God’s grace comes through Jesus Christ.

 

Sermon for Advent 3, December 14, 2025

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

John 1:15-18  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)

God’s grace comes through Jesus Christ.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            At the beginning, no one had to teach Adam and Eve how to live.  They knew exactly how to live in righteousness with God because His righteousness was incorporated into them at the creation.  They knew nothing of evil.  All they knew was God’s love and how to react to His love in perfect holiness.

As we now know, that all changed when the serpent convinced Eve that God had withheld something desirable in the knowledge of evil.  When Adam and Eve fell into sin, the whole world became corrupted with evil, and the perfect knowledge of holiness in Adam and Eve was shattered.

Today, in our world, we see all kinds of evidence of people still imagining that evil is something to be desired.  Obeying God’s will is far from the natural mind, because being corrupted by sin, sinners imagine themselves gods unto themselves.  For that reason, people are left forever seeking some reason for living, or some happiness just out of reach, or for a peace that just can never be found in this world.

For all of these reasons, God gave us His testimony of His plan to redeem mankind from the sin and guilt that separated us all from His love.  His book, the Bible, contains two primary teachings: the Law and the Gospel.  The Law teaches what is necessary for us to be holy in God’s eyes, while the Gospel teaches us all that God has done, and continues to do, to make restored holiness possible for us.  St. John, in our text, mentions these two teachings, but the main point the Apostle brings us is that God’s grace comes through Jesus Christ.

God gave both of these main teachings because He loves us unreservedly.  Both teachings are needed because God’s love isn’t some frivolous affection that approves of any way of life or action.  Rather, God’s divine honor and majesty require us to be restored to the same holiness Adam and Eve enjoyed at creation, when being made in the image of God they walked with God in peace and harmony.  Thus, John wrote, “For out of his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

God gave three types of law through Moses: civil law to direct the nation in its daily affairs, ceremonial law to govern their worship life and point them forward to the promised Messiah and the sacrifice He would make to purify sinners, and the moral law which is affirmed in the New Testament to apply to all people of all time.

The civil law was specifically for the nation God made with the Children of Israel.  That law built a fence around Israel to keep them from following the ways of the pagans surrounding them.  While that civil law no longer applies to us, we do refer to it at times to help us understand what actions are pleasing in God’s sight.  The immorality God forbade for the Israelites must certainly not be pleasing in our lives either.

The ceremonial law pointed the people forward to the coming Messiah.  It was a sacrificial system designed to teach the people how seriously God takes sin, and to demonstrate the great sacrifice God’s Son, Jesus, would make to cleanse us of all guilt.  These laws were all fulfilled in Christ Jesus and therefore no longer regulate our worship life.  The temple itself no longer exists, nor is it needed, because God now resides in the hearts of those He rescues from darkness.

Finally, the moral law is intended for all people of all time.  It is summarized in the Ten Commandments.  Many of our civil laws seem to be rooted in the Ten Commandments, but this is mostly because the laws of our cities, towns, counties, states, and country are laid down in response to the natural law written in the hearts of all people.  This natural law influences our desire for justice, but because of the fall into sin, our understanding of natural law is fractured somewhat like a shattered mirror.  It still reflects sin in us, but only in parts and it is often twisted by human desires.  That is why we see more and more rulings that defy what God said in the Ten Commandments.

Still, the main purpose and teaching of the Bible is the Gospel.  God wants us to know that even though we can’t satisfy His holiness and righteous demand for obedience on our own, God, in His great love and mercy, sent His Son to be our redemption and peace.  Therefore, we see here that God’s grace comes through Jesus Christ.

By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, St. John wrote, “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has ever seen God.  The only-begotten Son, who is close to the Father’s side, has made him known.”  After Adam and Eve fell into sin, seeing God’s face would destroy the soul.  It is too holy for sinners to view.  Even Moses, when He asked to see God’s glory, was told, “I will make all my goodness pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord in your presence.  I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.”  He said, “You cannot see my face, for no human may see me and live.” (Exodus 33:19-20)

Still, there is One Man who has seen God directly and that is God’s Son.  The second person of the Trinity came to earth when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and united God with man in the form of the Baby Jesus.  Thus, God’s Son, who has known the Father from all eternity, came into human flesh, the true God-Man, to live for us the holiness only God could supply.  No ordinary man could ever achieve what was needed to save us.  And God, without becoming Man, could no longer be present among us.  Yet, in His infinite wisdom and love, God solved the problem of sin by becoming one of us.

