The Lord’s compassions do not fail.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 6, June 30, 2024

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.

Lamentations 3:22-33  ²²By the mercies of the Lord we are not consumed, for his compassions do not fail.  ²³They are new every morning.  Great is your faithfulness.  ²⁴My soul says, “The Lord is my portion.  Therefore, I will hope in him.”  ²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.  ²⁶It is good to hope quietly for the salvation of the Lord.  ²⁷It is good for a man that he bears a yoke early in his life.  ²⁸Let him sit alone and be silent, because the Lord has laid this upon him.  ²⁹Let him stick his face in the dust.  Perhaps there still is hope.  ³⁰Let him turn his cheek toward the one who strikes him.  Let him be filled with disgrace.  ³¹For the Lord will not push us away forever.  ³²Even though he brings grief, he will show compassion on the basis of his great mercy.  ³³Certainly, it is not what his heart desires when he causes affliction, when he brings grief to the children of men. (EHV)

The Lord’s compassions do not fail.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

            Many people, especially those who do not believe in the Lord, find certain truths very hard to accept.  They refuse to believe that all people are born sinners.  Many refuse to believe that God created the world and everything in it, and still provides for it.  More than that, they want to blame God rather than appreciate His loving providence, and particularly, they hate to accept His loving discipline.

Just as we can say these things truthfully about our day, it was no different in Jeremiah’s time.  As God sent His prophet to the people of Judah to deliver a warning of God’s coming wrath over her rebellion, idolatry, and disobedience, the leaders of Judah rejected the message and abused God’s prophet.  In the midst of the abuse and deprivation he suffered and while watching God’s judgment fall upon unbelieving people, Jeremiah sang this tribute of praise, so that you and I would know that The Lord’s compassions do not fail.

As God had warned, by the time of this lament, Judah had been overrun by its enemies, Jerusalem lay in ruins, the temple was destroyed, many people had died, many others had been carted off into exile, and the remaining people were facing famine, disease, and hardship.  It’s hard to imagine a worse time for any nation—that is—until you see pictures of the destruction in Ukraine and Gaza and other places were war rages.  Wars come and go.  Pandemics do likewise.  Famines and floods trouble vast areas at times.  Death always comes at some point.  It can be hard to recognize the goodness of God when we are suffering through those trials.  It is only by faith that anyone stands firm.

Jeremiah had true faith and trust in the God who gave him his message.  In his life, Jeremiah continually faced one hardship after another primarily because he refused to turn aside from the truth of God’s Word.  We should welcome his response as a foreshadowing of how our Savior would live, because this message of hope shows us much about our Savior.

Jeremiah wrote, “By the mercies of the Lord we are not consumed, for his compassions do not fail.  They are new every morning.  Great is your faithfulness.”  The Holy Spirit tells us through St. Paul’s letter, “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)  Therefore, what every person who has ever lived truly deserved is only death.  Still, because God is so consistently good at providing for us, we often imagine that we are good.  Yet, it is only God who is truly good and righteous in all things.  He created the world and everything in it, and He continues to provide all things for our good.  What mankind deserved is immediate judgment, but in His compassion, God gives people the opportunity to come to faith in His Son and be saved.  God moves everything in this world toward that goal, and The Lord’s compassions do not fail.

Now, we might argue that God seems to do, or to allow, many things that harm us.  Yet, that is only because in our sinful nature we don’t see the method behind His goals.  Jeremiah understood that God was bringing judgment upon the Judeans because they continually rejected God as Lord.  Jeremiah also understood that these harsh afflictions were intended to turn God’s chosen ones back to the Lord.  Therefore, the prophet could confidently say, My soul says, “The Lord is my portion.  Therefore, I will hope in him.”  Through all the multitude of hardships inflicted upon Jeremiah because the Judean people didn’t like the message he brought, and while watching the destruction the people experienced in their foolish rebellion against God, Jeremiah stayed faithful.  He never enjoyed peace and blessing in this life for his faithfulness, but his eternal reward is everlasting glory and peace.

Jeremaih trusted that “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.  It is good to hope quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”  We might say this summarizes the whole of the gospel of our Savior.  Since mankind fell into sin and the world has been made to suffer under the curse of sin, God has offered a sure and certain hope of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life in heaven to all who trust in His Son.  The apostle, Peter, testifying before the Jewish authorities who wanted to condemn him for preaching about Jesus, declared by the power of the Holy Spirit, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) 

One of the worst sins mankind has ever fallen into is the idea that we can somehow save ourselves.  Yet, from birth we are sinners.  Before we even know we are guilty, we have already been sinning against God.  The very existence we inherit from our parents, body and soul, is corrupted by sin.  On our own we can do nothing that will satisfy the Judge of the world.  However, Jeremiah had no delusions about himself.  He had no delusions about Israel saving itself by correcting their faults.  From the beginning, God has made it clear that we need a Rescuer.  That’s the truth God was teaching the people when He commanded all those sacrifices at the temple.  Those countless lambs slaughtered through the centuries pointed to the sacrifice of one Lamb who would take away the sins of the world.  That one perfect Lamb is the Son only God could give, our Lord Jesus, born of the virgin, Mary, and conceived in her by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus told His disciples, “Blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear.  Amen I tell you: Many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you are seeing, but they did not see it.  They longed to hear what you are hearing, but they did not hear it.” (Matthew 13:16-17)  Jeremiah’s message, here, foreshadows Jesus living in this world for you and me and all sinners.  The prophet wrote, “Let him turn his cheek toward the one who strikes him.  Let him be filled with disgrace.  For the Lord will not push us away forever.”  Jeremiah likely didn’t fully understand what he was writing here, but he trusted that God had a plan to save him, if not from his earthly troubles, then certainly from the despair of a faithless death that would lead to eternal darkness in hell.  Whether Jeremiah fully understood this part of the prophecy or not, he trusted in the coming Savior, and therefore he has life everlasting before the throne of our God.

