Resurrection Lutheran Church - Sermon Update

Fill Your Thoughts With Jesus!

2012-01-28T09:22:00.000-08:00

4th Sunday after Epiphany, 1/29/12
Hebrews 3:1-6

Fill Your Thoughts With Jesus!
I. As the apostle and high priest
II. As a Son over God’s house

Have you ever wondered how many thoughts per day you have? If so, how does it compare with someone else?

I spent a couple minutes researching it, and the estimates vary quite widely. One study claimed we have as many as 150,000 thoughts every day. Most studies, however, settled on a number around 50,000. If you’re a deep thinker, you can add 10,000 to that number. That’s a lot of thoughts! What in the world are we thinking about?

I would imagine that we wouldn’t mind sharing some of that information. We think about our children and our jobs, and what to eat for the three meals that day. We think about what we need to purchase at the store. We think about whatever it is that’s on our computer screen or smart phone at that given moment.

But there are plenty of things we think about that we greatly prefer to keep to ourselves. We don’t want people to know what we’re thinking about them because it’s not complimentary. In other situations, if another person knew what we were thinking about them, we could get into a lot of trouble or suffer some great losses.

And while many of our thoughts are necessary simply for us to exist another day, I’m sure it’s also true that many of our thoughts—perhaps far too many of our thoughts—aren’t necessary at all. In fact, they’re either wasteful or harmful.

So, what should we do? Take the advice of the inspired writer to the Hebrews. He tells us, “Fix your thoughts on Jesus.” Now there’s a worthwhile subject for our thoughts. In fact, as Christians, I’m sure you’d agree that there’s no more worthwhile person or thing to think about. But sadly, all too often we don’t. So let’s take this word of our God to heart this morning. Fill your thoughts with Jesus! God not only gives us that encouragement, he also gives us some pointed suggestions regarding Jesus to ponder.

Part I.

It’s fairly common for us to give names to people which describe what they do or what they’re known for. For instance, a particular sports team might name one of its members The Eraser because he or she is known for completely doing away with anything an opponent attempts. At work you might dub a co-worker the Time Clock Nazi if they constantly watching when people punch in and out and reporting any apparent violations. For better or for worse, those names describe what others perceive they do.

But let’s fill our thoughts with Jesus now, particularly with his names, names which describe who he is and what he does. The name “Jesus” means “The Lord saves.” That’s who Jesus is and what he does. The name “Immanuel” means “God with us.” Jesus called himself the Son of God and the Son of Man. I’m sure you could think of a few more. And all those names have deep meanings.

But did you notice what the writer to the Hebrews calls Jesus here in our text? After encouraging us to fix our thoughts on him, he calls Jesus “the apostle and high priest whom we confess.” I don’t know about you, but when I think of Jesus, those aren’t two of the things I often think about him. But obviously we should, otherwise the Holy Spirit wouldn’t have used these words. So, just what are we to think about Jesus as apostle and high priest?

Let’s take them one at a time. Apostle is not one of the names we associate with Jesus. Instead, we associate it with men like Peter, James, John and Paul. In fact, that’s exactly what the Bible calls these men. With the exception of Paul, first these men were disciples of Jesus; they followed Jesus. But at Pentecost he sent them out. That’s what the name “apostle” means, one who is sent out.

But how does that describe Jesus? God the Father sent Jesus to this earth on a mission. In fact, it was the greatest mission ever undertaken and the stakes were eternally high. The eternal future of every soul—every person—was in the balance. Jesus was sent here to accomplish salvation for every sinner. Here in the season of Epiphany we hear how Jesus began that work. During the season of Lent we’ll hear how Jesus finished that work. In the season of Easter we’ll celebrate how Jesus guaranteed that he completed his mission—by rising from the dead in eternal glory as true God and true man.

But what about high priest? Wasn’t that an Old Testament office? Yes, it was, but each high priest was a type or a picture of the Savior to come. The Israelites were not allowed to bring their sacrifices to God on their own; the priest had to do it for them. God was teaching his people the truth that they were not acceptable to him on their own. They needed someone to be their mediator. Jesus perfectly fulfilled that role. He didn’t sacrifice animals to make peace for us with God; he sacrificed himself and, in doing so, he reconciled sinful people with the holy God. And now he lives to intercede for us with his heavenly Father. Now that’s something worthwhile to think about.

Fill your thoughts with Jesus as the apostle and high priest.

We’ve been speaking about our thoughts this morning. Let’s consider our thoughts about ourselves for a moment. It’s my impression that our thoughts about ourselves range from one extreme to the other and everything in between. On the one extreme, our thoughts are filled with sinful pride. We’re pretty happy with the way we live. We’re convinced we’re living like Jesus wants us to. Or, we don’t give any thought to the truth that we daily sin countless times in thoughts, desires, words and deeds. That’s sinful pride. On the other extreme is sinful despair. We think about what a mess our lives are and how we’re responsible for it. We wonder if God loves, if he even could love us, or we’re pretty sure he doesn’t anymore. In between those two extremes are our self-centered, lustful, hateful, judgmental, discontented and envious thoughts all day long. Pretty pathetic, isn’t it? No wonder Jesus tells us, “Fill your thoughts with me as your apostle and high priest.” He is the solution to both those sinful extremes and everything in between. Think about why he came to this earth—to be your Savior from sin. Consider how he completely accomplished your forgiveness and won your eternal life by his life and his death on the cross. When you think about those things, you’d be surprised how much better off you are. Fill your thoughts with Jesus.

Part II.

The writer concludes our text with another name for Jesus that begins in a familiar way but ends rather peculiarly. First he talks about Moses and then he tells us, “Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house” And then he adds something about ourselves, “And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.”

What’s all this talk about a house and why does the writer compare Jesus with Moses? Let’s spend a minute sorting it all out.

The writer mentions that Moses served God’s Old Testament people. In fact, “he was a faithful servant in all God’s house.” But that’s all he was. Just a human servant.

Jesus is far greater. He wasn’t just a servant, although he came to serve all people. He was actually a son. Our translation uses a lower case “s” on the word “son.” It would be better with an upper case “S.” Jesus is none other than the Son of God. As such he is the one who made us God’s house. He did so by his work of redemption. He shed his holy, precious blood and endured his innocent sufferings and death so that we could belong to our God forever.

In fact, our Savior actually lives in us and we in him. Jesus prayed these words about his believers to his heavenly Father on the night before his death, “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (Jn. 17:26). By faith in Jesus we actually have Jesus living in us. We are his house.

That’s a blessing we share with every Christian, in other words, with every member of the Holy Christian Church, the invisible gathering of all believers in Christ. In this morning’s gospel, Jesus drove a demon out of a man. We, too, once belonged to Satan’s kingdom, not in the sense of demon possession, but we belonged to him nonetheless. But Jesus drove Satan away and made us his house.

And now he rules over that house. He rules over us individually and over all his Church for our good. He uses his almighty power to direct all forces, whether good or evil, to accomplish his saving purposes and his grand plan for all of history.

Now there’s something worthwhile to ponder, to consider, to enjoy. Fill your thoughts with Jesus as a Son over God’s house.

There’s a strong emphasis in Christianity to consider your Christian faith as a long list of what you do and what you don’t do. Other Christians are satisfied to boil that long list down to a short list of obligations, sometimes seasonal, sometimes year-long. And still others content themselves by stating that they always try to do the Christian thing, even though things such as regular worship and supporting Christ’s kingdom work aren’t part of it.

That’s the wrong viewpoint. The correct one is right here. Jesus reminds you of what you are, of what he made you. You are his house. In his grace and love for you he has made you his dwelling place. Isn’t that incredible? He washed your sins away with his blood. He made you his own. It cost him his life but he never hesitated to pay it. Now, with the power of Christ living in you, ask yourself how accurately your life reflects it. How well do I show others that Jesus lives in me? Now there’s something to think about. Jesus lives in you. Jesus empowers you. Fill your thoughts with Jesus. Amen.

A Changed Heart Means a Changed Life!

2012-01-21T07:04:00.000-08:00

3rd Sunday after Epiphany, 1/22/12
1 Corinthians 7:29-31

A Changed Heart Means a Changed Life!
I. In your relationships
II. In your outlook
III. In your possessions

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN is known around the world for its medical care. And one of its many areas of expertise is heart transplants. I took a look at its website and found the story there of a young woman named Tara Kline. A year after graduating from high school she was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect and was told she would need a heart and double lung transplant. Upon hearing the diagnosis and the suggested treatment, her fears were overwhelming. Even if she survived such a difficult procedure, what would her life be like?

She waited eight years for a donor to be found, but even after all that time, her fears hadn’t subsided at all. She kept telling the Mayo staff, “I can’t do this. It’s too much!” But her team of doctors assured her that everything would be fine.

Five years later she knows how right they were. She has her life back. She finished college and can play with her young nephew—things that would have been impossible without her new heart and lungs. She has a new appreciation for each day of her life. She realizes that someone had to die in order to give her life.

How true that is for every one of us! In a spiritual sense we’ve had a heart transplant. Through his almighty word our God has changed our hearts that were cold and dead in sin and unbelief into hearts that are warm and full of spiritual life and love for him. Our hearts are filled with faith in Jesus as our Savior. We live each day in the certainty of our forgiveness and our eternal life. In fact, that changed heart affects every aspect of our lives. Our faith in Jesus gives us a completely different way of looking at everything in our lives.

A changed heart means a changed life. St. Paul helps us understand how deeply our faith in Jesus affects our lives in these verses before us this morning. A changed heart means a changed life. May our God help us not only to realize it but also empower us to live like it!

Part I.

More than a year ago a popular television ad ended with the slogan, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” It was a more-than-subtle invitation to indulge your sinful nature in what many people refer to as “Sin City.” In other words, come to Las Vegas and let your hair down and then go back home and leave your sins behind.

Is St. Paul urging something similar when he tells us, “From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none”? Is he urging married men to remove their wedding rings and spend their nights in singles bars? Is he telling us to forget our vows of faithfulness? Is he espousing what some people call an open marriage?

Of course not. In fact, in this very letter he denounces immorality. In other letters he upholds and encourages the sanctity of marriage and demands faithfulness on the part of both husbands and wives. So what is he talking about here?

Before we answer that, let’s recall what the Bible says about marriage. It’s a holy estate, established by God before sin entered the world. God instituted marriage as a blessing for human beings. That hasn’t changed and won’t change until our Lord returns. God still blesses husband and wife with each other in marriage. He wants each married couple to remain devoted and faithful to one another until he parts them in death.

But that devotion to one another dare never interfere with our relationship to our Lord. Paul mentions the husband-wife relationship here because that’s the subject of this chapter of his letter. But what he says actually applies to any relationship the Christian might have whether that’s a friendship or a marriage or an extended family situation or a school, work, or business situation. Think about it. Consider how often the people in our lives tend to get in the way of our relationship with Jesus Christ. If they aren’t boldly tempting us to do something which Jesus forbids, they’re encouraging us or even demanding of us that we divert our attention away from our Lord. Paul says if that’s the case, then you need to choose Christ and make that perfectly clear to whomever is pulling you away from him.

A changed heart means a changed life, a change in your relationships.

Jesus once said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple” (Lk. 14:26). But doesn’t the Bible command us to love these very people? It certainly does. But this was Jesus’ way of emphasizing that a tremendous change has taken place in you and me through the powerful gospel of Jesus Christ. We’ve been brought to faith in him. That changes everything, even our closest relationships. We must place Christ first. That’s not easy. In fact, we fail more times than we care to admit. But consider that Jesus placed us ahead of himself and he did that in the most difficult way possible when he suffered and died for us. He did that so that we could have a relationship with him that will never end. A changed heart means a changed life.

Part II.

Someone once said, “If living the Christian life is easy for you, you’re probably not living one.” I think we’d all agree. The Christian is going one way and the world is going in the opposite direction. That’s never easy.

Paul speaks about opposites in the next section of our text. He writes, “Those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not.”

Again, Paul is speaking about how the world and the Christian are opposites. What is it that makes our world mourn? Our world mourns the downfall or the passing even of people who have lived openly sinful and despicable lives. Our world mourns and complains when our government attempts to restrain people from behavior that’s detrimental to themselves and society.

And what makes our world happy? When it’s free to indulge itself in whatever the sinful nature desires. In fact, it finds its entertainment in sin. It delights in greed, lust and materialism.

But not the Christian. A changed heart means a changed life. What makes the Christian mourn? Our world’s insatiable appetite for sin and it’s defiance of the one, holy God. The Christian mourns over the idolatry of humanism. The Christian is pained by all the strife and pain that sin brings into families.

And what makes the Christian happy? The Christian finds his peace and comfort in the almighty rule of Jesus Christ. The Christian rejoices with the angels in heaven over one sinner who repents. The Christian rejoices over God’s faithful people who join him or her in worshipping the God of our salvation. The Christian lives as a contented optimist, knowing that in the end Jesus will make all things right for a world gone terribly wrong.

A changed heart means a changed life, changed in your outlook.

And yet many are the times that we tend to look at things the way the world does. We worry over our health and finances as if our Lord has nothing to do with them. We feel cheated that our lives aren’t blessed more than they are. Our focus is too often on ourselves instead of on our Lord, our loved ones and others. That’s when we need the reminder that our hearts have been changed. That’s one of the blessings of your baptism. God completely changed our hearts with his word connected to the water. He brought us faith in Jesus and forgiveness for our sins. He became our eternal focus. Our sinful nature has been drowned and our new life was created. And now through his word and the Lord’s Supper he continues to strengthen that new person who lives a changed life, changed even in our outlook on things.

Part III.

Paul has one more change to discuss with us this morning. He writes, “Those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them.” He wants to discuss with us the change that has occurred in our possessions.

In one of his letters to Timothy, Paul had this to say about the Christian’s changed view of possessions, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Tim. 6:6-10).

The Christian realizes that everything belongs to our God and he gives us our possessions to use while we’re here on earth. That means our possessions aren’t an end in themselves. They are given to us to use to God’s glory, not our own. So why would we place such a great amount of emphasis on our possessions? I know our world does, but we’ve been changed. And a changed heart means a changed life, especially regarding our possessions.

Even if the Lord chooses to take everything away from us, as he did the ancient believer Job, that still means we have our greatest treasure in our Savior Jesus Christ. He’s the one who has changed you forever when he made you his dear child by faith in him. May the power of that risen Savior go with you now as you live a life that reflects the changed heart your Savior gave you! Amen.

Jesus Is the Chosen One!

2012-01-14T12:04:00.000-08:00

Jesus Is the Chosen One!
I. To proclaim God’s word
II. To reveal God’s glory
III. To enlighten all God’s people

Only the very young among us may have missed them. The rest of us have likely seen and heard enough already even though they just started. I’m talking about the Republican primaries. The reports literally have flooded the news for nearly two weeks now. Which candidate did well in this state and which one in that state? Which candidates have already thrown in the towel and which ones are likely to soon? And it will continue until the Republican National Convention at the end of August. That’s when the delegates at that convention will cast their votes and choose the Republican candidate for the presidential election this November. One will be chosen.

I don’t know about you, but I’m overjoyed that our God didn’t rely on any such thing when choosing the One to be our Savior. There were no opinion polls, no debates, no campaigning, no editorials and no endorsements. He didn’t even spend a red cent. As our text from Isaiah makes clear, the Lord in eternity chose Jesus to be the One. And his anointing with the Holy Spirit at his baptism was the outward sign for all the world to see. Jesus is the One!

He even announced ahead of time what Jesus was chosen to do. And he shares those details this morning with us through these words of Isaiah.

While we might wonder whether we choose the right individuals to serve us in so many ways, there’s absolutely no doubt that Jesus is the one chosen to serve us as the world’s Savior. Jesus is the chosen One. That’s our comfort and our confidence on this Sunday in which we celebrate his baptism.

Part I.

I began a few minutes ago by speaking about the primaries. The amount of rhetoric amazes me. All of the candidates always have something to say about whatever subject is being discussed, whether it’s the economy or the military or the national debt or the budget or entitlements. And each of them has a very strong opinion on all those subjects and more. And then you throw in the rhetoric from another political party or more and the amount of verbiage is overwhelming. We’re left to determine what’s the truth and what’s the best course of action.

Imagine if there were ever a candidate who always spoke the truth and had the best answer to every issue every person ever faced.

That person is none other than God’s chosen One, your Savior and mine, Jesus Christ. Listen to our Savior speak about himself, “Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.” He uses the pictures of a sword and an arrow to represent his word. Jesus was chosen to proclaim God’s word. Think about it. Every day of his ministry here on earth which began right after his baptism, Jesus proclaimed himself to be the promised Savior. In other words, he preached the gospel.

And the pictures of a sword and an arrow are a perfect way of describing how that word slices right to our hearts. The good news of Jesus as our Savior is the power of God to work saving faith in our hearts. It announces to us that our God loves us so much he willingly sacrificed his Son for us. That love of God for us fills us with love for him and others.

In a very real sense the word of God that Jesus proclaims changes us forever. There are no other words that have ever been spoken or will ever be spoken that can do that. The gospel that Jesus was sent here to proclaim gives us peace with the holy God and makes us heirs of eternal life with him in heaven. And that’s not some human opinion; that’s divine fact.

Jesus is the chosen One, chosen to proclaim God’s word.

I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know when I say that there are more messages, more words, more opinions out there than you can possibly read, hear, absorb and apply to your life. The topics range from health to finances to relationships to every facet of life imaginable. So that means you’re going to have to be selective. What will you listen to? What will you take to heart? What will you believe? Doesn’t your first choice—your highest choice—have to be the words of your Savior, Jesus Christ? Who could tell you anything more important, more truthful, more beneficial, more critical than God himself? Every day of your life your Savior wants you to take to heart the word of your salvation, the message of your forgiveness through the blood that he shed for you on Calvary’s cross. That’s the only message that saves you, the only message that gives you life with him. Jesus was the One chosen by God to proclaim that message to you. Listen to it!

Part II.

From little on we have this glorious impression of the people of Israel. We think of their hardships as slaves in Egypt and the glorious and powerful way that the Lord rescued them. We think of mighty King David and the glorious kingdom that he established and of Solomon and the glorious temple that he built for the Lord in Jerusalem. We easily get an overly positive view of Israel.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Israel as God’s people had failed miserably. During Isaiah’s time, Israel was on a sharp decline in almost every regard, especially spiritually. The people worshipped idols and refused to stop. They weren’t the people God intended them to be.

But where Israel failed, our Savior, God’s Servant, succeeded. Our Savior spoke these words about himself, “He said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.’” Jesus would perfectly carry out God’s plans for him to the glory of God.

But that plan’s details were hardly glorious in the eyes of the world. He was rejected, even by his own people who had watched for centuries for his coming to this earth. They wanted nothing to do with him and it weighed heavily on him. That Savior said, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.” His worked appeared to be a failure. There’s nothing glorious in that.

In fact, his own people hated him so much that they crucified him. In spite of the fact that Pilate tried to release him, their thirst for his blood wouldn’t be quenched until they had him nailed to the cross, crucified like the worst of criminals. There’s nothing glorious in that.

But through it all he trusted that his Father’s will was the best will for our salvation. He placed himself in his Father’s hands and stated, “Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.” Even in his death he placed his spirit into the hands of his loving heavenly Father. There was nothing glorious in that.

But in that death, ironically, was our life. He died so that we might live, live with our God forever. And in his sufferings and death, Jesus accomplished eternal glory for himself and for us.

Jesus is the chosen One, the One to reveal God’s glory.

Like Israel of old, we, too, have failed to be God’s people. Our daily lives are not the pristine record of goodness that our God demands. Instead our sins stretch behind and in front of us as far as we can see. And there’s no glory in that. But there is in a Savior who lived a perfect life for us and in a Savior who suffered our curse and shame on Calvary’s cross. If you see Jesus as that Savior, then you have seen and are seeing God’s glory. If you see Jesus as that Savior, you will see his eternal glory and your eternal glory in heaven. God chose Jesus to suffer and die for you. Jesus is the chosen One, chosen to reveal God’s glory.

Part III.

We often wonder about our eligibility. Is this treatment included in this plan or not? Are we eligible to take advantage of this offer or not? Does this stipulation apply to us or not?

But what about the greatest plan ever, God’s plan of salvation? Questions about our inclusion might haunt us if God had ever intended for that plan to be limited. But Isaiah helps us understand and believe that was never the case. It was always universal. God says about our Savior, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” His salvation was meant for Jew and Gentile alike.

But that’s something God’s people lost sight of. In fact, by the time Jesus appeared on earth, the Jews largely held the opinion that the Gentiles were outside of God’s grace and excluded from his plan of salvation. They completely misunderstood that plan. Instead of being by grace for all sinners, they viewed salvation as accomplished by works for just one people.

In doing so, they failed to take to heart these words of Isaiah. Just save one nation of people? That’s too small a thing for the Lord. He would include all. He would save all.

Jesus was chosen to enlighten all God’s people and we are the fulfillment of it. Last Sunday we celebrated the Epiphany of our Lord. Gentiles came to worship Jesus as their Savior, too. We are another generation of Gentiles who have come to see the light of our salvation in the world’s only Savior, Jesus Christ.

And now we live to share that truth. One of the emphases of the season of Epiphany is sharing Jesus with our world. That’s one of the reasons Jesus brought you into his kingdom—to share his saving truths with others. It’s one of the reasons we exist as a congregation of Christians. Yes, Jesus is the chosen One, chosen by God to be our Savior. But God has chosen you and me, too. We have been chosen to enlighten our world with the saving light of Christ. May our Lord strengthen you so that in word and deed we accomplish his purposes for our lives. Amen.

We’re Blessed By the Lord’s Name!

2011-12-31T11:30:00.000-08:00

The Name of Jesus, 1/1/12
Numbers 6:22-27

We’re Blessed By the Lord’s Name!
I. With his loving care
II. With his joyful grace
III. With his comforting peace

The busiest gift-giving and receiving time of the year is now over. In fact, the Christmas weekend may already seem like a long time ago. We’re in the process now of putting the gifts we received to use or finding room for them in our closets and storage areas. Our world will get back to business as normal in a couple days and we won’t give much thought to giving gifts for another 11 months or so.

But not our God. As the greatest giver of all, he opened his bountiful hand toward us every day of our lives in 2011 and we can count on him to do the same in 2012. It would be time well spent today to spend a few moments reflecting on all the blessings he gave you last year and, with a thankful heart, counting on him to bless you as he sees fit in this new year.

But can we really be certain of that? Can we count on him to bless us? What if this year proves to be a colossal disaster for us personally? Your God will still bless you. That’s what he’s all about. That’s why he has revealed to you who he is and what his name is.

This morning the church celebrates the Name of Jesus. His name is literally our salvation. God brought that salvation to you and placed his name on you. For many of us that occurred at our baptisms when God made us children of God. He placed his name on us so that he could bless us every day of our lives here on earth and eternally in heaven.

That’s why we often close our worship with the blessing or benediction before us this morning. God wanted the people of the Old Testament as well as us in the New Testament to be certain that his name brings us his blessings, the blessings of the only true God, the triune God. It was no mistake that this blessing had three distinct parts, one for each person of the Trinity.

By God’s grace we’ve come to know that God. He has placed his name on us. And for that reason we’re blessed by the Lord’s name. Join me in seeing what those blessings are that come to us by his name.

Part I.

I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about New Year’s Day this way, but, along with many other things, isn’t it a day of uncertainty? We have 366 days ahead of us and we wonder what they will bring. Will 2012 be better or worse for us than 2011? Will my family, my health, my employment situation, my financial situation be better or worse come next Dec. 31? We don’t know. Uncertainties abound.

But every day of the new year the Lord will place his name on us with these words, “The Lord bless you and keep you.” As I mentioned, this benediction follows a trinitarian formula. This first phrase speaks of God the Father’s loving care for us.

Did God the Father care for all your needs in 2011? With a little bit of thought, I think you would agree that he did. Our needs were met. In fact, we might be hard pressed to think of a single day when our basic needs weren’t met. Truth be told, we often had far more each day than we really needed. So why wouldn’t that continue throughout the new year?

In fact, he does more than just bless us with what we need. The benediction before us reminds us that he keeps us. But in what regard does he do that? In this instance, the word “keep” has the connotation of “guard.” God the Father also guards and keeps us from harm and danger. I’m sure you can think of a close call that occurred in your life. God sent his holy angels to spare you from death or further harm. He has promised to do that as he sees best. You can count on it because that’s who he is.

But remember that he does all this only because of who he is. He is our gracious and merciful Father in heaven. He does not shower us with his blessings because we have earned or deserved them. Rather than bewilder you, that truth ought to fill you with confidence. God’s blessings for you are not dependent on what you do. He blesses you because that’s what he’s all about. That’s what he reveals to us in his name.

We’re blessed by the Lord’s name, blessed with his loving care.

When we confess our sins in general, one of those sins is worry. We know we shouldn’t do it, but it happens over and over again. And every one of our worries is making the statement that somehow God won’t provide his loving care for us. But look what he’s done for us this past year. He has carried us through it. So will we succumb to the temptation to worry in the new year? Odds are we will. And we’ll confess it once again. And our loving God will provide for our greatest need—our need for forgiveness, a forgiveness won for us by Jesus with his death on the cross. Our God does that because that’s who he is. That’s his name. Oh, how we’re blessed by the Lord’s name, blessed with his loving care.

Part II.

When properly given and properly received, Christmas gift-giving is a beautiful gesture. They are gifts given out of love. But, sadly, the motives and attitudes are often less than honorable and lovely. You hear phrases such as what a person deserves or what a person expects. In fact, we may even be disappointed in a gift received as if we deserved better.

That’s called merit. It’s a nice-sounding word, but it has no place in our relationship with our God. Instead, with our God it’s all about grace. Grace is God’s favor which we don’t deserve.

The benediction before us this morning speaks about that grace with these words, “The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.” This is the second part of the blessing referring to the second person of the Trinity, Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus is God’s grace in human form. That’s what our celebration of Christmas was all about. God took on human flesh and blood and came to this earth in order to die for us. He did that solely out of his grace. We didn’t deserve it.

And today God’s grace comes to us in his Word and sacraments. Every spiritual blessing that God wants for us comes to us through his word and in his sacraments. Chiefly those blessings are the forgiveness for our sins, our new life as a dear child of God and eternal salvation. When our God proclaims his saving name to us, that name centers in Jesus and what he has done to save us. Every time that name is proclaimed to us, we’re blessed by our God.

That’s what it means for God’s face to shine on us. He wants to shower us with the spiritual blessings that Christ won for us. It gives him great joy to bless sinners with forgiveness and eternal life.

We’re blessed by the Lord’s name, blessed with his joyful grace.

That grace of God was our greatest gift in 2011 and another year of that saving grace stretches before us. How will we use that grace? In abundance or at a minimum? Will it be high or low on our priorities? Will we appreciate that grace or despise it? Our God knows how much we need that grace because we’re daily sinners who deserve nothing but punishment. See God’s grace in action in the life and death of Jesus your Savior. Ponder and appreciate what he did for you. And then receive that grace in abundance. You God wants to bless you with it. That’s who our God is. That’s his name.

Part III.

Did all of the Christmas gifts you purchased reach their intended recipients? I would assume so. If you go to the trouble of buying them, you make sure that they’re given out. What a shame at this point to have a neat stack of gifts that haven’t been given!

What an eternal shame if that were the case with our God! God the Father planned our salvation and God the Son perfectly fulfilled that plan and won eternal gifts or blessings for us and for all people. That’s what our God is all about. That’s his name.

And to make sure we receive those gifts, he places the name of the Holy Spirit on us. The benediction reads, “The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

The work of God the Holy Spirit is to bring us to faith in Jesus and to keep us in that faith. To do that work he uses the word and the sacraments, the means of grace. The Holy Spirit accomplishes God’s highest will when he brings a sinner to faith in Jesus.

Our benediction describes that activity as the Lord turning his face toward us. Our God doesn’t turn away from us. Instead, he delights each day to look upon us and to smile on us with his forgiveness. That forgiveness for all our sins makes us holy and precious in his sight. The barrier of our sin between us and the holy God has been removed.

That means we live each day in a loving relationship with our Lord. We don’t have to wonder how God feels about us or what his attitude toward us is. He loves us so much that he sacrificed his Son for us. The Holy Spirit is the one who brings that peace of heart and mind to us each day of our lives.

We’re blessed by the Lord’s name, blessed with his comforting peace.

Today we begin a new year with the hope that life goes well for us in 2012. But we know that it might not happen. There may be some dark days ahead. But if there is, we know that God’s peace goes with us. Even if all turns out wrong for us in our earthly lives, we have the confidence that our God still loves us and will be with us and will strengthen and guide us. In fact, we have his peace in life and in death. You can be sure of it because that’s who your God is. He exists to bless you. That’s his name and he has placed that name on you eternally. Amen.

Oh, the Christmas Wonder!

2011-12-24T07:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day, 12/25/11
John 1:14

Oh, the Christmas Wonder!
I. The Word became flesh.
II. We have seen his glory.

One of the Christmas carols I’ve heard countless times in the past 7 weeks or so begins with the words, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” I don’t think very many people would argue with that sentiment. In fact, I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like Christmas. From the very young to the very old, people think this is a wonderful time of the year.

I hate to sound cynical on what is truly one of the most joyous days of the year, but I think in large part our world’s wonder at Christmas is all too often misplaced. Our world wonders at the gifts given and received, at the gatherings of both families and friends, at the acts of charity and goodwill toward others, at the glitz and the bling.

But Christmas is indeed a wonderful time of the year. And God’s people who gather on Christmas morning for worship know that, believe that and rejoice over it. Christmas is wonderful.

Many of our Christmas hymns state the same. One sings about the wonders of God’s love. Another is entitled, “A Great and Mighty Wonder.” Still another speaks about a wondrous change which took place.

But only our God could state the wonder of Christmas the way he does in John chapter 1. And the heart of that wonder is stated in the verse before us this morning. We read, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” In astounding fashion John states exactly why Christmas is so wonderful. Oh, the wonder of Christmas! May our God fill us with holy wonder and joy and we ponder these words of our text.

Part I.

I don’t think it’s escaped your notice that we’re living in an age of an information explosion. There are more words being communicated every second than ever before. With the click of a computer mouse, volumes of words are instantly sent worldwide. And not just to one recipient at a time. Often it’s to scores of people all at once. With those words we intend to communicate our thoughts and ideas and truths to others. Every word we speak or write or copy or forward communicates something to someone else.

St. John begins our text with a peculiar phrase. He writes, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” First, the letter “w” in “Word” is upper case and then John refers to that Word as a person when he speaks of “His dwelling.” That doesn’t surprise you, however, if you’re familiar with the first verse of this chapter where John states, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” You’re probably aware that the Word is none other than Jesus Christ.

But why the name “Word”? Let’s talk about that.

John says that the Word took on flesh. He did that so that we could know our God more fully. When his disciples once asked Jesus to show them the Father, Jesus was disappointed. He told them to look at him and they would know the Father. As we hear the words of Jesus and see him interact with the sinners of this world in the events of his life, we have everything we need to know about our God. Jesus conveys our God to us. That’s why he’s the Word.

And the reason he wants us to know our God is so that we can be saved from the punishment of hell. From the moment of his conception until the moment of his resurrection, Jesus was here on earth to carry out one great mission—the salvation of the world. He accomplished that by living a perfect life for us and by dying as the payment for our sins. Jesus not only used words to proclaim that salvation to others, he actually accomplished that salvation with his life and his death.

Our God did all that for us out of his endless love for us. Our God communicated his love for us in the person and work of Jesus. In his eternal love for us, Jesus willingly went to the cross for us and sacrificed himself for us. In one of his letters, this same apostle declares to the world, “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:16). Those aren’t just words on a page, left for us to determine their validity. We know they’re true because Jesus embodies God’s love for us. Our God communicated his love for us in Jesus. That’s what makes Jesus the Word. That Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. That’s the truth we celebrate at Christmas.

Oh, the wonder of Christmas!

Countless sinners have wondered, “What does God think of me? How does God feel about me? What is it that he wants me to know about him?” Christmas answers all those questions and more. Oh, the wonder of Christmas! God thought so much of you that he decided to wrap his love for you in the person of Jesus and send him to live here on this earth with you. He loved you so much that he caused that Son to be laid in a lowly manger for you so that decades later he could nail him to a cross for you. The Son of God took on your flesh and blood so that he could take your place and suffer the punishment for your sins. He did all those so that he could dwell with you forever in heaven. He wants to share eternal glory with you. So the Word became flesh. Oh, the Christmas wonder!

Part II.

The excitement of little children opening Christmas gifts. Gazing at a beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the dark and quiet hours of the night. A loved one who appreciates the gift you gave them. These are just a few of what we might call the glorious moments of Christmas.

But they pale in comparison to the glory that John discusses in our text, the glory that is the wonder of Christmas. John writes, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Before we go any farther, we better make sure we know what we’re talking about with God’s glory. Just what is it? There were many manifestations of it in the Bible. It was a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night for the Israelites leaving their slavery in Egypt. Moses saw the glory of God passing away from him. A cloud of God’s glory filled the Temple in Jerusalem at its dedication. But just what was it? God’s glory is displayed chiefly in the gospel, the good news about our Savior, Jesus Christ. God’s glory is found in the fact that he is the God of our salvation.

John states that he had seen that glory. He saw it along with Peter and James on the Mount of Transfiguration just weeks before Jesus’ death. Jesus was transfigured before their eyes. He allowed them to see his glory as the eternal Son of God.

John also saw that glory in a vision of heaven as he relates it in Revelation 4. He describes light and precious gems and a rainbow. He saw and heard lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. No doubt what he saw and heard were difficult for him to express in words. In a word, he saw God’s glory.

But again, God’s glory is chiefly the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ. It’s the gospel, the very good news that we believe and that we’re celebrating today. “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:11). That’s the Christmas gospel. We know and believe it. We’ve come to worship the Christchild as our Savior.

So that means that we, too, have seen the glory of our Lord, not in a physical way as John had, but in a spiritual way. By his grace our God has revealed to us the saving truth about our Savior, Jesus Christ. Unlike countless others who celebrate Christmas without Christ, we have the blessed privilege of keeping Christ as the heart, center, and focus of our Christmas. And for that, we are blessed now and eternally. We live today knowing that our sins are fully forgiven through Christ and that he has made us heirs of eternal life with him. Can there be any greater gifts? Our God has accomplished his highest will for you.

Oh, the Christmas wonder! We have seen his glory.

I’m assuming you’ve finished opening all the presents that you’re going to receive this Christmas. So, did you get what you wanted? I hope and pray that evaluation isn’t what you use to measure your happiness this Christmas. It’s woefully materialistic. What’s more, it makes your celebration of Christmas dependant on what you and others make it to be. Instead, the proper and blessed celebration of Christmas is what your God already made it for you. So ponder the wonder of it all! God sent his Son, born of Mary and laid in a manger to be your Savior from sin. He did that so that he could bless you forever, not just on two days each December. With the eyes of faith you see Jesus for who he really is—the Son of God, your Savior and eternal King. That’s seeing the glory of our Lord. And if that’s what you already possess, what more do you really need? What more could you want? He’s given you the gift all the money and gold in the world couldn’t buy. It’s your Savior wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger. Only our gracious and loving God would do that for you. Oh, the Christmas wonder! Let it fill your hearts with peace and joy! Amen.

God’s Saving Plan Unfolds!

2011-12-17T12:59:00.000-08:00

4th Sunday in Advent, 12/18/11
Romans 16:25-27

God’s Saving Plan Unfolds!
I. Foretold by the prophets
II. Proclaimed in the gospel
III. To the glory of God

If you’re under the age of 10, this can be the longest week of your life. Adults, remember how that used to be? Children know exactly what’s coming at the end of this week and they can’t wait for it. The prospect of unwrapping presents meant just for them is almost too much to bear. Gift-giving parents need to keep them under lock and key or in the best hiding places available, otherwise the temptation to open them prematurely just might be too much. Waiting just a few days seems like a monumental task.

Try waiting 6 or 8 thousand years or more.

What am I talking about? Well, we know that the focus of Christmas is on the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. That Savior, that person, that Child of Bethlehem is the greatest gift that God could give to a world of sinners. It’s a gift he had promised to send for thousands of years. Can you imagine waiting that long?

What a blessing that we don’t have to. We have the gracious privilege not of looking forward to the giving of that gift, but of looking back at how God made it happen. That will be our worship focus today and as we celebrate Christmas next weekend. We have the astounding blessing of watching as God’s saving plan unfolds. Our God unfolds that plan for us through his apostle Paul in these closing verses of his Letter to the Romans. May he prepare our hearts for our Savior as we ponder that saving plan and watch him unfold it this morning.

Part I.

Proper identification has become increasingly important as identity theft has become a major problem in our modern world. I don’t know about you, but I appreciate it when bank tellers and others ask me for proper identification. They aren’t only protecting themselves, they’re protecting me as well.

Credentials have also become increasingly important as more and more people try to pass themselves off as something they aren’t. We hear of too many medical and financial “professionals” who really have no expertise in their particular area.

So, when the greatest person in all of history is born, are we just to assume it’s true? If that birth were going to occur tomorrow, wouldn’t we do at least a little investigating to see if this Jesus is the real deal? Probably so. Our world has seen far too many imposters. So where would we look?

In God’s word. Particularly, at the Old Testament prophets. Paul tells us that God’s plan of salvation is “now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings.” Our loving God didn’t simply spring the birth of the world’s only Savior on us. He lovingly, wisely, graciously laid that plan out for the world to see well in advance of Christ’s birth. In a way, those are our Savior’s credentials, his identity markers. Plenty more would come after his birth and into his adult life, but let’s review some of them now so that we can watch God unfold his saving plan.

God promised a Savior who would crush Satan’s power shortly after the fall into sin. Several thousand years later he chose Abraham as the one through whom he would send that Savior. A thousand years after that he chose one of Abraham’s descendants, King David, to be the family through whom that Savior would be born. He used David to foretell that Savior’s death and resurrection. He used Isaiah to foretell the Savior’s virgin birth and his death for the sins of the world. He used Jeremiah to relate how that Savior would be true God, our righteousness or holiness before God. He used Micah to foretell his lowly birth in Bethlehem. And lo and behold, that’s exactly what happened and we’ll hear about it next Saturday and Sunday. But don’t wait until then to ponder how blessed you are to know the saving truth of Christmas! Right now is none too soon. God’s saving plan unfolds, foretold by the prophets.

Yes, the birth of Christ is the most amazing birth ever. But, unlike other amazing events, this one was no accident. Mary didn’t suddenly find out she was pregnant and that’s what got this saving plan to unfold. No, this was something God had carefully planned and lovingly foretold all along. Our God did that so that you would be absolutely sure that Jesus is your Savior, just the Savior you need. Ponder those prophecies about Christ and be filled with wonder that your God would fulfill all those promises to the letter just for you. This is exactly the Savior you need. He came to take your sins upon himself and suffer and die for them. He came to win your forgiveness and eternal life. It all happened just as the prophets had said it would. God’s saving plan unfolds.

