The Mighty One put Himself in your baptism.

 

Sermon for Baptism of Jesus, January 12, 2025

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

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22  ¹⁵The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might be the Christ.  ¹⁶John answered them all, “I baptize you with water.  But someone mightier than I is coming.  I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  ¹⁷His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor.  He will gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”… ²¹When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.  While he was praying, heaven was opened, ²²and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love.  I am well pleased with you.” (EHV)

The Mighty One put Himself in your baptism.

Dear friends waiting for Christ,

            There is an interesting contrast between the two main people in our text.  First, you have a unique individual with an unusual lifestyle who the crowds want to elevate to celebrity status for his powerful preaching, and at the same time, you have the One who John was sent to serve, the Son of God who humbled himself in such a way that the crowd doesn’t yet recognize Him.

Just as God had planned, John came out of the wilderness, where his diet consisted of honey and wild locusts, and he was dressed in camel hair clothing.  Normally, nothing about that should have attracted the crowds, but John came preaching a powerful message of repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sin in preparation for meeting the Messiah.  The Jewish authorities didn’t know what to make of John.  They questioned his right to do what he was doing, but John continued to treat people like the sinners in need of salvation that they and all people truly are.

Jesus, however, was walking undetected among the crowds.  The Son who came down from heaven to rescue people from sin and death humbled Himself to appear as an ordinary person.  He hadn’t yet begun to preach, nor to demonstrate His true power among the masses, but here in Luke’s Gospel, we see Jesus begin His mission as The Mighty One put Himself in your baptism.

Amazed by his preaching, the crowds began to wonder if John the Baptist was the Christ God had long promised to send.  He fit some of the prophecies and his preaching was having a powerful effect on the crowds.  Thus, those expecting the Savior questioned whether John was the one they were seeking.  In humble response, John immediately rejected their imaginations and set the record straight: “I baptize you with water.  But someone mightier than I is coming.  I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”  Informed by the Holy Spirit, John had no misconceptions about his role.  He was the servant sent ahead.  His task was to make people aware of their need for the Savior.  John righty recognized that he also was a sinner who had no right to claim anything more than being the lowliest servant to the King.

John’s attitude is one we would rightly follow.  None of us is worthy to be elevated into a position of glory.  Whether we might be great at what God assigns us to do, or not, we don’t measure up to the perfection God demands to inhabit His house of glory in heaven.  To people living ordinary lives just like you and me John warned, “His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor.  He will gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”  John’s preaching shows that sin and rejection of God’s promised Savior will not be tolerated, because God in His mercy was sending the solution to our guilt.

On the other hand, we meet Jesus, born of Mary, but not of a human father.  Rather, Mary became pregnant as the Holy Spirit came over her and the Son of God entered human flesh to live in our humble condition in such a way that we could be counted righteous and holy before God.  Thus, the One Man who is true God, with all God’s power, authority, and glory, appeared to those coming to John as an ordinary resident of Nazareth—a carpenter’s son, following in Joseph’s trade.

In this text, though, we see what is really going on with Jesus.  When Matthew reported on Jesus’ baptism, he tells us that John protested Jesus coming to him to be baptized.  John recognized his own need for salvation, even as he also recognized that Jesus didn’t need to repent.  However, you and I needed Jesus to be baptized.  You see, if Jesus isn’t connected with Baptism, our baptisms would have no effect for us.  Therefore, for you and me, The Mighty One put Himself in your baptism.

“When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.”  In being baptized, Jesus wasn’t repenting of any guilt for He had none for which to repent.  However, Jesus goes to John to be baptized so that our sins, and all the sin of the world, would transfer to Jesus.  By entering into the Baptism covenant, Jesus is exchanging His righteousness for our guilt. 

It is exactly what the Father in heaven planned for Jesus to do.  Of course, not just to be baptized.  God’s plan for Jesus includes so much more.  God gave His Son into human flesh so that Jesus could live for you and me, so that Jesus would experience the harsh effects of sin in the world, so that Jesus would experience all the terrible temptations that so trap us into guilt yet remain without any sin, nor any rebellion against God’s will and plan for mankind, and so that Jesus would know the rejection of man even after displaying the power of God.

In all of this, Jesus was doing precisely as His heavenly Father sent Him to do.  Unlike you and me, Jesus entered into His ministry without ever once sinning.  At the same time, He is willingly giving His holiness into our need and taking upon Himself all the guilt of our sinfulness, our broken promises and forgotten good intentions, and our rebellion against what God desires for His people.  The holiness Jesus was transferring to His people is confirmed for us in the words God the Father spoke from heaven.  While he was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love.  I am well pleased with you.”

Whenever you feel tempted to sin, whenever you feel pain or sorrow for the effects of sin in our world, whether that be disease afflicting your body, or death stealing away someone you love, whether it be the things troubling your conscience when you know you have done wrong, done things that hurt others, or just go against God’s law, or when you feel the sting of sin as someone else is causing pain and trouble in your life, know that your Savior has felt those very same troubles and hurts.  Jesus lived in our flesh, walked in our path, and felt the struggle of daily life in a sin-damaged world.  He knows our needs and our pain.  Therefore, Jesus spent His whole earthly life living the perfect selflessness, perfect humility, perfect submission to His Father’s will, and perfect obedience to the law so that we could be counted holy.

