See what Jesus did for you.

Sermon for Epiphany 3, January 26, 2020

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

Dear friends in Christ,

            The world is full of opinions about what the Bible is and what purpose it serves.  That was true in Jesus’ day, and it is true in ours.  Many modern folks view the Bible as a collection of myths and stories with bits of history sprinkled in.  Others view the Bible almost superstitiously as they open it at random to try to decipher what direction they should take in their decision making.  Some use the Bible mostly to judge their neighbors.  Still others view the Bible as an instruction manual telling a person how to live in order to enjoy a happy life, and for some, how to mollify an angry God who wants nothing more than to catch us in sin so he can punish us.  Every one of these opinions misses the point.

Speaking to Jews who accused Jesus of blasphemy and of breaking the Sabbath Day laws, Jesus answered, “You search the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them.  They testify about me!  And yet you do not want to come to me in order to have life.” (John 5:39-40)

God had made the descendants of Abraham a chosen people, a nation set apart through which the Savior of the world would come, and through which God’s Word would be recorded and spread.  Many of Abraham’s descendants firmly and faithfully believed God’s promises and were thus credited with the righteousness of God and granted eternal salvation.  On the other hand, the nation of Israel had a long history of rejecting the God of their fathers in order to follow the ways of the world.

Likewise, even as crowds of devotees followed Jesus listening to His every word, numerous enemies rejected Him and sought to destroy the Seed of Abraham who had come into the world to restore mankind to peace with God.  This morning, as we search a portion of the Scriptures taken from the prophet, Jeremiah, may we all clearly See what Jesus did for you.

Jeremiah 33:6-9  ⁶ But watch!  I will bring it health and healing.  I will heal them and reveal an abundance of peace and truth to them.  ⁷ I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and I will build them up as they were in the beginning.  ⁸ I will cleanse them from all the guilt they incurred by sinning against me.  I will pardon all the guilt they incurred by sinning against me and by their rebellion against me.  ⁹ This will provide a name of joy, praise, and glory for me, in the presence of all the nations of the earth.  They will hear about all the good that I do for this city, and they will tremble in awe because of the good and because of the peace I provide for it. (EHV)

Through Jeremiah, the Lord of Creation says “Watch.”  Literally, He says, “Watch Me bringing health and healing.”  God tells us to pay attention to His Word, to the promises He made and swore that He would carry out on our behalf.  God made those promises with no conditions on us.  The health and restoration aren’t something we can accomplish or even contribute to.  God alone does it all.

The words of our text were spoken at a time in which the city of Jerusalem was near its destruction, and in denial, the leaders of that state held Jeremiah under house arrest because he was the bearer of warnings from God.  If only those people would have been willing to hear what God sent Jeremiah to say.  If they would have listened, they could have turned from their wicked idolatry and perhaps God would have relented from the destruction He planned, or they would have, at least, heard God’s promises of restoration giving peace and security to their eternal end.  But, precious few were willing to hear what the Lord had to say.

Later, the words of our text gave hope to the captives after Jerusalem lay in ruins and surviving Jews were living in exile in Babylon.  This was God’s promise that it wasn’t a permanent exile.  God would restore and heal.  The words also carry a much broader promise down to you and me.  As I earlier quoted, Jesus said the whole book of the Law and the prophets is a testimony about Him.  Therefore, you and I can hear these words with confidence that they apply also to you and me.

God said, “I will bring it health and healing.  I will heal them and reveal an abundance of peace and truth to them.”  Here, God isn’t talking about a physical healing, though the minor fulfillment brought a restored Jerusalem and a return of some exiles to Palestine.  And later, Jesus physically healed the people who came to Him for help.  Yet, the main purpose of these words is to proclaim a spiritual healing that God Himself would accomplish on our behalf. 

He continued with the prophecy: “I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and I will build them up as they were in the beginning.  I will cleanse them from all the guilt they incurred by sinning against me.  I will pardon all the guilt they incurred by sinning against me and by their rebellion against me.”  The minor fulfillment came to physical Israel seventy years after the captivity in Babylon had begun, but the real result was God’s Son coming to earth to live and die for all the people of the world, and in Him we See what Jesus did for you.

Jesus, God’s only begotten Son came down to earth to live as a Man so that He could make these words forever true.  The sin for all the guilt you ever felt was put on Jesus.  The perfectly holy life God demands of His people was lived on earth by God’s dear Son.  Because Jesus was willing to live and to die for you and me, and because He really, truly, did suffer and die in our place, God has declared us innocent and free from the punishment we deserved.

