Our God saves.

 

Funeral sermon for Lael Bahn, September 28, 2020

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

For our words of comfort this afternoon, we read in the name of our dear Savior, Jesus Christ, the words of His Father, our Almighty God, given to us through His prophet, Isaiah:

Isaiah 45:15-19  ¹⁵ Indeed, you are a God who hides himself.  You are the God of Israel, the Savior.  ¹⁶ They will be ashamed.  All of them will also be disgraced.  Together they will walk in humiliation—those experts at crafting images.  ¹⁷ Israel will be saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation.  You will not be ashamed or disgraced for all eternity.  ¹⁸ This is what the Lord says.  He created the heavens, He is God!  He formed the earth and made it.  Yes, he established it!  He did not create it to remain empty.  He formed it to be inhabited.  I am the Lord, and there is no other.  ¹⁹ I did not speak in secret, or from someplace in a land of darkness.  I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, “Seek me in the midst of chaos.”  I, the Lord, am speaking in righteousness.  I am declaring what is right. (EHV)

Prayer: O Lord, we are gathered in sorrow, yet not as those who have no hope.  We thank You for all the blessings bestowed upon our brother, now fallen asleep, and for all the blessings given through him.  But most of all, we thank You for making him Your own dear child by faith in Christ Jesus.  Give us all the faith that trusts in Jesus always.  We ask this all in Christ’s holy name.  Amen.

Our God saves.

Dear LuAnn, Liesl, Damon, extended family, and friends gathered in Lael’s memory,

            As a faithful Christian who had attended countless church services and played for more funerals than I would care to guess, Lael left specific instructions about what he wanted me to talk about at his funeral, and he didn’t want me talking too much about him.  Lael understood that most of you knew him better than I ever would.  He also knew that his accomplishments on earth, while many, wouldn’t earn him a place in heaven, so Lael instructed me to talk about the One who loved him above any human love, God the Father who created him, God the Son who redeemed him, and God the Holy Spirit who sanctified him.  The Triune God gave Lael everlasting life because Our God saves.

In essence, Lael wanted me to tell you about his truest Friend.  Now, many of you might think of a friend as someone you have fun with, but a true friend will give you the shirt off his back.  Our God does better than that.  Isaiah said, “This is what the Lord says.  He created the heavens, He is God!  He formed the earth and made it.  Yes, he established it!  He did not create it to remain empty.  He formed it to be inhabited.”  God the Father made this world as a place where we could live, move, and have our being, and He gave Lael a place in it.  He gave Lael life and knit Lael together in such a way that he had a talent and love for music which God then moved Lael to develop so that he could beautify the lives and worship of those around him.  God built Lael with skills, compassion, and a love for helping children who needed extra care and guidance in their journey to adulthood.

In the beginning, God gave Adam a suitable partner. (Genesis 2:20)  The word used there means someone who is ideally and obviously a good fit.  God the Father gave Lael a suitable partner who would be his loving companion, travelling partner, support, and caregiver, and through LuAnn God gave Lael a daughter in Liesl with whom he could pour out his love and demonstrate his care for someone most precious to him.

Now, the sceptic might scoff at the idea that God did any of this, but that’s because we often think too small.  The Almighty Creator doesn’t make Himself visible to the world.  He is beyond the world yet encompassing the whole universe, and because we all have been corrupted with sin, God told Moses, “You cannot see my face, for no human may see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20)  Thus in His love, God protects us from destruction by hiding Himself until our corruption is taken away.

Many a friend has proven to be a fair-weather friend, not willing to stick around when we hurt them.  Lael wanted me to tell you about God the Son, who not only promises, “Surely I am with you always until the end of the age,” (Matthew 28:20) but God the Son came into this world expressly to take to Himself all the hurt we have ever caused anyone, even His Father in heaven.

A good friend will stand with you in times of trouble.  Our truest Friend not only stands with us, but He stood in our place to bear the curse of sin so that we might be freed from sin and death.  Jesus told His friends, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)  The evidence for that is right here in front of us this afternoon.  Even the good man isn’t holy enough to avoid death.  However, God’s Son, Jesus, was not willing to let our deaths be permanent.  Because the law demands death for sinners, and eternal separation from our holy Creator, God the Father sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice that redeemed us from that awful fate.  Living His whole life in perfect obedience and submission to the Father’s will, Jesus then gave His life on a cross so that after this physical death, Lael and all others who trust in Christ Jesus, will live in the glory of heaven forever.  You see, “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)

In our corruption, we could not be in God’s presence, but God the Son came into the world to change all that with His holy life and sacrificial death, and because of the redemption price Jesus paid on our behalf, St. Paul wrote triumphantly about Judgment Day:

The trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.  But once this perishable body has put on imperishability, and this mortal body has put on immortality, then what is written will be fulfilled: Death is swallowed up in victory.  Death, where is your sting?  Grave, where is your victory?  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Corinthians 15:53-57)

Some friends are yes-men, willing to tell you whatever they think you want to hear.  A true Friend tells you as it is, even when it hurts.  In order that we might see what we look like to God, and so that we might know about Jesus and the sacrifice He made to save us, the Father and the Son together sent God the Holy Spirit to bring the Word of God to the world and use it to sanctify those who hear it.  Through the work of the Holy Spirit, Our God saves.

