The Lord will exalt the humble.

 

Sermon for Trinity 17, September 26, 2021

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.  Amen.

Luke 14:1-11  One Sabbath day, when Jesus went into the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat bread, they were watching him closely.  ²Right in front of him was a man who was suffering from swelling of his body.  ³Jesus addressed the legal experts and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”  ⁴But they were silent.  So he took hold of the man, healed him, and let him go.  ⁵He said to them, “Which of you, if your son or an ox would fall into a well on a Sabbath day, would not immediately pull him out?”  ⁶And they could not reply to these things.  ⁷When he noticed how they were selecting the places of honor, he told the invited guests a parable.  ⁸“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline in the place of honor, or perhaps someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him.  ⁹The one who invited both of you may come and tell you, ‘Give this man your place.’  Then you will begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.  ¹⁰“But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will tell you, ‘Friend, move up to a higher place.’  Then you will have honor in the presence of all who are reclining at the table with you.  ¹¹“Yes, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (EHV)

The Lord will exalt the humble.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

            There was a sickness in the room that day Jesus dined at a ruling Pharisee’s house, but it wasn’t the most obvious one in our text.  Oh yes, a man with dropsy was seated in front of Jesus, but the more lethal illness was something far more insidious, something with which we all must struggle.

The first part of our text seems like it is told to show Jesus’ power to heal and to challenge His enemies.  To be honest, however, this healing merely sets the stage for the important diagnosis Jesus had to give that day.  The Pharisees were mortally stricken with the disease of pride and Jesus is the only cure.  This account teaches us that in the end, The Lord will exalt the humble.

Sinful pride or spiritual arrogance can be seen in many forms.  Here, we see it, first, in the Pharisees putting Jesus on display, more or less challenging Him to defy their policing of the Sabbath Day.  The legalists of Judea had implemented numerous rules concerning the Sabbath that primarily made themselves feel superior to others.  The Pharisees knew Jesus had previously healed on the Sabbath, so they placed this suffering individual in front of the Lord hoping that either Jesus would submit Himself to their rules, or preferably, that they would have evidence to accuse Him of violating the Sabbath laws.  Consider the arrogance of sinful men seeking to judge Jesus guilty of sin while imagining themselves more righteous than the Son of God.

When we see their actions in this light, it is easy for us to marvel at the arrogance of such men, but wouldn’t that mean we are doing the same thing?  If we look down on other sinners assuming we would never fall so low, does not that mean we are elevating ourselves?  This is a dangerous trap for everyone.  No matter where you look today, whether on social media, the news, or just at the neighbors down the street, you will find people presuming themselves much more righteous than others.  One person judges his neighbor guilty of hurting everyone else if he refuses to get vaccinated.  Another considers the person getting vaccinated to be making a noble gesture, or perhaps a foolish one.  Is either right or wrong?  It is hard to judge without holding oneself superior to someone else.

The Pharisees rejected Jesus as unfit to be the promised Messiah.  That sounds tremendously arrogant.  Yet, how often don’t people just like you and me judge God guilty of being inattentive to our needs?  How often do we question whether God knows what He is doing when He sends down rain in great volume, or doesn’t send enough to suit us?  Who among us hasn’t struggled with worry or anger when things don’t go as we would choose?  Who among us hasn’t cried out why, God?  Why?  In all these ways, we exalt ourselves over the Lord.

Because we all are afflicted with a sinful nature, we all find it easy to want to be God.  We want to decide what is best for us.  We want to point out the sins of others.  We want the accolades of our neighbors no matter how small the gesture we make.  Everyone wants to be a winner, and losing comes hard to even the best sportsman.  Selfish arrogance makes us all hate to have our faults brought to light, and most people would rather direct the blame at someone other than themselves.

Jesus observed those people at the dinner, noticing their attempts to get in a good position to watch Him, and judge Him.  He also noticed how they wanted to be seated next to the more prominent men among them.  Jesus gave this advice: “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline in the place of honor, or perhaps someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him.  The one who invited both of you may come and tell you, ‘Give this man your place.’  Then you will begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.  But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will tell you, ‘Friend, move up to a higher place.’  Then you will have honor in the presence of all who are reclining at the table with you.”  Now, be warned, the sinful nature within would take this advice and assume a way to receive recognition for our humility.  Just make ourselves as humble as possible, and we will be rewarded with elevation to a better place.  Yet, do we really suppose Jesus is teaching us to seek honor for ourselves with feigned humility?

