"Who Can Be Against Us?" (Sermon on Romans 8:31-39) | February 18, 2024

Sermon Text: Romans 8:31–39
Date: February 18, 2024
Event: The First Sunday in Lent, Year B

Romans 8:31–39 (EHV)

What then will we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him?

33Who will bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies! 34Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus, who died and, more than that, was raised to life, is the one who is at God’s right hand and who is also interceding for us! 35What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36Just as it is written:

For your sake we are being put to death all day long.

We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Who Can Be Against Us?

If you were able to attend or connect in for our Ash Wednesday worship this past week, you know we went spent some time with Job and his sufferings. We were reminded how we all easily accuse God of wrongdoing when things are not going our way. It’s easy to think that our lives, as Christians, should be pain-free and easy-going and that any deviation from that ideal is some sort of failing on God’s part.

But as Job needed to learn, God has uses for suffering and plans for us that are well beyond our ability to see in the moment. But God goes out of his way in Scripture to assure us that his plans for us are good and beneficial—that he only wants positive things for us. But his laser focus on eternity might mean some earthly hardship until we reach our heavenly goal.

All of God’s Word is important and wonderful, but Romans chapter 8 might be my “desert island” chapter of the Bible, that is, if I could only have one chapter to refer back to and to hold dear, it might be this one. Paul heaps on the comfort and the joy for the struggling Christian in this chapter, especially to the Christian undergoing difficult trials. Our Second Reading for this morning is the tail-end of that chapter, so before we dig into what Paul says in our focused reading, let’s do a quick overview of where we’ve been in the letter to get to this point.

The first several chapters of Romans can be a downer because Paul is going out of his way to show that no person, not a Jewish person nor a gentile, could ever stand before God on their own merit. All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory and expectations. But he doesn’t leave us there, as he quickly transitions to the gospel, assuring that all are also justified (that is, declared “not guilty”) freely because of Jesus’ work for us. “The wages of sin is death,” Paul reminds us in Romans chapter 6, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Despite this all-surpassing comfort, Paul goes on to acknowledge that the Christian life is difficult. We struggle with a sinful nature that wants us to disobey and hate God. So, the life of a Christian is a constant, internal battle. But it’s not just this internal struggle against sin; there’s also the struggle against those things outside of us. Spiritually, the hardships of temptations placed before us by the world and Satan’s cohort make it difficult to walk the line we want to walk. All of this compounds to make our lives difficult.

They can be difficult for many reasons. Maybe as a consequence of my sin. Maybe from the persecution I face for being a Christian. Maybe from the suffering I undergo because of other people’s sins and failures. Maybe it’s just living in a sin-corrupted world and all the blech that is associated with that. But it’s difficult. There’s no getting around that. Jesus did not promise a rosy life; he promised a life of cross-bearing. And we know those crosses so very well.

But, in Romans chapter 8, God unveils some very specific comfort for us, and of great emphasis for Paul is that despite the loneliness that might come from our trials in this life, God is always on our side. And very specifically, God is on our side in ways we perhaps can’t see. Earlier in this chapter, we hear the assurance that the Holy Spirit himself prays for us in the unique language of the triune God during those times when we are so rattled that we don’t even know what to pray for. Just a couple of verses before our Second Reading for this morning is that well-known and loved passage, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Our Second Reading is the crescendo and high point of this soaring chapter. Paul takes a step back to look at the whole scene he’s painted up until this point—the sin we’ve committed, the hell we deserve, the forgiveness God gives, the heaven he’s won, and the constant promise of support and care—and he asks a holistic question: What then will we say about these things? What is there left to be said? How does one react to God’s amazing grace? Should it be despair? Should the worries of this life drag us down the pit of hopelessness?

Paul’s second question is even more pointed than the first: If God is for us, who can be against us? The assumed answer? No one! Who could possibly take their stand against God? Who could possibly fight God to get us? Even the account of Job and all the suffering he endured at the hands of Satan’s torment only happened because God allowed it. No one gets the jump on God. Nothing happens to us without his knowing. And he never, ever stops being on our side, in our camp, for us.

And where’s the proof? As he so often does, Paul points us to the cross! Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him? If someone paid off your debt of millions of dollars, do you think they’d be willing to buy you a sandwich for lunch? Seems ridiculous to even think otherwise, right? Why wouldn’t you be worth a few dollars for a meal if you were worth a vast sum to pay off that debt? And that’s the point that Paul makes here. God gave us everything when he gave us his Son. If God did not withhold even Jesus from us but sacrificed him to pay for our sins, why should we think that anything is beyond his ability or desire to give? Can God guide you through that financial crunch or that family hardship? Can he bring balm to that heartache or calm those worries? Of course he can! If he could pay for your sins and rescue you from hell, there is nothing beyond him!

And Paul underscores that point with his next questions: Who will bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies! Who is the one who condemns? Who could possibly bring an accusation against you? No one! Because Jesus, who died and, more than that, was raised to life, is the one who is at God’s right hand and who is also interceding for us! Jesus, our loving Savior, God the Father’s only-begotten Son, joins the Holy Spirit in pleading and praying for us! What are his prayers? It’s not for the Father to overlook our sins, nor is it an attempt at deception, trying to hide our sins from his Father. No, Jesus’ prayer is simply this, “You have declared them justified, not guilty. You cannot punish them for their sins, Father, because you already punished me.”

And Paul knows that this doesn’t always feel real. We won’t always feel loved; we won’t always feel forgiven. The hardships and difficulties of this life will lie to us and say that God doesn’t care, he doesn’t love us, he’s left us on our own. And so Paul wants to confront those thoughts and feelings head-on: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

Will hardship separate us from God? No! In fact, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. So complete is Jesus’ victory on our behalf that we haven’t just won the day against sin, death, and hell, we didn’t just get through by the skin of our teeth. No, in Jesus, we are conquerors, obliterators of all those things that stood against us. Not because of our work or effort but because of Jesus’ work for us. His death paid for our sins; his empty tomb will prove that more-than-conquering status. He didn’t just die for us; he destroyed death for us!

God is indeed for us, and thus, no one can be against us! For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can come between you and your Savior. No person or thing, not even Satan himself, can drag you away from the God who saved you. Those hardships and griefs and troubles that plague us now? They are dead-men-walking because Jesus has obliterated them and will bring them to a complete end in our lives when he brings us home to himself, where it will be crystal clear that nothing will ever be able to take us away from him!

We’ve begun our solemn Lenten season. It is not always pleasant to dwell on our sins or think of what our rebellion cost Jesus to save us. But take this comfort forward. Who can be against you? Who condemns you? There is no one, for your Savior is at your side to protect and forgive. Take your stand with him during trials. As you see others suffering, reach out to support them. As you go through hardship, reach out to your family of believers here because, at many times, God gives the support that he promises through us to others or from others to us.

He who did not spare his own Son will graciously give us everything we need to be with him in eternal life. Praise, thanks, honor, and glory be to our God forever and ever! Amen.

"The Light of God's Love Shines in Our Hearts!" (Sermon on 2 Corinthians 4:3-6) | February 11, 2024

Sermon Text: 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Date: February 11, 2024
Event: The Transfiguration of Our Lord, Year B

2 Corinthians 4:3-6 (EHV)

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing. 4In the case of those people, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from clearly seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is God’s image.

5Indeed, we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6For the God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” is the same one who made light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

The Light of God’s Love Shines in Our Hearts!

This past Sunday evening I did some rounds on campus with a flashlight. I was looking to make sure things were in good order during the storm, no giant branches down, no gutters clogged and overflowing, hill tarps still (mostly) where they were supposed to be. As I came back up to the parking lot area I took a moment to look at the lights in the parking lot and two things came to my mind at once: 1) How much nicer and brighter it is in the parking lot at night with the new lights we installed about a year ago and 2) how pitiful even those nice new lights are compared to when it’s day time, even on a heavily overcast day as Sunday was.

Light is important, and darkness is dangerous. I know many of our members lost power for some time in the last week and a half, and if that happened to be after the sun went down, you know how darkness can transform even a familiar place into an unfamiliar one, a place that goes from comfortable to maybe a bit scary and treacherous.

How much more would this have been true in the ancient world! Without light at night beyond the moon and what a lamp or candle flame could provide, the darkness was even more debilitating for them than it can be for us. And so it’s no surprise that Scripture is filled with light/dark analogies, where the light is the positive thing, and darkness is the negative thing. Light is safe; darkness is dangerous.

In our Second Reading we have one of those analogies, and a fitting one to consider on this Transfiguration Sunday. As Paul is writing to the Corinthians in his second New Testament letter, he faces some challenges. One is that his travel plans have changed, so he’s not been able to come to Corinth as initially hoped and planned. This may seem somewhat trivial, but the second problem is that Paul had enemies in the Corinthian congregation who tried to bad mouth and speak poorly of him to lessen his impact, reach, and importance. These travel plan changes were just fuel for the fire to make the point that Paul could not be trusted. The congregation wrestled with factions and allegiances to different teachers; for some, Paul was seen as unreliable.

As Paul gets into the heart of this letter just before our reading for this morning, he spends a lot of time reminding the Corinthians that this gospel message and its associated ministry isn’t about any specific messenger; it’s about God who gave the message. In the verses immediately following our Second Reading, Paul goes so far as to downplay the importance of any gospel messenger, or at least their worth and standing on their own: We hold this treasure in clay jars to show that its extraordinary power is from God and not from us (2 Corinthians 4:7). He calls gospel messengers clay jars. Not exactly glowing praise. Rather than getting into a competition to prove who was the greatest teacher, he comes down on the side that all of them are fragile and helpless on their own, and without God’s grace, they are nothing.

That’s not a message that the world looks for or something impressive to people from a worldly point of view. Who gets the most attention? The people who can capture it and hold on to it, those who have the charisma to gather a crowd and keep it. If you have things that draw people to you and want that following, you don’t hide those qualities. And if you don’t have those qualities, you might not expect to get much of a following.

And this is where God does things so very differently, even the opposite of what we would expect him to do. Paul often talks about how he was not a good speaker and he was far less eloquent in person than he was in his letters. One would think that God chose dynamic speakers to spread his gospel message, but that’s often not true.

But if that’s true for the gospel messengers, it’s even more true for Jesus. Throughout this Epiphany season, we've seen that Jesus’ true nature had to be revealed bit by bit because it wasn’t self-evident. The worship of the Wise Men, the testimony of the Father at his baptism, and the demonstrations of authority in teaching and healing and driving out demons all led people to understand that Jesus was more than he appeared. Because he appeared to be just like everyone else, just a guy, a normal person. But the reality was that this was God in human flesh.

But the hidden nature of what’s happening with Jesus doesn’t stop there. What looks like the weakest, most miserable defeat at the cross is the most powerful victory ever won by conquering sin, death, and hell. The most permanent resting place—the tomb—becomes the site of a brief respite for his body before his resurrection. You wouldn’t have guessed any of this by looking at Jesus. You couldn’t have dreamed up this plan for God to save us from sin, but here it is.

And this is why Paul is so eager to downplay himself and hype up Jesus. Paul doesn’t matter, Peter doesn’t matter, faithful servants of the gospel throughout the world of all times do not matter. What matters is Jesus. What matters is his forgiveness that he won, the victory he won in apparent defeat, the strength he proved in what looked to be an utter weakness. Indeed, we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

At Jesus’ transfiguration, we have a pulling back of the curtain for Peter, James, and John. They're in shock as they see Jesus in a state of glory that they have never witnessed before. As they share the same hilltop with the legendary messengers of the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah, they are completely overwhelmed. What does this scene show? Nothing in this came from these men. Peter, James, and John brought nothing to this scene or gave Jesus any of his influence or power. This is completely one-sided. The one gleaming like lightning, the one soon to be stripped and flogged and mocked and crucified, he is the one through whom all blessings and everything good flow. What Peter? What is James? What is John? Honestly, what is Moses or Elijah? Nothing without God’s love, both in prominence and eternal safety.

I don’t know if you wrestle with pride, of thinking you’re kind of God’s gift to the world or even that God should be thankful to have someone like you among his church, but if that’s a thought that comes to mind at times, let’s lay those thoughts at the cross. The hyperbole and sinful pride that thinks we have something to contribute and that we can give God something that he needs should be crucified in us. It is a total misunderstanding of the relationship we have with God, a total distortion of the epiphany we’ve had about who Jesus actually is.

Because if I get too cocky and self-assured, if I become too stuck on myself or think that God must be really grateful to have me among his people, I do well to consider how I got here in the first place. And I’m not talking about being a pastor and serving our congregation; I’m talking about simply being a Christian, someone who clings to Jesus as the solution to sin. How did that happen? Well, it wasn’t me. It wasn’t a choice I made, nor was it a special spark I had in me or something, even ever-so-small, that I contributed to my spiritual state. No, on my own, there is only the darkness of sin and unbelief. That’s what I bring to the table—nothing good or useful or worthwhile at all.

But Paul reminds us how we got where we are: For the God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” is the same one who made light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ. The one who was able to call the literal light into existence with his voice at the beginning of time is the one who made the light of faith shine in your heart and mine through that same voice. Whether it was the Word read, shared, or proclaimed, or perhaps the Word connected to the water of the most joyous adoption of Baptism, God spoke, and it came to be. God spoke, and the light shone in our hearts. God spoke our faith into existence; by him alone, we cling to Jesus as our Savior.

And maybe your wrestling isn’t with pride; maybe it’s with self-loathing. Maybe you embrace that message of the law and don’t often hear the gospel. Maybe you think you are worthless and a failure and someone God should not spend any time on because you’re beyond hope. The faith that God gives to you allows you to see yourself in a different light, to see yourself not as a worthless failure, but as someone so precious, so important to God, that he was willing not only to die for you to forgive every sin but also to come to you and speak this faith into your heart.

Your worth doesn’t come from how good you are, nor is your value calculated on your failures. Your worth is shown most clearly in all God was willing to do to save you.

And this faith, the light of God’s love, reveals mysteries. We can see reality that we couldn’t see before because things are lit rather than being shrouded in darkness. You can look at Jesus and not just see a kind man, a popular preacher, or someone patient under the most severe suffering. By the light of God’s love, by the faith he has called into being in your heart, you see Jesus as your Savior, as the one who rescued you from every sin, including any potential sins of pride and self-righteousness or self-loathing and self-hatred. You have the complete rescue from sin because Jesus has completely rescued you. You do not stumble about in darkness; you walk in the light of God’s forgiveness.

That means you can see! You can see what God has done for you. You can see that he loves you and that he loves the world. And you can see what it cost him. Keep this light in mind as we begin our journey into Lent’s quieter, more solemn days this Wednesday. It’s going to look and feel pretty dark. The Garden of Gethsemane, the midnight trial with the Sanhedrin, the dark ignoring of the truth with Pontious Pilate, and the darkened sky at Jesus’ crucifixion will all communicate a message different than reality. The darkness will not win; Jesus, the light of the world, will triumph.

Cherish that light God has placed into your heart. Cling to your bright Savior as the complete and only solution to the darkness of sin and hell. Rejoice that God has not kept this hidden from you but has given you his love in Jesus, our Savior. Alleluia! Amen.

"Do You Not Know? Have You Not Heard?" (Sermon on Isaiah 40:27-31) | February 4, 2024

Sermon Text: Isaiah 40:27–31
Date: February 4, 2023
Event: The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B

Isaiah 40:27–31 (EHV)

Why do you speak, O Jacob?
O Israel, why do you say,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and justice for me is ignored by my God”?
28Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the eternal God.
He is the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired, and he will not become weary.
No one can find a limit to his understanding.
29He is the one who gives strength to the weak,
and he increases the strength of those who lack power.
30Young men grow tired and become weary.
Even strong men stumble and fall.
31But those who wait for the Lord will receive new strength.
They will lift up their wings and soar like eagles.
They will run and not become weary.
They will walk and not become tired.

Do You Not Know? Have You Not Heard?

He sat there on the side of the road, tears streaming down his face. He thought he could make it through what had happened, but now he wasn’t so sure. The guilt was overwhelming, and the consequences of his actions felt like an impossible weight. Others’ reactions to his situation hadn’t made things any better. He considered, ever so briefly, that he was truly alone in his life, and perhaps it just made sense to act on that and be done with what felt like a God-forsaken existence.

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

Another fight, another impossibly bull-headed person. How could she keep this up? Work was a mess, home was a mess, she was a mess. Didn’t God promise not to give her more than she could handle? Didn’t he promise a way out of temptation and testing? She was just so done. She’d given everything she had, and now she had nothing left to give. It sure felt like God was ignoring her prayers and not paying attention to the difficult path she was walking.

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

Failed. He had failed to live up to every single expectation that someone had for him. He had done his best, at least he thought he had, but he had disappointed so many people so many times. Where was the support from God to change his ways? Where was the relief he was supposed to feel from these failures and these sins? If God truly loved him and cared about him, why couldn’t he feel it or see it? Where was God hiding himself? Why did he not care?

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

Have you been there? Have you been where those people are? Overcome by the sadness and difficulties of this life? Overcome by the sin of others poured out against you? Overcome by your own sin where you fail to be who and what you should be, over and over again? Guilt presses down hard. We might be able to sympathize with King David, who described the torment of guilt as his bones wasting away inside of him.

Perhaps the worst part about guilt is not the phyiscal manifestations that it can have, but rather the loneliness. You failed those people—those important people in your life!—and now, will they ever want to have anything to do with you again? But the even more intolerable loneliness is the separation from God.

Because that’s what sin does: it divides us from God. He demands perfection, and we are far, far from perfect. So sin causes that division, and the ultimate expression of that division is hell, an eternity of separation from God for failing to be the perfect people that God requires. Hell, as awful as it is, is exactly the punishment we deserve for the sins we’ve committed against God. Even those sins that feel smaller than other people’s sins; even those sins that we have convinced ourselves are not so bad or not hurting anyone; even those sins we try to hide from the world but can never hide from God.

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

Let’s take just the first verse of our first reading in isolation for a moment. Removed from its context, let’s hear these questions from God, as perhaps many people have heard it, as a rebuke: Why do you speak, O Jacob? O Israel, why do you say, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and justice for me is ignored by my God”? Depending on your perspective, you might hear God saying in this verse, “Why are you wasting your breath with these statements? Of course your way is hidden from me, of course I’m ignoring your calls for so-called ‘justice.’ You’ve done the exact things that I told you not to. You knew that this was what was going to happen. Adam and Eve knew that their sin would lead to death, so also your sins lead to death. Save your breath and save your whining; you’ve brought this on yourself.”

And it’s not just the unfaithful Southern Kingdom of Judah nearly 2800 years ago that such a rebuke could be leveled at, right? This finds application and hits home for us today. Consider those feelings that God is far, far away from you. Of course he is! You’ve sinned against the perfect God and he hates it. Nothing you can do will ever change that. Why is God so far away from me? Because I have utterly failed to be the person he expects me to be. I have failed as a husband, father, son, and friend; I have failed as a pastor and leader; I have failed as a member of our community and as a representative for God among the people around us. I have spat on God’s expectations in every area of my life! And so have you. We have separated ourselves from God with our sin, and we cannot bridge that gap or heal that divide.

