Sermon for Trinity 22, October 25, 2020
To Him who loves us and has
freed us from our sins by His own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to
God His Father—to Him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
Deuteronomy 7:9-11 9He
did this so that you would know that the Lord your God, yes, he is God, the
faithful God who maintains both his covenant and his mercy for those who love
him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations. 10But he
also repays the ones who hate him to their face by destroying them. He will not delay repaying anyone who hates
him. To his face he will fully repay
him. 11So you are to be
careful to keep the set of commandments and the statutes and the ordinances
that I am commanding you today. (EHV)
Stay faithful to your
faithful God.
Dear loved ones of the Lord,
Consider
for a moment a young couple newly in love: the young man cannot wait to see his
beloved and will, in fact, go to great lengths to make time to visit her at
every opportunity. He bends over
backward to demonstrate his care for her, giving gifts without her even
asking. At the same time, the young lady
looks eagerly for her beloved’s arrival and gives rapt attention to whatever he
says. Both willingly serve and seek out
ways to delight and encourage the other.
This morning, dear friends, I would like you to
see in this idealized couple the relationship the Lord desires between Himself
and His bride, the Church, and why Moses pleads with Israel that, forever
after, they would Stay faithful to your faithful God.
Throughout the prophets, we find numerous times
in which God described His relationship with Israel as being a loving
bridegroom to His chosen bride, how He had cared for them and had done
everything in His power to adorn them beautifully as His beloved. Here, Moses was recounting for Israel the
love God had shown them in rescuing that desperate people from slavery in Egypt
so that He could fulfill in them the promises He had made to their
forefathers.
In the sermon this text is drawn from, Moses makes
it clear that God had not chosen Israel because of anything good on their
part. Israel had neither beauty nor
riches that would make God desire that people as His bride. God made His choice simply because of His
intention to love and care for them. The
same should be said about us. God chose
us to be His children not because of any beauty or merit in us, but because of His
grace—His unadulterated love for people who don’t deserve it. There was nothing we did to look lovely in
God’s eyes. There was nothing we could
give God to make Him desire us. We are
Christians solely because of God’s love.
So, what about this Bride/Bridegroom picture;
how do we fit in? We all know the story
of how God brought Israel out of Egypt with power and might, but it was mercy
and love that motivated God to rescue them in the first place, and the same is
true for us. God set Israel free from
their overlords through the miracle of the Passover. Lambs were slaughtered and the blood marked
the doorways of Israel’s houses to keep them from the destruction God’s
avenging angel was bringing upon Egypt. Afterward,
God faithfully kept His promise to bring Israel home to the land He had promised
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All of
this pointed to how God would rescue His bride, the Church.
Like those Passover lambs slaughtered for the
Israelites, God sacrificed His Son, His Lamb, on a cross outside of Jerusalem,
so that our spiritual house would be covered by His blood and we are set free
from the slavery of sin, death, and the devil. God made the Church, the assembly of all who
believe in His Son as Savior, both the Bride for His Son, and the spiritual
house in which we live. Then He fills
that house by adopting individuals into the Church by faith. God rescued us not by leading us on a dusty
trail through the waters of the Red Sea, but by washing us clean of all sin as
He made us His own beloved children in the waters of Baptism. Moses said, “He did this so that you would
know that the Lord your God, yes, he is God, the faithful God who maintains
both his covenant and his mercy for those who love him and keep his
commandments, to a thousand generations.”
But, dear friends, what so often happens to
young love? It becomes old and
stale. The excitement fades. Selfishness begins to rear its ugly
head. The couple maybe doesn’t listen to
each like they once did. They no longer
seek out each other’s company over any other relationship. In fact, far too often, they let love die and
move on to other loves. That is what
Moses is warning about. He told the
Israelites, “You are to be careful to keep the set of commandments and the
statutes and the ordinances that I am commanding you today.” In other words, Stay faithful to your
faithful God.
We know from history that Israel often strayed
from the God who loved them so dearly, but how about us? Do we still sit raptly at our Lord’s feet
eagerly desiring to soak up every word, will, and command He gives? Do we remember to thank Him for every gift
and benefit He provides? Do we eagerly
and speedily come to meet our God where He makes Himself known? How often don’t God’s people grow a bit bored
with His everyday providence, and with the Words He has spoken?
Most of us would probably like to claim that we
have always been faithful to the God who loves us. Most of are probably lying to ourselves if we
make that claim. We don’t spend our days
studying God’s Word with rapt attention.
We don’t trust Him completely. We
don’t always remember to say thanks and express our joy for His care. Sure, we might spend an hour or two a week
here in church, but where are our thoughts when we go back out into the
world? Do we keep them pure? Do we trust our Lord when things look bleak,
or when the devil attacks? Do we seek God’s
love only, or do we sometimes put our trust in someone or something else, even
ourselves?