The answer comes at the end of our text: “Yes, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”  Jesus used the scenario of this dinner as a living parable for all of us.  The point is not to teach us how to be exalted on our own.  The point is to show us what we need from Him. 

To be humble is something we all struggle with.  To be truly humble is to submit ourselves with total trust to whatever God has in store for us.  To be truly humble is to serve God without question and to serve our neighbor to the best of our abilities regardless of how kindly, or unkindly, we are treated in return.  To be truly humble is to recognize the complete lack of holiness in ourselves.  To be truly humble is to confess before God continually along with the tax collector of another parable, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13)  Because, even when we find ourselves completely humbled, it is often to our shame. 

True humility gladly accepts God’s plan for our lives while striving to live our best life in His service without seeking reward or praise.  True humility isn’t something that can be played.  It is a product of holy love.

There is one, however, who truly did humble Himself for all mankind.  Jesus came down to serve His Father in heaven, but the goal was to serve in our place so that you and I might be saved from our self-promoting, self-righteous delusions.

On our behalf, the Son of God, perfectly holy and righteous, owner of all things, with the full authority of God, came down to earth to humble Himself through an infant birth, an ordinary human upbringing under the authority of human parents, with all the trials, pain, poverty, suffering, and sorrows of ordinary life, in order that He might live perfectly according to the law and His heavenly Father’s will, then bear the full punishment for the sins of the world so that those He loved unselfishly might believe in Him and be saved. 

This perfect Son of God in human flesh is the Jesus we see in this account.  He entered that enemy house seeking only to help those therein to see the promises of God fulfilled so that they too could be saved.  Yet, those therein sought only His death.  To this too, Jesus would humbly submit Himself, because it is through His humiliating, shameful, sacrificial death on a cross that you and I are reconciled with the Father above.  Instead of directing guilt away from Himself as we are so often inclined to do, Jesus received the shame of the whole world in His humiliated state.  St. Paul testified, “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)  The righteous Son of God, the Lamb of God without blemish or fault, became the Scapegoat taking on the rebellious acts of all the sinners ever, bearing punishment He never deserved for those who have nothing good to offer.

Before the unholy crowd that day, Jesus said, “Yes, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”  The One who truly humbled Himself was Jesus.  Natural man seeks his own glory—always has—always will.  Thanks be to Jesus, God didn’t leave us to the fate we deserved.  Instead, the Father credits Jesus’ humility, kindness, holiness, and obedience to sinners like you and me who He has chosen to believe, who the Spirit has led to repentance.  We could never get low enough to cover the faults and arrogance we have already lived.  Nor do we have to, for God has covered us with the righteousness of His Son, and when we come before Him in humble repentance, Jesus doesn’t shame us but exalts us to His side in the glory of God’s heavenly wedding banquet.

Dear friends, through baptism and the preaching of His Gospel, God made a transformation in us that qualifies us to stand before His throne in humility so that He might raise us up to everlasting glory.  His Word put living faith in hearts that once were dead.  His Word cut the arrogance away that once rejected the Son as our Savior.  God’s Word is our hope and our joy, because God’s Word has granted glory to all those in whom He has worked humble faith.

Anyone who rightly examines his life will see that none of us has ever lived in perfect humility.  Yet, for lowly sinners like you and me, the Ruler of heaven and earth took a stand.  Not a stand of self-promotion, but an offering of His own holy, humble life in place of ours so that His Father in heaven will receive us with joy as children won for Him by the sacrifice of His own beloved Son, Jesus.  Someday soon, whether while we still walk the earth or after God has called us out of this life, The Lord will exalt the humble, lifting all who have trusted in Jesus to glory and life everlasting.  Amen.

May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.  The Lord be with you all.  Amen.

Saved, not by works, but by mercy and promise.