Part II.

So, if this birth had been foretold and God had laid out one prophecy after another about this Savior, you would assume everyone was looking for him to be born, wouldn’t you? You would think the masses of people would trust that this was God’s way of saving sinners from the punishment of hell, wouldn’t you?

But we know that wasn’t the case, not even close. And that’s why Paul calls this saving plan a mystery. He speaks about “the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past.” In what way was God’s saving plan a mystery?

First, in the person of our Savior. Just who is Jesus? He’s like no other person in all of history. He is true God, the second person of the Trinity. That truth is certain because of his virgin birth. What was conceived in the virgin Mary was a miracle of the Holy Spirit. This is the Son of God, equal in power and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

But he is also true man. He was born of the virgin Mary like countless other children are born. Mary was his mother in every sense of the word. He shared our humanity in every way except one—he was sinless. Indeed, he came into this world as our brother.

And as true God and true man he was the perfect substitute for you and me. Because he was true man, he lived under the commandments and obeyed them perfectly for us. As true God, his perfect life and his innocent death were the payment for the sins of all people, you and me included.

The person and the work of Jesus are what Paul has in mind when he refers to “my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ.” In a nutshell, the gospel proclaims that Jesus is true God and true man who came to die for our sins so that we have forgiveness and eternal life in heaven.

My friends, that’s what Christmas is all about. It’s about the gospel, the good news about Jesus. At Christmas God’s saving plan unfolds. That plan is proclaimed in the gospel.

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:11). That’s the Christmas gospel. That’s what Christmas is all about. That’s how God unfolded his saving plan. So, if that’s what you believe and that’s what you’re celebrating next weekend, then you’re ready for Christmas, then your Christmas is complete, then there’s nothing else that can make this Christmas better, then you already have what all the money in the world couldn’t pay for. So let’s head into next weekend with that in our hearts and minds. Don’t let the trappings of Christmas become the “entrappings” of Christmas. Let go of the stress and contemplate the peace that is yours—the peace of knowing that your sins are forgiven through Jesus. That’s the gospel we know and believe. That’s the gospel which we have the privilege of sharing.

Part III.

Paul ends our text with a Christmas word. That word is “glory.” The angels sang about God’s glory on the night of Jesus’ birth. But just what is that glory all about?

It’s about our God unfolding his saving plan to his glory, not ours.

You see, human beings easily rob God of that glory. They do so when they falsely think that they need no Savior. They do so when they falsely think that heaven is for people who try to do the right thing and are basically good. Such people are under the power of one of Satan’s greatest lies and are as far from salvation as those who worship false gods.

And then there are those who don’t completely rob God of his glory, but they want to share that glory with him. They confess Jesus as their Savior, but they claim that their works of charity or their deeds of religious obligation earn them merit before God. Others wouldn’t be so crass about their good works, but they falsely claim the credit for becoming a Christian in the first place, something that is God’s work alone.

Let’s avoid those traps. As we listen to how God unfolded his saving plan over the next week, let’s give God the glory, all the glory. We’re nothing but poor, miserable sinners who deserve only God’s wrath and punishment. But in his love for us, he sent us a Savior from sin and, by his grace, he has worked saving faith in our hearts. We know that our salvation is all God’s doing from beginning to end. We play no part in it, not in the least.

And that, my friends, is what allows us to sit back and enjoy Christmas. It’s all God’s gift to us. It’s our salvation, full and free. Give God the glory due him as you admit that, at Christmas, God does for you what you could never even begin to do for yourself. He provides a Savior for you. And this week he unfolds his plan of salvation for you. Listen and watch with hearts full of faith and receive the real, eternal joy and peace that Christmas gives. Amen.

Keep Busy Waiting for Christ!

2011-12-10T10:03:00.000-08:00

3rd Sunday in Advent, 12/11/11
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Keep Busy Waiting for Christ!
I. Live your Christian life.
II. Use God’s word.
III. Trust your faithful God.

Waiting rooms. They’re an unavoidable aspect of almost every medical appointment. Some of you might not mind them. In fact you appreciate that 10 to 20 minutes of down time in your otherwise far too hectic day.

I happen to have the opposite view of waiting rooms. I can’t stand waiting there doing nothing. They might as well rename them “waste-ing” rooms because the time spent there is usually a colossal waste of time. Even if you bring with you something to read, it’s usually not quality reading time. There are too many distractions in the room and you keep wondering how much longer you’ll have to wait until your name is called. And it’s too much trouble to bring along anything substantial to do. I’m not a big fan of simply waiting.

And yet that’s what the Advent season is all about. It’s a “waiting” season. But it’s not likely to be a “waste-ing” season. We have far too many things to do in these weeks leading up to our celebration of Christmas. In fact, we likely have double the things we want to accomplish when compared with the other seasons of the year but we still only have 24 hours a day to get them done.

And then we come to church and we hear that the Advent season’s emphasis is more on preparing us for Jesus’ return to this earth than it is to celebrate his birth. So what should we be doing while we wait for that final day in all of history? Doing nothing seems like another waste of time.

Through the Apostle Paul the Lord encourages you and me to keep busy. In one short sentence after another here in 1 Thessalonians 5 Paul gives us plenty of things to do while we wait for Jesus to return. So let’s take them to heart this morning and keep busy waiting for Christ

Part I.

Telling the difference. Sometimes it’s a good thing when you can’t tell the difference. For instance, for years you have been purchasing a certain brand name of food and serving it to your family, but recently you found a cheaper, healthier alternative. And when you ask the members of your family, they all admit they can’t tell the difference. That’s a good thing. But in other instances it’s a bad thing. For instance, if your spouse stands in front of you and asks, “What’s different, honey?” and you spend an embarrassing amount of time before saying, “I can’t tell,” that’s a bad thing.

It’s also a bad thing when you can’t tell the difference in the life of a non-Christian when compared with the life of a Christian. The fact that we are Christians ought to show in every aspect of our lives. Paul highlights three.

First, he says, “Be joyful always.” Really?! Always? What about when I lose my job? What about when I get another failing grade? What about when I hear about all the crime and perversion happening in our world? What about when I have to deal with the death of a loved one? What about when I miss someone terribly? Joyful then? Yes, in a Christian way. These Christian Thessalonians were facing terrible persecutions for their faith. And yet Paul told them and us to be joyful. It’s the joy of knowing that no matter how terrible life is, we still have our Savior Jesus who will turn everything out for us.

Second, Paul says, “Pray continually.” But if we do that, we won’t get anything else done all day long. Paul isn’t telling us to keep our hands folded and our heads bowed in prayer all day. He’s telling us to have the type of Christian spirit that is always willing to have a private, unspoken conversation with our God. It may be about that moment’s unwanted difficulty or that moment’s unexpected blessing.

Third, Paul reminds us, “Give thanks in all circumstances.” We have no problem giving thanks for the blessings God has given us. In fact, we dedicated a day to it just two weeks ago. But in every circumstance of my life?! Again, what about personal disasters, sickness, even death? Christians can give thanks even in those circumstances because we know that our God is using them to bring us closer to him and he will work out all things for our good.

Again, the non-Christian will be unable to do those things. But you’re different. You’re a Christian and that affects every aspect of your life. So keep busy waiting for Christ by living your Christian life.

But that’s not easy. What is easy is to be critical or envious of others instead of joyful. What is easy is to be so self-focused that I can’t enter into a spiritual conversation with my loving God. What is easy is to be impressed by others have and be ungrateful for what I have. But that’s why Advent is not only a season of waiting, it’s also a season of repentance. And that’s where it all starts. When we realize how sinful we are, we realize how much we need a Savior from sin. We wait to celebrate how God sent that Savior into this world and laid him in a manger. He came to live for us and die for us so that we can enjoy his blessed presence forever. And now we wait for him to return and bring us into his blessed presence. While we do, let’s keep busy living our Christian lives.

Part II.

Have you already purchased a Christmas gift for a loved one that you know won’t be used? Of course not! If you already knew that, you’d either exchange the gift for something the loved one will use, or you wouldn’t give the gift at all.

Our God has given us the great gift—some might argue the greatest gift—of his word. God forbid that it would go unused!

So keep busy while waiting for Christ by using his word. And once again the Apostle Paul offers some outstanding suggestions.

First, he tells us, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt.” The Holy Spirit has nourished your faith through God’s word. In several places the Bible refers to that faith as a purifying fire burning within us. Neglecting God’s word will eventually extinguish that flame of faith. So use God’s word while you wait for Christ to fan the fire of that faith. Make it glow!

Next, Paul exhorts, “Test everything.” We pride ourselves in being smart enough not to accept and make use of every bit of advice and information that comes flooding into our lives every day. For one reason, there are plenty of scams out there. But there’s a much more critical reason. There are many ideas and solutions that are offered to us every day that are against our God and his word. Just because it works or it makes you happy or it helps you in life doesn’t make it holy and God-pleasing. So test everything. And the test mechanism is the holy word of our God. Use it while you wait for Christ!

Third, Paul offers this practical advice, “Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” Don’t mimic our sinful world that turns both of those around. So much of what our world offers as interesting, worthwhile, entertaining, and helpful is nothing but unholy trash. It leads the sinner further away from God, not closer to him. It brings suffering and pain, not happiness and contentment. Use the word of God to help you recognize it! Keep busy while waiting for Christ!

When it comes to using the word of God, my temptation is to view it merely as the tool of my profession. I use it to get my job done. What’s your temptation when it comes to the word of God? Low priority? Something you’ll get to when you have the time? Reluctance to use it at all? Nice, but not necessary? Or worse yet…boring and impractical? Really? That’s our view of God’s gift, his word? For shame! For in that word we find the solution to our greatest problem—sin. We hear the greatest news ever—that our God loved us so much he sacrificed his Son for us so that we could have forgiveness and life with him forever. And now, on a daily basis, that word offers us God’s practical, godly direction for living out of love for him. Keep busy while waiting for Christ by using that word!

Part III.

How many sentences of regret have you begun with the words, “I didn’t mean to, but…,”? We have good intentions, but we just can’t seem to carry them out, at least not all the time. We try, but we just can’t do it.

And what we can’t do for ourselves, we need to trust our God to do for us. That’s exactly the good news Paul shares with us as our text closes. He writes, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.” To sanctify means to make holy or to set apart for God. It is not our God’s intent to allow us to have this part of our lives dedicated to him but keep another part dedicated for our sinful self. When we indulge our sinful nature, we not only anger our God, we also frustrate ourselves. Sin never leads to anything good. Sin never gets blessed by God. So we rely on our God to help us, to increase his power in our lives, so that our dedication and devotion to him increases each day. And our God promises to do that for us through his word and sacrament.

But when we do fail to live for him, when we sin, then we rely on our God to forgive us. Since we sin every day we need that forgiveness every day. And again, our God provides that forgiveness to us. In fact, he washes us clean from every sin. By faith in Jesus we live in the daily forgiveness of sins. We stand before him as his righteous, holy children. That’s a dramatic change that our God works in us. We count on him to do that every day of our lives until that day when he calls us home to him or until he returns on the Last Day. That’s what Paul was referring to when he talked about being “blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He will keep us blameless through his word and sacrament. We trust him to do that for us.

So don’t just sit there and waste time waiting for Jesus. Keep busy. Keep busy with this list of things your God has given you to do. When you do, you’ll find that astounding blessings come your way. Amen.

Preparing for Christ Never Changes!

2011-12-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

2nd Sunday in Advent, 12/4/11
Mark 1:1-8

Preparing for Christ Never Changes!
I. It always involves true repentance.
II. It always focuses on Christ.

Christmas traditions. We all have them to one degree or another. Maybe your family always goes out on a particular day before Christmas and cuts down a live tree. Maybe you decorate the outside of your house the same way every year. Maybe you have a particular food item or menu of items on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Perhaps you observe a traditional Christmas toast with family and friends. Perhaps your children participate with you in a tradition of counting down the days until Christmas.

Closely related to our Christmas traditions are our Christmas rituals. Those rituals are often less glamorous and meaningful than our Christmas traditions, but they’re important nonetheless. You might consider your Christmas shopping to be an annual ritual. And if you purchase gifts, then you need to go through the ritual of wrapping them. Decorating your tree or house might be more of a ritual than a tradition. You go through them whether you enjoy them or not. They need to be done.

Year after year, we go through the same traditions and rituals at this time of year.

But there’s another activity that we all need to undertake and it’s far more important than all the rest. It’s neither a Christmas tradition nor a ritual. It’s getting ready for your Savior. But it’s similar to our traditions and rituals in that it never changes. Preparing for Christ never changes. To make sure we get it right, let’s listen to the words of the one sent by God to prepare people for Christ, John the Baptist.

Part I.

I noticed this year that the Christmas advertising barrage began right after Halloween. I imagine you’re as tired of it by now as I am. But the advertising will continue right up until Dec. 24. And the goal of the advertisers is to create a need or a desire. They want you to believe that you or your loved one truly needs and/or desires that particular item. In fact, they want you to think that your Christmas won’t be merry unless you purchase what they’re selling. Apparently it works, otherwise we wouldn’t be subjected to it.

Have you ever wondered how people can celebrate Christmas and leave Christ out of it? Basically I think it boils down to one thing: they feel no need for Christ. They have no desire for a Savior. Think about it. If I have no concept of what my sins are and no realization of the eternal hell that I deserve for them, then why wouldn’t I leave Christ out of my Christmas celebration? What’s more, bringing Christ into my Christmas also means I’ll have to listen to what he says to me in his word, and that would mean major changes in my thinking and my way of life. Such people feel fine just the way they are and feel no need for a Savior. Thus they make no preparations for him.

And, believe it or not, we may get so busy at this time of year that we get dangerously close to that spiritual disaster. We’ve got too many things to do to consider our sinfulness. What’s more, it’s such a downer. This is such a happy time of year. Why ponder what our transgressions are? We can do that next month.

But that will leave you unprepared for Christ, especially for his return to this earth. Mark begins his gospel by relating how God sent John the Baptist to prepare the people for the coming of Christ. John didn’t do that by spreading a feel-good message. He didn’t deliver a daily 5-point motivational speech on how to attain purpose, happiness and success in your life. According to Matthew, his daily sermon theme was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven in near” (Mt. 3:2). Preparing for Christ means repenting and that never changes.

True repentance involves two things. First, it acknowledges and confesses sin. That means admitting that we haven’t just made mistakes that need correcting. We’ve violated the holy law of the holy God and often we’ve done it willfully. Like our first parents Adam and Eve, we know that God says “No!’ but we think we know better and we do it anyway. What’s more, we sin without even knowing it. We sin so often we can’t keep track of them all. And every one of them makes us guilty before God. Every one of them rightfully deserves eternal separation from God. Confessing it gets us ready for Christ.

But don’t stop there in getting ready for Christ. There’s one more thing and it’s something only God can do: trust in Christ for your forgiveness. That trust or faith in Jesus is something the Holy Spirit works in you through the word and sacraments. That faith takes hold of the forgiveness Jesus won for you on Calvary’s cross and makes it your own. With that faith you’re prepared for Christ.

And that never changes.

Earlier this morning you joined me in confessing, “In countless ways I have sinned against you and do not deserve to be called your child.” It’s easy to slide right over those words without giving them much thought, but they’re true, aren’t they? Every day our lousy attitude, our thoughtlessness and selfishness, our hasty and wrong judgments of others, our lust and discontent, our worries and anxieties, to say nothing of our sinful deeds, all provide the damning evidence that those words are painfully true. We have sinned in countless ways. But that’s how we prepare for Christ and it never changes. Thank God it never changes or we’d wonder what it is we’re supposed to do this year to get ready for Christ! And then our God comes to us with his gracious good news of our forgiveness through Christ alone, a forgiveness he won for us and brings to us. We do nothing. Our God does it all. Ponder how he prepares us for his coming and lay hold of it by faith in Jesus!

Part II.

Distractions. Life is full of them. Some of them are enjoyable, such as pausing for a minute to watch the snow gently fall while you sit working in your office on a hectic day. But often distractions are harmful, even deadly. A distracted driver can bring death to himself and others.

There are many blessings we can enjoy this month. There are joyful gatherings with friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members. There are thoughtful gifts to give and receive. There are memorable Christmas carols and hymns to enjoy all over again. There are special meals and snacks that are available only at this time of year. There are countless displays to see and enjoy. There are favorite Christmas movies, shows, concerts and presentations. Again, these are all blessings from our God for us to enjoy.

But Satan uses them as distractions, and he has succeeded far too often with far too many people. You don’t have to look far or long to find someone for whom all or some of these blessings have become the focus on the season to the neglect of the One whose birth is the reason for the season.

It happened during Jesus’ days on earth as well. Think about it. Relatively few people witnessed his miraculous birth. And when the time came for him to begin his earthly ministry, the people, by and large, were distracted with their own lives and were unconcerned about a Savior from sin.

So that’s why John the Baptist came. He came to focus their attention on Christ. He told the people, “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

John was a popular preacher. Our text says that people from all over Judea came out into the desert to hear him preach. He was powerful. But John took their focus off of him and turned it toward Christ. He admitted that he was unworthy of doing the most menial tasks for Christ such as untying his sandals. Why would John say that? Because he was a sinner like the rest of us and Jesus was none other than the holy Son of God. There was no one as great as Jesus. There never was and never will be. The focus rightfully is on him!

Furthermore, consider the gifts Jesus is bringing with him. John speaks about Jesus baptizing with the Holy Spirit. In other words, after Jesus had finished his work, he would pour out his Holy Spirit in rich measure. It started at Pentecost and continues today. Jesus once called the Holy Spirit the best gift that his Father can give anyone. That’s because the Holy Spirit brings with him the great gifts of forgiveness, life as a child of God and eternal salvation. Those are the great gifts Jesus came to win for us. Those are the great gifts Jesus gives us through his Holy Spirit. For many of us those gifts came to us for the first time at our baptisms. And now the Holy Spirit seals those gifts for us through his word and the Lord’s Supper. That also happens to be the way we prepare for our Lord’s coming.

Preparing for Christ never changes. It always focuses on Christ.

That sounds redundant, doesn’t it? Preparing for Christ focuses on Christ. Of course it does. But we know it needs to be stated and restated because we’re so easily distracted. It’s all the things that make up Christmas for us—most of them blessings from God—but we misuse those blessings when they take priority over Christ. And it’s not just this month. It’s throughout the year. Our lives are so full of things we think we must do that we get distracted from the One towards whom all of time and history point—our Savior, Jesus Christ. So take the time to prepare for him. Pick up a daily devotion. Check our synod’s website for a new one every day. Read a few chapters of your Bible. Make sure that worship is an important part of your Christmas celebration. Without Christ, there would be nothing to celebrate. And don’t bother trying to find a new way to prepare for him. Preparing for Christ never changes. It always involves repentance and it always focuses on Christ.

So get ready! Jesus has promised to return. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! Amen.

Make This a Thankful New Church Year!

2011-11-26T10:39:00.000-08:00

1st Sunday in Advent, 11/27/11
1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Make This a Thankful New Church Year!
I. Thankful for the grace of God
II. Thankful for the blamelessness of God

Four weeks from now we’ll be celebrating the birth of our Lord. Days later you’ll hear talk of making New Year’s resolutions. Do you participate in that yearly ritual or not?

Those who make resolutions seize the opportunity that a new year presents. It’s a clean slate of sorts. You have 365 days ahead of you and making a resolution or two is a way of deciding to use that allotment of time wisely, to make a difference in a small or great way. And even if you find that you weren’t able to keep the resolution, at least you tried.

Those who don’t make resolutions choose not to for that very reason. They figure the chances of actually keeping any resolution they make are slim at best. Instead, they’ll try their best each day and be happy with their efforts.

Today marks the very beginning of a new church year. I realize that it’s not a Christian tradition to celebrate a new church year by making resolutions, but would you be willing to try it this year? And instead of letting you make whatever resolution you’d like, how about joining me in taking our cue from the opening words of our text from the pen of St. Paul? He writes, “I always thank God for you.” Paul was thankful, thankful for what God had accomplished in the Corinthians Christians. Believe it or not, God has accomplished the very same things in us.

So let’s join Paul in being thankful. In fact, on this first day of the new church year, let’s make that a resolution. Let’s make this a thankful new church year! Our Lord through Paul reminds us of the tremendous reasons we have for possessing that thankful spirit for the next 52 weeks and beyond.

Part I.

We’re only two days removed from observing a national holiday of thanks. For what were you thankful? In addition to having the necessities of life—food, clothing and shelter—the Lord has blessed us all with so much more, and I’m sure you were thankful for those things. He’s given you family and friends, abilities and opportunities, health and wealth, to name a few. In our Wednesday evening Thanksgiving service we also highlighted the fact that God has rescued you, redeemed you and forgiven you. You may have thanked God for all those things and more. But did you remember to thank God for his grace?

Maybe not. But that’s the one Paul highlights in our text. Again, we writes, “I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.”

You don’t find much grace outside of the Christian church. Our world has little use for it. In fact, our world operates on getting what you deserve, both positively and negatively. If you work hard and apply yourself, you deserve to be rewarded and compensated. And we even leave it up to ourselves to determine what that level of reward or compensation should be. We also expect people to get what they deserve negatively. Our system of justice depends on it. If you break the law, you should get what you deserve. Failure to do so only fosters more crime and encourages lawbreakers.

Another way of stating this is with the single word karma. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. In fact, there’s a religious aspect to it. Some people refer to karma as a divine force that eventually evens the score, giving you the good or the bad you deserve.

All these concepts have nothing to do with grace. That’s because grace is undeserved favor. It’s the saving goodness that God bestows on sinners who deserve the exact opposite. The grace we’re speaking of here comes from the heart of God and only from his heart. But it isn’t simply a divine emotion or desire.

God’s grace includes action and a person. Paul writes that this grace was given to us in Christ Jesus. There you have it. God acted on his plan to give us his divine, undeserved favor. As we’ll celebrate soon, when the time was just right, God sent his Son, born of the virgin Mary to be our Savior from sin. God’s grace comes to us in Christ and through Christ.

That activity of grace results in peace. Recall on the night of Jesus’ birth the heavenly angels sang about peace on earth. They weren’t speaking about the end of wars; they were speaking of the peace that this newborn Savior would establish between sinful people and the holy God. Jesus won that peace for us by his life and his death on the cross. He brings us that peace through faith in him. We are no longer God’s enemies and objects of his eternal wrath and punishment. We’re his dearly loved, redeemed children and heirs of eternal life with him. What tremendous blessings that peace with God brings us!

But there’s more! Paul tells us, “For in him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and in all your knowledge.” Paul is likely referring to the gifts that God has given to you to be able to speak his word to others, to confess what you believe before others, to explain God’s truths to others, to stand with your fellow Christians and declare, “Thus says the Lord.” You share those truths with young and old alike. What a tremendous change our God has worked in you through his grace. That grace has accomplished his eternal, saving purpose in you.

Make this a thankful new church year—thankful for the grace of God.

No one wants to be labeled “ungrateful,” especially since we’re coming off of our national Thanksgiving holiday weekend. In fact, if we had to rate ourselves privately, I would imagine every one of us would spot ourselves well past the middle on a continuum from ungrateful on one end to grateful on the other. But aren’t our moments of whining and complaining about the various aspects of our lives evidence to the contrary? And don’t we, as Christians, have the highest reasons to be thankful? Indeed we do! For we live every day under the grace of our God, a grace which covers our sins with the blood of Christ and assures us of our peace with God. We live each day knowing that Jesus died and rose again for us so that we will live in eternal glory with him. Those blessings of God’s grace will be ours every day of this new church year. So make this a thankful new church year—thankful for the grace of God!

Part II.

Imagine me beginning my sermon this morning by telling you that I am sorry but I don’t have a sermon to share with you today. I got a little busy over the holiday and I also didn’t make the best use of my time. So I didn’t prepare a sermon. You’d be a little embarrassed, wouldn’t you? In fact, you would be a little ashamed of me and all the more so because of the visitors here this morning. I’m not prepared?! What’s that all about? And I would agree. I should be ashamed if that were the case.

My being unprepared to preach to you today would fill me with shame and embarrassment. But there’s a far greater shame. It’s being unprepared for Christ’s return.

Many Christians miss the fact that we aren’t only looking back at what Jesus did for us as our Savior; we’re also looking forward to his return to this earth. We do that because he repeatedly promised to return on the Last Day.

And so, as we prepare our hearts during this Advent season to celebrate his first coming to this earth, our thoughts and desires also naturally turn to his second coming to the earth. As you know, that day will be the great day of judgment for every person. How eternally dreadful and shameful to be unprepared for that day!

So let’s not get caught unprepared. Readiness comes by faith in Jesus. On the Last Day, as Jesus tells us in his word, he will return with all his holy angels and those angels will separate those who trust in Jesus as their Savior from those who don’t. And then Jesus will say to those who trust in him, “Come and inherit the kingdom I prepared for you.”

But how can that be? Aren’t we sinners just like everyone else? True, indeed. But listen to Paul’s comforting words, “[Jesus] will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Blameless. Don’t just imagine that; believe it! Satan will throw every one of his accusations against us, but none of them will stand because Jesus paid for every one of our sins and he declares us to be fully forgiven, blameless, holy in his sight. That’s the greatest news any sinner can hear. Our God assures us of that saving truth every time we hear the good news of our Savior and receive our Savior’s body and blood with the bread and wine of Holy Communion.

Through that word and sacrament Jesus will keep us strong to the end. He will nurture and strengthen our faith in him so that it withstands every attack of Satan. He will be our mighty fortress in our present, evil world. He will stand with us, guarding us with his almighty power, until that day when he brings us safely into his heavenly kingdom. And when he raises us from the dead on the Last Day, he will declare before everyone that we are his, blameless and holy.

Make this a thankful new church year—thankful for the blamelessness of God.

If you haven’t noticed it yet, the busyness of the season has already begun. In fact, you may already consider yourself to be behind in getting ready for it. Can we just pause for a moment right now and remind ourselves of what really matters? Jesus might return before Dec. 24 arrives. So make sure you’re ready for him! Focus on his holy life and his death for your sins. Rejoice in his resurrection. Be convinced that, because of what he did, you are ready, you are blameless. You’re good to go—to go to be with him.

So be thankful, not stressed out. In fact, make this a thankful new church year. Amen.

Here’s What a Shepherd-King Provides for You!

2011-11-19T08:29:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday of End Time, Christ the King, 11/20/11
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 23-24

Here’s What a Shepherd-King Provides for You!
I. A passionate rescue
II. A rich pasture
III. A gracious rule

Proverbs 11:14 proclaims, “For lack of guidance a nation falls.” Even if you don’t consider yourself to be a student of history, you know how true those words are. Every nation needs good leadership and when that doesn’t occur, the people suffer.

I’ll let you make your own applications regarding the truth of that statement for us as citizens of our country. That’s not my place to do so for you.

But I will help you see how true that was for God’s Old Testament people, the nation of Judah. Today’s text is from the pen of God’s prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel was called by the Lord to proclaim God’s word to the exiles in Babylon after the first deportation of exiles in 605 BC. In the opening words of Ezekiel 34 the Lord tells Ezekiel to make this scathing indictment, “Prophecy against the shepherds of Israel…Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves.” God used the title “shepherds” here to mean Israel’s leaders. That meant their kings who were ultimately responsible for the welfare of God’s people but it also included the false prophets who lied to the people, telling them only what they and their kings wanted to hear. Israel’s kings and false prophets had led God’s people away from him through idolatry and now there were no leaders of Israel at all.

So God promised to lead them. He promised to shepherd them. In verse after verse of our text he made one promise after another of what he would do for his people.

And that’s what a king should do. That’s what our God does for us. As we celebrate Christ as our King on this final Sunday of the church year, we look not only at what Jesus did as our King when he died on the cross for us and what he will do for us once we live with him eternally, but also what he does for us now. Here’s what a Shepherd-King provides for you! May our hearts be filled with trust in him and appreciation for him as our Shepherd-King!

Part I.

I mentioned a minute ago that the Babylonians exiled God’s people. Eventually several thousand would live as exiles in Babylon. But the Babylonians also left some of the poorest Jews behind in Israel. The Jews were not gathered to one place as God’s people according to the plan God had for them. Instead, they were scattered.

But they couldn’t blame God for it. God had patiently and persistently sent them one prophet after another to call them to repentance and back to the Lord as their God. But, for the most part, their kings wouldn’t listen and neither would the people. They preferred to listen to the false prophets whom the Lord hadn’t sent to them.

In short, the Lord no longer had anyone to lead his people. So he promised to do it himself. The Lord uses the picture of a shepherd caring for his sheep to describe what he would do for his people. “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land.” To people living in exile these words promised them exactly what they were looking for. They longed to return to Jerusalem and here the Lord was promising it. He would gather up those who were scattered and he would give them a place of their own to live. Their exile would end.

What’s more he would strengthen and defend them. He refers to binding up the injured and strengthening the weak. He would rebuild them as a nation. He would act on his plan to send the world’s Savior through them. In order to do so, he would also defend them. Those who were filled with sinful pride and resisted the Lord’s will and plans would be destroyed. Sounds grand, doesn’t it?

But if you know the history of the Jews from the return from exile until the time when Jesus was born, you’d know it wasn’t grand at all. His people continued to face hardships, many of them severe. So what is the Shepherd-King really promising to provide here?

He’s promising a far greater blessing than simply an earthly home for a small nation of people. He’s promising an eternal home with all of God’s people in heaven. Before his crucifixion Jesus declared to Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world. Indeed, he was a King, but not as the world thought. He came to redeem for himself a people who would belong to him and live with him forever. That redemption cost him his perfect life and his innocent death. That was his plan all along. It flowed from a heart full of love for sinners. He would rescue sinners from eternal hell and give them life with him in heaven.

Here’s what a Shepherd-King provides for you—a passionate rescue!

Life’s not easy. There are troubles every day to deal with, and some of them are disasters. It’s no wonder why we simply want the strength to make it through the next day. I imagine God’s Old Testament people felt much the same way. But the Lord has much bigger plans in mind for his people and that surely includes you and me. As our eternal Shepherd-King Jesus didn’t suffer and die so that you and I could enjoy all our days on earth. He did so in order to win eternal life for us and so that we could enjoy his loving rule over us forever. So there’s our reason to place our personal pity parties at the foot of the cross and rejoice in the truth that Jesus has rescued us for eternity. That’s what a Shepherd-King provides for you!

Part II.

We all know that our basic earthly needs in life are food, clothing and shelter. This week we’ll give thanks to our God for meeting those needs sufficiently, often abundantly even in these difficult economic times. As our faithful God he provides for us.

God promised that very thing to his Old Testament people. He vowed, “I will pasture [my people] on the mountains of Israel. I will tend them in a good pasture.” Living in a pasture isn’t our idea of having our basic needs met. Far from it. But recall the setting of these words. The Lord is speaking as a Shepherd to his sheep. The only thing a sheep wants each and every day is a safe pasture to live in. Plenty of food and constant protection makes for a very contented sheep.

So what, exactly, was the Lord promising his people here? Surely these words meant the return of the exiles to Israel. The Lord would bless their efforts to re-establish their homes and their way of life in Israel.

But his deepest concern was for the spiritual life of his people. Recall that a neglect of their spiritual life had led to this crisis in the first place. The way to avoid another spiritual crisis was to stay connected with their God through his word. Our Shepherd-King’s greatest concern is that our souls are nourished with the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. What do we gain if we die fat and happy in unbelief? All would then be lost. So our Shepherd-King leads us into the rich pasture of his word where he feeds our souls on his truth, chiefly on the truth that he is the God who saves us through the life and death of his Son.

Here’s what our Shepherd-King provides you—a rich pasture, food for your soul.

With our national holiday of thanks on everyone’s calendar this week, this makes a good time for us to ponder what we really need in life. Just a few minutes thinking about it will lead you to realize we have far more than we truly need and for that we ought to thank our gracious, generous God. But what do we truly need? What is our greatest need? As daily sinners, isn’t it forgiveness from our God? As sinners deserving of hell, isn’t it the gift of eternal life? And if you agree with me, then ponder how those greatest gifts come to you and me. Solely through the gospel—the good news of Jesus—in his word and sacrament. Our Shepherd-King provides us with that soul food richly. Lord, forgive us for taking that nourishment for granted! Lead us to appreciate your grace and lead us daily into that grace!

Part III.

There’s an unwritten rule that we save the best for last. In a way, that’s what our God does for us in this text from Ezekiel.

The Lord ends with these words, “I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.”

When the Lord spoke these words to Ezekiel, David had been dead for about 400 years. Obviously, he wasn’t talking about King David. Instead, he was speaking about King David’s descendant—his greatest descendant, Jesus Christ.

The reason Jesus came to this earth was to rescue us from Satan’s kingdom and bring us into his kingdom. That work was accomplished when the Shepherd sacrificed his life for the sheep. And now he has brought us into his kingdom by faith in him as that Savior. He did that not so that he could tax and abuse us, but so that he could bless us. His deepest desire is that we remain in his kingdom forever so that he can bless us with his presence forever. In order to accomplish that eternal goal, he now rules over all things, making sure things go according to his gracious plan for us.

At times that may be hard for us to comprehend, especially when the times are tough. I imagine it was hard for these Jewish exiles in Babylon to comprehend it as well. But it turned out just as the Shepherd-King had promised. It will certainly happen for us as well. He provides you with his gracious rule. May the peace of that rule fill your hearts and minds! Amen.

Here’s Eternally Good News for Temporally Weary Christians!

2011-11-12T10:20:00.000-08:00

3rd Sunday of End Time, Saints Triumphant, 11/13/11
Isaiah 52:1-6

Here’s Eternally Good News for Temporally Weary Christians!
I. The victory is ours.
II. Our God will not be mocked.

In so many facets of life the outcome is always in doubt. A large corporation studies a particular opportunity to diversify, thinking that this will be the means for it to remain viable for decades to come. But the reality is that it’s just an educated guess. Only God knows how it will turn out.

As a young bride and groom publicly speak their vows to one another before God, family and friends, we wonder what the outcome will be. Will the joys of their marriage outweigh the hardships?

As a new mother holds her infant son in her arms, she wonders what kind of man he’ll become. She pledges to do her best to give him every opportunity to succeed that she can, but the outcome is in doubt.

We sign our name on the dotted line making that new vehicle our own. We do so thinking we’ll enjoy years of ownership, but we really don’t know for sure. It could turn out to be the worst vehicle we’ve ever owned. The outcome is in doubt.

Too often our doubts, unfortunately, become reality. Things don’t turn out. And we face so many disappointing results throughout our lives that it quickly leaves us weary. We get weary of the pressure we face trying to complete required educational courses. When we’re out in the employment world, we get weary of dealing with the problems that business in general and our co-workers cause. The older we get, the more health issues we face, all too often without resolution, leaving us weary.

Is there any good news? Is there any aspect of our lives in which we can be confident of the outcome and that outcome is a tremendous blessing for us? Absolutely! In fact, it’s in the most important aspect of your life—your life with your God. On this Sunday in which we praise God for the victory he has given to our fellow Christians he has already called home to heaven, we’re reminded that the very same outcome awaits us as well. What great news that is for weary Christians! Our God shares that news with us this morning in Isaiah 52. Here’s eternally good news for temporally weary Christians. May that saving truth lift our spirits and fill us with Christian confidence!

Part I.

Doubtful outcomes are one thing. At least you have the hope that things will turn out for the better. Looming defeat is an entirely different matter. It’s unbearable to face each new day knowing that disaster awaits you.

That was the situation facing God’s people during the days of his great prophet, Isaiah.

These were God’s chosen people, the nation that he had formed for himself. Out of all the nations on the face of the earth, God had chosen this nation, the one descended from Abraham, to be the nation through whom he would send the promised Savior into the world. And for a while—during the reigns of King David and King Solomon—things had gone well, very well.

But terrible times had arrived. David had died nearly 150 years earlier, and, since then things had not been the same. Already under Solomon there was far too much idolatry. And things just got worse under successive kings. So God allowed his people to be attacked by enemy nations, hoping it would shake some spiritual sense into them. But it wasn’t working. Isaiah served faithfully, encouraging the people to return to the Lord, but his words largely fell on deaf ears and stony hearts.

So he told Isaiah to let his people know what was coming. The Babylonians. In Isaiah’s day they were unknown as a nation. But through Isaiah God foretold that he would raise them up as his instrument. In fact, he would use them to defeat the Jews and destroy their capital city of Jerusalem. He would end the Jewish monarchy and make his people subject to a foreign nation.

Worse yet, the Babylonians would deport the Jews, sending them into exile in Babylon. How unthinkable! The Lord would send them away from the very land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They hadn’t worshipped the Lord as he commanded them in the Temple in Jerusalem. Now they wouldn’t be able to do so even if they wanted to. They would live as subjects of the Babylonians.

But the Babylonians went too far. In the verse right before our text Isaiah describes how they would ruthlessly walk on the backs of God’s people. In their sinful pride they abused the position God had given them.

So the Lord stepped in. He calls out to his people, “Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength. Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem.” The Lord promised a drastic change. Their exile would end. The Lord would raise up Cyrus to defeat the Babylonians and send the Jews home to Jerusalem, to rebuild it and renew the worship of the only true God. He told them, “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.” Without a cent being paid, the Lord would answer the earnest prayers of the exiled Jews. They would go home. Victory was theirs.

“Without money you will be redeemed.” How true those words are of us as well! Our God has redeemed us without money, but the price was still high. It was the holy blood of his only Son, Jesus. Through that blood-payment, God has freed us from a fate far worse than exile in Babylon. He has freed us from sin, death and hell. He set us on a course of eternal victory with him in heaven. He has called some of our loved ones home ahead of us. Just as certainly as they are enjoying that eternal victory now, so will we. And there’s our answer. There’s our answer to the uncertain outcomes, the problems and disasters that weary Christians face in this life.

Here’s eternally good news for temporally weary Christians! The victory is ours!

When your God called you by name at your baptism, that wasn’t a temporary arrangement. That was eternal. He destined you to share eternal victory with him in heaven. But at times it doesn’t seem likely. We face one setback after another, and calling them “setbacks” might be sugar-coating it. Sometimes they’re personal disasters. And when they strike, we begin to doubt our relationship with our God. Where’s his love now? Does he care? How will I make it through yet another crisis, Lord? This morning he reminds us to keep our eyes fixed on the big picture, the eternal picture. When Christ declared, “It is finished,” on the cross, our redemption had been paid. His resurrection guaranteed it. His victory over sin and death and hell is our victory over sin and death and hell. That’s true no matter how tragic this life becomes. What eternally good news for temporally weary Christians! The victory is ours!