Through Isaiah, God says, “I am the Lord, and there is no other.  I did not speak in secret, or from someplace in a land of darkness.  I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, ‘Seek me in the midst of chaos.’  I, the Lord, am speaking in righteousness.  I am declaring what is right.”  By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God brought to light our need for a Savior with the law.  The law shows our sinfulness before God in such a way that no one can pretend to be holy.  “I take no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the Lord God.  “So repent and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32).

The law, however, can do nothing to save us, therefore God the Holy Spirit didn’t stop with just the law.  Isaiah declared, “You are the God of Israel, the Savior.  They will be ashamed.  All of them will also be disgraced.  Together they will walk in humiliation—those experts at crafting images.  Israel will be saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation.”  Anyone who does not trust in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation worships an idol that cannot save from the wrath of God.  Even the atheist who claims there is no god is bowing down to the idol in his mirror.

God the Holy Spirit loves us enough to tell us the truth.  He gave us the law to convict us, and He shares the love of God in Christ through the Gospel so that we might be made holy to live forever.  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, St. Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16)

Though “the sinful mind is hostile to God,” (Romans 8:7) God the Holy Spirit works to change that and to save us through the power of His Gospel.  Through the Spirit, God promises, “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…You will be my people, and I will be your God.  I will save you from all your impurity.” (Ezekiel 36:27-29)

Dear friends, your dear brother, father, husband, and friend wanted you all to hear again about his truest Friend who had worked in Lael the sure and certain hope of life everlasting through Jesus.  Confident in the grace of God and the forgiveness that was his in Jesus, Lael could face his physical troubles, even death, knowing that this isn’t the end, but his best days lie ahead in the heavenly home Jesus has prepared for Him.

The Triune God is your truest Friend, as well, whether you believe in Him or not, because God the Father gave you life and everything you need for body and life.  God the Son gave Himself into torment and a bloody death to cover your sins and redeem your soul from death and destruction, and God the Holy Spirit gives His holy Word to bring to you the Good News of all that God has done for you since time began and how He has done everything needed to make you right with Him and righteous in His judgment.  Turn to your dearest Friend and live.  Trust the God who gave Himself for you, because Our God saves.  Amen.

The peace of God, established and won for you and for all by the sacrifice of God’s own precious Son, be with you always to the very end of the age.  Amen.

Forever to forever, our God is God.

 

Sermon for Trinity 16, September 27, 2020

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 32:39–40  ³⁹Now see that I, only I, am he, and there is not a god comparable to me.  I put to death and I make alive.  I wound and I heal.  There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.  ⁴⁰For I lift up my hand to heaven, and I swear: “As I live forever…” (EHV)

Forever to forever, our God is God.

Dear friends of the living God,

            Jesus once warned His followers that there would come a time when they would be hated and viciously persecuted, but He assured them, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28) 

Throughout the history of the Christian Church, there have always been those who despised God and hated any who mention Him.  Likewise, there may come times when our physical lives are in danger simply for believing in the Almighty God, but truly, we have no one else to fear, for by God’s grace, we are blessed in so many ways, because Forever to forever, our God is God.

In the song this text is taken from, Moses reminds us of how God blesses us with life and all things needed, but he also cautions of how often people turn to trusting other gods—gods which cannot see, cannot move, cannot think, cannot do.  Therefore, God says, “Now see that I, only I, am he, and there is not a god comparable to me.”  God alone has been here from eternity.  God, alone, is and will be here forever.  God alone created the universe and everything in it.  God alone formed everything we see and use, including also everything that is beyond our ability to see. 

It is a common trait among people of our world to doubt anything they cannot see and feel for themselves.  We can point to doubting Thomas who didn’t believe Jesus was alive until he could put his hand in Jesus’ side and his finger in Jesus’ wounded hands, but we don’t have to go so far away.  So many people in our world today do not believe that God created the world, and among those who admit that He did, many still question how much control He exerts in the world.

If we begin to doubt God’s ability to control this world and provide for our needs, or if we question His love and concern for us, we are crossing over into the idolatry of the ancient pagans, who, no longer acknowledging God, invented deity after deity in a futile attempt to influence nature and explain the troubles and joys of this world.  This is the idolatry God condemns in Moses’ warning song. 