Jesus so well-pleased His Father that you and I can remember our baptisms confident in the forgiveness, righteousness, salvation, and eternal life that Jesus has transferred to you and me.  Each time we confess our sins, here in worship, among brothers in faith, or in your home among family members, the Holy Spirit has assured us that through Baptism all your sins were put on Jesus and His righteousness is now credited to you.

However, lest anyone be so foolish as to imagine that we have a get out of eternal prison free card.  This gracious gift is not given to those who continue in their rebellious ways.  Jesus promised us, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father, except through me.” (John 14:6)  At the same time, Jesus confirms the warning John had been preaching, for Jesus said, “I am the Vine; you are the branches.  The one who remains in me and I in him is the one who bears much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers.  Such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” (John 15:5-6)  A different metaphor than John preached, but the result is the same.  Those who seek salvation in any other place or thing than Jesus Christ will be thrown out into the outer darkness and pain of hell.

Dear friends, because God so loved the world, He gave His own dear Son into suffering and death so that He could offer and give to you the forgiveness, perfect righteousness, and reconciliation we need to live with Him forever.  That was granted to most of us as we were carried to the font as infants.  There, through water and Word, God claimed us as His own dear children.  There, He connected us with Jesus and all He accomplished so that we might be saved.  There, the Holy Spirit entered our lives, washed away our guilt, and began the new life in us that your parents and the Church have been nurturing in you since that day. 

As you return to God’s Word in your worship, Bible classes, daily reading, and prayers be confident in all that God has promised so that you have life and salvation and a Savior who knows what you are going through.  You have a Savior who gladly hears your prayers and answers them.  God continues to do this for you because He never changes, and He never denies Himself.  His Son is exactly the same.  Jesus lived for you—died for you—rose again from the dead to show that He will also raise you from the grave when He returns in full glory on the last day, and He now reigns in majesty for your eternal good.  All this is guaranteed to those who believe, because The Mighty One put Himself in your baptism.  Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Rejoice in the Word of salvation many reject.

 

Sermon for Epiphany, January 5, 2025

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.  Amen.

Acts 13:46-49  ⁴⁶Then Paul and Barnabas responded fearlessly, “It was necessary that God's word be spoken to you first.  But since you reject it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, look: We are now turning to the Gentiles!  ⁴⁷For this is what the Lord has instructed us: I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth.”  ⁴⁸When the Gentiles heard this, they were rejoicing and praising the word of the Lord.  All who had been appointed for eternal life believed.  ⁴⁹And the word of the Lord was being carried through the whole region. (EHV)

Rejoice in the Word of salvation many reject.

Dear blessed of the Father,

            Imagine a family being granted a gift of riches so vast that it would be greater than the wealth of people like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, or Warren Buffet, or perhaps even all three combined, and yet the recipients of the gift refuse to accept that gracious offering because they imagine they can make more money on their own.  Or imagine a prisoner held in the depths of the world’s most notorious prison, only days from his scheduled execution, when that hopeless prisoner is granted a full pardon but he refuses it because he doesn’t like the messenger who brings that decree of freedom to him.

We really don’t have to imagine anything so incredible, because that is shown to us precisely in what Luke reports here in our sermon text, and the same thing continues to happen in our world still today.  People turn down God’s grace: His release from sin’s condemnation, His immense generosity of complete forgiveness of all sin, and His free gift of an eternal home in the mansions of heaven, all rejected for the poorest of reasons, or no reason at all.

Paul and Barnabas were sent to proclaim the Good News of the forgiveness and salvation Jesus has won for all people.  The first week that Paul preached in this town, many Jews believed and were glad to hear more of what Paul had to tell them.  Their gladness poured out to others over the course of that week, and their enthusiasm brought many, many more people to the synagogue to hear Paul speak the next week.  That is where we find them in our sermon text, leading people to Rejoice in the Word of salvation many reject.

Though some of the Jews had gladly received the Gospel, others had decided on a different agenda.  Offended that Paul was teaching free grace in Christ Jesus without the requirement of obeying all the Mosaic and Pharisaical law, they began a near riot and drove Paul and Barnabas out of the synagogue.  In other words, they became zealous for their religion of works and refused to hear how Christ had fulfilled all the law’s demands on their behalf.  These zealous individuals flatly refused to believe that Jesus had accomplished salvation for them, and particularly, they rejected the idea that Gentiles could be saved by God’s Christ without works of law.

As my introduction hinted, they threw away the gift of eternal life in heaven by denying the riches of God’s grace.  They rejected the forgiveness God granted to the world on the basis of Jesus’ life and death in our place.  Paul bluntly stated the outcome of their rebellion, “It was necessary that God's word be spoken to you first.  But since you reject it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, look: We are now turning to the Gentiles!”  By rejecting the Good News of what Jesus has done for the world, those people judged themselves unworthy of God’s mercy.  By their actions, they shouted to the face of God that Jesus isn’t good enough for them.  The end of such foolishness is everlasting torment in the depths of hell.  And like so many places in the centuries since, when God’s precious Gospel is rejected, the Holy Spirit moves on with His lovingkindness to rescue other sinners.