For every moment of rebellion in our lives, for every time we have neglected our duties as holy children of God, God has pardoned us for Jesus’ sake.  For every time you have messed up, missed the target, crossed the line, or just plain stood defiantly apart from God’s will, Jesus provides the cleansing flood.  Whatever guilt you might feel, whatever troubles your conscience, look to the cross where your Savior hung in your place and find healing for your soul.  When you stumble, when you fall, when the devil gets in your ear with his accusations or entices you to think or do something you know is wrong, see again what Jesus did for you in His life and death.  Return to your baptism in confession and feel again the cleansing water and Word that purifies you before the Lord.  Return and See what Jesus did for you.

The living God, the One who led Israel out of slavery in Egypt and promised life and every blessing in their new home makes that same promise to you.  He says concerning the cleansing and pardon He has won on your behalf, “This will provide a name of joy, praise, and glory for me, in the presence of all the nations of the earth.  They will hear about all the good that I do for this city, and they will tremble in awe because of the good and because of the peace I provide for it.”

As you heard in last Sunday’s sermon, “The Lord said, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.'" (Isaiah 49:6)  The reason God had been so good to Israel, and so generous with them, is because He wanted to save all people.  Israel benefitted by God choosing them to hear His Word, experience His leadership and care, and finally, to be the people through whom the Savior of nations came.

But, lest we ever forget, God has been just as good to you and me.  The Bible tells us, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3)  As you See what Jesus did for you, tremble in awe at the gracious care God has poured out upon you and me.  Rejoice that, in spite of our sins and faults, the promise made to Israel thousands of years ago also came true for you, for the Lord promised:

“I will sprinkle purifying water on you, and you will be clean.  I will cleanse you from all your impurity and from all your filthy idols.  Then 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 36:25-29)

Dear friends, make no mistake; the Bible wasn’t given to be a rule book, a measuring stick, a lucky charm, or just an inspiring story.  God gave His Word as a promise of forgiveness and salvation, won for you and for all through the incarnation of His holy Son. 

The Bible is the story of Jesus, the message of a gracious God to a rebellious world, not chiefly a message of judgment against sinners, but a message of reconciliation and peace between God and the human race.  Rejoice in what Jesus has done to make you righteous before God. 

Rejoice that God put your sins on Himself, that He suffered and died in your place.  That He lived as a Man so that you could be counted as righteous in God’s eyes, so that you could be welcomed into the eternal glory and peace of heaven.  See what Jesus did for you.  Amen.

Now to the King eternal, to the immortal, invisible, only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.  Amen.

Jesus provides the very best.

Sermon for Epiphany 2, January 19, 2020

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

John 2:1-11  Three days later, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee.  Jesus’ mother was there.  ² Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.  ³ When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.”  ⁴ Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me?  My time has not come yet.”  ⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”  ⁶ Six stone water jars, which the Jews used for ceremonial cleansing, were standing there, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.  ⁷ Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.”  So they filled them to the brim.  ⁸ Then he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”  And they did.  ⁹ When the master of the banquet tasted the water that had now become wine, he did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew).  The master of the banquet called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the guests have had plenty to drink, then the cheaper wine.  You saved the good wine until now!”  ¹¹ This, the beginning of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee.  He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him. (EHV)

Jesus provides the very best.

Dear beloved wedding guests,

            Years ago, there was a commercial jingle that went, “N E S T L E S, Nestlé’s makes the very best—chocolate.”  Those of you who know me, and my love for chocolate, are probably not surprised that I remember that little ditty.  Now, I don’t know that I would be willing to say which brand of chocolate is truly the best, and most certainly, Jesus is not in the business of producing fine wine, but what you should know is that, in everything you truly need, Jesus provides the very best.

            Because of the appointed Gospel reading about Jesus attending the wedding feast in Cana, the second Sunday in Epiphany is often used by the church to celebrate marriage and the family.  By blessing that wedding celebration with the manifestation of His glory, Jesus put His stamp of approval on marriage.  Thus, we say that along with everything else, Jesus provides the best in marriage.

Now, some people may question that statement.  Experience tells us that not every marriage turns out as we would hope, that most marriages are full of problems, and sometimes those problems start even before the marriage is solemnized.  However, we dare not blame God when our marriages are unhappy, for God definitely intends every marriage to be a blessing for all involved.  The problems come when one, or both people, fall short of fulfilling their end of a good marriage.

The new couple in our sermon text also fell short.  The groom had planned this grand celebration for the start of their new life together, but somehow, someone had miscalculated the supply of wine.  Wine was the staple drink for such a gathering.  To run short would be very embarrassing, especially for the groom.  It was such an awkward situation that after the new wine was brought forth, the master of the banquet almost seems to hint an accusation that the bridegroom had been holding back the fine wine in reserve for himself, though that was not the case. 

Note also that Jesus’ mother seems to have had a role in serving the wedding party.  Thus, when the awkward situation occurred, she came to Jesus quietly seeking His help.  I can’t say whether Mary was asking Jesus to perform a miracle, but Jesus does seem to rebuke her just a bit as He said, "Woman, what does that have to do with you and me?  My time has not come yet.”

