Sermon for Last Sunday of Church Year, November
24, 2024
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Isaiah 51:4-6 4Pay attention to me, O my
people. My nation, listen to me! For the law will go out from me, and I will
establish my justice as a light to the peoples.
5My righteousness is near.
My salvation goes forth, and my arms will bring justice to the
peoples. The seacoasts will wait for
me. They will have confidence in my
arm. 6Lift up your eyes to
the heavens. Look closely at the earth
beneath, because the heavens will vanish like smoke, and the earth will wear
out like a garment, and its inhabitants will die like gnats. But my salvation will remain forever, and my
righteousness will never be abolished. (EHV)
Pay attention to the
One everlasting.
Dear friends in Christ,
We’ve
reached the end of the Church year. The
harvest is in our rear-view mirror. For
many or us, it might be time to sit back, relax, and enjoy some calm. Yet, with the way the year has gone, with
crazy weather stoking worries, first with rain delays making some wonder
whether a crop would get planted, then when the weather turned, would there be
moisture enough to produce a good crop?
Now, once the harvest is in the bins, but the prices have crashed, will
there be enough money to carry us all through the coming year?
On top of those local concerns, an election
year always brings stress and worry to many.
Whether you pick one party, or the other, surely someone in your group
of friends was disappointed. Now, with
the election concluded, the pollsters and political pundits fill the news with
their opinions on our future with a new administration. So many troubles to bring panic to the
masses: inflation, wars in various places, illnesses running amok, climate
change hysterics, nuclear war threats, interest rates eating into budgets, stock
and commodity markets in turmoil, government abuses and excesses, and old age
eating at our bones. The doomsayers are
again having a field day.
But, what about us? How are we reacting to the troubles of a
world broken and corrupted by sin? Who,
or what, are we trusting for assurance in these trying times? If we are honest with ourselves, as we always
should be, it is more than a little likely that we too have fallen prey to the
devil’s whispers, the evil one who always attempts to get us questioning God’s
plan for His people. The people of
Israel certainly fell for that liar’s temptations. In consequence for their departures from
trusting God, they were at the time of Isaiah’s writing this prophecy, dwelling
in exile in Babylon. However, God never
abandoned His people, so we too are reminded to Pay attention to the One
everlasting.
The Lord God of heaven and earth, who is
without beginning or end, (Psalm 90:2) cries out, “Pay attention to me, O my
people. My nation, listen to me!” This is not the frantic whining of some
childlike authority. Not at all. Instead, this is the Lord of life calling for
His people not to lose hope. Yes, they
were undergoing some harsh discipline.
Yes, they had been unfaithful to the God who loved them unconditionally. Yet, God’s plan of salvation was, and is,
still intact. God called to them when
they were in despair, when they were worried, when they thought all hope was
lost. He had Good News for His
people—Good News for all people on earth.
The One true God who made us His people through
faith in Jesus Christ declared, “For the law will go out from me, and I will
establish my justice as a light to the peoples. My righteousness is near. My salvation goes forth, and my arms will
bring justice to the peoples.” From
the time of Moses through the Revelation of Christ Jesus given to St. John,
God’s message of salvation and peace has been recorded for you and me to hear
and believe. God calls for us all to pay
attention to what He has given us, because He has instructed us not just in
what we should or shouldn’t do, though that is part of His Word, but God has
mostly given us this instruction so that we will know His Son as our Savior. To the opponents who so ruthlessly rejected
Him and plotted to kill Him, Jesus declared, “You search the Scriptures
because you think you have eternal life in them. They testify about me!” (John
5:39)
Already when Adam and Eve sinned, when Israel
was enslaved in Egypt, as Moses led the Children of Israel through the
wilderness, and still while they endured exile in Babylon, God’s righteousness
was never far away from them. The same
is true for you and me. After His
crucifixion, death, and resurrection, before Jesus returned to His Father’s
side in His ascension to heaven, Jesus promised His followers, “Surely I am
with you always until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
Through His holy Gospel, the Lord God shouts to
His people, “My righteousness is near.
My salvation goes forth, and my arms will bring justice to the
peoples. The seacoasts will wait for
me. They will have confidence in my arm.” The Lord alone knows what troubles and
heartaches we might face in the future.
Just as surely, He knows what troubles beset us right now. The Jews of Jesus’ day refused to see Him as
the promised Savior and Redeemer. When
our times of trouble, sorrow, persecution, or pains afflict us, will we
remember who truly loves us, and has saved us from everlasting punishment? Do we truly trust Him right now in every circumstance,
trial, hardship, or blessing?