Now, when Jesus came to earth and became one of us, He didn’t live and act in sin as we do.  Rather, from the moment of conception until He gave up His spirit on the cross, Jesus lived in perfect obedience to His Father’s will, and in perfect obedience of every law, even those laws that were laid down through civil authority.  Jesus was obedient to His parents, even when they were unreasonable and ignorant of His whereabouts.  In every aspect of His life, Jesus was holiness lived for us.  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, St. Peter testifies, “He did not commit a sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.  When he was insulted, he did not insult in return.  When he suffered, he made no threats.  Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:22-23)

You might think that someone so pure and so good, righteous, and kind in everything He did for the people around Him, that Jesus would be loved, respected and honored by all who knew Him.  Yet, the opposite happened.  Many enemies opposed Jesus, even those who were tasked with teaching His Word.  Toward the end of His ministry, it seemed like the whole world was against Jesus, and when the authorities came to arrest Him, even Jesus’ friends abandoned Him.  Isaiah foretold this all, and the reason why: “Surely he was taking up our weaknesses, and he was carrying our sufferings.  We thought it was because of God that he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted, but it was because of our rebellion that he was pierced.  He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved.  The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5)

This is the Gospel of God’s grace; Jesus lived perfect holiness for us and then paid the penalty of death for sin that all of us deserved.  Thus, recognizing Jesus’ perfect righteousness on our behalf, God accepted His death as full satisfaction for the demands of the law.  God now sees those who believe in Jesus as perfectly righteous and holy, so that with Jesus now interceding for us and covering us with His righteousness, we are invited to believe in Him and be welcome in heaven as God’s own children. 

This grace comes to us through the message of the Gospel, but so that we receive it with certainty, God also provides for His Gospel to be administered to us in the Sacraments.  What joy is ours that, today, we again receive those blessings in our service.  Baptism for Emmett is God giving this little child entrance into His kingdom of grace.  It is God putting His seal of ownership and family name on Emmett Tubbs, so that the faith in Jesus needed for salvation is now granted to this little boy by the power of the Holy Spirit in the words of consecration.

At the same time, God has not forgotten those of us who have been previously called into His kingdom.  So that our souls and spirits are refreshed in the forgiveness Jesus won for all, our Lord brings us the very body and blood He sacrificed on that cross outside of Jerusalem in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.  Meeting with us in this precious meal, Jesus gives His body and blood to His people as an enduring proclamation of the Gospel and as a medicine of immortality for those who partake with faith.

All of this is part and parcel of God’s Word of salvation.  God the Father sent His Son to redeem and save us by making Himself the sacrifice that brought peace with God, and the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, both caused the words of salvation to be written down for our hearing and learning, but He also works through those words of peace to bring to life new hearts of faith in formerly dead sinners, and He continues to feed and strengthen faith in those who hear and believe the Gospel of all Jesus has done for us.

Dear friends, welcome again to God’s peace.  God’s grace comes through Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.  Amen.

Overflow with hope for Christ accepted you.

 

Sermon for Advent 2, December 7, 2025

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  By his great mercy he gave us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  Amen.

Romans 15:4-13  ⁴Indeed, whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that, through patient endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we would have hope.  ⁵And may God, the source of patient endurance and encouragement, grant that you agree with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, ⁶so that with one mind, in one voice, you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  ⁷For this reason, accept one another as Christ also accepted you to the glory of God.  ⁸For I am saying that Christ became a servant of those who are circumcised for the sake of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs.  ⁹He also did this so that the Gentiles would glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: “For this reason I will praise you among the Gentiles, and I will sing to your name.”  ¹⁰And again it says: “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.”  ¹¹And again: “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples give him praise.”  ¹²And again Isaiah says: “There will be a Root of Jesse, and he is the one who will rise up to rule the Gentiles; on him the Gentiles will place their hope.”  ¹³Now may the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (EHV)

Overflow with hope for Christ accepted you.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            The Advent season is a time of preparation.  Most often, we think of preparing to welcome the Baby, Jesus, as we celebrate His arrival in the manger at Bethlehem.  At the same time, we are really preparing to meet Jesus face to face when He returns in glory to judge the world.  At Jesus’ first Advent, He came in humility, poverty, and meekness to live in our flesh as a servant and to effect salvation for all people.  The next time Jesus comes, He will arrive in all the pomp and circumstance of the heavenly King.  He will sit on His throne of glory to judge the world.  This is what we are preparing for in Advent.

In truth, this is exactly why God gave us the Bible, to prepare us to meet Him face to face in glory.  At the creation, mankind was perfectly in harmony with God.  We had no sin, no difference of opinion, no alternative desire, and no reason to hide from God nor for God to turn His face away from us.  That all changed with the fall into sin.  Still, God had His plan in place to restore us into the holiness that will allow us to be in His presence for eternity.

Here, Paul writes about how God has restored to us the hope of salvation and eternal life.  By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God is described as “the source of patient endurance and encouragement.”  Imagine that amazing love and kindness displayed for all mankind.  Once sin entered the world, all people were left without hope, without love, without any reason to go on, without any chance to be with God in peace.  However, God sent Jesus to accomplish reconciliation so that you Overflow with hope for Christ accepted you.