Still, the prophecy strikes us with how accurately it displays what Jesus would live for you and me.  When Jesus was put under the judgment of men, He was condemned for blasphemy because He claimed to be the Son of God, even though every bit of evidence proves that He indeed is.  Jesus bore the disgrace that is ours as He carried our sins before Pilate, then to the cross to suffer the cruel death that we all deserved.  While He was falsely accused, and while the soldiers and other enemies flagrantly beat Him, punched Him in the face, and laid the blows of staffs to His head and whips to His body, Jesus never turned away from bearing the awful load that would save you and me.

Even the very condemnation of being separated from God was borne by Jesus without complaint that Good Friday on the cross, all so that you and I can be counted holy in His Father’s, now our Father’s, eyes.  Jeremiah also foreshadows our Savior a bit.  He wrote, “It is good for a man that he bears a yoke early in his life.  Let him sit alone and be silent, because the Lord has laid this upon him.”  The prophet considered it good for his own benefit that he was chosen to suffer so much for the blessing of having God give him the words of truth to carry to the Judean people.  Those words brought salvation for Jeremiah, too.  At the same time, we see the fulfilment of the prophecy in God choosing His own dear Son to bear the burden of our guilt and shame—all alone with no one to help Him—who even from infancy lived perfect trust in His heavenly Father, all so that we might be counted righteous for Jesus’ sake and be granted forgiveness of all sins and life everlasting.

Finally, Jeremiah understood the same thing Paul would write about centuries later to the Roman congregation.  Paul wrote, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose, because those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:28-29)  In the same vein, Jeremiah had written, “Even though he brings grief, he will show compassion on the basis of his great mercy.  Certainly, it is not what his heart desires when he causes affliction, when he brings grief to the children of men.”

In this world, and in each of our lives, there are certainly many troubles and many hardships.  Sometimes, we face great grief and sorrow.  Yet, God doesn’t punish us for sin, because He already punished His beloved Son for the sins of the world.  Furthermore, as the prophet pointed out, it isn’t in God’s heart to cause us grief.  He wants only that we should turn to Him in repentance and believe, so that by that faith, our Savior will grant to us forgiveness and everlasting life with Him in heaven.

Therefore, dear friends, take heart through good times and bad, through joys and riches, or heartache or poverty, because through it all, God is working to bring you back to the Paradise He has prepared for all His children.  Be confident in His promises, because The Lord’s compassions do not fail.  Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore.  Amen. 

Fear not! Jesus is with you too.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 5, June 23, 2024

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

Mark 4:35-41  ³⁵On that day, when evening came, Jesus said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.”  ³⁶After leaving the crowd behind, the disciples took him along in the boat, just as he was.  Other small boats also followed him.  ³⁷A great windstorm arose, and the waves were splashing into the boat, so that the boat was quickly filling up.  ³⁸Jesus himself was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.  They woke him and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to drown?”  ³⁹Then he got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace!  Be still!”  The wind stopped, and there was a great calm.  ⁴⁰He said to them, “Why are you so afraid?  Do you still lack faith?”  ⁴¹They were filled with awe and said to one another, “Who then is this?  Even the wind and the sea obey him!” (EHV)

Fear not!  Jesus is with you too.

Dear fellow travelers on a storm-tossed sea,

            How do you like your boat rides?  Do you enjoy unexpected crises?  Can you calmly handle sudden turbulence, or are you one who needs to be in control of every detail of every tour, in every trip around the sun?  How do you handle the sudden storms that come up in the voyage of your life?

Before the events of our sermon text, Jesus’ disciples looked the model of faithfulness.  As Jesus preached that day, they listened attentively and when He decided to leave one place to travel to another, the disciples, without question, lifted the sail or bent to their oars to take Jesus where He wanted to go.  Then, when the storm suddenly overtook them, they knew right where to turn for help—or did they?

Looking back at the actions of the disciples, they can seem much like all of us.  We listen to Jesus.  We too diligently throw ourselves into the work He gives us, and we call to Him in prayer.  Yet, all too often, even those who look like faithful Christians can get confused about who Jesus really is and what He does.  Thus, whenever troubles arise while we carry on the work of the church, we may find it all too easy to think Jesus is asleep on the job.  Too often, then, people despair and become afraid.  However, the Holy Spirit tells us, Fear not!  Jesus is with you too.

As Jesus and His disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee, “A great windstorm arose, and the waves were splashing into the boat, so that the boat was quickly filling up.  Jesus himself was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.  They woke him and said, ‘Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to drown?’”  Sudden storms were not unusual on that lake, but this one was unusually strong, so even those competent, experienced sailors, who had made their living fishing on this lake, were soon overwhelmed.  When that terrible wind came up, the disciples battled with everything they had, but the wind became too strong and the waves too high, so high that the boat was nearly swamped. 

