Jesus has done all things well.

 

Sermon for Trinity 12, August 30, 2020

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.

Mark 7:31–37  ³¹Jesus left the region of Tyre again and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis.  ³²They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment.  They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him.  ³³Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd.  He put his fingers into the man’s ears.  Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue.  ³⁴After he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”)  ³⁵Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak plainly.  ³⁶Jesus gave the people strict orders to tell no one, but the more he did so, the more they kept proclaiming it.  ³⁷They were amazed beyond measure and said, “He has done everything well.  He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!” (EHV)

Jesus has done all things well.

Dear Christian friends,

            Throughout the course of your life, you will work thousands of days at your job, commit uncountable hours taking care of your family, devote numerous hours to your civic responsibilities, and spend who knows how much more time simply helping your friends and neighbors.  Yet, at the end of the day, who among us could swear that we have done all things well? 

We ask ourselves, was every one of those days, hours, and minutes perfectly executed for the good of those around us?  Is there ever a moment when our attitudes are less than loving and kind?  Could anyone of us really claim to have obeyed parents, coaches, and teachers, perfectly, and always gone above and beyond expectations?

I have to admit that I’ve never been named “employee of the month.”  I’m not likely to receive any lifetime achievement awards.  At the end of the day, it is possible that I haven’t always been even my wife’s favorite person.  Likewise, I suspect that if you are anything at all like me, it’s pretty safe to say that none of us have “done everything well.”  In contrast, however, here we see the amazed crowds of Galilee acknowledging with great enthusiasm that Jesus has done all things well.

The gist of this account is that a group of people brought a deaf and mute friend to Jesus with the sincere hope of a miracle to release that poor man from his sorrow.  Jesus’ response seems like such a simple act of mercy, especially for the Son of God, but we should look a bit closer and see all that Jesus did for us that day.

Mark notes that “Jesus left the region of Tyre again and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis.”  That sounds like a simple report, that is until we note that this is a bit like us going to Sioux Falls by taking a shortcut through Willmar, and Jesus did it on foot.  Now, I don’t know the exact length of His journey, but the point is, Jesus went out of His way to be in position to carry out this miracle.  Our sinful nature likes to think that most things happen by chance, but Jesus left nothing to chance when it comes to carrying out His Father’s will, and it was God’s will to demonstrate Jesus’ power and bring relief to a suffering individual, and to us.

Mark’s report of this miracle supplies several pictures that teach about how Jesus’ help and salvation come to us.  Mark reported: They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment.  They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him. 

In this deaf-mute, see a picture of our natural condition.  Many in our world like to think that we can learn of Jesus on our own, seek His mercy on our own, or otherwise learn, without God’s intervention, of the salvation won for us.  Yet, the Bible makes it clear that on our own we are spiritually dead, deaf, and blind.  Furthermore, apart from Christ, we can’t even say a good word to a neighbor. 

Therefore, here, we have two pictures of how salvation comes our way: on the one hand, friends bring this troubled man to the only One who can heal his misery.  Second, the true Son of God opens the man’s ears to hear, and thus empowers him to speak plainly.  The point is that no one comes to Jesus on his own.  Yet, God works behind the scenes in the world to carry the saving message of the Gospel through the people who believe in Jesus.  It is believers like you and me who can lead hurting, deaf-to-the-Good-News souls to the only Physician who can help them.

As we continue with our pictures, Mark tells us: Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd.  He put his fingers into the man’s ears.  Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue.  After he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”)  Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak plainly.

Jesus took that deaf man and dealt with him privately, individually, personally.  We can speculate about how or why Jesus did His miracle in this fashion, but it shows us that Jesus deals with us individually and in a way that we can learn what He is doing for us.  And then, He points us to heaven. 

Jesus used one word to repair that man’s hearing.  That same word tells us what Jesus has done for us eternally.  “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”)  By that simple phrase Jesus healed the deaf man’s ears.  At the same time, Jesus shows that He has opened heaven for all who hear His voice and believe.

