Keep watch for the Gospel must be preached.

 

Sermon for Reformation, October 27, 2024

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Mark 13:5-11 ⁵Jesus began by telling them, “Be careful that no one deceives you.  ⁶Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.  ⁷“Whenever you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled.  Such things must happen, but the end is not yet.  ⁸In fact, nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be earthquakes in various places.  There will be famines.  These are the beginning of birth pains.  ⁹But be on your guard!  People will hand you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues.  You will stand in the presence of rulers and kings for my sake as a witness to them.  ¹⁰And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.  ¹¹Whenever they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand what you should say.  Say whatever is given to you in that hour, because you will not be the ones speaking; instead it will be the Holy Spirit. (EHV)

Keep watch for the Gospel must be preached.

Dear disciples of the living Lord,

            After Jesus taught His disciples many things, and they were leaving the courtyards of the temple, those men marveled at the beauty and structure of that temple.  They were shocked when Jesus foretold its destruction along with other prophecies of the end of days.  Unsurprisingly, the disciples were curious about how all those things would take place, so in our text, Jesus is reminding them, and us, that the things of this world should not be our primary concern, because He did not come to make this world a perfect place, but that He might rescue us and many others for a perfect home in heaven.  Therefore, He commands us, Keep watch for the Gospel must be preached.

The men Jesus chose to take the Gospel out to the world would face serious opposition, great hardship, and severe persecution for telling the world what Jesus has done to rescue people from sin, death, and the devil.  The immensity of what those eyewitnesses had to endure for the sake of the Gospel is hard for us really to grasp in our relatively gentle and peaceful lives.  In our little part of the world, wars, earthquakes, harsh persecution for preaching the Good News, and even conflict among family members seems pretty far away.  But is it, really? 

Oh sure, any terrible persecution we hear about is usually in far distant lands, but if we are honest about it, we face many of the same problems, if less by degree.  Even more serious, every day brings us closer to the day Jesus will return to judge the world.  The time to bring the truth of God’s love to our friends and neighbors grows shorter day by day.  So, where does that leave us?

Jesus began by telling them, “Be careful that no one deceives you.  Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.”  Has this prophecy afflicted us yet?  Well, maybe we don’t know, personally, of anyone claiming to be Jesus, but for sure, we have heard of many who have tormented the world with their lies about being Jesus, or a new Messiah of some sort.  New religions pop up from time to time, each claiming to have a better truth than what the Scriptures speak.  Even among many churches that claim to be Christian, false doctrines have crept in, and many of our friends and neighbors have decided that God’s law should no longer be taken seriously since people have supposedly evolved into enlightened beings not needing God or His truth.

It shocks me at times how we delude ourselves into thinking that people who seem nice on the outside must surely be good on the inside.  Even more alarming, many people in this world blatantly deny the warnings God has given.  Worse yet, they even deny that Jesus ever lived, or gave up His life on their behalf, or rose from the dead as was clearly reported with unassailable testimony even to the point of defending this truth with the eyewitness’s life.  By the way, we called those eyewitnesses martyrs.  On the other hand, most of our so-called enlightened scholars, today, imagine that the Bible is nothing more than a book of myths and fairytales designed to hurt our tender feelings.

But again, where does that leave us?  The answer lies in this truth, the sinner will always reject the Christ.  St. Paul wrote,

Indeed, since the world through its wisdom did not know God, God in his wisdom decided to save those who believe, through the foolishness of the preached message.  Yes, Jews ask for signs, Greeks desire wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified—which is offensive to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:21-24)

In reality, we face the same trials that the apostles had to face.  We go out to the world with the message of God’s grace, proclaiming it to people who don’t want to hear it.  We go out among people who would just as soon see people like us dead.  Even more extreme, we face a world led by demonic powers that will do everything they can to oppose our witness.  The world in its deluded foolishness wants to defend killing babies.  The evil within all people seeks to elevate our own kind above others who differ from us only in the color of skin, economic background, or genetic heritage.  The evil influencing so much of our modern world, media, and public discourse seeks to promote war, murder, hatred, selfishness, greed, and division between neighbors.  Rulers are derided as evil—even those who seek to serve faithfully.

Now, in our little insulated lives out here on the prairie, all of this might seem pretty distant, but it influences us here as well.  How often do we find ourselves questioning the future, as if our Lord is not truly in control?  How quickly do we latch on to the ideas of the doom and gloomers who are so sure that this world will be destroyed by one political candidate or another?  Even though we know that this world will pass away in the end.  How often do we buy into the imaginings of the cultists who tell you that we must do things their way, and their way alone, if we want to save this world, or ourselves?  How often do we find ourselves despising our neighbor, or at least not be willing to discuss together with them peacefully our differing opinions, or maybe, how often do we stay away from this one place where true peace is found because we don’t want to see, or interact with those who disagree with us?