What an accusatory question that is. Yet, it is one each of us must take to
heart. “Do you love Me,” Jesus
asked Peter. (John 21:16) Three times
the Savior questioned that disciple.
Why? Because in the moment of
trial, Peter had denied His Lord. Yet,
Jesus wasn’t grilling Peter because He wanted to make Peter suffer. Rather, Jesus wanted Peter truly to realize
that His sins and betrayal were forgiven.
Jesus wanted Peter to understand that Jesus lived and died for us all,
so that we all might believe and be saved.
After accomplishing the reconciliation of all
mankind with His Father, Jesus was sending out the disciples who had all
abandoned Him in His moment of greatest distress, because that is what God had
planned from the beginning. The
righteousness of God is Jesus. It is His
perfect life, perfect obedience, perfect trust in His Father’s care, and His
perfect love for sinners like us who don’t deserve it, and Jesus’ righteousness
is credited freely to all who are brought to believe in Jesus by the work of
the Holy Spirit in Word and Sacrament. You
see, God sent Jesus to be our salvation.
From the time Jesus ascended to heaven, the
Holy Spirit has been working through Baptism and the preaching of the Gospel to
draw in people from all over the world to be His people, a chosen people ransomed
out of slavery and death by the sacrifice of the holy Son of God. For all of this the prophet of the Lord cries
out to the weak and weary, Pay attention to the One everlasting.
When harvest comes to an end here on the plains
of Minnesota, we kind of have a picture of our lives in the world. We grow up out of the seed of our parents,
then all too soon, we fade out of this life with only our seeds remaining. Without faith in Jesus, it could really feel
all too hopeless, and we know that for many people that is the case. When afflicted with terrible pain or the
thought of imminent death, all their hope disappears and despair takes
control. Yet, that is not at all what
the Lord wants for any of us. He
promises, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens.
Look closely at the earth beneath, because the heavens will vanish like
smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants will die
like gnats. But my salvation will remain
forever, and my righteousness will never be abolished.”
God wants us to observe all created things and
recognize that they are here for only a time.
This world is not the ultimate goal God had when He created it. We don’t plant corn and beans just to see
them grow. We plant the various crops with
the goal of a harvest, and so has God provided this temporary world for His
harvest. God had His prophet testify, “Yes,
the people are grass. Grass withers,
flowers fade, but the Word of our God endures forever.” (Isaiah 40:7-8) God’s intent from the beginning was to have all
of us who believe in the Son together with Him forever in peace and harmony and
joy.
The point of all this is that we should not
remain so focused on the events of this world, the hardships and pains, the
folly, rebellion, and debauchery of the world, and not even in the riches and
good times of earth, but rather that in all things, we Pay
attention to the One everlasting. No
matter the good times or the bad, know that you are loved with an everlasting
love. You are treasured by your Creator
who so wants an eternal relationship with you that He was willing to send His
own beloved Son to live righteousness for you, to die on a cross to take away
the shame of sin from you, and to rise to live eternally ruling all things for
your everlasting good.
Jesus told us many signs to look for that would
tell us He is returning to judge the world, and all of these signs have been
evident for nearly two thousand years.
However, when Jesus gave us those signs to watch for, He said, “But
when these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads, because
your redemption is near.” (Luke 21:28)
God wants us all to be confident in the salvation He has provided for
us. Just as much, He wants you to know
that all sin was paid for by the blood of His Son, that the debt of sin is
completely paid, and He has won for us everlasting life in heaven. Before He willingly submitted to the
punishment of death in our place, Jesus promised His disciples, “In my
Father’s house are many mansions. If it
were not so, I would have told you. I am
going to prepare a place for you. And if
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me,
so that you may also be where I am.” (John 14:2-3)
Dear friends, no matter what might be happening
in this world at any moment in time, whether everything seems to be going your
way, or you face severe hardship, trouble, or pain, or even if life seems to be
moving gently along as it always has, know that God has something far better
planned for you. He has peace for you
that can never be seen on earth apart from Him.
He has joy and life waiting for you where there will never again be any
sorrow, pain, or death, where the Tempter will no longer trouble or mislead
anyone, and where you and I will rejoice in the presence of our Creator for all
the eternities to come. For all of that
and more, Pay attention to the One everlasting. Amen.
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