Dear friends, our failures, sins, and deafness to the commands of our Creator kept us locked in a prison of suffering and pain.  It kept us voiceless to tell others about how to escape the shame.  Then someone who loved us brought us to Jesus, and Jesus heals us, in our case not with a spit on the ground, but with a bit of water poured over us or sprinkled on our heads as the words of Baptism healed our spiritual infirmity, giving us faith in Jesus, and opening the gates of heaven to us.

Was the miracle a success?  Mark tells us, Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak plainly.  Speaking is something children have to learn how to do.  In order to do so, they need to hear other voices speaking.  We learn to speak the language of those who care for us.  A deaf person does not have that chance, therefore, it is impossible to learn to speak clearly.  This man was restored both in hearing and clear diction.  There was no doubt a miracle had been performed.

Likewise, a miracle happens in each person who has his, or her, spiritual hearing restored.  When we are brought to faith, the words of the Gospel enter and effect a change in us.  That is the power of Jesus’ voice in the Gospel.  It isn’t someone making a decision to be healed; it is God healing us and giving us the ability to hear, learn, and speak.  We should even say, it gives us the ability to love truly.

Jesus took the man where He found him and gave Him the gift of hope.  The deaf man’s friends showed their love for him by leading him to Jesus.  They believed Jesus could heal his condition, and the reward for their faith is that Jesus also loved that man, not in emotion, but in action.  This is God’s promise to parents who bring their children to baptism, that Jesus will heal their spiritual deafness and give them hope.

Of course, we know that not every person who is baptized continues in saving faith, but that isn’t Jesus’ fault.  Rather, it may be ours if we don’t continue to bring our loved ones to Jesus. 

If Jesus has done all things well, why might He not want this news spread around?  Jesus was already dealing with those who wanted to make Him king just for His miracles.  Christ didn’t want the crowds seeking just the physical miracles but rather the eternal blessings He came to achieve. 

Jesus didn’t come into the world to give momentary happiness while leaving us to destruction.  Instead, He came to win our release from the prison of sin and death.  Therefore, Jesus wanted people focused on the prophetic message of the Scriptures which point to Jesus as the Lamb of God who would suffer and die for the sins of the world. 

Jesus gave the people strict orders to tell no one, but the more he did so, the more they kept proclaiming it.  They were amazed beyond measure and said, “He has done everything well.  He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”  Here, Mark gives us a picture of the joy of faith.  As much as Jesus wanted the people to wait to spread the news, they just couldn’t help themselves.  Trouble is, they didn’t yet know what Jesus really could do.  Instead of healing just minor ailments like deafness, disease, and hunger, Jesus would soon do His greatest miracle: He would give His life to restore righteousness to sinners like you and me.  Until that victory was won, it was too soon to proclaim what Jesus could do.  For you and me, however, that time has come.

To the last breath He drew, and the last words He spoke, Jesus has done all things well.  Jesus lived a perfect life so we could be credited before God with perfect righteousness.  In love, Jesus carried our guilt to the cross and suffered the shame of death in our place so that He could restore us to eternal life.  And now, it truly is time for us to tell our neighbors the good news. 

Because Jesus loved us like he loved that deaf man, we have the opportunity to lead our friends to Jesus for this same healing.  Immediately before ascending to His Father’s side in heaven, Jesus told His followers, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and gather disciples from all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to keep all the instructions I have given you.  And surely I am with you always until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Because Jesus has fully conquered sin, death, and the devil, we can have the same joy that the crowd around that deaf man experienced when they saw him healed.  We can take those we care about by the hand and lead them to Jesus.  We bow our knees and pray to God to touch the spiritually deaf around us so that they too may hear His Word.  Through our congregations, we proclaim at every opportunity, both great and small, that Jesus died to give them eternal life. 

Now, we know that none of us does this perfectly.  Many times we might be afraid to speak, afraid we might say the wrong thing, or maybe afraid our friends won’t like us for leading them to the Healer.  Often this fear is a misguided concern that we have to change that person, but we can’t change anyone.  We can only share the Good News that Jesus has healed us, and He is ready, willing, and able to heal them too.