Part II.

The Jews in exile had some trouble making sense of their situation. Many of them had learned their lesson, spiritually speaking, and had repented. But they were still suffering in exile. On the other had, the heathen Babylonians seemed to be prospering. In fact, God had referred to them as his instrument. Where’s the divine justice?

The Lord addressed that situation with the Jews in these words from Isaiah. He spoke about Israel’s history with enemy nations in these words, “At first my people went down to Egypt to live; lately, Assyria has oppressed them.” We recall how the Israelites after Joseph spent 400 years in Egypt, and for decades they were slaves there. The Egyptians abused them. Lately, the Assyrians had made life miserable for the Jews. God’s original intent was to use these nations to be a blessing to these people. He intended for the Jews to become a nation of people under the peaceful watch of the Egyptians, but the Egyptians abused that position. He intended the Assyrians to be used to call his people to repentance, but they abused that position.

In each case, these heathen nations were filled with sinful pride and would not listen to the words the Lord spoke to them or pay attention to the miraculous signs God did among them. They attributed their success to their false gods. And here’s God’s assessment of the situation, “And now what do I have here? For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock. All day long my name is constantly blasphemed.” The heathen nations proclaimed that the Lord was helpless in the face of their gods. They refused to acknowledge him.

In response, the Lord promises in a general way to put an end to their blasphemy and bring about the deliverance of his people. He states, “Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I.” The one true God would not be mocked. In the end, he would accomplish his good and saving purposes for his people in spite of the opposition from earthly powers. In fact, from our perspective it may appear that these evil forces are gaining the upper hand, but in the end, our God wins. He will not be mocked.

And there’s some more eternally good news for temporally weary Christians. In some respects, it’s a terribly sick world we live in. Just look at last week’s headlines. Even common decency is hard to find. The masses thumb their noses at the holy God. And we suffer quietly. We’re the church militant, constantly under attack from our sinful world and Satan who works tirelessly to bring the church down. But remember who we are. We are saints awaiting eternal victory in heaven with our Savior, Jesus Christ.

And that’s not just our heartfelt wish. It’s God’s roc-solid promise. Our victory is certain because Jesus lived, died and rose again to win our victory for us. Praise God for all the saints who are now enjoying that victory in heaven! Praise God that you and I will certainly join them! What good news that is! Amen.

Remain Faithful to Your God!

2011-10-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

1st Sunday of End Time, Reformation, 10/30/11

Daniel 6:10-12, 16-23

Remain Faithful to Your God!
I. Hold steadfast to his truth.
II. Live confident of victory.

I’m sure that most of you, if not all of you, are acquainted with the term “situation ethics.” One of the simplest definitions of that term is that right and wrong depend on the situation. What’s wrong in one instance might be right in another. Situation ethics is closely aligned with the outlook that everyone should simply do what they think is best. Another way of saying that is to do your own thing.

But God is nowhere to be found in such thinking. Situation ethics can’t abide with the statement, “Thus says the Lord,” and militates against absolute truth. It views God’s word only as a suggestion or one of many opinions to be considered as the individual determines what course of action to take. In the end, situation ethics has this single goal, “What’s best for me?”

There’s no indication that one of the greatest believers in the Old Testament, the prophet Daniel, felt any pull from situation ethics as he decided which course of action he should take. Rather, God’s word paints us the opposite picture. Daniel knew and believed the truth of God’s word which applied to every facet of his life. He would rather lose his life than comprise a single letter of that truth.

This morning we join our fellow Lutherans in praising God for transmitting that truth to us. We have God’s word in its truth and purity. That truth centers in our salvation by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ. That truth alone has brought us into fellowship with God and through that truth alone we’ll remain in fellowship with God. Bending or breaking that truth only leads us away from our God and his eternal love for us.

So, as we ponder how blessed we are to have that truth, let’s resolve to remain in it and, in doing so, remain faithful to our God. Remain faithful to your God! May our God fill us with that resolve as we examine this familiar event in the life of Daniel.

Part I.

Calling this is a familiar event in the Old Testament might be an understatement. Daniel in the lions’ den is one of the most well-known events in the Bible. But how much of Daniel’s life do you recall? Recalling those events in his life helps us understand the situation he was in. He had come to Babylon as one of the first exiles from Jerusalem in the year 605 BC. As a young man of exceptional abilities, he was chosen to serve the King of Babylon. As we meet Daniel in our text, he had likely been doing that for the past 6 decades, making him about 80 years old. And it wasn’t just any service that Daniel performed. He was the highest ranking official in all of the empire.

When a man named Darius became the new king, he kept Daniel in that high position, much to the regret of the other leading government officials in Babylon. You see, even though Daniel served so faithfully, they were jealous of his position and looked intently for a way to discredit him before the king. Finding none at all, they plotted to bring him down. They would use the fact that Daniel was a faithful follower of the Lord to erase him for good.

And they also used the ego of Darius. They suggested that Darius make and enforce a law that required his subjects to pray only to him for the next 30 days. Darius was only too happy to sign that suggestion into law. Violations were punishable by death.

So, what would Daniel do? This was the situation he was in. What were his options? He could have blamed God. After all, it was obvious God had placed him there and now God was allowing this to happen to him. How dare he?

He also could have found ways around the law. He could continued praying to the Lord by making it appear that he was praying to the king, but in his heart praying to the one true God and only he and God would know it.

A third option would have been to put his prayer life on hold. After all, the law was in effect only for 30 days. Daniel could have felt it best simply to comply with the law and save his skin and his high government position, a position which he used to help carry out God’s plan for the Jewish exiles. Situation ethics.

But look what Daniel did. The Bible says, “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” Daniel had a prayer routine three times every day. It involved praying in a place where he could look towards Jerusalem although it was far away. While he prayed in his home, it was in a place where others could see him if they wished. Daniel continued that routine in spite of the new law against it because he knew that any deviation from his former practice would be a compromise to his faith. This was not a time for situation ethics. This was a situation that called for a clear confession and a bold stance on the truth of God’s word. Any deviation in his routine at this time would be saving his own skin and would not bring glory to God, and that’s a sin against the First Commandment.

So he did what God’s word called for him to do. He placed his life in the hands of his loving Creator and Savior and got down on his knees and prayed to his God just as he always had. From the way our text reads, it doesn’t sound like he agonized over this decision. It was a no-brainer. Daniel was not going to disregard God’s truth. He was going to remain faithful to his God by steadfastly holding to that truth.

Some would call Daniel’s actions foolish. They would advise him to lose this small battle in order to live another day and win the war. Other’s might call him brave, and would admit they wouldn’t be up to making the same decision he made. At the risk of speaking for Daniel, I think Daniel would say it was simply a matter of trust. Here’s what God said in his word, so that’s what Daniel believed and that’s what he did.

Today we’re celebrating the truth of God’s word and part of that celebration is making the same bold stance on God’s word that Daniel did. God’s word says much that our world won’t abide by. Even many Christians have decided to turn from what his word says because it seems to go against what is reasonable, politically correct, or popular. I’m overjoyed to hear that you stand with me on the truth of his word. But let’s recognize how difficult that is. It will be all too easy to compromise that truth and indulge in our pet sins. We can justify a sinful action because of the mistreatment we’ve received. We can justify speaking badly about others because of what they said about us. We can justify harboring resentment and discontent. After all, we’re the victims. The truth about ourselves is that we’ve failed to be faithful to our God. But that’s where trust comes in—a trust in the central truth of God’s word. Our forgiveness has been won for us by Christ on the cross. He gave his life for us. He won eternal life for us. Don’t ever waver in that faith! Remain faithful to your God and hold steadfast to his truth!

Part II.

But now for the rest of Daniel’s story. He paid the highest human price for his faithfulness to his God. He was thrown into a den of hungry lions.

Imagine Daniel’s thoughts as he was led to what looked like certain death. He was the one who had always served his Lord and his king faithfully. Even though the Babylonian government was filled with corruption, greed and deceptions, Daniel never played that game. He always tried to do the right thing. And look where it was getting him—he was about to become a feast for lions. Do you think he wanted to scream at God? Do you suppose he felt it was unfair at the very least and an utter travesty of divine justice at worst? Was he tempted to think, “If this is the way you treat your faithful people, Lord, then I want nothing to do with you”?

We read nothing of that at all. Instead, it appears that Daniel took the same approach to martyrdom that great men of faith in the New Testament took, men like Stephen, Paul and Peter. They refused to compromise God’s word and would glorify God in their death just as they did in their life. They had that attitude because they knew, just as Daniel did, that either way, they win.

Daniel knew that death was a very real possibility. No one made it out of lions’ dens alive. But if Daniel died, then this was the way God had chosen to take Daniel out of this life after years of serving him to life with him in heaven. And God would be glorified.

But Daniel also knew there was another possibility. Decades earlier Daniel’s three friends had been rescued from death in a fiery furnace by one of God’s angels. Daniel knew that God could use one of his angels to rescue him if that’s what he chose to do. And that’s exactly what happened and God was glorified.

As Daniel remained faithful to God he knew that he would overcome and finally win the ultimate victory.

We have that same assurance. We’ll sing in our closing hymn, “Though all may be gone, our victory is won, the kingdom’s ours forever.” That victory comes to us by faith in Jesus, who won heaven for us. His death means our life. His resurrection means our resurrection and eternal life. No one and nothing can take that from us as long as we remain faithful to him. On this Reformation Sunday, resolve to remain faithful to your God. Amen.

Test Yourself!

2011-10-22T08:51:00.000-07:00

19th Sunday after Pentecost, 10/23/11
2 Corinthians 13:5-8

Test Yourself!
I. Do you trust in Christ?
II. Do you live for Christ?

Tests are or were a large part of our education. Like clockwork every other week or so there was another test to take. It was an unpleasant but necessary undertaking. And if you’re in school now and you dread taking tests and are looking forward to the day you’re your education is complete and you think that then you will no longer be subjected to tests, think again. Many professions require continuing education that culminates in a test. Even if it’s not on a piece of paper or a computer screen, your employer is grading you daily on a very subjective test.

And there are other types of tests throughout life. The next time you see your physician, there’s a good probability that he or she will want you to undergo a test of some sort. Either your doctor wants to make sure there’s nothing that needs to be addressed, or your doctor suspects something is wrong and needs more information, the kind of information that a test provides. Others of you may have a condition that requires ongoing tests, sometimes even daily. Like it or not, tests are a regular part of our lives.

And that’s true in our spiritual lives as well. The Lord Jesus through his Apostle Paul opens today’s sermon text with this sentence, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” Like our physical health, our spiritual health is all too easy to take for granted. We may think we’re doing just fine, but the reality is that there is reason for concern, sometimes deeply so. So that we don’t slide into grave spiritual danger, our Savior encourages you to test yourself. Let’s see what for and why as our Lord shares his word with us this morning.

Part I.

We hear so many conflicting reports every day that we don’t know whom to believe. Whether it regards politics, our health, our environment, our economy, or our investments, it seems as if there are competing expert opinions everywhere we turn. So we’ve become rather skeptical. We look for guarantees. We want proof and sometimes loads of it, before we’ll trust an opinion and make a decision about what course of action we’re going to take.

The Christians in Corinth to whom Paul wrote these words also wanted proof. Paul had worked long and hard to establish this congregation. These people were near and dear to him. During his time with them he had faithfully shared God’s saving truth with them and the Lord blessed his efforts. Many people came to faith in Jesus and left behind their heathen beliefs and lifestyles. They now knew and believed in Jesus as their Savior from sin.

But not long after Paul left Corinth, false teachers claiming to be better apostles than Paul wormed their way into the congregation and began discrediting Paul and the message Paul proclaimed. They maligned the way Paul handled things as he had worked among the members of the congregation. They found fault with Paul’s motives. In short, they threw Paul under the bus. In doing so, they were tearing down the congregation Paul had worked so hard to establish. Worse yet, they were ruining the faith of these people.

Naturally, doubts about Paul and his message arose in the minds and hearts of the Corinthians. So they wanted proof from Paul that he and his message were authentic. They wanted Paul to supply some touchstone by which they could be certain that the “truths” he had shared with them were actually the truth. They wanted some guarantee that Paul was a genuine apostle of Jesus Christ.

In response, Paul didn’t send them a copy of his credentials. Instead, he told them, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” Paul instructs them to go back to the very basics of their Christian faith. Those basics began with God’s law—a law which does not tell us how wonderful we are, but a law that shows us how sinful we are and how much we need a Savior from sin. As heathen people, they had been under the damning notion that they could save themselves by their sacrifices to their false gods. Paul used the truth of God’s law to convict them of their sin and to convince them of how impossible that was.

And then he used the good news of Jesus as their only Savior from sin to rescue them from hell. By God’s grace the Corinthians believed Paul’s message about Jesus. The Holy Spirit used that message to work saving faith in them. They now believed that their sins were forgiven by the life and death of Jesus. They believed that he had risen from the dead and was ruling over all things. And, in a very real yet spiritual way, Jesus was living in them. So, when Paul told the Corinthians to test themselves, he wanted them to ponder what they believed. If they trusted that Jesus was their Savior from sin, then there was the proof they were looking for that Paul’s message was genuine.

And that’s a good thing for any Christian to do. I say that because there are countless souls today who once had faith in Jesus but have lost it. And I don’t think any of them woke up one morning and said to themselves, “Today I no longer believe that Jesus is my Savior.” Instead, it’s something that occurred over a long stretch of time, a stretch of time in which they willingly separated themselves from our Lord and his word.

God forbid that such a tragedy should occur with you. So test yourself. Do you trust in Christ?

Next Sunday we’ll celebrate Luther’s Reformation of the Church. On October 31, 1517 Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The first of those theses states, “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ…willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.” In other words, every day of our lives Jesus wants us to recognize our sinfulness and trust in him for forgiveness.
We need to test ourselves in that regard every day. What do we believe about our sins, that they deserve damnation or that they aren’t that bad? What do we think about ourselves, that we’re sinful by nature or that we’re pretty good, at least better than average? What do we think about Jesus, that he was absolutely necessary for ourselves, or something less? By God’s grace you’re sitting here today with faith in Jesus as your Savior. That faith is strengthened only through God’s means of grace—his word and sacraments. Don’t take your faith for granted! Test yourself to see if you trust in Christ.

Part II.

From its earliest days the Christian church has not only been plagued by false teachings, but also by false living. What I mean by that is that there have always been Christians whose manner of life doesn’t match with what their Savior says in his word. In modern times, it appears that all too many Christians aren’t concerned about that. They see that a Christian’s life is contrary to what the Bible says, but they use one of several methods to rectify it in their minds.

That’s what was occurring among the Corinthians to an alarming degree, and it’s one of the reasons Paul wrote this letter to them. In our text he urges them to do what they say they believe. He says, “Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Not that people will see that we have stood the test but that you will do what is right.” Recall that Paul’s ministry among them was under attack by false teachers and the Corinthians wanted proof of Paul’s authority. Paul replies by telling them it’s not important that he withstands such a test. What’s important is that they withstand the test. That test is avoiding what is wrong—sin—and doing what is right. He encourages them to live their Christian faith every day and thus show everyone what they believe.

And when they do that, they would be an encouragement to their fellow Christians to do the same. Sometimes that’s a forgotten aspect of our lives together as God’s people gathered together in a congregation. Our world drums into our heads that we should be tolerant to the extent that we let others live as they please, but Jesus gives us the huge responsibility of watching out for our brothers and sisters in the faith. If we see something sinful in their lives, we are to bring it to their attention in a loving way. And on the positive side, we are to encourage each other to live as God’s people.

Such encouragement and Christian discipline is critical for the spiritual health of a congregation. The Corinthians were struggling with that very thing. Some of the members of the congregation were living in gross immorality and defending it as a loving and acceptable lifestyle. By its very definition, a church is a gathering of people who have been called out of the world by faith in Jesus. These people were living just like the world they had been called out of. And it was tearing at the very fabric of the congregation. So Paul urged them to test themselves to see if they were living for Christ.

That’s a critical test for you and me as well. With the evil influence of our world constantly bombarding us, it’s easy to take a sinful attitude or get into a sinful way of living and not think anything of it. After all, that’s what everyone else is doing. So test yourself. First ask if you trust in Christ. And, if you do (and I hope that’s the case with everyone of you), then ask yourself if you’re living according to your faith. We can all find areas in our lives that need improvement. We fall into laziness on one hand and sinful self-advancement on the other. We don’t care enough about others and we care far too much about ourselves. We don’t care enough about spending time with our Savior and we care far too much about worldly pursuits. But that’s why we’re here as a congregation of Christians. We’re here to test ourselves and to see where we don’t measure up to God’s holy law, to confess those sins and to receive the assurance of God’s forgiveness in Christ. And then we go from here renewed by Christ’s forgiveness and empowered by his love for us to live for him.

Test yourself every day and may God keep you in your faith and in his grace! Amen.

Glorify Christ!

2011-10-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

18th Sunday after Pentecost, 10/16/11
Philippians 1:18b-27

Glorify Christ!
I. In life
II. In death

While you probably don’t think about purpose statements very often, if you’re in the process of updating your résumé or if you’re in a position to read résumés, you’re quite familiar with them. Most résumés present an individual’s purpose statement at the very beginning of the document. Their purpose might be to enhance their work experience, to grow in their field of expertise, to bring the best possible service to as many people as possible.

In other words, that purpose statement often presents an individual’s goals in their employment or personal life. And that’s another thing we don’t often think about. We tend to slide from one day to the next not sure of what our long-range or short-range goals are. And the most likely way not to attain any goals in life is not to have any.

Then again, from time to time you hear that a person attained one of their personal goals in life at a fairly young age. We envy the fact that they had a goal, worked hard at it, and achieved it. We wish we could do the same.

So that begs the question, “What is your goal in life? What’s your purpose statement?” Some would say it’s to live life to the fullest or to enjoy every day of life. Others would indicate by the way they work at it that their goal in life is to reach financial stability. But how elusive is that?

So, what’s your purpose statement? Let me ask that another way, “What’s your purpose, Christian?” That one word, “Christian,” certainly helps you understand where I’m leading you with that question. And if you need a little more direction, take Paul’s words to heart this morning. It’s fairly obvious what his purpose was. He said, “I will…have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted.” Another way of saying that is that his purpose was to glorify Christ. How’s that for a brief, but eternally meaningful purpose statement? And how fitting it is for any Christian, for you and me! Glorify Christ! Let’s make that our life’s purpose statement and our focus this morning as we ponder this portion of God’s word.

Part I.

“Do you want to live or die?” I can’t imagine someone threatening my life with that question, but countless people have had to answer it under extreme duress. The person asking that question usually has the upper hand due to the fact that they possess deadly force and they ask that question counting on the fact that their victim wants to live and therefore will do what they want. Even for us right now who aren’t under any kind of threat, it’s an easy question to answer. We want to live. God created our bodies to live.

Paul faced that very same choice, but he had difficulty making up his mind. That’s because his situation was rather unique.

When Paul wrote these words he was undergoing his first imprisonment. He had been arrested for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and was on trial before the Roman government. At this point Paul wasn’t quite sure of the outcome of his trial. Was it against Roman law to preach about Jesus or not? That’s what would be decided.

If he was found guilty, the punishment was severe. It was none other than death. Thus Paul was facing possible martyrdom for the sake of Christ. And as he pondered that fate, he didn’t shy away from it. We’ll talk more about that later.

However, if Paul were found innocent, he would go on living as before, that is, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. He would continue in his calling as an apostle of Jesus Christ. As Paul wrote these words, he has a feeling that that’s how things are going to turn out. He writes, “Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith.” Paul feels certain that he will continue to live.

And that means that Paul will continue to serve. He spoke about helping the Philippian Christians grow in their faith. That means he would continue serving them by sharing the truths of God’s word with them in person, via letters to them such as this one, and through his fellow workers. It’s likely that the congregation at Philippi was quite young and thus the Christians there had a rather immature faith. Paul knew that the Lord would direct things so that he would live and be one of God’s instruments to bring maturity to their faith.

As he did so, he was actually serving his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That was Paul’s highest goal in life. Whether he was sitting in prison, defending himself in court, or proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, Paul lived to serve and glorify Christ. In fact, that covered every aspect of his life. To the Corinthians he wrote, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).

Your God has given you the same high calling—to glorify Christ in whatever you do. St. Peter wrote, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). Whether you are young or old, student or teacher, employer or employee, at home or at work, you are a child of God and what you are doing in keeping with your faith is being done to the glory of your Savior, Jesus Christ. What a high and holy goal in life!
Glorify Christ! Glorify him in your life!

Most people have to work hard to attain their goals. Attaining the goal of glorifying Christ in your life isn’t easy either. It takes hard work at times. That’s because our lives present so many barriers to accomplishing it. The last thing Satan wants is for you to glorify Christ, so he works constantly to frustrate you. Your own sinful nature wants you to focus only on old #1 and bringing glory to yourself, not to anyone else and certainly not to Christ. And then there’s the world we live in which sounds the incessant advice to live for yourself and throw off the chains of living for Christ. And we have to admit—that sounds like a good thing far more often than we care to admit. In other words, our lives are often at odds with the purpose our Savior has given us. But Jesus knows that. That’s why he came to this earth and glorified his heavenly Father by completing the work of salvation. He won our forgiveness and eternal life. He bought us to be his own and gave us the high calling of serving him. He has set us on a new course—life with him. In the confidence of your forgiveness and in the power of your baptism, glorify Christ in life!

Part II.

We can understand living to glorify Christ. But Paul also talks about the flip side—glorifying Christ in death. That doesn’t sound like an easy thing to do. After all, how can you do anything in death? By its very definition it seems impossible to do something when you’re dead. So let’s see what Paul means.

Death isn’t one of our top topics of conversation. As unavoidable as death is, it’s one of those things we rarely talk about. Every day we hear of things to do in order to avoid death. Information and discussions on health flood us daily. But what’s your view of death? Do you avoid it at all costs?

Paul had a far different view. He wrote, “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far.” He knew life with Christ was a tremendous blessing—the greatest of blessings. And he desired to die in order to have that life. Do you desire to die? Probably not.

So why did Paul? First, he realized that life is not all about attaining things. Just consider how much of your life is spent going after things—tangible and intangible. We work long, hard hours for the vast majority of our lives to attain things. In fact, some people consider that to be their only purpose. But we, along with Paul, know the truth of Scripture that life doesn’t consist in things.

Paul also knew that the greatest blessing—eternal life with Christ—was already his by faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, Paul knew that there was nothing he needed to do or even could do to make the life after this one certain. It has all been done already by Jesus Christ. His life and death earned it for us and his resurrection guarantees it to us. Paul was certain of that. No ifs ands or buts about it.

And that life with Christ meant eternal glory. Paul’s life here on earth was far from glorious. He was currently in prison. There’s no glory in that. He was beaten and left for dead more than once. He suffered shipwreck, hunger, pain and persecution. It’s possible he had a hideous disfigurement or a chronic illness. There’s no glory in any of that. But he knew that eternal glory awaited him. He lived in that certainty every day of his life.

And that’s how Paul brought glory to Jesus in his death. He approached his death as a Christian should—as a tremendous blessing from God and the attainment of the glory that awaits us. It’s better by far to live with Christ in heaven than it is to live here on earth. Sure, blessings from God abound here. But far greater blessings await us in heaven, blessings that we will enjoy forever.
So glorify Christ! Glorify him in death!

If you’re not fond of thinking about your death right now, that’s OK. As I said, God gave you life and he wants you to live here now. But can you begin thinking about death in the terms that Paul did—as the means to your eternal goal, that of life with your loving Savior forever? Like the familiar hymn states, we’re but strangers here; heaven is our home. Jesus thought so much of you that he won that home for you by his death. And now he calls on you to glorify him by looking forward to that astounding blessing. It’s yours by faith in him. So glorify him in life and in death! Amen.

Forgiveness Leaves no Room for Vengeance!

2011-10-08T14:38:00.000-07:00

17th Sunday after Pentecost, 10/9/11
Genesis 50:15-21

Forgiveness Leaves no Room for Vengeance!
I. It cherishes the grace of God.
II. It mimics the actions of God.

Perhaps you’ve heard that revenge is a dish that’s best served cold.

Someone else once said, “He who takes revenge is like the bee, which by stinging others loses not only its sting but often also its life.”

It’s true, isn’t it? The person who lives to seek revenge often loses their life. All happiness and contentment are gone. There is no positive purpose to their life. Love slowly seeps out of their hearts until none is left. And when they get their revenge, what really has been accomplished? Only the ruin of another life.

How much better to be able to forgive and to forgive completely! But that’s the difficult part, even for us who have gathered here today. To forgive completely can be difficult at times because the hurt we feel runs deep.

The hurt could have run deep in Joseph’s heart. Who would have faulted Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Jacob, if vengeance had become a good part of his life? But that’s not what we hear at all from his words as recorded by Moses in Genesis 50. Instead, his words breathe an air of loving forgiveness and genuine Christian concern. Joseph had the ability to forgive completely. And once he had done that, there was no room for vengeance.

As Christians, we strive to possess, display and extend that same forgiveness. But there are times that we struggle. And thus we need the reminder and the encouragement that forgiveness leaves no room for vengeance. May the Holy Spirit gives us such a forgiving heart as he works in us through this portion of God’s word this morning.

Part I.

Many of us recall the story of Joseph and the special coat he received from his father. We also recall how much his brothers hated him because he was their father’s favorite son and what his brothers did to him. They were plotting to kill him but changed their minds and sold him into slavery. He was falsely imprisoned but then received from God the ability to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams about the 7 years of abundant crops followed by the 7 years of famine. In return, Pharaoh elevated Joseph to the second in command in all of Egypt.

That sounds like a rags-to-riches story, but actually it didn’t happen overnight and, remember, Joseph didn’t ask for any of this to happen. In a way, his brothers had ruined this young man’s life. He was forcefully separated from his beloved father, Jacob, and his brother, Benjamin, for years. His hateful brothers had stolen all that from him. Yes, he was enjoying life now, but he had suffered much for a long time. And it was completely the fault of his 10 brothers.

Fast forward several decades. Joseph’s father, Jacob, died. He was no longer there to influence the behavior of his sons. And this was the thought filled their minds, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” They figured it was pay-back time. And who wouldn’t think that way? After all, it was a perfect storm for vengeance to strike. Their father was dead and could do nothing to stop Joseph. Joseph had all the power in Egypt to take revenge. With a single command, he could order it to be done and no questions would be asked. And the brothers admitted they deserved it. They had done something terrible. Sure, decades ago they had admitted their guilt to Joseph and had heard his forgiving words then, but who could forgive so completely? They wouldn’t be so ready to do so if they were in Joseph’s place.

So they offered to do the only thing they could think of. Our text says, “His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. ‘We are your slaves,’ they said.” They offered Joseph their servitude if only he would spare their lives. In short, they were willing to try to appease what they assumed was Joseph’s vengeful spirit with the offer of their most prized possessions—their lives.

But they failed to know their brother Joseph. You see, Joseph knew the grace of God. Let me explain. Joseph knew that he was a sinner just like his brothers. In fact, he may have recalled that he fostered their hatred of him by telling them his dreams about ruling over them. While we don’t hear of Joseph’s sins, no doubt they occurred daily just as ours do. Joseph knew them all too well. But he also knew the grace of God. He knew that his God was the God of full and free forgiveness, the God who was slow to anger and abounding in love for sinners. He was the God who had promised to send a Savior into the world using Joseph and his 11 brothers who would become the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph knew that he was unconditionally forgiven by God.

And he also knew the truth of the words that we speak today in the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” The gift of God’s full forgiveness to us on a daily basis leads us to forgive others on a daily basis no matter what their sins against us are. When we’re called on to forgive the relatively few sins that others commit against us, God calls on us to recall the innumerable sins he has forgiven us. And when we do that, then revenge is out of the picture.

Forgiveness leaves no room for vengeance. It cherishes the grace of God.

It’s evident that Joseph cherished the grace of God. How about you? Well, we like to think that we do. After all, we made the effort to be here this morning to receive the grace of God in word and sacrament. And that’s a good thing. But there are times when we don’t appreciate God’s grace…like when we find it difficult to forgive someone. Maybe a better way of saying that is when we’re holding a grudge, even just a tiny one. They’ve wronged us by what they said or did or by what they didn’t say or didn’t do and while we don’t hate them for it, we can’t think of anything good any longer to say to them or about them. After all, they can’t even recognize how they’ve wronged us. So, while we don’t actively plot to get our revenge, we also don’t have any plans to offer them a forgiving heart. That’s a form of vengeance and forgiveness leaves no room for vengeance. A heart without vengeance is a heart that knows and believes the only reason our God forgives us is because he is loving and gracious. He forgives us freely. His Son died on the cross for your sins and mine even before we had committed a single one. And when we recall how our God has forgiven us, then he also gives us a forgiving heart toward others. That’s a heart full of love, a heart with no room for vengeance.

Part II.

Famous people are often asked, “Who is your hero?” or, “Who has been the greatest influence on your life?” The answers often offered are a parent or a teacher or another famous artist or athlete. But on occasion, a very rare occasion, you might read or hear someone answer that question with, “Jesus Christ.” And for a Christian, isn’t that the truth? We want to be like Jesus. We want to do the things that Jesus does. We want to be as loving and truthful as he is.

We see Joseph doing that very thing in his dealings with his brothers. The most obvious Christ-like activity is the way he forgave his brothers. It’s apparent that he had done so even before they had asked him to. How Christ-like is that?! He wanted them to know with all their heart and mind that he didn’t bear any grudges against them. Notice what our text says, “When their message came to him, Joseph wept.” He realized that their past sins against him still were a wedge in their relationship with him, so much so, that they couldn’t even speak to him directly about it, so they sent a message to him. But he had already forgiven them completely and wanted to assure them of it.

Furthermore, Joseph knew that if there were to be any consequences for their sins, that was up to God. He rhetorically asked them, “Am I in the place of God?” The Lord God said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay” (Dt. 32:35). Joseph knew that his job was not to see to it that his brothers paid for their sins. Rather, his job was to forgive them from his heart, fully. That’s Christ-like.

In fact, Joseph knew that his God called on him to speak and act kindly toward his brothers. Listen to what Joseph told them, “‘So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.’ And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.” Amazing, isn’t it? After all they had done to him, who would have faulted Joseph if he had told them, “Now that dad is dead, you’re on your own. I don’t care if I never speak to you again”? But that wouldn’t be Christ-like, would it?

In short, Joseph placed the entire matter into the hands of his God. Joseph saw God’s hand in what had happened to him. He told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” It didn’t happen quickly, but God used the wicked actions of his brothers to accomplish some tremendous blessings for countless people. The same thing happened with our Savior. Wicked men crucified him. But Jesus placed his life into the hands of his Father and his Father used his crucifixion as the greatest blessing for all people.

And that’s what happens when forgiveness leaves no room for vengeance. It allows us to mimic the actions of God.

Our Lord Jesus knows how hard it is for us to forgive others the way he did. In fact, he knows it’s impossible for us. But that’s why he came to this earth—to perfectly forgive others in our place and to die for our sins in our place. That was his astounding love for us in action. That love now fills our hearts and from that love flows the ability to mimic the actions of our God in loving those who sin against us. May our God empower you to show that kind of forgiveness and Christian love toward others! Amen.

You Are a Leader for Christ!

2011-10-02T08:52:00.000-07:00

16th Sunday after Pentecost, Stewardship Sunday #3, 10/2/11
Joshua 1:6-9

You Are a Leader for Christ!
I. Trust his promises.
II. Know how to lead.

No doubt you know that in our worship today we’re talking about leadership. And the mere mention of the world fills us with mixed emotions, doesn’t it? Throughout our lives we’ve admired good, strong leaders. Our study of history in school often focused on such admirable people. Today we look for good leaders in government and business. Social and charitable organizations depend on good leaders. In our more wistful moments, we even imagine ourselves as such good and effective leaders.

But when the opportunity to lead actually presents itself, we hesitate. Do we really want to get involved at this level? Do we have the time? What will such leadership cost us? What, if any, will be the rewards? Isn’t there someone else who could do a better job?

I imagine all those thoughts and more flooded the mind and heart of Joshua as the Lord spoke these words of our text to him. And notice that God wasn’t asking him if he wanted to lead his people. He was telling Joshua, “You’re the man! You are a leader.” We don’t hear anything about allowing Joshua the opportunity to consider declining this opportunity.

You, too, are a leader. It may not be in great ways, but it’s leadership nonetheless. Rather than shrinking away from it or resisting it, let’s embrace it. You are a leader for Christ! Let’s investigate that truth a little further as we ponder these words of our God and the opportunities for leadership that he presents to us.

Part I.

You recall Joshua, don’t you? About 40 years prior to the day in our text the Lord had led his people out of slavery in Egypt. A short time later, the Israelites were attacked by the Amalekites, and it was Joshua who commanded Israel’s army and led them to victory. Joshua had been a close assistant to Moses for four decades. He accompanied Moses at least part way up Mt. Sinai when Moses received the commandments from the Lord. Joshua was one of the 12 spies who went into the Promised Land to check it out and was one of only two spies who trusted the Lord and proclaimed that, indeed, Israel could conquer the people who lived in it. Because of that, Joshua was one of only two who escaped the Lord’s judgment on the people. All those 20 years old or more perished in the wilderness during the next 40 years. And throughout those years, Joshua was faithfully serving God’s people at the side of Moses.

But everything changed for Joshua on the day the Lord spoke these words to him. You see, Moses had just died. Moses. The one who had led Israel right up to the gates of the Promised Land not once but twice. Moses, the one who wrote the first 5 books of the Bible. Moses, the one who saw the glory of the Lord and spoke with the Lord like no one before him and no one since. Moses, the one who performed miracles by the power of the Lord. Moses, the one whose face once radiated the glory of the Lord.

And now the Lord was placing the mantle of leadership on Joshua. Do you know how difficult it is to replace a great leader? Few succeed. And who remembers them? We all recall the first president of the United States, but how many of us can name the second? Who coached the Green Bay Packers after Vince Lombardi? It’s tough to follow a great leader. No doubt Joshua felt more than a little pressure. These were huge sandals to fill. Was he up to the task? Did he have what it takes? The Israelites often resisted Moses’ leadership, as great as he was. How would they respond to Joshua?

But the Lord doesn’t discuss these things with Joshua. Instead, he says, “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous.” These people numbered about 2 million. Did Joshua have what it would take not only to lead them into the Promised Land but also to conquer it? Would he be a good leader? What if the people wouldn’t listen to him? What if he messed up?

The Lord takes his mind off these pressing questions, and directs Joshua back to him and his word. He reminds Joshua that he had promised to give this land to Joshua’s forefathers—meaning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. What God promises he must deliver. Joshua can count on that as he now leads these people. In other words, the Lord was calling on Joshua to trust him and therefore to be brave and courageous.

That’s what it takes to be a leader for Christ. It takes trust in him not in yourself. You see, that’s our natural inclination. We look in at ourselves and place a sinful confidence in our own abilities or worthiness. We think more of ourselves than we ought. Or the other extreme takes place. We look in at ourselves and become convinced that we have nothing to offer, as if God hasn’t gifted us at all. The solution to both of these pitfalls to leadership is the promises of God. He was faithful to his greatest promise in sending us a Savior who won our forgiveness and our eternal life by his life and his death on the cross. That Savior made us his own by faith in him and has gifted us to serve him faithfully. That service often involves leading others, sometime demonstrably, sometimes quietly. And as we do so, we can be confident of God’s blessings because that’s what he promised. You see, our God never asks from us something he hasn’t already given us. When he calls on us to lead, he doesn’t ask us to do so alone. We’re leading with him. His presence and power are with us always. You are a leader for Christ. As you lead, trust in his promises to you!

Part II.

OK. So our God calls us leaders for Christ. But how should we lead? The Lord discussed that very thing with Joshua. He said, “Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” In short, the Lord tells him, “Be in the word of God. Read it. Study it. Meditate on it.”

The Lord tells us the same thing as we take up the mantle of leadership. There are countless books out there on leadership. I’m sure many of you have read more than a couple of them. But when leading God’s people, there’s only one book that counts, because it’s the only book that comes from the mouth of the Lord. That’s this book, the Bible. To be a leader for Christ that’s the only place we need to look for guidance when we need to know how to lead. That’s the only place we need to look for the motivation to lead. That’s the only place we need to look for forgiveness when we’ve failed to lead properly. That’s the place to look to strengthen our faith and to find the faith to lead God’s people in the way we should go.

But maybe you’re saying to yourself. “But I’m not a leader. I’m a follower.” Really? Are you always a follower? If you’re a husband and a father, God has already made you a leader in your family. You should be leading, not following. And if you’re a wife or mother, you’re leading, too. I hope and pray you’ve led your children to their Savior, Jesus Christ and that you continue to do so. And when your husband needs encouragement or correction from God’s word, I hope you take the lead in providing it in a God-pleasing way. If you’re single, there are all sorts of people in your life that need you to lead them into the truths of God’s word from time to time. Even if you’re a child, you can lead as you give a Christian example and offer a Christian outlook to your friends and others. My point is, even though you may not think of yourself as a leader, there are times every day in your life in which you are. And what a blessing to others that you are a leader for Christ! Your loving God equips you for that very service through his word, the very same word that he commanded Joshua to read, to study, to know.

You are a leader for Christ! Know how to lead. That knowledge comes through God’s word.

In a little more than a year, our country’s voters will elect our nation’s leader for the next four years. I suppose that, as a child, many of us considered serving one day as the President of the United States of America. But I’ll bet few us of, if any of us, still consider it anymore. To be honest, it’s about the last job I would want. The criticism is relentless. Take a look at a picture of our presidents on the day they entered office and the day they left it and how much older they look. The position takes a huge toll on those who serve.

In a sinful world, that’s the way it is with leadership. It’s not easy. Jesus was the world’s greatest and only perfect leader and look how his own people treated him. You, too, are a leader. And when you lead, don’t think that everyone is going to simply fall in line and follow your every move and agree with every decision you make. There will be trouble. And sometimes it’s our own fault. We haven’t been the leaders we should be. We’ve been lazy or unconcerned. Leading has become more about us than it is about the people we’re leading. And when those sins and a host of others appear, know how to lead! Go to God’s word and hear his promise of forgiveness. Ask for forgiveness. The words, “I’m sorry; please forgive me,” are some of the most powerful leadership words ever spoken. And in that same word of God you’ll find the motivation to forgive the sins of those whom you are leading. That motivation is found in Christ who forgave the ones who refused his leadership and nailed him to the cross as he was dying for their sins. The world’s sins. Your sins and mine. That forgiving love and mercy of Jesus empower us to take up the mantle of leadership and be a leader for Christ.