Please don’t misunderstand; Jesus certainly wasn’t dishonoring His mother nor refusing her request.  Rather, Jesus wanted Mary, and all of us, to understand that the everyday food and drink concerns of this world were not His main mission.  Jesus was on a mission to supply something far more important than the wine for a wedding celebration.  Later, He had to withdraw from those who wanted to make Him their bread King who could provide for all their earthly desires.  Still, Jesus provided an extraordinary gift to that newly married couple.  The six large jars of the finest wine were almost assuredly far more than needed for just that party.

I already mentioned that the young couple fell short in their planning as evidenced when their supply of wine ran low.  Likewise, all of us fall short, especially, in our holiness before God.  When we look at our marriages, we can see how often we fail to live and love as God intends.  We fall short in loving and honoring as we should, the spouses with whom God has blessed us.  That can be seen in the high rate of divorce in our country, in the many couples living together outside of marriage, in the prevalence of spousal abuse in our world, but most often simply in the unhappiness so often experienced in the marriage God intends as a blessing for each couple.  All because each one of us falls short of God’s holiness in every area of our lives, and our marriages are part of that. 

Now, Mary gave us the right instruction, one we all should heed.  She said, "Do whatever he tells you."  Ah yes, we should, but how well do we?  Even though so much of the Old Testament law has been lifted from our backs, we still find ourselves failing to obey God’s commands.  Not one of us measures up when Jesus says, "So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)  Thank the Lord, we have the comfort of the Gospel.  One of our forefathers wrote:

The water in the vessels of purification, prescribed by the Law of Moses, Jesus changes into wine which strengthens and delights.  The sinister and oppressive sternness of legalism must give way to the joy of the Gospel; the Old Covenant gives place to the New.  Moses turns water into blood, Jesus into wine.  Moses wounds, Jesus heals.[1]

Jesus made it His mission to provide the perfection we need.  St. John reports, “This, the beginning of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee.  He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”  The miracle at the wedding in Cana provided proof for Jesus’ newly-called disciples, and for all of us, that He is the long-promised Savior of the world.  Jesus turned that ordinary water into the best of wine so that no one should doubt His identity.  If you remember the Genesis account of how God created the earth and everything in it, recall the simple statement that summarizes God’s entire work, “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) 

On the day of that wedding feast in Cana, no one would have guessed that the servants who bore that cup of water-made-into-wine to the master of the feast were carrying the very best wine available.  Yet, that’s exactly what that man declared Jesus had provided.  “The master of the banquet called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the guests have had plenty to drink, then the cheaper wine.  You saved the good wine until now!’”  Ordinarily, the first glass of wine shared at a celebration, even today, is the very best that will be served, and the servers move to the lesser quality beverages as the party goes on.  But here, near the end of the celebration, Jesus provides the very best.

We should never let go of that point; Jesus provides the very best.  For every failure in our lives, Jesus provides His perfect holiness to cover us.  For every sin we commit, Jesus is the cure.  For every time we fall short, Jesus provides His life, His body, His blood, His righteousness.  For all the sinners of the world, including you and me, Jesus gave Himself as the final sacrifice, “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)  And, Christ’s holiness is credited to each of us, because “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)

Jesus had the servants fill the water pots full to overflowing.  St. John tells us that this was somewhere between one hundred twenty and one hundred eighty gallons of wine, likely far more than was necessary to conclude the party, even if all the people of Cana were attending.  That, too, should be a sign for us.  Just as the wine Jesus made from plain water was far more than needed to finish the celebration of that wedding, so His righteousness is sufficient for the whole world.  Jesus’ holiness isn’t going to run out.  God declared, “'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.'" (Isaiah 49:6)

There is no substitute for what Jesus gives.  We cannot substitute works, either ours or anyone else’s.  There is no other cure for our failings.  Only Jesus provides the very best.  Jesus is the only solution for our falling short of God’s holiness. 

My friends, Jesus took simple water and made it wine.  Today, He takes simple water in Baptism and makes each believer holy in God’s sight, washing away all our sins.  He takes simple bread and wine and feeds us with His true body and blood as evidence that He has paid the full price for all our failures.  He thereby strengthens us to live according to His will. 

On the cross, Jesus carried all the sins of the world, yours and mine included, while offering to our Father in heaven His own life of complete obedience and perfect holiness as the final sacrifice for the sins of the world.  For Jesus’ sake, you and I were declared holy in God’s sight.  Nothing more is needed for you to enjoy the best thing you could ever want or need, your home in heaven, wherein by Jesus’ holiness, “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)  Today, there is nothing more needed for us to be saved than to follow the examples of Jesus’ disciples and believe in Him, for Jesus provides the very best.  Amen.

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

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[1] Joh. Ylvisaker, The Gospels: A Synoptic Presentation of the Text in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1932), 137.