 

Sermon for Trinity 16, September 19, 2021

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

Romans 9:1-13  I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying—my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit ²that I have great sorrow and continuous pain in my heart.  ³For I almost wish that I myself could be cursed and separated from Christ in place of my brothers, my relatives according to the flesh, ⁴those who are Israelites.  Theirs are the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.  ⁵Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, came the Christ, who is God over all, eternally blessed.  Amen.  ⁶This does not mean that God’s word has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are really Israel, ⁷and not all who are descended from Abraham are really his children.  On the contrary, “Your line of descent will be traced through Isaac.”  ⁸This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are counted as his descendants.  ⁹For this is what the promise said: “I will arrive at this set time, and Sarah will have a son.”  ¹⁰Not only that, but Rebekah also had children by one man, our forefather, Isaac.  ¹¹Even before the twins were born or did anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose in election might continue— ¹²not by works but because of him who calls us—it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.”  ¹³Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (EHV)

Saved, not by works, but by mercy and promise.

Dear elect of God,

            Jesus told His disciples, “No one has greater love than this: that someone lays down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)  This is the type of love Paul expresses for his fellow Israelites as he laments their rejection of Jesus as the Savior.  If God cutting off Paul from Christ would have convinced the Jews to believe in Jesus, Paul would have willingly accepted that sacrifice.  At the same time, Paul knew only too well that his life couldn’t buy another person’s salvation.  In fact, many of the Jews demonstrated time after time that they would prefer to kill him for preaching about Jesus. 

Paul spent his whole ministry proclaiming that forgiveness and salvation come only though faith and that saving faith is granted only through the hearing of God’s Word. (Romans 10:17)  Here, God’s apostle is stricken with grief because so many of his fellow countrymen refused to believe the message God sent.  The Jews had fallen into the trap of assuming that their family alone deserved to enter heaven.  Whether they believed this was a birthright for descending from Abraham or that they were earning God’s favor by obedience to the Mosaic law, the Holy Spirit through Paul was letting them, and the whole world, know that God’s people are Saved, not by works, but by mercy and promise.

The question is, “Who are God’s people?”  Who among us can make that claim?  Who among the descendants of Abraham are part of God’s chosen people?  The new congregation at Rome was made up of both Jews and gentiles, as was common in the early Christian church.  At the same time, there were many false teachers misleading people about one thing or another.  Sadly, that continues today, perhaps even more so.

This text is often a source of disagreement in the Christian Church.  It concerns the doctrine of election which teaches that God chose us to be saved from before the creation of the world.  To the Ephesian congregation, Paul wrote, “He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, so that we would be holy and blameless in his sight.  In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 1:4-5) 

What the doctrine of election doesn’t teach is why God allows some people to be damned.  That is where much of the disputing arises.  Some parties teach that God predestined the unbeliever to die.  Yet, the Holy Spirit had Paul write, “God our Savior,… wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4)  This and other passages clearly confirm that it is not God’s desire for any sinner to be lost.

Other groups then suppose that there must be something good in us that causes us to be more acceptable to God.  However, again, Scripture makes it clear “that all (both Jews and Greeks) are under sin.  Just as it is written: There is no one who is righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:9-10)  Paul made abundantly clear that our efforts contribute nothing to our salvation when he wrote, “In fact, there is no difference, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God publicly displayed as the atonement seat through faith in his blood.” (Romans 3:22-25)  Notice the connotations of that passage: all people have sinned against God and deserve only His wrath and punishment, so how could anything we do contribute toward salvation?  The answer is that we are Saved, not by works, but by mercy and promise, because all people have also been justified by the blood Jesus shed for the sins of the world, so that God could save those who believe in Jesus.  

It amazed and troubled St. Paul that with all the advantages they had been given as a people, so many of his fellow Israelites refused to see Jesus as their Savior.  He lists eight amazing blessings from God to Israel: “Theirs are the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.  Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, came the Christ, who is God over all, eternally blessed.  Amen.” 

As you read the record of the Old Testament, you see all the extraordinary ways God worked among the Israelites and everything He gave them to show them Jesus.  God chose Abraham out of all the people on earth to have the one descendant who would win salvation for everyone.  God adopted Abraham and Sarah’s family as His own chosen people.  He showed them glorious miracle after glorious miracle.  For the generations that didn’t witness those things personally, God had His blessings recoded in written form, long before other nations could learn of God’s love.  God reiterated the law in written form so His people would know right from wrong.  The Lord also gave them detailed instructions for worshipping Him so that the promises of grace and forgiveness would be highlighted in their midst forever.  Most importantly, God promised them a Savior and gave numerous detailed prophecies for how they could recognize His Son when He came. 