Dear Christian friends, we live in a time when it is apparent that the world needs Jesus’ love as much now as it ever has.  In spite of our fears, our neighbors need to know that Jesus loved them enough to live and die to make them right with God.  In all this, do not be afraid.  Because Jesus has done all things well, He has perfectly covered our sins and weaknesses and opened heaven for all who believe.  Jesus did that for you and me.  His death covers all our sins—and all our fears too.  If ever you wonder whether Jesus’ sacrifice was enough to cover your guilt and fears, remember the words of the crowd that day: Jesus has done all things well.  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. 

Hear the word of the Lord—so to live.

 

Sermon for Trinity 10, August 16, 2020

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.  All who do his precepts have good understanding.  Amen.

Jeremiah 7:1-7  The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.  ²Stand in the gate of the House of the Lord and proclaim this message there.  Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who are coming through this gate to worship the Lord.  ³This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says.  Reform your ways and your actions, and I will establish you in this place.  ⁴Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.”  ⁵Sincerely reform your ways and your actions.  Carry out justice between a man and his neighbor.  ⁶Do not oppress the alien who lives in your land, the fatherless, or the widow.  Do not shed innocent blood in this place.  Do not follow after other gods to your own harm.  If you avoid these things, ⁷I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your fathers forever and ever. (EHV)

Hear the word of the Lord—so to live.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            If you wanted to summarize the message God gave Jeremiah to proclaim in the temple gates, you couldn’t do any better than to say, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)  Our text simply restates the primary law given to God’s people, proclaimed again with the intention of correcting their wandering ways.  Accordingly, we might say: Hear the word of the Lord—so to live.

The people of Israel had been promised many things that were conditional on their faithfulness to the Lord, but time and again, they had failed miserably at following in their forefathers’ footsteps.  Not that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were without sin.  In fact, they each had their own failings.  Yet, they trusted God’s promise completely, and it was that trust and faith in the One true God that changed their lives forever.

The same gospel promises that gave salvation to the patriarchs were available to the Israelites of Jeremiah’s time.  They simply no longer cared.  Success and wealth in the world took priority in their lives.  The power of the Almighty no longer impressed them either.  Now, they simply took for granted that God, who had promised to dwell with them in the temple, would protect them whether they served faithfully and believed Him or not.  Their worship became a charade—offering sacrifices because that’s what the nation always did, but at the same time also worshipping the gods of their neighbors, because it was fun, or because the neighbors seemed successful worshipping their idols.  Or, they didn’t worship any god because who is to say that the gods had anything to do with worldly success?

If that sounds anything like our world, it’s because the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Mankind has always taken advantage of God’s providence and forbearance.  Perhaps we do too.  How often do we take for granted that God will bless us with good health and bountiful crops?  How often are we disappointed or even accusatory against God when He allows seemingly bad things into our lives?  How often do we enjoy following the ways of the world rather than gladly hear and obey His divine instructions?

It is always easy for us to pick the low-hanging fruit and point at other people and other church bodies that disobey God.  Yet, we need to humble ourselves and realize that no one is perfect, no one can stand in the Lord’s judgment on his or her own merit.

That’s why the chief purpose of God’s Word is to bring His promises of forgiveness and salvation to light.  Jeremiah was to proclaim, “Reform your ways and your actions, and I will establish you in this place.  Do not trust in deceptive words.”  The deceptive words they faced were the errors of the faithless teachers and false prophets among them.  Israel was not without preachers, teachers, and prophets.  However, the vast majority of those had abandoned the Lord for earthly gain.

Again, we find it much the same in our day.  Our nation may consider itself a Christian nation, but to our shame, many of the churches and denominations have abandoned the truth of the scriptures for a variety of humanistic fancies.  We dare not think that those wicked delusions could have no effect on us.  We must fight continually to hold ourselves, and our children, to the pure word of our Lord lest we succumb to the ways of the unbelieving world.