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

Taking a single verse out of its context in isolation is not a particularly good way to interpret and understand God’s Word. In fact, this “rebuke” is exactly what Satan would want you to hear in these words. While nothing we’ve heard here this morning was false, those things are not at all what God is communicating here. Yet, this hopeless abandonment by God is exactly what Satan wants you to feel and believe. The very one who tries to get you to rebel against God in sin is the first in line to look at you, after you’ve sinned, and say with mock-horror, “What have you done?”

See Satan’s goal is not that we worship or serve him. He doesn’t care about religions dedicated to him or people debating if he exists. All he wants to do is preserve, and perhaps widen, that gap between you and God. He wants to distract and discourage you from thinking there’s any possibility of healing between you and God. He can approach that in many different ways: he can sow apathy in the heart formerly dedicated to God; he can cause the hardships of this life to be too overwhelming for us to believe that God cares anything for us; he can even use great riches and fun to make us behave as if this life is the only life that exists and nothing else matters—especially not the eternal. So whether you are separated from God by despair or fun, grief or greed, Satan doesn’t care as long as you are separated. Then, that prowling lion has found his prey and devoured it.

So, if this guilt and grieving are the work of Satan that must mean that they are not trustworthy, and they’re not. Except while Satan’s native language is lying, the most insidious of those lies are the half-truths. There is no denying it when he accuses you and me of sin. We have not been the perfect people God expects and demands we be. No one is at fault for my sins except me. We have no one to blame but ourselves. We’ve plunged into the sewer of sin and reek with the stench of rebellion.

But the lie comes when Satan says to you, “See, now God could never love you or care about you because of what you’ve done.” He even sits here in a worship service, as the forgiveness of sins is repeatedly announced, and each time whispers to you, “Yeah… for them, not for you. He’s not talking about you. You’re too far gone. You’ve done too much wrong.”

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

Let’s revisit God’s words through Isaiah in our first reading as a whole: Why do you speak, O Jacob? O Israel, why do you say, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and justice for me is ignored by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the eternal God. He is the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired, and he will not become weary. No one can find a limit to his understanding. He is the one who gives strength to the weak, and he increases the strength of those who lack power. Young men grow tired and become weary. Even strong men stumble and fall. But those who wait for the Lord will receive new strength. They will lift up their wings and soar like eagles. They will run and not become weary. They will walk and not become tired.

What is God’s point in asking those questions at the beginning of this reading? They are silly and ridiculous, but not for the reason Satan would want us to think that they are. Is your way hidden from the Lord? Is God ignoring justice for you? No! Far from it!

This morning, we had the opportunity to see God’s protective work in clear, visible action. In baptism, God made Nysha part of his family, just as he has adopted you and me into his family through that same washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Are you separated from God? Is he ignoring you? No! You are his dearly loved child!

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The proof of God’s care for you is seen most clearly in Jesus. Not only has God not abandoned you, not only has he not ignored you, but he actually took your burdens and sorrows on himself. As we’ve seen throughout this Epiphany season, God himself took on our human nature. We saw him lying in Bethlehem’s manger; he saw the beginning of his ministry at his baptism by John the Baptist. As we get closer to the season of Lent, we will see again the enormous pains and disaster that Jesus took on himself, a disaster that will culminate on dark Friday when the creator of the heavens and the earth was suspended between the sky and the ground, nailed to a cross.

But all of this is not a tragedy of a helpless man suffering and dying for crimes he did not commit. Nor is the account of Jesus’ death a model for us to follow in humility and putting others ahead of ourselves. No, Satan doesn’t want you to see this scene or at least not understand what’s going on here. Because there, at the cross, the one who had the power to drive out demons with a single word is crushing Satan’s head. Here is the forgiveness of our sins, not because of anything we can or have done, but because of God’s great mercy and love for us. There at the cross, he bemoans the abandonment from God, not in a misguided way like Israel or you and I might have done, but bemoaning the literal abandonment from God. There on the cross, Jesus suffers hell and is separated from God in the most gruesome and confusing scene, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

Why did he do it? For you. For me. Because that’s what our sins deserve, and neither the Father nor Jesus nor the Holy Spirit was willing that you and I suffer hell, suffer the punishment we deserved, and so Jesus did it for us, in our place, to rescue us from our sins. He died so that we could live. His death counted for us all, as if we were all nailed to that cross, and our sins are gone.

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

And God, in his mercy doesn’t just leave it there. Jesus’ body was laid in a tomb after he commended his spirit to a brief respite with his heavenly Father. Then, on Sunday morning, it was back to work. An earthquake! A rolling away of the stone! More questions: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? Do you not know? Have you not heard? He is risen, just as he said!”

When Satan has his claws in us, when we are weighed down by the guilt that is so real because the sins we’ve committed are so very real, journey once again to see this tomb empty. Remember that water paired with the Word that adopted you into God’s family. Come, take, eat, and drink the true body and blood of your Savior in, with, and under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of your sins.

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

Don’t let Satan’s lies and half-truths deceive and distract you. You are a dearly loved child of God. He will never grow weary of protecting you or forgiving you. So take those burdens and those sins and bring them to Jesus. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). And there, when you leave these hardships with your Savior who lived, died, and rose for you, you find relief from all those terrible things. There you are lifted up on the wings of eagles. There, you find the spiritual strength not to be tired or weary because you know what your God thinks of you and has done for you. There, in God’s forgiveness, you receive his new strength, strength that doesn’t come from within you but comes as a direct work of God for you.

All of this is sufficient until the day that God ends any notion of separation from himself when we will not be cast into hell but welcomed into the perfect courts of heaven for Jesus’ sake. Then, we will not need to go through this cycle of being wearied and finding strength in God’s forgiveness. Then, we will not need to seek God out in his Word or the sacraments where he gives us himself. No, then, in that day, we will see God face to face. We will see our Savior scared with those marks of his crucifixion yet alive and well. Then there will be no more night; we will live in the protection of our God forever.

My dear sisters, my dear brothers, Do you not know? Have you not heard? Your sin separates you from God, but God has separated you from your sin in the body of Jesus. You are forgiven. You have peace with God now and forever! Amen.

"The Messiah Follows God's Will" (Sermon on Isaiah 49:1-6) | January 14, 2024

Sermon Text: Isaiah 49:1-6
Date: January 14, 2024
Event: The Baptism of Our Lord (Observed), Year B

Isaiah 49:1-6 (EHV)

Listen to me, you coastlands.
Pay attention, you faraway peoples!
The Lord called me from the womb.
When I was inside my mother, he mentioned my name.
2He made my mouth like a sharpened sword.
He hid me in the shadow of his hand.
He made me a polished arrow.
He concealed me in his quiver.
3He said to me, “You are my servant Israel,
in whom I will display my glory.”
4But I said to myself, “I have labored in vain.
I spent my strength and came up empty, with nothing.
Yet a just verdict for me rests with the Lord,
and my reward is with my God.”
5But now the Lord,
who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to turn Jacob back to him,
so that Israel might be gathered to him,
so that I will be honored in the eyes of the Lord,
because my God has been my strength—
6the Lord said:
It is too small a thing that you should just be my servant
to raise up only the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the ones I have preserved in Israel,
so I will appoint you to be a light for the nations,
so that my salvation will be known to the end of the earth.

The Messiah Follows God’s Will

How are you at planning? That is a large weak spot for me. I tend to react in the moment to things rather than charting a course. And even if I chart a course, sticking to that plan is entirely different. That’s not necessarily a good or bad thing; it just tends to differ between people. Some people meticulously plan every moment, some fly by the seat of their pants all day, and probably most people fall somewhere in the middle of those two extremes.

What about God? Is he reactionary? Hardly. Sometimes, God allows it to look like that for the sake of the people he interacts with. (A good example would be his apparent hot temper at the Israelites when they were worshiping the golden calf, which allowed Moses to plead for the people and see his dedication to God’s people.) Even if we can’t clearly see or understand what God is doing or why, he always has a plan, is always organized, and perfectly executes his plan.

There is no clearer place to see that than in his plan of salvation. God knew exactly what, how, and when he would save mankind from our sins. While God slowly let people know the plan's details, that wasn’t because he was still figuring it out. It was just that he had reason to dole out that information steadily through the generations. At Jesus’s baptism, we can see that plan coming to fruition. John understandably hesitates to baptize Jesus, recognizing that John should be the one being baptized by Jesus, not the other way around. But Jesus assured him that this is part of the plan, that it’s right to do this to fulfill all righteousness.

In our First Reading for this morning from Isaiah 49, we get an idea of the plan. As the Messiah speaks through the prophet’s pen, we learn that his calling and this plan were not arbitrary. God called him from the beginning to be the Savior of all people. Listen to me, you coastlands. Pay attention, you faraway peoples! The Lord called me from the womb. When I was inside my mother, he mentioned my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword. He hid me in the shadow of his hand. He made me a polished arrow. He concealed me in his quiver. He said to me, “You are my servant Israel, in whom I will display my glory.”

God didn’t just randomly pick some guy someday and have John baptize him and claim him as his Son. No, the eternal Son of God was always going to be the Savior. God had a clear plan and would fulfill that plan.

But we hear a very human perspective from the lips of the Messiah. But I said to myself, “I have labored in vain. I spent my strength and came up empty, with nothing.” Perhaps we hear echoes of Jesus in Gethsemane pleading with the Father to let this cup of suffering pass from him—not by Jesus’ will, but as the Father willed. Or perhaps the cry of anguish as Jesus suffers hell on the cross for our sins, pleading from the torment of being forsaken and abandoned by God, the true and full definition of hell. Or perhaps this could even be seen as the Messiah giving voice to the people around the cross. They had hoped Jesus was the one! And now? He was dead on the cross and then laid in a tomb. By all human measures that is labor in vain.

But God’s will and plan didn’t end with the cross; it didn’t end with a tormented servant, and it didn’t end with a dead Messiah. The angels appear at the tomb and roll the stone away, not to remove the body or let Jesus out, but to show that he was already gone. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead proves that God accepted his sacrifice and did everything the Father had ordained for him to do. His work was truly finished, complete. Jesus’ resurrection was the Father’s seal of approval on everything he did. “Yet a just verdict for me rests with the Lord, and my reward is with my God.”

But what is the result of all of this will-following on Jesus’ part? What happened because Jesus’ ministry was complete, from his baptism to his resurrection and ascension? God states it clearly: It is too small a thing that you should just be my servant to raise up only the tribes of Jacob and to restore the ones I have preserved in Israel, so I will appoint you to be a light for the nations, so that my salvation will be known to the end of the earth. I love this phrasing and attitude from God. He says, “You know what? If you were just the Savior of one people, of one nation, that’s ridiculously easy. That’s tiny, almost like a child’s game. You, dear Messiah, will be the Savior of all people. A light for all nations, to bring the forgiveness of sins to everyone, to the ends of the earth.”

We noted last week, as the Wise Men came to visit the child Jesus in Bethlehem, how this child was for all people. As these Gentiles came to worship the King born from the Jewish people, it was recognition not just of authority and power but of his divinity. This God-Man was not like the pagan gods who supposedly had jurisdiction over a small sliver of the earth; this was the true God, come to be the Savior of all.

And that fact, as difficult as it was even for the early Jewish Christians to grapple with, was never something that was hidden or secret. God was always clear that the Savior would be for all. The Messiah would come to rescue all people from all nations, every descendant of Adam and Eve, and everyone in the family tree of Noah; these are the people Jesus came to save.

That means you and that means me. No matter your family, racial, or religious background, Jesus is your Savior. Every sin you’ve ever committed was laid on Jesus at the cross. Your forgiveness is why he carried out his work; his love for you is why he began his formal ministry at his baptism. Because the Father noted that saving others but not saving you would have been beneath Jesus, too small a thing. Because your Savior God is greater than any challenge or task placed before him, you can be confident that his work means your sins are gone, you are forgiven, and eternal life stands waiting for you.

The will of God was that mankind not suffer in hell for our sins, and the Messiah accomplished that will. By his perfect life in our place, his innocent death that paid the penalty our sins deserve. This is for you; this is for everyone. So, just as Jesus began his public work at his baptism, we continue making this good news known in all places—our homes, our communities, and even far-off lands where we personally might never set foot. Where there are people, there are objects of God’s affection, the desire of his will, and the ones he has saved. Let us cherish and continue to share this good news until our Savior brings us home to himself. Amen.

"A Star Comes Out of Jacob" (Sermon on Numbers 14:15-17a) | January 7, 2024

Sermon Text: Numbers 24:15–17a
Date: January 7, 2024
Event: The Second Sunday in Lent, Year C

Numbers 24:15–17a (EHV)

Balaam took up his oracle and said:

The declaration of Balaam son of Beor,

the declaration of the man whose eye is open,

16the declaration of the one who hears the words of God,

who receives knowledge from the Most High,

who sees the vision of the Almighty,

who is falling down, but his eyes are wide open:

17I see him, but not now.

I behold him, but not near.

A star will come out of Jacob.

A scepter will rise up out of Israel.

A Star Comes Out of Jacob

There are a lot of things surrounding the birth of Jesus that are traditions, but not necessarily biblical truths. For instance, many of the pictures we have in our heads from artwork or other sources are only sometimes accurate. Mary riding to Bethlehem on a donkey? Perhaps, but that’s not recorded for us in Scripture. Were Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in a wooden barn that first night? Probably not; it was probably more like a cave area for the animals.

But perhaps the most perplexing and tradition-filled part of this season is Epiphany, the Wise Men’s visit. The Wise Men weren’t there the night the shepherds came; when they arrived in Bethlehem Mary and Jesus were in a house. The word used to describe Jesus is more akin to our word “toddler” than “newborn” or “infant.” And how many Wise Men were there? No idea. There were three gifts, but who knows how many people made this journey. This scene is filled with many questions that we cannot definitively answer. Where did these men come from? What was the star they followed—something miraculous or a natural occurrence in the stars that God used to indicate the birth of the Messiah? And how did they even know that a star appearing like this indicated that the Messiah had been born from the Jewish people?

We’re not here this morning to answer those questions or to play Christmas-time trivia. That merely serves as a reminder that there are a lot of unanswered questions about this whole season that we’ve been through. Epiphany starts a new season in the church year, a season about revelation. We begin with the Wise Men’s visit to worship the child Savior because this is our first recorded mention of people who were not Jewish coming and seeing their promised Redeemer.

Our focus for this morning will be our First Reading, one of the early promises of the Savior. It takes place during Israel’s 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, not long before they would finally take over the Promised Land. One of Israel’s enemies, Balak, the king of Moab, hired Balaam to curse Israel for him. We have a lot of unanswered questions about Balaam, too. Where did he come from? What was his job, really? He seems to be invested in the spiritual things—but more along the lines of the occult rather than anything dealing with the true God. In fact, he seems to see the true God as a tool in a toolbox in the same way a carpenter would regard a saw or hammer.

Now, certainly, God could do whatever he wanted to or needed to despite what Balaam said or did, but God chose to make a statement through Balaam. He would not allow Balaam to speak curses on his people; rather, God put words of blessings for his people into the mouth of this occult practitioner. Perhaps you recall Balaam’s donkey whom God enabled to speak to Balaam when the donkey could see the Angel of the Lord, but Balaam could not (Numbers 22:22ff). Through Balaam, God is making a point about who is in control here. It’s not Balaam, it’s not the king of Moab, it’s not even Moses or the people of Israel. God is the one who is in charge.

Our text is taken from the second-to-last of Balaam’s messages about Israel. He can never utter the curses that the king of Moab hired him to do. Instead, he can only speak blessings on Israel and curses against her enemies. And this oracle, or message, gets to the heart of the purpose of this division: God has an incredibly important plan for this nation.

The introduction to Balaam’s message emphasizes his own frailty in this whole matter and God’s superiority: the declaration of the man whose eye is open, the declaration of the one who hears the words of God, who receives knowledge from the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who is falling down, but his eyes are wide open. What is Balaam bringing to this? Nothing. Any power, any significance to the words that Balaam speaks comes directly from God.

And what words of significance does God have to bring through Balaam? I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise up out of Israel. He sees someone who is coming but has yet to arrive. He’s on his way, but he’s not close yet. He is described as a star coming out of Jacob’s family, a scepter coming out of the people of Israel. Stars and scepters were both linked to royalty. A king is coming, a powerful ruler will come out of this people.

There would be pale echoes of this coming ruler in Israel’s history. Joshua who would take over for Moses, some of the judges like Gideon or Ehud, and certainly the days of the powerful monarchy of Israel in Saul, David, and Solomon. But none of these fulfill the true scope of what is being promised. None of these were “the one” who could fulfill these promises. Balaam’s words echo what God had promised through Jacob as he blessed his sons some 500 years before this: The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until the one to whom it belongs comes (Genesis 49:10).

Only one has the right and authority to rule over all people, the one who would bring people from distant lands not just to greet and pay respects but to worship as the Wise Men set out to do. The one coming, but not yet seen, but not yet close at hand, is the Savior of mankind, the Messiah God promised to bring through his chosen people, Israel.

Balaam’s words are spoken roughly 1400 years before Jesus was born. I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. He’s there, he’s coming, there’s absolutely no doubt about that, but he hasn’t arrived yet. As the people of Israel begin to settle in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, this is another step on the Messiah’s journey. He is coming to take his place, to rule.

Over the last several weeks we’ve seen more detailed riffs on this regal Messiah. David was promised someone to sit on his throne forever. Mary was assured that her firstborn would have a kingdom that would never end. This Messiah, this Savior, this Jesus is the king in the most important way possible.

A king’s primary responsibility is to protect and care for his people. The picture of the shepherd is fitting here, and it’s a picture that Jesus applies to himself. A shepherd seeks the physical welfare of the sheep in his care. He ensures they have plenty to eat and drink, and when a predator comes, he steps in to protect the vulnerable animals. A king also looks to provide for his people physically—ensuring there’s enough food and that their enemies pose no threat to them.

We can certainly see Jesus as being that kind of physical provider, an all-powerful King who ensures that we have our daily bread and who ensures that while we may not have everything we want, we do have everything we need, especially from a spiritual, eternal perspective.

And that’s the special emphasis that Jesus provides that no earthly shepherd, king, parent, or philanthropist can do. Jesus provides not just for the here and now, but for eternity. In fact, while our here and now well being is incredibly important to him, this rising star and scepter’s purpose was always focused on eternal life. While we certainly need our daily bread, we need food, water, clothing, shelter, and all that God provides, what we really need is a king to defeat our spiritual enemies.

The Wise Men knew this. They weren’t coming to make a peace treaty or inspect an odd astronomical occurrence. They were coming to worship the special king who was promised from the Jewish people—the Savior of mankind. They were coming to worship this king who would grow and mature but do so perfectly, without sin. They were coming to worship this king who would take that perfect life and offer it on the cross in exchange for our sinful failures of lives. They were coming to worship this king who would defeat our true enemies—sin, death, and hell—by his death and then prove it by his resurrection from the dead. They were coming to worship the long-promised Messiah, the star rising out of Jacob. They were coming to worship Jesus.