In our day, many people claim to be spiritual but not religious.  What they want is a silent god who agrees with them no matter what they desire or believe.  Yet, such a god is powerless to save, unable to answer prayer, to defend the helpless and weak, to heal, or to do any of the other amazing things God continually does for us, whether we believe in Him or not.  What silent idol could make it rain, or keep the sun shining?  What silent god could give life?  Our God does all this and so much more on a daily basis.

However, on top of all that, the God who actually did create this world and bestow on us the breath of life, spoke with power and authority through His prophets, apostles, and evangelists.  Through His prophets, God foretold the birth of a Savior and much about how we could recognize Him.  By His generous grace and kindness, God chose people to believe in Him and to live demonstrating for the world His ability to save.  The Children of Israel weren’t chosen by God to be His people because of any merit or praiseworthy behavior.  In fact, in many cases, they demonstrated the lack of faith in God that has so troubled most people. 

At the same time, remember how Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, was rescued from spiritual darkness; “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3)  God spoke His great promises to Abraham, and Abraham believed.  Dear friends, God speaks to you and me in His Bible.  No, we don’t get to hear God speak to us in some surreal voice.  God doesn’t meet us at a burning bush in the wilderness as He did with Moses.  Instead, God has the very practical solution of recording His message of hope in a book to be shared for all the rest of the history of the world. 

By the miracle of divine verbal inspiration, we have the saving Word.  We have the law that condemns us and makes us realize our need for a Savior, and we have the Gospel which shows us the Savior God sent, teaches us all Jesus did to rescue us from darkness and condemnation, and empowers saving faith in Jesus to grow in those who hear the Word and believe it.

Across our world, today, there are almost countless divisions among people who claim to be Christian, and likewise countless other religions that claim faith in a different god, or no god at all.  However, there is only one God who speaks from the heavenly realms, and there is only one God who saves.  Jesus openly declared, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father, except through me.  If you know me, you would also know my Father.” (John 14:6-7)  All religions other than the parts of Christianity that truly teach Jesus as the One and Only Savior lead to eternal death and damnation prepared for the devil who started all this trouble. 

Knowing that we have forgiveness and true salvation only through faith in Jesus, Paul writes here, “And may God, the source of patient endurance and encouragement, grant that you agree with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that with one mind, in one voice, you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  There are many so-called ecumenical movements that attempt to have fellowship without agreement in doctrine.  Yet, I ask; Is Christ divided?  Can Jesus possibly speak two different truths?  Not hardly.  Instead, we have “the knowledge of the truth that conforms to godliness, based on the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.” (Titus 1:1-2)

Now, God certainly wants the people He calls to believe in Jesus to be in complete agreement with each other, but it has to begin with agreeing with His holy Word.  God never lies or deceives.  Rather than imagining a god who doesn’t speak or one who is flexible concerning truth, our God demands perfect allegiance to Him and to His Word.  Thankfully, dear friends, this too Jesus lived for us.  By Jesus’ perfect trust in His Father’s will, and by His perfect obedience to all the law, Jesus has provided the righteousness we need to stand in God’s presence when our time on this earth shall end.

Furthermore, we did nothing to gain this great faith, but faith and salvation are granted to us by God’s choice and by the power of His Spirit in Word and Sacrament.  Through the power of the Gospel, Jesus’ perfect life is credited to us through faith, and Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross bearing the sins of the world gives us sure and certain hope of restored harmony with God.  The Holy Spirit tells us:

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For in Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.  Indeed, what the law was unable to do, because it was weakened by the flesh, God did, when he sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to deal with sin.  God condemned sin in his flesh, so that the righteous decree of the law would be fully satisfied in us who are not walking according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)

Because of everything the Bible tells us, and especially because of all Jesus has done to rescue us from the condemnation we deserved, we have every reason to praise God and to celebrate here and eternally for His saving mercy and grace.  Our text ends with Paul’s sincere desire that we never take this blessing for granted.  He wrote, “Now may the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

What a marvelous prayer of one believer for another!  Remember, the Holy Spirit caused Paul to write these words.  Therefore, God, Himself, desires that you believe His Word and never doubt.  For that trust in His Word, you are given eternal reason to believe.  No matter how the world around us might ridicule, condemn, or even kill us, we have salvation that cannot be taken away.  Our God has spoken His promises of forgiveness and peace.  This Advent season, as we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth, be prepared to rejoice at His return, for our merciful God has won your forgiveness and salvation, chose you out of all the masses of people on earth to believe in His Son, our Savior, and granted that saving faith to you through His Word in the Gospel and the cleansing flood of Baptism.