But when we stand with the Lord Jesus, who pleaded with His Father on our behalf saying, “Sanctify them by the truth.  Your word is truth. (John 17:17), the rewards are magnificent and eternal.  St. Paul so poignantly quoted Isaiah and declared, “‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news of peace, who preach the gospel of good things!’  But not all obeyed the gospel.  For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who believed our message?’  So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:15-17)

Hear the word of the Lord—so to live.  The word gives life.  Jesus promised, “The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, God’s wrath remains on him.” (John 3:36)  St. Paul later assured his fellow believers, “God chose you from the beginning for salvation by the sanctifying work of the Spirit and faith in the truth.  For this reason he also called you through our gospel so that you would obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14)

Our Lord didn’t send His prophets and apostles out to the world just to teach mankind how to be nice to each other, how to become rich, or to declare that what the majority of people decide is good enough, or even that we must make everyone’s life pleasant on earth.  Instead, the Son of God came into the world to rescue us out of this corruption, and having won our release from sin and death, Jesus sends salvation to us through the work of the Holy Spirit in the message of the Gospel.

The holy Scriptures are focused on bringing salvation to the world through faith in Christ Jesus.  Everything centers on that truth.  At the same time, there is much in God’s Word to guide us in our daily living as believers and members of God’s kingdom.  If God is good, merciful, and kind, should not we His children also be so?  The obvious answer is yes.

The people of Judah in Jeremiah’s day ignored God’s Word and used His temple only as a good luck charm.  Faith was not important to much of that crowd, obviously excepting Jeremiah and a remnant of other faithful believers still clinging to God’s promises.  That’s why the Lord had Jeremiah stand in the temple gates proclaiming day after day: “Sincerely reform your ways and your actions.  Carry out justice between a man and his neighbor.  Do not oppress the alien who lives in your land, the fatherless, or the widow.  Do not shed innocent blood in this place.  Do not follow after other gods to your own harm.” 

God was deeply offended when His people brought offerings only in the hope of buying a better crop or business success.  Furthermore, He insisted that no member of His kingdom cheat his neighbor or take advantage of the downtrodden and stranger.  The lives of their fellow man were to be protected and cherished.  In this election season, we should be asking ourselves, is it justice to allow unborn children to be callously slaughtered in the womb?  Is it justice to allow rioting, robbery, and burning of our neighbors’ property?  At the same time, we must examine ourselves to see whether we are doing what we can to help and befriend those among us who need our love.

God says, “Sincerely reform your ways and your actions.”  The apostle John wrote, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his Word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8-10)  In humility, we bow before the Lord God of heaven and earth confessing our shortcomings and failures, our sins and iniquities.

Still, our faithfulness to God doesn’t stop with just saying we are sorry.  James wrote, “If a brother or sister needs clothes and lacks daily food and one of you tells them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but does not give them what their body needs, what good is it?  So also, such “faith,” if it is alone and has no works, is dead.” (James 2:15-17)

In this text, the plea to trust in the one true God rings out again.  God said, “Do not follow after other gods to your own harm.”  After the Lord rescued His people out of slavery in Egypt, He declared to them, “I the Lord your God am a jealous God.  I follow up on the guilt of the fathers with their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren, if they also hate me.  But I show mercy to thousands who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:5-6)  Our Creator rightly expects complete loyalty and trust.  God knows He is the only One who can help and save us—the only One who can take away our guilt and restore us in righteousness.

Through good times and bad, the faithful look to God’s hand for whatever they might need.  Through times of plenty or poverty, prominence or persecution, we look with thanksgiving to the Lord.  Though every person in history has sinned against God, God has been faithful to His promise to rescue us through a Son of the woman.  That Son of God and Man is Jesus. 

Through Jesus, God showed mercy to the world—to you and me.  Jesus told His disciples, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15)

The Gospel tells us that Jesus, the Son of Man, was lifted up on a cross shedding His blood to cover our sins and giving His life so that we might truly live.  The word of God guides us and saves us.  Hear the word of the Lord—so to live.  Amen.

May the LORD our God be with us, just as he was with our fathers.  May he never leave us or abandon us.  May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways.  Amen.

Make friends for your eternal home.