And so do we. We don’t have Balaam’s perspective anymore. Jesus’ work is not far off in the future. We don’t even have the perspective of the Wise Men who knew that these things would happen to this child in the years ahead. No, today, Jesus' work is complete and accomplished. Your salvation is won. Your forgiveness is certain. The Star promised out of Jacob shines on you, assuring you that your sins are gone and that eternal life is a free gift.

And still, we wait. We can have Balaam’s perspective: I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. While the work of our salvation is complete, our full experience is not yet here. We are still in this world of sin, and we are individually still hampered by our own sinful natures. Jesus will return to bring us home, either at our deaths or on the last day, but we do not know that day or hour. I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. Or maybe our perspective is, “I see him, I behold him, but the time of fulfillment is blurry.” Today? Tomorrow? 30 years from now? 1,000 years from now? We do not know when our lives will end, and even less do we know when Jesus will return to bring us home.

But that star has risen out of Jacob. Your sins are forgiven. So whether we have hours or decades left in this life, whether there are moments or millennia ahead for this world, our forgiveness and eternal security are certain. Jesus lived and died for us. Our king defeated our enemies. Our Star shines on us now and will shine fully forever in heaven. Thanks be to God! Amen. 

"What Will Tomorrow Bring?" (Sermon on James 4:13-17) | December 31, 2023

Sermon Text: James 4:13-17
Date: December 31, 2023
Event: New Year’s Eve, Set 2

James 4:13-17 (EHV)

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that city, spend a year there, do business, and make a profit.” 14You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? Indeed, it is a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears. 15Instead, it is better for you to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live, and we will do this or that.” 16But right now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17So, for the one who knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it, this is a sin.

What Will Tomorrow Bring?

The end of year and beginning of a new year always seems to include a lot of looking back and looking forward. Top 10 lists and online subscription service summaries try to wrangle the events of the year past, down to what music you listened to or what movies you watched. But it is also a time of looking forward. As I was browsing headlines this week, I saw more than one article aimed at trying to predict what new styles and trends may be coming in various disciplines such as graphic design or electronic hardware. Just what will 2024 bring?

The easy answer is we don’t know. We can’t predict the future with any sort of accuracy. We can make some educated guesses. We can look at trends from the past and extrapolate to make a pretty solid guess. But no matter how informed those guesses are, they are still just guesses. The immense amount of amazing brain power, math, and technological advancements that go into predicting the weather is a great example. It’s usually pretty good, but sometimes the unexpected happens. Sometimes, that rain that was forecasted for the week never materializes. Sometimes, that break from extreme temperatures never comes.

But, there is one who does know, right? God knows what is going to happen. His omniscience means that he knows the decisions every person is going to make, even if he’s not specifically causing that to happen. It means that when he promises to work things out for our good, and he actually can because he is uniquely able to know and ensure things work as he wishes.

But as we plan for a new year, how often do we rest those plans on God? How often do we plan or set goals with God’s will in mind? How often do we remember that tomorrow, even later today, is an unknown and that our plans may not always align with God’s plans?

In his brief New Testament letter, James reminds us where our focus should be during this transition to a new year. As we consider what tomorrow will bring, we can be assured that we don’t know and that God’s will will be accomplished.

Let’s review our Second Reading: Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that city, spend a year there, do business, and make a profit.” 14You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? Indeed, it is a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears. 15Instead, it is better for you to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live, and we will do this or that.” 16But right now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17So, for the one who knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it, this is a sin.

Does James’ description sound like you? I know it desribes an approach that I often. I assume that as I lay out events on my calendar, they will probably happen and that my poor organization or time management is the most likely cause for them not happening. If I plan to do something, of course, it will happen.

But James right rebukes that line of thinking. Is that so sure? Can we be so confident? Will the plans we make be what we end up doing? Maybe, but maybe not. You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? Indeed, it is a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears. We don’t like to think of our plans or even our entire lives as a mist, do we? Something so temporary and fleeting. Like the fog rolling in off the ocean in the morning and is gone by midday, our lives and plans are temporary.

What might happen to make those plans disappear without a trace? Well, situations around my plans may change, making them impossible. I may recognize that the plans could have been better thought through and see reason to change them. And, in the most extreme cases, my life might suddenly and unexpectedly come to an end, or Jesus may return on the last day. We were reminded regularly throughout the end of the last church year and in the recently completed Advent season that we have no idea when the end will come. So, if it could be any time, my plans for the summer, or thoughts for next week, even the rest of this service printed in the bulletin may be something that never happens.

And while planning in and of itself is not bad, James points out there can be a certain amount of hubris in those plans, especially if we don’t acknowledge God’s role in our lives. Can I make anything happen? Can I ensure that my health will be great, that I’ll be financially prepared, and that everything will work as I want it to? I can do my best on all those fronts, but it is a great arrogance to think that I can make those things happen.

And so, James urges us to see our plans from God’s perspective: Instead, it is better for you to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live, and we will do this or that.” Maybe you’re in the habit of doing that already. Maybe you amend “Lord-willing” to any plan or schedule. But how regularly do you take it to heart, even if you do that? Do you always have at the forefront of your mind that your times are in God’s hands? Do you always acknowledge your weakness and God’s strength?

As we wrestle with these matters on the brink of a new year (and, Lord willing, throughout the year ahead), we do well to remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us. There was something we couldn’t do and had no power over. There was something we desperately needed, but it was completely out of our control. We couldn’t get rid of our sins. We couldn’t make our lives right with God. And yet, what was the Lord’s will? It was the Lord’s will that Jesus take our place. It was the Lord’s will that the punishment of hell that we deserved be placed on him. It was the Lord’s will that we not suffer for our sins but be with him forever in heaven. There’s the Lord’s will.

And because that was the Lord’s will, we can look back at all the times that we have not considered what God wanted, where we have arrogantly and presumptively laid plans for the future that we had next to no control over, and in Jesus find forgiveness for all those sins. Our poor consideration of God’s will, timetable, and plans need not haunt us; we don’t need to have a burdened conscience as we go into 2024 because Jesus has freed us from those sins. They are forgiven, gone, and done.

But these thoughts give us things to consider as we move forward into this new year. If this has been a place where we have struggled, if we get a bit of tunnel vision on the here and now and lose sight of eternity and God’s role in our lives, maybe now is the time to attempt to shake those bad habits, to be able to uncouple our desires and plans from the certainty that they will happen, and instead keep Jesus in the forefront of everything. To approach every day confident of his care, protection, and guidance, and with the prayer and the heart that says, “Lord, your will be done.” If our plans do not succeed despite our best efforts, that’s not necessarily a failure on our part. It is, instead, very likely that that particular thing was not God’s will, but something else probably is.

In all things, let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on his manger where he humbled himself to serve us under the law, on his cross where he paid for our sins, on his empty tomb where he assured us of his victory over sin, death, and hell, and also to the skies where he will return to bring us home to be with him. He loves us and forgives all our sins so we can have the confidence and peace of his abiding care.

So, what will tomorrow bring? We can confidently and boldly say, “I don’t know.” But what we do know is that whatever happens, our loving Savior will be by our side. His will for us will be done in earthly things, all with the end goal of eternal life with him. So uncertainty in the future doesn’t need to be scary; it’s simply another opportunity to rest our hearts in Jesus’ perfect work and promises.

Lord keep us ever focused on you today, and by your will, in the year ahead. Amen.

"The Mystery Is Revealed!" (Sermon on Romans 16:25-27) | December 24, 2023

Sermon Text: Romans 16:25-27
Date: December 24, 2023
Event: The Fourth Sunday in Advent, Year B

Romans 16:25-27 (EHV)

Now to him who is able to strengthen you—

according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ,

according to the revelation of the mystery that was veiled in silence for long ages past, 26but now has been revealed through the prophetic Scriptures and made known to all the Gentiles, in keeping with the command of the eternal God, resulting in the obedience of faith—

27to God, who alone is wise, be glory forever through Jesus Christ. Amen. 

The Mystery Is Revealed!

Do you like mysteries? Maybe a book or movie, maybe a real-life unsolved mystery is really exciting. There’s something special about the unknown—especially if later you can know it. Perhaps you’ve watched a movie with a twist ending and then watched it again but with a friend who hadn’t seen it. It’s kind of a neat feeling to know something they don’t know, to watch them learn the secrets you came in knowing.

As we arrive at the end of the Advent season, we can reflect on the mysteries of God’s revelation and how he gave us a full understanding of it. The mystery of what God would do was never a complete secret. Right from the beginning in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned, God promised a Savior. The fate of mankind’s eternal well-being was never in doubt. God promised to deal with it right from the start.

But how he would deal with it, what that would look like, and when? Well, that was all unknown to Adam and Eve and for a long time afterward. The line of the Savior was narrowed down to Noah’s family at the time of the flood, as they were the only human beings left on earth. And then, a long time later, God narrowed it down again to the descendants of Abraham.

Slowly, but surely, as time marched on, more and more details were revealed. The Savior would be descended from Judah, specifically King David’s line. The Savior would suffer in his work to atone for the world’s sins. He would have a forerunner to prepare the way before him. He would be born of a virgin. God eventually revealed that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, in Judea, in the region of Ephrathah.

And while we could see many more details about the coming Savior throughout the Old Testament, we still needed the answer to that key question: when? When is this going to happen? There’s no question that it would happen—God promised it, so it is as good as done—but still, people longed to know when God would follow through on those promises.

In our Gospel this morning, we saw the switch flip. Once Gabriel appears to Mary, the wheels are all in motion. We will have the opportunity to celebrate this fulfillment in full tonight and tomorrow morning, but for now, let us take a birdseye view via Paul’s observations in our Second Reading. As he closes his letter to the Romans, written 50 or 60 years after Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, he says this: Now to him who is able to strengthen you— according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was veiled in silence for long ages past, 26but now has been revealed through the prophetic Scriptures and made known to all the Gentiles, in keeping with the command of the eternal God, resulting in the obedience of faith— 27to God, who alone is wise, be glory forever through Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Paul is writing to people that he’s mostly never met before. Eventually, Paul will make it to Rome, but he hasn’t been there yet when he’s writing this letter. So he’s writing this tremendous outline of the Christian faith to strengthen the recipients and to show that what God had revealed to them is the same gospel God was sharing through Paul elsewhere.

Earlier, we mentioned that some of the how and nearly all of the when of the Savior’s arrival and work remained largely unknown for many, many years. That’s what Paul means when he says according to the revelation of the mystery that was veiled in silence for long ages past. At this time, the message of Jesus was relatively new. We’re only about 30 years removed from Jesus’ death and resurrection. So the fulness of what is being preached was new for Jewish believers who had been waiting for the promised Messiah, and it was certainly new for the non-Jewish people who were learning about God’s promises and their fulfillments all at the same time.

But Jesus had been clear before his departure and in his work after his ascension: this message is for everyone. Everyone had to hear what had happened; everyone needed to hear this gospel message that Paul and the others had been entrusted with.

Why? Because God commanded it because the stakes are so high. This is not like the twist ending to a book that you don’t share with a friend to let them experience it. No, this is somewhat akin to having the cure for a terminal disease. Not sharing it is unconscionable! Think of how many people could be helped—could be saved! And yet, the gospel is so much more important because this isn’t just for a subset of people with a specific disease; it addresses everyone’s need. And it’s not “merely” about preserving our physical lives from a specific disease while knowing something will bring about the end of that person’s life at some point. No, the gospel gives eternal life free from any hardship or trouble. As Gabriel assured Mary, the Savior’s kingdom will never end.

And so the message of the gospel had to go out. Mary heard that the one promised for ages was coming by God’s work through her. We’ll hear tonight the angel also gave Joseph the name for this child and explained that he was to be named Jesus because he would save his people from their sins. Jesus’ name literally means, “The Lord Saves.”

From the fall into sin onward, God has had one specific goal: that mankind not suffer in hell for their sins. And so the message about Jesus has one goal: the obedience of faith, not a work to earn forgiveness, but a faith that acknowledges what God has promised is true, which clings to those promises as sure and certain.

God strengthens you through this gospel message. When your conscience weighs you down with guilt and shame, the message of sins forgiven in Jesus unburdens your heart. When you feel weak and powerless, the gospel reminds you that God takes care of you and has done everything for you, in your place. When doubt creeps into your mind about whether or not God could ever truly love someone like you, the gospel takes you to his promises and assurances never to leave us nor forsake us, that Jesus’ suffered hell in your place and in my place, and that from God’s perspective, our sins are gone, buried in the depths of the sea and forgotten about.

And so when you feel weak and burdened, look at God’s promises and his track record. Is there any promise he has not kept? Is there any possibility that he might change his mind and abandon you? No! The mystery is revealed in Jesus. The love of God that goes beyond all our understanding is shown to us in the fact that while we were still sinners and rebellious enemies of God, Jesus died for us.

This was not something we could have guessed or come up with. God’s wisdom, shrouded in mystery to us,  has been revealed in the gospel message. We were lost on our own, but with God, who alone is wise, we are saved.

As we approach our Christmas celebrations tonight and tomorrow, remember this perspective: These celebrations are really never simply about the birth of Jesus but what Jesus would accomplish. We do not worship just a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger, but a man crushed for our sins and triumphantly raised to life. We sing with the angels about the peace that has come to earth, peace between God and sinful mankind in the life, death, and resurrection of our Savior Jesus. Thanks be to God that he has revealed this mystery to all people in his Word that his long-promised mission to save has been accomplished. Thanks be to God that he has chosen to save all people, even you and me! Amen.

"Rejoice in God’s Changes!" (Sermon on Isaiah 61:1-3, 10-11) | December 17, 2023

Sermon Text: Isaiah 61:1-3, 10-11
Date: December 17, 2023
Event: The Third Sunday in Advent, Year B

Isaiah 61:1-13, 10-11 (EHV)

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to preach good news to the afflicted.

He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives

and release for those who are bound,

2to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor

and the day of vengeance for our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

3to provide for those who mourn in Zion,

to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,

the oil of joy instead of mourning,

a cloak of praise instead of a faint spirit,

so that they will be called oaks of righteousness,

a planting of the Lord to display his beauty.

10I will rejoice greatly in the Lord.

My soul will celebrate because of my God,

for he has clothed me in garments of salvation.

With a robe of righteousness he covered me,

like a bridegroom who wears a beautiful headdress like a priest,

and like a bride who adorns herself with her jewelry.

11For as the earth produces its growth,

and as a garden causes what has been sown to sprout up,

so God the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up

in the presence of all the nations.

Rejoice in God’s Changes!

Rejoicing is a tough thing to suggest this time of year. Now, on the one hand, it is a joyous time of year, isn’t it? The lights and other decorations, the food, the celebrations, the time with family and friends, the time to celebrate our Savior’s first advent and his coming second advent at the same time. Rejoice in the Lord!

But for some of those very reasons that some might rejoice, others might have reason to be downcast. Maybe this is the first (or fifteenth) holiday season without that loved one God called to himself in heaven. Maybe relationships with family are strained, and friendships seem hard to come by. Regardless of the season, news about work, your health, or a loved one’s health can make rejoicing difficult if not impossible.

But, am I not rejoicong if I feel sad and downcast? Am I ignoring my God if I feel down in the dumps? Am I sinning if I cannot muster even a masked, forced smile? After all, Paul in our Second Reading directed us to rejoice always; do I really have faith in God’s forgiveness if I am not happy?

I want to draw your attention to the service theme paragraph on p. 3 of the bulletin, especially the second paragraph. I did not write this, but it is a good summary that may direct our thoughts and hearts this morning and in the coming days: Joy is not the same thing as happiness. Happiness is an emotion. Joyfulness is a condition. Happiness comes from your circumstances. Joyfulness comes from your King entering into your heart and assuring you of his abiding love and your glorious future. Therefore, happiness is fleeting. Joyfulness is enduring.

We often equate joy or rejoicing with happiness, but they’re not the same thing. And just because I’m not happy doesn’t mean I’m not joyful and thankful. So, how can we think about these things? How can we rejoice even if we’re sad? How can we be joyful even if we are separated from those we love? How does true, God-given joy show itself?

This morning we’re going to focus on our First Reading, Isaiah’s words of prophecy. This is the fifth of the so-called “Servant Songs” in Isaiah, pieces of poetry that put words into the mouth of the coming Messiah. Isaiah is writing about 700 years before Jesus’ birth, but through God’s inspiration the message that he would proclaim is crystal clear:  The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the afflicted. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for those who are bound, 2to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance for our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a cloak of praise instead of a faint spirit, so that they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord to display his beauty.

During Isaiah’s ministry, it seemed that God’s people had little to rejoice about. The nation of Assyria, the world super-power at the time, was running roughshod over the Promised Land. The northern ten tribes would be carried off into exile by Assyria, while the southern two tribes would remain. However, even though the southern kingdom would not be exiled at this time, the Assyrians still made their lives miserable. It was only through a miraculous intervention by God that the invading army didn’t destroy the city of Jerusalem.

And yet, despite this, the Messiah is given the commission to go and deliver good (dare we say it? Joyful!) news: binding to the brokenhearted, freedom for those taken captive, and joy instead of mourning! However, at the time that Isaiah’s first audience would have heard this, it would have seemed like a pipe-dream. “Really? Will we have freedom? Rejoicing? Look around, Isaiah! Read the room! How will this happen?!”

And while Assyria would be turned away, not so many years later, the nation of Babylon would rise up, and God would use them to carry his people off into exile for their unfaithfulness to him. The nation would return home seventy years later, but never again would it see the freedom and joy they had under kings like David and Solomon. They would have an imperfect freedom under the thumbs of the Persians, the Greeks, and eventually, the Romans.

So, they were left waiting… and waiting… and waiting for this messenger of freedom to arrive. You can understand why the idea of the Messiah as a political savior had grown in popularity, can’t you? Someone to save them from the oppression of foreign governments? Someone to rescue God’s people and restore them to a position of prominence that seemed fitting for God’s chosen nation? And so when the Messiah does arrive, and he’s a little baby in a manger, or an unimpressive man preaching and teaching that ends up being executed by the very foreign government people hoped he would rescue them from, you can understand, why there wasn’t a lot of rejoicing in what God was doing here. And that is, in part, because because they could not see the whole picture.

Let’s come back to you and me and our life of rejoicing. What does that look like? Should Christians be happy all the time, smiling their way through life? I mean, we might have reason to. We know what Jesus accomplished, that the cross was a victory for him, not defeat. But in many ways, we are like those people suffering under bondage while promises of freedom drift in front of us.

We know that Jesus’ work is done, but how often do you really see the effects of it? Sure, you know it, by God’s grace you trust and believe it. You have the forgiveness of all of your sins because of Jesus’ life and death in your place. But look around you! Look inside of you! How much evidence can you see that Jesus defeated sin? I look around and see a world crumbling to decay because of the corruption of sin. I see empty places at holiday meals where loved ones have been separated from me by death. I look at myself and see a heart, mind, words, and actions that, at best, are tainted with sin and, at worst, are nothing but sin. If Jesus is victorious, why don’t I see it? If Jesus came to proclaim this message of comfort and release, why am I still so uncomfortable and bound?