Ultimately, God sent His own Son into their midst, and the Son bestowed upon that people countless miracles that showed His divinity.  Jesus told them directly who He was and why He came.  Everything about Jesus was out in the open for all to see.  Yet, though the Jews knew the Scriptures and could see Jesus fulfilling all the prophecies, many rejected Him to their destruction.

So why? What is the truth of your election?  As already mentioned, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)  That is the only way anyone is saved.  Furthermore, believing is not something we accomplish but is gifted to us only by the Holy Spirit working that faith in stone dead hearts.  We come to believe because God works that faith in us.  He is the One who promised a Savior.  Long before any of us were born, God gave His word of grace.  Long before any of us were born, Jesus came into the world and won our release from sin and death.  Again, before creation, God chose us to believe.  Why some and not others?  The Bible simply does not say.

That being said, God is holy and cannot and does not sin, so it is not possible for Him to desire the destruction of anyone.  Plus, Jesus lived and died for the whole world, for every sinner, ever.  Paul wrote, “This does not mean that God’s word has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are really Israel, and not all who are descended from Abraham are really his children.  On the contrary, “Your line of descent will be traced through Isaac.”  This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are counted as his descendants.”  The point of all this is that God graciously chooses who will hear His word of grace.  None of us deserve nor earn any part of God’s kindness.  Yet, God is kind, and those who believe His Gospel promises receive His gift of forgiveness and salvation to give them life eternal.

When God planned to send a Savior through a woman, He had to choose a family in which His Son would be born.  That is Abraham’s line.  Through one descendant of Abraham, Jesus Son of Mary, all nations of earth were blessed with God’s declaration that all sins had been paid for and all were set free from the devil’s curse. 

At the same time, God doesn’t force anyone to believe.  He sends His precious Gospel across the land with the intention of giving life to sinners.  Yet, many, in their rebellion, choose to reject His message of grace and truth.  And that brings us to the second part of Paul’s example: “Not only that, but Rebekah also had children by one man, our forefather, Isaac.  Even before the twins were born or did anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose in election might continue—not by works but because of him who calls us—it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.”  Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”  Though normally as the firstborn, Esau would have received the greater blessing and inheritance.  However, God is in His divine providence and mercy chose to have Jacob receive that favor. 

It wasn’t that Jacob earned or deserved it, but God wants to give His blessing through faith—not merit.  Eventually, we see that Esau despised the blessing he assumed was his, and he sold that firstborn right to his brother for a bowl of soup.  As far as the promise of a Savior, Jacob believed and was saved.  Esau likewise could be saved by believing that promise.  However, in Esau’s case, he would have to believe in the descendant of his brother as his Savior, and we are not shown that he put his trust in the promised Messiah, though certainly Jesus died for Esau as well as Jacob.

What all this means is that God sent His Son to live and die for you.  With His death on the cross, Jesus reconciled you and everyone else with His Father in heaven.  He calls you now with full and firm assurance that all your sins are forgiven.  Furthermore, your Savior has called you out of darkness into His light by causing you to be born in such a time as the Gospel is being proclaimed in your presence, and through Baptism and His word of promise, God has called you into His family of believers who have received the full rights of sons to inherit a home in heaven.  Thus, the doctrine of election is given to comfort those who believe in Jesus that their salvation is sure and certain, because the Lord made the decision to pick you out of the refuse of earth and did the work to save you.

Why some are saved and not others, we cannot answer this side of heaven.  We do know that to reject the salvation Jesus has won for you leads to deadly condemnation in the pit of hell.  That is not what God wants for you or anyone else, so by His Word, He calls, gathers, and enlightens all who believe in His Son, because we are Saved, not by works, but by mercy and promise.  All glory to His holy name.  Amen.

Amen.  Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and might belong to our God forever and ever.  Amen.

Love the God of love and mercy.

 Sermon for Trinity 15, September 12, 2021

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

Deuteronomy 6:4–7  ⁴Hear, O Israel!  The Lord is our God.  The Lord is one!  ⁵Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  ⁶These words that I am commanding you today are to be on your heart.  ⁷Teach them diligently to your children, and speak about them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (EHV)

Love the God of love and mercy.