 

Sermon for Trinity 9, August 9, 2020

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

Luke 16:1–9  Jesus also said to his disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager who was accused of wasting his possessions.  ²The rich man called him in and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you?  Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be manager.’  ³“The manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, since my master is taking away the management position from me?  I am not strong enough to dig.  I am ashamed to beg.  ⁴I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from my position as manager, people will receive me into their houses.’  ⁵“He called each one of his master’s debtors to him.  He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’  ⁶He said, ‘Six hundred gallons of olive oil.’  He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write three hundred.’  ⁷Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’  And he said, ‘Six hundred bushels of wheat.’  He said to him, ‘Take your bill and write four hundred and eighty.’  ⁸“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.  For the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the children of the light are.  ⁹I tell you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon, so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings.” (EHV)

Make friends for your eternal home.

Dear Christian friends,

            Jesus certainly picked an interesting individual to make a point for His disciples, didn’t He.  In fact, this steward has become almost famous for his treachery.  Thus, we would normally think that this steward would have nothing for us to emulate, so why did Jesus tell this parable and what, really, was He trying to teach us? 

The steward managed a very wealthy man’s entire holdings.  He had complete control of the rich man’s wealth, but it appears that rather than use his position properly to help his master, he was cheating his employer, and likely everyone he dealt with, for his own personal comfort.

Now, that may sound a bit judgmental, and perhaps it is.  Yet, the steward didn’t try to defend himself of the charges against him.  He didn’t beg for mercy.  Nor did the master ask the steward to defend himself.  He simply demanded that the steward return his record books, because his employment was over.  If the steward could not be trusted, completely, he could no longer hold this position of trust.

The steward had an intriguing response, though.  He didn’t complain.  He didn’t panic.  He immediately realized that he didn’t have the capacity to make his living with physical labor.  Begging for his livelihood was beneath his dignity.  So, he considered that his best option was to make himself so appreciated among his associates that they would provide for his needs in his retirement.  The first debtor was told to cut his bill in half; the second had his reduced twenty percent, and so on through each of the debtors. 

Now, as shocked as we might be that the master wasn’t furious about this steward continuing to cheat him, Jesus tells us that the master was impressed.  He didn’t mention his own loss, but rather, complimented the steward for his shrewdness in taking care of his own skin.  So, considering all these ethical lapses, what is Jesus point?

As Jesus spoke this parable, He didn’t concern Himself about the guilt or innocence of the steward, or the debtors.  Rather, He said, “I tell you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon, so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings.” 

Now, as we begin to examine this parable, we need to understand that Jesus wasn’t telling us to cheat our neighbors or employers.  He wasn’t teaching that the end justifies the means.  His sole, and only, point is to instruct us to use shrewdly our position of stewardship of the riches of His grace to Make Friends for our eternal home. 

Jesus said, “The children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the children of the light are.”  From this we should understand that there are two types of people, those of the world and those of the light.  “The sons of this world” are the unbelievers who remain focused on worldly things.  You may see attitudes like “it’s just business” and “everything is business.”  This lends the idea that anything goes as long as their worldly goals are reached.  Scruples may become irrelevant.  Who gets hurt isn’t given much consideration, for the sons of the world are supremely focused on satisfying their own desires.

“The children of the light,” on the other hand, are all those people who have come to faith in Jesus as their Savior.  What Jesus’ points out is that the sons of light, the Christian believers, often aren’t so similarly focused on what’s truly valuable.  You see, while Christians have been entrusted with the stewardship of all the riches of heaven, we often get sidetracked from the true purpose we are given in this world.  Jesus wants believers to properly manage the spiritual riches God gives us.  Because our Lord “wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” (1 Timothy 2:4), we must ask, how shrewdly are we using everything at our disposal to Make Friends for our eternal home?

The steward in this parable didn’t much care about his proper role as manager for his master.  He wasn’t particularly concerned about helping his neighbors, either.  He was mostly concerned with taking care of himself; thus, his end is banishment from the master’s house. 

As Jesus taught the people, He described Himself as the Light, and then He told the people, “While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light.” (John 12:36)  As the sons of light, entrusted with the riches of heaven, we should be expected to be totally committed to growing God’s kingdom.  Yet, how often are we also forced to admit that we have cheated our Master?  Like the debtors around us, we all deserve to be cast out of the Master’s presence.  Yet, we are entrusted with the gospel of our Savior which means that all our sins have been forgiven in Christ Jesus, and Jesus wants us to use His great wealth of mercy to Make friends for your eternal home.