One of the main reasons we come back to church
on a Sunday, and hopefully every Sunday, is to confess our sins and plead with
God for mercy, and you know what, your God is always faithful. Moses declared, “The Lord your God, yes,
he is God, the faithful God who maintains both his covenant and his mercy for
those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations. But he also repays the ones who hate him to
their face by destroying them.”
Here, in this warning and promise, is where our
sinful nature needs clarity. Our God
remains ever faithful to His promises and He is ever generous in His
mercy. At the same time, our God remains
perfectly righteous in His divine justice.
Therefore, Jesus said, “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) As much as God loves to save us, His justice
demands that those who reject His love be cast away for all eternity to where
they can never see His face again. God
will have no hesitation in destroying those wicked ones who reject His kindness
and love. Moses warned, “He also
repays the ones who hate him to their face by destroying them. He will not delay repaying anyone who hates
him. To his face he will fully repay
him.” That judgment is certain and
final.
Now, some people confuse God’s justice with
unfairness, as if God hasn’t been a faithful husband to His Bride. The Israelites often accused God of
this. Yet, the truth remains that God
has faithfully provided for His people throughout history. God is such a faithful husband that He
continues to provide for both the faithful and the wicked, “For he makes his
sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the
unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45) Even
those who have prostituted themselves to other lords have enjoyed the benefit
of God’s providence. Even when people
have slapped God’s face with their wickedness and coarse rejection, God holds
out His hands pleading for them to return to Him, looking to forgive as the
father forgave the prodigal son. Jesus
promised, “I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10)
Consider how often God called the Children of
Israel to repentance and sent judge after judge to rescue them from their
wandering. Remember Jesus as He is being
nailed to the cross for your sins, for mine, for the sins of the Jews and the
Romans and all the people of the world, for our Lord prays on our behalf, “Father,
forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
Dear Christian friends, our God remains
faithful to you and to the promises He has made throughout history. As soon as sin entered the world, God
promised the remedy to restore the holiness and life that was lost. When all seemed lost and God was sending a
destructive flood to destroy the vast throngs of the wicked, He preserved a
remnant of eight people on an ark to rebuild the populations of earth, and most
of all, to fulfill His promise to send a Savior.
When the knowledge of God’s mercy and grace
began again to fade among men, God called Abram out of idolatry to announce
that through his descendant all people on earth would be blessed. And, in spite of her countless rebellions and
wanderings away from the God who was like a husband to her, God preserved
Israel so that through Abraham’s seed a Son could come into the world to live,
die, and rise again for you and me.
Countless prophecies and promises were made and
kept by our loving Lord. In spite of all
odds in a sinful world, the Word of our Lord still stands undefiled and
unmoved. The Gospel proclaims the love
of God for all people—a love so broad and high and deep and wide that it would
carry God’s only begotten Son to the cross to die for you and me. God’s love and faithfulness was on full
display at the tomb when the angel rolled away the stone to reveal that God had
continued His faithfulness and risen from the grave in victory over death and
the devil.
As your parents have taught you from your
youth, and as you have heard from this pulpit and the mouth of preachers the
Holy Spirit has empowered to proclaim it to you, your sins are forgiven for the
sake of the love of God shown to the world in Jesus Christ. Today and every day, your heavenly Bridegroom
calls out for your love. From the throne
of heaven, He calls to the congregation of believers in His name, “Arise,
come, my darling. My beautiful one,
come.” (Song of Songs 2:13)
In the Revelation Jesus gave to St. John, we
see the throng of the heavenly host singing, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory, because the
wedding of the Lamb has come. His bride
has made herself ready, and she was given bright, clean, fine linen to
wear. (In fact, the fine linen is the
“not guilty” verdicts pronounced on the saints.)” (Revelation 19:7-8)
For the rest of our days, let us rejoice with
Isaiah who prophesied about the Lord’s Bride: “All who see them will
recognize that they are offspring whom the Lord has blessed. I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. My soul will celebrate because of my God, for
he has clothed me in garments of salvation.
With a robe of righteousness he covered me, like a bridegroom who wears
a beautiful headdress like a priest, and like a bride who adorns herself with
her jewelry,…so God the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up
in the presence of all the nations.” (Isaiah 61:9-11)
Your God has faithfully forgiven every sin and
every weakness that has ever been found in you.
He has loved us regardless of what we look like to the world. Our Lord has shown mercy to the weak,
kindness to the poor, generosity to all, and love to the world. May we never forget His kindness to us. Let us ever Stay faithful to your faithful
God. 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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