Dear brothers and sisters of the living Savior,

            Every religion demands obedience to its gods.  The ancient pagans insisted that their idols be respected and worshipped lest the city, or state, should suffer the wrath of its imagined deities.  Modern religions expect the same allegiance to whatever god is worshipped, some demanding allegiance at the point of a sword or a gun.  In one respect, Christianity is the same as other religions: our God expects our love and allegiance—demands it, in fact.  However, this is the only similarity between Christianity and other religions, for no religion other than Christianity worships a living, loving God, a God who provides for all people and all living creatures regardless of faithfulness, and a God who gave His own life, so that we might live and never die.  Therefore, dear friends, Love the God of love and mercy.

After Moses broke the two tablets of the law that God had given him to guide Israel, Moses was instructed to carve out two new stone tablets on which God promised to write out again His Ten Commandments.  At that time, Moses asked to see God.  The Lord God of heaven and earth agreed to pass by Moses so that Moses might get a glimpse of God’s glory, yet lest Moses be destroyed by the glory of God’s face, the Lord sheltered Moses from seeing His face.  God had Moses stand in a cleft in the rocks and covered Moses’ face with His hand as God was passing by declaring, “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)

It is in these words that we meet the God of our sermon text.  Without this context, one might assume that the God of Israel is like all the idols of earth.  Everything else people worship demands service with the illusion of receiving something good in exchange.  The Lord, our God, on the other hand, invites us to love Him for all the mercy and love He shows to us generation after generation.  The fact that this world still exists shows that God is merciful and compassionate.  St. Peter later wrote, “The Lord is not slow to do what he promised, as some consider slowness.  Instead, he is patient for your sakes, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

Moses called out to the people, “Hear, O Israel!  The Lord is our God.  The Lord is one!”  For much of the world, this idea that there is only One true God is a novel concept.  Even when our friends and neighbors assume that everyone worships God, they do so assuming that anything goes when it comes to worshipping God.  For far too many people, today, God is a construct of the mind, something far out there but not really connected with every day living.  In that way, God becomes sort of a friend you used to know but don’t see much of anymore.  That allows them to imagine that God has no expectations of them and no restrictions on their behavior.  For some others, though, God becomes this scary force who is trying to hurt you for past wrongs, so they believe God cannot be trusted and you must handle all problems yourself.

The One true God is neither of those false images.  The God who created this world and everything in it wants you to know Him, personally, just as He knows you.  He wants you to know His love for you and for everyone who trusts Him.  He also wants you to know His holiness and perfection.  For that reason, at creation, God walked with the first man and woman, side by side as friends.  When that close connection was destroyed by Adam and Eve’s rebellion, God didn’t abandon those He loved but gave them a promise of the Seed of the woman, a Son who would restore the connection of peaceful harmony between God and man.  That message of salvation was to be passed down from generation to generation so that everyone would know and love God.  Of course, we know that ball got dropped as wickedness and violence increased, and God’s promise was ignored and forgotten.  Ultimately, God brought destruction upon the world in the form of a world-wide flood to wash away wickedness.

Later, after the remnant of mankind had begun rebuilding the population of humans on the earth, God continued His quest for all people to know Him by sending prophets with messages of grace and promises of a Savior and how to recognize Him when He would come.  Especially, God chose one family through which He would make His salvation plan be known and through whom the Savior would be born.  This family was descended from Israel, Abraham’s grandson first called Jacob.  God called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to faith in this promised Messiah.  God led their descendants out of Egypt with Moses as the intermediary. 

“The Lord is our God.  The Lord is one!”  The Bible makes it clear from beginning to end that God is three persons in One God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  This Triune God is at once Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier of the world.  But, how can we know Him?  The Bible tells us that we best see God at the cross; by the inspiration of the Spirit, St. Paul wrote, “For all the fullness of God’s being dwells bodily in Christ.” (Colossians 2:9)  To know God, and especially to know His inherent goodness, mercy, and love, as well as His perfect justice, you have to meet God at the cross in Christ Jesus. 