Terrified, those former fishermen were sure that unless they had every hand on deck bailing water and fighting the storm, they all would be lost in the depths of the sea.  In their panic, the disciples thought ill of Jesus.  Why was He sleeping at a time like this?  They didn’t ask how He could sleep through the raging storm; they asked, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to drown?”  They could have just as much asked if He was too lazy to help. 

The disciples knew Jesus as the Messiah, the Promised One of Israel, but they failed to remember what that meant.  Unfortunately, like them, forgetfulness can trouble us, as well.  When the storms of life threaten, how quickly we wonder if Jesus cares.  When health is compromised, or we have to face death—our own or a loved one’s—how quickly faith can whither.  At times, we can feel attacked on all sides: by politics, criminals, mockers, by the great thinkers of our day, and by the storms of world events.  Too often, we might wrongly imagine that Jesus came into this world to give us smooth sailing.  At any of these times, it becomes oh so easy to listen to Satan whisper in our ears that Jesus must be asleep, or that God must be on vacation, if He doesn’t immediately answer our prayers the way we would want Him to.  And there we are, floundering about like the twelve asking Jesus, “Don’t You care?”

Even after all the miracles the disciples had seen Jesus perform and all the times they had seen Him handle trouble, they still forgot who was with them.  “Jesus got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace!  Be still!’  The wind stopped, and there was a great calm.  He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid?  Do you still lack faith’  They were filled with awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this?  Even the wind and the sea obey him!’” 

Those twelve men expected that Jesus should be helping them fight the storm, row the boat, and bail out the water that the surging waves were throwing over them.  Instead, Jesus spoke only two words, and immediately, the wind stopped, and the sea, that had been so stirred up no sailor expected to survive, became as smooth as glass.  It happened instantly.  The disciples were awestruck, perhaps even more afraid.  Who was this Man?  How could any man possibly have such power?  To their knowledge, Jesus didn’t even pray to God for help, He just told that raging storm and sea, “Peace!  Be still!”  And it was!

Who was that Man asleep in the boat?  The same Son of God by whom God spoke in the days of creation and what He said came to be.  The disciples understood that Jesus had come on a mission from God and had been equipped to carry out His work, but now they truly saw Him as He is—true God as well as true Man.  As a Man, Jesus rested His body as He slept without fear.  As true God, He speaks and all of nature obeys.  When that realization that Jesus is more than an ordinary man entered their minds, the disciples became even more afraid.  Their sins now accused them.  Who could stand in the presence of the One who is true God?  The sinful nature knows it cannot, so the disciples trembled.

In the same way, there are many people in our world who avoid God and His Word because they are afraid of being judged.  They might not admit it, but ultimately that is the reason even baptized Christians sometimes stay away.  They choose to live in a lifestyle they know isn’t God-pleasing but rather than repent, they stay away—away from church, away from Bible reading, away from prayer, away from their friends and family members in the church, avoiding the comfort of the Gospel and the strengthening food and drink of the Sacrament—all because they are afraid of God’s judgment.

The disciples had no reason to fear that night for two reasons; first, with Jesus in the boat there was no way it was going to sink and no way even one of them would be lost.  Even when He was sleeping, Jesus remained true God in full control of all things.  Though they couldn’t recognize it in that moment of distress, God was working all things for their good.  Second, Jesus did not come into this world to guarantee smooth sailing, nor to judge the disciples or anyone else.  He came to save us, just as He declared, “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.” (John 12:47) 

Like the disciples, we often assume that our efforts keep the boat afloat.  Sometimes, we wonder if God is even listening to our prayers or helping at all.  Things don’t go the way we would choose and we wonder why Jesus doesn’t help us fight the storm!  Other times, we forget to call out to Jesus until the waves of life are threatening to swamp us. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, we do have work to do, but none of it contributes to our salvation.  Our Redeemer has already accomplished everything needed to save us.  Jesus lived in perfect trust in His Father every day of His life.  In fact, when Jesus was asleep in the back of that boat, He was trusting His heavenly Father on your behalf.  Jesus’ perfect confidence that He was safe in His Father’s care is, today, credited to those who believe in Him.  It is credited to all of us who have been made believers by the power of the Gospel in our Baptisms and through the hearing of the Word.  Therefore, Fear not!  Jesus is with you too. 

Because He came to rescue us from the seas of this sinful world, Jesus not only lived the perfect trust and obedience that fulfilled the Law for you and me, but He also then went to the cross to pay the full penalty for our sins.  Jesus didn’t go to that awful hill to pay for His own crimes for He had none—He paid there for you and me.  As our fellow sinners nailed Him to the killing tree, Jesus prayed for you and me and everyone, “Father, forgiven them.” (Luke 23:34)  And at the end, when everything necessary to give us forgiveness and eternal life had been accomplished, Jesus boldly declared, “It is finished.” (John 19:30)

Because of all Jesus did for us then and all He continues to promise us today, what should we fear?  Before Jesus left this world, He promised us, “Surely I am with you always until the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)  The Holy Spirit assures us also that there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love and that God continues to work all things for our everlasting good. (Romans 8) 

So, do you feel better that I say, Fear not!  Jesus is with you too.?  Most likely, you will still be afraid at times.  We all have to fight the good fight against our sinful nature that wants us to trust ourselves instead of Jesus.  We all have to struggle against the devil’s lies and the world’s temptations, but that’s why Jesus brought you into His boat. 

Quite often, the Christian Church has been pictured as a rescue boat pulling believers from the terrible waves of this world.  That picture comes from events like this one in our sermon text and from Peter’s declaration about how Baptism saves us as the ark lifted Noah and his family above the waters and saved them.  Some old churches were even designed inside to look like a boat tipped over the congregation protecting them from harm. 