You are a leader for Christ! Instead of hesitating, accept it out of love for Christ. Look for the possibilities in your life to lead others in a God-pleasing way. It’s one of the many ways that we use what we are to the glory of our Savior. That’s Christian stewardship. Different gifts, same grace. May the Lord richly bless your efforts to lead others to him! Amen.

For Such a Time as This!

2011-09-17T10:19:00.001-07:00

14th Sunday after Pentecost, Stewardship Sunday #2, 9/18/11
Esther 4:12-16

For Such a Time as This!
I. A time of vision
II. A time of saving

March 19, 2011. Do you remember what you were doing on that date? Most of you probably don’t. I had to look at the date in my appointment book. It fell on a Saturday during Lent. I had nothing written down on that date, so I probably spent that day much like other Saturdays. How about you? If you don’t recall the date as anything special in your life, you probably spent it in much the same way.

But not if you were Jewish. On March 19, 2011 Jewish people celebrated the festival of Purim. Are you familiar with it? Maybe not. We recall the Passover as one of the Jewish festivals, but that’s not likely with Purim.

Purim is celebrated in honor of a woman named Hadassah. That was her Jewish name. You probably know her better as Esther, the woman highlighted in this morning’s sermon text. Purim also celebrates how God used Esther to save her fellow Jews from Haman’s wicked plot to exterminate them all. Today, the festival of Purim begins in Jewish fashion at sundown and continues into the next day. The celebration involves exchanging gifts of food and drink with neighbors and by doing acts of charity for the poor. In other words, it’s about contributing the needs of others and being generous in doing so. And there’s the point of contact between this text and our stewardship focus this morning.

That Esther found herself in a position to offer her help was due to her uncle, a man named Mordecai. It was Mordecai who reminded Esther that God had placed her in her position for such a time as this. For such a time as this. Let’s use those words as our encouragement in contributing to the needs of others and doing so generously.

Part I.

How much do you recall about Esther? Perhaps you recall that she became the queen of the Babylonians, the greatest nation on the earth in her day. Her immediate past had been rosy, to say the least. As a young Jewish woman she was chosen as one of many young women to be in the running for the position of queen. For an entire year she was pampered beyond the wildest dreams of most women. There were 6 months of oil treatments for her skin and another 6 months of perfume and cosmetic treatments, all to make her as beautiful as possible for the day on which Xerxes would choose one of these women to be his queen. Esther was his choice. And now she was enjoying her royal position. Things had turned out quite well for her!

But her distant past—that was another story. She was one of the exiles from Judah living in Babylon. Worse yet, she was orphaned and living with her cousin. Her future at that point was as uncertain as could be.

With that being the case, when she was chosen as a queen candidate, do you suppose Esther had the mindset, “It’s about time! After all I’ve been through I deserve a break like this!”? We don’t know for sure, but maybe she did.

And we can relate to that. Even though we haven’t been through an exile and likely aren’t orphaned, life has been difficult for us at times. In fact, there are times when we wonder how much more we can take. And then something good comes along, something unexpected. At first we may feel thankful. In fact, we may wonder, “Why me? Why should this wonderful thing happen to me?” but then it isn’t long before we often assume the opposite mindset, “Why not me? I watch as good things happen to other people who are far less deserving than I am. So this time it’s my turn. In fact, I was overdue for something good to happen to me.” Our focus is all on ourselves.

Esther seems to have fallen into that mindset. The wicked Haman had hatched a plot to kill all the Jews. In fact, he had duped King Xerxes into signing it into law. Esther, who had attained the highest position of any woman in the powerful Babylonian Empire, perhaps thought she was safe in her posh palace. But that’s when her Uncle Mordecai reminded her, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.” He reminded her of the grim fact that the new law demanded her execution as well. His words called for her to remove her focus from herself, and to place it on her people and the terrible days that lay ahead for them. He called her to action with these words, “For you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” He was calling on her to lift her eyes beyond the gold covered walls of her palace and out of her comfy confines in order to see the plight of her people and the tremendous opportunity she had to contribute to the needs of others and to do so generously. For such a time as this—a time of vision!

Jesus once said that each day has enough trouble of its own (Mt. 6:34) and we know how true that is! Many are the times when we feel we have more than our fair share of trouble. And that’s one of the reasons that our vision is often trained right here, on ourselves. And the longer it stays there the easier it becomes to leave it there. To make matters worse, we’re fighting our sinful nature which places blinders over our eyes if we try to look anywhere besides at ourselves. But on the other hand, we like to think we’re conscientious and considerate of others. We like to think we help where we can and when we can. We even like to think that we’re generous in doing so. But the truth is we conveniently pass up opportunities to contribute to the needs of others. We can find more than enough excuses to do so. We remind ourselves that we need to focus on old number one—ourselves.

How different Jesus was! He was all about humility, coming to this earth to serve us, not himself. He knew exactly what he needed to do to help a world full of undeserving sinners. His vision was worldwide. His vision led him all the way to Calvary’s cross where he suffered the punishment for every sin and won our eternal rescue. Christ’s love for us caused him to call us as his own. Part of our calling as a Christians is to contribute to the needs of others, generously. Our God has placed us here for such a time as this.

Part II.

In short order Esther agreed with her Uncle Mordecai. She realized she had been placed in her position as queen for such a time as this.

But it led her to count the cost. Think about it. Maybe Mordecai was wrong. Maybe her life would be spared. Going to the king uninvited was very risky business. You see, rulers in those days had to be wary of assassination attempts constantly. Anyone walking into the king’s presence uninvited was suspect and could be killed on the spot. Esther was risking her life, her posh surroundings, her position as queen, her entire future by attempting to help her people.

Do you think she struggled with selfishness? We’re not told she was, but it’s a good bet that she struggled with it at least momentarily. Wouldn’t you? Everything she had worked hard to attain was in the balance.

But she decided to act. Perhaps she was most persuaded by one thing Mordecai said more than all the others. He had said, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place.” How could he be so sure? Many commentators take his words to be his unshaken trust in God’s promises to deliver his people as dire as their situation might become. After all, he had promised to send the world’s Savior through these people and that hadn’t happened yet. He would have to deliver some of them somehow.

And that turns our thoughts to Jesus. He, too, had to count the cost. It didn’t take him long. All along he knew that rescuing sinners from eternal hell would cost him his life. He knew that was the plan. He knew that’s why he had come to this earth.

And he willingly paid it. Never once did selfishness enter his heart and mind. In fact, he spoke words of encouragement to others as he was led up Calvary’s hill to his death. How amazing! And while he was on the cross, he looked after the needs of his mother, not his own. He was concerned that his heavenly Father would forgive his enemies. In spite of the taunts to prove who he was by saving himself and coming down from cross, he willingly stayed nailed there until all was fulfilled, until his work for us was finished.

Jesus knew that he had been placed here for such a time as this—a time of saving. In a smaller way, Esther realized that as well.

Is that part of your vision? Part of our calling as God’s people is to save others in ways small and large. Our entire lifetime is our “for such a time as this” moment. Is there someone in your life that needs saving from a huge dilemma? Then this is your time to do what you can. Maybe you know someone who is struggling with countless smaller things that, combined, are overwhelming them. Then this is your time to help with at least of few of those things.

But how about expanding your saving vision a little farther? Try seeing sinners the way Jesus did—as lost souls who need the salvation he offers. Perhaps you could make sure someone gets to church by inviting them to come with you. Maybe there’s a young person who has the gifts for the teaching or preaching ministry and you can offer a word of encouragement or participate in our education fund. Maybe you could find a mission or a ministry that interests you and support it above and beyond your offerings and interest here. Maybe there’s a child who needs to hear the simple truths about their Savior Jesus.

You see, it’s all about Jesus. He’s the one who came to help eternally condemned people from extermination in hell. He won our forgives and makes us holy in the eyes of our God. He gives us life with him forever.

That’s what moves us to act for such a time as this. May our God fill your life with opportunities to help others physically and spiritually! Amen.

You Are a Gifted Servant!

2011-09-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

13th Sunday after Pentecost, Stewardship Sunday #1, 9/11/11
Matthew 25:14-30

You Are a Gifted Servant!
I. Look how generously your Master gives.
II. Realize what a joy it is to use your gifts.

“If only I had done something, things would have been different.” We’ve all thought those words and have spoken those words countless times in our lives. We had the opportunity, but let it pass. A harsher way of describing it is that we wasted an opportunity and that fills us with regret.

Wasted opportunities, wasted time, wasted abilities. How pitiful! How sad!

And we try to console ourselves by thinking we couldn’t have done anything anyway. What we had to offer wouldn’t have mattered.

Jesus knows how tempted we are to waste our opportunities and our abilities. He saw it in his own disciples. Thus he spoke this parable to them just three days before his death. You see, Jesus knew that soon his work on this earth would be finished, but that would mean the beginning of the work of his disciples as he sent them out into the world as his apostles. As they went out, he wanted them to use the talents he had given. He wanted them to understand just how gifted he had made them.

And he’s done the same with us. He says to each of us, “You are a gifted servant!” Join me in seeing how true that is and what our Lord wants us to do with the gifts he’s entrusted to us.

Part I.

Jesus used this parable to teach his followers how to use what he has given them. The parable’s main character is a man with servants and money. While it doesn’t explicitly say so, we assume the man was rich. Since he was going on a journey, he decided to entrust his wealth to his servants. The text says he gave one servant five talents, one servant two talents and one servant one talent. A talent in Bible times was a unit of weight, about 75 pounds. It came to be used for a certain unit of coinage. Suffice it to say that it was a lot of money, thousands of dollars. He entrusted it to them because he knew them. He knew how they had worked for him and had shown that they had his best interests in mind.

And not only was he rich, he was also generous. As I mentioned, the amount he doled out was not pocket change. He entrusted thousands of dollars to these three men. And notice how he did it. He didn’t give each of them the same amount. Again, he knew these men. He knew their abilities. He entrusted more to the one who had the most ability. He entrusted lesser amounts to the other two. That’s not showing favoritism. He’s entrusting them with an amount they can handle with their abilities.

That generosity continued upon his return. He praised two of them generously, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” This man doesn’t want to hoard his possessions or the joy that is his. He wants to share them with his faithful servants and he does so generously. They were gifted servants and he generously gives them blessings.

We understand these details, but what’s the point for us? We often view our lives from the perspective of what we don’t have. Jesus looks at it from the perspective of what we do have. Just look what he’s given us! Let’s start looking first where every Christian should, and that’s at our spiritual blessings. We’re children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Our sins are fully forgiven in Christ. He brought us into his eternal family at our baptisms and now he continues to keep us in the faith through his word and his Holy Supper. We have his word in its truth and purity. He blesses us with fellow Christians with whom we share life’s joys and sorrows. We could go on and on.

He also blesses us with abilities and talents. Our English word “talent” comes from this very parable. When I look at our congregation, I’m always amazed at the variety and the depth of talents God has given. The way you use your minds, your hands, your voices amazes me.

And don’t forget the material blessings. It’s easy in this economy to think about what we don’t have. But look at what we have! Many of us could get rid of half of what we have and still live comfortably. Who doesn’t have closets and drawers stuffed full? We have more than we need in so many cases.

Jesus gives us all these things so that we can use them to his glory. What a privilege that is! As the Bible repeatedly states, these things come from our generous God and belong to him. He entrusts them to us for a time to use and to enjoy. That’s why we call it stewardship. We’re stewards or managers of the things God has given us. That includes everything we have. What a privilege to be given so much!

But we don’t think that way, do we? Instead, we think we should be entrusted with more. We wonder why God doesn’t give us more. After all, haven’t we shown that we can be entrusted with more? Let’s go back to where we began. Wasted opportunities. Wasted time. Wasted abilities. And now we think we should be entrusted with more?

In fact, let’s be honest. We’ve never been perfectly faithful using anything God has given us. At least at one time or another and usually many times over and over again we’ve misused every single thing God has entrusted to us. Instead of pleading to God for more, we need to be pleading for his mercy. To be faithful servants we’re going to need an extreme makeover of sorts.

And that’s exactly what Jesus did for us and does for us. He forgives us. Only he perfectly used everything he possessed to be our Savior. He did that as our holy substitute. And now he washes our sins away with his holy blood. He renews us as his people so that we can serve him and others with what he has entrusted to us. Indeed, you are a gifted servant. Look how generously your Master gives to you!

Part II.

Indeed, we are gifted servants of our Lord Jesus. But how should we use what we have?

The parable before us describes two very opposite options. The first two servants used what was entrusted to them faithfully. Let me emphasize that. Faithfully. That’s what their master commended them for. They sprang into action with what was entrusted to them. They put it to work immediately. And when their master returned, they considered it their privilege to return his talents to him along with the profit they had gained. Again, they were commended for their faithfulness, not for what they earned.

But the third servant was a different story. He “went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.” What he did took more work than simply depositing the money in a bank. And then, when his master rightly accuses him of laziness and wickedness, he falsely accuses his master. He calls him a hard man, meaning that he’s cruel and ruthless. The truth about his master, as we recently discussed, is that the master is generous with all that he has. He even wants to share his happiness with his servants. What better master could there be? But this wicked servant fails to realize it.

But isn’t it interesting the way Jesus told this parable? Why wasn’t the five-talent servant the one guilty of unfaithfulness? After all, wouldn’t that have been the greater crime? Perhaps. But then each of us could have replied, “But I’m not a 5-talent type of person. So the Lord doesn’t expect much from me. In fact, if I don’t use my talent, no one will notice.”

And that’s what Jesus condemns—not using your gift or your gifts at all. It’s so easy to do—to take what Jesus has given us and to bury it rather than use it.

This Sunday we’re focusing our stewardship attention on using our gifts to serve others. That sounds like an easy concept, but in practice it’s difficult for every one of us. When faced with the opportunity to serve others, we’re going to do battle with our sinful nature which is selfish to the core. That selfishness convinces us that we don’t have the time, when in reality time is the one gift that all of us have in exactly equal amounts—24 hours every day for every one of us. It’s just how we chose to use it. Or we tell ourselves that someone else is more gifted than we are—a 5-talent type person—and could do a better job than we could, so we won’t use what level of gift we have at all. Finally, we convince ourselves that, if we don’t help, if we don’t serve, if we don’t give, it won’t matter anyway. No one will miss it.

To all those actions and attitudes Jesus says, “You wicked, lazy servant! Is that all you think of the tremendous gifts I’ve entrusted to you?” And even when we think we’ve done our share, we still earn Jesus’ condemnation, not his commendation. Doing our share implies we merit what we receive. Jesus once said, “When you’ve done everything, you’re still unworthy” (Luke 17:10). That’s because such an attitude forgets the grace of our God, a grace which sent us Jesus as our Savior, a grace which sacrificed him on the cross for all of our unfaithfulness. That’s also a grace which forgives us and restores us and motivates us to serve others. Recalling what our God gave us in his Son, Jesus, moves us to serve others, to support God’s kingdom work with our offerings, and to use our talents and abilities faithfully and to do so with joy.

By God’s grace you are a gifted servant. May love for Christ fill you and guide you as you serve your God and your neighbors with what he has entrusted to you. And may that service then fill you with joy. Amen.

Yes, Jesus Does Walk on Water!

2011-09-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

12th Sunday after Pentecost, 9/4/11
Matthew 14:22-33

Yes, Jesus Does Walk on Water!
I. To rescue fearful followers
II. To strengthen doubting disciples

“So, you think you walk on water!” Perhaps you’ve heard that expression in the past. If so, it was likely spoken to someone who thought a little too highly of themselves and their abilities. Perhaps they were boasting about what they had accomplished and would accomplish, as if they had complete control of the outcome. In other words, they were making statements that only God could make about himself.

As God’s people who have gathered here this morning to hear his word, we know how that statement came into being. It’s from the event Matthew records for us of Jesus walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee.

But I can’t help but wonder how many people today would recognize that statement as having a biblical connection. How many people would truly know what that comment means? “Walk on water? What are you talking about?” It’s another example of modern biblical illiteracy. In fact, if you were to use that statement to describe someone standing in front of you, you might get the response, “Walk on water? No, I can’t do that. Who could?”

Well, Jesus could. And he did. He really walked on water and he enabled Peter to do the same. And as with everything else Jesus ever said or did, it was for a critical spiritual reason as the world’s only Savior. Yes, Jesus does walk on water! Follow with me as we make our way through this familiar Bible account and discover why he did so.

Part I.

Have you ever gotten yourself into a difficult situation and, at one point, you stopped and pondered, “How did I ever get myself into this?”? We’ve all been there. We look back over the weeks and months and rehash the timeline of events. All along we thought we knew where we were headed, but we were wrong. We never realized that this is where we were going. If we had known, we would have made changes so it we wouldn’t have ended up where we are now. Such an exercise fills us with regret, but it’s an inevitable part of human life. We find ourselves in situations we never imagined.

But that never happened to Jesus. He was always in complete control of all things. That’s apparent in the opening words of our text. We read, “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.” Immediately after what, and why did he make the disciples leave? Well, it was immediately after he had miraculously fed the 5,000 as we heard about last Sunday. John tells us that after being fed, the crowd wanted to take Jesus by force and make him their bread king. Jesus knew that was coming. He didn’t want the disciples to be there when that ungodly, satanic temptation arose. So he sent them away and spared them from this spiritual attack on their faith.

But he sent them out in a boat on the Sea of Galilee only to have their lives threatened by a fierce storm at night. Didn’t he know that? Of course he did. But that’s not a problem because, yes, Jesus does walk on water.

Here’s the situation. Earlier in the chapter we read that evening was approaching. But Jesus sent his disciples on their way in a boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. We don’t hear that he received any reluctance from the disciples. Obviously, the trip was doable in the amount of daylight left under normal weather conditions. What’s more, in that boat were some seasoned fishermen who knew that lake like the proverbial back of their fishermen’s hands.

And away they sailed. But a storm arose. Matthew tells us, “but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.” It must have been a fierce storm, the kind that suddenly arose on the Sea of Galilee because of the topography. And these experienced fishermen and the other disciples were helpless—for hours! Again, they had left with enough daylight remaining to make the 6-mile trip. Matthew says they had gone, “a considerable distance.” John tells us it was about 3 miles. And Matthew informs us how long they had been in that boat. Jesus came to them in the fourth watch of the night. That’s 3-6 AM! They may have been out in that boat for 8 hours or more for a trip that should have taken less than an hour. They were in some serious trouble!

That’s why Jesus came to them. He came walking on the water. If you read commentators on these verses you’ll find all sorts of fanciful and weird explanations, such as the water directly below Jesus became firm and calm like thick glass. That glassy calm stretched like a path before Jesus out to the boat, enabling him to walk on water. Let’s not go there. Look, Jesus was involved in the creation of water out of nothing. He has the almighty power to suspend the laws of nature governing water and his ability to walk on surfaces we can’t. It was an amazing, miraculous thing!

But his watery walk to the boat wasn’t well-received by the disciples. Under the stress of the storm and being the fickle sinners that they were, they were filled with fear. Matthew writes, “They were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear.” I suppose we can understand their reaction. After all, it was dark. What’s more, no one walks in water. Their irrational minds immediately thought they were seeing a ghost.

But with a few simple sentences, Jesus drives their fear away. “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Jesus was now physically present with them and he shared his all-powerful word with them. And his fearful followers realized how completely their situation had changed. They were no longer in danger. The Son of God was right there with them. He had walked on the water to come to them to calm their fears.

Yes, Jesus does walk on water. He does so to rescue fearful followers.

Yes, Jesus does walk on water. He still can if he so chooses. But don’t expect him to miraculously come to you the next time you’re caught in a weather storm or some other storm of your own making. In fact, he hasn’t promised to remove any of the problems that you’re facing. The truth is, he told us our lives will be full of trouble and we know how true that is. We deal with trouble every day. We’re exhausted at the end of each day, and we fall asleep knowing we’ll face another day full of more trouble. I hate to sound pessimistic, but isn’t it true? And yet Jesus walks on water to rescue us. He has promised that he is always with us. He has promised to shield and protect us as he sees best. And he has already rescued us, spiritually speaking. That’s what his death and resurrection were all about. He rescued us from the punishment of hell. He pulled us into the safety of his eternal kingdom. It will all turn out well for you eternally. Yes, Jesus does walk on water!

Part II.

But Jesus wasn’t the only one to walk on water that day. So did Peter.

Many have questioned Peter’s motives. Listen once again to what he said to Jesus. “‘Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” Some figure this is Peter being true to character. He wanted to push himself forward as the leader of the disciples. Perhaps he even wanted to do a little showing off.

What’s more, we might not be impressed with Peter’s statement. He said, “If it’s you.” That sounds like he doubts that this is really Jesus who physically walked on water and now stood before him.

Realize that Jesus wouldn’t have told Peter to come to him if his motive was to show off or if he was full of doubt about who was standing in front of him. It’s seems far better to take Peter’s words as a statement of faith. He speaks a condition of reality. “If it’s you, and indeed it is.” Peter believes it is Jesus, and thus, he’s no longer afraid. And in his boldness of faith, Peter not only believes Jesus can walk on water, he also believes Jesus can make Peter walk on water. And that’s exactly what happens.

But only for a short while. Doubts arose in Peter’s heart when he took his eyes off his Savior and focused on the waves driven by the wind. Matthew’s comments are brief. “beginning to sink, [he] cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” For a moment, Peter’s faith faltered. In the face of a natural threat to his life—the waves—he forgot the supernatural power of his Savior. Immediately he began to sink.

But that’s why Jesus had walked on water in the first place. He had come to rescue his disciples. And so he “reached out his hand and caught him.” And then notice what he said to Peter, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” That’s a good question, isn’t it? Has Jesus ever given us a reason to doubt his love and his power? Why would we doubt the One who died for us and rose again from the dead for us? The pages of Scripture are filled with the evidence of his power and love in the lives of his people. And that’s why he came walking on the water.

Yes, Jesus does walk on water. He does so to strengthen doubting disciples.

What doubts fill your life? Doubts about your children? Your health? Your financial resources? Doubts that Jesus will really make things work out for you? Remember, Jesus really does walk on water. More than that, he died and rose again to rescue you eternally. Is there any doubt he’s going to get you through whatever in life you’re facing so that you reach that eternal goal he won for you? There’s no doubt because yes, Jesus does walk on water. Amen.

God’s Love for You Conquers All!

2011-08-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

11th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/28/11
Romans 8:35-39

God’s Love for You Conquers All!

Recently I overheard a member of one of our churches declare, “We’re not winning. My salary and benefits have been cut, food costs are up. The price of gasoline is up. I’ve made quite a few cuts already and I’m still running deeper into the hole each month. We’re not winning.”

Can you sympathize with this person? I’m sure you can. No matter what age-group you fall into, you know to one degree or another what this person is facing. We’re not winning. If you pay any attention to the news, you know that’s not only true personally and locally, it’s true all over our state and nation. About once a week you hear the debate about a double-dip recession and whether or not we’re in one. We’re not winning.

And I’m not just talking economically. It’s true across the board. Our society is unraveling. The family unit is under attack. Countless people no longer even strive for what we call the traditional family. For all too many people, “family” has become whatever people are in their lives at any particular juncture.

We’re not winning in the area of education either. The cost of our education system at the elementary, high school and college levels long ago outpaced our financial ability to maintain. One of the results is that our students years ago fell in the global academic rankings. We’re not winning.

What’s more, we can’t seem to agree on how to address our insatiable appetite for energy. The amount we use each day is staggering, but the resources in many cases are finite. Sooner or later we’ll run out. What then? We’re not winning.

We’re not winning the war on crime either. It’s hard to believe that when you drive the I75/I70 interchange that it’s one of the busiest illegal drug routes in the nation, but it’s true. The authorities can only stop so much of it from getting through. We hear daily reports of violent crimes and even the abuse of children by their own parents. Daily. We’re not winning.

But that’s enough about the battles out there that we’re not winning. We all have our own personal battles we’re not winning as well. Perhaps you know what it’s like to go further and further into an economic hole each month. Sure some of it might be due to your own poor choices, but in so many other areas it’s through no fault of your own. We’re not winning.

And for all the advances in the medical field—and, believe me, nearly every day it seems like there’s a new and better method or procedure that just a couple years ago were unthinkable—for all those advances, we still can’t seem to find the help we need for ourselves. And sometimes, even when we do know what will help us, it’s out of reach for us financially. We’re not winning.

And we’re not winning in our relationships either. If we’re honest, all of us have at least one we should be working on in order to improve it. For one reason or another there’s a barrier there, and we just can’t bring ourselves to address it. So the relationship silently suffers. We’re not winning.

I’m sure you could add to that list. But that’s enough for now. Instead of adding to our own, let’s listen to the Apostle Paul’s here in Romans 8. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” Paul’s list isn’t random. There’s a progression to it. “Trouble” is something the presses down on us. “Hardship” is something that presses us from the front and back. These first two words indicate a situation in which there seems to be no escape. The third word, “persecution” helps us understand the realm of the trouble and hardship to which Paul refers. These are verbal, physical and economic difficulties that come to us because of our connection with Christ. We’re persecuted. And that persecution causes us to flee, resulting in a lack of food and the lack of proper clothing. Finally comes the “sword.” In Paul’s day that was a very real possibility. Christians were martyred for their faith in Christ. In a sense, they we’re winning.

Martyred. Wait a minute. That’s not one of the battles we’re losing. We hope and pray we never have to face it. But it’s a real possibility. It happened in the past. In some places in our world it’s still happening. And that fact begs us to ask the question, “Why? Why are these terrible things happening to me and other Christians? Shouldn’t we be winning?”

Paul answers those questions this way, “As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’” Paul quotes Psalm 44—not one of the most familiar psalms. But if you’re ever in the middle of a personal pity party, I urge you to read it. The psalm writer observes that the Lord allowed his people to be crushed even though they were being faithful to him. That’s the way it is in this sinful world. Faithfulness to the Lord doesn’t bring endless earthly pleasure. Just the opposite. It brings suffering.

And when we’re suffering even though we’ve done nothing wrong to bring it on us, we wonder what God has against us. The truth is, it’s actually the Accuser, Satan himself, whispering in our ear that God must be lying to us. God tells us in his word that Jesus died for all our sins. Therefore we are forgiven. God has justified us, declaring us to be not guilty. But Satan tells us that our outward circumstances—our sufferings—seem to state the exact opposite. It appears God does have something against us and our record of sins has not been cleared by Jesus Christ.

And when that’s our frame of mind, then there’s no hope left. Then the only recourse we have is to try to pay for our own sins. So, what are you going to pay God? Money? You don’t have enough to pay for a single sin. Good works? God says in his word that your good works are like filthy rags. They don’t earn anything. Endless prayers? God calls that noisy babbling. Sacrifice something that’s valuable to you? God says such sacrifices are a stench in his nostrils.

Pretty hopeless, isn’t it? And when we’re hopeless, where do we turn? To the only hope we have. We turn to Christ and to the love of our God. Recall Christ’s death. Innocent though he was of every sin, he willingly went to death for us, for you, for me. That death wasn’t just a tragic case of injustice. It was the linchpin in God’s eternal plan to save sinners. Christ died our death. His death appeased the justice of God.

But a dead Savior is a loser, not a winner. But death couldn’t keep its hold on Christ. As the God who created life, he raised himself from the dead as promised at the crack of dawn on the third day. His resurrection is the guarantee of his victory over Satan and the grave. Our situation therefore, no matter how dismal it may be, isn’t hopeless. In fact, it’s full of hope.

You see, Jesus died and rose again to make you a member of his eternal kingdom. He shed his blood to make you his own forever. He brought you into his kingdom when he brought you to faith in him as your personal Savior. He placed his name on you at your baptism, calling you a child of God. He has promised to work everything out for your good.

And that “everything” includes the difficulties and tragedies that we experience in this life. It includes the economic hardships and the physical ailments. It includes the heartaches of broken relationships and the stress of daily living. All of these are part of living as a child of God in God’s kingdom. That’s what Paul tells us in his quote from Psalm 44.

And yet over all these troubles stands the God who created us and saved us. Listen to Paul’s grand statement of confidence, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Nothing in our world can separate us from the love of God. He’s the creator of all things. He controls all things. He loves us with an eternal love that he showed for us when he sacrificed his Son for us.

And in that eternal love for us, he planned out our eternity with him. We talked about that last Sunday based on words from this same chapter of Romans. God knew you by name back in eternity as one of his own children. Back in eternity he destined you for eternity with him in heaven. Now in time he has called you to be his own by faith in Jesus and by faith in Jesus he has justified you—declared you to be innocent or holy. The final thing he will do for you is to glorify you in heaven with him.

But given all the trouble we face on a daily basis, that almost sounds too good to be true. Can we really expect that glory awaits us when we deal with trouble every day? We couldn’t if any part of the glory depended on us. But that’s not the case. Thank God it isn’t the case. Instead, in his eternal love for us our God already accomplished our eternal glory for us. Go back to Christ. That’s what his life here on earth and his death and his resurrection were all about. The entire life of Jesus isn’t simply a nice story for us to know. It’s God’s saving truth for us to believe and to trust.

To people who trust in Christ as their Savior from sin and yet who come to the conclusion in all sorts of aspects of their lives that, “We’re not winning.” Jesus says, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

And that brings us to this comforting, powerful truth: God’s love for you conquers all!” Believe it! Amen.

It's All Good for You!

2011-08-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

10th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/21/11
Romans 8:28-30

It’s All Good for You!
I. Now, because God works it that way
II. Eternally, because God plans it that way

“How’s it going?” We hear and read that question so many times each day that it’s almost cliché. It’s become a form of greeting such as “hello.” And with that being the case, we usually answer quickly with something such as, “I’m fine. How are you?” in order to get this opening formality out of the way so that we can get on to what we really want to talk about.

But today, right now, I sincerely mean it. How’s it going? If you answer that question honestly and fully, you’d probably make a verbal two-column list. Here are the things that are going well for you. Here are the things that are not going well for you. And while the first column might list some great blessings, the second column might list some great difficulties and hardships. Cancer. Debilitating pain or fatigue. Unemployment. Underemployment. The painful end of a relationship with a friend or relative, a son or daughter. How many more items can you add to that short list? And you’re not alone. People throughout our community and our country are hurting with you.

And yet, when I ask you, “How’s it going?” as a child of God you can answer, “Everything’s working out great for me.” Really? Isn’t that a little dishonest? After all, we all have our troubles. In today’s gospel Jesus even mentioned the crosses we must bear as his followers. Everything’s working out great for me? Indeed it is! It’s all good for you! That’s exactly what our Lord declares to us through St. Paul this morning. It’s all good for you! Let’s see how as he shares his word with us this morning.

Part I.

If everything were perfect in your life, where would you be right now? I would think you would be any place but here in church. Think about it. If everything were going just as you wanted it to in your life, why would you need to come to worship? If your life were trouble-free, what need would you have for God? We come to worship because we recognize that we all have a huge problem in our lives called sin and it brings daily troubles into our lives. We come to worship because we realize how deeply we need a Savior. If your life were trouble-free, you’d be out there enjoying it, not here receiving your God’s comfort and guidance. That’s why it’s true that our troubles in life drive us to our Savior-God.

But what are our reactions to life’s difficulties? Well, one of them is blame. When life gets tough we find someone to blame. We blame God. After all, he’s in control of all things, isn’t he? So why did he let it happen? Why doesn’t he do something about it? We blame God.

Or we blame others. And we shoot the arrows of blame all around us—family members, neighbors, co-workers, government officials, social and business contacts. We’re just a victim on all sorts of fronts.

We also tend to react to difficulties in life with self-pity. “I’m the only one who suffers like this. No one has it as bad as I do. Why does this always happen to me? Why can’t my life be like theirs? I try to do what’s right and I suffer. That person surely isn’t a Christian and look how easy they have it.” Sound familiar? It does to me.

Worst of all, when facing life’s difficulties, we despair. Thankfully, it’s only momentarily. We take the attitude that no one and nothing are going to help us. It’s apparent to us that God doesn’t know what we’re going through. And if he does, either he doesn’t care or he can’t do anything about it. That’s despair.

But permit me now to turn your situation completely around. The Lord himself tells you, “It’s all good for you.” Listen to what he says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” All things. Go back to your two verbal columns. Recall those blessings that you listed. “All things” includes every one of them. That sounds obvious. Of course my blessings are working out for my good. But consider this: God gives you those blessings in just the right amount at any particular time in your life to make them work out for your good. Your God gives you just the right amount of health and security and protection and wealth to make all things work out for your good. We often wish we had more of a certain blessing, but God knows that such an amount would not be for our good.

And in your second verbal column, he allows just the right amount of difficulties, challenges, set-backs and even tragedies to come into our lives. The past 7 days might have been really hard for you. Aren’t you glad you’re here listening to God’s comforting promises? The next 7 days might be even more difficult. Aren’t you glad you’re here? The troubles in our lives don’t allow us to get too proud, too self-centered, too complacent, that we forget about our need for our Savior-God.

So, when asked, “How’s it going?” you can honestly say, “It’s all good.” It’s all good for you now because God works it that way.

We just have a hard time seeing it and thus, we don’t trust our God to do so. We complain about today and we worry about tomorrow. We spend too much of our God-given time wishing our situation were different instead of trusting that our situation is what’s best for us now. But how can that be if we’re suffering? Because your God’s love for you isn’t temporary or intermittent. It’s eternal. Yes, he’s concerned about what you’re facing now. He’s so concerned about you that he wants to spend eternity with you and he’s using what you’re facing now to reach that goal. Every one of our troubles in life should remind us that Jesus took on our flesh and blood in order to put an end to them. Without Jesus’ perfect life and his death on a cross, our troubles now would be nothing compared to the eternal suffering we would face. In his eternal love for us, Jesus sacrificed himself for us. And now, in his eternal love for us, he uses everything we’re facing in life to help us reach that goal of eternal life with him. It’s all good for you!

Part II.

Eternal life. That’s really where St. Paul is leading us. He wants us to lift our soul’s eyes from the problems we’re facing here to the glory that awaits us there.

I’ve been told that global businesses have found it necessary to be able to change focus and direction extremely quickly. To cite a fictitious example, when the market for big screen TVs dries up, the manufacturer needs to be able to transition to making chocolate candy bars, if that’s what the global market demands. In other words, they can’t tell you what they’ll be doing 30 years from now.

But your God can. He can tell you exactly where you’ll be not just 30 years from now, but for an eternity. In fact, he’s been planning it already for an eternity. Think about that. It boggles the mind! We get so wrapped up thinking about the problems we face today, but God has been all wrapped up thinking about you from eternity! He’s been planning and acting to assure your eternal future.

Well, what has he been doing? Listen to Paul inform you, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

Paul lists five activities on God’s part to assure your eternal life. Let’s take brief look at each one. First, he foreknew you. The Bible clearly states that God knew you by name as his own child in eternity. He has been thinking of you by name forever. And we’re tempted to think that God has momentarily forgotten about us?! Absurd!

Since he knew you as his own, he predestined you to be with him. The idea here in this Greek word means that God put a boundary around you and marked you off as his own. He didn’t do that just a few years or a few decades ago. He did it back in eternity.

And notice the purpose for that action. He wants you to be like his Son. In what way? Jesus was the first to enter heaven with a glorified body. You and I and all believers will follow Christ’s lead on the Last Day when we enter heaven with glorified bodies. Sure we have troubles now, but look what God has in store for us!

Next, Paul says that God called us. For most of us, the Holy Spirit did that at our baptisms. For others, he did that when he used the spoken good news about Jesus to bring us to faith. That’s when he “called us by the gospel.” Notice that God didn’t do this activity in eternity. He did that during our time here on earth.

Fourthly, he justified us. Having called us by faith in Jesus, God also brought us the holiness of Jesus. He made Christ’s righteousness our righteousness so that we stand before the eyes of God as his holy people.

And lastly, he glorified us. Notice Paul uses the past tense even though it hasn’t happened to us yet. But it’s so certain that it will happen that Paul sees it already as an accomplished fact. And why wouldn’t God glorify us? That’s been his plan from all eternity. That puts our daily troubles into perspective, doesn’t it?

It’s all good for you eternally, because God plans it that way.

Life is full of the unexpected, sometime tragically so. There are many detours, and we don’t understand why. But your God sees your life here on earth and forever with him with omniscient clarity. He has it all planned out. It’s all good for you! So what now? Stay in the word of God. Receive his Holy Supper. Daily recognize your need for forgiveness and daily trust in Christ for that forgiveness. That’s a life that leads to eternal glory. It’s all good for you! God promises that to you. Count on him! Trust him! Amen.

What Kind of Soil Are You?

2011-08-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

8th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/7/11
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

What Kind of Soil Are You?

People tend to categorize things and other people. Manufacturers will categorize their own product line as “good, better and best.” Retailers will inform you that, of all the choices they offer you, this one particular item is categorized as the best value. We also categorize things such as sports teams and musical groups from worst to best.

We even do it with individuals. As open-minded as we try to be with others, as accepting as we may think we are, as non-judgmental as we try to be, we have a natural inclination to gently or not-so-gently place that person in a certain category, especially after we have come to know them. We do it with our fellow-employees, with our business and social contacts, with our neighbors, and even with our fellow-members here at church. And I’m not saying that this is a sinful activity which we should avoid. I’m simply saying that’s the way we operate. We place this person here and that person there and this other person over there in the grand assessments we inevitably make of others.

This morning we have before us what is likely the most well-known of all the parables that Jesus spoke—the Parable of the Sower. That’s the title of it here in our version of the Bible. That title isn’t in the original Greek. Others have referred to it as the Parable of the Sower and the Seed. In it, Jesus categorizes the soil into four different types and then explains each type. Have you ever asked yourself why he would do that? After all, Jesus did everything for a reason. And while Jesus doesn’t explicitly tell us why, a hint is given to us here in Matthew’s Gospel.

That hint is found in the context. The first three words of our text tell us, “That same day.” What same day? The one treated in the previous chapter. On that day Jesus had healed a man who was demon-possessed. The reaction to this miracle by the Pharisees was that he did this miracle by the power of Satan. Jesus pointed out how foolish and ridiculous such a statement was. The Pharisees and teachers of the law then asked Jesus for a miraculous sign from him, one from the heavens, proving that he had come from heaven and not from hell. Jesus told them they would be given the sign of the prophet Jonah, meaning, they should watch for his resurrection from the dead after three days. Jesus was astounded at their hard hearts.

And then came what was likely the most difficult situation Jesus had yet faced. His mother and brothers stood outside the home where Jesus was speaking to a crowd of people and wanted to speak with him. About what? Mark informs us that they considered Jesus to be out of his mind and wanted to get him the help that he needed. In other words, at this point they didn’t at all support Jesus and his ministry. They opposed what he was preaching and teaching about himself. Jesus must have been crushed. This was the response his word was receiving! This was the kind of soil his seed was falling on!