To the believing Christian, the actions of that Jewish crowd seem incomprehensible.  Why would anyone throw away such a great, everlasting gift, such a release from the eternal prison prepared to hold the devil and his wicked angels?  What on earth could possibly be so enticing that one would forgo the greatest gifts ever given?

My friends, before we exalt ourselves over those rebellious Jews, we better examine our own hearts.  How often do we forget the great benefits God has granted us through faith in Jesus?  How often do we find His Word not worth our time to hear?  How often do we question God’s plan and care for us?  How often do we judge other people not worthy of our forgiveness, as if we deserved the forgiveness granted to us by the Father?  If we are truly honest with ourselves, the realization of our own selfishness and guilt should lead us to react just like those Gentiles who so gladly heard and believed what Paul preached.

The truth is, Jesus wasn’t sent to save just the Jews, or Americans, or any other nationality or race, so we can rejoice because He gave His life for all people.  Isaiah tells us what God long ago promised His Son, the appointed Savior, “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.” (Isaiah 49:6)  When Simeon picked up the Baby Jesus in the temple, he spoke with exultation, “My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:30-32)  Therefore, moved by the Holy Spirit, Paul confirms this by saying, “We are now turning to the Gentiles!  For this is what the Lord has instructed us: I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth.”  By God’s grace, salvation and forgiveness of all our sins has been gifted to you and me so that we are led by the Gospel to Rejoice in the Word of salvation many reject.

God sent His Son to be the Redeemer and Savior of all people of earth.  Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world.  He paid for you and me.  Jesus didn’t ask “Who will be worthy of God’s grace?” because no one who has ever been born from the seed of Adam has been without sin.  We all have been guilty and worthy of everlasting separation from God in the unending torment of hell.

The truth is we didn’t deserve God’s grace.  We didn’t deserve Jesus living and dying for us.  Furthermore, not one person ever made a decision on his own to believe in Jesus.  Not one person ever found forgiveness and salvation apart from the proclamation of the Gospel.  It simply doesn’t and can’t happen, because the Gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes—to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed by faith, for faith, just as it is written, ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” (Romans 1:16-17)

Apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel, the most one could ever do is fall into the trap of relying on self-righteousness which isn’t righteousness at all, because all people are corrupted body and soul by sin.  This sin comes to us through our natural inheritance from our parents.  Along with that inborn sin comes condemnation before God and a complete lack of ability to please Him.

However, now is the time to Rejoice in the Word of salvation many reject.  You see, God didn’t ask whether some could work their way to heaven; He knew exactly what had to be done to reconcile us with Him.  So that our relationship with God could be restored, God made the plan, He did the work, He prophesied what we needed to see in a Savior, and He sent His Holy Spirit through the Word and His messengers to tell us how Jesus lived, died, and rose again for our salvation, and through that Good News His Holy Spirit works in us the ability to accept God’s Gospel message and believe it.

Remember how you came to believe in Jesus.  For most of us, we were blessed already as infants to be baptized, through which we were given faith by the power of the Gospel as St. Peter was moved by the Holy Spirit to declare, “Baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the body but the guarantee of a good conscience before God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 3:21)  Naturally, that newly-given faith had to be nurtured by the hearing of the Word of God’s grace so that our faith continued to grow, just as others, such as the Greeks and Romans who heard Paul preach on his missionary journeys, came to believe by hearing the Good News, because “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)

“When the Gentiles heard this, they were rejoicing and praising the word of the Lord.  All who had been appointed for eternal life believed.  And the word of the Lord was being carried through the whole region.”  One might ask, how could they not rejoice at such Good News?  Yet, we know many still do not believe.  It is truly incomprehensible to the believing mind that anyone would reject Jesus, but the truth is, we only believe in Jesus because God in His mercy elected us to believe and worked everything so that we hear His Good News, and faith is granted to us through that message of peace.

The doctrine of election is hard for the sinner to accept, because we always want to make ourselves acceptable to God.  That arrogant boast of our own efforts has to be pummeled down by the power of the law.  But if the law is all we knew, we would live every day like we are fighting the heavyweight champion of the world, being continually knocked down by its punishing blows until any hope of life was pounded out of us.

However, God does not save us by Law.  He saves us by the gift and promise of His Savior Son.  We are redeemed by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  What is now given to us is the forgiveness of all sins, freedom from punishment and condemnation, and the opportunity to rejoice for the gifts of God’s love and to tell others about what Jesus has done for us all, so that they too can enjoy these precious gifts of forgiveness, salvation, peace with God, and eternal life in heaven.  When we daily keep what Jesus has done for us clearly in focus, we will gladly, willingly, continually through good times and bad, with friend and stranger alike, Rejoice in the Word of salvation many reject.  Amen.

Now to him, who is able, according to the power that is at work within us, to do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever!  Amen.

See the comfort, peace, glory, and redemption.