Dear friends, continue to read your Bible, study your catechism that summarizes its truths, and by the power of the Holy Spirit in God’s Word, Overflow with hope for Christ accepted you.  Amen.

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

 

Hosanna to the Son of David!

 

Sermon for Advent 1, November 30, 2025

Grace, mercy, and peace be yours, forever, from God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Matthew 21:14-17  ¹⁴The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.  ¹⁵But when the chief priests and the experts in the law saw the wonders he performed and heard the children calling out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant.  ¹⁶They said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?”  “Yes,” Jesus told them, “Have you never read, ‘From the lips of little children and nursing babies you have prepared praise?’”  ¹⁷He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

Hosanna to the Son of David!

Dear brothers and sisters united with Christ in Baptism,

            In 1527, Martin Luther made a visitation to all the churches in Saxony, and he found a terrible lack of knowledge about even the basics of Christian doctrine.  In the preface to the Small Catechism, Luther wrote:

The deplorable conditions which I recently encountered when I was a visitor constrained me to prepare this brief and simple catechism or statement of Christian teaching.  Good God, what wretchedness I beheld!  The common people, … have no knowledge whatever of Christian teaching, and unfortunately many pastors are quite incompetent and unfitted for teaching.

Therefore, so that we don’t fall into that same category of Christians who neither know nor practice the faith given to us by God’s grace, and so that I am not guilty of leaving you all uninformed of God’s mercy and kindness, I desire to review the Small Catechism over the coming year.  Likely every faithful pastor prays that those he instructs will continue to treasure their catechisms for the gift of God’s grace that enlightens their lives with hope, so that with all God’s children they continue singing, Hosanna to the Son of David!

Our sermon text seems a suitable Word of grace to kick off our review of the Small Catechism.  Here we meet those who came to Jesus out of desperation, but also out of trust that only He could help them.  Their faith in Jesus was rewarded with the healing He granted them. 

Now, we might use those hurting souls as pictures of our lives without Christ.  Without faith in Jesus, you and I and everyone else are stumbling through this troubled world unable to see God’s goodness in all He provides.  Without faith in Jesus, you and I would be unable to do anything that would please God.  Spiritually, we would be lame, paralyzed, and dead.  In fact, Paul wrote to people like us, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked when you followed the ways of this present world.  You were following the ruler of the domain of the air, the spirit now at work in the people who disobey.” (Ephesians 2:1-2)  Just like those poor people Jesus healed at the temple, we could do nothing to change our spiritual affliction.  Yet, that certainly didn’t stop God from healing us.

Dear friends, by the power of Baptism and the Gospel, you and I were granted new life, new hope, and new power to walk with our Lord and to serve Him truly.  Are we perfect in this life?  By no means.  However, through the faith in Jesus granted to us by His holy Word, our future glory is now assured.  Here on earth, we may still stumble, and certainly the world might hate us, but in God’s kingdom of grace, we have every true and certain hope of the forgiveness of all sin and life eternal.

The little children who saw the miracles Jesus was doing recognized Jesus for who He is.  On the other hand, the leadership of the Jews were appalled that they should honor Jesus in this way, and they were especially incensed that He would accept that praise intended for the Messiah.  Matthew recorded the scene, But when the chief priests and the experts in the law saw the wonders he performed and heard the children calling out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant.  They said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?”  Notice, it was the children who celebrated that God had fulfilled His promise to send a Savior and the King who would reign on David’s throne forever. 

The scribes and chief priests reacted as those who were afraid Jesus might steal their positions of minor power.  Even though those men were experts in the Old Testament writings, they couldn’t see Jesus as the Son of God.  What God had foretold through the prophets was wasted on them, because they were overly concerned with earthly things.  Some wanted a political helper.  Some didn’t want that for fear of losing their own political authority.  We might compare that to many people today.  Some fear that if there really is a God, then where will that leave them.  Some are so concerned about positive outcomes in this life that they gladly sacrifice eternal things for themselves and others.

This is why we need the catechism firmly in our grasp.  It summarizes what Jesus has done for us.  Yes, it shows us the law, first of all so that we recognize our need for Jesus as our Savior, then also it shows us how Christ would expect us to live as His body, the Church.  Yet, the law alone could and would not save anyone.  Now, for some contrary reason, our sinful nature likes to hear the law even though we fear it and even though it may lead us to sin even more.  For that reason, Luther understood that the Gospel must predominate, and in the catechism he wrote, that we still follow today, the Gospel does take prime stage.

As we study and learn the catechism, we first meet the law to pierce our selfish, sin-sick hearts in order to prepare us to hear the Good News of what Jesus has done for us.  Still, Luther didn’t leave us there with the sword of the law condemning us to eternal damnation.  Instead, Luther followed the Ten Commandments with the Apostle’s Creed which summarizes for us what the apostles’ believed after being with Jesus and witnessing all God’s Son did while living in human flesh. 