Though we may not be able to see how God is working behind the scenes, we need to trust His assurance “that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:38)

In our Gospel lesson, we saw a large crowd mourning with a widow for the loss of her only son and support.  Many likely wondered why that young man had to die.  Most people have a tendency to believe that when things go well, it is because they earned it.  Yet when things go wrong, they want someone else to blame.  Often, that someone is God.  In our sermon text, our Lord declares, “I put to death and I make alive.  I wound and I heal.”  As Creator, God has the due right to determine when everyone lives or dies. 

Of course, some people will take this as ammunition to lob against God.  We can imagine them asking, “If God is so good, how come He kills?  How come He wounds?”  In answer, God never causes sin, but nothing happens in this world beyond what He allows, and as far as taking or giving life is concerned, God claims His right as our Creator.  It is thus a terrible sin when man interferes with life.

The Triune God gave life to this world.  The newly created world was exactly as God wanted it to be.  It was without sin, pain, or death.  Then sin entered the scene as the devil challenged human faith in God’s goodness, and mankind trusted the lie rather than the God who created them.  As I said, some people are tempted to imagine that God is abusive as He uses His authority, but God, as Creator, has the right to judge the created.  Furthermore, God uses the troubles of this fallen world as discipline to teach us to turn to Him and to trust His will.  Much as a loving parent disciplines a child in the hope of leading that child to greater goodness, God disciplines those He loves in the desire to keep them true to Him.

Along with discipline, there is punishment.  Death entered this world, just as God had warned Adam that death would be the consequence of sin.  God will not allow anything sinful to be in His presence.  Anything sinful must be removed to a place far from God—that place of death is hell—which God created not for man but for the angels that rebelled against Him.  Yet, because man had become evil, hell became the rightful destination of all sinners.

On our own, we had no way to escape that punishment.  God declared, “There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.”  Many people hope to cheat death as they try every possible means to extend their lives.  Yet, even with every precaution and the best medical care available anywhere in the world, the death rate remains 100%.  In the end, everyone dies.  A common complaint of men is the unfairness of death.  Yet, we each earned death by rebelliousness against God.

At the end of our text God takes an oath.  He says, “I lift up my hand to heaven, and I swear: As I live forever…”  God swears upon the greatest power in existence, which is Himself, that He will never give His sovereign authority to another.  He will never turn over control of this world to any created thing.  For those whom God has called to faith, this is our great comfort and hope.  In God’s oath, we have the joy of knowing that He never changes.  He will never change His character, nor will He ever deny His promise.  Certainly, God warned that those who sin against Him will die.  That is the fulfillment of the Law which should terrify us, but God has also promised to be our Savior, and that promise is our hope and our life.

At the time of the very first sin, God pronounced His curse upon the tempter, but He also immediately extended His promise of salvation when He told that serpent, “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.  He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)  

God renewed His salvation covenant in His promise to Abraham that “All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.” (Genesis 12:3)  God then continued that promise through Abraham’s descendants and renewed it again and again after they entered the promised land of Canaan.  Through this stubborn, wandering, stiff-necked people God would bring a Savior for the the world. 

The Children of Israel really weren’t much different than any other people.  All of us sin; all share the guilt of turning to other gods in one form or another.  Still, God provided a Savior for all, and the Lord wants all people to trust in that Savior for redemption, forgiveness, and everlasting salvation.  Our Savior was born from the descendants of Israel, from the line of King David.  He was born in circumstances that don’t reflect His actual standing as the Royal Son of God, for He was born homeless in a little town, to a virgin who became pregnant before marriage, and the little family had to flee from the rampage of a murderous tyrant, all of which God foretold so that we could recognize Him.  Through the gift of His humble Son, God fulfilled His promise of salvation for sinners like you and me.

As God proclaimed that He is the One who takes life, He also promises that He gives life.  When He said that He wounds, He also said that He heals.  This is the difference between the Law and the Gospel.  God kills with the law, and with the Gospel, God gives life.  The fulfillment of these two statements is found in Christ Jesus.  In Jesus, we have healing from our sinfulness, and His healing gives us life.  God healed us by taking all the sins of the world and putting them on Jesus.  All the punishment we deserved, God meted out on His Son.  God aimed all the wrath He feels for our sin at the One Man who never sinned.  Jesus took every punishment we deserved, because in His great mercy, God loved us and did not want anyone to be lost.  Because of Jesus, God declares our sins forgiven and remembered no more.

My friends, death came into this world because of sin.  Because of God’s mercy, life came into this world in the form of Jesus Christ, our rescuer, who rose from the grave victorious over sin and death.