Dear friends, you entered this world condemned to eternal death, and the storms of this world tossed you about like flotsam on the sea.  From that terrible fate, Jesus rescued you in your baptism.  There, through the water and the Word of His Gospel, God made you His own dear child and a brother or sister of Jesus, as He reeled you into the unsinkable boat of His Church.  Here, God marked you as His own dear child and covered you with Jesus’ perfect righteousness.  No longer does God see you as an enemy; no longer does He remember even one of your sins. 

Therefore, whenever your last day may come, whether by old age, accident, persecution, cancer, or crime, you do not have any reason to fear, for physical death is not your end but the step from this life to everlasting life and peace in heaven.  Jesus promised, "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.” (John 14:2-3)  Jesus prepared your home in heaven by dying for you on the cross, and His resurrection from the grave proves that you too will be raised to live forever, just as He said.  Therefore, Fear not!  Jesus is with you too. 

In addition, while you live here on earth, you are never alone nor neglected by your Savior.  He promised to be with you always, and He promises “that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)  He further had the Apostle, Paul, write for us: “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32) 

Therefore, whenever the storms of life blow against you and the waves of trouble seem ready to pull you under, ride out the storm with Jesus.  Come hear the good news that you are forgiven and you have a home waiting for you in heaven.  Believe that Jesus is both true God and the true Man who lived, died, and rose again to make you righteous in His Father’s eyes.  Don’t come to Jesus asking Him just to help you bail water.  Instead, know that Jesus has already calmed the devil’s storm, and Jesus will carry you home.  Your loving Savior did everything necessary to rescue you; all, so that you and I may boldly tell our fellow believers, Fear not!  Jesus is with you too.  Amen.

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

Thank God, the Gospel grows the hope of heaven.

 

Sermon for Pentecost4, June 19, 2024

Now may the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Colossians 1:3-8  ³We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints ⁵because of the hope that is stored up for you in heaven.  You have already heard about this in the word of truth, the gospel ⁶that is present with you now.  The gospel is bearing fruit and growing in the entire world, just as it also has been doing among you from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth.  ⁷You learned this from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf.  ⁸He is the one who told us about your love in the Spirit. (EHV)

Thank God, the Gospel grows the hope of heaven.

Dear beloved ones in Christ,

            A question for you this morning: how much good news is too much to hear?  Could that ever be a problem?  Imagine that all on the same day you or your wife gives birth to twins, and everyone is healthy, you receive a promotion at work with a doubling of your salary, and your offer to purchase a new house is accepted at even better terms than you expected, and then you hear the welcome news that a dear friend who has been dealing with cancer is declared cancer free.  Would that be too much good news for you to accept?  For many people in our world, and sometimes even in our families and our churches, the Good News of the Bible to be too much to believe.  On the other hand, Thank God, the Gospel grows the hope of heaven.

To a congregation of Christian believers that he likely never met, St, Paul wrote, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.”  Paul’s joy was found in the welcome report that those former pagans had been brought to faith in Christ Jesus.  Why his joy?  Because he recognized that the gates of heaven were opened to those people, and terror of God’s judgment and the fear of eternal torment had been removed from them. 

Just as our heavenly Father “wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” (1 Timothy 2:4) so that joy extends to all faithful Christian believers.  Therefore, we give thanks to God for every person who repents of their sin and believes in Jesus, even as in our worship services, we give thanks to God for our sins forgiven and life everlasting extended to all of us who once were lost in darkness and despair.

Now, it doesn’t take a genius to see that the world is often against us.  Yet, it isn’t just Christians that are hurt by the world.  Satan and his allies work very hard to get various groups to despise and hate each other.  Jealousies and covetousness abound in our world.  Thus, conflict rises up between people of differing colors, between employer and employees, between tribes, families, nations, and even neighbors.  You can’t turn on your computer, or phone, listen to the radio, watch television, or read a newspaper without hearing bad news of conflict here, there, and everywhere, and even if you do everything you can to hide from the world, conflict will come and find you.  So, where do we find our peace?

At the same time, as believers grow in faith, they come to trust more and more that our Savior has a plan for our everlasting good, and even when we face hardships and trials in this life, the grace He has shown us convinces us that those pains and sorrows will be only the fleeting torments of this world, while our future holds only glory and peace.  For this, we Thank God the Gospel grows the hope of heaven.

Paul said, “We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope that is stored up for you in heaven.”  What amazing news that is.  People who once had no care for others, now in their devotion to Christ Jesus displayed loving service to many, especially for their brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Our world often tries to picture Christians as judgmental and hateful people, but the opposite is true among faithful believers.  Many hospitals, orphanages, schools, service organizations, and mission efforts were established and supported by Christians to help and serve those around us.  These type of things have been happening since the Word first spread around the Mediterranean area.

Paul then tells the Colossians how the same faith that had given them hope of forgiveness and eternal life was also spreading far and wide.  He wrote, “You have already heard about this in the word of truth, the gospel that is present with you now.  The gospel is bearing fruit and growing in the entire world, just as it also has been doing among you from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth.”  The Roman Empire was a powerful political state that controlled vast areas in Paul’s day, but precious few of those people had any knowledge of the Savior God had promised mankind, until after Jesus lived, died, rose, and ascended to heaven.  All of that was necessary before the sending out of the Apostles with the Good News of what Jesus has done for us, but with the power of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel was changing lives wherever Jesus’ apostles were led to go.