My dear sister, my dear brother, be assured of this: Jesus’ work is complete; your sins are completely paid for; there is no punishment for your rebellion against God. However, like an inheritance may be inaccessible, though certain, and like a deposit may take time to grow in a financial account, what you and I have right now is just a bit, just a taste of what is to come. When Jesus brings us to heaven, we will have it all in full. No more sorrow or pain. No more slavery to sin or mourning in my heart. No more sinful nature to lead me astray. No more temptations trying to pull me in ways I should not go.

That’s not the situation right now. I don’t experience that in full today. But I will. And so will you.

And that’s what we rejoice about: we have the forgiveness of sins, and one day, we will experience it in full. The Messiah did come and do the work to set people free. Even if I can’t always see it or feel it, this is what Jesus has done for me: I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. My soul will celebrate because of my God, for he has clothed me in garments of salvation. With a robe of righteousness he covered me, like a bridegroom who wears a beautiful headdress like a priest, and like a bride who adorns herself with her jewelry.

Jesus has covered me in his forgiveness, in his righteousness. He has taken my shame away and dressed me in divine wedding clothes. But those clothes, though mine, may seem less like they are wrapped around me and more like their hanging in a closet in my room in heaven. They’re there, they’re certain, but I can’t always see it or feel it.

And so this time of year and every time of year, we rejoice in God’s changes that he has made for us, even while recognizing that we still live in this sinful, corrupted world. If your holiday joy is muted because of circumstances around you, that is ok. But as we approach the Christmas manger and as our eyes look forward to Jesus’ return, let the change that God has given you and the ultimate change that he will give in heaven lighten your heart and encourage you until that day. I will rejoice greatly in the Lord.Thanks be to God! Amen.

"Look to the Past for Strength for the Future" (Sesrmon on Psalm 85) | December 10, 2023

Sermon Text: Psalm 85
Date: December 10, 2023
Event: The Second Sunday in Advent, Year B

Psalm 85 (EHV)

You showed favor to your land, O Lord.

You restored Jacob.

2You removed the guilt of your people.

You covered all their sin.

Interlude

3You put away all your wrath.

You turned from your burning anger.

4Restore us, O God who saves us.

Put an end to your indignation with us.

5Will you be angry with us forever?

Will you extend your anger through all generations?

6Will you not turn and revive us,

so that your people may rejoice in you?

7Show us your mercy, O Lord,

and give us your salvation.

8I will hear what the true God, the Lord, will say.

He indeed speaks peace to his people, to his favored ones,

but do not let them turn to foolish ways.

9Surely his salvation is near for those who fear him,

so that glory may dwell in our land.

10Mercy and truth meet together.

Righteousness and peace kiss each other.

11Truth springs up from the earth,

and righteousness looks down from heaven.

12The Lord will indeed give good things,

and our land will yield its harvest.

13Righteousness walks in front of him.

It prepares the way for his footsteps.

Look to the Past for Strength for the Future

In our Sunday Morning Bible Class as we’ve been studying the life of Abraham, we’ve had numerous opportunities to see Abraham and those around him as examples for us. Sometimes they are positive examples—holding to your faith despite great challenges. Sometimes, the examples are negative—don’t follow this example as these people descended into sin. But as the Bible presents these people, positive things and flaws, they serve as both warnings and encouragements for us.

In Psalm 85, the sons of Korah have a similar goal: look to the past for strength for the future. And that is a wonderful Advent theme for us, because our preparation for Christmas and especially our Savior’s second coming hinges on God’s faithfulness in the past. And so, with joy, we look to the past and the future and, at the same time, find comfort in the present day.

It’s unclear when this psalm was written because most of its backward-looking is very general. We could see many different applications to God’s people from the time of the Exodus to the wandering in the wilderness to the times of trouble during the judges, to the unfaithfulness under most of the kings, to the exile by Babylon and then returning home after 70 years. Any of these could fit these verses: You showed favor to your land, O Lord. You restored Jacob. You removed the guilt of your people. You covered all their sin. You put away all your wrath. You turned from your burning anger.

Regardless of what era the psalm writer has in mind, the statements are true. God was routinely angry with his people for their sins, and yet had mercy on them and rescued them. His rescue was sometimes physical, delivering his people from the hands of their enemies, but it was always spiritual as he atoned for their sin by covering it in the blood of the promised Savior.

So, then, the psalm writer leads us to consider those truths as we consider present difficulties. Restore us, O God who saves us. Put an end to your indignation with us. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you extend your anger through all generations? Will you not turn and revive us, so that your people may rejoice in you?

Will God deliver us? Will he rescue us? Well, what did he do in the past? He rescued his people from their troubles, and despite their faithlessness and sin, he remained faithful to them. He was true to his promises to be with them and rescue and forgive.

So, as the psalm writer asks questions he also answers them: I will hear what the true God, the Lord, will say. He indeed speaks peace to his people, to his favored ones, but do not let them turn to foolish ways. Will God be angry with us forever? No, because he speaks peace to his people.

We have a great example of God’s faithfulness and speaking peace in the Gospel this morning. John the Baptist’s preparation work for the Messiah was long-promised. We heard an early promise of John’s work in our First Reading this morning from Isaiah. More than 700 years before John and Jesus were born, God assured that the coming Savior would have a voice crying out to prepare the way before him.

In John, God fulfills that promise and uses his work to get the people’s hearts ready to hear Jesus’ teaching and, more importantly, to see the meaning behind his life, death, and resurrection that would happen in the coming years. God promised; God followed through; God is faithful.

And John’s message was one focused on forgiveness. His message was repentance, a turning away from sin and trusting God’s promise to save. John was preaching a message of law to people to get them to see their sins as serious. Still, he also proclaimed the beautiful gospel truths as he was able to point out Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of all of God’s promises—the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.

You and I are blessed in ways the writers of Psalm 85 were not. We know how God kept these promises in full. We know how he sent his only begotten Son to be our Savior. We know that the angel instructed that his name should be Jesus because he would save his people from their sins. We know the torment and torture of the cross and the victory of the empty tomb. We can look at God’s faithfulness and stand in awe of his goodness to us.

All of that addresses our now and our future. We might ask similar questions as the psalm writer did. Will God be angry with us forever? Will he punish us for our sins? Our guilty consciences really wonder this, or more, they try to convince us that the answer is yes, that there will be no end to God’s anger and wrath over what we’ve done and left undone. That our destiny is inescapably hell.

But our conscience is wrong. God is greater than what we know by nature and what we feel in our hearts. Yes, we’ve sinned, yes, we’ve brought God’s wrath on our heads, and yes, we do truly deserve hell for not being the perfect people that God demands us to be. But Jesus took our place. His blood shed on the cross covers those sins, making atonement for us so that we have nothing to hide. Our sins are gone, and there is no anger at us left in God because Jesus took it all on himself. He has completely saved us.

That’s exactly what God had promised to do, and that’s exactly what he did. While that is certainly the biggest promise God has made, it’s not the only promise he’s made to us. He’s promised us things that are very important in the here and now: he will work all things in our life out for our eternal good, he will continue to pray and plead for us, he will guard our coming and going, he will never leave us nor forsake us, but will be with us always to the end of the present age. And when this age ends, he will bring us to himself in heaven because he has removed our sins and loves us.

When it doesn’t feel like those promises are being kept, go back and look at God’s track record. How did he do in the lead-up to Jesus’ first advent? Was he faithful to his promises? Was he faithful even when it might not have looked or felt like he was? Most assuredly yes. If God was faithful to this global promise to send a Savior, can he keep these relatively smaller, personal promises? He who didn’t spare his Son—how could he not give us every good thing?

Look to the past for strength for the future. God perfectly keeps his promises. We’ll see that in the coming weeks as we rejoice in John the Baptist’s work and eventually celebrate the birth of our Savior. God is trustworthy. He will keep his promises. He will not leave you alone. Lean on him, now and forever.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Amen.

"Grace and Peace Enrich Us until Jesus' Advent" (Sermon on 1 Corinthians 1:3-9) | December 3, 2023

Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Date: December 3, 2023
Event: The First Sunday in Advent, Year B

1 Corinthians 1:3-9 (EHV)

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

4I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus. 5You were enriched in him in every way, in all your speaking and all your knowledge, 6because the testimony about Christ was established in you. 7As a result you do not lack any gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8He will also keep you strong until the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful, who called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Grace and Peace Enrich Us Until Jesus’ Advent

You know those feelings of anticipation you get when something big is coming up? Maybe it’s something really good, so you are impatient and counting the days, hours, and minutes until it’s time. Or, maybe it’s something you’re really dreading and feels like a storm cloud hanging over you constantly.

The season of Advent could be characterized by the word “anticipation.” Advent by itself just means “arrival.” It’s a season where we are preparing to celebrate Jesus’ first arrival that we mark with Christmas, but we also keep our eyes looking for his second coming, when Jesus will return.

Now, depending on your perspective, the thought of the almighty Creator of the universe bringing an end to this life may seem really good—and thus fill you with impatience until that day arrives—or it may be something you are really dreading and perhaps don’t even want to think about.

In our Second Reading for this morning, the apostle Paul encourages us to see in Jesus a joyful return to rescue us and note that he keeps us anticipating it and readies us for it. We need not fear—Jesus will return, and for us, that will mean rescue.

This first letter to the Corinthians is not exactly the happiest of letters. The members of this congregation had a lot of problems. They had divisions that fractured along the lines of loyalty to different teachers and pastors, as well as along the lines of socioeconomic classes—the rich enjoyed luxuries and were happy to leave the poor to go hungry. They tolerated obscene sexual immorality in their congregation and were even proud of it! They abused the Lord’s Supper and did spiritual harm to themselves.

Despite the really troublesome things that Paul needs to address with them, the opening of this letter is very positive. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus. You were enriched in him in every way, in all your speaking and all your knowledge, because the testimony about Christ was established in you. As a result you do not lack any gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has such positive things to say! How can he be so positive and upbeat when there are so many problems?

There were indeed many concerns in the congregation, but Paul focuses on the positive here. To begin with, they have God’s grace and peace, which has positively affected them. They have a base to build off of to address the problems because they have the foundation of God’s love for them.

It would be good for us to spend a couple of moments considering those words we hear so often, that they can sometimes lose their meaning: grace and peace. Grace is what we sometimes define as the undeserved love of God. It’s love from God that we don’t deserve and, in fact, gives us the opposite of what we deserve. The Corinthians needed God’s grace because their sin separated them from God and brought hell on them. The same is true for us. Our sin, our active rebellion against God, deserves nothing but hell, eternal separation from God.

We don’t have to look far in our lives to see that sin, but as we start this new church year and have a fresh run at Advent’s preparation, maybe our minds specifically think about the times in the past (or even today!) when we’ve been apathetic in our approach to spiritual matters and lax in our preparation for eternity. Maybe we’ve let the worries and cares of this life crowd eternity out of our minds. Maybe we’ve prioritized our will over and above God’s will. Maybe we’ve let that time in God’s Word be something we’ll do “later” rather than something we’re actively doing now.

But God’s grace means we don’t need to dwell or fret over those sins. Real as they were and are, we also know that they are forgiven. God’s undeserved love for us in Jesus means that he has removed our sins. Sin brought hell on our heads; God’s grace gives us heaven in its place.

This is why Paul could be so joyful and thankful for the Corinthians and to God despite the massive problems wreaking havoc in that congregation. Were there things to be dealt with? Yes. Were they impossible to work through? No. Was there forgiveness in Jesus for these sins? Most assuredly.

The results of grace lead to peace. We are at a time in the world’s history where, once again, we long for peace between nations. The wars and rumors of wars that Jesus said would accompany us to the end of time on this planet are clearly not just theoretical as nations batter and destroy each other. Calls for ceasefires and peace fill news articles, political speeches, and prayers of God’s people. And while God may grant that peace and halt to fighting, we do know that it is only temporary because every person on this earth is a sinner and that sin means there will never be true, lasting peace between peoples and nations.

But, peace with God is different. Sin is conflict, war, with God. But in Jesus, God brings peace between himself and us. In not too many weeks, we will hear the angels announce to the shepherds that the newborn lying in a feeding trough means “peace, good will toward mankind” (Luke 2:14). This isn’t a temporary peace. It’s not peace that will last only as long as the terms of a treaty or until the hurt or greed of one group causes them to lash out at another. No, this peace that God’s grace brings about is permanent and eternal.

In Jesus’ life and death in our place, we have this true peace of God. Because Jesus’ work forgives and removes our sins, he does away with our natural hostility toward God. And because the hostility of our sins is gone, the just anger of God over our sins and the need to punish us for them disappears. The peace Jesus brings is the peace that means we will not be at odds with God but in harmony with God forever when he calls us from this world of sin to himself in heaven.

Thanks be to God for all of this! But what do we do now? We’ve talked a lot about future things or at least things that we will fully experience in the future—how does this affect our day-to-day life until God brings us home to heaven? How do we prepare during this Advent season and throughout our lives? Let’s consider what Paul said to the Corinthians: You were enriched in him in every way, in all your speaking and all your knowledge, because the testimony about Christ was established in you. As a result you do not lack any gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also keep you strong until the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Paul says this gospel message of sins forgiven in Jesus had a tangible effect on the Corinthians. It obviously wasn’t perfect as they all still struggled with sin in very real, public ways, but the message of God’s love, his grace, and peace meant that they were enriched in every way, in all [their] speaking and all [their] knowledge. Jesus' forgiveness changed them for the better.

And that means that they were blessed with gifts, not necessarily physical, earthly wealth, but with spiritual gifts. Whether that meant the ability to teach or speak in tongues or lead or simply and foundationally the gift of faith in Jesus as Savior, these blessings were a gift from God and showed that God was faithful to what he had promised. They had the forgiveness of sins; heaven was theirs.

And despite the difficult conversations that Paul will have with the Corinthians in the chapters that follow this initial greeting, he is confident that he will also keep you strong until the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

So what do we do now? How do we prepare? How do we let our Advent anticipation express itself? Let God do his work. Through his Word and the sacarments, God builds us up in our faith so that we cling to him more completely. We are properly prepared to celebrate Jesus’ first Advent when we can see the spiritual, eternal blessings that God will work through this still-little child. We are prepared for Jesus’ second Advent when we have those same blessings at the forefront of our minds: despite being a sinner, you and I have God’s grace and peace. We will be in heaven forever.

So let God work on your hearts through his Word, as he promised. Surround yourself in it here at worship, in Bible class, in home devotions, and in quiet time of meditation on his promises and faith-driven prayer as a response to those promises. To prepare for the future is to let God prepare you. Your forgiveness is his work. Your faith is his work. Your life of thanksgiving is his work in you.

My dear brother, my dear sister. You have the grace of God, the free gift of his forgiving love. That grace has resulted in eternal peace with your Creator. God is faithful. He will keep you strong until the end. And until that end comes, let your focus be on him and his forgiving love for you. Amen.

"Your King Is Triumphant" (Sermon on 1 Corinthians 15:20-28) | November 26, 2023

Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
Date: November 26, 2023
Event: Christ the King, Year A

1 Corinthians 15:20-28 (EHV)

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came by a man, the resurrection of the dead also is going to come by a man. 22For as in Adam they all die, so also in Christ they all will be made alive. 23But each in his own order: Christ as the firstfruits and then Christ’s people, at his coming. 24Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has done away with every other ruler and every other authority and power. 25For he must reign “until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” 26Death is the last enemy to be done away with. 27Certainly, “he has put all things in subjection under his feet.” Now when it says that all things have been put in subjection, obviously that does not include the one who subjected all things to him. 28But when all things have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, in order that God may be all in all. 

Your King Is Triumphant

There is a lot of confusion today about the Bible’s relation to government. Some hold the misguided idea that a nation's laws should perfectly mirror God’s standards for right and wrong, with the mistaken assumption that if we just create a nation of outwardly moral people, we’ve done the work that God has tasked us to do. And yet, the separation of church and state is a real and biblical thing. God has tasked the government to care for physical matters and the church to care for spiritual matters; mixing those two up can be very dangerous.

But that can make a day like today, Christ the King Sunday, seem slightly off. The concept of a king is obviously very tied to earthly governments. Even if we’ve never lived in a monarchy, we get the idea, and we can see the parallels between a king or a queen ruling a nation and other systems of government that we have more direct experience with. So then when we call Jesus our King, we might start confusing roles. We know that Jesus is not the leader of a nation here on earth. While he is concerned for our physical well-being, we know he is far more concerned about our eternal good. So, in many ways, a proper biblical understanding of Jesus doesn’t match our notions about what a king is or does.

But, if we think of a king’s prime responsibility in protecting his people from danger and enemies, then things start to click into focus. Jesus is certainly concerned with the things that threaten us, especially spiritually. We have plenty of enemies vying for our souls—sin, death, and hell. And so Jesus, as our King, doesn’t rule a plot of ground on this planet as an earthly government, but he protects and rescues us from our spiritual enemies.

In a life filled with humility, our Gospel reading takes us to perhaps the least regal moment of Jesus’ life. The soldiers put a scarlet robe (Matthew 27:28) on him. While other Gospel accounts of this scene call it a “purple” robe (cf. Mark 15:17, John 19:2), it’s probably best to put purple in those instances in quotation marks. Purple was an incredibly expensive dye in those days, often only worn by royalty. But scarlet dye was cheap. It would have been among the standard military-issued things the Roman soldiers had on hand. So, in this mockery of respect, a cheap, crummy piece of cloth as a stand-in for a very expensive garment made a lot of sense.

And here, with his ridiculous scarlet garment, a crown on his head not as a sign of dignity and power but piecing his skin, and a hunk of wood shoved into his hand as a staff, the soldiers paid “homage” to Jesus. We heard them proclaim their mocking respect, “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Matthew 27:29). They beat him in the head with the staff they put into his hands, and then, the most chilling words of that whole account, “They led him away to crucify him” (Matthew 27:31).

“Christ the King” indeed, huh? You know how the rest of that day went. The one the people hoped was the promised Savior, the Messiah, carried his own cross until physically he just couldn’t, to a hill outside of Jerusalem where the soldiers nailed him to that same hunk of wood and lifted him up, suspended between heaven and earth. There, he refused the numbing agents offered to him and suffered agony upon agony until finally, with a word of completion and plea to his heavenly Father, Jesus died.

Some of his friends took his lifeless body and laid it in a tomb. They didn’t even have time to finish the work because sundown was coming, the beginning of the Sabbath. They couldn’t do any work, so they had to leave some preparations for early Sunday morning.

Nothing about this looks powerful or regal. At best, it looks like a man who got caught up in things he couldn’t control and then was killed. At worst, it looks like a criminal getting what the government at the time decided was fitting for his crimes. Either way, Jesus, the supposed king, died.

But the following Sunday morning didn’t go as anyone anticipated. When the women went to the tomb to finish preparing his body for burial, they found the large stone already rolled away from the mouth of the grave, and Jesus’ body was not there. And then the rumors started circulating. Some said the disciples had come and stolen his body, while others reported having seen Jesus alive—raised from the dead! This, like it would seem to you and me today, seemed impossible.