And so, with a large crowd of people standing on the shore, Jesus got into a boat, sat down and said, “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.” In Bible times, farmers didn’t carefully place one seed after another into the soil and then cover it as you and I might do in our vegetable gardens today. That took too much time. They simply reached into a bag, grabbed a handful of seed and scattered it about them. And in Bible times, it was common for footpaths and animal paths to cut right through a particular field. As he scattered the seed, some inadvertently fell on that path where the ground was too hard for the seed to fall into the soil. That’s exactly what the birds were waiting for. They quickly came and ate it.

Jesus explains, “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.” He doesn’t understand it. Why not? Not for lack of teaching, but for the individual’s refusal to acknowledge its truth. All this talk about sin and its punishment and God and his grace in sending a Savior from sin seems like utter nonsense. The person refuses to acknowledge their sin or their need for such a Savior, perhaps even refusing to acknowledge the existence of the one true God himself. Satan has won this heart with his lies, and, in keeping with his hellish work, he takes the truth of that word away.

Jesus continues with the parable, “Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.” Don’t think here of soil with a few stones in it such as is common here in our area of the country. Think of a shelf of rock or a field with an out-cropping of rock. Such rock might have a thin layer of soil on it and some vegetation might be able to grow there. When the seed falls there, it germinates and a plant grows, but not for long. When the dry weather and the hot, summer sun come along, the plant dies because its roots have been unable to sink down deeply into the soil.

Listen to Jesus explain this type of soil. “The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.” This person is overjoyed to hear the message of forgiveness through Jesus. But they haven’t considered the cost of being a disciple of Jesus and when things get rough, they fall away.

Jesus moves on to yet a third situation. “Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.” With any plot of ground weeds are inevitable. They grow up along with the desired plants. And, unless removed, hinder the growth of the desired plants, and, in this case, actually choked the plant. The weeds grew over the top of the plants, preventing the plants from receiving proper sun and water. In the course of time, the plants died.

Jesus explains this situation which, tragically, is all too common. “The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” The weeds that choke the plant are the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth. In other words, the things of this life and the other pursuits this life has to offer, make the word of God seem less and less important to the Christian, until, slowly and imperceptibly, their faith in Jesus is dead. They no longer make the effort to hear the word, receive the Lord’s Supper or study God’s word on their own and their faith in Jesus withers away. How tragic!

But finally, some good news! Jesus makes mention of the situation we all hope for and look for. “Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” This is exactly what the sower intended when he scattered the seed. The seed found good soil where it was able to take root deeply and received nutrients from the soil and rain and sunshine from the sky. The plant grew as God had created it to grow. It produced fruit for the sower to harvest when ripe and to enjoy as food for himself and his family.

Jesus explains what is obvious to us, “But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” By the grace of God this person believes the truth of that word regarding his or her sins and the punishment those sins deserve. They also believe in God’s plan of salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. That faith in Jesus saves them and produces fruit in their life as they live their life of faith. They continue to hear that word and, thus, remain in their faith until Jesus calls them home to heaven.

Jesus concludes, “He who has ears, let him hear.”

Jesus has presented us with four types, four categories, of soil. But the parable isn’t about the soil. Let me repeat that. The parable isn’t about the soil. It’s about the powerful word of God. That word has the power to create and sustain saving faith in every heart. That’s also God’s highest will for every sinner—that he or she believes what his word says about Jesus as their Savior.

But we still want to categorize things. We still want to place this person here and that person there. In fact, with a little thinking, we know people who are like the hard soil of the path. We know others who were Christians for a short time but fell away. We know others who had saving faith for some time but then lost it because they let the things of this life choke their faith out. And, thankfully, as we look around this morning, we know others like ourselves who are “good soil.”

Really? Good soil? Is that the category we place ourselves in? Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that there have been times in our lives when we have been every one of these types of soil? Have we ever said, “I know that’s what the Bible says, but I don’t believe it”? Or, “I know that’s what the Bible says, but I’m going to do this anyway”? That’s hard soil. And how many times have we concluded that being a Christian is too difficult in this particular area at this particular moment of my life? That’s rocky soil. Be careful. And has anything ever been more important to you at a particular moment than hearing God’s word or receiving his Supper? That’s thorny soil. Be careful. So, what type of soil are you?

Thankfully, the parable isn’t about the types of soil. It’s about the powerful, gracious word of our God which forgives you through Jesus and offers you eternal life with him. Praise God that he has worked saving faith in your heart! Pray that he would ever keep you in that faith through his word. And then cherish that word! Make it your greatest treasure. Gladly hear and learn it! Share it with others! Amen.

Accept the Realities of the Church in the World!

2011-08-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

9th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/14/11

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Accept the Realities of the Church in the World!
I. It’s a church under attack.
II. It’s a church victorious.

I don’t read books to small children anymore, so I don’t know if they still end with the sentence, “And they all lived happily ever after.” I suppose that, even if they don’t end with those words exactly, similar words are used or at least that’s the strong impression given. That’s because every one of us—adults included—want to live happy lives here on earth. We realize that we will encounter problems along the way, but, like a good children’s story, we want those problems solved rather quickly with all loose ends tied up neatly before too many pages pass in our lives.

And why shouldn’t it be that way? After all, our God wants us to live happy lives, doesn’t he? Surely he does!

So, you would figure that the one place we would find that to be true would be in the Church. By Church I don’t mean this building. I mean Church in the sense of God’s kingdom here on earth. His believers. Christians. If God’s greatest blessings reside in his Church (and they certainly do), then we should be happiest in the Church, shouldn’t we?

In a way, yes. Indeed here in the Church we enjoy the blessings of forgiveness and eternal life, among so many others. These blessings fill our hearts with joy. But don’t think that being in the Church means the end of all troubles. In fact, being in the Church brings on trouble.

Jesus speaks about that very thing today in the Parable of the Weeds. Perhaps you grew up calling this the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares. In it, Jesus paints a picture of the realities of the Church in the world. May the Holy Spirit cause us to accept those realities as we ponder the truths of this parable.

Part I.

If you browse through a Christian bookstore, you’re likely to find any number of books on how to be happy in a certain aspect of your life. Let me state clearly that I fully support your happiness in your marriage or family life, in your social or business life. And I suppose that these books may have plenty of worthwhile advice for you. But realize that underneath many of these books, there is what’s called the Theology of Glory. It’s the false teaching that, if you live your life in a Christian way you will be happy and successful in this life. You will attain glory here and now. If you could, try telling that to Job in the Old Testament. The Bible states that he was one of the most godly men on the face of the earth and yet he suffered far more than all of us put together.

What’s more, such a teaching finds no basis in the parable before us this morning. Listen to the details. “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.” By “kingdom of heaven” Jesus is referring not to heaven itself, but to the Church on earth. The parable involves a farmer who plants good seed in his field. Later Jesus identified himself as the farmer and the seeds as the son of the kingdom, in other words, Christians. These are people living on earth who belong to the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus as their Savior.

But notice what takes place. “But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.” The enemy is none other than the devil himself. The Bible makes it clear that Satan works night and day every day of history to bring down the kingdom of God. He does so by bringing temptations large and small into our lives in an attempt to weaken and destroy our faith.

But he doesn’t do this work alone. He also uses the people who belong to his kingdom. Those are the weeds that live among us. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that all too many Christians have committed and are committing great and terrible sins that bring trouble into our world. But in general, it’s not Christians who are fighting against the Church on earth. It’s non-Christians. They don’t want us to spread God’s word. They don’t want to adhere to our moral values. Some will stop at nothing, not even suicide, to kill American Christians. And the thought occurs to us, “Life should be easier than that for Christians. Why do we have to put up with all that? Why doesn’t God just rid the earth of unbelievers? Then life would be so much more enjoyable for us.”

That’s exactly what the workers wanted to do. They wanted to pull up the weeds. But the farmer responded, “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.’” Both believers and unbelievers must remain together. Jesus states one reason here. The wheat might get pulled up with them. In other words, we Christians may suffer if God would put to death every unbeliever. Perhaps you would lose your doctor or mechanic, your friend or your neighbor. These people bring many of God’s blessings into your life.

And the other reason is that God has given every person this lifetime as the time to come to faith in Jesus as their Savior. Putting every unbeliever to death right now would end that opportunity. It would also end one of the reasons we exist—to share our faith with others. In order to do that, we must live among them. We share our world with those who don’t trust in Jesus as their Savior from sin. And they attack the Church.

Accept the realities of the Church in the world. One of them is that it’s a Church under attack.

It’s a false, misleading dream to think that the life of the Christian should be smooth sailing. The same woes and ills that befall non-Christians befall us as well. What’s more, we suffer for what we believe. We should expect the world to push back every time we stand up for the truth of God’s word. It’s going to be tough. In fact, someone once said if your Christian life is easy, then you’re probably not one. Jesus never said it would be easy. In fact, he advised us to count the cost of following him. He told us that life with him brings crosses to bear, not croissants. Shame on us for complaining about them! Shame on us for despairing over our difficult Christian lives in this unbelieving world! May the Lord lead us to see that the same Savior who died for us also died for every other person. He loved them that much! May his love for us not only comfort us and strengthen us as we face attacks from our world, but also lead us to deal in love with those who make those attacks.

Part II.

I’m sure you’ve heard the statement, “Nothing is certain in life except death and taxes.” It makes us chuckle, but it also begs us to think a little bit. What else is certain in life?

Well, from our previous discussion this morning, we can be certain of attacks on the Church. But is that all? Certainly not. Listen to the words of your Savior, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” The righteous are those who trust in Jesus as their Savior. The greatest truth of Christianity is that God has justified us, he declares us not guilty of our sins because of the work that Jesus did. God placed the righteousness of Jesus on you and me all and other Christians. And rather than suffering, we will shine in glory.

When? Certainly not now with all the problems we face. Jesus tells us when. It will come on the day when he eternally separates believers from unbelievers. That will be the day of eternal and certain victory for the Church.

But how can we be so sure? Because of Christ’s victory over death and hell by his resurrection. When Jesus rose from the dead, he sealed Satan’s fate forever. Satan can’t win and his kingdom can’t prevail. It’s doomed to destruction along with Satan. Jesus wins that final victory, and the Church—all believers—wins along with him.

Until that day of final victory the Lord Jesus sustains his Church. He does so with his gospel—the good news of Jesus’ holy life and his death as the payment for the sins of the world. That gospel comes to us in his word and the sacraments. Those are the means—the only means—Jesus uses to sustain his Church until the final day of victory.

And then comes the harvest. As he explains here, Jesus will use his holy angels to gather up all those who trust in him and bring them into heaven with him. What a glorious day that will be! Jesus will declare before all people that we are his children by faith in him and thus are heirs of eternal life with him.

Can you imagine the glory that will be yours and mine on that day? No wonder Jesus describes it as shining like the sun. We’ll live forever in glory with him. Gone will be all the troubles, sorrows, aches and pains that hound us daily and make this life miserable at times.

In fact, we’re so accustomed to dealing with those difficulties, that living a life of eternal glory is hard to imagine. We often wonder whether the Church will even survive with the way things are today. But make no mistake about it! It not only survives, it wins! Accept the realities of the Church in the world. It’s a Church victorious!

Things will happen later today that will make you shake your head and wonder how much worse they can get. Wait a day or two and you will hear of some new attack upon Christianity. Go out and live your Christian life and you will take heat for it. Those are the realities. But so is the victory. Contrary to what our world would have you think, Jesus is not a fraud or a loser. He’s the eternal Son of God and the eternal victor. His death and resurrection assure us of it. As one of his followers, you share in his eternal victory. The Church may get battered, but it will never be defeated. As life gets difficult and even down-right miserable at times, find your comfort and strength in that great truth. Accept that reality of the Church by faith in Jesus. May that truth make you bold as you live for your Savior. Amen.

Keep Battling Sin!

2011-07-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

7th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/31/11
Romans 7:15-25a

Keep Battling Sin!
I. It renders us powerless to stop sinning.
II. It renders us powerless to do good.
III. The victory comes through Christ.

Do you know the name Billy Sunday? He was a baseball player in the early 1900s. In addition to playing baseball, he preached thundering sermons against sin. He also preached Christ as the only answer to sin. In urging his listeners to battle sin, he once told them, “I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot and I’ll fight it as long as I have a fist. I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head and I’ll bite is as long as I’ve got a tooth. When I’m old and fistless and footless and toothless, I’ll gum it until I go home to glory and sin goes home to perdition.” Billy died in 1935, still battling sin.

That’s a battle that has been going on ever since the fall into sin. And ever since that time, human beings have tried to talk their way around sin, belittle the horror of sin and deny sin altogether. We’ve seen those very approaches in our own day to what God calls sin. What used to be sinful lifestyles are now acceptable and mainstream. And with that attitude, it’s no wonder so many people feel no need for a Savior from sin. They’ve come to view their sins as completely acceptable.

Even God’s people aren’t immune at times from that type of thinking. We find ourselves in a situation that calls for action, and we know that what we’re planning to do isn’t quite what our God would want us to do, but we figure it’s the best thing and so we do it anyway. And we’ve stopped battling sin. Or, we resolve to do what’s good and right in a situation, but we get into it and get frustrated with the responses of others, so we allow uncharitable thoughts and feelings toward others to fill our heads and hearts. We can’t even carry out the good thing we wanted to do. We’ve stopped battling sin.

But you’re not alone. The Apostle Paul knows exactly how you feel. He spoke about it in this morning’s reading from Romans 7. In those words he urges you to keep battling sin. In order to do so, let’s see what we’re up against and find our comfort and strength in Christ’s victory over sin for us

Part I.
Have you ever gotten yourself into a major project and suddenly found yourself in over your head? It happens to young and old alike. We think we can accomplish what we set out to do, only to find out we’re powerless to do it.

Paul knows how you feel. He writes, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” Paul did some amazing things in his life. He even faced death rather than deny Jesus as his Savior. And yet every day of his life he found himself battling sin and losing. He couldn’t stop sinning. And it didn’t do any good to tell him, “Well, try harder Paul! You can do it if you try!”

So what was the problem? Paul explains, “As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.” Paul isn’t excusing sin. He’s not saying he couldn’t help it. He’s not denying responsibility for it. Rather, he’s explaining how deep his problem with sin is. He has a sinful nature. So do we. Every one of us. And it’s powerful. We can’t stop sinning because we have a sinful nature and it afflicts us every day all day long. And, oh, how this flies in the face of modern psychology. We’re not basically good; we’re basically sinful.

Just look how powerful that sinful nature is! Again, Paul states, “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” Paul awakes in the morning and looks at his day like an auto assembly line. He plans on putting this and that together, doing this and that all day long, so that at the end of the day, his life will look like this and he’ll have accomplished something he can be proud of. He plans on everything looking great, like a gleaming new automobile. But when it comes out of the painting chamber, it’s a junky old rust bucket. You can’t help but cry out, “What went wrong?” That happens day after day. Our best intentions don’t even come close to producing what we want. And it’s all because we’re afflicted with the power of sin in our lives. It’s our sinful nature. It renders us powerless to stop sinning.

Keep battling against something you’re powerless to overcome? That sounds like the height of frustration. Why not throw in the towel and just give in? Because that’s not who we are. You probably know people who’ve done that very thing, but that’s not who you are. You’re a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ. He has washed you clean of sin at your baptism. He pronounces your forgiveness to you. He brings you that forgiveness daily through his Holy Spirit. Recognize how much you need that forgiveness! We’re powerless to stop sinning. We’re sinful to the very core of our being. Recognizing that fact is the beginning of battling sin. Keep battling it!

Part II.
So we admit it. We can’t stop sinning. But look at all the good things we do. Each day we can point to something good in our lives—we helped our neighbor. We completed a task at home or at work. We even went out of our way to be nice to someone. We refrained from talking bad about someone. Those are all good things.

But we can’t always do the good things we want to do. Sin ruins our efforts. Paul says it like this, “I agree that the law is good.” Paul is referring to God’s law, his holy will for all people. We have a summary of his will in the 10 Commandments. I’m sure you’re familiar with them. “You shall have no other gods. Honor your father and mother. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal.” That’s just a sampling. We agree that those are good things that we want to do. That’s how we want to live. That’s how we encourage others, such as our children, to live. In doing so, we’re agreeing that it’s good to follow the will of God.

But we can’t do it. Not perfectly anyway. There are times in our lives every day when we don’t love our God above all things and we show it by sinning. We don’t regard his word as the one thing we need in this life and we show it by letting all sorts of earthly pursuits crowd it out of our lives. We dishonor the God-given authorities in our lives. We bring harm to our bodies by the way we live. We allow our hearts to be filled with greed and lust. We give in to discontent. We gossip. We start out the day wanting to do good, but we can’t—not the way we want to and not the way our God wants us to. And so we say with Paul, “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” Sin renders us powerless to do good.

So what should we do? Once again, we might be tempted to throw in the towel. Let’s admit defeat even before we begin. Let’s mark ourselves with an “L” for losers and begin living like it. That’s not who we are. Again, we are children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. He made us his people to glorify him by the way that we live. Your baptism, as Paul pointed out to us last Sunday, conveys the power of the risen Lord Jesus to you. Love for Jesus moves you and me to acts of love and faithfulness each day of our lives. By faith in Jesus, what we do each day out of love for Jesus is good in the eyes of our holy God. It’s all because of Christ, his life and his death and his resurrection for us. So keep battling, my friends. Keep battling sin.

Part III.
Twice now we’ve spoken about the battle we’re in against sin and the fact that we can’t win it. We’ve pointed out that it’s a rather hopeless situation. But along the way, I hope you also heard about the hope that we have in waging this battle. I’ve been alluding to it all along and now Paul brings that hope into full view. He writes, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Our victory comes through Christ. To appreciate that victory more deeply, listen again to Paul speak about his hopelessness and ours, “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.” Paul talks about a law at work. What law? We could call it a pattern, a pattern in our lives, one that we follow over and over again even though we don’t want to go there. It’s a negative pattern and we know it.

What’s the solution? Jesus. Hear again his words in today’s gospel, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mt. 11:28-29). That rest is the forgiveness of our sins and the assurance of our salvation forever. That forgiveness is power. In another letter Paul wrote, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection” (Phil. 3:10). When we are weary of doing what we know is good and right, the Lord Jesus refreshes us with his forgiveness and empowers us for godly living through his resurrection. So keep battling, my friends. Keep battling sin. The victory comes through Christ.

The world tells you that if you’re not happy in your marriage, look somewhere else. If you’re not happy with your job, then take something from it that will help you feel better about it. Do what others are doing to be happy in life, or at least feel better about yourself. But Jesus says, “Keep battling sin. I have overcome sin with my life and my death on Calvary’s cross. Find your comfort and rest in me. And in the power of my resurrection, live as my child, not as a child of this world.” When we fail to do that, we have his forgiveness. And when we look to him for strength, he empowers us. It’s not easy. In fact, it’s a battle. But don’t surrender! Keep battling sin in the power of Christ who gives us the victory! Amen.

Christian, This Is Your Life!

2011-07-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

6th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/24/11
Romans 6:1b-11

Christian, This Is Your Life!
I. Dead to sin
II. Alive to God

Those of you who are my age and older might recall a radio program that later became a TV program called, “This Is Your Life.” The producer and host was a man named Ralph Edwards who would read the biography of a person who was the show’s guest that day. Some of the guests were entertainment personalities and some of them were “ordinary” people. As the host read the guest’s biography from a red book, family members, friends and others who had made an impact on the guest’s life would appear, surprising the guest. The show often helped to remind the person of how their life had been changed and shaped by the people in it over so many years.

We often think of the people who have shaped and changed our lives—parents, friends, teachers, grandparents. They made small and large contributions to our lives. We consider how different our lives might be without them. But how often do we consider the change that the greatest person in all of history has made to our lives? I’m talking about your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul speaks about that change in these words before us this morning from Romans 6. He talks about being “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Being dead to one thing and alive to another is likely the most striking life-change we can imagine and it has taken place in us.

But what does that mean for us practically? How does that involve my daily life and your daily life? And if we don’t think of our Christian lives in that way all that often and ponder what it really means for us, does it really make such a difference in our lives?

As if we were guests on an episode of “This Is Your Life” let’s review our Christian lives on the basis of what Paul writes here. Let’s remind ourselves of the tremendous change that has taken place in us. Christian, this is your life!

Part I.

The power of addiction never ceases to amaze me. On a daily basis you can hear and read the accounts of what some addicts have done to feed their addiction. Many have literally ruined their lives. They’ve lost their jobs, families and homes. They resort to unspeakable crimes to get what their body craves. Every waking moment is spent either feeding their addiction or thinking of methods to feed their addiction. Many lose their own lives doing so.

St. Paul speaks about a power in our lives—the power of sin. Paul wrote these words to the Roman Christians, many of whom had spent the first decades of their lives in a heathen sinful lifestyle. In other words, they went about their daily lives committing sin as a lifestyle and not even considering that what they were doing was sinful. For instance, their heathen worship practices often involved sexual immorality. In other cases, it didn’t bother them to be driven by greed, to foster injustice, to oppress the poor and helpless, to lie and cheat to get what they wanted. Now that they were Christians, they realized such things were sins but they were still tempted to go back to committing them.

We know what that’s like. There are sins in our lives we get so used to committing that we’re no longer bothered by them. There are other sins that bother us at first, but they help us get what we want or think that we need, and so we justify them. Or, we note the sins in the lives of our acquaintances and they seem to be happy in their lives—more so than we are with ours. So we adopt their lifestyle in that regard, sinful though it may be.

Paul speaks to that very thing and shakes us out of our spiritual apathy. He writes, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” Notice that Paul doesn’t say, “It’s like we died to sin.” He writes, “We died to sin.” That’s a spiritual reality. It’s as real as the fact that we are sitting here in God’s house today.

So when did it happen? Paul answers that. “All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.” An astounding change occurred in us at our baptisms. We came to faith in Christ. We were united to Jesus. We became his children and members of his kingdom. His rule or influence in our lives began at our baptisms.

And that means “we were therefore buried with him through baptism into death.” Paul isn’t saying that we joined Jesus in suffering and dying for our sins. He says that when we came to faith in Jesus, our old, sinful way of life was buried with him.

Paul states that same thing in a different way with these words, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” Our old self was crucified. That’s our sinful nature with all its evil deeds and desires. That’s our sinful nature which refuses to obey God’s will and wars against everything our God stands for. That sinful self was murdered at our baptisms, thankfully so.

And the practical result? “We should no longer be slaves to sin.” That’s where we began minutes ago. We wanted to know what it means practically that Jesus has made a big change in our lives. We’re no longer slaves to sin. We have power over sin in our lives.

Christian, this is your life—dead to sin.

The recovering addict who thinks that he or she can indulge just a little in the sin of their addiction is gravely mistaken. That’s all it takes to get sucked completely into the addiction again.

As Christians, we’re dead to sin. That’s our life now. We know that our sins cost our Savior his life. He paid the penalty for our sins on Calvary’s cross to make us dead to sin. We know that sinning never gets blessed by God and that it only leads us away from him. But somehow we convince ourselves that sin is OK. At times, we’re convinced it’s even desirable. Christian, that’s not your life. This is your life—dead to sin. The Lord here is stating a fact, a spiritual reality. This is what you are because this is what your almighty and loving Lord Jesus did for you. Live now in the power of that Lord, dead to sin!

Part II.

Those who are recovering from addiction always look for something positive to do in their life in their life in order to replace the negative activities that led them into their addiction. For instance, recovering, addicted athletes will say that they became addicted to their particular sport, working out, staying in shape, studying their opponents on film. In a way, they found a new power in their life.

That certainly has occurred in us. We have a new power in our life. It’s not just some new, positive activity in our lives. It’s none other than the almighty Lord Jesus himself.

Paul writes, “If we died with Christ, we will also live with him.” Another way of translating that sentence is, “Since we died with Christ, we will also live with him.” Later Paul reminds us that we are alive to God in Christ Jesus. Just what does that mean?

It means that an entirely new and unique motivation fills the Christian. It’s love for Christ. When there is absolutely no good reason to be kind and loving toward others, especially to our enemies, love for Christ moves us to do exactly that.

Being alive to God also means that our purpose for living has changed completely as well. In another one of his letters, Paul urges Christians to do everything to the glory of God. In other words, what we do and how we do it reflects that we live for our God and not for ourselves. We’re on this earth to bring honor and glory to the God who created us, redeemed us, and made us his own eternally by faith in Jesus.

Sometimes that’s not so easy. First, our sinful nature pushes back with all its might. Second, there are times we want to do the right thing but we’re not sure what that is. That’s where God’s holy word guides us. It reminds us what our sinful nature is trying to accomplish in us and it holds before us the timeless, loving counsel of our God himself. It lights our path, enabling us to be alive to God.

Living that way—alive to God—brings countless, priceless blessings into our lives. Let me point out just a few of them. It brings harmony in the place of discord. It brings peace in the place of stress. It brings security in the place of restlessness. It brings purpose in the place of aimlessness. It brings compassion in the place of hostility. It brings wisdom in the place of folly. All these blessings and more are yours as you live alive to God.

You can easily see that, when your life is blessed in these many ways, you are in the perfect position to be a blessing to others. That’s one of the high reasons your God has changed your life and placed you here. He wants to use you to bless others. And the highest form of that is sharing God’s amazing love in Jesus with others. Jesus often spoke about living is such a way that draws others to him. That’s living alive to God.

Christian, this is your life—alive to God.

After a much-needed, successful surgery, you might hear the patient declare, “I got my life back. I started living again!” What they say is true.

You, too, started living again—really living—when your God brought you to faith in Jesus. You began living with an eternal purpose for the Son of God who lived for you, died for you, rose from the dead for you, and now rules all things eternally for you. That certainly puts our daily problems and struggles into perspective, doesn’t it? You’re alive to God! How practical that is, daily so! Christian, this is your life! Amen.

It’s Amazing What One Man Can Do!

2011-07-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

4th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/17/11
Romans 5:12-15

It’s Amazing What One Man Can Do!
I. Adam’s sin ruined us.
II. Jesus’ work saved us.

“What can I do? I’m only one person.” We’ve heard people make that statement. It’s likely you’ve either said or thought those very words yourself. When confronted by a problem that seems to be far beyond our capabilities of solving, we throw in the towel even before trying. After all, we’re just one person and the problem affects so many.

Every so often you’ll see or hear advertising that encourages you to lay aside that excuse. Usually the ad is for a worthy social cause such as poverty or injustice or pollution. The ad will clearly admit that the problem is enormous, even worldwide, but it urges you to make a start towards a solution. It’s the power of just one person. It’s about what one person can do.

It’s about what one person can do. Never have those words been truer than when they’re spoken about the two men that Paul contrasts in this morning’s text from Romans 5. In just a few short verses—short but universally powerful—Paul explains what Adam did to us and what Jesus does for us. And when I say “us” I mean every person who has ever lived on this earth.

It’s amazing what one man can do! That’s our focus this morning and what a blessing it is for us to review that truth this morning.

Part I.

Lately there’s been much debate on the role of government in our lives. Is government’s role simply to provide peace, security and justice or is it government’s role to provide a safety net for all citizens? Another way of approaching this debate is to ask, “Am I responsible for myself and what happens to me or am I a helpless victim?” Surely every person’s situation is unique and that will affect where that individual falls in that debate but it’s also true that it’s a rather depressing and hopeless situation to come to the conclusion that you are simply a helpless victim and nothing you can do will make your situation any better.

In fact, we admire people who choose not to be victims. It warms our hearts and empowers us to hear that a person whom we deem to be a victim of a terrible situation chooses not to be a victim. Instead, they look on their tragic situation as an opportunity to do what they can to make their life better, even to reach out and help others. It’s a sobering thing to see someone who needs our help offering to help us. So, can’t we just encourage each other not to be a victim?

Not in the case that Paul presents in this morning’s text. No matter how positive your attitude may be, no matter how empowered you may feel, no matter how much encouragement you might receive, there’s nothing you can do to reverse the situation that you and I and every other person in this world are in. And it’s all because of what one man did—the first man, Adam.

Paul tells it like it is with these words, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” Adam sinned. We know the story. God told him not to eat the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Later on Paul makes the point that this was the only command God gave to Adam. Don’t commit this one sin. But it didn’t take long and that’s exactly what Adam did. The dirty deed was done.

But that was just the beginning of what is a universal problem. What occurred in the middle of a garden long ago has affected every human being since. Again, Paul writes, “In this way death came to all men.” The result of Adam’s sin is that everyone after him (with only two exceptions—Enoch and Elijah) died. And the reason for it? Adam’s sin brought the power of sin which is death into their lives.

A more familiar way of stating it is that Adam passed his sinfulness on to his children and they to their children and so on in one long, unbroken, hereditary string. We call it inherited or original sin. The Bible even describes that very death-dealing transfer. It says that Adam had a son in his own likeness, not in the likeness of God as Adam had been created (Gen. 5:3). And that’s how Adam’s sin ruined us in the worst way possible. We inherit a sinful condition from our parents and we show it daily by the sins we commit.

But this truth about inherited sin just doesn’t sound fair. Why should we be affected by something Adam did thousands of years ago? It might sound unjust on the surface, but it only makes sense. Think about it. It doesn’t make sense that two sinful people should be able to bring a holy child into this world. It only makes sense that the child should be just like they are—sinful. And that’s the way it is all because of what Adam did.

It’s amazing what one man can do! Adam’s sin ruined us.

So, if we inherited sin from our parents and we pass it on to our children and there’s nothing we can do to stop it, why dwell on this negative subject this morning? Why not choose to forget about a problem we can’t solve and focus on one that we can? Because we too easily forget that we are sinful by nature. Let me give you just one example. Contrary to what we might think, we don’t need a “how-to” guide from God on how to be happy, satisfied and successful in our lives. God’s word isn’t a 10-step course on achieving fulfillment in this life. We’ll never attain it—not to the degree that we want, anyway. And it’s all because of sin—the sin that Adam committed. It ruined everything in this world. Ever since that moment nothing goes exactly right. Even our best efforts are flawed and often so at their very core—our sinful motivation. Worst of all, Adam’s sin leads to our death—and not just the end of our life on earth, but also the end of our life with God. All because of one sin! It’s amazing what one man can do!

Part II.

What Adam did was amazing—tragically so. But Paul’s treatment of the truly amazing doesn’t end there with Adam’s story. He also speaks about the amazing thing another man did.

And he contrasts that amazing thing with these words, “But the gift is not like the trespass.” Paul talks about “the gift.” It’s difficult to render in English with one word—gift—what Paul writes with one word in the Greek. The word is a form of the Greek word for grace, God’s grace. And when we talk about God’s grace, we need to remember that his grace isn’t just a feeling, an emotion or a motivation. It’s also an action.

The amazing action that’s a free gift of God’s grace is our salvation. The fact that it’s grace means we don’t deserve it. Far from it. We deserve the opposite—death in hell. It also means that God isn’t obligated to give it to us, much in the way that our gift-giving works. God didn’t give us salvation because that’s what was expected of him, that’s what the event required, or he’d be ashamed if he didn’t give it to us. Not at all. He owed us nothing good.

That highlights God’s grace all the more. What a gift it is! The gift of salvation nullifies what Adam’s sin did to us. It overcomes the power of sin in us. It frees us from the guilt that sin brings and the damnation it deserves. God’s gift of salvation grabs us by the back of the neck and pulls us out of the hell we were heading for. It rescues us from eternal ruin.

If that were all it does, we would be forever grateful. But God’s gift of salvation does more than that.

Think of the person who rescues a kitten that has fallen into a storm sewer. They take the time and effort to pull the kitten to safety and place it on the grass out of harm’s way. That’s an amazing act of kindness. But if that’s all they do, danger and death for that kitten still lurk. How much better if they provide a home for the kitten or find one for it!

God’s grace not only rescues us from hell, it then makes us members of God’s kingdom by faith in Jesus. Your God has worked that saving faith in you. Faith in Jesus grabs on to the work that Jesus did for us and makes it our own. He lived a sinless life in our place. He died the death we deserve when he suffered hell on Calvary’s cross. His life and death have won heaven for us.

That heaven—that life with God—isn’t simply your deepest wish or a daily hope. It’s yours—absolutely so. By his work of living and dying for you, Jesus has also made you an heir of eternal life. How amazing considering what we deserve! As his word clearly states, your name is written in the book of life. God chose you in eternity to live with him in glory for eternity. What an amazing turnaround!

And now, while we wait for that glorious day to occur, God has special plans for you. The Apostle Peter tells us that he has made us to be priests in his kingdom to serve him and others. You see, God’s gift of salvation means we’re free of slaving away for him, hoping to earn our own heaven. That means we’re free to serve him and others out of love for him and appreciation to him for what he has done for us. Jesus has completely changed our lives forever!

It’s amazing what one man can do! Jesus’ work saves us.

When Paul contrasts what one man—Adam—did with what another man—Jesus—did, he isn’t denying the most basic truth of Christianity that makes this all possible. He isn’t denying that Jesus is also true God. That’s what makes this all possible. Jesus isn’t just a man; he’s also true God. His miracles and his resurrection from the dead assure us of it. His power in our lives is evidence of it. It’s amazing what one man can do because he’s also true God. And since he is, his work completely undoes what Adam’s sin has done to us. What hope that gives us! What power now fills us! Live in the certainty of what Jesus has done for you! Amen.

What a Merciful Savior!

2011-07-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

3rd Sunday after Pentecost, 7/3/11
Matthew 9:9-13

What a Merciful Savior!
I. Merciful in his saving call to us.
II. Merciful in his saving influence through us.

Almost without thinking we attach certain words to the concepts, places and events in our lives. For instance we attach words such as majestic and breath-taking to a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains. This weekend especially we attach the word freedom to our US flag. Countless viewers of fireworks displays will attach the word awesome to what they see and hear. Those who stand at any of the 9-11 memorials attach the word solemn to their experience. We even attach words to people. At times those words are complementary; other times, not so much.

But let me ask you this. What word or words do you attach to your Savior Jesus? Loving comes to mind. So do all-powerful and all-knowing. For some of you the word humble comes to mind when you think about Jesus. For still others, words such as glorious and holy are attached to your Savior.

But how about merciful? That might not be your first choice of words to attach to Jesus, but it’s the one that’s on display in this morning’s text from Matthew 9. Jesus even emphasizes mercy in his statement to the Pharisees. He displays that mercy in his dealings with Matthew and he calls for us to be merciful in our dealings with others. What a merciful Savior! Let’s use that exclamation as our focus this morning and in doing so, see more clearly how merciful Jesus has been to us and how he calls for us to be merciful to others.

There are many facets to being a good leader and one of them is that the good leader surrounds himself with the best individuals he can. A good leader is only as good as the people next to him. If the people under the leader are inept, unqualified, or disloyal, eventually the leader himself will suffer. It’s critical that he chooses his followers wisely.

Part I.

This event in our text takes place at the time that Jesus was gathering his followers. We usually call them his disciples. If you were Jesus, what type of individuals would you have chosen to follow you? Imagine for a moment doing so without the knowledge that you have of the way Jesus made his choices and how it all turned out. Be honest. You probably wouldn’t have made the choices that Jesus did. You would have looked for the best educated, the most respected, the most qualified people you could find. You and I would look for such people in places such as Jerusalem where the temple was and where the center of the Jewish religion was. We’d look for people who were excellent Jewish theologians and stimulating speakers with engaging personalities. We’d look for the most likely candidates to influence others to the greatest extent possible.

But what does Jesus do? Listen to our text, “As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.” The tax collector’s booth wasn’t the local spot to hang out. Matthew was sitting there because that’s who he was. He was a tax collector, presumably on the lucrative trade route that passed through the city of Capernaum, right near the Sea of Galilee. Matthew’s job was to tax the goods that passed through the area. He then turned over a set portion of that money to the Romans and kept what was left for himself. Tax collectors like Matthew made a good living.

But they were a pariah to their fellow Jews. First, by law they were allowed to charge as much as they pleased and they often collected vast sums. Second, they were taxing their fellow Jews and sending it to the hated Romans. No good Jewish person associated with a tax collector. In fact, tax collectors were immediately excommunicated from their local synagogue the moment their occupation was learned. That made Matthew an unlikely choice for a disciple of Jesus.

On the other hand, it’s likely that Matthew was a learned man, able to converse in the languages of the traders who passed through his area. I imagine he had a good business mind and was able to work with the financial and trading data available to him at that time.

But I also imagine that Matthew dealt daily with his guilt. In the Jewish way of thinking he had sold his soul to the Romans. He now worshipped the god called greed. He was keenly aware of who he was by race and that he was a member of God’s chosen people, but he had betrayed all that to be a tax collector.

And this is the man that Jesus calls to follow him and become one of his disciples?! Precisely! Because Jesus made that choice out of his mercy. His deepest desire was not to punish Matthew for his sins of greed and betrayal, but to save Matthew. That’s mercy. Jesus showed Matthew mercy in not punishing him as he deserved. And that mercy overflowed as Jesus calls him to be his disciple.

It’s apparent that Matthew had previously come into contact with Jesus himself or at least with Jesus’ saving message of forgiveness—forgiveness for all no matter what the sin and no matter who the sinner. And there’s where Matthew found the answer to his guilt and peace for his soul.

What a merciful Savior—merciful in his saving call.

How do you view your relationship with Jesus—primarily as your commitment to him or as his mercy to you? If you delete his mercy from the equation of your life with him, you quickly lose sight of what that relationship is all about. It’s not about what you think Jesus should still do for you because of your commitment to him—make your life easier, help you reach your goals, enable you to make ends meet. It’s about your rescue, your release from hell, your eternal salvation. It’s all about what Jesus did for you when he showered his mercy on you, calling you to discipleship. In spite of the fact that we think we have a lot to offer Jesus, none of that matters when it comes to your salvation. That salvation started and ends with his mercy to you. Thank God that he has brought you to faith in him as your merciful Savior and in mercy made you a member of his eternal, saving kingdom! In his mercy may he ever keep us in it as he calls to us in mercy!

Part II.

We began by noting words that we attach to things and people. When other people think about you, what word or words would they attach? Humble? Kind? Honest? Resourceful? Dependable? Those would all be complimentary attachments, but since we’re talking about it today, would they attach the word merciful to you?

Merciful wouldn’t describe the Pharisees who confronted Jesus’ disciples with these words, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” The Pharisees had no use for those Jews who wouldn’t strive to live the outwardly pious lives that they did. Such people were beneath them and certainly weren’t candidates for their concern or their mercy.

But merciful certainly describes Matthew. He doesn’t mention the details of this dinner at his house, but we can certainly surmise what they were. Having been called by the Lord for the gracious privilege of being one his 12 disciples, Matthew invited Jesus and the other disciples to his home for what may have been a rather lavish feast, given Matthew’s economic status. But Matthew didn’t limit his guest list just to those men. He opened it up to his fellow tax collectors and other social outcasts. Obviously Matthew wasn’t hosting this dinner in order to get something for himself. He hosted it to give something far more than good food to his guests. He wanted to share with them the mercy that Jesus had shown to him.