 

New Year’s Eve, Dember 31, 2024

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Luke 2:22-40  ²²When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.  ²³(As it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male will be called holy to the Lord.”)  ²⁴And they came to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”  ²⁵Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.  This man was righteous and devout, waiting for the comfort of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.  ²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  ²⁷Moved by the Spirit he went into the temple courts.  When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary according to the law, ²⁸Simeon took him into his arms and praised God.  He said, ²⁹Lord, you now dismiss your servant in peace, according to your word, ³⁰because my eyes have seen your salvation, ³¹which you have prepared before the face of all people, ³²a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”  ³³Joseph and the child’s mother were amazed at the things that were spoken about him.  ³⁴Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Listen carefully, this child is appointed for the falling and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is spoken against, ³⁵so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.  And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”  ³⁶Anna, a prophetess, was there.  She was a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.  She was very old.  She had lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, ³⁷and then she was a widow of eighty-four years.  She did not leave the temple complex, since she was worshipping with fasting and prayers night and day.  ³⁸Standing nearby at that very hour, she gave thanks to the Lord.  She kept speaking about the child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.  ³⁹When they had accomplished everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town, Nazareth.  ⁴⁰The child grew and became strong.  He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him. (EHV)

See the comfort, peace, glory, and redemption.

Dear faithful waiting ones,

            Waiting.  It seems like a lot of life is just waiting for things to happen.  We wait in lines to check out at the store.  We wait for children to be born.  We may have to wait behind other vehicles while looking for a place to pass.  Many sports fans are waiting to see which team wins a certain football game this coming Sunday.  Others may wait to see the outcomes of bowl games.  Some even have money on the line.

In our area, we spend a lot of time waiting to see what the weather will bring.  We may wait anxiously, at times, to see whether it will rain enough, or too much?  We wait to see what the markets will do, whether grain prices will go up or down, or whether the stock market will hold up so that retirement plans don’t fall apart.  With all the waiting we do, worry and anxiety may also become a problem.  Or maybe we worry as we wait to see what a new president might do.  Perhaps personal or family issues cause us to wait and worry.  So, friends, what are you waiting for?

This evening, we meet two people who were waiting faithfully, and I believe, patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.  Of all the things we wait for in this troubled world, we see in those two people what should really be our focus—waiting to See the comfort, peace, glory, and redemption.

As Mary and Joseph were carrying out the requirements of the law after Jesus’ birth, a man named Simeon was waiting for just that event.  “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”  Simeon was a believer in all that God had promised in the Old Testament.  He was holding God to those promises of a Savior.  There, at the temple, as Jesus’ parents made the purification sacrifice required by Mosaic law, Simeon’s waiting was rewarded.  As he picked up that little Child, only forty days old, Simeon met his Savior face to face, looked into the face of God, his Redeemer and Savior, and Simeon was at peace.

Now, whether Simeon lived long enough to see Jesus carry out His salvation mission, we are not told.  Yet, every promise God makes is as good as done as soon as the promise is given.  Therefore, as excited and glad as Simeon was to see Jesus, he also was given the privilege of prophesying some things that from an earthly viewpoint, might be worrisome, but for those trusting in the Lord a sure hope. 

Many in Israel were expecting a Messiah to come with great glory.  Jesus’ glory, on the other hand, is that He came in gentleness, poverty, humility, and submission.  That humble situation and status are His glory as Jesus came to live for you and me and all people.  His great glory is not in pomp and circumstance nor in earthly riches and power, but in the fact that Jesus would live without any of those advantages while maintaining perfect holiness and obedience to God, all so that you and I can be counted righteous.

Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Listen carefully, this child is appointed for the falling and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.  And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”  The angels had sung at Jesus’ birth about peace on earth, but we need to understand that peace rightly.  Jesus said, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.^” (Matthew 10:34)  Most people want peace on earth, but Jesus came to establish peace between earth and heaven, or better said, between God and mankind.  There will always be division between those who believe and those who do not.  Consequently, many are the rebellious who reject Jesus and thus will never know peace.

Sadly, Jesus’ cross will always be a stumbling block to many souls for whom He lived and died, because our sinful, broken human nature, inherited from sinful broken parents, is always inclined to seek glory on earth.  We want winners.  We want riches.  We want victory over others.  We want the spectacle.  What we need is victory over ourselves and over our sinful hearts.  That’s what Jesus entered our world to accomplish.  By His holy life and substitutionary sacrifice, Jesus brought us true peace and comfort by reconciling us with our God and Creator.  Jesus’ holiness is counted to us by faith.  His death on the cross paid the penalty for our crimes against God and each other.  Thus, Mary would live to experience the exquisite pain of watching her Son give His life for her sins and for ours.

Simeon was waiting to See the comfort, peace, and glory.  I suspect he was also waiting to see what the second waiting individual in our text was looking for, redemption.  Anna had been waiting a long time.  It’s a little heard to tell from the Greek whether she was eighty-four years old, or had been a widow for eighty-four years.  Either way, she had waited a long time, fervently praying and worshipping God as she looked forward to redemption. 