As we look at the middle of this text, we can certainly recognize that we live in times when “you hear of wars and rumors of wars,” where there are multitude reports of earthquakes, famines, deadly storms, murderous rampages, and any number of other terrible problems.  St, Paul could very well be describing our time in the world when he wrote:

In the last days there will be terrible times.  For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemous, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, not able to reconcile with others, slanderous, without self-control, savage, haters of what is good, treacherous, reckless, puffed up with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to an outward form of godliness but denying its power. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

To all of this, Jesus declared, Keep watch for the Gospel must be preached.  You and I have certainly been guilty of our own sins and selfishness.  Yet, because God is merciful, He has brought us to believe in Jesus as our Savior, and therefore, our sins are wiped away forever.  God has then given us the privilege or reaching out to friend and foe alike with the Good News of Jesus’ perfect righteousness lived for you and me and all people.  He has granted us the good fortune to believe that Jesus died for our sins paying the full eternal price so that we may live with God forever.  The Holy Spirit has blessed us with the Word of God in its fullness and purity so that we can be fully confident that Jesus rose from the dead that first Easter morning, confirmed by eyewitnesses, so that no reasonable person can deny what God has done for all of us.

Jesus told those twelve men, “But be on your guard!  People will hand you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues.  You will stand in the presence of rulers and kings for my sake as a witness to them.  And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.”  The truth is, Jesus’ words were perfectly prophetic.  The apostles were treated exactly as Jesus foretold.  His witnesses were put on trial, beaten and abused for denying the false religions of the day, whipped and stoned and crucified for telling people about the peace with God that is theirs because Jesus lived, died, and rose again to restore peace between God and mankind.

So, what happened when those things came to be?  One might expect that the story of Christ would have died out within weeks, months, or at most, a few years after Jesus was crucified.  Yet, that isn’t what happened.  The Word spread, and as people marveled at the martyrdom the apostles were willing to endure in order to tell about Jesus, they began to ask honest questions about what made these men tick.  What made them be willing to give up their lives to testify about Jesus?

The answer, of course, is the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit moved those men to believe and speak.  The Spirit moved those who wrote down the words of Scripture, and it is the Spirit of God who has kept that powerful Word down through the ages so that you and I can read, hear, learn, and believe it.

Dear friends, that Holy Spirit restored life to you when you were washed in the waters of Baptism.  He continues to build and strengthen that faith throughout your life through hearing the Gospel and after confirmation feeding you with the body and blood of Christ Jesus in, with, and under the bread and wine of His Holy Supper.  That same Spirit lives in us and among us still today, granting us eternal life in connection with Jesus, and giving us the strength to share God’s love with our neighbors, even when they reject or persecute us.  He gives us the encouragement and will to bring our offerings together so that many more people will hear the Gospel and by the power of the Spirit believe it.

It is the power of the Holy Spirit working in us that allows, even moves us to forgive those who hurt or offend us, because we know that we once also needed forgiveness and healing from God.  If you are like me at all, you know you still need God’s forgiveness every day, for like Martin Luther wrote, I daily sin much.  To which the Holy Spirit replies through St. Paul, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:57)

Jesus told His disciples, “Whenever they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand what you should say.  Say whatever is given to you in that hour, because you will not be the ones speaking; instead it will be the Holy Spirit.”  Thank God Jesus’ words are true.  We have the Gospel because Jesus never let us down and because His Holy Spirit continues His work still today. 

I don’t know who among us, if any, might have to testify before the authorities about our faith, but don’t be surprised if this world continues to turn against us and even hate, persecute, or kill us.  However, our future is sure and secure.  Because Jesus rose from the dead and lives forever, we who are united with Him through faith, will certainly also enjoy eternal life with our God and Savior in His heavenly home.

Therefore, today and every day, we must keep watch.  We must beware so that we are not corrupted by the deceits and lies the devil uses to keep the people of the world under his evil influence.  We must keep watch so that we are not misled by false teachers or even friends who have gone astray.  We must watch ourselves so that we never stray even one iota from the truth of God’s holy Word, nor from its Gospel, the Good News of all our Lord has done to bring us forgiveness and everlasting life, “because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16)  For all the days you live here in this troubled world, Keep watch for the Gospel must be preached.  Amen.

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.