In our Gospel lesson this morning, we heard how Jesus raised a dead young man to live again.  That miracle showed that Jesus has the power to give us life, but while that young man was restored to physical life, our resurrection will be patterned after Jesus, who rose to eternal life.  The Apostle Paul wrote,

Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him by this baptism into his death, so that just as he was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too would also walk in a new life.  For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection. (Romans 6:3-5)  

Dear friends, Forever to Forever, our God Is God.  God was before time began, and He will live and reign after all this world is consumed in the flames of destruction.  As God, He will send those who hold themselves apart from Christ to the punishment reserved for Satan.  But as God, He will also welcome into His heavenly mansions all those who trust in His Son, our Lord Jesus. 

Through our Baptisms and through faith in Jesus Christ, we have been made a part of Christ’s body, the Holy Christian Church.  Through that connection of faith, we have the assurance of life everlasting with our Father in heaven.  God, as God, allowed His Son to die for you.  He raised Him to life again, also for you.  God’s promise is eternal.  Your sins are forgiven.  Your salvation is assured, because Jesus Christ was killed for your transgressions, and He was raised again to give you eternal life.  Amen.

Glory be to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  Amen.

 

Do good to one another in humble spirit.

 

Sermon for Trinity 15, September 20, 202

Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Galatians 5:25–6:10  ²⁵If we live by the spirit, let us also walk in step with it.  ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking one another and envying one another.  ^6:1Brothers, if a person is caught in some trespass, you who are spiritual should restore such a person in a spirit of humility, carefully watching yourself so that you are not also tempted.  ²Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way fulfill the law of Christ.  ³For if someone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  ⁴Let each person test his own work, and then he will take pride in regard to himself and not his neighbor.  ⁵For each man will bear his own burden.  ⁶Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with his teacher.  ⁷Do not be deceived. God is not mocked.  To be sure, whatever a man sows, he will also reap.  ⁸Indeed, the one who sows for his own sinful flesh will reap destruction from the sinful flesh.  But the one who sows for the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit.  ⁹Let us not become weary of doing good, because at the appointed time we will reap, if we do not give up.  ¹⁰So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the household of faith. (EHV)

Do good to one another in humble spirit.

Dear brothers in spirit,

            I realize I am risking a charge of political incorrectness by addressing you all as “brothers,” but I need to emphasize with St. Paul that regardless of gender, we are all fellow members in the inheritance of life and peace through faith in Christ Jesus.

Paul was writing to a congregation under attack.  Much of what he wrote might not be received well by those who were attempting to lead the congregation astray.  Likely, there was potential that his rebuke could divide the congregation.  However, the words of our text remind us of the great gift of God’s grace we are given through faith, and the great love we can show to each other by helping one another remain in that saving grace as we Do good to one another in humble spirit.

Paul wrote, “If we live by the spirit, let us also walk in step with it.”  Paul isn’t doubting that his friends live by the Spirit, because we cannot be truly alive apart from the Holy Spirit, for it is the Spirit who has worked life in us through the faith given by Word and Sacrament.  Rather, Paul is reminding his readers that to walk apart from the Spirit is to walk away from forgiveness and salvation. 

Again he says, “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another and envying one another.”  Paul reminds his listener that dealing with others with a spirit of haughtiness and self-glorification is the opposite of living in the Spirit, which would indicate a lack of faith in Christ.  Thus, if we judge ourselves better than anyone else, we aren’t seeing ourselves as we are.  Our Gospel lesson taught us to be content in our lives because God is taking care of us.  Here, the Epistle teaches us likewise to trust Jesus alone for righteousness and peace.

What we are to learn here is the need for humility and kindness.  All of us come from the same stricken background.  All of us were born in sin.  We all needed rescue, as it says in Scriptures, “There is no one who is righteous, not even one.  There is no one who understands.  There is no one who searches for God.  They all turned away; together they became useless.  There is no one who does what is good; there is not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12)

At the same time, it is just as true that Jesus lived and died for all of us unworthy sinners.  Jesus came to be the atoning sacrifice for the whole world.  Furthermore, Jesus wanted the news of His sacrifice and the righteousness He won to be distributed far and wide.  Today, almost two thousand years later, we are among the beneficiaries of His gracious love, for we have been called, gathered, and justified by the power of His Spirit. (Romans 8:30)  Furthermore, like the Galatian Christians, we did nothing to merit this saving grace.  “Indeed, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Before He returned to His Father’s side, our Savior told His disciples, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another.  Just as I have loved you, so also you are to love one another.” (John 13:34)  Jesus didn’t ask whether we deserved His rescue.  Rather, He loved us when there was nothing about us to love.  Therefore, assuming we recognize our own deep need for a Savior, and assuming we do want to love our neighbor as our Savior loved us, Paul instructs us, “Brothers, if a person is caught in some trespass, you who are spiritual should restore such a person in a spirit of humility, carefully watching yourself so that you are not also tempted.  Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way fulfill the law of Christ.” 