People don’t come back from the dead. We know that. We’ve lost loved ones, and they haven’t broken free from their tombs; their bodies rest where they were laid weeks, years, or decades earlier. And so the whole concept of the resurrection of the dead seems ridiculous to our experience; it seems impossible.

And that’s the notion that Paul was addressing with the Corinthians. In the verses just before our Second Reading this morning, Paul addressed the idea floating around that congregation that there was no resurrection of the dead. He said this: “Now if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how is it that some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is pointless, and your faith is pointless too… if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then it also follows that those who fell asleep in Christ perished. If our hope in Christ applies only to this life, we are the most pitiful people of all” (1 Corinthians 15:12-14, 17-19).

Why does the impossibility of the resurrection of the dead and, thus, the impossibility of Jesus rising from the dead mean that our faith is in vain and we are still trapped in our sins? Because there was a whole lot more going on at the cross than it appeared at first glance. Jesus never suffered for things he did wrong, nor was he caught up in things he couldn’t control. This gruesome death by crucifixion was part of the King’s plan all along. Because this was not just an execution for crimes committed by Jesus or falsely attributed to him. No, this crucifixion, this death, was our King protecting us from our enemies.

As Jesus suffered on the cross, the horrific physical pain of crucifixion was almost nothing compared to the spiritual torment that he endured. Because there on the cross, God punished Jesus for every sin ever committed by every person who had ever lived or ever would live. Those sins brought with them the punishment of hell, and on the cross, Jesus suffered that hell for us. He put himself in our place and took on the eternal death that you and I deserved.

And Jesus’ resurrection is proof that it worked. Jesus had promised that he would die and rise—just as the Old Testament Scriptures had promised. If he had not risen from the dead, that would have meant that something went horribly wrong and Jesus’ goal was not accomplished. But his actual, physical resurrection from the dead means that everything he promised to do is finished. In our Second Reading, Paul explained it this way: But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came by a man, the resurrection of the dead also is going to come by a man. For as in Adam they all die, so also in Christ they all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ as the firstfruits and then Christ’s people, at his coming.

Here, Paul points us to Jesus’ true work as our King. My brothers and sisters, Jesus conquered your enemies. Sin, death, and hell were all defeated at his cross, and the proof is in the empty cave with its folded-up linens. Jesus’ resurrection is proof that your King was triumphant for you. He defeated every spiritual enemy you had and assures you that because of him, you will have an eternal, perfect life with him in heaven.

Jesus, your King, was triumphant. Jesus, your King, still reigns. He is still guarding everything for your good—even when it doesn’t feel that way. He is still watching over you. And he will return for you. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has done away with every other ruler and every other authority and power. For he must reign “until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” Death is the last enemy to be done away with. On that day, when your King returns, he will rescue you as he puts all his enemies, including death, under his feet. You will be freed from death because your King reigns. Never again will there be hunger, sickness, sorrow, or pain, just peace with our King forever.

Our King, Jesus, does not have in mind to make this life or this earthly nation a perfect place. In many ways, he allows hardship and trouble in this life to remind us that this is not the be-all, end-all of his plan for us. In this chaotic world, corrupted by sin, it might not seem like you have an almighty King ruling for you—but look to his cross and empty tomb to see his triumph.

And watch for his return, at any time, when he will make clear that all authority and power has been placed under his feet, that hell has no claim on us, that death is truly just a nap, and that all those who have died will follow Jesus, the firstfruits. Just as the first piece of fruit on the tree points to many more to come, Jesus' resurrection also points to our own resurrections, where we will follow the pattern Jesus set. We will be raised not to die again eventually but to be freed from death’s threats forever. On that day, Jesus will bring all of us to be with him in the eternal life he won for us with his blood.

Come quickly, King Jesus! Amen.

"Be Prepared!" (Sermon on Matthew 25:1-13) | November 11, 2023

Sermon Text: Matthew 25:1-13
Date: November 11, 2023
Event: Proper 27, Year A

Matthew 25:1-13 (EHV)

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3When the foolish ones took their lamps, they did not take any oil with them; 4but the wise took oil in their containers with their lamps. 5While the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’ 9But the wise answered, ‘No, there may not be enough for us and for you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ 10But while they were away buying oil, the bridegroom came. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut. 11Later, the other virgins also came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, let us in.’ 12But he answered, ‘Amen I tell you: I do not know you.’ 13Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

Be Prepared!

Are you a planner and preparer, or do you tend to fly by the seat of your pants? Do you write down every upcoming event on a large calendar in your kitchen, or do you assume you can keep it all in your head? Both are ways of preparing, but one is likely more manageable than the other. But, if you can give yourself enough time and remember to do what you need to do, then everyone’s own system serves the purpose.

The problem comes when you don’t keep track of it all. Something slips your mind, you didn’t write something down on your list, or you neglected to look at your list one last time to remind yourself what needs to be done, and then you’re stuck. Whether it’s packing for a trip, finishing a project for school, having an important conversation with a loved one, or even just packing your lunch for work, being unprepared can lead to some difficult situations and awkward moments.

In our Gospel for this morning, Jesus is talking about preparation, but not simply about earthly things; he’s zeroing us in on being prepared spiritually. He is reminding us that right now is our time to prepare for eternity. So we know we should be prepared, but how?

Jesus uses a parable with ten virgin attendants at a wedding celebration. They needed to be ready to receive the bridegroom and enter the celebration whenever he arrived. And while one might assume that he would come at any moment, all ten women bring oil lamps to light the darkness if it got late. But only five thought ahead and brought extra oil, while the other five brought just what was in the lamp itself. That meant their lamps were out when the bridegroom was returning. Because they were unprepared and off buying more oil when he came back, they missed the entry into the wedding celebration, and when they arrived late, the answer from the bridegroom was stark: “Amen I tell you: I do not know you.”

Jesus says this is all a picture of the kingdom of heaven, and while we might automatically think of eternal life itself when we hear that phrase, far more often, Jesus is speaking about his rule in our hearts by faith right now rather than eternal life. Certainly, saving faith leads to eternal life, but Jesus focuses on us in the here and now so that we are prepared for the eternal.

So, spiritually, we want to have enough oil in our lamps. What does that mean? How do we now prepare for eternal life? We don’t know when we will face eternity because we do not know when we will die, nor do we know when Jesus will return. Jesus was clear: you do not know the day or the hour. Even if someone guesses when the end of the world will be, it’s just a guess and almost assuredly a wrong guess.

So, since we don’t know if Jesus is returning today or 2,000 years from now, and we don’t know if our life has many years or months or even just hours left, it means that we want and need to be prepared now. How do we prepare for Jesus’ return? How do we prepare for our deaths? How do we prepare for eternity?

In part, the answer is right here, right now. The thing we need to be ready is faith that Jesus is our Savior, trusting that he truly forgave every sin and has given us eternal life as a free gift. But, it can be easy for us to be the women with their lamps but no oil in reserve. We could have the look of preparedness—maybe we were baptized, confirmed, or married in a church, but we haven’t done much with it since then. Perhaps we find confidence because our names are on the membership rolls of a Christian church, even though we rarely go. Or maybe, even more insidious, is that we appear to be ready with our lamp in hand because we are in church regularly, but we don’t let anything said or shared here have an impact on our lives; we come here to “give God an hour” and then off we go to the rest of our week, doing whatever we want to do without a thought or care about God’s will or his love for us.

Having a lamp with no oil can be dangerous because we can trick ourselves into thinking we’re set or put our confidence in the wrong thing, and thus be lost.

So, how do we ensure that our lamps are full of oil and have plenty in reserve? How do we ensure we are prepared for whenever we enter into eternity? The answer is still right here. Through his Word and sacraments, God gives and strengthens faith, the oil in Jesus’ parable. So, first and foremost, to be prepared, we want to surround ourselves with the means that God uses to create and sustain faith.

That means gathering with your fellow Christians for worship regularly. That likely also means having the Word in your home through devotions like the Meditations booklets or a Bible reading plan to allow God’s flawless and powerful Word to work deep into our hearts not just once a week but daily.

What does a prepared heart look like? It’s a heart that knows that you can do nothing to save yourself. It’s a heart that knows that you are a sinner and deserve hell for that sin. It’s a heart that trusts that Jesus did everything you needed him to do to rescue you when he lived a perfect life in your place and died on the cross to pay for every single sin you and everyone else has ever committed. It’s a heart that trusts that Jesus will return and open the door to that wedding banquet, and you will be brought in because of his love and mercy for you.

All of that is internal. Are there external ways to see this preparation? While we cannot do anything to earn God’s love, forgiveness, or eternal life, the way we live our life reflects the preparation, that faith, in us. The way you treat others is a reflection of your preparation. How you respect the leaders God has placed over you in your home, church, and government reflects your preparation. The way you think of sin in general—whether as something to be sought after or something to be avoided—is a reflection of your preparation. Your faith should affect your life; your time in God’s Word should affect what you do and why you do it. Your faith brings forth a life of good works in thanksgiving to God because he’s forgiven your sin and given you eternal life.

Tending to your faith with God’s Word and sacraments and letting that produce a real, ongoing change in our lives is what it means to be prepared. Ever focused on Jesus as our one and only Savior and living our lives in thanksgiving to him for rescuing us from sin, death, and hell is how we keep our lamps lit and continue to ensure we have plenty of oil to last. That is precisely what Isaiah meant in our First Reading when he urged us to “Wake, awake!” (Isaiah 52:1). Likewise, this is what Paul meant in our Second Reading when he urged the Thessalonians and us, “Let us not sleep like everyone else, but rather let us remain alert and sober (1 Thessalonians 5:6).

As I look at my life, I see so many times when I have not remained spiritually alert and sober. I have drifted to sleep in complacency and apathy. I have been drunk on my sin and my desires, caring little for what others, including God, wanted. I have been selfish and thoughtless. I had no oil in my lamp.

And while it is easy to let guilt for those times be crushing, God would have us see a different way forward. Rather than seeing all those times as reasons I am unprepared, I can look at those times and see God’s grace and forgiveness that wipe out those sins. I can see his love for me as preparing me for eternity when I, on my own, was wholly unprepared. Paul’s words to the Thessalonians resonate loudly in the picture Jesus paints with his parable. Consider once again how he concluded our Second Reading: You see, God did not appoint us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as you are also doing (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11).

There, Paul sums up everything we want to remember as we look forward to our time entering eternity: God has given us complete salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, even for all of those times when we weren’t preparing for eternity as we should have. Whether alive in this life or asleep in him, we are safe because of his death and resurrection. And while we are here, let us encourage one another to be the wise women with oil to spare. Let’s encourage each other in this deeply personal yet communal task of preparing for the end because that’s why God has given us to each other.

My brothers and sisters, how do you prepare for eternity? You let God do everything you needed. While rejoicing in what he’s done, stay awake, keep watch, keep your lamps trimmed and burning, for your Bridegroom, your Savior, will return. Come, Lord Jesus! Amen.

"These People Dressed in White… Who are They?" (Sermon on Revelation 7:9-17) | November 5, 2023

Sermon Text: Revelation 7:9-17

Date: November 5, 2023

Event: All Saints’ Day (Observed), Year A

Revelation 7:9–17 (EHV)

After these things I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing in front of the throne and of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. 10They called out with a loud voice and said:

Salvation comes from our God, who sits on the throne, and from the Lamb.

11All the angels stood around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures. They fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, 12saying:

Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and might belong to our God forever and ever. Amen.

13One of the elders spoke to me and said, “These people dressed in white robes, who are they and where did they come from?”

And I answered him, “Sir, you know.”

14And he said to me:

These are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation.

They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15Because of this they are in front of the throne of God,

and they serve him day and night in his temple.

He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.

16They will never be hungry or thirsty ever again.

The sun will never beat upon them, nor will any scorching heat,

17for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd.

He will lead them to springs of living water.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

These People Dressed in White… Who are They?          

Perhaps you’ve heard this expression before, “This life is as close to heaven as the unbeliever will ever get; this life is as close to hell as the believer will ever get.” It’s a touch glib, but there is some truth to it. If hell stands waiting at the end of this life, things will never be better for someone than they are right now. But, if heaven stands waiting at the end of this life, things will never be worse than they are right now.

On a festival like All Saints’ Day (or its close parallel “Saints Triumphant” in our previous hymnal’s lectionary), we are very focused on the life beyond this life, not just for those who have gone ahead of us into eternity, but for all of us as well as we look through the fog of this sinful, corrupt world and long for relief, long for peace, long for God to dab every tear away from our eyes.

Yes, it’s a bit presumptuous to think that we would be in heaven when we look at our lives. How have you done? Have you lived your life well? Have you done the absolute best that you can every single moment of every single day? The answer to both of those questions is undoubtedly “No,” but then again, it doesn’t matter. Those are not the questions God has for us. God’s question is much more restrictive and, for us, impossible, “Have you been perfect?” Not just pretty good, not just tried your best, not just better than most other people, but perfect, flawless in your obedience to God’s commands.

We know that sin, any sin, even something we would call “small,” disqualifies us from eternal life. So, no matter how hard we try, no matter how good we end up being, there is no hope of us getting to heaven on our own. Sin separates us from God and brings his wrath down on us; your sinful life and mine rightly deserve hell as punishment for our sin against God.

That’s where we are by nature: nothing good and a hopeless eternal future. But, this morning, let’s take a bit of a journey with the apostle John and look at what God allowed him to see. The book of Revelation is almost entirely picture language, symbols and images portraying what God teaches elsewhere in his Word in dramatic fashion. In our first reading this morning, we have one of the most famous of those images or visions in the entire book. John does get a glimpse of heaven and those who are there. By nature, we ask ourselves, “Who could possibly have made the cut? I won’t make it, but I know no one else will either!” So, we do well to look and listen to what John sees and hears.

John introduces us to what he sees: After these things I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing in front of the throne and of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. There’s a lot here. Let’s unpack it a bit.

First, John sees a great multitude of people from all over the world. This is not an intimate little group; this is a group beyond number. This is not a tiny club of some really “good” people; this is a vast throng from every place on earth. They’re all there in front of the Lamb—a picturesque description of Jesus, whom John the Baptist called “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). They’re wearing white robes and holding palm branches. We know that palm branches were a symbol of victory and conquering. The people waved palm branches as Jesus entered Jerusalem because they saw him as a conquering Christ, and they were right, even if some may have misunderstood what enemies he was coming to conquer.

So, this huge crowd of people wearing gleaming garments gather around Jesus with signs of victory in hand. This is not a scary scene; this is a joyous gathering. Perhaps we, as sinners, begin to find some vague sense of hope. But things continue to unfold:

John hears this great crowd praising God with these words: Salvation comes from our God, who sits on the throne, and from the Lamb. This resonates with what we already knew, doesn’t it? We can’t get rid of our sin, we can’t save ourselves, and here the crowd celebrates that salvation belongs to God alone. And while the sinner’s ears perk up at the sounds of words like forgiveness or salvation, it still doesn’t answer those fundamental questions: How could I benefit from that? Would God ever give me some of that salvation that belongs to him? Or does he hold it for himself and leave me to suffer the just punishment for my sins? The angels’ and elders’ doxology doesn’t help us too much either, as it heaps praise on God that would be true regardless of our eternal destination: Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and might belong to our God forever and ever. Amen. God can be praised, thanked, honored, and have great strength, all while we suffer eternally for our sins.

But then one of the elders in this vision has a question for John. Does he understand what he’s seeing? Does he know what is going on here? He asks John, “These people dressed in white robes, who are they and where did they come from?” Did John know? Was he having trouble putting thoughts together? Would he not presume to try to hack at an explanation of what he was seeing? Or did he get it but just really, really wanted to hear it from someone else? Any of these are possible; regardless, John’s non-answer to the elder’s question is, “Sir, you know.” And the elder takes the opportunity to explain what John is seeing clearly: These are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The great multitude is a group of people who are continuing to come out of great trouble. They got these white robes by washing them in… blood? Any child who has scraped his knees on the playground knows that blood on clothing sticks around. Unless someone gets the correct cleaning agents on it at just the right time, blood stains clothing permanently; blood certainly does not clean or remove stains. But these robes have been washed in blood—and came out dazzling white.

The blood of the Lamb of God shed for us is cleansing. By nature, our robes are stained with sin, disgusting, putrid, like we dragged them through an open sewer. But Jesus’ blood removes that sin, cleans those robes, and purifies the sinner from the gunk that we spread all over ourselves.

The fact that these people are coming out of this great tribulation means this is an ongoing process. People are being continually added to this great throng of people around the Lamb. The number of people whose robes are washed in his blood grows as time marches on. That great tribulation that they are coming out of? It is this life, marred and ruined by sin. It is this world where sickness and pain troubles know no end, where heartache and sadness are constant companions, and where sin ruins everything from personal relationships to even nature around us.

Who are these people dressed in white robes? They are the apostle John, and you, and me, and everyone who has gone before us clinging to Jesus as their Savior. Those who have gone before us have been added to this number of those gathered around their sacrificial Lamb, who was slain and then raised to life in victory. They wave palm branches because our enemies of sin, death, and hell have been defeated in the Lamb’s life and death for us.

This doesn’t make anything we said earlier untrue. By nature, we truly deserve hell. Our sin and rebellion against God are a stench in his nostrils. But God’s justice is only one side of his nature. He is also loving. He sought to rescue us from sin because he didn’t want us in hell. He sent Jesus to be our Savior so we would not face what we deserved.

Currently, we are in the great tribulation. You know what that means for you, personally. The pain and struggles that are unique to your walk in this life and yet are a shared experience for all of us. Fear grips us, trusted people fail us, and we even let ourselves down. It is miserable in every conceivable way because of sin—both our sin and the sin around us.

But that will come to an end. You and I will also be among those in this great multitude, not because of us but because of Jesus. Our robes were filthy with the sludge of sin, but they have been washed clean in Jesus’ blood, shed for us. He purifies us and makes us right with God. God promised this very thing in very similar language through the prophet Isaiah: “Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

What does that mean for those who have gone before us? What will that mean when we leave this great tribulation? Recall that sin separated us from God and then listen to what the elder told John: Because of this they are in front of the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16They will never be hungry or thirsty ever again. The sun will never beat upon them, nor will any scorching heat, 17for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

There could be no more complete opposite of hell, no more complete opposite of separation from God than this. This crowd from every nation, you and I among them, for Jesus’ sake, will be gathered around God’s throne, directly serving him, protected by his shelter, never suffering again because the Lamb of God will be our Shepherd. Jesus will tend to us and care for all of our needs. And not even a single tear of sadness will come to our eyes—God will wipe them all away.

God doubles down on these promises near the end of John’s Revelation. He says in chapter 21, “Look! God’s dwelling is with people. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain, because the former things have passed away” (21:3-4). That will be our reality in heaven. Though God cares for us now, we will experience his care and protection in full in eternity.