Each time we read or confess it, the Creed testifies to how salvation has come to the world and how the Father loved us from the beginning and sent His Son to be our Redeemer, Savior, and King.  It tells us how Jesus came to earth as an infant born of Mary, how He lived for us, suffered and died on our behalf, and rose again that first Easter Sunday to give us sure and certain proof that everything the Father and Son have promised is true.

Finally, the Third Article of the Creed tells us salvation is ours and how it comes to us through the Word and Sacraments.  It confesses the Holy Spirit working faith in us through the Word to make us holy in God’s eyes.  It confesses what we have become as the Body of Christ and the future that is ours in the kingdom of God through the work the Holy Spirit has done in us.  Through the work of the Spirit we receive the forgiveness of all sin so that St. Paul could write, “So then, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For in Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2)

Continuing to show God’s amazing grace, Luther followed the Creed and its explanation by examining the Lord’s Prayer.  There we learn of God’s earnest invitation to come to Him in every need, to pray, praise, and give thanks.  Just the fact that God has invited us to come to Him in every trouble should make us dance for joy, for there is no being more powerful than our Creator, and the Bible tells us that God has put all authority under Jesus.  Therefore, Jesus, the very God Man who out of love for us willingly laid down His life so that we may be declared righteous before God, and who then rose again victorious is continually pleading to His Father in heaven on our behalf.  There is nothing in this world that can separate us from God’s love. (Romans 8:38-39)  Furthermore, there is no one on earth so wicked or so lost that God in His infinite kindness does not want to save. (1 Timothy 2:4)

With the Gospel predominating the catechism, Luther takes us through instruction in the Sacraments.  The Lord’s Supper and Baptism are not some law or ordinance that we must participate in to earn God’s love or to demonstrate ours.  Rather, these Sacraments were instituted by Christ as means of grace to bring us into His kingdom of grace and mercy and to continually refresh our faith and confidence in His love and kindness. 

Baptism is a cleansing bath through which the Holy Spirit works to put God’s indelible mark on His chosen children.  In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus meets with us personally as He places His body in the bread on our tongues and His blood in the wine on our lips.  As the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus actively feeds us with His flesh so that we are reminded of His sacrifice on our behalf and refreshes our faith in Him with this medicine of life in the gift of His Father’s mercy.

In response to His enemies who opposed the children’s proclamation of Jesus’ true identity, Jesus said, “Yes,” … “Have you never read, ‘From the lips of little children and nursing babies you have prepared praise?’”  This is why we teach the catechism to our youth.  We teach this summary of the Christian faith to our children so that the Holy Spirit has another opportunity to build up saving faith in them.  In addition, we teach the catechism as preparation to receive the Lord’s Supper, for to partake of that holy meal without recognizing the body and blood of Jesus Christ could bring judgment on the sinner. 

Through all of this, the catechism teaches us to rejoice with those children, and the people who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem the week before His sacrifice, in shouting out to the world, both to believers and enemies alike, “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9)  Hosanna to the Son of David!  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. 

God gives perfect gifts to give us eternal life.

 

Sermon for Thanksgiving Eve, November 26, 2025

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence.  Amen.

James 1:16-18  ¹⁶Do not be deceived, my dear brothers.  ¹⁷Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, who does not change or shift like a shadow.  ¹⁸Just as he planned, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creations. (EHV)

God gives perfect gifts to give us eternal life.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            When Moses gave his final instructions to the Israelite people before his death, he summarized how richly the Lord God would be blessing them, and then he warned them against falling prey to arrogance in connection with prosperity.  He said, “You might say in your heart, ‘My ability and the power of my hand have earned this wealth for me.’  But then you are to remember that the Lord your God is the one who gives you the ability to produce wealth, to confirm his covenant that he promised to your fathers with an oath, as he does to this day.” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18)

In our text this evening, the apostle, James, does much the same thing.  He reminds us that every good thing that comes our way is only ours because of the mercy and love of our God who provides them for us.  He reminds us, again, that God gives perfect gifts to give us eternal life.

A few moments ago, in our confession of faith from Luther’s explanation of the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed, we repeated the truth that God “richly and daily provides me with … all that I need to support this body and life.”  Again, this year, we have been blessed with weather that provided a rather bountiful harvest.  Perhaps, it wasn’t a record crop, at least not a record for everyone.  Yet, all the signs indicate that it should provide plenty for us all for the coming year.

Now, if we should fall prey to our sinful nature, we might credit ourselves for the hard work we did, the investments we made to put a crop in the ground, the inputs purchased and our decisions in choosing those things.  For the student or businessman, we might be tempted to imagine that whatever success we have is solely because of our labors, diligence, and intelligence.  Our natural flesh finds it very easy to succumb to these temptations, and certainly the devil would have great glee if he gets us to forget that all these gifts come from God.  Paul Harvey used to say, “Man — despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments — owes his existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.”  Soil, sunshine, and rain are all precious gifts of God’s providence.