Worship God with your whole life.

Sermon for Epiphany 1, January 12, 2020

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

Romans 12:1-5  Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice—holy and pleasing to God—which is your appropriate worship.  ²Also, do not continue to conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you test and approve what is the will of God—what is good, pleasing, and perfect.  ³So by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think in a way that results in sound judgment, as God distributed a measure of faith to each of you.  ⁴For we have many members in one body, and not all the members have the same function.  ⁵In the same way, though we are many, we are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. (EHV)

Worship God with your whole life.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            At first glance, the word, Therefore, may seem insignificant and unnecessary.  When reading a section of God’s Word like we have before us, it can be easy to just skip over the therefore and pay little attention.  Yet, therefore is a pivot word, signaling to us that the meaning of what comes after it depends on what came before—something we need to know in order to understand what follows.

Each of us has had lots of therefores in our lives.  A man was speeding; therefore, the police officer stopped him and gave him a ticket, and therefore, he had to pay a fine.  You worked a full schedule this week; therefore, you expect a full paycheck from your employer.  The virgin Mary gave birth to her first-born Son; therefore, there was great rejoicing in heaven and on earth.

Now, throughout history, the opinion of the law written in our hearts had most people convinced that because we sin against God, therefore, we should do something to regain God’s favor, indeed that we must somehow mollify God’s wrath in order to survive.  This led to all the ancient pagan religions and influences many others still today.

Likewise, if you read these last chapters of Paul’s letter to the Roman congregation believing that you must earn your salvation, you will misread Paul’s instructions as a way to gain God’s favor.  For that reason, the therefore is so important here.  Paul wrote, “Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God.”  As Paul writes this sentence, he is referring back to what he wrote in 11:32, where he said that God’s desire is to have mercy on all people.  It is imperative that we understand that no one is saved by any action he himself undertakes.  Salvation is given, only and completely, by God’s grace and nothing else.  Only when we understand that, can we really comprehend what Paul is saying in this text.

“By the mercies of God,” your sins have been removed from you and put on Christ Jesus.  “By the mercies of God,” you were made a believer through Baptism and the hearing of God’s Word.  “By the mercies of God,” each one of us has been delivered from the clutches of the devil and rescued from eternal slavery to that evil tempter who seeks only our destruction.  “By the mercies of God,” we have a Friend who won’t abandon us and a home waiting for us in heaven because of Jesus’ life and death.  Paul is even saying that “by the mercies of God,” he was given the opportunity to write these words for you and me to instruct us to live our lives in thanksgiving and praise.  In other words, he tells us that it is reasonable and proper to Worship God with your whole life.

Paul wrote, “Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice—holy and pleasing to God—which is your appropriate worship.”  Throughout the history of Israel before Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, God’s people were bringing sacrifices to lay before the Lord, but those sacrifices were not for God’s benefit; He had no use for the bulls and lambs that were burnt on the altars. (Psalm 50)  Instead, all the sacrifices in the Old Testament were commanded for one primary reason, to point the people to the final sacrifice for sin which is Christ Jesus on the cross.  Therefore, there is no need for us to bring dead sacrifices anymore.  We have been set free from all of that. 

Now, assuming we were set free from sin, death, and Satan, as the Lord proclaims, why would we ever want to go back to serving that lying, thieving, murdering, accuser known as Satan?  There really are only two ways we can go in this life.  We can choose to continue serving the evil liar that brought all the trouble this world experiences every day, or we can follow the God-Man who rescued us from the evil one’s control.  Those are the only two options available to anyone in this world.  Therefore, Paul pleads with you, Worship God with your whole life.

It is our “appropriate worship” to serve our Lord with every part of our being.  Anything else serves the devil.  Paul is reminding all who read this book that our reasonable service is not to bring a sacrifice to the temple on occasion, it’s not just showing up at church on an occasional Sunday—or every Sunday—or even every day of the week.  The reasonable service for each Christian is to Worship God with his whole life.  It’s the only thing that makes sense to the Lord, or to the true Christian.  To come into this building and offer up prayers and shouts of praise to God, but then walk out the door and forget who it is we serve defies any kind of logic, because it would mean we are following two leaders.  Yet, Christ and the devil always go in completely opposite directions.

Of course, we all know that we are horrible failures when it comes to serving God in every way and at all times.  At the same time, we know God expects us to be holy.  Thus, our lives here on earth are a continual battle between our new life of faith and our old nature of sin and death.  Sometimes, we even struggle to know just what is the right thing to do in a certain situation.  The only solution is to put our complete trust in Christ Jesus as our Savior and our life.  Therefore, we make every effort to obey God and serve Him in all things, all the while knowing with confidence that though we fail, Christ Jesus has accomplished perfect obedience on our behalf. 