Now, many in Israel at that time, expected redemption to come in the form of military victory over the Jews’ Roman enemies.  As a faithful believer, however, Anna recognized that the Baby Jesus had entered this world to accomplish a far greater redemption.  Redemption is buying back from a kidnapper.  In this case, it is paying the ransom price that sets us free from sin, death, and the devil.  In her day, many people might have looked down at Anna as some kind of sinner for being deprived of her husband so young in life.  She may have felt some guilt with her sorrow.  It happens a lot among those who grieve. 

From that day forward, though, Anna’s worship became complete joy, joy for a Savior who had come to set her free.  Joy at the opportunity to tell others what she saw in that infant sent by God to rescue a world of hurting people.  Joy as she was gathered into her Savior’s arms to be carried from this life into the everlasting peace of heaven.

Dear friends, neither Simeon nor Anna lived to see on earth the ultimate comfort, peace, glory, and redemption.  Yet, they experienced it when the Lord called them out of this world into the glory of heaven.  For you and me, the story isn’t yet complete.  We don’t know when Judgment Day will come.  Yet, at the same time, we know that Jesus will come to take us home, because God always keeps His promises, and Jesus promised His disciples, “I am going to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that you may also be where I am.” (John 14:2-3)

For now, we wait, and sometimes in our waiting, we grow frustrated.  Yet, we do not wait as those who have no hope.  We wait, not with earthly comfort, necessarily, but with the comfort of having sure salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All of our sins have been taken away and we have peace with God.  Jesus assured us, “In this world you are going to have trouble.  But be courageous!  I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)  Thus, we wait in comfort and peace for the glory of God to be revealed when Jesus returns in all His glory on the Last Day.  At that time, all the earthly waiting, and all the frustrations and sins that go along with it, will be a thing of the past.  Our sins and frustrations have been paid for and forgiven to us as the Holy Spirit worked faith in us through baptism and hearing the Good News of what Jesus has done to reconcile us with God.

Now, I can’t tell you what we will see in the coming new year.  I don’t know what the weather or the markets will do.  I honestly can’t say who will be healthy and whose health might fail.  I pray, just as I know you all do, with great faith that the Lord our God will take care of us in any trouble and will be with us through everything we have to experience.  St. Paul explains it beautifully when he writes:

We know that all of creation is groaning with birth pains right up to the present time.  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.  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. (Romans 8:22-25)

The redemption Paul mentions happens when our Lord takes us home to heaven, and on the last day reunites us body and soul with all those who have believed in Jesus as Savior, and with our God and Creator who has rescued us from the darkness and pain the devil brought on this world.  At that time, when “this perishable body has put on imperishability, and this mortal body has put on immortality,” (1 Corinthians 15:54) we will forever See the comfort, peace, glory, and redemption, while we dwell with our God and Savior in heaven forevermore.  Amen.

Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.  Blessed be his glorious name forever.  May the whole earth be filled with his glory.

From then to forever, the Lord God gave.

 

Sermon for Christmas 1, December 29, 2024

Mercy and peace to you all, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.”  Amen.

Isaiah 50:4-9  ⁴The Lord God gave me a tongue like the learned, an instructed tongue, so I know how to sustain the weary with a word.  He wakes me up morning by morning.  He wakes up my ears so that I listen like the learned.  ⁵The Lord God opened my ear, and I myself was not rebellious.  I did not turn back.  ⁶I submitted my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.  I did not hide my face from disgrace and from spit.  ⁷The Lord God will help me, so I will not be disgraced.  Therefore I have made my face hard like flint.  I know that I will not be put to shame.  ⁸The one who will acquit me is near!  Who can accuse me?  Let us take our stand.  Who can pass judgment on me?  Let him approach me.  ⁹Look, the Lord God will help me.  Who then can declare me guilty?  Look, all of them will wear out like a garment.  A moth will consume them. (EHV)

From then to forever, the Lord God gave.

Dear children of the Giver,

            In a time when Israel’s future looked bleak, and trouble was all around, when punishment for their unfaithfulness to God was soon to come down on the people, The Lord God gave a word of encouragement through His prophet, Isaiah.  The metaphor immediately preceding our text pictures a divorce occurring because Israel had been acting toward God like an unfaithful wife to her husband.  Though Israel had prostituted itself with idols, and made alliances with idolatrous nations, God in His everlasting faithfulness was providing the gift of intercession.  Our text tells us about what is easily the best Christmas gift ever given; From then to forever, the Lord God gave—He gave His message of hope.  He gave His Son to be our Redeemer and Savior, and He gives us forgiveness and peace.

Our text truly speaks about Jesus, who told the Judeans as they rejected Him: “You search the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them. They testify about me!” (John 5:39)  Because we needed a Savior to rescue us from the damnation we deserved for all the times we were unfaithful and sinned against God, He gave His own dear Son into human flesh to live and die so that we might be made righteous.  Here, the Savior speaks as though already born into the world; “The Lord God gave me a tongue like the learned, an instructed tongue, so I know how to sustain the weary with a word.  He wakes me up morning by morning.  He wakes up my ears so that I listen like the learned.”  God gave us the Savior and through Him a message of hope.