Never imagine that Christ’s work didn’t have effect in this world.  With the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son and energizing the spread of the Gospel in the world, the Christian Church grew from a tiny group into a world changing religion.  You and I benefit from that still today, for the Christian religion now boasts the greatest number of believers in the world.  Yes, there are still problems and disagreements among us, but the fact that we know Jesus and believe in Him as our Savior grants us forgiveness of all sins and life everlasting in heaven.

At the same time, we should ask, what makes the Church grow?  Is it programs?  Is it the kindness of strangers?  Certainly, those things can be helpful in reaching out to people, but the source of the growth comes from outside of us.  Even as the farmer plants the fields and tends them through the harvest, he doesn’t give the seed life or make it grow.  That life must be in the seed from the beginning, or more factually, from all the way back at the creation.  Likewise, for you and me and all believers, the power to live and believe comes from the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. 

To the Roman congregation 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)  Apart from the Gospel, faith never grows, nor can it.  Without hearing the Good News of what Jesus has done for us, the law would overpower and terrify anyone.  Either that, or self-righteousness would lead into condemnation, as it has for so many.  Yet, when we recognize that we are sinners who must stand before the judgment of God in the end, how joyful it is to receive the Good News that Jesus has taken away all guilt and paid for all sins with His sacrifice on the cross.

I asked at the beginning of this sermon, “how much good news is too much to hear?”  Sometimes, it seems like we grow tired of hearing the Good News.  Maybe our attendance at worship services falters as we allow familiarity to breed contempt as we assume we already know what will be said.  Perhaps, we forget to pray to our loving God as He implores us to do.  We might even begin to wonder if He loves us as He declares.  Yet is that really because we have heard too much good news?  Or is it rather, that we have grown complacent and satisfied with the world?  Does the knowledge that Jesus has taken away all our guilt ever lead us to a lack of appreciation for all that He has done?  Does it ever lead us to withhold that Good News from others?  Woe to any believer who forgets the love of Christ, or who forgets to love his neighbor as himself.

That’s why Paul continued to pray for these new Christians, and why we continue to ask God to bless and strengthen our faith in Jesus as well as the faith of our fellow Christians around the world.  Paul makes an interesting comment about the Colossians’ faith.  He said, “You learned this from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf.  He is the one who told us about your love in the Spirit.”  A faithful servant of our Lord shared the Good News of Jesus among his neighbors, and faith took hold and grew in them.  The same thing happened for you and me as faithful servants of our Lord shared with us the Good News of Jesus’ crucified for sinners.  In his joy that Jesus had saved more of his neighbors, Epaphras shared that good news with his fellow missionary, Paul.

This morning, I ask you, who do you know who needs to hear about Jesus?  Who do you know who maybe is struggling to hold on to the faith?  Sometimes, we approach people like that and tell them, “You should be in church!” which while it is a true statement is law which only condemns and alienates them all the more.  What they really need to hear from you and me, and see in our actions, is the love that Jesus showed to us.  That is why we are here—to tell sinners that their sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake.  Imagine the reaction from an enemy if you can show them the love of God.  Yes, some may still hate you just because, but in some, that Good News of what Jesus did for you and me, and them, may turn their stone-dead souls into living believing new friends.

Many people assume that we go to church to praise God or to earn points toward our salvation.  While we do joyfully praise our Savior for all He has done for us, we actually are gathered together in worship by the power of the Gospel precisely because God knows that we need His support to keep us on the road to everlasting joy.  Therefore, as our loving Father in heaven, He has His faithful ministers preach the law to you—not to condemn you, but to call you to repentance. 

That is why God’s faithful preachers always follow the law with the Good News of what Jesus has done for us.  It is the Good News that Jesus lived, died, and rose again, taking away all our guilt and shame, to give us life, and hope, and a future, that empowers our faith and strengthens us to go out in this world and keeps us from ever being turned away from the path of righteousness in Jesus. 

In the Gospel, the Holy Spirit comes to us and works in our hearts the confidence to walk in a world opposed to God and His Son, knowing that Jesus has opened the way to heaven for all who believe in Him.  Thank God, the Gospel grows the hope of heaven.  Amen.

How blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, everyone who is walking in his ways.  Amen.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 3, June 9, 2024

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

Genesis 3:8-15  ⁸They heard the voice of the Lord God, who was walking around in the garden during the cooler part of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  ⁹The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”  ¹⁰The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.”  ¹¹God said, “Who told you that you were naked?  Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”  ¹²The man said, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”  ¹³The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?”  The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  ¹⁴The Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all the livestock, and more than every wild animal.  You shall crawl on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.  ¹⁵I 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.” (EHV)

Christ Jesus is our hiding place.

Dear children of the heavenly Father,

            My mother told me that whenever I was in trouble for misbehavior as a little boy, I would run and hide on top of my bed.  I suspect that Adam and Eve were probably about as well hidden from God’s all-knowing eyes as I was from his mother’s.

The events of our sermon text take place in the immediate aftermath of the fall into sin.  Prior to Adam and Eve’s encounter with the serpent, they would have welcomed God’s question, "Where are you?"  In fact, they had enjoyed daily walks with the Lord.  All that changed the moment they listened to the devil’s challenge.  Their perfect nature now shattered by sin, Adam and Eve couldn’t even look at each other without guilt and shame overwhelming them.  They made a bumbling attempt to hide their embarrassment behind some fig leaves, and they and all their descendants have been trying to hide their guilt ever since.  