Remember also, God gave us the breath of life that allows us to live and move and have our being.  St. Paul in his letter to the Roman congregation reminds us “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)  This doesn’t happen by chance for it is God working all those things for our benefit, because He loves us and wants us to come through this life to be joined with Him in His kingdom for eternity.  Just as God gave the whole Garden of Eden for the man and his wife to enjoy and prosper in, so God provides all we need to live.

We must mention, also, that God continues to do this for both the good and the wicked.  Jesus said, “He makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45)  Therefore, the question before us this evening is do we always give credit where credit is due?  Do we always thank and praise God regardless of how richly He blesses us, or do we fail to thank and praise whenever we feel like we drew the short straw?

James encourages us, “Do not be deceived, my dear brothers.  Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, who does not change or shift like a shadow.”  The evil in this world does not come from God.  Our creator never tempts us to sin, that comes from within us and by the wicked encouragement of the devil.  However, as St. Paul reminded us, God can and does work through even the many wicked actions of sinful man to turn those deeds for our good in the end, and God works also through the curse of sin which is death to bring about His eternal good.  Please don’t misunderstand me here.  The curse of sin, and death as well, are not the good.  Rather, even in these things, God is working in us to help us recognize our need for a Savior.

And that brings us to the best gifts.  Because we all fall far short of the glory of God and we all have failed at some point in our lives to give all credit where credit truly is due, therefore, we all deserve to be banished from His presence forever, which God never desires.  Therefore, He sent His own dear Son, Jesus, to live perfect gratitude on our behalf.  This is the greatest gift God has given us.  On the night Jesus was born, the angel announced from the sky, “Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you.  He is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)

Before mankind even fell into sin, God had this plan prepared.  He knew that mankind would fall.  Still, that wasn’t what God desired, so in order for our relationship with God to be one of faith, our first parents had to be created with a free will.  But, as you all know, they blew that free will by choosing to listen to the devil’s temptations, and because of that our will has never been completely free since.  Always, we are born bound under the devil’s chains by sin.  But, I repeat, God had a plan.

James wrote, “Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, who does not change or shift like a shadow.”  God created a perfect paradise for His people, but His people failed to keep that perfect.  Still, God did not change.  He continues to desire a relationship with us.  He continues to provide for our daily bread.  He continues to bless us in every way still these thousands of years later.  Most importantly, God provided a way to salvage the relationship between us and Him.  Jesus came to reconcile the world with His Father.

Naturally, this greatest gift wouldn’t do us much good if we never learned about it, never received its blessing, nor were ever wrenched from the devil’s control.  Certainly, Satan wouldn’t give us up without a fight, yet that was a fight we couldn’t win on our own, so God provides.

James wrote, “Just as he planned, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creations.”  Before He created the world, God had a plan in place.  In that plan, by which our reconciliation with God was accomplished by Jesus with His holy life and then His sacrificial death in our place.  Another of God’s great gifts—that He took all the sins of the world and charged them to Jesus so that by the death of His Son in our place, the Father could count us innocent.  Still, what good would that do if we never heard about that rich grace?

Thus, again, God has a plan and you and I have received further tremendous gifts through the faith the Holy Spirit works in us by His holy word and the Sacraments Jesus instituted.  God gives His holy Gospel to teach us all He has done through Jesus to rescue us from the devil’s grasp.  By the power of the Gospel, God fulfils the promise He made long ago:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you.  I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and will cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will carefully observe my ordinances.  Then you will live in the land I gave your fathers.  You will be my people, and I will be your God.  I will save you from all your impurity. (Ezekiel 36:26-29)

While we once were dead in sin, God has renewed us and given us life everlasting through faith in Jesus.  While we once had no hope, God has given us a sure and certain future so that even though death will take us out of this world, we will live with our Lord in heaven forever.

Therefore, what are we doing here this evening?  We are again giving thanks and praise to our Creator, Savior, and King, because God gives perfect gifts to give us eternal life.  We are here shouting praises to the hilltops because God provides for all we need for body and life.  Of course, this isn’t the only time we do that.  Praise God that by the gift and power of the Holy Spirit given to us in the Gospel, we live our earthly lives giving thanks to God for all His great mercy and providence.  But along with many others in this world all too often unthankful, we give thanks and praise that God has never forgotten His people. 