At the cross, God punishes all the sins of the world.  There, God takes possession of every evil deed, word, wish, misunderstanding, and thought you and everyone else have ever had.  There, the punishment that you and I and everyone else has rightly deserved was laid on God’s Son, Jesus.

The devil is rightly called “The Accuser,” because whenever we are tempted, or fall into sin, Satan is right there accusing us of being guilty before God and unworthy of God’s love.  Yet, at the cross, we find the depth of God’s love for the human race.  Despite the fact that we have all rebelled against God and fallen in league with the devil against our Creator, God gives Himself as the Victim and the Substitute who must die as the just penalty for the sins committed against God.  The Accuser is thus defeated, because the only righteous Judge has paid the full penalty for all the guilty.

Our God left nothing to chance.  When evil entered the world, God had the solution already planned.  When man lost the knowledge of God’s love and mercy, God sent messengers to show us His love.  Because none of us could come to Him, God came to us in human flesh to win us back to Him.  Because only God could restore true life to dead souls, He sends His Spirit in Word and Sacrament to claim us as His own, to restore us to His kingdom and family, to replace our stone dead hearts with living hearts of faith, and to dress each of us in the pure righteousness of the Son who lived the perfect life of faith, humility, kindness, and service that God expects of His dear children.

Because of the great love God has shown to us, He calls to us through Moses, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  Love is a connection of faith, fellowship, and service.  We love when we set aside our own desires to devote ourselves fully to what is best for others.  In this case, that means we commit ourselves fully to what God commands.  It means we will strive to trust Him without doubt or worry.  It means we run to Him as a little child runs to earthly parents with every trouble, hurt, or need, fully expecting that in God we will find our help.  It means we trust God’s wisdom for our lives by trusting His Word as the source of all truth and the solution to every evil.

In God’s great love for us, we have the answer for all the ills of this world.  In His Word, we learn right from wrong.  In His Word, we learn of the great love He demonstrated for us on the cross.  In His Word, we learn of God’s passion for defending His people from the devil’s assaults.  In His Word, we learn of how God continues to sustain those who trust in Him, how He feeds us His own body and blood as fuel for faith, medicine for our lives, and forgiveness replenishing hurting souls.

Because God loves us, He also loves our children and our neighbors.  Therefore, He wants His love to be evident in our lives so that those around us also learn of His great love and mercy.  Moses taught, “These words that I am commanding you today are to be on your heart.  Teach them diligently to your children, and speak about them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”  It is our connection with Christ that satisfies God’s law.  Through Christ, we are counted as holy, and through faith in Christ, we are empowered to live holy lives.  It is God’s fervent desire that the Good News of what Jesus has done for us be seen continually in everything we do.

We all know how poorly hypocritical instruction works.  Telling a child to do the right thing while doing the thing you speak against seldom accomplishes your goal.  St. James wrote to fellow Christians, “Be people who do what the word says, not people who only hear it.  Such people are deceiving themselves.” (James 1:22)  To ignore God’s law is to walk away from the love God has given us in Jesus.  Mindlessly repeating God’s law does nothing to save the lost.  Rather, giving of ourselves to walk with the holy Savior—that brings peace to the world and salvation to many.

Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord spoke about Jesus, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.' " (Isaiah 49:6) 

The God of love and mercy “wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4)  He wants everyone to hear, see, and believe what Jesus has done to reconcile the sinner with God.  Therefore, the One and Only wants His Gospel message to be our focus, morning, noon, and night, so that we don’t lose Christ’s free salvation.  He wants us to be continually shining beacons of His Gospel, so that many more people will enter His kingdom of grace. 

Dear Christian friends, because He so loved us, Love the God of love and mercy.  Amen.

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.  Amen.

Walk with the Lord who has authority to heal.

 

Sermon for Trinity 14, September 5, 2021

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

John 5:1-14  After this, there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  ²Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda in Aramaic, which has five colonnades.  ³Within these lay a large number of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—who were waiting for the movement of the water.  ⁴For an angel would go down at certain times into the pool and stir up the water.  Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.  ⁵One man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years.  ⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been sick a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”  ⁷“Sir,” the sick man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up.  While I’m going, someone else goes down ahead of me.”  ⁸Jesus said to him, “Get up!  Pick up your mat and walk.”  ⁹Instantly the man was healed.  He picked up his mat and walked.  That day was the Sabbath.  ¹⁰So the Jews told the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath!  You are not permitted to carry your mat.”  ¹¹He answered them, “The one who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”  ¹²Then they asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Pick it up and walk’?”  ¹³But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.  ¹⁴Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Look, you are well now.  Do not sin anymore so that nothing worse happens to you. (EHV)

Walk with the Lord who has authority to heal.