Because all the world needed a Savior to restore righteousness to mankind, God made that happen just as Gabriel explained to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35)  Our Creator was not willing to leave anything about our salvation to chance.  Therefore, rather than just instruct sinful people how they might somehow try to work for peace with God (knowing that no sinner ever could), God gave His dear Son into obedience even unto death.  Because Jesus is God’s Son from all eternity, His Word is all powerful to save.  Furthermore, throughout His earthly life, Jesus relied on His Father for everything, just as we should but so often fail.

When God gave His Son as an infant born of a virgin, that Son came into human form needing to go through all the stages of human life, including learning everything we need to live.  Jesus had to learn how to speak, how to walk, and how to do all the things we need to do.  The one difference is that He went through all those stages from infancy to adulthood without ever once sinning, and all the while He lived on earth, Jesus was looking to His heavenly Father with complete trust in His love and care.  At twelve years old, Jesus was already at His heavenly Father’s business of saving souls through the hearing of the Word.  His instructed tongue then taught the people what they needed to hear and believe to receive eternal life.

The prophetic words of God’s Servant Son show us how Jesus would suffer for our sins.  “I submitted my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.  I did not hide my face from disgrace and from spit.”  Imagine receiving a gift at Christmas time that we knew would soon be destroyed because of our mistreatment.  That’s exactly what Isaiah promises here.  God was giving His Son to save the world, but that salvation would be granted through the suffering, torture, and death God intended to lay upon Jesus in our place.  This morning, we are in the midst of the Christmas season—just the fourth day of Christmas—and already we are forced to recognize that the infant in that Bethlehem manger is God’s suffering Servant sent to bear all the sins of the world, sent into our broken world to die cruel death so that God could be reconciled with you and me.

As much as that idea might tug at our heartstrings, even horrify us, Jesus was not without help.  Of course, none of that help came from any of us, nor from the Jews or His disciples.  Certainly not from the elders, scribes, Pharisees of His day, or the Romans either.  No, on earth, Jesus was all alone to live for us a holy life, then to suffer and die as the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world.  Every undignified treatment and abuse Jesus had to endure was suffered by Him alone.  Yet, He says, and we know it is true, “The Lord God will help me, so I will not be disgraced.  Therefore I have made my face hard like flint.  I know that I will not be put to shame.” 

Because He perfectly and absolutely trusted His Father in heaven, Jesus was rock-solid set on going through every painful step on His road to the cross of shame.  Because He trusted His Father in heaven, Jesus readily and willingly endured the poverty and meekness, the ridicule and abuse of men, the lies we have told, the sins we committed which were shameful to His holiness but all piled on Jesus.  “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)  Think of any and every evil thing you have ever said, thought, or done, and the shame of everything you have ever failed to do, every time you doubted or lacked confidence in His care, everything you would be ashamed for God to know, all that guilt was put on Jesus to seal the warrant for His arrest and death.  Jesus set His face like flint to bear all that guilt so that it would never, indeed could never, be held against you on Judgment Day. 

Because He trusted His Father, Jesus knew He could face the depths of hell in His separation from His Father while He hung on that cross for you.  Therefore, already seven hundred years before He entered Mary’s womb, God’s Servant Son could declare confidently, “The one who will acquit me is near!  Who can accuse me?  Let us take our stand.  Who can pass judgment on me?  Let him approach me.  Look, the Lord God will help me.  Who then can declare me guilty?”  The Man, Christ Jesus, holy in every way, lived God’s love for us by laying down His life for our sins.

Here is what we know is true—Jesus bore our guilt alone, even suffering complete separation from God in heaven for our sins, yet God did not abandon Him to the grave or to Satan’s eternal prison.  When Jesus died bearing the guilt of the world, though without ever once betraying His Father in heaven, the Father was there to welcome Jesus in His victory.  The Psalmist prophesied Jesus’ confidence in His all-powerful Father’s love, “You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” (Psalm 16:10 NKJ) 

By His holy life and innocent death, Jesus satisfied the law’s demand for righteous punishment for sin.  For you and me, God bore the guilt.  For you and me, God’s Son suffered the death that was owed.  Here, in Isaiah, the suffering Servant declares that no one will ever again be able to accuse those who are in Jesus of any sin.  All those sins put on Jesus have been paid for, so how does it work?

As we read this prophesy, we see a change from the prophet speaking about the Savior to the Savior speaking what He would do for us.  Then, while the Savior speaks, He is also saying what is true for all those connected with Him in His future glory.  All those who believe in Jesus are the elect united with Him by faith.  Therefore, at the time of Judgment, we will be saying along with Jesus, “The one who will acquit me is near!  Who can accuse me?  Let us take our stand.  Who can pass judgment on me?  Let him approach me.  Look, the Lord God will help me.  Who then can declare me guilty?” 

Who will accuse us when the suffering Son, who paid the penalty for all our guilt, is standing with us?  Who will be able to accuse us of any sin when the Son, who died on our behalf, is the Judge given authority to determine the eternal destination of every soul brought before Him?  Therefore, anyone who would desire to accuse Jesus, or us, of any guilt “will wear out like a garment.  A moth will consume them.”