For as long as this world has existed, God had a plan to save those He calls to faith.  You and I couldn’t find that plan.  We had no idea how it might be accomplished until we heard the Gospel.  Likewise, God has His plans to provide everything we need in this life, as well.  The men and women of this world have been blessed with great creativity and genius that has brought us many great technological gifts and conveniences; for these and for all the other rich blessings He gives us, we give thanks to God as well.  Yet, as we do every Sunday, and I hope every day of our lives, we give thanks especially, that God has called us to faith in His Son, and given us the sure hope that because Jesus lives, we will live also.  In everything that is life, God gives perfect gifts to give us eternal life.  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.

Wait for the Lord, for the righteous live by faith.

 

Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year, November 23, 2025

To all those loved by God…called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Habakkuk 1:1-3 & 2:1-4  The threatening oracle which the prophet Habakkuk saw.  ²How long, Lord, must I cry for help, but you do not listen?  I call out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save!  ³Why do you cause me to see injustice?  Why do you overlook misery?  Devastation and violence confront me.  There is strife, and tensions rise. … I will stand at my watch post and station myself on the city wall.  I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer he will give to my complaint.  ²Then the Lord answered me.  He said: “Record the vision and write it plainly on tablets so that a herald may run with it.  ³Indeed, the vision is waiting for the appointed time.  It longs for fulfillment and will not prove false.  If it seems slow in coming, wait for it, because it will certainly come and will not be delayed.  ⁴Look, his soul is puffed up and is not righteous within him—but the righteous one will live by his faith.” (EHV)

Wait for the Lord, for the righteous live by faith.

Dear children of the heavenly Father,

            The prophet observed the pervasive, stifling wickedness in Judah, and he cried to the Lord with a complaint: “How long, Lord, must I cry for help, but you do not listen?  I call out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save!  Why do you cause me to see injustice?  Why do you overlook misery?” 

It’s quite possible that you and I are equally impatient with the Lord at times.  It’s hard to observe the wickedness in our world and wonder why God just doesn’t end it.  Why does He put up with such wickedness?  Why doesn’t He come and destroy those who seem especially evil?  Why does He allow the devil, the world, and our own weak and sinful flesh to tempt us into wickedness and doubt?

Habakkuk most likely lived and prophesied shortly before Babylon crushed the kingdom of Judah.  The times were evil in almost every way.  The leading members of Jewish society, the movers and shakers of the prophet’s world, had no interest in following the Lord and no interest in looking out for the welfare of the citizens.  The whole nation was afflicted by violence.  No one was truly safe from the predations of roaming criminals or the rulers in charge.  The king actively opposed the Lord’s prophets.  Many of God’s prophets were tortured and even slaughtered.  The courts, likewise, were corrupt, so a common person could get little help there.

In similar ways, we are tormented with daily reports of murders, bombings, rapes, tortures, robbery, fraud, and many other malicious acts.  In certain overseas places, Christians are more likely to be persecuted and murdered than to be allowed to worship freely.  In our own country, attitudes seem to be moving from bad to worse.  A large part of the population imagines that it is a good thing that unborn babies are still slaughtered every day.  Politicians on both sides of the aisle seem more concerned with enjoying the perks of their offices, raking in campaign contributions, and getting re-elected than with any real concern for protecting the ordinary citizen.  Oftentimes, it seems that some lives matter more than others, and court cases are decided more by the skills of the lawyers than by actual guilt or innocence.

Consequently, many wonder has God abandoned us?  Doesn’t He care that His people are tormented by the wickedness of our world?  Why won’t He stop this madness, sorrow, and pain? 

But indeed, the Lord has an answer, both, for Habakkuk and for us, and God had His prophet record this message to be shared with all people of the earth: Wait for the Lord, for the righteous live by faith.

While it is true that this world has always had terrible things happening in various places, the first question we must ask is “What right do we have to judge God?”  The honest answer is that we have no right to judge, or even to question God’s actions, for they are always holy.  Through Isaiah, the Lord declares, “My ways are higher than your ways and my plans are higher than your plans.” (Isaiah 55:9)

Now, you and I would certainly have the right to do what we want with anything we make.  In fact, God once sent the prophet, Jeremiah, to observe a potter working on his wheel and to see how the craftsman formed up a pot only to tear it down and start over when the vessel wasn’t up to his standards, then re-forming the lump of clay into something new.  At that time, God asked Jeremiah, “Can I not do with you as this potter does?" (Jeremiah 18:6)  Clearly, we should happily accept whatever God sends our way.

Yet, that answer still doesn’t take away our fears and doubts, does it?  Furthermore, God invites us to bring all our sorrows and our prayers to Him for help and healing.  So, what is the point of this text?  Clearly, the message is Wait for the Lord, for the righteous live by faith, for it is by faith that you are saved. (Ephesians 2:8)

Now, Habakkuk believed what God was telling him, and he said, “I will stand at my watch post and station myself on the city wall.  I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer he will give to my complaint.”  Because he believed God, who created us and all things, Habakkuk stood in faith and soon received God’s answer.