Truly, the great tribulation of this life will be the closest thing to hell you and I will ever experience, for Jesus’ sake. “These people dressed in white robes, who are they and where did they come from?” They are you; they are me; they are all people of all places and all times in whom God has worked faith in his forgiveness brought about by Jesus, the promised and triumphant Savior! In heaven, we will see God face-to-face forever, and he will free us from everything bad. We will rejoice forever in God’s love for us! Salvation comes from our God, who sits on the throne, and from the Lamb. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and might belong to our God forever and ever! Amen!

"Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word" (Sermon on Daniel 6:10-12, 16-23) | October 29, 2023

Sermon Text: Daniel 6:10–12, 16–23
Date: October 29, 2023
Event: Reformation Day (Observed), Year A

Daniel 6:10–12, 16–23 (EHV)

Now, when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went to his house. It had windows on its upper story that opened toward Jerusalem. Three times each day he would get on his knees and pray and offer praise before his God. He continued to do that, just as he had been doing before this. 11Then these men came as a group and found Daniel praying and seeking favor from his God.

12They then went and asked the king about the decree. “Your Majesty, did you not sign a decree that anyone who prays to any god or person for thirty days except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the den of lions?”

The king answered, “Indeed I did. The order is established as a law of the Medes and the Persians that cannot be revoked.”

Then the king gave the order, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you.” 17A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the pit. The king sealed it with his signet ring and the signet rings of his nobles so that nothing could be changed with regard to Daniel’s situation. 18Then the king went to his palace. He spent the night without food, and no entertainment was brought before him. But he could not sleep.

19At dawn the king arose as soon as it was light and hurried to the lions’ den. 20As he came near the pit, he cried out in a fearful voice. The king said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, was your God, whom you serve continually, able to rescue you from the lions?”

21Then Daniel spoke with the king. “Your Majesty, may you live forever! 22My God sent his angel and shut the mouth of the lions. They have not hurt me because he found me innocent in his presence. Also before you, Your Majesty, I have committed no crime.”

23Then the king was very glad and said that Daniel should be brought up from the pit. So Daniel was brought up from the pit, and he was unharmed because he trusted in his God.

Lord, Keep Us Steadfast In Your Word

It had been a long, almost-70 years. Daniel had been taken as an exile to Babylon in the earliest wave of deportations from the Southern Kingdom many years before. In fact, we heard that very event in our First Reading this past Sunday. Very quickly, the king of Babylon noted Daniel’s unique, God-given gifts and put him in a high rank in the government. So great were Daniel’s gifts and God’s blessings that he even survived a whole world-power shift when the Medes and Persians overthrew the Babylonians and took control of their empire. Despite an entirely new people leading the government, Daniel remained in his high-ranking position. And many people did not like that.

Those who were against Daniel, who were jealous of his gifts and favored position, sought ways to undermine him and take him down. They zeroed in on the one Achilles heel they could find in Daniel’s life: his dedication to his God. Despite being far removed from his homeland, despite the temple that was the center of their worship being destroyed decades before, Daniel remained faithful to God, even in this pagan land. So, if his enemies could weaponize that dedication against him, they might win out over Daniel. So that’s what they tried.

Just before our First Reading begins in Daniel chapter 6, we hear their plan. Daniel’s enemies approached King Darius with this flattering request: “Darius, Your Majesty, may you live forever! All the supervisors of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the advisors and the governors advise the king to establish and enforce a decree that prohibits anyone to pray a prayer to any god or person for thirty days except to you, Your Majesty. Anyone who does so will be thrown into the den of lions. Now Your Majesty, please establish the decree and sign a document that cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians that cannot be revoked” (Daniel 6:6-9). They were able to praise the king and inflate his ego while at the same time making Daniel’s faithfulness to God illegal for 30 days. It seemed like a win-win for them, didn’t it?

What was Daniel’s reaction to this decree? Now, when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went to his house. It had windows on its upper story that opened toward Jerusalem. Three times each day he would get on his knees and pray and offer praise before his God. He continued to do that, just as he had been doing before this. Nothing changes for Daniel. Note that he doesn’t throw a hissy fit; he doesn’t whine and complain about the government persecuting him; he doesn’t try to stage any sort of revolt or even get petitions signed to show his displeasure. No, he makes no changes at all. He continues his quiet, faithful service to God and lets the cards fall where they fall.

Daniel doesn’t compromise on God’s Word. He is dedicated to the truth no matter what the consequences. And for Daniel, the consequences were dire—being tossed into a den of lions overnight. That would mean certain death.

Daniel’s faith and dedication are extraordinary. Years before, Daniel’s countrymen and fellow workers Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced the fiery furnace for a similar dedication to the true God. Those three men had no promise of protection from God and readily admitted that God may not save them from the flames at all, but still, they would not compromise. Likewise, Daniel has no promise from God for his protection. God didn’t come to Daniel in a dream saying, “Don’t worry about those lions; you’ll be fine.” As Daniel was taken to the lion’s den, for all he knew, this was the end. But Daniel’s dedication to God was more important to him than even his own life.

It can be easy on a day like today, Reformation Day, to miss the point a little bit. While we are certainly thankful for Martin Luther and the other reformers who sought to bring the truth of the gospel back to light in an era where it had been hidden for so long, today’s celebration is not about a person or group of people. Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthaon, Martin Chemnitz, and so many others were men dedicated to God. But today, we don’t celebrate them, but the faith that God gave them, the strength of conviction they received from God, and the dedication to the truth no matter what the cost.

Luther was excommunicated from the church as a heretic and eventually declared an enemy of the state. He could have been killed on sight, no questions asked, and the person who killed him wouldn’t be in any trouble; in fact, that person might be celebrated. But still, that did not deter Luther from writing, preaching, and translating so that the people could know the truths of God, no matter what it cost him personally. The gospel was more important to Luther than his own life. God never promised Luther he would be safe. For all Luther knew, he was just the tip of the spear of this work and he would not live long.

Like Daniel, though, Luther did live a long and productive life. God protected him from the assaults of church and state so that the gospel could flourish, so the people could be reminded that it was not their work that provided them with the forgiveness of sins or the confidence of eternal life, but it was Jesus alone who provides all that we need for eternal safety and security. God allowed that message of sins forgiven in Jesus’ death on the cross to ring out with a chime that we still hear today, some 500 years later. We hear clearly God’s promise that Jesus’ perfect life has been credited to us, that for Jesus’ sake, God views us not as sinners but as the perfect people he expected us to be.

All of this is true for us today as well. The gospel remains unchanged. You and I will be in heaven only because of God’s undeserved love for us. You cannot get rid of any sin; I cannot make up for any failure on my part with God. We must lean on Jesus and on Jesus alone.

We may not be in the position to reform an erring church. We may not have to bravely take a stand for the truth against rulers who make our faith punishable by death. But our Christian faith is always counter-cultural. There will never be a time or a place where living our faith is going to be easy or pleasant. We’ve recently heard Jesus describe the life of a Christian in this world as one of cross-bearing. Life on this side of eternity will be difficult for those dedicated to the truth.

We may look back on our life and see times when we have not been so eternally minded. Perhaps we compromised our values for the sake of fitting in with friends or coworkers. Perhaps we’ve not let our light shine in public or in the private parts of our homes or our own minds. Perhaps we are shamed by Daniel’s dedication to God because we know that we do not have that. And likely, if we think we do, we’re not quite thinking hard enough about how dedicated we truly have been.

But in Jesus, there is forgiveness for all of those faltering times. When we haven’t been Daniel or Luther or anyone else whose dedication and faith amaze us, when we have compromised, made excuses, or even tossed God’s will out entirely to do what we wanted to do—it is for those times that Jesus died. It was to prove his victory over those sins that Jesus rose from the dead. You and I have not been perfectly dedicated to God—neither was Daniel nor Luther—but where we have failed, we have been forgiven. And that forgiveness gives us the strength to recommit our hearts and minds to God and his truth yet again.

We don’t compromise on our faith, but we don’t go looking for fights either. We stay dedicated to our God but accept that there will be earthly consequences for that course of action in this fallen world. God will be with us, but he may not keep us from all harm. God rescued Daniel from the lions, but he didn’t prevent Daniel from being thrown into the den in the first place. Our goal as Christians in this life should not and cannot be a happy-go-lucky life living our faith. We will face pressure in one way or another to turn from the truth and embrace false teachings or totally jettison our faith altogether. We can’t take this stand alone. We need God to ignite this fire of dedication within us, and to keep the fires burning brightly through his Word.

So, Lord, keep us steadfast in your Word! Let us never abandon what you have done for us, no matter what the consequences are in this life. Keep us ever-focused on the eternal goal in front of us, not giving up eternal treasures for temporary “peace.” We can only do this with the strength you provide. Please pour it out on us all in abundance. Amen.

"God's Patience is Beyond Our Comprehension" (Sermon on Matthew 21:33-46) | October 8, 2023

Sermon Text: Matthew 21:33-46
Date: October 8, 2023
Event: Proper 22, Year A (The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Matthew 21:33–43 (EHV)

“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. He leased it out to some tenant farmers and went away on a journey. 34When the time approached to harvest the fruit, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35The tenant farmers seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36Then the landowner sent even more servants than the first time. The tenant farmers treated them the same way. 37Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 38But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance!’ 39They took him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40So when the landowner comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?”

41They told him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end. Then he will lease out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his fruit when it is due.”

42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?

43“That is why I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruit. 44Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” 

45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was talking about them. 46Although they were looking for a way to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds because the people regarded him as a prophet. 

God’s Patience is Beyond Our Comprehension

Can you be too patient? Is there a point when patience ceases to be a virtue and becomes a detriment? For myself, I feel like I waver between being too patient and not patient enough, at some times reacting too swiftly or judgmentally and at other times waiting too long to intervene or do something. The tricky thing is that the realization that you’ve erred one way or the other often only comes after the fact with reflection. “I was too rash or harsh in that situation” or “I really should have done something about that sooner.” However, rarely do I look back on things and think “I handled that with the proper balance of patience and urgency.”

You can take it to an extreme example on either side. The teacher is in the classroom and sees a student yawn and have their eyes closed for a second. Would it be appropriate for that teacher to throw a fit about how they deserve respect and that the student should pay attention in class? On the other side, if someone notes that smoke and flames are coming from their neighbor’s house, would it be wise to say, “Well, let’s see how this plays out. I think it might be ok”?

So, patience can be good and patience can be bad, depending on the situation and the scenario. But generally, patience presupposes a problem, right? If everything were just good and happy all the time, there’d really be no need for patience. So patience is, in some ways, an adaptation because of sin.

But patience is not just something that sinful human beings learn and work on—patience is an aspect of God as well. He, when dealing with sin, has perfect patience, patience that is often beyond our comprehension. When we think of how patient God is with us or with other people, it leaves us slack-jawed and amazed. Let’s explore God’s patience through Jesus’ parable here this morning.

Jesus is still speaking to the religious leaders who are trying to find any possible reason to get rid of Jesus; this parable comes right after the parable of the two sons that we heard last weekend. Jesus’ point in the parable of the tenant farmers is to show that when the leaders rejected him, it was not simply an act of laziness or hypocrisy as we saw with the son who said he’d work in the vineyard and never went. No, their rejection of Jesus was an active war against God and his plan of salvation.

So, in the parable, the landowner who lived in a distant land sent servants to collect his share of the produce of a piece of property. This would have been an arrangement that many of the people were familiar with; a good portion of the agriculture in that area would have worked like this: The locals worked for a distant owner, and then by contract had to give him a set portion of the crop or profits, while they were able to make use of everything else from the farm. It was theoretically a win-win for both involved, at least until someone abused the system.

The landowner’s servants were met with horrendous treatment: They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then the landowner sent even more servants than the first time. The tenant farmers treated them the same way. You might well assume this was not in the lease. They should have respected the servants as the landowner himself, but they did not.

You might expect the landowner to come with an army and destroy these tenants. But he had one more patient, seemingly recklessly patient, act up his sleeve: Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. As we listen to the parable, we probably think, “Are you crazy? What are you doing? When they so mistreated your servants, why would you possibly send your own son to them?!” And that’s really the reaction Jesus wants us to have as he illustrates God’s patient love. If we take an honest, objective look at God’s love, we can’t help but ask, “What are you doing? Why?”

As we trace history throughout the Old Testament, time and time again God sends his prophets to his people to call them to repentance. We heard a snippet of condemnation from Isaiah in our First Reading. Jeremiah, Hosea, Nahum, and all the others were sent with what boiled down to one task: bring God’s Word to his people. And how did the people respond? Most of the time they ignored them, sometimes they hurt them, and at other times they even killed the prophets God sent to them. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then the landowner sent even more servants than the first time. The tenant farmers treated them the same way.

And now here stands Jesus, God’s own Son, with his message of forgiveness to give to them, and what are they trying to do? Exactly the same thing their forefathers did to the prophets. They tried to ignore him, they tried to persecute him to get him to be quiet, and eventually, they think they will be free of this message that rubs them the wrong way if they just kill Jesus. When the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.” The leaders' reaction to Jesus didn’t make any more sense or help them any more than the farmers’ reaction in the parable.

The fact that Jesus is speaking this parable to the religious leaders is a testimony to God’s patience. The religious leaders had rejected Jesus; they were actively seeking out ways to kill him. In just a couple of days, they will accomplish that goal. It would be easy to understand if Jesus wanted to take these last days to just be with his disciples rather than those who had rejected God’s cornerstone.

But why doesn’t he? Because Jesus is still trying to reach out to these leaders of the people. He’s still calling them to repentance. He still loves them even as they hate him. Now, there will come a time when we’ll see Jesus isolate and just be with his disciples, but then we actually see an even more baffling expression of Jesus’ patience and forgiving love. Because up until the very end, up to the final moments, Jesus will reach out to Judas, his friend and betrayer. He will call Judas to turn from his path and see the forgiveness that Jesus provides, even as Judas rejected that such forgiveness could exist for someone like him.

This is the patient love of God, that reaches out to save even his enemies, even those who hate him, even those who seek to destroy him. For as clear as that fact is about Jesus’ enemies on the week that he died, those things are also true about us. Now, have we respected our pastors and teachers more than the Israelites at large respected the prophets or Jesus? I think probably, yes. I’ve never had a member here or in South Dakota threaten me or try to physically harm me for a message I shared. But Jesus speaks to a deeper problem here. While that problem may not express itself in us in the same way it did with the religious leaders, we share the same root problem as those who ignored and murdered the prophets and those who had Jesus crucified.

Our sin against God is no different no less severe than those of the religious leaders who would plot to take Jesus’ life. Our sin is war against God and his will, and it’s a war that we will not win. Sin brings God’s wrath; sin brings hell. Sin led the people to reject God’s message and kill his servants—even his Son. Sin leads us to do things that God finds equally abominable because with God there is no difference from sin to sin. Murder his prophet or ignore part of his Word? They are the same. Each sin robs us of the perfection that God requires. Even one sin means we, the wretches, deserve to be brought to a wretched end.

Why should God love you? He shouldn’t. Why should God be patient with me? He shouldn’t. But he is, right? He does love us and is patient with us in a way that is beyond our comprehension. Think of how many times we have turned from God and sought our own way. Think how many times we have looked at God’s will and said, “Eh, I don’t really want to do that so I don’t think I will.” Think of how many times our thoughts, words, and actions do not line up with God’s expectations and demands.

God should be done with us, shouldn’t he? Aren’t we beyond hope? Aren’t we beyond his patience? Isn’t this reckless? God says, “No.” His loving patience may not make any sense to us, but it makes perfect sense to him. His love for us is so great that he doesn’t want us to receive what our sins deserve; God doesn’t want anyone in hell. So he is patient with us. He reaches out to us with the call of repentance, to turn from our sin, and to trust in him as Savior. Even though we have fought against and spat on him in all we’ve said and done, he still loves us, he still wants us to be with him.

This is most clearly embodied in Jesus’ work. Not calling the religious leaders or even Judas to repentance, but his journey to the cross. There is the most baffling patience of all. Finally, he sent his son to them. But Jesus didn’t come to simply teach us or help us to be better—he came to save us. For reasons that only God can fully understand, Jesus took the sins we had committed against him and laid them on himself. Jesus suffered hell on the cross in our place, even though he had done nothing wrong. God himself died for the sins that his people committed against him. Who can understand this?

The good news is that we don’t have to understand or comprehend God’s patience to benefit from it. Your forgiveness doesn’t require you to be able to explain why God’s course of action was the right one; you benefit from Jesus' work because he’s given it to you. Unlike in the parable, God’s Son died but then rose from the dead triumphantly. The love of God conquered every sin so we will not meet a wretched end. No, just the opposite. We will be with our loving, patient God in the perfection of heaven forever.

So, spend some time this week just letting God’s patient, forgiving love hit you anew. Let it be fresh and amazing again, no matter how many times you have heard about it. And then let your life bear the fruit of thanksgiving. Let it be a life that praises God for his patience not in sin, but in prioritizing his will, knowing that he has given us everything—even eternal life—for the sake of Jesus, our Savior. Thanks be to God! Amen.

"What Motivates Our Words and Actions?" (Sermon on Matthew 21:23-32) | October 1, 2023

Sermon Text: Matthew 21:23-32
Date: October 1, 2023
Event: Proper 21, Year A [The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost]

Matthew 21:23-32 (EHV)

When Jesus went into the temple courts, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him while he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things?” and “Who gave you this authority?”

24Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer it, I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?”

They discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the crowd, since they all regard John as a prophet.” 27So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”

He said to them, “Then I will not tell you by what authority I do these things.”

28“What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’ 29He answered, ‘I will not,’ but later he changed his mind and went. 30He came to the second and said the same thing. The second son answered, ‘I will go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They said to him, “The first.”

Jesus said to them, “Amen I tell you: The tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, but you did not believe him. However, the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him. Even when you saw this, you did not change your mind and believe him.”

What Motivates Our Words and Actions?

Motivation matters a lot, doesn’t it? If I lie to a family member to mask the fact that I’m doing something wrong, that’s bad. But if I lie to a family member to plan a surprise party for them that I know they’ll love? Well, I think we can see the difference in that. This morning, let’s consider what motivates our actions and attitudes toward God and one another, and let’s find in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection the strength to approach all of life’s challenges not only with words and actions that appear to be God-pleasing but also with a truly God-pleasing motivation.

Our Gospel for this morning takes place on the Tuesday of Holy Week. The opposition toward Jesus has reached a fever pitch. By Friday of this week, Jesus will be crucified, but at this point, no one has that clearly in mind (save for Jesus himself). Jesus’ enemies are trying to trap him, trick him, or get him to say or do something that will have negative ramifications for him. They don’t care if it’s something that would lead the people to reject him or to give them justifiable cause to have him killed. Either way, they see Jesus as a threat to the nation and their comfortable positions of power. They must stop him at all costs.

And so, they think with these questions they’ve got him: “By what authority are you doing these things?” and “Who gave you this authority?” They figure that either way, they win. If he claims a divine origin for his call, they can claim blasphemy and have reason to kill him within Jewish law. Or, if he were to claim personal or human authority for the work he’s doing, perhaps to save his own skin, the people who thought he was from God would turn away and leave him. They think they’ve got Jesus in a lose-lose situation, which in turn is a win-win for them.