Dear friends, we may struggle to speak so boldly in our present broken world, but Jesus is certain to speak in our place and on our behalf.  St. Paul was moved by the Holy Spirit to declare,

If God is for us, who can be against us?  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?  Who will bring an accusation against God’s elect?  God is the one who justifies!  Who 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!  What will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved 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. (Romans 8:31-39)

From then to forever, the Lord God gave.  From Isaiah, and even from the beginning of time, through to the time of St. Paul writing to the Roman congregation, and on to the very end of days, the same message rings true.  God’s Son, Jesus, came into this world to save sinners.  He came to cleanse you and me of all guilt by His sacrifice on the cross.  Jesus came to give us life that cannot be taken away.  He came to make us righteous and holy in His Father’s sight.  You and I didn’t, and couldn’t, do anything to save ourselves, but God in His infinite wisdom, mercy, and power has washed away our guilt in Baptism, and by His Gospel has given us faith in His Son, Jesus, which connects us to the only source of life.  The Psalmist sang, “Under his wings you will find refuge.  His truth will be your shield and armor.” (Psalm 91:4)  And again, he sings along with us, “Yes, you Lord are my refuge!” (Psalm 91:9)  Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore.  Amen. 

Witness the Word, the life, the light, and the glory.

 

Sermon for Christmas Day, December 25, 2024

The Light, who brings light and life to the world, shine upon you, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared for all people.  Amen.

John 1:1-18  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  ²He was with God in the beginning.  ³Through him everything was made, and without him not one thing was made that has been made.  ⁴In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.  ⁵The light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  ⁶There was a man, sent from God, whose name was John.  ⁷He came as an eyewitness to testify about the light so that everyone would believe through him.  ⁸He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light.  ⁹The real light that shines on everyone was coming into the world.  ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not recognize him.  ¹¹He came to what was his own, yet his own people did not accept him.  ¹²But to all who did receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.  ¹³They were born, not of blood, or of the desire of the flesh, or of a husband’s will, but born of God.  ¹⁴The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory he has as the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵John testified about him.  He cried out, “This was the one I spoke about when I said, ‘The one coming after me outranks me because he existed before me.’”  ¹⁶For out of his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.  ¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  ¹⁸No one has ever seen God.  The only-begotten Son, who is close to the Father’s side, has made him known. (EHV)

Witness the Word, the life, the light, and the glory.

Dear friends of the living Word,

            How do you truly know who a person is?  For instance, you know my name, and my wife’s name, but how do you know whether we are who we say we are?  Did you do a background check?  Would you call those we claim to be related to and ask if we are telling the truth?  For that matter, how do you truly know the person sitting next to you, or across the aisle?  And much more important, by far, how do you know who that Babe in the manger of Bethlehem truly is?

Our Lord God, who wants nothing more than to save you from eternal destruction, wanted to make absolutely certain that you would have no doubt who Jesus is.  Therefore, God had four different Gospel writers tell you about His Son.  Matthew spoke of Christ’s human parentage and how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies God had given to help us recognize the Messiah.  Luke spoke, too, of human parentage, and then showed how this Savior was for all people, and Mark showed Jesus as the power and action of God leading to divine sacrifice for sinners.

The apostle, John, on the other hand, wrote his Gospel a few decades after the other three writers, at a time when many were questioning Jesus’ true nature, and false teachers were spreading half-truths and lies about Christ.  Inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit, St. John wrote to emphasize the divine nature of Christ Jesus and to Witness the Word, the life, the light, and the glory.

At the time John wrote his Gospel, some teachers were claiming to have special knowledge that allowed only them to enjoy salvation.  They denied much that was true about Jesus, so John countered with his eyewitness testimony, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  In connection with the creation of all things, the Word, that is Jesus Christ, already was.  Before any created thing was brought into existence, Jesus already lived.  Begotten of the Father from eternity, Jesus is the Son of God, and was with His Father before time began, true God in both persons.

Jesus is the Word.  He represents everything God tells us about Himself.  We cannot see God because He is spirit, so God took on human flesh in the person of the Son, so that we could see God’s love and mercy in Jesus and not just fear God as some invisible, angry Judge.

In our time, famous philosophers and scientists theorize about the origins of life.  That question isn’t new.  Secular philosophers of John’s day also pondered that question.  Therefore, the Lord informs and confirms for us that He is the sole source of all life.  John wrote, “The Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him everything was made, and without him not one thing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.”  The Greek emphasizes that not even one thing of creation was made apart from the Word of God.  Every aspect of life came from God and God alone.  Only those still caught in the delusional darkness of unbelief cling to the notion that the source of life remains to be found.

The spiritual life that man enjoyed at creation was lost when Adam and Eve sinned.  They suffered spiritual death as a consequence of their rebellion and, ever since, every one of their descendants is also born spiritually dead.  Without God’s intervention, death would be our eternal condition.  This is why God sent His Son.  Jesus entered this world to restore spiritual life to our fallen race.  “In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.  The light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Being the only source of all life, only God could restore life to the people He had lovingly hand-crafted and into whom He had breathed true life.  Jesus entered this world as the Light who would restore life to men.  Without His light, we would remain entombed in the darkness of eternal separation from God.  Therefore, we needed to Witness the Word, the life, the light, and the glory. 