Our need to be constantly growing in faith and especially, being continually led by our Good Shepherd, is why Paul wrote, “Also, do not continue to conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you test and approve what is the will of God—what is good, pleasing, and perfect.”  All we can do on our own is conform to this world.  It’s interesting that in the Greek, Paul uses an active verb for conforming to the world, but he uses a passive verb for being transformed.  Our human nature is always battling to be, or to stay in control, whether it be in evil action, or in striving to please God through our own efforts. 

Tragically, conforming to the world can only lead to eternal death.  At the same time, we lack any ability to transform ourselves into what is good and God-pleasing  Therefore, we need the Holy Spirit to transform us by making our minds new.  Our transformation is accomplished only by the Holy Spirit working in us, which is why King David prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God.  Renew an unwavering spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)

The Holy Spirit works only one way, through the power of God’s holy Word.  Therefore, when we separate from God’s Word, we will always choose evil, even if we think we are doing something good.  Earlier, I said that it isn’t our coming to church that makes us acceptable to God, and that’s true, but here in His congregation, God works to give us faith, and to sustain it, in the first place through Baptism and the preaching of His Word, and then He uses the worship services and Bible studies to strengthen us and preserve us so that we never fall back into the hands of the evil foe.  St. John tells us in his first letter, “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7) 

If you are at all like me, your conscience often reminds you that our obedience of God’s law falls far short of the holiness we need to stand before Him in the Judgment, for we know our works are always imperfect.  Yet, the Good News is that in Christ everything we do, in obedience to God and faith in our Redeemer, is counted as holy for Jesus’ sake.  It is Christ’s righteousness that matters because His holiness is pure and without fault or error and is credited to us by faith. 

Therefore, Paul wrote, “So by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think in a way that results in sound judgment, as God distributed a measure of faith to each of you.”  We think too highly of ourselves if we consider our own works to be worthy of God’s acceptance.  Yet thinking with sound judgment, we hear and believe the Holy Spirit when He tells us that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

Dear friends, our Savior joined us to His own holy body as His Holy Spirit granted us the faith to believe in Jesus as our Savior.  Therefore, each time we hear the Good News and eat and drink Christ’s body and blood in the Sacrament, we are reminded of His sacrifice for our sins.  We are assured through His body and blood that we are forgiven for Jesus’ sake.  Consequently, as Christ’s body on earth, we don’t want to turn away from the life He gives.  Rather, connected to Christ, we want to live as whatever small part of His body He makes us, and we faithfully desire to live as obedient to God’s will as our Savior has already lived for us. 

God calls us to serve Him a multitude of ways.  The important thing is to Worship God with your whole life.  When every thought, word, and deed is concerned with pleasing our true Head, Christ Jesus, then we are truly growing in faith.  However, we must wait patiently for that perfection which will come only in the next life when our corrupt body “is raised in incorruption.” (1 Corinthians 15:42)  Therefore, until our day in heaven comes, our Lord and Savior calls us to walk with Him as He continues working our transformation, leading us to serve Him in thanksgiving for the salvation He brings, helping us to throw off the desires and corruptions of this world by daily wrapping His arms around us with His Word and His Spirit.  That is God’s mercy, and how He remains with us always.

Dear Christian friends, “By the mercies of God,” your Savior continually calls and encourages you to faithfulness.  Through His holy Word, He reaches down to take hold of horrible sinners like you and me and makes you each clean members of His own holy body, so that by the faith He implanted in you, you may truly Worship God with your whole life.  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto everlasting life, for the LORD is good.  His mercy endures forever.  His faithfulness continues through all generations.  Amen.

The Lord of light destroys the darkness.

Sermon for Epiphany, January 5, 2016

Grace and peace to you from God our Father, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  Amen.

Isaiah 60:1-6  Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is dawning upon you.  ² Look, darkness covers the earth, and deep darkness covers the peoples, but the Lord will dawn upon you, and his glory will be seen over you.  ³ Nations will walk to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.  ⁴ Look up.  Look all around and see!  All of them have been gathered.  They are coming to you.  Your sons will come from far away, and people will carry your daughters on their side.  ⁵ Then you will look and be radiant.  Your heart will race with excitement and burst with joy.  For great riches from the sea will be delivered to you.  The wealth of the nations will come to you.  ⁶ Caravans of camels will cover your land, young camels from Midian and Ephah.  All those from Sheba will come.  They will carry gold and incense, and they will announce the good news of the praise of the Lord. (EHV)

The Lord of light destroys the darkness.

Dear brothers and sisters of the Light,

            Many years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a tour through Mammoth Caves in Kentucky.  Well back in the deep recess of the cavern, the tour guide gave us a demonstration of complete darkness.  He turned off all the lights, and we stood there underground for a full minute seeing absolutely nothing.  You couldn’t see your hand an inch from your face.