“The man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?’”  Since God is all-knowing, hiding from His judgment proved futile for Adam and Eve.  That once friendly question now struck terror in their hearts.  Their relationship with God was completely corrupted.  The only thing they learned from the devil’s trickery was that they could no longer be in God’s holy presence and live.

Terrified by God’s question, Adam had no choice but to respond.  The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.”  Fear shows itself in a lot of different ways.  Adam’s reaction is perhaps the most common among all of us.  He first tried to hide his shame in the midst of the surrounding woods, but then he hid behind an accusation: “God, You made me naked and THAT made me ashamed!”  It was a misdirection play; instead of confessing his guilt, Adam tried to camouflage the shame by accusing God of neglecting something Adam needed. 

There are many ways people try to hide; sometimes, if one is brazened enough, he might even deny that he is afraid, and some people go to great lengths to try to prove that.  Others try to ignore the fear, and if you do either long enough you can almost convince yourself that there is nothing to be afraid of—no God, no sin, no judgment, no punishment, and nothing after this life.

Adam tried another way to hide, perhaps the most common; he went on the attack.  God gave Adam another opportunity to confess his sin, gently asking, "Who told you that you were naked?  Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?"  One would hope, since Adam had so recently fallen away from holiness, that he would have thrown himself down confessing his sin and begging for forgiveness from his beloved God.  Instead, Adam hid behind an accusation; The man said, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 

That one sin had completely shattered man’s innocence.  Sin isn’t a minor hiccup.  It wasn’t a little dirt under his fingernails, just a slip of his lips, or an external smudge or stain.  The fall into sin caused a complete change of heart from love to hate, from faith to fear.  Adam was guilty of not properly leading his wife.  He was guilty of listening to the devil’s lies, guilty of eating the forbidden fruit, guilty of wrongly accusing God.  He was guilty through and through.  With nowhere to hide, and no way to cover his shame, Adam piled up sin upon sin as he accused, defied, and attacked his Creator.

Perhaps you’ve seen this type of behavior in yourself; you get caught in a corner, so you fight back.  You get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, and you say you had to take what was forbidden—because you were hungry, or in need—so it’s not your fault.  Your wife catches you looking at another woman, but you blame her for not being attentive enough.  Your boss catches you helping yourself to a little of the company’s products, assets, or time, and it’s not your fault—the company wasn’t paying you enough.

Yet, maybe that’s just a guy thing.  Maybe a woman wouldn’t do the same.  The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?”  The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  Sadly, just like the man, Eve deflected her guilt, “God it’s all Your fault because You made that wicked snake!”  Or, “You know God, if that man You made for me would have helped me, we wouldn’t be in this predicament.  Men!”  Perhaps some of you ladies out there have tried something much the same. 

Now, God has always desired a relationship with His special creation.  Since the fall, though, none of us dare be caught in His presence, and by nature, none of us even want to be there.  So how about you; where do you try to hide from God’s question?  Is it in your work?  “O Lord, I have so much to do that I just can’t come hear You.”  Still, isn’t that also just accusing God for not providing better for us. 

Or maybe for you, it’s volunteer work.  That sounds better, doesn’t it?  “O Lord, I can’t come to meet You today, because I have all these less fortunate people to take care of.  I have all these good kids who need my help.”  In other words, it’s saying, “Well God, I have to do it, because You surely aren’t getting the job done.”

Some may try to hide their guilt in other things: a glass of beer, a game of chance, a little recreation to take your mind off your troubles, a vacation, not just from your job but from having to listen to God too.  God lays some discipline on the human race for our sin, but we don’t want to face the reality of that.  Life seems so unfair, so we try to hide the pain, dull our hurts, all so we don’t have to feel the load of guilt and repent of our sin.  Anything but that!  Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear.” (Genesis 4:13)  The very first child of the first sinful man and woman tried another way to hide from God—he accused the Lord of being unfair.  Yet, no amount of hiding can cure our guilt or shame.

The fact is, sin has corrupted every one of us—man, woman, and child—infected us so completely that most of the time, we don’t even notice we are doing these things: hiding from God, covering up our shame with distractions that hide nothing, attacking God, and blaming everybody but ourselves.  It’s all just guilt-driven attempts to hide the sin that corrupts us completely.  So, where do you hide your guilt? 

Fortunately for us, God didn’t throw His hands up in anger and abandon us to our fate.  One major difference between God and man is that God exists to love.  The Lord had warned Adam that disobedience would bring death, and it did.  However, death isn’t the end God wants for us.  Therefore, He turned to the one who led the rebellion and “The Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all the livestock, and more than every wild animal.  You shall crawl on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.  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.’”

In spite of our wickedness, and the guilt of our false accusations and finger pointing, God showed His love for us, and He has a plan to save us.  God first issued the decree of justice to the devil who had instigated the trouble.  The serpent would spend its earthly life in a shameful position, on its belly in the dirt, never able to rise and walk again, and for his rebellion, Satan was cast out of God’s heaven forever.  Still, there would be a continual warfare between the woman and the devil and between the Seed of the woman and the devil’s followers, but ultimately, and for our sake, One Seed of the woman would crush and destroy that deceiving, lying snake.