To restore that original image of God in us, Jesus came to live a perfectly holy life for us.  He came to restore peace between God and mankind so that we could live with God again.  God needed to shine that Good News on those of us trapped in darkness.  We couldn’t see His light on our own.  Indeed, by our nature, we would hide from His light, scurrying around in the darkness that felt familiar and safer to us even though it kept us separated from our Creator and Lord.

It is God’s glory that overpowers darkness.  In His divine Sonship, Jesus lived perfect holiness for you and me and for every sinner of every time period of this world’s eventual history.  To demonstrate the glory of God’s mercy and grace, Jesus took all the sins of the world upon Himself.  He who had no sin of His own, became the ultimate sin for us all.  His Father then poured out the absolute worst punishment of eternal death upon Jesus.  This Babe in the manger, God’s own dear Son, came into the world to endure the complete separation from God that we deserved, laying down His life in sacrifice for the whole human race, so that we can be restored to life through faith in Him. 

In his rebellious uprising that led mankind astray, Satan schemed and lied trying to overthrow God, but God cannot be overpowered.  Jesus surely laid down His life then to His glory took it up again.  His glory shines through any battle, against any evil foe.  Jesus said, “This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.  I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again.  This is the commission I received from my Father." (John 10:17-18)  Because Jesus lives after having experienced our death, we have the Witness of the Word, the life, the light, and the glory to show us who Jesus really is.  He is the Son of God, begotten of the Father, conceived by the Holy Spirit in His human mother, Mary.

St. John also told us of a man who was chosen by God to bear witness to Jesus’ true nature.  As an eyewitness, John was there to recognize the Son, to store that knowledge in his heart and mind, and to testify to the court of world opinion that Jesus had, indeed, demonstrated His true nature.  “There was a man, sent from God, whose name was John.  He came as an eyewitness to testify about the light so that everyone would believe through him.”  This is testimony to God’s glory.  God didn’t send a Savior for only those who deserved to be saved (which is none of us), or even only for those who would gladly believe (again, not one of us).  Rather, it is God’s greatest desire that every soul on earth would believe in Jesus and receive the light that gives life everlasting.  John testified to the people of his day with a fervor that few have ever matched.  His testimony remains a witness to the truth that Jesus is “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

Not one person on earth deserved a Savior, “because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) With our sins we each earned God’s eternal wrath and punishment.  Because of sin in us, not one of us, by nature, even desired to be given Jesus’ light and life, for the undeniable truth is that even though Jesus “was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not recognize him.  He came to what was his own, yet his own people did not accept him.”  This is our natural condition.  Satan had so deceived us and robbed mankind of any spark of life or truth that we had no power or ability to change on our own.  However, through the love of God, as shown to man by the Holy Spirit, the Witness of the Word, the life, the light, and the glory allowed many to see the Light of Christ, believe in Him, and receive eternal life and glory.

Therefore, we have true hope of salvation because “to all who did receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.  They were born, not of blood, or of the desire of the flesh, or of a husband’s will, but born of God.”  Forgiveness and salvation is never something that we achieve on our own.  We do not inherit it from our parents.  We cannot attain it by anything we strive to do or any decision we make.  Forgiveness is granted to us by the sole grace and good will of God.  He sent the Son.  The Son suffered, died, and rose again for us.  He sent His Spirit through the Word and witnesses.  The Spirit turned our stone-dead hearts to the light and life that only Christ can give, and He made the decision to adopt us into His beloved family through the water and Word of Baptism.

This morning, we are celebrating the most wonderful event in human history, the birth of the Savior.  John affirmed this for us saying, “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory he has as the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  John testified to what he saw happen in his lifetime—that Jesus, God’s One and only Son, entered this world of sorrow and death, and gave new life that will never end to all those who will believe in Him.

That, dear friends, is also our story.  Through the testimony of the Holy Spirit through His appointed apostles and prophets, you and I see Christ in the Word of God.  By the Word, you and I behold His glory—that though we were sinners and enemies of the One who created us, God’s Son came into our world to cleanse us from all sin and save us from eternal death.  By the power of the Spirit in the Word, we beheld His glory and believed.  Therefore, we have been given the right to be children of God, and we have the sure hope of an everlasting inheritance in heaven.

Because we have this tremendous gift of a Savior, we have the opportunity, and the call, to Witness the Word, the life, the light, and the glory to those around us.  We have this command not to glorify ourselves, for that glory has already been given to us, but so that others, also, might see the Light of Christ and receive the life He gives through the Word. 

For much of the world in our times, a baby born in a manger some two thousand years ago seems like a quaint myth without importance in our times, but that is no different today than it was back then.  To those who reject Jesus, the whole salvation story is a silly fantasy, a waste of time.  However, it is only through our witness to an unbelieving world of His virgin birth, and His life, death, and resurrection that any of those who now are lost can be saved.  Like for John the Baptist, it may cost us our physical life to be His witnesses, and like the Apostle John, it might bring us ridicule and rejection from those still walking in darkness.  However, today and every day, we rejoice, because “to all who did receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”  Beloved friends, that is you and me: children of God, and Witnesses to the world of the Word, the life, the light, and the glory.  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.