Paul is pointing out that it is a great kindness to show a person his sins and lead him back to Jesus.  We hear so often that we shouldn’t judge those who sin because we are sinners too, but the downside to that fallacy is to abandon those who fall into sin to the gaping jaws of Satan’s cruelty.  Indeed, we shouldn’t judge as though we are sinless, but rather, we approach a fellow believer who has stumbled into sin as we would a beloved brother or sister who is in grave physical danger.  The goal is to rescue from certain harm.  This is bearing one another’s burdens.  Each of us could fall into the devil’s schemes.  We need each other to be continually defending, protecting, and rescuing one another against the temptations and taunts of the wicked.

Paul also reminds us that we will each be judged on our own merit.  The foolish person assumes that we can stand before God’s judgment on our own merit.  That is why it is so tempting to compare ourselves to others and foolishly imagine we are more worthy of God’s grace.  Paul says, “Do not be deceived.  God is not mocked.”  Apart from the grace of Christ, our works are nothing.  Yet, in Christ, God remembers our sins no more and we are counted as righteous for Jesus’ sake. 

This is the great treasure we have as Christians: Jesus has done everything needed for us to be counted as holy before God.  Jesus paid the penalty for all sin.  Jesus lived according to His Father’s will for you and me.  This treasure is brought to us by faith as we are brought into God’s kingdom in Baptism.  Now, being in the kingdom and family of God, we are encouraged to help each other remain in that marvelous freedom and light.

We have this warning and promise from the Holy Spirit: “Indeed, the one who sows for his own sinful flesh will reap destruction from the sinful flesh.  But the one who sows for the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit.”  When the focus of our lives and efforts is on material, earthly things, what we reap is a tragic end apart from the love of God.  If our hopes and dreams are in earthly things, what hope does one have of heaven?  The answer is no hope.

But the promise; “the one who sows for the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit.”  When the focus of our lives is on heavenly things, the end is joyful glory with our Savior in heaven.  That doesn’t mean we avoid working the fields or going to work in everyday things.  What it does mean is that we keep working on earth for the Lord who won heaven for us.  Then, whether we are at work or play, we will seek to do our Father’s will just as Jesus did.  Sowing for the spirit means remembering that this is not our home, but our home is in heaven and there is where our treasure is found.

This is why Paul wants us to be focused on our brothers’ and sisters’ spiritual welfare as well as our own.  The price to set us free from slavery, sin, and death has been paid.  The rescue mission came our way, for the Good News of salvation by faith in Christ Jesus has been preached in our hearing, and we have received the gift of life by the power of the Spirit working faith in us.  Why would anyone want to lose that?  By the same token, why would anyone not want that for his neighbors and dearest ones?

That’s why Paul concludes, “Let us not become weary of doing good, because at the appointed time we will reap, if we do not give up.  So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the household of faith.”  We have this precious forgiveness and salvation given to us freely.  The promise of heaven for us is sure.  Alive in this gift of God’s grace, we are encouraged to be the support and care team for all the believers who surround us, and the reaching hand extending God’s grace to those still in need of the message.  That is true love, not to serve just ourselves, but to lift each other’s burdens of sin and shame and lead them to the gracious arms of a Savior who turns no repentant sinner away.

I suppose the politically correct would want to turn this into a condition of our salvation, assuming that the reward for good works is a place in heaven, but the reward is ours because of Jesus—Him alone.  We serve Him, not to seek payment, but because doing anything less serves only the enemy.

Dear friends, out of thanks for God’s grace to you, and out of love for the ones you love and the ones you would have experience Jesus’ love, Do good to one another in humble spirit.  Amen.

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

Jesus is our hope.

 

Sermon for Trinity 14, September 13, 2020

Grace, mercy, and peace be yours in abundance, from the Almighty, Everlasting God.  Amen.

Jeremiah 17:13-14  ¹³You are the hope of Israel, Lord.  All who forsake you will be put to shame.  Those who turn away from you will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.  ¹⁴Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed.  Save me, and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. (EHV)

Jesus is our hope.

Dear brothers and sisters of Christ,

            Listening to the news, one might get the idea that there is no hope for the human race.  Just about all you hear is trouble, pain, sorrow, and disaster.  Just this year, alone, we hear reports of terrible storms tearing up crops and communities, Covid-19 causing many thousands of deaths, race-riots and unrest in the streets, and lately, devastating fires consuming entire communities out west.

Yet, this isn’t the case just in 2020.  As long as I can remember, earth-worshipping preachers have warned that we need to save the world.  They say glaciers are melting too fast, rain forests are disappearing, oceans are polluted and barren, that the human population is growing too large for the planet to support, and who knows when a rogue meteor will wipe us out.  And, if it isn’t earth-worshipping pagans spreading a message of disaster, other activists preach that economic inequality will cause the masses to revolt.  The fear mongers of the world then stir up the crowds to cause the very destruction they prophesy, and because they have no trust in the God who created the world and everything in it, they proclaim a message of hopelessness.