God said to the serpent, “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed.”  God wasn’t declaring that women would always be afraid of snakes.  He meant that there is a continual war for our souls.  Those who repent and follow God will face constant attacks from the evil ones, attacks that are neither pleasant nor gentle.  Why do you suppose Christians are mocked for their faith?  Why are there religious wars?  Why do your neighbors sometimes want you to do things you know are against God’s will?  Because there is continual war between the sons of God and the children of men.

Today, we live in a world where many of the devil’s children flaunt their sin and rub our noses in their imagined freedom to do whatever they want.  However, what they think is freedom is really the devil’s chains dragging them ever closer to hell.  As they come to attack us, you and I really need a hiding place.  Therefore, be glad, my friends, that Christ Jesus is our hiding place.

In response to the devil’s treachery, and mankind’s weakness, God issued the first promise of a Savior: “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.”  The Son of Man would reverse totally what Adam had done.  The perfect obedience that Adam lost, the Son would restore.  The love of God that mankind no longer possessed would be lived every moment of the Son of Man’s life.  God’s promise is true in Jesus alone.  The perfect trust and perfect faithfulness we need is all there in the Son of God and the Son of Mary.

The apostle John saw this battle as a war in heaven, and the battle was won by the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 12:7)  The Lamb of God went to war against Satan and all his minions, and Satan got in a few blows.  God had promised that the serpent would bruise His heel.  Satan tried to inflict damage by tempting Jesus.  He tried to get Jesus to give up the fight by turning the people against him.  Finally, the devil convinced God’s chosen people to reject the Seed of the woman and kill Him on a cross.  Yes, Jesus suffered indeed.  His body was ripped, and pierced, and bled empty.  And the worst blow came as the Father turned His back against the Son, so that the full wrath for the sins of the world would be finished.

Perhaps, the serpent thought he had the victory when Jesus was dead.  You can imagine Satan and his followers celebrating, “We did it!”  But wait!  What about the rest of the promise?  Oh yes, Jesus didn’t stay dead!  The Son of Man wasn’t killed by those who rejected Him.  He willingly gave up His life to take the punishment and death we had earned and to crush Satan’s head.  The victory was won by God’s own Son, so Satan can no longer accuse us.  Oh, he still whimpers and growls, but the Gospel always defeats him. 

In Psalm 91, we read, “Surely he will rescue you from the fowler’s trap, from the destructive plague.  With his feathers he will cover you, and under his wings you will find refuge.  His truth will be your shield and armor.” (Psalm 91:3-4)  Indeed, Christ Jesus is our hiding place.

Jesus wants you under His protection night and day.  Most important, He has the power and ability to protect you from all harm, and because you all have been brought under Jesus’ wings by faith, no one can accuse you of sin, for all sins, guilt, and shame were washed away at your baptisms.  God credited your sins to Jesus, punished Him for you, and now gives you Jesus’ perfect holiness in return.  Thus, your heavenly Father now welcomes you with open arms, for you have been washed clean and perfumed with the sweet-smelling sacrifice of His Son.  Satan can no longer accuse you of anything.  He is toothless. 

Furthermore, Death no longer has any hold over you either.  You died with Jesus at your baptism, and there, He raised you to life everlasting.  Each time you sorrow over your sins and remember that Jesus paid for them all, you are returning to the cleansing bath that gives you life.  You no longer have to hide from God, because He sees only the righteousness of His Son covering your human frailty with the shining, white robes of Jesus’ holiness.  Hold on to your Holy Spirit-given faith in Jesus; Christ Jesus is our hiding place.  Amen.

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

The Lord of the Sabbath came to serve and to heal.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 2, June 2, 2024

Mercy and peace to you all, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.”  Amen.

Mark 2:23-3:6  ²³Once on a Sabbath day, Jesus was passing through the grain fields, and his disciples began to pick heads of grain as they walked along.  ²⁴The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath day?”  ²⁵He replied to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry (he and his companions)?  ²⁶He entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the Bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for anyone to eat, except for the priests.  He also gave some to his companions.”  ²⁷Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  ²⁸So the Son of Man is the Lord even of the Sabbath.”  3 Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there with a withered hand.  ²They were watching Jesus closely to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath day, so that they could accuse him.  ³He said to the man with the withered hand, “Step forward!”  ⁴Then he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”  But they were silent.  ⁵Then he looked around at them with anger, deeply grieved at the hardness of their hearts.  He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”  The man stretched it out, and his hand was restored.  ⁶The Pharisees left and immediately began to conspire against Jesus with the Herodians, plotting how they might kill him. (EHV)

The Lord of the Sabbath came to serve and to heal.

Dear friends in Christ,

            Are we saved by works of law, or by the mercy of God?  The answer to that question is illustrated in our text this morning.  The Pharisees were full-bore committed to the idea that salvation comes through obedience of the law—apparently not realizing how poorly they kept God’s laws as given through Moses.

Here, the question is focused on obedience to the law of the Sabbath, the day of rest.  Yet, having come face to face with the Lord who is our rest—our true Sabbath—they rejected Him and indeed planned to kill Jesus as soon as they could find the means.  So much for their obedience of God’s law.  On the other hand, Christ’s message for us is that The Lord of the Sabbath came to serve and to heal.

As Jesus and His disciples made their way through the countryside on their way to Jerusalem to worship in the synagogue, the Pharisees were quick to find fault with Jesus’ disciples.  Now, they couldn’t find any way to directly accuse Jesus of breaking the law, so they insinuated His guilt when they assumed He should have kept His followers from what, in their minds, was a grievous crime; the disciples had “worked” on the Sabbath day by picking a few heads of grain as they walked, and husking them in their hands, ate the grain  to ease the hunger gnawing at their bellies. 