In our sermon text, Jesus tells us to be shrewd in our dealings with all the things God gives us, for the purpose of reaching those who are lost from God.  Jesus said, “I tell you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon, so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings.”  Two things we should understand.  First, the things of this world will come to an end.  Secondly, God wants us to be wise in our use of every worldly possession and talent, and the riches of His gospel, in order to win Christian friends with whom we can spend eternity.

Naturally, it’s time for a little self-examination.  How well are we each doing at using God’s riches to accomplish His goals for our lives?  Do we sit down each day and examine whether our behavior is a draw for the unbeliever to seek Christ?  Do we always carefully examine how we use our money to see if we are using it for God-pleasing purposes and to help spread the Gospel?  Do we carefully consider the words we use as we speak to neighbors and friends, or do we allow any old thing to slip from our lips in the course of the day?  Do our lifestyles proclaim to the world that we are God’s faithful servants?  Do we view every aspect of our lives here on earth as something God works for the good of those who love Him, or are we floundering about chasing selfish desires without demonstrating much faith in God at all?

With no concern for his master, the wicked steward focused solely on his personal, earthly comfort.  However, as professing Christians, we know that we will only be truly comfortable in the forgiveness of our Savior.  So, are we focused completely on the truth of the gospel?  If we have any honesty at all, we will confess that we sometimes lose our focus.  We all have to confess that not every dollar we have been given goes to a god-pleasing purpose, not every moment of our lives is spent in perfect harmony with God’s will, not every moment of every day has been spent in reaching out with the Gospel.

Dear Christian friends, we live in a country were the common goals are to get more riches, more stuff, and more pleasure: where individual freedom has become license to live in any way we want regardless of whether it pleases God.  Jesus’ words remind us that this world will end and warn us that if our focus is on gaining the things of this world, we will spend eternity with false friends whose focus was on things that lead to hell.  He also shows us that His goal of winning lost souls for His kingdom is also our goal to make friends for eternity.

The only way that anyone will be our friends for eternity is if they know what Jesus has done on behalf of all of us who owe God such a great debt.  We want the whole world to know that we don’t just reduce the debts of our fellow sinners, we mark them completely paid in full through Jesus’ sacrifice of death.  Therefore, for the Christian to Make friends for your eternal home, we will boldly and shrewdly share the riches of God’s grace through which He declares the whole world forgiven. 

A bit ago we examined ourselves and found that, yet again, we have failed to live as God expects.  Both stewards and debtors alike don’t always focus on the mission God has planned for us.  But dear friends, that’s why Jesus died.  Jesus came into this world and gave His life on the cross outside of Jerusalem so that our failures and sins would not cause our destruction in hell. 

Because we too often lose focus on God’s goals for our lives, Jesus suffered and died to cover our guilt.  Therefore, believe with full confidence that Jesus paid for every one of your sins, for every time you lose focus.  He paid for every time you and I have gone astray, and He paid, also, for every sin that anyone else has ever committed.  Do you want to make friends for eternity?  First, believe in Jesus as your Savior, then let the power of His light help others see that Jesus died for their sins too.  Use the material blessings God puts at your disposal: every talent, tool, moment, and opportunity to forgive to help people see Jesus.

In the Revelation of St. John, we were shown a glimpse of an eternal home where “there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing in front of the throne and of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and with palm branches in their hand.” (Revelation 7:9)  Those standing in that crowd are the former sinners who believed and trusted in the Lamb of God for salvation.  They all trusted that Jesus died for their sins.  Each one of those believers will be your friend for eternity when you are trusting in Jesus for salvation. 

My friends, as Christians, our goal is always to be one of those who are welcoming and being welcomed by eternal friends in heaven.  In our sermon text, Jesus teaches His people to remember that He died to give you everlasting life and it is our great privilege to share the riches of His forgiveness with others, thereby, to Make friends for your eternal home.  Amen.

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