and covered a small flower in another. “Good enough” meant I was not going to make any more effort to make it better. “Good enough” meant I was willing to admit it wasn’t perfect. In fact, it meant I knew I was incapable of a perfect effort.
Not too many people, if given the chance, would step back from our world and proclaim it “good enough.” In fact, most would state our world is a mess. Another school shooting. Al Qaida is alive and well. Storms bring death and destruction. And then people wonder, “Where is God in all of this? Why doesn’t he do something about it?” And then it dawns on them that it’s always been this way. We live in a world gone wrong. And their conclusion? This is all God’s doing. It’s his fault. This is the way he made things.
Such people either don’t believe or haven’t read our first lesson for this morning. They miss or deny this little, but so important verse of God’s holy Word, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” That’s the Hebrew way of saying there was nothing wrong with it. It was perfect.
First, that means it turned out exactly as he wanted it to. He didn’t start out to do a perfect job but once he got into it and realized how difficult it was decided to settle for good enough. Everything turned out exactly as he planned it to. All things worked in perfect harmony. The entire universe beamed with the glory of the almighty, perfect God. He had created a perfect world.
That also means the world was morally perfect. There was no evil lurking deep within just waiting to emerge and ruin everything. There were no evil intentions even within Adam and Eve. There was no sin. There was no death. There was no destruction. There was no frustration. Just goodness. All over. All the time.
Look what creation tells you about the Triune God. All he creates is very good.
So, would you say that things today are getting better or worse? I don’t have the results of any poll before me, but if I had to guess, I’d say only a small minority of people would say that things are getting better in our world. It’s evident to the vast majority of us that things are getting worse. There are political powder kegs in our world just waiting to be detonated by some madman. We still have energy and pollution problems that we can’t seem to solve. That person who seemed so nice to his neighbors was actually despicable. Too many times each day the medical expert tells his patient, “I’m sorry. There’s nothing more that I can do for you.” What happened to “very good?” We know what happened. Sin happened. And we contributed far more than our share of it. So what’s the solution? Jesus Christ. He came to make all things very good between us and God. He did that with a gruesome death on Calvary’s cross. He came to make all things good for us forever. He did that with a glorious resurrection from the dead. He will come and make all things very good for us again on the Last Day. And that’s what we need to know. Look what creation tells you about the Triune God!
II.
Do you realize how often every day you’re confronted with your image? It’s a huge advertising gimmick. If advertisers can just get you to consider that you should look different, they’ve done their job. Now you’ll listen to want they’re pitching. And it doesn’t even have to be physical. Consider the “subliminal messages” You should be smarter. You should be more active. You should be more popular. You should be happier.” It’s all about your self-image.
This first chapter of Genesis also contains information about an image. Not ours, but God’s. It says that God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” Adam and Eve were created in God’s image. Just what does that mean? Well, let’s state clearly what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean they were God. They were humans. Nor does it mean that they looked like God because God doesn’t have a body.
What does it mean? Scripture states that by faith in Jesus we regain the image of God—true righteousness and holiness. For Adam and Eve to be created in the image of God means that their will was in perfect harmony with God’s will. What they wanted was exactly what God wanted. Their desires about each other and all of God’s creation were holy.
It also means their intellect was holy. They thought about things the way God thinks about them. They didn’t reason how they could use something for a sinful purpose, but only how it could be used for the way God designed it. They didn’t think—either intentionally or unintentionally—about how to ruin something.
What a world! What marvelous human beings! Look what creation tells you about the Triune God. He creates humans in his image.
We might not be so bold as to say, “What I think and what I want are right because it’s what I think and want,” but that sounds fairly familiar, doesn’t it? Given a particular situation or issue, and we can easily conclude on our own what’s right for us. And the corollary to that thinking is, “Who is God to tell me?” How far we’ve fallen from being created in the image of God when our thinking and our desires were in complete harmony with God’s, not in utter discord! This creation account reveals the sad truth about us. But as we read further, we see how God planned and fulfilled the way to restore his image in us—through faith in Jesus as our Savior. Jesus won our forgiveness. Jesus makes us right with God. Jesus will fully restore us to the image of God when we enter eternal life. Look what creation tells you about the Triune God!
III.
A loving and generous father takes the keys to a brand new car and hands them to his daughter on her graduation from high school. Can you imagine it? Yeah, it happens. A father spends 2 years restoring a vintage car to its original condition and, as soon as he’s done, he hands the keys to his son who just got his driver’s license. Can you imagine it? Most of you are saying, “I’m not picking up what you’re laying down, Pastor.”
Now imagine this. God takes the perfect world—the entire universe—which he had just created out of nothing and hands it to Adam and Eve to use in a perfect way. Can you imagine it? That’s what happened.
God told Adam and Eve to fill the earth and subdue it. The Hebrew words here indicate that they should use God’s creation in a way that God designed it. They weren’t to abuse it. And before the fall into sin, that’s exactly what they did.
It was all here for them to enjoy. They were amazed at the marvelous way God had created all things, from the beauty of a small flower to the vastness of the night sky. God takes the keys to the world and hands them to humans. What a loving God!
Look what creation tells you about the Triune God!
He did that knowing they would ruin it all with their sin. And we wonder why. I can’t answer that because God doesn’t tell us in his word. But when they did ruin it, he immediately announces a fix to it all—he will send a Savior. Now that’s love! Astounding love! Love like no other. That’s his love for you. Look what creation tells you about the Triune God. Look, and be eternally grateful! Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