And that’s exactly what our merciful Savior wanted. He wanted to meet with Matthew’s friends in order to share his mercy with them. But please don’t take these words to mean that Jesus accepted the lifestyle of these people. By his words spoken before this dinner event or during, Jesus made it perfectly clear that he condemns sin, not condones it. Recall how he once told a sinful women, “Go now and leave your life of sin” (Jn. 8:11). He accepts no excuses or rationale for sinning.

But he’s also merciful. He wanted everyone at that dinner that day to know that he offers sinners forgiveness. He came to take the punishment of their sins upon himself. That’s mercy in its highest and greatest form! God takes on himself the punishment that his creatures deserve! Astounding mercy! What a merciful Savior! He’s merciful in his saving influence through us.

I don’t think Matthew forgot where he came from and what the mercy of Jesus meant to him. In this gospel that he wrote we barely hear his name again. For Matthew it’s not about him. It’s about his merciful Savior. And Matthew lived from this day on to the end of his life to share that mercy with others.

Do you realize how difficult it is to retain that attitude towards others? The driver who cuts you off or steals your parking spot, the fellow worker who throws you under the bus once again, the manager who sticks it to you with the schedule, the noisy neighbor, those disrespectful kids down the block, the masses of people in our own country and others who malign Christian values and teachings, our own elected government officials. It’s easy to assign these people places outside of our mercy because, from a human standpoint, they don’t deserve it. But that’s what mercy is all about. It’s not about merit in any way. If it were, it wouldn’t be mercy. That’s the kind of mercy our Savior shows us every day as he doesn’t give us the literal hell we deserve. He assures us of our full and free forgiveness. That’s a forgiveness he wants to share with every sinner and he uses us to do just that. May love for Christ and his mercy empower you to manifold acts of mercy to your fellow sinners and, in doing so, draw them to the saving mercy of Christ. What a merciful Savior! Share him with others! Amen.

God Has Blessed Us With His Word!

2011-06-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

2nd Sunday after Pentecost, 6/26/11
Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28

God Has Blessed Us With His Word!
I. Study it.
II. Share it.
III. Live it.

Count your blessings. That’s our advice to others when they share with us their disappointment over something that has happened in their life. Perhaps that event seemed somewhat trivial to us by comparison. Or perhaps we took a quick inventory of all the remaining things in their life and wanted to remind them to do the same. It’s easy to forget how blessed we are. We tend to focus on what we don’t have rather than on what we have.

So count your blessings today. What do you include? Your family, your friends, your home, the fact that you still have a job in this economy, the fact that you still have a roof over your head, your education, we enjoy generally good weather, there’s peace in our country, for all its faults our country is still the best in the world.

And who could forget all of our spiritual blessings? We’re children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. We have a God who loves us enough to send his Son to die for us. We have forgiveness for our sins and life in heaven with our God forever. Our God has an eternal plan for us and he guides our lives on earth every day. And he does that through his word, God’s word, the Bible.

This morning we have the tremendous opportunity to focus our attention on the great blessing of God’s word. Sad to say, we need that opportunity because we often take that word for granted. So let’s remind ourselves how blessed we are. God has blessed us with his word. Through his great Old Testament prophet, Moses, he reminds us what to do with that tremendous blessing

Part I.
It’s common for people who feel strongly about something to overstate their case. For instance, the parent who has caught their child doing something terribly wrong in a fit of anger declares, “If you ever do that again, you’ll be grounded for life!” Really? Grounded for life? Obviously the parent didn’t mean that literally, but they said it in order to impress upon their child how strongly they felt about what their child had just done.

The Book of Deuteronomy is a lengthy farewell sermon by Moses to God’s people, the Israelites. Moses knew how wayward these people could be. He had watched them commit all sorts of heinous sins in spite of God’s command to the contrary. Therefore, in these last words of his to these people, he couldn’t urge them strongly enough to pay attention to the word of God. And so he said it this way, “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Really? Write God’s word on my hands and head, on my doorframes and gates? Is that what God really wanted?

Not really. His real intent was that first they learn the basic truths of his word. He wanted them to know that he is the God who promised them their salvation purely by his grace. They couldn’t earn their forgiveness with their good works or sacrifices. These blessings came to them by faith in him. He also wanted them to learn that he is the only true God and there is no other god. Even though the nations all around his people bowed down to all sorts of idols, he wanted them to know that these gods were nothing at all.

And with that knowledge, he wanted them to dig deeply into his word. He wanted them to know all his promises to them—promises of his love, protection, providence, security, daily food, and family and friends. He wanted them to know him as the Maker of all things and the God who loves every sinner. He wanted them to know about their life with him now, their death, their life in heaven and their resurrection on the Last Day. Especially he wanted them to know the details of his promises to send them a Savior from sin. He wanted them to know these things as if they were written on their hands and between their eyes. He didn’t want them to take his word for granted. He wanted them to know what a blessing it is to have that word. He didn’t want them to lay it aside and forget about it. He wanted them to study it.

Study God’s word. He wants us to know the depths of his truth for us as if we had those truths written on our hands and head and houses. And he tells us that because a shallow knowledge of his truths leads to frustration in this life and makes us easy targets of Satan. We forget his truth that he can be trusted no matter what our situation is, and, instead load ourselves down with worry. We forget that he is with us every moment of life and therefore feel all alone. We conveniently forget what God says about sinful behavior, indulge in it, and then wonder why we have trouble. We forget that God has a plan for us and get stressed out because we don’t know where we’re going in life. The answer to all these problems is to study the word with which we’ve been blessed. He wants us to begin understanding our utter sinfulness and his saving grace to us in winning our forgiveness by the life and death of Jesus. He wants us to know that he conquers all, even death itself, as shown by Jesus’ resurrection. And then he wants us to move on from those basic truths and plumb the depths of God’s wisdom for us as found in his word. Indeed, when you’re counting your blessings, make sure God’s word is high on your list.

Part II.
More than once I’ve heard it said that a parent has decided that they aren’t going to impose their religious beliefs on their child; they’re going to let their child discover what they believe on their own. I’m sure we’d all strongly disagree with that course of action.

So would our God. He let his people know exactly what he wanted them to do with his word. Moses told them, “Teach [these words] to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” God says exactly the opposite of letting your child find their own religious truth. God wants parents to teach their children the truths of his word. In fact, he makes that their highest responsibility. He wants them to make that instruction a part of every facet of life. Help your child see the wonders of this world—a world he created. In response to what your child is saying or doing, ask them what the Lord thinks of it and let them reflect and express it themselves. Help them realize their God-given place in their family, society and world.

And use the assistance that your church offers. In our order of worship for baptism, we rightly ask our members to assist parents in bringing up children in the training and instruction of the Lord. How powerful that is—that the parents know that their congregation stands beside them in this great responsibility that the Lord has primarily given to them. Parents, make use of it. Vacation Bible School and Sunday School classes are scheduled. You only get so much time to teach your children God’s truths. Use that time well. It’s more important than anything else.

God has blessed us with his word. Share that word.

There are countless problems in the church today and one of them is the lack of teaching, not just for our children but for all of us. Parents, understand that no parent ever did a perfect job of teaching their children the truths of God’s word. No congregation has ever done a perfect job of teaching God’s truths to others. But the amazing truth of God is that, to the degree we have failed, our God fully forgives us. He washes us clean of all sins and renews us and empowers us to set our sights again on sharing his word with others, especially with our children. What an amazing thing! And through those efforts, meager as they are at times, God accomplishes his saving purposes. What an amazing God we have! He has blessed us with his word!

Part III.
When we’re addressing children, we keep things simple. We know how important it is to talk to them at their level. If we talk over their heads or confuse them, we won’t accomplish anything positive.

God used Moses to speak these words to the Children of Israel and when he spoke to them, he kept things simple. That’s because, spiritually speaking, they were children. Listen for the simplicity in these words, “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.” Pretty simple, isn’t it? He told them he would bless them if they obeyed his commands but curse them if they failed to obey. If you read through the next 1,400 years of Israel’s history, you can see in black and white how faithful to these words the Lord was. His people experienced tremendous blessings when they followed his word and terrible tragedies when they didn’t.

But please don’t misunderstand these words. This isn’t an example of quid pro quo—this for that. Don’t think that the Lord was telling the people they could get what they want with an act of obedience.

What God really wants is our hearts—hearts that are full of love for him and a love for what he has done for us through his Son, Jesus Christ. A heart of love for God rejoices at obeying his word and gives no selfish thought for “what’s in it for me.” A heart full of love for God produces the fruit of obedience to what God says in his word. How blessed we are to have that word. Now live it!

It’s easy to believe what God says. That’s because God is the one who causes us to believe that what he says is true. The difficult part is living it. That’s because we battle Satan, our world and our sinful flesh. But there’s where God’s word comes in again. The power of Christ’s resurrection stands behind his word. He fills us with that power as we hear, study and take his word to heart. That power—the power of the risen Lord Jesus—enables us to live according to his word and receive the blessings—spiritual and earthly—that our gracious, all-wise God has in store for us. God has blessed us with his word. What a blessing it is! Cherish it! Amen.

Jesus Reveals the Holy Trinity!

2011-06-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

1st Sunday after Pentecost, 6/19/11
Matthew 28:16-20

Jesus Reveals the Holy Trinity!
I. In universal authority
II. In gracious love

By and large we are practical people. We enjoy things that work for us, that help us, that make our lives easier and more productive. And we don’t necessarily have to know why they work for us or how they work for us, they just have to work. And when they fail to work, we want some expert to fix it for us as soon as possible, or we discard it and buy a new one. That goes for our cell phones, laptops, cable and satellite TV, and vehicles, just to name a few. We depend on those items so deeply, that when they don’t work for us, we have a hard time functioning. And yet how many of us understand completely how those things do what they do?

The same can be said in a much higher and far deeper way with the truth that our God is triune—three persons but only one God. No matter how intelligent you may be, that’s a truth we can never completely understand. It doesn’t make sense to our human minds. How can there be three persons but only one God? I can’t explain how. No one can. And yet the Bible clearly teaches it.

But it works for us. The triune God has tremendous, daily, practical impact on our lives. In fact, without our God, we wouldn’t exist. Neither would our world.

This morning we have listened to some of those sections of God’s word which speak about who the triune God is and what he does for us. We have one of those sections before us now—the familiar words of the end of Mathew’s Gospel. In those words Jesus reveals the Holy Trinity. While we can never understand that revelation completely, as we study these words this morning, may we come to a deeper faith in our triune God and his powerful, gracious working in our lives.

Part I.

He was just released from prison last week and was caught robbing a convenience store last night. Another person was arrested for the 10th time for driving under the influence, even though his driver’s license had been suspended years ago. She got married recently, for the 5th time. The young boy got grounded for not keeping his room clean for the 3rd time this month. What do all these situations have in common? I suppose there might be more than one, but the one that hit me is, “When will these people learn?”

I wonder how often Jesus asked himself that question in his dealings with his disciples and others who followed him. I’m almost sure he asked it again on the day when this event occurred.

The timing of this event is some time during the forty days between Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on Easter and his ascension into heaven. On Easter Jesus had appeared to the women and told them to tell his brothers to go to Galilee. And that’s what they did. Our text refers specifically to the eleven disciples. Bible scholars wonder if other followers of Jesus were there as well. In fact, some scholars wonder if this is the event that Paul refers to when he says that the risen Jesus appeared to 500 brothers at the same time. I mention these things because of one short phrase in our text. Listen to it again, “When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted.” An acceptable translation of the Greek would also be, “but others doubted.” That some of the people who were there doubted is clear. We’re just not sure who these doubters were. What amazes us is that there were doubters at all with the risen Jesus in front of them. What did they doubt? That it really was Jesus? We’re not told. But I imagine Jesus again wondered, “When will they learn?”

So that they would learn, Jesus revealed the Holy Trinity to them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” He didn’t say, “All power is given to me.” He said, “All authority is given to me.” While power and authority are closely related, they’re not the same. The authority of Jesus is the ability to do his will. The will of Jesus is that every sinner would come to faith in him as their personal Savior from sin and thus receive forgiveness and eternal life with him. The authority of Jesus saves.

But it also destroys. He has all authority in heaven and on earth. That means there is no authority higher or greater than he. He has authority over every human being, every earthly power, every earthly government, corporation and entity. He also has authority over every spiritual entity. Satan and his legions of demons war against our triune God and his kingdom night and day, every day. And every day we see their evil influence on people. But the universal authority of Jesus means that he has the ability to do his will in spite of their evil efforts.

And he’s not alone. That universal authority belongs also to the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures frequently refer to the fact that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit all cooperate in their powerful influence in our lives and in our world. For instance, in spite of Satan’s all-out efforts to the contrary, Jesus rose from the dead. The Bible states that the Father raised Jesus, that Jesus raised himself, and that the Holy Spirit raised Jesus. All three are true. They all possess universal authority—the ability to do their will.

Jesus reveals the Holy Trinity in universal authority.

We wondered when these followers of Jesus would stop doubting and learn the lesson that Jesus is who he says he is and that he can do all things. A much better question is, “When will we?” Now, before you say, “Not so, Pastor,” ask yourself, “Have you ever lived a day of your life without doubting or worrying?” Let’s be honest. We have doubts and worries about literally everything in our lives—our relationships, health, employment, children, parents, friends, education, finances, even our clothing and our pets! All those worries reveal how shallow our trust is in the triune God. While our concern is on those earthly, temporal things, his concern is always on our eternal life with him. He showed that when the Father revealed his plan to save all sinners, when the Son came to this earth and fulfilled that plan with his life, death and resurrection, and when the Holy Spirit brought us into God’s kingdom when he brought us to faith in Jesus. There’s the powerful working of the Holy Trinity in your life. Rejoice and be comforted in his universal authority.

Part II.

You’ve heard the statement, “Absolute authority corrupts absolutely.” In fact, you’re probably quoted that statement yourself. We’ve seen far too many cases of it in the recent past. It’s at the heart and center of most, if not all, of the recent uprisings in countries around the world.

There’s only one person who handled absolute power correctly, and that was the one who spoke these words of our text, your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus didn’t walk this earth to impress us with his universal authority. He walked this earth to impress us with his gracious love. His cross is a symbol of that sacrificial love. He let nothing stop him from dying for our eternal life.

But his love for us didn’t end with that tremendous act. Listen for his love in action in these words, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” He sent his followers out, out to the ends of the earth, to all nations. Contrary to the way we might view others, especially those who are different than we are, Jesus loves all sinners, every sinner. And thus he sent his followers out to reach one and all.

That love also caused him to equip them for this mission. One of the means they were to use to bring sinners into his kingdom was the Sacrament of Baptism. And we see that they did exactly that on the Day of Pentecost. After the Holy Spirit filled them, they used Baptism to share that Spirit with others. And the church increased in dramatic fashion.

He also told them to use his word. He instructed his followers to teach his word to all nations. Not just some of his word. All of it. Everything he has commanded. There is no such thing as an unimportant teaching of Jesus. Everything Jesus said in his word is meant to bless us. It’s all important. Every word of it.

And lastly, he equipped them with his presence. He has promised to be with his people always. No matter what the time or situation, he is with us. In another one of the gospels he talked about him living in us and us living in him. By faith in Jesus we are inseparable from him. And that’s the way he wants it to be for eternity. Every person of the Trinity wants it to be that way for eternity. He wants us to experience his gracious love for all time.

Jesus reveals the Holy Trinity in gracious love.

The Triune God stated through the Apostle John, “God is love” (1 John 4:16). There’s no more simple yet profound way of revealing who the Holy Trinity is. Everything he is and says and does is evidence of his love for sinners. That’s a love we don’t deserve. And yet, when life gets tough we wonder where his love for us is. Look to the cross. Review what the triune God did for you there. Recall the fact that should have been me and you suffering for an eternity. And he did it all so that we could live in his presence forever. Now that’s love, a love that’s out of this world, a love found only in the Holy Trinity. Marvel at that love. And bask in the truth that your God, the triune God, wants you to enjoy that love eternally. Amen.

May the Holy Spirit Flood the Church!

2011-06-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

Pentecost, 6/12/11
Joel 2:28-29

May the Holy Spirit Flood the Church!
I. Because that’s what all people need
II. To equip every Christian for kingdom work

With our lawns already turning brown here in this area of the state, we’ve almost forgotten that a month ago we were praying for dry weather. We nearly set a record for rain in April and May’s rainfall was well above average too. And because of it some homeowners faced flooded basements and other damage to their property.

But what we faced here is nothing compared to the recent flooding along the Mississippi River and, as we speak, in the Dakotas near the source of the Missouri River. Flood waters have literally covered homes and ruined crops. Imagine—all your belongings damaged by muddy, filthy water. Imagine going back into such a home a month later and seeing walls covered with mold and your once lovely, clean floors covered in silt and mud. It must be devastating!

Since we often—almost always—associate flooding with damage and destruction, it might come as a surprise when you hear me asking our gracious God for that very thing this morning. Today is the Festival of Pentecost in the Christian Church. Around the world Christians are hearing the message of how the Holy Spirit was poured out in abundance on believers. Not sprinkled out on believers. Not dripping down on believers. But poured out. In abundance.

Flooded. But flooded in a good way as when we are flooded with gifts, flooded with business opportunities, flooded with compliments. But there’s no better flooding that could occur than to be flooded with the Holy Spirit. And so, as we ponder God’s promise through his prophet Joel to pour out his Holy Spirit on Pentecost, our prayer is that he would continue to do so today. May the Holy Spirit flood the church! Let’s see why as we focus on this section of God’s word.

Part I.

I mentioned the devastation that floods bring, but can you think of a situation in which a flood is beneficial? Think back to your studies of ancient Egypt. The Egyptians not only looked forward to the annual flooding of the Nile, they depended on it. That annual flooding brought the life-sustaining water and silt needed for their farmers to grow crops. Without that flooding, there were no crops and the people faced food shortages and even starvation. Every Egyptian depended on that flooding.

Every sinner depends on the flooding of the Holy Spirit in a far deeper way. Joel writes, “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.” You’re probably interested in one of the first words of that verse, the word “afterward.” After what? That’s one of the ways that Old Testament writers refer to New Testament times. But that’s not the word I want to highlight for you. Instead, look at the last word of that sentence, the word “people.” Actually the Hebrew word here is “flesh.” “People” is an acceptable translation of that Hebrew word, but the Hebrew word carries with it a negative connotation. We’re flesh by nature as opposed to being spiritual by nature, and that’s not a good thing. In fact, it’s eternally deadly. It means we come into this world without spiritual life. By nature our focus is only on what is fleshly, worldly and not on what is spiritual, heavenly.

And there’s nothing we can do on our own to correct this deadly deficiency. Recall Jesus’ words on this very subject to Nicodemus, the Pharisee who came to visit Jesus at night. Jesus said, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:6). We can’t create spiritual life within us or within someone else. By nature we’re spiritually dead and we’re doomed to remain that way.

What’s more, we’re not God’s friends by nature; we’re his enemies. The Bible describes the person without faith in Jesus as being hostile to God (Rom. 8:7). We come into this world with a love for self, not for God. Our natural inclination is live without God, and our natural sinful thinking is that, if we want a relationship with him, we’ll do something to create or cause one. The problem is, we can’t. We’re helpless. We’re hopeless!

But praise be to God for the work of the Holy Spirit! He gives spiritual life. Today we celebrate that work. Jesus referred to that work in on his conversation with Nicodemus. He said, “The Spirit gives birth to spirit” (Jn. 3:6). The Holy Spirit uses the good news about Jesus in his word and in Baptism to bring us to faith in Jesus, thus creating spiritual life within us.

That’s exactly what all people need! May the Holy Spirit flood the church!

In the recent past there’s been a good bit of discussion in the Christian church and even in our own synod, about “healthy” churches. One of the issues in that discussion is what constitutes a healthy church. Is it numbers of people? Is it a calendar filled with events? Is it a measure of how cross-cultural and cross-social a group of Christians is? Is it how active its members are in social programs for the community? While all these items are important to one degree or another, what our God considers most important is faithfulness to his word. That’s because he sends his Holy Spirit to us and to others through that word. To the extent that you and I have been guilty of convincing ourselves that we don’t need that word and the working of the Holy Spirit on a certain day or week or time, may the Holy Spirit bring us the forgiveness Jesus won for us by his life and his death. To the extent that you and I have convinced ourselves that our faith is strong enough and needs no further increase through the working of the Holy Spirit, may that Spirit bring us the forgiveness won for us by Jesus. And then, may he flood our hearts and minds through his word and sacrament because that’s what we need.

Part II.

From time to time you hear that a particular company or entity has the exclusive rights to something. In other words, the two parties have entered into an agreement that one of them will be the only supplier of the product that the other offers. It’s an agreement that benefits both.

In the Old Testament times God shared his message in a rather exclusive way. Think about it. God didn’t take his word and give it to every one of his Jewish people. Instead, he shared it with one person—usually a prophet—and that prophet then shared it with others. Often he used dreams and visions to communicate with the prophet so that he would know what to say. Those revelations were irregular. By that I mean the prophet never knew when the Lord was going to speak to him. That’s exactly the experience of the prophet Joel who wrote the words of our text. He received an exclusive message from the Lord.

But in New Testament times the Lord pours out his Spirit on all his people. Joel foretold that very thing with these words, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” This flooding by the Holy Spirit is inclusive, not exclusive, and there are several reasons for it.

First, the Holy Spirit wants all people to know his word. That word brings forgiveness and salvation. God’s highest will is for all people to be saved. That happens when the Holy Spirit works faith in them through his word. Therefore he graciously floods each believer.

As people who know his word of salvation, we’re now uniquely qualified to share that word with others. The Holy Spirit doesn’t only flood his way into the hearts of a few people so that only a few can share his saving word with others. He floods the hearts of all his believers so that every believer can share his saving word with others.

And through that word, he equips us for kingdom work. In his grace and wisdom our God has not chosen to do his saving kingdom work all by himself. Instead, he has chosen to involve us, his people. He has given us the high calling and privilege of sharing his word of salvation with others. To accomplish that work, he gives each of us unique gifts—gifts to use in serving others in his kingdom. Look at all the varied gifts just in this group of Christians. There are times when those God-given gifts amaze me! And what saving kingdom work we accomplish when we use those gifts faithfully!

May the Holy Spirit flood the church to equip every Christian for kingdom work!

Instead of referring it as kingdom work, we usually refer to it as church work. So let’s ask ourselves a question: Who does church work? We all know the answer to that question, we just don’t like to say it. It’s you. It’s me. It’s all of us. We just hesitate to say it and to do. Our sinful nature would rather let someone else do it. Or, we can keep ourselves busy with a certain kind of church work just so that we don’t have to do another kind of church work which we know is more important, but we don’t want to do it. Or, we convince ourselves that we’re doing our part; the rest is up to someone else. Obviously, we’re wrong, sinfully wrong. The thing to do is pray—pray for the Holy Spirit to flood us. Let him flood you with the forgiveness of Jesus and the power of his resurrection. Let that flood come into your life as you focus on his holy word and receive your Savior’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. Through those means the Holy Spirit fills you and empowers you for your life with him, a life filled with blessings for you and a life of sharing those blessings with others.

May the Holt Spirit flood his church, this church, each individual in it! Amen.

This Is Life Under Our Ascended Lord!

2011-06-04T08:19:00.000-07:00

7th Sunday of Easter, 6/5/11
1 Peter 4:12:17; 5:6-11

This Is Life Under Our Ascended Lord!
I. Persecuted by the world
II. Attacked by the devil

Many are the times in life when our expectations are unrealistic. A young man and woman become engaged and, with hearts full of love for each other, eagerly anticipate their wedding day. The day finally arrives and their wedding is everything they hoped it would be—a joy-filled day with family and friends. But in the weeks and months immediately following their wedding, the adjustments they both need to make don’t come easy. At times the tension in the air is so thick you could cut it with a knife. But with the help of family and friends, they get through it and yet they both have to admit that this isn’t what they were expecting.

The middle-aged woman lands a new job. Her hopes are high as she arrives at work her first day with the new company. Behind her now are years of frustration with her former place of employment. The negative attitudes and uncooperative fellow employees had made her work life miserable. She was so looking forward to this new start. And, in the first few weeks at her new job, that’s what she experienced. But it wasn’t long after that before she realized that it might be a new job, but the same problems existed here as well. It wasn’t what she expected.

We’re at the end now of the glorious Easter season of the church year. In each of this season’s Sundays so far, we’ve focused on the victory that is ours through Christ. Christ has conquered sin, death and hell for us. We are victors with him. We will live with him. We will reign forever with him. He is now ascended in glory to rule over all things for our good.

But don’t let that cause you to think that everything is going to go right in your life with him right now. Don’t expect that, because you are a Christian, all your problems in this life will easily be solved.

The Apostle Peter gives us a dose of reality regarding our Christian life in this section of his letter before us this morning. Yes, life with Jesus now is full of blessings—saving, eternal blessings. But the problems and the tragedies of living in a sinful world still exist. And we shouldn’t expect anything different. So this is life under our ascended Lord. Let’s study what Peter has to say about it here in God’s word.

Part I.

I have some questions for you. Are you ready to give them some thought? What would you do if your fellow citizens here in the United States considered you to be unpatriotic because of your Christian faith? Imagine being despised by the masses of people because you wouldn’t participate with them in national rites and rituals of patriotism. Consider what it would be like to be ostracized from the mainstream of society and to have certain citizen privileges and business opportunities unavailable to you simply because of your Christian faith.

Now let’s take that a little deeper. What would you do if our government outlawed the practice of our Christian faith? Would you still openly worship our God, or would you take it underground? Or, would you cease to worship him at all? What would happen to your Bible reading and your prayer life? What would you do with all the Christian books and decorations that you possess? Would you still celebrate Christmas and Easter the same way you do now?

And now let’s take it right down to the worst possible scenario. What if your government threatened you with death because of your Christian faith? What if you were shackled and thrown into an arena filled with spectators who watched while you were martyred by other people or wild animals? Those questions are so far beyond what we consider could happen to us, that it’s difficult to say what we would do.

But that was life under our ascended Lord for the original readers of Peter’s letter. Peter wrote these words about 64 AD. That’s the year that the infamous persecutions of Christians under Roman Emperor Nero broke out. It’s likely that Peter died in those persecutions.

And that’s what Peter’s readers were facing. But instead of telling them to hide their faith or tell them that their situation is hopeless, we hear him say, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ.” He tells them to rejoice. Why? Because Jesus told his followers that’s what would happen to them and these sufferings were evidence that their faith in him was genuine. What’s more, it’s one of the ways that we share in the life of our Savior. He suffered at the hands of his persecutors and so do we. So rejoice!

It’s also God’s way of refining our faith. A little later Peter speaks about God’s judgment beginning with us. You’ve heard the expression, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Every difficulty that comes our way ought to lead us to ask, “What’s my faith worth to me? What does Jesus mean to me?” He calls on us to suffer all—even death itself—rather than forsake him. Persecution from the world refines our faith. That’s life under our ascended Lord.

Finally, Peter reminds us what awaits us. He speaks about being overjoyed when the glory of Christ is revealed. He’s speaking about Christ’s glorious return to this earth on the Last Day. Jesus has promised that we will share in his glory on that day because he will raise our bodies, glorify them, proclaim us to be his children forever, and take us to live with him in eternal glory. It doesn’t get any better than that! It can’t get any better than that! But first we must deal with suffering at the hands of those who despise our Savior and his children.

I know that’s not what we want to hear, but that’s the way it is. This is life under our ascended Lord. We’re persecuted by the world.

Are you tired of the way the media portray Christians as simple minded and foolish? Does it anger you that all sorts of other events crowd Christian observances right out of the weekly schedule? Are you annoyed when the Bible gets trashed as an ancient, irrelevant book or placed on par with the great books of other religions? Do you slowly burn while your tax dollars are used for sinful purposes? Are you concerned that American seems to be biblically illiterate? My last question is, “What do you expect?” Look what was happening in Peter’s day. At least our government protects our right to worship as we please and allows us to proclaim the gospel. At least your life and property are protected. And if we still suffer lesser persecutions, that’s life under our ascended Lord. Every difficulty ought to drive us closer to our Savior, remembering his death for our sins and his resurrection to guarantee us life with him and assuring us of his power over all these forces of evil. Every persecution begs us to ask the question, “What does Christ mean to me?” Christians will be persecuted. If you’re not, then there’s reason to question how dedicated to Christ you are. This is life under our ascended Lord.

Part II.

More than once I’ve seen the quote, “We’ve seen the enemy, and it’s us.” Another way of saying that is, “We’re our own worst enemy.” If only that were true! If only we only had to fight against our own sinful impulses and godless ways.

But there’s a far more powerful enemy facing us. Peter explains who it is, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.” The devil is not some mythical creature with horns and a long tail, dressed in red long underwear. He’s not simply a make-believe character that sits on our shoulders and advises us against doing what is good and right.

He’s real, as real as God himself. But he’s the opposite of God. While our God is the embodiment of all that is holy, the devil is the embodiment of all that is evil. There is nothing good or loving in him. That’s something we can’t possibly fathom. His only goal is to bring every soul into eternal punishment with him. We can’t possibly fit such a thought into our minds.

And he uses his power to attempt to accomplish that goal. Peter pictures him as a roaring lion. Without a weapon, no human being is a match for a lion that’s intent on killing you. That lion will overpower and kill you within seconds. Satan has power far superior to ours. He also possesses knowledge far beyond our own, even of future events.

But he’s not all powerful or all-knowing like our Savior is. And there’s our hope. Our hope is in Christ alone. Peter writes, “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” The power and the glory don’t belong to the devil forever; they belong to Christ forever. As evil as things get, as beaten as the Church may seem, Christ still wins. Satan has no power over him. And by faith in Jesus, Satan has no power over us as well.

But his attacks on us will continue. That’s life under our ascended Lord.

If you’re going through a painful situation but you know that it will turn out for the better, you’re able to persevere. That’s exactly the promise Jesus gives us—people who are attacked every day by the devil himself. At the end of it all, Jesus wins and so do we. I can’t tell you that things will get better in this life, not with the devil prowling around and the world persecuting our faith. But that doesn’t matter, because we still belong to Christ and we still come out as the victors. That’s life under our ascended Lord. Amen.

What a Different Hope You Have!

2011-05-28T08:10:00.000-07:00

6th Sunday of Easter, 5/29/11
1 Peter 3:15-22

What a Different Hope You Have!
I. Your hope is certain in Christ.
II. Look for opportunities to share it.

Two years ago the word “hope” enjoyed national attention. In fact, it was the one-word campaign focus of our President. And it resonated with a majority of voters. The citizens of our country were looking for a way out of financial crises brought on by rising unemployment and the failures of our health care system to meet the needs of our country as a whole. President Obama promised change and, along with it, hope.

But that hasn’t been easy. Too many of the people in our country are still hurting. I was at a church meeting in another church a couple weeks ago and a woman stated, “We’re not winning. Our wages are lower and food and gasoline prices are higher.” Not a week goes by without one of our members telling me basically the same thing. Surely you’re hearing much the same from friends and family members. And what’s our solace? We tell ourselves, “Things can’t get much worse. We can only hope they’ll get better.”

We also try to find our comfort in putting things into perspective. Sure, things are rough here, but we think about those poor people who have suffered the loss of family members and homes recently to tornadoes. We had some damage here last Wednesday evening, but it’s nothing compared to what others have faced. And what do we do? We hope that this violent weather ends soon, but we have no assurance that it will.

And then we come to church this morning and we hear that word again. In this morning’s text Peter declares, “Be prepared…to give the reason for the hope that you have.” What hope is he talking about? Some days we don’t feel like we have much hope. In fact, we deal with moments of hopelessness.

But this hope is different. It’s the hope we have as people who trust in Jesus as our Savior. And what a different hope that is! What a different hope you have! That’s the truth our Lord shares with us this morning. What a comforting and powerful truth it is!

Part I.
In any number of areas of our lives we save the best for last. Isn’t that what our mealtime dessert is? In a little more than a month we’ll watch fireworks displays and they all end with a grand finale. They save the best for last. TV series end the season with a cliffhanger episode that makes you wait eagerly for the next season to begin.

Regarding our Christian hope, today’s scripture selection saved the best for last as well. The final verse reads, “Jesus Christ…who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.” We don’t have a Savior who is still limited in his existence here on this earth and struggles through life like we do every day. Instead, he is exalted. In theological terms, we declare that Jesus is now in his state of exaltation. He lives in all glory as true God. While he was doing his work here on earth, he limited that glory, allowing it to be seen only temporarily, as when he performed a miracle or showed that he knows all things. But now he makes full use of that glory.

Along with that glory he also makes full use of his power. We state that Jesus is ruling over all things for the good of his church—his believers. That includes you and me. We may wonder about that at times. In fact, we may even have our daily doubts about it. But it’s true. He is using his almighty power to direct all of history for our good. That fills us with hope, a different hope, a certain hope.

That hope is certain because everything Jesus did for us is certain. Peter makes a short list of those things, every one of them critical for us. He states, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” Our sins separated us from God. But Jesus died to make peace for us with God. That work is finished as he stated on the cross. That makes us certain.

He followed his death with his resurrection. Peter again states, “He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.” He promised to rise again after three days and that’s exactly what he did. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the very foundation of our Christian faith. Because Jesus kept that promise, we know that all his promises to us are certain. That fills us with a different hope.

To fill us with certainty, Peter even refers to Jesus’ descent into hell when he states, “through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison.” Jesus descended into hell on Easter morning with a glorified body to proclaim his victory over Satan. He didn’t shout that victory from heaven. He went right to hell and thereby showed that Satan had no power over him. Therefore, Satan has no power over us either. That fills us with a different hope.

That hope was brought to us through our baptisms. At our baptisms Jesus made us children of God. Peter says about our baptisms, “Baptism now saves you also.” Your God wants you to be so certain of your eternal life with him that he graciously gave us the Sacrament of Holy Baptism by which he brings that salvation to us. Living in heaven forever isn’t just a wish for us. Nor do we wish we can get there. It’s certain for us by faith in Jesus.

What a different hope you have! Your hope is certain in Christ.

We have a certain hope in Christ. We belong to him forever and we will live with him forever. What more could our Lord do to make us certain and fill us with hope? But there are times—too many times—that this certain hope isn’t enough for us. We want Jesus to put an end to the struggle we’re facing, and then we’ll be filled with hope. We want Jesus to remove the various difficulties in our lives, and then we’ll be filled with hope. When he solves our financial, employment, health or relationship issues, then we’ll be filled with hope. That’s sinfully myopic, isn’t it? To think that filling some momentary, earthly need will fill us with hope? Shame on us! Jesus died and rose again to win our forgiveness and to fill our needs eternally. Don’t base your hopes on what you still want your Savior to do for you! Let your hope spring eternally from what your Savior has already done for you. That’s what makes your hope different. It’s certain in Christ.

Part II.
It’s only natural for people who have been blessed with much to feel a responsibility to share what they have, especially with those less fortunate. That’s why people who earn millions of dollars a year establish foundations. It gives them a controlled and systematic way to give away what they don’t need for themselves.

We’ve been blessed with far more than earthly riches. We have a certain hope in Christ. Appreciation for that hope leads us to seek opportunities to share it.

That’s what Peter was talking about when he stated, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience.” Obviously, Peter is speaking about sharing your faith with others. That’s not always easy to do. In fact, we can easily come up with excuses not to share our faith. But we know it’s what our God wants us to do. So let’s take a closer look at what Peter says.

He tells us when to share our faith—always be prepared. Use the moments in life—good and bad—to share what you know to be true from God’s word. Point out to others how certain verses of the Bible or hymn verses are a source of comfort and strength for you. That’s sharing the hope that you have.

Peter also tells us how to share our hope—with gentleness and respect. We’ve all been turned off by “holier-than-thou” messages from Christians—preachers and lay people alike. Peter urges the opposite. Lend a listening, caring ear to an individual. Find out what their struggles are and then offer them the help that only Jesus can give. That’s sharing your hope with gentleness and respect.

But then Peter adds what sounds like an odd phrase. He speaks about sharing your faith with a clear conscience. What’s his point? He’s urging us to share our faith from pure motives and with words of love and respect toward others. When we do that, God is glorified and he uses what we say to work in the hearts and lives of others. We can go away from such a situation knowing that we did our best to share his truths and leave the rest to him.

But let’s never use that as an excuse to leave it all to him. It does us no good to pray, “Thy will be done” and then avoid opportunities for our God to use us to accomplish his will. Stated positively, he’s looking for us to seize opportunities to give others the reason for our certain hope in Christ. He simply asks us to be faithful with the gifts and the opportunities that he gives us.

And then we can leave the rest to him. We’re just the Lord’s mouthpieces. Conversion always has been and always will be the work of God the Holy Spirit. The credit and the glory for bringing a sinner to faith in Jesus belong to God and not to us. That shouldn’t fill us with jealousy nor with self-deprecation. Instead, it should fill us with comfort and joy. God uses us to do his work. The results are up to him and not up to us. And that fills us with hope, a different hope.

What a different hope you have! Look for opportunities to share it!

I know that sharing the hope that you have isn’t easy to do. But it’s the most rewarding work you can do. What pleasure it gives a person to share those simple truths with a child! What joy we experience when a person, who didn’t formerly have a church home, joins our church. And to be able to say, “The Lord used me to bring his truths to that person,” is an amazing thing. Look for opportunities to share the hope that you have! God promises to bless your efforts. Amen.

Only Jesus Can Give Comfort Like This!

2011-05-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

5th Sunday of Easter, 5/22/11
John 14:1-12

Only Jesus Can Give Comfort Like This!
I. The comfort of an eternal home
II. The comfort only God can give
III. The assurance we will do great things

Ruth Dillow will never forget the last day of February, 1991. That was the day she was called into the office at her place of employment and was grimly greeted by two officers of the US Army. They didn’t have to say a word. She knew why they were there. You see, her son Clayton was serving in the Persian Gulf War. The officers spoke their words of regret, informing her that her son had been killed the day before while serving his country. Her reaction was typical. She was stunned. Family and friends gathered around her all the rest of that day, but they did little to dispel the hazy world around her. She just couldn’t accept the reality of his death.

She went to bed that night, not sleeping much at all. She got out of bed the next day to face her grief and disbelief. Her young son Clayton was gone. She said, “I kept looking at that picture,” nodding toward a framed photo above the living room door. “I kept saying, “No. He can’t be dead. This has got to be a mistake.”

Still, when the phone rang late that evening, Ruth wasn’t quite prepared for the far-off voice that announced. “Hi, Mom. This is Clayton.” Obviously, she didn’t believe it. But he insisted it was indeed her son. He told her that he had been wounded and was in the hospital, but that he should make a full recovery. She didn’t believe it was really her son. So she asked, “What did I call you when you were little?” He had to think for a moment, but then replied, “Little garbage disposal.” And that’s when she believed him. Those were the words—words from her son—that drove her grief away and filled her with joy.