Now, imagine if a blind person had been in our group.  What would that person have experienced?  You would have to say that he would notice no difference when the guide turned off the lights.  It would be the same as always, seeing nothing.  I think this describes the natural condition of mankind.  Since the fall into sin, every person is born in spiritual darkness, completely oblivious to the Light of God.  Here, Isaiah tells us about the cure, for The Lord of light destroys the darkness.

The prophet is speaking this message to Zion: the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, the Kingdom of God, the holy Christian Church, to the assembly of all believers in the One true God.  He wrote, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is dawning upon you.”  Seven hundred years before Jesus was born, Isaiah proclaimed the glory of the Promised Savior.  The people living at that time had to wait patiently for the full import.  Likewise, you and I look back confidently at the entrance of God’s Son into the world to rescue us from the deep darkness of sin and death.

A short time after Jesus was born, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, following the light of a miraculous star, seeking the new-born King of the Jews.  We celebrate that event on Epiphany.  Epiphany means the manifestation, or revealing, of God’s Son to the world, which we remember especially as the Christ revealing Himself to the Gentiles.  For us, the Light has come as Christ revealed Himself to us through Word and Sacrament.  His light coming to us brought us out of darkness into the light so that we could actually see again, and like the apostle, John, we can say, “We have seen his glory, the glory he has as the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

The prophet wrote, “Look, darkness covers the earth, and deep darkness covers the peoples, but the Lord will dawn upon you, and his glory will be seen over you.”  Pay attention, he says, for God has seen your hopeless predicament and brought the remedy of His love to light.  Look around and understand that much of the world is still afflicted by darkness.  Darkness in our hearts causes our sin.  Darkness is the driving force for all evil in the world.  The deep darkness is the thundercloud of evil covering those who don’t know the Living God.

We can see that dark cloud rising again in our time.  As people reject Christ and His Father in heaven, violence and wickedness grow stronger which leads to more and more heartache and pain.  Jesus talked about times like we live in when He said, “Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.  Because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:11-12)  Many people wring their hands and say what can we do to stop such cruelty and wickedness?  The answer is found solely in Jesus, for He said, “I am the Light of the World.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

In our time, Christianity is mocked, more people claim to be atheists, the scientific community pretends that there is no need for a Creator, and the majority of education in our world pushes against any idea of our God and Savior.  Similar to the days before God sent the floodwaters upon the earth to destroy almost all living things, and like the time of the Judges in Israel, we could say about our time, “In those days there was no king…, and every man did whatever was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)  This is what we face as Christian believers.  So, should we despair?  Should we throw up our hands and declare there is nothing we can do?

We could do studies and write vast volumes of books to show that passing more laws doesn’t stop crime.  No amount of pleading and begging will convince people to be holy.  Indeed, nothing we can do or say will change anyone’s heart, or bring them closer to salvation, except for this one thing: that we preach Christ Jesus and Him crucified, for only The Lord of light destroys the darkness.

To the kingdom of Zion, God declares, “the Lord will dawn upon you, and his glory will be seen over you.  Nations will walk to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.  Look up.  Look all around and see!  All of them have been gathered.  They are coming to you.  Your sons will come from far away, and people will carry your daughters on their side.  Then you will look and be radiant.  Your heart will race with excitement and burst with joy.”

The shepherds who heard the angel voices at Bethlehem went and told the things they had seen and heard—and people believed.  Later, Jesus walked the earth proclaiming God’s forgiveness and salvation through faith—and vast crowds were drawn to Jesus’ message.  But, it wasn’t just that Jesus was a great preacher, healer, or motivator of men.  It is the fact that God’s Son entered our world, even our human flesh, to live for us and die for our sins, so His light has lifted our darkness.

The glory of God walked among our forefathers in the faith.  The apostles lived with Jesus for three years under His instruction.  They witnessed the miracles He performed, the words He spoke.  They saw Jesus go to the cross like a Lamb to the slaughter, saw Him dead at the hands of Roman soldiers, and buried, and they saw Him rise from the grave on the third day just as He had promised.

Those twelve men were sent out from Jerusalem with the message of the Light of the world.  The truth of Jesus’ victory over sin and death changed darkness into light.  Going first to the scattered remnant of Israel, the apostles proclaimed forgiveness and salvation through faith in Jesus, and God’s chosen people were gathered from the far reaches of the known world.  As Isaiah had prophesied, the sons and daughters of Israel were brought back into the kingdom of the Lord. 