But Jesus, knowing their hearts, doesn’t fall into this trap. Instead, he turns the question around on them, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer it, I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?” Jesus takes us way back, to even before his ministry began, to John the Baptist’s work, some three years earlier. Where did John’s authority come from, Jesus asks, God or people? Now, it is the religious leaders who are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Because this is ultimately about their control of the people, they recognize that if they claim John was sent by God, they would be criticized for rejecting the message, but if they claimed that John had no divine command, they might have a riot on their hands as John was still popular with the people, even long after Herod had him executed.

And so, they give the only non-answer available to them: “We do not know.” So, Jesus, then, does not answer their question, at least not directly. Instead, he transitions into a parable about a father and two children.

At first blush, this parable seems to be about two polar opposites. The first son says that he won’t do the work his father asked him to do, but then he changes his mind and does it; the second son says he will go and work in the vineyard as his father asked, but then doesn’t do it. It’s clear that the first son is the one that ultimately does what the father wants—even Jesus’ enemies can point that out. But neither son approaches this without sin, right?

The parallels that Jesus makes between the sons and the people are clear. The tax collectors, prostitutes, and other so-called “sinners” are symbolized by the son who disobeyed his father to begin with and then turned around, repented, and did what he wanted. These sinful people, as they see the error of their ways and cling to God for his promised forgiveness, find their way to eternal life, not by their work, but by God’s grace and mercy. They were leaving behind their life of sin and finding great joy in God’s forgiving love for them which meant heaven despite the sins they had committed.

The religious leaders, on the other hand, were those who tried to look good but didn’t have a true heart in the matter. They told “Dad” what he wanted to hear, and then went off and did whatever they wanted, ignoring God’s will.

Jesus warns the religious leaders that while both approaches to God’s will have heavy amounts of sin, the first, the repentant sinner, is to be valued over the person who just tries to look good because, in the end, they turn from the sin and embrace God’s will for their lives.

It’s tempting, to see ourselves as that son, isn’t it? Yes, we’ve sinned, but we have turned from that sin. We know God’s forgiveness and now we do God’s will. Or do we?

I would caution us against identifying with either of these sons in totality, but rather, I would propose that at different times we are one son or the other, we are the tax collector or the pharisee. So, what impacts our approach; what would change our will in regard to God’s will?

Let’s consider the things that tempt us to act like the first son. What are those things that cause us to hate God’s will and then later we might turn from it? It might be that so-called “pet” sin that seems to be ever-present with us. Maybe it’s found in our lustful thoughts and actions, maybe it’s greed, maybe it’s our outbursts of anger or holding a grudge against someone. These are things that perhaps we give into and even seek out. God says we should avoid those sins and we say, “I will not,” and then allow those sins to be a part of us. But then, after reflecting on the thoughts of our hearts or our actions, we recognize, “No, I was in the wrong. God was right. Lord, please forgive me.” As we turn away from that sin that we initially loved or at least wanted around, we go into the vineyard to work. In repentance, we acknowledge not only that we were in the wrong and God was in the right, but that we need his forgiveness. And for Jesus’ sake, we know that those sins are, in fact, forgiven. His authority to forgive is his own—as our God and Savior, he can assure us that those sins are gone, and we are free and forgiven.

But when are we like the second son? I’m concerned about even bringing this up because it might start in a place like right here. We might come to church and try to look on the outside like we are dedicated to God or even truly think in our hearts that we are. We talk the talk but then when it comes time to walk the walk, we struggle. We don’t let our faith affect our words and actions at school. We treat the members of our families in a horrible way, perhaps even ignoring them and cutting them off completely, we harbor sin in our hearts, and rather than repenting and turning away from it, we treat it like a cute little kitten or puppy and just love it and coddle it and want to take care of it.

My brothers and sisters, if we are honest, we will recognize that we often fall into the trap of the second son. We try to look good on the outside but on the inside we don’t really care about the ramifications of what we think, say, or do. We try to look like we hate sin, but in reality, the love of sin motivates us. And even less do we consider what God’s will is in these matters. And while the first son’s initial sin is absolutely not to be praised, the second son’s masking and harboring of sin is eternally dangerous.

Unrepentant sin is destructive to saving faith. We will never be without sin in this life. We will never be able to be perfect people as long as our sinful nature is a part of us, which it will be until the day God calls us home to heaven. But there’s a difference between sin that I’m frustrated with and hate and sin that I hold on to, love, and try to hide from others. That loved sin, unrepentant sin, essentially says to Jesus, “Yeah, thanks for the whole dying for my sins thing, but I don’t need it. I don’t need you. I like my sin and we’re doing just fine over here.” Unrepentant sin, eventually, leads to hell as we reject God’s forgiveness.

So, we would much rather be neither son, right? We’d rather be the son that says, “Yes, I’ll do what you say, father,” and then goes and does it. But if we recognize sin taking harbor in our lives, either outwardly spurning God’s will like the first son or by hiding it in secret recesses of our hearts like the second son, we need to come to Jesus and lay that sin before him. He’s the one who died to pay for it all, to forgive it all, to ensure that we will be in eternal life with him. And no sin, no matter how appealing it might be to our natural selves, is worth rejecting our Savior for.

What ought our attitude be instead? Well, Paul gave us a glimpse in our Second Reading: let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Why did Jesus do what he did? Why did he humble himself and become obedient to death on the cross? Because he loved us. He knew that’s what he needed so he sacrificed himself to rescue us from death and hell. He loved us with a love that would not let anything pull him away from his mission.

We are not in Jesus’ position. We do not need to do anything to save God or to help him. But we can still strive to love God in a way that emulates his love and dedication for us. We turn away from sin and do what God wants not primarily because we’re afraid of the consequences, but because we rejoice in the truth of his love. We are dedicated to God and his will out of love and thanksgiving for all that he has done for us. Our new selves, the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit within us, want to prioritize God’s will in our thoughts, words, and actions because of gratitude to the one who saved us from sin and will bring us to be with him forever.

Let that motivation be behind what you say and do—love and thanksgiving for God. Don’t consider either son the ideal. Instead, let us hear God’s will, rejoice in God’s will, put to death the parts of us that hate it, and embrace his will for our lives because he has forgiven us.

Lord, forgive us for those times that we outwardly or inwardly spurn your will for our lives. Forgive us for Jesus’ sake and embolden us to live our lives in thanksgiving and love for you. Amen.

Love Rejoices in Forgiven Sin (Sermon on Jonah 3:10-4:11) | September 24, 2023

Sermon Text: Jonah 3:10-4:11
Date: September 24, 2023
Event: Proper 20, Year A [The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost]

Jonah 3:10-4:11 (EHV)

When God saw their actions, that they had turned from their evil way, God relented from the disaster which he said he would bring on them, and he did not carry it out.

4:1But to Jonah all this seemed very bad, and he became very angry. 2He prayed to the Lord, “Lord, wasn’t this exactly what I said when I was still in my own country? That is why I previously fled to Tarshish, because I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and you relent from sending disaster. 3So now, Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

4But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

5Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city. He made a shelter for himself there and sat in the shade under it, waiting to see what would happen in the city.

6Then the Lord God provided a plant and made it grow up over Jonah to provide shade over his head, to relieve him from his discomfort. So Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, and it attacked the plant so that it withered. 8When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, so he said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

9But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” Jonah said, “I do have a right to be angry—angry enough to die!”

10So the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant. You did not work for it or make it grow. It grew up in one night and perished after one night. 11So should I not be concerned for Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left—and also many animals?”

Love Rejoices in Forgiven Sin

Over the last few weeks, we have been focused on how a Christian deals with sin. Two weeks ago, guided by Jesus’ direction to Christians to confront sit personally and in love, we saw how Paul did just that. He confronted Peter, who had pulled away from the Gentile Christians and only focused on the Jewish believers, despite the fact that Jesus’ forgiveness is for all people. Paul noted that this hypocrisy was not only a danger to Peter, but to all the others who saw what he was doing.

Last week, we focused on forgiveness. Jesus assured Peter that there should be no limit to forgiveness from one person to another. We saw that play out in the account of Joseph’s life. Joseph was greatly harmed by his brothers, but not only did God work that harm for good, but Joseph also forgave his brothers and didn’t hold the evil they did against them.

This morning, we kind of take a hop to the other side of forgiveness. What is our response to someone who is forgiven? Have you ever looked at someone who has done something you feel to be particularly awful and see him rejoice in blessings or bask in forgiveness and think to yourself, “He doesn’t deserve those things”? Or perhaps you’ve taken stock of your own life and see blessings that do not coincide with the thoughts, words, and actions that have come from your heart over the years, and yet here the blessings are. What feelings does the thought of a serial killer coming to faith in Jesus just before suffering the death penalty do for you? Does it feel good? Or a touch unfair or unjust?

In our First Reading, we have the end of the account of Jonah. Jonah’s ministry is well known even in pop culture for his time in the belly of a great fish. The way he got there was that God had commanded him to go to the city of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, but Jonah refused. He hopped on a boat and went the exact opposite direction from where God had commanded him to go.

So, God sent a great storm to batter the ship. Eventually, it was made clear that the only way to calm this storm—the only way everyone on that boat would survive—was for them to throw Jonah overboard. Eventually, that is what they did, and God sent a great fish to swallow Jonah whole. He was preserved and protected in the belly of the fish and got to reconsider his decisions.

After his time in that digestive tract, Jonah had a change of heart. He thanked God for his mercy and then went to Nineveh to proclaim God’s Word to those Gentiles. And, in a surprising turn of events, the people listened! Jonah proclaimed that there would be 40 days until the city would be destroyed, and the whole city including the king, approached God’s words with respect and faith. They repented and put on sackcloth as a sign of that repentance. And that’s where our First Reading picks up: When God saw their actions, that they had turned from their evil way, God relented from the disaster which he said he would bring on them, and he did not carry it out.

Here a city of unbelievers takes God at his word, turns away from evil, and toward God in faith for his forgiveness. These people were known for atrocities across the world, but in repentance, they find forgiveness from God. It’s hard to imagine that there was ever a more impossibly successful mission for God’s Word. Jonah is, perhaps, the man who had the greatest effect on the greatest number of people in one preaching assignment. You would think this would have produced in Jonah the greatest joy that any preacher of God’s Word had ever felt. But that’s essentially the opposite of what happened. To Jonah all this seemed very bad, and he became very angry.

Jonah couldn’t stand the fact that God was showing mercy to people like this. In fact, Jonah tells us directly that he didn’t refuse to go to Nineveh initially because he was scared for felt unworthy. No, he didn’t go because he figured that God would be merciful, and he didn’t want that mercy shown to the people of Nineveh. He frames God’s grace as a bad thing rather than a good thing!

On the one hand, we think, “Jonah, what on earth are you talking about? How could you possibly want bad things to happen to these people?” But, on the other hand, maybe we think like this more often than we like to admit. Do we want good and loving things from God for the person who scammed us out of that money or precious item? Do we want good and loving things from God for the person who hurt or abused us? Do we want good and loving things for the person who violated our trust so fundamentally that it destroyed our marriage? Or, in cases like that, would we prefer that the person “get what’s coming to them”?

If that idea is even flitting around the back of our subconscious, we do well to understand what a lack of forgiveness means. A lack of forgiveness and full responsibility for our sins means hell. It means being eternally cut off from God in a way that no human being has ever experienced in this life, no matter how far away God has felt. If we really understood the ramifications of hell, we wouldn’t wish that on our worst enemy.

And then take it from God’s perspective. He originally made Adam and Eve in his own image—in perfect harmony with him to have a perfect relationship with him. Sin hurt us, yes, but it also hurt God. That’s the point God makes when Jonah is grousing about God being merciful to that city through the vine that briefly provided him shade. Jonah is mad about a vine perishing that he didn’t have anything to do with—he didn’t make it, he didn’t care for it, he didn’t even ask for it. It showed up and then it was gone. And he’s upset that this thing that he had no attachment to other than experiencing a little bit of relief perished, how much more wouldn’t God be concerned with people he dearly loves and cares about being lost in their sin? “You have been concerned about this plant. You did not work for it or make it grow. It grew up in one night and perished after one night. So should I not be concerned for Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than one hundred twenty thousand people…”

Every soul is precious to God, whether they were working at the beginning of the day through the intensity of the sun or if they came into the vineyard at the very twilight of life, whether they were a believing prophet of questionable dedication and ethics, or a city full of unbelievers destined to perish. God cares for everyone. God loves everyone. And Jesus’ life and death bring the complete forgiveness of sins to all people—even the “bad” ones, even you and me.

So, love for other people confronts sins, forgives sin, and rejoices when others come to faith and turn from their sinful nature’s path. God’s love means that he doesn’t treat us fairly. “Fair” would land us in hell, but for Jesus’ sake we will be in heaven. We who are no better than the Ninevites or Jonah are completely forgiven, totally justified, given blessings we had not earned at all because of Jesus’ life and death in our place. We know that we will defeat death because our Savior rose from his grave, defeating any claim our graves have on us.

As you look around here this morning, rejoice that the people sitting around you have been forgiven by their God. And let us go out to take this message of full and free forgiveness to all people, even those people that our gut might tell us don’t “deserve” it or won’t listen to it. Jesus is for all, from the first to the last and from the last to the first.

God, enable us to share this message and to rejoice when people find their complete forgiveness in you! Amen.

"Love Forgives Sin" (Sermon on Genesis 50:15-21) | September 17, 2023

Sermon Text: Genesis 50:15-21
Date: September 17, 2023
Event: Proper 19, Year A (The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Genesis 50:15-21 (EHV)

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and will pay us back in full for all of the evil that we did to him.”

16They sent the following message to Joseph: “Before he died your father commanded us, 17‘You are to tell Joseph, “Please forgive the offense of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your father.”

Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

18His brothers also came and fell down in front of him, and they said, “See now, we are your servants.”

19Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring this to pass and to keep many people alive, as it is this day. 21Now therefore do not be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones.” He comforted them and spoke to them in a kind way.

Love Forgives Sin

Last week we talked about the often uncomfortable but necessary work of lovingly confronting sin. We noted that we need to have love as the motivation for such work because we recognize the danger of sin to the person trapped in it and the danger of the model they are displaying for others. Sin is dangerous and unrepentant, cherished sin harms or destroys saving faith. While sin will be a part of our life while we are on this side of eternity, the Christian will not want it to be there. A life of repentance continually feels sorrow over sin, trusts that Jesus has taken that sin away, and seeks to change course away from those sins and toward a life that is in keeping with God’s will—to thank him for that forgiveness.

Our focus this morning continues this thread. Last week we noted that love confronts sin; this morning we have the focus that love forgives sin. On one level, that goes right along with lovingly confronting sin, right? If you’re confronting sin with love, you’re rightly going to have forgiveness for that person as a part of it—or at least a goal. But our sinful natures can warp things. We can distort even addressing sin to think we’re doing enough just by getting someone to stop a sin, rather than going the whole way to assure them of their forgiveness before God and, if applicable, our forgiveness for them as well.

So, it’s worth making this point very intentionally: as sinners who have been forgiven all our many sins by our God, we will want that same spirit of forgiveness to dominate our interactions with others. It is worth considering that we are not God, and our forgiveness may not be the light switch that his is for Jesus’ sake. But forgiveness ought always to be our goal, and this morning we have a few models to follow in that lovingly forgiving work.

Our First Reading is perhaps one of the biggest and most amazing scenes of person-to-person forgiveness in the entire Bible. Our First Reading takes place way at the very end of the story of Joseph, the very end of the book of Genesis. It will help us to review what happened between Joseph and his brothers leading up to this event.

As a child, Joseph was inappropriately favored by his father, Jacob. This created resentment among his brothers. It also didn’t help anything that (perhaps as a result of this favoritism), Joseph was a touch cocky with his family.

There came a time when the brothers saw an opportunity for sin but what they thought would bring relief. Jacob sent Joseph to check in on his brothers as they were away from home, finding grazing areas for the flocks. Initially, the brothers hatched a plan to kill Joseph and dispose of the body, but eventually, they changed their minds. “Why shouldn’t we profit off of getting rid of him?” they reasoned.  So, instead of killing Joseph, they sold him to some nomadic slave traders.

Joseph was taken to Egypt and purchased by a man named Potiphar, a high-ranking official in the government. God blessed Potiphar’s house through Joseph’s work and soon Joseph was essentially in charge of the whole household because his master trusted him with everything. But, after Potiphar’s wife made false accusations of sexual assault after Joseph refused her advances, Joseph ended up in prison. He was in prison for years, for a crime that he did not commit; God still blessed everything Joseph did and he ended up as a trusted servant in the prison as well.

Fast forward a few years, and eventually, Joseph has the opportunity to be useful to the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. As a result of God giving Joseph the ability to explain Pharoah’s dreams, Joseph is essentially made second-in-command in all of Egypt, storing up grain during seven good years so that they were well prepared for seven years of famine that were coming.

Later, there was a reunion as Joseph’s family came looking to buy grain from Egypt. After some back and forth, Joseph was able to bring the entire family—70 people—to Egypt to live with him. Joseph’s brothers were scared to learn that their brother was not only still alive but an immensely powerful person in what was perhaps the most powerful nation at that time. But Joseph assured them that he loved them and forgave them.

So, in the end, God saw to it that Joseph, even earthly speaking was blessed. But he suffered a great deal because of his brothers’ hatred which resulted in a whole string of difficulties: cut off from his family, forced to work in a Gentile’s home as a slave, thrown in prison though innocent, and being forgotten about in there until God brought about the opportunity with the king. His brothers did not forget this, and while Joseph was very kind and generous to them, they thought that might come to an end once their father, Jacob, died. And that’s exactly where our First Reading picks up: When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and will pay us back in full for all of the evil that we did to him.” So, they fabricate a story to try to get Joseph’s love for his father to transfer to them: They sent the following message to Joseph: “Before he died your father commanded us, ‘You are to tell Joseph, “Please forgive the offense of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your father.”

This request causes Joseph to cry, I imagine not because he’s thinking of his father, but because he knows this didn’t happen and that his brothers don’t trust that he’s actually forgiven them. His tearful response seeks to reassure them: “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring this to pass and to keep many people alive, as it is this day. Now therefore do not be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones.” He comforted them and spoke to them in a kind way. Even though Dad was gone, Joseph’s attitude toward his brothers would not change.

We often use the phrase “forgive and forget” which I often feel is a real distraction from actual, God-pleasing forgiveness. Forgetting is really, really difficult. Maybe we don’t dwell on something, but that is fundamentally different than not remembering the event at all. Did Joseph forget what had happened? No! “You meant evil against me,” he said. It wasn’t as if Joseph’s forgiveness led him to ask, “What are you talking about? Slavery? Prison? I don’t remember any of those things…” No, he clearly remembered them, but the key is that Joseph was not holding this against his brothers.

Our forgiveness probably follows a similar trajectory. We’re not likely to forget something that someone did or said that hurt us, but we can work to not let it control our attitude toward that person, to not hold a grudge against them, to not harbor anger in our hearts because of this sin. Forgiveness means that I actively and willingly do not hold the wrong against that person and move on. Perhaps not forgotten, but certainly left behind in the past.