We, too, look for comfort from words. There are times when that comfort is sorely needed, such as when a loved one dies, especially unexpectedly. But there are the little times of pain all day long when we need our Lord’s comforting words of assurance that all will be better.

Jesus shares those words with us this morning. And what powerful words of comfort they are! Only Jesus can give comfort like this! May his comfort fill your hearts as we focus on his comforting words this morning.

Part I.
At the beginning of this month I heard a presentation that made me realize how many blessings I take for granted. I listened as some young adults who had come out of the foster care program described their insecurity about never having a place to call home. Most of us—if not all of us—have never experienced that insecurity. We’ve been blessed with homes all our lives.

And yet we still live rather restless lives. Correct me if I’m wrong, but every day we feel compelled to chase after and strive for something else to make our lives complete. We wish for this or that change in our lives and nearly end up wishing our lives away. Rather unsettling, isn’t it?

Listen to Jesus’ words of comfort—comfort that only he can give. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” Jesus wants to assure us that heaven isn’t some myth that he dreamed up in order to give us something to look forward to. He actually went there when he ascended in order to get everything ready for us. He says there are rooms there for us. By that he means he is preparing a permanent place for us to live with him eternally. Everything else in our lives is only temporary, but his place for us is permanently eternal.

But how can we be sure we’ll get there? Jesus offers this word of comfort, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” That’s another reference to the resurrection of the dead on the Last Day. Jesus is preparing a place for our souls and our bodies. On that Last Day, with his almighty power, he will raise us and we will join him and all other believers. What greater comfort can there be for the stress and grief of this life? Only Jesus can give comfort like this—the comfort of an eternal home.

So keep that in mind as you enter the rat race of life later today or, at the latest, tomorrow. Our home isn’t here. Everything we work so hard for will one day be taken from us. Only our spiritual blessings will go with us into the next life. So, when we gather together to confess our sins, include your misplaced priorities and earthly focus in your confession. And don’t forget to confess your worries. Our daily worries are evidence that our focus is too much on this life and not enough on the one to come. By his perfect life and his death on the cross, Jesus guarantees you life with him. He is preparing a permanent, eternal home for you right now. It’s yours by faith in him. Only Jesus can give comfort like this!

Part II.
You’ve probably heard me say that the most important question in life is, “Who is Jesus Christ?” A sinner’s eternal life or death hangs in the balance based on his or her answer. Jesus is the eternal Son of God and the world’s only Savior from sin.

At this point in their relationship with Jesus, the disciples were struggling to answer that question correctly. There were times when they made outstanding confessions of Jesus, such as when Peter declared for them all, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt. 16:16).

But weeks later, they weren’t so sure. At least Philip wasn’t so sure. Jesus declared, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” But Philip revealed his opinion that the Father must be greater than Jesus when he said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus confronts Philip and his fellow disciples with the truth. He said, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” Jesus is here stating what we confess about him in the Nicene Creed, “True God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father.” Jesus is the Son of God and therefore shares the same essence with the Father. Jesus is all that the Father is.

And if the disciples don’t believe his words, then he pleads with them, “At least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.” Every miracle of Jesus pointed to this great and saving truth: Jesus is the almighty, eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. Only God can raise the dead. Jesus raised people from the dead. He raised himself from the dead. Jesus must be God.

Therefore, when he speaks, he speaks the word of God. He said, “The words I speak are not just my own.” When he speaks, he says exactly what the Father and the Holy Spirit say. His words share the truth, power and grace of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He’s not just sharing his own opinion about things. He’s speaking the words of the eternal God who is the way, the truth and the life.

And in those words we find our comfort—the comfort only God can give.

But what comfort we miss simply because we don’t take Jesus at his word! Jesus declares he is with us always, yet we feel afraid and alone. Jesus declares our sins are fully forgiven, but we deal daily with nagging guilt. Jesus declares he has destined us for life with him, but we’re anxious because we don’t know where our life seems to be going. Jesus declares he will always guide and strengthen us for whatever we face, but we fall into doubt and despair. And so he comes to us with his words of comfort again this morning and reminds us that he is God, the one who loves us, who died for us and who lives for us. Everything he has told us must be true. Only Jesus can comfort us like this!

Part III.
More than once I have wished that Jesus were still visibly here on earth, performing his awesome miracles. Wouldn’t that be astounding to see?

But there’s a problem with that. If Jesus were here doing his miracles, you and I would be more than happy for him to take care of all the work that needs to be done in his kingdom. We’d be tempted to say, “Jesus, just snap your fingers and get it done.”

Instead, Jesus uses us to do great things in his kingdom. He says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” Greater things than Jesus did?!? Like what? Like using his law to confront sinners with their sin and using his gospel to proclaim to sinners their Savior from sin. Another greater thing is combining simple water with the all-powerful word and promise of Jesus and baptizing young and old alike, washing their sins away and bringing them into the kingdom of God. Another greater thing is sharing the very body and blood of Jesus with the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper for the assurance of our forgiveness, faith in Jesus and eternal life. In fact, another greater thing is bringing God’s word, 2,000 years after Pentecost, to a people for the first time in the language of their hearts. What a great thing it is, indeed, that our gracious God has given Chris, Janine and Sean not only the desire, but the gifts, to leave behind their family and friends in order to embark on a such a major project. And we, in a small way, can join them in that great thing by supporting them with our prayers and offerings. Chris, Janine and Sean—Jesus has great things in mind for you, just as he does for all of us. What comfort that gives us—the comfort that only Jesus can give. So go and do the great things in God’s kingdom that he has planned for you! Amen.

Christian, Make This Your Focus!

2011-05-07T12:38:00.000-07:00

3rd Sunday of Easter, 5/8/11
Acts 2:14a, 36-47

Christian, Make This Your Focus!
I. Inward repentance
II. Outward fellowship

If you paid any attention to the national and world news this past week, you repeatedly heard the sentence, “It changed my life” or, “My life hasn’t been the same since.” And almost without exception, the speaker was referring to the attacks of September 11, 2001 on our nation. The people who were directly involved recall how they survived the attacks and what a difference it made. Or they recall the loss of a loved one in those attacks or in the rescue efforts immediately following the attacks. And now that the one who planned those attacks is dead, they experience another act of closure. For others, those attacks propelled them into action, enlisting in the war on terror or joining a police or firefighter force. Whatever the case, that day made them look at their lives and think about their lives in a different way and the effects are ongoing.

The Jews on Pentecost who listened to Peter’s sermon didn’t experience a physical bombing that changed their lives forever, but they did experience a spiritual bombing. Without a doubt it was a defining moment in their lives. One of the opening verses of our text reads, “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart.” What Peter had told them affected them deeply, negatively. They realized they had put to death the Son of God. And in the next moment, Peter shared with them the most wonderful news, the only news that could save them from eternal death in hell, the news that Jesus is their Savior from sin and that he forgives them.

We’ve all had that defining moment in our lives. It was the moment that we came to faith in Jesus. I would imagine that most of us don’t recall being cut to the heart. But we did come to faith in Jesus just as these people did and by the same means these people did—the word of God and the Sacrament of Baptism. That was a defining moment in our lives and it changed our lives forever.

But we forget that. We take it for granted. We allow other things to divert our attention. So today, the Lord uses this portion of his word to tell you, “Christian, make this your focus.” Let’s see exactly what he means.

Part I.

A few days ago I watched a short video segment on UTube that featured Dr. Michael Horton, a professor at a Presbyterian seminary in California. He was bemoaning the fact that far too many sermons in Christian churches are simply a list of rules to live by because people are under the impression that God exists to make us happy in our lives and thus they look for him to supply them with guidelines on how to live and be happy. In giving these people what they want, preachers are tragically avoiding the topic of sin and the need for repentance.

Peter made sure his hearers didn’t have that problem. He convicted them of the sin of rejecting Jesus as the promised Savior. Thus they responded, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Now, as good Lutherans, we know there’s nothing we can do to save ourselves or earn our forgiveness. With that being the case, please don’t misunderstand what these people were saying. God’s crushing law had done its intended work. They realized how helpless and hopeless they were. They realized there was nothing they could do. Their question arises, not out of a false sense of self-righteousness, but out of utter despair.

In a very real sense, this was their confession of sin. They realized how they had sinned against the holy God. They hadn’t measured up to God’s standard of holiness. They had willfully violated the commandments. They had done the unthinkable in rejecting and crucifying the Lord. They admitted their guilt and offered no excuses.

Peter realized their desperate spiritual state. He recognized that he had hopeless sinners standing before him, listening to his words. And he didn’t respond by saying, “Go home and really think about how terrible you’ve been and then come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you what to do.” No, he immediately responded, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” First, he told them to repent. He meant that in the fullest sense of that word, which means not only to be sorry for your sins—which they were—but also to trust in Jesus for forgiveness. This was a call for them to believe what he had told them about Jesus—that he was the promised Savior from sin.

Along with that, he called for them to be baptized. And that’s what they did. What followed was likely one of the greatest days of baptism in the history of the Christian church on earth. Our text tells us that 3,000 believed and were baptized that day. Incredible!

Through the gospel and through this Sacrament the people received the Holy Spirit. Some have said, rightly so, that the greatest gift that God can give to any sinner is the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the one who brings all God’s great and saving gifts to us—faith in Jesus, forgiveness of sins, eternal life, membership in God’s kingdom. And that’s what these people received that day. It changed their lives forever and it started with inward repentance.

Christian, make this your focus—inward repentance.

Do you realize what an astounding thing repentance is? When you repent of your sins, you are doing what countless billions of people fail to do and suffer for it eternally. In repenting you are recognizing and admitting that every day of your life you reveal yourself to be, as we say, a poor, miserable sinner. You’re coming face-to-face with the fact that you cannot save yourself no matter how many “good” things you might do. Billions of people think the opposite about themselves. And then, the most astounding spiritual thing of all takes place—by the grace of God through the work of God the Holy Spirit alone, you believe that your sins are forgiven by Jesus’ holy life and his death on Calvary’s cross. So make that your focus, Christian! Don’t get distracted in your faith. Don’t think that there must be something else, something greater, something more. There is nothing else, nothing greater, nothing more! So make this your focus—inward repentance.

Part II.

With the downturn in the economy and the loss of jobs and income, maybe this statement isn’t as true for as many people as it was a decade ago: time is our most prized possession. You can never get it back. Once you spend it, it’s gone for good. You only have a limited amount of it and none of us knows for sure exactly how much time here we have.

Once these Jews before Peter had their defining moment, notice how it impacted their use of time. We read, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” I’d like to highlight one of those words and the way it impacted their lives. It’s the word “fellowship.” We use that word often and maybe without a lot of thought. But it’s a word full of meaning. These people realized that they had a relationship now with each other by faith in Jesus that went beyond the bounds of time. It was eternal and they wanted to experience and express it as much as they could. In other words, they now used their time to deepen the fellowship that they had.

The first way they did it was to study the teaching of the apostles. We would call it Bible study. They grew in the faith and in their knowledge of God’s truths for their eternal life and their life now on earth. They assisted each other in applying those truths in daily life and death situations. They helped one another understand how God’s word impacted their family life and their employment life. In doing so, their fellowship with each other expanded as they thought and believed the same way about things.

They also broke bread together in their homes. Their faith in Jesus drew households together and thus it was only natural for them to want to enjoy a meal together. They fellowshipped around food.

They also fellowshipped around prayer. In other words, they gathered together to pray about things. It doesn’t say here what they prayed about, but surely they prayed for the spread of the gospel. They wanted the saving word of God to be proclaimed to one and all. They likely prayed for God to use them to do so. What’s more, they prayed for strength and boldness. From the very beginning of the church, the preaching of the gospel met with opposition, sometimes deadly opposition. They prayed for their needs and the needs of others. In doing so, they built up their spiritual community or togetherness.

And, finally, they expressed their fellowship by serving each other. Listen to this description: “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” Some have described this activity as a form of Christian communism where everyone shared all their possessions. That’s not what was happening here. There were those who realized that they had been blessed by God with more than they needed to live on. So when a need arose, they sold some of what they had and used it to support others. It was a genuine expression of their fellowship—their new fellowship with Jesus by faith in him and their fellowship with their brothers and sisters in the faith. It became the focus of their lives.

Christian, make this your focus—outward fellowship!

Unfortunately, this is perhaps the easiest aspect of your Christian faith to ignore and neglect. No one screams at you to have fellowship with them by studying God’s word together or praying together. No one demands that you attend a particular fellowship function. And the more we neglect it, the more the individual suffers and the whole body of believers along with it. So recall what you have—a united faith in Jesus as your Savior from sin. That faith has drawn us together. The Holy Spirit nurtures that faith through his word and sacrament. He builds us up in the faith and leads us to cherish the gift of fellowship that we possess. Christian, if it isn’t already, make it your focus! Amen.

It's All About Jesus!

2011-04-30T07:03:00.000-07:00

2nd Sunday of Easter, 5/1/11
Acts 2:14a, 22-32

It’s All About Jesus!
I. He was crucified according to God’s plan.
II. He rose again according to God’s promise.

I don’t get the opportunity often, but occasionally I listen to a sermon delivered by someone other than a fellow WELS pastor. In this case, it happened to be the sermon of a pastor of a non-denominational church. The sermon held my interest to a large degree. There were bits of humor. But at the end of the sermon, the one thing that struck me was that the pastor never, not once, mentioned the name of Jesus. As I thought about it, the sermon could have been delivered in a Jewish synagogue or a Unitarian church. In fact, because he didn’t mention anything about Jesus, I suppose the sermon could have been acceptable even to a Muslim or a Hindu. And the more I pondered it, the more appalled I became. I hope that such a sermon in a Christian church is the exception. Maybe I’m naïve.

That certainly wasn’t the case with the sermons of apostles. Take a look at some of the sermons they delivered or at some of the messages they proclaimed before powerful people. Read through the Book of Acts. Every one of their sermons or messages focused on one thing—better, one person—Jesus Christ.

And that was exactly Peter’s focus in his first sermon. We have a portion of it before us this morning. He actually preached this sermon on the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection. And properly so, his focus was on Jesus—his death and resurrection. For Peter, it was all about Jesus.

Praise God that today it’s still all about Jesus. It’s all about Jesus! In preaching this sermon to us, Peter doesn’t share with us any truths we don’t already know. But listening to what he says gives us the opportunity to apply that saving message to our hearts and lives once again this morning.

Part I.

I’m sure you’ve come across some Bible truths that we can’t fully comprehend. For instance, how can God be three persons but only one God? Or, how can God create something out of nothing? And how can we understand that God is eternal—without beginning or end? That’s just a small sampling. There are plenty more truths that our human minds can’t grasp.

There are also examples of the Bible stating two truths and we’re prone to ask, “Well, which one is true? They can’t both be true.” But they are. For instance, the Bible states that God loves the whole world of sinners and yet it also states that he hates all who do wrong. Both are true and they find their solution in the cross of Jesus.

In order to convince his hearers that day that they needed a Savior from sin, Peter preached God’s condemning law to them. In doing so, he appears to say two things, which at first glance, seem to say two different things.

He tells them how wrong they were to reject Jesus as the promised Savior. “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.” Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and the Savior of the world. And what he did backed up what he said. He performed miracles that only God can do. It started with changing water into wine and included healing those who were sick, driving out evil spirits, and even raising dead people. These tremendous acts of his power weren’t done in secret. There were countless witnesses to them. And Peter points that out to his hearers.

But they still acted against what they had seen and heard. Peter charges them, “With the help of wicked men, [you] put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” Peter isn’t saying that every one of them had a hand in pounding the nails into Jesus’ hands and feet. But perhaps some of them were in Pilate’s courtyard that morning of his death and were shouting along with the Jewish leaders, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Were they at the foot of the cross later that day, mocking him with the soldiers? And even if they weren’t guilty of either of these things, no one defended him. No one sided with him. Think about that. They put the Son of God to death! They crucified the One for whom all Jews had been waiting for more than a 1,000 years. The sinless One dies the worst death imaginable and they were responsible for it!

But did you notice what else Peter said about the death of Jesus? He said, “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge.” It almost sounds as if Peter is saying this was all according to God’s plan. Well, that’s exactly what he’s saying. God’s plan of salvation focused on sacrificing his Son on the cross for the sins of the world. But how does that square with Peter accusing the Jews before him of crucifying Jesus? It squares exactly. They weren’t unwilling pawns or pre-programmed robots. They did exactly what they wanted to do when they crucified Jesus. And in doing it, they were carrying out God’s plan. That doesn’t absolve them of the responsibility or the guilt. It means that God used their wickedness to accomplish our salvation.

That was God’s plan. It’s all about Jesus. He was crucified according to God’s plan.

Perhaps you’ve heard an advisor tell you, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” And we know how true that statement is, we just never get around to planning the things we know we should. And we’ve got our excuses. We’re too busy. We spend our entire day dealing with the unexpected, so what’s the point in planning? In fact, so often we deal with the unforeseen difficulties and tragedies in our lives that we wonder what kind of plan God has for us. Has he perhaps even forgotten us?

Peter’s sermon reminds us that it’s all about Jesus, but that doesn’t mean God has forgotten about you. Exactly the opposite. Yes, the plan involved crucifying Jesus but not simply for the sake of a crucifixion. It was all about you and me! Jesus’ death on the cross was the death we should have been dying. The hell he suffered should have been our hell. Yes, we nailed him to the cross with our sins, but his cross brings God’s forgiveness flowing into our lives. It’s all about Jesus. Thank God it’s all about Jesus!

Part II.

There are those who think all religions basically say the same thing, they just use different terms. I’m sure you’re not surprised to know I couldn’t disagree more. You probably don’t agree with them either.

In fact, Christianity is unique in many respects. And one of the most striking ones is the truth that Peter discussed at some length in his sermon about Jesus. He says, “But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” Christianity proclaims the resurrection—the resurrection of Jesus and our own resurrection. Unlike other religions, Christians don’t make journeys to the burial site of their religion’s leader. As the angel proclaimed at Jesus’ tomb on Easter, he’s not here. He has risen!

When the angel proclaimed those words to Jesus’ followers and they, it turn, proclaimed them to others, their words were met with disbelief and rejection, much as they are by too many today. But the resurrection of Jesus should have come as no surprise to his followers. Jesus plainly told them that he would rise again on the third day. Even his enemies were aware of it.

In addition, Jesus had repeatedly revealed his power over death. The Bible contains three accounts of Jesus coming into contact with a dead person. None of them remained dead. He raised the daughter of a man named Jairus. He stopped at the funeral procession of the son of a widow from the town of Nain, touched the coffin and raised the son to life. And just weeks before his crucifixion he had commanded his good friend Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, to come out of the grave. And that’s exactly what Lazarus did.

Jesus had power over death and he would display that power even over his own death. That was God’s promise all along and Peter makes that promise a central part of his sermon. He states, “David said about him: ‘I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.”

Peter quoted these words from Psalm 16 which was written by King David. In doing so, he states the obvious: David couldn’t have been speaking about his own body not seeing decay. David had died almost 1,000 years ago and every Jewish person knew that David’s body was still buried right there in Jerusalem.

Instead, David, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was speaking about Jesus. Jesus was God’s Holy One. He was and is the sinless Son of God. He died, but his body didn’t decay and it wasn’t abandoned to the grave. Jesus rose from the dead. As amazing and incredible as that seems, he rose, just as God had promised.

It’s all about Jesus. He rose again according to God’s promise.

Your God makes astounding promises and he has always kept every promise he has ever made. He promises your forgiveness and eternal life. He promises to send you his Holy Spirit through his word and sacrament. He promises to strengthen you and guide you. He promises to make all things turn out for the good of those who love him. He promises to take your soul home to him in heaven and to raise your body from the grave on the Last Day and glorify it. All those promises he will keep because of Jesus. He died for you and he rose for you. It’s all about Jesus. May it always be all about Jesus! Amen.

The Lamb of God Is Chosen!

2011-04-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

Palm Sunday, 4/17/11
Matthew 21:1-11

The Lamb of God Is Chosen!
I. To be our King
II. To be our sacrifice

We call this week Holy Week, and for good reason. It’s the most solemn, most meaningful week in the Christian year. It’s the week that we walk with our Savior into Jerusalem on Sunday, up to the upper room on Thursday where he instituted the Lord’s Supper, and then out to the Garden of Gethsemane. We follow him through several courtrooms and palaces, and with the heaviest of feet we walk the path to Calvary and watch his crucifixion, death and burial on Good Friday. And of course we do so knowing that on the first day of the next week we’ll rejoice over his resurrection.

If we were Jewish, we’d be observing this week under another name—the week of Passover. And while the Passover didn’t officially begin until Thursday of this week, the preparation began on Sunday, the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the day we call Palm Sunday. On this day, the 10th day of the month of Nisan, each Jewish family was to choose a year-old male lamb. The Lord directed Moses to tell the Israelites in preparation for the very first Passover in Egypt, “Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community must slaughter them at twilight” (Ex. 12:3, 6).

It was no accident that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on the 10th of Nisan. Here was the Lamb who had been chosen by God coming to fulfill his work as the world’s Savior from sin. That’s what this ride was all about. That’s what we celebrate this Palm Sunday. The Lamb of God is chosen! Let’s see what for as we ponder this familiar Palm Sunday event.

Part I.

Lately, authority figures around the world have been taking a lot of heat and experiencing open rebellion. First it was Egypt and now it’s Libya. And while you wouldn’t call the current and former leaders of these countries “king,” in essence, that’s what they were and are. There’s only a façade of democracy. One man calls all the shots, and when that happens, authority gets abused and people are rightly suspicious. They don’t trust their leader or leaders at all.

There’s only one man who can be trusted with absolute almighty power and authority, and that’s your Palm Sunday Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Matthew’s account begins with his description of our Savior’s authority. With the knowledge of all things, even future events, and with power over all things, Jesus instructs two of his disciples, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” It wasn’t a flashy display of his authority and relatively few people witnessed it, but it was his divine authority nonetheless.

And in riding into Jerusalem, Jesus the King was bringing his kingdom to a world full of sinners. The crowds before and after Jesus could sense it. Their hopes regarding Jesus were at an all-time high. Just a short time ago he had raised Lazarus from the dead and the area was buzzing with excitement over Jesus. Would he now reveal himself as the Messiah and establish his kingdom here in Jerusalem and drive out the Romans? You see, while they had expectations about the coming kingdom of Jesus, those expectations were almost completely wrong.

But without a doubt, the Lamb of God entered Jerusalem to serve us as our King. He rides in on a donkey. Kings rode on horses, not beasts of burden. But the choice of a donkey was absolutely correct for this King. Zechariah had foretold it centuries earlier and Jesus fulfilled it. What’s more, the choice of a donkey was in keeping with his humility. He came to serve us, not to be served. That’s the role of the Lamb of God who is our King.

And that’s exactly what the sign nailed to the cross above his head would read. Five days later Pilate would make sure all knew that he was “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” Exactly why he wrote those words we’re not sure. But truer words were never written.

Six hours later, he bows his head and gives up his spirit. The King is dead. How could they have treated him this way? But what a death it is! It’s exactly according to God’s saving plan. The Son of God, the eternal King of all, dies and he does so for all. The death of the King fulfills God’s plan of salvation. It satisfies the justice of God. It pays for the sins of the whole world.

That plan’s final stage began when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the day that the Jews were choosing their lambs for Passover. And on that day the Lamb of God is chosen, chosen to be our King.

As I mentioned, kings with absolute power and authority often abuse them. But not this King! He comes to serve his subjects in the most difficult and yet the highest way possible—by giving his life as the payment for their sins. How easy it is for us today to praise and thank him and to offer him our willingness to be his subjects.

But that willingness is shallow and fleeting. Before this day ends, in more ways than we realize, we’ll push our King aside. We’ll let sinful anger and impatience, selfishness and laziness, materialism and discontent, worry and lust, suspicion and antagonism get the better of us. And those are just the sins on the inside! We’ll reveal them on the outside by the things we say and do. And they all reveal that, too often, we’re not too fond of Jesus as our King. We’ll think and feel and say and do as we please when we want to.

Jesus knows it. And yet he didn’t turn back from the cross. He embraced it, knowing that he needed to die for us to be our King. The Lamb of God is chosen, chosen to be our King.

Part II.

Through Moses, the Lord instructed his people to choose their lambs for that first Passover in Egypt on Sunday of the Passover week and then take care of them until Thursday when death would strike the Egyptians. In doing so, the Jews had a memorable object lesson. Here was the lamb that was chosen and set aside so that four days later it could be slaughtered and its blood painted on the doorframe of the house so that the angel of death would pass over that house.

About 1,500 years later, on Palm Sunday, the Jews chose their lambs for their Passover celebration that year. That same day Jesus entered Jerusalem as the Lamb of God who had been chosen to be slaughtered for the sins of the world. That death would come five days later.

It was hard to imagine on Palm Sunday that his death was so immanent. Listen to the joyful shouts of the people, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” The word “Hosanna” means “save” and the Jews used it in a messianic sense as evidenced by the fact that they referred to Jesus as the Son of David. After waiting centuries for the Messiah to arrive, they were overjoyed to see Jesus entering Jerusalem. They proclaimed him to be the promised Messiah.

But five days later their voices fell silent. Why? What went wrong? He didn’t do what they expected him to do. He showed during the next five days that he had no intention of setting up an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem. He made it clear that he was more interested in opposing the false teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees than he was in opposing the Romans. In fact, he completely surrendered himself to his enemies and to the Romans.

And thus the praises on Palm Sunday were replaced by curses, blasphemy and blood-thirsty shouts of “Crucify him! Crucify him!” They wanted nothing to do with him. They considered him to be a joke, an imposter and a liar. They despised him so much that they wouldn’t be silent until he was dead. And to their hearts’ delight, they watched as the Romans soldiers nailed him to the cross.

But all along this was God’s plan for saving the world full of sinners. Again, Jesus was and is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The Jews had sacrificed countless lambs and other animals in religious ceremonies which were intended to make them recall their sins and the truth that their sins must be paid for. And the person who paid for them was none other than the Son of God himself, the Lamb of God. His death on the cross was the payment for the sins of the world.

He makes the payment, and spares his children from death. At the first Passover, the lamb was slaughtered and its blood spared the Children of Israel from death. They left Egypt that night in freedom. Jesus, the Lamb of God, sheds his blood on Calvary’s cross and his children are spared from death—eternal death in hell. They go free—free to serve him in love and thanks to him.

The Lamb of God is chosen, chosen to be our sacrifice.

Keep that truth centered in your heart and mind this Holy Week. Don’t get so wrapped up in how you will celebrate Easter that you pay little attention to the sacrifice that the Lamb of God made for you. There’s no point in celebrating Easter without recalling the death of Jesus for your sins. And there’s no point in observing the death of Jesus without the certainty of his resurrection. Realize how necessary his death and resurrection are because of our sins. And then rejoice today that Jesus is the Lamb of God chosen to be your Savior, your King, your sacrifice for sin. Amen.

Your Situation Isn't Hopeless!

2011-04-09T13:23:00.000-07:00

5th Sunday in Lent, 4/10/11
Ezekiel 37:1-14

Your Situation Isn’t Hopeless!
I. The Lord is almighty.
II. The Lord is gracious.

About once a week someone forwards to my email box pictures of the devastation on Japan’s northeast coast. Do you get the same? If so, how do you react? Those pictures leave me speechless. Entire towns are gone. Homes and businesses have been destroyed and washed out to sea. In many places there’s nothing to salvage. Everything these people built during their lifetimes is gone. Imagine one minute enjoying life in your home and the next minute watching it all destroyed by a wall of water. And I’m not even mentioning the toll in human life.

The still pictures are horrific enough, but the video footage is beyond belief. I don’t know that I could have stood still with a camera in my hand recording the sea water washing over everything in my life. I think I would have dropped the camera and crumbled to my knees in utter disbelief and despair. How could this be happening? And there’s nothing I can do to stop it. How helpless! How hopeless!

I think I know all of you well enough to say that we’ve never faced anything like what I’ve described above. We’ve never watched everything in our lives destroyed before our very eyes. But we do know times of helplessness and hopelessness. Who of us hasn’t held a loved one in our arms or stood by their bedside, offering words of comfort and care but unable to do anything that will help them? All of us have faced those times in our lives—momentary or extended—when we’re staring at a crisis and we don’t know what to do and, even if we did, we’re powerless to do it.

That’s how God’s people in the days of Ezekiel felt. We’ll get into their situation in a moment. In a word, it seemed hopeless, much the way ours does at times. But that simply isn’t the case. Not with the Lord on your side. As bleak as things may be, your situation isn’t hopeless. Your situation isn’t hopeless. Join me as we see why in these words from our Lord.

Part I.

What do you do when you’re in a hopeless situation? I’m sure many of you would answer, “Pray about it.” And I agree. And then after we pray about it, we probably look for some advice. I went to one of those “self help gurus” on the internet to find some advice. I don’t recommend going there. This guru’s advice was to look at your life, as hopeless as it might be, as if it were a game of Monopoly. Play the game. See what happens. You might win. And if you lose, then make sure you learn from your mistakes. At least then a little bit of good will come out of it.

Really? Play the game? Since when is financial crisis, or terminal illness, or prolonged joblessness, or a gut-wrenching end to a relationship a game we can play and hope to win?

Tragically, the Jews of Ezekiel’s day had been playing games with God for centuries. The problem was that God wasn’t playing with them. He was dead serious. And now they found themselves in what appeared to be a hopeless situation. Ezekiel was one of about 4,000 Jews who went into exile in Babylon right around 600 BC. The unthinkable had happened. The Jews, descendants of Abraham, had been forcibly removed from the land God promised to Abraham and his descendants.

And now there seemed to be no hope of return. You see, a messenger had just come from Judah to Babylon and had reported that the Babylonians had destroyed the city of Jerusalem along with its glorious temple of the Lord. Up until that point the Jews had been hoping to return and re-inhabit their homes. In exile they had learned their lesson. They longed to return and worship the Lord once again in the temple. Now there was no hope of ever doing that again. No, their homes had not been washed out to sea; they had been reduced to a pile of charred rubble.

And their hearts cried out in utter despair and hopelessness. They said, “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.” They pictured their situation as hopeless as dry bones—there’s no life left, not even a sign of former life.

And that’s exactly the picture, then, that the Lord used to offer them hope. He gave Ezekiel a vision. We’d call it a horror movie. He showed Ezekiel a valley full of dry bones, like an old, open mass grave, the kind of sight that makes you shudder and turn away. And when the Lord questioned Ezekiel about the possibility of life existing there, Ezekiel deferred to the Lord and said, “You alone know.”

And then it got really creepy. The Lord told Ezekiel to speak the Lord’s words to the bones and suddenly there was a rattling and the bones started coming together, forming skeletons. And then the bones attached to one another by tendons. Suddenly the unthinkable happened—flesh appeared on the bones. In other words, bodies appeared. And then, by the word of the Lord, breath entered the bodies and they came to life.

It’s just a vision, but it illustrates something about our Lord that we know and believe to be true. He’s almighty. He and he alone can bring life where there is only death.

And that’s the answer to anyone’s hopelessness. Your situation isn’t hopeless. The Lord is almighty!

Ezekiel witnessed a vision of the Lord’s almighty power. He didn’t actually see that power, but he had heard the events from Israel’s history in which the Lord had exercised that power—the angel of death in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and more recently, the angel of the Lord putting to death 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night. He knew those stories. So do we. We just wish we’d see some of that almighty power in our lives. We wish he’s use some of it right now and solve our problems. Then maybe our lives wouldn’t be so hopeless.

First, how do you know he isn’t using his almighty power to guard and protect you right now? How many times in your life’s history has he used his power to avert disaster, the disasters that Satan wants to bring into your life?

But more importantly, know for certain that he is using his almighty power right now. Your faith in Jesus as your Savior is a miracle of the almighty power of God. He has brought you to faith and he is feeding that faith right now. By his word he is strengthening that faith so that you hold onto him in faith until the day he calls you home to heaven. Now that’s almighty power! He used that power when he sent his Son in human flesh to be your Savior. He used that almighty power to send the flood of the Savior’s blood into your life to wash your sins away. He brings you his forgiveness daily for all the times we’ve doubted his power and have accepted our own invitations to our personal pity parties. Your situation isn’t hopeless! Your Lord is almighty!

Part II.

And as long as you have a promise from the Lord, you always have hope.

The Lord. It’s significant that God uses that name for himself throughout this account. That’s the special name that God used for himself when he spoke about his covenant or promises with his Old Testament people. It’s the name that emphasizes that he is faithful and loving toward his people.

And that’s how God had acted, not just recently, but throughout his dealings with his people. Don’t think that this disaster befell the Jews suddenly and without warning, like a tsunami. Just the opposite. For centuries God had been warning his people. Do you recall the prophet Isaiah? I’m sure you do. Isaiah lived 150 years before Ezekiel and the Lord used him to tell his people that, if they didn’t repent, the Babylonians would come and destroy them. And Isaiah wasn’t the only one who warned them. All these prophets with their warnings were evidence that the Lord had been patient with them.

And even when the Babylonians attacked, the Lord didn’t give his people what they fully deserved. They deserved to be wiped completely from the face of the earth and suffer eternally. But he didn’t do that. He spared a remnant of the people. He kept them safe and under his loving protection. Eventually, he led them back to Jerusalem and blessed their efforts to rebuild their city and their temple. A little more than four centuries later, he fulfilled his promise to send the world’s Savior through this remnant of his people.

And it’s all because of who he is. He is the Lord, who is merciful and gracious. He is still merciful and gracious. We trust him for his mercy every time we confess our sins. Just a single sin is punishable by death in hell. When we plead, “Have mercy on us, Lord,” that’s what we’re asking. We ask him not to give us the hell we deserve.

And instead, we trust in him to be gracious toward us. He has every right to tell us, “Fine, I won’t punish you in hell. Now go and prove to me how sorry you are.” In other words, work for God’s forgiveness. But God doesn’t work that way. Instead, he is gracious. He gives us what we don’t deserve. He gives us his forgiveness, full and free, won for us by Jesus, God’s Son. Walk with me in the next 14 days as we see what our sins cost Jesus and how he offered his perfect life on the cross for them. Marvel with me at his glorious resurrection and join your voices with mine in singing his Easter praises. Those saving events are the grace of God, my friends, God’s grace in action.

And because he is gracious, your situation isn’t hopeless. In fact, it’s just the opposite. It’s full of eternal hope in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! Live daily in that hope! Amen.

Christian, You're Free!

2011-04-02T12:59:00.000-07:00

4th Sunday in Lent, 4/3/11
Romans 8:1-10

Christian, You’re Free!
I. From sin’s power
II. To live for Christ

Even though we live in a country that prides itself on freedom, we live every day of our lives with a deep longing to be free. We realize that we can’t be free to do whatever we want. For instance, we’re not free to abuse our neighbor, light his house on fire, rob a local bank, or grab whatever catches our eye at the nearest department store. There have to be limits on what people are allowed to do in order for people to live together civilly and safely.

But we still long to be free, don’t we? And if you think about it, it’s not so much the freedom to do something that you crave; it’s the freedom to be without something. If only you could face a day without sinful stress. If only you could wake up in the morning and spend the entire day free from aches and pains. If only you could go to work and experience a day free from disappointment, a day in which all your co-workers and all your business contacts did their work to the best of their ability and completed their work on time and satisfactorily. If only we could end a day without being hounded by the countless tasks we didn’t accomplish. I could go on and on with my list. I’m sure you could add countless things to it. Yes, when we think about it, we long for the freedom of being without the problems we face in life. Do you share that desire with me?

If so, your Savior has some refreshing news for you this morning. The fact that he has made you his own by living and dying for you and has brought you into his saving kingdom through faith in him has turned things completely around for you. Now, I’m not saying that your life is trouble-free. I’m sure you could supply ample evidence to the contrary. But what we long for—freedom—Christ gives us. His words to us through his Apostle Paul announce that freedom to us. Christian, you’re free! But maybe you don’t feel that way. If not, let’s see what he means as we take his words to heart.

Part I.

I spoke to a Dayton Police detective this week and I asked him what percentage of crime in the City of Dayton is due to illegal drug activity. Are you ready for this? He said more than 75%. Think about it. Drug addicts will literally stop at nothing to get their next fix. Theft, robbery, physical violence, murder, prostitution, traffic accidents, homelessness, broken marriages and broken homes are just some of the results of drug addictions. The power of addiction is staggering!

But as great as it is, the power of sin is far greater. Addictions only affect some people. Sin affects all people, every last one. In fact, ever since the fall into sin long ago, the whole world has been under sin’s power. Think about that. Nothing in this world goes absolutely right. There are always problems to face and overcome if possible. And it’s all because of sin.

But that’s not all. The power of sin is potentially eternal. We’re concerned right now over the radiation from Japan’s damaged nuclear power plants. It’s a terrible problem. But given enough time, the source of radiation will eventually break down to the point that it’s no longer a concern. But not sin. Sin condemns eternally. It doesn’t break down. It doesn’t go away. And we’re affected by it. We’re sinners. You talk about a power in your life that you want to be free from!

And that’s precisely our Lord’s good news to you this morning. Listen to the opening words of our text, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” You’ve been set free. There is no more condemnation. As great as they may be, your sins no longer condemn you.

That means the control of sin and death are ended. But wait a minute. We still sin every day and one day we’ll die. We deal with the sins and the deaths of loved ones as well. That’s not what Paul means. He said the control of sin and death. Sin brings death. That’s what God announced to Adam in the Garden of Eden. He didn’t just mean physical death. He included spiritual death—separation from God in hell eternally. That’s what every sinner was facing.

But Christ changed all that. How? Paul says it like this: “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.” The law of God couldn’t work perfect obedience in us. So Jesus supplied that perfect obedience for us. And then he offered his perfect life as a sin offering. It was a sacrifice to God for the sins of the world. It was the first, last and only sacrifice necessary for the sins of the world. So now our sins are gone and so is sin’s condemnation. Our God no longer condemns us for our sins. In Christ, we’re free from sin’s power.

Christian, you’re free—free from sin’s condemnation.

And yet guilt is one of the world’s greatest motivators. Look at the things we do as parents for our children because we wouldn’t want the guilt or even the accusation of being a bad parent. And certainly a paycheck motivates us to complete our tasks at work, but guilt is right there with us. We’d feel guilty if we didn’t do this or that. And we decide to help out a friend, not because we want to, but because we’d feel guilty if we didn’t. Guilt, guilt, guilt! Oh, to be free of it!