The proclamation of the Gospel changed the future for more than just the blood descendants of Jacob.  “The Lord said: ‘It is too small a thing that you should just be my servant to raise up only the tribes of Jacob and to restore the ones I have preserved in Israel, so I will appoint you to be a light for the nations, so that my salvation will be known to the end of the earth.’” (Isaiah 49:6)  This is where you and I come in.  The Light of Christ shined upon us as we heard the Gospel and God washed away our sins in Baptism.  The graciousness of our God was shown to us when He brought us to faith, so that trusting in Jesus as our Savior, we will see the glories of heaven.  What joy there is in heaven over every sinner who repents. (Luke 15:7)

In our text, Isaiah foretold, “For great riches from the sea will be delivered to you.  The wealth of the nations will come to you.”  Many have assumed this verse is talking about offerings of gold and silver to the Lord of heaven and earth, but it is rather, a picture of the people who have been rescued from the darkness of sin and gathered into the kingdom of heaven from all over the earth.  God isn’t impressed simply because of offerings of earthly riches.  Rather, He looks for hearts that have been enlightened to believe in His Son.

Dear friends, many around us still stumble through life in the dark.  They don’t know Jesus, don’t know of the forgiveness offered by His sacrifice and resurrection.  We send our children out into the world where we know they will be under constant attack by the forces of evil, where darkness will be praised by those still under the control of God’s enemy, and many people hide from Jesus’ light.  We live in a topsy-turvy world that promotes sin and calls evil good, that wants to glorify sinful lusts and desires, where God’s laws are mocked, His will derided, and personal pleasure is sought in every aspect of life.  All of this is the product of Satan’s lies and people trapped in darkness. 

Our children, and our friends and neighbors, desperately need the Light that only we can share.  We have been blessed to hear about the Savior of the world, and we are made radiant by the holiness He has put over us.  We have the pure light, the life-giving message of the Gospel, that Jesus lived, died, and rose again to take away the sins of the world.  Isaiah reminds us not to hide the glory that is ours by bashfulness or laziness, as he tells us, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is dawning upon you.” 

Martin Luther taught us:

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; just as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.  In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives me and all believers all our sins; and at the last day He will raise up me and all the dead, and will grant me and all believers in Christ eternal life.  This is most certainly true.

This is how we share in the work of the Holy Spirit, because the glory of God reflects off of us as we proclaim Christ Jesus to those still walking in darkness.  Who knows how many might yet be saved?  But we do know that The Lord of light destroys the darkness, so we boldly and faithfully proclaim His name.  Amen.

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

Jesus pleads for you and me.

Sermon for New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2019

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.  Amen.

Jesus pleads for you and me.

Dear brothers and sisters of Christ,

            “Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?…Produce fruit in keeping with repentance!” Matthew 3:8)  So said John the Baptist to the leaders and teachers of Judea when they came out to challenge him.  Likewise, when some men came to Jesus assuming that certain Galileans and accident victims were worse sinners than others since God had allowed them to be tragically killed, Jesus used this parable as a continuation of His rather blunt answer: “But unless you repent, you will all perish too.” (Luke 13:5)  In other words, death is the everlasting end for anyone who does not repent.  On the other hand, salvation has been provided us, because Jesus pleads for you and me.

Luke 13:6-9  ⁶ He told them this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard.  He came looking for fruit on it, but he did not find any.  ⁷ So he said to the gardener, ‘Look, for three years now I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and I have found none.  Cut it down.  Why even let it use up the soil?’  ⁸ But the gardener replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it.  ⁹ If it produces fruit next year, fine.  But if not, then cut it down.’” (EHV)

The first inclination a pastor might have, as he prepares to preach on this text, is to command people to produce fruit for the Lord.  At least, that was my temptation.  Yet, Jesus’ parable gives no command to the tree, even though it is in the tree that the owner seeks fruit.  Instead, in Jesus’ comparison, the gardener intercedes on the tree’s behalf with the promise of doing all he can to help the tree become productive.  Then having done so, the chips, we might say, would fall as they may.  What this parable shows us today is that

1.    Jesus pleads with us for our repentance.

2.    He pleads with the Father for time for us to repent.

3.    And through Word and Sacrament He feeds and nourishes us for repentance.

In telling this parable, Jesus was pleading for those questioning people to repent.  He was also pleading with us to repent.  What does it mean to repent?  Does it mean just saying you are sorry for something?  Does it mean there is some penance we must do to qualify a confession as repentance?

When little children hurt a playmate or take a toy without asking, they are often told, “Say you are sorry.”  From that experience growing up, it isn’t all that uncommon for people to assume that repenting means just saying you are sorry, and the hurt party should just get over it.  Yet, our consciences somehow tell us that isn’t exactly the definition of repentance, because the hurt is often still there.  So, what does repentance mean in the kingdom of God?

In applying this parable, we need to realize that it is directed at the citizens of God’s kingdom.  The Jews were in that kingdom by their faith in God’s covenant promises as demonstrated by their use of circumcision, which was the sign of God’s covenant with Israel. 