Now, faithful Jeremiah also foretold a lot of bad news for the nation of Judah, expressly warning against their idolatry, but with the doom he foretold came the hope that the people would turn from their wickedness and listen to God’s promises of forgiveness and salvation.  Our sermon text is taken from the middle of one of the dire warnings that the Lord gave Jeremiah to preach to the people, but in Jeremiah’s confident message we learn that Jesus is our hope. 

Jeremiah put all confidence in the Lord.  This first short sentence summarizes all the teachings of the Bible: “You are the hope of Israel, Lord.  All who forsake you will be put to shame.”

Dear friends, whoever turns away from following Christ Jesus will be lost for eternity.  The prophet tells us they will be ashamed.  We remember that such was the case with Adam and Eve.  Immediately after abandoning the LORD for Satan’s lies, they felt great shame.  Sinners have tried to hide their shame ever since, but like Adam and Eve, we all have to answer to our Creator and Judge.  Whether it be at the point of our physical death, or at the final judgment, every person who ever lives will have to answer for their life.  So, what will our answer be? 

Jeremiah’s proud fellow Israelites arrogantly rejected the one true God to worship their neighbors’ idols.  The pagan worship of Jeremiah’s time imagined that following their rituals would ensure material blessings, rich harvests, safety, and a good life.  In addition, the worship rituals of those pagan religions were quite sensual: temple prostitution, ritual orgies and drunkenness in Canaanite worship were powerfully attractive to the sinful nature, and the Israelites abandoned God to play with those idols of pleasure and illusive material security. But, after numerous warnings given through Jeremiah and other faithful prophets, the hand of the Lord was moving against them. 

In a similar way, when Jesus walked on earth as true Man, the Jews were putting their hope for salvation in obedience of law.  They weren’t looking to follow a Savior, because they were confident in their own works.  Law-based religions that hope to appease one god or another still abound.  Some claim to follow God’s laws of the Bible, and many others follow the imaginations of men. 

We see many of the same attractions in our world.  The old man in us wants to believe he can control God, so law religions have a powerful draw.  Likewise, many around us live by the mantra, “If it feels good do it,” so the sensual delights of modern life are powerfully attractive, and even faithful Christians can find themselves tempted.  Plus, we all desire to be well fed and comfortable, so the religion of success can be powerfully attractive in a world of trouble.  Yet, any religion based on what we do can only leave one without hope, because all idols are powerless, and we always fall short of perfect, so our consciences rightly accuse us in our failure.

King David wrote, “The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.  All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14:2-3)  God commanded His people, “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2)  Therefore, anyone who wants to stand on his own works in the religions of law, and the philosophies of the world, will in the end be put to shame, separated from God forever in the pit of hell. 

Human self-centeredness wants to find its own way to glory, but there is only one way.  Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)  Jeremiah was in full agreement with his Lord, " Those who turn away from you will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water."  Being written in the earth means not having one’s name in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

So, what does all this mean for us?  It means that trusting in anything other than the Lord for life and salvation leaves one condemned.  Through the prophet, Isaiah, God warned, "I am the LORD; that is my name!  I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” (Isaiah 42:8)  There is only one true God—He who created the world and everything in it—the perfect, holy Almighty whom no one can judge.  Any manmade god or religion falls immediately before God’s just decision.  Abandoning the teachings of the Bible to follow any other god, religion, or philosophy leads only to eternal death.  So, what will our answer be?  Jesus is our hope. 

In this text, the Lord reminds us that those who entrust themselves to His rich care will enjoy an entirely different end than the unbeliever or the self-righteous.  Centuries later, Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)  The poor in spirit are all those who hear God’s law and realize that they have failed to obey Him.  The poor in spirit know and confess that their own works fall far short of what is needed to stand before the Almighty Judge of the world.  Yet, trusting in the Lord for righteousness and salvation, they receive His glory.

This was Jeremiah’s confidence.  He understood that he needed a Savior.  Jeremiah didn’t have to hope that he had perfectly obeyed God, because he believed God’s promise to rescue him from sin and death.  He had true, certain hope of salvation and eternal life.  That’s the message of this text for all of us.  We have One Lord who has saved us from condemnation, the One Jeremiah called, “the hope of Israel.”  Jeremiah was looking forward to the arrival of the promised Messiah.  You and I look back.  Like Jeremiah, all true Christians see Jesus as Lord and Savior.  We trust in Him alone for holiness and life.

Jesus lived the perfect righteousness that we could not achieve.  As our creeds so explicitly state, Jesus is God’s one and only begotten Son from eternity.  He is both true God and true Man.  He is the only One who has been perfect in God’s eyes.  Because He is true God, Jesus could never do anything but what God Himself desires as good.  He is perfectly holy for you and me, and His perfection is credited to everyone who believes in Him as the Savior. 