There was no accusation of stealing the grain for it was legal according to Mosaic law to do exactly as the disciples were doing on this journey.  However, the Pharisees had great concern about the Sabbath laws because they and their forerunners had established very detailed regulations about what constituted work on the Sabbath.  The primary fault of the accused was that they rolled those grains in their hands to remove the husks before eating.

In response to the Pharisees’ accusations, Jesus reminded them of what David had done as he fled from an angry and vengeful King Saul.  The showbread of the tabernacle was to be eaten by only the priests, but David had taken it, with the high priest’s permission, in order to facilitate his escape from Saul’s wicked pursuit.  David and his men needed the meal to have the energy to keep going.  Jesus’ main point in His response was that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  So the Son of Man is the Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Now, this in no way teaches that Jesus was unconcerned about the law.  Neither did He place Himself above the law, for indeed, Jesus came to fulfill all law for all of us.  Jesus pointed out the fault of their interpretation of law in that the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament were not there so that people could earn God’s favor or His verdict of not guilty.  In fact, all those laws were given by God to show the people that they needed a Savior more than anything else.  That was Jesus’ point when He said the “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”  God gave the command to rest on the Sabbath to ensure that every person would have a day of rest, and so that every person in Israel’s camp would be pointed toward the Savior who was to come, who would give us rest in the war against God. 

When you think about the sin that troubles all people, what you really have is our collaboration with the devil’s rebellion against God.  It is a seemingly never-ending war with every sin being another in the barrage of attacks against God’s love and against those whom God loves.  Jesus came into this world to end that conflict.  He came to end our disobedience, not with more laws and commandments for us to obey, but with His own perfect obedience to God’s will, The Lord of the Sabbath came to serve and to heal.

Jesus came to obey all of God’s law and will for the world, so that the Lord could declare peace between God and mankind.  This is why His enemies couldn’t find any fault to accuse Jesus.  He was perfectly obedient to God, His parents, and the authorities of the land.  Jesus further served by bringing His message of peace to the people.  Jesus then gave up His life on the cross as the full payment that bought a truce between God and mankind.  For every sin you and I have committed, and God knew there were many, Jesus paid the price of death that the law required.  So that you and I would be bought back from the kidnapper known as the Devil, God accepted Jesus’ offering of His holy, precious body and blood as the ransom price for you and me and all people.

In the second half of our Gospel text, Jesus showed that He came on a mission of mercy.  According to the Mosaic law, it was perfectly acceptable to do acts of mercy on the Sabbath.  The Pharisees were so focused on obeying their own unkind deceptions that they didn’t care about the needs of other people.  This also shows us that The Lord of the Sabbath came to serve and to heal.

Most likely, the Pharisees had planted the man with the withered hand at the synagogue hoping to catch Jesus in what they imagined was sin.  Would He break their petty rules in order to help this man who was clearly afflicted?  Would our Savior be so soft-hearted as to go against their will?  The answer is “Yes!”  Jesus had the interests of all of us at heart.

Now, that doesn’t mean that Jesus came into this world to make everything about our lives perfect and pleasant.  This world will remain under the curse of sin until He returns in glory.  However, the healing of this man in the face of the Pharisees’ challenge shows us that there was nothing that would stop Jesus from healing our wretched condition as sinners in a world of sin. 

This instance is one of the few times in the Bible that shows Jesus being angry.  In all cases, His anger was caused by those who would withhold God’s grace from someone who needed it.  Here, it was the man with the withered hand, who gladly came to Jesus for His healing touch.  Another time, it was the disciples keeping little children away from Jesus, while Jesus wants all people to come to Him for forgiveness and life.  Finally, Jesus was righteously angry with those who turned His Father’s house into a market—transforming that place of forgiveness, comfort, and peace into a marketplace offering no hope to those caught in the deceptions of profiteers. 

Dear friends, in all those instances, Jesus showed His love for precious souls, and that is what we are today.  We are precious in God’s eyes.  So precious to our Creator that He gave His Son into our midst to bear our flesh so that He could live in our shoes so to speak, yet to do so without any sin, in order that God could count each person who believes in Jesus as righteous and holy because of what Jesus has done for us.

Jesus came, not with the main purpose of healing hurting bodies.  Rather, those miracles assure us that He is the Son of God who was sent to bring us everlasting healing from the curse and malady of sin.  As easily as Jesus could say “Stretch out your hand,” and the hand was fully restored, so He says to each of us in Baptism, in the absolution after our confession, and as we come to partake of His body and blood in the Supper, “Your sins are forgiven,” and your sins are forgiven in heaven and on earth.  As far as east is from the west, so far has Jesus removed the guilt, sins, and the sinful stain that would have caused our eternal death separated from our loving God.

The Lord of the Sabbath came to serve and to heal.  Jesus came walking among our friends and neighbors of that time almost two thousand years ago, so that He could live for us, die on our behalf, and rise again in total victory over Satan, sin, death, and the grave—all so that you and I would have eternal life in heaven, where we will never again suffer any malady connected with sin.  No more sorrow, no more tears, no more deception, deceit, or lying, no more pain, illness, or death. 

By winning the war that the serpent began against God and mankind in the Garden of Eden, Jesus has restored to us a home in Paradise where He will once again walk among us, daily, in peace and harmony with all those who have believed in Him.  Glory be to our Redeemer, Savior, and Friend.  Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.