We are members of God’s kingdom by a new covenant, and the sign for us is Baptism.  Baptism gives rebirth to spiritual life, works faith in the sinner, cleanses us of our sins, and welcomes us into God’s kingdom.  And in His kingdom, Jesus pleads for our fruit of repentance.

The literal meaning of repentance is to turn around.  Remorse for our sins is certainly part of repentance, but not the only part.  Along with sorrow for what we have done wrong comes seeking to do what is right, and most important of all, repentance in the Kingdom of God means turning away from pretending to please God by ourselves, because our works will never do it.  Instead, repentance means that we will find our forgiveness, and our righteousness, in Christ Jesus. 

The people Jesus spoke to, here, thought they could win God’s favor by their works, but Jesus was warning them that they were headed to destruction with that pagan idea.  The unproductive fig tree in the vineyard represented the people of Israel who were rejecting Jesus.  In the picture, when the owner of the vineyard found no fruit on this particular tree of his vineyard, he was ready to excise it from his ground.  What good was it doing by taking up the space?  Cut it down.  Get rid of it.  Burn it for firewood.  This shows that the final fate for anyone who does not repent is the fires of hell.

What spared the tree was an intercessor, someone pleading its cause.  For you and me, and Israel too, that Intercessor is Jesus.  Just like the gardener in the parable, Jesus pleads for you and me.  Jesus pleads with us to repent, and He pleads with His Father in heaven to give us time—time for His intervention to work in our lives—a growing season in which we might be brought to faith so that the true fruit of repentance may well up in our lives bringing changed hearts and actions, and especially, true faith in our Redeemer. 

In his letter to the Roman congregation, St. Paul wrote, “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!” (Romans 8:34)  Peter also spoke of this when he wrote, “The Lord is not slow to do what he promised, as some consider slowness.  Instead, he is patient for your sakes, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

The fact is, however, just giving us more time wouldn’t help us sinners produce true fruit in God’s vineyard.  We need the Lord to do His work, and He does.  In the parable, “the gardener replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it.  If it produces fruit next year, fine.  But if not, then cut it down.’” 

The gardener would do everything in his power to help that tree be productive.  Jesus does the same for you and me.  First of all, as we all know, Jesus took our sins upon Himself and paid the full penalty for our guilt on the cross.  We dare not minimize that, for without His intercession for us there, we wouldn’t even have the chance to repent.  But let’s not forget the holy life He lived for us during His time on earth.  Christ’s perfect obedience is credited to us by faith, so that the Father in heaven can now rightly look on the members of His kingdom as holy and acceptable in His sight.

Still, that leaves our days on earth as a time to grow in our fruitfulness.  And again, the Lord is our answer.  The Lord sends His Spirit through Word and Sacrament to work the soil in our hearts and lives so that we are first brought to faith and implanted in His heavenly kingdom.  He then continues His work through pastors, teachers, and loving parents who regularly bring their children before the Lord to hear His word, to receive His blessing, to nourish them with the love of God in Christ Jesus.  Just like it isn’t considered good parenting to give your family a meal once or twice a month, faithful people let the Word of God surround them and their children with daily nourishment, doing so as the Lord Jesus moves them to share His love with each other.

Furthermore, the Lord Jesus feeds us in the most direct way possible by putting His own precious body and blood on our lips and tongues.  The blood He shed on our behalf on that cross outside Jerusalem is in, with, and under the wine of His Supper, empowering us to produce the fruit of repentance God seeks in us.  The very flesh of the Lamb of God, who bore the stripes we deserved and was sacrificed for us on the altar of the cross, is there in the bread just as Jesus said.  St. Paul verified Jesus’ promise when he wrote,

“The Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.’  In the same way, after the meal, he also took the cup, saying,  ‘This cup is the new testament in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

As we close out the old year and enter the new, Jesus pleads for you and me.  Jesus pleads with us to turn away from the ways of the world, urging us to turn away from the sins and corruption so rampant in society, and to walk with Him by faith with His light shining forth in our lives of service to those around us.  Continually, He pleads our case with the Father in heaven, holding back the judgment we deserved for our unproductive pasts, while He holds up His own righteousness as ours, and promises us, “I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13)  Finally, our Intercessor comes to us again and again through Word and Sacrament, nourishing our repentance—inviting, empowering, teaching, and filling us with His love.

In the final days before Jesus suffered His passion on our behalf, He told His disciples, “If anyone loves me, he will hold on to my word.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23).  This is the blessing of the repentance Jesus seeks in us.  Not trusting in ourselves, or in our own works, but holding on to His righteousness, innocence, and blessedness—shared with us in His Gospel—as the source of our salvation.

Dear brothers and sisters of the Living Savior, know, as you come forward tonight to eat and drink Christ’s body and blood, that all your sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake, and by the faith He has grown in you, you have been made fruitful because Jesus pleads for you and me.  Amen.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless in the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, power, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all time, now, and to all eternity.  Amen.