The final verse of our sermon text is both a prayer and a statement of faith.  Jeremiah prayed, “Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed.  Save me, and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.”  With these words, the prophet confesses his inability to make himself right with God while at the same time declaring his confidence in God to provide the Savior and his confidence in that promised Savior to carry out the perfect obedience needed for our justification. 

Jesus’ perfect obedience included taking our place of punishment and death.  Because Jesus is true God, the people that wanted Him dead had no power over Him.  The Jewish leadership tried for three years to silence Jesus and do away with Him, but they couldn’t touch Him.  The Romans didn’t worry about this Jewish teacher because He wasn’t leading any kind of revolt, but rather, He preached peace.  So, it was only by His own will that Jesus was led out to die on the cross on Golgotha.  And as Jesus hung from that cross, it wasn’t the nail wounds or the stripes from the Roman whips that took His life.  No, Jesus gave up His perfectly holy life as complete payment for our sins.  No one had the power to take life away from Jesus.  He freely gave His holy life for you and me.

There is a lot of hopelessness today, but not for those who trust in Christ as their Savior.  We know that in this troubled world, Christians will not avoid all the heartache and pains, but we also know that we are blessed to live with our Savior forever, because after three days in the grave, Jesus took up His life again proving that we also will rise again, just as He promises.

So, dear Christian friends, what will our answer be when we stand before our Judge?  For you and me, this message gives great joy: Jesus is our hope.  By the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, we have salvation and eternal life through faith in Christ.  Because Jesus has come, just as foretold, and because He lived and died for us just as His Father in heaven promised He would, all of our sins have been removed from us as far as east is from west, and knowing that God remains in control and is working all things for our good, we can face any problems this world gives us, for we trust God’s promise that nothing will ever again be held against a sinner who clings to the Lord.

Jesus told a woman at a well outside Samaria that she should ask Him for living water and she would never again be thirsty.  This living water is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.  The living water of Jesus’ Word teaches us to know Him as Lord and Savior, to trust Him for full forgiveness, and to turn to Him in any trouble for help and healing.  Jesus is the source of this water of life.  There is no other.  Drinking deep of Jesus’ living water through Word and Sacrament gives us confidence, strength, eternal life, and the promise of heaven where we will share in His glory, for Jesus is our hope.  Amen.

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

Walk in the way of the Lord your God.

 

Sermon for Trinity 13, September 6, 2020

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  He gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father—to whom be the glory forever and ever.  Amen.

Leviticus 18:1-5  The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Speak to the Israelites and tell them this.  I am the Lord your God.  ³ You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived.  You shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you.  Do not walk in their religious practices.  ⁴ Follow my ordinances and keep my regulations by walking in them.  I am the Lord your God.  ⁵ Keep my regulations and my ordinances.  Anyone who does them will have life through them.  I am the Lord.” (EHV)

Walk in the way of the Lord your God.

Dear sojourners on the road to heaven,

            Years ago, when one of my relatives heard I was studying for the ministry, he said to me, “So, you’re going to be a beggar, huh?”  I have to admit, I was offended, because he was implying that a pastor spends his time begging for money, which I feel is offensive both to our pastors and to the congregations they serve.  Today, I still know what he implied is wrong, even wicked, but I also realize that I am indeed a beggar, and anyone who isn’t really isn’t a Christian.

When reading through the books of Moses, many mistakenly think that God is primarily a lawgiver.  Our natural man assumes that the way to be right with God is to obey His laws, just as the ancient pagans believed that the gods had to be mollified before they would be safe and prosperous.

Sadly, most religions of our day still believe much the same thing.  Even many people who believe they are Christians fall into the trap of thinking that we get closer to God by obeying His laws.  That is a dangerous assumption, because it leads a person to put part of his hope for salvation in himself, and the truth is: if we must do any part of saving ourselves, we will be lost.

Now, the One true God Moses served and believed certainly gave laws for His people to follow, but please note, that is not how God describes Himself.  Instead, before Moses, God called out His own name saying, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and overflowing with mercy and truth, maintaining mercy for thousands, forgiving guilt and rebellion and sin.” (Exodus 34:6-7)  Thus, we see God not as a lawgiver, but as the great Mercy and Grace Giver, who expects those to whom He has shown mercy to Walk in the way of the Lord your God.

When Martin Luther died, a note found in his pocket had these words written: “This is true.  We are all beggars.”  What Luther understood, and the reason his reformation was so needed, was this simple truth.  None of us can do anything to earn a place in heaven.  However, remember Jesus’ judgment of the Pharisee and the tax collector at the temple.  The Pharisee did his bragging but received no praise.  On the other hand, the tax collector begged simply, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13)  To this man’s plea Jesus observed, “I tell you, this man went home justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)  This plea is the Christian life.  As sinners, we deserve none of God’s mercy, kindness, or grace.  Yet, our compassionate and gracious God provides everything we need.