Christian, you are! First, we need to realize that we don’t measure up to the perfection God demands in any aspect of our lives—not a single one. So let’s stop fooling ourselves by thinking that we do and admit it, confess it! And then hear our Lord’s words to us as often as our guilt arises, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” That’s you. You became “in Christ Jesus” at your baptisms. Your gracious God put his name on you and gave you faith in Jesus. Ever since then he has been feeding that faith through his word and the Lord’s Supper. So now, as one of our newer hymns states, there’s “No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.” Your life could be falling apart around you, but everything is right between you and your God. Christian, you’re free, free from sin’s power.

Part II.

Newfound freedom can bring it problems, though. Perhaps the biggest problem ex cons face is life outside of prison. Now that they’re free, what should they do? Some have no clue. All too soon many return to a life of crime.

Christian, you’ve been set free from guilt. So now what?

Well if guilt doesn’t motivate you, what does? A sense of duty or obligation? You have nothing else better to do? Someone else told you to do it? You’re not sure what motivates you, but you do it anyway? That’s my short list of motivators. I’m sure you could add a few more.

But none of those comes close to the power and the purity of the motivation Paul discusses in our text. He writes, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.” And the Holy Spirit does live in you. He has ever since the moment he brought you to faith in Jesus as your Savior. In another place Paul states that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Imagine that! The Holy God has taken up residence within you!

But he’s not just a squatter there. He comes to live in you to empower you. Again, we read Paul’s words, “Those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” The Holy Spirit created a new person within you. That new person loves God and wants to do God’s will. In fact, that new person is empowered by the Holy Spirit to do it. The Holy Spirit fills us with love for Christ.

And there you have the Christian’s motivation for doing what God wants us to do each day of our lives. Love for Christ empowers us to live for Christ. Living for Christ involves what we’re doing right now—hearing his word and worshipping him. It involves what we say and do with our families and what we do to earn a living. It involves helping extended family members and the neighbor who lives across the street. It means being Christ-like with people who are complete strangers. It means serving others and expecting nothing in return. As God’s children, we daily recall that Jesus didn’t come to be served, but to serve, all the way to sacrificing his life for us.

Christian, you’re free—free to live for Christ!

But do you struggle with that? So do I. Why is that? Paul hinted at the reason with these words, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature.” While that’s true because we have the Holy Spirit living in us, it’s also true that we still struggle with the sinful nature. It’s selfish, mean, arrogant, vengeful, suspicious, lustful, lazy, materialistic, lying, and manipulative. In short, it’s the exact opposite of what our God has created us in Christ to be. And we deal with it every moment of every day. The way to overcome it is to realize that these thoughts and feelings and words and actions are flowing from your sinful nature. The holy God forbids them and therefore we need to repent of them. And then to take to heart the God’s gracious good news that, in Christ, there is no condemnation. Jesus took our sins on himself and died for them on the cross. We’re forgiven, restored, made clean and new. And for what purpose? To live for Christ. To serve him as we serve others.

That’s our freedom, Christian friends. We’ve been freed from sin to live for Christ. May God empower you for it and bless you in it! Amen.

A Loving God's Speaks to His People!

2011-03-26T11:36:00.001-07:00

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.

The Day I Drank Living Water

2011-03-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

2nd Sunday in Lent, 3/20/11
John 4:5-26

(This is a 1st person sermon in which Pastor Voss assumed the character of the woman at the well.)

The Day I Drank Living Water

I’m amazed at the things you people take for granted. You woke up this morning, walked into your clean, cozy bathroom, turned the knob on the faucet and out came as much clean, cool drinking water as you wanted. I’ll bet you didn’t even give another thought to what a blessing that is. You know, there are people in this world today that don’t have running water. They have to carry it to their homes each day. Can you imagine doing that?

That was one of my daily chores 2,000 years ago. To be honest, the people of my town of Sychar felt blessed to have a well to draw water from. Every day it was one of the duties of the women to carry a clay pot to the local well and draw as much water as we could carry back to our homes. Think about how critical that trip was. We used that water for cooking and drinking and cleaning and washing. That water was like gold to us.

As I mentioned, it was the duty of the women in the town to draw water each day. They often went together. The daily chore had become a social function. It was one of those times when the women were able to socialize, share their problems and to offer help to one another. It was our Facebook page.

But I wasn’t included. You see, the other women avoided me. They didn’t want to share their lives with me and they didn’t want to hear a single thing about my life. If I had problems, the women of the town figured I had brought them on myself. In fact, they figured I had it coming to me. I’ll explain why a little later.

Actually, on the greatest day in my life it was fortunate for me that I went to the well each day all alone. As I made my way to the well, the large jug, although empty, was already becoming a burden, and I pondered as I often did on that trip where my life was headed. I came up with the same answer I had countless times before. Nowhere. My life was headed nowhere, at least nowhere good. I wasn’t getting any younger and had no one to count on to help me now or in the years to come. It seemed like all I did each day was to work myself to the point of exhaustion simply trying to stay alive that day, only to fall asleep at night and do it all over again. Is that all life is? Is there no other hope? What’s the point of it all?

I was pondering those questions so intently as a neared the well that I didn’t even notice him until I walked right up to the well and realized I had to stop thinking about my useless life and start concentrating on drawing the day’s water. A man at the well. How unusual! Even more unusual, he was a Jewish man. You don’t see many Jewish men making their way through the country of Samaria. You see, there’s no love lost between us Samaritans and the Jews. We despise each other and it runs deep. Jews will walk miles out of their way to avoid walking through our area, but here was this Jewish man, sitting at our well. I decided immediately I would avoid any contact with him. That’s the way he probably wanted it anyway, if he was a typical Jew.

Well, I learned quickly that he wasn’t a typical Jew. No sooner had I decided to avoid him when he asked me, “Will you give me a drink?” I was stunned—not only because he spoke to me, a Samaritan and a woman at that, but that he actually asked me for a drink. Most Jews wouldn’t even touch something that had been touched by a Samaritan, let alone bring it to their lips and drink from it.

So I explained my surprise. “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” He was smashing every one of my pre-conceived notions about Jews. But he didn’t seem to think this was out of the ordinary at all.

In fact, he replied to me with something about some living water. He also implied that there was something special about himself and that he had the ability to supply me with this living water. I figured the guy was just a little weird, probably a little delusional, but there was something about him that made me want to continue this conversation. Being an outcast, I decided to take advantage of the situation in which someone actually wanted to have something to do with me.

So I challenged him on who he was—better yet, on who he thought he was and his claim to have living water. I said, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well?” Surely a common Jewish man didn’t think he was greater than the patriarch Jacob.

He avoided a direct answer to my challenge and instead offered more information on this living water he offered. He said, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst again.” Then he added the information that this water brought eternal life. And then I recalled my daily walk to this well and my anguish over my life that seemed to be going nowhere. Eternal life? I had to hear more. So I asked him for some of this living water.

But he changed the subject on me. In fact, his next comment came right out of left field. He said, “Go call your husband and come back.”

That’s one of my sore subjects. It’s what caused the women of Sychar to avoid me completely. It’s also one of the reasons I felt all alone in this world with no future in sight and no idea who was going to help me as the years passed. I told him, “I don’t have a husband.”

And then he lowered the boom on my meaningless life. He exposed the biggest problem in my life. “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.” I was 0-5 in the husband department and the guy I was living with wouldn’t make a commitment to me. I guess I don’t blame him. Five other men came the same conclusion—they no longer wanted me to be their wife. Why should this sixth man? But there was so much truth to what he said. He revealed my biggest problem and my sin. And in doing so, he revealed who he was and it wasn’t lost on me. I said, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.”

And since this was the sorest subject of my life and I didn’t care to discuss it any longer with a stranger, I changed the subject. By calling him a prophet, I led him into the subject of religion. It was an age-old debate between Jews and Samaritans. Where to worship. Which scrolls from which prophets were authoritative and which ones weren’t. Which rules to follow in worship. I wanted to discuss those things, rather than my sordid life.

But I was no match for him on this topic either. He wouldn’t engage in a debate on the place to worship. He stated that soon it wouldn’t matter where we worship. That argument would end when people would begin offering the Father true worship—worship full of spirit and truth. He implied that worship wasn’t about observing rules and regulations, but of a changed spirit, a spirit that recognizes its own unworthiness because of sin and embraces the grace and mercy of God. That’s truth.

A truth that I knew the Messiah would reveal to us. You see, I wasn’t very learned in the books of the Old Testament, but we Samaritans were looking for the Messiah to come just like the Jews were. Our ideas about the Messiah differed from theirs, but we looked for him to come all the same.

And I’ll never forget what happened next. It was the day I drank living water. The Jewish man at the well told me, “I who speak to you am he.” I was speaking with none other than the Messiah, the promised Savior! Here was the Son of God in human flesh and blood. Here was my Savior, the one who suddenly brought meaning to my life—eternal meaning. In him I found forgiveness for my past—my secret sins as well as my all-too-public sins. By faith in him I had a relationship with him—the only relationship that truly matters because it’s the only one that will last forever. He pulled me up out of my spiritual despair and filled me with heavenly hope. And now my life had meaning—to live to his glory all the rest of my days on earth and eternally in heaven.

That’s the day I drank living water. I’ll never forget it.

How about you? Maybe you have a hard time identifying with my life. How many failed relationships have you been through? But even if that isn’t your main issue, you have something else. And don’t tell me you don’t have one. Try telling that to Jesus. He’ll expose it just like he did mine. But you see, he has to do that. Without it, I felt no thirst for what he had to offer me. Perhaps you noticed that Jesus didn’t offer to wave his almighty hand over my life and make it all better. That’s not what he’s about. He all about offering living water—his forgiveness. But if you refuse to recognize your need for forgiveness, then you feel no need for Christ.

This season of Lent certainly helps you see it. Jesus didn’t die for his own sins; he died for the world’s sins—yours and mine. Without that death as the payment for our sins, we’d be lost and condemned forever.

But thanks be to God, he has revealed himself to you as your Savior! He has brought you his living water. You received it at your baptisms. He offers it every time you hear, read and study his word. He offers it to you through his body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.

Today you’re drinking living water. Cherish it! Make sure you drink it every day of your life! Amen.

One For All!

2011-03-12T08:29:00.000-08:00

1st Sunday in Lent, 3/13/11
Romans 5:12-19

One For All!
I. Adam’s sin condemns all.
II. Christ’s righteousness justifies all.

Occasionally you run across a product, usually an article of clothing, that’s promoted as “one size fits all.” As we read those words, we hardly give them a second thought. We assume the words to be true and, therefore, that the product will indeed fit one and all. Somehow the manufacturer has found a way to make the product expand or contract to fit the individual, no matter what the size. And in that instance, we don’t mind being lumped together with the rest of humanity. We appreciate the fact that we don’t have to make sure we purchase the correct size and can avoid the hassle of returning an article that doesn’t fit.

But our willingness to be mixed in with the rest of humanity begins and ends there. After that, we want to be evaluated and recognized for our individuality. We don’t want our job performance rating to be adversely affected by the slackers who are our fellow-employees. Likewise, we don’t want to be stereotyped no matter what the situation. Get to know us individually and then make your assessment. And for goodness sakes, don’t blame us for something that someone else did. That’s their problem, not mine. Do you agree with me on this?

If you do, then it’s going to be hard for us to swallow what our God tells us through his inspired apostle Paul this morning. To be sure, our God wants us to know that he knows us as individuals. He calls us by name. He knows us better than we know ourselves.

And yet he lumps us together with the mass of humanity. He begins with our first father, Adam, and he continues that line of humanity right down to you and me and even to our children and grandchildren yet to be born. And what he sees fills him with sorrow and dread, for the mass of humanity is sinful. And the wages of sin is death—eternal death in hell.

But in that line of humanity is one other person—the Victor over sin and Satan, Jesus Christ. And therein lies the solution to our sinful condition.

Paul masterfully presents both views to us this morning—Adam’s sin and what it has done to us and Christ’s righteousness and what it does for us. In both cases it’s a situation of one for all. One for all. May the Holy Spirit enlighten us with that truth about ourselves and our Savior this morning.

Part I.

Although guilt by association isn’t a legal reality as far as I know, it’s certainly a reality in our society. For instance, when Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme came crashing in on him, many wondered what his wife knew about his criminal activity. She certainly didn’t mind spending the illegal money. And during the last presidential election, much was made about the remarks of a preacher at a church our president attended. Those weren’t the president’s remarks, but he attended church there. Guilt by association.

But when we’re on the receiving end of that guilt, then that’s another matter. We’re not responsible for what a loved one or a friend of ours said or did. That’s all on them; not on us.

But listen to the opening words of our text. “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” Paul paints with the widest of spiritual brushes. One man sins and it affects us all.

Paul explains how that happened. Adam had a specific command of God. Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was it. That was the only command God gave him. Sounds pretty simple and basic, doesn’t it? But you know what happened. We heard about it earlier. Satan tempted and misled him. Adam disobeyed that one command of God.

And when he did, the whole world was plunged into sin. Again, Paul explains what happened. He makes mention of the fact that everyone after Adam didn’t have the same command of God not to eat from that tree. That’s because the damage had already been done. The whole world was affected by Adam’s sin.

And every person living after Adam showed it by breaking God’s holy law written in their hearts. Adam’s son Cain broke Commandment One when he rejected the Lord and Commandment Five when he murdered his brother. And Cain wasn’t alone. Every other person on the face of the earth failed to keep any of the Commandments.

And the proof of it? The proof that every one of them was a sinner? Paul tolls the death bell with these words, “And in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” There you have it. The sin or Adam eventually caused the death of all people. That sounds like the height of injustice and it would be if not for the fact that all have sinned themselves.

And thus the whole world is condemned. God doesn’t sort through humanity one by one declaring this one deserving of death and this one deserving of life. He condemns the whole human race.

One for all. Adam’s sin condemns all.

That condemnation is universal. That means there are no appeals. There are no exemptions. It means it will do us no good to compare ourselves with others and try to find some goodness in ourselves. Nor will it do us any good to offer God some good deed, some act we feel merits his favor. None of these things matter in the face of universal condemnation.

The season of Lent calls for us to realize it. If there were some way to escape the condemnation, if there were some good deed we could offer, if there were some exemption or loophole, then Jesus wouldn’t have been necessary. But universal condemnation leaves us no wiggle room at all, no hope at all. And that means Jesus wasn’t just a good story about how much he loves us. It means Jesus was absolutely necessary. Lent screams for us to recognize and believe it. Lent leads us to see our own acts of rebellion. Lent exposes our selfishness and our lack of love for others. And those sins are the damning evidence that God’s condemnation is just and right. One for all. Adam’s sin condemns all.

Part II.

Several state legislatures are embroiled in budget debates as we speak. Several more aren’t engaging in the debate but still face the same demise—either make some drastic cuts or face insolvency. Everyone realizes that cuts have to be made, but no one wants to suffer. They want someone else to suffer.

We just embraced the painful truth that Adam’s sin brings condemnation to all. That means all should suffer. But thanks be to God, God decided that Jesus should suffer. That’s the other aspect of one for all. Paul says it like this, “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

The righteousness or holiness of Jesus brings justification. Justification is the opposite of condemnation. Justification means that God declares the whole humanity of condemned sinners to be holy or righteous. How does that work? It doesn’t sound just or possible.

To answer that objection, Paul refers to the obedience of Jesus. That wasn’t a one-time, momentary obedience, such as when we find ourselves obeying the speed limit. Christ’s obedience was perfect and complete. He lived a perfectly holy life.

God now credits that holiness of Jesus to us. Many of the words Paul uses in this portion of his letter come from an accounting background. Imagine a two-columned ledger. In one column is a list of your sins and what they cost. In the other column is the holiness of Jesus. God’s balances the ledger by crediting Christ’s holiness to you.

But what about the payment for sins? That’s what Jesus’ death on the cross was all about. There the payment was made in full for all sins.

That means God is perfectly just in declaring sinners to be righteous. What Adam did Christ has undone. And he did it for all. The holiness of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins are for all sinners, the whole world full of sinners.

That holiness and forgiveness become ours by faith in Jesus. It’s just that simple. It doesn’t come to us because we’re worthy of it nor because we’ve earned it nor because God saw some good in us. It comes to us solely by faith in Jesus, a faith that is worked in us by the Holy Spirit. What Jesus won for all becomes ours personally by faith in Jesus.

One for all. Christ’s righteousness justifies all.

Adam and Christ. What they did affects all people, but Paul doesn’t place them on the same plane. Jesus far surpasses Adam. That’s what Paul means when he writes, “But the gift is not like the trespass.” They aren’t the same. That’s true because Jesus not only removed the condemnation that was rightly ours, he replaced it with life—life with him forever. You see, Jesus just didn’t wipe Adam’s stain from us and tell us, “Now try hard to be holy.” He wiped away Adam’s stain and all of our own sins and then he gave us life with him. And that’s what makes him the Victor, the truth we celebrate on this Sunday.

One for all. Both Adam and Christ. But praise be to God, Christ is the eternal, saving one for all. Amen.

Jesus' Transfiguration Is Revelation!

2011-03-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday after the Epiphany, The Transfiguration of Our Lord, 3/6/11
Matthew 17:1-9

Jesus’ Transfiguration Is Revelation!
I. Of his divinity
II. Of life in heaven
III. Of the Father’s approval

I’m sure that it’s happened more than once in your life that you looked back on an invent that occurred some time ago and realized now that it happened for a reason. That event may have brought sadness or even tragedy at the time, and it may have been devastating to you emotionally or financially, but now you see that some blessings, maybe even many blessings, occurred in your life because of it. Or maybe it was an unexpected difficult decision you had to make. You were wishing at the time that God hadn’t put this decision in your life at just this time, but there it was and you had to make it. So you prayed about it fervently and made a decision and asked God to bless it. And that’s just what he did. You look back now and see all those blessings that he brought into your life. Things happen for a reason.

If that’s true in our lives—and so often that’s the case—then how much more so it’s true in the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ! We saw it in his birth. God used the Roman census as the vehicle to bring Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem to fulfill the prophecy about the place of his birth. He used the festival of the Passover to get Jesus to Jerusalem so that he could fulfill this ancient shadow of the Savior by becoming the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Things happened for a reason.

And the same can be said about the event that we celebrate on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, the Transfiguration of our Lord. God had this all planned out for Jesus. It wasn’t an accident. This event was critical at this point in Jesus’ ministry for him and for us.

It was critical, because just a few weeks after his transfiguration Jesus would suffer and die for the sins of the world. The transfiguration occurred to reveal things about Jesus and to Jesus. It’s revelation. Jesus’ transfiguration is revelation. For our daily confidence and our eternal comfort may the Holy Spirit reveal them to us again this morning.

Part I.

Just who is Jesus Christ? People have been asking that question for millennia. During his days on earth his own people were asking that question and coming up with various answers—the son of Mary and Joseph, a great prophet, a tremendous miracle worker, even an agent of Satan. People are still asking that question today and coming up with many of the same answers.

To be sure, it’s the most important question in the world. Who is Jesus Christ? Each individual’s answer to that question determines their eternal future. The answer to the question is loaded with eternal implications. So, just who is Jesus Christ?

Jesus settles any debate over the answer to that question right here at his transfiguration. For years his miracles had pointed to the great truth that he was the Son of God. Sure, other prophets among God’s people—men like Moses and Elijah and others—had been doing miracles for centuries. But they received that power from God. Jesus had that power as God.

And he shows it right here. Our text says, “After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.” For a time Jesus displayed the glory that was his for all eternity as the Son of God. It’s the same glory he possesses now as the Son of God. The fact that Jesus later would allow himself to be brutally tortured and finally crucified didn’t deny who he was and still is, the Son of God. And he reveals that about himself right here on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Jesus’ transfiguration is revelation—revelation of his divinity.

One amazing aspect of that truth about Jesus is that it cuts both ways in our lives. We joyfully witness and confess his divinity now, but time and again we fail to honor him as divine in our lives. Whenever we place our own feelings or ideas about his, we fail to honor his divinity. When we justify our sinful feelings and actions, we fail to honor his divinity. We make him out to be no more than advisor in our lives whose opinion for the moment we choose to ignore. Thus his divinity reveals our self-idolatry. But it also reveals our salvation. Our only hope of forgiveness and salvation lies in the truth that Jesus is true God. For that’s what separates his death on the cross from all others. As the sinless Son of God his death was the payment for the sins of the world, yours and mine included. His divinity is our eternal comfort. His transfiguration is revelation—revelation of his divinity.

Part II.

“This is heaven!” No doubt you’ve spoken those words before. Maybe you said them about your favorite vacation spot. Or maybe you thought, “This is what heaven must be like,” as you enjoyed a rare blissful moment with a loved one. But how do you know? After all, none of us have ever experienced heaven here on earth.

But Peter, James and John did. What they experienced on the Mount of Transfiguration was as close to heaven on earth as it gets. Matthew tells us, “Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’” What made this heaven on earth for Peter, James and John?

First, they watched as two of the greatest figures of the Old Testament appeared and talked with Jesus. Luke informs us that they spoke with Jesus about his impending death. In other words, they talked about God’s plan of salvation. And this conversation wasn’t lost on the three disciples. Imagine being in on that conversation, even if only to listen to it! How amazing!

We need to be careful how much we take from this event and use it to state, “This is what heaven is like,” but from the way Matthew and the other gospel writers convey this account, there didn’t seem to be the need for any introductions here. Again, the text doesn’t state, “The disciples immediately knew who these men were,” but don’t you get the sense that this was the case? Without a doubt, knowing these men was a part of heaven on earth for the disciples.

The experience was so wonderful, that Peter wanted to build shelters so that this slice of heaven on earth would continue indefinitely. In one of the greatest understatements in all of the Bible he said, “It’s good for us to be here.” And he simply wanted it to continue. He didn’t want to return to the grind of life at the bottom of the mountain. He wanted to stay right there because now he had a good idea of life in heaven.

Jesus’ transfiguration is revelation—the revelation of life in heaven.

We’ve all had experiences like that—it’s so good we don’t want to leave. We don’t want it to end. But how often are we feeling that way about some joyful aspect of life here on earth and how rarely do we consider the glory that awaits us in heaven? Are we so preoccupied with living here that we fail to pay sufficient attention to our spiritual lives? Is heaven some distant goal or do we daily cling to the truth that heaven is our home? To be sure, we’ll never experience anything close to what these disciples did at Jesus’ transfiguration. But heaven is just as much a reality for us as it was for them. The journey to heaven’s eternal glory involves confessing our misplaced priorities along with all other sins and then placing our full confidence in Christ’s forgiveness, a forgiveness won for us by his death on the cross. He came to suffer hell for us so that we could enjoy eternal heaven with him. Jesus’ transfiguration is revelation—the revelation of life in heaven.

Part III.

Approval from loved ones is an important aspect of our emotional and psychological wellness. The child who grows into adulthood thinking and feeling unaccepted by one or both parents often spends a lifetime overcoming it.

Can you imagine if that had happened with Jesus? And I’m not talking about his relationship with Mary and Joseph. I’m talking about his relationship with his heavenly Father. Can you imagine a Jesus who was afraid to engage in a heart-to-heart talk with his heavenly Father? Can you imagine him spending his earthly ministry daily wondering if he was doing the right thing in the world’s most important work?

Can you imagine the impact on us?! If the Father had his doubts about his Son, wouldn’t we have ours all the more? What spiritual confidence would we have? Not a shred, to be sure!

So thank your God that nothing of that sort occurred! Instead, Jesus spent every day—every moment—of his work as our Savior with his Father’s approval. Recall the event of his baptism which we celebrated less than 2 months ago. As Jesus came up out of the water he heard his Father’s voice proclaim, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Mt. 3:17). He started his work receiving the assurance that he was carrying out God’s plan of salvation to the letter.

And now, as he faced the most crucial aspect of that plan—his death on Calvary’s cross, Jesus received his Father’s approval again. Matthew writes, “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’”

Jesus’ transfiguration is revelation—revelation of the Father’s approval.

And how comforting that approval is for us! Where we fail, Jesus succeeds! We can’t seem to follow God’s holy will for our lives for an hour, let alone a lifetime. But Jesus followed God’s plan—his holy will—perfectly for us. Thus he received his Father’s approval and, as redeemed children of God, we can close our eyes in sleep at night, knowing that we have that approval by faith in Jesus. Jesus’ transfiguration reveals it to us! Amen.

God’s Steadfast Love Drives Away Worry!

2011-02-26T19:22:00.000-08:00

8th Sunday after Epiphany, 2/27/11
Matthew 6:24-34

God’s Steadfast Love Drives Away Worry!
I. He cares for the least of his creatures.
II. He provides the best for his creatures.

In preparing for this sermon I did a little research on worrying. If what I read is even close to realistic, worrying is a bigger problem than I thought, perhaps even among God’s children.

One report I read only considered the time spent worrying by people in debt. In other words, they worried about money. Take a guess. How much time would you say the average person in debt spends worrying? Are you ready for this? 198 minutes per day! That’s 3.3 hours! That’s 99 hours per month! Even if those figures are double what they actually are, that’s staggering!

It’s no wonder, then, that Jesus would spend time in his famous Sermon on the Mount addressing the fact that we worry. In this morning’s text he warns us about getting ourselves into the impossible situation of trying to serve God and Money. Actually the word he used was “mammon,” a word that comprises all the stuff of life. Look how much time and effort we expend in chasing after the things that make up our lives.

But it doesn’t end there with just chasing after them. While we’re chasing after these things, we worry about them as well. The sanitized way of stating it is that we’re trying to keep up with the Joneses. That mythical family with the last name Jones always seems to have more than we have. So we run after more.

Jesus puts a halt to our headlong dash into materialistic ruin and gets right at the heart of the matter this morning. In effect, he makes us sit down for a moment, looks right into our eyes and tells us, “Stop worrying about these things.” And here’s why. You have a Father in heaven who will certainly show his love for you by giving you what you need.

And what a focus that makes for us who spend far too much of our time worrying. Here’s the answer to the nagging anxieties of life. It’s God’s steadfast, faithful and certain love for us. God’s steadfast love drives away worry. Join me in pondering that amazing love that provides for us daily.

Part I.

Some time ago I heard one of those stories about a child in foster care that just tears at your heart. A fine Christian family brought this 8-year-old boy into their home and immediately tried to make the child feel at home and a part of their family. Early on the first day of his life in their home, the family’s two biological children asked their mom for a snack. Since mealtime was more than 2 hours away, the mother granted their request and poured some snack crackers into 3 bowls, one for each of her children and the foster child. She noticed her two children sat down in front of the TV and began eating their snack, but the foster child quickly went to his bedroom and then returned with an empty bowl and sat down to watch TV. The mom went to his room, wondering how he could have eaten those crackers that quickly. Well, he didn’t. He had hidden them in his dresser drawer. When she asked him why he hid them rather than eating them, he replied that he wanted to save them for later just in case the family ran out of food.

How pitiful! He didn’t yet trust that his foster parents would always make sure he had enough food.

Maybe we don’t hoard food, but we fail to trust our heavenly Father to provide for us. And there’s no good reason for it. There’s no good reason for worry and Jesus points that out repeatedly in this morning’s text.

First, he tells us, “Look at the birds of the air.” When is the last time you saw a sparrow or a robin worrying about where their next meal will come from? They make no preparations at all. And yet God cares for them every day.

Next, Jesus says, “See how the lilies of the field grow.” He’s talking about wild flowers that people do nothing to cultivate. They simply grow according to God’s laws of nature and they’re beautiful! Who hasn’t paused many times to take in the gorgeous sight of a patch of wild flowers? Our loving God has arrayed them in such beauty!

In fact, Jesus even speaks of the way that the Father clothes the grass of the field. Where wood was scarce, ancient people used to gather grass and burn it for heat in their homes or for cooking their meals. In the grand scheme of things, grass is extremely common and insignificant. And yet our Father in heaven provides for it.

So, if that’s the case, why wouldn’t our heavenly Father provide for us? We are the crown of his creation, made in the image of God. He created all things for us to enjoy. Jesus uses the classic lesser to greater argument. If he provides for birds, flowers and grass, won’t he provide for us? And he does. He gives us food and clothing. More exactly, he provides us with the ability and means to acquire food and clothing. Maybe not exactly what we want in the amounts we desire, but certainly enough for us to live. We’re not naked and starving, not by a long stretch.

In fact, we have what we truly need. We have the basics of life—food, clothing and shelter. Our problem is that we’ve had these things for so much of our lives, that we’ve elevated the non-essential things of life to the essential. And then we worry about them.

So pare things down to the essentials. God provides us with them. He always has and always will because he loves us.

God’s steadfast love drives away worry. He cares for the least of his creatures. Surely he’ll care for us.

But worrying just seems so natural for us. And really, what’s so wrong with it? After all, it doesn’t hurt anyone else. That’s true. But worrying trashes the very First Commandment. The First Commandment not only forbids us from having any other gods, it also requires us to love and trust in the only true God. Trust him. Daily. But instead we worry. Daily. Why? It’s part of our sinful nature. That sinful nature refuses to take God at his word when he tells us that he loves us and will provide for us. But how can we be so sure? This time, let’s argue from the greater to the lesser. The greatest thing God ever gave you was the gift of his Son, Jesus. God sacrificed his Son for you, for your forgiveness and eternal life. If that’s true, and it certainly is, then won’t he also provide what we need for daily living? Surely he will and he does because he loves you. There’s the solution to worry. God’s steadfast love drives away worry.

Part II.

Our God once came to King Solomon and offered to give him whatever he asked for. In essence, he wrote him a blank check and allowed him to fill in the numbers. If God did that for you, or if he offered to grant you three wishes, what would you ask for?

Perhaps your mind is racing. A mansion. A luxury car. The fattest bank account the world has ever seen. International fame.

Then again, maybe your sense of Christian decency would compel you to ask him for things that money can’t buy. World peace. The end of world hunger and poverty. A cure for cancer. Those would indeed be some noble requests.

But your heavenly Father has already given you gifts far more precious and lasting than all of those combined. As a sinner, what’s your greatest need? Without a doubt, it’s the forgiveness of sins. No amount of money in the world can buy forgiveness for a single sin, and yet your heavenly Father forgives all your sins free of charge for the sake of Jesus, your Savior. And along with forgiveness he offers you a new life as his own dear child by faith in Jesus and the gift of eternal life in heaven.

Those gifts aren’t something you hope to possess some day; your heavenly Father tells you that you already possess them by faith in Jesus. They’re yours, no strings attached. In fact, that’s what your loving heavenly Father is all about. His highest will is to make you certain that those great gifts are yours right now.

In fact, he wants you to be so sure of them that he tells you that your name is written in the Book of Life. That’s God’s way of assuring you that nothing can separate you from his love and from receiving the gifts of his love for you. He’s written your name in his Book of Life and the ink he used was the blood of his dear Son, Jesus, our Savior. In our reading from Isaiah earlier, your God assured you that even if the impossible would occur with a mother—that she would forget her child—he will never forget us. He has called us by name. We belong to him. He’ll bless us in his presence forever.

So why would we worry about anything? God’s steadfast love drives away worry. He provides the best for his creatures.

We made a short list of those best gifts that God gives us—forgiveness of sins, life as his child and eternal salvation. About those gifts Jesus says, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Every day we have a choice to make—what will be our focus for that day? Jesus answers that question for us with those words. Instead of chasing after the blessings of this life, which won’t last, make your focus your spiritual life with your God. Make Christ the center of your life. Daily trust in him for your forgiveness and eternal life. Look to his cross as the eternal guarantee of God’s love for you. And then trust him to provide everything else that you need in life. After all, as Jesus stated elsewhere, what good is it to gain everything the world has to offer but lose your own soul? There’s no need to worry about such things. God’s steadfast love drives away worry. He provides the best of blessings for his people. That’s what you are by faith in Jesus—one of God’s own people. Trust him to bless you and don’t waste another moment worrying. Amen.

Listen to the Lord of Love!

2011-02-19T09:13:00.000-08:00

7th Sunday after Epiphany, 2/20/11
Matthew 5:38-48

Listen to the Lord of Love!
I. Let love replace revenge.
II. Let love overwhelm your enemies.

What parent hasn’t used this line with their child, “I don’t care what they say. This is what I’m saying to you!”? Such a parent is clearly stating who the authority is. And like it or not, that’s the way it is. And the child would do well to listen. Rebellion won’t get them anywhere good. The child can vent and fume all they want. The sooner the child realizes that this is the way things are going to be, the better off they’ll be.

As children of God we have a child-parent relationship with the one true God. And as such, the Lord has much to say to us. As in our human child-parent relationships, rebellion isn’t going to get us anywhere good. We’ll only end up in trouble, eternal trouble. And with our God, there’s absolutely no good reason to challenge his authority. First, because there is no higher authority. Second, because he’s infallible. He can’t be wrong about anything. But for us as his children, most importantly, the reason he speaks to us at all is because her perfectly loves us. He showed that perfect love to us in his Son, Jesus.

That makes Jesus the Lord of love. And this morning he has some important things to say to us. They might sound difficult, even impossible to do. In some cases what he says flies in the face of conventional human wisdom. But he can’t be wrong, and what he says to us always flows from his heart full of love for us.

So listen to him. Listen to the Lord of love. May God’s Spirit open not only our ears to his word, but our minds and hearts as well.

Part I.

From the very beginning of time there have been those who twist what God says. The very first to do so was Satan in the Garden of Eden as he tempted our first parents into sin. He took some of what God said and then slightly changed it into a lie, into saying something that God never intended. And that’s still going on today. Many people do so unknowingly. They think they know what God says but in reality he doesn’t say it. And there are also those who know fully what he says and twist it anyway to suit their own needs and purposes.

The religious experts of Jesus days on earth did the very same thing. Jesus points it out with these words, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’” Indeed God did say that, twice even, in the books of Exodus and Leviticus. But the Pharisees twisted it. God spoke these words as part of Israel’s civil law. In other words, he was stating the legal principle that the punishment should fit the crime. It shouldn’t be lenient nor abusive.

The Pharisees took these words and twisted them into God’s moral law. They used these words as a justification for personal revenge in any and every situation. So, if someone wronged you the Pharisees would contend that you had a right to repay them in kind.

But that violates the clear words of God. The Lord has stated in no uncertain terms, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay” (Dt. 32:10). God does not permit acts of revenge. He even forbids a spirit of vengeance. He alone has that authority. We can rest assured that he is a just and holy God and he will carry out vengeance in a perfect way. But he doesn’t allow us to participate in it.

Instead, God commands us to love others. Jesus said, “But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” Our thoughts, words and actions are always to be filled with love for others. But don’t misapply these words. Taken to the ridiculous, some would say these words mean we have to let other abuse us and even take all our possessions and endanger the lives of our family members. Not so. God’s word also speaks clearly that we are to protect the life he gave us and our families. He also expects us to protect and keep the possessions he has given us. So how do these seemingly contradictory words of God find a solution?

In love. When someone wrongs us, our God calls on us as his children to look for the best way to show that person Christian love. That may mean in one instance we let things go. For instance, someone steals one of your possessions and you figure, “I guess they needed it more than I do.” And you let it go. On the other hand, it may mean confronting them with a heart full of love that wants them to realize the error of their ways and to repent and to make amends. Every situation needs to be evaluated individually. But the most important thing is to check your own heart first. If thoughts and feelings of revenge are brewing there, then repent and let Christ’s love for you fill your heart with love for them and then decide what to do about your situation.

Feelings of revenge are only natural for us. We’re sinners who have a sinful nature that refuses to back down to anyone, that won’t let us be taken advantage of, that screams for payback or what is owed us.

So what’s wrong with that? That mindset is as far away from God’s mindset as possible. If anyone has the right to revenge, it’s God. It belongs to him as does everything else. So, ask yourself what God owes you and the answer is not, “A pot of gold.” The answer is, “An eternity in hell.” That’s the punishment for a little white lie (as if such a thing exists), for selfishness, for impatience, for laziness, for impure thoughts and words. But that’s not what we’re getting. Instead, we have been and still are the unworthy recipients of God’s faithful, eternal love. In that love God’s Son died for us and removed the punishment for our sins. In that love he has made us members of his eternal family of love. He wants nothing more than for you to experience his holy love forever. And that love from God moves us to love others instead of seeking and demanding revenge. Listen to the Lord of love and let love replace revenge.

Part II.

When you first get into a relationship with someone, do you ever wonder what you’re really getting into? Most of us have felt that way at one time or another. We wonder what the person is really like. Will we find things we don’t like, some so much so that we determine we’ll have to end the relationship?

Jesus goes on in this morning’s text and states some things that might be very difficult for us. It’s a good thing we’re examining these things now, well after we’ve come to know him so well as our Savior, because if these were the first words we ever heard Jesus speak, we might have ended the relationship with him right then and there.

So what am I talking about? Listen again to your Lord of love. He says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” Wait a minute! Love our enemies? That may sound strange to us. It was strange, once again, to the Pharisees of Jesus’ days on earth. They twisted God’s word to say that it was OK to hate anyone deemed to be your enemy. Jesus states the exact opposite. But how are we going to do that?

Well, first realize that Jesus doesn’t say, “You must be in love with your enemies.” He isn’t demanding that we completely block out of our minds what they have done to us and begin being bosom buddies with our enemies, forcing ourselves to be in love with them.

So, what is he saying? He’s telling us to love them the way God loves them. The word used here in the Greek is the highest form of love. It’s the love God showed to the whole world when he sent his one and only Son to us. The sinful world hadn’t duped God into thinking it was entirely lovable and, being unaware, God sent a Savior. No, God knew exactly the kind of sinners we were and still are. He knows our sins better than we do. And yet he loves us. He sent us a savior from sin. In fact, that love has the highest purpose in mind for us. He loved us and showed us that love so that we could share in eternal life with him.

That’s the kind of love Jesus is calling for us to show even to our enemies. It’s the kind of love that wants them to turn from their sinful and even vicious ways. Some call it killing them with kindness. We’re so genuinely loving toward them that finally their icy hearts melt and their wicked ways disappear. Ultimately, our love for them leads them to see Christ’s saving love for them. In other words, they see Jesus in us.

We dare never forget that our God loves our enemies as much as he loves us. That’s why he blesses them with earthly things just as he blesses us. What’s more, as Jesus points out, just loving those who love us is nothing special at all. Even society’s worst people do that. Jesus has given us the power to rise far above that. He gives us the power even to love our enemies.

Listen to the Lord of love. Let love overwhelm your enemies.

It won’t be long now before we enter the Lenten season. In Lent we see our Savior’s love for us more clearly, perhaps, than at any other time during the church year. And if you ask me, some of the most loving words Jesus ever spoke were these words from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk. 23:34). In love Jesus forgave the very people who tortured him to death. You and I know that love. Really, it was also our sins that made his death necessary. We nailed him there too. But he forgives us. Completely. Freely. That’s what he wants to do with all his heart! Indeed, he’s the Lord of love. And now he asks us to overwhelm our enemies with that love. May his love empower you to do even that to the glory of the Lord of love! Amen.