Still, doesn’t it seem really hard to be brave, patient, and faithful when the world is so against us?  Of course,

the Lord never said life in this corrupt world would be easy.  Rather, Jesus told us that we will have trouble and persecution just as He endured.  The same enemies that were opposed to Jesus’ efforts to save us also oppose us and God’s plan to keep us faithful.  We know that evil drives many in our world just as sin infects each of us.  So, why doesn’t God just end the world and send all the wicked immediately to hell?  Finally, it is God’s mercy that keeps this world going, even in its troubled and wicked state. 

Can you imagine the horror for you if God would have brought Judgment Day upon the world in the days before you were brought to faith in Jesus?  How awful it would be for us if God wouldn’t have brought us the Gospel or washed us in the healing waters of Baptism before ending our days.  In the Bible, the Lord tells us that He “wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4)  Consequently, God first demonstrates His great love by being merciful to sinners like you and me, and even to the very worst sinners of the world.  God wants all people to be turned from their wicked ways, to believe in Jesus and live.  In fact, many of the people shown God’s mercy in the Bible had committed grave sins; Paul, Peter, David, and Abraham all did some terrible stuff.  Still, God keeps this world going because of His great love, and His big heart to save people like you and me.

Therefore, God tells us to wait.  Wait and see how God plans to save some of those wicked creatures.  Wait with the strengthening Word of God carrying you through these times of trial.  Wait for the Lord to bring His vengeance upon those who hate and reject Him, but at the same time, hold out the Good News of Jesus, to friend and foe alike, so that some might hear that Gospel and be saved.

The Lord also tells us that the wicked will indeed get their just reward.  Those who refuse God’s mercy will get the appropriate sentence come Judgment Day.  In Habakkuk’s day, God used the pagan nation of Babylon to bring justice down upon unfaithful Judah.  But, Babylon wouldn’t escape justice for long.  After only a few short years, Babylon too would be ground under the boot of a foreign conqueror, and that seemingly strong nation would never rise again.

This prophecy isn’t just about destroying Babylon, though.  It is about God keeping His promises that the Savior would come into the world and be the fulfillment of God’s salvation plan.  Regarding Habakkuk’s complaint, The LORD replied: “Record the vision and write it plainly on tablets so that a herald may run with it.  Indeed, the vision is waiting for the appointed time.  It longs for fulfillment and will not prove false.  If it seems slow in coming, wait for it, because it will certainly come and will not be delayed.  Look, his soul is puffed up and is not righteous within him—but the righteous one will live by his faith.”  This is the promise of the Gospel, that God grants forgiveness and salvation through the gift of faith in Jesus.

Judah and Babylon were wicked just like so many people of our day are immoral, wicked, and cruel.  Still, we dare not consider ourselves above them for sinful man is always puffed up and unwilling to obey God.  However, that didn’t stop God from wanting to save us.  At the appointed time, Jesus came into the world, fully God and fully man.  When God’s Son came into human flesh, He did so not to rule a kingdom on earth, nor to judge and condemn.  Rather, Christ came to take on Himself the judgment and death we each deserved, and His resurrection from the dead was the beginning of the end times.

Jesus also came to live the absolute, perfect faith that so often escapes us.  Where we are weak and worried, Jesus remained strong and bold in trusting His Father.  Where we want to question God’s plan and God’s care for us, Jesus prayed, "Father,…not my will, but yours be done." (Luke 22:42)  Jesus didn’t pray for just those disciples who loved Him in the moment.  Rather, He implored His Father in heaven,  "I am praying not only for them, but also for those who believe in me through their message.  May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you.  May they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.” (John 17:20-21)  Furthermore, though He had all power to do so, Jesus never sought revenge on those who hurt, abused, betrayed, and finally had Him killed; rather, praying for them and for us all, Jesus pleaded, " Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

Dear friends, when the evil of this world begins to overwhelm you, remember that Jesus prayed for you.  When you feel your guilt, remember: Jesus lived a perfect life for you, and He died the death you and I deserved so that His Father in heaven has now rightly declared us innocent of all guilt.  Whenever the troubles and sorrows so common in this broken world start to break down your trust in the Father, realize that having won your forgiveness full and free, God’s Son sent His Holy Spirit through Word and Sacrament to give you this saving faith in Jesus that covers you with His perfect righteousness.  Remember also that Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you, just as He promised.  In fact, He surrounds you with guardian angels to protect your life, and with His love and protection keeps you in saving faith until the moment God has chosen for you to enter Paradise. 

What lies ahead for us tomorrow?  Will there be good times, or bad, before we are called to go home to His heaven?  The words of the prophet tell us simply to keep focused on the love of God; keep trusting His amazing mercy and grace; Wait for the Lord, for the righteous live by faith.  Amen.

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