In the beginning, God created man and woman holy, in His own image.  We were intended to Walk in the way of the Lord your God, populating the world with holy people who would live as the image of God on earth.  Obviously, sin interfered with that intention.  From the moment of the first sin, mankind became vindictive and cruel, arrogant slanderers, and thieves who willingly took what didn’t belong to them—even if it was only a few bites of fruit. 

Because we all became lawbreakers like Adam and Eve, we all deserve only death and separation from God.  Yet, from the beginning, God displayed His compassion.  He promised a Savior.  He drove Adam and Eve out of the garden, but He didn’t abandon them.  God continued to bless mankind throughout history.  In His continued kindness, God “makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45)  In other words, God continues to provide for the lives of all people on earth.  God is so generous in His compassion that He sent a Savior for us all, as Jesus declared, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)

In our sermon text, God commanded His people, “You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived.  You shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you.  Do not walk in their religious practices.”  Both of those groups of people practiced religions designed to satisfy their lusts and please their imagined gods.  Yet, because they had rejected the true God, none of those things was based on love, neither did they consider the welfare of their neighbors. 

On the other hand, Abraham and his descendants were brought under God’s care by God’s decision, so when God led the Israelites out of Egypt, it showed the whole world how He rescues His people from the self-serving life that leads to death.  Likewise, God chose to rescue us from the gloom and death of this evil world.  God alone worked out our forgiveness and salvation by sending His Son to live and die for us.  God chose us to hear His promises and believe.  Through the proclamation of the Gospel and the Sacrament of Baptism, God made us members of His kingdom of grace, and in that exalted position, He wants us to be lights to the world and His hands of mercy to those around us. 

When God handed down His laws to Moses, it was not so that we might obey them to earn God’s favor, but rather, that having been freed from slavery, death, and condemnation, we may learn to Walk in the way of the Lord as shining reflections of our compassionate and gracious God.  St, Paul later wrote, “The whole law is summed up in this one statement: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:14) 

The LORD told Moses to tell the Israelites, “Keep my regulations and my ordinances.  Anyone who does them will have life through them.  I am the Lord.”  Allow me to share with you a very literal translation of this passage: “you will keep My statutes and My judgments which the man (literally, the Adam) will do them, and he will live in them—I am the LORD.”  Rather than view the commands as a means to gain life, see the One Man who lived in perfect harmony with all God’s statues and judgments and thereby won everlasting life for all who believe in Him.

St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians,

“The first man, Adam, became a living natural being.”  The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.  However, that which is spiritual is not first; rather, first comes the natural, then the spiritual.  The first man is of the earth, made of dust.  The second man is the Lord from heaven.  As was the man made of dust, so are the people who are made of dust, and as is the heavenly man, so the heavenly people will be.  And just as we have borne the image of the man made of dust, let us also bear the image of the heavenly man. (1 Corinthians 15:45-49)

Jesus lived a perfectly holy life in our place so that dressed in His righteousness, we Walk in the way of the Lord your God.  Because He suffered death on a cross for our guilt, and because the Holy Spirit has given us new life and faith in Christ Jesus as He brought us into the kingdom of our Savior, Jesus now again urges us “to keep all the instructions I have given you.” (Matthew 28:20)

From the Old Testament to the New, the instructions are the same: Walk in the way of the Lord your God.  Because our God is compassionate and gracious, we are given life and forgiveness through faith in the One and only Savior of the world.  In thankfulness for His kindness to us, we are to live as His instruments on earth as long as we sojourn in this dark and dreary land.  As children of the living God, we are to observe and obey all the instructions He has given, so that we may love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and love our neighbors as ourselves.  The Ten Commandments are simply the summary of how God wants to protect each of us from the worst of our corrupted natures.  The law cannot give life, but it guides us in how to live as redeemed children of the heavenly Father.

In our days, that means we will forgive those who don’t deserve it.  We will help our neighbors to the best of our ability, even those who hate and persecute us.  We will actively participate in the sharing of the Gospel in whatever way the Lord has us serve, and we will suffer the afflictions of the world without complaint and with a firm hope in the eternal glory Jesus has promised us.  Through it all, even our shortcomings and faults, we will trust firmly in the compassionate and gracious God who loved us enough to sacrifice His only-begotten Son so that we would be reconciled with our Creator and King.  Knowing that Jesus alone has done everything necessary to give us a new and holy life, we will walk in the righteousness of the new Adam, we will Walk in the way of the Lord your God.  All glory to His holy name.  Amen.

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