In our Gospel this morning, Peter was looking for the limit to this forgiveness with his question to Jesus: “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother when he sins against me? As many as seven times?” (Matthew 18:21). But Jesus’ parable of the unmerciful servant essentially points to the goal of an unlimited forgiveness. The question that Jesus teaches with the parable could be summed up this way: “Have you forgiven someone else as many sins as God has forgiven you? No? Then keep forgiving.”

Jesus teaches us this principle in the Lord’s Prayer. When was the last time you slowed down and thought through the 5th Petition—“Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”? Is that really what you want God to do? Do you want God to forgive you like you forgive other people? I would think probably no. I often hold grudges or don’t confront someone who has sinned against me. I find it easier to just be upset and push that down rather than addressing the problem and resolving it with forgiveness. Is that the way I want God to treat me? Hardly!

But is that the way God treats me? No. God’s forgiveness for us through Jesus is complete, absolute. It is ironic that while we, who have sin-corrupted memories, have great difficulty forgetting sins committed against us, God, who knows all things, says that for Jesus’ sake, he actually does forgive and forget. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God speaks about how he views us through the lens of the coming Messiah, “I will forgive their guilt, and I will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). That means every sin that we commit, even our refusal to forgive that brother or sister who has sinned against us, is forgiven in Jesus’ blood.

As you consider your relationships with other people, be it family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, classmates, or whomever else you might interact with on a given day, consider Joseph’s treatment of his brothers. There are not too many ways that his brothers could have wronged him more deeply or disrupted his life more completely than they did. But how did he treat his brothers? Forgiveness.

Maybe this leads us to think of someone in our life that we need to assure of our forgiveness; maybe this leads us to think of someone in our life that we need to apologize to very directly for past wrongs; maybe this leads us to think of both. Whatever side of the equation we find ourselves on, Jesus’ perfect life and innocent death in our place means the forgiveness of every sin and the relief of every penny of debt owed to God. It is with that confidence that we can approach these difficult issues in our earthly relationships. When I forgive someone, there’s no doubt that God forgives them as well; when I ask for forgiveness, I know that God has wiped that and every sin off my account. My ledger reads “Paid in full,” written in the scarlet blood of my Savior.

Whatever the sins are, brothers and sisters, no matter how great the hurt or long-lasting the wound, let us work toward forgiving one another like Joseph forgave his brothers. Let us see no limit to this forgiveness for each other and let us rejoice in God’s forgiveness for them and for us! Amen.

"Love Confronts Sin" (Sermon on Galatians 2:11-16) | September 10, 2023

Sermon Text: Galatians 2:11–16
Date: September 10, 2023
Event: Proper 18, Year A (The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Galatians 2:11–16 (EHV)

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly wrong. 12For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when those people came, he drew back and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision group. 13And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. 14But when I saw that they were not acting according to the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all of them, “If you, a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, why do you compel the Gentiles to live like the Jews?”

15“We are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. 16We know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.”

Love Confronts Sin

You can feel the knots in your stomach. You must have that uncomfortable conversation with that loved one. They’re probably going to be angry or ashamed; you’ll probably feel awkward and unsure of yourself. There are likely to be tears on both sides. So why go through that? Why force yourself into a conversation that you can predict is likely to produce difficult emotions and behavior?

Well, probably because whatever it is, it’s important. You wouldn’t go through that just to make someone upset. You wouldn’t address a problem just to feel superior. If you were doing that, you probably wouldn’t have knots in your stomach at all. You’d probably feel bold and maybe even a touch reckless. But what produces that sinking feeling? It’s probably because you care very much about that person and want the best for them—and this difficult conversation is a necessary step on that path.

This morning’s focus for our worship is about confronting sin, an immensely uncomfortable situation all around. Few people enjoy it—especially if they’re going about it for the right reasons—and even fewer people enjoy being the object of it. But today we’ll see God’s direction to us both a sin-confronters and those being confronted with our sins, and examining what the spirit and motivation should be on both sides of that equation.

In our Second Reading for this morning, we have Paul’s accounting of what was certainly a rather uncomfortable situation. Paul says that he had to confront “Cephas” in the city of Antioch. This is Peter, the disciple and apostle Jesus, one who had been following Jesus for far longer than Paul had and notably had never once persecuted Christians, something that Paul could not claim. So, this confrontation would undoubtedly been extremely uncomfortable for Paul.

To understand what the issue is here with what Peter was doing and Paul was addressing, we need to back up a bit. We know that in the Old Testament, God had given his people very strict religious laws to follow. There was a complex system of offerings and sacrifices; there was clean and unclean food and other items that they were to embrace or stay away from; there was circumcision as a sign and reminder of the covenant promises God had made to his people through Abraham.

Most of these laws had the purpose of either emphasizing the reality of sin and its need for death to bring out forgiveness (as would be the case in the sacrificial system) or as a broad reminder that God’s people were not to blend in and behave like the world around them. They were to be different, set apart, because God had called them to be different. They were to be the family line of the Savior of the world, so they had to be reserved for that purpose, to live as the chosen people of God.

But, when Jesus came and did his work, the need to preserve a special line of the Savior disappeared—he had already come! Likewise, the need for the sacrificial system vanished as well because the true sacrifice that all of those animals pointed towards had been offered when he gave his life on the cross. You don’t stare at someone’s shadow when they’re standing right in front of you; likewise, you don’t look to animal sacrifices to take care of sin when Jesus’ perfect and complete sacrifice is right here.

But then this was the rub—during these very early days of the Christian church, after Jesus completed his work and the gospel began to be spread by the apostles, we find believers in a time of transition. They need to change the way they think—less about rules to be kept while waiting for the promised Savior and more focus on the Savior who had come and kept all the rules in their place. God had to directly intervene for Peter early in the books of Acts to show him that there is no longer any distinction between clean and unclean animals; he could eat what he wanted. That all served as a reminder that they were no longer to stay separate from the rest of the world, but they were to embrace those who were not Jewish, the Gentiles, by clearly and directly sharing the good news about Jesus with them (Acts 10-11).

As you can imagine, it was difficult for people to transition from the way of life they had known from birth to something new—especially if some of this new system might have felt wrong. In this case, it would be necessary for the messengers of the gospel to make these shifts, but we can understand the friction they would feel, perhaps even some crises of conscience.

This led to a problem within the young Christian church. A group who came to be known as the Judaizers started warping the gospel message. Their message essentially boiled down to, “Yes, Jesus is good and necessary. But to benefit from Jesus’ work and forgiveness, you need to keep the law God gave to our ancestors.” This was most commonly brought up in regard to circumcision—that faith in Jesus as Savior was good, but in order for people to go to heaven, circumcision still had to be carried out. It was a teaching that made outward works done by people as important if not more important than what Jesus had done. This is a clear threat to people’s souls because if we depend on anything we do for any amount or portion of our forgiveness, we stand condemned.

These false and deluded messengers were traveling throughout the region of Galatia spreading this confusing and dangerous teaching. So, the letter to the Galatians, likely Paul’s earliest letter in the New Testament, addresses this head-on. As early as Chapter 1, verse 6, Paul calls out this false teaching for what it is: “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ, for a different gospel, which is really not another gospel at all. There are, however, some who are trying to disturb you by perverting the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven would preach any gospel other than the one we preached to you—a curse on him! As we have said before, so I now say again: If anyone preaches to you any gospel other than the one you received—a curse on him!” (Galatians 1:6-9).

So, this brings us to our Second Reading from midway through this letter to the Galatians and the events that were going on in Antioch. Paul says, “Before some people came from James, [Peter] ate with the Gentiles. But when those people came, he drew back and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision group.” The “circumcision group” are the Judaizers, those who demanded the people need to be circumcised to be saved. So, what happened? Peter was doing a good job being a messenger and missionary to the Gentiles, to the non-Jewish people, until some Jewish people came from Jerusalem to see him. After that, he withdrew from the Gentiles and spent time only with the Jewish visitors, and we’re even told his motivation: fear.

And you can see the confusion and damage Peter’s actions could have, right? If there is this false teaching that people still need to follow the Jewish laws to be saved floating around and then, once these Jewish folks show up, Peter withdraws to only be with them, does that not grant legitimacy to this false teaching? People could very likely think, “Well, if even Peter thinks this is the way to go, then we probably should follow his lead.” And Paul says that’s exactly what happened, that even a stalwart in the early Christian church like Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.

Peter was wrong. He was leading people astray and at worst was endangering people’s faith with his sin. Someone had to do something, and that someone was Paul: But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly wrong. When Paul saw the sin face-to-face, he confronted Peter face-to-face. Why did he do that? Not because he wanted to gain notoriety among the Christians, not because he wanted to hurt Peter’s reputation or his feelings, but it was because of love. Paul didn’t want Peter led astray by his sin and threaten his faith, he didn’t want others led astray by this error and false teaching. Paul confronted the sin because he loved Peter and wanted to bring him back.

And that’s the same motivation we should have whenever we confront someone with their sin. We are not looking to “win” or prove how much better of a person we are than them (because we’re not!), nor are we trying to humble them and bring them down. No, Jesus is clear why you would go and show the fault to your brother who sins against you—to win him over, to win him back, to lead him to repentance.

When sin is out of control it divides us from God and can separate us from his forgiveness. We don’t want that to happen to anyone, so we talk to them about it. We don’t want that to happen to us, so we should look forward to someone speaking to us about our sins, as difficult as that conversation may be in the moment.

The end goal is not making someone feel bad but rejoicing together in the forgiveness of Jesus. That is repentance: not just sorrow over sin, but trust in the complete forgiveness that God freely gives and the desire to turn away from that sin in thanksgiving to God. No matter what the sin is, Jesus died for it. No matter how much control it may feel like it has over our lives, Jesus has forgiven it. And we can be there to support each other, not just in calling out and naming sin, but in helping each other fend it off, to avoid temptation, to support, care for, and encourage one another in this walk of faith through this world so thoroughly corrupted by sin.

So, it’s important to remember that all who are susceptible to sin may need this from us, even people we look up to or might assume should be beyond our ability to help. Parents and grandparents, spouse or sibling, friend or coworker, pastor or other church leader—all of us can fall into sin’s deceitful and destructive path, and all of us need our brothers and sisters looking out for us to call us to repentance and point us to Jesus as the assurance of our forgiveness. It is not disrespectful or rude to confront sin; when done in love it is perhaps the most loving thing a person can do for us, or we can do for someone else.

Nothing is going to make those conversations comfortable. I’m sure both Paul’s and Peter’s heart rates were high during and after that conversation. But when love motivates us, when the eternal well-being of all involved drives us, then we will see this as uncomfortable but important, difficult but necessary, stressful but overflowing with loving care and concern.

So, let’s work together to point out sin in love. Because when we point out sin in love, that means that we are also pointing each other to the Savior who loved us, died for us, and rose from the dead to assure us that our sins are gone. Thanks be to God! Amen.

"We Hope for Future Joy" (Sermon on Romans 8:18-25) | September 3, 2023

Sermon Text: Romans 8:18-25
Date: September 3, 2023
Event: Proper 17, Year A (The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Romans 8:18-25 (EHV)

For I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. 19In fact, creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in the hope 21that even creation itself will be set free from slavery to corruption, in order to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.

22For we know that all of creation is groaning with birth pains right up to the present time. 23And not only creation, but also we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we eagerly await our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 24Indeed, it was for this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he already sees? 25But if we hope for something we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patient endurance.

We Hope for Future Joy

Think back to something you were really anticipating. A birthday or Christmas because you were hoping for a specific present? Maybe it was a wedding, anniversary, birth of a child or grandchild, a vacation, or anything else that you were really looking forward to. What were your hopes and dreams about that event? Were they met or exceeded? Were you left disappointed?

No matter how you felt about what you were anticipating, one thing was for sure—when the event was over and done, you weren’t anticipating it anymore. Good or bad, fulfilling or disappointing, meaningful or forgettable, you were not looking ahead to it anymore because it had already passed.

Now, that may seem painfully obvious, but it actually does factor into our faith life. Because faith, trust, is a lot of anticipating, it’s a lot of looking forward to what is to come, to what God has promised. That faith is challenged because the things around us don’t often seem to support what God said is coming. Our reason and emotions can fight against us as we struggle to go through this life but also look ahead to what is to come. So, let’s take a honest appraisal of the here and now and what God says will come after this life, and let us hope for the future joy he has promised.

While we will focus on our Second Reading for this morning’s sermon, Jesus’ words in the Gospel set the tone for us, and his words be a bit disheartening. We might want to think that, because we are Christians, things in this life should be simple and straight forward. Whole branches of supposedly Christian churches base their whole theology on the idea that if you really love God, then you will be happy and healthy and wealthy, because that’s what God wants for you and so that’s what he’s going to do. How does that so-called “prosperity gospel” sync up with Jesus’ words? “If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. In fact whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. After all, what will it benefit a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what can a person give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26).

“Cross bearing,” suffering, and even losing one’s life is probably not what we might naturally think should happen for people clinging to God’s promises. Yet, that’s what Jesus says is coming in this life. No promise of wealth or health or anything like that. Just “deny [your]self, take up [your] cross, and follow me.”

Humanly speaking, that doesn’t bode well for the future. If I look ahead to later today, later this week, the coming years should God grant them, I want those to be filled with joy. I want to know that I’m looking ahead to something good. But, that’s not necessarily what is going to happen.

On the one hand, that’s deflating. But on the other hand, maybe that’s comforting. Because if God had promised joy and peace and wealth and health and I was sad and uneasy and poor and sick, I would have good reason to wonder if God was telling me the truth. But, if I see hardship and misery in my life, the fact that God says this life will be filled with cross-bearing, well, at least he’s being honest with me, even if this is not at all what I would choose for myself.

But that takes us to Paul’s words in our Second Reading for this morning. Paul presupposes the idea of cross bearing and trouble and hardship and misery in this world of sin. The Christians living in Rome, to whom Paul wrote, certainly experienced their own shares of hardships either for being Christians or just because they lived in a sin-corrupted world. But Paul doesn’t make up promises of blessings that God never promised like so many prosperity gospel preachers do in our day—he points the Roman Christians and us as well ahead to what God has actually promised, to the real joy that is coming, not now but in eternity.

Paul begins, “I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.” What does that mean? Well, when you have the good that is coming you won’t even think about the bad that came before. Let’s put it in earthly terms. Let’s say you fell and bruised your arm and scraped up your knee; not horrible but not pleasant. But what if, while you were on the ground, you looked and you found that treasured heirloom that had been missing for a long time right in front of you? What if you discovered some money long-since forgotten about just lying there? What if your pet’s favorite toy that had been MIA for months was hiding just in sight and reach of where you fell? Your joy in finding that lost or forgotten item probably makes the scrape and bruise kind if disappear into the ether. Yeah, it happened, yeah it wasn’t great, but what ended up happening was so much better, it wasn’t even worth thinking about.

So, too, Paul says that for as miserable as life here can be and will be, what is coming is so much greater that the suffering becomes an afterthought, a footnote. Not unimportant, not silly, not laughable in the moment. They are real, difficult sufferings. But compared to what is coming? Don’t even bother comparing them because they are on such different plains.

Paul points out that sin has a negative effect not just on us, but on the whole of creation: Creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed. For creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in the hope that even creation itself will be set free from slavery to corruption, in order to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We can see this corruption of nature in fires, droughts, famines, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, floods. Natural disasters stand as a stark reminder that this world we live in is not the world as God originally designed it; the world around us is suffering under the load of sin that we have brought to it.

But even creation itself is looking forward to future joy. That will come when the sons of God [are] revealed. In this context, sons are the inheritors, as they were most commonly in Paul’s day. So, the revelation of the sons of God has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with blessing. Creation waits for the God’s heirs to be revealed.

And what does that mean? That’s the future joy we hope for. While we’re bearing crosses in this life, there’s not much that would show us to be the heirs of God, his children. But creation is waiting for the day when that will be made public that it too might share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. Because the last day of this world will be the last day of present-time sufferings, cross-bearing, and suffering for the sake of Jesus. When Jesus returns, everything will be different to a degree that we can’t even really comprehend.

Paul puts the focus back on us: And not only creation, but also we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we eagerly await our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. Indeed, it was for this hope we were saved. If creation is waiting for that revelation with eager longing, what about us? Does that term Paul uses, “groan inwardly,” resonate for you? It’s a wildly fitting description of so much of this life. So much pull and press us: suffering at the hands of others, guilt over our failures and sins, missed opportunities and unfulfilled dreams and desires. All of that, and so much more, cause us to groan inwardly, to have these existential crises, and have us pleading to God for help, for relief, for something better…

I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. My brothers and sisters, what is coming? What are we waiting for? What is the future joy that we hope for? We look to our Savior, the one who not just bore crosses in his life, but bore the cross, suffered hell in our place, and forgave our sin. That sin is the root cause of every problem and heartache that we have in this life. One way or another, everything that causes us to groan inwardly is traced back to sin.

But how can we know this hope is reliable? How can we know that we’re not clinging to fantasies and delusions created by our own grief-stricken minds? Paul says that we have the firstfruits of the Spirit. That firstfruits of the Spirit is the faith that clings to God’s promises as certain and trustworthy. Writing to Pastor Timothy in his last letter, Paul phrases it this way: “Through the Holy Spirit, who lives in us, guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you” (2 Timothy 1:14). The Holy Spirit’s indwelling and the faith he gives and strengthens is the deposit, the seed, the preview of what is to come.

So, we have a glimpse, a glimmer, of what lies ahead. This life may be full of sorrow and suffering, but what joy does it bring to your heart to know that your God loves you, that he’s forgiven your sins and rescued you from eternal death? Even if we had nothing beyond that as positive in our lives, it would point to the future joy that is coming, the future joy that God has promised, the future joy that we hope for as a certainty because God has said it is certain. Indeed, it was for this hope we were saved. (Note the past tense here—saved. This is not something that is yet to happen, but something that God has already accomplished for us.) But hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for something we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patient endurance.

We already said that you don’t anticipate something that has already happened. Maybe you look back on it, think about it, and relive it, but you don’t anticipate it, you don’t hope for it. Paul is making a very similar point that he made when he wrote to the Corinthians: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). Faith, hope, and love are all amazing blessings from God. But why does love stand above them all? Because it is the one that lasts forever.

As Pastor Natsis in Livermore and I were studying this text this past Monday, he made an observation that I felt was really beautiful and profound. He said, “Hope has a glorious expiration date.” There will come a time where we will not have to hope for future joy because we will already have it. There will come a day when we will not need faith to trust what God has promised because we will be living that as reality. But in that day, in those glorious courts of heaven, when we have the full inheritance promised by our God for the sake of Jesus, love will remain. God’s love for us will reign over us without end forever. We will be perfect and living with him because Jesus took away our sins.

That is the future joy we hope for. In this life of suffering and pain, there will be times when the hope is difficult to hold on to. But we pray for God’s blessings to have that patient endurance as we go through this life, as we look forward to the perfect life to come.

Lord, keep our faith and hope in you strong as we navigate this difficult life until you bring us home to be with you forever in heaven. Amen.