Dear fellow redeemed,

            Our world has been dealing with a pandemic now for over a year and a half.  People are frustrated.  Many are scared.  We see friends and neighbors accusing others of not caring, of not doing enough to protect themselves and others from this still mysterious disease.  At the same time, many people are tired of government overreach.  People are tired of being told what they should or shouldn’t do, especially when those proclamations have flip-flopped so often over the many months.  Lives have been destroyed both by the illness and by the various actions taken to try to stop it.  Possible cures are proffered by less than reliable sources long before they can be shown to work.  Real protections are manufactured, then oops, maybe not so fast.  The cure is still out of reach. 

If we think these past eighteen months have been hard to deal with, imagine the frustration of waiting for a miracle cure—decade after decade— watching anxiously only to see someone else jump ahead in line—time after time after time.  Someone else gets the miracle healing, and while you are glad for them, for you, it’s one more disappointment in a lifetime of disappointments and pain.

What a heart-wrenching scene we have before us in this text.  That was not a hospital.  There was no doctor present with a new drug or special talent for healing, but John tells us that a large multitude of people had been brought to Bethesda.  It was their last hope.  They had no place else to turn.  Every one of those people was basically hopeless without any other help for their conditions.

Jesus was going up to Jerusalem to attend an unnamed Jewish festival.  As He was arriving, He went by this place that had become famous for its occasional healings.  We are not told much about it.  Apparently, however, God had this visit planned a long time before Jesus arrived, for in preparation, God would send an angel to agitate the water, and the next afflicted person to enter the pool was healed of whatever affliction he was dealing with.  But, only one could win each lottery.

Out of the mass of suffering souls, Jesus picked one man and asked him a question that some might consider rude: “Do you want to get well?”  That crippled man had to wonder what was wrong with this stranger to ask such a question.  Why would he be at Bethesda if he didn’t want to be healed?  How cruel it must have seemed if the man thought Jesus was implying that he hadn’t tried hard enough.  We can hear the anguish in the man’s reply: “Sir,” the sick man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up.  While I’m going, someone else goes down ahead of me.”  Someone like me might have said, “Can’t you see that I’m broken?  Can’t you see that I can’t get myself down to the pool in time?  Do you think I haven’t been trying?” 

People like me need to learn to Walk with the Lord who has authority to heal.

Sometimes, people will tell you that Jesus saves but you have to believe.  They make believing a work you must do to be saved.  The evidence here shows us that it isn’t the strength of our faith that saves us.  That man didn’t know who Jesus is.  He didn’t ask Jesus for the miracle.  That cripple was trusting in the water to heal him and trusting in himself to get down to the pool.  For thirty-eight years, his trust had gotten him nowhere and frustration was eating at his soul.

There are many things we could talk about here.  One is that faith is a gift of God, and sometimes a person is saved after having believed in Jesus and God’s promises for years.  On the other hand, Jesus can and does save some who hadn’t yet believed simply by speaking a few words to the person, or over him as in baptism.  Either way, we don’t create our own faith for “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)  The encouragement for us is to use the gift of faith to Walk with the Lord who has authority to heal.

Another question that often troubles people is why doesn’t Jesus heal everyone?  Why did He pick out just that one man from the masses of suffering?  Maybe you have asked why God doesn’t grant you the miracle you want.  To some extent, the question cannot always be answered.  However, as our Creator, God has the perfect right to do with us as He pleases.  He has said, “I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” (Exodus 33:19) 

The Lord led the prophet, Jeremiah, to the potter’s house to observe the potter forming a pot out of a lump of clay, but when the pot didn’t please the potter, he would crush that lump to make something different, and the Lord said, “House of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? . . . See, like clay in the potter’s hands, that is what you are in my hands, house of Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:6)  Now, that may not feel very comforting, but God also assures us that He disciplines those He loves.  The writer to the Hebrews encourages, “Endure suffering as discipline.  God is dealing with you as sons.  Is there a son whose father does not discipline him?  If you are not disciplined (and all of us have received it), then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” (Hebrews 12:7-8)  Discipline often isn’t pleasant to live with when we are going through the pain, but God is using it for our eternal good. (Romans 8:28)  Therefore, even when we don’t understand why God doesn’t intervene in our earthly troubles, we know He is working it all for our everlasting good.

Jesus told the sick man who longed to be healed, “Get up!  Pick up your mat and walk.”  Instantly the man was healed.  He picked up his mat and walked.”  In the blink of an eye, a body that had been weak, crippled, and hurting for thirty-eight years was fully restored.  The man who couldn’t drag himself from his bed to the edge of a pool stood up and picked up his bed roll.  He could walk.  He could go home to his family and friends with the joyous news that he was completely healed.  He could carry a weight and go back to work.

And then, we see the other side.  As soon as the poor cripple was restored, Jesus’ enemies went on the offensive.  “The Jews told the man who had been healed, ‘This is the Sabbath!  You are not permitted to carry your mat.’”  Healed, but accused.  Rejoicing, but shamed.  What was the poor man to do?  Yet, here too, we get some good news.  Just as Jesus healed that suffering man, He could also heal the Sabbath.  I know that sounds a bit strange, but the Jews had made the Sabbath a trap and a stumbling block for God’s people.  The Sabbath was intended to be a day of rest, a day to focus on the joy of God’s goodness and mercy, but the Jews made it a curse.

Jesus’ words at another time the Jews were accusing Him of violating their Sabbath laws apply well here, “If you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.  For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:7-8)  Relying on law, we would be doomed, but Jesus is our Rest, our Sabbath, our hope, our life.

That accused man wasn’t able to tell his accusers who had healed him, because Jesus had slipped away through the crowd.  Rather than confront the accusers in front of those healing souls, Jesus waited until a more appropriate time.  But, notice where Jesus found that healed man—in the temple.  Most likely yet that same day, the restored man made his way to the temple, most likely offering up his thanks to God for the healing and for the Man who healed him.

Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Look, you are well now.  Do not sin anymore so that nothing worse happens to you.”  What does this mean?  Jesus wanted the man to recognize the new life he had been given, so that the torments of hell would never touch him.  Previously, that man didn’t know Jesus.  Previously, the man relied on himself and the luck of the draw for healing and life.  Now, he had met the Lord of Life face to face.  Jesus wanted him to walk in the love of God forever.  The message to all Jesus heals is to turn away from the old ways of sin and turn away from trying to achieve salvation by your own efforts.  Turn to Jesus—walk with Him who alone gives life that doesn’t end and healing that won’t fade away.  Walk with the Lord who has authority to heal. 

Of course, we know that the restored man would again face death later in life.  Just like all of us sinners, he would die.  Jesus was speaking about something more important that physical healing.  Jesus was concerned for souls, that man’s soul and all of ours.

Here on earth, we will have trouble.  Here on earth, we may, or may not, be restored physically.  However, a time is coming when in the blink of an eye the bodies of all who believe in Jesus will be restored never to fade again.  You see, Jesus didn’t enter the world to fix the problems we face here on earth.  Instead, Jesus came to win our release from this place of suffering and death. 

Christ bore the sins of the world so that you and I don’t have to carry that load.  Jesus bore the stripes and the curse of death you and I and everyone else deserved, so that He could rightly, justly judge you righteous and holy in His sight, so that you may go to your rest in peace knowing that when the trumpet sounds on Judgment Day, and our Savior says, “Rise up!” all who have believed in Him will walk in glory forever where there will be no more pain, no suffering, no sin, no sorrow, and no death.

There is no lottery to try to win in salvation.  There is nothing you must do to get yourself healed from the curse of sin.  Jesus handled it all for you and me on a cross outside of Jerusalem.  The faith you were given at Baptism and in hearing the Gospel of our Lord has made you whole in the eyes of our heavenly Father.  He has called you His child and marked you as a member of His kingdom.  Have no fear of the accusers.  Walk with the Lord who has authority to heal.  Amen.

After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who called you into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you.  To him be the glory and the power forever and ever.  Amen.